fandomtownies | J,GoB, Saturday Afternoon

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J,GoB, Saturday Afternoon

Natalie had not really expected the week's work to come to an abrupt halt because of this reason, but she wasn't complaining. About that anyway. Not about Lilith's presence, or ensuing surprise trip to Fandom. About something else, though.

"This town is awful for brunches," she noted as they surveyed what was on offer at J,Gob. her tone had a mildness that didn't betray how nice it was to be saying that to people who probably really agreed.

[ooc: Nat is here with her AU family, but this post is open for all your pastry needs!]

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Peter stuck out his tongue expressively. "You'd think they'd have at least one decent brunch restaurant in this place," he said, "Just to exploit the whole small-town-on-an-island vibe of the place. Perfect for pretentious start-ups."

Who did great food.

"I guess they're deterred by all the odd weather and invasions," Lilith remarked. She wasn't being very expressive about her distaste for what J,GoB had to offer, but there was just the slightest wrinkling on her nose.

"Fandom's not very into brunch, anyway," Natalie added. "Most of the eating is handwaved as it is, so there's not much need for something between breakfast and lunch."

"Hey, the odd weather and the invasions could be the hook. The entertainment," Peter said. "Come to eat brunch with us, and we'll turn you into a pony for free."

He waved his hand vaguely towards the tables, because he wasn't sure what a handwave was, but he could do one.

"Not that kind of handwave," Lilith and Natalie replied half in unison. Lilith was the first to actually move towards the tables in question. "I'd rather not turn into a pony on this visit."

"Well, this one usually isn't a two-fer, if I remember right," Peter said, unperturbed. He grabbed a seat and sank into it. "But hey, maybe just to mess with us, it's going to pull out the ponies tomorrow. I'm just glad there's no paparazzi on the island."

Edited 2015-04-11 20:03 (UTC)

"The lack of paparazzi is always preferable," Lilith noted as she took her seat next to him. Natalie sat down across from them. "But unless they came from Mom's world, I doubt they'd make the connection between us and the ponies."

"Hey, I wouldn't put it past them to spy on us at an unfortunate time and connect the dots," Peter said easily. He leaned over a little. "But banter aside, how are you doing, kid? How's school? Or work?"

Please say work.

"Everything's going great," said Lilith, who knew what he wanted to hear and who could also be at least as much of a pain as the two of them combined when it came to questions that left room for an imprecise answer. "Nothing you're not proud of."

"I haven't heard an answer that noncommittal since someone asked the President of Uzbekistan if she was planning to send in troops to secure Turkmenistan," Peter said, pulling a face.

"Don't make that face, it's your own fault," Natalie told him with a raised eyebrow.

Lilith gave a quiet snort. "This from the woman who once kept everyone under suspense for three weeks about her attendance at an event," she said. "So skillfully noncommittal that no one actually dared to ask for clarification for fear of being rude."

"And it's hardly my fault Nabieva lied to me about the troop deployments," Peter added, just to be clever.

"She's going to roll her eyes now," Lilith warned him. Far too amused in her own quiet way.

Natalie... rolled her eyes.

Dammit.

Peter laughed. "It is like clockwork," he teased. "So, what do we want to get in this clearly inferior pastry shop?"

"I'll have a croissant," Lilith said, with a brief glance towards the counter. "With jam, if it's not factory-made." Small pleasures. "Mom?"

Natalie shrugged. "I think I'll have the same."

"For such a critical family, we are pretty easy," Peter said. "Sure nobody wants to order a soy mocha latte with extra teeth rot?"

"Being critical makes us prioritize better," Lilith replied. "Or to buy our soy mocha lattes where we know they'll be made with enough care to be worth the trouble."

"She's not wrong," Natalie noted with a barely perceptible nod. "I only have one place in Ribeirao Preto I trust to make my complicated orders. However, I think I might like a hot chocolate here."

That was probably not inspired by the way she was watching Lilith. But that was happening too. She couldn't help it.

"Fine, now that you've reasoned out your choices, I'm appeased," Peter said.

Not that he'd intended for that to be a lesson, or anything, but he could fake it for his own amusement.

Then he wandered over to the counter to place their orders.

