When Kylie walked into work 10 minutes late she seriously thought about turning around and going right back home. She had seen all sorts of things during her short time working at the Gotham City Police Department, murderers who tied their victims to balloons, a drug that made you super strong but killed you in a matter of hours, and a man who chose his employees by making them fight to the death.
But she never, ever expected to walk inside the precinct and see a circus.
She wasn't quite sure if she should shrug and keep walking or be surprised. Clowns, acrobats, and other kinds of performers, still dressed in their attire, sat at desks all around the room either being questioned or waiting for someone to do so. She ducked and dodged as well as she could in a room packed tight and in quite the frenzy. She also tried not to stare at anything too long so she kept her eyes locked on the hall to her office. The flustered assistant made it about three quarters of the way through the crowd when her shoe caught of the wire of a portable fan, which was blowing more glitter around the room than it was cooling it. Kylie let out a yelp that was instantly lost in the chatter of the station and prepared to hit the ground.
However, she didn't even get near it.
A pair of arms caught her as she tripped and hauled her back to her feet.
"You gotta watch where you're walking in here, Miss, you could get hurt real bad," her savior said quietly.
Kylie pulled back still wide eyed from her mishap, "Oh, um, thanks for catching me--?"
The boy smiled sweetly, red hair standing out against pale skin," Jerome," he said as he stuck his hand out, " Jerome Valeska."
"Thank you for catching me, Jerome Valeska."
"Oh, anytime ma'am. It's just there's one thing I haven't caught yet....." he told her while looking through his lashes.
She raised an eyebrow," And that would be?"
"Your name."
The blonde smiled," That was smooth, I'll give you that, Mister Valeska. I'm Kylie Wood, I work in the Archives."
"That sounds like an awfully interesting job," Jerome said as he walked with her back the hall.
"Not really," she said with a little laugh," All I do is type up the files for people are too lazy to finish by themselves in a tiny office.
He tilted his head," Well, it may not be as interesting as it first sounded," he acquiesced," but you must be mighty important if they let you handle files."
After twisting her key and unlocking her door she sighed, "Not really, I'm only an assistant to the Head Archivist. She's the important one who keeps everything orderly."
The ginger stepped into her office right behind hesitantly, as if checking to see if it was alright. A kind smile from the pretty girl in front of him let him know it was. He perched in one of the chairs in front of her desk as she logged onto her computer, watching her curiously.
"But there wouldn't be anything to keep in order if you didn't type up files to begin with."
Her fingers with their purple painted nails stopped pressing keys and she stared at him for a moment.
"Did I say something wrong?" the boy fretted, " I didn't mean to cause any offence or-"
"No, Jerome, you didn't," she said gently," It's just I've never thought about it that way. You're a like a breath of fresh air with that sweet attitude of yours," she pointed a finger at him," don't let this city take that from you."
