And Way Down We Go

[pretendtoneedme]

WHO: Clint Barton, whoever
WHERE: Around town, the fountain...
WHEN: Throughout January 19th
OPEN TO: Anyone who wants to encounter him
WARNINGS: Standard mentions of drowning, otherwise TBD, but there'll probably be talk of fighting at the very least. Violent babies.
STATUS: Yes (if this changes, I'll edit)

---

1) Arrival (Early Morning)

Waking up underwater was pretty much the last thing Clint expected after managing to fall asleep after their rescue – and it was pretty much the worst. Whatever phobias he'd had as a kid had been trained out of him over the course of his life, but there was still a lingering thread of unease about really deep water, since even with as good as swimmer as he was he probably wouldn't be able to escape it fast enough to find breathable air. It didn't ever lock him down or stop him from going on any sort of underwater transport, but he was always just a hair more primed to act when on a sub or a submerged helicarrier. Birds just did better in the air.

So when he woke up not only not where he expected, but underwater, Clint's first reaction was one brief moment of panic before clamping it down, because panic would definitely get him killed and he had a lot to live for to die so stupidly. There was a soft light filtering down from what was probably above him if the pull of gravity was any indication, something looped around his shoulders that felt familiar and so was discarded as not a threat for the moment, and a sense of being pushed up. Whatever was going on here, getting air was the most important thing, and only about a second of orienting himself and taking all of that information in passed before he was following that push and kicking to the surface. Fortunately it wasn't as deep as it looked and he broke the surface only a few moments later, gasping for a clean breath and sculling to the edge of the... fountain? What in the hell...? And why was a fountain so deep...?

Grabbing the rim, Clint hauled himself bodily up and over the side to sprawl on the ground, breathing heavily and waiting for the pressure in his head to even out. Once it did, he was smacked clean in the face with how cold it was, especially for someone who'd gone to sleep in early summer in Africa. It wasn't made better by the fact that he'd managed to fall in a pile of old snow, or that he was only wearing what looked like white scrubs and some decent boots – neither of which he'd ever seen before. (At least the scrubs weren't blue.) Sitting around wasn't going to help anything, and he needed to dry off and warm up before his muscles seized and he got hypothermia. Waiting would do him and anyone else stuck in this situation no good. Pushing himself to his feet, Clint started stumbling to the nearest building that looked like it was inhabited, determined to find some answers.

2) Acclimatization (Early Afternoon)

Absolutely nothing about this place made sense. That was the only conclusion he could come to – it had to be magic, or alien science, or something. How else could a person (group of people, probably) kidnap so many different people from so many different times and worlds and with so many different skillsets? And not have any of them remember how they got here or be able to find a way out? They had to be dealing with something beyond any of their experiences and that, more than anything, was a frightening thought.

But he didn't let it show, because it would do no good. Panicking would just leave them stuck at square one, and so the first step was to canvas the area. It would take him a few days to map the entire place (as much as he could), but for now Clint – now warm, dry, and wearing every speck of clothing that had been in that pack since it was a shock to go from summer to winter – was taking his first walk around the village, ducking into every major building just to see what's going where and start making his mental map. Know where all the hiding places and all the exits are. Don't get stuck in a corner if you can at all help it. Maybe they were trapped in this place, but they didn't need to make it easy for whoever put them there.

3) Analysis (Late Afternoon/Evening)

Maybe it was a dumb idea for his first day, but Clint didn't even try to stop himself from taking a short walk into the woods. He wouldn't go far – monsters or animals or whatever weren't something he wanted to take on without at least a knife he could throw – but it was another resource, another set of potential hiding places, and it sounded like their best chance for food. He hadn't grown up with nothing in the backwoods of the mountains, but he knew how to survive out there and how to best live off the land if he had to. He was good at hunting and he was not good at sitting around and doing nothing (much to the annoyance of the doctors at S.H.I.E.L.D.). Day One was probably too early to jump in like that, especially since he had nothing to hunt with, but he wanted a first look so he could start making some plans.

