8417/Coffee, Tea, or Maybe We Should Talk about This

Coffee, Tea, or Maybe We Should Talk about This
Date of Scene:	20 July 2019
Location:	Clint and Skye's, Greenwich Village
Synopsis:	Clint, Skye and May chat over tea.
Cast of Characters:	Quake, Hawkeye (Barton), Melinda May

---

Quake has posed:
When last we met our intrepid bunch (A Cup of Tea, Some Secrets, and You at https://www.unitedheroesmush.com/scene/scene.php?id=8403)..

Skye had invited Natasha Cranston over for tea, when in reality she planned on telling her that she knew that she was The Shadow. A fact that was long time coming given that they'd helped co-found the Birds of Prey without this information ever coming to light.

Randy, the cat Clint 'found' made an appearance, and not much later than that, Clint showed up himself. While the three were talking about Skye's transformation, May shows up with the cat that followed Skye home from Jaiying's village..

Things we learned: Skye can't make tea. That teapot she and Clint thought was too expensive? Likely is. Only they were the ones who got the steal deal. Skye tells Clint (finally) about the Birds of Prey. May bides her time to have a chat about the quinjet incident, and Natasha, perhaps wisely, goes to make a fresh pot of tea while the others speak a little more privatley.

And that's what you missed last time on Chez Miscreant.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
When Natasha goes, Clint turns to Skye.

"So, where do we want to begin, the superhero team or the cat?" he asks grinning slightly. For all the news he just got he seems to be taking it in stride. He knew there was a project Skye had been working on, and he had guessed the Shadow had something to do with it after her visit to him, so it wasn't a total shock, indeed, by the tilt of his grin, Clint is more impressed than anything.

As for the cat, pure amusement there. Of /course/ she found a cat the same time he did. Even if hers was a great deal less likely to be claimed.

Melinda May has posed:
"The cat," is May's vote. Why? Because she already knew about the Birds thing. And speaking of, she looks from Skye and the cat to Clint to the entryway where there was a bag of food sitting. And based on the weight of the bag and Skye's few remaining medical restrictions, that means Clint must have carried it in. "Although, based on empirical evidence, I am wondering why you feel the need to ask, Barton." No, she hasn't seen Randy yet.

Speaking of, where IS Randy right now?

Quake has posed:
"You would pick the cat," Skye mutters under her breath. But she goes with it.

"He followed me home from the village. I tried to get rid of him, but the place was in the middle of nowhere and he was the only thing around other than wildlife. I guess he got left behind when everyone fled."

She is able to add, "Hydra trashed most of the place, but I did find some interesting things."

"I hid him in the Trisk until I could figure out what to do with him." She'd thought it was the better choice, but by virtue of him showing up at Skye and Clint's in the fashion that he did, Skye was pretty sure she'd been wrong about that, leaning in to Pawgent Grant Ward to whisper, "Traitor. I was coming back for you."

Grant? Could care less. He'd gotten what he'd wanted, which was out of that empty place and back with the human.

Skye notes May looking at that bag of food - a rather large bag of food for a cat that had tags and likely an owner to boot, but she was going to let Clint explain that one all by himself.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint takes in the story, "Yeah?" he asks focusing on the village for the moment more than the cat. "That's good, it looked pretty picked over while I was there, so, I'm glad you found something."

Then he studies the cat. "Wait, is that a lanyard? A mini SHIELD lanyard?"

Though, that's when Randy shows up, walking in from the kitchen ears alert, his nose full of cat, he stops when he gets sight of Grant, tail bristling and he hisses as if to say, 'this is my place, get lost'.

"Oh, May, meet Randy, he's visiting for awhile while we find his owner."

Melinda May has posed:
May's head snaps toward the orange cat when he arrives and hisses at Grant's presence, and then she looks at Clint again. "And that warranted a twenty-pound bag of food?" She looks at Randy again briefly, then studies the couple for a moment. "Did either of you seriously consider the ramifications of owning or even temporarily caring for a pet?"

Without really meaning to, she reaches for the shotglass of tea again and... stops herself from taking another sip.

Quake has posed:
Grant, for his part, is not to be outdone by randy's hissing and poofy tail. Only apparently Grant doesn't do the poof thing. He does, however, slink along the back of the couch, back arched, a lowgrade "rrrrnneeerrrrr!" of discontent issuing from him as he very slowly stalks Randy (who if you went by finders keepers laws, had actually been here first) intent on having a 'discussion' about who got to stay and who had to leave.

