Clint Barton Is Eating Crow Again (purpleman) wrote in angellogs, @ 2017-11-01 20:02:00 |
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Entry tags: | balthier, clint barton (hawkeye), noah fon ronsenburg, sebastian vael |
Who: Noah, Sebastian, Clint, Balthier
When: Night of the 27th
Where: Gatehouse at Craigcrook Castle, Edinburgh
What: After the meal, Noah invites Clint to stay the night, and they end up watching videos of the large and fairly harmless seeming birds in the area. The conversation ends up sliding to therapy.
Rating/Warnings: Vague mentions of why people might need therapy
Status: Complete
The party didn’t go that badly. Noah’s checking in on Clint once the dishes are done, and Clint’s apparently noticed the lights in the corner of the ceiling of the study. “We . . . Balthier mentioned it as an idea. It’s wired into the telephone and the fire alarm. When I’m feeling jumpy, loud unexpected noises tend to make me jump. So we set it up that you hit a switch, and everything flashes the lights instead.”
He hesitates. “Sebastian Vael might be by. Do you mind the company?”
He suspects Sebastian will just curl up with a mug and get prodded to have some food and probably check the news on the loudest laptop in the area.
“That doesn’t seem like a bad application.” Clint nods. “They were a little bit...the noises, I mean, of a trigger when Roy was trying to get over his programming.” Or whatever that had been. He’s not sure these days. “Having the lights on, since I didn’t want to get rid of them yet before then...it helped. Not a bad option to keep around.” Adapting, after all, is important.
“And nah, Sebastian’s fine. It’s been a while but he’s decent.” A bit weird, but Clint figures a lot of that’s a coming from a place that’s basically known as fantasy that causes that sort of thing. People tend to think HE’S being weird when he tries to act like he’s a normal person, after all.
“I’ll be dropping some of the rolls off in the main kitchen, and then I can probably join you. There might be hot chocolate.” Noah looks at Clint like he’s weighing if Clint’s the sort. “You’re welcome to stay. I promise the guest room is comfortable.”
“I might do that.” Clint nods. “In a little, I’ll check in and see where everybody else is on the Steve portion of things. I think I’m probably supposed to be focusing on that.” and he frowns. “I’m probably more USE shooting the flying tomatoes Hanzo’s daughter mentioned, but if Steve’s gone, we’re fu…” He stops a second “Uh screwed, as a unit.” It’s probably better not to toss EVERY curse he can think of around in people’s houses, at least until he doesn’t resemble something like a pissed off kid.
“And hey, I’m not too worried about comfort. Anywhere you have has to be nicer than where I used to work. Trailer, sweet trailer.” He rolls his eyes a little. Actually, nah, it was a decent trailer, but it did get cramped. And old.
“...Right, aye.” Sebastian’s saying into the phone now as he’s making his way over. “I’m not even SURE what’s hitting all of you by now, you’re a big country and all of that, but I definitely don’t want to risk getting waylaid by whatever’s coming out of the woodwork. Let’s try...ten days or so, from now? At least Calum’s coming with and we’re working on Iomhar. ...I can do a late afternoon…” the scheduling doesn’t take that long and he’s heading back out, dangling a computer cord that he’s carrying over to the TV there, before he gives Clint a little wave.
“Want a look at the birds? They’re oddly compelling.” Which is how they wind up, perched on a sofa, staring at a bad quality phone video that’s been transferred to the computer, then projected, with Sebastian pausing every time one of the creatures moves.
Noah peeks back in, in a while, and grins. “They’re amazing, aren’t they. I have a pitcher of hot chocolate and mugs. Could I have a hand?” The bag of the squishy candies (marshmallows?) was an impulse, since he’s seen them in pictures. He’s not fond of them, but maybe Clint or Sebastian is. He’s toed off his shoes, and his socks are stripey and honestly picked for being very soft and warm.
“They really are.” Clint agrees, popping up to grab the mugs and Sebastian’s moving over coasters, to make that a bit easier. “I kind of thought..I don’t know. I’ve seen weird stuff but this is...special weird. In a amazing way compared to most of what’s going on around here.”
“I suppose we’re lucky that it’s been almost peaceful.” Noah sets everything down, and leans over to kiss Sebastian’s cheek. “Hello, love. There is food downstairs, and I brought some bread over to the main kitchen. May I sit next to you and be close for a while until I warm up?” The rain, which’d been steady for most of the day, was turning a bit cool.