Comments

Analysis

[womanofvalue]

Ever since Hook had taught Peggy how to properly fish and debone, she's taken to that skill with some delight, glad to be able to provide for herself. It's why she's out in the woods, now, with the kit she'd been given in those large piles of gifts. After Stella had been so good to allow Peggy to move in with her, she hardly wants to let her down and provide nothing in return.

Tensing slightly when she hears footsteps, Peggy casts a glance through the woods and swiftly figures out that she's not as alone as she'd thought. Gripping her knife in a far more aggressive manner than any fish-deboning requires, she searches through the trees for what it might be, hoping for a who and not a what. "If you're some sort of monstrous cryptid, I am armed," she calls out.

Yay Peggy!

[pretendtoneedme]

Fortunately Peggy could relax from that state of alarm, as the immediate answer was a voice, male and definitely human. "You're doing better than me, then." The tone is fairly casual, not antagonistic - pretty much designed to show that the person speaking is not a threat. That idea further pans out when a hand emerges from the bushes, open and up in the normal "show everything" manner, and the rest of him follows. Clint's had enough practice at not getting shot to move carefully but steadily, telegraphing his intentions and making sure to show that both hands are empty and not reaching for anything before dropping them to his sides. It's a manner easily familiar to anyone with training in law enforcement or most military branches.

"Haven't seen one of those yet, and it sounds like I don't want to but I'm going to at some point anyway." That's something he's not looking forward to - sure, he's fine with facing down monsters, or aliens, but he's always had something to defend himself with. His friends will share what weapons they have, but there's just not a lot to go around unfortunately. "But I just got here this morning."

[womanofvalue]

There's a hand coming out of the bushes and at first, the lack of anything attached to it garners the expected disbelief. Luckily, the rest of him follows soon after and Peggy relents on her grip on the knife, though only slightly because his is a familiar face not from home, but she could swear she'd seen him around before.

"Don't worry, typically the monstrous beings wait at least a month before attacking you," she notes wryly, returning to deboning the fish, though she doesn't take her eyes off of him. What was his name? Why can't she remember? "Out for a casual introduction walk, then?"

[pretendtoneedme]

"With my luck it'll be more like a week." Of course, his luck also involved him putting himself in the line of danger to protect others - not quite to Steve-level, but he's done his fair share of boneheaded stunts. Once he's in the clear, Clint takes a moment to scan the area for anything that could possibly attack, and to take a read of the area and locate any and all potential exits, then takes his first good look at the woman in front of him.

It's not what he expects, that's for sure. The "British" part was obvious from her accent, but there were over thirty million women from the UK as of the last time he heard any population figures and so he had no reason to think he'd see a time traveler. Because it just can't be anything else - years spent in S.H.I.E.L.D. and a few actual meetings with her (though much older) means that Clint knows who Peggy Carter is and what she looks like. And while normally he's really good at controlling his emotions and he's been through a lot of shit anyway, this one is just beyond anything he can imagine. "Director Carter?"

[womanofvalue]

Peggy raises both brows in surprise for the title, even if it's not the first time she's heard it. It's still something that she's surprised to hear, mainly because it means that the person wielding such a title knows more about her than she knows about herself. That takes some getting used to, after all. "I hope you don't feel insulted, but I have no idea who you are," she says, intending to set expectations firmly before this goes too far.

"Either you've worked with a future version of me or I've developed some very strict requirements about how my future friends address me," she remarks, hoping that he hears the teasing joke in her even tone, which is unfortunately warring with the ridiculity of the situation.

[pretendtoneedme]

He's not even going to claim he knows more about Peggy than she knows about herself, because... well, he doesn't. He doesn't know her favorite foods, or her schooling history, or even a lot about her family. Hell, he'd just found out Sharon was her niece after the...

...yeah, he's not going to mention that bit.

