The Cape Rouge, Port of Fandom, Friday morning

[betterthanaplan]

Duke didn’t know it, but all the clothing on the Rouge that wasn’t currently on his body vanished the moment he crossed into Fandom waters.

What he did know was that going from April 2010 to July 2020 was a much more obvious transition than it had been the other way around. It was like sailing into a vat of hot jello. He squinted into the sun, then stripped off his overshirt, letting it fall to the floor of the wheelhouse.

The overshirt vanished, too. That he noticed.

". . . Yeah, I'm definitely back in Fandom."

He sailed into port without managing to lose any more clothes, but the ones he was wearing (an undershirt and a pair of fairly threadbare cotton shorts) were rapidly going damp in the face of the sweltering, cloying air. He was hard-pressed as he dropped anchor and tied the Rouge down at her usual slip not to strip off the rest of his clothes and just dive straight into the water. He sent out a few texts, then flopped onto the deck to splay out like a starfish.

"Swear to god, if this place got invaded by a clothing-eating heat demon while I was away I will turn this boat around and go right back to Maine."

Well, no. He wouldn't. But he'd really want to.

[open! work is going to do its best to break me today, so some SP will be in effect BUT I NEED DISTRACTIONS]

Comments

[hatesparadise]

Well, hopefully he was expecting a very carefully typed out text message in response.

No, CIs get yelled at for being anywhere near a MURDER investigation.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke rolled his eyes, barely bothering to lift his head off the deck to read that text.

THAT WAS NOT MY FAULT

[hatesparadise]

So, you just have the worst luck known to man.

You know what? That tracked.

[betterthanaplan]

when I go home I do

Haven just had it out for him, let's be real.

my ex being the police chief's son doesn't help

[hatesparadise]

Haven literally was trying to get him killed, yes.

Want to explain how you got wrapped up in that?

[betterthanaplan]

not particularly

Certainly not over text.

want to explain why fandom ate my shirt?

[hatesparadise]

It's evil. All I have are swim trunks from a tree.

Another text followed that with a gracious:

You can explain later.

[grenadesandohana]

Steve had made himself comfortable on the beach after his check-in at the police station: board shorts, sunglasses, no shirt, lukewarm beer at way-too-early-but-this-was-still-vacation o'clock.

He gave the ship a professional once-over as it docked and gave the captain a casual wave.

[betterthanaplan]

Oh hey. Who was the new beefcake?

Duke waved back. After sprawling on the deck for long enough to establish that, no, no matter how much he tried just lying around not moving, his clothing would not be drying out again, he got up and wandered over.

"Hey, how's it going?"

[grenadesandohana]

"Can't complain," Steve said, unlike some people, who complained incessantly. "Good day to work on my tan."

[betterthanaplan]

"Right. Sure."

Duke was wondering if this guy was the clothing-eating heat demon, yes.

"Name's Duke Crocker. You're new around here, right?"

[grenadesandohana]

"Affirmative," Steve said, nodding. "Arrived on Wednesday. It really is a small island, if you can figure out that I'm new from sight. And here I was thinking Lanai was little."

[betterthanaplan]

"Yeah, man, even my hometown looks huge compared to this place. And it's tiny."

Haven had like 20,000 people. It was perfectly reasonably sized.

"Spend a lot of time in Hawaii, do you?"

[thatwaslucky]

And as promised, Rey made her way over, in a makeshift sheet yoga type of thing over a bathing suit.

That kinda week.

"I didn't do a great job of keeping the island together," she said, tilting her head at him.

[betterthanaplan]

"Well, to be fair, that was a big ask," Duke said with a little shrug. He gave her a slightly wan smile and waved her on board. "Nice outfit." He offered her a frosty bottle. "Iced tea?"

[thatwaslucky]

"Thank you," she said, coming aboard to take the drink. "After the mud run on Wednesday the rest of my clothes disappeared so I had to improvise."

She was handling it pretty okay.

[betterthanaplan]

"A mud run. Anakin really stepped up his game, huh."

[thatwaslucky]

"When you finished each part, Beaker shot dye at you."

Yeeeeeep.

[betterthanaplan]

"So . . . Anakin's behind the clothing disappearing?" Duke guessed. "Or was he just sort of sadistically egging the island on?"

[okteiviakom]

After his text, Octavia showed up... Eventually.

Okay, so, the day was well into the afternoon as she walked down the dock, wearing something homemade, hand-sewn from a very expensive sheet. And she stopped for a breath before crossing the gangplank.

She desperately wanted to see Duke again.

She also wanted to turn and run.

[betterthanaplan]

Funny, when Duke saw her on the docks, he felt much the same.

He flashed her a faint curve of his lips. It wasn't quite a smile.

"Hey."

[okteiviakom]

The way Octavia raised one hand just barely wasn't quite a wave, either. It was shaky, and hesitant, and immediately made her feel like a fool.

"Hey."

She could feel her eyes already watering, and she hadn't even made it on board yet.

[betterthanaplan]

This would normally be the part where Duke waved his visitor on-board. But Octavia wasn't really a visitor.

And he wasn't entirely certain he was ready for her to be on his boat again, yet.

"How, uh. How've you been?"

[okteiviakom]

Octavia wasn't entirely certain she was, either. And so she stood awkwardly right on the threshold.

She made an involuntary noise at the back of her throat at the question, because what kind of question was that, even? She figured they both knew the answer.

"Terrible."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke swallowed hard and looked away.

She was so beautiful, even when they were both falling apart. How was that fair?

"Yeah. Uh. If it helps, I have too."