Laurel Lance (i_crylikeabird) wrote in we_coexist, @ 2011-01-29 21:43:00 |
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Entry tags: | dinah lance, harry dresden |
The Great Fishnet Misunderstanding of '11
(email log, takes place after this log)
After they'd finished their drinks and left Caritas, Dinah remembered her offer to let Harry stay at her apartment yet again. She glanced over at him, hoping that it wasn't taken the wrong way.
"My offer still stands if you want a place to stay tonight. I doubt you'll have much luck finding a new apartment until morning anyway." She gave him a small smile and thought about how very strange it was to be in this odd city, or City as the case may be, with a man who she'd just met days ago and yet he was the closest to a friend she had here. The least she could do is help him out until he could get himself set up here.
----
Harry was initially skeptical, wondering about how to turn down the offer politely, before quietly and fully considering what it would mean if he did. It would mean finding somewhere else to sleep, which was already going to be a hassle, as he had no way to travel apart from his own two feet, and it was already dark. So turning down the offer seemed more and more idiotic as he thought about it.
"Only if you're sure," he said, trying to ignore the thought that he was somehow taking advantage of her. "I'm sure I could find a motel or something for a few days, until I find a place for myself."
The promise to be a proper gentleman wasn't spoken - it didn't need to be, for Harry. He would take the invitation as seriously as any from a host to a guest, and use whatever was in his power to protect her, his host, until he departed. It was as natural as breathing to him.
----
Dinah nodded.
"Harry, I'm sure. I know what it's like to be temporarily homeless. Besides, you're the closest thing I've got to a friend in this strange City." She raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "And, if you do anything to offend my hospitality, you'll find out just what my Canary cry feels like."
The walk to the Sherwood Florist was shorter than Dinah thought it would be, though she wondered if it had moved on her again. Once there, she fumbled for the keys and then let them in.
Just in case Harry was still hesitant, she looked back at him and inclined her head. "Come on. There's no telling what you'll find if you go wandering around the City at this hour looking for a motel."
----
The staff dropped into the crook of Harry's elbow as he lifted both hands in a show of innocence. "I know better than to offend a host," he said. "But if you do something nuts, like try and offer me a bed while you sleep on the couch, I might forget about that."
She had a good point about looking for a motel. The same one Harry had just made to himself, in fact. So, since she had invited him, Harry followed her inside. The threshold was no problem, as he was formally a guest now. In fact, there was enough of a threshold for him to work with - someone had been at home here, if not Dinah herself, and enough that this was a home, not merely a house. Within a few hours he could have some decent wards around the place... for his own peace of mind, at least.
"Do you mind a few spells around the place?" he asked. "Just for defense. Basic wards. They'll even stay in place after I leave, if you'd like." He gave a half-shrug. "Least I can do, for letting me stay here."
----
"I don't mind at all," Dinah said. "The extra protection could always come in handy. Particularly since I have no idea what might be in this city."
She disappeared down the hall to a linen closet to fish out a towel and extra toothbrush for Harry. Returning, she set them down on the table near the couch, respecting Harry's comment about her not trying to offer the bed over the couch. It was only then that the true exhaustion began to sink in.
She gestured around the apartment, pointing to the kitchen and bathroom in turn. As it was a small one-bedroom apartment, it was easy enough to see each room from the living room.
"I'm afraid there's not much food in the kitchen, but you're welcome to whatever's in there. I still haven't found a grocery store to stock up. Do you need anything else before I turn in?"
----
Harry took the linens, shaking his head. He was hungry, but that was easily ignored for now. Other things could come first - namely protection and sleep. "I'm fine," he said, setting the blankets on the couch for the moment. It was probably long enough to let him lie down, if he propped a pillow on the armrest. Sometimes being four inches shy of seven feet was an inconvenience.
The toothbrush was something so normal, so everyday, he couldn't help but chuckle. "I might snag a shower, if that's alright. I'll try and be quiet." Because passing up the chance at a hot shower was not something he was about to do.
He would just have to find a new place before her heater broke.
----
Dinah raised an eyebrow at the chuckle, but let the moment pass. “Shower away,” she told Harry, relieved that they wouldn’t have the awkwardness of figuring out a shower schedule in the morning.
“Good night, Harry,” Dinah said with a small smile and then headed down the short hallway to her bedroom.
