paper ninja

who: jackson & zhen
where: the station
when: mid-morning

Jackson was still on a buzz from everything going so well with Babylon. There was of course, a buttload of paperwork that he was busy trying to pawn off on other people, and the matter of that creepy-ass Russian he needed to interrogate, but it was all fine. Babylon was gone - no complaints at all about pain in the neck loose ends to tie off.

The thing that had killed his mood slightly, though? Was the reminder that he had to go to this stupid ball tonight. Get the dress uniform on and accept a medal he didn't deserve. Medals for murder... ugh. He shuddered at the thought of it and tossed the offending copy of the Echo down on his desk. He needed to get away from his desk.

He swooshed out of his office and decided that fuck it, he hadn't been to the filing room for ages. And there were buzzings, vague buzzings, that he'd promised a pretty girl he'd check for vacancies. He descended to the bowels of the station, past even the holding cells (another area he was trying to avoid, because he had the image of him pounding Paul's face into the floor) and then finally reached the filing room. He knocked, didn't wait to be told to come in, and stuck his head around the door frame. "Who's home? I'm bored," he said jovially, hoping someone fun was working today.

Zhen looked up from where she was drawing funny little stick figures on the inside of a notebook, so when she flipped through fast it made a little movie. "It's me!" she cried enthusiastically, bouncing up and dashing over towards the counter. In a smooth move, she hopped up onto it and reached out to grab Jackson by the collar, to yank him further into the room. "Rescue me! It's terrible in here! There are all these words and papers and filing to do! I've got papercuts of doom!" she exclaimed dramatically, then she promptly started to swoon. If Jackson didn't catch her, she was going to hit the floor.

He was glad it was her - Zhen was about as fun as they got, but he still gave a slight start of panic as she began to fall, and swooped his arms around her waist to stop her colliding with the floor, "Woah there! Consider yourself saved, you goof. From one person who's escaping paperwork to another," he winked as he set her firmly on the floor and shook his head slightly, chuckling, "Although honey, braining yourself is about the dumbest way to escape papercuts I've ever seen. What's new?"

"Oh, not it isn't. It's a brilliant strategy! But if I told you why, I'd have to kill you because it's a state secret." she said sagely, nodding. Moments later she was beaming again. "Not a lot! I made a thing!" she said, pushing her small frame up on the countertop again so she could reach the notebook she'd been dinking around with. "See?" she said, flipping the pages for him. Her little stick figure walked along, then seemed to be in the middle of sword fighting another stick figure before it stopped, because she'd been interrupted.

"Yeesh, I wish I got paid to make flipbooks," he said with a slight teasing air, moving further into the room and pulling himself into her chair. He knew she wouldn't mind, she was pretty weird but she was a very sweet girl, "But hey, I have an ulterior motive for coming down to visit which is beyond my usual avoiding workloads and wanting to see your lovely smiling face."

"Aww, really? Is it something exciting?" she asked. "Are you here to gain my help to foil some nefarious plot and no one can help you but me?" she continued, as if they were in a spy novel. She absently kicked her feet against the counter, eyes on him and very much not minding if he flopped into her seat. "Am I going to have to infiltrate a cabaret and gain the trust of evil mobsters, to get you inside at a certain time and place?" she asked, as if that were the most likely answer.

"As much as I don't doubt you'd do a marvellous job, I'm kinda hoping I'm done with nefarious plots for a while," he mused, pulling his fingers through his hair, "It was actually a way more mundane favour. I met a chick who might need a job here and I wondered if you knew if you guys had a vacancy or not? You can pretend she's under witness protection too, if it makes you feel better."

Zhen hummed at that, making a show of thinking about it. "Could I pretend she's under witness protection, and she's been placed here because I have superior observational skills and might be a ninja?" she asked. "I mean, I'm Chinese, I have to know martial arts, right?" she asked rhetorically with a wink. "I think we do have an opening, actually. One of the ladies retired a few weeks ago, and no one's been hired to replace her yet. I think they're waiting for us to strike or something before they'll actually give us the proper amount of help. But your way is much easier. It won't require signs."

"Just so long as you ain't doing the other Chinese thing of running a bunch of opium, you can do whatever you like," said Jackson, his tone still one of friends joking, but it had been a remark that had slipped out before he'd thought of the blatant tactlessness behind it, "Sides, I don't doubt you could kick my ass in a wink - you're too cute not to be hiding a little deadly under the surface." He smiled and stretched out in her chair slightly, glad to know there was a vacancy. That he wasn't always a huge failure when it came to helping people out. Recently, he'd felt like a failure a lot - even with Babylon, because hell, there was still the question of Eris lurking. But they were thoughts for later. Right now he wanted to take his mind off all the crap and just spend some time goofing off with Zhen.

