fandomtownies | Ching Tai, Friday Evening

"I love Chinese food too," Dinah was telling him as she entered, turning to smile at him for the opening-the-door, and waiting for him to catch up as she reached the maitre'd. "Have you had it here yet? There's rice and veggies, and chopsticks?" Which were fun for both drum solos and stabbing people, and Dinah was trying not to be so hyper she'd do either, but it was difficult.

He shook his head as he paced after her. It was probably a good thing Jak didn't know much about what you were actually supposed to do on dates, or he might have been a little concerned that she was taking the lead.

She was definitely going to have to explain the menu to him, though. He smiled at the maitre'd, too.

"Table for two," the maitre'd droned up, almost automatically, "For the vidphone guy."

"Vidphone guy?" Dinah asked, sotto voce, looking curious. "Thanks," she said to the maitre'd.

Dinah was way too buzzed to not bounce ahead, but she stopped again to hold out her hand to Jak, smiling at him. This would be a lot more awkward if it wasn't Jak, she suddenly realized.

He kind of had to grin back and grab her hand on that note, huh? Jak tried to shove down any memories of, uh, failed attempts at phone calls that led to escalating problems earlier that day, because wow, way to harsh his own cool there. So, we made it, huh.

Dinah got a tiny bit of that, enough to make her swallow a giggle, then beamed at him. We did! Which is so cool. I kept thinking something would go wrong, and it hasn't! She slid into the booth, and let go of his hand to get settled, happy they had those round booths so they could sit side-by-side without having to reach across the table to hear Jak talk. Also, yay menus with pictures.

Menus with pictures were awesome!

Especially since Jak didn't have all the local wildlife down just yet. Yeah, everything went fine. She had better not have seen all of that. Nooo. It was going to die with Jak. He squinted at the menu, trying to make out the pictures. So, uh. How was the day?

Dinah pointed to the sweet-and-sour pork, and the kung pao shrimp. "Those are a couple of my favorites. We can share? And get some spring rolls?" Her stomach rumbled a little, and she looked embarrassed for a second. I trained with Azula. Do you know her? A mental image of Her Royal Crankiness scowling at Dinah, and then Dinah forming a water-whip.

Jak gave her a nod, because all of that out-loud rattling really didn't need an in-his-brain answer. Just because he had an easier time talking to her didn't mean he liked talking all that much, still. Think I saw her. Kinda intense.

Kinda a lot intense, Dinah said internally, and reaching to pour them each some tea. The waiter came over when he noticed that, and Dinah said, "Kung pao shrimp, steamed rice, sweet and sour pork, an order of spring rolls, and um. That should do it for now?" The waiter nodded and make quick swipes on his pad, then went away. Dinah squeezed Jak's hand, and then reached for the chopsticks, ripping open the packaging to break them apart. "You can try eating with these, if you want. Forks are okay too, though."

Hey, he could handle the stick... thingies. As long as he wasn't supposed to pinch himself in the nose with them, anyway. So Jak valiantly reached over for the chopsticks, and wrestled for a moment to try and pull them apart with only one hand. How was it?

Dinah grinned and let go of his hand a moment, so he could manage to get the chopsticks apart, then touched his wrist, sending an image of slicing into the ground with her power, causing a mini-landslide, then a more exhausted one of Azula making her run with weights on her legs. Tiring! I think it's getting easier, though? To move earth around, anyway. She's demanding and bossy, but she knows her stuff.

Cool, he commented, blinking, and really meant it. His mind flicked back to one particularly impressive rockslide back in Sandover, but he figured that might be a little much.

He tried to wrangle the chopsticks between his fingers. Riight.

Dinah showed him how, putting them in between her fingers and then tapping them together. "Like this." She then sent, Are you going on the trip next week? Or staying here?

Samos thought it'd be a good idea.

When he was done shouting, anyway.

Cool! Maybe we'll get the same cabin. Or be roommates.

Eeeeeeep on that thought.

But, you know, it'd be fine if we weren't, we could just hang out like we usually do....

He shrugged one shoulder good-naturedly. Figure it'll be good running, Jak returned. How's your sisters?

Beyond really, really terrifying.

