The Preserve, Sunday Afternoon

[so_hawkward]

While the shooting range at Wellspring Arms was nice, being inside took away some of the elements Clint had to deal with on missions, so practicing outside was a necessity too. He'd found a quiet spot in the preserve where it was unlikely anyone would cross his path - or potentially get freaked out by the sight of him shooting - and was picking spots in the trees as targets. Getting his arrows back would be fun, but he'd deal with that when the time came.

[Expecting one, but open!]

Comments

[so_hawkward]

"Right, of course you were," Clint said dryly. He pulled out another arrow, aiming for one of the smaller branches of the tree. "So, who's Jackson?"

[justlurkinghere]

Derek's eyes moved around, checking to make certain there weren't more people in the woods to cut off any retreat.

"Ask your friend Stiles."

[so_hawkward]

"He's not my friend. Unlike you, I don't hang around teenagers."

Well, except Alec. And Natalie. But they came to him first, so it was totally different.

"They said on the radio that you were messing with him too. Are you trying to freak people out?"

[justlurkinghere]

"I've never met him before that day," Derek replied, deliberately looking away as though this conversation was boring him. "Can't say I'm eager to keep up the relationship."

[so_hawkward]

"Does that mean you're going to leave him alone without someone asking nicely?" Clint took his shot at the branch, smiling as the arrow landed with a satisfying thwack, and turned back to Derek. "Or are you just going to find someone else to bully?"

[justlurkinghere]

Bully. Well, that's not a word he'd get from a hunter.

"I don't know what idea you have about me, but I can safely say it's wrong."

Kinda. In a way. A very particular way. If you squinted at it.

[so_hawkward]

"Really? Because my idea seems pretty clear," Clint said. "You showed up at the picnic and acted like a creeper, you wouldn't give me a straight answer about what you were doing there, and then you started threatening Stiles. Then, I hear you're freaking out some other student too. What am I supposed to think?"

[justlurkinghere]

"That they seem to know some other version of me." Who was... exactly the same as him. So. There's that. "And I don't think Stiles has enough sense to be threatened by anything."

Seriously, man.

[so_hawkward]

"Right, that's why he thanked me so much for getting you off of him," Clint said, rolling his eyes. "There's probably a dozen people in this town who know some other version of me, but you don't see me messing with them."

[justlurkinghere]

Derek inhaled a purely human scent. "Yeah. Funny that," he deadpanned.

[so_hawkward]

"Oh, what's so funny about it?" Clint asked.

[justlurkinghere]

"Stiles knows why I reacted like I did. Jackson--far as I can tell, kid was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

[so_hawkward]

"So you're what--blaming him for getting in your way?" Clint asked. "What sense does that make?"

[justlurkinghere]

"I have no clue what is wrong with that kid," Derek replied with a put upon sigh. "As long as neither of them come near me, I'm more than happy to pretend I never met them."

[so_hawkward]

"You make it sound like they're the ones scaring you," Clint said, firing off another, quicker shot. "They're just kids. If you can't get used to people knowing another version of you, you're not going to last here long. You learn to deal with it."

[justlurkinghere]

Derek tracked the movement of the bow warily, mouth going tight. "Kids do dumb, dangerous things."

Seriously, Derek. Stop lecturing your past self. It's creepy.

[so_hawkward]

"Well, yeah. It's part of being a teenager. But they're looked out for here so the dumb things they do won't get them killed," Clint said. "Threatening them isn't part of that."

[justlurkinghere]

"And the stupid things that will get other people killed?" Derek asked, kindly not pointing out that Clint was the one doing the threatening now.

[so_hawkward]

Hey, he hadn't been directly threatening. Yet.

"The new people have been here for a week. They couldn't have done anything that stupid yet. Unless knowing you gets people killed," Clint said. "You know, I'd still like to know what you were doing at the picnic. You never did give me a good answer there."

[justlurkinghere]

Clint, why did you have to find all those issues and poke at them with a stick? It was just mean.

"I like to stay aware of who is around," Derek replied, looking nowhere other than directly at Clint. Because looking away would prove him right. Or something.

Look, issues trumped reason.

[so_hawkward]

"Okay, I get that, I really do. But do you have to be so creepy about it?" Subtlety: not always one of Clint's finer points. "And you can stand there and talk about wanting to prevent people from getting hurt, but the fact remains that you scared the shit out of someone smaller and weaker than you--" sorry, Stiles "--and I don't see how you can just think that's okay."

[justlurkinghere]

HE WOULD SKULK ALL HE WANTED. "He's running with things he shouldn't be. He should expect a little fear or he should go back to a normal life."

[so_hawkward]

"You're kidding me, right?" Clint asked, giving Derek a more serious glare now. "Okay, look, I'm not an expert on this place, but it seems like a lot of people stay here to get away from the things that scare them. None of these kids should have to expect to be afraid of anything here, and especially not from the people here."

Oh Derek, you weren't the only one with some issues.

[justlurkinghere]

"He has the ability to walk say from this."

[so_hawkward]

"You mean away from you?" Clint asked. "Because that goes both ways. You can stay away from him too. From all the students, in fact."