lovemykilt | Priestly's apartment in New Gotham, Wednesday night

"I'm free!" Dinah finally let go of Priestly to sit down and open up the bags she'd brought. "Since, well, I've still only got one part-time job. Might have to get another one, though. How's the first semester going so far?" She looked around and under the coffee table. "And where's Stevesie? Eating out of the cabinets again?"

"The overgrown rat?" Mark grumped. Priestly snorted at him.

"Sacked out snoring on my pillow," he said. "Mark tired him out playing this afternoon."

". . . Rats are entertaining," Mark said. "This does nothing to soften my gruff, cool exterior."

"Awwwww!" Dinah beamed at Mark, and handed him a plastic fork. "Take pix next time. The pad thai and the sesame chicken are for everybody, but I'll fork anyone who touches my shrimp masaman." She pointed another fork at Priestly. "Don't say it."

Priestly raised her hands. "Don't need to, now."

"Priestly, your friend's invited over every day," Tia said.

"Even the Sabbath," Mark said.

"Ignore every word out of Mark's mouth, Dinah. Especially anything that makes him sound at all religious or moral."

Dinah gave Mark a mystified look, then one back at Priestly. "Anyone care to expand on that?" And a hopeful look at Tia. "Remind me, what are you grad studenting in?"

"Urban folklore," said Tia.

"Religious studies," said Mark.

"This week," said Priestly. "Mark is a perpetual major changer. Right now, he's pretending to be Jewish."

"Not pretending," Mark said. "I was bar mitzvahed."

"At a kegger," Priestly said. "By a Buddhist. Two weeks ago."

Dinah was spluttering into her shrimp at that, and snickering at Priestly. "C'mon! That could count! ... sorta. I dunno, it's not like I'm religious enough to tell." She frowned at the Thai food. "I have no idea if any of this is kosher. Priestly?"

"It's okay," Priestly said. "He's not that kind of Jew."

"It's more of a Christmas and Easter thing," Mark said, completely deadpan. Tia smacked him upside the head.

Oh yeah, this living arrangement was SURE to be a good influence on Priestly.

Dinah cackled and relaxed back, then poked at Priestly's foot with her own. "So yeah, classes? That thing you're allegedly here in New Gotham for? Any crazy professors yet? Seen any of my Jump Club buds diving off the Simone Wall yet?"

"Yes, yes, maybe, and no," Priestly said. It was his turn for a whack from Tia. He rubbed the back of his head. "Classes are good. The pottery teacher is a little weird. He has a hook for a hand and keeps talking about the movie Ghost. But my nutrition courses are all awesome, and Mark convinced me to audit an intro to social work class."

"That was my second longest running major," Mark explained.

Boggling at that, Dinah took a sip from her drink. "Never had that guy, but all my lib arts credits were in drama, so, no surprise there. Yay nutrition! And we can always use more people who know social work around New Gotham." She gave Mark an approving nod at that, and said, "Have more curry. Tia, what kind of urban legends are you working on? Aside from Huntress's autograph."

"She wants to write a tell-all book about New Gotham," Mark said. Tia rolled her eyes.

"Yes, my interest is mostly local," she said. "But come on, Dinah, you've lived here awhile, right? There is so much about this city that's crazy, and so much more that people say that's even crazier. I want to compare the sorts of stories you get in a city like New Gotham, full of freaks and weirdos -- and then there's the supervillains -- and a place like Star City, which is only just barely getting into the superhero business."

"She can be at this all night," Priestly said. "I mean that literally. I accidentally fell asleep during it my first night here and when I woke up two hours later, she was still going."

Tia scowled and crossed her arms, though she couldn't keep the angry facade up long. "You don't get a masters in something you're not passionate about."

The boggling was internal this time, but it was still there. Probably, hopefully only Priestly noticed by the widening of Dinah's eyes. "You're getting a master's in superheroes. In, no, wait, the weirdness... surrounding them?" She paused. "Wow, that's ... so much more seriously than most people take it. I mean, you know New Gotham-- wait, you don't, yet. Well, once you get used to it, people are just kind of like-- 'as long as I don't get hit by flying glass or knocked out by poisonous weeds, it's a good day.'" She pointed at Priestly. "Ask him about getting kidnapped by the Riddler."

