— A GIRL IS A GUN

VERONICA SPENCER; twenty-seven. detective & resident wine lover ANGER WAS better than tears better than grief better than guilt

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cooper ward.

It was obvious that Cooper had found enjoyment in poking the bear. “Eh, that’s pretty much what they do anyway, isn’t it?” He playfully pushed her shoulder a bit. “If you floss your teeth you’ll have pretty decent luck at getting it out,” he informed her, cocking his eyebrow. “But in all seriousness, if the night is that god-awful, you can always hit me up and we can drink or you can just sleep on my couch while I watch anime.” 

The blonde’s arms lifted over her head, her back cracking in the process. “I don’t think I’ve flossed my teeth in... actually, I don’t know if I’ve ever flossed my teeth, to be honest.” Brush her teeth? Sure. Go to the dentist twice a year for a cleaning? Ok. “You know I’ll never turn down a drink,” Veronica commented with a chuckle, smiling over at Cooper. “Though, I can’t promise I won’t mock you relentlessly if you decide to put on anime.” 

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katrina unger.

“Hell hath no fury,” Katrina teased, sipping at her drink. Her brow raised, “Anyone who isn’t fascinated with the Kardashian Jenner empire has a warped sense of importance– prove me wrong.” Her smile stayed bent at her lips and she leaned back in her chair, “What else have you been up to? Did you know Jason’s back in town?”

Veronica gently nodded her head, a silent way of saying ‘damn right’ in response to Kat’s comment. The mention of Kardashians elicited an eye roll, but the blonde had no interest in starting a debate on that topic. “I’d have kicked his ass and he knows it if he hadn’t told me he was back in town,” Ronnie commented matter-a-factly, a chuckle added at the end of her statement. “Aside from that new development, it’s been more of the same: working, sleeping, and somehow trying to make time for a personal life. What about you?”

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rhyland park.

The voice of the woman drew his eyes to her, blinking twice before falling back to the black and white entanglement of letters that took a moment for his gaze to rearrange into English words.

“I feel like that would be front page news, but I’m afraid there’s something about another horrific event plastered all over it,” the foreigner murmured, his displeasure palpable as he thought back to the awful image that he had been greeted with upon unfolding it this morning. Rubbing his eye with the heel of his hand, he inhaled sharply, slowly exhaling. “You’re welcome to take an open seat. There’s three.”

“Sooo...” Veronica held out the last letter for a beat or two longer than necessary. “Just another day in paradise?” It had been a saying the blonde remembered hearing her father say, though oddly enough, it was probably the only thing she would openly admit to taking away from him. At the offer to take an open seat, Ronnie shrugged and made her way over, dropping down into the vacant seat across from him. “Kind of interesting to see you reading a newspaper,” the blonde commented. “Like an actual newspaper and not just an article off an iPad or something. I thought the only people who still did that were eighty-year-old men and people who worked in office buildings.”

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nate quinn.

Nate provided a glare. “Well, you just did, babe. Does your boyfriend also lay there like a dead fish? Is that why you think you’re awesome?”

“Because that’s the way to get me to talk about something I don’t want to talk about,” Veronica’s gaze hardened slightly. “Insulting me.”

[thewinterbuckys-blog]

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meredith hayes.

“Coming after you? No, no, they’d applaud you. Now I kind of want you to do it. Come on, we gotta do it for the ‘gram.” A string of laughter then fell from Meredith’s lips. She was clearly just playing with Vero, though to some extent she thought their fight was justifiable. Maybe not to that degree, but she understood. “Well, see that’s annoying. Some people don’t know when to stop. I sorta get the opinion battle, but only if they’re able to keep it verbal and know when to cool it. You gotta tell me what happened next though. They eventually agree to disagree or they over at the station now still yellin’?”

“I am not hitting you in the face ‘for the ‘gram’, you fucking fruit loop,” Veronica replied with a laugh, though genuinely amused by Meredith. “Basically it was twenty minutes of both of them trying to blame the other for starting it, so we had to take them both down to the station where they proceeded to argue for another fifteen minutes until finally our sergeant came out and basically told them both to shut the fuck up and they did.” The moment played so clearly in Veronica’s head, she couldn’t help but laugh about it all over again. “I swear to God, you should have seen the looks on their faces. It was like pure fear.”

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rhys ainsworth.

