luau offering for toestastegood - esau fic
Holy crap, I am SO sorry this is so late *hides head in shame* I hope you still enjoy it! :D
His alarm goes off and he stretches deeply. The curtains of his open window flutter with the breeze rolling in from the ocean. He sits up and peers outside; the sun is shining. It should be a beautiful day. Good for business. Tourists are always eager to get out on the water on days like today.
Esau offers guided dolphin and wildlife watching boat tours near his home on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. He lives alone aside from his dog Stella, a brown and white mutt he met and fell in love with at a local adoption fair a couple of years ago. The two of them live modestly in his single-story wood paneled house less than a mile from the ocean. He loves the faint sound of waves that he can hear from his home, but sometimes the vast openness of the sea stirs something inside him that makes him a little restless, and he and Stella pack a few things and head inland for a few days in his old blue jeep.
After feeding himself and Stella, the two set off on the brief walk to the pier. Stella always accompanies him on his tours and has pretty impressive sea legs for a canine.
Esau mostly keeps to himself. He’s lived in the town for the past ten years, so he’s developed a few close friends. However, he’s fairly quiet and likes to spend most of his spare time wrapped up in a good book or out in the jeep letting the rhythm of the road beneath him lull him into a deep relaxation. Because he isn’t all that well-known around town aside from his wildlife tours, some of the locals have come to start calling him the Man in Black - as he’s always seen wearing a black visor and tee shirt with the logo of his touring company on them. Also, Esau isn’t exactly the most common name and a lot of people have a hard time getting a handle on it.
He was right when he woke up - today is going to be a good day for business. He walks into the small office he keeps by the pier and says hello to the young receptionist who handles reservations for him (he never was very good with organization). Her name is Tess and she usually comes in about 45 minutes before him to be sure everything is ready for the day.
“Looks like you’ve got a rather eccentric science teacher who decided to bring his students on an impromptu field trip today,” she tells him with a smile.
Esau groans. Field trips are very tricky things. He doesn’t have a problem with kids, per se. He just has a problem with little monsters who lean too far over the edge of the boat and fall in and then tell their mothers who then call angrily and blame him for nearly drowning their precious children.
Luckily, Tess tells him that this is a group from one of the local colleges, so hopefully there won’t be any demon spawn to deal with. He just hopes none of these college kids turn up hungover and puke all over his boat.
He thanks Tess and whistles for Stella, and he heads toward his boat to ready it for the first tour of the day.
***
About an hour later, Esau and Stella stand at the juncture of the pier and his boat and welcome the students. He’s made it a habit to shake the hand of each passenger before the start of each tour. It establishes a good rapport that makes for a good ride for everyone. This bunch seems like a good group of kids; this should actually shape up to be one of his more enjoyable tours.
Bringing up the rear is a man noticeably older than the others, presumably the teacher. He watches as his students safely board the boat and extends his hand. “Thanks for taking this motley crew here. I’m the professor. The name’s Jacob.”
Esau smiles but the moment their hands touch, he gasps like he’s been electrocuted. Flashes of alarmingly vivid visions assault his consciousness. Stella whimpers at his heels at the way he tenses beside her.
…a curious game with black and white rocks…
…running through a vibrantly green jungle with a young blond boy…
…misunderstandings that turn to vicious arguments…
…flowing water and a too bright light…
The visions stop the moment their hands separate, and Esau tries to control his rapidly fluttering heartbeat as the other man - Jacob - stares back at him with a shocked expression that almost certainly mirrors his own.
Sounds of the students getting restless behind them, wondering about the hold up, shock the two men from their daze. Esau ushers the other man onto the boat to join his students and reaches for his intercom mike to begin his standard safety spiel before they get under way. It’s a good thing that he could give the talk in his sleep because the visions from moments ago are playing on a relentless loop in his head. When he can manage, he spares glances at this mysterious Jacob guy who seems to have had such a startling effect on him. At least he seems to be similarly shaken by their brief encounter, which makes Esau feel slightly less crazy.
