Shaw vs. Claw

"You know, as adorable as this is you're not going to win any faster by glaring at the claw machine" Root says as she watches Shaw play the claw with the same intensity she brings to a mission. They've been at the restaurant for over an hour and, after devouring half the items on the menu Shaw had insisted on winning the stuffed toy dog, which looked a lot like Bear, that was sitting in the middle of the restaurant's claw machine. It's a testament to her concentration that she doesn't even scold Root for calling her adorable. Who would have thought that a stuffed toy could mean so much?

"This thing is rigged, can't your robot overlord hack it?" Shaw grumbles, hitting the buttons harder than necessary, which isn't really getting her any close to her goal.

"She's not a robot" Root scolds but her words are lost on Shaw as she faces her latest enemy.

"Maybe if you move it over a bit?" Root suggests but her hands are batted away so she shrugs, content to watch the scene play out.

"Damn it" Shaw mutters as the claw wraps around the toy but fails to hold on. The machine is probably rigged but rather than tell Shaw that Root would prefer to watch. Shaw glares at the swinging claw but refrains from kicking the machine again-the staff had already threatened to kick them out once.

"Try again?" Root suggests and Shaw mutters something that the machine helpfully translates as a mixture of Arabic and Farsi curse words under her breath as she feeds more money into the machine. It would probably be cheaper to just buy a plush but Shaw wants this one and Root wants to see the look on her face when she wins, which Root is pretty sure she'll do any time soon since she's gradually getting closer with each try.

She watches as Shaw lines the claw up precisely where she wants it, checking the sides of the machine to make sure it's correctly line up. Satisfied she hits the button, watching the claw descend. Root leans in closer to get a better view, of Shaw more than the toy. She watches the claw drop with careful eyes, as if daring it to miss. It fits snugly around the toy's head, closing firmly.

"Don't you dare drop it" Shaw threatens, causing Root to smile. Watching her threaten inanimate objects was one of Root's favourite pastimes, even if she preferred those intense brown eyes to be focused elsewhere, like on herself.

Finally the claw ascends, dragging the weight of the toy up with it. Shaw's glare intensifies and, if it drops the toy now Root's pretty sure Shaw will shoot it. It's a surprisingly thrilling wait watching it slowly drag the plush over to the prise drop and Shaw is tense next to her. Heaven forbid it drops the toy now and cops the wrath of Shaw. Thankfully the only place it drops is the prize shoot and seeing Shaw's victorious smirk as she smugly pulls the plush out is definitely worth the wait.

"Nice job sweetie, can I have a go now?" Root asks and Shaw nods distractedly.

They leave fifteen minutes later, Shaw with her Bear plush and Root with five other toys, much to Shaw's chagrin.