burnedgirl (burnedgirl) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2015-03-21 00:24:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, clint barton (hawkeye), katniss everdeen |
Who: Clint Barton and Katniss Everdeen
What: The tour.
When: March
Where: Clint’s winery in Temecula
Rating: Low
Status: Complete
Clint and Lucky were waiting outside. California in the winter was beautiful, and this winter was no exception. The snow had actually done a lot of the work for Clint, destroying quite a few crops. The day laborers he’d hired had finally finished making their way through the acres, transporting and consolidating the grapevines and olive trees that had made it through.
They’d left the uncultivated land alone--not that there was much there. The natural climate of this part of California was arid, though not quite a desert. There were natural trees, grasses, and other plants, but it wasn’t anything near a forest either.
He was wearing his hearing aid today, since it was good to gather more data that was ‘outside’ noise, away from urban centers. Each setting was different, and he hoped that the data he was streaming back to Tony would help in the next prototype. He could hear birds, which was--strange. It transported him back to Indiana, as a child. He hadn’t heard birds since he’d lost his hearing. The hearing aids he’d used had never been calibrated for it, and he’d only tested Tony’s version in urban settings so far.
It was...nice.
Katniss was driving through the countryside to the address Clint had given her. She was still getting used to driving again, having not really been behind the wheel since she and her family had moved to the OC. She’d learnt before when they had moved out here and sporadically driven her mom’s car once in the OC, so driving regularly was a new experience.
Pulling up to the house, she saw the man she assumed was Clint waiting outside with a dog by his side. Turning the engine off, she took the keys from the ignition and got out of the car, admiring the view as she did. “Nice place,” she admired, adjusting her sunglasses as she turned to face him and shut the car door. “Clint Barton I presume?” she asked, walking up to him.
“Ain’t Dr. Livingston,” Clint quipped in reply. Lucky was sprawled in the shade, but he raised his head, obligingly, when the car arrived and the young woman got out. “Kat, right? You find the place okay?”
Katniss smiled at his reply and tucked her keys into her pocket. “Yeah, I used my phone’s sat nav,” she nodded her head towards the car where her phone was still plugged in. “So you live here? Or just on the weekends?” she asked with a smile, sliding her hands into her back pockets.
“Not that much yet,” Clint replied, and returned the smile. “I have a place in Hermosa Beach. I just bought this place in October. I’ve only been out here a few times.” He tilted his head and nodded towards the house. “You want a tour? Or do you want to see the range?”
Katniss slid her glasses down her nose so she could fix him with a knowing look over their rim. “Range first, tour later,” she told him with a slight grin and a glint in her eye, waiting for him to lead the way.
“You bring your gear?” Clint asked. He glanced past her, at her car, and raised an eyebrow.
“In the trunk,” Katniss nodded to the back of the car. “Didn’t fancy getting pulled over with a bow and quiver full of arrows on my front seat,” she told him with a smile. “Give me a sec,” she told him, popping the trunk and taking out her quiver and tossing it across her shoulder, followed by her bow. “Lead the way, sensei,” she grinned at him as she closed the trunk.
Clint smiled, and then moved to the porch, where his bow and quiver were sitting. He slung them both over his shoulder and nudged Lucky with his toe. “Bit of a hike. We can take the ATV, if you want.”
Katniss' eyes lit up at the mention of the ATV. "Don't make me beg," she grinned. She'd always been a tomboy and ATVs spoke to her heart. She got the feeling already that she and Clint would get on like a house on fire.
That earned a genuine laugh, and a smirk from Clint, and he led Katniss and Lucky over to the temporary garage. There were two ATVs parked, but the one Clint led her too was more like a jeep than a motorcycle--somewhere in between--with room for two adults to ride, if they sat back-to-front, but also a place on the back end to put things--gear or supplies, but in Clint’s case, Lucky, who jumped into place without prompting.
“It’s not too bumpy,” Clint promised. “Terrain’s pretty flat. You ever driven one of these before?” He said ‘driven’ rather than ‘ridden’, taking a gamble.
“If I say no are you going to stop me?” Katniss asked excitedly as she looked over the machine. She reached out without really thinking and stroked the dog, now on the back of the ATV, on the head.
“Nope--but I’m not going to let you drive, either,” Clint replied, and then climbed on. “Hop on.”
Katniss grinned at him and moved to sit behind him. This was going to be a great day. Watching the landscape slip past them as he drove them out to what she assumed was the range. “Is it far?” she called out over the sound of the engine.
“Not far,” Clint promised. “Just faster if we ride.”
There were dirt paths all over the land--meant for when it’d been a working winery. Before long, they were at the range, which was a large freestanding building, covered by a roof, but with open sides. There were targets at the far end, and Clint parked outside.
Katniss looked up at the building with admiration as she dismounted the ATV. “Sweet,” she remarked with a smile. “You have this built specially then?” she asked, walking around the back of the ATV.
“Archery ranges don’t exactly come pre-fabricated,” Clint replied, and smiled a little as he hopped off the ATV, prepared to give her a tour, even though there wasn’t much to see. “The roof opens up, to practice shooting under different conditions, and I’m working on designing some kind of...course. A run through the trees.”
“This is so cool,” Katniss grinned, looking forward to playing on the range.