Mischievous Function

Partners in Crime

Meanwhile...

"PFFFT! HA-HA-HA!"

Honey doubled over cackling and pressed one hand to the wall, tears of laughter streaking from her eyes as she momentarily forgot how to breathe. "THAT WAS HER?!" she wheezed.

Turbine rolled his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose as he shut his eyes, letting out a low groan. "I...guess so," he muttered. "Geez, a lot really can change in twenty years, huh?"

"DUDE!" she exclaimed, still laughing and barely able to keep herself standing. "And you diss me for drawing furry porn? SHE'S A FUCKING WEEB!"

He let out a long, drawn-out, disappointed sigh as they continued their stroll along the sidewalk. It was the middle of the night, and they'd decided to wait until now to get dinner to reduce the chances of them being recognized. Now, however, he was starting to regret it—she had felt free to talk his ear off without anyone around her to pressure her into shutting up via social convention.

Honey continued her insulting ramble and insufferable cackling, but Turbine had tuned her out at this point. He began to shudder lightly as a sweeping gust of wind blew over them. "Little chilly out here, isn't it..." he muttered as he shoved his hands deeper into his pockets.

Turbine glanced around the parking lot and let out a silent sigh, trying to keep his mind off the frigid breeze. His eyes idly scanned the sidewalk and some of the whirling weeds around him before they drifted up and fell on a few random constellations, and he found herself tracing imaginary paths along the brightest of the stars. One in particular piqued his curiosity; although it appeared to be a simple pentagon at first, the two right edges seemed to have been "blown open", with the top right edge swinging over the top vertex toward the left side and the bottom right edge having been elongated and forced away from the top vertex.

Before he could reflect on it any longer, however, Honey pointed at the restaurant doors and said, "Here we are. I wonder what they have—oh, hey. Look."

She nudged his arm and pointed at a folding table on the sidewalk, near the parking lot. Turbine flicked his gaze over to where she was pointing and spotted two pieces of decorative pottery, each adorned with a typical dragon's likeness. To others, they were just normal decorations to celebrate the winter and eventually the new year—but he and Honey had been in this business long enough to notice that one of the dragon's eyes looked slightly different.

"Well, that's one place to hide a security camera," he muttered. "Makes you wonder why they need it."

She scoffed and crossed her arms. "Probably so they can catch siblings or something trying to take advantage of their couple winter deal, or something. You know food places love to do those kinds of things during the winter."

He let out a light smirk and shook his head. "Okay, I can act, but I'm not stooping that low with you."

"Aw, come on!" she pouted. "Don't I look like enough of a catch?"

"What you look like," he pointed out with a scoff, "is twenty years younger than me—because you are. And if I'm gonna go to jail, it's not gonna be because of that. I still have standards, you know."

"I'm still an adult, dude," she stated flatly. "I'm in my mid...mid-twenties—holy shit, I'm old..."

She suddenly looked down at her body and patted her torso down with a genuinely worried expression as Turbine stifled a laugh. "You ain't seen old yet, new stuff. Wait till you have a kid."

"Ah, yes, seems to have done wonders for you," she snickered.

Ding-ding.

The door's bell rang as a stranger began to walk out the door, holding a to-go bag containing some to-go boxes. When he saw the two of them, he smiled at them and stepped out of the way to hold the door open. "Coming in?"