Dite's Decadent Delights | Wednesday

[begmetwice]

Irene was still slightly pink, slightly freckly, but she was glad to be back home. (The fact that she actually thought of Fandom as home, rather than a city she could never actually revisit, was something she'd noticed and immediately told herself wasn't important.)

Given that Clementine had spent nearly two weeks being boarded on a doggie vacation, Irene had her down in the shop with her today -- which meant Irene was being quietly, slowly trailed around the shop on stubby little bulldog legs all day.

"None of that," she chided occasionally, when the allure of silicone-based chewables became too strong, but to her credit, Clementine had learned some restraint.

[open!]

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[pocketpretzels]

At some point in the afternoon, lo, there was a Watts, carrying with him a rectangular parcel wrapped in tissue paper.

“Good afternoon, Miss Adler,” he greeted, once his hat had been deposited somehere appropriately inappropriate.

[begmetwice]

"Detective," Irene greeted him with a bright smile, though it was a little tempered by an immediate snap of her fingers and a whistle at Clementine, who had been on her way over to sniff eagerly at the new person, and stopped in her wrinkled little tracks to take an obedient seat at the snap. "Mind your manners, Clemmie. How was Miami, Detective?"

[pocketpretzels]

“Miami was wonderful,” Watts reported. “Consistently warm and sunny.” Maryland’s winter may not have been especially winter-y this year, but there had still been no shortage of dark and dewey days, of which Miami had been meant to act as an escape.

Toronto, on the other hand…

[begmetwice]

"And Toronto?" Irene prompted, since that seemed fairly leading, and she'd already noticed he was favoring his left arm a bit.

Far be it for her to assume someone got injured on a trip home, but that did seem to be a bit of a pattern around these parts.

[pocketpretzels]

“Ended up being something of a busman’s holiday, with a murder investigation,” he grimaced.

[begmetwice]

"That sounds both fascinating and a markedly less-fun outing than I expect you were anticipating," Irene noted with a slight frown.

Someone here still loved detective stories, even if she would have appreciated a lack of people she knew in real life being injured.

[pocketpretzels]

“Mmm,” Watts hummed. “I do find satisfaction in my work, typically, but it was not quite what I had in mind for a holiday. It turned out to be part of a conspiracy to target a colleague,” he added, since Irene’s interest was clear.

Yes, he wasn’t even the target and yet he was the one who’d been shot.

[begmetwice]

"Then it sounds like it might be quite fortunate that you happened to be visiting," Irene observed, resting an elbow in the palm of one hand, before nodding to his arm. "Unfortunate in some ways, however."

She was betting gunshot, personally. Likely about a week out from the actual injury.

[pocketpretzels]

“Ah,” Watts nodded, not terribly surprised she’d picked up on that. “Yes. We- that is, Marc and I managed to track our suspect down, but he managed to get a lucky shot off before he could be subdued.”

[begmetwice]

It honestly surprised Irene, just a tad, that Marc was Marc and not Mr. Spector. (Though she supposed they probably shared more of an intimacy than most friends.)

"How's your mobility?" she asked, tilting her head in concern. "Obviously it wasn't that lucky for your suspect."

Considering he probably wasn't aiming for the arm.

[pocketpretzels]

Well, Marc had been Mr. Spector for the longest time, the use of his given name was a relatively recent development.

“The bullet hit muscle,” Watts said. “So while it is still quite sore and stiff, there should be very little in regards to lingering damage.” Which he would know, having shot himself in nearly the same spot just four years prior.

“Lucky for me that there was a door separating us when he made the shot.”

Did the rattle of a doorknob still send a spike of adrenaline though his system, more than a week later? Perhaps.

[begmetwice]

In Irene's experience, that would likely last for some time.

"You've had a modern doctor look it over?" Irene asked, thinking that this would be a wonderful opportunity for dear Dr. Will to have something to actually do!

[pocketpretzels]

Unfortunate that it was so mundane a trigger, and thus hard to avoid.

“I have,” Watts said in a very handwavey fashion. “He seemed satisfied with the manner in which the wound was initially tended to, and I’ve been given a prescription to manage the pain.”

[begmetwice]

"Got you on the good stuff, then?" Irene asked with a knowing little smile. "You let me know if it's not enough."

Don't ask where Irene got these sorts of things. She just had them.

"And I assume you apprehended the villain, in the end?"

[pocketpretzels]

She got an appreciative nod for the offer, unlikely as he was to take her up on it. "Both the murderer and the man who hired him," Watts confirmed. "Though I was not involved in the apprehension of the latter."

[begmetwice]

"But you were involved in the apprehension of the former?" Irene checked, curious.

Clementine, for her part, decided she had been a Good Dog for long enough, and tentatively started back over to visit Watts for pets and sniffs. (Irene allowed it this time.)

[pocketpretzels]

After making sure the parcel he'd brought was secure on the counter (and thus out of curious puppy reach), Watts knelt down to offer those pets.

"That was Steven's doing, really," Watts said proudly. "I was busy trying not to bleed all over the hallway. But I was at least present."

[begmetwice]

Irene, naturally, was very curious about the parcel, but she was also polite enough to assume that it might be a present for someone not her, and wouldn't it be awkward if she asked?

"Oh, is Steven the hero of the day?" Irene asked, widening her eyes in delight as Clementine delighted in pets (and wheezed in delight, because she was a bulldog.) "Would have figured all of that was much more Marc's purview."

[pocketpretzels]

Ah, but Steven had been incredibly displeased by Watts getting shot, for some reason.

“I think he actually managed to impress Marc in that respect,” Watts said, although admittedly his recollection was a bit on the hazy side.

[begmetwice]

"He has also impressed yours truly," Irene told him honestly, making a note to get Steven's version of this story at some point. "I take it he's all right?"

She was vaguely aware there were superpowers and gods in play here, of course, but being the power-envious sort herself, Irene never really knew how that sort of thing worked.

[pocketpretzels]

“He emerged unscathed,” Watts confirmed, because all right encompassed a lot, particularly if one took current emotional states into account.

[begmetwice]

And Irene, who recognized a rephrasing sidestep when she saw one, filed that away.

"I'm sure seeing you injured was distressing," she offered, willing her thoughts away from how scared she'd felt for Amaya during that kraken drill last summer, because that was different. (Mostly because Watts had actually been shot and the drill had been a drill, but also because obviously that was a different sort of distress, anyway!)

[pocketpretzels]

“He was not best pleased,” Watts confirmed.

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

Jon, for his part, was a little tan, so he had the advantage there. And though he was starting to look a bit tired, the holiday had actually been relaxing, so there was that.

He came in and waved. "Hello. Hello, Clementine," he added, tentatively offering the dog his fingers.

[begmetwice]

Clementine, fairly overjoyed at seeing a friend she knew, was totally going to lick those fingers, Jon. Enjoy doggie kisses.

"Jon, darling, long time no see," Irene teased. "Settling back in all right?"

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

Jon grimaced at the dog drool, but petted her nonetheless. She was a good dog, as dogs went; she couldn't really help the slobber.

"I am, yes. I'm currently being shunned by Issa, but I expect she'll forgive me once I've done enough penance. I hope you're settling in as well," he answered, smiling. "It was a...a nice holiday."

[begmetwice]

"Wasn't it, though?" Irene replied happily. "Week before was quite fun too -- hopefully at least amusing for you, anyway -- but it's actually sort of nice to be back to...normalish?"

As normal as things ever were around here.

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

"Honestly, that week just makes me feel glad not to be affected," Jon said. "But yes, it's nice to be back. I should thank you again for your help, at the spa."