OTA

[codenamemilady]

Milady had seen no reason to include Oliver's 'visit' in her weekly reports. It was personal matter, to her mind, and the DGSE needn't be involved. Unfortunately, Desrochers had found out about the encounter and didn't agree with her assessment. So Milady had been called back to Paris for two days of explaining herself and convincing those over Desrochers that her usefulness as Clarice Winters was in no way threatened by Oliver knowing she lived. She'd succeeded, of course.

After two days, she was sent back to London with orders to resume her life as Clarice, but with all long term missions on hold until she, Desrochers - ugh - and Paris were confident she could return to work. Milady didn't reach out to any of her, mostly unwitting, contacts, but accepted readily when they reached out to her, not wanting to raise suspicions. There were luncheons, of course, and invitations for drinks or dancing. And when she had no other plans, Milady went shopping or spent hours in a coffee shop with a book. Largely public, going about Clarice's life, and inwardly alternating between bored and seething.

Today was more of the same. Anita had insisted she come to lunch with some of 'their' friends. The food and wine had been excellent. The company meant when Milady begged off the rest of the afternoon with a headache, it wasn't a lie. Amazing how much better she felt once she was rid of them. Better enough for some shopping, wandering in and out of boutiques, picking up this or that on a whim, and always, keeping a discreet eye out for unwanted surveillance. The ubiquitous cameras, if anything, suited her purposes in being out.

Display buckets of cut flowers outside a florist shop caught her eye as she passed. Well, not exactly. It was the so faint scent of the forget-me-nots filling one of those buckets that made her stop. They were gathered in small posies, and Milady had picked one up, lifting it to inhale deeply before she realized what she was doing.

Don't be ridiculous, was her first thought.

Followed by, There's bound to be a camera. Which meant, if Oliver cared to look, he could see. Likely Desrochers as well.

Milady dropped the flowers back in the bucket and smoothed her hands over her dress as she turned to go. Two steps, and her heel caught in a crack on the pavement. She reached out, catching herself before she could fall, but the Louboutin wasn't as lucky, the heel twisting off the rest of the shoe with a crack. "Bloody-!"

[Afternoon, early evening – whatever works for you and yours. She's in a Mood, but it's not a bad time to meet her anyway.]

Comments

[hardertohide]

"Whoa there!" Dutch cried out as the extremely posh woman used her to right her balance. Only when she looked at her face did she recognise her, and smile. "That's the problem with priceless shoes. Extremely unpractical."

She couldn't imagine having to run in that dress either.

[codenamemilady]

If Milady hadn't been so distracted by forget-me-nots and the memories they evoked, she would've remembered to sound and move more like the Charlie Dutch had met, regardless of how she was dressed. But she was distracted, and she hadn't been in public as anyone but Clarice since before her husband had appeared on her doorstep.

"On the contrary, they can be quite useful, in the right situations. Not, when they're missing a heel, though," she allowed, slipping off both shoes, and picking them up and dropping them and the errant heel in one of her shopping bags. Walking barefoot along a London street, ugh. Well, she'd done far worse, and surely she'd pass somewhere she could buy a pair to get home in.

[hardertohide]

Dutch frowned at how unlike the woman she remembered this one was being, and thought better to check. "Charlie, right?"

They said everybody had a clone out there in the world, after all. Or maybe she was from a parallel universe. Or a shapeshifter. Who knew, these days?

[codenamemilady]

Oh, for fuck's sake. This was not Milady's day at all. She should leave. Feign not knowing the other woman, claim mistaken identity, and move on.

She should, but Milady wasn't in the mood for playing things safe just now.

"Sometimes." One word wasn't much to go by, but Milady put a faint trace of Charlie's Yorkshire into her speech. Then she winked.

[hardertohide]

"...right," Dutch frowned. If she was another bloody spook - and given what Q had been telling her about Six, she really didn't want her to be. "Like to roleplay, hmm?"

[codenamemilady]

"I like all kinds of things." Dutch had been fun, once or twice. But if she was going to be a problem, Milady would simply have to deal with it. No matter what her current orders were. Desrochers could go fuck himself if he had a problem with her decisions in the field. "Now don't tell me you're going to be boring. I'd had enough of boring women before my day turned to shite."

[hardertohide]

"I hate boring," Dutch replied, tilting her head to the side and still watching the woman like she couldn't figure out how to feel about any of it. "But it's a very relative concept, isn't it."

[codenamemilady]

Milady refrained from rolling her eyes through years of practice. "Obviously I need a new pair of shoes, sooner rather than later. If you think you can be relatively not boring, you're welcome to come along, and maybe things will become clearer. If not...," she trailed off, letting Dutch fill in the dismissal on her own.

