Realigned
6th February
07:08 GMT -5
"Um." Holly stares at Artemis's tight-fitting work out trousers as she and Paula jog closer to our meet-up point in Robinson Park. "Damn."
Karon arches her right eyebrow.
"Huh? Oh, come on. Look at that!"
Karon turns her head away slightly and raises her right hand.
And Holly realises her mistake. "Karon. I didn't mean-."
"She's romantically involved with a young man, so I think you're out of luck."
"I'm window shopping, not-." Karon starts walking away. "Oh, no, that's not…"
Artemis jogs up beside me as Holly goes after Karon. "Ah… Are they… Not jogging with us?"
"Perhaps they'll… Join us later."
"Are they having a fight?"
I give my legs a quick stretch. My identity, Paula's former identity and Jade's identity are public knowledge, so anyone with a working brain should be able to tell that Artemis=Artemis. Then again, people around here… But, she doesn't want to strengthen the painfully obvious association so I'm wearing only one ring, it's on my left ring toe and my environmental shield is down so low that it's virtually invisible in this light. I mean yes, Gotham's better these days, but I'm not stupid.
Point being, I have to at least look like I'm warming up normally in order to maintain the pretence.
"Holly appreciated a certain person's physique out loud. Karon was less than impressed."
Artemis snorts as Paula slows to a stop alongside us. "Yeah?" Artemis looks around the park. "Who'd she check out?"
I look at her.
"That black chick over there?" She turns back and sees me looking at her. "She-. Oh. Huuuuuuh."
"I haven't spoken to Wallace about-."
Her eyes widen slightly. "I hadn't realised you'd met Wally."
"Yes, we've bumped into one another at KordTech a few times."
Not often, in reality, because neither of us are based there and we don't visit the same parts of the company. But it's a believable place for us to have met as far as a casual observer would be concerned if a) they knew who I was b) they don't know who Artemis is c) they know who Wallace is but don't know that he's Kid Flash, and, d), probably some other conditions as well.
"Oh. Right, yeah."
I smile at Paula. "Paula, good morning."
"Good morning, Paul. Ready for a run?"
"Yep. Just think I need to phone Wallace and warn him about 'that black chick' stealing his girlfriend first."
Artemis grimaces, growls quietly, then takes off down the path. Paula follows at a slightly slower pace, and I take a moment to make eye contact with Holly and wave before dashing to catch them up.
With crime falling and Pamela Isley reformed, Robinson Park has seen a resurgence of joggers. Mister Freeze murdering those people in Grant Park probably helped send the overflow here as well. Still, it's a cold part of the year and so we don't have that much competition for the pavement on work days.
So far Zatanna hasn't decided to tell everyone my age, and as I briefly meet Paula's eyes I'm sorely tempted to just come out with it. It's… Like the reason Bob gives in The Atrocity Archives for homosexuals being -historically- banned from the British intelligence services: being gay meant that you could be blackmailed by foreign agents… Because being gay meant that you could be fired, which was only a problem because of the rule banning homosexuals. After someone pointed out this catch 22 they changed the rules so that homosexuals were fine as long as they weren't in the closet, because if they were out and proud they couldn't be blackmailed about it.
Except…
If someone actually did blackmail me… What exactly happens? It's not as if I'm obsessed with public opinion, and… Compared to Grand Theft Baking Supplies, I doubt the fact that I told people I was twelve years younger than I actually am is going to arouse all that much excitement. Threatening to tell my friends? A bit awkward, but nothing compared to how anything someone could blackmail me into doing would make me feel. Police? I'm not a US citizen and I doubt that Hippolyta would care. I'm publically nineteen, so other than the fact that I'd be able to buy alcohol around here not a lot would change legally.
"Did you do a lot of running before you starting running with us?"
I glance at Paula for a moment before returning my attention to the path ahead of us.
"No, not really. Treadmills-" Once or twice, more to be sociable or because I was taking a break from my rings than for the purpose of exercise. "-or exercise machines were more my thing. Though my trainer did once make me run the marathon."
"Which one?"
"No. The marathon. I had to run from Athens to Sparta, retracing the route of Pheidippides. There's some nice countryside in Greece, but I can't honestly say that I recommend it."
"That could be interesting."
"I didn't know that you were into endurance running."
"When I was younger, I trained myself so that I was ready to commit whatever crime was most profitable. After I recovered from my injury, I tried to get back to that same level of fitness. But I no longer have anything to aim for."
"Perhaps you should try a normal marathon first? I mean, I can arrange passage to Greece-" By flying you there. "-and I'd be happy-" In the interests of building good relations with my future mother-in-law, not because I like running. "-to run it with you."
She smiles as we reach the northernmost part of the park and turn east. "Thank you."
I look right and see Holly and Karon cut across the grass to catch up with us, their disagreement apparently resolved. I'm not seeing any real emotional damage, but… Come on, Holly! At this point you should know that while Karon doesn't expect you to police your eyes she does expect you to police your mouth a little.
"Have you heard from Jade yet?"
"No, and I doubt that I will for a few days. She'll probably want to familiarise herself with her new working environment fairly intensely at the start."
"Who will she be fighting?"
"Hopefully, no one for a while. The place she's being sent to is a solid ally, but the… Enemy are really good at infiltrating and exploiting internal divisions. When she does, it will probably be locals armed with local weapons. Less dangerous than plenty of things she's fought on Earth."
She nods as Artemis slows to allow us to jog alongside her.
"I am sure that you are right, but I still worry. We had not fully reconnected when she left. I am not.. complaining that you found her the opportunity. If she must fight, then I would prefer her to fight for a good cause than for the League of Shadows. But I miss her."
I nod. Jade knows I can get access to instant communication technologies… But she hasn't asked me to give one to anyone. But I could nudge her about writing, or.. something. "I'll see if I can come up with something."
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