tfln overflow - marmalize

[takingtheshots]

from here

Yeah.

[ the answer is immediate, without a trace of irony or disdain or macho posturing. clint doesn’t look her in the eye, just turns to grab a small tumbler from her china drawer, trying to be careful not to jostle it too much. ] Didn’t spend more than three days at a time without a mission for like, five months after the Invasion.

[ and, more importantly, after having his mind turned inside-out by a norse god. it a long while to get yourself unfucked after that, and he was shooting (hah!) for as much avoidance as possible. until nat nearly handcuffed him to a table in SHIELD’s counseling offices.

things got better after that. Slowly. ]

Same shit, different day. [ dog. arrows. alcohol. cereal. apartment. arrows. repeat. clint shrugs, pouring the schnapps into a glass. ]

Comments

[marmalize]

I'm sorry.

[ an empathetic apology, lara's eyes watching his face carefully. she's seen that look before — or lack thereof. it's one she's worn herself, looking anywhere but the person she's talking to, part of a piss-poor attempt to convince that she's fine. sometimes, she thinks it works. she's gotten good at masking her hurt, keeping it from her voice and maintaining a veil of normality. other times, she's as readable as one of her books that she loves so much. ]

[ however, like her, she thinks clint would rather not dwell or dredge up the past, so lara moves on. chews silently on her slice of hawaiian until half of it's gone, one hand curved beneath her chin to catch the excess of cheese that keeps falling off. ]

Maybe you need an adventure in the great wide somewhere.

[ lowering the food back into the box, lara shoots him a lightbulb smile. ]

Tell you what, spend tomorrow with me. I'll take you sightseeing.

[takingtheshots]

It's the job.

[ superheroics might sound like an adventurous and - well, heroic job, but nobody prepares you for the waiting. when it's not busy, it's pull-your-teeth-out-boring, and when it's not boring, you're getting shot at. or punched. or magic'd. or whatever.

point is, maybe the people with actual superpowers or serums or spells helping them out are better at managing the mental health aspect than he is. clint's just the bow and arrow guy. he's good at getting back up after he falls down.

he scoffs into his schnapps. ] I'm not Belle. I'm totally Merida. [ it's like, super obvious. but he considers lara's offer as he bites into one of his slices. ]

Yeah, sure. Haven't done the touristy shit here for a while.

[marmalize]

[ clint is 100% merida. lara's not going to disagree with him there. those archery skillz, though. ]

You're right. You're not Belle because I'm Belle.

[ need proof? here's your proof: 1. she's a total bibliophile. 2. she's defiant in the face of men who want to make decisions for her. 3. she's fiercely loyal to her father — even now. 4. they share the same longing for adventure and discovery. 5. they both have the same luck with wolves. 6. they're both very clever but also somewhat introverted women. 7. do you really need any more proof than that? (of course, there's also the beauty that neither of them flaunt for attention, but that reason doesn't pop into lara's mind when she makes her claim.) ]

We'll see as much as we can. It'll be great.

[ snagging another slice of pizza, lara chews on it for a moment before adding: ]

Oh, and don't worry, it won't be the typical tourist hotspots, either. I know you're not the museums and mausoleums type.

[takingtheshots]

[ it’s more than just archery. 1) arrows. 2) they’re from the countryside. 3) their respective brothers are kinda shits. 4) something about bears? he didn’t actually stay awake for all of brave, tbh. ]

They’re not - terrible.

[ though museums are sorta boring, and mausoleums are just dead dudes from like five hundred years ago. so yeah, actually, they are kinda terrible. clint shrugs and swallows a slightly-too-big bite of pizza, sputters, and swallows again. ]

And a bar. Definitely bars.

[marmalize]

[ they're not terrible earns him a knowing smile and an arched eyebrow. she knows that not all of her interests and his interests match, and lara doesn't mind that. if everyone was the same, life would be terribly boring. ]

I'll drink to that.

[ and drink she does, raising the schnapps before taking a long sip, then back to the pizza she goes, feeding lucky another slice from his small box first. ]

So, where are you staying while you're here?

[takingtheshots]

That's the idea with bars.

