View source for 3216/All Play and No Work Makes Skye A Tad Antsy

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2017/11/21
|Location=Triskelion, New York City
|Synopsis=Clint comes looking for an overdue Skye, who he finds in the breakroom lost in her work. Managing to distract her with coffee and a candy bar, they settle down for a good heart to heart. A lovely evening was had by all.
|Cast of Characters=1191, 137
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:1191|Skye Johnson (1191)}} has posed:'''<br>The honeymoon phase of their relationship is still going strong and steady, and despite spending an extreme amount of time (for Skye) away from her laptop and work, Skye really does have work she needs to do, and much of the time, for her, that means private time alone from others, or more specifically, away from the main computer systems or Research and Development.<br><br>It might seems strange to some that for her 'away from others' is the break room, but that's how it is. It's not an office (and truth be told the young woman would likely still be parking her butt here even if she /did/ have an office), but it suffices for her. Something about the lighting. They way noises come and go. The regular patterns of humans around her, but not interacting with her.. It's reminiscent of where she came from: late nights in back alley cafes, nose stuck into her gack, coding furiously trying to stay ahead of security traps. And, all things considered, half the time Skye is here doing her work it's outside of 'regular' working hours - if SHIELD can truly be said to have 'working hours'.<br><br>She's been poking at the main bse of her mission code again. It's been days since she's touched it, having put herself into a self-imposed time out. But even before this, she's been making a concerted effort to not obsess about it all. That this effort coincided neatly with her starting to date one Clint Barton may or mmay not be co-incidence. Regardless, tonight finds her in the breakroom, past the dinner hour, lost in code. Totally having missed both dinner, and an agreement to meet for such with Clint.<br><br>It must be serious: there isn't even a cold cup of coffee at her side, along with an extreme lack of candybar wrappers...<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:137|Clint Barton (137)}} has posed:'''<br> Skye wasn't too hard to track down when she missed dinner. He checked her room, nothing, so there was usually only one other place she could be. He'd done a 'fly-by' earlier confirming his hunch then went out to get a few things. <br><br>So now he enters the break room bearing gifts of coffee (the good stuff not the break room crap), two candy bars and a carry-out container underneath the holder for the coffee cups. He sinks down in the chair opposite her and says breezily, "Hey, you're that notorious hacker that works around here right? Any chance you can look up my girlfriend Skye on that thing," he gestures to the laptop. "She totally missed dinner and thought I should probably find her." He smiles as he says it, leaning back in his chair, food set down on the table. <br><br>Also, wonder of wonders, he's actually in a SHIELD uniform. So it was something of a work day for them both. <br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1191|Skye Johnson (1191)}} has posed:'''<br>There's a destracted, "Enh.. Try the gym or her office. Someone will know." Skye not looking up, continuing to frown at a particularly knotty piece of code that has been bothering her for days now, and in particular this evening (the reason for her missing dinner, and the distraction now). "Something here just.. I don't like it. I just don't like it."<br><br>The words are muttered underneath her breath, and for all intents and purposes, it really seems like she's not even clued in that it's him, or that she's just shooed him off to find her.. somewhere else. Were it given in another tone, or without that level of distractedness, one might thing she'd just flung a buttload of sarcasm his way. "Fuck. Maybe Nat'll see it. Ah fuckit. No help. Gotta be done."<br><br>Fingers come off of the keyboard to absently scratch at her cheek and tuck a strand of hair behind an ear. "Why. Why. Why are you not working like you're supposed to." The woman sighing at her code.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:137|Clint Barton (137)}} has posed:'''<br>Clint can't keep from smiling when she shoos him off to go find her somewhere else. Oh, this was too good to pass up. He pulls his phone from his pocket and thumbing a few things, gets the camera recording before he slides, the coffee and one of the candy bars into her peripherals to see if she'll just drink it without even wondering why it's there. As he does that he says, "So you're sure you haven't seen her? She's about your height, kind of annoying and like super bossy, you'd totally remember if you did." <br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1191|Skye Johnson (1191)}} has posed:'''<br>Skye's nose wrinkles.. Hey, she knows that scent. Oh god.. it's even hot. When'd she get a coffee? How is she remembering a coffee while it's still hot? No matter, don't look a gift horse in the mouth... The hand already off the keyboard snakes out and captures the coffee cup.<br><br>"Nat? No clue. Told you. Office or the gym. Workaholic. See her, tell her I need to speak with her."