Dite's Decadent Delights | Wednesday

[begmetwice]

Irene was doing a sight better than she had at the weekend -- between concentrating on other visitors (the lovely Layla, the depressingly-fatalistic Quentin) and a complication of feelings that had sprung up unbidden, it was easy enough to turn her thoughts away from the life she'd lost, and the lack of anyone who'd come to see her.

And really, the more she dwelled on it, the more she realized how much the sting was fading. How strange it would have been to see him. Maybe she'd work up to being able to visit alternate versions of her home city, at some point. She'd always resisted out of a sort of blinding self-protection; now, though, the idea didn't threaten to undo her.

But that being said, she wasn't looking into visits to London today. No, no, today something much closer to home had caught her eye, and -- hmm. There was that wedding coming up, so that would need to be taken into account (Irene would never miss a wedding, regardless of how well or how little she knew the bride and groom), but perhaps after, she could arrange a little outing.

Something to consider.

[open!]

Comments

[okteiviakom]

It was always a whim when Octavia decided to make her way into this store, and today was no different.

(It was probably never entirely just a whim. But was that really either here or there?)

"Hey," she said, verbose as ever.

[begmetwice]

"Hello, Octavia," Irene replied, glancing up from her phone with a warm smile. "How are you this fine autumn day?"

[okteiviakom]

"Fine," Octavia replied, with all the small talk skill of someone who had grown up without... well, small talk. "You?"

Bless her for trying.

[begmetwice]

Look at her try!

"Debating the merits of dressing up in potentially-silly clothes for fun." And because she suspected someone else might enjoy herself, and Irene was an increasingly, unwillingly soft touch these days. She made a little face, but added, "Good enough otherwise, though. Anything bring you in in particular, dear?"

It was so okay if nothing had, incidentally. Octavia's company was nice on its own.

[okteiviakom]

"Just seeing what's new," Octavia rasped, and sure, maybe that was what it was. But her head tilted, just barely, a fraction. "Potentially-silly like how?"

[begmetwice]

Irene turned her phone around to share the page she was looking at, featuring a group photo of many, many people in costumes of varying period accuracy. "Thinking about going to the renaissance faire next month. It's the done thing to wear some sort of...medieval-ish costume, in the spirit of the thing."

Or you could also not, but Irene liked blending into crowds too much for that.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia leaned in a little for a look at the picture.

Then she shrugged, lopsidedly. "I thought it would be sillier than that."

[begmetwice]

"This," Irene commented, giving the phone a little shake for emphasis, "is about as silly as I get, honestly. But that's reassuring."

Irene, while not insecure, per se, did worry about how she looked an awful lot.

[okteiviakom]

There was a photograph hanging on the wall of the diner, in public, in which Octavia was wearing butterfly pajamas and Duke had on a shark onesie, so clearly Octavia did not share these worries.

(Her time as a queen did not count for this.)

"You'll be fine," she said. "It's just dresses."

[begmetwice]

"Mmm. Perhaps." But it was also the delicate balancing act of getting it right without having to ask anyone, and Irene would continue to worry a bit nonetheless. "Or not dresses. I could track down some sort of darling leather ensemble, go as a lady archer or the like."

But she probably wouldn't.

[okteiviakom]

Predictably, Octavia perked up a little at that, subtle though it was.

"Well, that would be more practical than a dress."

It was no secret she was into both leather and things being practical.