Whew. Aaaand skate over that little thought and get to: They're good, and back in New Gotham dealing with their own boyfriends and beating up bad guys. And in Barbara's case, making sure people use grammar correctly too. An image of Barbara teaching from the front of her class, looking patient but unyielding there. And helping me find out some stuff for Raven. A frown on that. Creepy guy stalking her.

Hello there, concern. Like who? Jak asked, physically drawing his head back a little with a bit of worry. He wasn't up on a lot of this, but stalking was bad, right?

Some guy who showed up at Parents' Weekend, and said they were engaged! Since birth! Raven had no idea what was up with that! Dinah's outrage on that made her give a little bounce in her seat, then she reached for her water to take a drink and calm down. Then he hypnotized her and tried to get her to leave the island with him, until Joan and George Quick flashes on them, there, stopped him. She tried to play it down but she was all kinds of scared about it.

Jak was not going to be distracted by the bouncing. He was not. He was... okay, slightly distracted by the bouncing, but he wasn't going to say anything about it. So to speak. There was stuff in his head. And stuff.

She's okay?

Dinah calmed down a little, and took a sip of her tea. "Yeah," she said aloud. "Mostly." Scared. Looking into ways to defend herself. Which doesn't come easy to her, she was raised a total pacifist. Which made her angry again, thinking about someone going after Raven. "Makes me mad." She gave Jak a look of apology, not picking up on the distraction. Sorry. I hate people who do stuff like that.

It's fine, he offered, because it was the least he could do (and luckily he had a good load of practice looking at girl's faces, or this might have been a more awkward date) and because, well, it was. Bad people, man. I hope she gets out.

"Me too," Dinah said, as their food arrived. A thought occurred to her while she was loading up her plate, and starting to dig into her food, that needed a second to formulate properly, and she carefully made sure she wasn't touching Jak when she asked aloud, "Have you ever had a girlfriend?"

... That was, uh, complicated?

Jak did the back-of-head-rub that was pretty much the international signal for just those three-- okay, four-- words.

By now, Dinah could read this easily as Awkwaaard, and reached out for a bite of shrimp, formulating her next question even more carefully. "So, I guess I mean... have you been on a date like this before, with someone?" Especially with that reaction, she found herself even more curious than before. Maybe there'd been a girl he liked? Who didn't like him back? Or the other way around?

Well, not a date like this... Jak reached forward to tap the back of her hand once, leaving only the words, Dax got in the way. So, uh, no, behind, and hoping that would be enough.

At least now he had a reason to put a shrimp in his mouth and chew thoughtfully, though. It was a lot more familiar than half the food he got here.

Hunh. So this was like Jak's first date? Dinah had to smile at that, and bump his foot under the table before grabbing a spring roll to dip in peanut butter sauce and nibble on. Dax looked like he'd be good at that, she sent back to him. With a little smirky edge of how she got around it.

We beat him, Jak shot back, remembering that part, too, and snagging another shrimp. They were good, even if they were making him feel a little homesick.

"We did," Dinah said aloud, taking another bite, and tapped the back of his hand with her telekinesis, just a light touch. Then she swallowed, and reached for his wrist and sent, I should've asked if that was okay, but I'm glad it was.

Jak shrugged one shoulder. Casual. Really. Well-- You know. Pretty girl, and now don't blush, Jak, seriously, you were sixteen, you could say that without blushing.

Dinah grinned and elbowed him again, then touched him again, and sent, Cute guy. Cute nice guy. With nerves of steel! Okay, exaggeration. But not by much! Then, giggling aloud, she sent through his hand, The squirrels will have no idea what we're talking about. At all. They'll just say we ate and held hands.

Jak just had to puff up a little bit at the nerves of steel part. What? He really was kind of awesome, right? He was good with that. Yeah, he really was.

All they need to know, he said, even if he didn't really care that much, and popped a shrimp in his mouth. So, uh. What about you?

What about me? Dinah sent, not getting it at first. Then: Oh! Okay, letting go to swallow, so she could say this part out loud, and not blush too much. No risk of oversharing, no.