"I couldn't just leave him there to die? And I hadn't actually intended on keeping him.."

You know. Other than she'd set him up in her quarters. And made him a lanyard. With his name. And level 7 clearance - which it should be noted, was higher than her own 'official' clearance. Mind you, unless you looked it up in the system, you wouldn't know if it were actual clearance or not.

(note: It so is an actual, and valid, lanyard. Only in miniature, and there in the system, right next to the other Grant Ward, is Pawgent's picture, along with an AAR of Skye's visit to the village, as written by Pawgent himself.)

"So, you're saying.. what?"

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"It was on special?" Clint offers as an excuse. "And the girl at Petsmart was really good at selling things."

Even at his goofiest Clint wasn't that easy to sway, though it made for a good story. In truth he'd grown fond of the orange ball of grump, who was now stalking Grant in return, giving as good as he got in the staredown game.

"Well, I figured we'd need to feed them, give them water, make sure they get some attention, I don't know, Kate adopted a dog from behind Gino's, I figure how hard would it be to adopt a cat." A beat. "But not Randy, because he belongs to someone, obviously."

Melinda May has posed:
May is rather pointedly ignoring the two cats facing off against each other in favor of staring at Clint and Skye. "I expect you both to take this responsibility very seriously. Pets of any kind are not like potted plants that you can water once in a while and then ignore. Skye has said you have a vet appointment scheduled for Monday. See that you don't miss it." Maybe this is why all she has in her home is an overgrown ficus.

Quake has posed:
"They?" Skye asks of Clint. "You.. We.."

Grant jumps off the back of the couch and onto the top of the cat carrier, and *stares* at Randy. The undervoiced growling is in quieter bursts now, much more like the pair are having a bit of a discussion about how they're going to negotiate things here, since clearly neither one is looking willing to give up their claims on Chez Miscreant.

"I.. I know it's not everyone's job.. but you know Lili? I was thinking, what if Grant was that here? Like the pet everyone could have because none of us can take care of one all by ourselves. But since we all come here anyway to do everything, maybe he could be all our cat."

Which doesn't explain the lanyard, but you can bet she's going to use that as her reason if it comes up. Or might at least try it.

Randy, well.. Randy had owners out there that they at least had to try to find.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Randy joins in the low growling and seems to glance at the humans in the room from time to time like the pair were discussing them.

Cats, right?

As for Clint, he puts up his hands looking like he's about to protest when he realizes it's the other cat she's talking about, because, remember, Randy had to go back to his owners... "Yeah, that works. What's your guy's name anyhow?" he asks since he was about to be part his pet. "And do you guys get the feelng we're being conspired against?" he glances over at the two cats who seem to have stopped their chat and are staring at the humans.

Melinda May has posed:
May gives Skye a long look, as if trying to decide if the younger woman just made that up on the spot right now to justify keeping the cat, or she'd actually given it any consideration before speaking up. She'll get on the former. "Fine. But if I see that you're not maintaining proper quality of life for a pet, I WILL intervene."

And, if she's aware that the two cats are staring at them, she doesn't give any indication.

Quake has posed:
Okay, she'd made it up on the spot, but Skye /had/ noticed how Lili made the rounds. How at one time or another each and every one of them had needed her comfort. Grant hadn't taken no for an answer, and despite herself, she'd found she didn't mind his company, and part of the reason she'd taken such care and amusement in setting him up as an agent was it gave her a legitimate excuse to spend time with him that didn't involve admitting she wanted to keep him, or having explain to Clint how 'we can not have a pet, we can't take care of oursselves' had somehow become 'can we keep him?'.

"Food. Water. And a box, right? Litter box." Skye is careful to correct that in case May pointed out that while cats liked boxes, they needed a place to do their business. "And we can take him with the other cat to the vet visit. Make sure he hasn't got some weirdo disease only cats there get.." Oh gosh, he better not be an Inhuman.

Then Skye adds with a hit of saucy, "Besides, you're here often enough. You'll know if we messed up."

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"Yeah, got litter and a like a tub thing out in the car for cat business," Clint says of preparations. "I figured we could just give it to Randy's owners when we returned him but now Grant's here we can keep it."

