Lions Den *Clint*

[Echo]

The time that Maya had for herself was very precious. She was a teacher now and actually had to make out lesson plans and create workouts for her students. Not only did she teach the students at the mansion, she worked at Madame Du Bois Studio as an instructor and taught little girls how to dance. Maybe she should have taken an instructor's job at the Karate place across the street. But then they wouldn't like having a deaf, young female teach teenage guys how to kick some ass.

This was the time between getting out of the studio then back to the Academy. It was a busy schedule, but it kept her mind off of things. Serious things should not weigh down the mind of people as young as her. However she lived in a world that was dangerous and unkind to her type. Maya already had a prejudice against her as a deaf person, but to throw being a mutant into the mix was just cruel. But then again Maya wasn't a weakling, she could take the hit.

With her white cotton dress and blue flip flops were cool enough for her to sit out in the sun and watch the lions in their cage. Maya liked the zoo, it reminded her of an earlier time when her dad used to take her there. Now she sat on the bench alone with her ice coffee.

[barton]

Despite having been doing his current job for over a decade now, he still found the sudden pace changes bizarre. For instance, a few days previously he’d been fighting in some backwater hellhole, and now he catching some downtime in the Boston Zoo like nothing had happened. Already he felt out of place wearing simple, nondescript civilian clothing comprising of a white shirt, dark jeans, and a set of well worn boots. Sure he had a bracer or two of ceramic throwing knives discreetly concealed about his person, but he really missed the reassuring weight of a sidearm, his bow, or even just the comfortable fit of his regulation SHIELD uniform.

Of course, it wasn’t just the lack of gear that made him feel out of place. The marksman wasn’t entirely sure why he’d decided on dropping in on the Zoo of all places, they always brought forth bitter sweet memories and regrets from his past. His older brother, Barney, had always loved the Zoo. He frowned as he slid onto the bench opposite the lion enclosure, wondering if that’s what had brought him here. To feel closer to his missing brother. With all the chaos that was happening lately and all the crap that was going on in his life, especially the weirdness that had settled in between him and Abby, maybe he was looking back at a time that was more simple.

Clint facepalmed and screwed his brown eyes shut in a tight grimace. He had to stop hanging out with those SHIELD geeks, he had enough of them psychoanalysing him, he didn’t need to start doing it himself. The zoo was at random, nothing more, and nothing less. No subtle messages from his subconscious, just random impulse. He hoped.

As he slowly slid his hand down from his face he sideglanced the bench’s only other occupant, flashing her grin that was a mixture of his regular cocksure nature and the faint traces of embarrassment. “Sorry about that, hun. Don’t worry, I’m not crazy... Well, much.” He spoke, getting his first proper glimpse at the woman and regretting it almost instantly. Married or not, pretty women were still a major weak point for the Archer, and this woman certainly fell into that category and then some. “Hmm, probably doesn’t sound that reassuring. How about I start over? Hi, my name’s Clint, and I’m not crazy. Honest.”

[Echo]

The woman had been looking at the lions, particularly the females that surrounded the male. He looked so regal with his mane as he perched on the slightly higher rock. However Maya watched the way the three females groomed themselves on the lower level of the habitat. In the wild they were the ones that hunted and provided for their families. They were supposed to be fierce and demanding, but their meals were fed to them on a plastic platter. She thought it was a waste to bottle up that much primal instinct and reduce hunters to serene kittens.

Maya took a loud slurp from her ice coffee, or what would be loud. The girl couldn't tell the difference between a low hum and a rock concert. It was helpful when she needed to get in the zone, but a nuisance when trying to communicate with someone. Especially when she wasn't paying attention to who was sitting down next to her. Maya only noticed someone taking a seat next to her out of the corners of her eye.

