Love Is For Children - ATTF: Around the World with Clint and Nat!

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22 May 2020 @ 01:17 pm

ATTF: Around the World with Clint and Nat!

Dear Best Bar,

Travel can be a blessing, and a curse, as anyone can attest who has ever lost a piece of luggage, had a flight cancelled, gotten stuck in the middle seat, or been taken aside by the police for inadvertently trying to bring a piece of firearm onboard a plane (don't ask - shit happens, ok?). And then, at the other end, you end up in places both glorious and mundane, enchanting or awful, with food that can be either utterly amazing or make you barf 14 times before you have to be "on" for the thing for which you travelled around the planet in the first place.

When your job is in global ~~assassinations~~ security, travel is like what Thanos thinks he is: Inevitable.

So here is your topic and assignment for the day:

Give us your comment fic - three sentences or more; your full-blown meta or your snippets of thought; your recs or self-recs of fic where location, location, location was the key (and no, it doesn't have to be just Budapest). How would things turn out if Clint and Nat showed up in a place that's been on your bucket list since you were six, a place you love dearly and know well, or (gasp! yawn!) in your home town?

<small>Things to remember:

1) Always label NSFW (Not Safe For Work) stuff in the title and post under a cut.

2) Fic and artwork needs to have a rating and warnings (or you can say that you’ve chosen not to use warnings).

3) For people with annoying internet connections, say in the title if a comment is graphic/images/gif-heavy and post picspams under a cut.

4) Have a good time! (Because if that’s not happening then this post has clearly failed.)</small>

Tags: all the things friday

37 comments | Leave a comment

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franztastisch on May 22nd, 2020 10:02 pm (UTC)

Okay so I will comment with some of my favourite fics that take us to far flung places when I am more cognizant but as it stands I just want to say...

Remember when

be_compromised did the hometown challenge back in 2013? SEVEN YEARS AGO? Man, it was one of the first challenges or exchanges I took part in. And all the stories took us all across the globe! What an excellent collection of stories to revisit!

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alphaflyer on May 22nd, 2020 10:46 pm (UTC)

I have to admit I was thinking of the Hometown Challenge when I wrote the original post. That was so much fun!

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franztastisch on May 23rd, 2020 10:51 am (UTC)

I actually still have two different versions of fics meant for that challenge which just... didn't work out. But I liked them just enough to not actually delete them.

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alphaflyer on May 23rd, 2020 10:55 am (UTC)

Now's the time to polish them up a little and put them out there!

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franztastisch on May 23rd, 2020 11:02 am (UTC)

Ehhhhh. I might do, but they also really didn't work for me. I'll have a look at them again though, just to be sure.

Edited 2020-05-23 11:04 am (UTC)

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franztastisch on May 23rd, 2020 11:01 am (UTC)

Okay! I come baring fic recs!

First, a self rec: Something Good [ T, no warnings ]
I wrote this after visiting Morocco, and while it's quite possibly the sense of place doesn't seep through as much for you as it does for me, but man, I can see everything.

I rec this all the time but: Samsara by xahra99 [ T, no warnings ] An amazing mission fic set in Tibet. Proper brilliant stuff.

Silhouette by mariana_oconnor [ Clint/Bucky, Clint&Nat, M, canon-typical violence ] Yes, okay, this is a Clint/Bucky fic. BUT! It takes place all over the world, believably. Plus it's utterly brilliant. <3

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alphaflyer on May 23rd, 2020 07:11 pm (UTC)

Yay! Recs! Including one I haven't seen before... <3

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starsanonwrites on May 25th, 2020 06:33 pm (UTC)

Silhouette was the first fic that popped into my head for this!!! It's so GOOD. Super excited to read those other fics too!

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alistra on May 23rd, 2020 11:25 am (UTC)

"Nat... one of those ferris wheel cabs is a sauna."

"M-hm. Christmas market over there has a whole section of active saunas."

"Finns really do love being naked with strangers. Hey Nat? You wanna bet SHIELD's Helsinki offices-"

"Don't even think about it, Barton!"

(Both of the above are true, I've seen them. As to a SHIELD employee sauna - that's classified.)

Edited 2020-05-23 11:25 am (UTC)

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franztastisch on May 23rd, 2020 07:28 pm (UTC)

Put saunas in eeeeeverything! xD

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alphaflyer on May 23rd, 2020 11:29 am (UTC)

Okay, time for some meta. The thing that always fascinates me about the idea of Clint and Natasha travelling on one of their master assassin assignments, is how they get in and out?

