A noodle cart in Manila, Monday

[lovemykilt]

After a brief stint in a drunk tank in Kuala Lumpur -- he really was going to have to learn how to shut his mouth instead of antagonizing the local police force before he ended up facing off against a cop much less inclined to humor an irritating American -- Priestly had made it to the Philippines.

Manila, he decided, was made of awesome.

He was currently arguing with a man running one of the noodle carts that peppered the streets, trying to talk him into giving a punk (literally) kid from the States an under the table job dishing out glass noodles to tourists. Apparently, the guy wasn't going to make any decisions until he'd talked to the owner -- who lived in the States.

Priestly was beginning to wonder if he maybe should have stuck to Tex Mex in Austin.

[ooc: The sporadic installments of Priestly's international culinary adventure continue! Open for phone calls and such, unless any other character is likely to be hanging out in Manila right now.]

Comments

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

*riiiing* Hope that ring-tone isn't embarrassing around potential employers, Priestly.

"Hey, it's me."

[lovemykilt]

Honestly, the noodle cart guy had probably heard worse.

"Dinah!" Priestly practically crowed. "Tell my new friend . . ." He paused as he frowned at the sign the man was pointing to. ". . . Grody? Really?" The man nodded, and Priestly shrugged. "Tell my new friend Grody that I'm a totally reliable, stand up kind of noodle cart minion."

He held the phone out in Grody's direction. Grody, having been in the food car business for a long time, willingly tilted his head to better hear what Dinah had to say.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Priestly is completely reliable!" she said immediately grinning. "Every time I needed help or food he was there! Also, he makes a mean sandwich, and totally wants to learn from you. He'll be your apprentice in foodness! You will not regret hiring him!"

And.... "Also, if zombies attack, he will so have your back!" Unless he has a PTSD moment!

[lovemykilt]

Grody's eyebrow went up. "Zombies?" he said.

"You never know," said Priestly.

Grody nodded seriously. "I still have to ask the boss."

"I can respect that," Priestly said, returning his phone to his ear. "Dinah!" he said again, turning to the side so Grody could serve other customers while he talked. "Tell me I get the pleasure of actually answering when you drunk dial me, this time!"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Grody?" she asked, just to check that she'd heard that right when he was back, then groaned, laughing. "Oh, man. I'm not drunk! I'm not! I am so, so sorry..."

[lovemykilt]

"Are you kidding? That kept me entertained when I was waiting for my layover in Hawaii."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Where are you?" Dinah asked, curious now. "And when did you leave Tex Mex world? And did we ask you for barbecue? ... we were really hungry after all that booze."

[lovemykilt]

"No, I think you were too busy arguing over the words to 'Don't Stop Believing'. I'm in the Philippines. I was going to try Malaysia first, but, uh. They didn't like me much, there."

That one cop didn't like him much there, anyway.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Okay, that was funny enough -- and the memory was funny enough-- to have Dinah laughing, then then to gulp. "Waaait. Why didn't they like you in Malaysia? Priestly? Did you advocate the peaceful overthrow of a government again?"

[lovemykilt]

"Only a little!" And not actually to the cop who arrested him. "I maybe got a little drunk and called a cop names in a park in Kuala Lumpur."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Oh, Priestly." See, and now their possible near-misses with the cops didn't seem so bad! He was a great friend like that. "What did he do? Did you have to pay a fine? We didn't run into any police while we were smashed, but I suspect Helena was running interference and leaving them tied up in squad cars behind us."

[lovemykilt]

"Can I have a Helena to do that, too?" Priestly asked. And for once, he wasn't asking for a Helena to do other things as well. "I spent the night in the drunk tank. Which is so not something I ever need to do again."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Oooooo, ohhh, I'm sorry. How nasty was it? And call when you do that!" Dinah scolded. "I might even send Helena to help if you really really need it, you know."

[heromaniac]

*ring*

Momoko wasn't sure what she and Dinah had said to him, but she could apologize to Priestly anyway. She also wanted to just talk, but all of that depended on whether or not he answered the phone...

*ring*

How many rings until voicemail picked up?

[lovemykilt]

Not as many as it took him to answer, thankfully.

"Momoko!" he said cheerfully.

"No more references!" said Grody the noodle cart guy. "Do you want noodles or not?!"

[heromaniac]

"I want noodles!" Momoko replied eagerly, smiling. "If they're any good. I totally have high standards when it comes to noodles. Hi Priestly! Where are you? That man's accent sounds weird."

[lovemykilt]

"I don't know if they're any good," Priestly said. "I haven't ordered any, yet."

"My noodles are the best!" Grody said, looking annoyed. Priestly held up one finger, then some money.

"Gimme one of . . . whatever," he ordered. Grody grinned, possibly thinking of what sort of Filipino delicacy he could foist onto the unsuspecting American. "I'm in Manila," Priestly said to Momoko. "The Philippines are awesome!"

[heromaniac]

"Ah! The Philippines?! AWESOME! That's near Japan! Like, almost next door! You totally need to go to Japan. You'll definitely get better food there. The best noodles are from Japan. So you really are travelling all over instead of school?"

[lovemykilt]

"Travelling all over is way better education than school," Priestly said. "And I was thinking I might head to Japan next. Then maybe the Himalayas. I would rule at Nepalese."

He wouldn't. Not right way, anyway. He'd be better off hitting up Vietnam and wowing them with his attempts at making banh mis.

[heromaniac]

"You totally have to call me. I'll come and show you all the best places!" Momoko gleed for a moment, then added a serious note. "It's a different education, that's for sure. Are you okay, though? With that? I didn't know the whole story or I totally would have called sooner."

[lovemykilt]

"Yeah, it's, uh." So not something he was going to explain on the phone while standing at a noodle cart in Manila. "I'll tell you about it when we hang out, next," he decided. "I'm so going to take you up on that tour."

[heromaniac]

His hesitation made her wonder, but she was totally willing to let it go. "Good! I really do know all the best places. If we went to my Japan, I could probably even get you a job! If you don't mind a boss who sometimes transforms into a monster."

[lovemykilt]

"Depends, would it be a nice monster, or a mean monster that I'd then have to fight off with a frying pan?"

[heromaniac]

She laughed. "She turns into Sedusa, dresses really wild and attacks anyone who is interested in her boyfriend. Or any girl her boyfriend is talking to. I think you'd be okay. Unless you got in the way or tried to stop her, of course."

[lovemykilt]

"I totally wouldn't do that. Unless she was directly threatening someone and there're no superheroes around to help."