“Hey, don’t let her lie to you,” the words slipped from his tongue as he approached the blonde and the individual that didn’t at all ring a bell in his memory. But did the sight of the unknown person keep him from approaching with all intention of antagonizing Veronica? Absolutely not. “She was definitely the one that started the fight. It really was about superheroes, but this idiot truly believes that Batman would ever stand a chance against Iron Man. Can you believe her?” He questioned with a laugh, mostly dramatic and aimed directly at Veronica as his gaze finally shifted to her.

Veronica opened her mouth to speak once more, but heard the sound of another person’s voice come out instead. Rhys. Rolling her eyes, the blonde offered a muffled apology to the random patron that had gotten stuck listening to her rants before turning to look over at her fellow co-worker, annoyed glare meeting his gaze. “Haven’t I told you time and time again that unless we’re at work I don’t want you to speak to me?” Veronica sighed loudly, though her comments were meant mainly in jest. “And not that it really matters, but if I was going to put my money down on any superheroes it wouldn’t be Iron Man or Batman.”

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cooper ward.

“That opinion is fair and warranted but…can you show me all the body cam footage after?” he asked eagerly. There was nothing better than imagining Ronnie fighting two older men arguing about fictional characters. “Better yet, let me stake out the theater with you and I’ll film it from my phone. I have a mini tripod!” He laughed at her facial expression and was beyond sure that he wasn’t helping her situation at all.  “Maybe I’ll get you theater popcorn for your troubles?”

“Yeah, definitely!” Veronica expressed, though it was obvious by her tone that her excitement was mainly rooted in sarcasm. “How about we just say fuck it and I’ll give you a badge and a gun, too? Start calling you Detective Ward and when people catch on and start asking questions, we just run.” The blonde rolled her eyes, crossing her arms comfortably across her chest as she looked up at Cooper. “I don’t even like popcorn. It gets stuck in your teeth and doesn’t even taste good unless you put heaps of butter on it.”

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salem coldwater.

Salem shrugged her shoulders and winked playfully at Veronica. “I don’t know babe, I swear, one of these days you’re going to change your mind and realize you were playing for the wrong team all along. And when you do, then I’ll be there.” The detective couldn’t help but chuckle - this was their banter, hers and Veronica, and it didn’t take anyone but a little bit of time to realize that they were completely joking with one another. Salem counted Veronica as a partner, and a friend but she would never go any closer than that with her. “Thanks. How about instead of talking about anything we just have a few drinks?” Salem asked tilting her head to the side to Veronica, stating that it was okay that the blonde stay for awhile. Though at this point, she was fairly certain that Veronica wouldn’t take no for an answer. “What shit…?” Salem asked raising her eyebrows curiously and then furrowed them, raising her hands up in the air in defeat. “Right, right… we’re not discussing things. My bad. Anyway, how about we have a few shots huh? Just like the old days - you can show me if you can still take the heat.”

Dramatically, Veronica draped her arm over her forehead, turning her face away from Salem. “Don’t wait for me,” the blonde pleaded, “I’m not worth it.” Almost as quickly as she had began, Veronica dropped her arm and looked back over at Salem with a cheeky grin on her face. “Someone hearing this conversation out of context absolutely thinks that we’re completely fucking psychotic.” The job that Veronica and Salem did every day wasn’t easy, which made it even more important to find people who could understand. Veronica had never been an easy person to get along with, something she would happily admit if anyone asked, but Salem’s sense of humor had always resonated with her. “You never have to ask me twice for drinks,” Veronica lifted a hand to catch the bartender’s attention. “Are you going to make me drink you under this bar top?” If there was one thing the blonde knew she could do, it was drink. Perhaps it wasn’t the most impressive talent, but a useful one. “What are we drinking? Whiskey? Tequila? Or should we get really crazy and do both?”

[dinah-lance]

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katrina unger.

“God,” Kat pretended to gripe. “I hate men. They’ve no respect for the sanctity of female friendships.” The brunette took a sip from her drink, “I’m shocked that he didn’t want to get involved.” Her hand twisted, “Sagittarius and all.” She wrinkled her nose, “I forgot about that. Why are grown men obsessed with comics again? It’s hard enough to pretend to be interesting on first dates, even worse when the topics are boring as fuck.”

