The Samsara, Tuesday Evening

[okteiviakom]

There'd been dinner served on the Samsara tonight: Octavia had cooked. Sort of? She'd made something in a skillet on her tiny stove, anyway, even if it was just mac and cheese (which she had... little to no previous experience with, even just in terms of eating it) and then she'd served it to Duke, and it seemed like no bad side effects had befallen either of them. So, success?

Octavia gave her last forkful a quizzical look, tilting her head a little.

"This could have been worse."

Way to brag, Tavi.

[ooc: For the lovingly modded snogon.]

Comments

[betterthanaplan]

“This was excellent,” Duke said, and it wasn’t a lie. The Mac and cheese had been—well. Edible. But being here with her, and her cooking at all?

Excellent.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia rolled her eyes at him, but it was clearly just a cover-up for something much more fond.

"I think you're kind of obligated to say that," she said, and stuck that last forkful in her mouth. ('Edible' was right.)

[betterthanaplan]

“Maybe,” Duke agreed easily. “But that doesn’t mean I’m wrong.”

[okteiviakom]

This one was more just half an eye roll.

Octavia put the fork down. "Well, thank you."

[betterthanaplan]

"De nada." Duke pushed his own dishes aside and leaned on the tiny table. "You know I have great taste. And I'm totally unbiased."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia snorted. And reached across the table, to try and boop him on the nose.

"One of those things is true, jaka."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke made no effort to avoid being bopped.

"Well, the other part doesn't matter, does it. You don't care what the unbiased people think anyway."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia shrugged. "That's fair," she said, letting her fingertips drag oh so lightly down over his lips and the tip of his chin before she pulled her hand back. "You have better opinions, anyway."

[betterthanaplan]

"I do," Duke said, chasing her finger playfully with his mouth. ". . . Most of the time."

[okteiviakom]

Snort.

"Yeah, well. We all make mistakes, right?"

Spoken like someone who ofted had dumb kneejerk opinions, ahem.

[betterthanaplan]

"We are sadly only human. Or celestial." Since Lucifer also made mistakes. "So, uh. How's it feel to be back?"

Speaking of mistakes.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia's eyebrows quirked just a little.

"Back... on the Samsara?" she asked. "Or on Fandom?"

[betterthanaplan]

Duke shrugged. "Either. Both."

However she wanted to interpret the question was fine with him.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia shrugged back, mirroring him. "Feels like I haven't been on this boat much in forever," she said, finally pushing her plate aside. "It's... nice."

Especially since she'd managed to get some repairs done on Friday, to finally do something about the damage Vanessa and her metal wings had done.

[betterthanaplan]

"You got your space back. That can feel kind of like coming home all by itself," Duke said. "We, uh, reclaimed Luce's place a bit on Friday, too."

Which they'd texted her about to let her know, sure, but it was still nice to share, right?

[okteiviakom]

Octavia's lips quirked on one side. "He mentioned that, too." And then she'd been there herself the following evening, though not overnight. "Have fun?"

[betterthanaplan]

"We did," Duke said. "Despite a, uh. Weird roadblock on our way there."

That was one way to put what had happened.

[okteiviakom]

"What, like a broken down rikshaw or something?"

Too literal, Octavia.

[betterthanaplan]

"Weirder," Duke said. "And, uh, less literal. I apparently managed to, uh, mojo Lucifer."

[okteiviakom]

And Octavia's eyebrows were all the way up.

"Wait, what? How?"

[betterthanaplan]

Duke shook his head. "No idea. He made me try again after the first one, which was an accident, and then I promised not to do it again. It was Friday night, though, so . . . maybe a weekend Fandom thing?"

[okteiviakom]

Octavia's head tilted a little as she tried to wrap her head around that.

"What... what did he say?"

(Was she even allowed to ask? Was that too private?)

[betterthanaplan]

"Well, first that he wanted to take me back to his mansion and fuck me senseless, and the second time that he really wanted to know what the fuck was going on." Duke shrugged. "Nothing earth-shattering. Just . . . really fucking weird."

[okteiviakom]

"Sounds that way," Octavia murmured, her eyebrows dipping into a gentle frown. "I guess it could be a weekend thing? But I didn't really see anything else weird happen."

[betterthanaplan]

"Yeah." Duke let out another sigh. "He reacted so hard, though . . . I'm not sure if I should mention that to him. I mean, what else could it be?"

He had a theory, but didn't really want to acknowledge it by voicing it out loud just yet.