[hardertohide]

Dutch hesitated for a second, then thought, why the fuck not, and grinned at the other woman, whatever her name was. "You realise I'm going to terrorise the staff with my punk ways?" She was assuming they'd be going into a posh as fuck shop, given the broken shoes, the woman's style, and the neighbourhood they were in.

Terrorising the staff was precisely why she'd thought why not.

[codenamemilady]

Milady laughed, something sharp in the sound. "Then it's good I'm dressed like this and the one doing the shopping. You may terrorize them, but they won't breathe a word in my hearing. Wait and see."

There was, if Milady remembered correctly and she usually did, a shoe shop not too far away, and without waiting to see if Dutch would change her mind, she started for it.

[hardertohide]

"Are we having champagne as we shop?" Dutch asked playfully as she fell in stride with sometimes-Charlie. It was such a luxury shopping cliché. She had to ask.

[codenamemilady]

"Possibly." If Milady were the self-reflective type, she'd think she enjoyed the pampering and luxury so much because of how she'd had nothing as a child. But one luxury she didn't allow herself was dwelling on the past.

Except when it came to-

"If they don't offer, we could ask. It's just ahead there."

[hardertohide]

"Champagne is too easy, they've probably got it on hand," Dutch stated, thumbs hooked in the pockets of her skinny ripped jeans. "Not very terrorising."

[codenamemilady]

"Here I thought your mere punk presence was supposed to be terrorizing." Milady risked a glance over at Dutch, her full mouth pulled into a smirk. "You aren't having second thoughts, are you?"

[hardertohide]

"I'm saying I'm going to ask them for a London Pride, instead," Dutch clarified. That or another kind of popular beer, she hadn't made up her mind yet.

[codenamemilady]

Well, this should be interesting. Milady wondered what Desrochers would think, since he would likely be checking up on her frequently for the next while. She really did want to get rid of him, and sooner would be best.

They got to the shop, and Milady opened the door, but waved Dutch in ahead of her. If she was going to terrorize the clerks, she might as well get first opportunity.

[hardertohide]

Dutch grinned at the shop attendant who looked at her with slightly wide eyes, then nodded at sometimes-Charlie as she walked in behind her. "I'm with her."

[codenamemilady]

Milady met the attendant's shocked uncertainty with a steady look, as though waiting for her to say something about her companion. When she managed nothing but opening and closing her mouth a couple of times, Milady chose not to waste more time on trivial things, so pulled the broken shoe from her bag.

"Had a slight mishap, as you can see," she said, no trace of Charlie's accent in her voice. "Why interrupt an enjoyable shopping trip with a cab ride home for another pair, when you're right here?"

Feeling on more familiar ground with the request, and making conciliatory noises over the belated shoe, the clerk started to lead them to the sitting area where she could bring Milady shoes to try on.

"And something to clean up with, please. I shudder to think what I walked on the way here."

[hardertohide]

Dutch, on the other end, was pushing the Estuary into her usually more neutral accent. "And a drink, right? To get over what you've walked on."

[codenamemilady]

"And a drink for my friend," Milady said instead.

The clerk looked from one woman to the other. "Of course. We have water, still or sparkling. A variety of wines. Champagne...?"

[hardertohide]

"London Pride," Dutch said with a straight face. "Cheers."

[codenamemilady]

A pause as the woman molded her face something close to helpfully accepting. "I'll just go see to all of that," she said calmly. "Please, make yourself comfortable while you wait."

When the clerk had gone into the back of the shop, Milady turned to Dutch, one eyebrow raised. "See?"

[hardertohide]

Dutch laughed once the attendant was out of earshot. "Her face was a thing of beauty, though."

[codenamemilady]

"She's paid to have that stick up her arse. I'm glad it gave you some amusement." Milady enjoyed seeing the clerk's discomfort too, after the day she'd had, but she'd forget about it just as easily once she had clean feet and new shoes.

[hardertohide]

Dutch picked up a shoe that looked like it might've been a torture device in the Middle Ages, and made a face. "I'll never understand high-end fashion."

[codenamemilady]

"Don't you?" The shoe did look like it would be unbelievably uncomfortable, but Milady knew that appearance could be part of its appeal.

[hardertohide]

"Theoretically only," Dutch amended. "But why would I ever want to put my feet in something like those?" She put the shoe back down, but on its side, just to fuck with the attendant when she came back.

[codenamemilady]

"Sometimes you want to look like you can chew people up and spit them out again." Something Milady knew well. "And sometimes designers want to see how ridiculous they can be and still have people give them money.

"And there's always someone who'll give them money."

[hardertohide]

"If you need shit like this to look tough, then you're not doing it right," Dutch remarked nonchalantly, and wrinkled her nose at another outrageously priced pair of... sandals? They ought to be.

[codenamemilady]

"I don't need it." Milady sounded something between amused and offended, and she wasn't sure how much of either. "But I'm more... flexible, let's say, than people who have more money than they know what to do with."