But when she says she has no idea who he is, Clint isn't surprised. She's young - a lot younger than him - and he met her right around when she turned eighty. Bit of a time difference there. "Definitely future, though you could - can - kick the ass of anyone who doesn't respect you properly." Not that he's opposed to that at all. In fact, Peggy will probably be able to notice a subtle change to his posture, a straightening, not quite moving to attention but definitely heading that way. Because one lesson you learned quickly in S.H.I.E.L.D. was to respect the people at the top - none of them would ever have taken shit they absolutely didn't have to.

"Barton - Clint Barton. I was in S.H.I.E.L.D., then- well, I'm on Cap's team."

Arrival -- Hawkeye Meet...Hawkeye?

[hawkeyesniper]

Ever since her episode a few weeks ago Riza had had a difficult time pulling herself back together. She'd come to the conclusion that most of what she had seen had been an illusion or hallucination of some kind, although how it had felt and seemed so real was beyond her. She'd never had an episode like that before, so she was hesitant to claim it was PTSD or anything like that. Still, the one moment she couldn't shake was her exchange at the fountain with Harry. It was easier to dismiss the bad things --- the visions that had attacked her and tormented her. But she had seen Harry and given his magical abilities, well, it was harder to dismiss that one as just being in her head. After all, what if he had been real and the arrival had just been poorly timed.

If that was the case, they could have help outside of here -- and Riza was having a difficult time letting her logical side, the side trying to tell her that it had been another hallucination, win out.

It was what now motivated her more than ever to continue checking the fountain. She'd been one to check it fairly regularly before, but now she stopped by the fountain multiple times a day. It was her only clue, her only connection to that vision of Harry that had appeared weeks ago now and she wasn't willing to let it go so quickly.

She was on the path leading from the inn and wasn't even anywhere near the fountain when she noticing someone stumbling her way. Riza at first wasn't going to pay him any mind, but her sharp eyes pretty quickly picked up on the fact he was soaking wet and walking briskly -- two signs of another new arrival. A third sign was, of course, the fact that he was coming from the direction of the fountain itself.

Luckily, she'd started bringing some provisions with her whenever she planned on stopping at the fountain. First, however, she had to make sure he wasn't so freaked out as to attack or run away as soon as she started making a move for her bag. So, instead, she called out, "New arrival?"

Score!

[pretendtoneedme]

The sound of a human voice made him stop cold in that way that only highly trained military personnel and some performers could - he just froze in place for a moment, not a hair or muscle moving as he scanned the area for a threat. His senses were all messed up after that dip in freezing water, or he would've spotted another person approaching long before now. But while he might not have had weapons, he still had all his training and something of a hair-trigger after being in maximum security prison for almost a week, and that voice sounded friendly enough. The effort to trust that the woman wasn't going to attack him was more than it should have been, but he did overcome it to straighten up and face her properly after only a second or so.

"If you mean did I just wake up underwater for no reason and climb out of a fountain, yeah, new arrival." Even with his pretty good tolerance for temperature fluctuation, that couldn't stop Clint shivering a little in his soaked clothing and the cold winter morning air. He nodded at the inn, since there were a few lights on in it and it didn't look like any sort of private residence. "Can I dry off and warm up there?"

[hawkeyesniper]

Riza understood the need to stop moving. She'd certainly been there before, and conveniently his white scrubs on the snow did a lot to help him disappear -- but she was known for her keen eyes and she wasn't going to lose sight of him that easily. She waited for him to make a move again though before coming closer, she'd already had one arrival book it for the woods, she was hoping that wasn't going to repeat itself now.

When he finally spoke her suspicion was confirmed and she nodded, "Yes. That tends to be where a lot of people visit first anyway." Probably because it was so obviously a place where people would be -- the houses had a habit of looking empty, even when people had claimed them as their own.

"If you want...you can get a jump start on the drying part though," she motioned to her pack, swinging one strap off of her shoulder and in a smooth motion produced a towel, which she offered to him. New arrivals in this weather had led her to start coming prepared, especially after her encounter with Sonny and him nearly freezing to death in the blizzard that had happened as he'd arrived.