Veronica playfully rolled her eyes, leaning her elbow on the table and resting her chin on her closed fist. “He probably did want to get involved, but then I would have gotten annoyed and trust me, me annoyed is much more terrifying.” While Veronica may have been five foot two, she made up for it with six foot three attitude. “Honestly, your guess is as good as mine. Then again, I suppose the same thing can be said for women who are obsessed with some annoying thing that men don’t understand.”

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aliza abendroth.

“Quite honestly, I’m a fan of the whole Avenger lineup, minus Tony Stark. He’s such an ass.” The superhero reminded her wildly of her father; a man with a big bank account and even bigger ego. “True, but one must not forget that Batman nearly took down Superman. Which is an another story entirely. I’d feel comfortable pinning any female superhero against either of them.” Not that she cared that much.

“See, I’ve always loved Robert Downey Jr., so that’s probably why I can’t find it in my heart to dislike Tony Stark,” Veronica commented with a shrug of her shoulder. Frankly, the blonde found the character’s dry sense of humor almost identical to hers. “Can I just say that I find it very hard to believe that a dude whose only super power is that he has a lot of money could beat a literal alien from another planet? Like, if any of this was based in fact, Superman could have easily handled Batman fifty times over and then some.” God, now she was starting to sound like the idiots she’d just been complaining about minutes before. “Not that it matters because it doesn’t.”

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jason king.

Jason let out a heavy sigh at the sight of the pizza boxes tumbling to the ground. He closed the space between them and quickly assisted in picking up the boxes. Jason turned back to his sister-in-law and his son. “We need to work on slowing down.” He added before nodding towards the table. “Let’s sit. I’ve missed you. Tell me what’s been going on with your life?”

Veronica couldn’t help but smile at Thad’s grin as she tried to ignore the gentle pang in her chest seeing how similar it looked to Vada’s. “Come on, crazy,” Ronnie slid in next to Thad, watching out of the corner of her eye as he busied himself with a coloring page the restaurant provided. “I’ve just been working a lot,” the blonde admitted, her attention now back on her brother-in-law. “I have a case in Seattle that’s been sucking up most of my time, but the investigation is almost over, so hopefully that means my time will free up a bit. How about you?”

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landon volta.

Alright, he was expecting that. Honestly, he was expecting all of it but that didn’t mean that deep down it didn’t hit a nerve. Even when you knew you were the one in the wrong, it didn’t mean seeing the outcome or the reactions from those actions didn’t go un-bothered. You’d think with how much Landon already beat himself up on the daily no one else’s words or reactions would do anything but bounce back off him but that’s not exactly how things worked no matter how hard people wanted to believe it for their own sanity. Landon clearly being one of those people. “Right, thanks for that.” He said, straightening his back a little in his seat. Trying to shake the discomfort he felt due to this whole interaction and to think he was the one that brought it on. He was quickly regretting that. “Guess she dodged a bullet and I guess you can look at the bright side now, you don’t have to deal with me as much anymore despite how thrilling it probably was to see me, you can take a breath of fresh air.” Landon wasn’t really the type to bite his tongue, he’d usually say whatever fucked up shit was on his mind but for once he chose not to say what was on his mind. Maybe if he was a little more drunk and a little more willing to fight a battle he was going to lose anyways, then sure, he might’ve gotten pissed off but there was no use in it. “Nah, never really been a people person anyways. — Would you look at that, we have something in common.”

Anyone that knew the blonde well knew that she had a tendency to be harsh. It was a trait she had unfortunately picked up from her father, a person she absolutely loathed being compared to under any circumstances. Maybe Landon didn’t deserve all of the comments that Veronica had thrown at him. After all, it wasn’t as if Jamie wasn’t capable of defending herself should she need to. “Jesus Christ, do you want me to play you the saddest song on the World’s Tiniest Violin?” the blonde spat back, rolling her eyes once again. Alright, perhaps her digs were getting to be a bit much. The two didn’t have to get along or even like each other, but the last thing Veronica wanted or needed in that moment was to get into an argument in the middle of the bar. Downing the remainder of her drink, the blonde ordered up another cocktail, silently deciding if this would be her last or if she wanted to stay. Given present company, closing her tab seemed like the more ideal option. Landon’s comment earned another eye roll from the blonde, despite the fact that his observation wasn’t exactly wrong. If she could avoid people, she did. “You confuse me for not being a people person with not being a Landon Volta person,” she quipped back, the aggression in her voice less so than before. “So what? You been sitting here all day waiting for someone you could annoy to walk in the door and I just happened to be the lucky winner?”

