Nomad | Hawkeye FF ✓

MORNING SLEEPING BEAUTY

My observations toward Sophie have been based upon whether she fights like her parents, in relation to how they taught me. However, I'm noticing that she develops her own techniques and moves. This can be bad or good. Good for her, but bad for her victim when she comes upon him like an unpredictable ghost.
-Evaluation Notes, Owner, Unknown.

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THE fluffy gray duvet covered half of Sophie's face, comfortably keeping her nose and chin warm each time she breathed. The air had a nip to the chill already brewing outside. Frost had traveled a home along the outer sides of Sophie's window above the single desk and chair in the bedroom.

Slowly, but surely, edging towards the end of September,  fall was beginning to arrive. Summer in Washington hadn't really been a summer at all, for the state had gotten loads of rainy days, cool sunny days, and a few humid warm days. Those sparse days, the Americans cherished and savored. Having such a summer like England's, no doubt fall was to present itself a month too soon. 

Sophie was more than pleased. Being an active reader, the cold weather brought indoor pleasantries for her. She had a guilty conscience when she stayed inside in such beautiful summer weather. Whenever the cold months came, the burden was less of a lingering regret probing at her mind, and more of an opportunity to read.

A harsh tap on her door awakened the little creature in her toasty nest. First her eyes popped open, swiveling from left to right, then from the second tap on the front door her whole head came out from under the warm covers. A third unwanted knock made Sophie begrudgingly get out of bed. 

Sophie squealed and lurched back when her bare toes hit the cold surface of the hardwood flooring. Gradually, Sophie tried again, this time touching the floor with her big toe first, then the padding of her foot, then the heels. "Whoever designed this room should have put a rug instead of a hardwood floor," she grumbled, ambling towards her bedroom door and walking as if stepping on hard egg shells. 

Ambling out of the bedroom and into the open living room, adjacent to the kitchen, she hugged herself running to the door and unlocked the bolt. Sleepy eyes squinted up to ogle at a very enthusiastic Clint. 

"Morning, sleeping beauty."

"The sun's not even up," Sophie squawked, her voice hoarse. "And it's still dark in here." The light seeping in through the hallway shined in Sophie's eyes and momentarily blinded her. She had to shield her eyes with her hand.

Clint smirked and forced his way into her place. Fumbling with her sleepy legs, Sophie clumsily sidestepped out of his way in order not to have been plowed over by the bird himself.

"It's going to be dark for another hour," Clint shared, amused. He took it upon himself to  to sit at one of the bar stools by the kitchen's island.

"What time is it?" Sophie yawed, eyes half closed and shivering while wrapping a hand around herself and closing her door. Locking it back up, she slowly made her way over to Clint, who was now behind a silver laptop screen. "And when did you bring that in here?"

Stealing a short glance over his shoulder, he smiled humorously at Sophie's drowsy state, pointing her index finger at the computer's screen. The kitchen was submerged in darkness, making the only sources of lighting the windows near the couch in the living, and the laptop's brightly lit screen. "I had it with me when I came in-"

"I didn't see it—"

"Your eyes were closed." Something of a gruff hmm echoed over Clint's back; he pivoted back to the screen and answered her first inquiry. "And it's five in the morning. Remember, you have to meet with Fury in the main building."