[pretendtoneedme]

White was good for the moment - come summer, it wouldn't be nearly so good. Hopefully whoever, or whatever, had done this to them wouldn't take offense to him purposefully dirtying up the whites they gave him to have better camouflage. Mud and dirt could hide a lot, after all. But there's little use in pretending he didn't hear anything; he has no idea what's going on, after all, he needs information, and breaking and running isn't going to get him that information. Normally staying unseen is really high on his list of priorities, but not freezing tops that right now and she seems reasonable. Besides, he has all his training to fall back on if she's not.

But whoever she is, she's prepared, and oddly enough that's reassuring and terrifying in equal measure. Reassuring because that means whoever's here is likely to treat people decently - most of them, anyway - and terrifying because it means people randomly end up in the fountain for no good reason on a regular enough basis for people to need to be prepared. Actually, it's more terrifying than reassuring. But for right now, he'll cling to what he can get. And at least she has a towel, which he accepts with a nod and throws over his head to scrub his hair dry. At least he keeps it short enough that there's not a lot of water stuck in it.

"Thanks - I don't know what the hell is going on, but this's not what I expected when I went to sleep last night."

[hawkeyesniper]

Once he started drying off, Riza motioned for him to follow and started walking back towards the inn. There would be other people there, but more importantly there would be shelter from the cold. She figured by this point he was going to trust her enough to follow her to the inn. She could set aside her initial reason for getting out for another time. It wasn't like the orientation to this place took very long.

"Most people don't. You can't really prepare yourself for something like this, even if you have gone through something similar," she said, her tone hinting at the fact that she might have experienced waking up in a strange situation with no real explanation before. It was not fun then and it was even less fun now. Or maybe the first time had been the worst, she had pros and cons for each, though of course neither experience had been pleasant.

"It's more or less the same story though. One minute you're going about your day and the next you are waking up without any recollection of how you would have gotten where you are and you're wearing unfamiliar clothes and you have a bag of supplies that are the bare minimum for survival -- sans any actual weapons or food, unfortunately." She tilted her head to make sure he was still following, "That sound about right so far?"

2. Acclimatization -- since I dragged you here, have another character

[notabirdcostume]

Sam was used to a lot of thing about this place, but it still baffled him some days that he actually had a goat to take care of. He didn't mention it a lot, but that was about the only reason he made a point of stopping by the police station turned barn on a regular basis. It was just another part of his routine, a weird one, but still there. What would they say back home if they ever heard that Sam had to take care of a goat of all things?

Granted, most of his teammates were here and for the most part they didn't say much about it, but that was likely due to the fact that they had other things to think about most of the time.

He wasn't expecting anything out of the ordinary with this trip -- pop in, feed Berg, get him some exercise, change the hay, and then pop back out. He wasn't expecting to see a familiar face coming from the opposite direction. In fact, he almost missed catching sight of Clint as he disappeared around the corner of one of the homes destroyed by the earthquake (actually, now that Sam thought about it, it was the house he'd formerly been living in -- #14).

Sam wasn't entirely sure if he'd seen that right so he called out, "Clint?"

Hello buddy

[pretendtoneedme]

Well, someone would probably ask if he'd been headbutted or kicked in the crotch yet. It was kind of an inevitable question given the nature of goats.

But Clint didn't know that, was still unaware that his friends and teammates were anywhere around. Most of them, at least. While he'd rather be back home, since even if he couldn't be with his family he had a chance of getting back to the farm that he didn't have while in this strange place, at least he'd have allies to try and help him bust out. Because that, of course, was already on his mind.

By now he knew that any other voices around belonged to other... residents. Some good, some willing to kick your ass, but all just people in the grand scheme. And people, he could handle, so he didn't tense up when his name was called as he inspected the mostly-collapsed house. It was weird that whatever'd done that hadn't seemed to really hurt the other buildings around here, but - well, this place was weird. And he knew that voice.

