2325/So It's Your Birthday

So It's Your Birthday
Date of Scene:	04 July 2020
Location:	Wanda's Room - Avengers Mansion
Synopsis:	Wanda takes Clint for a stay at an Iowa circus for his birthday
Cast of Characters:	Wanda Maximoff, Clint Barton

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Wanda Maximoff has posed:
Wanda had been rather secretive about the plans she'd made for the weekend. She had just told Clint to pack a bag with a couple of days of close for warm weather, and to be ready to go in the morning.

The fact it was Clint's birthday might have been caught by the spy well-trained in observational skills. That and Wanda's big grin for the two days leading up to it also signified something special was in store.

And now it's the appointed time. Wanda has a small bag slung over one shoulder, ready to travel reasonably light. "So," she says, drawing the word out as she flashes Clint a bright smile. "Are you all ready to go? No last minute emergencies to pull you away from me?" she asks with a twinkle in her eyes. She moves over to give Clint a hug and a soft kiss.

Clint Barton has posed:
Clint had indeed been able to piece together why Wanda was doing something special for him this weekend but not the what, which was fine by him, he liked surprises, as long as they weren't of the world destroying type, and that didn't seem likely today.

So, at the appointed time, Clint has the bag packed and he's shed his usual Avenger's and SHIELD gear for simple grey hoodie and jeans. "Nope," he says before returning that kiss, "No emergencies, the world can get along without Clint Barton for a weekend. How about you Princess-Witch-Avenger? You good for this mystery weekend too?" he asks, her with a warm if teasing smile. Despite all that he still had his phone and there was an ICER tucked in his bag, but, he hoped both of them would go thoroughly unused this weekend.

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
Wanda is dressed simply, a pair of shorts and a light blouse with shoes. "No emergencies on the horizon," she agrees with him. "And other Avengers covering watch duty," she says. She smiles and reaches up to brush her fingers through Clint's short hair. "Just the two of us. Well, mostly just the two of us," she says, pausing to amend that final bit.

Wanda touches Clint's face and then her hands move in that familiar way, drawing on her chaos magic which swirls around them. Clint will recognize the teleport readily enough. It does make travel quite convenient. The red energy rises up, blotting out the room, before then it lowers to reveal they have indeed been relocated elsewhere.

The sounds and even smells may hit him before he can fully see. The sounds of festive organ music. The noise of a crowd. Fresh hay suggests animals about. The sounds of the circus are noticeable already as the magic fades and the pair find themselves standing amongst the wagons and tents that are placed off to the side of a circus, the traveling homes of those who make up the circus.

A sign out front above the opening in the hastily erected fence reads Bingham's Greatest Show On Earth!! There's a large central big top tent, and then rows of carnival games, rides, and tents that hold a fun house, a house of the bizarre, and all of the other things one might expect at a circus.

"Happy birthday," Wanda says to him with a smile. It's also noticeably drier here. Clint might get the sense he's somewhere in the Midwest he's been before. The air is familiar.

Clint Barton has posed:
Slowly and surely Clint had gotten used to teleporting, there's no panic or unease as the red energy surrounds him, just anticipation, as he seeks out and grips Wanda's hand, only getting out "Mostly the two of us?" before they've moved across the continent and the smells of hay, funnel cakes, grease paint and peanuts hits him full in the face and brings a smile to his lips.

Observant eyes catch sight of the sign and he grins turning to Wanda, "You took me to the circus?" he asks, clearly pleased by his surroundings. His time at Carson's Carnival of Wonders had been less than perfect but it had been the first place he'd felt he'd truly belonged and so it and all other carnival still felt like home. He bends down and kisses Wanda squarely on the lips, "Thanks, Witchy, this is, wow, really something," he looks around then, hand still gripping Wanda's "Where are we? Not in New York for sure," the air felt different and this place was flatter than a hammered penny.

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
Wanda watches Clint's reaction and smiles at what she sees from him. "Not in New York anymore. This would be Iowa City, Iowa," she tells him. "Welcome back to the Hawkeye State, Hawkeye." She breaks out in a bigger grin and pulls out a pair of passes. "Full access to everything in the circus," she tells him as she hands one of the passes over to him.

There is a wagon close by painted in festive colors. Wanda motions towards it. "And our accommodations for our stay," she says of the wagon. "Rented out for the weekend. If you wanted to go into town we can do that as well, but I figured you might like the option of staying out here," she tells him.

She motions towards his bag. "What do you want to do first? Want to stow these in the wagon and then go have a look around?" she suggests.