The tour passes like countless others. The college students turn into little kids again when a couple of dolphins get curious and start investigating the side of their boat. He manages to recite some facts about lung capacity and sonar, but his heart simply isn’t in it like it usually is. His eyes keep straying to Jacob - and he can tell that the other man keeps sneaking glances at him, too.
For Esau, they can’t arrive back at the pier quickly enough. He doesn’t know what it is about this man that has left him feeling sucker-punched, but it’s disorienting and he kind of just wants to go home and lie down. The students are gracious as they gingerly step from the boat back onto the steady surface of the pier, and Esau tenses when the last student walks past him and he and Jacob are left standing face to face once more.
Esau hasn’t the faintest idea what to say. They both clearly experienced something extraordinary, but it’s not exactly the kind of thing you can address with a perfect stranger, no matter what the connection you feel with him - is it?
Jacob apparently makes the decision for him.
“Do you want to go get a sandwich or a cup of coffee or something? Something tells me we might manage to find something to talk about,” he says, his voice even and almost ethereal.
Esau tilts his head at the direct invitation but knows there’s only one possible response. “Sure,” he says. “Let me just tie the boat up. I know a great place. The owners won’t mind if Stella tags along.”
Jacob smiles and kneels, offering his hand to the dog. She gives a wary sniff but quickly warms up to him when he scratches behind her floppy ears.
Jacob announces that he’ll wait for him out on one of the benches on the main street. Despite the jarring initial exchange, Esau can feel something warm and right blooming in his chest as he readies his small boat for the four o’clock tour.
Once finished, he pats his leg and Stella comes trotting alongside him, and they both walk toward this mysterious Jacob. Despite his usual wariness around new people, he feels a strange lack of trepidation about this impromptu outing. For some reason he feels like he wants to open up to this man, like they have a lot of ground to cover.
In fact, the more he thinks about it, the more he comes to realize that lunch probably won’t end up being enough time to do the trick.
His alarm goes off and he stretches deeply. The curtains of his open window flutter with the breeze rolling in from the ocean. He sits up and peers outside; the sun is shining. It should be a beautiful day. Good for business. Tourists are always eager to get out on the water on days like today.
Esau offers guided dolphin and wildlife watching boat tours near his home on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. He lives alone aside from his dog Stella, a brown and white mutt he met and fell in love with at a local adoption fair a couple of years ago. The two of them live modestly in his single-story wood paneled house less than a mile from the ocean. He loves the faint sound of waves that he can hear from his home, but sometimes the vast openness of the sea stirs something inside him that makes him a little restless, and he and Stella pack a few things and head inland for a few days in his old blue jeep.
After feeding himself and Stella, the two set off on the brief walk to the pier. Stella always accompanies him on his tours and has pretty impressive sea legs for a canine.
Esau mostly keeps to himself. He’s lived in the town for the past ten years, so he’s developed a few close friends. However, he’s fairly quiet and likes to spend most of his spare time wrapped up in a good book or out in the jeep letting the rhythm of the road beneath him lull him into a deep relaxation. Because he isn’t all that well-known around town aside from his wildlife tours, some of the locals have come to start calling him the Man in Black - as he’s always seen wearing a black visor and tee shirt with the logo of his touring company on them. Also, Esau isn’t exactly the most common name and a lot of people have a hard time getting a handle on it.
He was right when he woke up - today is going to be a good day for business. He walks into the small office he keeps by the pier and says hello to the young receptionist who handles reservations for him (he never was very good with organization). Her name is Tess and she usually comes in about 45 minutes before him to be sure everything is ready for the day.
“Looks like you’ve got a rather eccentric science teacher who decided to bring his students on an impromptu field trip today,” she tells him with a smile.
