The Cape Rouge, Port of Fandom, Tuesday evening

[betterthanaplan]

Duke had spent most of the day yesterday -- most of his time since seeing Nathan off on Sunday, in fact -- out at sea. He'd probably still be out there if he hadn't made plans for today, both the now-usual yoga with Rey in the morning and his dinner date-thing with Jack.

Not a date-date. Jack didn't think it'd be a date-date, did she? He was pretty sure she didn't see it as a date -- she wasn't really the romance type. Not that he'd object if she did. He and Nathan weren't exactly exclusive, and Nathan was a thousand miles away, and Duke was definitely overthinking this. He wasn't sixteen anymore.

This was a casual dinner between friends. Or, alternately, an intervention. Apparently it was his life's mission to fix people with no taste for the finer things in life.

He stirred his red sauce and checked the eel on the grill. Everything was just about ready.

He propped the door open so he could keep an eye on the galley and headed out onto the deck with some beer to wait for Jack.

And kick another of those damn porg things off his ship.

[for the one mentioned in the narrative. And thus ends my mini-spam]

Comments

[biotic_psychotic]

"Yeah, because what I'm mentioning is so ..whatever.. that the next thing out of your mouth is 'pass' before I even get there," she muttered, "Asteroid belt is out, you don't think space is your thing, you don't acknowledge martial arts so there's sparring or practice or whatever, the gym is useless and even the shooting range was out, and this is what I mean by I'm bad at this. I don't do things right."

[betterthanaplan]

"I -- what?" Duke shook his head. "I thought we were making conversation! I was being -- I don't know, charmingly self-reliant? Just because I've never used the official shit doesn't mean I'm allergic to it or something."

[biotic_psychotic]

"That's why I said it ain't you. I'm the one who doesn't get this social shit." Hi, ceiling beam, she really was fond of you. "It was conversation. It just wasn't conversation that could go anywhere because I don't know how to do conversations. Interrogations, yeah, I'm great at those, but I keep getting told that is not a thing most people appreciate being on the other end of. Lemme tell you, bein' at a point where I actually give a shit about any of this crap is pretty fucking wild."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Okay. Let's try this: you just tell me what you want, without worrying about whether you're doing it 'right' or not, and we can go from there."

[biotic_psychotic]

"I mean, right now a big giant hole in the floor opening up and swallowing me would be real fuckin' nice," Jack drawled.

The hand scrubbed over her head again. "Shit, I'm about to sound like my goddamn brothers. Somewhere, Kanan's laughing his ass off." There were worse people she could be using as role models for 'how to be a decent person', though. Far worse. "Talking to you is fun. You seem interesting. That's rare. Usually people bore the fuck out of me. Getting to know you won't be easy." She shrugged, "That might be part of what makes it interesting. You aren't intimidated in the least by me and that's real interesting but more in the 'poke it with a stick' kind of interesting. You served the get-to-know-you ball over the net with dinner. It's my turn to serve the damn thing back. So.. how? Not food, not boats, I know fuck-all about either."

[betterthanaplan]

"But you came here, to my boat, to share a meal anyway." Duke shrugged. "Seems to me that makes it my turn to do something I don't know anything about. Like . . . I guess the gym or something?"

[biotic_psychotic]

"What does that have to do with it?" Jack asked puzzled, "You didn't expect me to cook. You did the cooking."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke rolled his eyes and smirked. "You ate eel. Which you didn't think you'd like. So . . . show me why I'm wrong about fucking shooting ranges or whatever. Like you said, there aren't exactly a lot of fences around."

[biotic_psychotic]

Jack bliiiinked. "That.. ain't it. I wasn't tryin' to.. "

Wasn't trying to prove him wrong about something. Didn't know how to actually articulate that.

[betterthanaplan]

"Jack. You're over thinking this. The point is to hang out, right? And you're worried about making it a fair trade, and for some reason the bottle of what I'm sure had to be a very expensive wine doesn't count. So just pick something. I'll try pretty much anything once."

[biotic_psychotic]

"I'm not keeping some sort of score," Jack eyerolled. "The point is to find something you might actually want to fucking do."

The comment about the wine made her snort. "I had fun buying the wine. That was a good goddamn few hours, right there."

[betterthanaplan]

"And you're, what, afraid I'll be offended if you pick wrong?"

[biotic_psychotic]

Jack blinked at him more. "No. I don't have much to offer."

And wasn't that just a huge statement right there even though she didn't mean it.

"It's.. You thought you were being charmingly self-reliant, you said. What I kept hearing was 'nah'. Like, out the gate, stop talking about that nah."

[betterthanaplan]

"I'm sorry about that," Duke said honestly. He rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't -- talk about fighting much. It's easier to just let people assume shit and then surprise them when they turn on me."

As everyone eventually always did.

[biotic_psychotic]

Jack's smile was decidedly wry, "Duke, the only thing I was ever good at, my whole fucking life, was fighting. It's what I was made for. I been a teacher for ..fuck, is it four years now? For not even four years. I don't.. know anything else. When I say I got nothin'.. Kinda mean it."

[betterthanaplan]

"So . . . what, the only thing you know how to do is fight, so we can't be friends?" Yeah, Duke still wasn't really getting what she was trying to say here. "Fuck, Jack, I'm happy just hanging out at a bar and talking. But if you want to go shoot at shit or something, that's cool too."

[biotic_psychotic]

"The only thing I know how to do is fight," Jack said, "That's why when it comes to suggesting other shit to do, I'm out of ideas." Scrubbed a hand over her head, "They do video games where you're from?"

[betterthanaplan]

“Yeah, they do video games.”

Duke very studiously didn’t mention that he didn’t have—and in fact had basically never had—a TV.

[biotic_psychotic]

Then it's a real good thing that wasn't the kind of video games she meant at the moment.

Jack gave a slow nod. "The island has an arcade. So, I guess, how's your confidence in your eye-hand coordination?"

[betterthanaplan]

"An arcade, huh?" Duke grinned. "I love a good arcade."

[biotic_psychotic]

"See this is the part where I get to say 'We should go do that sometime then'," Jack nodded.

[betterthanaplan]

"We should," Duke agreed. "You know, you can actually start there if you want. Instead of trying to feel a guy out."

[biotic_psychotic]

Jack shook her head, "'Try and see if you have any common interests', it's a whole thing. The arcade isn't something I know. It's a thing I run by every day. But I do know video games, so."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke wondered if she had some sort of step-by-step guide to people memorized.

"Sure. And one way to do that is to suggest going and doing an activity. Instead of just bringing something up in conversation like you're trying to suss out a guy's weaknesses."

[biotic_psychotic]

She did, in fact!

"Not supposed to do that out of the blue," Jack said dryly, "That's the point of finding out where the common interests are first. 'Don't throw things at people like it's cannonball coming from somewhere they can't see'."