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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Duke looked suspiciously at the box, then picked one out. "This what I think it is?"

He'd spent some time in India. Enough to get to know the food, certainly.

“If ‘what you think it is’ is jalebi, then yes,” Liam grinned. “Picked it up from a little place in Baltimore, because somehow despite all the restaurants this island does have, it’s lacking in the Indian food department.”

"It sure is, at that," Duke said, taking a bite. "Thanks. Might need the name of that place in Baltimore. This is good shit."

“Someday I’ll actually get around to attempting to make them myself,” Liam shared. “I’ll make sure to bring you some when I do.”

". . . Are you a decent cook?"

Liam shrugged. “I realized last year I was kind of tired of just eating takeout all the time, you know?” he said. “So I’ve been learning.”

Plus there was his rather sudden switch to vegetarianism back in January, and cooking his own meals meant not being limited to the like, three vegetarian options most menus had.

There was that!

"Well then, thanks. I'll look forward to it."

"Now, if Verity offers to cook something for you, on the other hand..." Liam shot her a fond look ~~assuming she was there~~ even as he trailed off.

"Run for the hills?"

"Definitely the safer option."

Okay, to be fair, Verity was more than capable of following a set of instructions to produce something edible (Valentine's Day 2019 notwithstanding). It's just that her definition of 'edible' was a lot broader than most people's.

And also, 'edible' was a really low bar when it came to food.

"I'll keep that in mind."

And then, because Duke had to know it was coming sooner or later...

"How are you doing?"

Did he, though? Couldn't they skip this part, just once?

"Well, I've got me a jalebi, so better than I was."

Nope. Absolutely not.

"That's something," Liam allowed with a nod. "Heard you had a bit of a run-in with a cult, of all things."

Duke let out a deep sigh. "Yeah. But we took them down, so it's all good now."

His mom had disappeared again the chaos and he wasn't sure if he wanted to know if she was alive or dead or not, but other than that, it was just fine!

"Mmhm." Liam said, sounding like he super believed that 'all good now'.

"When you say 'took them down'..."

"Your new guy called the local fuzz in and handed the leaders over. It was all very nice and aboveboard."

Barring the part where Danny broke one guy's wrist and Duke punched the other in the face.

Hey, the last time Liam had had a run-in with a cult, he'd left a trail of bodies behind him, so who was he to judge a little roughing-up?

(In his defense, the snake cult had started killing people first. And then they'd made the mistake of kidnapping Verity.)

"Just making sure we're not going to have to hide you in the machinery under the island should anyone come looking for payback," Liam said with a tight smile. "No sign of her?"

He didn't think so, given Saturday morning's radio and also the fact that hopefully, if she had been found, someone would've taken the time to, you know, call him and let him know. But sometimes it didn't hurt to check.

"No," Duke said. "No sign."

Then he frowned.

"Wait, the what under the island?"

“Machinery,” Liam repeated. “Did anyone tell you about last summer?”

"Vampires and evil toys, yeah. What's that got to do with machines in the sewers?"

“Oh, they’re not in the sewers,” Liam said. “But there’s definitely machinery. It controls where the island goes whenever it decides to go on walkabout.”

Yup. This was a thing Liam was saying with a completely straight face. Thanks, Fandom!

Edited 2020-05-27 00:26 (UTC)

"The island. Goes wandering." Duke let out a heavy sigh. "Why am I even still surprised?"

“Apparently the island itself doesn’t usually change with the new location, that was new,” Liam smiled grimly, one thumb pressing in to the red mark in the center of his other palm. “Lucky us.” Be glad you’d missed it, Duke!

"Uh . . . huh. Good to know. And the machinery, what, is the island's engine?"

Re: Talk to Duke

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