yourfavorite | (no subject)

From here

It helps that J'onn's decision to become a detective is an attempt to reflect his true self- a hunter, a fighter for justice. Taking on the iconography of the ideal helps him have a place in a foreign world. He'd put effort into it, including covering his tracks. A surface-level look at his background, a cop from Denver with a shining record. A deep dive by a sharp mind might find the oddities- a man who appeared fully formed one day can't add up to 100%

"Busy." He did mention three possibilities she might be wanting to talk about, after all, and John Jones always gets the abnormal cases. He has a reputation for handling them. "The world gets a little stranger everyday."

Driving, for example, is still strange to him. But he likes it. Manually shifting gears, using mechanical controls like a wheel and pedals- even his shaky '97 Impala is like a beautiful, bizarre piece of clockwork and he drives it exactly according to the regulations and best practices. He even checks all the mirrors before they set off, despite having driven it mere minutes ago to get to her in the first place.

"Mysteries aside, how are you?"

It probably helps that Karen is almost - okay, entirely - driven by her need to know the truth. No matter how battered and ugly. It's always better than a pretty lie. She's diligent and relentless in her pursuit, fueling late nights and early mornings with endless cups of black coffee. It's probably a good thing, then, that he so rigorously fits the role he made for himself. She's more likely to want to work with him than look into him.

"You can say that again." She tends to busy herself with local stories - corruption, gang activity, shady corporate activity. There's a good possibility she'll never sleep again if she dives into the stranger stuff.

Karen considers her answer before she gives it, and then settles on a matching: "busy." Her mouth quirks into a little smile. "This locked room thing is going to be a real pain in the ass for your precinct."

"It won't be," he says with a subtle sigh. "It will be a pain in the rear for me, specifically."

He's so straight-laced he doesn't even swear in the mildest sense- she'll know when they're in serious trouble when he says 'damn.' Learning English from 1950s TV does that to a guy's lexicon.

"As always, I'm saddled with the strange." His reputation proceeds him there. When the weird arrives, put it on Jones' desk. Sometimes they're just Earthly oddity, cunning crimes or terrible tragedies that make no sense. On a few rare occasions, they have been something supernatural- odd aliens, interdimensional interlopers, mad science. Morgaine le Fey, once. "I'm sure you'll be of assistance."

Traffic is good this time of night, and he likes the way the street lights give a flow between clarity and darkness. The poet in him likes it as a metaphor.

"I know. I was trying to cushion the blow." Her smile widens as she says it. It's one of those jokes that's funny because it's not funny. One of those moments where you have to smile about it anyway because the alternative isn't really an option at all. Once seized by the drive to do something, there's really no way to go but forward.

"I'll do whatever I can to help." Karen's not much of a fighter - she carries a gun and a container of mace, and she'll defend herself when she has to. She's more the type to talk her way out of a tight corner. But she'll still chase down every lead and use every resource available to her when there's something that needs to get done.

Her head turns so she can watch out the window of the car for a moment. "Ever get suspicious when it's this quiet at night?"

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@pagekaren

thank you!

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