As soon as Dinah’s head hit the pillow, she fell into a deep restful sleep, a welcome change from the past however many nights she had spent in the City.
It seemed as though no more than fifteen minutes had passed when a beeping sound filled the room. Dinah didn’t open her eyes, but instead groaned.
“Ollie, turn off the damn alarm,” she muttered.
The beeping continued, peeling away the layers of disorientation. Finally, Dinah sat up and felt around on her nightstand for any source of the noise. She smacked the alarm clock, which did nothing to stop the noise and it was only a few seconds later that she realized the beeping was not coming from the alarm clock.
Finally, she opened her eyes and immediately found the source of the disturbance. The computer phone contraption that had mysteriously shown up amongst her things when she left Arkham. She’d left it on the nightstand and yet it kept returning to her purse.
Dinah glared at the device. She hated computers, and this was not endearing them to her. She reached for it and tapped a button, hoping to find a way to turn the blasted thing off.
The beeping stopped-mercifully, but not before the text scrolling across the screen caught Dinah’s eye.
DELPHI ALERT: Bank Robbery in Progress: City National Bank on 52nd St. and Main ST.
A few seconds later, the screen sparked and then went black. Dinah exhaled in disgust and set the blasted computer-phone thingy down. God, she hated computers.
All the same, she climbed out of bed, awake now. The clock on the nightstand told her that she’d at least had two hours of sleep. It didn’t quite make sense that Oracle’s computer would be sending alerts to that thing, but if there was actually a robbery in progress-well, it would be good to get out the fishnets and kick some ass.
She dressed quickly, glad that her costume had miraculously made it to the City. Fishnets, leotard, boots, check. All she needed was the jacket from the hallway closet and she was good to go.
She stepped out into the hallway and only then did she remember that she had a guest in the apartment. She mentally swore at her carelessness and made more of an effort to be quiet in her movements. She could only hope that she wouldn’t disturb Harry’s sleep by running out in the middle of the night to fight crime.
----
Harry had showered, blissfully letting the water heat his skin to a near-boil just for the novelty of it. His own showers had always been ice-cold due to the lack of heater in his own apartment. After brushing his teeth and prepping the couch, he'd set up a basic ward, just enough to alert him if someone came towards the door or any of the windows. Since there were no candles available, he had linked the spell to his pentacle necklace to alert him. Then he had stretched out on the sofa, shirtless, his ankles perched on one end of the armrests, his pillowed head on the other.
He'd been asleep for just about an hour when the amulet around his neck began to warm and glow with a pale blue light. The sudden warmth was what woke Harry, his instincts instantly alert before his mind could catch up, the blasting rod at his side now grasped in his right hand. His left hand was raised slightly, ready to shield himself if anything was threatening.
Eyes caught the dark shape moving, and Harry jumped to his feet, the amulet blazing as he added the effort of will to bring up his shield bracelet.
And he stared for a moment at Dinah, wearing a skimpy black number and fishnet stockings.
The blasting rod lowered, but the shield didn't. Nor did the light coming from his necklace waver. "Um." Harry cleared his throat, wondering how long his mouth had been hanging open. "Did I agree to something I might not have known about when you asked if I wanted to stay over?"
----
Dinah heard Harry clear his throat and her eyes widened. She opened her mouth to apologize for waking him, but closed it as what he had said registered.
“What?” She peered more closely at him, her eyes straining against the darkness. It was then that she realized his mouth was hanging slightly open and registered the ‘deer-in-headlights’ look in his eyes. She frowned, still trying to make sense of what he’d asked and the slightly panicked look on his face.
“Harry, what are you talking about?”
----
Harry had to use several fingers and the measure of 'years' to calculate the last time he'd been with a woman wearing this little clothing. And White Court vampires didn't count for the simple reason that they were freaking vampires. Lara Raith could tie a curtain around her shoulders and it'd look like the toga of a Greek goddess on her. But she wasn't a real woman, not in the way that Dinah was, standing in the shadows, with her heels and... fishnets and... curves...
He realized the shield then, and let it drop, lowering his left arm. The right let the blasting rod fall back onto the sofa before rubbing at the scruff of his chin. "You're... I mean... the lack of..." His brain wasn't responsive enough for words. Not that he knew which ones to say anyway.
Wordlessly, he picked up the blanket from the couch and offered it to her. "Um. You might be cold... in that." That... bit of not a whole lot.
