(Untitled)

[haolehothead]

It’s a cold day in hell because Danny Williams is taking a surfing lesson. And not only that, but he’s actually asking Kono to help him further than just ‘here’s a board, go surf’ because there’s no way he’s about to take on one of those waves. He’s got sense. He’s a smart man. He has a bad knee and he’s not about to sacrifice the other to a wave

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[has_2ls]

The island was full of whack-jobs in Jack's experience and while some of them ended up being okay (Harkness, for example) he never wanted to take anyone on first glance without checking them out first. Maybe it was paranoia from when he'd been in special forces or maybe he was just picky but that was it. Seeing the guy hunkered down next to the surfboard was new (the guy, not the board) and he drew a little closer.

"You have the distinct aura of new. Am I right?"

[haolehothead]

"I have the--I have an aura of newness, just wonderful," Danny scowls with a heavy sigh as he glances up backwards. "Yes. Yes, I am new. I'm new and I don't belong and of all the times I could've been yanked away to yet another island of doom and death," he spits out with great frustration, "they got me on the surfboard. It's like the universe really hates me. And I mean, really hates me."

[has_2ls]

"Uh huh," Jack said slowly, assessing both man and surfboard. "Last I checked, the surfboard never killed anyone. Might even be enjoyable in some circles."

[haolehothead]

"That's just what it wants you to think," Danny says warningly, tapping his nose. "See, I live in Waikiki, I know these kinds of things. It's all harmless and fun until you break your arm and a shark eats your leg off and then you rupture all your brain cells with coral. That's gotta be why they call everyone 'brah'. I got nothing else."

[has_2ls]

"I'm more of a skier myself," Jack conceded, figuring he'd drop it. Seemed like surf and sun wasn't this guy's cup of tea and short of a month every year, that was all this place was.

"So...who conned you into surfing if you're that scared of it?"

Might as well ignore the obvious new guy questions. In Jack's experience, that got tedious fast.

[haolehothead]

Danny's lips quirk upwards in amusement because no one really forces him to do anything. He insists that he does it himself. It might not be the whole truth, though. "Well, my partner's been after me for months, but the clincher was when my kid decided she wanted lessons. I barely see her as it is, I figured that hey, it was something we could do together. Trust my luck to have a tsunami the day I decide to start."

[has_2ls]

"Kids have a way of conning you into things," Jack said softly, trying to push back thoughts of Charlie. He thought about Charlie way too much lately, ever since...yeah, and it wasn't good for that whole picking up and moving on business.

"Plenty of people here to teach you, though, if you ever get the itch. I figure I'll get around to learning it myself someday considering there's nothing but time and beaches here."

[haolehothead]

"If I get the itch, the only itch I will get is my trigger finger to put myself out of my misery for becoming one of those people who needs to surf," Danny says, his tone stressed and strained. "If I ever turn into one of those people, I'm going to seek professional help and then look for the brain leech Steve put in my brain."

And he's rambled a hell of a long time without introducing himself. "I'm Danny, incidentally."

[has_2ls]

"Jack," he offered in kind, throwing out a hand to go along with the greeting. He'd been content to let the guy ramble if only because he was a decent distraction and Jack needed as many of those as he could get these days. "I'm not so up and up on the tropical paradise either. I'm a snowed-in cabin frozen north kinda guy."

[haolehothead]

"See, someone with sense!" Danny insists, gesturing with both hands towards the guy. "I mean, okay, so I'm not saying I want to be in a snowed-in cabin all the time, but I'm from Jersey and we appreciate a good snow in Jersey. We appreciate lots of things in Jersey. So where are you from, huh?"

[has_2ls]

"Minnesota," Jack said, laughing a little. It felt good to laugh, after how angry he'd been lately, and hopefully the guy took it in the spirit intended. "Not quite Jersey, but full of folksy charm and frozen lakes. And great pie. There's a serious lack of pie around here."

[haolehothead]

"There is a serious lack of anything good in tropical places like this," Danny says with enough vitriol to really knock someone back. He rubs his palm over his face. "Sorry. I'm sorry. I've been told I can be hotheaded. I apologize," he says, gesturing magnanimously. "I've been in Hawaii for about ten months before this. I'm not exactly paradise's biggest fan."

[has_2ls]

"I came from one hell of a meteor shower, so I was pretty happy to end up here and not, you know, six feet under."

Edora at least had a gate home. This place didn't even have that distinct advantage going for it.

"Out there for a job, I guess? You're one of the only people I've met who doesn't go for paradise."

[haolehothead]

"Not exactly," Danny amends, flashing a hapless smile. "See, there's no way I'd ever decide to live in Hawaii voluntarily. It's a pineapple-infested hellhole, but when your kid gets moved out there, there's nothing you can do but follow. Without her, I had nothing."

[has_2ls]

"Know how that is," Jack said, managing a little smile and pushing down his deeper feelings on the matter. "Most of us would do anything for one of them, even if it means...living in a pineapple-infested hellhole?"

That got a laugh. He'd never met anyone so against Hawaii.

"What makes you hate the place so much, if you don't mind me asking?"

[haolehothead]

"It's not Jersey." That's the simple answer and if Jack wants the long one, Danny could go into a very long, very enduring diatribe. "It puts fruit on pizza, it thinks spam is a food group, it wants to make fun of the mainland and if I hear the word 'haole' again, I may actually and genuinely snap, lose my mind, and pull a McGarrett!"