Yup, throwing you under that train, Priestly!

Tia raised an eyebrow. "I grew up here." Mark opened his mouth and she shoved a finger in his face. "Okay, technically I grew up in the 'burbs. But I'm not new to town. Growing up here is why I want to study it. Like, the whole Batman story. Not everyone sees their parents gunned down and grows up to be a creepy vigilante."

Priestly caught Dinah's eye and shrugged, giving her a I'll tell you later head tilt. Tia, he'd learned, was just a touch -- well -- touchy about Batman.

"Priestly got kidnapped by the Riddler?" Mark asked. "Dude, what haven't you done?"

Dinah's jaw had dropped a little at that comment-- how did Tia know that?! -- but at Priestly's shrug and head-tilt, she nodded, eyebrows going down, then smoothing out. "Not criticizing," she told Tia, sounding a little more contrite. "Just kinda-- stunned? I did Criminal Justice for my major. Between people who hated the guy and people who wanted to give him a medal, well. Not a lot who wanted to study him."

"I think he hasn't done..." Dinah paused. "Nope, he did that too... let's see...." She tapped her fingers on her lips, grinning.

"I get around," Priestly said, nudging Dinah with his shoulder. "Getting kidnapped by the Riddler is apparently just what happens when your best friend invites you to the policeman's ball in New Gotham."

"You know I'm going to want to interview about that now, right?" Tia asked. "I mean, I knew you visited here before, but now I know you were in the middle of things."

"A middle. I was in a middle of one thing that one time." A beat. "And maybe a few other middles some other times."

"Mmmhmm." Dinah grinned. "Well, to be fair, the policeman's ball always is a target, and we always go because of Uncle Jim, so. Bound to happen sometime if you visited here over the holidays." She looked thoughtful, and threw out at random, "And we were kinda doing volunteer help during the Poison Ivy thing a couple months ago. Helping people get to ambulances and stuff. I only saw the big green guy from a distance, though." To Mark, she asked, "So where are you from?"

"I made snacks," Priestly offered. "Gotta keep those first responders fed."

Tia eyed them both suspiciously.

"Smallville," Mark said. "AKA the most boring place on Earth."

Meteors aside, anyway.

"... I knew a guy from there. Clark?" Dinah squinted, then nudged Priestly. "What was that Clark guy's name, from high school? Really tall? He was Tony's roommate for a while?... Tia, why are you giving me that look?"

Heh. Best defense was...?

"Right," Priestly said. "Clark. I never really knew him."

He was so helpful.

"If he was from Smallville," Mark said, "he was boring." He looked over at Tia. "Don't mind her, she's convinced everyone has a secret identity."

"Not everyone," Tia said. "Just, you know . . . the interesting people."

"I'm interesting!" Dinah exulted, and pointed at Mark. "He's interesting. Have you caught him in night-vision goggles yet? Or a cape? Priestly, I want a cape."

"No capes," Priestly said. "You spend too much time jumping off of things. What if it got caught on the way down?"

This was why he was her Sous. He thought of all the sensible things.

"She already knows my secret identity," Mark said. Priestly frowned at him. "I'm not telling you. It's secret." Priestly looked over at Tia.

"It's secret," she confirmed. "I'm not going to tell just anyone about Sentience, either. I'm very good at keeping secret identities safe."

"You'd never let me have any fun." Dinah sighed sadly. "...does this mean I can have night goggles?"

Well, she already did. But still.

"I like you," Dinah told Tia, grinning. "But if you find out Priestly's other secret identity, I gotta warn you that I have to threaten you. A lot."

Edited 2014-09-04 05:36 (UTC)

"So," Tia said, eyebrows raised. "You have a secret identity other than Sentience?"

Priestly coughed. "Nope. Absolutely not."

"You're a terrible liar," said Mark.

Dinah snickered and curled up next to Priestly, happily eating her curry.

"Next time I come over, I'm bringing Gabby. My roommate. She'll like you guys."

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