Double Trouble for @catting

[just_aces]

It wasn't often that Charles went to visit Port Townsend on his own, nor, specifically, the cannery and the Cat that lived there. But this was a special occasion, and time-sensitive, and on top of that their initial uneasy truce on Edwin's behalf had become something far more than that, though Charles didn't particularly think there was a word for what they were now.

Regardless of any of that, it was mid-morning in Washington -and evening back home with Edwin and Crystal off to a holiday market- when Charles stepped out of the mirror in the corner of the warehouse dedicated to their comings and goings, with a greeting of: "Oi, Cat." And upon realizing that the Cat in question was currently holding court, possibly, it was hard to say if the array of cats was some sort of official business or if it was just the usual, he amended to, "Your highness. You have a minute?"

The thing was, Charles knew full well that the Cat was a shapeshifter, he'd seen it in action more than once, and it had been months since Edwin had told him what had happened at the lighthouse their first time in Port Townsend, and while his initial, knee-jerk reaction had been upset, that had only lasted a moment before turning to curiosity, and when his next question had been 'well was he any good at it? Being me?' which seemed obvious to him, but was apparently not so obvious to Edwin, given the answer was a confused 'I suppose not?' Charles had put the issue to bed, at least as far as Edwin was concerned.

He had, however, kept thinking about it, the beginnings and bare tap-roots of a plan starting to settle into his mind, and now with Christmas, and shortly thereafter Edwin's birthday -which Charles hadn't yet given up trying to get him to celebrate- on the horizon, it was time to see if the plan was even a feasible one.

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[just_aces]

That was not the question Charles had been expecting after the Cat's seemingly-fretful silence, and it was enough to have him laughing, just shaking his head, "We met them because of a case, love potions, nasty business, but all we'd known at the time was that they dealt in potions. Well, knew they dealt in potions and weren't likely to be the ones responsible, not with as long as the shop had been in business."

He shrugged even as he moved to start clearing the top of the desk, "We found out about the rest of their usual wares later, and yeah, we've bought some, but mostly they're our go-to when we know it's a potion but don't know the origin, the two of them are brills at picking apart ingredients just from a sample if Edwin's not able to."

It wasn't something that happened often, not with the amount of potion work Edwin did himself, but having on-hand experts to brainstorm with had always been a boon, and just as Charles believed in giving credit where it was due, Edwin was a believer in fully using one's resources, including subject matter experts like the girls.

[catting]

The Cat huffs at Charles' reaction, even if he does enjoy the fact that he made him laugh with his question, and slips the little card back into the pocket of his jacket before he sheds the whole thing and snaps his fingers so that it disappears completely. He's well aware the action was rather pointless given the uniform he's soon going to be wearing for their little plan to take shape, but for now, while he's still chatting with Charles, he decides to keep it simple.

"Well, that's boring. I was kind of hoping for Yeah, mate. Sometimes we wanna shake things up a bit, so we've got a whole collection in one of the drawers of the curio that you can look at some time if you want." The Cat says, performing an almost entirely perfect rendition of Charles' voice with impeccable ease as he gets his ass up off the desk and starts idly watching him move things from the surface.

Then, a thought strikes him, and he reaches out a clawed hand to rest softly on Charles' arm.

"Don't tidy away too much, puppy, or he'll know we planned it as soon as he catches sight of us." Freaky Sherlock Holmes detective senses. "Put a few things on the floor like we knocked them off."

[just_aces]

He snorted softly at that mimic, "Well first off, they wouldn't go in the curio, that's where we keep the cursed items, it keeps them quiet, and secondly, it doesn't count as 'a collection'," there were finger quotes and everything, "unless there's more than three of them, or so I've been told. And lastly," there was a pause, biting back a smile as he set things back to where they'd been on the desk, "You're right."

With things back where they'd started, he swept everything but the blotter to one side with an arm, careful not to shuffle anything important -not that there were any open case files on the desk at the moment- just scooping it all out of the way as one, leaving a couple of folders hanging precariously over the edge, but not falling just yet, though the movement did send the pen cup toppling to the floor, something that made Charles wince briefly, but shook his head a moment later, "There, better? Look a bit more impulsive less set-up?"

Edwin would catch on that they'd planned this relatively quickly regardless, but the Cat was right that if it looked deliberate, he'd definitely catch on before they even got to derailing his brain about it.