95-15. "Behind blue eyes"

He's not sure when it happened or what specific event pushed him over that line, but these days, he's the one everyone seems to be afraid of.

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Muse: John Reese
Fandom: Person of Interest
Word count: 27
Written for musebysentence

List the ten most annoying assumptions that people make about you.

1. That I enjoy killing or hurting people.
2. That I'm a sociopath.
3. That I'm bragging when I'm just stating a fact.
4. That I act without thinking.
5. That I'm all about revenge.
6. That I'm kidding or bluffing when I warn people not to do something.
7. That I deliberately flout the law -- for expediency, out of contempt, or for any other reason.
8. That because of what I am and what I've done, I'm incapable of caring.
9. That I tease out of cruelty instead of affection.
10. That my desire to protect someone means I think they're weak.

[ooc: someone's probably going to regret not locking this...]

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Muse: John Reese
Fandom: Person of Interest
Word Count: 93
Written for charloft

011 (4) Ten things (List)
Ten things in your past that make you who you are today

1. Basic
2. SFQC
3. Kandahar
4. 9/11
5. the Agency
6. Cara Stanton
7. Mark Snow
8. Ordos
9. New Rochelle
10. meeting Finch

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Muse: John Reese
Fandom: Person of Interest
Word count: 15
Crossposted to LJ at muserevival

19. Sundress

It's a moment burned on his memory like footage from a home movie, faded a bit around the edges but still strong.

The golden sun breaks through stormclouds, beaming down on them and brightening the day. A rainbow -- faint, but still beautiful -- arches over the water.

Jessica laughs and turns to face him, her sundress swirling around her lithe form.

A little gust of wind tugs at the white fabric, giving him a glimpse of tanned calves. She kicks off her sandals and scoops them up. "Race you back to the water!" and she darts away.

"Hey! Wait for me!"

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Muse: John Reese
Fandom: Person of Interest
Word Count: 100 words exactly
Written for charloft's 100 Drabbles challenge

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"

Drabble Thursday: Back Together - Tonight, 100 words on reunions.

A sense of unease settles over me as the black SUV comes to a stop. When he gets out, every instinct screams at me that it's a trap. There's nothing I can do -- I'm too exposed and I'll be damned if I shoot first with Carter standing right there.

"Hello, Mark."

We chat in conversational tones, even though I feel the noose tightening around my neck. I've turned to give him the smallest target, hoping that the lighting and my black jacket will foul his aim.

His sniper hits me easily.

Not the way I wanted this reunion to go.

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Muse: John Reese
Fandom: Person of Interest
Word Count: 100 exactly
Written for charloft
Also fills 81. Author's Choice prompt for 100 Drabbles of Summer

007 - ( 6 ) Canon prompt (OOC): Write a diary entry from your character with their thoughts of a specific event that deeply impacted on their life.

"I'll get Miss Turing to safety, and I'll come back for you, John."

That's the last thing he said to me -- and he didn't come back. He's gone. Taken -- by her. By the very person I sent out to him. I protected her and gave her a straight, unimpeded shot at him without me around to protect him.

It's Charlie Burton all over again -- and possibly just as lethal, considering what happened to Corwin. I gave her an all expenses paid tour of how we work as a team, of what we're capable of, and I essentially unleashed her on him, while keeping everyone who might have been able to stop her busy following me.

Yeah, I couldn't have known; hindsight is 20/20, whatever bullshit you want to say to reassure me it's not my fault. Except it is my fault. I've been trained to see through this kind of thing. I've been trained to read people and figure out exactly this kind of trick.

And I failed.

And because I failed, the person who means the most to me in the whole world is gone. Taken somewhere, held in the clutches of a computer genius who also happens to be an evil shrink.

I have to get him back -- before she can do too much to him... Before she has a chance to do too much damage.

Right now I wish I didn't know so much about torture.

When I find her and get him safe, she'll wish that, too.

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Muse: John Reese
Fandom: Person of Interest
Word count: 255 per WordPerfect
Crossposted to LJ at muserevival

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