[ unless it's one of those weird hipster non-alcohol bars, but honestly, clint doesn't really see the point. give him a hole in the wall where there's a fifty-fifty chance he'll end up getting punched.

or shit, he's in london, isn't he? they've got pubs here. do they even have bars? does he have to eat fish and chips? he thinks about asking that out loud, decides against it, and clinks his glass against hers. ]

Safehouse just south of the Thames. [ it's better than a hotel. cheaper, too. lucky whines beneath him. ] Alright, boy. [ clint rolls his eyes, shooting lara a quick grin, and lowers a piece of the bacon pizza down for lucky to gnaw on. ]

[marmalize]

Not always. [ lara counters. at least not in good old england, anyway. ] Some people — men mostly — go just for a punch-up, usually coupled with watching the football.

[ it certainly seems that way with a lot of establishments, particularly the more traditional pubs named things like, "the fox and the hound" and "the bull's head". she's never seen much brawling at the trendier places, but then those are what she'd class a bar, not a pub. and those places seem to be more directed at meeting people and having actual conversations, not yelling and slurring over a glass of amber ale. ]

You could've stayed here, you know.

[ in one of the many, many guest bedrooms. ]

I'm still renovating the West Wing, but a couple of the rooms are back to a suitable standard.

[takingtheshots]

[ he does the quick mental translation any american tourist does - soccer, not football. ] Look, I don't - I don't try to get into fights. Things just happen. [ he's got a chip on his shoulder and fuck you, he'll fight whoever needs to be fought.

though lara hadn't even called him out, had she? fuck. ]

It's not like I've got reservations there. [ it's cozy, but not exactly what he'd called luxury. small flat kept in one of natasha's aliases, rerouted through a dozen bank accounts and identities. he doesn't need much. ] Lucky could probably use the space to run around.

[marmalize]

[ defensive much? ]

I neither said or implied that you did.

[ but she knows all about things happening. when events are out of your control and you have no choice but to react. in her case, that usually means her fight or flight instincts kicking in. self-preservation driving her forward. to cut a long story short: lara can't judge him. if clint believes his decisions to be right, then she believes them, too. ]

Well, he's welcome to it.

[ she says this whilst making a sweeping gesture with her hand, the other grabbing up another slice of pizza for herself, taking a big bite of the toppings, tomato sauce, and cheese. then comes a smile, teasingly chastising. ]

Lucky's far better behaved than some people I know. Aren't you, boy?

[takingtheshots]

Yeah. well.

[ she really didn't, and clint's kind of the deer in the headlights right now.

thankfully, lara plows on to another subject, and clint jumps on with relish. ] Oh sure, you break one weird cabinet thing. At least there’s not a chance of me like, like, crapping on the floor or something.

clint. clint no.]

[marmalize]

[ with an arched eyebrow: ]

I wouldn't put it past you.

[ tit-for-tat. though it's all in good humour, even if lara is still somewhat cross about the broken cabinet and likely still will be until stark or someone else can fix it. with that said, the apology pizza and the schnapps have done a lot for him. ]

[takingtheshots]

Thanks.

[ it's deadpan, but there's a bit of an amused curl on his lips. clint glances up at the chandelier above them, chewing thoughtfully on his pizza. ]

Nice place.

[marmalize]

Thanks.

[ gratitude laced with pride, lara's smile full of admiration as her eyes skim the kitchen. croft manor is a nice place, and not just because of the glaringly obvious reasons, the more materialistic expensive side of the place not at all the reason why lara loves and hates it so much. no, that goes to the house being a place of memories, a treasure trove of everything lara holds dear: family, history, and adventure. ]

I'm still fixing it up.

[ to get it back to the way it once was and make it less like a haunted mansion. ]

[takingtheshots]

[ clint lives in an apartment in bed-stuy. he owns the building, but he's got the crappiest hot water of everybody there; his unit's always last on the list of repairs and replacements. but it's his place, his little kingdom. he knows all about having roots, having a little place to call home.

plus, one time he literally kicked bartoc the leaper off of the roof, which was super awesome and made him feel really badass. ]

If you need an extra pair of hands, let me know.