<br><br>Oh yeah, Skye's eyeballs deep in this. It's eaten her braincells to an unprecedented level.. oh, wait, candy bar. Hey, when'd I get a candy bar. Niiiice thinking Skye. Coffee is put down without having been sipped in favour of ripping open a wrapper, spitting the torn off piece onto the floor. She'll pick it up later. Right? Right?<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:137|Clint Barton (137)}} has posed:'''<br>This was great. It was like he was filming a nature documentary, the elusive hacker in her native environment. Though, he does think it's time to input some stimuli. Given how scope locked she is on what she's doing he figures giving her a hug or a kiss would end up with a repeat of the attempted carry scenario with the added bad news of being public. So, he opts for another way. Didn't she have a messenger thing on her computer? He opens the corresponding app on his phone and hopes she's online, if so, he fires her a message: Skye. Look up. <br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1191|Skye Johnson (1191)}} has posed:'''<br>Oh, she's online. And the corner muzz telling her she's got a message gets an annoyed flick of her attention. Just enough to dismiss that window - without even looking who the message is from.<br><br>"Yeah, whatever. Blah blah. Should have disabled that.. in fact.."<br><br>In fact, that's totally what she does. It's not like she gets many messages, but that's generally how she deals with them. It occurs to her to wonder why she didn't do this very thing long ago and solve the problem once and for all... Likely some leftover social urge some afternoon. Or, more likely, nobody had sent her a text up till now to make it worth her while to consider disabling it.<br><br>But it did remind her.. that bedroom thing. She could disable that, too, while she was on it. Skye didn't know who the hell thought birdsong at why-the-fuck-am-I-up-at-this-hour was a good idea, but Skye didn't need it. It was annoying, and it messed with her inner clock. ...Not that she'd been too terribly unhappy with the last time it had woken her up. Or, more specifically, had woken Clint up. Clint who had woken her up..<br><br>Skye smiles as she disables that annoying little feature, and gives a lot of thought to taking out the smoke alarm as well.. (she leaves it, but she /really/ wants to disable it).<br><br>That done, back to her work, a mouthful of candybar munched on. "Wonder if the problem isn't actually in this bit. Maybe one of the inherits is wonky."<br><br>Another window is popped open.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:137|Clint Barton (137)}} has posed:'''<br>Clint has no idea what she's doing but he's pretty sure his message just got closed without reading it. He's almost bent over in contained laughter. <br><br>When he saw Darcy mess with Skye's laptop before, he thought it was just Darcy being Darcy, taking things a bit too far. Actually it kind of ticked him off, he was fussy with his own equipment and didn't like to see other peoples get messed with either, but now, he guesses he owes Darcy an apology. He turns the camera on himself, " Hey, by the way Skye, sorry about this," he says then turns his phone back to Skye and pushes the laptop lid closed. Or as closed as it gets with her hands still on the keys. <br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1191|Skye Johnson (1191)}} has posed:'''<br>WOAH! That does it. That gets her attention. "Who the fuck?!?"<br><br>Skye's hands, still on keyboard, stop the lid from completely closing, and certainly make it so that she can push back at that attempted aborting of her current work session (good thing she autotsaves on a very frequent schedule, or she'd *really* be ticked by the possibility of lost data).<br><br>Skye looks up, miffed now, that her work has not only been interupted, but in such a rude and destructive manner. "Who the ever-loving-fuck does tha -- "<br><br>Oh. Recognition of boyfriend and sudden awareness of the time commencing in three... two... one..<br><br>Yeah, there's a reason Darcy started pulling cords.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:137|Clint Barton (137)}} has posed:'''<br>Well fuck. He stepped in it now. He taps off the video and puts down the phone because the only thing worse than having your ass chewed out in public was to have a record for posterity. "Hey," he says to Skye, scratching behind his ear and looking downwards while he waits for her to catch up to what was going on. <br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1191|Skye Johnson (1191)}} has posed:'''<br>Skye still frowns, but she's not full on bitch-out mode anymore. Small graces, one expects, for being the person who shares her bed on a regular basis. Darcy she just likes. "You could have said hello or something, asshole. Shit, I might have lost something important."<br><br>As if. She's got backups of her backups. But still... principle and all that.<br><br>"What's up?"