4086/Don't Harsh My Zen

Don't Harsh My Zen
Date of Scene:	17 March 2018
Location:	Triskelion, New York City
Synopsis:	In which Skye and Rhodes go for round 3 and no blood is shed, and a possible truce is reached; Clint however, will still be sleeping on the couch. *ouch* (just kidding)
Cast of Characters:	Quake, War Machine, Hawkeye (Barton)

---

Quake has posed:
It had taken Skye entirely too long to get back to the firing range with her beloved Merida. First there was the entire Tidepool mission. Then the fallout. And follow-up. And her new training and work schedule. And.. She'd even considered Clint's (possibly?) joking suggestion that they turn the basement of the house into a shooting range.

Today, though, she'd remembered to bring Merida with her to work, tucking her away when she'd arrived, and making a point of stopping in at the shooting range once work was done. As was typical, nobody was using the archery side. Really, there was only herself, Clint, and Lara who ever made a point of using it. It wasn't unexpected that nobody else was here. In fact, Skye rather enjoyed that she got to have this time alone. She'd found that archery practice relaxed and centered her, and with all the recent changes and goings on in her life these past weeks, she really needed that.

She'd gotten better since her first time going up against Clint. Not that /that/ was terribly hard to do. But now, as she takes her bow, steadies her stance, and her aim, she actually looks like someone who knows what they're doing. It's a rarity for her to miss the target now. Of course, a moving target is a whole other ballgame..

Skye's first shot hits the mid-ring. Not center; not outer. A decent shot. Smiling to herself, she waits until she's certain that first arrow is well and truly struck home before even beginning to relax her stance and choose another arrow for a second shot.

War Machine has posed:
     For Rhodey it was just another day at the office as he walks into the firing range dressed up in his standard issue SHIELD uniform. The all grey really worked for him, what might be a surprise to anyone that knows him is this is the first time he's shown up to work sans beard. As he walks he does so with a confidence befitting his clean shaven professionalism.

     Stick grasped in one hand is a very assuming briefcase but no real sign of weaponry on his person. It's not a far guess for someone to assume that whatever he came down here to shoot happens to be inside of said briefcase, and one wouldn't technically be wrong with said assumption.

     Rhodey makes his way right up to the range, and puts on a pair of small grape sized ear plugs. These things tuck away nice and neatly into place allowing him to completely eliminate sound all together or only certain frequencies depending on his fancy bluetooth app controlled via his smart watch.

     Instead of drawing whatever weapon he holds inside his briefcase Rhodey simply stands there for a moment hitting the button to start the target moving towards him with the back of his hand. The target quickly begins moving up range as the cycle commences flanked by multiple targets on either side and a few 'civilians' the joys of holograms.

     A quick shift of the hand holding the briefcase is all that it takes and the entire thing shifts and slides around itself panels popping out the sides shifting twisting and turning. In a matter of mere seconds he's got what looks to be a fully fledged assault rifle in his hands and is already mowing down targets before it's even fully finished forming. He shoots with extreme accuracy to be expected of a career marine, drifting from one target to the next fireing short controlled bursts and skipping over the oncoming civilians.

Quake has posed:
Skye? Skye is not a marine. Hell, she's developed a really decent ability to hit targets with a firearm - even when the target is moving - but she's not a marksman. That actually worked to her favour when it came to the Tidepool mission: who expected the IT girl to have aim? And no compunction about shooting a fellow Agent. Hell about shooting anyone at all? Then again, Skye /was/ trained by May, which really should have informed folks just a little bit about what they were getting into when facing the former junior agent down.

Her second arrow is lined up with precision. She wasn't there to be flashy, or showy, or to make any points. Shooting with Merida was a meditation for the woman. Sure, she could probably shoot someone with her bow.. if they were standing still, and you know, she had a few moments to prepare.. But Merida wasn't really a work thing. She was a Skye thing. A surprising Skye thing given that she's shown no interest in anything that didn't have an internet connection attached to it up to this point.

Her second shot is lined up perfectly, and let go, along with a breath. Just like she was taught. Focus. Breathe. Release.

This shot hits the center of the target dead on. And just like the shot before it, Skye holds her stance until it's clear that the arrow has hit true and stops vibrating. Then, and only then, does she relax. Now taking a look around as she's no longer the only person on the range. Not that she's unused to folks at the firing portion of the range while she's down here. Folks like to practice shooting their guns all. the. time.

