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Luke's Diner, Thursday

The kitchen staff was in a snit when Hardison came in. Something about meatballs and the Isle of Ikea and some long-standing feud that Hardison was only hearing about for the first time. He tried explaining to them that he didn't need to hear about it at all, but the cook and the dishwasher cornered him in the kitchen for about twenty minutes making sure he knew exactly how much better Luke's meatballs were, until he promised to take home a plate or five and have his TA try them out.

He managed to make his escape when the staff was hunched over what looked like blueprints, muttering something about Operation Ikea.

Yeah, he definitely didn't want to know. He was just going to hang out in a booth and play some video games while he had lunch. Which was meatballs. Obviously.

Today's Specials
All meatballs, all the time!
Meatball Sub With Caramelized Onions
Spicy Mini-Meatball Grilled Cheese
Albondigas Stew
Pork Meatball Bánh Mì
Kimchi Tofu Meatball Stew
Chicken Parmesan Meatballs
Quinoa Meatball Sliders
Scallion Meatballs with Soy-Ginger Glaze
Mozarella-Stuffed Buffalo Chicken Meatballs
and yes,
Swedish Meatballs
~~BETTER THAN IKEA'S!!~~

Okay, so even though he was ignoring everything the staff was up to, this meatball sampler platter was dead on.

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Maybe you just wanna get your meatball on.

But not about your weird Ikea feud.

Well, that was a whole lot of meatballs. And enough variations that Goody was left a little at a loss as what to make of it.

"What's an Ikea?"

"Oh hey," Hardison said, looking up from his computer. "It's a furniture store for people who like buildin' their own from sets," he explained, flashing the newcomer with a friendly smile. "They also have meatballs for folks to eat which has gotten under the staff's skin for...some damn reason."

Hardison had no way to explain the staff's behavior on a normal day.

"I... see." He did not, but good manners were ingrained into his very soul.

"I'm mostly lookin' at it as a way to try new kinds meatballs," Hardison said. "I'mma have to tell Eliot about the kimchi meatball stew, it's off the chain."

And Eliot was big on Korean recipes right now.

"I'm Hardison, by the way. I don't think we've met?" He stood up and offered his hand. "Welcome to Luke's, if you ain't been before."

"Goodnight Robicheaux is my name," he replied, removing his hat and offering a hand. "Newly arrived with this school session."

"You a teacher then?" Hardison asked, giving Goodnight's hand a firm shake. "So's my partner, when he ain't runnin' this place. I taught a few semesters up at the school, might go back this summer if I find myself at loose ends. Whatcha teachin'?"

Were they 'close travelling companions'? Because Goody totally understood that term for it.

"History," he replied. "I bit less removed for me than the fine folks here. The war between the states."

Yes that. And also lovers.

"Ah," Hardison said slowly, his body language going a bit more guarded. "You from around then, huh?"

He wasn't going to ask Gray or Blue. He just wasn't.

Was it the accent that gave it away? Or the number of fleur-de-lis? One day he'd start wearing modern clothing, but only ones decorated with those.

"It was '79 last I knew. 1879, beg pardon. I do tend to forget there has been another of them since," he said, trying to keep up the geniality.

Hard to mistake Cajun as anything but. Especially if you'd ever properly been to Louisiana.

"Man, the twenty-first century must be somethin' of a culture shock," Hardison noted, his smile coming back a little at Goodnight's continued politeness. "You wanna sit down? You can even share my table if you want. The busboy'll be happy to come take your order if you're hungry. An' I can offer some input on the different options on offer today. They went a little far afield from what you might be used to."

"If it's no imposition," Goody replied, brightening up a bit. "I had been hoping to try the kimchi. A very good friend of mine would wax poetic about the stuff and I would be sorely remiss should I not give it a try when presented with the opportunity."

Somewhere... Billy was sighing and insisting he never did any of that. He'd be wrong.

"I have a feelin' that it's gonna be on the menu a lot more," Hardison said, smile getting broader as he shifted his laptop off the table and gestured for Goody to take a seat. "One of our old students just got back to the island--" highly sanitized way to put it, but Hardison wasn't going to explain the whole thing "--an' moved upstairs. Her family's Korean, so she grew up on the stuff. For me, it's more of an acquired taste."