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:137|Clint Barton (137)}} has posed:'''<br>Clint looks up, "I did," he says. "Also brought you coffee and candy and sent you an IM. Still, my bad for fucking with your equipment, I hope you didn't lose anything," he says not sure what he'll do if she had. I mean not like he can put it back together. <br><br>"What's up? You missed dinner, so I came to bring you food is what's up," he answers. "Which seemed a whole lot nicer to me before I fucked with your code." <br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1191|Skye Johnson (1191)}} has posed:'''<br>Skye blinks, "Huh? Dinner's not for..." The clock on the laptop is consulted, and the girl frowns. "Okay. Wow. Where'd the afternoon go." Hell, where did most of the evening go? Though that does explain the candy bar and the coffee. She had wondered...<br><br>Her lower lip is worried at. "Fuck. I'm sorry. Guess I got caught up in work." And here she shrugs, letting him off the hook some, "Enh, I backup often enough even if you had closed the lid the most I'd have lost would be the last couple strings. Sit."<br><br>He's treated to a sheepish grin. "So, yeah. Me. Work. And you brought me coffee!" Her features brighten with that. "I'd only meant to sit down for a short while. Didn't even bother picking myself up a cup. Totally got lost and forgot we were meeting for dinner. Sorry about that."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:137|Clint Barton (137)}} has posed:'''<br>Clint chuckles good naturedly as Skye begins to realize how much time has passed. He gets up and moves to a seat on her side of the table, and sinks back down again, he brought his food and coffee as well. "It's totally fine, I get like that too when I'm having a rough day on the range. Can't let go until everything's perfect. So, what's out of whack with the code?" he asks, taking a sip of his coffee and peering at her screen. It wasn't like he'd know what was what, but he was curious. <br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1191|Skye Johnson (1191)}} has posed:'''<br>Ah.. The code. That was the thing, Skye wasn't even sure there was something wrong with it. It just.. niggled. Something about it niggled at her and suggested there was an error in there that she didn't want to find on mission go day. "No clue. I've been trying to track it down all, well, I guess all evening now. Totally going to have to go but Nat and see if she's got any insight. Or maybe run the sims against her again."<br><br>The young woman gives another apologetic shrug. "I get a little focused. You've actually seen more of me in the past weeks than most human beings do in a year. But yeah, this has to be ready. Hey, did you mention food?"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:137|Clint Barton (137)}} has posed:'''<br>Clint gives the lines of code a look and nods, "One of those phantom issues, where you know something is off but you're not sure what? Hate those." They sprung up in his equipment sometimes so it wasn't like this code stuff wasn't totally unreliatable to him. "And Nat huh?" he smiles. "May would be proud." <br><br>The apology is met with a shrug of his own and better than that, food. He slides the take out container over to her. "Technically my food, I was going to eat it infront of you a bit for missing dinner and because I'm an asshole, but given I still feel guilty for fucking with your laptop, how about we share? Do you like club sandwiches, it's one of the things the cafeteria here does semi-edibly, the fries are alright too," he says opening the container so they could get at the food. "And I totally get it, work first, but let me tell you, I am glad to see a much of you as I have. I know it's not going to be like this all the time. Hell, I'd have had to take a couple nights at the Mansion already if Wanda hadn't agreed to cover for me." <br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1191|Skye Johnson (1191)}} has posed:'''<br>The takeout container is peered at. "Technically, if I didn't have to make it myself, I generally like it." You can't really complain if you're not paying for it, and you didn't have to make it or clean up after. A half sandwich is grabbed with a nod of thanks.<br><br>"Didn't mean to miss dinner." Though Skye smirks. "Actually, before you came along, they had Team See Skye Eats and Sees Sunlight Daily. It was annoying as fuck." Though she has to shrug. "And probably necessary. I promise, it won't always be this bad. Just this damned mission is eating my brain."<br><br>A rather large bit of the club is taken. "Wanda, huh? Someone I'd like, or? And yeah, you know you can beg off if you need to do your job, huh? Not really sure what you do for them." Them being the Avengers. Skye's still back on 'wait a minute, you're Hawkeye?!?'.<br><br>"And meh. Not doing it to impress May. Doing it because Nat's fucking amazeballs at this shit. I need someone with her eyes to look at my code and tell me what I'm missing or if I'm just batshit crazy and paranoid right now. But yeah. Gut feeling. One of those I'm sure this is going to come back and haunt me if I don't track it down kinda things."