➽ VIDEO

[ladybro]

Who: Kate Bishop + YOU
Broadcast: Fleetwide.
Action: Bishop, if you like. Sorry guys.
When: Valentine's Night

[ bless her, but she's figured out these devices pretty quickly. and why shouldn't she? they're only a bare step above her top-of-the-line smartphone. except that thing hasn't been getting service since before the marsiva. and now... ]

So. I've heard it's February 14th. And how good of the Atroma to get me my very own monogrammed ship. Apparently it's the perfect gift for the girl who so recently had everything. [ tacky, much? kate kinda cringes every time she sees her family name on her assigned ship -- regardless of how coincidental it might be. ] Kate Bishop, reporting for duty aboard the SS Bishop. I kid you not.

[ haha, tres funny. ]

Can we change? Ships, I mean. Not that this one isn't lovely, sure. But I'm getting flashbacks to summer camp at Interlochen and my mother writing my name on all my shirt tags.

[ speaking of shirts... ] Rogue? Can you hear me? [ she knows rogue taught her about the locked transmissions, but that still kinda evades her at the moment. ] I think it's time you showed me 'round this space station I keep hearing so much about.

Comments

[vagabond_code]

[The implication is clear -- unfinished business. Home-stuff.]

You've also got a friend with a space-ship. And a few guys on your team can teleport.

It's a good team, Kate.

[And even supposing Team Hawkeye couldn't find a way to turn the fleet around, The Young Avengers would come looking. It's what teams do.]

[ladybro]

[ -- he's trying to mollify her. why? why isn't he has hopping mad about this as she is? kate frowns (deeply) and tries to articulate her next thought as clearly as possible. ]

A friend [ ...hah. ] with a spaceship who I'd call, if I could, but my phone doesn't get any bars.

[ she's caught in a difficult position. she can't tell him how her unfinished business involved the two of them, because that reveals too much of her hand. dammit. ]

[vagabond_code]

So what do you suggest we do in the mean-time?

[It wasn't an attack, it was just, if she had answers he wasn't above taking orders from Kate Bishop.]

[ladybro]

[ rogue is here. wolverine is here! why weren't the avengers doing something? kate scowls. ]

Find these cameras, first off.

[vagabond_code]

They're in the air.

[Yeah, he'd walked this road already.]

Too small to see. At least that's one theory.

[He'd scoffed at it when he'd heard it, but the idea gained credibility with time.]

[ladybro]

Well, that leads me to all kinds of gross conclusions. [ so she tries out a theory on clint: ] Do you think they have telepaths? I'm worried they have telepaths.

[vagabond_code]

That's a scary thought.

I've seen mutants so far, but no Xavier. I've seen Avengers, but no mind-readers.

[He'd been looking for a pattern since Marsiva, and he'd come up empty. Then here comes Kate, and bam.]

[ladybro]

It's a terrifying thought. [ and had been among the first to occur to her. that, and the fear that this might be a mayfly dimension. she hasn't been sleeping great; it probably shows. ]

I guess it's best to just err on the side of -- oh, crap. Rogue's here. Already. I'm -- [ going shopping with rogue ohmigosh how cool is that? ] You said the Trophy Room, right?

[vagabond_code]

Yeah. Ask around, someone will point.

[Which was amazing, all things considered.]

This a goodbye thing, right? Say 'hi' to Rogue for me and -- all that stuff.

[ladybro]

[ -- but she's already gone.

kate stops by only briefly (about an hour later) to collect her charity-credits from clint barton. the planned brevity of the reunion allows her to get a good look at him -- as well as a feel for what sort of man he is, lately. is this the clint of great resolve? or the human car crash? these are things she needs to know. she needs to be ready for them. and so their initial meeting is like a reconnaissance. she takes the money, tells him that rogue is waiting for her outside, and gets the h out of dodge.

but then (closer to closing time) she comes back. shopping bags hanging off one arm, and a tired glow on her cheeks. she's ready to do this properly, now. kate shoulders her way into the trophy room and looks around for the man whose been throwing darts all night. the redheaded bartender tries to shoo her away, but she won't leave. ]

Not without Clint, [ she says. repeats. ]

[vagabond_code]

[Clint isn't alone. There's a wooden chair right beside him, lined up perfectly with the dart-board, but this isn't some sort of wacky trick-shot. There's a boy clambering up onto the chair, probably about ten or eleven years old. Clint steadies the chair and hands the boy a dart. There are two in Clint's left hand, down by his side.]

You got one left. Ah-ah-ah arm down. Take your time and make sure you're breathing right. You breathing right? Alright, arm up.

[At this point Ziggy stops wiping down the table mid swipe, and watches with a quiet sort of excitement. There's a moment's silence, and then a..]

Yeeeaah you got it! You got it! Great job!

