The beach, Tuesday morning

[betterthanaplan]

Duke had plans that night to show Lucifer what proper seafood was all about (not just tuna melts! Seafood could be fancy!), so rather than warming up as he waited for Rey to arrive, he was on his phone looking over his chosen restaurant's menu. Again.

Seriously, why would anyone try to serve "Maine lobster" outside of Maine? That just meant it'd probably been frozen. And was therefore terrible.

He was maybe just a little bit of a seafood snob, yes.

[open!]

Comments

[thatwaslucky]

"Morning," Rey greeted him, toeing her boots off. "Anything interesting?"

[betterthanaplan]

"Depends on if you have strong opinions about seafood," Duke said, switching his phone off and tucking it away. "How's it going?"

[thatwaslucky]

"Same old," she said with a shrug. "I can't complain. You?"

[betterthanaplan]

"Enjoying some time off." Because showing up and dealing with whatever birds the school had come up with this time was so time consuming the rest of the week. "Heading to the mainland tonight with Lucifer, so that should be fun."

[thatwaslucky]

Don't mind Rey's eyeroll at that name.

"Yeah, sounds like fun."

[betterthanaplan]

"Not a fan of the Devil, huh?" Duke asked, smirking faintly.

[thatwaslucky]

"Pollen thing," she explained. "Him making me uncomfortable is my problem and I need to lighten up. No, I'm not a fan."

And she didn't even hear the way he talked about her otherwise.

[betterthanaplan]

Yeah, Duke wasn't going to point out that she had been extra on edge during all that. He had no interest in potentially revisiting their own argument.

"Yeah, he can be kind of a prick," he said instead. "Apparently he keeps passing my diner off as offering 'discount tuna salad'. Hence dinner. I'm going to show him that seafood definitely counts among the 'finer things' in life."

[thatwaslucky]

It'd actually been the opposite of what had happened with Duke, and Rey would have seen him as a creeper in that situation with or without pollen.

As it was she was kind of frowning at that reaction, but just said, "You have fun with that."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke shrugged. "Thanks. He's entertaining, at least for someone who doesn't mind him being flirty and weird." They had kind of a disconcerting amount in common, actually. "You have any plans coming up?"

[thatwaslucky]

Rey shook her head. "I might go home for a bit. I don't really have much going on."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke nodded. "I'm guessing there's usually at least something to do when you're fighting an evil empire. How's the lightsaber repair going?"

[thatwaslucky]

"That part isn't actually happening yet. I've gathered some of the supplies but there's still some things I have to figure out first," Rey explained. "It'll happen."

[betterthanaplan]

"I have no doubt," Duke said. "Seems to me you can do pretty much anything once you've decided to." He tilted his head with a wry smile. "Except maybe float."

[thatwaslucky]

"I haven't really tried much lately," she admitted. "I've been more focused on the books, looking for hints."

[betterthanaplan]

"Hey, I'm just glad you humored me at all. You can shape your training however you want to."

[thatwaslucky]

"I know. And I am. But now it's a goal," she said.

[betterthanaplan]

"Well. If I can help at all, just let me know. If nothing else, I'm a decent meditation guide."

[thatwaslucky]

"I know," she said with a little smile. "I think it's just a mindset thing. My own thing I have to get over."

Which annoyed the hell out of her.