Action: Open.

[vagabond_code]

Who: Clint, Kate, and Kara || OR YOU
Broadcast: No broadcast.
Action: Iskaulit.
When: Tonight.

(CLOSED TO KATE AND KARA)

[When Kate Bishop says, 'I want to introduce you to a friend', get suspicious. Have a beer, find a pack of cards from where it had been stashed behind Varric's bar, deal yourself a few hands of Solitaire and park your butt. Dress in your best purples. They'd recently been discussing their respective romantic prospects, so he was primed for one of two equally unpleasant scenarios. Had Kate found him a date? Had Kate found someone for her own dating purposes? Was this some sort of weird thing where she wanted Clint to like the guy? A permission thing? Have another drink, consider upping and leaving, check the time like a billion times.

But they're weren't late, not yet. He was early. Because, what if he wanted to make a good impression? You only get one chance.]

(OPEN TO EVERYONE)

[Before this anxious meeting, and probably after it, Clint will be on what he has come to think of as the ship-with-the-bar-on-it. Hit him up there, or bump into him while he gets bored and takes to broadening his understand of what this place has to offer. Expect him to be nervously fiddling with a pack of cards - performing feats of accuracy that defy the laws of fluid dynamics. In the gardens chopping off the heads of this or that flower with edge of a rapidly spinning card or curving another one gracefully through the air from one end of the hallway to another. He even stands for a fair while looking at the mural. Anywhere else, he'll at least pop his head in.]

Comments

kate, kara, and clint »

[ladybro]

[ kate and kara arrive together. perhaps she'd asked kara to meet her on the blameless before they left on the same shuttle -- keen to arrive as a pair instead of leaving it up to chance whether kara stumbles upon the older hawkeye first.

only it turns out that stumbling across him at all is a bit of a challenge. they check the nicer of the two bars first until (finding no clint in attendance) kate realizes she never really specified in which bar they should meet. which means, almost too predictably, clint probably ended up at the -- ah -- rougher of the two establishments.

so! a little later than the intended rendez-vous time, kate and kara show up at clint's table. kate hardly even says hello, but slides into a chair at the same time as she takes over his current game of solitaire, moving a four of spades onto its ace pile that (until now) clint had seemingly neglected. ]

Kara, Clint. Clint? Kara. She's a friend. Play nice.

kate, kara, and clint »

[takingkarabusiness]

[ Kara decided to look at least a little nice for meeting Kate's friend, but she feels a little overdressed. She's not wearing her glasses and her hair is down. She smiles broadly and offers her hand to shake Clint's before she sits. If he takes her up on it, she has a strong grip ]

It's good to meet you.

kate, kara, and clint »

[vagabond_code]

[Clint has a strong grip too by any human definition, what with all the bowstring-pulling-back, but he isn't hands-of-steel strong. He's also a little confused by the shake, though shake he does. Isn't that sort of a business transaction thing? What's the tone of this meeting supposed to be exactly? He obviously should have dressed better, given what Kara's wearing.]

You too. Sorry, I have to ask. Has Kate told you about the...

[He gestures to his ears, vaguely, in a manner that he can easily transition away from if she gives any hint of understanding. He'd rather not dwell on the subject.]

[ladybro]

[ kate leans back in her chosen chair with a mild smile. she's glad she did tell kara about the hearing hang-up -- especially since clint's so readily bringing it up on his own. she'd been half-concerned he might've pretended like nothing was the matter at all, and might've tried to get by reading lips that hadn't been forewarned to speak carefully.

she just nods -- it's not her question to answer. ]

[takingkarabusiness]

[ she nods and sits facing him, intent on making this easy for everyone ]

She did. But tell me if I can improve. I know what it's like to lose the thread of a conversation.

Action, Iskaulit

[takeabow]

[ Nova will approach him at the bar and try to steal one of the cards he's playing with. She doesn't want to startle him in the process ]

[vagabond_code]

[Clint doesn't startle easily -- usually -- but then for most of his life he's had full use of his hearing. He's wary of the hand that intrudes on his game, but he doesn't try to stop it. He has enough cards for this current trick anyway.

In front of him are four pint glasses, lined up like soldiers. Clint holds half a deck of cards, and one by one he's been tossing them straight up into the air so that they travel a foot or two up without spinning or tumbling too much. They reach the top of their arc and cut back down again like frisbees, almost exactly the way they've come, but landing in each of the empty pint glasses in turn. 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4. Presently he glances up at the owner of the hand, and immediately his focus shifts to her in full. The two cards that he'd just tossed up miss the glasses and flicker down onto the floor.]

[takeabow]

So close.

Sorry for distracting you.

[vagabond_code]

Hey, some folks'd be happy with eight out of ten.

[Not Clint though. He's kind of a perfectionist. Already he's plucking the cards out of the glasses and going for the two cards that had dropped under the table. He gathers them together, but doesn't resume his little time-wasting game - instead facing Nova.]

I didn't drink all those.

[In case it needed saying. She'd made a good impression on him - he wanted to take a shot at doing the same.]

[takeabow]

I'd be surprised by your accuracy if you did.

Action: Iskaulit

[bb_wolf]

[Bigby likes the garden.

Thus, Bigby doesn't like someone mutilating the plants from boredom.

He pauses in the entryway, hackles slightly up and he growls.]