Clint Barton has posed:
The smile on Clint's face seems to be going nowhere for the moment as the news keeps coming, "Should have worn my Hawkeyes sweater," he jokes still looking around until Wanda presents him with a pass, and he puts it around his neck before his attention is directed to the wagon. "Amazing," he says, with a look down to Wanda. "How'd you set this all up?" he asks moving towards the wagon by way of answering her question.

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
Wanda moves with Clint over towards the wagon. "Oh, the internet is wonderful for things like this. Or so I understand. JARVIS helped quite a bit with getting me in touch with the right people," Wanda says.

The door to the wagon has a lock but Wanda pulls out the key and passes it over to Clint to unlock it. Inside is quite tidy, with a little stove and sink on one side, a table and booths near it. The back has a partition behind which one might expect to find the bed, while a little door likely holds a tiny bathroom.

It's the kind of wagon he might be used to seeing. There's also a bow and a few quivers of arrows inside waiting for him. One of Clint's own bows, and his arrows, he might notice. "Figured you would like to have some on hand," she says with a smile and a little shrug.

Wanda goes to put her bag back on the bed, taking Clint's as well if he wishes. "There should be-" Wanda says, when there's a knock at the wagon door and a familiar male voice calls out, "Shut your eyes if you're indecent, boy, I'm coming in."

Clint Barton has posed:
Climbing into the wagon Clint's head keeps swiveling like he's not sure at what to look at first, the little wagon's amenities, the arrows or his amazing girlfriend who put this all together. In the end its the girlfriend who wins out, as Clint drops his bag to pull her into another kiss, or at least that's the plan before there's a knock on the door and a familiar voice calls out to him. Clint stops midway to kissing Wanda, head turning towards the door. "Mr. Carson?" the owner of the carnival Clint had grown up in, Jim Carson. "What are you-" he begins to ask before he remembers the beautiful woman in his arm and calls, "One moment," and kisses Wanda again wrapping her warmly in his arms before he lets go and whispers, "Amazing," before calling out to Mr. Carson. "Okay, /now/ I'm decent," he says, reaching over to open the door for the old Carnie.

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
Wanda lets out a bubbling laugh as she observes Clint's astonishment at recognizing the voice. When he goes for the kiss, his girlfriend wraps her arms around the archer and returns it, not caring if Mr. Carson walks in on them or not. The kiss is deep and tender, and conveys all of the emotions that she feels for Clint Barton.

She ends up with a silly grin as they part and Clint invites the man inside. It swings open and Jim Carson steps into the wagon. He's still ramrod straight as Clint remembers, if the dark hair has given way to grey. "Feh, you're never decent that I recall," Jim Carson says with a warm scowl as he steps inside, moving over to Clint to shake his hand first before pulling him into a hug. "It's been too long. Far too long," he says before letting Clint go to step back and get a better look at him. "Seen you on the TV and in the papers. Really making a respectable name for yourself," he says. The pride is there to be read.

Clint Barton has posed:
Clint returns that kiss and the feelings it expresses fully and tenderly, before breaking from it and smiling at Wanda before he opens the door to let Jim Carson in.

He lets himself be pulled into the hug and claps the older man firmly on the back before stepping back to take a look at him. "True enough, sir," Clint says in grinning agreement. Clint doesn't even call Fury 'sir' preferring to call him boss instead. "And engh, I did okay for myself, but you look good sir, like you're still ready to run the show from centre ring," he says with a warm smile for the old ringmaster.

He glances back to Wanda and extends his hand to her, "I'd offer to make introductions, but I'm gonna guess you guys have already met," he says with a knowing smile for both conspirators.

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
The reunion with Jim Carson went well. It included Clint being talked into performing a few times while he's there at the circus. And rather than let him get settled, Clint and Wanda find themselves hustled over to the main tent for the first such performance. Probably Mr. Carson's way of teasing Clint and trying to put him on the spot.

Wanda watches as Clint goes through one of his old performances, the circus having had everything set up for him. She waits back in the area for the performers, watching from the edge of a curtain hiding the area away from the stands full of spectators. She can't hide her smile, nor does she try, as she watches Clint's performance.

The sound of the applause growing to a peak would be enough to tell Wanda the performance was done even if she wasn't watching it herself. She joins in, smiling and her green eyes lit up as she claps along with the crowd.

Clint Barton has posed:
Clint could see the request coming a mile a way. Why else would Mr. Carson be here? He didn't mind though as he was led out to the main tent he did felt a pang of anxiety. Did he remember his old act? Was he going to be able to pull off all the shots? Sure he fought evil on the daily, from the mundane to the colossal but that felt different.

Still the show must go on!

