fandomtownies | Luke's Diner, Friday [6/13]

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Luke's Diner, Friday [6/13]

Superstitions about Friday the 13th were unknown in Kyrria, but that didn't mean the day hadn't attacked Ella. By the time she took her spot behind the counter, she had already woken up 15 minutes late, tripped coming down the dorm stairs, bruised her knee and skinned her palm, and discovered the blouse she wore to work had a lovely split in the underarm seam.

And then the dishwasher she didn't like ordered her to scrub out all the pots used the night before. Her sore palm smelled, wretchedly, of garlic.

It was a rather frazzled Ella who put together the specials board and then settled behind the counter to work on a letter to Prince Char.

Friday the 13th Specials
Burned Toast
Undercooked Eggs
Too-salty Chicken Noodle Soup

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You may have better luck that way.

She'll try not to drop anything on you.

Dale entered the diner in his usual good spirits and took a spot at the counter giving the girl a cheerful wave.

"Good morning... Er. Is it possible to get eggs that aren't undercooked?"

"I can try," Ella said, distinctly dubiously. "The grill's being temperamental today, and the cook is worse. But if I stand there and watch it might come out okay."

Ella liked to live in hope.

"Well, let's take our chances and see what happens, shall we?" Dale said looking undaunted. "I'd like two eggs, over hard. I know don't tell me, it's hard on the arteries, but old habits die hard, just about as hard as I want those eggs ... bacon, super-crispy, almost burned, cremate it. And let's have a cup of coffee and if you have any cherry pie? Three slices."

And that would be a light breakfast for Dale.

Ella took down the order, a little stunned by its size and wondering if someone would be joining Dale. "I'll do my best to get everything the way you want it," she promised, reaching over to pour the coffee before putting the order in. "And you're in luck, we've exactly three slices of cherry pie left. Were some of those to go?"

"No, I'll have them all here," Dale said in his chipper manner and then gave a small grin. "Cherry pie. It's a weakness."

"That's not a bad one to have," Ella observed. "I was always partial to sweets myself. Do you like our pie?"

"Haven't it had it yet," Dale admitted. "But odds are I can't go wrong. Would you recommend it?"

"It's really good," Ella grinned. "Especially if you like cherries, and I do."

"Can't think of a finer dessert myself. Always good to meet another pie lover," Dale said giving her a thumbs up. "Dale Cooper. A pleasure to meet you."

"Ella," Ella said with a smile. "What do you do in town, Mr. Cooper?"

"Police officer," he said returning the smile before taking a sip of coffee. "Not that there's any real crime here in Fandom. Just enough oddities to keep us busy. May I assume that you are a student up at the school?"

"Not only might you assume it, you would even be right," Ella said. "I started at the beginning of May."

She glanced at the counter separating her from the kitchen. "I think your order is ready; let me go check."

"I'm not going anywhere," Dale said cheerfully as he drank his coffee.

Ella returned with a ~~moddable~~ plate of food.

How closely it resembled Dale's order was an open question, and she looked tentative as she set it before him. "Is this okay?"

The eggs were over easy and the bacon had not entered the realm of cremated as Dale would have liked but he was not about to make a fuss.

Mostly because: Pie.

"Looks fine," Dale replied as he turn the plate slightly. "And no doubt a nutritious cornerstone for the day. Let that be a lesson to you, Miss Ella.."

This was accompanied by at good natured wave of Dale's fork.

"Never skip breakfast. Most important meal of the day."

"Mandy always said that," Ella said wistfully. "She was our housekeeper."

A beat.

"That, and to wear my overshoes when it rained."

"Mandy is obviously a very wise woman," Dale said looking at Ella carefully. "I happen to have a pair of Totes for rainy days. Always pays to be prepared."

"She's wonderful," Ella readily agreed. "I miss her a lot sometimes, even with letters."

She quirked a smile at Dale. "And that makes me wonder if you're carrying them on a tropical island."

"Tomorrow we could be in Alaska," Dale replied after swallowing a bite of eggs. "Or off the coast of the Pacfic Northwest. Rain country. This island is always full of little secrets and strangeness."

He gave Ella a sympathetic look. "Well in the fall the school typically has what's called a Parent's Weekend. I'm sure your friend Mandy would be happy to visit."

Ella gave a tiny shrug. "I'm not from this world, so I don't know what different places are like. I like the sound of Alaska, though." It reminded her of Ayortha.

"I hope Mandy will come for that," she said. "My father certainly won't think of it, and I wouldn't have my stepmother."

"Bad blood between the two of you?" Dale asked. "And I think you can invite anyone to come on those days. Don't wait for your father to come up with the idea. If you don't mind me suggesting it."

"He travels a lot, for work," Ella said vaguely, not wanting to tell her entire life story. "It's hard for him to even get home, let alone leave our world to visit his daughter at school. But I can ask."

And, knowing Sir Peter, get turned down flat.

"Well he at least sounds like a decent fellow," Dale said sipping his coffee. "You can't fault a man who works hard for a living."

"He does sound that way, doesn't he?" Ella, who could think of plenty of ways to fault her father, asked flatly.

Dale stopped his fork halfway between the pie plate and his mouth and rested the fork back down on the plate.

"I apologize, miss. I didn't mean to bring up any parental issues you might have," he said apologetically.

Ella grimaced apologetically. "You couldn't have known. My mother died a little over a year ago, and things have been difficult since."

"Are you close to your parents?"

"Not as much since I left for college," Dale admitted. "My mother also died when I was young. My father is still alive and living on a boat with his third wife and seems to be quite happy. We don't see eye to eye at times but he's family."

"That sounds nice," Ella had to say. "The living on a boat, I mean. Do they travel anywhere in particular?"

"Not very far," Dale said with a small grin. "They give tours of various islands and do fishing tours. Just enough to support their lifestyle."

Ella's not touching this today. She'd probably impale her thumb on a tack.

My bad luck for the day? I'm at work. Expect SP.

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