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:137|Clint Barton (137)}} has posed:'''<br>"Yeah, no better food than free," Clint agrees as he takes the other half of the sandwich and takes a bite. God, he was hungry, what with his daily workout, archery practice then a long ass visit with R&amp;D to go over new arrow designs. Which was fun, but the lab was a no food zone. <br><br>"I know you didn't, and I heard about the team," he had done some asking around about her even if checking files was cheating. "Which is why I brought the candy as well as the food, figured why mess with your system? And, yeah, I kinda got that, any word on when it's a go?" He hoped it'd be sooner rather than later for Skye's sake. "And even if you are this bad all the time, by the way, I'll take it." <br><br>"I didn't date or marry her if that's what you mean," he says with a grin about Wanda. Though to be fair, not for lack of trying on his part. "We joined up around the same time, her and her brother Pete. She's good people, just a bit weird, does magic. The real stuff, not rabbits out of hats." <br><br>The what do you do, comment gets some scrutiny, he did get flack for being the 'normal' on a team with gods, and he was wondering if that's where Skye was going with it, still he shrugged it off with a glib, "What do I do? Save the world of course. It's what we superheroes do. Also a lot of charity stuff lately, because of the Invasion." <br><br>"I know it's not about May. That was m trying to be funny. And yeah, Nat's got some skills, I am sure between the two of you you're going to kill the shit out of whatever it is that's wrong." <br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1191|Skye Johnson (1191)}} has posed:'''<br>Skye turns her chair to the side, so she's facing Clint now, one foot drawn up to perch upon the edge of the seat, arm draped across that knee, holding her sandwich. "That bad, huh? The team I mean. Seriously, I didn't know word had gotten around to that level." She laughs at herself, lips taking on a wry smirk. "And.. okay. I might be this bad anytime I'm working on code. You're free to make me take regularly scheduled boyfriend breaks. It's not like working out or something where breaks are built in. I don't know. The code sucks you in. It's like this whole landscape going on, and your attention is caught six ways, everything firing off in tandem, and.."<br><br>She stops herself realizing that most of the world doesn't get off on strings of letters and numbers the way she does, though the way she describes it, it sounds like she gets the same adrenaline kick that full on hand-to-hand and in your face combat creates in others.<br><br>"If Nat can't find it, I don't know. Might toss it Tony's way. But he's the one pointed me at her. Maybe I'm still overthinking this. Just we're set for anytime in the next week or so now, and yeah. It's got to not just be ready, but be bulletproof."<br><br>Another bite of sandwich is taken. "Wasn't meaning to slight you," She smiles at him, noting the scrutiny. "Hell, I got accused of being the IT guy just the other day. Trust me, I know from being overlooked. We've just never talked about your other life. And..." And here he gets a serious look from her, "No, it wasn't a did you date or marry her. Geeze, that bike comment really got to you, didn't it? Look, you have a past. Whatever. You're with me. I'm with you. Pretty sure we covered the we do the other the respect of kissing off face to face if it comes to that. If I want to know if you fucked someone, I'll ask outright, okay?"<br><br>Which, of course, makes her smirk, "So, did you fuck her?" Even though she already knows the answer to that.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:137|Clint Barton (137)}} has posed:'''<br>"Well your office is the break room," Clint says about how word might have gotten around. Though he shuts up when she starts talking about code. Yeah, he probably won't ever be at a place where letters and numbers evoke that sort of reaction, but he likes hearing how she sees it, "Sound beautiful," he says and means it. "Also, these boyfriend breaks, is there a protocol for me to get your attention?" <br><br>"Guess we have that in common then, Keyboard. Also, perfectionism, I get what you mean about your code needing to be bulletproof, it's the same with my shooting, if it's what I'm bringing to the table it's got to be the best or what am I even doing, right?" he lifts his shoulder and takes a bite of his sandwhich. "Well, we did get interrupted in our game of twenty questions, so if you're wondering about my other job, ask away, it's not like here where half of it classified." <br><br>The talk about his past gets a nod, a grateful one. "The comment didn't so much bug me as the stuff it brought up. That phase, the hit on anything that moves one, one of those times of my life I look back and roll my eyes. Plus, man-hoe is isn't a great look on me." <br><br>The question gets a laugh. "No, hit on her a bit when we first met, a lot of times to piss off her brother, but no, never slept with her. How about you? Hooked up with anyone I know? Don't care if you have, but if someone's going to be pissed at me for it probably good if I know why." <br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1191|Skye Johnson (1191)}} has posed:'''<br>Skye grins. "Did I sleep with anyone you you know? Nah. Who would I have hooked up with here? You might think I'm a hot piece of ass, but I'd kind of have had to be in circulation for that to happen. Though I might have jumped Tony if the opportunity arose. For an asshole, he's not half-bad looking. And while he pretends not to be, he's smart to boot. I can dig that in a guy."