The deck of the Cape Rouge, Port of Fandom, Saturday morning

[betterthanaplan]

Mornings when Duke wasn't working, he liked to take things slowly, especially when they were sunny and cool. Today was no different; he had his usual spot on his bench on the deck, his feet propped on a crate as he sipped his coffee and read his book. The breeze was blowing, the seagulls were cawing -- and he wasn't one of them -- and everything was alright in his world, despite the handful of bumps from last night.

It wasn't destined to last. He knew that. So he was going to enjoy it while he had it.

[open!]

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[outof_trouble]

It definitely wasn't going to last.

Jean made a beeline for the port when she noticed the island had one. She'd always been fascinated with boats, ever since she heard that her bio-dad had lived on one. But growing up in Nebraska meant she didn't usually get to see them. Just when she went to visit Uncle Nathan and Aunt Paige in Maine.

"There's only one boat?" she yelled when she got to the boardwalk. "What a crock!"

[betterthanaplan]

"You're preaching to the choir, kid," Duke said, looking up from his book. "You a new student or did the island turn people into children again?"

[outof_trouble]

"The island turns people into children?" Jean looked over her shoulder at the quaint little town. "Is this place troubled? I didn't think those happened anymore but I did get here through a thinny. . . ."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke's head jerked up at the word "troubled". "Most people say no," he said slowly, setting his book aside and getting to his feet to get a better look at the kid. "But I figure the jury's still out. You know about troubles?"

[outof_trouble]

Jean shrugged, poking at the gangplank with her feet. "I heard about them from my uncle. He said -- holy crackers!" Her jaw dropped open when she got a good look at the boat guy. He looked just like the photos at Uncle Nathan's house. "Are you a Crocker?!"

[betterthanaplan]

Duke closed his eyes and sighed. Of course the new kid was from Haven. And probably full up on stories of how terrible his family was. "Yeah." He waved. "Duke Crocker. Nice to meet you."

[outof_trouble]

"Nuh uh."

[betterthanaplan]

"Yuh huh," Duke said automatically. "I'm pretty sure I'd know that better than you do, kid."

[outof_trouble]

Jean rolled her eyes. "Why would two of you be named Duke? You're too old to be named after my dad."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke pointed at her, his moth open to respond. No words came out.

Except, eventually, "nuh uh."

[outof_trouble]

"Yuh huh," Jean said. "You're like . . . fifty or whatever."

[betterthanaplan]

"I'm thirty-three!" Duke shook his head. "What are you, six?"

[outof_trouble]

"I'm ten. And three quarters."

[seingeda]

Vanessa had also made a beeline for the port, but with a few crucial differences. One, she'd already known there was one, because this was far from being her first visit to Fandom. Two, she didn't care how many boats were there because this one was the only one that mattered. Also, okay, her beeline had involved a little detour around the park, but that was beside the point. She'd had to go say hi to the flamingos!

Which was clearly the reason for why there seemed to be a leaf stuck in her hair, now that she made her way aboard.

"Home sweet rust bucket! Found you!"

(Octavia, for her part, was still out cold in Duke's bedroom. She'd slept like garbage during the night and had simply rolled over into the middle of the bed when Duke had gotten up. Sorry, Duke.)

[betterthanaplan]

Duke was planning to let her sleep as long as possible.

The arrival of another child might be shortening that time frame.

"Hey now. That's my rusty bucket you're talking about."

He'd worry about the 'home' part of her sentence later.

[seingeda]

Vanessa rolled her eyes. With, like, her entire upper half. "Rusty on the outside, cooozy on the inside, duh," she said. "'S not an insult, nontu."

[outof_trouble]

Jean perked up from where she'd been poking around some crates on the deck. "What's a nontu?" she asked. "Is that a bad word?"

Jean loved bad words. Though she was always careful where she used them. Way too many people had taken responsibility for parenting her after her dad died saving the world.

[seingeda]

Vanessa frowned at the other girl, then went right ahead with ignoring the question in favor of raising her eyebrows at Duke.

"Chon dison bilaik?"

She may have inherited some of her dad's body language, but also sadly all of her mom's manners.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke was getting that sinking feeling again.

"Jean," he said (they'd gotten around to proper introductions eventually). "Apparently a daughter from the future." He took a deep breath and tilted his head. "Chon yu bilaik?"

"What language is that?" Jean asked, frowning. "Why do you two have a secret language?!"

[seingeda]

Vanessa squared her shoulders. In fact, she looked vaguely like she was preening. "Ai laik Vanessa kom Floukru," she said brightly. Then wrinkled her nose. "Though the schools always make me write down Blake."

There was nothing wrong with being a Blake, but it just wasn't them, you know?

[betterthanaplan]

"Uh huh." Duke nodded. "That's what I thought you were going to say." What even was his life anymore? "So, uh. I'm guessing I'm not dead where you're from?"

Please don't tell him he was dead in her . . . whatever . . . too.

"What's going on?" Jean asked. "Did you fake your death to go have another family?"

[seingeda]

"Hey!" Vanessa protested. "He hasn't faked his death anywhere!"

A beat.

"Probably."

Look, they weren't the most lawful of families, and she'd grown up on (heavily edited) tales of her dad's previous adventures.

[betterthanaplan]

"Not deliberately, anyway." Duke ran his hand through his hair. "Right, so. You two are . . . half-sisters, I guess. And it is too early for me to start drinking yet."

[seingeda]

Vanessa looked scandalized. "Dison nou bilaik ai sis!"

No, of course it hadn't been about the prospect of daydrinking.

"Dison seintaim nou get Trig in. And I don't care that it's a Fandom thing."

[outof_trouble]

"Dison doesn't like you talking about me like I'm not here! Even in a language I don't know!"

Look, aptitude with languages was totally a heritable trait.

"Yeah, you two are definitely not sisters," Duke said, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, I'm going to need to get Octavia for this. Try not to murder each other for a minute, yeah?"