[h1][color=bb8a44]Thomas Q. Rose[/color][/h1][hr][right][u]Keystone City, Offices of Thomas Rose Investigations LLC[/u]
[u]January 1st, 2020. 10:24 PM[/u][/right][hr]
The office was dark, the only light coming in through a shuttered window that could not hope to illuminate the frames on the walls. There was an air of mystique to the arrangement, but its sole occupant at the moment sort of ruined the effect.
Thomas Rose's hand tapped the top of his desk impatiently, anxiety flowing through him. He knew better than anyone today would be a quiet day, it was after all, New Years. Nobody needed an investigator on [i]New Years Day[/i], certainly not someone who was quite unproven, even if he was selling himself as something special. 

In a little flicker of motion, he flipped through one of the old paperbacks he'd set down on the desk last week. He knew it shouldn't have been possible, that the room should have been too shady to just casually read the text on those creamy-hued pages, but then again the fact that that sort of impossibility had become the norm for him was why he'd decided to do this begin with, wasn't it.
He held open the first page, words springing forth...
[color=bb8a44]"Yes, sweetheart?"[/color] he asked of an Effie Ferine who could not answer.
[color=bb8a44]"A customer?"[/color] he asked, as if the mute air had answered, [color=bb8a44]"Shoo her in, darling, shoo her in"[/color]
His eyes skipped down a few lines as he stood up from the desk, laying the book back down on top even as he mockingly gestured to the chair on the other side. [color=bb8a44]"But I knew it wasn't going to be as simple as going 'Now what can I do for you, Miss Wonderly?', now didn't I."[/color]

He took hold of a bag he'd set by the door on his way out. The little plastic sign up front flipped back to say 'Out Until'. A little marker pulled out and, with a moment of consideration, a big exaggerated "3" was slapped underneath. If one business was going to be quiet today, the least he could do would be to work for the other side after all. And while the city wasn't as festive as it was two weeks ago, there were always new shots to be taken somewhere.

[hr][right][u]The Rooftops of Keystone City[/u]
[u]January 1st, 2020. 11:57 PM[/u][/right][hr]
This though, this is what Thomas lived for. Central City was so much prettier when you could take in the whole image at once. Star Labs, which had looked so pure and [i]sterile[/i] six months ago, well it was [i]alive[/i] now. Alive and yet, it slept. Another lens, a tiny adjustment to the exact angle of the camera. A different exposure. Check the viewfinder. Adjust the tripod. Viewfinder. Click. The subtle sound of someone ascending the maintenance stairs behind him. Off the tripod. A chance look through the viewfinder and another click. Steps rising further. Tripod folded up, in the bag. Bag zipped shut, shoulder strap on. His own feet crossing the rooftop. The click of a latch, hinges swinging.
And for the woman who stepped onto the roof, the sight of no one up here. The reassurance of a smoke break that would go uninterrupted.

As for Thomas, he had memorized where the fire escape was before he'd even set up. Walked the distance to test how long he would have. He could disappear before anyone got on the roof. And even still, his work did not stop. Even though he was a bit lower down now, he still had quite a view of the skyline. And he'd be down here for at least few minutes anyway. So planning out the next shot would be simple enough...
Across the city, his eyes traced a sudden movement through the sky. A blur that couldn't have been a bird, nor a plane.
[i][color=bb8a44]A metahuman? Flying in the open like that? In the middle of the day? Well, I guess some people have some lofty resolutions this year.[/color][/i] he thought, putting his back against the wall as he considered the reverse-shooting-star. [i][color=bb8a44]Well you go on rocket man, fly high. Looks like Keystone just got its own blur to challenge Central with.[/color][/i]
[i][color=bb8a44]Just wish the rest of us could be like you, could just fly around without a care in the world.[/color][/i]

The sound of footsteps onto the smooth surface of the steps leading down was all the sign Thomas needed though. A few seconds, the roof access being closed back up with another swing of hinges and a click, and he climbed back onto the roof, his camera pointed downtown now. That blur might have been too fast to get a picture of it, but at least he could get something of downtown today. He wasn't sure exactly where that blur had popped up from, but certainly pictures of downtown on the day someone flew up up and away would be worth something. And he still had a good hour and a half of work to do before he left this spot anyway.
This was the day the world changed, but for Thomas, it was just another day of work.
Business was slow after all.
Maybe he could spin by the courthouse tomorrow, once they were opened. Talk to people. Get his name and face known. Hand out business cards.
Canvassing, that was the word for it.

[color=bb8a44]"Tomorrow. This city awakes tomorrow to a brave new world."[/color]

[hr][right][u]Keystone City, Offices of Thomas Rose Investigations LLC[/u]
[u]January 1st, 2020. 2:56 PM[/u][/right][hr]
Thomas watched the video play through once more, footage that had been circulating the news for apparently most of the day. Footage of what had happened just [i]before[/i] he'd seen that blur. Just what he needed, really. The city would be in an uproar for weeks after this.
And what was she [i]wearing[/i]? What kind of ridiculous outfit even was that. What kind of person even owns a cape and is ready to just slip it on before flying off to stop a bank robbery.
Then again, it wasn't really fair to judge that, was it, considering what had informed his own fashion sense going into this new business.
[color=bb8a44]"Actually, I wonder how long she spent working on that outfit. Doesn't look like the sort of thing you just get off the shelf."[/color]

[color=bb8a44]"Can't really pay too much attention to that though,"[/color] he considered aloud, swapping back over to actual work, pulling pictures from the camera and picking out which ones had turned out the best, what would go out on offer from him, [color=bb8a44]"Though I do have to say, Sol, you have made sure the future will be interesting for all of us. They can't exactly call you the bad guy here after all."[/color]