consultsdetective | 002 // Voice/Action

[ First things first, Greg Lestrade comes to in the usual way of most newly returned canon update recipients- distinctly lacking in some hope and immediately taking more concern with getting his clothes on. A task well-accomplished, thank you very much, because he seems to have good luck in finding those neatly folded near his area of entrance. From that, for the most part, to hell with everything, he wants to flip tables. Not that he... does this. It's just a very tempting idea, little bit of a rampage or something. Maybe another time. So then, journal first, town second. ]

Well, I've been off home and back in, looks like. If anybody noticed I was out to start with. Would've expected a holiday from this place to be a bit more relieving, but I suppose that's just what I get for making assumptions. [ His tone is decidedly less casual than it usually is- more just tired than honestly annoyed- but Lestrade doesn't bother elaborating. Not the sort of business you start going on about. There's a pause, and he's almost hesitant when he picks back up. ]

Everybody who's in from my London still present and accounted for? You know who you are, and if you're here you're someone I'll have to talk to this week, so you might as well put in. [ And another short pause because he's just going on at this point, isn't he. Well WHATEVER. ] Just give a shout, save me the trouble of tracking you down. [ For once. 8||| ]

[ And with that, he closes the journal for the time being; not quite before it manages to pick up a faint "Christ, I need a smoke."

Which, you know, he'll be going out to accomplish. Very important item on his list right there. Smokes, food, a drink, more clothes. Furniture... eh. Flat's still got something in it, likely as not, that should be fine for him. He does the town the courtesy of doing his smoking on a bench in the square as opposed to in a building. Not that Luceti's much for "don't smoke indoors", really, but still. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Of course I know that, Donovan. [ He is almost offended by the idea that he wouldn't. Except he supposes there's all the difference in knowing something and acknowledging it. These are already complicated waters to tread in, where he's not sure if he's angry or just resigned or why or who at. It's no wonder nobody sat him down and caught him up instead of simply acting off.

He is going to think very carefully and be rational and diplomatic about this. All that good stuff. This is the sort of thing you have to speak of... tactfully. And honestly. Respectfully. ]

All of it. You thought it was the right thing to do, and I'd tell anyone to trust their instinct if they had the same situation. Even if I didn't strictly agree with it. [ Which is a bit of a light way to put it. It feels almost inadequate, but there aren't quite ways of saying maybe he was too close to the whole thing, maybe he should have passed it along to someone more objective and not gotten in deeper, maybe he should have been more professional. None that he can think of that doesn't feel like admitting some sort of ultimate defeat.

Too late to bother with "maybe" as it is. ] You did your job. It's only fair that you expected me to do mine properly, too.

I always expect you to do your job properly, because you always do, and I knew you would that time in the end, whether or not I had anything to say about it.

[She just...needed to say that. Because it's not even close, but it's the closest she can get to "Your judgment is good, which means I probably should have listened to you." Because she actually likes her boss, thanks, and didn't want him to lose a friend, by finding out the worst about him or by...what happened. And there's guilt, because she did what she had to do but she can't just forget the fact that she also did what she wanted to do, anymore than she can forget she might have been wrong.]

If you still want to talk, I'd like to do it in person. I'm far from figuring out these bloody filters. Name a time and place and I'll be there.

Face-to-face is always the better way to go about it, yeah. Can't promise I'll think of anything to say worth the trip, but better safe than sorry.

[ There's some wry humor there, just a touch. Sally has always been much better about wording. ~~Maybe she can write this statement for him.~~

He thinks for a few seconds and ultimately decides that today, at least, he'll keep his meetings a bit more separated than initially planned. Oh, there'll be time aplenty to get all three of them sitting down in the same room and on the same page. Today he could just... straighten the basic laces. ]

Anywhere's fine, if you can make it in about an hour. [ ...she at least gets first dibs, okay. ]

[She appreciates those first dibs, thanks.]

Your place work? Mine's... Well. Stairs. And there's sheets over everything.

[She's been painting walls and stuff. Better accommodating than sorry.]

That's fine with me. If nothing else, I know the way there. [ Stairs and paint, pfah. ]

Got it. I'll be there.

[So, in an hour, because punctuality counts, she knocks on the door to Lestrade's flat.]

[ And there to answer the door he is, in full form and his feathers quite literally ruffled where they stick out through the back of his shirt. Jackets are best employed outside, aren't they. He'll step back to hold the door open, gesturing for her to come on in. ]

By all means.

[She gives him a nod as she steps inside, removing her own jacket and folding it over her arm for the moment. Her wings are still against her back; she's learning to control them pretty well, and she's not prepared to show any outward emotion at the moment.]

Thanks.

[ A little nod of his own. Smooth enough so far. Yep. ]

Things been quiet?

As quiet as things get here, which is sort of too much and not enough at the same time. But overall, yes.

[She tries a smile. It doesn't entirely work.]

[ That's okay, it's not a fully-working-smile sort of day. ]

Maybe we ought to oversee a bingo tournament.

Ha. I bet it'd be popular, too.

[Because it's a small town full of people who have, for the most part, just accepted the way things are.

But that's not why they're here.]

So... What'd you want to discuss?

002 // Voice/Action

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