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Tweak says, "did somebody stole my car?!"

Varric Tethras (ofwickedgrace) wrote in noexits,
@ 2022-07-04 21:15:00

Entry tags:

!log/thread/narrative, dragon age: varric tethras, marvel (comics): clint barton, → week 040 (the walking dead)

The Walking Dead - Day 1 - Midmorning

Varric Tethras/Clint Barton

DAY 1 - MIDMORNING/AFTERNOON | THE WALKING DEAD| PG-13 (may update)

Adventuring!

Varric sighed softly as he moved into possibly the biggest, most dilapitated Human city he'd ever seen. There were big ones in his homeworld, of course, ones where you similarly couldn't see the end. But he'd never been in one that classified as 'ruins', no matter the architecture.

Chiding himself on being dwarven for noticing the quality of the structures, Varric recentered himself on minding the surroundings. It was unlike anything he'd seen before, even by human standards. That wasn't as disconcerting to him though, he'd been through plenty of foriegn lands in his own world. What was worse was the feel of the place, which had nothing to do with the insane amount of fake-stone he was walking over and surrounded by.

Glancing over at the first other being he'd actually spoken to other than the angry, hairy nug who had seemed to decide interrupting its dinner warranted a full-on vendetta of harrassment the past few days, Varric gently hefted the lovely weight of his crossbow as he and the blond human in weird clothes pushed forward into the depths of the city, further back from the same-but-different ruins he'd been staring at for several days. Clint didn't seem too bad, after all, and the last time he'd been hijacked the company had been a lot less amicable. That was enough to give the Dwarf a small morale boost.

Nudging his partner as they walked further and further from the strange but familiar set of buildings, he nodded up ahead.

"Any idea what those signs mean? I can't read the writing," he grunted. Most of them were only half visible, but the characters were strange to him, and they were mostly in squares and without the pictures or shapes that had been more or less standard in his own world to indicate to non-native speakers. Really, what was so hard about making shapes like an anvil for a smithy, an apple or a haunch for a different sort of grocer? He grunted again in irritation and checked his 'phone', the word Clint had told him meant the little black box. The guy had invaluable insight, but Varric was still working it out. "Word on the street is shamblers and a lack of food or water, though I guess somebody already found a stream. We should probably look for grub... doesn't matter who you are, grub's important." Though he wouldn't mind finding a vat of ale, either.

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thingsandarrows
2022-07-05 01:55 am UTC (link)

Clint didn't catch all of that, but he didn't have to, he'd seen the weird runes on the guy's phone and was following the man's gaze towards the sign. It was a question in the move and not a direction, and Clint really didn't think either of them wanted to see what they were taking off at Platinum Gentlemen's Club in this weird universe either.

I mean, that might be Loki's thing he guessed but that guy'd have still probably checked in with Hawkeye. I mean Kate thought so.

He kept his bow drawn and his right hand rested in a way that wasn't casual on his shoulder, near the quiver. He scanned the street, and he'd been scanning the street as they'd wandered off campus down an abandoned highway and overgrown construction lots to a strip of developed, if you could call it that now, exurban strip malls, gas stations and oubliettes. It left him uneasy how abandonned the city seemed, even more uneasy than the Evil Dead that'd met them at the off ramp. It always made him feel like he missed the memo when the streets were empty and he and his bow were taking the center of them.

Just like Srebrenica.

Except, this was more like Atlanta(?). On this exit, there were two spas, VIP looking worse for wear and aquamarine maybe intact, or fitted with bulletproof glass. Based on the patina. He thought at least in this lighting based on the sheen. There was a halfway house that might have had squatters but might have had a food pantry at least, hanging open to the elements and abandon. Midtown Urology and Surgical would be a prize in the office park to the left but was likely long picked over. Then a Circle K and a pizza joint. Fuck he wished pizza restaurants were open in the apocalypse. Even "New York Style" ones in what the signs said was Georgia.

Clint gestured with his bow unwilling to move his hand from ready and pointed in order. He kept his voice lower than his usual tone, or at least he felt he did. "Spa. Spa. Bar. Church house. Restaurant. Store. and Doctor."

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ofwickedgrace
2022-07-05 02:10 am UTC (link)

Varric glanced over as Clint spoke, his new roommate's explanation clear and conscise, and understandable enough.

He let out a low snort at the number of 'spa's.

"What are they modled after, Orlais?" he said, then shook his head. He had learned enough to know he was a total outsider among the ragtag collection of people who'd landed in this place, but that didn't bother him so much. It wasn't so strange to be an outsider, not to a Dwarf who'd grown up in Kirkwall surrounded by family from Orzimar.