That it's Rhodes does give her some pause, though. The way he's shooting gives her even more pause. It's with great curiousity that she watches him, forgetting her own practice.

War Machine has posed:
     This was meditation for Rhodey. There's a cold look in his eyes as he gracefully and effortlessly drifts from one target to the next with the calm precision of someone who'd spent a lifetime killing. For him he wasn't at the range he was back out in the deserts of Afghanistan mowing down the enemy in that bleeding desert sun. There's a deep focus'd concentration to his eyes as he works his magic the precision of a surgeon to each surgical strike of the .45 rounds.

     The gun repeatedly slams back into his shoulder with each shot, the brace of the gun pressed up against it as he only takes pause to slap the button to eject the magazine dropping it into an open pouch on his uniform thanks to gravity alone as he slaps in a fresh one from the very same uniform. For a pilot he was still an expert marksman, but then again that came with the territory and his beginnings in ground combat.

     The counter to the side of his stall says it all: One hundred percent accuracy. Even on the max difficulty setting for the range. It was a display of control over the situation even if he hadn't quite noticed anyone was watching yet. His eyes pear down the sights as he rapid fire switches from one charging target to the next, his breathing slow and measured as dark eyes bounce about with each shot.

Quake has posed:
What he's doing has her attention fully now. Enough so that Skye has forgotten to turn back to her own practice. She recognizes that focus. The stance of the thing that says this is more than just target practice. She's done the same thing herself often enough with Merida. She supposed a gun wasn't all that much different than a bow when it came down to it for the meditative aspect, even if she found shooting a gun was a lot more work than the bow. There were all those things you had to remember, as well as your job..

Still, she'd passed all her proficiency tests with firearms - and not at the bottom of her class, either. She'd actually done well. Another little surprise from "the IT girl".

It's recognizing that stance that keeps her silent, though she does unstring Merida and move closer. She doesnt' put her bow away yet - she's not sure that she's done with her practice, she just doesn't leave her strung. Good habits and all that. Remembering as she gets closer, to grab up her own protective ear gear. Hearing. It's a thing she'll want when she's older. Even if she now is quite proficient in ASL.

War Machine has posed:
     One after another those targets fall, even as Skye makes her way over. The man's lost in his own little world for the moment, a world where it's just a man, his gun, and a seemingly endless stream of people trying to kill him. It's clear as day from this close he's got the look of a killer who's long since lost the sting that comes with putting someone down who needs to be.

     His features aren't particularly hard but there is that almost unnatural aura about him that unsettling calm as the storm rides on past. The targets get faster and faster as they move down the range one knocked down after the next. He squints his eyes further as all his focus has to go into making sure he gets this right, makes each round count.

     His breathing slows even further down to a crawl as he works zoning further into himself as the task at hand gets more difficult. Another flick of the switch is made and he flicks in a fresh mag in only a few short fractions of a second near machine timing between one mag falling and the next slotting in. It goes like this for some time that pure silence save for the rattle of gunfire until the lane lets out a quiet DING signaling the end of the routine.

     Rhodey finally lowers his rifle down from its position, flicking a single button that causes the rifle to fold itself one end over the other. In a few short moments it's back into the form of a briefcase a small pile of ejected shells littering his feet as he takes in a deep breath of that cold firing range air. His fingers slowly wrap and unwrap round the handle of the briefcase as he turns his attention up to the scoreboard. Missed shots:2

     "Oh come the hell on." He calls out clearly frustrated with himself, as he flicks a single open palm up into the air as if talking with a real live referee rather then an electronic scoreboard. "That was my A game man, don't play me like that." He runs a single hand through his marine core haircut lifting up his SHIELD cap in the process. The hand goes back down to the side to throw off the sweat from himself as he lets out a low sigh, just now noticing skye.

     "What's new?" He asks as he tries to hide his surprise flicking a switch on his wrist to turn off the ear protection. "Come on down to laugh?"

Quake has posed:
What he's doing is.. beyond impressive. Like May or Natasha quality impressive. Or, you know, like watching Clint with his bow. It's fascinating to the girl. So much so that when he's done with his program, she's still entranced and processing what she's just seen. So much so that when he addresses her with the borderline snark of 'come on down to laugh' that she's taken aback, nearly confused as to what or why.

"Huh? Laugh?"

Skye really isn't sure how to react to that. It's not like she and the man have gotten on with one another, and there isn't anyone around to act as buffer between them.

