Baltimore Boating Center, Wednesday Afternoon

[my_own_advocate]

Duke wanted a small boat to add to their growing fleet. Lucifer-- wanted to take Duke out on a date, which he hadn't done in a little while, and the trip to and from would be scenic. Afterwards, they could grab some food at a nearby restaurant and make a night of it. Possibly ending at the mansion.

It all seemed to make sense.

And so he pulled into the marina well into the afternoon, the wind in his hair and a smile on his face. "Here we are," he said, bringing the car to a stop. "Home to many a baby boat."

He was just saying it to annoy Duke, at this point.

[[ for him and sp ]]

Comments

[betterthanaplan]

"It's perfect for just tooling around the island."

[my_own_advocate]

"Well, if that's what you want, I can just pay Tiny to slap something together."

[betterthanaplan]

"Hey now. Just because he's great with booze doesn't make him a boat maker," Duke said, pressing the phone to his chest as though offended in the little dinghy's favor. "Fine, if you're going to grouse about it all the time, I'll find something more traditional."

[my_own_advocate]

"I just want something that looks like it's not going to dump you in the water in a slight breeze," Lucifer sniffed.

He held out his phone. "There are some other places in the state we can go to for your sailboats."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke heaved a performative sigh. "If you insist. We'll go look. Any of them sell vintage boats?"

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer shot him an idle look. "If you keep narrowing this search down, I'm going to have to go back to the catalogue idea."

He held the phone out for Duke to take. "Still too big?"

[betterthanaplan]

"I don't need a forty foot boat," Duke said, shaking his head as he looked over the listing Lucifer had pulled up. "That 21 footer might be nice, though. . . ."

[my_own_advocate]

"Well, I'm not going to waste time filtering everything by size when I just want to know if we're in the right ballpark," Lucifer sighed.

[betterthanaplan]

"We're looking for dinghies. Maybe small sloops."

Because that would help.

[my_own_advocate]

"Yes, well, you run a search for 'dinghies and small sloops' and tell me if you actually find something," Lucifer started.

And then behind them, a man cleared his throat. Loudly.

"The sloops are down that way, behind the main building."

[betterthanaplan]

"Thanks, man!" Duke said, and started down in the indicated direction.

Even as he kept scrolling on his phone. "Oo, look at this one!"

Duke, the first line of the boat description is "this boat is a project".

[my_own_advocate]

"Duke, you don't need another boat with camouflage," Lucifer sighed, walking after him.

[betterthanaplan]

"It's a project!" Duke said. "You know how I like having those."

There was only so much on the Rouge that needed repairing or updating.

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer opened his mouth to argue, then closed it again. "Yes, you do like projects," he said.

He was just mystified by the question of why this was the way Duke was.

[betterthanaplan]

That was fine. Duke was mystified by many of Lucifer's strange ways as well.

"Here, fine, how about this one? It's well-maintained and is being sold by a non-profit."

It was also small. Very "day on the lake in a pastoral romance" sized.

[my_own_advocate]

"Don't you want to see what they actually have here, first?" Lucifer asked, as they approached the building behind which the sloops were supposed to be stored. "And that looks more like an accessory to the Rouge than a single boat."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke laughed. "An accessory to the Rouge is pretty much what I'm looking for, man. I have a ship. I'm looking for something that I can take out for a couple hours without wasting a bunch of gas."

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer sighed and shook his head - he would never fully understand you, Duke - but something about that laugh made something unclench.

Like maybe not getting the exact right boat wouldn't be the end of the world. "Well, we can look at that later if you find nothing here," he said, and leaned over to kiss Duke on the cheek.

[betterthanaplan]

Please. There were so many bigger threats to their world than boat purchasing.

"Okay. Let's see these sloops!" He tucked his phone away and clapped his hands, rubbing them together. "Something not too fancy or too much of a project. And big enough that you don't think we're wasting out time. Not too narrow a field. . . ."

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer chuckled. "We'll find something, I'm sure," he said.

He turned towards the dock, and... "How about that? Or is it still too fancy for your tastes?"

It was one of the fancier ones on display.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke looked where he was pointing, all set to make some snarky comment about feeling like he should be wearing khaki -- and stopped.

"Oh," he said softly. "Oh that is . . . gorgeous. I -- it's a little long, but --" He started towards it. "Is this a Herreschoff?" he called to a nearby employee-looking person.

The man looked up, glanced at the boat, and nodded. "1911. Rebuilt as close to the original specs as possible."

[my_own_advocate]

Well. That was good.

A small smile formed on Lucifer's face as he watched Duke. It took him a second to follow after him. "You recognize it?"

[betterthanaplan]

Duke nodded. "I might have grown up with the working fishermen, but we had plenty of fancy tourist types in Haven, too. I spent a summer helping a guy restore one of these from 1903 when I was, oh, eleven, I think."

The guy had ended up accusing Duke of stealing from him by the end of the summer, but that was just part of the usual background noise of Duke's childhood.

[my_own_advocate]

"So you'd actually know a fair bit about the inner workings," Lucifer said, as they came to a stop by the boat's side.

[betterthanaplan]

"If I didn't, I'd be able to figure it out," Duke said, shrugging. "It . . . is still kind of long, though."

He wanted something he knew would fit into his hold if he needed to -- when they eventually relocated.