Post-Canon: New Zealand, with Clint - Vacation

[redintheledger]

Natasha has a beach cottage, a damn comfortable couch, and a book (Japanese, all magical realism and folklore). There is also a glass of wine on the coffee table, a cushion underneath her head, and a Russian metal a cappella band on the stereo.

She is feeling decadent.

Moderately decadent, anyway; it's not as if she and Clint have pulled one of their 'let's book out the honeymoon suite' stunts. This is a perfectly nice, perfectly modest little cottage they've rented, and she's feeling relaxed enough that she only has a knife strapped to her shin underneath her jeans.

All she is really missing is a Clint, but she's not going to actively worry about him unless he doesn't turn up in the next hour.

Comments

[redintheledger]

"Oh, I will," she says, and leans back against the couch to enjoy the spectacle.

(She'll have changed the TV to something else by the time he gets back, because eyecandy does get boring fairly quickly.)

[hasthehighground]

Clint's back in thirty minutes because, even though he called the restaurant on his way there (one medium beef red thai, and a mild chicken & eggplant sautee), they were well-prepared for speedy takeout orders.

He sets the order on the table, and sits on the arm of the couch. "Why," he asks, after a moment, "is America's Funniest Home Videos even a thing, here?"

[redintheledger]

Fooood. She arises, like Aphrodite from the water (or, possibly, like a zombie from the grave) and drifts over to the table.

She appears to drift.

She's very good at appearing.

"I," she says, taking the containers out of the bag, "haven't got the faintest idea."

[hasthehighground]

"I guess seeing people get hit in the face doesn't really change it's entertainment value, globally."

On screen, a squirrel falls out of a tree and lands in someone's hair. There is flailing.

He glances at her, and grins. "Probably could've convinced Thor they were real threats."

Watching Thor watch this was basically the best thing. Or one of the best things.

He gestures in a helpless 'give me my box, moving is beyond me' motion. Take pity, Nat! He's been walking.

[redintheledger]

Oh, well, walking. That most arduous of activities!

"Thor is...Thor," she agrees, taking pity on him and passing him over the box.

(Men.)

"Not how I pictured him from mythology, I gotta say," she adds, curling up on the couch with her food in a bowl.

Because she's civilised, Clint.

[hasthehighground]

His mama raised him well. He pops open the carton, and starts eating with the fork taped to the top.

"Didn't really read them," he admits. "I mean, I'd heard the name, but more from guys who thought it made them sound tough. Bet they couldn't even spell Mjolnir."

Not that he can, but he doesn't go around calling himself Thor, does he?

[redintheledger]

"One of my teachers had a...Norse mythology thing," she says, as if she went to a normal school.

Metal fork for her.

"And there were Vikings in Russia, particularly around the Volga River..." she suddenly snorts. "My ancestors worshipped Thor.




Never mentioning this."

[hasthehighground]

Clint watches her for a moment, chewing.

"'Sthat where the red hair comes from?"

[redintheledger]

"Could well be. I didn't exactly get the height, though."

[hasthehighground]

He looks into the mid-distance for a few moments.



"That would be kind of hot."

[redintheledger]

She regards him for a long moment. And then pokes him.

In the arm.



It's more like a jab.




"Got the Viking bust, though. Can't really complain there." As long as she's not trying to model in Toyko.

But no one ever really talks about that.

[hasthehighground]

Clint looks wounded around his fork. He was having dirty thoughts about her. Tall her, admittedly, but still.

At the mention of her bust, though, his wounded face turns into a head-tilt of agreement.

[redintheledger]

Honour satisfied (although, perhaps, a reason for all of those heels of hers has been revealed), Natasha just settles into her food.






"Do you want to watch the news, or skip it?"

She might have the remote, but. News. Hrm.

[hasthehighground]

"I think I'm actually more okay with Iron Chef."

He can read about it online, like he has been. Where getting overwhelmed is a lot slower, and everything seems more distant.

[redintheledger]

She knows what he means. What she actually does is beam at him.

"Knew you'd come around."

[hasthehighground]

"Yeah, well," he says, grinning at her, "it has a certain charm to it."

[redintheledger]

Another woman may have punched the air in victory; she just smiles, tucks her feet up on the couch.

"Last half of Meerkat Manor it is, then."

[hasthehighground]

Clint checks his watch. "I... that's like whatshisface, in Lion King, right?"

[redintheledger]

"I've never seen Lion King." She's distracted, paused with fork in air.

"Do I need to?"

[hasthehighground]

"Yes," he says, immediately. "It's like Hamlet, with lions and singing. And basically everyone in America's seen it, especially in their twenties."

She's not in her twenties, but she often pretends she is!

"It's probably not required for watching Meerkat Manor, though."

[redintheledger]

"A child's film has Oedipus complex and suicide in it?"

[hasthehighground]

"... A very rough version of Hamlet?" he says, hopefully. It's not like he's ever seen Hamlet. Or... knows what an Oedipus Complex is. "There's no suicide, but there are surprisingly gruesome implied deaths, for a kids movie."

[redintheledger]

"Snow White's stepmother was forced to dance until she died," Natasha says, slowly. "So...I suppose children's tales being morbid fits."

She supposes. It's not as if she remembers much of being a normal child, but she does remember, dimly, throwing a complete tantrum when her father tried to get her to wear shoes after she heard that.

She's also frowning in that way she gets when she thinks she's missed some important piece of research.

[hasthehighground]

"Did she? Huh."

He eats another bite of food, watching her.

"Want to watch it tomorrow?" There's got to be at least one video store still alive around here.

[redintheledger]

"It might be important."

She'll take notes!