If they travel commercial, would Clint check his bow and arrows, or risk putting them in hand luggage and having them confiscated? ("Fuck, Nat. That was the last piece from our flight. They say if I fill out the 'lost baggage' claim they'll deliver it by tomorrow afternoon. What's the address of our safe house again? We supposed to give that out?")

If they travel by QuinJet, does SHIELD have a whole section in Records devoted to filing flight plans, getting overflight clearances for non-civilian flights and landing rights, and then wiping out the records of same? ("Where did they go this time? Latveria?" "Yup." "Wasn't that where the wedding of the President's son ended up with 74 cases of lethal food poisoning who all happened to be linked to the Rotarian mafia?" "Coincidence. Wipe the flight.")

Edited 2020-05-23 11:31 am (UTC)

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alistra on May 23rd, 2020 02:23 pm (UTC)

I've just recently read a fic where a commercial flight attendant has Clint as a passenger, set shortly after Avengers, where he flies to Germany to look at the place Loki took him. There's some good observations on what distinguished him as a passenger. Which I could remember what it was called.

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franztastisch on May 23rd, 2020 07:13 pm (UTC)

Oh man I remember reading that YEARS ago! Also can't remember what it was called, but it was really interesting.

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alphaflyer on May 23rd, 2020 07:23 pm (UTC)

Was it Hard Rain Tesserae by Framling? I credited her in "Highway of Diamonds" for leading me to Dylan for chapter headings.

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franztastisch on May 23rd, 2020 07:27 pm (UTC)

Yes! Or at least, that's the one I remember reading for sure. I can't, of course, speak for Ali. :P

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alistra on May 23rd, 2020 10:22 pm (UTC)

You already make all I write sound prettier, why not cut out the middle man? :P

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franztastisch on May 24th, 2020 01:31 pm (UTC)

I'm not committing identity theft Ali.

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alistra on May 23rd, 2020 10:20 pm (UTC)

It was! Well done!

Here's a link, for anyone curious. The part I was referring to is chapter two.

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alistra on May 23rd, 2020 07:35 pm (UTC)

Yes, it's definitely an old fic!

And because I cannot find it right now, I am reccing everybody go read another 2012 classic,

gyzym 's We were emergencies instead because it explains what happened in Budapest. Rated Explicit and with extensive warnings.

It's amazing and heartbreaking and magnificent.

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starsanonwrites on May 25th, 2020 06:37 pm (UTC)

Oh my GOODNESS I adore that fic!!!!!! Definitely a classic!

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paperairplanesopenwindows on May 24th, 2020 02:08 pm (UTC)

I remember reading some fic (no clue what, but maybe it'll ring a bell with someone) where Nat and Clint had essentially military ID that let them check their weapons?

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violsva on May 23rd, 2020 06:54 pm (UTC)

Not quite my hometown, but near enough...

The Niagara strip was unbelievably loud. Clint eventually just gave up and took his hearing aids out entirely.

“Dammit,” he complained, “if we had to go to somewhere Canadian and full of tourists, why not Montreal? Why not Charlottetown?”

“No,” Nat said and signed at the same time. Fair enough, she probably had reasons for avoiding PEI.

“Victoria, then. Victoria has classy tourist traps.”

“Does it seem like these guys were interested in classy?” Nat glanced into a store selling five hundred different Falls themed key chains, shook her head, and turned to the wax museum. Clint sighed and followed her in.

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alphaflyer on May 23rd, 2020 07:06 pm (UTC)

Now I need to know why Natasha would not want to go to PEI... is it the red hair? An allergy to potatoes...?

PS Let me guess. St Catherines...?

Edited 2020-05-23 07:06 pm (UTC)

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paperairplanesopenwindows on May 25th, 2020 02:53 am (UTC)

oops, coming in late (as always), but this ATTF reminded me that I want to one day write an OT3 fic with a travel writer who keeps running into Nat and Clint on various missions across the world (and then they all fall in love).

and for a fic rec where location matters, might I recommend Second Skin by Frea_O, where Clint and Kate work as small town cops and investigate a mysterious (and supernatural) murder. Most aus have Clint and Nat living in NYC, so I really like that this one has them in a small town!

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paperairplanesopenwindows on May 25th, 2020 02:56 am (UTC)

And some bonus, uh, four sentence fic, based on my hometown fic:

"How long of a flight are we looking at?" Natasha asked.

"A couple of hours," Clint answered.

Natasha frowned. "I thought you said we were going to Melbourne."

"Yeah, not that one," Clint said, double checking the dossier to be sure, "We aren't leaving the United States."

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alistra on May 25th, 2020 07:15 am (UTC)

Hah, well done!

This reminds me of that Eddie Izzard bit: "Meanwhile in Jerusalem--- Maryland. Do you even know other countries exist?!"

