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]

"Okay." Duke had so many questions. "You know part of the point of a heist is that people don't know about it, right?"

[magnusrushesin]

"Yeah, but that's the twist, you see." Nope. No one saw. No one, Maggie.

[betterthanaplan]

"It really kind of sounds like you just got brought into someone's kink," Duke said. "Just, uh, so you know."

[magnusrushesin]

"Lup, no," Magnus said real quiet and broken.

He didn't need to know what she and Barry got up to. Not again.

[betterthanaplan]

"Sorry, buddy." Duke held out his bourbon bottle. "Need a drink?"

[magnusrushesin]

"I think I do," Magnus said, accepting the bottle. He totally made a face when he took a swig, but pretended like he was a straight liquor tuff boi anyway. "I've seen some shit there, believe you me."

[betterthanaplan]

"I guessed by that thousand yard stare a moment ago."

[magnusrushesin]

"I never want to see plant foreplay again," Magnus said with another wincing swig before giving the bottle back.

[betterthanaplan]

"You know, intellectually I know I probably really don't want to know, but I gotta ask: is that foreplay with plants, or are the plants themselves engaging in the foreplay?"

[magnusrushesin]

"Both? Both," Magnus said slowly. "Admittedly they were magic plants. And the guy involved could talk to them. And I'm gonna need more bourbon or a very hard blow to the head now."

[betterthanaplan]

"Bourbon I can do. I mean, I could also hit you over the head, but I feel like that's more of a 'third time we hang out' kind of thing."

[magnusrushesin]

"Or surviving a cool battle together thing," Magnus agreed, perking right back up.

[betterthanaplan]

"Or if you suddenly turned against me, mid-caper." Duke felt he was starting to get the hang of Magnus's conversational style.

[magnusrushesin]

Once you got there... you were there. Stuck there.

"Oh my God, that sounds like so much fun," Magnus whispered.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke was never doing a serious job with Magnus. It was official.

"So anyway. What else do, uh, 'rogue bros' do?"

[magnusrushesin]

Hey, he wasn't even the one who fucked up plans! Most of the time.

"I dunno, Carey usually just does things like steal my wallet to keep my skills fresh."

[betterthanaplan]

"If you promise not to press charges, I will happily steal your wallet on occasion."

[magnusrushesin]

"As long as you return the favor, I'm in." Of course he was in.

[betterthanaplan]

"You mean me not pressing charges, or you trying to steal my wallet?" Duke shook his head. "I don't talk to cops, so you're gold on the first one. The second brings us back into me hitting you on the head territory."

[magnusrushesin]

"Yeah, fuck the police," Magnus agreed. "I mean, the hitting thing is just training stuff. A little tougher than smoke bombs or pockets full of pudding, but..."

He had a pretty good AC these days.

[betterthanaplan]

"Y'all have really weird ideas about training," Duke said. "Pudding is for eating, not pockets."