01 - Brave New... Planet?

[beenalongday]

Who: Clint Barton and open unless otherwise noted.
What: Hospital shenanigans, farming explorations, and checking out the hotel.
When: First days on the planet.
Where: The hospital, the greenhouse/farm area, the hotel, and Cyan 16.
Warnings: None, will edit as needed.



1. The Hospital

Open

Clint isn't really a medical sort of guy; he tends to be the one needing medical assistance or the one bringing the hurt to the bad guys. So, as far as he's concerned, hospitals, doctors, and nurses were all well and good, but he prefers keeping them at arm's length whenever possible.

Luckily for him, this particular hospital seems empty, so even though he knows he'll never be fully at home in a medical setting, at least he doesn't have to worry about someone in a white coat trying to stick him with a syringe or run some other annoying test. In theory, anyway.

For the most part, he stays on the perimeter of things, not wanting to get too entangled nor too lost. Not that his sense of direction is so bad. This is a new place and he doesn't quite have his bearings just yet. And in case the unexpected happens, he reasons that it's better to be on the fringes of the room, closest to the exit so that he can make a quick escape.

As he passes by one of the many rooms, he spots an array of odd-looking canisters lined up on a shelf. Upon closer inspection, he notes the bizarre red mist swirling about inside, and it's then that warning bells started going off. Anything with mist was usually bad; add in the red color of said mist, and Clint's inclined to put as much distance between himself and those canisters as possible. Nothing good could come from lingering too long. Right?

... Right.

For now, he decides the canisters are best left alone and moves onto looking for anything else that might be useful. He can always double back to the canisters later.

Closed to Laura

It really isn't all that surprising that he'd run into his wife here in the hospital. She'd worked in a similar setting before they'd gotten married, and he knew she still held some interest in the profession. And given that they were currently on a strange alien planet, it made even more sense that he'd find her in a medical area. Who knew when one of them, or someone else around them, might need a little extra help?

Sure, he dislikes doctors and all things medical, but sometimes accidents happen.

He's having a look at a set of shelves, poking carefully through debris trying to find something useful, when something catches his eye. "Hey, hon, want to take a look at this?" This isn't really his area of expertise, but if anyone can identify useful objects, it's going to be her.

2. The Farm

Now this is more up his alley. Sure, it's not anything like the farmhouse back at home, but it's unmistakable for anything but a place to grow food and raise animals.

Sure, Clint doesn't recognize any of the plants just yet, and he doesn't immediately spot any animals hanging around, but the more he explores, the more he's reasonably certain those pens look like they're meant to contain animals. Sure, there's a good chance they had other uses once, but he doesn't particularly want to guess at what those other uses might be.

It's not until he descends to the lower levels that his interest really begins to rise. Those unattended pens were interesting, albeit devoid of any kind of animal life, but- He pauses and turns to his right, wondering if he's hearing things. It definitely sounded like a horse's whinny, but where was it coming from?

"I must be going crazy. What would a horse be doing down here?" He hadn't yet noticed the open fields, or else he could have answered his own question.

Some time later, Clint can be found circling the Data Point, as if doing so would somehow clue him in as to what information it contained. He can't help but feel a little bit wary of it, because the last time he interacted with something like it, an overload of information was unceremoniously dumped into his brain.

"Touch it or don't touch it? Why is that always the question?" He grumbles mostly to himself, knowing the answer is that most people can't help but touch things, especially very conspicuous glowing orbs.

3. Cyan 16

The town square is interesting enough, but it's also fairly normal, if a collection of buildings that have clearly seen better days can be considered normal. As far as Clint is concerned, everything could be innocuous, or it could also be concealing something very sinister. They don't really have a way of knowing which one is which, and whether it's paranoia talking or not, he can't help but feel wary.

Either way, exploration is the name of the game, so he heads out past the town square, wanting to see what lies beyond.

He doesn't get very far before he encounters a large, looming gate, and a nearby path that has clearly not been maintained. It just screams "danger", and while Clint isn't afraid of things like overgrown paths, it doesn't seem very wise to go down one without backup. Who knows what could be down there?

So, since he's already here, he decides to at least inspect the gate a little closer before heading back to the main part of town.


[ OOC: If you'd prefer to do something else, drop me a line @ starkravinghazelnuts or on discord @ starkravinghazelnuts#4249 and I can see about setting up something else. \o\ Also I'm cool with keeping TDM threads as canon unless you prefer to start fresh.

