Oswald Restaurant, Santa Cruz, Monday night

[lovemykilt]

"You know I don't mind cooking for us, right?" Priestly asked, balking a little as Tish led him towards the restaurant door by the hand. "I even really like it."

"Priestly," Tish said, stopping and turning to look at him without letting go of his hand. "You've been working double shifts all weekend to cover for Piper while she and Noah and Julia are at Disneyland. You need a break from cooking."

Priestly opened his mouth to protest again, and Tish pressed a finger to his lips. "And you look fine," she said. "There's no dress code, they're not going to kick you out for having a mohawk, and it's my turn to feed us and I don't cook so I say we get to have dinner in a fancy restaurant."

Priestly kissed the finger on his lips. "Okay. But I reserve the right to be snooty if their food isn't as good as mine."

Tish smiled. "I'm looking forward to it, even. Now come on, I want to get a table outside before they fill up." It was a gorgeous night, cool and bright under the full moon, the earlier cloudiness having mostly cleared up.

And, well, if an outdoor table would make them more visible and easier to stalk spy on observe, then so be it.

[ooc: for the sneaky shipper spies and slow-play.]

Comments

[heromaniac]

"And that we didn't say hi or anything when we got here because you would have made us eat with you and that totally wasn't what we were trying to do."

Momoko was totally holding back and trying to not badmouth the girl and make Priestly like her even more.

"She wouldn't believe we were here because we cared about you."

[lovemykilt]

Priestly shook his head. He wasn't buying a word of it. "That doesn't even make any sense. I know you both know what telephones are, and how useful they are for things like coordinating plans."

[glacial_queen]

Karla was just going to give him a 'duh' look and shake her head. "Momoko just told you that we didn't want to eat with you," she said. "Why would we call and coordinate not eating together?"

[heromaniac]

"We totally used the phone with each other! We had to, so we could come all the way here from two different worlds at the same time to make sure you were okay!" Momoko was also giving him a confused look. "Who else would we call? All your other friends already know her and like her! We needed to see for ourselves!" And make copious notes and catty comments about how OBVIOUSLY she wasn't Priestly's type.

And the girl had totally proven that, in Momoko's opinion. Next time she was a kid, Momoko decided suddenly, or a boy, she was totally coming back here. It had broken up Kyle and Dinah, after all.

Which was sad, actually, and Momoko's face fell a bit at the memory, since she still felt a tiny bit guilty about that. LOOK! She didn't want her friends to be hurt, ever, okay?


[ooc: look look! I pinged! Thank you for patience! <3!]

[lovemykilt]

Priestly gaped. He shook his head and ran his hand over the back of his neck. "I don't -- I don't even know what to say to you two."

Maybe it was the double shifts all weekend. Maybe he was just tired and he was hallucinating that his friends decided it was better to spy on him than trust him to pick his own girlfriend. Maybe none of this was actually happening. He looked down at the floor, at the walls, at anything but Karla and Momoko. Because this totally wasn't actually happening.

Absolutely not.

[glacial_queen]

"Wait, wait, wait!" Karla said, holding up her hand. "It's not like that! It isn't! We just wanted to see the two of you! Together! Meet her, see how you are together, when no one is watching."

Wait, no, that sounded wrong.

"Not like that. Not gross or hiding outside in the bushes somewhere." They'd discarded that plan. "But we didn't get to meet her like everyone else. So we wanted to see you both together for a little while and see for ourselves before making our introductions."

[heromaniac]

"I'm sorry you're upset Priestly, but I'm totally not going to pretend I'm sorry we came here. Maybe we shouldn't have been disguised, but that was totally the point since we didn't want anyone to know we were here."

Momoko removed her wig and started to shove it into her bag. "We totally didn't want a fight or to make you upset. We just wanted to know about this girl. Someone you've liked for a while and we don't know? Dinah even said she didn't agree to go out with you until you told her your name. And even though she knew you don't like telling people! And you did it! How are we not supposed to worry? Only Dinah knows your name!" Totally another reason for Dinah+Priestly!

Momoko frowned and turned slightly away to grab a hat from the stall. "If it were my world," she muttered under her breath as she remembered something from her own past, "there'd totally be a chance she was actually a villain."

[lovemykilt]

"I don't need to run my girlfriends by you!" Yes, of all the jumbled up things in Priestly's head, that was what came out. "They're my girlfriends!" Wait. "Friend! Singular!" He was getting sidetracked. "You two do not live in my life!"

[glacial_queen]

"What, you think we were going to issue you some kind of report?" Karla snapped. "Are you worried that, what, we'd come up later and give you a detailed explanation of what we did and did not like about her?"

...That might have been a plan at one point, but then decided that that was probably a bad idea.

"No one is saying that our approval--" or complete disapproval, which was what it was "--was at all required for you to continue to date her! We didn't come into this assuming you'd change your life on our say-so!"

Though you totally could if you want to, Priestly. Just throwing that out there.

"But she's dating a friend we care about, and started doing so only on a condition. We wanted to see her for ourselves. Or, what, have you never wanted to meet any of Dinah's boyfriends? Never wanted to get to know them without them focusing on making a good impression?"

[heromaniac]

Of course not a report. A powerpoint slideshow was totally better. Pictures always made your point much clearer.