As far as explanations go, there doesn't seem to be any needed, Clint is fully onboard team Grant.

"Yeah, I'll give the vet a call and see if they can double up. We should probably let them know yours was in Tibet, might be some extra stuff we need to do."

Then there's a nod, "Yeah, Randy seems to take care of himself most of the time anyhow. So, shouldn't be that hard, it's not like Lucky or Lili where you got to take them out for a walk or they shit all over and rip your place apart." Okay that might be mostly Lucky, Lili seemed a lot more well-behaved.

Melinda May has posed:
May nods at that. "All right, then. Keep me posted on how the visit to the vet goes." She anticipates that at least the black cat is going to need the full battery of vaccinations and probably also a minor little surgery. But, she'll let these two learn the perks and problems of pet ownership on their own.

For the moment.

Quake has posed:
"How different could Tibet be than here? Wait.. don't anwer that."

Now that detente has been reached, Grant is content to lick his paw. After all, he's declared his intent to stay. Randy seems willing to accept that. There's a bag of food by the door. A carrier to perch on. That human right by his side..

"Sure thing about the vets.. And hey, I found some pictures. A number of people the same in them, but one in particular. Think that's where my next littler jaunt is going to go."

So far they haven't returned to the superhero thing, and May seems to have forgotten the whole quinjet question.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"Will do," Clint answers May about the vet visit.

As for the cats with the detente reached Randy makes his way over to curl up by Clint, seemingly content with the new powersharing agreement.

"Yeah? Some new leads?" he asks Skye about what she'd found. He'd almost forgotten about that part with all the cat talk.

Melinda May has posed:
Choosing to leave the conversation about the quinjet for later, May sits back in her seat so Skye and Clint can talk uninterrupted. Well, except for those cats.

Wait, nevermind. After a moment she stands and heads to the kitchen to get a proper cup of tea.

Quake has posed:
"Mmm, one guy popped up in several places. There were a number of the Inhumans we rescued. A few I don't know. I don't think they're in the bunch we broght back, but we culd counter check them. But Alek Douglas was in a number." And he's easily traceable. Though he might not appreciate being dropped in on by a fellow Inhuman, especially if he's trying to keep that on the downlow.

"I handed some stuff off to the Bobsey twins. Not sure what all it was. They seemed to be mostly focused on their powers. Maybe enhancing them? Easing the transition? I don't know. But some of it wasn't?"

She thinks. After a point all sciencey stuff was just goggly gook to her.

"I.. right. So, in the interests of full disclosure and the look on May's face if she finds out later, I found a box my mother left me."

She doesn't yet say what was in it.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"Might be worth checking the guys we rescued," Clint says, "I know some of them were definitely out of the village, and don't seem to be brainwashed. Maybe this Alek guy is one of them, when we were getting them out of Zola's base, a few of them reallyh stepped up and took charge, so even if your guy isn't there, a few might know something worthwhile."

As to the box, Clint's brows raise. "What was in it?"

Melinda May has posed:
May reappears with tea in hand just as Clint asks the exact question she'd been thinking. So, she doesn't have to voice it herself. Handy, that.

Quake has posed:
"Sort of what I thought," Skye agrees. "At least we can start putting people together with faces and names and making sure they're okay. Get them settled in new lives? Find out if there are any who might be willing to work with us.."

May's timing on re-entry is impeccable, Skye looking towards the kitchen, remembering a talk she'd had with May prior about assembling a team of powereds.

"She left me a letter. And.. oh, these.." Skye pulls the coins and cord from her pocket. They'd been a constant companion since the village visit. "And the box had two pristince crystals in it." That much Skye didn't need a degree in any sort of science to know. She'd felt them.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint tilts his heads at the coins. "What are those?" he'd seen similar in China at various shops but he'd never stopped to ask what they were for.

The crystals though, he knew what they were about. "Huh," he says. "I bet Zola would be pissed to learn he missed those, given the trouble he went to to make his own."

Quake has posed:
"Would have been," Skye corrects. "Dead under a mountain, remember? He's not regretting anything anymore, except maybe pissing us off."

She, too, is curious what the coins and cord are. They meant something to her because they're from her mother, but she hadn't had time to research them yet.