<br><br>Her coffee is reached for with her non-club sandwich holding hand. "I can see that about you. Though you're a bit of a show-off, too. Mind you, I guess if I could shoot without looking at the target and hit dead centre I might be a smug little bastard too. All I've got is code. Not so many opportunities to show it off. It either works or it doesn't, and if it does, nobody knows because nothing went wrong. That's kinda the point of it."<br><br>She shrugs and takes a sip. "Hey, you brought me the good stuff." There's a grin tossed his way. "You do love me."<br><br>"Man hoe isn't a good look on anyone. But yeah, I fucked a few guys in my past. Nothing that meant anything. Warm bodies. Cold nights. Distractions. Reasons not to connect to anyone. Didn't want that kind of baggage here. Didn't plan on staying that long if I could help it. I just hadn't figured out how the hell to get out of being here yet."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:137|Clint Barton (137)}} has posed:'''<br>"Thought about it with Tony huh? Well can't say I'm surprised, he's like the one guy who can pull of man-hoe and still be charming about it. Oh, hey, what's the deal with that lunch thing and the thousand dollars?" he asks, he had to admit he'd wondered about that since she'd brought it up. <br><br>"Well when I learned to shoot it was for the circus, so showing off was part of the whole package, but I won't say I don't enjoy it. Ah the spy's dilemma then, if you're good at your job nobody knows about it, that's one of the reasons I was glad to get on the Avengers, an outlet for my inner performer." <br><br>He raises his coffee to her, "Nothing but the best for you, Keyboard," he says with a grin before he nods at the rest. "Sound strategy. Wish I'd taken the same tact back when I thought this was just a pit stop on the way to prison. Like I said, it was sort of cringey time of my life." <br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1191|Skye Johnson (1191)}} has posed:'''<br>Skye gives him a soft, but wry smile. "Yeah. That whole pitstop on the way to prison thing didn't do me much good. Kinda wrecked my head for a long while. Maybe too long. Was a lot easier dealing with here if I didn't give a shit. I'm not sure your method wasn't better. Just a different way of not letting anyone in, huh?"<br><br>More coffee is sipped as she looks thoughtful. "Whole point of hacking is to not get caught. At least not by the folks you're hacking into. You always wanted others to know you were there. Fucktons of calling cards left everywhere. It's how I recognized who I was up against in that attack. Gave me an edge." She exhales slowly. "It's also how they're going to know it's me going in. Code is a little bit like a fingerprint once you get to my level. No two of us put our strings together in the same way. The phrasing is all different. You run into someone's code often enough, you know who you're looking at. And you get good enough, everyone knows who they're looking at."<br><br>There's a sighing chuckle. "Sort of our own little circus. And probably how SHIELD found me. Maybe a little too cocky. Heh, wonder if Nat had anything to do with it." The notion is considered and set aside.<br><br>"As for Tony and the lunch money, it's almost a you had to be there thing, but I can try to explain if you want?"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:137|Clint Barton (137)}} has posed:'''<br>Clint smiles when she gets it. "Yeah, pretty much," he agrees. "They may want to re-think that recruiting tactic, but I guess, if they didn't have it we wouldn't be here." <br><br>He attends to his sandwich while she talks code. He swallows down a bite to ask, "So that's what you meant when you said after this job everyone's going to know you're working for SHIELD. People are going to be able to look at what you dropped in there after the attack and go, oh, that's her," he almost uses her alias but figured best not to throw that around the breakroom without asking first. "And the code from the attack, like you know them as in you've seen it before, or know them like you have an alias or a name for them? If it's the latter and they're findable, any value to taking them down before your attack? They can't defend their system from a cell in a SHIELD lockup." <br><br>The money thing gets an understanding nod, "Lots of things with Tony are. Tell me if you want though." <br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1191|Skye Johnson (1191)}} has posed:'''<br>"Yep," Skye intones dryly. "About as subtle as walking into the SHIELD Christmas party naked." She shrugs, chewing on a mouthful of sandwich. "No value to taking her out. In fact, anti-value. Totally would tweak a need to look for why it happened. Don't want them poking around into their systems or asking that question. They find the sleeper, we don't even have a mission. Best value is she walks, or falls during mission go." A total case of picking your battles and taking down the largest value of target. It's not even a small contest. She's totally thought about it, too.<br><br>But there's a chuckle for the recruiting tactic. "We totally never did talk about how you got roped in. But yeah, I suppose if I hadn't been given the 'we'd like you to join our team or please, let us show you some four by six real estate for the rest of your life' talk a whole bunch of things would be different." There's another of those negligent shrugs. "Took a long time for me to get over being pissed about that. Think I was mostly pissed at myself. Angier with me for actually giving a shit about this place. Not sure what they put in the water, but fuck me, here I am, huh? Like smart me would walk while I still have options that don't involve a whole bunch of folks I've pissed off having even more reason to be pissed off with me."