fandomtownies | Thursday, after class: Walkabout.

Thursday, after class: Walkabout.

After class, Duce headed into town to do some errands. She had a cellphone to replace. She was also hoping to find Bagoas. She'd heard he had a fight with Han during Study Hall and left. She hadn't seen him in AbPsyche class, so was hoping maybe he was hanging out somewhere in town. Having no real idea of where to look, but being optimistic that the island was only so big, she began popping into random stores on her way to and from the cellular dealer.

Her experience at the dealer wasn't optimal. After patiently explaining what she wanted to the clerk, she was presented with phones that were.. ugly. Duce frowned at the bulky things, "Look, we just want a phone. No camera. No web browser. No mp3 player. Our PDA does all that." The sales drone began to babble at her with an artificial smile, "No, we do not want to combine our PDA with our phone. What do you mean, 'why'? Because if we drop the phone in the toilet, then we lose all our PDA data as well. Plus, our PDA has better resolution or memory than any phone on the market. We're also leery of downloading the contents of our phone to any computer anywhere. Trust us, we did the research. We. Just. Want. A. Phone."

It didn't go well. She stared at the sales drone and idly wondered about bringing the remains of her old phone to the Callynanders FixIt place. Or something.

(ooc: anyone wants to bump into her, go for it. Bagoas, if you're around and want to hop on a thread, please do.)

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[[Bagoas won't be around until very late, like 11 PM Eastern because retail hours (http://www.livejournal.com/users/persian_eunuch/3329.html) I can send Han into her path if she promises not to ~~freeze him in cabonite/granite with a glare~~ rend him limb from limb.]]

(Yup, saw the hours thing, but figured I'd drop the thread anyway. Come play! As long as he's not trying to sell her a multifunction cell phone, she's unlikely to want to kill him. *G*)

Han's on grouchy stompabout, not watching too much where he's going and worrying himself sick.

He bumps into a girl before he realizes she's there and only draws back a little when he sees who it is.

"Sorry, Duce."

Duce oofs as she's run into, catching her balance and giving her head a small shake. She opens her mouth to say something scathing, and then recognises who bumped into her, and spots the expression on his face. Frowning at him, she comments, "No harm done. What's wrong? You look like someone put your underwear up in front of study hall or something."

"Ever had a day when every thing that came out of your mouth was exactly the wrong thing, and every way you showed someone you cared just got tossed back at you?"

Duce smirks without humour, "In a word? Yes. It makes us wish we had mint-flavoured feet. What happened?"

He shakes his head. "Long story. The short version is, I had a fight with Bagoas and now I can't find him and he hasn't called home. I'm too mad to work on the ship, too worried to sit still and so, walking. A lot. It helps some. The comm system is patched straight to me so I'll know if he calls."

Duce looks worried when she hears that, "We were kind of looking for him.. Didn't see him in AbPsyche class, and the new teacher's kinda harsh about people who skip. Thought maybe he'd be here in town somewhere." She tries to be reassuring, "Maybe he just wants to calm down before he checks in. We do that when we get upset - walk away and get away from things until we can be rational." ~~or, y'know, smash the shit out of something~~ She adds, "From what we've heard of the world he came from.. he's a survivor. And he used to work at the Apple, right? So he probably knows people around here pretty well."

Still.. skinny effeminate boy in a town where people go missing with no warning. Not good.

"Want some company on your stomping? We can help you look. Ostensibly, we wanted to find him to chat with him about the homework assignment, but.. can't hurt to have a couple dozen other sets of eyes, right?"

"Can't hurt at all. He probably went to the hotel. One of the rooms is his, permanently."

Han sighs. "Yeah, that class has been a real problem. He was terrified of the Crazy Doll Lady and now he's so far behind he thinks it's useless."

The anger seems to be draining away, leaving on the worry.

"Ordinarily, I'd go to a cantina, have a drink and clear my head. Stupid laws around here. My own guardian's tending bar and can't even stand me a whiskey."

"Well, at least if he's sulking in his room, he's safe and chances are good he'll get bored and come home on his own. Unless you fought about something really stupid, in which case, you might have to send him flowers or something first." She looks confused, not quite sure if that's relevant.

