fandomhigh | Jack of All Trades, Wednesday, Per 1

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jack of all trades

Jack of All Trades, Wednesday, Per 1

The Danger Shop was set up for a movie day today, with comfy chairs and bean bags and a refreshment counter just like at the movies, only without the outrageous price-gouging. By the time the students arrived, Hardison was settled in, long legs stretched over several bean bags, eating popcorn that looked like it had been liberally dusted with the same orange cheese-flavored powder that covered Cheetos. A super-sized bag of gummy frogs and a two-liter of Orange Squeeze sat on the floor next to him.

"Hey, y'all," he said, giving them a wave. "So, I decided that y'all deserve a movie day today. Come in, get comfy, get some snacks, an' we'll watch an old classic about adventures on the high seas."

After everyone got their snacks and settled, Hardison hit a button and the movie sprang to life around them, giving them a 3D view, as if they were sitting on the stage in the middle of a play. Unfortunately, rather than starting at the beginning, it started almost a quarter of the way through, when the main characters were already on the ship and underway on the voyage to the island. "Oh, sorry 'bout that," Hardison said, and hit another button.

And suddenly their snacks and chairs were gone. Rather than being observers in the middle of the set, they were part of the movie now, onboard a pirate ship, on the open sea.

"...This was not what I had planned," Hardison muttered.

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On a boat!

Garik Loran

Ada Miller

Edward Kenway

Raven Darkholme

Kaylin Neya

Mara Jade

Rey

Jalian d'Arsennette y ken Selvren

Hanna Heller

Movie day! What could possibly go wrong!

Yeaaaaaaaaaaah, Ada was not a fan of the 3D movie-experience, and was trying to inch slightly towards where the door should be so that she could sneak out. She was not above claiming motion-sickness or whatever.

She had no idea how much worse it was about to get.

Oh. Well, that could.

Looks like everyone's a pirate now. Nothing to do but make the best of it, right?

"... I can't say this was how I envisioned my time on a ship," Edward said, after a long pause.

Because this was looking awfully pirate-y.

Ada had been fine -- deeply unhappy, but fine-ish -- so long as she could hold on the chair and have a physical reminder that none of this was real and that there was no way she could fall in the water.

Then the chairs were gone, she could feel the ship rolling on the waves, smell the salt water, and Ada was very very much Not Fine. At all.

She dropped to the deck in a little ball, curling up and pressing her hands over her eyes to try and block it out. "Not. Real." she gritted out, softly, between clenched teeth. "Not real not real not real."

It was...not helping. The only thing saving her sanity at the moment was that she couldn't 'hear' the water calling her, no more than she normally could while she was in the walls of the school.

And you did not need to be Lorrdian to read that body language.

"Hey, Ada," Face said, dropping down into a crouch beside her. "What's wrong?"

Ada hated this. She hated it so, so much, and now her classmates were seeing her freak-out.

"I'll be fine," she managed, though she most likely didn't look it. "Just don't get on well with large bodies of water."

Face refrained from pointing the obvious (she didn't look it, they took lying class together) and sat down facing her instead.

"It helps if you focus on something else," he said quietly. "For example a highly attractive holo-idol with incredible hair."

If she was rolling her eyes at him for being ridiculous then she wasn't paying as much attention to the water.

"Think you mean ridiculous hair," she snickered, before the boat jolted and lurched with the waves and she groaned, pressing her hands to her temples. "'M gonna get sick."

Just...not in the way people usually got sick on boats. It was giving Ada a migraine, trying to ignore the urge to dive deep to get away from the rocking of the ship.

Excuse you, Ada, Wedge Antilles himself was going to have complimentary narrative on how wonderful Face's hair was.

"That hurts, Ada, deeply hurts," he said, glancing around the deck for a bucket or basin, even if she didn't look the motion-sick kind of queasy, better to have one and not need it than the other way around. "Just sick your head between your knees and try for slow, deep breaths."

She complied with the suggestion, dropping her head between her knees to try and breathe deep.

"You got floofy hair," she said, between futile attempts at regaining her calm. "Like...the cover of a romance novel or something."

That probably explained why Cass liked it.

"Some people use the term rakishly tousled," he said, making sure to keep his voice light.

After Face ~~and anybody else that wanted to~~ had checked up on Ada, Hardison came by. "Hey, girl," he said, voice quiet and soothing. "You wanna head belowdecks? You think that might help?"

She'd still feel the pitch and roll of the ship, still smell the salt, but she wouldn't have to see the great vastness of the ocean.

Add walls into the mix? Be even more trapped than she already was? Ada turned an even whiter shade of pale at the thought. "No," she said, thinking quickly. "It's... I got a head-injury. I got problems with motion-sickness."

True and true, Ada'd had problems with motion-sickness, especially in cars, her whole life. No lies on her.

