Unfinished Fic Wednesday

Today's unfinished fic is from our friend [livejournal.com profile] lar_laughs, who says:

Once upon a time, this was meant to be the third portion the New Mexico State of Mind 'verse. This was written quite a few months ago and I'm just not sure what I think of this idea any more. Mostly, I have no idea why Clint would go back to the circus.

(Remember, submit your unfinished snippets of >1000 words to bc.unfinished@gmail.com!)


As soon as she’s out of the shower, her phone rings but it’s not Clint. Of course, it isn’t Clint. She’s not that lucky in life. It is Fury with an assignment that puts her into play as soon as she hangs up the phone. It feels like copping out of her life but she doesn’t care. If nothing else, it gives her time to take some deep breaths and reevaluate what’s been happening lately.

When she gets back, there’s nothing in the bedroom that gives any indication that Clint ever lived there. Not even an old pair of underwear at the back of the drawer or a spare razor in the bathroom. A few minutes of conversation with JARVIS gives her the basics (he left the tower in the early hours the day after she started her SHIELD assignment, he only took a single bag with him, everything else he owned was in a box in Bruce’s lab) and she’s off and running once again.

“I hear Clint left something behind with you.” She studies the man as his head raises so fast it looks like he might almost have given himself whiplash. There are so many things she wants to ask him but she knows he can’t, or won’t, answer most of the questions she can find words to. It’s okay because all she really wants to see is the box.

“He did.” But the thing that Bruce puts on the table is not the box. It’s the metal gray box holding the two tiny hearing aids that should have been in his ears. “Said they needed adjusting. That he’d be back for them.”

The someday is implied but she’s not sure if it’s being implied by Bruce or by Clint. Or by her own bruised psyche.

She’s turning to leave, her throat too closed up for words, when he surprises her. “And he left you this.”

Her knees nearly give way when she turns around. Next to the box is his SHIELD issued phone. The phone that never, ever left his person, even when he was undercover. Next to the phone is a slip of paper. She reaches for it, reluctant to break the suspense. The not knowing is sometimes better than the knowing.

Tasha,

I hope you find some use for this.


There’s nothing else written there. She turns it over to make sure. Nine little words that mean nothing to her and yet... and yet.... She folds the paper, tucking it deep into her pocket for later. Now is not the time to memorize the slant of the letters or the fact that he used the name that is meant only for the two of them.

Instead, she pulls out the smaller slip of paper that fell from the folded note. ADMIT ONE is emblazoned on the top, followed by some pertinent information she can’t seem to digest. The only thought that is getting through this fog is that this is a ticket. For a circus.

[identity profile] angela-n-hunt.livejournal.com 2012-10-24 05:58 pm (UTC)(link)
Can you please link to whatever is the lead up to this? I am missing context, but I have thinky thoughts already...

[identity profile] angela-n-hunt.livejournal.com 2012-10-24 06:17 pm (UTC)(link)
Danke!
ext_385301: blue bow (Marvel - C/N hurt (art))

[identity profile] lar_laughs.livejournal.com 2012-10-24 06:18 pm (UTC)(link)
This is also sort of the middle of the fic. It was the only part that was sort of "stand alone".

[identity profile] angela-n-hunt.livejournal.com 2012-10-24 06:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Gotcha.

[identity profile] shenshen77.livejournal.com 2012-10-24 07:57 pm (UTC)(link)
I am already having feels after this little snippet, just like I had after the first two, which I just re-read this weekend... So I would love to read more :)
ext_385301: blue bow (Marvel - C/N crack shot (art))

[identity profile] lar_laughs.livejournal.com 2012-10-24 08:19 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm mostly stuck on what to do once she goes to the circus. Why did he go? Why does he (obviously) want her to follow? What's there?

I never had a good enough idea to finish this with but I like everything I have so far so didn't just toss it.

[identity profile] shenshen77.livejournal.com 2012-10-24 08:32 pm (UTC)(link)
I see your dilemma... Is he going back to the circus as a performer? Does he want her to see him in his act as the world's greatest marksman? Or is he not even performing as an archer? Does he want her to see where or how he grew up? I think that might be something he would do, he obviously has something he wants to share only with her. Maybe introduce her to someone important from his past? Has his hearing loss made him want to embrace the past?... intriguing indeed. I really hope you figure out what he wants there and finish the story :)
ashen_key: (Default)

[personal profile] ashen_key 2012-10-24 09:51 pm (UTC)(link)
Mid-life crisis? (suggestion only mostly flippant - because he is in a job with a lot of pressure and a lot darkness, so, did he just decide enough was enough and go off somewhere, and wants her with him?

Even if it's a long-about-way of going about it.)

Sadly, all of your questions are mine, too.
ext_385301: blue bow (Default)

[identity profile] lar_laughs.livejournal.com 2012-10-25 02:21 am (UTC)(link)
There is definitely a weight on him. Something has been going on that he wouldn't (couldn't) talk about.

The thing about the darkness... that image is speaking to me. There is something there.
Edited 2012-10-25 02:22 (UTC)
ashen_key: (London town)

[personal profile] ashen_key 2012-10-25 05:59 am (UTC)(link)
In general characterization, I wouldn't even say wouldn't/couldn't talk about - at the start of the Avengers, to me he just looks emotionally drained. Which...he's a secret field agent, and a sniper - he's been killing people for a loooong time, and he's hardly a sociopath (if he was, he just wouldn't have his security clearance). And that kind of business, and those kinds of missions, would just take their toll. Even if he's going to a shrink, the espionage business is consuming. So, there is a decent lot of material to work with without it being a secret, if you wanted.

:)! glad to help.

[identity profile] hufflepuffsneak.livejournal.com 2012-10-24 10:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Is the ticket to a circus that's still showing or an old ticket? Is there anything else written on the ticket?
ext_385301: blue bow (Default)

[identity profile] lar_laughs.livejournal.com 2012-10-25 02:17 am (UTC)(link)
It is a ticket to a current circus. There are other bits that lead the reader (and Natasha) to believe that he has given this a lot of thought. Whatever he has done, he's done it for a reason. I had thoughts of someone asking him back because they were in trouble and he needed to be sort of undercover. Whatever it is, it's weighed on him.

[identity profile] hufflepuffsneak.livejournal.com 2012-10-25 02:33 am (UTC)(link)
I had thoughts of someone asking him back because they were in trouble and he needed to be sort of undercover.

Ooh, I like that idea. Is there any reason Natasha wouldn't be in on it though? Is it related to his shady past? Does your Clint even have a shady past? So many directions to take this story! I hope you continue.
ext_385301: blue bow (Default)

[identity profile] lar_laughs.livejournal.com 2012-10-25 03:11 am (UTC)(link)
I've always gone with the very comic history of Clint being in the circus and then being brought into SHIELD. This should probably be the vehicle I use to hash that out. Maybe it was meant to be before? I don't know.

Someone from his past has asked him for help. He couldn't very well bring Natasha with him and expect both of them to blend in since he couldn't very well go undercover in his own history (that just dawned on me) but she could. Hmmm...