“I was a bit jealous at first.” Sebastian smiles and nods, making room to slide an arm around Noah there. “Of the fact that Nessie, or something like her seems to have turned up too, but they do make up for it, and then some. And d’you know...if worst comes to worst and they can’t be returned…” He smiles a little.
Clint has to laugh. “You know, come to think of it, one of the people here now, wherever he is, the one from Glasgow, who used to be a duck...there was a show when I was a kid, a little older than that, but you’d see reruns sometimes...I’m pretty sure he’d know what you DO with massive flying things. There was a dragon guarding things or something in an episode. Or Thor.”
Noah settles in and tucks his feet up on the couch before snagging a mug of cocoa. “I think Balthier talked to the former Duck gentleman. Once he’s had a chance to get some rest, I could see if he wants to talk to him.” He’s cupping the mug in his hands. “Feel free to have as much as you’d like, Clint. I’m not in love with the candy things, but I suspect it’s unfamiliarity. I know they’re traditional. Thor - seems very worried about Steve right now.”
“Tony too.” Clint agrees, plopping in a marshmallow. “Honestly, I can’t blame him. They’re close. If it was one of my people, well, I’m glad I only do casual around here.” He’s WORRIED about Steve, but it could be Natasha, HIS Natasha, which would be worse. “It must be Hell right now. “ At least he can sort of imagine the feeling.
“You know, the trick with these is that you let them completely melt. The fluffy texture’s probably a bit weird for you.”
“It reminds me a bit of meringues, in the height of summer when they kind of melt and weep.” Noah sips his mug and leans back with a sigh. He’s folded close to Sebastian. “If they melt, are they just - vanilla flavored sugar? Or do they thicken the cocoa a little?”
“More like...there’s the goo a bit, if you hit it right, otherwise, it’s more the flavor if you're not stuffing a ton of them in.” Clint thinks about it. “I could see it making a huge mess in that case.” And it’d probably be sort of disgusting, come to that.
“I should try that sometime.” Noah smiles at him. “How did all your calls go, Sebastian?”
Balthier’s hair is a mess as he peeks in and he shows the mug he’s holding. “Can I steal a half mug of cocoa?” He’s wearing one of the robes from the wardrobe, and a sleeping shirt and loose trousers underneath. Probably tried to get some sleep and woke up at some point.
“Fairly promising.” Sebastian looks thoughtful. “Haytham hasn’t noticed much of anything near him, then he mentioned trying to have a look to see if...it’s anything to do with any of their stuff. There’s a new recruit coming on who can do...things, so he’s looking around. It’s something. Oh Balthier, “ He waves him over. “Please, come join us.”
“Hey,’ Clint gives Baltheir a wave. “How’re you doing?”
Balthier tries out a smile on Clint, but he’s pretty sure it’s not convincing. Still, he’s leaning to add some cocoa to his mug (it’s mostly full of coffee from downstairs) and he curls up in one of the chairs. “I’m - much the same, I fear. Am I interrupting anything? Or are you all just catching up for the day and winding down?”
“I’m aiming for the latter? I don’t know if Clint or Sebastian have other plans.” Noah looks at Balthier’s mug and raises an eyebrow.”
“Decaffeinated,” Balthier says. “I’m being sensible.”
“We were watching bird videos.” Sebastian offers. “But no specific plans for now. I can’t get over these things. They’re fascinating.” It’s one of those things that even has Clint snorting.
“I do like them.” Clint says, musing. “They’re probably confused, being here. Poor things. I wonder if they’re all that dangerous. You said no one’s said anything?”
“All I’ve heard is that businesses are asked to shut down if the birds are nearby to not spook them, but other than that -” Noah shakes his head. “They tend to splash around in this huge fountain in town in the morning, and then they’ve got a nest somewhere in the middle of some old estate, and they do a circuit of the area in the evening. They were doing -” He brings up a shaky video of the birds calling and doing what looks, for all intents and purposes rather like a courting flight. Just - fat bellied giant birds doing it while hooting. “It seems - it’s inconvenient, but it seems harmless? Not really inclined to eat people. I think someone said they were pulling up some non-native plants, but there’s worse habits.”
“Non native CAN grow back.” Sebastian considers. “I assume anyway. If it was done once. Isn’t that how potatoes got here?” He glances at them. “Well, specified here. Something to do with highlanders and...anyway, they introduced it and it worked for a while before there were problems.”
“Uh…”Clint blinks. “That’s...historical.” And not really something he’s ever thought about in much detail, but he sees where you’d have to do it now, sure. “Someone should set up a camera though, pop it online. Like that giraffe last spring, when it was being born. Actually that might HELP if it was unobtrusive enough.”
