Captain William Laurence (betwixtsea_nsky) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2019-07-02 15:39:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, peter quill (star-lord), william laurence |
Who: William Laurence and Peter Quill
When: Today
What: Peter trolls chats with Laurence while feeding ducks at the park
Where: The park
Ratings/Warnings: Peter's a little crass, otherwise low/none
Status: Complete
It wasn’t often that Laurence had a day that was completely free of obligations, a pattern that had come by design instead of accident, but every now and then, Laurence enjoyed just having the chance to spend a quiet afternoon to himself.
There was a part of him that wished for some companionship. Temeraire would no doubt be amused by ducks, and Mary would have, of course, loved this sort of thing. He had thought of calling Alain, but when Alain hadn’t picked up the phone, Laurence decided that the solitude would be nice.
When he was a child, he and his mother would occasionally feed the ducks that frequented the pond on their land old, stale bread crusts, and they had seemed to enjoy it quite a bit, but in the intervening years from then until now, he’d learned that such things were terribly unhealthy for ducks and for the environment. So, he had purchased a bag of bird seed, found a quiet bench in the park, smiled to himself as the waterfowl gathered around him to eat the handfuls of seeds he’d occasionally toss to them.
Peter had not been looking for solitude, but he wasn’t adverse to it either. Nine kept pressuring Peter to workout, do better for his own health, and since Peter liked the other guy well enough, he went with it. Besides, Kat liked the abs, and really, it helped him with his work.
When he reached the end of the path, he couldn’t help the slow smile that crossed his face. It was that guy that he enjoyed bugging, the one who seemed to always be confused when talking to him. Peter had no idea who the guy was, or his name, or anything important but he couldn’t resist.
“Sup buddy,” he called out with a wave. Plopping himself down next to the blonde, he pulled a towel out of his pocket and wiped at his face. “Oooh ducks! Mallards are the shit!”
Laurence, a lover of good conversation, generally welcomed anyone who came up to talk to him. He didn’t know anyone, however, who called him ’buddy’, and he glanced over at the other man, his look of confusion gradually giving way to a look of disapproval. It wasn’t just the casual swearing, though that certainly played a part. It was that he recognized the man as the vulgar follow from the Network.
“Yes,” he said after a moment. “They are fine creatures, though I’ve heard that they can be shy of loud noises.” He wasn’t sure if such a claim was true. It was for many animals, though other than a few flying a metre away when the man had first barged in and then quickly returning to their feed once he’d sat down, they seemed undisturbed by his sudden presence. Still, he hoped the man would take the hint.
“Do ducks even have ears?” Peter peered down at the ducks and smiled widely. He really had missed being out in nature, seeing animals, when he was in prison. They were cute, the ducks, just quacking around, swimming with their little duck feet. “They seem more concerned in their stomachs than their ears right now -- look at that guy!” There was one duck in particular that was charging the other ducks, trying to get at their food. “Now that’s a guy that’s never heard no in his life.” Peter smiled and shook his head. “I bet the others think he’s a real asshole.”
“Of course ducks have ears,” Laurence said, only a little surprised. Sometimes people had surprising gaps in their knowledge, and he tried not to judge anyone too harshly for that. “They do not have pinnae, and the openings are hidden by their feathers, but they’re there.”
He frowned a little at the headstrong duck that had just barrelled into the group of other ducks. Somehow, it reminded him of someone, and he looked askance at Peter. “Yes, I doubt very much he had. I suppose, much like humans, some ducks believe they’ll be welcome anywhere,” he said pointedly.
Peter had no idea what a pinnae was, and besides, all he heard was ‘penis’ which surprised him because this guy always seemed so strait-laced. Maybe he has to re-assess this weird blonde guy ..or accept that Peter mishead in the first place, which is entirely possible as well.
The second statement went right over Peter’s head. He was happy being oblivious and nothing was going to ruin that. Reaching down for his water bottle, he tilted his head back and squirted a healthy amount in his mouth. Swallowing, he gave a satisfied sigh and stretched his neck from side to side. “Well, I mean, it’s a duck eat duck world or something, so you gotta do what you gotta do.” He leaned forward and called out, “I’m rooting for you, buddy! Do you have more bread for him? Maybe his mama duck starved him and now he has some weird ass food hoarding behaviour.”
Peter Quill, animal psychologist.
Laurence inwardly sighed, though he’d do nothing so undignified as let his exasperation show. “I’m sure a duck eat duck world would be a truly horrific sight to behold,” he said, and then offered the open bag of seed to Peter so that the other man could reach in - he wouldn’t relinquish the bag to him after all. Who know what he would do with it if he had the whole bag in his grasp? Something ridiculous, no doubt.
