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]

Duke cast a wary look at his own boat. ". . . Wow, I really hope not. Does that, uh, happen a lot?"

[hashtag_chocobro]

"If it's not one thing," said Prompto, who was now side-stepping dangerously close to the water's edge with the camera still lifted, though once he got there, he knelt down and tilted it up a little for a really dramatic tilt, "it's the other, dude. This has been the quietest few weeks this place has had in a long time."

One more shot and he lowered the camera, squinting up at the sky to guage some of the lighting. "Not gonna lie, man," he added, straighting up again as he looked down to check the viewscreen, "I totally changed my jogging route for a few days after it showed up, just to avoid it to be on the safe side."

Not that he had, like, trauma, or anything, pfsshh.

[betterthanaplan]

"Well, better safe than sorry, I guess." He tapped the gunwale with his boot a few times. "She's been the same solid shape for at least twelve years now, though."

[hashtag_chocobro]

Prompto sort of bit down on his lower lip for a little, wondering if he should say anything about how twelve years was probably a pretty good run, but now that that boat was sitting in this port....gooooood luuuuuck. But he didn't really see the point in dwelling on stuff like that, especially when he really should be just enjoying that everything was pretty normal right now and, shifting his weight a little awkwardly, tilted his head thoughtfully instead.

"Hey, can I, like, come on board for a few shots, too?" he asked. "Just for a bit. I don't get a lot of opportunities to shoot the island from the water."

Not unless Sidon got involved, and the camera was presumably waterproof, but Prompto had never wanted to risk it, even if those would be some crazy good shots.

[betterthanaplan]

"Sure, kid, come on board." Duke waved him over, giving the deck a quick look to make sure nothing too . . . inappropriate . . . was sitting out. "You want something to drink? I've got --" probably shouldn't offer the teenager bourbon. Or rum, or scotch, or vodka. "-- water, basically."

Crap, he was going to have to start stocking more kid-friendly stuff, wasn't he.

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Naww, man, thanks!" said Prompto, chuckling a little as he headed....bounce, really, like a renewed ball of energy...on board, waving off the offer while being maybe a little less than subtle about scoping the deck out because, hey! It was something new and differnt and therefor automatically cool. It would be a good thing if there wasn't anything too...inappropriate....hanging around, though, because he was not going to be able to keep that shutter finger going. "I'm good! This is a pretty sweet set-up you got here, though!"

And now his lense was pointed toward the island, trying to find the best shots. "I bet you take this thing all over the place!"

[betterthanaplan]

He did try to keep the more illicit materials tucked away, so Prompto shouldn't manage to photograph anything incriminating, at least.

Duke was very glad it wasn't laundry day, though.

"Anywhere the water's deep enough," Duke agreed. "You do much sailing?"

[hashtag_chocobro]

"If by 'much,' you mean 'none at all,'" said Prompto with a chuckle, "then yes. I'm pretty sure if I spend ten minutes here today, that's about the most I've ever even been on a boat."

And he was totally digging it.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke shook his head sadly. "You all live on an island. How are there not more boat people around here?"

[hashtag_chocobro]

"I mean, I'm sure there's some," Prompto offered, his grin taking on an apologetic sort of bent. "In my defense, though, I'm am shamelessly a city boy. I'd never even been out of the city before coming here, and this is the first boat I've ever seen in this port, but I've also only been here a year, so..." He trailed off, shrugging, taking another quick shot, one that he thought was at a very artsy angle, but it mostly just wound up looking like the camera went off as someone dropped it.

[betterthanaplan]

"A year." Duke tried to picture Haven going a year without any boats coming in.

It was a strange and desolate mental image.

"You know, I think out of everything, that's probably the weirdest part of this place for me. The ocean's right there."

. . . Admittedly there was a sea monster out there.

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Yeah, but, like..." Prompto tilted his head, trailing off as he thought about it, "this place is just weird, man."

And, yeah. That really did seem to be the only explaination that was needed.

"Like, some people end up here without even knowing about it. Some people can't even get back to where they came from. I wouldn't be surprised if there were boats trying to get in, but they just never, like, make it. Or they wind up in some different dimension of Fandom. There's probably a dimension of this place that, like, has so many boats in the port they can't even get out of it."

He snorted, sending a wry grin over his shoulder. "Guess you're one of the lucky ones who finally managed to get through to this one, dude."

