Deck of the Cape Rouge, Port of Fandom, Sunday afternoon

[betterthanaplan]

So after yesterday's picnic, Duke had seriously considered raising anchor and just getting the hell back out of Fandom while the going was still good. Unfortunately, he still needed supplies and at least a little more socialization before he was ready to hit the seas again, and an island so small it didn't even show up on any maps was the best damn hiding spot he was going to get from the various and sundry people who either wanted to arrest or kill him.

He was definitely not going to teach a class at the high school though. Certainly not one about piracy. That was just -- people hadn't trusted him around kids when he was a kid. It was clearly nonsense.

Having spent the morning on various repairs and maintenance around his ship, he headed into town for groceries around noon, then set up his small grill on deck to make some lamb shashlik and vegetables. After a couple weeks of living on fish and jerky, kebabs were right up his alley.

[open! Duke's boat's deck is visible and easily accessible from land. Think of it like someone's front patio or driveway, only furnished with crates and random thrifted benches and things.]

Comments

[betterthanaplan]

Duke wobbled his hand back and forth. "Knew I wanted to work on the water and see the world. Only so many jobs that let you do that and not have to answer to anyone else, you know?" He took a bite of shashlik and gestured to her with the skewer. "How about you? Mechanics your passion? Or something you just sort of ended up doing?"

[thatwaslucky]

"I'm a scavenger. Or I was," she said, and it was casual, but she was used to people looking down on her for it. "I've always had to go through ships, take things apart, rebuild them. I like it depending on what I'm doing."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke raised his eyebrows. He wasn't looking down on her for that at all, no.

"Had to do some scrounging to get by when I was a kid, myself." At least Haven wasn't a desert, though. He saluted her with his kebab. "How'd you end up getting from there to here?"

[thatwaslucky]

She appreciated that, Duke!

"I touched a strange light?" Rey shrugged. "Ended up stuck here for a while. Came back a few weeks ago to get some help from a friend."

[betterthanaplan]

"A strange light." What. "Like . . . some kind of . . . teleportation field?"

Look. He didn't have any of that crap where he was from (that he was willing to admit to right now), but that didn't mean he wasn't at least a little genre savvy. He read a lot of books, okay?

[thatwaslucky]

"I guess? I never figured it out, and I never saw it again," she admitted. "What about you? Did you actually plan on being here?"

[betterthanaplan]

Duke nodded. "Was looking for a quiet place to dock between jobs." And lie low until the heat was off him again after Evi left him in a lurch. "This place looked as good as any. Funny, 'may preemptively sign you up to teach a class' was not included in the official guidebooks."

Fandom itself was not included in any guidebooks that Duke had access to. That had seemed like one of the perks of the place.

[thatwaslucky]

"I was already signed up for classes when I got here thanks to a light," Rey said, nodding. "It does that."

[betterthanaplan]

"And you, what, just rolled with it?"

[thatwaslucky]

"I was stuck here. I didn't really have another choice," she pointed out. "Are you not going to roll with it?"

[betterthanaplan]

"There's always another choice," Duke said. "I make my own career decision, thanks anyway, magic island."

On Wednesday, he would make his own decision to go teach a class in order not to be trampled by a moose.

[thatwaslucky]

"I'm going to ask you about that, when you come to drop off stuff to fix," she warned.

Because she knew better.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke snorted. "Fair enough."

He was going to be really annoyed no one warned him about that moose.