Loft above Luke's, Saturday

[lovemykilt]

Priestly was futzing. The apartment looked fine, he'd put away the liquor and all the empty bottles that were a natural result of living with Dean, the bed had fresh sheets on it, and there were fresh towels available if Dinah wanted to shower. He had more food than any two (or three or four or five) people could actually eat in a weekend, all set to make whatever it was Dinah might be interested in, and Dean had been warned of her impending arrival.

He was as prepared as he was going to be. So he was . . . futzing.

[ooc: expecting one!]

Comments

[lovemykilt]

"I'll do my best to maintain a worry free environment for you," Priestly promised, following her back to the couch. "Best thing for brain-tired is good food and a mindless TV show or something."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"OOo. Mindless TV. God, that's been forever. And! You promised to do my hair. And I was gonna put eyeliner on you." Dinah took another bite of her sandwich, peering at his face. "I kind of am getting used to this look on you. You still look like you, just-- older." Like the guy he'd been on the Reunion weekends. "But not old. Yet."

[lovemykilt]

"Yeah, I guess the island decided it was time for me to look like a grown-up." Priestly shrugged. "And you can do my eyeliner after you've had at least a nap." He was not looking to get stabbed in the eye, here. "But I'll do your hair whenever you want."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"I did have a shower today." It had been cold, damn cold, but still. Clean. She'd needed that. "Sooo now's good?" Dinah grinned at him. "But I don't have any ribbons or barrettes... should we watch mindless reality TV, or mindless Dr. Sexy TV, or mindless car racing movie TV?" SO MANY CHOICES!

[lovemykilt]

"It's the lady's choice," Priestly said. "I've had plenty of time for mindless tv, after all."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Dr. Sexy," Dinah decided. "'Cause I want to see what Dr. Hottie is up to." He had a goatee! Sort of. Also, he wasn't as moody as Dr. Sexy. More food, and Dinah was listing sideways into Priestly. "And the heart surgeon. I could use a snarky heart surgeon chick's sarcasm right now."

[lovemykilt]

"Dr. Sexy it is. We can find the one where Dr. Hottie first tries to pick up Dr. Piccolo's hot doctor sister."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Oooo. "I haven't seen that one. That has to be a wonderful train wreck." Dinah snuggled down and ate a chip, then a bite of the Lancer.

Home. That may or may not have gotten through there. But the contented look on her face was a giveaway anyway.

[lovemykilt]

That look did Priestly good. He'd been more worried than he'd wanted to let her -- or himself -- know while she was gone.

"Well, eventually it's all twoo wuv, but yeah, it's pretty trainwrecky at the get go."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Yaaaaaay. I still can't believe Dean watches it. Isn't it against his macho paradigm or something?" And she could use words like paradigm without people asking her what she was on about, yayyy! Dinah held up a potato chip for Priestly to eat. Must share food. It was a rule.

Except not the Lancer. Nom nom nom nom.

[lovemykilt]

Priestly wouldn't dream of trying to eat her Lancer. He chomped down the chip, wiped his hands on a napkin, then started running his fingers through her hair. "Hey, even Mr. Macho sometimes needs a break from the gender binary. Whether he wants to admit it or not."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah snickered, and settled in contentedly at that, taking another bite of her sandwich. "I keep thinking: I should be doing something, there has to be something I need to get finished... but no, I'm in Fandom, I don't have to go anywhere, or check on anyone. Except Jono. We should take him soup later. Especially if he forgets to get delivery." Maybe she just needed a vacation, as much as anything.

Onscreen, the romantic train-wreck was commencing. Dinah stopped chewing to watch, tilting her head so Priestly could reach more of her hair.

[lovemykilt]

Priestly didn't actually know how to do a lot of hair stuff. But he figured it was mostly about giving her a scalp massage. "We can do that. Though is he going to be a sick of stew as you are?" Priestly could do rice and beans or something. Similarly hot and easy, less stew-like.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Probably," Dinah said, her mouth full, but being careful not to spit stuff out. Way too good for that. "Hmmmmm, that feels nice." She sighed happily, eyes drifting shut a little. "His throat's all messed up. Among other things." Which brought the smile down a little, before Dr. Hottie distracted her again.

[lovemykilt]

So something easy to swallow, then. "Hmm. Maybe make sure it's a very non-stewy soup. How'd he get his throat messed up? Yelling at troops?"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Another swallow of food, this one more difficult. Dinah leaned into Priestly's fingers, needing the comfort, eyes going shut again. "No. There was this-- poison gas." She pressed her lips together, hard. "He put up a shield for him and his squad, but the batteries on his packs were running low, and... anyway. I didn't understand all the medical jargon. But he has to take it easy for a while."

[lovemykilt]

Priestly winced in sympathy. 'Poison gas' never meant anything good. "How long is the recovery time? I'm pretty sure that dude is not known for his hanging out in bed."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Not sure yet. I don't think even the Healers were certain. If Raven hadn't been there, hadn't gotten them out--" Okay, no, not crying, damnit, that was stupid. Dinah swallowed again, got her control back. "He would've died. So. I'm at least sitting on him, I mean it, really just going to sit in his lap, if I see him pushing himself while I'm here."

[lovemykilt]

Yeeee. And if he died outside of Fandom, the chances of him just coming back to life were greatly reduced. "Well, go Raven, then." He was quiet for a long moment, making little braids in the hair at the crown of Dinah's head. "This is going to sound really selfish, but I'm glad you guys from Fandom all made it out. I'm really sorry for all of Karla's people who didn't, but. . . ."

But he didn't know them, didn't know what they looked like or sounded like, who they loved and what they did with their lives, so they didn't hurt him, personally. No more than those who died in any war in any world did.

He leaned forward to kiss Dinah on the forehead.

"But I'm glad you guys get to come home."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Me too," Dinah whispered, leaning into him with a little smile. "Me too." She was quiet a minute, just listening to the TV show and appreciating the hair-braiding, then said, "I've gotten to like the people there. A lot better than when we started. Gotten to know them. I don't just want the war won for Karla now. Them too. They deserve to have... peace. Real peace. Not just not-fighting. Being safe. Happy." She bit her lip. "And I feel guilty for how much I wanna leave. But I still don't fit in there."

[lovemykilt]

"I don't think you need to feel guilty about that," Priestly said. "It's . . . really, really different from the world you grew up in, the one you know. You don't have to be able to stay in a place to care about the people who do."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah finished her sandwich and the last of the potato chips, then wiped off her fingers on the napkin, thinking about that. "I guess. No, I know you're right." She was still kind of mixed up about that. It wasn't a rejection of Glacia, just... she was the alien there. "The people without magic aren't so different." Although they had no idea how to act around her.

"My 400 dollar an hour shrink says that it's because behind this rugged and confident exterior, I'm self destructive and self-loathing to an almost pathological degree," said Dr. Hottie.

"This is the way he hits on women?" Dinah marveled.

[lovemykilt]

"He doesn't get really really awesome until he's involved in the non-traditional family grouping with two lesbian doctors and their daughter. He's always good for the snark, though."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Awwww. We are watching those bits while I'm here. Definitely." Dinah grinned, imagining that. Her eyelids were starting to get a liiiittle droopy. But only a little. "And nail polish. Gotta do your nails. And..."

And...? "There's all this stuff I wanna tell you. But I don't want to tell you. 'Cause it's awful. But is it worse if I don't tell you just because it's awful?"

[lovemykilt]

"Worse for who?" Priestly asked. "You can talk or not talk about whatever you want to, but for judgement calls like that, I'm not sure I'm the guy to ask."