“It’s a good point. Sort of a - don’t poke the sleeping -” A video pops up of the birds playing with a long tendril of honeysuckle. “Ignoring that they sound ridiculous, it’s - almost cute.” In a bumbling way. Balthier brushes a hand at the behavior.
“Invasive honeysuckle,” Noah points out. “I doubt they know or care.” He leans against Sebastian’s arm. “So - no appointment tomorrow? Between the blob, the tomatoes, the bears, and the birds?” No bees, yet, at least.
“No appointment,” Sebastian nods. “We’d thought cancelling might also give Hari time to….come to terms with the whole thing. He hasn’t exactly AGREED so much as waved it off with kind of a nod when Cal asked him. If nothing else, HE’S still in, but we’ve got some time to work on it now. ALTHOUGH by the time this is over, I’m pretty sure they’ll have gotten at least…” He thinks for a second. “...Twenty or so new people who can’t believe they’ve witnessed all of this.”
Clint snickers at that. “You know, post every major event the avengers end up involved in, there probably is a huge rise in shrink appointments at home. I’m kind of amazed no one here, including me, hasn’t just ended up in a completely passed out pile somewhere because they’ve either had too much to drink or taken too much of their drug of choice, already. Every major crisis we have, here or there, it’s kind of gone that way. MY shrink says I’m too cynical about things like that, but come on.”
“There definitely was some - odd coping methods with the Judge Magisters at home.” Noah chuckles. “I fear it’s a bit - you know when people weren’t doing well? Poor Balthier was having a rough time of it. Basch’d moved out for a bit, because he couldn’t handle his anger and needed time.” He spreads out his hand that’s not busy holding Sebastian’s side. “There I was, trying to think how to explain that the gatehouse, empty, was unsettling me, and wondering if Sebastian would visit me, if I moved out.”
“That was kind of...nuts, actually.” Clint nods. “It did snowball, didn’t it?” And coping mechanisms...those are weird things sometimes. He gets it though. “I can imagine that was...an experience. I dont mind being alone, but you get used to things and people being around ,I guess?”
“I also had -” Noah trails off. “I kept seeing myself in the mirror and thinking he was home.” He shakes his head. “But - the point of the story was that - it was - a mess. I was feeling very lazy and not really inclined to do that much, but I went to tell Sebastian and try to beg for his company, and - suddenly realized that he thought I was fleeing from him. And being that I’m not great with words -”
“You asked if he’d court you?” Balthier guesses.
Noah nods looking slightly sheepish. “And I’m not unhappy at all about that, but it was a rough thing that came out - well in the end? Something to be positive about, I suppose.”
“Well, hey.” Clint nods. “Glad that worked out. And sure, positive’s a thing. I can get behind the fact I know that ninety percent of the time, things here pass.”
“I am honored and happy you came to visit. It’s nice to meet you, and I can see why Balthier likes you,” Noah says reaching to touch near Clint’s hand. “I’d probably enjoy meeting Steve as well, once you get him back. The party that Balthier’s trying to organize will probably be inside, since we’ve lost our warm window, or next spring, but it’ll still be enjoyable to see everyone.”
“Steve’s good.” Clint agrees, nodding. “Decent guy and all of that. I’m pretty sure he’d want to still do that.” Hearing that someone likes him, as opposed to tolerates his presence is one of those things he still has to get used to every time he hears it. “You guys have been fantastic, by the way, so thanks for that. It’s kind of nice there’s somewhere the weird is...liveable.”
“I fear a lot of that was our coping methods. The Judge Magisters tended to do late night meals, usually taking over a table in the corner in various states of dress. And I know you and your siblings did meals. We often got reports that your sister had set up some group doing skewers and lunch parties. Though I think you set them up as well?” Noah tilts his head at Balthier.
“They were usually pulling me out of whatever I was working on and giving me a proper helmet to wear, but - yeah. I was to blame for some of that as much as the others.” Balthier should probably explain. “My sister would do patrols on the streets, and my brother was sort of - he’d do meetings our father didn’t want to attend. I was in the engineering corps.”
“Sounds about like post mission stuff.” Clint nods. “I think the first thing I did after the first time that I went out with my team was passing out in a really crappy 24 hour diner. I mean, luckily, we had a ton of them around to choose from, but.” He snorts a little. “We have a couple understandings with every place close to the tower. And I’m pretty sure MY Tony...uh the one where I’m from, is working on just adding something that’s not quick service to the tower, since he DOES have a company operating out of the lower levels, and I’m pretty sure the med-tech people weren’t all that happy about the fact it’s basically frozen truck burgers and hotdogs.”