Trying to study him without bringing attention to herself, Maya rummaged around in her purse in order to position her body enough for her to see him better. Just as she did this he started to move his lips. Maya stopped what she was doing and looked directly at him, that way she wouldn't miss out on what he had said. It would be embarrassing if she only caught part of the conversation. Maya smiled gently as he grinned at her with an appreciative look. Before she would have just smiled and went back to whatever it was she was doing. Now Maya wasn't the shy little girl she once was. She took more risks -whether it was jumping on the roof tops or just talking with a complete stranger.

"Nice to meet you Clint. I'm Maya." she said while extending her hand for him to shake. Clint, at least in Maya's eyes, had a certain charm that she always fell for. Something about his slight embarrassment yet confidence was very attractive to her. "In my experience only the crazy people try to convince me - twice- that they aren't" she said with a wry smile.

[barton]

“Pleasure.” Clint said as he took her hand in his, giving it a brief firm but gentle shake before letting his hand drop down to his side. As she continued to speak he tilted his head to one side, shifting his grin away from embarrassment to his regular, standard crooked one of amusement. “Well, I guess that means I’ll just have to say it a third time to cover convince you, then, Hun. Not Crazy. You Convinced?”

She was indeed a beautiful woman, the kind he would of definitely made a play for a few years back. But the Clint Barton of the present was a married man, admittedly the marriage was somewhat unconventional by any stretch of the imagination, and despite what many might of thought of him, he wasn’t the kind to cheat. Of course, that didn’t rule out a bit of harmless flirting to pass the time. It was only polite after all...

“So,” He spoke up once more, casting his brown eyed gaze once more towards the lion enclosure, although his attention was still firmly rooted on the woman beside him. Despite the fact that was once his comfort zone he felt oddly out place and ‘rusty’ for a lack of a better word, probably a result of having spent more time in the field on assignment than in a social environment over the last handful of years.

“Lions, huh?” Clint he started lamely, but fought down the wince that would of normally accompanied it as he turned back to face her, giving her a slightly sheepish smile. “Sorry, that was bad. Out of practice. Did I mention I’m not crazy?”

[Echo]

Maya watched as he accepted her handshake and tried not to stare as he spoke to her. Most of the people she spoke with knew that she was deaf and that she needed to read lips. For a stranger they just thought she was confident enough to hold eye contact for a long time. She just hoped that Clint, the man she just met, wouldn't think she was crazier than the impression he thought he was giving off.

"Certainly, just misunderstood." she smiled as she agreed with him. Maya thought that their little conversation was over and that Clint would do his thing and Maya would do hers. Most of the time that was what happened. Maya was pretty, but she didn't think that she was the type that drove men wild. No, that wasn't her (however she did hear that one of the women on the X Force was pretty hot- literally also). She put her gaze back onto the lions habitat and watched the lazy beasts just sunbathe like fat cats.

Out of the corner of her eye, Maya saw Clint moving about so she looked at him again. She couldn't hold in her little laugh at his feeble attempt to start up a more meaningful chat than his sanity. "No worries, I've heard worse. Out of practice? Did you just get out of a relationship?" she asked. Maya wasn't trying to ask if Clint was single, she was just keeping it flirty- apparently the way he wanted to keep the conversation. Maya's last relationship, Chance, didn't end with the traditional fight or any words in fact. She just left to help her mom. It was mostly her fault for not telling him what was going on, but she was embarrassed. She should have told him, but then who wanted to be with a girl like her?

She liked guns, yet she liked ballet. Maya wasn't a wall flower or anything of the sorts. Damaged and odd were more like it.

[barton]

“Yes,” Clint laughed gently, “Misunderstood. That’s me alright.” The fact she was watching his lips wasn’t missed, he was trained to be observant after all, and he quickly surmised that she was reading them. He’d seen it done before by several SHIELD assets and other agents, but never tried learning himself. His role in Intelligence side of his job was very limited at best, his natural born talents lending themselves to other, more physically active pursuits. Basically he was, to put it in a polite roundabout way, a government sanctioned take on the natural selection process. He didn’t enjoy it, but it was what he was good at – well, very good at – and perhaps one of the only things he was good at. She was either suffering from some form of audio impairment, or just... Odd. Either was likely in his experience, but he was going to give her the benefit of the doubt in light of her doing the same. “Although some might find that that’s just putting it lightly.”


