fandomtownies | The Magpie Emporium, Thursday (3/2)

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The Magpie Emporium, Thursday (3/2)

Steph had maybe overcompensated for the other week's slacking off on the job; orders were done, inventory was updated, and all her other store tasks were so up to date she was practically literally ahead of herself.

Which meant that she had fair chunks of downtime today, and a good portion of those were devoted to spinning one or another of the dice from a cool new luxury set they'd gotten in this week between her fingers, just to see how the colors shifted in the light.

Was it giving her an idea for a game? Maybe.

[OOC: Open! Usual work SP applies.]

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Oh look, sometime early in the afternoon there was a Watts, tote bag slung over one shoulder and mochas in hand, coming in to the shop.

“Afternoon, Steph,” he greeted.

Steph stopped spinning the d4 between her thumb and forefinger and set it back carefully in its slot in the foam lined dice box.

"Llewellyn," she replied with a quick smile. "How's it going?"

“Well enough,” Watts said. Okay, sure, there was the whole being shot thing but other than favoring his left arm still there wasn’t much evidence of that.

“I found something while in Toronto that made me think of you,” he said, handing over one of the beverages.

Steph did not approve of her friends getting shot, thank you very much!

"Yeah?" she asked, taking the drink from him with a grateful look. Mmmm, chocolatey caffeine. "Like... your Toronto or the modern version?"

Wait, Fandom.

"One of the modern versions?"

"My Toronto," he said, with a noticeable grimace at the 'my'. Because it really wasn't home anymore.

"Oof," Steph said, wincing sympathetically. "Bad trip?"

Well.

"You could say that," Watts said with a nod. "We ended up spending the first half of the trip tracking down and apprehending a sniper."

"That sounds suspiciously like work," Steph said, faint concern beginning to creep across her face. "And not the easy kind. Did... everything go okay?"

“It was exactly like work,” Watts confirmed. “And- well. As I said, he was apprehended in the end. But not before he was able to get off a lucky shot.” Another grimace.

"Can't just get a nice chill vacation in wi--" Steph said before the implications of 'lucky shot' and that wince landed.

She set her coffee down quickly before she dropped it, and when she looked at him this time she was a little bit paler and a lot more unhappy looking.

"Oh, fuck me. You? He got you?"

“Mm,” Watts hummed in assent. “In the arm.” Noting the change in her expression, he hastened to add: “I will not deny that it was painful, but as these things go it was not an especially serious wound,” even if Steven would likely argue that nearly any wound Watts sustained was a serious one.

Steph had already brought her hand up to pinch at the bridge of her nose, but her shoulders did relax visibly -- barely -- at the reassurance that it hadn't been serious.

"Thank fuck, but I would love it if this would stop happening to my friends," she muttered. Though hey, at least he hadn't had to fall into an abandoned mine shaft and make his own way out afterward, so that was an improvement over what had happened with Alex. Well. That and the lack of multi-layered personal betrayal on the shooter's part.

"Shit. I am really glad you're all right," she said sincerely. "And no offense to your time, but I'm glad it wasn't serious enough for major medical attention, you know?"

“Our city coroner saw to removing the bullet,” Watts confirmed. “And Steven took care of the rest.” Handy, that first aid class!

"The coroner?" Steph repeated, blinking a little. Okay, a lot. Forgive her, Watts, she wasn't familiar with how cool your city coroners were. "Then again, I guess they're used to extracting bullets anyway."

"We had a criminal in our custody," Watts explained. "Stopping at the hospital would have been a waste of valuable time, whereas the morgue is attached to my Station House."

Former Station House, really, but of everything in Toronto this was the one thing he actually was all right with holding on to.

Well, that was understandable, all things considered -- Steph would think so, anyway, if she knew any of the people there.

"That makes sense," she conceded, nodding. "Did... the rest of the trip go okay after that, at least?"

"Not, not as such," Watts admitted. "I- ended up accusing my Inspector of a crime he didn't commit, and he- well. He threatened to expose- what I am. If I made that accusation public."

And that wasn't even everything, Steph! There was still the unexpected side trip to New York!

The look on Steph's face now? Pretty damn identical to the one she'd sported the day Watts had stumbled in here all bloodied and beaten up.

"I'm sorry, he did fucking what now?"

See, this was what happened when you planned all of your trips out so thoroughly. Eventually, something had to come and balance that out.

"He's since apologised," Watts assured her. "It was a threat- made in the heat of the moment."

But apology or not, the damage was done, because here Watts was, once again too nervous to do things like sit too closely to Steven.

(Okay, the backsliding wasn't exclusively Brackenreid's doing, but the fear that threat had elicited was certainly a part of it.)

"Still not fucking cool," Steph muttered. The threat, the damage whose existence she could guess at, or the circumstances that gave the threat its potency? Yes, yes, and yes.

"That is... genuinely awful, and I'm so sorry you had to be in that situation."

Watts took a deep breath, pushing down the feelings of fear and betrayal.

“It’s done with now.” And one of a host of reasons he wasn’t keen on returning to Toronto.

"And now you're back here," Steph said, with just the slightest bit of emphasis on here by way of reassurance. "Where I am genuinely glad you're going to be okay."

