OOM; Milliways inlet

[redintheledger]

Milliways is a very, very strange place. It should be expected for what it is, but she's still surprised.

An equatorial inlet. Okay. Okay.





Why not?




The only people to be surprised to find her in the shade of some trees at the inlet, jeans rolled up to her knee and sitting on the jacket Bar provided, reading a book, are people who do not actually know her.

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[hasthehighground]

Actually, Clint is surprised.

He's mostly surprised because he came out here to get some archery practice (NASA wasn't exactly going to set up an indoor archery course for him), and expected frozen dew crunching under his feet and the cold biting the air. (He pulls up the neck of the SHIELD windbreaker a little further.)

He didn't really expect his best friend lounging on the beach.

Whatever, archery can wait. He swings towards her, instead.

[redintheledger]

She glances up - has been, in fact, glancing up at random intervals the entire time - and her face brightens.

"Ah, Mister Barton," she drawls. "Take a seat."

She waves her hand over the sand, slow and expansive.

[hasthehighground]

Clint smiles at her, pausing after he steps onto the sand. The ambient temperature is different, too. "Huh."

He unzips his jacket half-way before sitting down next to her, one hand on the bark of the tree.

He presses a kiss against her cheek. "How're you doing, pretty lady?"

[redintheledger]

"Can't complain," she says, returning the kiss. "I have discovered a beach. And...work's okay." Her voice slides from cheerful to neutral, but it doesn't actually swing down into sounding negative.

Work is...

Okay.

"How are you?"

She knows better to ask where he is, or what he is doing - but that, at least, she can ask.

[hasthehighground]

"Cold," Clint says, and huffs a laugh. "This place is nice, though." He glances back at her. "Work's good," he says. "Peaceful. I'm turning into a paper pusher."

He taps the briefcase with his bow inside, slightly rueful.

[redintheledger]

"And yet, so many opportunities to send paper aeroplanes everywhere," Natasha offers, and then her smile turns a little rueful.

"Any interesting wind-currents where you are?"

[hasthehighground]

The look Clint gives her is slightly sardonic, though he's smiling. He knows she doesn't know enough about wind currents to pin down where he is from them, but c'mon, Nat.

The answer is: not really.

Instead, he slips one hand behind her back, where it curves away slightly from the tree, and the other under her knees, snagging her onto his lap.

(Yes, he gives her enough forewarning to hopefully not get smacked in the face with a book.)

[redintheledger]

There is a brief flail as she attempts to resettle her balance, and then she has her arm safely curled around his shoulders.

She had been going to make a comment on how he could always shoot things from roofs to add some variation, but, well.

"Hi there," she says cheerfully, shifting a bit to get comfortable. There might be just an element of snuggling into him.

Just perhaps.

[hasthehighground]

Clint grins. "Hey." He's okay with any and all snuggling.

He tightens his arms lightly in a hug, before fishing his left arm out from under her legs to rest over her knees.

"Did you hear about the telepath thing?"

[redintheledger]

She pauses.

"Telepath? Is that related to the notes the Bar passed along?"

[hasthehighground]

"Yeah. One of our scientists got on the nerves of a guy named Xavier. Hill wrapped it up. He was just ..."

Clint liked Xavier, when he met him, but the guy did have an ego.

"... being an asshole."

[redintheledger]

"Xavier? As in Charles, white with that nearly English accent?" Nearly, not quite.

Hmm.

"I've been reading his thesis."

[hasthehighground]

Clint makes a quiet, interested noise. "Genetics, right?"

[redintheledger]

"Genetics," she agrees. "Specifically, he was talking about evolution, and how genes mutate for the next step. A lot of emphasis on his hypothesis that homo sapiens and neanderthals co-habited, with our species coming to dominate. That, rather than fought."

A faintly wry smile.

"He invited me to read it."

[hasthehighground]

Clint's thinking.

"Isn't evolution just adaptation to changing environments?"

He sounds pretty uncertain-- he didn't even finish middle school, he just divorced a genius biochemist.

[redintheledger]

"Mmm. Basically? If you're looking at it as a story. Random mutations that can pass on advantages, so they're kept around. Or are neutral."

She leans her head against his, brief but affectionate.

"Red hair is neutral, so it's kept around just because. But our ability to run for long distances is an advantage, so it shaped how humans evolved.

Or so I've been informed by documentaries," she adds with a quick smile.

[hasthehighground]

"It's okay," Clint says, and his face isn't anywhere as straight as it would be if he was really trying to suppress his smile. "I still like you, even if you are a mutant."

[redintheledger]

"I'm very glad to hear it," she retorts tartly, a smile of her own tilting the edges of her mouth.

Then, a touch more seriously, "With Xavier, did Hill leave any requests for us?"

Technically, they are off-duty here. But, well, SHIELD, and the assistant director.

[hasthehighground]

"Uh," Clint says. "Well, not officially. I'm not sure how far I trust his 'best behavior'. X-23 apparently is keeping her eye on him, but..."

It makes him really uncomfortable. And kind of amused.

Mind-readers. How is this his life?

[redintheledger]

"He can back off," she says, slowly. "At least, he's been doing so for me."

Her mouth slants with amusement.

"It's an interesting place we've found ourselves, Barton."

[hasthehighground]

Clint breathes a laugh, and rests his cheek against her shoulder.

"I kind of like it."