"Uh.. No? I mean, that was pretty amazing."

She hesitates, caught between turning away and returning to her own practice, or staying and having an adult conversation. Both options have their dangers: If she turns away, she could be considered to be slighting him. Only, if she stays, odds are pretty decent one of them is going to say the wrong thing.

Six of one; half dozen of the other.

Skye stays put.

War Machine has posed:
     "Really." Rhodey comments adjusting his hands grip on the briefcase but when it becomes clear she's not here to give him trouble on a poor performance he loosens up his stance a bit, falling into a more relaxed positioning. "Figured after Vegas you'd be looking for any excuse to put me down."

     He's calm and collected as he leans back a bit his motion knocking about some of the rather sizeable pile of shells scattered across the ground. There's going to be a decent bit of cleanup work to do there that much is clear as day, even as the two talk, with Rhodey letting his free hand drift down into the pocket of his uniform.

Quake has posed:
Skye shrugs, lips twisting into a wryness of observation. "Yeah, well, you'd be wrong. You'd be wrong about a lot of things, actually." He might be relaxed, but she's obviously wary. Only, in typical Skye fashion, she's got a comeback. Some of her waryness is mitigated by amusement as she thinks back upon Vegas. Not that the Vegas experience was a good one for her on many fronts. She'd really been too exhausted to appreciate any of it. "Surprised you even remember Vegas. You were pretty tanked."

War Machine has posed:
     "Sometimes you just need to get tanked if you want to enjoy a vacation." Rhodey comments leaning up against the firing platform using it as a comfortable seat. Alright it's not comfortable and it's not a seat, but you know what it works well enough to get the job done. "Still, makes two of us, usually when I drink that much only thing I remember's the headache the next morning." He sets down the briefcase onto the counter beside himself folding his arms one over the other.

Quake has posed:
Skye's nose crinkles. "Yeah, well, it's kind of hard to forget someone saying those things about you."

Again, she shrugs. It really wasn't all the diffeerent from a lot of things she'd heard throughout, and after, the mission. He'd just said it to her face where most of the others had done it in whispers while she'd walked by. Or, in the case of when she'd been in lockup still, had made certain that her food spilled, or she was bumped into, or, you know, the little 'accidents' that could happen did happen - pointed statements about what the assigned security agents had thought about the traitor in their midst. Even having her name cleared afterwards hadn't gotten rid of all the ill will. Besides Rhodes opinion, there were those who had latched onto her past involvement with the Rising Tide - before becoming an Agent of SHIELD - and treated her accordingly since. Which is to say with suspicion and derision.

"You're supposed to eat greasy food the next morning," Skye says with a remembered grimace. She still felt a bit queasy thinking about her 'self-medicating' bender once she'd been hit head on with some of the implications of her mission. Darcy and May and Clint had all been supportive the next morning, but there had been some good-natured ribbing about the whole matter, plus the suggestion that the next time she decided to self-medicate that she not take the medicating part quite so seriously.

War Machine has posed:
     "Kinda hard to forget someone doing those things." Rhodey fires back pulling out a small clear canteen from one of the many pockets of his uniform taking a nice long sip of the contents. "Even if it was for a mission." He pauses scrolling the cap right back onto the bottle. "Give it time and people'll move on, always do the second somethin bigger comes along."

     Rhodey looks off into the distance for a long moment of silent thought before speaking again. "Usually I just go the IV route when I really need to stop a hangover fore it strikes." He motions with his hands in front of himself as if hooking himself right up. "Saline drip and you're good as gold."

Quake has posed:
Skye scoffs. "Oh, riiight. I forgot. That's all the permission you need to be an asshole. Let it go long enough and you'll stop, and I can just pretend all the bullshit between now and then is okay. Wow."

She just shakes her head before muttering, "Yeah, well, I had a posse letting me do it wrong with supervision the first time. I'm assured it gets easier over time. They made me eat breakfast."

Skye shudders, remembering, even if it had helped.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Back on active duty again Clint had to keep himself in top shape. So after returning from a short hop up state on an op that didn't go anywhere, Clint heads down to the range firing Skye a text as he goes:

Clint >> Back. Going to shoot for a bit. Come join? Or should I find you after?

He walks as he texts, ducking around the odd agent on the way to the gym. He doesn't bother changing he's still in his tac gear, including his bow and quiver, so he walks into the gym as is finding Skye and Rhodes talking.

