Duke Crocker (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
exceptionalcrook) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
dualislogs2019-12-16 07:11 pm
exceptionalcrook) wrote in dualislogs2019-12-16 07:11 pm
Entry tags:
(no subject)
WHO: Duke Crocker; Seifer; Nick; OTA
WHAT: New roommate, new city, new friends
WHERE: The dorms, Isolated Pawn, and Rick's
WHEN: Dec. 8ish? onward
The Dorms – for Seifer
New dimension, new city, new reality, same old Duke. Sure, he only had himself to blame after jumping into another dimension to save his friend, and he really should know better than to assume anything by this point. Even a screaming neon acid trip of a city staffed by Terminators. Trouble like this – if it was a Trouble – needed research. He needed to regroup, rest, figure out where he stood.
Which sounded a lot harder with a roommate.
Sharing his space has never been his favorite thing to do, and it usually never lasted long. Even living with his wife had gotten frustrating, although hopefully his roommate wouldn't be an Evi type and overly interested in what he was doing. Hopefully he'd be able to make some space for himself, set up comfortably, make a home his castle complete with convenient hiding places.
That's why his disappointment shows on his face when he opens the door. It's tiny, there's not even a closet, and hiding would be almost impossible without scuttling under one of the desks or beds. “Once again I'm thankful I didn't go to college,” he quips, stepping in. “Hi. Duke Crocker. You should know, I sleep in the raw.”
Isolated Pawn – OTA
Duke was pretty sure he'd seen the Dualis employment assignment model in a sci-fi show, which was unsettling but not surprising at all. He half-hoped for something futuristic and glamorous like an internship with Star Fleet, or at least not delivery boy, and is only half-disappointed by his assignment. Pawnbroker? Okay, at least maybe he'd get to work with some sci-fi stuff.
It turns out Isolated Pawn has a significant amount of stuff, both sci-fi and less so. It also has an aging owner who is grateful for the help and encourages him to familiarize himself with everything. His first few days of work find him mostly puttering around the shop taking in the stock, puzzling over power tools for people with tentacle appendages and full-spectrum light artwork, but after that he's behind the counter, a confident man.
“Everything's for sale,” he greets the customer with. “Except Gertie. She stays here.” He gestures to a taxidermied marlin on a stand, a pirate hat on her head at a jaunty angle. “What can I help you with?”
Rick's – for Nick
All the best bars are dives, the girl had said. Professionally speaking he disagrees – the Grey Gull isn't a dive so much as it was an event space, and while his own bar will always be his favorite he immediately likes the atmosphere at Rick's. Dim lights, old pictures hanging on the walls, cigarette smoke in the air, a stage at the back of the room (empty tonight), all wrapped around a lively but small crowd getting comfortably toasted after their work shifts; Rick's felt like the kind of cornerstone old watering hole where an ancient bartender would pour you a domestic beer without asking and explain it was your granddad's usual.
Except the woman behind the counter is too young to pull that off. Too fun, too. He checks his phone – yeah, just a few minutes early – and settles at the bar, waiting for her to come over to him. “Hey,” he smiles when she gets to him. “I'll take two of whatever you like best.”
WHAT: New roommate, new city, new friends
WHERE: The dorms, Isolated Pawn, and Rick's
WHEN: Dec. 8ish? onward
The Dorms – for Seifer
New dimension, new city, new reality, same old Duke. Sure, he only had himself to blame after jumping into another dimension to save his friend, and he really should know better than to assume anything by this point. Even a screaming neon acid trip of a city staffed by Terminators. Trouble like this – if it was a Trouble – needed research. He needed to regroup, rest, figure out where he stood.
Which sounded a lot harder with a roommate.
Sharing his space has never been his favorite thing to do, and it usually never lasted long. Even living with his wife had gotten frustrating, although hopefully his roommate wouldn't be an Evi type and overly interested in what he was doing. Hopefully he'd be able to make some space for himself, set up comfortably, make a home his castle complete with convenient hiding places.
