The Cape Rouge, Port of Fandom, Sunday Evening

[okteiviakom]

Octavia was still planning to try sailing to Haven. She was just doing it concurrently with trying to figure out how all the places she'd been on the Ground fit on what the east coast looked in this time. The table she was sitting at in the galley was a mess of charts and notes, and in the middle of it all, there was a hand-drawn map. Octavia had sketched out the coastline, and had spent most of the day marking down both the present-day names she could find on her map app as well as the approximate locations of places from the Ground.

It was getting late, but she was still working on it. Right now, she was hard at work trying to figure out whether it could really be as simple as this time's Annapolis turning into Polis by her time.

... Okay, right now, she was kind of slumped over the table, her head cushioned on one arm.

Just resting her eyes, just for a little bit.

[ooc: For that guy that's returning. The tall one.]

Comments

[okteiviakom]

It had also been a desperate plan.

"I barely know how to sail," Octavia replied flatly as she dug out a few takeaway cartons.

She was more willing to say that to him, now, than she'd been to Lucifer when it had been the only plan she could come up with.

[betterthanaplan]

"And the Samsara's not built for that kind of distance," Duke said. He leaned his arms against the table and sort of draped himself across them. The stretch through his upper back was just the right side of painful. "Still. You'd figure something out."

[okteiviakom]

After checking it was the right one, Octavia tossed one of the containers into the microwave, and leaned her hip against the counter.

"I was trying to, anyway."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke rested his head against his arms and watched her. "I bought a boat," he said softly. "I couldn't stay in the hotel anymore. The Sanguine Moon."

[okteiviakom]

"The --"

You know what, Octavia couldn't even repeat that. Too on the nose, you could tell by the faintly wry shift in her expression.

"Okay."

[betterthanaplan]

"Yeah." Duke's laugh was a little more real this time. "I know. Haven's not always very subtle, is it."

[okteiviakom]

As always, Octavia didn't smile. But her lips did curl just a little bit.

Still wry, though.

"Is she a good boat?"

[betterthanaplan]

“She’s no Rogue,” Duke said. “But she treated me pretty well.”

[okteiviakom]

"Good."

The microwave dinged. Octavia grabbed a fork, and brought the carton over, setting it down next to him on the table. It was from Ching Tai, and he was about to find it was actually still full - Octavia had screwed up her order a few days ago, and ended up with something with beef in it.

It hadn't been a great experience.

She brushed her fingertips against his arm. "Eat up, jaka."

[betterthanaplan]

“Sha, gona.” He sat up slowly, swallowing a groan. After CPR on stone stairs, his back was going to be pissed at him for a week. He opened the carton and paused. “. . . Beef?”

She didn’t eat beef anymore.

[okteiviakom]

"Yeah," Octavia replied, almost absently, as she stepped away from the table again, to go heat up the other carton for herself. "Wrong order."

[betterthanaplan]

“Why’d you keep it?” Duke asked. He was back to watching her move.

He wasn’t likely to get sick of doing that any time soon.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia shrugged one shoulder. "Because I don't throw food away."

It was a question of respect. And maybe she would've given trying to eat it another go, later. She didn't know.

The one she was sticking in the microwave right now was fully vegetarian, though.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke stuck a forkful in his mouth, and was instantly ravenous.

“Gloria and I got Chinese all the time. She missed you, too.”

[okteiviakom]

"I tried to call her, too."

More than once, even. The urge to believe there was something magical about Gloria, that she could fix anything, was quiet but persistent.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke winced. She hadn't been able to talk to Claire, either, had she. Haven getting cut off had taken, what, half of her support system with it. More than that.

"I'm sorry," he said softly. He seemed to be saying that a lot today.

[okteiviakom]

"Not your fault," Octavia replied mildly. "Anyway, it's over now."

And that made it fine. Right?

[betterthanaplan]

Oh yeah. It was easy as that.

"It is. And I . . . am not looking to go anywhere again anytime soon."

[okteiviakom]

"Good, because you're not allowed to," Octavia told him, lightly. Somewhat.

She got her food from the microwave, and grabbed another fork before making her way back to the table. And then, she carefully set the charts and the maps aside before taking a seat.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke caught another glimpse of the handdrawn one as she did, and tilted his head to read it. "What's that one for?"

[okteiviakom]

Octavia quietly turned the map so he could read it more easily. The coastline from Maryland down to Virginia was more or less recognizable, if not from the actual drawing then from the major cities marked on it.

But there were other markings, too. One that just said Lincoln just about where the memorial would be. Mt. Weather, and close to it Arkadia - and the area around them had been circled, with TRIKRU written along the edge.

The same was repeated a little further north, but that one said AZGEDA.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke studied it, idly eating as he did. He reached over to trace his free hand over the word TRIKRU.

"The Ground."

[okteiviakom]

"The mainland," Octavia replied.

That said it all, didn't it?

[betterthanaplan]

Duke flicked his eyes up to her. ". . . Kind of makes sense," he said. "You traveled through time, not through space."

[okteiviakom]

"Apparently," Octavia replied, with a lopsided shrug that came off a little helpless. "I don't know why I always thought it was far away."

Truth was, she'd never given it much thought at all.