Peter Parker is Spider-Man (aleapoffaith) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2019-07-16 15:25:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, iris west, peter parker (spider-man) |
Who: Iris West & Peter Parker
What: First days on the job
When: Today!
Where: The Orange County Picture News
Warnings: Low
Status: Log | Complete
First days at the new job were never what Peter would call fun. There was the same old stuff where everyone walked him through the job as if he hadn’t been doing the same work for the last 20 years. Really, he might be in a different state, but that didn’t mean that he had to be walked through how to deal with crime scenes like he was fresh out of college.
He’d tried to keep most of his more biting remarks to himself, but he had the impression that, by the end of his introduction, he hadn’t exactly endeared himself to the boss. Maybe it was the sarcastic comments, or maybe it was the grey sweat pants and stained shirt he’d come to work in - he’d slept in too late to find something more presentable, and honestly, he really didn’t care that much. Then, he was introduced to the journalist he was going to be working with, a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, 20-something year old named Iris. God, she’d probably still been in diapers when he’d started this job. He’d barely met her, and he could already tell that she was an eager beaver. Perfect.
“Is it always so hot here?” he complained, walking toward the car to their job. “I mean, I know it’s the ‘Sunny State,’ but I didn’t think it would take its name so literally.”
Having been doing freelancing for so long, Iris was really hopeful that this placement actually lasted and would be a good fit. Yes, it was nice being able to chase her own stories and submit them to different publications - and not just Orange County based - but god she wanted some stability. And she wanted the ability to actually move out of her dad’s house. She loved him, but after being out on her own for so long, it was still sometimes strange. Especially with the Dreams.
The photographer who had just started the same day as she did? She wasn’t sure about him, but if they were pairing her with a photographer, that had to be a good sign, right? Even if he was just as gruff as Mason had been. But she was used to the old guard not wanting to deal with her even if she’d been a journalist for years now. Which was why she didn’t let the gruffness get to her, or the sarcasm.
Heading to her own car, Iris shrugged at the question.
“Hard to say. I’ve only been back here since February.” Thanks for laying off 15% of your workforce, Buzzfeed News, really. “But it seems to be getting hotter each year.” Like it was everywhere. But you know, climate change was a hoax.
“But, you know, climate change is a hoax,” Peter said dryly, as he walked up to the passenger side of the car, waiting to be let in. This was probably the part of the encounter where he should try to get to know the journalist he was assigned to, but honestly, it seemed like a lot of work, and probably for no real reason. He’d be assigned to a new story in no time at all. At some point, everyone’s face just kind of blended together.
That got Iris to laugh some as it had been the thing left unsaid about climate change.
“Oh yes. I’m going to prove it all with my next big scoop.”
Because really, the fact that people wanted to ignore climate change and argue against regulations for… honestly the reasons didn’t matter given all it did was contribute to the issue.
“You’re from New York, right?” Peter might feel like it probably wouldn’t matter to get to know her, but Iris figured she might as well try. Besides, when she was stateside with work, she’d been at the New York office so it was a common ground.
“Let me know when,” Peter said. “I’d love to get some photos of the secret evil scientist organization that has plotted the conspiracy for the last few decades. It’d be the photo of the century.”
He sighed longingly when she mentioned New York, and climbed into the car. “Yeah,” he said. “Best city in the world. They’ve got the best pizza, the best burgers, the best car thieves. There’s nowhere in the world like it. Have you ever been?”
"You will be the first person I call." Well, they could fall into an easy enough banter. That was something at least.
And it was clear that Peter missed New York. Not that Iris could blame him. There was plenty about New York that she missed.
"Yeah, I was based there until January when I wasn't doing overseas correspondent work."
“So, you’re a new arrival to California too, huh?” Peter asked. At least he wasn’t the only one who’d recently uprooted their life to come here, though she’d been here a few months longer than he had been. “What did you think of New York?”
“More like recently returned. Grew up here, then after school got a job that had me based there when I was stateside.” So even if it was a return of sorts, Iris’ life had definitely been uprooted when she’d lost her job and had to go back home and figure something out. That Orange County made it more complicated thanks to it being Orange County? Well, that was something Peter would either learn or not depending on if he ended up on the network.
“I liked it. I mean, MTA aside,” but that was just a thing within the past few years. MTA always being late, or alternate routes - but it was something very New York as well.
“Hey, don’t you talk down on MTA,” Peter scolded. “They’re just a plucky pubic transit hub doing the best they can in a cold, cruel world. Besides, what else would I have used as an excuse when I showed up late for work?”
Iris definitely shot an amused look at Peter for that. All things considered, the MTA never had given her too much trouble even with all the lags and rerouting. It had just taken always checking the site before leaving to get an idea on the route.
“My bad. And this is quite true. It was always a convenient excuse.” Not that Iris had a problem with being late. But hey, things happen.
Peter kept his unconcerned look on his face, but he'd noticed Iris's amusement and he was kind of happy inside about it. Despite how much he had wanted to stay indifferent toward his new journalistic partner, he did like it when people enjoyed his jokes and he was warming toward her.
"How long have you been doing the journalism thing?" He asked her.
That was the question, wasn’t it? After all, there was doing journalism in school for the school paper, and then there was professional journalism. Which did tend to be the question.
“About eight years now? I interned with Richard Engel while in grad school in overseas correspondent work and have pretty much been at it ever since. How about you?”
“Wow, you’re older than you look,” Peter said, a little surprised. He’d definitely put her in her early 20s, but if she’d been doing journalism for that long, assuming she was talking about her professional career, well… she obviously couldn’t have started when she was 14. “I’ve been doing photography for a little over 20 years now. Paid my way through college with it and decided to stick with it after graduation.”
“I get that a lot.” Which was great in some ways, and in others? Well, it did lead to people deciding to not take her seriously. Which even that had its benefits depending on the story she was working on. If she wanted actual answers from people, being overlooked and treated as if she were brand new was frustrating and patronizing. When she wanted people to let their guard down? It tended to help. Mixed bag. “Wow, that’s impressive.”
“It is what it is,” Peter said, shrugging. He didn’t think it was particularly impressive. Maybe if he had done all the good that he had hoped he would do when he was fresh out of college, but it hadn’t turned out that way. Now, he kind of wished that he had pursued chemical engineering after all. Maybe he could have done some real good, really changed the world, through the use of science. But he was too old to change careers now, even if there was someone out there who would hire someone who got their degree over a decade ago and never did anything with it professionally.
More the length of time, but no need to go into that. Some people could be rather touchy about their age. No, Iris would just let it go as Peter responded.
“Well, I should let you go. It was nice meeting you today.”
“Yeah, it was nice meeting you too,” Peter said. Surprisingly nice, actually. Maybe he should stop holing himself up in his room with Netflix and actually start trying to get out a little bit more. “It’ll be nice working with you.”