mental link;

[cognitived]

PRACTICAL if we're gonna win this one, some of us might have to lose it.	RESILIENT do you know what it's like to be unmade?
SKILLED if i miss, it means im just another dude with a bow.	DETERMINED this is monsters and magic and nothing we were ever trained for.

( CODE BY WHAMBAM )

Comments

[cognitived]

[ It’s easy to shore up the shields, feathers rustling and shadow twisting, until the Nest feels like nothing so much as background noise. Easily offered here and now, as Shiro’s shoulders bow and his breath heaves out of him. Gratitude all his own kindles at the trust welling up in Shiro’s mind, the vulnerability he’s showing when Clint knows how difficult his broodmate finds it.

Nothing he ever expected, and everything he’d give to protect. ]

( Easier when it's one person you're up against, harder when it's a vague mess like this. )

[ A sigh, mouth twisting. ]

[shiro2hero]

[He sinks into it, gratefully, tiredly. It's not someone he needs to constantly stay strong for. Not someone who constantly asks the world of him. Needs the world of him. So it's easier than with someone else. Just to lean into the offered shoulder.]

[Up against the older man.]

(I'd even take an army.)

[Amazing, how wistful you can make that sound.]

[cognitived]

[ It's good to be able to offer this, really. Clint thrives off of being useful, after all. Of being the harbor in a storm, a breath in and a breath out. No need for Shiro to worry over staying strong in Clint's presence, not when he's never wanted or needed to lay more burdens down on his shoulders. Wordless, formless, rest. No need to worry here, now, not when Clint can be the look out. ]

( Absence makes the heart grow fonder? )

[ Wry, so very wry. But still, the impression of an arm over Shiro's shoulders, fondly ruffling his hair. ]

[shiro2hero]

[There is a definite impression of hey at the hand fluffing his hair around. Excuse you, Clint, he works very hard on that look. So much dish soap involved.]

[But it's funny. How this makes his eyes droop. His head lean forward on his chest. Like he's letting something go.]

(Hilarious. You should go for stand up comedy.)

[cognitived]

[ Don't take yourself too seriously, kid. There's a definitely smug impression, but okay, okay. Nothing but Clint's mind, fractal edges smoothed by shadow, by something soft and comfortable. Wordless, formless, it's ok in the way their minds curl together.

That's it, let it go. ]

( I'll save you a front row seat. )

[ Laughter, softly teasing. ]

[shiro2hero]

["Don't take yourself too seriously" is like trying to tell him to take a nap. Nine and a half times out of ten, it won't work. But this time feels different. This time, he's starting to nod off. Just by virtue of someone being there and accepting what he's trying to say.]

[There's no fight.]

[Not here.] (Good. Wouldn't want to miss it.)

[Boy you're going to go the fuck to sleep aren't you.]

[cognitived]

[ Well, Clint's got no problem with being an exception to the rule. If anything, he draws Shiro further under the feather-shadow-protection curl of his mind. Acceptance of Shiro, of the moment, written in easy, unthinking thought. This isn't lullabies and cradling arms, like putting his kids to sleep. Nor is it the silent, unmoving sentinel with first watch. It is, instead, something of both -- the faint, here and gone impression fingers carding through hair, the steadfast notion of I'm here, you're safe, you can rest.

No verbal answer, simply the quiet, certain ushering of another toward sleep. ]

[shiro2hero]

[Usually, he's the one to do this. The one to be firm and strong, to stand guard for everyone else. Being vulnerable like this for someone else... around someone else... it's new. Even with Sam. This is like something he'd never had. Something he'd lost before he even found it.]

[And so he sinks into it. Gratitude etched in every bone like lightning flowers.]

(Thank you... Clint.)

[cognitived]

[ Funny when you find yourself in another's shoes, huh? Return the favor later kiddo -- though Clint certainly doesn't think of it as a favor all told. Vulnerability scooped up and held close, shielded from the rest of the world. Familiar, in a way.

So the gratitude sparks and gleams, thrumming through flesh and blood and bone, and Clint simply curls Shiro's mind closer. ]

( You got it, Shiro. )

[ He doesn't even bother playing at gruff, it's all fond now. He waits, patient and soothing, until he can feel the edge of sleep sweeping over, starlit, and he keeps watch, the feather-shadow-nothing to see here curling of his mind keeping Shiro's mind shrouded from the rest. ]