From the same stand up as my favourite of his most-quoted lines: I'm from Europe - where history comes from. :D

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alphaflyer on May 25th, 2020 04:03 pm (UTC)

Ha. That is too funny.

I used a version of this in the ancient *2013 cough* Hometown Fic challenge, when I had Natasha be ticked off when she finds they're going to London, Ontario rather than the Big One with the sales... :D

It is a little annoying that North Americans have so little imagination when it comes to naming places... Just in the corner of SouthWestern Ontario where I spent the first 14 years of my life in Canada, we have London, Paris, Dresden, Woodstock, Cambridge, Waterloo and Delhi (among others), and Kitchener would still be Berlin if it wasn't for WW1. And in the aforementioned London, Ont there is a Thames River, an Oxford Street, a Pall Mall (which is awesomely pathetic compared to the original)... :P

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paperairplanesopenwindows on May 25th, 2020 11:46 pm (UTC)

I worked for awhile at a certain theme park where we wore nametags with our hometowns on it and I got a surprising number of people asking where my accent was.

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alistra on May 25th, 2020 07:10 am (UTC)

I want to one day write an OT3 fic with a travel writer who keeps running into Nat and Clint on various missions across the world (and then they all fall in love).

YES PLEASE! :D That's a great idea. *coughJamescough*

I know I've read a fic where Natasha, Clint (and Kate!) are nature photographers, that's vaguely travel-related, but I don't remember the title.

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paperairplanesopenwindows on May 25th, 2020 11:21 am (UTC)

Well, I’m me, so chances are any OT3 I write will be Clint, Nat, and Laura, but I’m not opposed to anyone with other OT3s using this idea if they like it!

I know exactly which one you’re talking about, that’s All Under Heaven by Franztastisch/CloudAtlas.

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alistra on May 25th, 2020 11:32 am (UTC)

Well, I'm me, so chances are any OT3 I write will be Clint, Nat, and anyone BUT Laura. ;P Just kidding, I'm not going to take your idea and it genuinely does sound like it could be a lot of fun.

All Under Heaven by Franztastisch/CloudAtlas.

*massive tableflip*

You know what? From now on, I'm just going to assume that whatever I've ever read and liked was by either her or AlphaFlyer and probably have a decent success rate. *headdesks repeatedly* X-D

Thanks!

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alphaflyer on May 25th, 2020 11:39 am (UTC)

He he he. I suppose by now we both have written so much that we have a percentage of the market cornered...

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gsparkle on May 25th, 2020 10:54 pm (UTC)

looooooove Second Skin!! I wish there was a sequel :\

Also... the ot3?? WRITE IT!!

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paperairplanesopenwindows on May 25th, 2020 11:49 pm (UTC)

Me too! I want more Twin Peaksy/X-Files Clint and Natasha!

It's on the list I promise!!! I have some other WIPs I'm trying to get wrapped up before I start any other undertakings.

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starsanonwrites on May 25th, 2020 06:51 pm (UTC)

I definitely recommend reading Berlin by thestarsjustblinkforus. Rated T, creator chose not to archive warnings, 2415 words. It's relatively new and so, SO good.

All this travel talk has me thinking of a road trip or flight attendant AU...

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alphaflyer on May 25th, 2020 06:52 pm (UTC)

Okay, rec time. Others have self-rec'd so I won't feel self-conscious about it... I travel a lot, and the vast majority of my fics where location matters are about places I've been - Vienna ("Ley Lines"); the UN in New York and Tbilisi ("In the Service" ch 1&2); the Isle of Skye, Jordan and Vienna/Rotterdam/Venice in my MCU/007 crossover series; Prague/Kampala/The Hague/Lijiang/Istanbul in "The Long Way Home". But mostly that's because I love those places, they sing to me, and I wanted to say something about them.

There's only one place I wrote about because I absolutely loathe it, and that's Astana, Kazakhstan. So here's my rec and the only piece I'll link - and it's about how to make the best out of being stuck in a shithole: Warmth

Someone else's fic that I basked in due to its sense of location, and because it is the essence of London-ness (my favourite city and a place where I've lived twice), is this little gem by our very own franztastisch: Going Underground (Or: Five People Who Helped Save London, Even if They Didn't Know It)

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alistra on May 26th, 2020 07:25 am (UTC)

I love all those fics (unsurprisingly), but you already knew that.
Special mention for Poveglia though, cause that was written so well, it still gives me chills. x

Going Underground goes on the list of "That was a good fic but can't remember who wrote- OH BLOODY HELL".

It's beginning to be a surprisingly comprehensive list. Which probably says more about my memory than I'd like to admit.:P

Edited 2020-05-26 07:26 am (UTC)

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