( Pretzel's presence would normally be at least a point of contention – far be it for Eddie to go a moment without reminding someone about his very serious deadly allergies – but today he just sticks a hand out absently for the dog to sniff.

Which...is interesting, but one crisis at a time perhaps. )

Good. Dogs need lots of exercise too. I think they can get heart disease, y'know. My old neighbour had a sausage dog that was so fat he would walk funny. Kinda sad, really.

( It's almost like clockwork at this point, that Eddie will open and shut his mouth a few times like he wants to say more, that he'll fidget on the spot, that he'll finally give up on whatever sentence he'd been chewing over and instead point in the first direction that comes to mind. )

Great! Okay, come on then. Let's go. This way's good, right? Great!