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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kookalouris" data-source="post: 4244708" data-attributes="member: 23872">Last of Sam's origin (provisionally)A slightly amended continuation of Sam's story, in what is probably the last and final part of it (so far)..about 1933With Sam's near-suicidal but ultimately successful maneuver, the family realized that flying was what Sam was born to do.  And working with that goal would probably keep her safer than working against it.  As it turned out, word of Sam's flying brought a few talent scouts and promoters to her airfield.  And soon Sam was marketed as the "Flying farmgirl of Kansas", the first of many nicknames.about 1933-1939It didn't happen easily or quickly but gradually and surely that Sam became more and more of a pilot and a name.  Through different series of agents, managers, crews and planes, Sam became known county-wide, then state-wide, and even a minor national star.For all of her talent, Sam was not quite the household name of Earhardt and Lindburgh.  She had arrived in the field of glamour aviation late in the game.  Many people thought that such a pretty girl didn't get her crew and planes by talent alone.  And Sam's ever-changing series of managers were amazed that Sam wouldn't 'work' the pretty airhead image she seemed to be stuck with anyway.Despite all of this, Sam was always in demand somewhere in the world and could usually get there in her own world-class plane.  For publicity, she staged shows in just about any country able to have an runway (and sometimes, that was just a dirt road).  In additional to stunt-flying and wing-walking, Sam would also do scientific, charity and exploration missions for publicity.  As the 1930's drew to a close, Sam began to see how much Europe was changing and feared for her new-found European friends.  She believes another World War is inevitable, it was just a matter of where and when the US would get involved (and she believed the US MUST get involved sooner than later).It would just be a matter of time...Bermuda, 1940?With her fame at its peak, Sam and her crew undertook a flight near Bermuda.  Whatever reasons Sam and her crew gave the locals didn't seem to ring quite true but certainly didn't seem to be illegal.With that, her crew left the runway on a perfect, beautiful day......and never returned.  At least, most of them.To this day, and despite debriefing, then interrogations, then therapy from a score of concerned experts, Sam doesn't know what happened.  What fragments she THINKS she remembers are too fantastic to believe.With a hysterical pilot the only survivor and no other plausible explanation for the evidence at the crash scene, the cause of the crash has been tentatively set at pilot error.  In any case, Sam was believed to have had a mental breakdown and had her pilot's license revoked.Her life seemed over.1940-1941While Sam was in a Bermuda hospital, she was visited by various members of the Gilman family.  The Gilmans claimed that publicity from the crash had outed Sam Ripley as Samantha Gilman and the clan was eager to care for their long-lost foundling.State-side, they encouraged Sam to check into Arkham Asylum for 'evaluation.'  Full of guilt and depression, Sam did so.  After a few months, the psychiatrists evaluating Sam concluded that whatever mental damage Sam had suffered essentially dealt with a past event she would be unlikely to relapse.  She was released into the care of her kindly Aunt Keziah Gilman who ran an inn in Arkham.Grateful for something to keep her mind busy, Sam is helping her aging aunt run the inn.  She is too ashamed to face her family, despite their repeated telegrams to come home.The tavern part of the inn has been converted into the Witching Hour, an occult-themed club and bar.  Sam chose the occult theme as the Gilman attics and basements she raided seem to have only occultish objects in them for decorating the bar.Surprisingly, the Witching Hour seems to be holding its own, if not making a fantastic profit.  It seems there are a lot of 'incomplete' souls looking for something more than the world that they see and touch.  And Sam doesn't feel quite so alone or isolated these days...NOTES:In many ways, Sam's career is similar to that of Amelia Earhardt.  Both were women in a largely male field.  It is possible that both got and lost flights based on their gender.Sam's years of odd missions in odd places allows David to have any kind of past plot device or flashback.  Her years in Europe as the Nazis and fascism grow in power affect her.  She has friends she worries about.  She believes (correctly) that war is inevitable and is willing to fight for it.Her sudden realization of dark times ahead might have made Amelia either volunteer for a secret mission for the US (if we want to use that conspiracy theory).  At the very least, she may have spoke out publicly about what she thought was wrong.Using her small amount of fame in this way has opened a tiny file on Sam in just about every government.  She is seen as a probable and/or turnable propaganda asset.  It might be that Sam accepted being the guest of either the commies or the Nazi in a terribly misguided attempt to 'talk them out of their sins.'  This could make Sam be labeled (wrongly) as a collaborator (if that plot line appeals to David).I have left the details of the Bermuda flight vague to give David maximum leeway.  Should this had been a secret mission, bystanders and onlookers might have suspected something and made their suspicions known.  Most likely, Sam would have been a volunteer but no doesn't remember anything about it.It's up to David but if Sam was found wandering outside of the plane and her parachute was missing, it would be dammed difficult for her to prove she didn't bail on her crew.After the crash, Sam was exhaustively questioned.  With no real evidence at THIS time, Sam can't really be prosecuted.  Neither can she really exonerate herself.  Some in power consider her a criminal, collaborator or insane.  A few others might think she is all three.Involving the Gilman family could be just a distant family finally caring for a long-lost relative or a more sinister dynasty finally regaining some measure of control over a recovered 'asset.'  Keziah Gilman is only as much plot device as David wishes.  I assume she rarely interferes due to her ailing health.  The inn has a competent enough staff, which Sam either runs or is part of.Sam's voluntary committal would make any future attempt to commit her much easier   (and this was psychiatry's dawn.  Believing that anything could be cured with the right 'approach,' any eccentric could be committed by a 'concerned' family.)Sam signed a lot of papers to get help, a lot she didn't read well.  She may have given the Gilmans the power of attorney which could be revealed if needed.That's it for now.  I have place my damsel in distress and now need to get her out of it.Looking forward to any comments, questions, or suggestions.I will send a post of how I see her relationships with Arabella and Adam (of course, always subject to review).  And if I have time before the actual character is statted, a snapshot of how Sam is in the present day of 1941.Gerry</blockquote>

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