The Deck of the Cape Rouge, Port of Fandom, Friday Afternoon

[okteiviakom]

Octavia knew there was a Parents Weekend thing happening in town right now. She was still undecided on whether she wanted to put in an appearance, because on one hand, last year's had led to some bad times for her. On the other... There was some small part of her that hoped, no matter how foolishly, that maybe Gloria would somehow show up.

(There was just so much she wanted to tell her. And so much fear that she would never get to.)

So far, for her trek through town after her usual Friday routine of therapy and swimming out in New York, she had steered clear of the park. She had a big bag from a shoe store to get home, anyway. See, there'd been some talk of those early days on the Ground in her session today, and then she'd taken a slightly different route from her usual in getting to the portal place, and she'd seen the boots in a store window, and, well. She'd never been able to resist a good symbol. Especially one as personal as this, appearing at just the right time for it to feel a little like something else than just pure coincidence.

(Even with how mired in complications that thought was for her, these days. For reasons she had still not discussed with Dr. Baker at all.)

And even as she stepped aboard the Rouge, she was still wondering whether she should've just taken her purchase on the Samsara instead, and buried them in her closet. The urge to share and the urge to keep it to herself felt equal.

Maybe she'd shove them in a closet here, instead.

[ooc: Open, though slow.]

Comments

[okteiviakom]

Octavia shook her head. "No, it doesn't," she told him softly. "Meteors fell on the part of the world you cared about."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke remembered the rocks hurtling across the sky. The panic and sirens as he and Audrey and Nathan met up to try to figure out what they could do about it. Calling Arla and telling her he was tired of living in a disaster movie. It was a ploy, sure, to lure her into the open so he could double cross her, but it was fucking true, too.

Every day in Haven was a new threat. And Nathan and Audrey both had too much of a martyr complex to ever consider just running.

He swallowed, tried to play it off with a little smile. "I, uh. Guess I do that a lot, huh. Try to compare us. Our messed up lives."

[okteiviakom]

"I do that, too," Octavia replied. "Difference is, I don't think one's any easier than the other."

[betterthanaplan]

"The scale's different," Duke said. "Can't really deny that."

[okteiviakom]

"Yes I can, actually," Octavia retorted, with a muted rasp to her voice. "Talked about that with Dr. Baker, even. She said this thing, this one time, about how it must've been hard to process the entire world, ending."

She shrugged.

"But the thing is, my world's always been small. It's whatever I can see. Whatever's the closest to me."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke shook his head. "But -- I mean, you didn't even have anywhere to escape to. People in Haven -- they could at least just. Leave Haven."

[okteiviakom]

"Did it feel like that when the meteors were coming down?"

[betterthanaplan]

"Not -- not to me. But, you know, I was running around with a bunch of hero types. Once upon a time?"

Once upon a time he'd have run long before hte meteors started falling. Probably sometime around when the woman he pulled from the harbor turned out to be a fed.

[okteiviakom]

"And does 'once upon a time' matter when we're talking about things that actually happened?"

He could probably tell which way her opinion fell by that faint dry note in her voice.

[betterthanaplan]

"Sometimes," Duke said. "That's part of growth, right? Looking back on who you used to be, not just seeing who you are now."

[okteiviakom]

"And is that what you're doing," Octavia asked, a little milder now, "or are you just arguing with me because you don't think what happened to you was as big as what happened to me?"

[betterthanaplan]

"I already have a therapist," Duke teased gently. "A little bit of both, probably."

[okteiviakom]

"You started it," Octavia told him. Dryly.

[betterthanaplan]

"Usually," Duke agreed. "Think you want to head belowdecks? Get up to something a little less depressing?"

[okteiviakom]

There was a lot Octavia was just swallowing down right now.

But she made herself shrug and say, "Sure." Probably wasn't worth it, anyway.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke leaned forward to kiss her, reaching for her hands.

"C'mon. Let me show you how proud I really am."

[okteiviakom]

He was only getting one hand - the other one was saved for the bag still sitting by her feet. And Octavia's response to the kiss was... not unenthusiastic, as such, but a little muted.

Baby steps?

"Will you want to see what I bought, first?"

[betterthanaplan]

Duke frowned a little at that muted response.

"If you want to show it."

Was that where the hesitance was coming from?

[okteiviakom]

He had a very short memory, didn't he?

Octavia's hand closed around his, and she moved to get up, grabbing the bag as she did. "Come on. Let's go below decks."

[betterthanaplan]

He was trying not to assume things! And give her credit that she'd say something if she wasn't done talking. Forgive him for hoping.

"Lead the way, gona."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia was just trying to get past it, honestly.

She gave his hand a little squeeze, then tugged him along. Off the deck, down into the belly of the ship, where she set the bag down on a table in the galley.

And then hesitated.

[betterthanaplan]

"What?" Duke teased, trying to keep a slightly lighter tone going. "Did you get more sex toys and are embarrassed to show them off?"

[okteiviakom]

Octavia inhaled slowly --

Nope. Couldn't do it. Something felt too fragile, too much like a risk. "You know what?" she said, already trying to pull him away from the table again. "Let's go look at the sex toys instead."

[betterthanaplan]

. . . Shit.

“I did it again,” he said. “I ruined it.”

[okteiviakom]

"No," Octavia said, still tugging on his hand, "I'm ruining it."

Or you know, a little from column A, a little from column B.