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Jul. 20th, 2017
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themuseSometimes in the spring, when the breeze is calm and the sun bakes her shoulders, she can almost pretend it's the New York it used to be.
She knows that isn't true; that the world has been the way it is now since before she can remember. She knows the stories her grandparents told her as a child, about the war and the heroes that rose and fell. That was long before she was old enough to understand that magic truly was only the thing of fairy tales, and the stories of heroes were wrought with suffering. It was before her mother had been slaughtered; before her father had crawled into the bottom of a bottle to find his grief; before her life became a quest for unsatisfied vengeance.
It was before the heroes that fell rose again and before her city became a war zone for an enemy only abated for the actions of a small group of people. The Battle of New York had changed the world for everyone, but for Kate Beckett it was just a reminder of how fragile life really was.
The city had largely recovered and people went back about their lives, not unlike they did after the endless tragedies that peppered human existence. It was Saturday, a rare day in the month when she was neither on duty nor on call, and she was going grocery shopping. The market she frequented seemed unusually busy, thanks to the temperate weather and the way spirits had risen since the events in Washington, DC. She paused briefly at a newsstand, her eyes running over the headlines.
CLEAN UP OF THE POTOMAC CONTINUES.
She didn't buy a newspaper.
After a few more short stops, Kate found her way to her favorite produce stand. The fruits and vegetables were shuffled down from upstate, and she enjoyed the feel of the soft, lumpy organic produce in her hands. She offered her typical smile of greeting to the woman who ran the stand before she started to peruse the options, debating what she felt like carrying back to her apartment. It was a nice change of pace to be here, instead of stuck behind her desk, and she was glad for the nice weather and pleasant sounds of the market around her. Kate was so lost in her thoughts she barely noticed the man she nearly bumped into as she moved towards a display of ripe plums.
She knows that isn't true; that the world has been the way it is now since before she can remember. She knows the stories her grandparents told her as a child, about the war and the heroes that rose and fell. That was long before she was old enough to understand that magic truly was only the thing of fairy tales, and the stories of heroes were wrought with suffering. It was before her mother had been slaughtered; before her father had crawled into the bottom of a bottle to find his grief; before her life became a quest for unsatisfied vengeance.
It was before the heroes that fell rose again and before her city became a war zone for an enemy only abated for the actions of a small group of people. The Battle of New York had changed the world for everyone, but for Kate Beckett it was just a reminder of how fragile life really was.
The city had largely recovered and people went back about their lives, not unlike they did after the endless tragedies that peppered human existence. It was Saturday, a rare day in the month when she was neither on duty nor on call, and she was going grocery shopping. The market she frequented seemed unusually busy, thanks to the temperate weather and the way spirits had risen since the events in Washington, DC. She paused briefly at a newsstand, her eyes running over the headlines.
CLEAN UP OF THE POTOMAC CONTINUES.
She didn't buy a newspaper.
After a few more short stops, Kate found her way to her favorite produce stand. The fruits and vegetables were shuffled down from upstate, and she enjoyed the feel of the soft, lumpy organic produce in her hands. She offered her typical smile of greeting to the woman who ran the stand before she started to peruse the options, debating what she felt like carrying back to her apartment. It was a nice change of pace to be here, instead of stuck behind her desk, and she was glad for the nice weather and pleasant sounds of the market around her. Kate was so lost in her thoughts she barely noticed the man she nearly bumped into as she moved towards a display of ripe plums.