xp_logs | Darcy and Clint (backdated)

Darcy drags Clint away from checking Tasha's toxins for lunch, and gold stars are earned.

Darcy stretched at her desk, shaking her head as she took note of the clock. "Two thirty? How on earth did that happen?" Her stomach rumbled as she stood, so she grabbed her phone and made her way down to Clint's lab to grab him for a late lunch.

"Time for good little scientists to take a food break with awesome assistants!" she announced cheerfully as she walked in.

Clint didn't actually notice her, bent low over microscope as he was. He'd been testing Natasha's venom to see if it had any sort of necrotic effects on live tissue samples - it didn't. But it was doing some interesting things to the blood samples he'd also been testing. There was a noise, though, that started up almost immediately following Darcy's entrance.

Not bothering to take his eyes away from the microscope, he reached out for his phone. It was vibrating on the counter near him, My Chemical Romance's 'The Black Parade' blaring. Turning the alarm off, he put the phone back where it'd been, muttering observations at the recording device hanging over his work station. A granola bar came out of his pocket.

"Nope nope nope!" Darcy said as she bounced over to where he was standing. "Time for real food, not snack bars! Points for setting an alarm for food though, definitely gold-star worthy."

Clint blinked almost owlishly at Darcy when he managed to tear his eyes away from the microscope. "Um," he said, fingers poised to open the granola bar. "Hi." Glancing from Darcy to the slides he'd been studying and back again, he asked, "What time is it? I have an alarm set for every three hours."

"Two thirtyish? I would've pestered you earlier but I lost track of time and then it was late, so." She grinned unrepentantly as his eyes slid back to the microscope. "C'mon. Food. The slides will still be there after you have real food and I won't bug you again until it's sleep time."

Putting the granola bar back in his pocket, Clint nodded and set a timer before sliding off his stool and walking around the counter toward the door. "Mkay," he said, still a little foggy as he came out of the science haze. "Pop Tarts?"

"Pop Tarts are snacks. I was thinking burritos, but as long as it's actual food I don't care." Darcy followed Clint out of the lab, pulling the door shut on their way out. "When do you need to check on your science? We can go out if there's time, otherwise I can make something simple."

"Mm..." Clint considered the food dilemma. Pop Tarts were delicious and easy and here at the mansion, but his stomach rumbled loudly and he knew a burrito would be for filling and less likely to have him crashing after a sugar rush. "The camera will take pictures every sixty seconds so I can track the toxin's progress while I'm gone," he said, still blinking a little. As they got farther from his lab, he was less inclined to turn right back around and go back. "So real food of the whatever variety would be amazing."

"Burritos it is!" Darcy cheered as they left the lab. She grabbed a gold star sticker out of her purse and added it to the chart beside Clint's name, then paused and added a second one. "One for setting a timer to eat snacks, and another for letting yourself be pulled out of the lab for real food," she explained, "and that puts you... five stars ahead of Jane for now."

"Sweet," Clint said, fist pumping as they continued toward the elevator. Then he did a little dance, because why not? He was winning the never-ending 'good scientist' competition. "Has she lost any stars yet?" It was surprising, how motivated he was by those little stars.

"Not in a few days, but she doesn't gain them that fast either, so..." Darcy replied with a laugh as she watched Clint's little dance. "They're getting better at getting her to eat food though, I think someone figured out how to get her to at least drink blended soup in a travel mug."

"Smoothies and protein shakes," Clint said seriously. Nutrition while falling down the rabbit hole was nothing to joke about -- at least not much. "I'm pretty sure they can even make kale taste like strawberries these days. Or something."

"Something, definitely. But getting you scientist types to drink anything other than coffee or energy shots when you're on a science binge can be tricky. You all seem to want food easy to cram into a gulp of your coffee. Or at least all of you that I've worked with."

"Easy to cram food is essential," Clint said. "Especially when you've fallen down the rabbit hole. Can we get cookies?"

"Cookies are good. Burritos now, and I'll make cookies once we get back. It can be a reward for remembering to feed yourself." Darcy hummed. "I think I've got some mini peanut butter cups, but pick your cookie poison."

"Both?" Clint asked thin air, tilting his head to the side. "Both," he muttered, nodding. "Both is good."