Plus Momoko totally had some awesome animations already made!

Momoko totally wanted to point out that they did have a say in his choice. Who ever he dated would end up with a chance of knowing their secrets and not just his.

But that wasn't why she was here! Momoko was here to see this girl Priestly was dating and figure out why he could want to date her instead of Dinah. Who was totally awesomer, by the way. This trip totally proved it.

Momoko finished pulling the rest of the disguises into her bag. "I don't remember much about the future reunion us-es, but I remember you weren't happy. I know you quit school to stop that from happening, I totally don't see why you won't let us do whatever we can to help, too. We just want you" and Dinah "to be happy."

[lovemykilt]

It was like they were completely logic-proof.

Maybe they'd been replaced by robots.

"THIS DOES NOT MAKE ME HAPPY!" Priestly said. He turned on Karla, finger out and pointing again. "And who is 'everyone else'? Dinah has met her. And you know how she did that? By walking up and saying 'Hi, I'm Dinah, you must be Tish!'. THAT IS HOW YOU MEET PEOPLE." The finger swung to Momoko. "And -- just -- no! Bad!" And both hands in the air now. "I am not having this conversation. You've clearly been replaced by robots."

And he turned to start heading out the door. He had a girlfriend to go comfort. And try to explain why "they were replaced by robots" was totally a valid possibility when it came to his high school friends.

[glacial_queen]

For the record, robots would likely have been more susceptible to logic. Maybe they could argue they were suffering from one of the over-dramatic weekends, which was why their idea had made perfect sense?

...It still made perfect sense to Karla, though. But she rather thought this might not be the best time to mention it.

It was also probably a bad time to snap her fingers and say, 'Tish! I knew it wasn't Trina!' So she was just going to keep that thought to herself, too. Seemed to be best.

She looked at Momoko and shrugged, then pointed to Priestly. That was code for, 'You totally know him better! What can we say?! MOTHER NIGHT, HE'S GONNA CALL DINAH AND THEN WE WILL BE IN SO MUCH TROUBLE AND THEY'LL STAY APART OUT OF SPITE!'

It was an expressive shrug, okay?

[heromaniac]

Karla! Momoko was giving you her confused face, TRYING to ask you who 'Tish' was...

Oh, wait, what did you shrug? Dinah?! Oh NO...!

"Priestly! Really!" Momoko called after him. "We totally didn't mean for this to happen. Really. We really didn't."

They'd thought they would get away with it, yes, and wanted to use the intel gathered to break them up, but... "We totally didn't want you upset or mad. Or to ruin your date."

Yet. Although at the moment, Momoko was totally wondering if the Dinah+Priestly club should go underground for a few months. "For that, we are totally sorry!"

[lovemykilt]

Priestly stopped, shoulders slumping. Dammit, he was such a pushover. Even girl robots got to him.

He really needed some guy friends.

He didn't turn all the way back around. They'd created enough of a scene in the restaurant already, after all. "You're only sorry because you got caught, Momo. You don't get it. How would you feel if Dinah and I showed up to spy on one of your dates?"

[glacial_queen]

Karla gave Momoko an uneasy glance. "It would depend on why," she said quietly, not admitting that if they'd shown up on a date to break up her and Warren, she wouldn't be best pleased at all.

But this was different!

"I mean...yeah. I get why you're upset. But at the same time, we honestly thought we were--" okay, not helping. That wasn't the right word "--not doing something so very wrong. We just wanted to see how you guys were together. In public!" she hurried to add, so he wouldn't think they were going to hover in his bushes and watch their alone time. That had been Plan C. "Just watch you two for a bit and then go up and introduce ourselves."

[heromaniac]

Thanks for taking that, Karla! Momoko was not the best person to answer it, since she wouldn't mind if they showed up. Her entire upbringing revolved around the idea that people were watching if you were in public. And if Dinah and Priestly had shown up to spy on her... well, that meant they worried and cared, right? Enough to go to a strange world and try to blend in?

Instead, Momoko addressed his other statement... The one that had actually hurt to hear him say. "I'm mad that we got caught, Priestly. Remember what I'm supposed to be in school for? But I'm sorry that we hurt you. That... that was what we didn't want all along."

[lovemykilt]

Dammit, Momoko, stop being all sad-face! Priestly didn't do well against sad-face!

"Right. Well, setting aside the fact that you two are pretty much the worst spies ever -- pro-tip: don't get into a loud argument about tentacles when you're trying not to attract attention! -- spying on people? It's kind of considered impolite in this world. Like, historically people were hanged for it. It's stalker-y, and about the worst first impression you could possibly have made with my girlfriend." He held up a hand. "Who I am happy with, when I'm not being spied on. You don't know Tish. You don't know what we've been through. So if you really want to make sure I'm happy? Go home. Maybe after she's calmed down, you guys can come back and meet her for real. We could hang out. But not right now. Just -- go home."

[glacial_queen]

Karla and Momoko had both been in the same boat. If her friends were watching, it meant they cared.

...Now, if it had been Lucivar or the boyos, that'd been a different story.

"We really are sorry, Priestly," Karla murmured, a bit chastened. "We had the best of intentions. Honest."

In their own view of the world.