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nathan garrett.

“That’s a good point, actually,” Nathan added with a grin, biting his lip as his eyes cast to the ground for a moment. When she spoke again, he lifted his head and looked back at her, taking another drag himself before chuckling and shaking his head. “Nah, that’s not it. It’s not like it’s a top secret kinda deal or something like that. I’m just trying to handle my own bullshit. I think we all have our stuff going on,” he explained, a half-smile resting on his lips. She did have a point after all. Sometimes talking about it almost felt therapeutic but Nathan had never learned how to deal with his demons openly so they remained within him and locked away in his mind. “Isn’t it? As if life wasn’t hard enough,” he said, huffing out an equally as humorless laugh. “Actually, I’m sorry to hear that because I don’t wish that upon anybody. I had a lot of people tell me that it’s gonna get easier over time and that once you start living your own life and all that, it won’t seem so bad anymore but I don’t think it ever stops. I get reminded of it all the fucking time and especially around the holidays. It really just fucking sucks,” he mumbled with a shake of his head and he brought his cigarette up to his lips for a long drag as he stared into the dimly lit street in front of him. His eyes found Veronica’s again and his brows immediately furrowed when she told him about her own issues. “Oh shit…,” he mumbled under his breath and his features softened in empathy. “That fucking sucks. I’m so sorry,” Nathan told her, his tone sincere and soft before he fell silent for a moment. He hadn’t expected her to unpack this so casually but the way she’d done it had almost made it seem insignificant, as if it wasn’t a big deal but Nathan was sure that it was anything but. “I honestly don’t think I can. I’d say you deserve that crown,” he said, giving a little bow. “You’re the rightful queen of fucked up family bullshit. I mean – fuck…,” he trailed off, shaking his head. “I won’t even attempt to try and top that but then again, I haven’t really talked to my family since I was around seventeen or eighteen…most of my bullshit has been a while back so childhood trauma is all I got to offer in return,” Nathan joked, looking down again with a huff. “My dad kicked me out but it’s not like my mom wanted me around either so…it’s been just me for the past sixteen years.” He flicked the ash off his cigarette and shook his head, his eyes narrowed. “But hey, I should be celebrating, right? Because for the first time in years I got a text and a call from my mother and it’s not even a holiday or my birthday. Imagine that,” he spat, his tone growing bitter now.

Perhaps the blonde’s outlook on her relationship with her parents wasn’t the healthiest, but it was the best way  she knew how to deal. It had taken years to come terms with the fact that her father and mother were the people that they were and that they were always going to be those people, no matter what Veronica said or did. It did hurt, it would always hurt, and sometimes when Ronnie was alone with her own thoughts for too long, the blonde allowed herself to feel that hurt. But then Veronica would pack all of those emotions back up into a box and stuff them away in the back of her mind. “Really nothing for you be sorry about,” Veronica commented with a wry chuckle, though she did manage to crack a tiny smile. “It doesn’t suck as bad when you just choose not to deal with it.” The only decent thing her father had ever done for Veronica, indirectly, anyway, which oddly enough had also been the result of a betrayal against her mother, had been giving her a younger sister. While her and Taylor hadn’t gotten off to the greatest start, or really any start at all, the blonde was happy with the relationship they had built. When Nathan began his miniature rant about his won parental lineage, the blonde remained silent, listening to the other. Off that bat, Veronica couldn’t help but feel badly. Sure, her parents were shit. But what they lacked in emotional support, they made up for in financial support. Even if Veronica hated her parents, and she did, she wouldn’t deny that their money had served her well over the years. “Your parents sound like assholes,” Veronica commented honestly, unsure how the observation would settle, but it wasn’t in the blonde’s nature to hold back. “My parents are shit, but they never kicked me out.” God no, never. Kicking out a child? How would that look to the community? “I don’t really know your whole situation, but if they only bother to contact you on holidays and your birthday, seems like your better off without them.”

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( text ) : why can’t burritos get me drunk?

[ SMS: veronica 🡒 nate g ]: have you tried chasing them with tequila?[ SMS: veronica 🡒 nate g ]: thoughif you could figure out a way to do that for real, i’d literally give you my entire savings account[ SMS: veronica 🡒 nate g ]: and eat nothing but burritos for the rest of my life