"Um. I dated a guy named Matt, back in New Gotham, for a couple months. Not really serious. He dumped me a couple weeks before I got here." She took a sip of tea, then slowly said, "I went on a date with George Sands, and a date with Jack Teague here. Never went any further than a first date, though." She was blushing about this now, feeling embarrassed. "Jack turned into Jill in the middle of the dance floor. Um. She's only Jack for four days out of the month, and I didn't know that before then..." She took another breath. "And George had some other issues to work out." Or maybe he hadn't liked her all that much; maybe it had been Hormone Week, working on him. And then... "And I had a crush on Leto. For a long time. But we didn't really date, and I'm over that now."

... that all seemed really pathetic now. Gah. More rice!

There was a lot of blinking as Jak processed that. Seriously. Lots of blinking. Uhhh...

He tapped her ankle once with his foot. Uh. Jack?

... Yes, that was the one major thing he had picked up out of that story beyond 'she's seen more people than I have'.

Dinah paused, then steeled herself, and reached for his arm with a smile. Jack. With a c. She sent a mental image of Jack-- then let it morph into Jill, being sardonic and talking about how mal Jack was, messing things up for her. "There's a lot of Jack's here," she offered hesitantly. Jack Priest, and Jack Burton, and I didn't date either of them, so....

Yeah, I guess, Jak said, although that hadn't been what he'd been blinking about. Also, all the touching was starting to go a little to his head, so he snagged one of those rolls she'd been eating for a try.

It wasn't as good as the shrimp. Uh. Mine was Keira, he volunteered. She's back home.

"Keira?" Dinah blurted aloud, then tilted her head, watching him, and slowly asked, "Were you, um. Did you date for a long time?" And yay Daxter! She was so hugging the fuzzy hyperactive guy the next time he came by, for getting in the way of real dates. Ahem.

He shrugged, a little uncomfortable. Things just happened during the months I was out for Dax. While ago, now. Hey, look, talky! Kind of. For Jak.

Dinah smiled at him, and reached over to send, I'm sorry if you're sorry, but I'm happy you're here. Then let go, grinned at him, and picked up her cup of tea-- then booped him on the nose, very lightly, without moving her hands.

Jak blinked again, reaching up for his nose with a slightly stunned expression. And then his foot shot out, prodding her mercilessly in the ankle again, this time with absolutely no words attached.

Dinah jumped in her seat, and turned to grin at him, eyes blazing with mischief as she picked up her chopsticks. "You realize... this means... WAR!"

Jak held up a hand. Shield! Shield! Or, you know, snatched a chopstick and held it up in front of himself. He wasn't as hyper as Dinah was by far, so it was a totally self-assured gesture of I say thee nai.

Thok-thok-thok-thok! Yeah, Edmund and Arthur would be totally proud of her sword-fighting skills here. Yup. And not cheating, with the telekinesis! No!

Considering it, maybe.

A smirk spread across Jak's face as he fought back, meeting every blow with a parry. ... He wasn't much of a swordfighter, but he knew how to keep someone from poking him with a small stick. While, as it turned out, poking her ankle again.

"Hey!" Dinah yelped again, laughing, trying to kick back, then giving up on restraint and poking him in the side with one finger. And TK from the other side. She stopped abruptly when a waiter wandered by, giving them a look, then collapsed into giggles on Jak's shoulder.

Heeeey--

Oh. Hey.

Still a little confused (and looking the part) by the sudden onslaught of poking there, Jak still wasn't in bad enough shape to take that as an excuse to slip his arm around her shoulders. Nope.

I win, he announced. ... Mostly because he'd managed to keep a straight face.

Hey! Dinah protested back, then, I was trying to be mature! Sort of. Would've been more convincing if she wasn't still giggling.

Arm around the shoulder? Oh. That was... nice. Warm. Aaaaand now there was blushing, and tilting her head into his shoulder as she said, Re-match when you don't expect it. You just wait.

I'll be ready, he told her, with a smug tilt of his eyebrows and an equally smug twirl of a chopstick.

Just one, though. The other laid abandoned on his side of the table.

At least until it floated up to tap against his, tap-tock-thok!

Look ma, no hands!

Ching Tai, Friday Evening

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