She sighs, pushing a few playful snakes back into the main mass. "Drusilla was creepy, but at least she taught AbPsyche. The new teacher .. we feel kind of bad for her. She's coming in so late and trying to catch up, and she doesn't know what we've already done. It kinda seems like she's teaching normal psyche, though, which we already took at another school. If Bagoas doesn't start showing up, she's gonna fail him. He's got another week and a half to do the assignments, so.. He's smart, right? He could catch up. We could.."

She gnaws on her lip a bit, but continues, "We could help him. We already did the assignments, and mostly remember what they were about. The new teacher shouldn't scare him. She seems nice enough."

"Know what you mean about the drinking thing," Duce adds with a smirk, "Hi, several hundred years old, but can we get alcohol? No, because the body's 16. Lame."

Han smiles kind of ruefully. "Stinks for those of us with a physiological dependence on it too. My whole species. Shoot, the kids in the creches get a little beer with their afternoon snacks."

He looks over at her. "He's real smart, just swamped. And I'm no help on that subject. You might offer during the interview." A smaller smile. "And flowers are never a bad thing."

Duce tilts her head, "What species are you? You look human enough, but.. so does Anakin, and he's a space guy too. If you need the alcohol .. why wouldn't it be like a .. a medication for you?"

Considering his other comment, she nods, "We'll bring it up during the interview. The new teacher's way different than Drusilla ~~also, in theory, sane~~ so he's not going to be able to skip like he used to, without detention. And heh.. no, flowers are never a bad thing. Unless the person you're giving them to is allergic, in which case.. oops."

"I'm Corellian. We're a little off from mainstock humans. I think Anakin is mainstock. We split from the main evolutionary path about three billion years ago. We're still interfertile, just better adapted to Corellia than anywhere else."

He shrugs. "More like a nutrient. All humans have to have protein. Doesn't matter if you get it from plants, animals or what. Adult Corellians require about 14 grams of ethanol per day, or we start collapsing in about a week. Lotta worlds just think it's a vice. This one too apparently. I stocked up when we were off-world."

Han gives a real smile. "He's not allergic. At least not to the kinds I've sent."

He thinks a bit. "Are you from the same time as he was? What was his Al'skander like, d'you know?"

"Three..billion..years?" Duce stammers, "Holy shit you guys are old!" She shakes her head, "These timelines are really kind of scary.."

Listening to him talk about is nutrient needs, she nods, understanding that. "You should try Everclear. Stronger than whiskey, no aftertaste, and a little dab'll do you."

She thinks, "We're not sure if we're from his time period, but the fact that he could read our writing indicates he's from roughly the same era. We.. uh.. kinda span several eras, though. Alexander?" She frowns, running through a mental checklist, "There were a couple of them. The two that spring immediately to mind are Alexandros, who was King of Macedonia somewhere around 300BC, and Domitus Lucius Alexander, also from around the same time, from Carthage. One was probably the greatest leader of that rather barbaric time, and the other was a proclaimed traitor who was later beheaded. Do you know anything besides his first name?"

"Duce, my people have been in space for ten thousand years. Earth is a really young planet. I suspect it was seeded with settlers or something."

Han nods. "He calls Al'skander--sorry, Alexander?--a great king. Said he was a demi-god. He died young, and Bagoas got sold with the rest of the household stuff. Ended up here in Fandom."

"Remind us to take you to the next 'Intelligent Design' meeting or Creationist gathering we can find," Duce noted, bemused. A slow, rather malicious smirk crosses her face at the thought of what havoc that would bring.

The second comment causes her to do almost a doubletake, "Then he means Alexandros, King of Macedonia." She gives a low, impressed whistle. "We have got to get you some history books, Han. He was a legend, even in his own time. He was possibly the greatest leader until Caesar."

(stupid LJ!)

"Creationist." Han tastes the word. "They believe the world was actually created by someone? Back home we got our myths, but nobody actually believes that the tides are caused by Sister Sea in pursuit of the Moons, which are Hunter, her husband, and Brother, who she screwed unknowingly."

"Yeah, I kinda missed on the history thing. Maybe I can work it in for spring."

He stuffs his hands in the pocket of his flight jacket. "So explain this death cult to me. The one that runs the church."

"Yup. They believe God created the world in 7 days, and put humans on the earth as they are now." Duce shakes her head, grimacing, "Dumbest thing we've ever heard."

She tilts her head at him, confused. "Death..cult? Church? Which church? There are all sorts of crazy religions on Earth right now. Wouldn't surprise us in the slightest if there was a death cult."

