and we know the patterns

[bothhavesharpteeth]

Who: Natalie Rushman (or Natasha), Clint Barton and YOU
Where: Grand Park, near Alpha Force Tower
When: March 29, afternoon
What: Natasha is scoping out a target. Natalie is jogging on her day off. It is innocent and not at all suspicious.
Warnings: None at the moment
Notes: You can tag Clint instead of Natasha if you want. He is present and shooting at things.

There is a woman jogging in the park. She's fairly young, pale and red-haired, cute if you ignore the whole sweaty-and-slightly-out-of-breath thing. (She's faking the breathlessness, but she's pretty good at it when she needs to be.) She's done a dozen laps by now, and eventually she slows to a stop, bracing her hands against her knees, and looks out across the park, somewhat questioning her life choices.

There is also a man in a purple shirt, standing on the grass not far off the path and shooting arrows at a target he's set up most of the way across the park. Pay him no mind. The red-haired woman certainly isn't.

Comments

If you're tagging Clint, tag under this thread!

[makethatwork]

Clint is shooting. He's being careful, because there are people around, but he's also a very damn good shot. If he wants to hit the target, he'll hit the target.

Except with the experimental arrows, since he's still figuring out how they fly. But they're not fatal, so that's why he's okay with practicing with them in a public setting.

Feel free to ask him what he's doing, or recognize him, or whatever.

[withhercleverhead]

While Bartholomew is making friends, Annabel is watching the fellow shooting things. It's weirdly calming, seeing the rhythm that seems to be involved and she simply contents herself with staring (not at all creepily or unblinking) at him.

A part of her entertains the idea of saying something, telling him she enjoys watching him or, at the very least, a hello, but she is not actually doing that well on the social front today, especially without Bartholomew to break the ice.

So yes, she's just going to stare awkwardly.

[makethatwork]

Never let it be said that Clint isn't aware of his surroundings. He isn't sometimes, but usually not when he's in a moderately good mood and doing something like shooting arrows in public.

So eventually, after he goes to retrieve his arrows yet again, he comes back and instead of re-settling, he turns and waves at Annabel.

"Hey there," he calls. "You an archery fan?"

[withhercleverhead]

She blinks, looking around her for a moment as if to make sure she's actually the one he's talking to. Because she couldn't be, could she?

Oh, it seems she is.

"Uhm--..Yes? No. I'm...Sorry, I was staring, wasn't i? Sorry, sorry. It's...Kind of soothing? I'm not exactly sure how to put it." SHe shifts about, awkward and uncertain.

[makethatwork]

Clint chuckles a little, not unkindly. He feels a little bad putting her on the spot like that.

"Nah, it's okay," he says, waving off her apologies. "It's pretty soothing for me too, great way to clear my head."

[withhercleverhead]

"Oh, okay." She smiles, reassured that she didn't muck up too badly. "That's...Good. I'm glad it's nice for you. I like watching that sort of thing. The repetition can be calming."

She's not sure what she's doing, has she mentioned that? Socialization does not come naturally to her and she feels like it's painfully obvious right now.

[bothhavesharpteeth]

She's only paying peripheral attention to the man with the bow, as far as anyone can see... but when one arrow flies wide, and explodes only a few feet to her left in a bouquet of flowers which then float down to the grass slowly. Natalie stares at it for a moment, somewhat bemused, and then swings her attention back to the person who shot it.

"Hey!" she yells, stalking toward him. "You almost hit me!"

Maybe she shouldn't be approaching, but he did give her such a good excuse...

[makethatwork]

"Sorry!" Clint calls sheepishly, jogging over to her with his best, apologetic grin. "It shouldn't have gotten so far off course, I'm really sorry. Nothing hit you, right?"

[bothhavesharpteeth]

"Barely," she admits grudgingly, folding her arms over her chest and glaring at him. "What exactly is the point of a flower arrow anyway?"

[makethatwork]

"I'm sorry," he says again, sincerely, retrieving his arrow with his most winning smile. "And, uh, I'm trying to impress a girl. Well, not impress, I know that's not exactly impressive, but I'm trying to y'know. Make her laugh."

Take pity on him?

[bothhavesharpteeth]

Okay, that is kind of cute. In a really, really ridiculous way. Natalie can't help but soften a little at that, a smile creeping onto her lips.

"And does shooting things at girls usually work for you?"

[makethatwork]

"Weeeell..." Clint rubs the back of his neck, looking up as he thinks. "Sometimes? Maybe. I haven't really tried it before."

He picks up the arrow, now missing its payload, and tolls it between his fingers. "You're a woman, if you had an archer friend pop this out for you, would you be impressed?"

[bothhavesharpteeth]

She eyes the arrow, and then at the flowers lying on the ground a few feet away.

"Well... I think I'd definitely laugh," she says diplomatically, wandering over to pick up the flowers and offer them to him as well. "Is this part of a plan to ask her out, or are you just shooting things in her general direction and hoping for the best?"

[makethatwork]

He takes the flowers back from her, wrinkling his nose in an approximation of annoyance. A bad one, since he's not particularly annoyed. "Well, laughter's better than nothing, I guess."

He wobbles his hand back and forth as an answer. "Not sure yet? Kind of... trying to gauge her interest, I guess." Oh, wait, manners. He has those, sort of! "Uh, I'm Clint, by the way," he adds, offering his hand with a lopsided grin.

[bothhavesharpteeth]

"You have a very interesting way of going about it."

She considers his hand for a moment, oddly bemused, before she shakes it.

"Natalie. You work around here, or do you just like the park?"

[makethatwork]

"I was literally raised in a circus, I don't do anything normal."

Do normal people not shake hands anymore? Whatever, she seems nice enough, and she's humoring his ridiculousness and hasn't given any indication she wants to like call the cops on him for almost hitting her with his flower arrow.

"Nice to meet you. I, uh." Wow, she didn't recognize him? People didn't always, but once he introduced himself, between the fact that he rarely wore a mask and the archery, people usually put it together. "I live nearby. I've got a range I go to, but I've got a thing about trying to deal with wind and stuff..."

[bothhavesharpteeth]

Natalie doesn't follow superhero stuff, okay? Natasha does, but that's irrelevant at the moment.

"I'm sorry, you were raised in a circus? Literally, or metaphorically?"

[makethatwork]

Clint would understand the difference. Thank you, Yelena, his first, and dearly departed love. Although you never know, sometimes dead doesn't actually mean dead.

"Literally," Clint admits with a chuckle. "It's totally weird and cliche, but my brother and I ran away from the group home we were in and joined the circus when I was like eight, and that's what I did until I was 20."

[bothhavesharpteeth]

"Oh my god. I didn't know that was even still possible." She shakes her head a little, giving him a half-amused open-mouthed stare of are you even real? "I guess that explains the flowers thing a little better, though..."

Only a circus boy would go straight for that kind of showmanship when he's just trying to ask a girl out. It's kind of cute.

[makethatwork]

"Why, you think I'm a showboat?" He rests his forearm lightly on the top of his bow, grinning. "'Cause let me tell you, Miss Natalie, I am a hundred percent absolutely a showboat."