fandomhigh | Ungulate Yoga, Tuesday, period 1

After spending pretty much all day yesterday in bed, after getting back from Ibiza, Duke was looking forward to a nice, ordinary day. Or, you know, as close to one as you could get in Fandom. So when he saw the zebras hanging out in the clearing for class, he didn't even blink.

"At least you all have hooves. Just try not to trample my students, alright?"

The zebras grazed idly, ignoring him.

"Let's get right to warming up please," Duke said when the students arrived. "Today we're going to try out some bound poses." He very specifically did not look at Danny ~~if he was there~~ when he said that. "A bound pose is any pose where your hands are connected, and you twist through your shoulders and torso. They require a fair amount of flexibility, so I don't want to see anyone pushing themselves too hard, here. You need a prop, you use it. I've got pillows, bolsters, blocks and straps up here. Remember: a good stretch means no sharp pains. If it hurts, stop."

One of the zebras came over to try to eat Duke's hair. He closed his eyes and sighed.

"Also there are zebras. So . . . yeah."

At least he wasn't stoned this week.

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"Thanks," Duke said, half dry and half just confused. "I got through it."

Which meant he was totally fine, right?

Karolina's years of therapy said that wasn't how it worked.

"Okay," she said again. "And the rest?"

Because the cult-and-drugs thing wasn't the only thing she'd heard about. In fact, she figured that one was more like a symptom of the other thing.

"The rest of what?"

Good idea, Duke, play dumb.

If he wanted to hear Karolina have to say it outright, sure! Complete with a much softer tone.

"Your girlfriend," she said. "She's missing, right?"

". . . Ah. Yeah. That." Duke looked away, sighing. "Three weeks now. Best I can tell, the island sent her home."

And by the look on his face, that was not a good thing.

The repeated reports of people looking around the woods had kind of also given Karolina that impression.

"And it's one of the places Portalocity doesn't go?"

She knew they were super unhelpful like that, sometimes.

"And even if they did, I'd probably die of radiation poisoning the minute I walked through the portal." Unless he got a blood transfusion from Octavia or one of her friends, which WOULDN'T GO WELL FOR ANYONE. "It's -- not great."

"How are you holding up?"

She doubted that would get more of an answer than what she could read between the lines, but she couldn't help asking.

Also, yes, even though he'd just said 'not great'.

"Well, I haven't punched anyone yet." Duke frowned, looking off to the side. "Wait, no, I punched that one cultist guy. But that was totally provoked."

"I don't think the ones that have it coming count."

Yes, Karolina was extremely peace-loving. But she'd also freelanced as a superhero, so.

"I mean, I don't think they do," Duke said. "And hey, I've made one impulsive, permanent decision." Which wasn't actually totally impulsive. "So I think I'm doing okay."

"I mean... I think that might depend on what it was."

Duke held up his arm, showing off the fresh tattoo. "Thematic, symbolic, and totally on brand for me."

Karolina's head tilted again, this time to take a better look at the tattoo.

"A shark?" she asked, after a second. "It's nice."

"Thanks. It's not for tourist bullshit reasons." Lucifer. "Tavi and me, we had this . . . thing. She called me flapkrasha, which means butterfly." He tapped his shoulder, where his old tattoo of the butterflies on a sugar skull was. "And she was finrona. Shark."

Flap-crasher was such an odd for a butterfly. If Karolina's head hadn't already been tilted, it might have done so at that.

Also:

"I don't think I recognize that language."

Even her curiosity sounded gentle. It was on his skin, this was obviously important.

"You wouldn't. She's the only one around here who really speaks it. Or was, until she started teaching it to me." And now he was the only one around who spoke it. He was starting to get a little more of an idea of how big a thing it had been for her when he'd started learning. "It's called Trig. Sort of a post-apocalyptic pidgin English."

"Oh," Karolina said. "I guess that explains the -- what was it? 'Fin-runner'?"

She tried her best, okay? She'd just heard ut the once!

"Why a shark, though?" she wondered. "Does she have a shark tattoo, too?"

Well, if the butterfly came from the ones on his shoulder...

"Finrona," Duke corrected. "And, uh. No. She doesn't."

He didn't really feel like it was his place to explain Octavia's affinity for sharks to anyone.

"Or, I don't know, maybe she does now. Not sure I'll ever find out."

Karolina definitely repeated 'finrona' under her breath after he said it. She was just kind of like that.

She also definitely wasn't going to push any on private matters like that. "This is Fandom," she pointed out instead, softly. "There's always at least a little hope."

"Yeah, well. She's not exactly the first person to disappear on me." In Fandom or in life in general! "And no one else has ever come back."

He was such a ray of sunshine.

"I got dragged away to my parents' home planet when I was a student here, and I found my way back?" Karolina offered.

It really wasn't the same thing, but it was the best she had.

"By a random portal?" Duke asked, perking up a little. "How long were you gone?"

Yeah, see, Karolina instantly regretted having said that.

Because now she had to say this: "It wasn't a random portal." But a random fiancé, which was a story for another time. "I was just a really long way away, and it wasn't easy to get back."

"Ah." Duke's slump was subtle, but definitely noticeable. "Right. Yeah, this isn't quite a 'my parents decided to pull me out of school' situation."

Re: Talk to Duke

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