[hardertohide]

"If you're shopping here, it looks like you've got more money than you know what to do with," Dutch pointed out, looking over at sometimes-Charlie with a smirk.

[codenamemilady]

What Milady had were discretionary funds she was going to make the most of during her... probationary period. "Only if I'm shopping with my own money, and why would I want to do that?"

[hardertohide]

Dutch laughed approvingly. "That just means you've got more of someone else's money than you know what to do with."

[codenamemilady]

"It means I know exactly what to do with it." In this case, make them pay. Milady might work for the DGSE, but she worked first and always for herself.

"Besides, these shoes do amazing things for my legs." Legs Dutch appreciated, Milady remembered.

[hardertohide]

"That's one thing I can't argue with," Dutch agreed wi(h an amused smile.

[codenamemilady]

Milady always enjoyed being appreciated. Whether she enjoyed it enough to counter the additional wait caused by Dutch terrorizing the shopkeeper, she wasn't as sure.

"No, I didn't think you would," she said, one corner of her mouth curling up slightly as watched Dutch through her lashes, only quick glances at the screen as she did something on her phone.

Then she called out, clear, so the clerk would hear. "I've called for a car. It will be here in-" uh, London traffic, "seven minutes to take me home, barefoot if need be."

[hardertohide]

Dutch laughed, and settled into a chair, although settled was probably too dignified a word for the way she slouched in it, and propped her feet up on a shelf. "You're horrible."

[codenamemilady]

"You're the one who wanted to be a terror." And so delayed Milady getting some shoes.

The clerk rushed in not a minute later, with three pairs of shoes in Milady's size and a container of wet wipes, and followed by a colleague with a glass of champagne, one of beer - not the requested London Pride - and effusive apologies.

Milady grabbed the shoes from the first box seemingly without caring what they looked like, and slipped them on as soon as her feet were clean enough. She was just signing the credit slip when the car pulled up outside.

[hardertohide]

"Well, that was fun, but not very clarifying," Dutch stated as they walked out of the shop. "You some kind of high-end con artist?"

It would explain a lot. Including spending money that wasn't hers.

[codenamemilady]

She once had been, and from a certain point of view, Milady still was a con artist. Just in this case, one who killed, and who had to report to a government.

She shrugged. "Among other things. I wouldn't think that would be a problem for someone like you."

[hardertohide]

Dutch hadn't said she'd have a problem with that - she was afraid she'd have more of a problem with the 'other things', potentially - but that wasn't what she wanted to respond to, just then. "Someone like me?"

[codenamemilady]

"A rule-flouting, 'anything to get a rise out of uptight or cluelessly entitled types', knows how to get what they want someone like you." Why? What else could Milady have meant, her look seemed to say.

[hardertohide]

"Right," Dutch agreed, stopping by the car. She hadn't exactly been invited along. "I haven't got a problem with cons - as long as they don't go after the regular people."

[codenamemilady]

"I wouldn't. Besides, the risks aren't worth the rewards with 'regular people'. I prefer not only knowing what I want, but how best to get it." Regular people rarely had what Milady wanted, whether that was money, information, or access.

Slipping into the car, Milady looked up at Dutch even more than than she usually had to. "Are you joining me, or is this where we part ways?"

[hardertohide]

"Hi, mate," Dutch greeted the driver with a smile as he opened the door for Charlie, before she turned her attention back on the woman when she spoke. "I don't know," she answered, leaning an elbow on the car door with a smile. "Where are you going?"

[akatawitch]

Sunny had been considering buying some flowers to brighten up her kitchen table, debating the pros and cons of the (admittedly small) expense when she found herself being latched onto by another woman trying to regain her balance. Her hands went out reflexively to help, and for a moment she didn't speak or move.

"All right?" Well, the shoe clearly wasn't.

[codenamemilady]

When she had her balance, Milady let go of the young albino woman, and offered her a small smile. "I'm fine, thank you. My shoe, unfortunately, can't say the same."

She was remarkably steady on the still intact shoe as she slipped off the broken one, and then the other. She didn't seem bothered by bare feet on the pavement, although she would look out for where she stepped.

"I didn't hurt you or anything, did I?" Clarice would care, at least until Milady knew more about the woman, so she had to ask.

[akatawitch]

"No. I'm sturdy," Sunny assured her with a smile, not quite able to keep the mixed reaction of something like admiration and 'dear God no' when the lady stepped out of her shoes. Because on the one hand, what were you gonna do you couldn't walk in just one of those, and on the other... city sidewalks.

[codenamemilady]

Milady caught the look, and offered a gallic shrug of what can you do? The alternative was breaking the heel off the second shoe, and she was likely to break an ankle walking in them like that. At least this way she could watch for the worst the pavement had to offer.

"Surely there's a shop nearby I can pick up something to wear home at the very least."