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[glaza]

action ✦ prose ✦ text ✦ aus ✦ etc

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[endlesswar]

[So long as she stays close. He has one eye on the little bundle of skirts and the other near.]

There we have it then.

[An impasse. If she thought she'd be rid of him then she was sorely wrong. The notes cut the air and paint the afternoon with a kind of magic that this place has never seen. The small lapse to silence brings about how strange this all is. To Frank. To the lady.]

Besides the impossible is there anything you think I can do for you that would make you both more comfortable? I'm... at your disposal, in case you hadn't noticed.

[glaza]

[ She stares at him for a moment before hitting the keys harder, more aggressively as she glares at him. In time, he'll come to realize that the piano is more to her than a simple instrument and always has been.

Anya runs over to him and tugs on his trouser leg. She'll try this again. ]

Can you help me?

[endlesswar]

[His brows lift and he's not sure if he should laugh or be affronted. Neither feeling solidifies. So instead he sighs.

The tugging gets his attention immediately.]

How's that now? What kind of help do you need?

[At least someone wants him here. Sort of.]

[glaza]

[ She smiles up at him, ]

Help me build a sand castle? I have shells to go on it.

[endlesswar]

[Really is a little thing. And to say no when there is nothing else to do would be a sin. Frank smiles and finds his heart aching for a little girl and boy who no longer exist.]

I'll see what I can do. God did not make me a carpenter or an architect. You're destined to be queen just the same. And a queen deserves a castle.

[glaza]

[ Natasha watches them out of the corner of her eye, suppressing the smile until they have both moved behind her. Her playing becomes more gentle as she sits down on a box they left behind and Anya already telling him what she wants to do and motioning for him to get down on the sand with her.

She misses her father so much and one of her memories consists of him getting down on the floor or ground to play with her.

Night does come in an hour's time and Natasha stops long enough to get a fire started, using what she learned from Clint. It's still hard for her sometimes, her heart aching at the memory of him. She hadn't wanted this new marriage. But how could she disgrace her family by refusing? She sits back on the crate and watches the fire, silent and lost in memories once again. ]

[endlesswar]

[Building up the structures and finding places for the shells takes up time. He crouches right there in the sand with the little girl. Quiet and patient, not what one would typically expect of a man of his size or with the markings on his body. Without a second thought, Frank removes his coat and vest. The vest offers it first to Anya. She's small enough to swim in it.]

Are you cold, Ma'am?

[He offers her his coat. The tide is lapping the legs of the piano, creeping closer to Natasha's seat.]

[glaza]

[ Anya takes the vest without hesitation, putting it on and running over to her mother to hugs her legs, making her look at her newest piece of clothing. Natasha smiles down at her daughter and cups her face lovingly.

When Frank asks her that, she shakes her head. She gestures for him to keep his coat. ]

[endlesswar]

[The day has been long, warm and tiring. Frank still finds a means to smile watching the little girl prance about. It's surreal to watch a similar expression kindle in her mother's face which has been stern and distant.

His brow nits as he slowly starts to put it on.]

Are you hungry?

[Because he can leave them to find something around. Maybe even wade into the waves to try and get a fish.]

[glaza]

[ It's no surprise to her that she reserves most of her affection for her daughter. She has paid little mind to how her new husband will feel about that. In fact, she's spared him little thought at all.

She shakes her head for herself but gestures to her daughter. Natasha can go a night without food. Her daughter should not. ]

[endlesswar]

[A mother and child should be fond of one another. If it weren't for that, Frank would think she is a stern, stubborn woman. Did Mr. Rumlow know what he was getting into? He stands up.]

Hold a moment. We're going to have fish.

[At least he and the little girl will. A person can't live on piano. That much he knows. He removes his boots and wades off into the waves. Coming up on this shore close to ten years ago, it is second nature now. The people of the land have taught him many things. They can thrive from next to nothing. It's refreshing to step away from all the trappings and rigid upbringing and pressure society has given. Maybe that is why the lady is here.

A little time passes. He brings two decently sized fish.]

