The Samsara, Port of Fandom, Monday Afternoon

[okteiviakom]

Octavia had invited Duke over to her boat after class. It was not a big deal. Except it felt like one, since they were still in the process of -- well, getting Duke settled into the idea that the Samsara wasn't some sacred space he wasn't allowed in.

So Octavia was almost glad that she had something else to think about when they actually made it there. See, stumbling onto a class and joining them had been a good idea right up until the point where the class was done, and it was time to come out of the water, and realize you had not brought a change of clothes.

Thankfully, the weather was warm enough for walking to the docks in clothes that were still wet all over, but it hadn't been the best thing Octavia had ever experienced.

"I should have fruit if you want a snack," she told Duke, as she stepped down into the cabin. "I'm gonna change into something less... damp."

[ooc: For the snogon!]

Comments

[okteiviakom]

"Do you often compare streams?" Octavia teased, gently.

[betterthanaplan]

"Don't need to," Duke said, giving her calf a little hug. "We've already found the best one."

[okteiviakom]

Goddammit, Duke, way to make Octavia's expression go all wobbly and soft and amused all at the same time.

Her fingers slid out of his hair and tried to flick at his nose. "So I guess you haven't been keeping any better streams secret from me."

[betterthanaplan]

“I would never!” Duke lived for getting that kind of expression out of her. “I’m a sharer.”

[okteiviakom]

"Good," Octavia said. "Because I really like our stream." Yeah, it was theirs, now. (Not that that was new, really. It was part of why she'd gone there, specifically, on her awkward preserve trip last week.) "I'd want to know if it had competition."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke would guess it was, yeah. If he’d known that was where she’d gone.

“Any other favorite places I should know about?”

[okteiviakom]

"Well, there's the port, obviously," Octavia replied wryly, with a little gesture around them with her free hand. "Even if it's busier now than I maybe like it."

The little curve of her lips fell away as she hesitated for a second. Thinking it over.

"But there's... this one street corner, near where Dr. Baker's office is."

[betterthanaplan]

“Oh yeah?” Duke shifted, curling up against her leg. “She’s in New York, right?”

[okteiviakom]

That felt more grounding than Octavia would have expected it to.

"Yeah," she said. "Yeah, she is." It was pretty far to go for therapy, but then she would probably have had to portal out to Karolina's Baltimore, too.

Her hand settled at the back of his neck.

"There's not really anything special about it," she continued. "The corner, I mean. There are probably hundreds just like it all around the city. But... It's there on the way to the portal place. And it just feels... infinite, somehow. All you see is tall buildings just stretching on."

[betterthanaplan]

“Huh.” Duke leaned his head on her knee. “I never thought about cities that way.”

They’d always felt very finite to him.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia shrugged a little. "It's just a feeling."

One that probably came more easily to her because she didn't really have that much experience with big cities. Her imagination wasn't bound by pre-existing expectations of what things were likely to look five, ten, twenty blocks away.

"But there's something nice about it."

[betterthanaplan]

“You’ve never liked being closed in.”

[okteiviakom]

"No," Octavia agreed. "And it kind of feels like..."

She trailed off, her lips pressing together as she thought it over. Looked for the words, then found them.

"Like possibility, you know?"

[betterthanaplan]

"That must feel good after surgery. Maybe help keep your head clear."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia snorted softly.

"Might be because of therapy that I even feel that in the first place."

[betterthanaplan]

[thank you for pretending that said therapy >.<]

Duke didn't want to lift his head enough for a bob, so he made a small noise instead.

He still felt weird about therapy. Arla Cogan -- and not knowing exactly when Claire had stopped being Claire -- had done a number on his trust issues. But he would never try to tell her not to do it.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia had already made up her own mind about it, anyway. It wasn't easy for her to trust her therapist, but she viewed her discomfort as the price to pay for trying to get better.

She knew how he felt, though.

Her fingertips rubbed the back of his neck gently. "I mean it more like... Like therapy is hard." That was not news, no. "It's being stuck in a room with all the shitty things that have happened." Her fingers moved, slid into his hair again. "And that street corner feels like freedom."

Basically it was what he'd said, just from her own angle.

[betterthanaplan]

"I'm glad," Duke said. "That you have that chance for freedom." He looked up at her. "Think you could show it to me some day?"

[okteiviakom]

"Yeah," Octavia said, after a little pause. "I could take you with me sometime." She shrugged, and tried for a little wry curving of her lips. "I mean, you know how to entertain yourself for about an hour."

[betterthanaplan]

"In New York? Easy," Duke agreed.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia huffed a breath out of her nose, and tried tucking that one stubborn strand of hair behind his ear.

"Exactly," she said. "Maybe you can scout us a good place to get lunch from."

[betterthanaplan]

"I can absolutely do that," Duke said. And probably find something random to get her as a present while he was at it!

[okteiviakom]

But of course.

"Then you're invited," Octavia told him, that curve of her lips getting a little more pronounced. "Sometime."

Not yet tomorrow.

[betterthanaplan]

"Sometime," Duke agreed with a nod. "And meanwhile, maybe we'll go see our stream again."

[okteiviakom]

"I'd like that too," Octavia said. And not just because -- No, actually, she should maybe say that part out loud. "And not just because I freaked out the last time I tried to go."