Walking in the dark

437. Do you keep to a routine?

As far as the job allows it, yes. Obviously there are days when situations and circumstances make it impossible, but on the days when it doesn't, a routine can be a good thing.

Part of my routine is much easier where I live now -- no more sharing the communal bathroom down the hall or having to go to a gym to do any more extensive workouts than stretches.

Now, once I wake up and deal with necessities, I head upstairs for a full workout -- everything from stretches and some yoga (gotta stay flexible in my line of work, believe me) to weights and a few rounds with the heavy bag. Three days a week I go for a run, too -- though there are times when I have to be very cautious choosing my route. Of course a t-shirt and sweatpants help there, since most of the folks trying to track me are still stuck on the whole 'guy in a suit' thing.

After the run and/or workout, I shower and dress for the day. Sometimes I make breakfast, but most of the time I pick up something on the way to the Library, along with a coffee for me and sometimes a tea for Finch.

Once I get there and get filled in on the latest Number, that's usually the point in the day where routine goes right out the window.

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Muse: John Reese
Fandom: Person of Interest
Word count: 231 per WordPerfect
Crossposted to LJ at "theatrical_muse"

416. What's your favourite scent?

I don't wear anything scented, myself -- I learned fairly early in my training that even something as innocuous as aftershave could potentially give you away on a stealth mission.

Of course, that's not to say I don't have my own scent, as everyone does. I've been told by those who aren't as accustomed to it that I tend to smell like coffee, gunpowder, and gun oil. Which is pretty understandable, all things considered.

My favorite scent on someone else, though... Well, it's changed a bit over time. It used to be a light, springy scent, reminiscent of early flowers -- tulips and daffodils, and a little hyacinth... I never knew the name of it and I haven't really tried to find it since-- In a while.

More recently, though, I've developed a fondness for some scents that I never really expected to like. The best way to describe it is kind of a blend of old and new: clean skin with an underlying note of old books -- leather bindings and dry, maybe slightly dusty paper -- with Sencha green tea and a little crackle of ozone wafting by...

It's a combination that makes me feel... good. And I find I'm not missing spring flowers quite so much these days.

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Muse: John Reese
Fandom: Person of Interest
Word count: 208 per WordPerfect
Crossposted to LJ at "theatrical_muse"

Combo topic of doom: 73. Which are you more afraid of: Being too gullible and believing things that aren't true, or being too skeptical and missing out on something important? / 240. Discuss an individual who has scared you. / 269. Write about a time you were outsmarted

In my job I can't afford to be gullible. When any Number could turn out to be the victim or the perpetrator of a crime, a lack of skepticism can be a very dangerous thing.

That's why I view the "Charlie Burton" case as my biggest failure to date. Because for some reason I let appearances completely deceive me, and by the end of it I not only let a very dangerous man get away, I actually helped him further his ambitions to take over the criminal empires that exist in the city.

I've tried to analyze how he so completely outsmarted me, and all I keep coming back to is the fact that friendly, meek Charlie Burton reminded me too much of Finch. Intelligent, unassuming, dislikes guns, wants to make the world a better place, not exactly physically imposing... Very similar to Finch. And yet the whole time he was watching me -- assessing me. Gathering intel on me so he would know what he'd be up against the next time we tangled. Because meek, mild Charlie Burton turned out to be Carl Elias, a man driven by revenge and the desire to control all the crime families in the city. To kick out the foreign interests he'd been studying through their children he taught at school...

I was so taken in by the role he played that he was able to observe me and learn not only a wide range of my own skills but also that I work with someone who provides me with information. Pretty sure he even heard me call Finch by name...

It took years of training and moulding to make me what I am, and he thought rings around me. If it hadn't been for Lazlo, I probably wouldn't have figured it out until I met with Fusco and Finch on the dock.

Someone like that -- someone who reads people that well and can fool even someone with my training -- is someone to be very wary of. Considering how large his support network really seems to be, I'd even say he's someone to fear. Because he knows many of my weaknesses -- and so far, I don't know any of his.

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Muse: John Reese
Fandom: Person of Interest
Word count: 370 per WordPerfect
Crossposted to LJ at theatrical_muse

430. What time is bedtime?

For the past year or so - up until about six months ago - bedtime had been whenever he had drunk enough to pass out. That was, of course, if he wasn't too hungry or too cold to sleep. He'd been in a downward spiral and knew it - and to be honest, he really didn't care.

But then came the subway incident and his introduction to his new employer...

Even after everything that had happened and all he had done to himself, it wasn't more than a week at most before he was back into fighting trim. It was even less time than that for him to fall back into sleep patterns learned through necessity.

When other peoples' lives depended on you, you couldn't afford to be caught napping. It sounded cliche, but it was the absolute truth in work like his. In the military it started out more structured, but he still learned quickly to catch a nap whenever possible. One never knew when an enemy attack might come, and no one counted on a full eight hours no matter what shift they were supposed to be on.

Once his duties became more specialized, schedules and structure often went completely out the window. Sleep was necessary to keep him sharp and healthy, but it wasn't more important than achieving his goal. If something required him to stay awake, he stayed awake until it was done. If someone's life depended on him being awake to protect them, he stayed awake. If a raid happened at night after hours of slogging through the wilderness, bedtime came whenever all of the shooting was done - more often than not, in the transport on the way back to base.

Now he was in a very similar situation. Lives depended on him, and sleep came secondary to them. There were times when the bad guys stuck to a normal enough schedule that he could get a good night in, but he'd be damned if someone he was supposed to be protecting died while he was asleep.

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Muse: John Reese
Fandom: Person of Interest
Word count: 339 per WordPerfect
Crossposted to LJ at "theatrical_muse"