Luke's, Thursday

[betterthanaplan]

Duke had spent far too much time yesterday worrying that Eve really was going to end up going psycho on Lucifer and locking him in a sex dungeon. Or that Lucifer was going to otherwise fuck up the whole "how to do I break up with someone" thing and blame Duke for it, which seemed maybe a lot more likely.

Either way, it had eaten up way too much of his brainspace for the last 24 hours, and he was refusing to think about it anymore.

Which might be how he'd managed to convince himself it was a good idea to try 82 different recipes for shrimp today.

Today's specials
CATCH OF THE DAY!
All-you-can-eat shrimp bar
please
for the love of god
someone come and eat all this shrimp

Luke's was open.

Comments

[mother_forker]

Like a siren's call to sailors, a shrimp special brought in one particular island inhabitant.

"Oooooooooh. Come to mama," Eleanor said walking in and embracing the 'Today's Specials' sign as if it were a lover in need of comfort.

[betterthanaplan]

[♥]

"You, uh. You need some time alone there?"

[mother_forker]

Eleanor gave the sign a soft lingering kiss and then a loving pat before turning to the hippie pirate.

"I'm good," she said happily. "I will have the shrimp special please."

Yes. There were 82 kinds of shrimp. That was not stopping her.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke waved her towards the buffet set up on the lunch counter. "Go nuts."

He was only a little bit aware of the chaos he was inviting into his diner with this special.

[mother_forker]

Have you ever seen someone try to eat their weight in shrimp, Duke? We'll you are seeing it now. The girl in question is piling shrimp dish on top of shrimp dish onto the plate that was in danger of tipping over at any minute.

"Do you have larger plates?" she asked, not even bothering to worry about the mismatch of flavors going on there.

[betterthanaplan]

It was like watching a too-tall boat try to pass under a major commuter bridge. It could only end in tears, but Duke couldn't tear his eyes away.

"I mean. I guess you could use one of the servers' platters?"

The servers, it should be noted, were wildly gesturing for him to shut up.

[mother_forker]

The servers, no doubt, were probably on good terms with Tino.

She turned to the servers, still smiling in delight. "I'll have the shrimp special platter, please!" she called out. "And a margarita. And... another margarita."

[betterthanaplan]

"How old are you?" Duke asked.

Not because he'd refuse to get her a margarita. He might refuse to get her two, though.

[mother_forker]

"Twenty-one," she said proudly. "I'd show you my ID but this pile of shrimp is-"

One tiny garlic lemon shrimp started to fall off the plate. Eleanor caught it and shoved in her mouth.

"- Whoop. Could end up on the floor if I go for my pocket."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke looked like he regretted every decision he'd ever made.

"Well. I suppose you'll have plenty in your stomach to absorb the alcohol."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia came in with considerably less enthusiasm than Eleanor.

In fact, she took one look at the specials board, another at the shrimp bar, and just said, "Why."

[betterthanaplan]

"Your boyfriend is trying to cook away his feelings," Greg said. He'd given up on actually cooking anything today.

"That's -- yeah, pretty much it," Duke said after a moment. He wiped his hands on a dish towel. "Ha yun, gona?"

[okteiviakom]

"Ha yun, jaka," Octavia replied, her eyebrows still just barely raised. "Do I want to know which feelings?"

[betterthanaplan]

"Probably not."

He hadn't told her about his conversation with Lucifer yesterday. He figured it would just rile her up all over again.

"How's it going? You, uh. Want some shrimp?"

[okteiviakom]

Not knowing wasn't that much better, as Octavia was immediately finding out.

But she pushed on. "It doesn't look like I have a choice," she rasped. "Where did you even get all the shrimp?"

[betterthanaplan]

"Caught it this morning, mostly. Whole giant school of them out by the causeway. And . . . some has been in the freezer for a really long time." He looked over at Eleanor and her giant pile. "That one doesn't seem to care about the difference, though."

[okteiviakom]

"Fresh is better," Octavia said, although it sounded more like repeating something she'd heard than it did her honest opinion. "I'll take some."

[betterthanaplan]

"Coming right up."

Duke was kind of curious what Eleanor would do when he served someone else up a plate from the buffet.

[okteiviakom]

Why would you ever knowingly inflict your snogon on anyone, Duke?

Octavia shrugged, then went to take a seat, not... quite at the opposite end of the diner from Eleanor, but close.

[betterthanaplan]

Because he could be a bad, bad man.

Duke loaded up a plate -- much more selectively than Eleanor had -- and brought it over for her. He sat down across from her and picked out one of the shrimp with a fork.

"Omongo oson?"

Well. He almost got the phrase right.

[mother_forker]

The girl in the corner with a plate piled with shrimp waved at the woman who could probably break Eleanor in half.

"It's okay!" she called out with her mouth full of shrimp. "Don't bother to order any. I'll eat it all."

Or die trying.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia glanced over, looking simultaneously wary and unimpressed.

"... Sure."

[mother_forker]

Excellent. That look was all Eleanor needed. "More shrimp for me," she sang, stuffing a mixture of the 82 flavors currently being served into her mouth.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia gave her another second's worth of a flat look.

And then almost immediately ordered her own plate.

[mother_forker]

Oh. So it was going to be like that Octavia?

As soon as Octavia ordered the shrimp special all joy left Eleanor’s eyes. And her thoughts were just very simple.

Mother. Forker.

Her eyes went back and forth between the buffet and Octavia to see how much of her shrimp Octavia was going to eat.