|
  |
Duke sprawls in a chair by the open garage door, watching the drizzle. He's smoking something and it's not tobacco. Coz is snoring loudly at his feet — the neon sign at the front gate indicates that the yard is closed. That shouldn't stop anyone from coming in, one way or another.
Duke drops his empty beer bottle into an old milk crate, on top of several others, then pulls yet another out of a cooler beside his chair. Boxes of bullets and bundles of stakes are stacked on a workbench, a multitude of weapons are stacked or racked nearby. The little gang, such as they are, will be well-prepared on that front.
*
The rumble of a familiar motorcycle comes from outside, interrupting Coz's slumber. He doesn't seem too annoyed, though. He's on his paws and bounding to the door even before it's drawn open, and Liv lets out a surprised squawk when she catches a very happy mastiff in the face.
Unlike most people, though, Liv does not fall over. She actually scoops the massive dog up and carries him back inside, a very tolerant smile on her face as she bumps the door closed with her hip. "Yes, Coz, hello."
*
Duke looks up at the scene and chuckles. "You know he's going to expect that every time you come over now." He pulls out another beer. "Can I offer you something to drink? Or…something else?"
Coz is busy kissing Liv's face and wagging his tail so hard that it's actually hard to hold onto him. Wiggle-wiggle-waggle.
*
"Beer if you have any? I blew all my fun money restocking our fridge." Liv awkwardly carts Coz over to the old sofa, turns, and flumps backwards to sit, perfectly happy to end up with a massive lap dog in the process. "You say that like I wouldn't do this every time I come over anyway."
*
Duke tosses a beer at her. "I have plenty, since I make it. And if you need anything, ask. There's always plenty of fruits and vegetables — we can hunt if you want meat. Not sure some of the places beyond Westchester would miss a cow."
*
"I'll take you up on the fruits and vegetables." Liv reaches up to catch the drink, adding, "And alcohol. But for meat… Duke, they sell that," she notes with a laugh, raising her eyebrows at him as she awkwardly gets the beer open around Coz. "I know I'm broke, but I'm pretty sure if I asked you really nicely, you'd spot me a few bucks for some steak."
*
"Oh, come on." Duke waves his 'cigarette' vaguely. "Deer? Goat? If you don't want beef. I hunt more than vampires. I'll feed you, don't worry. The Earth is made to feed us." He doesn't know for sure that's why it's so important but it is. It's principle. A first principle. "If you want money, ask Coz."
Coz barks happily. Of course Liv can have money. She's Coz' family. His tail drums on the couch.
*
Liv makes a thoughtful noise, looking to Coz and ruffling his ears with her free hand. "What do you think, buddy? Can I quit my day job and just ask you for rent money so Jack and Max don't care?" She's probably kidding. Maybe. There are some people at work she'd feel terrible for leaving.
*
Coz looks thoughtful, then huffs. He licks Liv's face before barking sharply at her. She's family, not a puppy.
"I think he's saying you need to pull your own weight around here," Duke says, laughing. "What do you know about junk?" He offers Liv what he's smoking, in case she needs something more than the beer.
*
"That's fair," Liv replies solemnly, smooching the dog on the nose. "I'll do what I can, I promise."
She considers it a moment before she waves the offered smoke off, raising her drink slightly. One thing at a time. "Junk? How to wreck it, mostly," Liv admits, shrugging helplessly up at Duke. "Honestly, the only reason I can hold down the job I have is that I haven't found a language I can't speak yet, and they need translators."
*
"You're always welcome." Duke gestures out the open garage door at the rain and the scrap and the greenery, a sole soggy chicken pecking along in front of the garage. "This little kingdom has plenty of room." He laughs quietly, slouches back into his chair. "It's not a life for everyone. I'm not sure it's for me, but here I am. Things keep up as they are, though, we'll both be part-time demon hunters. Can you imagine if they don't get that portal closed?"
*
"They'll get it closed." Liv tries to sound certain, but given the size of the drink she takes immediately afterward, she didn't find her inflection satisfactory. "Sooner than later, I hope. I don't want to think about what hasn't found its way out yet."
*
"Things need to get back to normal. For them. I wouldn't know from normal." Duke drinks, looks pensive. "I met a man the other day. When I went to get takeout."
*
Normally, Liv might tease someone over a statement like that — but it's Duke. Duke is different. So she makes a curious noise up at him around another drink, idly scritching Coz behind his ears. "One you're pleased you met, or one you're troubled by?"
*
"Both. He's not natural, but…what he does, what he makes, is…nature. He's a garden in a person." Duke finishes his beer, drops the bottle on the growing pile of empties, takes another. He also pulls out that little lozenge tin and pops a cube in his mouth before offering some to Liv. He's obviously perturbed if he's medicating at this rate. "I like him. He's amazing — what he can do is amazing, at least. It's wrong and right. How can someone be fascinating and terrifying at the same time?" Coz whines, worried.