Well, that kept from breaking the poor, poor cowboy's brain.

"Thank you kindly," Goody said, taking he offered seat. "Mr. Rocks came over from the very same place. I gather there are more people here now than my time."

Hardison tried to be thoughtful that way.

"Oh yeah," Hardison said. "In 1965, Congress struck down the racist immigration laws purposely blocked East Asian immigration to the States an' the numbers jumped. I think Kathy said there's somethin' like a million Korean immigrants these days?"

I have been catching up on these things," Goody said brightly. "I will have to add that to my list of things to read. A young Miss Gratuity at the library was kind enough to point me in the right direction with this internet."

Which was still wild to him as he said the word with both delicacy and enthusiasm. Because he was an old maaaan.

"Oh, you already know about the internet?" Look at Hardison perk up right there, Goody, look at him. Good on you, Gratuity. "Yo, anyone hook you up with a computer yet? It'll make usin' the net a lot easier than tryna use a phone or a public one."

"Once I learned a school teacher is paid far more than I believed--" Because inflation, Goody. Not because they were paid their worth. "--I was able to buy a phone. I can't imagine I'd need my own computer, though."

One day he'd learn about a tablet and go nuts on the books.

Err, yeah, about that. Hardison debated trying to explain that he wasn't getting paid nearly as much as he thought he was, then decided to hold off on that chat. As long as Goodnight stayed on the island, he'd be okay.

"Well, the invitation's open if you ever change your mind," Hardison said. "I've got a bunch--computers are pretty much my thang, you know what I mean. So I gotta coupla spare ones for folks if they don't have one of their own."

"I am quite pleased with my phone. Though this Siri doesn't seem to like my accent very much," he joked.

Poor, poor Siri. So confused by it.

Edited 2017-02-09 19:03 (UTC)

"See now, if Siri'd ever had a proper gumbo or beignet, maybe she'd work harder on understandin' what you're sayin," Hardison joked back.

"You, young man, may be my very best friend here," Goody replied with a laugh.

Faraday's heart was broken.

Hardison was less likely to drink all of Goody's booze!

"My Nana did a lot of soul food cookin' while I was growin' up, stuff she learned down South. If I don't get jambalaya every coupla months or so, I'm liable to get cranky."

And, fortunately, his boyfriend was good at making it. "Yo, sometime when Eliot's here, you should ask him for a little taste of home. He knows his way around the kitchen."

Faraday couldn't help it. He'd been raised by wolves. Drunken, drunken wolves.

"I will be certain to return and ask after him," Goody promised. "I must admit I haven't been back to Louisiana for some time. The west held far more lure from me before arriving here."

"So is it true, what all the movies say?" Hardison asked. "The lure of the wild an' the freedom an' alla that?"

"Well, I can't speak for any movies as it only seen the one so far." And, to be fair, it'd actually been a short cartoon. "But there is something awful lovely about the silence spaces between the frontier towns."

"Yeah, you sound like Eliot," Hardison said with a laugh. "Give me the hustle an' bustle of a city any day."

In the country they still used dial-up.

It probably didn't help that the most high tech thing around was the telegraph. Hardison would go a little nuts out there.

"I will kindly leave the cities to you then." Goody replied cheerfully. "They certainly smell better now."

Ah, proper drainage and plumbing.

And hygiene in general!

"Too kind," Hardison said genially. "An' you can have my fair share of wide open plains an' purple mountain majesties an' alla that. Y'know, just to be fair."

"Most of the ones I've seen are just dusty," Goody confided. "West of the Rockies... bit dry."

Understatement.

Well, now I'm hungry!

I have totally made that Swedish meatball recipe! Like, that specific one from that webpage.

It's very tasty. But I didn't have any lingonberry jam so I can't quite say it was better than Ikea's.

Mmmm, lingonberry jam. That might be a decent argument for actually getting off my ass and GOING to Ikea!

I may have to go this weekend. I need that stuffed cactus.

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Luke's Diner, Thursday

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