Brackets or prose are a-okay with me. ]

Comments

Farm!

[doubled_speed]

It's a good question. Absolutely a good question. Tommy, who had been coming out to get more water to water plants with, catches sight of Clint as he asks it, and just grins.

"Because the first rule of being a hero is that there is always going to be weird, glowy, alien tech to touch? You should touch it. I touched it. Bam, I know what I can eat. Think about it, Hawkguy. Especially because then you can help me rename all the plants. Because I don't like the Agrii names. Cyanana is definitely better."

[beenalongday]

Yeah, it probably is a good question, but it's also a question that's kind of a pain in the ass, in Clint's opinion. Because he knows what he wants to do, even though he knows he probably shouldn't do it. When has anything good come from touching mysterious orbs?

"Is that the first rule? I thought the first rule was 'don't do anything stupid'." Which, if that's true, he's already broken that a few times over. "If the hero types are going around doing stupid things, who's gonna be left to do the smart things?"

Still, he can't pretend there's not some merit in learning what's safe to eat and what's not. Assuming that's all there is to it, and that there's not some other undesirable side effect to go along with it.

"You're sure that's what happens?" He hopes Tommy doesn't interpret that as him not believing what he says. He just can't help but feel a little skeptical of things still.

[doubled_speed]

“Most of the heroes I know personally are teens, so your first rule? We rarely follow it.”

And sometimes that is an effective way to handle things. Sometimes. Other times, well, those times don’t work out as clearly, so they? The times they need backup, or solutions the team can’t handle on their own or with only their normal skill set.

“I haven’t noticed side effects yet. Not sure that I would either. So I mean, at your own risk?”

[beenalongday]

"Fair enough, but then again, I know a lot of people who really should follow that rule who don't, so- I guess it's not really a foolproof rule after all."

He chuckles a bit, because he knows a few rulebreakers, and some might consider him one of them. There really is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all approach to handling things. It doesn't pay to be hung up on routines; being adaptive is an important part of their line of work, after all.

"I'd say that describes everything about life in general." No one ever said living was safe. "So, you really can tell the plants apart?"

1;;

[reconstitution]

[ Hospitals honestly make his skin crawl, but it's easy enough to compartmentalize in the moment- there's exploring to do and someone has to do it. It's easy enough to see that this place was once thriving with activity and the absence of life adds another level of unease. His fingers itch for a weapon of some sort, and he hopes that at the very least he might come upon a rusty scalpel. Not that he needs it, but it would help.

There's nothing of much use that he uncovers through his wandering, and it's on his way back out that he hears someone moving about. Peering into the room he sees..someone who he vaguely remembers from the airport in Germany.

Clint. Natasha's Clint.

He nods his head in greeting but keeps his distance. ]

Anything?

[beenalongday]

[ They have that same effect on him, but he also can more or less push those unsettling thoughts to the back of his mind. Sure, he's glad he hasn't encountered any doctors or nurses, but that's also not fitting for a hospital. So rather than reassure him, the absence of any other people besides himself only adds to his unease.

He's looking into each room he comes across, but nothing of interest jumps out except for those strange canisters. It's while he's surveying them a little closer, he realizes he's not alone. Turning slightly so he can get a better look, he says: ]

Yeah, these things here have something weird inside them.

[ Better out than in, he thinks, as he gives Bucky a brief once-over. He remembers him from the airport too, although they didn't have much time to really talk. He has no beef with the guy, because as far as he's concerned, if he has Steve's endorsement, that has to mean something. Sure, there's such a thing as blind spots, but at the end of the day, he gets it. ]

You see anything?

[reconstitution]

[ The lack of people is what's the most concerning. Did they all die? Disappear? Is there a basement full of bodies that they're going to have to discover? There are too many variables, and it reminds him a bit too much of the planets they'd visited who'd tried their hand at terraforming which had gone horribly wrong. He moves into the room but keeps the door within sight. His brow furrows at what Clint has to say. ]

Not a damn thing.. What kind of something weird?

[beenalongday]

[ Clint could definitely do without stumbling upon a basement full of bodies, but he also knows they rarely get what they want. Why should this situation be any different? ]

See those canisters on the wall? There's something inside them, but your guess is as good as mine as to what that something is.

The Hospital

[outstandingbalance]

As though Natasha is going to leave her best friend to scout out the area himself. It's not that she doesn't trust Clint—she does, implicitly, which is why she has his back and why she trusts him to have hers.

