The bathroom tiles were cool against my hand

[notinflictthem]

CHARACTERS: Hawkeye and you! Yes, you!
DATE: November
LOCATION: Hawkeye’s Clinic
SITUATION: Settling in, making waves, shaking hands, making friends
WARNINGS: Blanket warning that war and injury may come up

Press my corpse against the wall

Hawkeye wakes up to sunlight instead of Radar yelling for helicopters. He has his coffee unhurried, plans out his day. No Frank to yell at him for not shaving, but no Trap to chew the fat with, either. Nobody to complain with about breakfast. It’s too quiet. If he doesn’t see a human person in the next hour, he’s going to start gnawing his own limbs off.

So from about 8am-6pm, the clinic is staffed. The sign out the front reads ‘Hawkeye’s Clinic, happy hour 6-7pm’, and underneath that, more recently, a smaller sign reads ‘100% satisfaction rate; just ask the survivors!’
Inside, Hawkeye is either cleaning, running his tabletop still for alcohol to disinfect with (or drink), or organising his small array of client notes.

I told the band to leave without me

If you actually visit during the signposted happy hour, the table in the middle of the clinic has a tablecloth draped over it, and Hawkeye stands there polishing the couple of glasses he owns. Someone should get him some decent barware. There’s a couple of stools, and he grins as you enter. He’s playing bartender. Indulge him?

I'll get the next flight

After happy hour, the ‘bar’ gets packed up and the clinic gets scrubbed down. If you’ve got a standing invitation for cards, a date, or just want to check in on him off-hours, this is the time to do it. Find him out on his front doorstep with his nose in a book, leaning out the window with a martini in hand and watching the street, or doing something upstairs, the sound of a pleasant baritone muddling through something jazzy.

And if I make it to the mornin' (wildcard)

(Hit me!)

Comments

[notinflictthem]

"Millions of years of evolution that adapted us from a common ancestor we share with apes. And apparently because God doesn't love us."

It is nice to be quipping back and forth. Feels good, feels organic.

"Can you actually get off my roof? You're thumping around up there and I'm trying to do paperwork."

[maltesefalcon]

"Which god?"

Cerrit pauses, looking down. "Yeah, if you open the window a little wider, I'll be able to come down."

[notinflictthem]

"Y'know, I think they're still trying to figure that out. Lotta people been working on that one. It's a real doozy of a question."

Hawkeye shimmies himself back in the window and opens it all the way.

[maltesefalcon]

Shimmying is a thing that happens once Cerrit clambors down from the roof. His wings are not easy to fit through even the widest window. But soon, there's an eeeeeagle? in Hawkeye's apartment.

...how hawk-eyed does he feel, right now?

[notinflictthem]

...

He covers his (clothed) upper half with a hand like the Botticelli Venus.

"Why, there's a strange man in my apartment," he drawls in a half-assed impression of a southern belle, "and I'm not even in my scrubs."

[maltesefalcon]

"I'm married." A pause, an expression that reads as anguish even on a face with a beak. "I...was married."

[notinflictthem]

Wow, he's batting a thousand with this at the moment.

"Hey- 'm sorry, I was just kidding around. I'm Hawkeye."

Sort of gestures at him.

"We don't have bird people where I'm from, it's not usually ironic."

[maltesefalcon]

"Eisfurra. We're called eisfurra--the bird people. Me, specifically, I'm Cerrit Agrupnin. I wasn't specifically targeting your roof for any reason, if that helps. I'm just trying to keep a birds-eye view on things. You understand."

Moving right past that big awkward thing like it's a dead body under a very nice rug...

[notinflictthem]

"Eisfurra, right, and you're Cerrit."

That's going in his notes.

"Can't you fly around to keep a birds-eye view on things?"

[maltesefalcon]

"Of course I can. Can't you run around the city constantly to find people who are injured?"

Sometimes, wings and legs get tired. Sometimes you just need to land and rest.

[notinflictthem]

"Sure, but usually I have wheels for that."

Point taken, though.

"Any reason for it, or are you just a snoop?"

[maltesefalcon]

There's a bit of a hesitation.

"Do you see a meaningful difference between being an investigator for the local law enforcement and being a snoop? You seem like the sort for whom those might be conflated."

[notinflictthem]

"Wow, you're good," Hawkeye drawls, but doesn't sass too much further. As a matter of fact, he has something to ask.

"You haven't seen a guy around- he's about my height, curly blonde-y hair, dark eyes. Bit of a jokester, not that I'd know what that's like. Answers to Trapper or John or the call of any pretty eligible lady? I just- I figured if I'm here then he's here, but I haven't seen him."

[maltesefalcon]

"I haven't seen him, no. Then again, I haven't seen anyone from my world who died at the same time as me. And there were...many." A small toss of his head, as if trying to literally shake that fact off. "If I do find him, I'll let you know."

[notinflictthem]

"Right," he says, softly.

"I appreciate it. I mean- I figure he'd come find me," but... the worry that Trap wouldn't want anything to do with him once they weren't shoved into close quarters...

"Doesn't seem fair, who gets picked to show up here, you know."

[maltesefalcon]

“Take that up with the local goddess who does the recruitment, I suppose.” He isn’t sure how seriously he means that suggestion. But he would ask her to send Zerxus or Nydas, if only he could.

Not the wizards, though. Those two bitches went too far.

[notinflictthem]

"No thanks. Back home, me and the big guy had an understanding. Mutual disbelief. I keep him out of my mind, and he keeps me out of his."

Waves the topic off, "anyway. Just don't brood on my roof during business hours. I need to be able to concentrate if I'm doing surgery. At night, fine, it's not like I'm sleeping, but during the day."

[maltesefalcon]

“Fine, I can respect that. Though, uh. When do you sleep, then?” Because that’s important for a body.

(Even if Cerrit is struggling with it, too.)

[notinflictthem]

"When I can, mostly."

A shrug.

"Don't worry about me. I get by. I'm a doctor- we get by on no sleep anyway."