15 ⚓ Video/Spam ⚓ Gather yourselves, with all your heart and strength

[hearrrtofgold]

[Video]
Duke Crocker of the Cape Rouge calling Haven P.D. Anyone out there? [He’s got only small hope that anyone will answer, almost certain that Audrey and Nathan won’t. But still, he’d come through the last time the network glitched (before he showed up on the Barge), as had she. Maybe it could happen again with them, or anyone he was familiar with from back home.

He pauses for a long time, mulling over what he’s about to share, and suddenly blurts it out.] Oprah Winfrey.

[Gym Spam, evening]
[After the last of the messages had trickled in, Duke had shaken himself off and tried to calm himself walking Brownie, fixing himself a very heavy chicken salad for supper, and tried to do some yoga poses. None of the activities had provided him any peace, and he eventually decided to just embrace the discomfort and beat the crap out of something.

So here he is, standing in the gym with knuckles bound in tape and taking out his frustrations on a punching bag. He’s more than competent in street-fighting, not exceptional but still practiced and forceful. He doesn’t even remember his first fistfight, although he’s sure he lost it, and that drives him on.]

Comments

[gottohaveacode]

Lucky me.

So you know the family.

[A beat; this whole day's a bit...odd, outside the usual oddness. He thinks he can make a jump here; makes as much sense as anything else about some of the calls he's gotten.]

You know my daughter.

[hearrrtofgold]

Allison? I've met her.

[It's a logical leap. As for the oddness? You're telling Duke, Chris.]

[gottohaveacode]

How.

[hearrrtofgold]

We were talking about cats.

[gottohaveacode]

Congratulations.

So that's it. You've met. Nothing else.

[No, he doesn't believe that.]

[hearrrtofgold]

We had hot chocolate once.

[gottohaveacode]

So you're up to hot beverages. And you're how old?

[hearrrtofgold]

What gutter is your mind in?

[gottohaveacode]

It's a question.

You're the one being evasive about how well you know my seventeen year old daughter.

[Hey, he's actually being tactful about this. His wife would have been way more blatant about it.]

You've talked about cats and you've drank hot chocolate together. Anything else you want to tell me?

[hearrrtofgold]

Evasive? No, I've talked to her a little and hung out with her briefly. Did that cross a line? [Tactful (for Chris) or not, Duke's still affronted. Allison is almost young enough to be his daughter and he's aware of that. Doesn't mean their being friends is unhealthy - he'd never look at her sexually.

The fact that he's started to view her as a little sister and taken her shooting? Well, that's none of Chris' business.]

[private to Duke]

[theresalwayshope]

Ohmigod I am so sorry for my dad.

[private to Allison]

[hearrrtofgold]

I don't think I like him much.

[private to Duke]

[theresalwayshope]

He's from an earlier place than me. When we were...not long after my mom died. He's...

...okay, he's still overprotective when I come from, but he's a little more willing to reserve judgment once he gets the worst of it out of his system.

[private to Allison]

[hearrrtofgold]

I won't provoke him. Just tell him he's an asshole for me, will you?

[private to Duke]

[theresalwayshope]

Oh, he knows. He absolutely knows.

...he just doesn't care a whole lot.

[gottohaveacode]

[Of course it's his business. It's his daughter, EVERYTHING about her is his business. Or so he thinks, anyway.

Sorry, Duke, she's pretty much the only family he's got left. He's kind of keen on keeping her around.]

It's hard to say.

Have you ever heard of a cyclotorna?

[...there's a point, he swears.]

[hearrrtofgold]

[Oh come on, Chris. Even the most involved helicopter parent doesn't get to know everything about their kid.

That said, Duke is the sort of thing parents should maybe know about. Even when his intentions are good, Trouble happens.]

What's that, some sort of paleolithic animal?

[gottohaveacode]

[Oh but he tries. He tries very very hard.]

Close. It's a variety of moth native to Australia. As larvae, they hitch a ride on leafhoppers or scale insects, but what they really like are ants. To the point where they actually release pheromones to compel them to bring them home to the nest so they can infiltrate and eat all their young.

[hearrrtofgold]

Interesting. What's with the biology lesson? Are you saying I should never underestimate a butterfly?

[gottohaveacode]

I'm not saying anything. I just thought you might find it interesting.

[But that Look is meaningful.]

The idea that sometimes things get confused. Get tricked into accepting the company of something that will only ever make trouble for them.

[private]

[theresalwayshope]

Dad? Stop it.

[private]

[gottohaveacode]

What? We're having a conversation.

[This face? So innocent. He has no idea what you're making a big deal about.]

He seems nice.

[Translation: I don't like him.]

[private]

[theresalwayshope]

[Allison adores you, Chris, but she's calling a big, fat, BULLSHIT.]

He's a nice guy, he's looked out for me, and he's not so different from us.

Stop it. That's an order.

[Translation: you may be the dad, but I'm the leader. HEAR ME ROAR.]

[private]

[gottohaveacode]

He doesn't seem especially like us. He seems like the kind of guy who only ever gets people into trouble.

[Dammit Allison. You know he's going to listen but dammit.]

[private]

[theresalwayshope]

Says the guy who sold guns to the yakuza when he was sixteen!

...and yes, I know about that. Stuff's going to happen...never mind, I know.