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]

"Yeah. People are dicks." Duke saluted her with his kebab. "Nice to meet you too, Jack. Where's home, then?"

[biotic_psychotic]

Jack shrugged, "Here lately. Depending how you're doing with the different shit on the island, the other answer's kind of complicated. Boils down to 'not this planet, not this century'. You?"

[betterthanaplan]

"Ah," Duke said. "Of course it does." You know what? He wasn't even going to argue anymore. "I'm from Maine. It's up the coast a ways." Compared to 'another planet', that was barely an understatement. "Haven't been back in a little over a decade, though."

[biotic_psychotic]

Jack shot him an amused look. He'd figure it out soon enough. "I know where Maine is," she offered, "been there once. Took a motorcycle trip up the coast. Had a lobster. Supposedly that's food. Wasn't too bad once the butter was on. Seemed a little judgey though so we didn't stay long." Small town Maine, not so friendly to tattooed biker tourist chicks.

[betterthanaplan]

"And that's why I haven't been back in ten years," Duke said cheerfully. "You didn't swing through a town called 'Haven', did you?"

[biotic_psychotic]

Jack shook her head, "Not unless that was one of the towns we drove through. We stopped at a place called Old Orchard Beach. Had like, carnival rides and shit. Beach too, no orchard. Some other place called Freeport. Kaidan wanted to shop for a thing."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke nodded. "Haven's up closer to the Canadian border, near Derry. Lovely resort town. Absolute shit place to live otherwise."

Especially when the cycle of madcap evil magic started back up again, though Duke was still thoroughly in denial about those memories being real.

[biotic_psychotic]

"Kaidan might know it. He's from Canada originally." Vancouver, you know, the other coast. "We went through Derry, probably not the same one. In New Hampshire. Resort shit ain't really my thing. I don't exactly fit in with the country club set. Unless there's gambling involved," Jack added.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke ducked his head and nodded. "Only gambling in Haven's in the seedy underbelly. And let me tell you, it is not easy to have a proper seedy underbelly in a town full of yuppies."

Having a raging crush on love-hate relationship with the Chief of Police's extremely straight-laced son also made it difficult.

[biotic_psychotic]

"Best kind," Jack said. Wrinkled her nose at the difficulty he described, "Ye-ah, I can see why you might've wanted to move out of the place. Doesn't sound like it was a whole lot of fun. Seedy underbelly, huh?" She gave the ship a considering look, "And they signed you up to teach about piracy?"

[betterthanaplan]

"I know, right?" Duke spread his arms and smirked. "A fine upstanding citizen like myself."

[biotic_psychotic]

"If you're any good at it, that's exactly what you would be," Jack noted with a shrug, "You don't really look like the 'slit their throats and leave them for chum' type." She would. She had. Different sort of ship, true, but 'piracy' was on her rap sheet.

[betterthanaplan]

He was, in fact, really adamantly not that sort. Which was why he kept to smuggling for the most part, instead of actual piracy.

"It's like people see a self-employed man on a boat and 'pirate' is the only thing they can think of. Still, could be worse. They could mistake me for a cop."

That basically never happened. Which was good, because Duke would be deeply offended if it did.

[biotic_psychotic]

"Any self-employed man on a boat who's not dodging tax and customs agents every chance he gets isn't really being as smart as he could be, businesswise," Jack pointed out. She smirked and shook her head, "You don't really have that stick-surgically-implanted-in-the-rectum look most cops have even when they try not to, no. I'm about as far from 'cop' as you can get." Beat. "Was, anyway. Now I'm a teacher. Go fucking figure."

[betterthanaplan]

"Funny old world, isn't it," Duke said. "Or several, I guess. Tell you what, if you'd been my teacher when I was a kid -- I probably would have written you off as 'trying too hard', honestly. I was kind of a shit head."

