Strokes of Genius, Thursday (Oct. 1)

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

Still pensive after Ethics (not to mention everything else over the last week), Katchoo made her way into town and to the art store, trailed by a subdued yet very solicitous Clocky.

"Quit hovering already, geez," she told it, and immediately wished she hadn't; it would be just her luck if she complained about something like that, and Clocky spontaneously sprouted wings. Katchoo, quieter than usual, just sighed at it and picked up a package of clay. If she had to spend all day getting this lump smashed into the right shape. she'd do it, dammit.

[OOC: No OCD, not much in the way of creativity, not-great odds of SP.]

Comments

[bitchprince]

"Katina."

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

She supposed she was lucky he'd waited until today.

"Arthur," Katchoo answered, looking up from the counter slowly. "Here to bitch me out, I'm guessing."

[bitchprince]

"You've already been adequately disciplined for your actual crimes," he said, his eyes flicking to the former home of a bullet wound, his voice full of the kind of distant restraint his position at home tended to inspire in him.

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"And the not so actual ones?" she asked, voice level as she set the clay aside. Guilt? In Katchoo? More likely than you might think. Seeing Francine and Merlin like that left a mental image that would stick with her for a while.

[bitchprince]

"Are none of my concern," he said, evenly, "Unless they choose to spring up on us again without warning."

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"Darcy --" Katchoo was a hundred and ten percent confident that whatever charges they tried to slap on her weren't going to stick. Her lawyers were too damn good. "She thinks Samantha really took the money. She won't be after me for that again."

She picked a small chunk of clay off and rolled it into a ball between her fingers. "I'm sorry I got you all caught up in that."

[OOC: OMG, so sorry -- playing catchup after two days out sick.]

[bitchprince]

"Don't be." 'Even' wasn't just a name for his intonation anymore; the look she was getting was roughly of the same calibre. "Be sorry that you kept us all in the dark. Did you really expect that none of this was going to catch up with you?"

So maybe a bit of bitching.

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

Bitching she wasn't going to begrudge him one bit, mild glowering look notwithstanding.

"I've been expecting it to catch up with me since the day I walked away," Katchoo said in a tone surprisingly as close to even as his. "I never expected it to follow me here." She'd come to think of Fandom as someplace detached from the rest of reality, although that theory was going to have to undergo some heavy revision starting, oh, a week ago.

[bitchprince]

"You were wrong," Arthur said, and not just because it was the obvious, but-- well, it was an obvious rock of obvious he wanted to drop in Katchoo's pool of occasionally failing to notice the obvious. "However," he continued, "You went back for them. That was... very brave."

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

It made very nice concentric ripples of obvious, after the initial spectacular splash.

"Whaddya take me for? I'm not stupid." Aside from aforementioned pool of fail. Shh. "Okay. Fine. I was wrong. That much is painfully obvious now, but you think I'd ever leave those two with someone like Darcy if there was anything I could do about it?"

[bitchprince]

Arthur's even look was horribly interrupted - much as if someone had flung a rock at it, in fact - by the massive exasperated eyeroll she got. "Katina," he said, "Shut up and take the compliment." He didn't give them out often. "As the rest of this tale is a rat's nest of utter stupidity."

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

Katchoo didn't get caught that flat-footed that often, but right now there was staring. Oh, was there staring, and gaping.

"Well, fine then," she replied, because she could take the compliment graciously, or not, and as one might guess she chose . . . what for most other people wouldn't be gracious. "On one condition."

[bitchprince]

"I'm fairly sure there are no conditions in compliments," he sighed - not for the receiver, anyway, as Arthur's compliments always held the condition of must contain at least one backhanded comment - "But let's hear it, then."

[famous-gut.livejournal.com]

"Choovanski."

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, this was going to be a fun day.

Katchoo gave him a brief -- albeit respectful -- nod. "Agent Gibbs."

[famous-gut.livejournal.com]

"Got a present for you," he said a putting a file folder on the counter. "Thought you might want to keep a hold of this."

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

It was not a thin folder, and Katchoo immediately put a hand over it.

"How did you -- ?"

[famous-gut.livejournal.com]

"Let's just say someone owed me a favor or two," Gibbs said with a small smirk.

Or... well maybe Gibbs blackmailed the guy. Maybe.

"Though you should probably know that someone was able to get a hold of some of the pictures in that file."

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

Katchoo, her hand carefully positioned over the FBI logo, started to slide the folder toward herself, but paled slightly. "You saw them, didn't you?"

[famous-gut.livejournal.com]

Gibbs nodded. "So did a lot of people, unfortunately," he said calmly. "One of the agents sent out an e-mail with the photos to various people in law enforcement. Managed to track down the guy who did that."

He gave her a grim look of satisfaction.

"Let's just say he learned his lesson. And as a result you have your file."

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

It wasn't that Katchoo had ever had a particularly cordial relationship with law enforcement -- it sort of ran in the family, so this was beyond surreal.

"Thanks," she said slowly. "Holy frikkin' -- Jesus. Thanks."

[famous-gut.livejournal.com]

"Don't thank me just yet," Gibbs said pulling out a notebook to read his notes. "Thought you might want to know what happened after you left. Both Darcy and 'Bambi' were arrested. Which I could say both of them will stay in Jail. Bambi is going down for killing Digman. As for Darcy... well there's not enough evidence to make a charge stick."

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

Katchoo huffed something vaguely like a laugh. "Wish I could say I was surprised, but Darcy's team of lawyers is way too good. No need to ask about Samantha, is there?"

[famous-gut.livejournal.com]

"Not unless you want an autopsy report," Gibbs replied evenly. "Though I can guarantee you she's not going to be getting up and walking away from that. Not unless your friend can pull off what he did with you."

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

Katchoo added 'thank the hell out of Merlin' to her list of things to do today . . . or bumped it up the list, rather. "Little late for that now." She wasn't particularly surprised Darcy would throw Bambi to the wolves -- figuratively -- like that.

She looked down at the folder again. "You had it pulled? I'm clear?"