"...Sam?" he called back, leaning back around the corner to check and see if that was really who he heard. If it was, it was great and terrible, but he could work with that. Sam was a smart and resourceful man who was also dependable. Much, much better than he was really hoping for.

Greetings

[notabirdcostume]

Well the voice certainly confirmed his suspicions. Sam was then less surprised when Clint leaned back into his line of sight. At least Clint knew his name -- Sam was about done with any teammate timeline shenanigans that might occur. It had been bad enough when Bucky had briefly been here from prior to everything and then had returned as a more up-to-date version. That was confusing and Sam tried not to think about it too much. Granted, it was almost more frustrating when it was individuals who should be "up-to-date" and weren't, like Stark who was (as best Sam could tell) from prior to the whole falling out.

"It's me," Sam replied, not sure how else to answer that. "Let me guess. You just climbed out of a fountain and you're scouting the place?" He glanced at the destroyed house and shook his head, "I heard you were in to home improvement projects, but I think that might be pushing it a little."

[pretendtoneedme]

Sam'll need to catch him up on everything that's going on, because Clint will be more than tempted to just punch Tony in the face the first time he sees him. Which isn't fair, because if someone's going to get punched in the face, they really should be aware of why they're getting punched, shouldn't they?

But that could wait. Clint maneuvered around the piles of lumber that had fallen whichever way and not been cleaned up, not wanting to put a foot wrong and turn his ankle his very first day here, but it wasn't like that was all that hard for someone with his training to do. "Climbed out a couple- few hours ago, yeah. You too or you been here awhile?" He's letting the small joke about home improvement projects slide for the moment, because Sam's a reliable source of info and he needs all he can get right now.

[notabirdcostume]

"Don't get me started on how the times don't match -- but I've been here over six months," Sam replied, which probably accounted for his rough appearance. At least he'd managed to stay relatively well shaven thanks to getting a gift of a razor awhile back. Granted, it wasn't like he'd been in the best condition in that prison cell either -- though his scrapes and bruises from that particular fight were long since healed.

Sam crossed his arms, thinking back to his own arrival six months prior. He added, "Which, as far as we can tell, is as long as anyone else has been here. This place was completely empty of people when a big group of us first crawled out of that fountain."

analysis

[00nothing]

Mapping a town without any reliable way of actually recording the information without it being explicitly clear to other people at the inn what he was doing is more tiring than Alex had honestly expected, particularly with the sweeping size of this one, and he finds himself taking a much needed break out in the woods, where he can more easily avoid the perplexing residents.

He doesn't really know what he's doing out here though. For all of his inclination towards sports, he's never been particularly drawn to nature, and the most he can really gather from this forest is that there doesn't appear to be an overwhelming number of poisonous things around (it's winter though, he knows that can change) and that it isn't nearly as suffocating as the jungle had been.

For the most part he's ignored the few stray animals that he's come across during his walk so far, having no real way of hunting them without the use of a gun and not especially keen to change his lack of possession of one (if he even can in this place, that is), and for their part the animals have skirted his own path with a sort of wariness that he can kind of empathize with.

Currently, he's standing at the base of a tree and staring up at it with a long, considering look, mentally running over the risks and benefits of attempting to climb it to gain a higher vantage point. Cons? He falls and breaks something, and he has no idea what health care even amounts to in this place, really. Pros?

He might just see people like Clint coming before they see him, which is unfortunately not something he can claim now.

[pretendtoneedme]

"You know, I don't know how many times I've seen a teenager not climb a tree."

Clint's got an unfair advantage over Alex here - he grew up in an area not that dissimilar to this, with his town being larger but still having a lot of fields, trees, and so forth around it, not to mention where his family's home is now with even more trees and some hills where he goes hunting. His own natural physical skillsets as well as the ones given to him by his training mean he can move silently through almost any terrain, which he often does in an area he doesn't feel "safe" in. That definitely hasn't been applied to this... bubble of captivity yet, not by a long shot, and someone'll probably want to put a damn bell on him before the week is over. But oh well. There's a kid stuck here, and that's something that Clint does not like. Him, Sam, the others, they can take care of themselves - but a kid? Who the hell are these people doing this shit?