“Bread is actually terribly unhealthy for ducks,” Laurence said. “Birdseed is a much better choice, or perhaps peas, corn, or oats.”
“Seriously?” Peter took a few moments to actually look properly ashamed. How many birds had he fed bread to? Was he inadvertently responsible for the deaths of many? Aw crap, this was terrible, he thought to himself. Reaching into the bad, he sighed heavily. “Well shit. Now I know, and isn’t knowing half the battle?” He tossed seed out and gave a smile. The guy probably wouldn’t get the GI Joe reference, which was a shame. It was a good show.
“Chin up,” Laurence said. “Knowing is half the battle, and I hope you’ll correct yourself from now on. I had also fed them bread for most of my life; it’s only recently that I learned otherwise. So you have nothing to feel ashamed for.” He didn’t especially like this fellow, but he wasn’t so petty as to let him feel guilty over a common mistake.
“I’m Captain William Laurence,” Laurence said after a moment. “I don’t believe I’ve caught your name, Mister…?”
“Quill. Peter Quill. I go by Peter. No title, but damn, that’s cool -- captain. Like of a boat? I’ve never been on a boat before.” Maybe that was why the other man knew so much about ducks. Peter figured if he was stuck out on the water for long periods of time, he would also know lots about marine fowl. Maybe. Or not. He had no idea actually.
“Of a ship,” Laurence said, keeping his tone level but not quite able to keep the irritation from his voice. How landsmen were constantly getting the two confused, Laurence had no idea. He thought the distinction obvious. “Boats have skippers. So, Mr. Quill, what is it that you do?”
Peter thought a skipper was a type of Barbie doll, so really, he still didn’t understand what Lawrence was saying. “What don’t I do,” he answered back with a question and a grin. Throwing an arm around the back of the bench, he slouched down slightly, his legs widening as he got comfortable. “I guess you could say I’m a jack of all trades, master of none, which would be really true. I’m a general handy-man, do renos and rebuilds. Keep my own hours, do my own thing, get paid to demo decks...sometimes I crawl under houses which sucks. Spiders live under houses.” He shuddered. “It’s gross. Hey, are there spiders on the water? Is that a thing to worry about at sea? I mean, other than giant sea serpents..or the Kraken! That would be terrifying. Have you seen one?”
Laurence should have assumed that whatever trade Peter plied would be just as undisciplined as the man himself. “There are always some spiders, like rats, that make their homes on ships,” Laurence said, wondering, not for the first time in the conversation, why he was entertaining these inane questions, and he began to try to think of a way in which he could politely disengage himself from this conversation. “But I’m afraid you’ve been mistaken. Sea serpents and Kraken do not exist in this world.” Sea serpents, or sea dragons, certainly existed in Laurence’s dream world, which he’d been unfortunate enough to discover when one nearly brought down the ship he had taken to China, but he’d never heard of any verifiable accounts in the real world.
“You don’t know that,” Peter said. “We’ve explored more of space than we have of the water.” Which was very true, he knew that. He heard it on TV so that made it true.
“We thought giant squids didn’t exist until those Japanese fisherman found them.” Peter also liked to watch youtube during his spare time. He also had many opinions on mermaids which naturally he now had to share.
“Wanna hear my opinions on mermaids?”
Peter wasn’t wrong. The sea held a lot of secrets, and it was entirely possible that some of sea creatures of lore did, in fact, exist. “Then I’ll amend my statement; there have never been any verifiable reports of any such creatures. Giant squids have never, as far as I’m aware, brought down a ship like the kraken is purported of doing.”
Laurence tried, he really did, but he couldn’t quite disguise the look of horror that crossed his face at Peter’s question. “No sir, I do not,” he said, and, seeing his chance, he latched onto it. “If you’ll excuse me, I have some business to take care of. If you would like, I could leave the seed here so that you may continue feeding the ducks.”
Peter was pretty sure a ship had been brought down by a squid before, but he couldn’t tell when he was being brushed off.
Okay, he could tell but he didn’t really care. It was funny, actually.
Giving a half-hearted wave, he nodded. “Thanks buddy!! I’ll keep feeding these ducks, and if I see you around, I’ll stop and chat again. Have a great day!”
Laurence grimaced, glad that his face was to Peter so that he couldn’t see his expression. He couldn’t imagine that conversation, if it could be called as such, had been any more enjoyable for Peter than it was for Laurence, and so he couldn’t understand why Peter would continue to seek him out for conversation. It truly was baffling.
Quickly, he walked away, and hoped that the Orange County wasn’t so small as to make such an occurrence frequent.