"I just...can I go? Please?"

"Absolutely," Hardison said, finding the pause button so Ada could get out. "Anytime you ain't feel safe, Ada-girl, you go. Best advice I can give anyone, an' double-true in any class I teach. Promise."

The second Mr. Hardison hit 'pause' Ada was up and--

No, no she wasn't. She was going to fall over instead, her legs steadfastly refusing to work like legs that walked were supposed to work, knees giving out under her.

Everything still felt like it was moving, and she squeezed her eyes shut. "Uh, I might need a moment."

"What's more important?" Hardison asked. "Your dignity or you gettin' out?"

He had no objections to princess-carrying Ada out of here if that's what it took.

"I just freaked-out in front of everyone," she said bitterly, giving Hardison the I know you're an adult but I didn't think you were stupid Look that teenagers did so well. "What dignity?"

He had been giving you a chance to speak up if you didn't want him carrying you, Ada, god! Consent!

"Right-o," he said, scooping her up like she barely weighed anything at all. Because, honestly, she didn't and he was surprisingly built under his tee-shirts. "Let's get you out, then, girl."

Ada let out a startled yelp at being picked up so suddenly, but didn't actually protest. She'd been expecting a hand-up, maybe, not being carried, but, whatever, it was getting her out of the sim.

"Just dump me outside th' door," she sighed, sounding tired. "I c'n get back to the dorms once the room stops moving."

"You sure?" he asked. "I ain't mind waiting for you to feel better. TA can keep the class cool while I'm gone."

He didn't want to treat her like she was fragile, but he didn't like the idea of just leaving her alone, either.

There was nothing Ada hated more than being treated like she was fragile, either. "Cross 'm heart," she said, managing to drum up a wan smile for Mr. Hardison. "I'll be fine."

"I won't move 'til 'm good an' steady, or I'll wait for class to get out an' see if Face or someone will walk back with me."

"A'ight." Hardison said, nodding. He'd checked with her and she said she was okay; Hardison was willing to trust in that. He set her down gently outside the door and reached into his pocket for a bag of gummy worms. Real ones. "Low blood sugar," he said. "Happens to the best of us. Not that I think you need help spinnin' nothin'. But that's what the squirrels are gonna report tomorrow."

He was the announcer on Thursdays, wasn't that convenient?

Candy! There wasn't anything wobbly about how fast Ada's nimble fingers snatched up those gummy worms. Because, well, carnie.

"Ain't sure what about being motion sick needs spinning, but if you want to make me sound like less of a wimp, I ain't gonna complain,'" she decided, popping one in her mouth. "Havin' a broken brain sucks."

Because it was totally just the (admittedly severe) motion sickness that had incapacitated her in there, and not the fact that last time she went into water, she came very, very close to never resurfacing.

"Was thinkin' 'bout playin' it down some," he said, not even the tiniest bit surprised by how fast she moved. "Makes my class sound bad. Can't have that. Got a rep to maintain."

Nodding at her, he stood back up. "You get home a'ight, y'hear me? It's homework or whatever."

"I ain't doin' nothin' else today but sittin' quiet in Mr. Winchester's class," she promised, "--an' then 'm takin' some Dramamine an' sleepin' this off for the rest of the day."

Her head was pounding and the adrenaline crash was leaving her exhausted. Maybe a nap, first, in an empty classroom.

"Thanks, Mr. Hardison."

"Sounds like a plan," Hardison agreed. "You do what you gotta. I'mma head back in, make sure ain't been no burnin' or pillagin' while I been gone."

He wasn't going to ask her if she was okay again or offer more help, but he lingered another moment, just in case.

Rey had never been on a boat before. She'd never been around this much water, period. So she was positively amazed, and practically leaning over the side of the railing to see what she could make out.

Hardison has money on her taking out Long Jack Sterling and taking his place before the end of the period.

Did he also have money on her shifting to a full on pirate queen look, too? Because yeah. She was absolutely doing that.

He's trying to figure out just what went wrong. But you can amuse yourself for an hour, right?

Thanks to

rebelseekspizza for the idea of sprucing up movie day!

ADA DOES NOT APPROVE NO NO NOT AT ALL

I'M SORRY. :(

Thanks to "Long John Sterling" I now have a mental image of Sterling trying to run a pirate ship.

Or, oooo, a Leverage AU of Sterling the navy sea captain trying to thwart Captain Ford and his small but remarkably effective pirate crew. . . .

I ORIGINALLY HAD IT AS LONG JIM STERLING. Then decided that it wouldn't work unless Hardison had programmed it himself.

and now I seriously WANT THAT AU. But only after the psychic one finishes, OH MY GOD.

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Jack of All Trades, Wednesday, Per 1

Sign In Week 12

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Get snacks and settled

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On a Pirate Ship

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Talk to the TA

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Talk to Hardison

OOC

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