While they gossiped about him!

Or exchanged a few quiet observations about him while they idly watched him at the counter. Nothing very big or significant. Lilith remarked on how young he looked; Natalie countered with how that was stating the obvious.

They both agreed he didn't look bad, though. It wasn't an appraisal of his looks, but of his body language, the way he carried himself.

Peter returned to them a few minutes later, bearing plates with some croissants and two small bowls of real jam sitting alongside.

He was smiling at them as he approached; he didn't really know why, but there seemed something really right about the scene.

"And here I return, the pack mule," he sighed, "Bringing bread and wine for my two favorite women. Well, metaphorically speaking. At least one of you shouldn't be drinking alcohol."

He set the plate sdown.

Lilith made a show of slowly raising an eyebrow. "Mom's pregnant?" she asked, in a perfect deadpan. "It's way too early for that."

She was poking fun at them, in case they couldn't tell.

"Are you 21?" Peter asked dryly. "Did the island send me my fully-grown daughter by mistake?"

"Is Mom 21?" Lilith retorted without missing a beat.

Natalie raised a mildly curious eyebrow at Peter. "Am I?" she asked. "Do you know?"

"No, unless you've been skipping more time in Canada than I thought," Peter said, sinking back into his seat. "But the drinking age in Brazil is 18, so that doesn't matter."

Natalie looked quietly pleased at that. She'd been mostly joking, but it was still nice to know

"She lets me have wine with dinner," Lilith noted as she reached for her croissant. "I don't actually like it that much."

"Stop smiling," Peter told Natalie, "And stop feeding our daughter drunk. It's terrible parenting."

He was joking.

"I'm not smiling."

"By most people standards," Lilith corrected her. Her mother had never really become a very frequent smiler. At least not in ways that weren't meant to intimidate people into doing her bidding.

Natalie rolled her eyes. "Eat your croissant."

"There's Natalie Neutral Disapproving, there's Natalie Neutral, and then there's Natalie Neutral Smiling," Peter said, before taking a bite out of his own croissant. "That was definitely the latter."

"So I only have three expressions?"

This was definitely Natalie Neutral Disapproving

"It's more of a spectrum," Peter said, "But those are the most frequently-seen touch stones. For example, there's Natalie Neutral + 2, or Natalie Neutral -2..."

He was smirking only a little bit.

"There are a few ones for very special occasions, too," Lilith said, helping. Totally helping. "Special editions. 'Natalie Neutral Calmly Proud' is one."

Well. Not Natalie. But anyway.

"See?" Peter said. "A whole range of expressions. Neutral ones."

He meant this with love, Nat.

Sometimes this was what passed for affection. Lilith looked amused, but devoted some quiet time to eating her croissant. The jam was quite good.

"Both of you should become comedians," Natalie remarked dryly.

"We love you too, Nat," Peter said, grinning.

This situation left him feeling strangely relaxed.

"So, what do we want to do when we're done here? Any thoughts, Lilith?"

"What do they have here?" Lilith asked, with a tilt of her head that stood in for a shrug. "I would usually go for important cultural sites, but they don't really have any here, do they?"

And she'd already seen where her parents had met, so.

"We could take you for a walk in the Abandoned Warehouse District," Peter said, sounding very amused with himself. "Can you believe they have one of those? Why doesn't the island offer tax benefits to film productions yet? I mean, we have all the basic sets around here."

"Because the monetary benefit would not be big enough to compensate for the trouble of getting an invasion in the middle of production," Natalie replied dryly. "Well, unless they were doing something loaded with implausible effects anyway."

"Lucas Lee might be interested," Lilith noted idly. While making a mental note of that idea.

"... Why does that name sound familiar?"

Because you once lived through a Fandom weekend where you were older and married to him, Nat. That's why.

Peter pulled a face.

"Sounds like a stage name."

[[ what is it with LJ not putting through my pings today? ]]

"No, as far as I can tell, it's his real name." Well, as real as any of their names were. "He's a skateboarder turned actor. Won a few Oscars."

She only knew this because of the entertainment industry being half the family thing. Her interest was... business oriented, really.

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J,GoB, Saturday Afternoon

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