fandomtownies | Luke's Diner, April 18 (Friday)

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Luke's Diner, April 18 (Friday)

Lacey was back at it again with the paint chips and the catalogs (though the financial stuff was nowhere in sight today). Only today, she was wandering about, thoughtfully holding up the paint chips against the walls for long periods of time.

She was quite possibly nowhere closer to narrowing things down than she had been yesterday.

There were Nanaimo bars in the dessert case again, and every napkin dispenser had been polished within an inch of its life.

Luke's is open. Much more meticulously cared for than under the previous management, but nope, still not remodeling just yet.

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I'm a dog! I don't know!

It was only when A.J. came into the diner that day with business on his mind that he realized that, for all he seemed to be working here, he very rarely ever really ate at Luke's, unless one of his friends was sharing their fries with him.

Weird.

Either way, sketchbook tucked under arm, A.J. headed over to one seats at the counter, and then plopped it down before he himself plopped down. "Hey, boss," he said. "What's up?"

Lacey had been holding up a paint chip that, unless you held an LED flashlight and a magnifying glass against it, looked like five squares of the same exact color, but she turned when she heard the greeting. "Hi, A.J.! What are you doing here on your day off?"

"I was wondering that same thing," A.J. commented with a wry grin, tilting his head a little bit at the paint chip. "Possible color?" he asked. "For what, exactly? And then, look! Segue into why I'm here!" He pushed the sketchbook forward. "I did some thinking on the whole remodeling thing. Tons of ~~completely moddable omg~~ ideas in there." He shrugged a little. "No idea what you have planned, so you can take 'em or leave 'em, but I thought I'd definitely share."

"That's the problem. I can't decide," Lacey said with a sigh, although his enthusiasm made her smile, and she leaned over to take a look at the sketchbook. "But I was thinking a mural of some kind around the bulletin board might be kind of neat."

A.J.'s eyes widened. "I could totally, totally support a mural around the bulletin board, boss," he said with his head bobbing in an enthusiastic sort of nod. Definitely okay. Okay to the point where anything else would now leave him feeling rather heartbroken, to be honest.

Lacey could so get used to being called boss. Also to having people agree with her ideas, because when did that ever happen? "What do you think for the mural? Something abstract, or more of a theme?"

"Well," A.J.'s mouth twisted a little in a thoughtful frown, because that was a good question. Still, he seemed to practically bounce and vibrate with creative energy at the mere prospect. "I tend to work more in abstract myself, but, I mean, themes are good, too. Did you have anything particular in mind?"

Lacey, unaccustomed to discussing ideas with people and getting bouncy vibratey enthusiasm in response, positively beamed.

"I kind of want something that conveys a sense of normalcy, if that makes any sense," she said. "Like -- almost like you walk in and this place is like a little haven from the weirdness."

. . . well, it was a Lacey idea. Which was to say it was well-meaning but perhaps not always on target.

A.J.'s head tilted a little as he eyed Lacey.

"...you know that it's a total contradiction and that an image of normalcy around here would actually be weird, yeah?"

And just like that, Lacey went from smiling to worried in 0.3 seconds. "But something has to be, right? I mean, it can't be weird all the time?"

"Well, no," A.J. agreed, nodding slightly, "it isn't. But, then again, what is normal? It's all subjective. You could pick to put on that wall the most normal thing you can think of, and someone could walk in here, from a different planet or something, or the future, or the past, whatever, and think it's the weirdest damn thing they've ever seen, you know?"

"Oh." Lacey drooped a little bit. "I guess you're right. Who knew diversity could be such a pain?"

"See, boss," A.J. said, folding his arms on the counter as he leaned forward with importance and what he was feeling was the sheer wisdom of experience, "that's why instead of trying to cling to the normalcy, what you've really got to do is just...embrace the weirdness. Embrace it with open arms and let it in before it can go the other way and destroy you."

"Embrace the weirdness," Lacey repeated. "Embrace the weirdness. Wow, that actually sounds kind of profound."

A.J. shrugged a little.

"This may surprise you, boss, but I'm a pretty profound kind of guy."

Because he was an art-teest, after all.

"Surprised?" Lacey made a 'pshaw' sort of hand gesture. "Who's surprised? I had you completely figured out for a profound kind of guy."

Lacey's acting skills were right about par for the course, which meant that her ability to sell that statement convincingly? Close to nil.

Hey, that was good enough for A.J. He nodded in satisfaction. "Yeah, I know. The profound-itity just...emanates from me. Like light. Or too much cologne."

Lacey couldn't help it, and she burst into a brief gigglefit. "Too much cologne? Good thing I'm not allergic to deep thoughts."

"Oh my God," A.J. said, tucking a hair behind his ear, trying to put the energy into that to help keep him from grinning, "that would be awful. You couldn't go anywhere near a pretentious Ivy League school, or a Buddhist monastery, or a hippie co-op commune..."

"Or a botanical garden," Lacey added, still giggling.

"Or..." A.J. continued, or tried to, but realized he was coming up a bit short.

"Or..."

"Or a record store!"

Personal experience, there, really.

". . . or that," agreed Lacey.

Hey, she'd grown up in Toronto. She'd seen her share of, y'know, those record stores.

After a year of being in Fandom you'd think that Dale would have at least visited the local diner once.

Apparently Dale was making up for that today. "Hello," Dale said cheerfully as he walked in. "May I take a seat anywhere?"

"Hi there," Lacey said brightly, waving at him as she reached for a menu. "Have a seat anywhere you like. All the seats are clean now!"

She was a little too proud of that.

"Was there a problem with cleanliness before?" Dale asked taking a seat at the counter and looking around. "As it now looks particular spic as well as span. In fact you can use these napkin dispensers as a mirror."

"Well." Lacey brightened at what she took for a compliment, then came over and handed him the menu. "The previous manager was . . . let's just say lacking a little bit in the sanitation department. I've had my work cut out for me the past couple of weeks getting it up to par."

"Well thus far it seems to be coming along just fine," Dale said looking over the menu. "Do you have any specials today?"

"I've been a little too preoccupied with getting everything straightened up to think up specials so far," Lacey admitted. "But the meatloaf is fantastic today."

"Meatloaf it is," Dale declared, handing back the menu. "May I have that with double side order of mashed potatoes and large cup of coffee? And if you don't mind me asking, are you a recent arrival to our little island?"

"Actually, yes," Lacey said as she poured him that large cup of coffee, making a mental note to see about mugs with logos on them. "I've only been here about a month."

She sent the order back to the kitchen and added, "Lacey Burrows. Nice to meet you, Mister . . . ?"

"Cooper," Dale said picking up the mug and taking a sip. "Dale Cooper and if you don't mind me saying? This is... a damn good cup of coffee. Damn good."

Lacey beamed. "I do tend to pride myself on the coffee," she said, and never mind that the coffee here had been good before. "Nice to meet you, Mister Cooper."

"Well, I find the quality of the coffee is usually a good sign of the quality of the food service establishment," Dale said with a grin. "So I expect great things coming from your meatloaf.

Lacey's smile got a little brighter, then faded just a bit. "As long as you don't mean that literally. Tell me that couldn't actually happen in this town?"

"No, not literally," Dale chuckled. "Though I wouldn't put it past this town to prove me wrong."

Lacey's put up a list of farm jokes (http://www.arcamax.com/jokes/s-323438-751037?source=1930) of dubious amusement value today.

FRIDAY ZOMG. *CLINGS* It's an Eddie Izzard sort of morning.

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Luke's Diner, April 18 (Friday)

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