As it turned out he needen't have worried, he nailed the performance, shooting on the run, then as a finale doing his shots from the back of a motorcycle, seated at first, then over jumps, then standing, to finish with standing and going over a jump. It was all met with resounding applause, and Clint bowed deep, waved, and then hopped on his bike to ride out of the tent, pausing to get Wanda to hop on as they drove out and back to the trailer where Clint got off grinning. "So, what did you think?" he asks.

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
Wanda Maximoff climbs off the motorcycle deftly, turning to regard Clint once she has. Her arms cross and there's a soft twinkle in the green of her eyes. "I'm not quite sure what all the applause was about," she teases. "I mean, they were very good shots. But no one was shooting back at you," she tells him, freeing one hand to give a little wave of it to punctuate her words.

The facade of not getting the performance is dropped and Wanda moves over to Clint once he's off the bike. She slides her hands up onto his shoulders and says. "It was great. You are quite the showman, Mr. Barton," she tells him, and leans forward to brush a soft kiss to his lips. "The other performers were gathered around to watch as well, I might add," she tells him.

Clint Barton has posed:
Clint takes a playful swing at Wanda as she pretends not to get the show. "Why you..." he says, breaking into a laugh. Though when he's hugged he hugs her back, then scoops her off her feet to kiss her, still feeling the rush from the show. He sets her down right after, and grins. "Were they?" he says. "Hope they weren't too put out by me taking some of their spotlight, if someone messes with our trailer, we'll know why," he says sounding not at all worried about it.

Looking down at Wanda, Clint is still grinning, "This is a helluva birthday, babe, I forgot how much I missed performing for an audience. Hey maybe that guy playing me in the musical needs an understudy..." he says that last with a wink.

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
Wanda gives a happy squeal as she's picked up and kisses soundly. When he sets her back down she straightens her hair playfully as if it needed it after the kiss. "I don't think they were put out," she says with a smile. "Apparently they all share the profits? I heard a few comments about probably an even bigger draw tomorrow with talk of an Avenger performing," she tells him.

She lets out a happy sigh at Clint's comment and rests her head against Clint's shoulder. "I'm glad you enjoyed it. I don't know that I'm the best at birthday presents. But I wanted something special for you," she tells him.

Wanda lets out a laugh. "You do realize that means you'd have to sing that song of his. What was it? Something about taking a 'bow with his bow' was all that stuck in my head," she says, still chuckling. "I don't think I've ever heard your singing voice."

Clint Barton has posed:
Clint laughs as Wanda squeals with delight and he cocks his head, surprised and pleased that the show is sharing the profits. "Good idea, I mean it prevents people like Swordsman and Trickshot from popping up," his old mentors had started their life of crime feeling they were owed a bigger slice of the pie than they were paid. "Well, if I ever need a break from my day jobs, I might just join them on tour," he says with a smile. "You could come too of course, bet you could put on a hell of a magic act."

"Well, not seeing any proof of that right now, because this whole gift is perfect," he grins, leaning in to kiss her again. "Thanks, and good thing yours isn't until October, gives me time to plan something just as good for you."

Another bark of a laugh from Clint. "For good reason, it's not the greatest in the world. Not like yours."

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
Wanda makes a little wave of her hand to dismiss the comment about her singing voice. "I'm tolerable at best. At best!" she tells him. "And I don't know that I'd want to do a magic show. Maybe the tightrope?" she suggests with a little wiggle of her eyebrows. "Of course I'd have less fear of falling than most people."

Wanda looks around the wagons where they are standing, off to the side of the main circus out of the way of the regular customers. "So, feel like showing me around? I admit, I've never been to a real circus before. Pietro and I watched one from afar one time. Climbed up a tree to see over the fence, but that doesn't let you see inside the big top," she tells him. She slips her hands over into his, lacing fingers.

Clint Barton has posed:
"It's great and you're never going to get me to say it's not," Clint argues still grinning. He laughs about the tightrope idea. "Heck you could make it part of the show, do some big finish, 'fall' and then teleport to safety. That'd be a real show stopper."

When asked about the tour, Clint, still in a showmany mood bows and takes Wanda's hand. "Sounds like a plan, anything you've always wanted to see?"

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
Wanda hrms as they hold hands and begin to walk out towards the other parts of the circus. "Oh, I want to see it all," she says with a wave of her hand. "The games. And the... what do they call them. The strange houses? With mirrors and things? And the animals. Did you get to work with the animals at all?" she asks him. "I have always thought training animals would be something I could have enjoyed doing. Though I don't know that I would have wanted to have them perform," she says.