"Our lady of whatever, The big church here on the island. I didn't see a lady, but I saw an execution statue over the altar. So, death, cult. There was a goddess statue, always is, but she had a niche not an altar. Lotsa candles though."

"Oh, the Catholics," Duce relaxed slightly. "They're.. uh.. not really a death cult, although their history's pretty gruesome. Their version of god sent an angel to come upon a virgin, Mary - that's the goddess statue you saw - who became pregnant with Jesus, who was to be the Messiah. Mary was told to marry Joseph, but apparently she was to remain pure and untouched or something, because Jesus' birth is always referred to as the 'Virgin Birth'." Duce shrugs, "Don't even ask me the biomechanics of that. Not my deity."

She continues, "Jesus was born, and walked among humans as a prophet, to bring them the Word of God. Seems like a nice guy, told people to be good to one another and believe and try to live riteously. Of course, he was telling this to Romans, who were about as debauched a society as you could ever possibly dream up. They didn't like being told what to do, so they put a price on his head. His sycophants, the Apostles, tried to keep him safe, but Jesus' best friend, Judas, betrayed his wherabouts for 10 pieces of silver. Jesus was arrested, tried, and then nailed to a crucifix and left in the desert to die."

She shrugs, "God apparently let that happen. Apparently the crucifixion really brought home the shame to the people who'd stood by and let it happen. When he was dead, he was taken down off the cross and put in a tomb, where he laid for three days. Dead, mind you, for three days. And then he uh.. wasn't dead anymore.. and it was considered a miracle and brought faith to the people about the power of god."

She makes a face, "Honestly, we'd have a little trouble finding faith in a reanimated three-days-dead corpse. Especially one that sat in a desert. Seriously.. gross."

"Anyway. Christians believe Christ was the messiah, and nearly deify him in their religion. He died to absolve them of their sins.. whatever that means.. "

Han shakes his head. "I've heard weirder. There's a cult on Tatooine that worships banthas. They're a big herbivore. So their leader became a zombie. Did he eat the followers or what?"

"Banthas are the .. things.. that.. wear the bell Anakin has? The Bunny Foo Foo bell?" She shakes her head at the next question, "No, he didn't eat them.. they eat him. Vicariously, at least. People go up and eat bread to represent his flesh, and drink wine to represent his blood. Christians call it 'communion', Heinlein fans call it 'grokking'."

"Yeah. Anakin's infamous banthabell. I picked him up a second one on Deneb. It's tuned a little higher."

Han shakes his head. "A death cult with a zombie leader that the followers eat. Okay. That explains a lot."

Duce snickers, "Did he ask you to do that, or was that just for the sheer amusement of everyone but him? You heard he's stuck in the Christmas Pagent, right?"

She smirks slightly at his description of the christian faith, "Well, it could be worse. At least their main belief is 'be kind and understanding to your fellow man'. They're not, like, killing themselves to catch a ride on a comet to go to an alien world or anything."

"Actually, Buffy asked me to. Seems the gremlins stole his right before we left. Didn't hear about the pageant."

Han shakes his head. "All the gruesomeness and the punchline is, as Professor Ted would say, 'Be Excellent to Each Other.' Duce, honey, you're joking or I'm losing my mind."

"I'm not even ASKING about the comet thing. Fixed orbits, and there's lots easier ways to get to other worlds."

By now they've covered most of the Island. Han stops outside the Falcon.

"You know, I'm gonna feel real stupid if he's sitting in his cabin waiting for me to come in. If you see him before I do...just tell him to call home and let me know where he is? I worry."

"Totally not joking," Duce says solemnly, "Pick up a book called the Holy Bible and check it out - their story's all there. And the comet thing.. Earth news archives - search parameter - Heaven's Gate Cult."

Waving a hand at him, she nods, "If we do, we'll tell him. Go have a drink and try to relax some. He's probably alright."

Bagoas is visible sitting on a bench close to the gates of the hotel. He seems upset.

Duce spots Bagoas and heads over. "Hey, Bagoas. You ok?" She sounds concerned, "Saw Han earlier, and he said you two had a fight."

He gives Duce a miserable look. "Yes, we fight. He mad at me?"

Duce takes a seat on the bench next to him, shaking her head, "Nope. Mad at himself for upsetting you, and worried because you hadn't called and he didn't know where you were." She looks at his face for a moment, "You look wrecked."

