[log] Can't seem to shed your company [closed]

[ecks]

Characters: Clint, Ecks, Natasha, and Tony
Location G6 - 29 (school shed)
Date: 150 (evening)
Summary: Wandering folk just can't get enough of that shed.
Warnings: None yet (please add warnings to subject lines as needed).

29: A small shed outside the school, going inside reveals sports equipment is being stored in here. There are hurdles, various sports balls, giant mats, and the like. There's nothing that could be used as a weapon, though, unless you're going to try to hurl a basketball at someone's head. This is the only place on the campus it's possible to stay in overnight--if you try to stay anywhere else, you'll be made to leave at 7PM. The following is written on the wall in blue ink: "This is Building 46 on the composite map. Contact @CaptSteveRogers for details." Underneath is a fairly accurate map showing the shed in relation to the school and buildings 20, 21, 22, 25, 26, 27, 31, 34, 35, 38, 41, 42, 43, and 44. House 34 is labeled "Medical assistance; hot, clean water. Contact Dr. Epps @claytonator". The school is labeled "School. Food available in cafeteria; DO NOT STAY HERE OVERNIGHT." The shed is labeled "Shed". Behind the shed is a small army of snowmen armed with sports equipment.

Comments

[ecks]

[It is cold outside and in, painfully cold. Ecks huddles in a corner, still fully dressed though she knows it is much better to take off as many things as she can and let them dry. It is bad especially to keep on the leather armor she wears under her bulky coat; it traps sweat and she cannot sleep well in it.

She has learned, though, not to remove her armor until the doors have locked and she is certain that no one dangerous can arrive. When the door opens her heart sinks, and goes on sinking when not one but three figures enter. Even when she recognizes them as the people with whom she shared a house the night before last she remains uneasy. There is nowhere to hide in here, no other room to go to.

She watches from her corner, resigning herself to a long night. They did not try anything before. Maybe she will not have to sleep in her armor. Maybe.]

[awwnoun]

[ Clint has his hearing aids out again - he'd been thoroughly chewed out by a couple of people about his frostbite the past two days and he's lost his patience for listening to lecturing. There's nothing he can do about it, so he's just trying to make sure that it doesn't get worse. He keeps his hands in his pockets and under his armpits whenever he can as they walk, and ignores Natasha and Tony whenever they try to talk to him. He's in a foul mood by the time they get to the shed, but - they walk in and find the same girl from before. Or at least, Clint thinks it's a girl. Pretty sure.

At first, he leaves her alone. She doesn't look like she wants to be bothered and he's respectful of that, at least. But at some point, he eats, and it's at that point that he looks up at her from where he's huddled, and offers her a container of apple slices almost expectantly. They're frozen, but hey. He doesn't want her to go hungry if she doesn't have food. ]

[ecks]

[She does, in fact, have her own food. Ecks stares at the container in his hand, though. This seems like either an opportunity or a trap. After a moment she takes the apple slices only to set the container down and fumble at her own pack. That's not terribly successful - still glancing at Clint every few seconds, she tugs off one of her her bulky mittens to reveal a patchwork hand stiff with cold and crisscrossed with stitches, which she digs into the pack.

Out comes a little paper cup of ice cream, complete with a pull-tab lid and a little wooden paddle for a spoon attached. It's still frozen, unsurprisingly. This she holds out to him in trade.]

[redrooms]

[At first, Natasha is content to leave Ecks alone, just like Clint. It's clear that she doesn't want to talk, and so Natasha doesn't push. Not at first, at least, but Natasha is nothing if not nosy. She's still gathering information constantly, near obsessively, because it's really the only thing she can do at this point.

So, sometime after lockdown, Natasha settles down on the floor across from Ecks, giving her a decent amount of distance. It's obvious the girl is wary, and Natasha can't blame her.]

It seems we're starting to make a habit of running into one another.

[ecks]

[It has been a long several days, and Ecks is tired. She does not think she is in any special danger lately, but strangers are dangers. She's spent the last half hour fiddling with her coat, thinking about taking off enough layers to get more comfortable. It might not be so bad. Clint does not seem dangerous, at least.

She blinks yellow eyes at Natasha from the folds of the scarf, a little puzzled by the introduction of this topic. Habit implies something voluntary, doesn't it? Her voice is monotone as always when she replies.]

There is a high chance of meeting others in this building. It is the primary access point to a valuable resource.

[awwnoun]

[ Clint watches her as she goes through her pack. The hand surprises him, but he doesn't say anything about it quite yet, just watching to see what she does. When it ends up that she's handing him an ice cream cup, he laughs - just a huff of a noise, but it's still a laugh. ]

Thanks. [ Clint says, taking the cup. ] Didn't think they'd give us ice cream in a place like this.

[ecks]

It came from the school. Doctor Watson showed me what these are.

[If she were one to express herself naturally, there would be sadness in her voice. Doctor Watson brought her ice cream before, when she lied to him and thanked him by killing a man in front of him.

Ice cream is still good, though.]

[definingfuture]

[Tony remembers Ecks from before, but the last time she was so quiet and careful about avoiding him that he eventually just felt bad. There had been a lot on his mind then. He feels guilty now because maybe he hadn't tried hard enough to reassure her that he meant no harm. He'd let Clint take care of acting as liaison, content to let things work out on their own.

And now she's huddled in a corner, still acting like they are dangerous. After a while of settling in and agonizing over how he's not helping the situation, Tony finally finds the opportunity to approach Ecks when she is alone.]