Zhen didn't actually get offended very easily, and the opium comment really rolled right off her back. Even if her father did do that kind of thing, Zhen herself had never been a part of it. Not even in a minor way. "Oh, I got out of the opium game ages ago!" she said, waving off the concern. "I mean everyone gets all loopy, they're lazy bastards in the first place and let me tell you, the stink in the dens! Well, it's enough to make a girl want six hundred baths. Six hundred. That's a lot of baths and really, it just wasn't practical at all for me to consider such things. So, I decided filing was the life for me. Then all I really have to do is battle the horrific demons of 'boredom' and 'minor paper-related injury' and I pretty much kick ass, so I do it well. As for the little bit of deadly under the surface..." she winked at him. "You have no idea, cutie-pie."

Jackson laughed heartily, and leaned forwards towards her, eyes sparkling, "So you gonna demonstrate the deadly? 'Cuz I dunno if I believe you, I think you might be exaggeratin' ever so slightly," he said, clearly teasing her in his usual flirtatious Jackson-y manner. "And heck, I'm an officer of the law, I mean I gotta know for sure if you're tellin' the truth about being able to look after my witness, you know?"

Laughing, Zhen hopped down from the counter and opened up a drawer, rifling through for a moment before she produced a little paperclip-rubberband bow. She held it up and aimed it at him, picking up the nearest pen to 'load' it. "I am just full of surprises, some deadly, some delightfully creative. I'll be the best witness protector an office ever had!" she told him, then let the pen launch at him. "Now bow down and apologize for ever doubting the all mighty Zhen!"

"Ack!" shouted Jackson, as the pen caught him in the cheek despite his efforts to swat it away, "Alright, I submit! You're clearly awesome!" he looked back at her mischievously, still shielding himself with his hands, "Forgive me? Hug and make up?" he was being kind of shameless, and definitely dorky, but he doubted he'd get a chance for dorkiness again for a while. It kind of felt good being carefree, even if it was only for a little while, before getting back to responsibility. What the heck had happened to him over the past few weeks? He used to enjoy his job. It'd all gone wrong since the suspension.

She smiled and walked right over and plopped herself down on his lap, arms around his neck to give him a snuggly hug. "You're forgiven." she told him firmly. "See? I'm such a great almighty person. I'm all forgiving, and am appeasable with hugs." she said. "How've you been, anyways Jackyboy?" she asked. "You haven't been down to visit in a while. And I know you're getting crowned King Bestest Cop and everything, but how're you actually doing?"

Jackson scruffed his fingers through her hair and gave her a pondery look as he thought about her question. Jackson kind of hated talking about himself, and never knew how to answer "how are you" with anything other than "fine" but he figured he'd give it a shot. "Ugghh, you know. Busy. Tired. Kinda antsy. Not myself. I should've come visited sooner huh? You're like the ultimate stress ball. As far as the Bestest Cop Ever thing goes..." he rolled his eyes, and snorted, "It's a pain in the ass, and kinda unmerited, but whatever. I'll go get socialising with jerks out of the way and then hopefully never speak of it again." He was trying to sound light hearted, like he was brushing the whole thing off, and mostly it worked but there was a slight edge to his tone that hadn't been there before.

Zhen listened, keeping her eyes on his, taking in every word. But she was also taking in body language, the stress she could feel in his frame from her position, everything. Her focus was now fully leveled on Jackson, he had her undivided attention. She said nothing for a moment as she assessed things, then she reached up and did much what he'd just done to her. She threaded her fingers through his hair, only then she let them drift down to his neck, where she could feel tension singing there too--so she started to rub at it. "Yes, you should have come to see me sooner, but you're forgiven for that too." she told him. "As for unmerited, I don't believe that for an instant. I think you're an excellent cop, Haas, and you've deserved recognition for that for a long time now. Even if you don't think it should be for this specific case? You've still deserved it." she told him, tone firm, like she believed all of that, and he should too.

"Well, thanks. It's nice that you think so," said Jackson, rolling his neck as she rubbed at it and sighing slightly, "I don't want recognition I don't deserve though. I want... I dunno what I want. Hell, listen to me, I'm an idiot. Let's not talk about me. I'm gonna have to do that all night as it is," he really didn't want to discuss it. He'd come to see her to get away from his thoughts. They were an unwanted pressure. "Tell me about you. Aside from flipbooks. How've you been?" he cast a sideways glance at her, hoping she'd hook on the subject change. Zhen was a funny bird, and considering they'd been pretty decent friends at work for a while now he actually knew surprisingly little about her.

"Sure you'll be doing that, but none of them want to actually know what's going on with you. I do." Zhen said, since in her head there was a huge, clear difference. "Sit back. Relax." she added a quiet, soft instruction for him, shifting so she could do a better job on his neck and shoulders. "You're stressed and have a lot on your mind, obviously. I'd rather talk about that. I bet no one else asks you about these things!" She was actually willing to lay lots of money on that idea. "I've been alright, and have met strange people of late, but nothing nearly so important as what's making you so tied up in knots."

Jackson snorted at her in a dismissive fashion, but gladly let her get to work on his shoulders. He hadn't even realised how tense he'd been until her fingers dug into the knots he was clearly carrying. "Strange people. That sounds about right for you, sugar. Yeah, I dunno, I ain't interesting. You'll be disappointed. I'm just... cop guy. Everyone has bad days." Jackson figured it was true enough that everyone had problems. Maybe not to the extent of a crazy sister, and an evil brother showing up out of the blue, and your best friend jibbing you... and well. All of everything Jackson had swimming in his head. But it wasn't anything he wanted to discuss. "Don't mean I don't appreciate a ninja neck rub though."