He assessed, quickly. Everything looked not only dilapitated, but looted.

"The locals probably cleared out the markets, anywhere that advertised food or supplies that would be useful in an emergency. I'd try... maybe one of the spas? They might have medical stuff stashed away nobody thought to look for. Or... I don't know. They served food or drink a lot in the places I'm familiar with. Maybe they were overlooked?" He spoke aloud, faceing forward, but then turned more towards his new partner, shrugging a shoulder.

"This whole place seems more familiar to you. I'll follow your instincts over mine. None of this shit makes sense to me."

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thingsandarrows
2022-07-05 02:47 am UTC (link)

Clint considered the spas, watching the other man in the wide, fractured windows. They'd maybe have some medical supplies and might not be as wide a target. But somehow he didn't them having much food that would hang around months after the fact.

"Clinic's where I'd go, but it's where everyone'd go. Church place might have canned goods." He could suggest splitting up, but that never actually ended well. He looked between the two separated by a strip club parking lot. They'd had time to walk here, this wasn't a one stop shot. He was also going to raid that pizza place. Which meant the spa made the most sense orderwise. Clint gestured towards the spa, "Back entrance is probably easier."

"How's that thing in close quarters?" He nodded to the crossbow.

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ofwickedgrace
2022-07-05 03:08 am UTC (link)

Varric blinked, then turned around fully as he reached over, fluidly bring the crossbow that was almost as long as he was high to a front and ready position, the four limbs springing forward and locking before an eyeblink.

He smirked slightly, then turned and showed off the shinging metal plates that lined the expertly crafted foregrip and shaft.

"Bianca loves meeting teeth, if need be. Don't worry about us," the Dwarf winked, then nodded. "Not that it's our forte. You any good at hand-to-hand? I mostly get by on surprise alone from the short angle."

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thingsandarrows
2022-07-05 03:43 pm UTC (link)

Clint gave a low appreciative whistle. He'd have to talk to Maria Hill about getting something like that. He could actually kind of see it, snapping open like some sort of deadly flower, a compound compound bow. Maybe with an energy shield if someone could look at him long enough to maybe start to like him again. So maybe not an energy shield. His nose wrinkled. I mean maybe some genius could like Varric though here he guessed.

"I'm more an overwatch guy usually. I've had the training and I was sword based for a while." Clint wasn't terrible at hand to hand, though he prefered weapons, even improvised. By human standards he was more than competent, but in this line of work, a certain class of threats needed competent and built like an Asgardian tank to stand a chance in hand to hand. "With these guys, it's probably more keep away."

As they walked past the windows in the front of the spa, around the building, Clint turned his step backwards, presumably watching the road they came from in lieu of the way they were going, which rightly, Varric was facing. But it was as much to keep an eye on the other man, at least until the back door came into view and was more interesting.

"But maybe Bianca takes point?" He hoped he got that name right.

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ofwickedgrace
2022-07-05 07:55 pm UTC (link)

"Perfect, then we're two long-distance fighters stuffing ourselves into a confined space," came the jovial, if not slightly sarcastic response. Varric chuckled and shook his head, but nodded, withdrawing his dagger from his belt and laying it flat against the foregrip, just in case. He nodded at the plan and followed around, taking a quick approximation as they went and finding the back door, observing it for a moment before the finely made dagger was returned to his belt and Bianca was shouldered in what would look like a precarious position, if it wasn't so natural and the Dwarf below it so sturdy. His hands flashed to his belt, withdrawing his lock picking kit, and he bent down slightly to make short work of the lock.

The door. In all of fifteen seconds the kit was replaced at his belt and Bianca and the dagger were back in his hands securely, and he used his elbow to jostle the now unlocked handle of the door, using his foot to open it the rest of the way as Bianca raised expectantly. Hearing and seeing nothing other than a peculiar new stench, Varric glanced over his shoulder and gave his partner a small, slight nod.

"Here goes nothin'. C'mon, girl, let's see what we can find around here," he muttered, mostly to he crossbow before he ducked into the building.

The hallway before them was clear, mostly covered in dust. Varric pushed forward, opening a few side doors and finding them locked also. With a small curse, Varric once again traded the weapons for his kit as he made short work of the locks.

The first door that opened Varric caught a brief glimpse of what might have been a small office, before the smell hit him and he glimpsed a rotten form turning and letting out a low, gutteral moan. Varric nearly had a heart attack, only at the last second snatching the handle of the door and yanking it shut as he leapt back, then immediately used his kit to relock the door. He flinched as he heard a body thud against the other side, still hearing the groaning and then what might have been fingernails scratching at the door.