“Not even tacos?” Sebastian quips, though honestly, he does tend to end up with those if he’s somewhere public and it’s near a meal time. “I thought he was rich.” he jokes, considering the fact they’re sitting around in one of the houses on his land and all of that.
“Yeah, you’ve got room to talk.” Clint snickers a bit. “And hey, engineering. Sounds like you’d fit in there. Well adjusting for whatever magical stuff you have going on there, but we’ve done the aliens thing before. “
“A lot of what I did was -” Balthier trails off. “I’d work on locks, since it was tedious dull work to figure out how they worked and make new keys for them. I did some sort of - vanity work, I suppose? Fancy doors, elaborate tracery. And some of it was just - grunt work. Send out a team of people to fight mimics and fix the gutters. Send out all the new recruits to figure out what’s wrong with the conditioning system for a building. That sort of thing.”
“Your father didn’t like you working that far from the lab. I think he hoped you’d end up working in weapons research like himself.” Noah leans to offer Balthier a blanket. “You know, we could probably set up a therapy thing for yourself. I suspect venting about things might help to get a clearer line between - what you survived because you were there, and what should’ve been going on.”
“Hey, if you want a number.” Clint offers, nodding at that. “I can pass my info on. I probably have a card for the office somewhere on me.” And if not, he can always dig up the webpage, he guesses. “Mine’s not bad. Sometimes a little bit quick to push stuff that’s better left alone but, they had me do a couple mandatory things before I got the implants and it was sort of determined I should stick around. Which is fine with me, I guess. Not a lot of people like me so it’s good to learn how to fix that?”
Balthier frowns. “Is that how they put it? Because that seems kind of - self defeating to say that the immediate problem is that you aren’t liked by people. You could be a jerk, and the people around you could be jerks, and the correct thing isn’t always to make them happy, you know?” He turns his mug in his hands before leaning to set it down. “I kind of - a lot of it is that it feels like therapy’s - different here. You’d have people who’d talk to ex-soldiers and try to help them settle back in if they’re injured, but it’s - everything was nerves or ghosts in the night, and here there’s tons of terms for lots of things.”
“Nah that’s the me version.” Clint pauses. “Well, technically the me version. The person who put it into words isn’t a therapist. But nah, it’s not all about bending over backwards. It’d be easier if I did that. But instead…” He shrugs.. “More ways to cope that are actually socially acceptable. And hey, there’s plenty of people who seem to think that still. The nerves and ghosts in the night.”
“In Starkhaven too.” Sebastian says. “The latter one, at least. Definitely some nerves at work there, but some things go beyond it.”
“They didn’t have - trauma? Depression? All those terms.” Balthier shakes his head. “Probably not the topic for right now though. But - I can check out some people. I’d just - I know my stories are weird, and I want to be safe.”
“Ours have heard weird, trust me.” Sebastian says. “I think seeing someone’s death wounds that definitely killed them while they’re standing in front of you applies, and no one thought it was too odd. And it’s been good for Aedan that they’re able to grasp...well, he’s from SUCH a different world than even mine, if that makes sense. Figuratively.”
Balthier nods. “I’ve got - the aching is annoying since I don’t have the scars to show for it, but - apparently that happens? Strange didn’t sound surprised by the idea.”
Noah says, “I suspect it happens. Wounds that heal and the body doesn’t know how to deal with it. But your issue is also dreams, from what you said. That might be helped. And just - you said you were feeling - angry about things?” He’s not sure how comfortable Balthier is talking about it.
“Just - sitting there, unable to sleep and suddenly realizing it’s not normal to try to shove an eleven year old kid into the army, and it was just as bad if not worse for my siblings.” Balthier looks sheepish. “I was self centered and didn’t realize they had it too.”
Sebastian nods at that part, since yeah, it’s happened a bit at times. He’s noticed his shoulder acts up when he’s especially stressed, for instance.
“That IS messed up.” Clint agrees, shaking his head. Barney….my brother tried to keep me out of even the carnival SHOWS until I was at least thirteen. Something about not wanting me to get involved.” He shrugs a little. There’s times he misses how they used to be.
“I do miss it a bit? I was very much - protected a little due to my father, but on the other hand, I didn’t really have any downtime. I didn’t get leave to go into town or that sort of thing.” Balthier sighs. “I should try to sleep again. Thanks for the cocoa.” He smiles at Sebastian. “I hope the thing with Iomhar goes well.”