"You really need one. Which has me thinking there's a lot on your mind." Zhen said. "I promise I'm a good listener! And I'll even give you wildly unwarranted advice! I'll suggest things all willy nilly and you can feel free to ignore all of it! You might feel better afterwards." she said, as if this were the tempting bit. "Plus, I could give you my word that I wouldn't say a thing to anyone else about it. Mum's the word." she promised, making a motion like she was zipping up her mouth then locking it shut and tossing the key over her shoulder--then she went back to rubbing at the impressive set of knots he had.

"You're a sweet kid," He said, patting her hand and exhaling slightly, "But I feel fine. Trust me. I just got a crappy mattress and a hard job. You find yourself a cop without a set of knots and I'll give you 20 bucks, and I don't got 20 bucks to give so I'm pretty confident on that one," he said lightly. He liked it when Zhen nattered at him - but he didn't like having to vocalise things he didn't know how to vocalise to some cute chick in the filing room. That was levels of not fun.

"Well, offer's open, if you ever need it." Zhen told him, letting it go, even if she thought the best thing for him might to be to let loose and just talk about what was on his mind. But she wasn't going to badger him about it either, that would be just as stressful. "I'm not sure I could afford to lose that bet either." she told him, even if she could find it somewhere, she knew.

He smiled, thinking that she probably meant it too, but honestly? What was he gonna say? It was all kinds of dumb. "For all the marvellous work we do you think they'd pay us enough to make as many frivilous gambling choices as we wanted, huh?" said Jackson in an offhand fashion. He got a fairly decent paycheck, really, but a lot of it went on Jenny, and of course running an automobile. And Scotch. He shuddered involuntarily at the idea of drinking at tonight's function. That would end with all kinds of messiness. No. He'd just show up, do the grateful smile n' nod, and then heel it.

Considering where she was sitting, she would be hard pressed not to notice the shudder. "Sweetheart, you are just all kinds of messy right now, aren't you?" she asked, the question rhetorical. Reaching up, she drifted her fingers through his hair lightly, before going back to easing tension in the back of his neck. "What was that about?" she asked, sort of not actually expecting an answer, but hoping she'd get one. She was never one to bail out just because she didn't think she'd get the result she wanted.

He grinned sheepishly at her, raising an eyebrow slightly, "I know right? Incredibly pretty girl in my lap and someone figures it's a good time to walk over my grave. Tact of a cop on a raid. Speaking of which, I guess I oughtta apologise for all the Babylon paperwork that's gonna come zooming your way?" he was forcing a topic change, but he was kinda proud of the whole removal of Babylon thing, and he figured that while he was getting a literal (and rather enjoyable) pat on the back anyways, he may as well bring it up.

"Aww, you're such a sweetie." she told him at the 'incredibly pretty girl' comment. "And don't apologize! I'll get it done! And it was a big thing for you! So I'll be happy to brave papercuts to get it all filed nicely, and then you can open it up later and reminisce about how terribly good you are as an officer and human being." she told him firmly with a nod. "It'll be fantastic."

Jackson smirked at her with warmth. "You got a knack for making me feel good, you know that? Maybe you oughtta fill that file with sequins and mark it 'awesome' just for me," he paused, thinking Zhen was the kind of girl who might actually do it, but to heck it'd be funny if she did, "And I oughtta take you out for dinner some time in exchange. But tonight, I have to go do something that sucks and involves wearing a tie all tight and shit, which I hate. So maybe I should love you and leave you?" he tapped her nose and winked. Asking her out for dinner was just a typical smooth-move Jackson line - he didn't figure she'd say yes. And if she did? Well, then he would. But it was Zhen. It'd just be dinner.

"I'd love that!" Zhen said brightly. "So sure, whenever. And you know, now that you said I should do the sequin trick, I'm going to have to live up to the challenge." she warned, getting up off of his lap. She did give him a smooch on the forehead though. "You try to have a good time with all the suits, dear." she told him. "Come back when you want to feel good again."

Jackson rolled his neck and smiled slyly, "Sure I will. You got magic hands, you know that? And kisses don't hurt neither. Good luck with them papercuts, dolly." he pulled himself out of her chair and stretched, nearly filling up her office with his height. Then he tugged her over for a slightly rough one-armed hug.

Zhen hugged him back, smiling as she did so. "Thanks so much, I'm sure your strength you've lent me with your well wishes will indeed pull me through, no matter how vicious the paper attacks." she told him in a sage tone. "Now off with you!" she said, shooing him. "Go be a hero and awesome and all that other stuff!"

He gave a snort of laughter as he pushed his way out of her office, giving a dismissive wave over his shoulder at her words. Pretty odd duck indeed, Jackson thought to himself fondly, strolling back up the stairs feeling less tense - although still slightly niggly about the Russian that was waiting for him in the interrogation room amongst other things. There was always something, huh?