<br><br>Skye chuckles. "Tony. Oh man, where do I begin? Okay, so I show up to have a chat with him about the Invasion weapons, and he sends down this fifty bucks like I'm some errand girl, with the message that he'll see me when I come back with lunch. Pretty sure the fucker expected I'd take his money and run."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:137|Clint Barton (137)}} has posed:'''<br>Clint takes a sip of his coffee, "Oh, you heard that story huh?" he asks, though the smile threatening to turn into a laugh suggests he maaaay be fucking with her. He carries on more seriously, "Right, makes sense, their computer girl goes missing, they'll ask themselves why and look at their code. Gotcha." <br><br>"They pretty much gave me that chat, yeah. Wasn't fun, resented the hell out of it, and figured it was impossible that I wasn't going to screw up sometime and they'd turf me to some deep dark hole and throw away the key. But I hear you for being mad at yourself for liking the place, it took me a bit, like we talked about but I got there, didn't mean I didn't go kicking and screaming however. But you're good with it now?" he asks about her and SHIELD. "Or still wondering if this is the best choice?" <br><br>"It's Tony, he may have actually thought you were," he says about the errand girl thing. "So how did the fifty become a thousand?" <br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1191|Skye Johnson (1191)}} has posed:'''<br>"I hear lots of stories. Not sure which one in particular you're referring to," Skye returns with a grin. "And yeah. Last thing I want is for them to go looking for reasons why she went tits up. Hell, wouldn't put it past Fury to be making sure she doesn't until we finish this. Too much at stake otherwise."<br><br>More coffee is sipped.<br><br>"Did I tell you May offered to make it so I could walk? Right after my fight with Nat. Flat out said she'd make it okay with Fury. Was so fucking pissed. That's all I wanted the whole time I've been here, and there it was..." Skye shakes her head and sighs. "And I couldn't take it. Think I knew before then that this place had got to me, but even if I didn't know before, I knew then. Worse, she knew. Not sure if she had already figured it out, or if that was the test, but after that? She knew. So. Fucking. Pissed. Was still pissed when Fury promoted me."<br><br>Which only makes her laugh softly. "I couldn't even enjoy it, or be proud. So there I was, pissed that I was pissed and couldn't enjoy my promotion to a full agent." There's another shrug. "I don't know. I look back now and think, where else would I go? I thought I was doing all this great shit, and turns out what I was doing was being a coward. I sat here a whole year watching people pin their asses to the wall for this place - hell, for people who'll never know or thank them - and all I could think was how wrong I was out there."<br><br>She doesn't return to the Tony story just yet, burying her deep thoughts in another swig of coffee.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:137|Clint Barton (137)}} has posed:'''<br>"Well first off all but the good ones are lies, and if you don't know which one I mean, I'm afraid it's classified," Clint assures her with a solemn nod. <br><br>The tactic for the hacker makes sense. "Yeah, you're definitely right there. Also, by tits up, are you meaning taken out of the game or dead?" he asks, curious. He had trouble with the more lethal aspects of what SHIELD sometimes does, he was curious where she stood. <br><br>"Yeah, you did and yeah, you were pretty pissed off she even offered, I think you said, how could she think you were the sort of trash to just walk away," Clint explains recalling one of those chats after their training op had smoothed over the rough spots left by their introduction. <br><br>"Yeah, it's sort of humbling to see what goes on here sometimes," Clint admits. "Definitely made my efforts to make a difference on my own look small. Just got to be careful though, there's still assholes and shady shit in SHIELD, but on the whole we're doing good work." <br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1191|Skye Johnson (1191)}} has posed:'''<br>Skye makes a wry face. "They're a right lot of bastards. Totally drag you in and then once they've got you caring, shove things in your face you can't say no to. Like, who the fuck do they have doing psych profiles that they know who to grab like that? Seriously."<br><br>"Yeah," Skye agrees. "Never did ask her what the point of that offer was. Didn't really want to hear she thought I'd actually take the offer and run."<br><br>Her coffee is sipped from, contemplatively. "You don't always ask about the how or the why here, Hotshot. You know that. It's not just greater good shit all the time." And oh, she knew that one even more intimately after she'd had a few discussions with Lolita. "Tits up? Dead. Missing. Not sure it matters which to be honest. Out of the game is the only objective. And lets be honest, some are more useful to us alive than dead. You should be telling me. I'm the low person on the totem pole here."