[From Clint. He only lets go of the chair once the kid gets down, and Ziggy barks an order at the boy, who runs to his father to pick up a few glasses dotted around the place. Clint goes to collect the dart from the board. Single ten, outer circle. He's smiling. He hasn't noticed Kate.]

[ladybro]

[ and then, out of (seemingly) nowhere. a flat, disc-shaped credit chip comes a-flying through the air. if he's not paying attention, then it might just snap clint across the cheek.

and from somewhere near the entrance stand the perpetrator of such a shot: kate bishop, knowing full well a shout wouldn't manage to capture his attention, had to take measures into her own fingertips. ]

[vagabond_code]

[Oh it got him alright, maybe even startled him a little, but he caught it on the rebound. It didn't take too much frowning-around-the-place to catch Kate's eye. Without looking back he buried the three darts in succession -- triple, single, and double 20 -- and tucking the chair back into its place he came to join her.]

Is this how this is going to be, now?

[..presenting the chip.]

[ladybro]

Maybe.

[ she hopes so. but she can't be certain. after all, it's clint. and kate isn't certain she has the proper measure of his laissez-faire attiude.

kate jerks her head towards the bar. and towards the kid helping tidy up. ] Kinda late, isn't it?

[ kinda late for kids to be doing anything -- let alone taking darts lessons. ]

[vagabond_code]

Not for those two. They don't keep the same hours you do.

[Clint turned to watch the kid for a second or two, then turned back to Kate.]

Kid's here every time Zig opens and closes the bar.

[ladybro]

[ so! there is a special kind of admiration reserved for a man who can make allies of the working folk wherever he went. somehow, clint just turns up in a place and sets down roots. he's the most rooted-yet-transient bastard she's ever known.

so she shrugs. accepts this explanation, and moves on. ] Thanks, by the way. For the loan.

[ she clearly had put it to good use. ]

[vagabond_code]

That wasn't a loan.

[ladybro]

[ there's a twitch of attitude on her face. ordinarily, she might have let his generosity stand. but kate doesn't know who she's dealing with. not yet.

without waiting for an invitation, she chooses a chair. she sits down. but she makes certain she's still facing him. he needs to see her lips, after all. by now, she's realized he's been reading them. the way his eyes jump from her mouth to his eyes is a sure tell. ]

No?

[vagabond_code]

I know you said 'borrow', but I thought you were just being..

[They had argued, and Kate had left, but she'd come back in time to stop that clown from putting a bullet in his skull. As far as he was concerned they were still a team. Wasn't it only natural that they should back fall into it easily? Things didn't need to be complicated--]

Things don't need to be complicated.

[ladybro]

[ her eyes dart. she's watching his face. what is he feeling? doesn't he realize that things are already beyond complicated? ]

Exactly. So I repay you once I can. Keeps stuff nice and simple, doesn't it?

[ she wets her lips. it would be easier if she could find it in her heart to be angrier at him. but his apology is fresh in her ears. ]

[vagabond_code]

[Whatever. Any money she gave him would go straight into the buy-another-bow fund. Clint looks up and makes eye contact, about to speak, but the lights go out around them and when he glances over at Ziggy he sees the barman looking back.]

We should get moving.

[ladybro]

[ she opens her mouth. but -- the bar is gloomy, now, in the dark. and she understands the shadows casting over her face. it's why he should never be without his hearing aids; they couldn't talk in the dark. night missions required that kind of tech.

moving more with her gut than with her mind, kate stands from the seat in which she so recently sat. she leans forward and lays her fingers over clint's hand. got it, hawkeye. she doesn't squeeze. she just gives him one single pat of solidarity before heading for the doorway.

outside, there should be streetlights. they could talk more. ]

[vagabond_code]

[He followed after her, feeling a little bit like he should have been the one walking ahead. It had been him to say that they should go, after all. Maybe he should have -- gotten up and gone? The problem was, if he had, he wasn't sure that she'd have followed him.

When they got out into the cool electric lighting that characterized this part of the station Clint said-]

This is fine.

[Although there was nowhere to sit, or even comfortably lean.]

[ladybro]

Fine.

[ quiet agreement. kate crosses her arms. it's not that she doesn't trust him anymore (although she doesn't). it's more a problem of not knowing which him to even begin trying to trust. although she'd met rogue's explanations with composed acceptance, the true problem of an alternate reality starts to sink into her understanding now that it affects a legitimate personal connection of her very own.

she raises her chin -- and makes certain that he can see her in the artificial lighting. ]

How do I know you're him? My Clint. From my world.

[ -- the scene looks ridiculous 'cause she's got all these shopping bags hanging off her crossed arms. but kate's expression is dead serious. ]

[vagabond_code]

I've only been here a few weeks, so, I don't have my dimensional bingo-card sorted out yet. Does your world have ghosts? Vampires? Aliens? Because that's a tell. Apparently.

[He shrugged, as if he didn't really believe it himself.]