From the Beach to Lucifer's Mansion, Monday Morning

[okteiviakom]

This wasn't the first time Octavia had ever woken up on a rocky shore, coughing up water and feeling battered and cold all over. But the familiarity didn't really do anything to make her more comfortable. The opposite, if anything.

Just like she supposed she should've been glad the island had at least seen fit to turn her back in the clothes she'd gone to bed in on Friday night, but it was hard to find any comfort in a soaked tank top and pajama pants clinging to your skin on a chilly morning in January.

Octavia clambered up on her feet - great, no shoes either - and looked around. Didn't take long for her to figure she was -- well, not right by where Lucifer's house was, but still much closer to it than she was to the port.

And several far too long moments later, she was outside the mansion. She banged on the front door, and muttered to herself, "You better not be at the Rouge."

She hadn't noticed the seaweed stuck in her hair, yet.

Or the way she was beginning to shake from the cold.

[ooc: Primarily for the two, unless you really want to cross paths with her on the trek from the beach!]

Comments

[my_own_advocate]

"You were very..."

Lucifer searched for the right word.

"... obscenely chipper."

[okteiviakom]

"It was okay," Octavia said, a little absently. It wasn't really what she was thinking about.

(She was on the rocky bank of the river, still halfway in the water, and the thing nudging her hand was Helios, licking at her bloodied knuckles...)

[betterthanaplan]

"Are you just cold?" Duke asked softly. "Or is there something else?"

[my_own_advocate]

"You seemed upset earlier," Lucifer said, glancing up at Duke again.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia hadn't looked at either of them since she'd stepped into the shower, and she wasn't about to start now. So she didn't catch that look.

Her eyes were closed, and her face remained pressed against Duke's chest.

"When Echo ran me through," she said slowly, raspy and mild out of necessity, "I fell off a cliff. Into a river."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke hissed sympathetically through his teeth, still stroking her hair.

[my_own_advocate]

"And washed up on the rocks?" Lucifer guessed.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia nodded, faintly. "Yeah. Got knocked out when I fell, woke up on the shore."

Sigh.

"Water here tastes different," she added, in a quieter rasp. "Otherwise, felt a little too familiar. I guess."

[betterthanaplan]

“I’d’ve told you to sleep on your boat,” Duke said softly. “But I don’t think you would have believed me.”

[my_own_advocate]

"Not much seemed to penetrate that mermaid brain in general," Lucifer observed, and took a breath.

His fingers were moving along her arm again. "Either way," he said. "You're here."

[okteiviakom]

Here, with her two favorite people. And they were grounding her into the moment, both with the steady presence of their bodies as well as with their small touches.

And she hadn't had to ask for it.

(Wouldn't have asked for it.)

Her "Yeah" sounded small again, and she hated it. She tried to steady herself with a slow, deep breath.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke started humming softly, just loud enough to be heard over the sound of the shower. Lucifer likely wouldn’t recognize it, but Octavia would. Most recently from dingo it to Duke when he was ten.

[my_own_advocate]

Duke was sadly underestimating Lucifer's tragically - at least in this case - good ear for music and intimate knowledge of the Billboard charts. If it weren't for the state of Octavia, he might have even pointed out that this was hardly the time for Jimmy Buffett (not that such a time genuinely existed).

But Octavia was here, and in a state, so he was refraining from making any such comment. He was just... going to stay here as he was, hugging her a bit closer still, for as much as that was possible.

[okteiviakom]

Sorry, Lucifer. You were the odd man out with this one.

Because Octavia's exhale became a huff, amused in the softest, most fragile way possible. Some tension bled from her shoulders, not that she'd realized it had begun to build up in the first place.

"Where the children play on the shore each day." It was more of a faintly melodic murmur than it was singing. And about as quiet as Duke's humming. "And all are safe within..."

[betterthanaplan]

This was what happened when you got involved with boat people, Lucifer. Duke smiled and tilted his head down to press a kiss to her hair.

"Ia ora te natura
E mea arofa teie ao nei."

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer would communicate his (fond, not that he'd admit it) exasperation with a soft sigh.

Moved the arm that wasn't touching Octavia's arm until it wrapped around Duke, too, and made their little sandwich a bit more secure.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia hummed the lines back to Duke.

And wrapped her arms that much more snugly around Duke. But she didn't look like she was trying to hide out against his chest anymore. Just resting the side of her face against it.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke looked up at Lucifer over the top of her head and gave him a small, grateful smile.

This was a lot easier to deal with when it wasn't just him trying to help Octavia on his own.

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer caught the motion, and then Duke's gaze, flashing him a small smile of his own.

"Definitely snuggies," he said, clearing his throat, when it seemed they'd finished their singing. "And I still have the beginning of a breakfast downstairs, when we feel up for it."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia's voice finally sounded a little less like she'd either just been crying, or was about to. "I don't think I ate all weekend," she admitted.

She hadn't been a very realistic mermaid.

[betterthanaplan]

"A big breakfast for you, then," Duke said, combing his fingers through her hair again. "And then sprawling on the couch. Luce can tell you about the TV show we found based on his life in LA."

[my_own_advocate]

"Turns out this showrunner who kept showing up to Lux demanding to hear stories was just doing research for his TV pilot," Lucifer said, following the line of her arm all the way down, now. "Who knew?"

[okteiviakom]

So now he was just assisting her in hugging Duke, pretty much.

And Octavia didn't mind that at all. Though it was hard to tell whether her little hum was for that or Duke's hand in her hair.

"People are interested in you," Octavia rasped, rubbing a little circle against Duke's back. "What a surprise."

[betterthanaplan]

"You are a very interesting guy," Duke agreed.

[my_own_advocate]

"I know," Lucifer said, without a hint of shame. "Still, the television show is a new one."