"Thank you," Watts smiled at her. "And- here!" he pulled a box wrapped in tissue paper from the tote bag he'd been carrying.

"You really didn't have to, but --" Steph had to trail off there for a minute so she could tear into the gift with at least a modicum of restraint, to her credit.

And then she just stood there and grinned at the box in her hands, turning it over to read the description and grinning wider as she did.

"Oh, this is amazing, are you kidding me? I love it so much, thank you."

The narrative would just like to take a moment to note that -- speaking of Edwardian suffragettes -- had their paths had the opportunity to cross, of course Steph would've developed a crush on Emily Grace immediately.

Of course she would. Of course.

"You can see why it made me think of you." So naturally he'd had to purchase it, even if those of his own profession were portrayed as the villains of this particular game.

Literally no one would be shocked by this. At all. Ever. But really, could you blame her?

Steph laughed and turned the box over in her hands again, all but patting it affectionately before she set it down on the counter.

"I can, and as far as things that remind people of me go, that's a solid one and I'm glad. It's amazing, Llewellyn. Thanks for thinking of me even when so much of your trip kind of went to shit."

"And I hadn't even gotten to the part where we ended up taking an unexpected detour to New York," Watts said drily.

"I mean --" Steph blinked and laughed. "Trips to New York usually sound like a good thing. Do I want to know how this happened?"

The briefest pause.

"Okay, obviously I do."

“Jack’s parents-in-law,” Watts began, “had hired a private investigator to track him down and bring his son back to Toronto, to be raised in their custody.” And as you might remember, Steph, Watts had received a letter fairly recently from a New York address. He picked up a handful of dice, the sharp-edged kind, and closed his fingers around them in a fist. “I- personal feelings aside, I could not in good conscience let that happen.”

"Yeah, no," Steph said, scowling instantly -- and then frowning in concern when she noticed the way he was gripping those dice. "That is some bullshit. What, did they decide his son deserved better than to be raised by him?"

"Mmm," Watts nodded. "And as far as the law is concerned, their claim is stronger."

Would have been even if Jack had been the baby's natural father.

"Even if they were outright kidnapping the kid," Steph grumbled. "God, I wish I was surprised."

In the eyes of the law that's exactly what Jack had done, of course.

"It turned out all right enough in the end," Watts said ~~even if they didn't solve homophobia in New York like in canon~~. "The private investigator won't be pursuing him anymore, and Jack and I- we said a proper goodbye, this time."

Listen, the law could go fuck itself, if you asked Steph, but she wasn't volunteering that opinion right now.

"Good. I mean -- it sucks that the rest of it was such a hot mess, but at least some of it worked out." Steph leaned back against the counter and crossed her arms with a knowing nod. "That's gotta be a relief though, huh? Not leaving things hanging unresolved any more?"

"Precisely," Watts nodded. "I can now say without hesitation that that chapter of my life is over and done with. I will not be revisiting it."

"I feel pretty good about guessing that's a good thing," Steph told him. "Some parts of life are not worth going back to, like ever."

She reached for her mocha and took a sip, then added wryly, "Says the girl who's still learning not to take that philosophy to the extreme."

"It's definitely a good thing, as far as I'm concerned," Watts affirmed, following it up with a sip of his own drink. "I like- where I am now. The life I've built here. No desire to move on." Except maybe to get back to the point where casual affection between himself and Steven in public didn't make him feel anxious.

"Moving on is also overrated sometimes," Steph said with a quick smile and a glance around her store. "I used to do that, constantly. Just -- before things had a chance to turn bad, I'd bail. Starting to realize that maybe that's not always the healthiest thing, either."

Watts nodded. "I know the feeling. I've felt as if I've been blown about like a leaf, these past few years. By my travels, my doubts- my heart. But all of it has brought me here."

"Yeah. Same." Steph huffed a soft, pensive laugh and reached out a hand for a fistbump, forgetting whether he was familiar with the gesture by now. "As far as places to land go, you really scored the best one."

And yeah, she thought so for herself, too, but she wasn't the one trying to unlearn a lifetime of instinctive fear all over again right now.

He was, though there was a slight wince as the fist that met hers still had those dice enclosed in it.

"Oh, agreed. Even though it can be incredibly disconcerting at times."

Like waking up with body parts he hadn't gone to sleep with.

Steph caught the wince, and grimaced in apology.

"Disconcerting, sometimes a little too weird to be totally comfortable," she agreed. "I think you missed out on some of that weird, which is probably a good thing."

"Oh?" Watts asked. "Such as?" He'd certainly heard about people being... busy... but nothing beyond that.

Edited 2023-03-11 01:23 (UTC)

"The week before the spring break trip," Steph began slowly. "Where instead of getting allergies, everyone's hormones go completely out of control? You weren't here that week, right?"

"We were in Miami," Watts confirmed. "I heard some things about people being- busier? Than usual?" But he hadn't listened to every single radio he'd missed, and so specific mentions of sex pollen had slipped right past him.

"Well," he managed. "I can't say I'm sorry I missed that."

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The Magpie Emporium, Thursday (3/2)

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