Hey. Have you been traveling by yourself this whole time?

[awwnoun]

[ Clint tries... really hard to understand what she's saying, but it's kind of dark and her face is mostly obscured, which makes him miss pretty much all of it. He thinks he caught a school in there. ]

Sorry, didn't catch that. [ He pauses, and then grimaces a little. ] I can't understand you if your mouth is covered. I promise I'm not being weird by staring at your mouth, I'm lip reading.

[ecks]

[By now Ecks has at least removed her mittens and loosened her outer layer, her open coat showing a glimpse of the leather cuirass underneath. She keeps her hands under the tablecloth she has untied from around her waist, for warmth and for concealment.

She looks up as the third stranger approaches.]

Not the whole time.

[Her voice is flat, monotone, as though she's uninterested - but there's sharp intelligence behind her eyes.]

I am supposed to travel with someone but he is far away ahead of me.

[And he keeps trying to give away her cigarettes and her stethoscope in her absence.]

[ecks]

...You cannot hear?

[He seemed to hear her before - but before she was not thinking clearly. She is not sure that she is thinking clearly now.

After a moment of consideration she reaches up to adjust her scarf, trying to make a gap for her mouth. It's wrapped across her face below her eyes in one broad swathe, though, and with only one hand she can't work out how to uncover just that one part. As she's trying, the wrap loses its tension.

He'll see, but he's already seen her hand. Resigning herself, Ecks tugs the scarf down below her chin, most of her face now revealed.]

Doctor Watson showed me.

[awwnoun]

[ He had his hearing aids in before! But tonight his hands hurt too much to put them in after having taken them out, and they hurt his ears if he has them in forever, so. He appreciates this.

He decides to show that appreciation by not saying anything about the stitches. And her face. He does look surprised, though, he can't stop that.

Clint is a habitual foot-in-mouther, but he manages to be polite, this time. ]

Uh - thanks. [ For showing him. ] Doctor Watson, huh? Yeah, he's helpful. That Solomons guy was giving me a hard time and Watson stopped him.

[ecks]

[Oh Clint, she has no idea what hearing aids are. She appreciates not being asked questions, but then...he has a strange look on his face and she does not know what he is thinking.]

Doctor Watson is a good doctor. That Solomons guy is dangerous.

[Not as dangerous as Royce, she thinks, but it is worth mentioning.]

Have you come to the school for food?

[redrooms]

[Natasha smiles a little.]

It was a joke. Apparently a bad one.

[ecks]

[Oh, she's smiling. That's the cue, isn't it?]

Sometimes I do not know a joke is a joke if you do not say it is a joke. I am trying to learn, though.

You are...what is your name?

[She's still wary, still watching too closely with her hand too ready to go to her shovel, but she's willing enough to have a conversation.]

[redrooms]

[Natasha is observant, and she picks up on that nervousness, so she keeps her body language purposefully loose and relaxed. Nothing to worry about, Ecks.]

Natasha. And yours?

[ecks]

My name is Ecks.

[She's used that name for long enough now that she doesn't even think about the other one when she introduces herself anymore. But yes, here is confirmation - if Clint hadn't already shared - that this is the person Royce fingered as his killer.]

[redrooms]

Ecks.

[Interesting. She'll have to feel this out.]

We've spoken on the network. It's nice to meet you.

[ecks]

Itsybitsy? [Look, Natasha, you are just lucky she has worked past the phase during which she insisted on calling everyone by their network names at all times.]

You were gathering information on strange things. Did it help?

[redrooms]

It did, thank you. I've been working on compiling everything and making it neat and easy to reference.

[ecks]

That is good. It is good when things can be neat. Most things are not neat.

[definingfuture]

So you're meeting someone.

[He nods to show he understands. He also keeps a bit of a respectful distance so Ecks doesn't feel boxed in. Tony doesn't want to scare her by forcing her into a corner. With three of them and one of her, he knows it could feel threatening to have them all together.]

You're hanging out here a lot.

[To be fair, so are they. But that was mostly an accident after Clint saw the burning building and then they needed food. He mentions it because he's wondering if Ecks faced a similar issue.]

[awwnoun]

He kind of seems dangerous, yeah. [ Clint agrees idly. He's going to eat this ice cream, he doesn't care how cold it makes him. He could use something nice like this. It means taking his bandaged, couch-fabric'd hands out from between his thighs where they were warm, but that's okay. ]

Yeah. [ He glances at Ecks again. ] Food, mostly, but we're also going to try to see if there's anything useful in there. Is that why you came by?

[ecks]

[She's already put herself in a corner - not that there's a lot of other options in this little building. At least these days she's stopped shutting herself in closets.]

There are useful things in the school. Also I got lost when I saw things that were not there. Is this where you meant to be?

[Just skirting around what kind of useful things are in the school. Food is useful, right? Surely she's talking about food.]

[ecks]

Yes. I came for food and useful things also.

[It is probably better not to tell him yet that she has a card to make the copying machine work. As far as Ecks knows her card is the only one, and people have been hurt for less rare resources than that.

There's not much point putting a mitten damp with sweat back on now, so Ecks takes a moment to peel the other off instead and turn them both inside-out to dry. This hand, too, is patchwork -- but unlike the other it is covered in fresh, angry boils against the backdrop of a mottled rash. It's only visible briefly before she tucks it under her tablecloth skirt and picks up the container of apple slices with her good hand.]

I will leave soon. I am meeting someone.