The rogue flinched, Bianca aimed again, but after two more thuds the shambler seemed to have given up again and quiet prevailed.

Pressed against the far wall of the hall, the Dwarf finally let out a breath, then turned with a slightly cocky grin to stave off the last of the fear as he offered the other a quick wink.

"So, unless we need a bunch of paperwork, I vote we just leave that room alone," he whispered. "Only have so many bolts between us, right? Let's let the bossman work."

Turning after a moment he moved down, this time much more cautious as he opened the next door, Bianca already raised as the door creaked open.

Then, it was Varric's turn to let out a low whistle. "Well, this is better," he said lowly, the light spilling into what looked like a large supply closet. Towels and boxes and jugs, all labeled with the same foriegn writting, but even in the dim light he new a storehouse when he saw it. And thankfully, not a shambler in sight.

"Hey, Bouncy, over here. Long as we can give the rest of this place a sweep, I think we found the main cache already," he turned and nodded, stepping away from the doorway and nodding encouragingly before he turned and lifted Bianca. A short ways further the room opened up and changed into a richly decorated, if not long abandoned lobby room. His heart almost started to reclaim its normal beat as he paused.

"You wanna see what's in there? I can finish the sweep, I'll shout if I need you," he offered, eyes flickering back to the first door as he visibly flinched again.

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thingsandarrows
2022-07-06 01:29 am UTC (link)

"That glass wall's safest. It's got a... kind of thing where it doesn't break just cracks." Clint watched Varric moce towards the lobby, before moving his eye back towatds the door.

The cache they found was nothing huge but better than he'd expected. With the practived truancy of a bored child when their doctor stepped out of the room, Clint began pulling open drawers and cabinets for anything worth pilfering. And set himself on the bizarre train of what exactly in a place like this was edible.

Towels were smart, and sheets, on a different sort of trip. But Delreth had those and both impromptu bandages were too bulky when they were looking for food.

There were several bottles of oil, skimming the labels, nothing seemed not food, but opening them revealed most of them rancid. Still, he managed two bottles of coconut and whatever a safflower based oils were, a half used container of tiger balm, most of a pump bottle of hand sanitizer, and two tubs of coconut oil massage cream that he didn't know were food but maybe could be. He swept them all in the gym bag he had brought on this accidental trip.

And then, under the sink, he stumbled on a cardboard box half full of red and purple plastic packets. That was gonna be a weird sell.

Clint picked up one and ripped it open with his teeth, squeezing some out on his right wrist and licking it. And trying not to let his mind wander for too long exactly where it had automatically gone.

As a food, edible lube tasted like candy chased with vaseline. But it said edible and energy gels could taste the same. Clint tilted the box into his duffelbag too.

Splitting attention between the door and the contents. He field stripped the room with more of a burglar's urgency than a soldier's precision. But this place wasn't stocked with as much order either. On a thought as he left, he grabbed a towel, shoving it in the back of his waistband and came back to check on Varric.

"Nothing great but something's probably there. Anything?"

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ofwickedgrace
2022-07-06 02:34 am UTC (link)

Varric had taken note, and done a quick sweep. Looked like a basement, but from the symbols alone he decided it was most likely closer to a ruin than anything with lootable stash, and thankfully the only shambler seemed to have been locked in their office safely.

Grunting and shoving a bit of rubble away, ignoring the dust-covered chairs and cushioned tables in the rooms he found, he doubled back and half stepped through the door, eyes and ears still alert.

Glancing over and noting the strange squares Clint was stashing, he perked a brow. "Nothing else moving on this floor, other than Boss man in there," he said, nodding towards the office. He turned and perked a brow curiously, noting the discarded and torn package left behind. "You find something?"

Then he paused, the light from outside hitting Bianca's metal plating and glancing off something in the darkest corner of the closet.

"Hang on," he pushed into the room again and Bianca was gently set aside as he reached under and pulled a smaller box, made of weak material and covered in something shiny and transluscent. Some type of packaging. But inside...

The Dwarf yanked his hand into the packaging and pulled out one of the small, clear bottles. There was a screw on lid that felt like no material he was familiar with, but opened easily enough. Varric sniffed the clear liquid inside, then took a small half swig of the contents.

"Well, it tastes funny, but pretty sure this is water," he grinned, recapping the bottle and picking up the half-ful tray of luxury water bottles that had probably stocked the business for its elite clientel, back when it had those. He displayed the offering to his partner readily. "Not too bad, as long as it's not poisoned, right?" Water containers were at least something, even if it was just a small number.