She gives him some space, flanking left while he goes right. She's just passed a room with some kind of equipment she doesn't recognize and doesn't look like it was made for human bodies when she notices him pausing at a door across the way. From her angle, she can't quite make out what might be on the other side from where she is but Clint's reaction tells her a lot.

Almost everything she needs to know.

"We have trouble over there?"

[beenalongday]

It's just how they work, and how they have worked for a long time. It doesn't matter whether they're on Earth or they're on some alien planet dealing with more uncertainties than anything else.

He thinks he spots a flash of red just on the edge of his peripheral vision, but his attention is drawn by something inside the room, so he keeps going. When she eventually asks him a question, he's quick to respond.

"Could be something, or it could be nothing, but either way, I don't trust it." Not that red swirling mist contained inside a canister screams trustworthy, but still. Details.

[outstandingbalance]

"Be careful," she says. She probably shouldn't have to. It's not that Clint isn't cautious and it's not that he's smart; it's that Natasha is also cautious and smart, and she knows exactly how much trouble she still manages to get into.

She has a pretty good idea how much trouble Clint gets into to.

"If it looks like there could be a leak, maybe we should find something to cordon off the area."

you know what we're doing :)

[hawk_wife]

[Laura gravitates to the hospital because it's what she knows. Something out here where she feels like maybe she can do something, actually be helpful. She's raised enough children to be sure that it's only a matter of time before they're handling cuts and sprains and everything else. The fact that Clint finds his way to the hospital is only somewhat surprising-- she knows his distaste for doctors or listening to medical advise. But well, these things happen.

He's poking around the shelves while she acquaints herself with the the cabinets of alien supplies. It's been a while since she's worked in emergency medicine, but apparently they've got that covered with whatever tech it is they use to inject knowledge into peoples' heads. Not something she's exactly comfortable with, but for the moment it makes sorting through what supplies they have a lot easier. So she'll complain about it later.]

Sure, give me a sec.

[Just enough time to scoop the surprisingly intact injectors she'd found back into a drawer, before heading over to see what he's found.]

What've you got?

sure do 8D

[beenalongday]

[ It's true, he's always been ill at ease around doctors and hospitals, and that really hasn't changed. It doesn't help that this particular hospital has an unsettling vibe, not helped at all by the fact that it's very clearly empty. Hospitals are usually full of people and workers, but not this one.

Clint tries to push those thoughts down as he rifles through the various shelves, hoping to find something remotely useful. What he finds instead is something slightly different, which is why he alerts Laura to it. ]

I don't know, really. Some kind of canister for holding something.

[ He points at the shelving where said canisters are lined up. It's instinctive on his part, the urge to stand a little bit in front of her, as if to try shielding her from potentially dangerous objects. It doesn't quite make sense since he doesn't even know what the canisters are, but he's getting a funny sort of vibe about this place. ]

Seen anything like that before?

Cyan 16. Let's go be stupid.

[brooklyn_boy]

Clint isn't the only one that is out exploring. Steve has gone around the town a few times, mostly on the hunt for food. Super soldiers had to spend a good portion of their time focused on keeping their bodies fed so Steve's days had been filled with that up until Tommy started finding starch-cucumbers that would keep him going. That led him to going further and deeper into this strange town. And also, that is what led him to Clint.

At first, Steve doesn't recognize his friend. Last he'd seen him had been right before Clint and the rest of his friends had been collected up and tossed onto the worst cruise ever. Back then he hadn't looked...quite the way he does now. So it takes a second, but Steve still knows him. His face cracks into a warm smile as he jogs forward with a warning "Hey!" before clapping the man on the shoulder.

"Clint!" Of course, this was a weird place where this version of his friend might not even know him. Steve pulls his hand back, fast. "It's Steve! You know me?"

This can only end well

[beenalongday]

It only makes sense; if this is going to be where they'll be living for the foreseeable future, they need to know the area, and they also need to have supplies so they can keep on living. He's still working on the food situation, but exploration is more his thing anyway. It keeps him active and gives him something to think about.

He doesn't notice Steve right away, because his attention is on scouting out this area, but eventually, he realizes he's not alone any longer. When he hears Steve's warning shout, he turns and he does a double-take. Obviously he recognizes Steve, but he's also not the Steve he remembers seeing last.

"Hey, man. They got you too, huh?" He can't be sure what the other man remembers, but judging from his appearance, he figures maybe he hasn't yet encountered Thanos. "Of course I know you. Captain America, Steve Rogers: the man with the plan." And honestly, Clint's just relieved to see him.