"I wouldn't try getting up there with the snow, though. It'll make things a lot more difficult than it's worth."

[00nothing]

Alex's shoulders jolt up around his ears briefly before settling back down into something feigning relaxation, and it's the only reaction he gives to being more or less snuck up on because at the very least his time here is helping him get a handle on his nerves again. So that he doesn't feel like he's constantly on edge anymore.

Or he can pretend that's the case, anyway. Poorly. Whatever.

By the time he turns around to face Clint, resting his back lightly against the tree behind him, his face is even enough, and he shrugs one shoulder as he crosses his arms over his chest, trying to look casual and dismissive but mostly managing to express that he's not totally thrilled with being approached like this by a stranger.

An adult, specifically. "I was always more of a city kid, I guess." He says with soft British vowels as his eyes drag up and down Clint in a slow study of him, gauging potential threat levels.

[pretendtoneedme]

Clint's a bit more wary after all that, because none of that is... quite like a normal teenager. It's not much, it's really not, but it's just enough off that he's not entirely sure what the kid's expression is going to be when he turns around. And - okay, yeah, that vaguely sullen look is very teenage, "I don't want you to know what I'm thinking but I can't quite mask it" that most kids that age have. Still, something just feels enough off that he's a bit more on point himself, a little more alert than he usually shows himself to be in situations that aren't on the job. Not much, but a little.

Still, after all this time he's very good at controlling himself, and though it's obvious he's watching Alex, trying to figure out what dropped this boy here where no one can leave, he's good enough to just show the expected mild concern that most adults would have when finding a kid in a place like this. "You've gotta be pretty unhappy being stuck here, then."

3

[almightythor]

Thor did not often wander into the woods except to chop firewood and when he had a moment to claim the axe for himself, he went to do that very thing. With the snow as thick as it had been these past months, they went through lots of firewood in both his own little home and for the Inn - he wanted to do what he could to contribute.

He hadn't gotten deep into the woods before he saw a face he thought long since gone and when he drew closer, he lifted a hand in greeting to his friend and comrade-at-arms.

"Clint! I thought you had left this place and found some sort of escape. When did you arrive again?"

[pretendtoneedme]

It was hard not to hear Thor coming - he was a big guy and not used to stealth, not the way Clint or Nat were or even Cap. The woods also weren't as easy to walk around quietly in as they probably would be in the summer, since there was lingering snow to crunch in and dead branches and leaf litter to disturb. Clint heard all that and wasn't concerned; anyone making that much noise wasn't going to attack anyone. Probably just another person stuck there like he was now.

Still, making his way around the trees he was weaving through to see who it was, he didn't expect to see this teammate. Not someone who could call down the Bifrost to transport him from world to world in a bright, flashy blink of an eye. -And then there was that comment that made no sense to him whatsoever, and he looked just as confused as he sounded. "Escape? I just got here, man, what're you talking about escape?"

[almightythor]

"You were here before," Thor said, frowning deeply. "You were here for a few weeks and then you disappeared. We assumed that you found a way home and didn't share it with us."

If he had and was now returned to this place, perhaps he had a way of taking them back through the way he'd escaped.

"How did you escape?"

[pretendtoneedme]

Clint frowned himself in confusion, holding up his hands in a gesture indicating openness and (hopefully) honesty. "I've got no idea what you're talking about, man. I didn't break out of anywhere except prison, and that was yesterday."

...Did he know about that already? Well he would now. He had no reason to keep it from Thor, after all.

"Whatever or whoever you talked to, it wasn't me. You know I wouldn't leave you guys here if I found a way out."

[almightythor]

"It must be the strange magic of this place again," Thor said, frowning deeply. He knew that Clint had been here before and had been here long enough to put down a few roots and establish himself. Why would he suddenly not remember that?

"You were here, Clint. You were here for a few weeks, actually, trapped like the rest of us."