fandomtownies | Luke's, Thursday

Priestly was all set to move to New Gotham. He'd found himself an apartment, with two roommates who seemed like decent enough people and didn't look like his identical twins. One that even allowed exotic pets, so Stevesie wouldn't have to be abandoned to Dean's tender mercies. He had his class schedule for the fall semester, and a list of books and supplies to buy once he was settled in. He'd even managed to line up a couple interviews at local restaurants to work as a line cook and support himself through all of this crazy class-taking business. His financial aid paperwork was in order. His collection of novelty t-shirts was sorted and packed. His friends in Santa Cruz had all his new address information, and he'd confirmed that his cellphone would still work even when he was living in Dinah's dimension on a permanent basis.

He'd taken care of everything.

Except for one tiny detail.

"Fuck, who's going to run this place when I leave?"

The cook raised his hand. "I'll do it."

"Absolutely not."

The busboy shrugged, looking embarassed. "I have a BA in restaurant management."

Priestly stared at him. ". . . Seriously?"

"I'm thinking of applying to Harvard's business school for a masters."

Priestly shook his head. "Well you can't do it, then, you're going to leave at some point, too."

The dishwasher looked around. "Don't look at me. I hate responsibility."

And then Eliot came in, carrying a crate full of summer squash. Priestly quirked an eyebrow thoughtful, then nodded. Eliot stared back at him.

"What?"

"Eliot," Priestly said. "Eliot, Eliot, Eliot. You seem like a guy who knows a thing or two about running a business. Also, about being terrifying, which'll help the next time this place gets attacked by zombies."

"No."

"You'll get to decide on all the ingredients for everything yourself."

"Do you know how many restaurants fail?"

"It's, like, impossible to go bankrupt in this town."

". . . Point." Eliot looked around the restaurant. He could do worse. And he'd get to plan a menu, again. "Okay, I'll do it."

The cook and the dishwasher cheered. The busboy sulked in the corner.

Today's specials
Five alarm beef-and-bean chili
Fried okra
Whoopie pies

Luke's was open.

[this is Prieslty's last Luke's post before going onto alumni status. And it is OCD freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

*riiiiing*

Because someone is really hoping the move will go well.

"My busboy wants an MBA from Harvard," Priestly said.

"Hello" was for chumps. With no caller ID.

"He's not asking you for a loan, is he?" Dinah asked, sounding skeptical. "Or is he just looking for a reference?"

"Nah, it just . . . came up in conversation." When Priestly didn't turn over diner management to him. "So how is my soon-to-be city of residence?"

"At the moment, a little slow because of a heat wave... which, uh, may make air-conditioning hard to guarantee outside the tower." Dinah winced a little, but said brightly, "But on an up-side, plenty of tourists to save?"

". . . Am I about to move into a city with no air conditioning?"

He was better at heat than cold, sure, but there were limits!

"Noooo! No. Nope. There is air conditioning!" In many many places. "Also, a bay. And a water park."

Look, try to see the positive here, Priestly.

"Okay. Just, you know, Stevesie gets cranky when he's overheated."

Priestly was absolutely just thinking about his poor red panda, here.

"If worse comes to worst, you guys can move into the Tower for a bit, if, you know. Something happens."

Like a brown-out. Or an insane power takeover for A/C by any one of Gotham's weirdo contingent.

"Nothing looking like it's going to sabotage the move? Did you decide who to hand off the manager job to yet?"

"I, uh," Priestly said. "Gave it to Eliot, actually."

That's right, Dinah, the guy who killed alternate you.

"...hunh." Dinah sounded thoughtful. "Did not see that coming. I mean, it's just... not the first thing I'd think of, around him..."

"He actually seems pretty competent," Priestly said. "I mean, terrifying, but competent."

"Well, and the terrifying will help both with your cooks, and Fandom," Dinah said, her voice stronger. "And obviously he's not an assassin-for-hire outside of some noir weekend. He was cool with inheriting the place?"

"He tried to refuse on the grounds that most restaurants go bankrupt really fast. So I pointed out that people in this town can work one day a week and stay perfectly flush with cash."

"Very, very true." Dinah refrained from asking him if he REALLY wanted to move to New Gotham again. She might try to be unselfish, but she wanted him in her city, and if he hated it... well. They'd probably re-hire him in Fandom. "So yay! That was the last thing to take care of, wasn't it? Did you need me to do anything else before you got here?"

It wouldn't be the first false start he'd made in this life. He was starting to form the opinion that life was just kind of made up of false starts. Or rather, that there were no false starts, just various life episodes.

"Nothing springs to mind. Unless you want to do background checks on my new roommates to make sure they're not crazy villainous types."

Don't do background checks on his new roommates. That would be creepy. ~~Also, his mun didn't know who they were, yet.~~

"I could do that!... If you wanted me to." Dinah grimaced. "I still don't have a real job yet. Although at least I still get part-time work from Keys & Frame."

"If they start acting squirrelly, I may take you up on that."

"And I will be there, to squirrel after them... so Saturday, I show up with pizza and beer to help with the move-in at what time?"

"Early afternoon?" Priestly suggested. "I'm not going to bring a whole lot of stuff, so it shouldn't take too long. I figured I'd leave the futon for Dean."

And come back to visit and see if Dean noticed that he didn't have to sleep on the couch, any more.

"Good call," Dinah said very soberly. "He'd miss those knives. And your roommates probably want to buy you your first blackjack, anyway."

"Okay, I'm 90% sure you're joking, but -- that's not a thing in New Gotham, is it?"

Look, he hadn't really LIVED in a big American city, before. Santa Cruz didn't count.

Dinah snickered. "Totally messing with you. Better get used to it, if either of your roomies is a New Gotham native, they'll probably be pulling the same thing on you, you know that, right?"

"I'm trying to be mentally prepared. They've both lived there already, at least."

"And you've either been here for some of the crazy, or heard about it from me. I think you're as prepared as you're going to get," Dinah agreed. "I vote for the amusement park on Sunday, after you're all moved in and crap. And had time for a nap."

"So long as it's air conditioned," Priestly said. "Though I should probably make the rounds of the places I have interviews, too, get my face associated with the name."

"Yup," Dinah agreed. "Okay. Call me when you get in, and I'll see you on Saturday, ready to work. And not freak out your roommates too much."

"We should probably break them in gently."

Luke's, Thursday

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