She gazes out at the crowds as they emerge from the wagons, and the festive sounds of the organ music that is synonymous with circuses and carnivals. "Do they have sword swallowers and fire eaters and all of that? I've wondered how those things are done," she asks.

Clint Barton has posed:
"We can do all of it," Clint says, "And I think you mean the fun house, the Strange house is on Bleeker Street in the village," he jokes, with a smile as he leads Wanda out onto the midway. Waving here and there at fans new and old, Wanda also gets her share of attention. "Yep, helped at the games, though most of the animal stuff I did involved cleaning out their cages which was less than fun, though when I started out doing the bike tricks, it was on the back of a horse, so that sort of counts I guess," he says. "Not as many animals in circuses these days. Though they do have dogs and horses though, doing some fun shows. Could see you doing the training, that takes a lot of patience, which you have."

He ducks away for a second to buy some cotton candy and then come back, tossing the wrapper in a garbage can and offering some to Wanda as they walk. "They do have sword swallowers annnd-" he nods to where a fire eater is plying his trade. "Well, let me show you how it works," he says handing Wanda the cotton candy and pulling her over to the show. After a few moments of talking to the performer, the performer announces, "We're going to have a special treat for you folks, we have Clint Barton and Wanda Maximoff of the Avengers here tonight, and Clint here is going to demonstrate a little basic fire eating for us. Give us a big round of applause."

The gathered spectators draw closer and a few more join them, as Clint takes one of the torches, "Well, it's been awhile since I tried this, so those of you filming on their phones right now, be ready to dial 911."

He smiles slowly raising the torch towards his mouth, getting closer, and closer until he stops to ask, "Are these the same ones we used a few years ago?" apparently stalling and playing up the anticipation. A little closer after the performer assures him that they are. A little closer, "Are we really sure, do people want to check if it's real and not a trick," he turns towards the crowd. Someone yells, good natuedly, "Get on with it!"

"Okay, okay, rough crowd," he says before looking to Wanda, "If this goes bad, tell the team I got attacked by aliens or something, okay?"

Then without any more hesitation Clint raises the torch as it flickers and sends up a gout of flame before entering his mouth, he doesn't flinch, and a moment later he pulls it out again, the flame completely quenched, and the crowd applauds.

Clint gives a cheeky bow, and then hands the torch to the performer, "I'll let you get back to the pro here, have a good night folks," he says as he makes his way back to Wanda.

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
It's easy to guess who the most nervous person in the crowd is. Even though she trusts him, Wanda still can't stop from wincing as he brings the fire near to his mouth. Then pulls it away to talk. Then near again, wincing harder. Then pulls it away again!

She realizes she has her hands clenched and relaxes them, her expression nigh comical for the level of concern in it when Clint looks over to her. Wanda manages to avoid a heart attack though as Clint eats the flame seemingly and pulls it out. Wanda lets out a sigh of relief as there don't seem to be any signs of burns, her hand moving to her heart as she lets out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding.

She joins in the others in clapping, though as Clint comes back over to her, she exclaims, "Remind me not to ask how they put their heads in the mouths of lions!" She gives a laugh though and takes his hand again. "So how do you do it without burning yourself?" she asks him once they are away from where the crowd can hear it.

Clint Barton has posed:
Clint laughs at the lions comment, "Yeah, hard no on that one, ditto for sword swallowing, it's something I never picked up, even if I know how they do it."

As for the big question, he grins, "Basically comes down to knowing heat and fire goes up, and remembering to take a big breath," he moves far enough away from the fire eater not to ruin his act, and takes the same wide stance he did while he was doing his little show, "So what you want to do is tilt your head right up, and lower the torch towards it so the flame is coming up the torch, that way the heat is all going up away from your face, to add to that, you exhale slowly as it's coming down blowing the heat away from your face," he explains, before standing normally, "From there, there's two ways of putting it out, either you close your mouth over the thing and cut off the oxygen or you blow it out with the last of that breath you took earlier. I went with the latter one because the torch had been burning for a bit and the torch was going to be super hot, plus the flames flicker right at the end which looks cooler," he explains with a smile. "So basically it's like snuffing out a match with your fingers but it looks cooler."

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
Wanda Maximoff listens to the explanation from Clint. Once she hears it, it's like a magic trick that is revealed. It makes a lot of sense. "I can only imagine how many burns it took to learn it though," she says. Wanda reaches over to brush her fingers over Clint's lips, making sure they aren't burnt. Though really it was just an excuse to touch him like that. "Just don't offer to demonstrate the trick with Johnny Storm around, ok?" she says with a soft laugh.