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thingsandarrows
2022-07-06 06:16 pm UTC (link)

"I found oils that don't smell off and some lube that says its edible. I mean at least it's probably got sugar in it." Clint reached in his bag and lobbed one of the red sachets towards Varric after catching his eye for a moment.

"We'll need to check one of these other places for something better."

The lube was rather forgotten as Varric seemed to see something, set down his weapon, and go to get something. Clint watched his progress, though kept his peripheral vision on the reflections in the glass. His face broke into a broad smile.

"Bro, that's water. We should definitely take th--" The celebration was short lived as he saw movement in the reflection nof the window. Maybe Varric could hear it or would. But Clint, even when his ears worked, had always seen things first.

Had they left the door open? Or could these things turns knobs.

Perhaps the better response here was Clever Girl. But instead, Hawkeye just swore. "Oh shit."

Without turning around, he reached up and nocked an arrow, pressing the familiar controls he would know blind to start the quiver on its rapid and mechanical whir replacing the head with an old familiar friend, Electric. He nocked and drew the bow, aiming at the window and hoping he'd seen that patina correctly.

He shot the bow at the window creating a spirograph of quickly growing cracks held together by the safety glass covering as the arrow hit and richocheted off the window then into the eye socket of the approaching zombie. It sat there for a moment before the arrow head released its 21,000 volts directly into the amygdala of the zombie, giving a muffled zap as the creature's brain exploded in its death-weakened skull. The creature fell forward.

Why did this shit always happen to him?

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ofwickedgrace
2022-07-06 06:38 pm UTC (link)

Varric, smirking in triumph and nodding in agreement, nearly dropped the box at Clint's sudden movement. He instead stashed the half-full box quickly and jumped forward, raising Bianca and then an eyebrow at the whirling coming from the quiver on Clint's back. For a moment the dwarf was struck by the beatuty of the device, recognizing it quickly.

At the arrow was drawn he'd started to protest, then immediately recognized a perfect richochette and saw in the fractured glass the reflection of the results.

Startled but impressed, Varric blinked, then reached up and grabbed Clint's shoulder, yanking him back into the room.

"Not goona act like that wasn't an impressive shot, or that I don't wanna know how you did that, but keep it down, will ya? Shamblers are attracted to noice, not spooked off by it," he hissed, then immediately winced. It was rare that he lost his cool.

Taking a deep breath an shaking his head, he let go and then nodded to the supplies. "Never mind. Still getting over that jump scare. You humans are gross reanimated... no offense. Let's grab what we found and go hit someplace else. Hopefully the noise will bring the other shamblers over this way, so if we're gone it'll be a distraction while we clear someplace else."

He shouldered Bianca and walked over to snatch the box, finding the clear covering had some give but was reasonably strong all the same. He'd have to ask Clint about the material later, preferably back at camp.

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thingsandarrows
2022-07-06 07:24 pm UTC (link)

While Clint was normally used to being pulled about, the fight or flight tension that seemed to always settle on fight made him a little more sturdy on his feet. For a moment until he realized it wasn't one of gen Z grabbing him.

It took him a moment to refocus on the man's face as he crouched down. It'd been a while since he'd heard a corpse's head explode, but the brain should have muffled most of it. Unless he was loud. He didn't entirely hide the alarm from rounding his eyes at the accusation though quickly tried to play it off, recovering the instinct to hide the fact that he just wasn't sure how loud he'd been.

"I wasn't that loud, probably?" That was more of a question than a dismissal. He furrowed his brow and looked from Varric to the hallway they'd come from, to the splintering glass that would probably be an easier exit with another well placed shot. To the door that unlocked from this side that would probalby be a more sensible exit if had more time then reached for his own duffelbag, zipping it closed and going to see if he could unlock the door. It clicked and swung open easily enough and the parking lot looked clear. But Clint couldn't help be a little disappointed that he'd made the smarter choice for once. It always felt so anti-climactic leaving burglaries through the front door.

Even it's how Natasha would have done it.

"Church place." He tried to speak more softly now. "The white house two buildings down is might have food they're like a shelter I think. But the door's open so.... might get bitey?"

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ofwickedgrace
2022-07-06 08:16 pm UTC (link)

Varric withdrew quickly at the auto response, lifting a hand and lowered his crossbow to present himself as a non-threat. He'd been around enough fighters, hell, had enough of his own reactions to see the response as an impulse.

As Clint spoke, the hand lowered and he paused, thoughtfully, then nodded.

