Luke's Diner, Thursday

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Hardison hadn't been at Luke's much during the semester; he'd taught on Thursdays and that had kinda killed his groove for popping for lunch. But now that the semester was over and he wasn't teaching anything anymore, he figured it was time to pick it back up again. Besides, being in town was a great way to see some folks who didn't hang out up at the castle regularly.

Grabbing a sketchpad--it didn't feel right not to do some art on Thursdays now--Hardison settled into a booth and started sketching out a few random still-lifes out of silverware, napkins, and the odd dish. The staff watched him for a few minutes and then hastily conferred amongst themselves. A few minutes later, they were putting up a whole new specials board.

Today's Specials
Carpaccio, named for Vittore Carpaccio
The Chipotle Sweet Potato Eaters, named for Van Gogh's The Potato Eaters
Bellinis, named for

Honestly, Hardison had no idea whether they were teasing him or offering support.

[No OCD]

Comments

[tigerundercover]

So. Raven had just bought a bar. For the price of a mated pair of loving alots. She took enough time to post a "to reopen under new management" sign in the window, then headed back through town riding a bit of a high from the moment.

The realities of actually running a business would hit her soon enough. For now, she was going to treat herself to a little snack and celebrate a little.

"Heya, teach," she greeted, when she saw Hardison was there, too. "How's it going?"

[geniuswithasmartphone]

She and Kathy could bond over the 'Oh fuck now I own a business say what?' sometime!

"Hey, TA!" Hardison said, looking up and grinning. "You're lookin' pretty cheerful today. What's up?"

[tigerundercover]

Kathy did a much better job of it than Raven ever would. Raven would probably end up relying heavily on the very low cost of living in Fandom.

But that was fine, as long as she still got to destroy a bunch of holographic foreign spies on the regular.

"And I'm even being social," Raven said. "I just bought my first business."

Were you proud of her, Hardison? She learned impulse-buying real estate from you! Sort of.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Kathy was a lot more Type-A than Raven ever could be.

"You did?" Hardison asked. "Yo, congrats!" He held his fist out for a bump. "We should toast or somethin'! You want a bellini? We should toast with bellinis!"

Okay, Hardison just really liked bellinis. "I was about your age when I bought my first, too. What you get?"

[tigerundercover]

Raven proudly bumped fists with him, beaming. "Bellinis are good! And some of those sweet potato things." You couldn't hunt sweet potatoes out on the preserve, no. "Do you know Quark's? It's over near where you guys live. Apparently he just noticed that Fandom has enough bars already and is calling it quits, so bought it off of him. Mostly for the holosuites." A beat. "Yeah, entirely for the holosuites."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Hardison perked up as he waved one of the waitstaff over. "Holosuites?" he asked. "I like holosuites."

[tigerundercover]

"Right? I could not let him leave with those things. I'm thinking maybe I'll close down the bar and just run the suite rental. Call it, like, 'Holosweet'."

No. Wait. That was terrible.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Think you need to workshop that a little more," Hardison said, as the bellinis were brought to them. He handed one to Raven, then held up the other. "Still, yo. To your very own business. That's somethin' to be proud of."

[throughaphase]

Okay fine, maybe it was turning into more than a weekly visit here.

“I feel like I’m interrupting something,” she said.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"I'm just sketchin'," Hardison said, gesturing for Kitty to join him. "I don't know what those jokers are doin'. I never know what they're doin'."

And probably for the best!

"C'mere an' settle in, though. Good to see you! Bellini?"

[throughaphase]

“I would if I could. Just The Kitty for me,” she said, and then added, “The staff knows what that is.”

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Not drinkin' after the whole weekend debacle?" Hardison asked.

Sure, he knew there were other reasons women didn't--couldn't--drink, but it seemed rude to just leap to that one. Especially after a weekend of alcohol-induced trauma.

"The Kitty--is that the peanut butter pancake thing I heard staff talkin' about?" Which, okay, that did bring other possibilities that much closer to the forefront, huh. "I didn't know it was named for Kitty the person."

[throughaphase]

“Uh, not drinking after the baby thing.” Yep, still weird to say after this long of not saying it. “And now I have to ask if you thought the pancakes were named for an actual cat?”

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Well, I know that dogs like peanut butter, so I just figured--" Hardison stopped, a slow smile creeping over his face. "Did you say baby?"

[tigerundercover]

"Thank you," Raven said, and clinked her glass against his with great dignity. "It's kind of an excuse to keep having my favorite outlet. But I'm still proud."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Yo, I bought more expensive things for less reason," Hardison admitted.

Not that he knew that Raven's price has been a pair of mated alots, he just knew the economy of the island.

"You got every reason to be proud, TA. Hell, I'm proud an' I ain't even involved!"

[tigerundercover]

"That's good, because I'm probably going to hit you up to be repair guy if these things break down." She had gotten reasonably good at programming holo-tech, but repairing it was a whole other story.

[throughaphase]

“I did. Goes hand in hand with the peanut butter pancakes,” Kitty smiled.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Yo, for a chance to poke around in that tech an' see how it works, I'd do it for free," Hardison declared. "I spent years wantin' to do that with the Danger Shop, but it goes crazy often enough without someone messin' with it."

[tigerundercover]

"Deal," Raven said. "But if it goes crazy and tries to kill us, I expect you and Mr. Spencer to help fight off the evil robots."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Which are startin' to make a lot more sense, yeah," Hardison said, waving one of the staff over to given them the order. "A'ight, so can I ask how far along you are? Just find out or been sittin' on the news a little bit."

Hardison had enough foster siblings to understand why a lot of women chose to wait a while before making the grand announcement.

"Also, who's throwin' you a shower? That been claimed yet? Is it Tony?" Dammit, Tony!

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Like you could keep Eliot away," Hardison snorted. "He'd be there, havin' the time of his life, an' arguin' with me about the Three Laws of Robotics. He'd probably pay you, just for givin' him the opportunity to say 'I told you so.'"

[tigerundercover]

"Really," Raven said, looking thoughtful. "I'm going to have to keep that in mind."

Someone was definitely pondering a "fight evil robots" event at her new business, yes. Which would be called "the Holo-Scene!"

Maybe not.

[throughaphase]

“Definitely not far enough to have thought about a shower. Though if you want claim, you can have it.” And then she didn’t need to think about it, yay! “Just about to hit the second trimester. I had to tell people back home to set up certain appointments so might as well start telling everyone else.”

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Just...you know, gotta workshop that a little more. Maybe get a naming committee going to vote on her ideas and help brainstorm.

"You know," Hardison said, mind going along similar lines, "you could do whatever you wanted for a grand opening. One big event in one room. An event spread across several rooms so people can try a little bit of everything. Theme nights. Whatever. Sky's your limit, TA."