She loops her hands around one of Clint's arms then. "In some ways this feels a little like traveling with the kumpania," she says. "The group of Romani we traveled together with, camped with. Until we had to set out on our own," she tells Clint.

Wanda lets her gaze drift around the circus. "Minus the large crowds at least. Sometimes people from the villages would come out to visit. To hire us to fix things or for other work. The youths just curious about us," she reminisces. "I imagine there must be a lot of community activities together. In the evenings, or when traveling?" she asks.

Clint Barton has posed:
Clint smiles at the touch, his eyes seeking out Wanda's "That's fair or any mutants with fire control abilities," he adds. "Though I've seen a circus where the fire eater /was/ a mutant, guy had some good tricks," he kisses the tip of Wanda's finger as it brushes his lips and then he happily takes her arm.

"Fair comparison," Clint says after some thoughts. "And yeah, when were performing we did a lot of stuff and breakfast before we had to man our posts or get ready for our shows, but yeah, on the road we spent most of our time together, most of it centered around eating, and swapping stories. Sort of like us at the mansion now. I think that's why I sort of gravitated to the Avengers, felt familiar, like home."

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
Wanda's hands tighten just a little on Clint's arm in a companionable way. "It is home, now," she tells him. "Probably the best one I've ever had, at least since I was a little girl. I just won't try to compare with those memories," she says with a soft smile.

She walks with Clint through the circus, eyeing the different exhibits. Some of them out in the open to be seen, other things requiring tickets to get inside, the circus there to make money after all. "Well, maybe we can join them tonight for awhile before we turn in," she suggests. "I'm curious to see what it's like. It's as if I'm getting glimpses into your past here," she says with a bright smile.

Up ahead, a few food vendors are set up. Wanda stops to buy some peanuts, offering the bag to Clint before taking one out herself, breaking it open and eating the bits of nut from inside of it. "An unusual background compared to most kids though. Did they make you study the normal sorts of school things at all? Or mostly just focused on working at the circus?"

Clint Barton has posed:
Catching Wanda eyeing the various exhibits, he nods towards the fun house, to see if she wants to go, helping himself to some peanuts. "And sure we can join them tonight, and if not then tomorrow morning for breakfast."

"Nah, they didn't make Barney and I do school, we were part of the crew, we worked or practiced all day. Which suucked when I got into SHIELD and had to catch up before they let me get off trainee status, would have gladly did formation runs all day compared to that. Though by the time I finished SHIELD training I had like half the credits for an international relations degree, so, progress was made," he smiles. "So, how about you with your people, they make you do school?" he asks while he waits to see if she wants to do the fun house.

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
Wanda walks along with Clint, nibbling on the peanuts as they talk. "Not at all in the formal sort of sense. There were definitely things we had to learn. Basics, arithmetic, reading... but I was pretty unprepared for the educational system," she agrees. "I ended up getting a GED so I could go to Columbia," she tells him, not mentioning how quickly she picked up on things.

Her eyes focus over on the fun house and she gets a small grin. "Yes, this looks like it would be nice to try. I've only seen them in movies so not quite sure if the reality is anything like those depictions," she says. She drops her hand down to hold Clint's as they head over. They have passes to let them into anywhere at the circus for those who don't know already who they are.

Clint Barton has posed:
"Yeah, got a GED at SHIELD, but yeah most of what I learned at the circus was for the circus, and then it was what I needed to take down crooks and steal their money," Clint says. "Made for an interesting skill set," he says before dropping off the talk about his past before they show the passes to the attendant and slip into the fun house.

"It's pretty much like on TV but I've never chased a bad guy into one, though," he says. "Which is sort of disappointing," he says with a smirk.

The fun house has all the tropes, the spinning tunnels, big poofy pits to jump or fall into, and of course the maze full of odd shaped mirrors that distort your reflection and confuse the living heck out of you about where you are. Though being this is her first time, Clint lets Wanda lead the way and is happy to follow behind and give her whatever guidance she wants.

And maybe steal a kiss or two behind the odd blind corner.

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
A soft laugh is given at the mention of not chasing a bad guy into one. "We're in the wrong city probably. I bet Gotham's Batman probably has to do it once a month at least," she quips with a pat of Clint's arm.

She moves inside, walking into the rotating tunnel which makes her laugh, but the obstacle would barely make the Avenger's training room on its easy setting. She navigates past it to be confronted with a series of mirrors which make it difficult to know which way to go. Wanda reaches out, finding a mirror where she thought a doorway was. "Ok, this is like the movies at least," she says with a laugh. She stops in front of one mirror that makes her short and dumpy, a good foot and a half shorter, and the same amount wider at once. "Oh my. I need to diet!" she exclaims.