November 20, 2017

At the end of any other long, hard day, Kara would have done one of a number of things: fly around the city to blow off some steam, find some baddies who needed to be put their place, read a book, veg out with Netflix and takeout. None of those things really seemed to be an option right now. She breezed past the doorman of Nora's building with nothing more than a nod of acknowledgment thanks to a phone call that Iris had made earlier in the day while posing as Sam. She was only one elevator ride and a hallway away from finally being home.

She dug her keys out from his coat pockets as she approached her apartment door. This was one of the few times that she was completely unaware of what she would find on the other side. Usually, she could hear an excited dog or two approaching the front door, or Iris in the middle of a phone conversation, or Iris making some noise in the kitchen as she tried out a new recipe and cooked up a storm. Tonight, there was none of that. Just silence. It was nice, in a way, to not have to worry about hearing every little thing within her usual Kryptonian earshot. She even felt like she could actually hear herself think for a change. And that whole pesky sensory overload thing wasn't a thing that she had to worry about, not with this body.

Kara turned the key in the lock and stepped inside. Whatever Iris had been cooking up smelled incredible and she was looking forward to finding out what it was. She hung the men's coat up by the door and set her belongings down. As expected, Pork Chop the giant pup bounded towards her, ready to give her an enthusiastic greeting as he seemed especially prone to doing these days. She crouched down to scratch his head and cooed as she spoke to him in a voice much, much deeper than what she was used to, making the baby talk all the more absurd. She heard a loud gasp from somewhere in the vicinity of the kitchen and looked up to find a very startled Iris trying to catch her breath as she spoke. "Why am I not used to this by now?"

"Because you didn't sign up to live with a dude who pees standing up?" Kara answered. She felt awful about this whole mess even if it wasn't one that was anyone's fault, but she was damned if she wasn't going to do her best to get through this and see it through to the other side, whenever and wherever that was. So far she had gone to Nasim's classes for him, and though most of the material was foreign to her and may as well have been alphabet soup, she did her best to take meticulous notes when she could. That part had been easy enough. His job, on the other hand, was something else altogether, and she vowed to never complain of boredom or be grossed out again whenever she observed Nora do her job as a surgeon. Kara would rather see the goriest of surgeries and the gnarliest of accidents than deal with people all day.

She groaned as she stood up, still not used to the new aches and pains that came with this body. And how could she be when it had barely been forty-eight hours? She hoped that she wasn't stuck like this for much longer, that she continued to not have the time to get accustomed to life like this. Because, of course, life wasn't weird enough on its own already and then this had to happen. Wanting to give Iris some space to process whatever feelings she was having at the moment, Kara disappeared into her bedroom and shut the door behind her so that she could have a few moments to herself, too. As she walked towards the dresser, she caught sight of herself in the full-length mirror nearby and scrunched up her face. Where she had grown used to seeing a small blonde with dainty features who practically lived in dresses out of convenience stood a much taller man in business casual. His eyes were a much more striking shade of green than her own and she felt herself stretch and give all of her limbs a shake as if to actually rid herself of the memory because this was just so weird.

What could she do to clear her head? She caught a glimpse of the ring on her finger as it started to glow and frowned. Could she? Did she really want to tempt Fate, or the gods that may be, or whatever? Kara had once been the owner of a ring similar to this one, but the powers that it granted her and the power that it had held over her had been something else altogether and she wasn't planning on walking down that winding, acid-lined path again. She was hesitant to use it unless she absolutely had to, so maybe a calming night flight among the stars wasn't in the cards for now. Finding fewer and fewer options, she stripped off her clothes and tossed them into a nearby laundry basket. A cozy, oversized bath sheet hung off her bedroom door and she wrapped it around her torso solely out of habit, tucking the loose end into the top of the wrap. Maybe a long, hot shower was in order.

She stood under the running water for far longer than she realized and reached for the bottle of pink peony almond creme fluffernutter cocoa butter champagne essence shower gel (dermatologist tested, soap free, paraben free, sulfate free, cruelty free, non-comedogenic, and vegan, thank you very much). Instead, she found a bottle of Suave in its place and she scrunched up her nose again as she applied the soap. She made a mental note to stop at the store tomorrow to find a more suitable replacement. At least she was doing him a kindness in that way, right?