----
Dinah chuckled and headed to the closet and retrieved her coat. She waved it at Harry.
“That’s why I usually wear a jacket. Though you’d be surprised how warm it can get when…” she stopped as the reason for his reaction and what he’d been trying to ask suddenly dawned on her. Her jaw dropped slightly, and she glanced down at her outfit and back to Harry.
“Wait, you thought…” her cheeks flushed, and then she let out an awkward laugh. “No, no, it’s not…” she eyed Harry in confusion. “You really thought...” she stuttered, and then a little rush of annoyance welled up. “This is my costume, and… well, it’s not that bad. You should see what some of the other superheroines wear!” she said defensively.
----
Brows wrinkled in confusion as Harry tried to absorb this. "Costume?" He dropped the blanket onto the sofa again, and rubbed his face. "Other superhero.... oh. Right. Metahuman." Bits of information were coming back to him, but this... was such an odd thing to be happening, and his brain wasn't really trying hard to wake up just yet. "Crime... wait. You go crimefighting in fishnets?"
A look of disbelief came across his face, replaced by surprise. "And they're not lining up to be arrested?" Because, not for nothing, those fishnets looked good on her.
Harry was a professional. He noticed things like that.
----
The tension eased and Dinah laughed again.
“Not usually, no. Though the fishnets were a part of my mother’s costume-she always said that they worked well as a distraction. Which, I suppose they do generally.”
She smiled apologetically at Harry. “Sorry about waking you up and, er, startling you. And I hate to cut this short, but there’s a bank robbery in progress that has my name on it.” Her eyes lit up at the prospect of finally getting back to what she did best.
----
Harry gave her a grin. "Well, it was a start, but I can't say that I mind all that much. That's a pretty good distraction, if I say so myself."
----
The flush returned to Dinah’s cheeks yet again at the compliment. Sure, she’d had some comments on her costume, but had never given that much thought as to how it might be seen in a situation where it was out of context. And she supposed it couldn’t get much more out of context than with a man she’d invited to sleep over at her apartment after knowing him for-what-a week? Particularly since that man didn’t seem to be from an Earth that had costumed superheroes.
“Thanks,” she said in reply.
----
Then his eyebrows rose at the news. "Bank robbery?" Oh, yeah. Crimefighter. "You want some backup?" He asked, already reaching for and pulling on his shirt. The light coming from his amulet was muted behind it until Harry mumbled a bit, dimmed the glow, and pulled it out from the shirt to rest outside. He wasn't entirely comfortable with letting a woman go off and fight some bad guys on her own, chauvinistic as Murphy might consider it. You didn't let women get hurt, as far as Harry was concerned. Not if you could help it.
----
Dinah considered Harry for a minute. She didn’t love the idea of leading someone who she hadn’t seen in action into a crime scene. But then again, it was always better to have back-up. She’d been a part of a team for so long that she had grown to truly appreciate having someone on her side.
“Sure. Just as long as you promise me that you’ll play it safe. I don’t want to be responsible for you taking another bullet,” her tone might have been light, but her eyes held a warning. She wasn’t going to let anyone get hurt on her watch.
----
"Nah," Harry said, pulling his leather duster over his shoulders and patting it. "Got my coat this time. This baby's stopped a .50 cal before." And that was saying a lot. The duster, with all it's magical defenses, had stood up to assault rifles and submachine gun fire. The assassin's .50 caliber bullet might have been a kill shot if it had been a few inches higher or lower, but since it had struck the mantle of the long coat, it had only managed to pierce a single layer of the leather. Still, the bruise had hurt.
"Shield bracelet," he said, vaguely lifting his left wrist. "Coat. Blasting rod. Staff. I'm good. I can play it safe." He didn't bother mentioning the silver rings on his hands, the ones that held back and stored just a little kinetic energy every time he moved his arm. Or the coil of copper chain in his pocket.
The blasting rod was tucked into the coat, on it's leather thong, and the staff picked up in his right hand. Harry gave Dinah one more glance over. "And yet, I still feel overdressed and outclassed. Too bad tights aren't my thing, huh?"
----
Dinah grinned and patted Harry on the shoulder before opening the door and nodding for him to follow.
“It is too bad," Dinah agreed. "But, hey, nobody’s perfect,” she said with a wink.