"Feel wrecked," Bagoas sighed. "Han not deserve everything I say, but I still have point to be angry."

He looks down at his feet. "I call him tonight before go bed. So he not worry."

She's quiet for a moment, then adds, "He said he'd put his foot in his mouth somehow, trying to show that he cares. It's none of my business, but.. what the heck happened? Whatever it was has made both of you miserable, and you've always seemed so happy before."

"Something happen last weekend. I make stupid mistake and Han have to come save me. Now he watch me like hawk. Always follow me around. Always ask if I ok."

Bagoas sighs again. "Then professor Ash give out this assignment that I not want to do. So I leave class angry already. I take out on Han."

Duce makes a face, "Oh crap, he's gone all mother-hen on you? That's the worst. I think he means well, though. He just doesn't seem to understand.." she trailed off, and then adds in ancient Greek, //"He said you belonged to Alexandros. He hasn't read any history books, or he'd know that you don't need him hovering over your shoulder."//

She continues in English, almost apologetically, "And you do look fairly breakable. We don't think he understands it's kind of insulting, you know?"

Bagoas switches to ancient Greek because he can speak it properly.

//"It was a really bad mistake I made. I'm ashamed of it. But him doing this just keeps reminding me of it."//

He smiles, slightly. //"Anyway, did you get my message?"//

Duce smiles wryly, //"We can see where that would be annoying, yes. Han will get over it, we're sure. He was pretty angry that he'd upset you."//

//"Message?"// she frowns, and then drops her face into her hands and responds sheepishly from behind her palms, //"No. We broke our phone last night, after hearing Jake had been shot. Haven't replaced it yet. That's why we were looking for you, to find out if you'd gotten the note."//

Gives a concerned look. //"Jake's been shot? By who and is he all right?"//

//"Yes, I got the message, and I'm available anytime for your project."//

Duce shrugs a shoulder, her face going blank. Her voice is almost too calm, //"Don't know by who, but he's apparently alright. He called us to ask about a modelling appointment for next Monday. We'd left a message for Alex Sunday night, but he never called back."// Her voice is a little bitter, //"First we heard of it was on the radio last night."//

Perking up slightly, she adds, //"Great!..um.. we'd understand if you wanted to wait until you were in a slightly happier mood, but we're available most days after 3."//

Recalling something, she said, //"Ms. Calendar's making everyone do all the back homework. Han said you were feeling kind of overwhelmed, so if you want.. we did all the homework, and remember what it was about. We could help you with that, if you want."//

//"That is very scary. I hope whoever did it is caught.// Bagoas wonders about the wisdom of sitting on a bench after dark, even if it is close to the hotel.

He strugs that off a bit. //"I am available any day but Saturday. I have detention from Ms. Calendar. I could use that help before it turns into detention every week until the end of the term."// He frowns a little, that class giving him nothing but trouble.

Duce's face hardens slightly, //"Alex was there. Whoever shot Jake has been.. neutralized. Or else we're going to be very disappointed in him. They went out of town, and Alex's home world is not a safe place."// She leaves it at that. It's clear that although she's still obviously unhappy with Alex, she's confident that he took care of the situation.

//"She's no worse than any other teacher,"// Duce sighs. //"It was the last one who didn't do her job and make sure the class stayed on top of their assignments. We can help you at least get caught up. It's still a pretty raw deal, having to make up every missed assignment. Unfortunately, the clinic won't hand out excuse slips for 'my teacher is batshit crazy'."// It almost sounds as though she's tried asking for one.

Bagoas switches back to English. "Thank you for offer help." He doesn't look so miserable now.

Duce nods, "No problem. You could also try sending her an email to let her know what's going on. Don't know if that would help, but at least then she'd know you had a reason for missing classes and weren't just skipping for fun."

Looking at her watch, she stands. "We have to get going or we'll be late to work, so we'll catch up with you .. probably tomorrow?" She looks hopeful. "You should go call Han or Chewie and let them know you're ok. We think Chewie's at the bar tonight, if you wanted to avoid a confrontation with Han."

Bagoas nods. "I do that. See you tomorrow." He gives a genuine smile, the first of the day.

Duce smiles back, looking happier herself. With a wave, she heads off.

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Thursday, after class: Walkabout.

Totally OOC

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