Beach City Grill, Santa Cruz, Tuesday evening

[lovemykilt]

If Trucker hadn't wanted his young staff giving a chorus of "awwwwww"s and fluttering their lashes at him when he came in, he shouldn't have paused to kiss Zo goodbye in front of the windows.

Okay, so Priestly might be the only one who did the eyelash flutter. But everyone else definitely joined in the "awwwwww"ing.

"Alright, alright," Trucker said, lifting his hands. "And thank you. Now, what did I miss?"

As usual, Jen took on the post of shop reporter. "Well. Tish got a clean bill of health --"

"Except the lovely bruises," Tish noted, rubbing her cheek.

"-- Priestly's trying to get people to sign his wrist brace --"

"Why should casts get all the fun?" Priestly asked.

"-- And Piper has managed to make peace with Noah and Julia, despite their entire relationship being based on a lie."

"Hey!" Piper pouted. "Okay, yeah, it wasn't the best plan. But we agreed, from now on, all honesty."

"So, wait," Priestly asked. "I'm missing a step. Is Julia yours or not?"

"Not biologically," Piper said. "But I love her, anyway."

"Right on."

"And as for me and Dinah, we've been working on our tans at the beach," Jen finished. "That's everything, right guys?"

[ooc: for one, or for phone calls. We are so very near through canon, woo!]

Comments

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah sent Priestly a smug look of seee? at Tish's comment. "Aww, he has his mystique. Of being totally solid and brave when you need him." Which wasn't really a comment on what happened on Sunday night, but hey. That was a good example.

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"That's true," Jen said. "Though not that mysterious."

"Man, now you're all ganging up on me," Priestly whined, though, no, they really weren't.

"How come you never wear a dress for us?" Piper asked teasingly.

"Hey, I wear my kilt all the time!"

"Not the same thing."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Maybe he needs a special occasion?" Dinah smirked at him. "You should have worn one on Valentine's Day." She considered. "I should have sent you a singing telegram on Valentine's Day too! Okay, things to do later."

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"Those really exist?"

Before anyone could answer Priestly, the door opened, and in shuffled a dingy-looking man in an oversized overcoat and a stocking cap pulled low over his scruffy hair. He wandered his way up to the register where Jen was stationed, not making eye contact.

"Hi," Jen said softly. "Are you hungry?"

He shook his head.

Jen looked down at her screen for a moment to close out the window she had open, then looked back up, meeting his eye. "How can I help?"

"You're pretty," the man said. Priestly barely managed to contain the grin that was trying to bust its way out.

Jen blushed and looked away. "I don't know about that."

"I do. You're exactly what I was hoping for." He reached up and pulled off his hat -- and the scruffy hair, revealing a clean cut -- if still dingy -- man underneath. "Ladybugger."

Jen's eyes went huuuuuuge and Priestly couldn't contain himself any more. "I punked you, Jen!" When they looked over. "You should really learn to turn off your computer when you leave."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah gasped, eyes huge, hands going to her mouth. "Oh my god..." Then punched Priestly on the uninjured arm. "You did this? You did this!" Totally in shock. And he hadn't said anything.

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Hey, it was all part of his mystique!

"Ow!" he protested softly, still grinning. He looked down, and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah."

Tish nodded approvingly, using one finger to lift his chin. "You did good."

Jen was distracted boggling at Fuzzy, who'd pulled out a white rose to offer her.

"I'm Jeff Kenline, by the way."

"Jen," Jen said. "It's nice to finally meet you, Jeff Kenline."

"Do you want to go somewhere and talk? Face to face, for once?"

"I'd love to."

Priestly's inner cheerleader was doing cartwheels. "You two crazy kids have fun!"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"I'm gonna cry. I'm actually going to cry." You couldn't tell that from the way Dinah was bouncing and beaming though. "So awesome. Go Jen!" Dinah glomped Priestly. "You are the man!"

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"Well, someone's gotta be," Priestly said. Jeff nodded to him from near the door and Priestly shot him a thumbs up before Jen dragged him out.

Priestly looked around at the others, who were now all staring at him. Piper with a wide-eyed grin, Tish with a general air of approval, and Trucker with a knowing head-tilt.

"What?" Priestly asked him. "That was totally support. Just . . . the meddle-y kind."

Trucker shook his head with a smile and turned back to his paper work.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah snickered and squeezed him again, then let go, wiping at her eyes. "It's like happy ending central around here. Jeez. I feel like I need ice cream and Kleenex." She grinned at Priestly. "Alfred will be so proud."

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"Who's Alfred?" Tish asked.

"A domestic god," Priestly said. "And master of everything."

"Now we just need to set you two up," Piper noted, flashing a quick look at Dinah. "And find Dinah a nice Spring Break fling, and we'll all be set."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Oooo, yes," Dinah said, returning the look out of Tish and Priestly's eyeshot. "You guys deserve good people. And hey, I told Karla I'd try the fling thing. I've never done that." She grinned at Piper, biting her lip.

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"No place better than a beach vacation," Piper said.

"Though as you've already seen, there are some terrible guys around here," Tish said.

"And good ones!" Priestly protested. "Let's not let the douche-twins ruin an entire gender, here."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Exactly," Dinah said, nodding. "As was just proven twice over, right here... although I wouldn't mind finishing the beat-down Trucker gave if either of those two showed up again." She snorted. "And adding Trucker to the list of good guys." She flashed him a grin. "I want to learn that elbow strike."

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Trucker looked up from his paper work.

"Oh no. I'm not teaching any of you how to fight. You want forms to use for meditative purposes, sure, but no fighting."

"I approve that man's message," Priestly said. "Nonviolence for everyone."

"Says the guy who tackled someone in the alley two days ago."

"Only after he forever proved his massive dick-head-itude."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"I'll take what I can get," Dinah decided. "Since I have to meditate all the time anyway... for headaches." Right. Not to keep touch-telepathy under control. "And Tad started it. I'm all for balancing out the violence that way."

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"Tell you what," Trucker offered. "Any of you who wants to, come down to my pad before the surf gets started in the morning, and I'll show you a few forms."

"Can we get an actual clock time on that?" Priestly asked.

"Nope."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"I might stay up all night so as not to miss that," Dinah threatened, then hopped over the counter. "Right. Graffiti! Wanna see it."

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"Sure!" Priestly grinned. "Okay, but first you have to acknowledge that spray-paint as a medium is not the easiest in the world."

"It's not that bad, Priestly," Piper said. "Just . . . different."

"It doesn't even involve pissing on anyone," Trucker noted.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"I acknowledge the challenge of the medium," Dinah said soberly, then grinned at Trucker. "Good, 'cause I might find that content hard to critique."

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"So it wasn't always his preferred style of art?" Piper asked.

"No, that would be cooking," Priestly said. "Now, visual arts. . . ."

It was probably best that Tish threw a balled up napkin at his head.

"Alright, alright, we're going! Come on, Dinah, it's out back this way."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah waved over her shoulder, and followed him outside, snickering. "I'm fully confident you can be as good a graffiti artist as you are a chef." Really!

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"You always were foolishly optimistic," Priestly noted. He paused in front of the back wall, a good twenty feet from where Tad had cornered Tish.

It was . . . very brightly colored. And hopefully abstract.

"Here we go!"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

That it was. Also, fuzzy at the edges. Dinah stepped closer, then backed away, then tilted her head, then moved to the other side of Priestly.

"...what's this bit here?"

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"That's you. See? It's all swirly."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"You put me in there? Awwwww!" Dinah slung an arm around his shoulders, looking at it. "I like it. I have no idea if it's art-good or not? But it's bright and overwhelming and bold. I call it good."