“Out of a relationship?” Clint repeated back softly, a light frown sliding into place as he thought it over. He wasn’t sure how to exactly define his current relationship with Brand, if there indeed was one. They had never really talked over exactly what was going on between them, either ending up in argument or in the bedroom – not that they were exclusive of the other, really – the moment they tried. He did indeed care for the green haired woman, maybe even love her, but it was just so...difficult to sort through it all at the moment what with everything was going on in their lives. He sent the girl a wry grin and rubbed the back of his neck, “Something like that, I guess. It’s complicated, you know how it goes.”

[Echo]

As Maya read his lips, she made sure to flicker back and for to his eyes. This was meant to make it less obvious that she was lip reading, but that failed when she caught him watching her watching him. Maya tried to avoid the whole awkward deaf conversation. It drew unwanted attention to herself. There were many things that she was good at - in fact that was her claim to fame. But to focus on her one imperfection was something that annoyed her most about talking to strangers. Echo was happy that he didn't ask her what she was doing, it was just understood.

The woman nodded when he claimed that his relationship was complicated. Wasn't every relationship complicated? The spilt that she and Chance had was far from conventional. There wasn't any fight or even conversation about going their separate ways. Maya just bolted. It was a move that she regretted every day, but she hadn't had the courage to find him and explain herself. She'd just wait until they saw each other at the school. Echo was fearless when it came to skydiving, fighting and even experiencing new things. However she just couldn't bite the bullet when it came to talking to someone. She was strange.

"So what is a guy like you doing in the zoo? I mean most of the time its usually families or teenagers that come by this hour." Maya said lightly.

[barton]

He was just glad the woman in front of him nodded and took the universal truth of relationships being complicated on face value rather than probed any deeper, he really didn’t want to step further into the hornets’ nest that was that topic of conversation. If Maya thought she was bad at relationships she really wasn’t holding herself in comparison to someone like Clint Barton, a man who possessed a track record that was as long as a piece of string and just one disaster after another. He was fine at the first stages, just never anything beyond that. It just eluded him completely. Even now, in his current relationship, it was far from what anyone could even remotely begin to describe as marital bliss. Then again, if he was honest, he probably could try a bit more to open up or even start to really take any form of commitment seriously.

“Well, I would of tried later at night, but I have a feeling they might not be open. Kinda puts a cramp in that plan.” He replied with an equally light playful tone, casting his eyes back on the lions and the other patrons on the zoo as the bustled about. Once more he ignored any self introspection on the real reasons he might be here, stubbornly deciding that it was just one of those things than anything deeper or meaningful. “Honestly, though? Haven’t got the slightest clue. Just needed a break from it all, and ended up here mostly at random. Of course, the same question could also be applied to you since you’re not – well, I’m assuming you’re not – falling into those two categories.”

[Echo]

"I know what you mean. I come here after classes sometimes." Maya mused while she unconsciously flexed her feet. Standing on her feet was a different type of sore than what she experienced when fighting. This was a dull throb instead of actual pain. "I tend to forget about how messed up my life actually is." she admitted more to herself than to the man next to her.

With the world going to hell, Maya knew that there were bigger things than her less than ordinary social life. "And no, I'm not a family of one or a girlie teenager." she grinned. Maya was smack dab in the middle of those things. She wasn't young and naive and silly or a single mom that needed some time to herself. She was in her early twenties and already had two stable jobs. However the adrenaline junkie within her was never satisfied with just practicing on a dummy. Secretly she wished she could start something like the X Force, but being a team player - let alone the leader- was extremely hard for her.