"Well nevermind," he says about the texts and makes his way over. "Hey guys, we all good here?" he asks.

War Machine has posed:
     "Yeah that's about how it works when you leak peoples personal lives out to the public." Spoken as he kicks back with hands behind his head. "I mean hell man, comes with the job, I had people giving me shit for months when I first started about my first op for the agency." Spoken as if he just doesn't really care about her ire, more looking to get something off his mind and be honest with her rather then hide behind the bull. "Trust me, hangovers get easier when you keep hydrated." He cracks out his neck a little from one side to the other. "Every two drinks of booze you gotta have a bottle of water, keeps you stable." He pauses. "Helps the memory loss to."

Quake has posed:
The scowl remains, even as Skye pulls her phone from her pocket to check out who sent the text that made it vibrate.

"You're an asshole, you know that? You sit there and say you got flack for missions and all that bullshit and give me grief? You should understand it if anyone does, how you do things for the fucking job that aren't nice. Fuck you. Seriously, you sanctimonious little prick. Hope you saved some of that judgement for the boss, because he damn well knew what was going to be leaked, and for what it's worth, they had my information too. All of it. Every god damned thing about me that SHIELD knows."

She doesn't mention that most of it's encrypted. And he's likely to think it was about her working for Rising Tide (he'd be oh. so. wrong.). She's so irritated she doesn't even look at her phone, forgetting that she was about to check it, and shoving it back into her pocket, shifting her bow to the other hand.

"Whatever. Nice shooting. Really impressive. But I'll leave you to whatever it was I interrupted with my annoying presence."

She's about to make an about face and return to the archery range when she runs smack dab into Clint.

Yay for a buffering other adult?

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"Oof," Clint says as Skye runs into his middle. Well, she's not /that/ short, but it's close! "Hey, Keyboard, what's up?" he asks, he'd heard most of her rant and having been there for the opening shots back in Vegas he can fill in the rest. "Also, relax, the both of you. We've all had to do shady shit for missions, but that's the job, we can hate it, but we sure as fuck can't blame each other for it. We're all still here, if we really felt strongly about what happened, our badges would be on Fury's desk and we'd be out the door. So, pretending otherwise, kinda dumb if you ask me."

He lets his words sink in a moment before he asks, "So, can we just bury this hatchet and move on, because this whole thing is kind of pissing me off."

War Machine has posed:
     "Yeah, I'm an asshole" Rhodey admits still cool as a cucumber with arms folded one over the other. "Being an asshole is exactly what's kept me alive through the service." He rolls his shoulders just looking over slightly as Clint comes into the room. "I learned damn well the lengths this job takes you to, when I got ordered to napalm unarmed civilians as a cover op." Just dropping that little bit of info into the middle of the conversation. "What I'm saying is when you do something shady for the big man up the chain it sticks with you, right up till the next time someone dose something even shadier."

     He doesn't sound angry, or even that defensive really just rattling off some facts. "Least I had the balls to say what most everyone else in SHIELD was only saying behind your back." He leans back a bit further on his perch. "And, once I found out it was for the boss?" He shrugs his shoulders. "Tried to apologize before you started rattling off on me." He does notice Clint and his direction to stop but it's better just to get it off his chest and move past it.

    "Yeah, we all do some real shady shit for the greater good, and you need to get used to people treating you like shit for it even when it's for the best damn reasons you can possibly have. Innocent people die because of what  we do," His eyes narrow somewhat as he speaks just going on a bit of a rant of his own in the time he has. "hell I had to watch an entire damn village burn to the ground see women and children running around trying to put the fire out with whatever they had handy because the fire just wouldn't go out." He's still perfectly calm as he just rattles on. "I had to shoot a kid right between the eyes in front of his family because some asshole terrorist strapped him up with C4 and told him us nice soldiers'd take him to a new life in America." He pauses again. "Welcome to war sunshine it's hell and the only way any of us are getting out of it's a bodybag."

Quake has posed:
Clint, because he's Clint, and she loves him, gets nothing more than a dirty look. And it's totally because of him that she reduces the sheer number count of expletives in her next words to Rhodes.

"Let's get one thing straight, asshole, I know what I did. And I know what people think. But you can't tell me you understand, and that it's the job, and then treat me like shit over it. And if you think /THAT/ is how to help someone in their first experience of this, then you have a lot to fucking learn about being a good human being, let alone a good agent. Fuck you."