Action

[vagabond_code]

[Clint's recent experience with a one-eyed old mutt is woefully inadequate in the face of this hulking ferocious werewolf, even if he considers - for a moment - using the same tactics as he would to calm down Lucky. One hand comes up, and he holds the deck in a closed hand at his waist with the other. in a pinch he could probably weaponize it somehow right? Probably.]

Hey boy, hey, you're -- a good boy, right? Nobody needs to bite and or swipe anyone else, we're all friends here in beer-ship garden.

[Clint is standing still, but poised to move if he has to. He doesn't show any obvious signs of fear, but he's plenty alert.]

[bb_wolf]

No, I'm not a good boy.

[He pads forward, giant paws silent except for a slight click of over sized and razor sharp claws. He doesn't actually approach, staying at a good distance that makes making eye contact easier.]
I'm the Big, Bad fucking Wolf and this garden is one of my favourite places. So I don't like people mutilating it because they're fucking bored.

Understood?

[vagabond_code]

Woah, okay, we got talking dogs.

[It hadn't been entirely outside of the realm of possibility what with the walking on two legs and everything, but you could never tell.]

Look fella, you only had t'ask. I am bored, it's boring in space. You never been bored? Give a guy a break.

[Being stuck on an enclosed space with this thing might limit his options a bit, and the Big Bad was between Hawkeye and the door, but Clint wasn't really planning on running away if things got heated. There were other people on the Iskaulit, and he wasn't about to lead a rabid wolfman right into their path. Nor could he let this guy stomp around threatening every poor bastard who dared to pick a flower. That went double if the dog did anything violent.

Hawkeye had to know if he'd try to use those teeth.]

[bb_wolf]

I'm not a dog. I'm a wolf.

[He sits his not inconsiderable self down, settling down on his stomach to put his head at about head level with Clint, making it easier to see his face.]

This garden takes a lot of effort from a lot of people. Not me. I don't have green thumbs. But this is the only place in this whole fucking fleet where I can breathe without choking.

[Metaphorically.]

[goldenglasses]

[Vash also likes the ship with the alcohol. Mostly for the said alcohol. Today he's hanging outside the bars because there's only so much drinking one can do. Which why he catches Clint as he decapitated another flower.] Wow, remind me to never cheat at poker with you.

[vagabond_code]

[This is always the worst -- realizing at the last moment that someone is waiting for him to respond, but not having any idea what to respond to. Sometimes he just makes something up and hopes for the best, but this time he goes for the honest approach and says:]

Didn't catch that. Not a single word. Sorry. Was it about the flowers?

[Either that or the cards. It seems a reasonable guess.]

[goldenglasses]

[Vash doesn't catch on, not right away at least, why Clint didn't hear him.]

Its fine. I shouldn't be interrupting someone who's focused. I was just saying I need to remember not to cheat on you when playing poker.

[vagabond_code]

Less focused. More checked-out.

[He tapped his temple. Tap tap.]

's nothin' happening. Wasn't so bad at first, but there's only so much a guy can take. Space, I mean.

[goldenglasses]

You can do that without thinking about it? That pretty impressive. Are those really regular playing cards? they looked it from where he was standing.] Or do they have sharpened edges or something?

Action; gardens

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[Wanda was coming by the garden to tend to some of the flowers, when she comes upon Barton. After seeing one of his little "displays of skill," slicing off the bud of a flower with a playing card, she immediately clears her throat, sounding none too pleased.]

Do you mind?

action

[vagabond_code]

[Apparently not? He doesn't turn or respond anyway, although she'd be forgiven for thinking maybe he's about to when he takes a few steps backwards, almost-toward her. It turns out he's just putting a bit more space between himself and his next target. Making things a bit more challenging.

Not challenging enough to save the next bud of the plant that he's been bullying. With a snap he cuts the card through the air, and it arcs up and around with a pleasing geometric certainty. Thwip!]

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[At first confused by his backwards approach, Wanda takes a step back herself. But, when she realizes what he's doing, her expression quickly turns back into one of frustration. As he releases the card, Wanda's eyes and hands start to shimmer with crimson-red luminescence. She catches the card before it hits its target flower bud, holding it in mid air. She then swiftly returns the card to her own hand, walking up to Clint as the card flies into her hand. She slaps it against his chest, giving him a stern look.]

There are other targets you can find for your little card tricks.

[vagabond_code]

[Clint just stares dumbly at her for a second or two, having recognized the red sheen immediately and just sort of -- frozen. He stays in place like that while she approaches, too, and makes no attempt to avoid her chest-slap. Frankly he'd been sauntering around the place sort of assuming that with so many ships in the fleet, there was no actual reason he and Wanda would ever have to bump into each-other. Like he expected, she looks weird, but that anger on her face is very familiar. Familiar enough that it smooths out the differences between this Wanda and his. Frankly he thought she'd look more different than that. He didn't think she'd look younger.

She's touching him, and very close to him, and he is very aware of both of those things. He's watching her mouth to see if she'll talk, but that makes him uncomfortable. How should he play this? Does she know who he is? Does she think he should know who she is? Is she angry at him for not having reached out to her or something? Or is she just upset about the flowers?]

But they're really good card tricks.

[Crap.]

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[Wanda frowns, clearly not satisfied with that answer.]

Any trick that requires ruining the hard work of others is hardly a "good" one.

[She shakes her head, walking past Clint to inspect the damage to the flowers that his card flinging had caused.]