Opening his mostly empty shoulderbag, he reached into the box and pulled out the plastic bottles, stuffing them into something more familiar as a weight. He grunted slightly as he readjusted the bag, then turned, thoughtful.

"Maybe a bit of noise isn't so bad," he conceded. They hadn't seen that many zombies before they'd come in, after all. He turned back towards Clint.

"Think you can break that weird glass completely? Might make enough noise to get the attention of any other nearby walkers. We can go out the front, book it to the church, Bianca can take care of any shamblers who might notice us. Quietly, they never seem to notice anything other than noise."

The lack of Clint noticing the sound of glass sharply panging struck Varric as odd, but then, he might have just been getting jumpy at the overall silence of this world. It was one of the reasons he hated caves, too. Heightened senses meant overreaction, and overreaction could spell an easy death.

"What do you think? That isn't normal glass. Might be the exit that could cover our trail best."

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thingsandarrows
2022-07-06 09:02 pm UTC (link)

At that suggestion, Clint cracked a sort of devil-may-care grin. He knew he liked this guy.

"I mean I love exploding glass as much as the next guy. And yeah. But won't that bring em here?" Clint stepped out the door and looked down the street. He didn't want to shoot where they were going. So he guessed that meant they'd find a new way back where they came.

His hand went back to the quiver, selecting another button to replace the head of his new shaft with a sonic head, nocked it and took longer than he needed to aim at a red light a block and a half down the road.

"Get ready to go and..." he waited for Varric to respond before loosing the arrow. It flew and the light wobbled when it was hit, but all three glass domes shattered and probably even the dead noticed the sharp and sonic rupture as the arrow let out a cracking loud noise away from them.

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ofwickedgrace
2022-07-07 12:04 am UTC (link)

"Yeah? But at least if we're quiet on the way out they'll be coming here and not wherever we're going next," he grunted and shrugged a shoulder, returning the grin with his own firebrand 'ready' smirk.

As the arrow struck and exploded Varric momentarily started, flinching, then shook his head and let out a low, nervous laugh as he notched his bolt a little tighter, sweeping his coat to the side to keep his cantrips at hand.

"Yeah, I reckon that'll do it. Let's move, Bouncey!" he roared (since the whole point was to get this location noticed anyway and his nerves were too amped up to keep it in regardless).

He took off like a shot, with agility most didn't think his physical self capable of. Not that he thought the undead were really appraising his physical appearance anyway. At the moment the only pressing thought was putting as much distance between them and the building they'd made a target, and praying to the Maker that no other stranded heroes were nearby to be caught by surprise of what had to be a ruhkus that'd attract anything within a half mile easily.

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thingsandarrows
2022-07-07 07:59 pm UTC (link)

Clint didn't need to be told, turning on a heel and bolting had basically been his plan in the moments since he half came up it. It seemed Varric had caught on though. Varric had a head start but Clint Barton had long strides so made ground quickly through the strip club parking lot and across the street with weeds growing through cracks in the pavement to the abandonned--hopefully abandonned--shelter.

He stopped before the stoop, leaning up to peer down the exposed and weather-worn hallway to what had once been a sort of sterile and judgemental welcoming hallway. A stairway that led up or down, probably a hallway with offices, a day room, kitchen. Residential upstairs. Who the fuck even knew for the basement. It didn't matter how many places like this you stopped by they were all shades of the same.

"Think it's safe....?" His hand curled like a cat crouching to spring on the railing by the door because honestly. He couldn't tell. This place had definitely been looted, definitely had squatters, and by the dark stains on the stairs, definitely hadn't ended well. But that was blood stains, not fresh or congealing blood. So today?

He didn't see movement in the dust or shadows.

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ofwickedgrace
2022-07-08 05:00 am UTC (link)

Even with his head start, Varric was easily outpaced, and he almost rolled his eyes as the human bounced on ahead of him, mentally locking in the nickname he'd been floating around just after meeting the entergetic human that morning.

Still, he wasn't anything if not an agile example of his own race, and landed behind Clint just in time to hear the question. He paused, looking around carefully. Glancing behind them, he could see shamblers heading towards the mess they'd left of the spa. Again he felt a pang of concern for anybody else in the area, but then... if somebody knew the danger and went towards the loud noises, well... it was hard to keep stupid alive when there were plenty of options to run or hide.

Keeping his attention focused on the interior, he didn't see any signs of recent mess or hear anything out of the ordinary.

"Think it's safer than staying out here and letting those things catch our scent," he grunted, then pushed forward even as he did his best to stay quiet. "Switch to those lightning arrows though. No reason to leave the shamblers a trail," he grunted over his shoulder.

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