Yeah. If that was fewer expletives, one might wonder which she left out.

"Now, if you'll both excuse me, I have other things I can be doing that don't require being condescended to."

Turning on her heels, she heads back to gather her things from the archery range. She'd have to come down a few levels to be back at merely pissed. And it might be of some note to Clint's danger sense that she got very cold there at the end instead of her usual angry self.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint makes a face at Rhodey's stories, both of them really, he puts his hands on his head and turns away, "Jesus, I so didn't want to hear any of that," he had a hard enough time squaring working at SHIELD with his heroic sensibilities. To say nothing of the abject horrors of war. Once again making him glad he didn't serve. He'd seen enough fucked up stuff working as crook, and at least there most of the people who got hurt deserved it.

When Skye turns to walk away, Clint makes a face and looks skyward, He so did not want to be in the middle of this. "Skye, hold up. He is sort of trying to help, I think, he just sort of sucks at it."

He gives Rhodes a look, "Really? Ending with the whole body bag thing? Jeeze, take it easy huh? We all know it's possible but damn, we don't need it right in our faces."

War Machine has posed:
     Rhodey takes pause as what she's said just staying right where he is as she does her part to let it off her chest. Finally he springs himself back to a stand unfolding his arms. Hands go down into the pockets of his uniform as she storms off and he looks at Clint. "Gotta admit" He takes a long pause there leaning firm on his right leg as he mulls it over a bit. "Thought the advice would have gone over better." He opens his mouth just a little bit to take in a breath of air. "You're probably right." He kicks his shoe lightly against the ground of the range sending a few empty shell casings flying. "Just figured she deserved my honest opinion."

     "I'm not going to lie to her Clint." He looks over as she keeps on walking hands going deeper still into his pockets. "Job can be hell sometimes and I just want her to realize that and move past it." A long sigh is let out as he shakes his head. "Remind me never to do motivational speaking."

Quake has posed:
Skye turns on her heel, and spits out. "What, you thought I deserved your honest opinion that you think I'm shit? Because of what I had to do? Do you think I have no clue what happened because of the mission? Wow. Just wow."

Clint she shakes her head at. "You do not want me here, trust me. I don't need his sanctimonious attitude. He wanted to give advice, give it without the treating me like shit and justifying it."

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Yep. Right smack in the middle.

Clint claps a hand on Rhodes' shoulder. "It's okay man, I got where you were going, but next time, you don't have to be harsh to tell the truth," he says.

Then he turns to catch up with Skye, "Listen, I don't have skin in this game so, you do what you want to do, but I know Rhodes, he wasn't looking down on you, he was just being him."

It's what he had to offer.

War Machine has posed:
     "He's right man, if I thought you were shit I wouldn't even be talking." Rhodey states as he pulls out his canteen grabbing a sip of cool water, only to realize it's empty. He mutters to himself a quiet and drawn out "Daaamnit." almost musical in nature as he flips it upside down not even a drop running out. "Every time, every damn time." Tilting his head slightly with the word every, again at the word damn in the other direction then back to normal with the word time.

     As he tucks it back away into his uniform a bit flustered by that as well as everything else that just happened to be honest but he's TRYING to play nice. He looks back up towards her. "Trust me Clint's right, I'm genuinely trying to help you out, otherwise I wouldn't bother to bring out the whole: You're not the worst human being on the planet, just because you did your job. Speech."

Quake has posed:
It's like playing yo-yo. She keeps trying to leave, and keeps being drawn back in.

Skye frowns at Rhodes. "Look, I get the advice. You aren't telling me anything I don't already know. It's all fine and great to say people are going to be upset and treat you badly because of it, but you give me one good reason why YOU are treating me badly, because that's the part that doesn't fit."

"You can't say you're trying to help and then tell me how shitty you think I am for what happened because of the mission. That's a crapton of hypocrisy right there. You want to help? Drop the attitude." Which might be a little bit rich coming from Skye. "I don't need your speeches. I need you to drop the bullshit. Either treat me like crap because you think what I did was shitty, or you suck up the fact that the job makes us all assholes in the name of good and we go have a drink and commiserate, but you don't get to do both."

This time, she stays put, giving Rhodes what Clint will recognize as one of her 'touch the lid of my laptop and you die' looks, which pretty much translates into 'ball is in your court'.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"Well it's something," Clint allows as Skye seems to be staying even if he recognizes that look. "Listen, this really isn't my beef, but, it would be good if you guys figured something out. We do work together and while you're both pros, better for everyone if you guys can do that without the friction," he says to the pair of them. "But it's up to you, I'm a SHIELD agent, not a cop."

