Who: Tess Mercer When: Tonight, just before this Where: Watchtower Rating: Angsty? Status: Complete; Narrative
There was, really, only so much aggression one could work out with Aikido, but Tess had done her best, spending an hour longer than usual with the instructor she had found in Lawrence, until he'd finally forced her to call it quits and had almost literally kicked her out of the building. She didn't, really, want to return to Watchtower, even though she knew she had a responsibility to be there that evening, but the fact was she didn't want to go back to an empty 80 story building by herself. Back in Metropolis, it hadn't been nearly this bad - she'd be on the comms, talking to Oliver or Clark - or Lois or even Emil might have been there. There would have been something more to focus on - and usually Clark or Oliver would have come back there after, sometimes with coffee or Chinese. But here, with this team...she rarely saw them. They patrolled, talked to her a little, but that was mostly the extent of her contact with them.
Nights like tonight were the worst, since Oliver and Chloe had been sent back. It was one of the evenings that Pete wasn't there, so it was just her...a fact made clear even by Oliver's friends refusing to move back into Watchtower. She had offered up the apartments to the displaced community at large, but there hadn't been a single nibble, and now, as she let herself into the building and rode the elevator to the seventieth floor, she found herself wondering what would happen if she were sent home. In all honesty, it wouldn't matter, most likely. Certain people would even be happy about it.
As she stepped into her apartment, her eyes were caught by the large aquarium Oliver had bought for her, and for a moment she simply stared. She had yet to put any fish or creatures in it, since she'd been intending on talking him into going with her to get some, and seeing it now, still empty of everything except water and plant life, she quite literally wanted to cry, and after a moment she sat slowly on the couch, burying her face in her hands.
A ping from her computer had her wearily raising her head a moment later, and she sighed, then walked over to her desk to turn off the screen saver and see what had alerted her. A message on the network, from Lois. Someone she quite honestly did not want to see that evening. She replied, then again when she received an immediate response, before pushing up and walking towards the master bedroom. Hopefully she'd have time to shower and compose herself before heading up to the 78th floor to unlock Chloe's apartment, then the control room itself to admit Lois to the building. With any luck, she wouldn't have to deal directly with the reporter.