okteiviakom | Outside Lucifer's House, Very Late Tuesday/Very Early Wednesday

Duke had not turned up on the island for his class.

That meant that his 'couple more days' in Haven were officially up, and he was nowhere to be found.

Octavia didn't have the Portalocity app on her phone, so after his class she'd had to make her way down to the actual office in town - which meant she was now probably banned from there for her reaction to the news that all connections to Duke's universe were currently down.

And that had been before she'd come back home to the Cape Rouge and rage-screamed at the ocean.

And, then...

Fast forward to much, much later, so late it didn't even count as Tuesday anymore. (And, good, because Tuesday had not treated her well.) Octavia found herself sitting on the steps to Lucifer's mansion, cradling the remains of what was probably a rather expensive bottle of bourbon. And she was singing to herself, quiet and a little slurred. "Deimeika gonot, graun laik pauda... 'So ona trikova, ba ha na kik raun riskiwe, ba nowe na soujon --"

It cut off with a rough, bitter laugh bubbling up.

[ooc: For the patron devil of all drunken idiots, and SP.]

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"You came back," Lucifer said, gingerly touching the back of her head.

"Broken."

Yeah, those words weren't much of a comfort, were they? Not all of her had come back.

"Not unrecognizably."

He ran his hand awkwardly along her hair. "He certainly didn't lose you for good."

Octavia didn't tell him not to, this time.

"Don't know if he always thinks that." They'd been doing better, making progress. But her optimism was nowhere to be found tonight, washed away in a stream of bourbon and whatever she'd had before it at the boat. "Y'know what he... what he said before he left? He had to go home for a few days."

She'd pushed that little stab of hurt aside at the time, but no longer could.

"Ah," Lucifer said, and if anyone understood what a stab like that could do, it was him. "I'm sorry."

"I thought his home was with me."

Oh. She could feel her eyes welling up again.

"He may just be a bit more careless with that word than you are, darling," Lucifer sighed. "You have met the man, right? When he opens his mouth?"

Octavia knew he was probably right, but...

Knowing and feeling something were separate things. Her voice just went smaller. Wetter. "My home is with him."

"I know," Lucifer said quietly. "And so does he."

Octavia's inhale was a gasp. A struggle.

"What if he doesn't come back?"

Lucifer dragged his own train of thought away from where it had been drifting at the idea of people being home, to a stern blonde who lit up like the sun when you coaxed her out of her shell.

"Think it's a bit early to assume that," Lucifer said. "You came back after a month. He's been gone for four days."

"I asked what if," Octavia replied, a little belligerently.

It made sense in her head, sorry.

"You'll live," Lucifer said, rolling his eyes. "It's too early to be asking those kinds of questions, you'll only drive yourself mad."

"Too late," Octavia grumbled.

"Just stop," Lucifer said, pulling back a little to look her in the eye. "Right now, there's little reason to believe he won't return."

Her eyes were red and puffy, unsurprisingly.

And had something of a look of desperation. Even before her expression started crumbling again.

"But I'm always losing people."

"So don't assume they're lost until they are," Lucifer sighed. "You've got more than enough misery as it is."

"I'm tired of hoping."

How much of it was one person supposed to be able to do, anyway?

"Yes, because anticipatory despair is so much better."

Octavia made a weak, whimpery noise of protest, and let her forehead drop against the top of his chest again.

Lucifer sighed and pulled her into a tighter hug. "What you need is some sleep," he said. (And for him to keep an eye on her so she didn't hurt herself in her current sorry state.) "Tomorrow I can help you yell at those gnomes."

Octavia made an indistinct noise that may have been an 'okay'. Now, she was just trying to curl up further, like she was making herself as small as possible.

As if she could disappear if she tried hard enough, and finally get away from herself.

Lucifer shoved down the sheets (he really hoped she'd fall asleep soon so he could get a change of clothes here) and then pulled them up again, this time over her. "Have you had any water?" he asked gently.

Octavia was suddenly feeling exhausted, so that hope was a viable one.

"'S water in booze."

"Booze dehydrates you," Lucifer said, though he was pretty sure that, much like Duke a few weeks back, he wouldn't be getting any water in her in time. "But never mind. Go to sleep, dear Octavia."

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okteiviakom - 2020-08-05 13:14 (UTC) - Expand

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