<br><br>"So, Tony. I was going to walk with his fifty. Would have served him right. Instead, I came up with this kiss my ass move of buying him a lunch he wouldn't ever forget." She chuckles, and sets her sandwich down, cupping her coffee two-handed now. "First I buy him this plastic bag of store bought bagels, and a tub of cheap-assed cream cheese. Throw in a plastic knife, and hand it to him as his lunch. Only I'd hit up a thrift shop and got some deli shit besides, so that when he started bitching, I could be pulling out this table setting. I went all out. The whole works. Table cloth, candles, bowl of fruit, meats, cheese, buns.. and this hideous bottle of wine. I mean, by then I was already into my own money for the meal, and nothing I was going to buy him was going to live up to his standards, so I just bought some random bottle. Totally worth it to see his face, though."<br><br>She chuckles, remembering.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:137|Clint Barton (137)}} has posed:'''<br>Clint smirks, "Well either whoever it is does really good work or SHIELD has a prison full of bowmen and hackers who didn't fit in," he says with a shake of his head. "They leaned on me pretty hard when I first joined though, almost screwed it up. So either I got a crappy SO or they've upped their game since I joined." And why not it had been nine years. <br><br>Clint nods, "I take a different tact, on that one, Keyboard. I need to know. I've been the good soldier and did some shady stuff without asking why, but, it costs. Now that they can't throw me in jail, I ask the stuff they don't want me to ask, and if I don't like it, I find my own way," he shrugs. "It's how I get by." <br><br>Despite the heavy topics before, or maybe because of it, Clint laughs at the image Skye spins for him, he takes a sip of his coffee before asking, "So, you lay out this whole big place setting for a bagged bagel, cream cheese and a shitty bottle of wine? That's some quality malicious compliance there. So, what then? He give you a thousand for creativity?" <br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1191|Skye Johnson (1191)}} has posed:'''<br>Skye laughs. "No, I gave him the bagel and cream cheese, and while he's bitching, I drag out the rest of the stuff. I mean, I wanted to eat too. But yeah, the rest, pretty much so. He hands me the thousand when I'm leaving, gives me instructions for next time. Still toying with the idea of pretending I spent it."<br><br>Skye chuckles, and finishes her coffee, tapping a finger on the cup as she grows more thoughtful and serious. "I don't just take what they give me wholesale. Not really built to buy into authority that way. I just mean that sometimes knowing the answer isn't as important as getting the job done. But I get where you're coming from. Totally respect that."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:137|Clint Barton (137)}} has posed:'''<br>Clint laughs even harder then. "Oh shit, that's even better, so you give him the crap and had the rest for yourself," he laughs. The plan for the thousand gets a nod, "Either that or take him out for a drive through or something then tip the guy the rest of the grand." <br><br>Clint nods, "Kind of got that with you and authority," he says grinning over his coffee cup. "Yeah, it matters more on the sharp end, and what you've got to do out there, but I know what you mean. And glad we agree on this one. It can get a bit tense when people don't draw the line in the same places." <br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1191|Skye Johnson (1191)}} has posed:'''<br>Again Skye laughs. "No, I let him have the rest too, but I didn't start taking it out of the bags until after he started bitching about what I'd spent his fifty on."<br><br>She does quirk a brow now, "You've run into the different lines in the sand business?"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:137|Clint Barton (137)}} has posed:'''<br>"Softie," Clint complains with a chuckle. "I would have made him watch me eat the whole damn thing." <br><br>"Yeah, it's sort of been my theme since I've joined. Mostly when it comes to the dead sort of 'tits up'. Nat and I still run into that one on ops sometimes, other agents too," he explains. "Heat of battle, okay, you try to avoid it but it happens, but cold blooded. No, we can be better than that." <br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1191|Skye Johnson (1191)}} has posed:'''<br>Skye looks thoughtful, nodding. "Yeah. Not sure I've got cold-blooded in me. Heat of the battle? Still think I'd be looking for other ways. Just, I know sometimes that's waht needs doing. Sometimes you just can't ask. Like you, for example. This mission? Totally sending you in to clean up their ops. Figure that's going to mean killing in some cases. Trying to get around that won't let me do my job, so I have to let it go."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:137|Clint Barton (137)}} has posed:'''<br>Clint seems to relax as Skye lays out her thoughts on the matter. "So we're more or less on the same page," he agrees. "Yeah, it can't be helped sometimes, you're right, I mean we're going to go kick in some doors on this mission of yours and some of those guys are not going to want to go quietly. They chose that, can't do anything about it," he pauses a moment, a distant look cast down at his hands around his coffee cup before he looks up. "Anyhow, letting it go's the best way. The other stuff, like I said, it shouldn't be us." <br><br>He smiles then, taking a sip of that coffee. "Wow. This got dark on us didn't it?" <br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1191|Skye Johnson (1191)}} has posed:'''<br>HHer smirk answers him first. "A bit. But hey, who says we can't have our moments like this, huh?"