That's why his disappointment shows on his face when he opens the door. It's tiny, there's not even a closet, and hiding would be almost impossible without scuttling under one of the desks or beds. “Once again I'm thankful I didn't go to college,” he quips, stepping in. “Hi. Duke Crocker. You should know, I sleep in the raw.”
Isolated Pawn – OTA
Duke was pretty sure he'd seen the Dualis employment assignment model in a sci-fi show, which was unsettling but not surprising at all. He half-hoped for something futuristic and glamorous like an internship with Star Fleet, or at least not delivery boy, and is only half-disappointed by his assignment. Pawnbroker? Okay, at least maybe he'd get to work with some sci-fi stuff.
It turns out Isolated Pawn has a significant amount of stuff, both sci-fi and less so. It also has an aging owner who is grateful for the help and encourages him to familiarize himself with everything. His first few days of work find him mostly puttering around the shop taking in the stock, puzzling over power tools for people with tentacle appendages and full-spectrum light artwork, but after that he's behind the counter, a confident man.
“Everything's for sale,” he greets the customer with. “Except Gertie. She stays here.” He gestures to a taxidermied marlin on a stand, a pirate hat on her head at a jaunty angle. “What can I help you with?”
Rick's – for Nick
All the best bars are dives, the girl had said. Professionally speaking he disagrees – the Grey Gull isn't a dive so much as it was an event space, and while his own bar will always be his favorite he immediately likes the atmosphere at Rick's. Dim lights, old pictures hanging on the walls, cigarette smoke in the air, a stage at the back of the room (empty tonight), all wrapped around a lively but small crowd getting comfortably toasted after their work shifts; Rick's felt like the kind of cornerstone old watering hole where an ancient bartender would pour you a domestic beer without asking and explain it was your granddad's usual.
Except the woman behind the counter is too young to pull that off. Too fun, too. He checks his phone – yeah, just a few minutes early – and settles at the bar, waiting for her to come over to him. “Hey,” he smiles when she gets to him. “I'll take two of whatever you like best.”
no subject
Duke is neither a Nosferatu nor a Loser, so he's got little experience with sewer-crawling. He's also not a hobbit and has never had to worry about dragons (yet, but who knows?). Guns tend to work well on the people who threaten him and his friends, and he hasn't yet scaled up for other threats.
Horrible as Eos' vocalizations are, Duke is absolutely in love with the weird little guy. "I know, buddy. Fish! You get fish! Who's a good boy?" He experiments with under-the-chin scritches. "Where were you before this?"
no subject
Excuse him, sometimes you sewer crawl for orders. It's that, or monster nests, though truthfully Seifer usually picks the monster nests. Those are a lot more fun, granted there's not much difference between the two on his world. Anywhere humans aren't constantly becomes a prime target to be full of monsters. One day Seifer might just teach him the joys of using something that does significantly more damage than a boring old gun.
Eos adores under the chin scratches. He adores any attention. Please give him all the attention! Seifer just watches on, faintly amused, though still mostly keeping his attention on Duke. Still sizing him up. "Another one of these weird science experiments where they kidnap you from your home an' shove you someplace new. Expect you to figure out how to survive I guess." They did fine, much more peaceful than this place.
no subject
Sometimes you sewer-crawl for that but in Duke's experience, you didn't. Monster nests also don't enter into things. Monsters in Duke's opinion would be quite different from Seifer's.
Eos is the best boy. Duke unabashedly adores him and has devolved into just offering scritches. "Who's a good boy? You are! Yes, you are!" He looks up at Seifer and, to his credit, does straighten up and only keep one hand rubbing the crocdog's head. "You went through that?"
no subject
They would probably agree on Duke's definition of monsters as well, honestly. Humans were arguably worse in the long run, monsters just wanted to eat you. At least they were straightforward about it. Far preferable to the alternatives.
Eos really is the best boy, long mouth full of teeth notwithstanding he is far too adorable not to love. Eos, likewise, is completely enamored with getting all this attention. One might think he was attention deprived, but anyone who knows pets knows this is merely a ruse for more affection. At the question Seifer shrugged. "Eh, wasn't so bad." It was certainly better than where he came from.