[betterthanaplan]

"'This place is just weird, man'," Duke repeated. "Should be the town motto. On some sort of crest." He spread his hands as thought framing each word on a sign. "'Welcome to Fandom: this place is just weird, man'."

He looked out to sea, shaking his head. "Makes me glad I know how to repair this sucker myself. It's gonna be a bitch to get parts, though."

[hashtag_chocobro]

"This Place is Just Weird, Man," Prompto repeated again, in a deeply thoughtful tone as he looked up a little and nodded as if picturing it, and then he laughed.

"Perfect," he decided. "But, hey, it shouldn't be that hard. If you can't find anything at the repair shop or scavenging in the scrapyard, they can pretty much special order a ton of stuff at Turtle & Canary and there's a town blacksmith who's really good at making stuff. She was my shop teacher. And, hey, if it's anything electronic, there's a ton of us on island who know a lot about stuff like that, too. I'm a pretty good hand at modifying a lot of weapons and stuff, myself. Nothing like boats, though, but another thing you'll probably find about this place is that pretty much no one ever backs away from a challenge."

[betterthanaplan]

"Fair enough." Duke wasn't really sure he wanted 'fix the boat, which is the symbol of my freedom and also where I live' to be considered a fun challenge. "So. Weapons modifying. That sounds --" absurdly dangerous for a teenager. "-- neat."

[hashtag_chocobro]

A bright smile instantly blossomed on Prompto's face, lighting it up with excitement, which may have transferred a little to a few bouncing steps. "Oh, man, it's great!" he said. "Especially around here. People've got guns here that you wouldn't believe! I still definitely prefer my good old fashion bullet-slinging pistols, they just feel the best, they feel right, you know, but there's some plasma guns that are just amazing. One of these days, I'm really going ot have to sit down and think about how to make a sweet hybrid between the two or something!"

Of course, the real trick there was getting Prompto to actually sit down long enough to do it. Sure, once he got started on something, it could captivate him for hours, but getting there could be a challenge in its own right.

[betterthanaplan]

". . . How old are you?"

Sure, Duke had learned to shoot a gun by the time he was eight, but that didn't mean most kids did. Certainly not and then learn how to modify them.

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Seventeen," Prompto offered with a faint grin, a little shrug. "Eighteen next month. I'm actually a senior now. And then it's off to be a prince's bodyguard!"

Which, to be fair, even still sounded weird to Prompto, so he chuckled and wouldn't blame Mr. Boat Guy at all if that sounded a bit like a non sequitor.

"So those sweet gun mods might come in handy," he offered, "but, you know, it'd be much better if they never did."

[betterthanaplan]

"It's pretty much always going to be better when guns don't have to come in handy," Duke said. "Prince's body guard. How'd you land that gig?"

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Heh."

Cameras? Were really great for hiding blushing faces and stupid grins, apparently, because Prompto was definitely contending with both those things and so, all of a sudden, that teal deer making a cautious emergance from behind a tree suddenly really needed to have its picture taken.

"Well," he said, and laughed again, shaking his head. "That's kind of a crazy story, but I guess...I guess it's....well, I saved this dog...." The smile somehow got even stupider as his shoulders squared a little in pride, and he snapped another picture somewhere else. "One thing led to another, and now I'm gonna be the bodyguard to the crown freakin' prince! So, you know, moral of the story? Dogs are awesome."

Especially when they're the dog of a displaced princess turned Oracle.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke chuckled. He could totally see the edges of that grin around the camera. "Dogs are, in fact, very cool. That all back home, or around here?"

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Back home," Prompto said, nodding slightly, and that grin really wasn't going anywhere any time soon. "About a year before I got shipped off here." Then he snorted. "They figured it would be a good experience, you know, since I've never really left home before I came here, and....oof." He shook his head. "They were not wrong. It has...definitely been...an experience."

[betterthanaplan]

"That's what I hear. How long have you been here, then?"

[hashtag_chocobro]

"A year," Prompto said with a conclusive nod, "almost exactly. I came in with the fall semester last year. And it has been...a roller coaster, like you wouldn't believe. Some of the most amazing things ever has happened here for me, but also..." He caught his lip between his teeth for a moment, hesitated, "...some of the absolute worst, man. It's been one hell of a year."

And he had a whole 'nother one to go through. He was almost a little afraid of what might still be ahead.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke nodded. "Mind if I ask why you stick around? Does the good end up outweighing the bad?"