War Machine has posed:
     "You want me to treat you badly I can start doing that," Rhodey comments. "But I'm far from that, all this business is just from one misunderstanding taken further then it needed to go." Rhodey's hands go back deep into his pockets as he looks over her direction. "Only problem I have with you is that you can be a bit of a bitch sometimes, other then that? You do good work." He shrugs.

Quake has posed:
"*Start* treating me badly?" Skye just blinks. "You.. you.. YOU.."

Her mouth snaps shut and Skye goes quiet.

(Close your mouth and quit staring, Clint, it happens sometimes)

She closes her eyes and takes a very, very long breath, which she exhales equally slowly before opening her eyes and holding her hands up in the air. "Fine. We got off on the wrong foot. I wouldn't happen to have a history of that." Skye gives Clint a stern and warning look. She just might have a history of that going on. Girl is prickly at times. Her lips press down over a thin line of begrudging relenting. "Fine. I can be a bitch about some things. I don't do family jokes. And I worked my ass off in SHIELD. For SHIELD. I get folks don't like what happened. But we're supposed to be family here. Not that shit I used to believe in."

She runs a hand through her hair in a ragged gesture. "You don't know me. I don't know you. I can't expect you to give a shit for me past if we're ever on a team I have to trust you have my back. And I guess you don't have a lot to go on to trust me with that in return."

And with that, the worst of her anger is just gone.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint flinches and pinches the bridge of his nose when the b-word starts flying, though to his surprise the explosion he expected didn't come. He lowers his hand and crosses his arms with a proud and slightly smug smile on his lips. Did Skye just grow as a person? Yes, yes she did. Naturally personal growth is funny to him.

These two, go figure

When Skye shoots him that stern look he mimes zipping his mouth shut, but that smile? Totally still in place.

However it is not just goofy smiles from Clint, he tosses out some wisdom for good measure, "Trust me, Rhodes, Skye is someone you can trust. She's one of the toughest people I know and I think we should take a moment to consider my exes to properly appreciate the magnitude of that statement," he says with a bit of a smile at that last. "Also, she /cares/ about people, about SHIELD about what we do."

He turns to Skye. "And Skye, Rhodes is the same way, he may not be good with words, but he's loyal as hell, I mean damn, he's put up with Tony's ass for longer than anyone I know besides Pepper, and Pepper has the hots for Tony so she doesn't count," he says with a further smile. "So, the man sticks around, and more than that he gets the job done"

His look shifts to take them both in, "Trust me, your both amazing agents and good people, you should be on the same side, trust me it's better for everyone."

War Machine has posed:
     "Let's be honest here man" Rhodey starts pulling his hand back out of his pocket to grab a stick of gum and put it into the corner of his mouth. The conversation is defused, there's no big problem anymore. "Most the time the only words I need are: Target Lock, Tango Down, and I'm hit ejecting." He gives a bit of a smile of his pure white teeth the gum stuck between his smile.

     There's a long moments pause as he comes to a quick realization, and sighs to himself rubbing the bridge of his own nose. "Shell casings." His own response as he walks over to a broom in the corner of the room with an attached dustpan, and then walks right back over. They're in the middle of a conversation and he starts cleaning up his 'work area' flitting the shells into the dustbin with care to make sure he can collect the massive pile.

Quake has posed:
Clint's smug look gets a look of amused disgust from Skye, though she makes it until he does the zipper thing with his fingers before her hands are marking out ~Asshole. Someone wants the couch tonight~ but if he knows her, and that amused look, there's no danger of the couch. At least not as a solo venture.

His words of praise, however, cause the woman to crinkle her nose at him, clearly not sure what one does with such things. Rhodes part in things is much easier to deal with. "Tony's an asshole too," she mutters, grinning to herself. "Someone should send Pepper a condolance card."

And really, Clint should recognize the lightbulb going off over Skye's head with that one.

"And don't just stand there, Hotshot. Help the man clean up. I have to put Merida to bed. She's already unhappy she only got two arrows out of me tonight."

Men. Really.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"Not true," Clint smiles to Rhodes. "You also, say Tony, that's not a good idea, or, yeah, I'm with him, how much in damages did he do /this/ time?" See, total helper is Clint.

