The deck of the Cape Rouge, Port of Fandom, Friday afternoon

[betterthanaplan]

So. Duke had been in Fandom for two weeks now. And while he'd absolutely never say out loud that he felt like he had a handle on things . . . he felt a bit like he had a handle on things.

Case in point: he was lounging on the deck of his boat, sipping bourbon and pondering whether or not he could sail to 2008 Baltimore, stash an inexpensive bottle somewhere, then walk across the causeway to 2019 Baltimore, pick it up, and sell it all nicely aged. He was pretty sure he could get away with something like that without breaking time. So long as he didn't manage to run into his older self or something. But wouldn't his older self know to just avoid Baltimore in 2019?

He was not so lost in such thoughts as to not notice the small green thing creeping around his crates, though. He dropped his hand down to the butt of the gun taped under his chair.

"Pretty sure biting your subjects is a big reporter no-no."

The gremlin made a sort of grumbling, snarling noise, and scuttled off. Duke nodded to himself and sipped his bourbon.

Yeah. He was getting a handle on things.

[open boat deck is open!]

Comments

[betterthanaplan]

"Depends on the management," Duke said. "Most of the traditional places in Japan are strictly nude, but unless the owner's a real stickler, they've probably made allowances for, uh, local modesty standards."

[thatwaslucky]

"Good," she said. "If he's a stickler that won't be relaxing,"

[betterthanaplan]

"It could be," Duke said. He wasn't particularly modest, himself. "But it'd probably take practice. I'm guessing a place with this many teenagers running around is probably pretty careful about potential public nudity, though."

Oh Duke. You could tell he was new.

[thatwaslucky]

Oh Duke.

"You would think," said Rey, who hadn't been immune to the public nudity herself, no matter how much she wanted to be.

And she could have elaborated more, and chose not to, because that sort of discovery really was a Fandom rite of passage.

"All right, I'll try the onsen, then."

[betterthanaplan]

"Tell me how you like it. Then maybe I can suggest other relaxation methods as well."

[thatwaslucky]

"I don't know, between this and the yoga, that sounds like quite a bit."

This, honestly, was only half a joke.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke shrugged. "Fair enough. Just means I'll have to make sure to focus on relaxing yoga, then."

[thatwaslucky]

"We do still have that," she said. "When did you want to do that?"

[betterthanaplan]

"I'm free . . . basically any time that's not my class on Wednesdays," Duke said. "There really isn't that much to do around here."

[thatwaslucky]

"And I have work on Sunday and work with Kanan on Fridays," she said. "Pick a day, I'll be there."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke shrugged. "How about Tuesdays? Where's a good spot for it? The deck here's a little, uh. Cluttered for a beginner's class."

[thatwaslucky]

"Tuesdays work. As for where, that depends on how many people you're willing to have around." That was up to him, since she didn't exactly know how this went yet. "There's places like the park, or maybe somewhere at the gym. My place is... the exact opposite of this."

She did not have furniture. But she did have three extra rooms.

[betterthanaplan]

"I don't mind other people if you don't," Duke said. ". . . Maybe not the park, though."

He wasn't going to add any more similarities between him and Kanan unless absolutely necessary.

[thatwaslucky]

"Oh! The beach! Is that okay?" she asked.

[betterthanaplan]

"Sand's a little unstable," Duke said. "But yeah, we can probably do it there. I can bring some pallets or something, if nothing else."

[thatwaslucky]

"We can try it, and it it doesn't work, we can always move," she said.

[betterthanaplan]

"Very true. And an excellent attitude to have starting a yoga practice."

[thatwaslucky]

"That's good to know," Rey said with a smile. "All right, I'll see you then."

[betterthanaplan]

"I'll see you," Duke confirmed. "Remember to hydrate."