okteiviakom | A Secluded Stretch of Beach, San Diego, Wednesday Evening

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A Secluded Stretch of Beach, San Diego, Wednesday Evening

Octavia and Duke's zoo trip had been nice. And now they were hoping the dinner that was about to cap their devilless outing would be good, too.

As with all the previous dinners on this vacation, they'd skipped dining at the actual restaurant, but they'd been by one to pick up a whole bunch of things in picnic-sized portions to try from their menu. Now, all of their various containers were spread across a blanket on the beach, just waiting to be tasted.

And, at the far end of the spread, there was a sloth plush. Because there just was. Sometimes these things just happened.

"I've already forgotten what half these things are," Octavia admitted as she settled down onto the blanket, and reached for one of the containers near her.

[ooc: NFB, for the guy.]

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Octavia considered that for a second. And then decided, "I don't think I want to know more about that right now."

She would share his opinions on SeaWorld.

Duke nodded. "Don't want to sully the memory of the happy zoo." He ate quietly for a moment, looking out over the water. "We should do this more often. Maybe get a whole membership to the zoo back home or something."

"That's a thing?" Octavia asked, because she couldn't help herself. She wasn't going to get hung up on that, though: she nodded. "I'd like that. Or something like it."

It sounded like a them thing, and so she was immediately clinging to it.

"I know it is at the big one in DC," Duke said. "Probably is at the one in Baltimore, too. A lot of those kinds of places have memberships, it's a big part of how they get their funding. But, uh. That's probably more modern Earth stuff you don't really want to have to think about right now, huh."

Octavia's expression turned a little wry. "'Funding' means money, so... Probably not."

Yes, she still thought capitalism was bullshit. And money in general. Probably more now post-bunker than she had before it, really.

"But if we can play our part keeping it running, and that's how you do it in this time..."

"Alas, sometimes you have to play into a system to get into a place where you can break it," Duke said, shrugging. "But hey, it might mean we get to do, like, behind the scenes tours and maybe feed some of the animals sometime or something."

"We'll look into it," Octavia said with another little nod, "when we go home."

Funny how that word really seemed clearer from this far away.

"Yeah." Duke nodded. "You looking forward to getting back?"

The container in her hands - taro steamed buns, not that she would have remembered that - suddenly got very interesting.

"Not really," she admitted.

"Me neither," Duke admitted. "Feels like we've been in a bubble here. A very nice, relaxing bubble."

"Yeah," Octavia agreed, softly, with a glance over at him. "I know it was never going to be forever, but it also feels like time's gone really fast."

"It really has," Duke agreed. He set his food aside and reached for her. "It's easy to be . . . easy. On vacation. A bit harder in real life, huh."

Octavia set her own container down again before leaning in.

"Yeah," she sighed. "Everything feels a little suspended in time while we're here. A little unreal."

And easier.

Duke gave her a squeeze. "So the question is, how do we bring a little of this feeling home with us."

Octavia's hand settled on his arm, and rubbed it a little. Made for a convenient excuse for her gaze to travel there, too.

"I think... I'm gonna start sleeping on the Rouge again."

"Yeah?" Duke tried to find a happy medium between pleased and overly excited. "I'd really like that."

Octavia knew the difference it had made in his quality of sleep that she'd been sharing their bed, as much as she tried not to think about it. So she was pretty sure he was pretty excited, regardless.

"I think I've found a way to put that and my evening... thing, together," she added. That was the best way she could think of to put it. (But only because she didn't want to outright call it a ritual.) "I can take that time on the Samsara, and then come back over."

It was what she'd been doing on this trip: most nights, she disappeared for a while into her little cabin to listen to music, but always reappeared before they went to bed.

"Of course. And take any other alone time you might need."

Octavia huffed, finally looking up at him again. "Alone time was never a problem."

Whatever the opposite was had proven to be a little difficult lately, prior to this trip.

"Not for you," Duke said, very softly. "I'm trying to say I can handle it when you do. That I'm not going to freak out again."

"Oh."

The hand on his arm traveled up to where it could cradle his cheek.

"Thank you."

“We can try something that isn’t all or nothing.” Duke leaned into her touch. “See how that goes.”

The touch got that much firmer.

"And Dr. Baker is trying to have me do this thing, where I'm supposed to ask myself why I have a feeling like I need to do something, or to not do something, instead of just --" Immediately digging in her heels and staying in Fandom with her boat. "-- going with it."

“Yeah?” Duke flicked her a little smile, taking on a teasing tone. “That sounds awful.”

"It is," Octavia deadpanned. "I'm not used to thinking."

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