*
That gets Liv's eyebrows to raise a bit higher. She pats the sofa next to herself, watching Duke with a small, worried frown. "It's not unheard of, you know. You can be a bit of both, Raph, before one gets to know you. What do you mean, not natural?"
*
"He took a peach stone." Duke gestures, as if he's holding one. "And he put his hands over it — while it was in my hand. And it became a peach. A real, fresh, perfect peach that belonged to the stone. I could tell. They were the same peach. Not a new one. It was magic, but…I don't know. A strange magic." He cracks the new beer open and then gets to his feet.
"And this." He plucks a rose out of a bottle on a workbench. It's beautiful. "He drew it out of nothing that I could see, out of his pocket. And gave it to me." He comes over to sit by Liv so she can see it. "It's normal. As if I cut it myself. But he made it. Why does that seem wrong, when vampires, undead, demons, all seem normal? He was such a kind man. A doctor. For minds, I think."
*
Liv gives Coz a quick look of apology before she abandons petting him. Seeing Duke so distraught has her reprioritizing, and once he's joined her on the couch, she curls her arm around his shoulders instead, leaning over to inspect the rose. Not that she knows much about flowers. Not compared to him, certainly.
"Strange magic..? Mm. Well, if he's kind, what's the harm in it?" Liv asks gently, tilting her head at Duke and offering a reassuring smile. "I know it isn't how things are supposed to work, but as long as he's creating and not destroying, can it really be so bad?"
*
"Things don't bother me." Duke slumps next to Liv, staring mournfully at the flower. "He was kind. I told him to come see me. I liked him. But it's unsettling. Can you imagine? If I could give him a seed and he could make it into…something perfect? Could he grow things from the Other Garden? What else can he do? I'm just a gardener, Liv. An apothecary. A junk man. I can't make things grow. Make them exist."
*
Liv hums thoughtfully and hugs Duke up against her side, trying very hard not to smile. "I can see why that would get to you," she admits, lightly petting his hair. Maybe he'll find it as soothing as Coz does. "Tending things is just as important as making them, though. If not moreso. I bet you that this rose will die just like any other if it doesn't have a gardener to take care of it," she murmurs, gesturing towards the flower with her beer.
*
"I'm not envious. And I'm sure it will die. It's perfectly normal." Duke accepts the petting, snuggling up to Liv. "It's just such a power to have. To make things live again, to draw them to their essential form. To bear fruit." He puts his cigarette between his lips so he can run a finger over the rose petals. "It's deeply…I don't know how to put it."
*
"I don't know. 'Fascinating and terrifying' seemed to cover it rather well." Liv continues to pet Duke's hair, since it seems to be helping. Besides, it's relaxing. "It's beautiful, really. And probably good that it's in the hands of someone who is kind. You could get up to a lot of trouble with that kind of power if you were of a mind to." Part of her is disappointed in herself for realizing such a thing, but it's just how her mind works.
*
"That's what I thought. You could make terrible things, too. Nature isn't kind. I hope he comes. I want to see it again. Maybe I'll feel better if I understand it more. You'd like him. I'm sure he'd like you. I do." Duke shifts a little, but just so he can look up at Liv. He's mellow, talkative, almost more human like this. "I'm sorry I didn't remember you. I know we've seen each other before — maybe more than once — and I forgot and I am sorry. I'm almost never sorry about it but I am when I think about how you looked right then."
*
"Well, hopefully he will come, and you can introduce us." Liv offers another smile when he looks up at her, though it softens considerably when he starts to apologize, her hand falling still. For a moment, at least, she looks like she's at a complete loss.
It takes her a moment, but Liv blinks once and quickly shakes her head, flustered. "No, no, it's — it's okay. It's not your fault, and we've done this before," she says, hoping it's reassuring.
*
"I thought as much. If I could do it otherwise, I would. But I thought it would be the right thing. To say that — because it's true, but also because it's right." Duke puts his head back down on her shoulder. Coz huffs worriedly and puts his head on Liv's knee, tail thumping. "I try not to think about all that the rest of the time." He holds the flower up again. "Better to focus on the present than all that nothing. I didn't want to leave you alone with it."
*
"I… thank you. I hadn't realized how much I'd missed having the three of you around," Liv admits with an odd smile, shifting her drink to her other hand long enough to give Coz's ears an affectionate ruffling. Yes, she includes Tex in all of this. "I mean, without you, Jack…" She trails off. Yeah, not even finishing that thought. More drink now. "…so. Yeah. Thank you."
*
"It was nothing, Liv. I was just glad I could help." Duke turns the rose slowly before twisting so he can reach up and tuck it behind Liv's ear. "That's what I'm here for."
*