Clint sees the signs and just smirks a little more broadly, ~Bring it~ he signs back.

As much as he's enjoying teasing Skye, he lets her be when she processes good things said about her, no need to poke that issue, plus, he meant what he said, he was happy to give her time to process that. "All out of condolence cards, got some apology ones though, we can write over those, bought a box of twenty last week and I have a few left," he jokes.

Though that light bulb look is noted and met with a 'what's up?' look of Clint's own.

He sighs, "You're lucky you're cute," he says to Skye laughing as he goes and grabs another broom and moves to help Rhodes. When they're sweeping he whispers, "Women, right?"

War Machine has posed:
     Taking a pause in his work Rhodey offers a smile towards Clint's comments. "You got a point there man." Then he takes a moments thought allowing the broom handle to fall to the crook of his arm before signing ~What are we saying, I don't speak sign language~ Before giving a smug self satisfied grin, moving the dustpan off to the trash can and dumping away the contents.

     He works quick when he needs to clean up and before long his whole shooting area is clean from shell casings. He's even cleaned up a bit of the residue from his shots. Not much but some to be sure. ~Who uses sign language anyway~ Is added on, before he just goes back to leaning against the firing lane.

Quake has posed:
~Challenge accepted, asshole~ Skye signs back at Clint, eyes glimering with mirth. Her fingers following up with a quick ~Skye loves Clint/Hotshot loves Skye~ Motion of an S to her forehead, and a C over her heart that explodes away from her in an H, and circles back to an S at her forehead. All of it a fast blur of motion that *could* be taken for a startled bit of flustering over the compliments.. only...

Only Rhodes is signing just as fluently as she and Clint and there's no actual way he's missed what she actually did there. Which causes her to laugh, and sign at Rhodes next, ~Asshole.. It's rude to eavesdrop~

Falling neatly into speech without a pause between signing and words, "And what do you mean you have a whole box of apology cards? Just why are we apologizing for me without me getting to at least put little Keyboard smilies in the bottom corners or something?" Which might let Clint know he's likely out of the doghouse on that little joke, though she may revisit the matter later, when they're alone and have the privacy to carry on a proper discussion. Such as things go.

She covers the grip on her bow with one hand, "Don't look Merida, momma is going to make bad signs at the evil men." Only she doesn't, though she sticks her tongue out at Clint. "You forgot smart. I'm smart too." She expects the usual reply from him.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Catching Skye's signs, Clint mouths back ~You too~, before turning back to Rhodes only to find him signing at him, and fluently. Clint laughs, signing ~Asshole, you tell me you can sign /after/ I get my hearing fixed~ he says leaning his broom against him to sign, before he adds in voice, "Long story," about how his ears got fixed. Though by the laugh and the rest he's not at all mad, just very, very amused.

He helps sweep up the rest of the shells, "Hey, who said I was apologizing for you?" he says, before saying sotto voice, "Good guess though."

Clint meets the stuck out tongue and comments with a chuckle and a hand flapping like a mouth. "What was that? I can't hear you."

War Machine has posed:
     Rhodey puts his hands back in his pockets shrugging off the responses he winds up getting with a bit of a smirk on his face. Finally when Clint remarks about the situation of his loosing hearing he just says. "You never asked." A knowing wink given over to the man. "You must first know the question before you are ready for the answer young one." He gives a light fake bow.

Quake has posed:
"You just did," Skye says with a snort as to who said they were apologizing for Skye. But when he flaps his hand at her, her eyes widen and she laughs. "Oooo, what's that? A deaf joke? Let me spell it out for you."

And since one hand is still covering Merida's 'eyes', Skye fingerspells a few choice expletives Clint's way. When she's done, she leans in to whisper to Merida, "And this is why we're not letting you play with Reggie."

Grinning to herself, lips caught at a crooked angle, she just shakes her head and tends to putting her bow away, the care she takes with doing so speaking a lot as to her respect for the weapon.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint makes a half-hearted swing with the broom at Rhodes for the joke, stopping well short of the man. "Very funny oh wise master," he says in a fake laugh, grinning while he does.

Though, true, he'd never asked, the man had a point.

Clint gasps when he reads Skye's signs, he signs back ~Language~ then fires off a Cap-esque salute.

He rolls his eyes and finishes sweeping before disposing of the shells and walking the broom back to the lane he found it in. "So, you guys want to grab something to eat, or shall we call it a day?" he asks.