[biotic_psychotic]

"Probably," Jack agreed, "but you'd have fucking known I was trying, wouldn't you? That's the important part, kids like that. Not to give any woo-woo bullshit about all children being perfect little fucking angels because fuck knows some of them are born little sociopaths and never get no better, but most kids who are rebellious little shitheads? They're smart kids who've been hurt and had their trust broken and because they're goddamn kids, they think it's their fault but also know it's not so they get pissed off about it. Sometimes you can reach 'em. Sometimes they don't let you. Later though, they usually remember that at least someone tried. Even if they got it wrong and even if they pushed that person away." She shrugged, "I'm a teacher. It's not my fuckin' job to be their friend. It's my job to make sure they know that when they're in my classroom, they're safe and they're seen."

She snorted, "Funny fuckin' world indeed."

[betterthanaplan]

She wasn't wrong. Duke had a locket tucked away somewhere he hadn't been able to bring himself to pawn, even the winter his mom had forgotten to pay the gas bill and he'd nearly fucking frozen to death. Because it'd been given to him by a woman who'd tried, even if she hadn't stuck around for long.

No one ever stuck around for long.

"Thought you were supposed to be from some sci-fi future or something. You telling me teenagers are that fucking universal?"

[biotic_psychotic]

Jack snorted, "Shit yes they are. They're fucking teenagers, man, it don't take astrophysics to figure 'em out. It just takes paying attention. The kids here are from every-damn-where-and-when. Still just kids, still all of 'em some sort of fucked up if for no other reason than they're a teenager and their brain's a chemical stew for a few years until their hormones figure their shit out." She lifted a shoulder, "They all deserve a chance."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke raised his hands. “Not arguing. Just surprised no one’s come up with some kind of pill for it or something.” He tilted his head. “So the future. We talking more Galaxy Quest, all fancy and diplomatic, or more of a Space Battles kind of thing with giant, galaxy-spanning civil wars?”

[biotic_psychotic]

Jack looked at him for a moment. She'd seen both of those movies. Jack watched a lot of TV through the nights when she wasn't sleeping. "Both, in a way. Mostly fancy and diplomatic. More than a few sentient races. Galaxy-spanning wars, sure. Nothing really civil about 'em, not ever. Last one was just.. fuck, was it only two years ago?" She rubbed a hand over her head, "Feels longer. That's fucking weird. Humans are mostly still humans, some of us got weird fucking mutations that make us able to do things your average human can't, and that went over about as well as every 'different than average human' bullshit ever has in the history of Earth anywhere."

A shrug, "We don't have cool laser swords where I'm from and I'm fuckin' jealous about it. There's people here who are from somewhere so close to Space Battles that watching it makes them turn green and vomit because those civil wars? They were in 'em." She was quiet for a minute, "You're going to find a lot of veterans on this island, Duke. Like I said, almost everyone came through some shit before they came here. Even the kids."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke twitched just a little at “weird fucking mutations”, his father’s warnings about “those people” and the Rev’s about “the ungodly” ringing in his head.

Which made the second time in two days this place had reminded him of his damn father, making it twice too many. And he could really do without thinking of the Rev pretty much ever again.

He shook his head. “Don’t need planet-hopping or time travel for that, sweetheart. Everyone’s gone through something right here at home, too.”

[biotic_psychotic]

Jack snorted loudly at 'sweetheart'. Really now. "Like I said, everyone's got their own shit, right? Don't need to be a war to fuck 'em right up. Also especially the kids." She sat back and threw him a curious look, "You seriously gonna argue with the moose about a teaching assignment? Cuz that'll be a thing to see."

[betterthanaplan]

“. . . Please tell me that’s a colorful nickname.”

Anywhere else he’d just assume it was. Something told him Fandom was just a little more literal than that.

[biotic_psychotic]

"Nope," Jack said brightly, "Actual goddamn talking moose. He's great." He was a pain in the ass but she'd never had a problem with him, personally.

Yet.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke watched closely for any hint she was kidding, then let his head drop into his hands.

“I am going to need so much bourbon.”