[brooklyn_boy]

Now that he's recognized, Steve laughs and pulls Clint in for a quick hug. He can't help but be glad when familiar faces show up, even though that means they were kidnapped away from their home. Although... Looking Clint over, he's not all that familiar the way he is, right now. Steve appraises him for a second before just going for it:

"New look?"

Captain America, the diplomat.

Farm

[tingmoonshadowpowers]

Rayla had been watching Clint for a while before he ended up near the orb. She'd come over to the farm as well, curious about how it was in a building, of all things, and she watched him circle it in curiosity.

"I dinnae think it's gonna hurt'chya." She smirked a little. "Unleeesss... it's some strange demonic magical force sent here to kill us all."

Was she mocking him? She might be mocking him.

[beenalongday]

Hey, he's a big boy. He can handle his share of mocking, and give back as good as he's getting. Clint turns when Rayla speaks, and he can't help but give her a mostly faked eyeroll of annoyance.

"With my luck, that's exactly what it is. Can't be too careful, you know? I don't want to be the guy who brought everyone down with him 'cause I took a chance."

His tone is light, but there's an element of seriousness in it as well.

[tingmoonshadowpowers]

"Well, I imagine that it's the same as the one by the fountain that gave us all that information."

Rayla glanced at the farm.

"I'd be willing to give it a try. Though, we might have to be ready to fight off some scary demon monster or something."

Cyan 16

[bossofspace]

Carol's not one to stick around the town square, either, especially when - grounded or not - there's so much city to explore. That gate right on the edge is pretty intimidating, too, which means it's exactly the kind of thing she wants to go poke with a metaphorical stick.

And speaking of poking things with sticks...

"So, were you gonna just stand around and look at it, or were you gonna go in?" she asks, approaching with an easy smirk.

[beenalongday]

"No, my plan is to stand here until the cows come home." If there were any cows, anyway. He glances over at Carol, who he doesn't know very well but can at least recognize as someone from home. Or at least, partly from home, since if his understanding is correct, she spends a lot of time off-world.

He smirks back at her in return, because well, a friendly face is a friendly face. "How much do you want to bet that whatever's behind this gate is something the natives didn't want getting out?" It's probably a long shot, and Clint has as much chance as being way off base as he does of being right, but gates are built for a reason. And since it appears as though the planet's original inhabitants are no longer around, maybe the gates failed in their purpose.

[bossofspace]

The joke at least earns him an amused snort, and Carol steps a little closer to the gate, examining the faded paint job hidden underneath the climbing vines. Clint's right; gates like this are meant to either keep something out or keep something in, and since the inhabitants made their way off world - according to that first burst of information they put in her head, anyway - she's inclined to agree.

"Well, if any trace of it is still in there, I'd say we'd be better off taking care of it than not," she says. "Don't want any rampaging dinosaurs flattening the only functional part of the city."

Not that she has any proof one way or the other that there's anything like a dinosaur beyond the gate, but it does look a little bit Jurassic Park, if she had to say it was like anything else she knew.

[waterwhip]

Katara also hears the sound of the ostrich-horse--or at least, it sounds like an ostrich-horse--as she descends into the deeper parts of the greenhouse. It's a lot to take in, and the empty pens were eerie enough to send her skittering to other areas. Maybe it was a bad idea to come down here alone, but when she spots the glowing orb of the data point, she sees that she isn't.

"Clint!" she calls out, recognizing the man's distinct haircut from a distance and jogging up to him with a grin on her face. "Did you see all the plants up there? I bet some of them are good to eat."

[beenalongday]

Ostrich-horse is a good description for whatever the animal is that's making those noises. Clint's just trying to get a feel for things however he can without actually making use of the data point. As one could imagine, it's not going so well, because nothing he's seen as far as plant life is actually familiar. He just can't shake the thought that he doesn't want anyone else messing with his head.

He looks up when he hears Katara calling to him, and he can't help but smile at the sight of the younger girl approaching. "Yeah, I saw them. Kind of neat, huh? I have no idea what any of them are, but I know of at least one person around here who does."

[waterwhip]

"I hope some of the things growing here end up being sweet. I'd give anything for a moon peach," Katara says, her eyes turning to the glowing data point.

"This is like the thing back in the square, isn't it?" And of course, because she's young and curious, she reaches out without a second thought and takes a hold of it.