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

[biotic_psychotic]

Jack was out for a walk. She'd had a talk with Atton earlier and now she was taking a walk. Perfectly normal. The boat was new. She blinked a little. "Fuck me, there's actually a boat at one of the docks? Huh."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke looked up from his grill with a raised eyebrow. "Surprised the hell out of the management when I pulled up yesterday too," he said. "Which -- this is an island. I'd've thought boats should be standard."

To be fair, he assumed boats were standard anywhere that wasn't entirely landlocked. And he wasn't really clear why anyone bothered to live in landlocked towns.

[biotic_psychotic]

"Yeah, you'd think," Jack drawled, "but this island's anything but standard all the fuckin' way through. If you haven't met Fjord yet, you will. He's gonna dig on this, there finally being a boat here." Paused a second and then asked curiously, "You arrived yesterday? You a student or a teacher?" He looked too old to be a student but maybe he was a senior. A nod that was more a lift of her chin. "I'm Jack, one of the teachers but I'm takin' this semester off."

[betterthanaplan]

"Met a Magnus who was pretty excited about it," Duke said. "But, uh. No Fjord."

He gave her a Look at the "teacher or student" question. He was in his thirties, thanks. "Yeah? You get press-ganged into it too? I hear that's the school's favorite recruiting tactic."

[biotic_psychotic]

"Ah, Magnus," Jack smiled, "He of the shirtsleeve allergy and the biceps for days. I can appreciate a guy like that. Fjord's great, salt of the earth kind of guy. Works at Caritas on Fridays behind the bar. Big guy, black hair. Not Tino, Tino's a total shithead you should never trust with your drinks. Fjord pours good measure." Which she deeply appreciated.

She met his look and arched a brow but didn't call him on having the babiest of faces. "Nah, I volunteered. I'm a teacher back home too for kids that're different and some might consider dangerous. I get how they might need someone like me here and I got idiot family here someone had to come look after. Lots of people just get dropped into the shit though, that part's true enough. So you got press-ganged, huh? Sorry about your luck."

[betterthanaplan]

Well, in a few years he'd start going gray at the temples and jawline. Maybe that would help.

"Different or dangerous, huh? Ended up in a class or two like that in my time." Or, rather, in juvie. He shook his head. "'Got press-ganged' implies that they've succeeded. I make my own choices, thank you very much."

The moose in the front office was going to eat him alive.

[biotic_psychotic]

The grey might help the look but wouldn't do a thing for Jack giving him shit about it. She was a brat.

"Yeah? Did you get decent teachers or did you get the sorts of assholes who made you feel like you were a waste of everybody's time?" she asked, actually interested in the answer. "I usually get the kids who've had the latter sort in their past. I try to make a point to be the former." She smiled a little, "Anyone told you anything about this island yet? Cuz I'm guessin' not if you don't think your ass won't be plunked into a classroom on whatever day and time you were assigned a spot."

The moose was really gonna eat him alive. Jack almost felt sorry for him. "What'd they assign you to teach anyway?"

[betterthanaplan]

Admittedly, being from Maine, it wouldn't actually be the first time a moose had intimidated him into doing something.

"Definitely the latter. More power to you for trying, but I'm not sure the former actually exists." Duke had been let down by basically everyone in his life before he'd even made it to 18. The only reason he'd finished school at all was to get to keep pulling Nathan's pigtails.

He picked up one of the finished kebabs and pulled a bit of lamb off with his teeth. "Apparently I've been chosen to teach 'So You Want to Be a Pirate'." He jabbed the skewer into the air a few times. "Arrr." He nodded to the grill. "Want some? I've made plenty."

[biotic_psychotic]

"The former exists, it's just pretty damn rare and that's a shame. It's more common up at this school, though. Most of the teachers are people who've been through their own sort of shit and they don't dish it out on the kids. They don't make the classes easy or nothin' but they don't tell the kids they're garbage or try to make 'em feel that way. Which is a step up from most."

She smirked a little. "Pirate huh?" She wandered up onto the boat with a shrug, "I could eat. You got a name or do I just call you 'blackbeard'?"

[betterthanaplan]

Duke rolled his eyes to the sky and gave a resigned shrug. Then grabbed a plate and served up some a couple kebabs and some rice. "Duke Crocker." He offered her the plate. "Yes, really."

[biotic_psychotic]

Jack thanked him and took the plate. Then she gave him a funny look, "Why 'yes really'? Is that first one a name or a title?" She wasn't making fun of him. She honestly didn't know.

[betterthanaplan]

"Name. Which usually nets me jokes about rednecks and/or dogs." And those like the woman at the picnic yesterday, who'd just sounded vaguely appalled. "Don't think I've ever been mistaken for actual gentry before though."

[biotic_psychotic]

Jack gave a slow, slow blink. "Wow. Sometimes there's five whole minutes in a day where I forget what kind of shitheads humans can be and then bam! There's a reminder. So thanks for that, I guess." She shrugged, "Back home two of my closest friends are named Grunt and Wrex. Here on the island, one is named Sparkle and yes, that is his real name and he does the same thing's you just did about it. Probably for the same reason." To whit: people sometimes sucked and not in the fun third date kind of way.

"Nice to meet you, Duke."

[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.