<br><br>The remains of her sandwich are retrieved, and she finishes it in a couple of bites. "So, am I really keeping you from your other obligations? Should we talk about that?"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:137|Clint Barton (137)}} has posed:'''<br>"True," Clint says with a smile. "But maybe not before your first big op." Or maybe they should. He wasn't sure. "Just glad we landed the same way on a lot of this." <br><br>Clint takes that time to finish his sandwich as well, the fries though have gone cold. He gives them a look and glances to Skye to see if she wants them, if not, they're tossed expertly into the trash. Didn't look there either, for the record. <br><br>"The Avengers thing? Not a problem. I just traded some of my rotation so I could spend some more time with you," he smirks then, "I am not sure if you noticed but I'm sort of into you." <br><br>More seriously, he adds, "Though, normal weeks, I get one to two nights on duty at the mansion."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1191|Skye Johnson (1191)}} has posed:'''<br>His admission elicits a soft smile from her, "I kind of wondered if maybe you were into me just a little. Was going to say that I'm not tied to my room here. Or, you know, it's not like I don't understand if you need to take your shifts. We shouldn't let us stop us from being ourselves."<br><br>She nods, then. "So, how do you want to deal with your shifts? Is it easier for you if you don't have a me there? It's not like I can't bury myself in my work. All indications say I might not even miss that you're not here." Somewhat teasing. Not to mention the fact that after this big mission she won't be so intensively involved in most things. Still, it is Skye. Who knows what she'll get up to.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:137|Clint Barton (137)}} has posed:'''<br>"That obvious huh?" Clint asks carrying on the joke before his tilts his head while considering the rest. "I know, it just worked out your place was convenient, all our friends are here, but there's not tech issue with you moving? You don't need the SHIELD network for this?" he asks. As for being themselves, "I know that too, but we're just getting started, and I figured it'd be nice to have more time to spend before our routines came back to get us." <br><br>"Good question about joining me, I don't think there's rules against it but let me double check, if it's good, then that definitely works for me," a thought occurs. "Actually, speaking of the Avengers, our thanksgiving thing is coming up, was going to ask if you wanted to come with me?" <br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1191|Skye Johnson (1191)}} has posed:'''<br>"I can pretty much work anywhere I can open up a hotspot. And sensitive stuff I konw better than to take anywhere without top level firewalls. But other than that, no, no problem with me sleeping over anywhere." She grins, poking a toe at him. "Not that I'm minding waking up with you in my bed."<br><br>The other, she's still smiling until he gets to the invite, where her features fall into something of a frown. "Like, Thanksgiving Thanksgiving? Everyone sits down at the table and eats together?" Skye contemplates. "Never did Thanksgiving with anyone before. Closest I've had was the Clinton Mission... Just what would be required of me?" Ever so cautious.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:137|Clint Barton (137)}} has posed:'''<br>"Okay well that makes things easy," Clint says now the technical thing has been cleared up. He smiles when he's poked and pokes back. "Got to say, I'm kind of loving that too. Except the birdsong thing." <br><br>He poked something there with the invite, and so he goes carefully as he answers, "Mostly just show up, eat and try to ignore our usual shenanigans," he smiles then. "'Specially if Thor brings drinks from home." <br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1191|Skye Johnson (1191)}} has posed:'''<br>"Fixed that birdsong thing. Won't be bothering us anymore," Skye informs. "And huh? Thor briging drinks is a problem?"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:137|Clint Barton (137)}} has posed:'''<br>"Good," Clint smiles before he shakes his head. "Less of a problem, more of you're going to see some of 'Earth's Mightiest Heroes' pretty drunk, Asgardian liquor is no joke." He stands up then, "Good to head out, or do you want to stay in the office awhile?" <br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1191|Skye Johnson (1191)}} has posed:'''<br>Skye looks to her computer, and back to Clint, "I'll be to bed in an hour. Just let me tidy up some things. Promise I'll make it worth it." And getting up, she leans in to give him a kiss before turning her chair around to face the laptop again, settling in to do just that: tidy up before heading to bed.<br> <br>
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