Esau groans. Field trips are very tricky things. He doesn’t have a problem with kids, per se. He just has a problem with little monsters who lean too far over the edge of the boat and fall in and then tell their mothers who then call angrily and blame him for nearly drowning their precious children.
Luckily, Tess tells him that this is a group from one of the local colleges, so hopefully there won’t be any demon spawn to deal with. He just hopes none of these college kids turn up hungover and puke all over his boat.
He thanks Tess and whistles for Stella, and he heads toward his boat to ready it for the first tour of the day.
***
About an hour later, Esau and Stella stand at the juncture of the pier and his boat and welcome the students. He’s made it a habit to shake the hand of each passenger before the start of each tour. It establishes a good rapport that makes for a good ride for everyone. This bunch seems like a good group of kids; this should actually shape up to be one of his more enjoyable tours.
Bringing up the rear is a man noticeably older than the others, presumably the teacher. He watches as his students safely board the boat and extends his hand. “Thanks for taking this motley crew here. I’m the professor. The name’s Jacob.”
Esau smiles but the moment their hands touch, he gasps like he’s been electrocuted. Flashes of alarmingly vivid visions assault his consciousness. Stella whimpers at his heels at the way he tenses beside her.
…a curious game with black and white rocks…
…running through a vibrantly green jungle with a young blond boy…
…misunderstandings that turn to vicious arguments…
…flowing water and a too bright light…
The visions stop the moment their hands separate, and Esau tries to control his rapidly fluttering heartbeat as the other man - Jacob - stares back at him with a shocked expression that almost certainly mirrors his own.
Sounds of the students getting restless behind them, wondering about the hold up, shock the two men from their daze. Esau ushers the other man onto the boat to join his students and reaches for his intercom mike to begin his standard safety spiel before they get under way. It’s a good thing that he could give the talk in his sleep because the visions from moments ago are playing on a relentless loop in his head. When he can manage, he spares glances at this mysterious Jacob guy who seems to have had such a startling effect on him. At least he seems to be similarly shaken by their brief encounter, which makes Esau feel slightly less crazy.
The tour passes like countless others. The college students turn into little kids again when a couple of dolphins get curious and start investigating the side of their boat. He manages to recite some facts about lung capacity and sonar, but his heart simply isn’t in it like it usually is. His eyes keep straying to Jacob - and he can tell that the other man keeps sneaking glances at him, too.
For Esau, they can’t arrive back at the pier quickly enough. He doesn’t know what it is about this man that has left him feeling sucker-punched, but it’s disorienting and he kind of just wants to go home and lie down. The students are gracious as they gingerly step from the boat back onto the steady surface of the pier, and Esau tenses when the last student walks past him and he and Jacob are left standing face to face once more.
Esau hasn’t the faintest idea what to say. They both clearly experienced something extraordinary, but it’s not exactly the kind of thing you can address with a perfect stranger, no matter what the connection you feel with him - is it?
Jacob apparently makes the decision for him.
“Do you want to go get a sandwich or a cup of coffee or something? Something tells me we might manage to find something to talk about,” he says, his voice even and almost ethereal.
Esau tilts his head at the direct invitation but knows there’s only one possible response. “Sure,” he says. “Let me just tie the boat up. I know a great place. The owners won’t mind if Stella tags along.”
Jacob smiles and kneels, offering his hand to the dog. She gives a wary sniff but quickly warms up to him when he scratches behind her floppy ears.
Jacob announces that he’ll wait for him out on one of the benches on the main street. Despite the jarring initial exchange, Esau can feel something warm and right blooming in his chest as he readies his small boat for the four o’clock tour.
Once finished, he pats his leg and Stella comes trotting alongside him, and they both walk toward this mysterious Jacob. Despite his usual wariness around new people, he feels a strange lack of trepidation about this impromptu outing. For some reason he feels like he wants to open up to this man, like they have a lot of ground to cover.
In fact, the more he thinks about it, the more he comes to realize that lunch probably won’t end up being enough time to do the trick.