[glaza]

[ Anya gives a delighted gasp at the news and tries to follow him out to the water. She doesn't go in it but she takes his boots in her little hands and bounces at the edge of the waves. ]

Fish! Fish! Fresh fish from the ocean!

[ She runs back over to her mother as he emerges from the water, taking his boots with her as she squeals. ]

He got them! He got them!

[endlesswar]

[Treading back to the fire is a little slower than it should be. It is cold below the waist. Sand clings to his feet.]

And now we've got to fry them up.

[Impaling them first. Frank makes no move to take his boots from the little one. If they make her happy, that's what counts.]

[glaza]

[ She's in the process of walking them over to him after he impales the fish and sets them over the fire. ]

Who taught you that?

[ Eyes bright like the stars starting to blink into life above them. ]

[endlesswar]

The people who live here on the island. They much of what comes from the sea.

[He keeps a wary eye on their dinner as the fire leaps and crackles.]

They have spears, arrows and nets. And sometimes, sometimes they use just their hands.

[Case in point. He gives a nod of thanks to the little one.]

Add some fire and a man will never go hungry.

[glaza]

[ She grins wide at him, ]

My Papa said the same thing. He taught Mommy how to make a fire. How to cook animals. He rode a horse, too. Do you know how to ride a horse?

[endlesswar]

He sounds like a wise man.

[Frank's smile stays warm and gentle.]

I do know how. Right now I don't own one. Do know how to ride, little one?

[He reaches to pull one of the kabobs from the fire to examine it. Soon.]

[glaza]

I miss him a lot. Mommy does, too.

[ Natasha had been watching the fire as they talked of Clint. Eventually, her eyes drift out to the ocean. What she can still see of it in the quickly fading light. ]

He was going to teach me how to ride but...He got sick.

[endlesswar]

[And now here they are. Mother and child on the other side of the world to meet with their new patriarch. He will come by daylight no doubt, especially if his bride won't be there. Frank slowly rotates the fish.]

I'm sure he misses you both very much.

[A father without a family is equally bleak. He pulls out another of the fish. This one is done.]

Careful now, child. It's very, very hot.

[The fire crackles and sends a ring of light around them. In the darkness is the ocean, and just beyond their tiny camp looms the piano.]

[glaza]

[ Anya's face pinches with a frown, ]

How do you know that?

[ Her face takes on an even more serious face as she comes closer to carefully take the fish on the stick. Small hands hold on and she blows on the meat, like she was told to with all hot things. ]

[endlesswar]

Call it a guess.

[His smile is meant to tie the matter up with a bow. No need to trouble the both of them with his own burdens. Perhaps he's wrong. Maybe there was no love in one marriage and now this arrangement that's taken them to the other side of the world?]

Misses?

[A piece of fish is offered to Natasha first before he makes an attempt to eat.]

[glaza]

You don't sound like you're guessing!

[ She blows some more on her fish, still watching him like a hawk.

Natasha looks at the offered fish and shakes her head again before looking back out at the ocean. The memory of Clint seemed to stomp down on any appetite she could've had. That keeps happening in the months after his death. She wonders especially if she agreed to all this too soon. None of it feels right. ]

[endlesswar]

[Lying isn't a virtue. And lying to children, that seems even more of a sin. So he merely gives her a shrug.

His refused offering is stick in the sand upright between them. No sense in letting it go to waste, perhaps she will change her mind in time. The silence cut by the crackle or chatter of the little girl, Natasha's thoughts are unknown to them completely.]

There is more if you're hungry.

[To both mother and daughter.]

[glaza]

[ Anya huffs at the shrug and chews one her fish while pouting but quickly becomes distracted by the taste of it and quickly consumes it. She reaches out her hands when he mentions there's more. ]

Please!

[ Natasha continues to look out at the ocean, her expression somber and closed off. ]

[endlesswar]

[Frank reaches forward to pull it out for her. Being close to the fire, he'd hate for harm to come to her.]

There now.

[His eyes fall to Natasha.]

Ma'am. Anything I can get you?