okteiviakom | The Deck of the Cape Rouge, Late Wednesday Morning

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The Deck of the Cape Rouge, Late Wednesday Morning

As far as Octavia was concerned, it was a perfectly normal day. She'd woken up, had breakfast, and had just now rolled out her mat on a nice spot on the deck and was getting started on a little bit of yoga to get the day going.

Or, at least she had been: there was a rustling that seemed to be coming closer along the docks, catching her attention.

She squinted towards the approaching form. "What the... ?"

[ooc: For those two guys who aren't going to like this.]

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Duke having a nice, quiet morning, himself, and was planning to join her for the yoga in a little bit, when he finished his coffee and was properly awake enough to focus on his breath. For now, he was lounging on one of the benches in the galley, the door to the deck propped open on a handy bit of pipe so he could listen to the sounds of the port.

And the faint exclamation of his snogon.

"Everything okay?" he called.

"Did you say something?" Lucifer called, as he stepped out of the shower, towel wrapped around his hips.

It looked like... a cat? Sort of? Leopard-like, but only vaguely. Octavia had probably seen a civet at a zoo before, but was definitely not able to place it right now.

Especially as it seemed to have noticed her. And now that it had made its way almost right up to the boat, it was looking kind of... big. Bigger than it ought to have, at least.

She straightened up, slowly, keeping her eyes on the creature.

Edited 2023-04-26 17:45 (UTC)

"Tavi," Duke told Lucifer, waving to him. He tilted his head, listening.

Nothing.

"Everything okay out there?" he called.

"Right," Lucifer said, snagging his bathrobe from the little hanger by the door. He slipped into it quickly.

Polly Lobster and some of the usual gang of porgs were hanging out on the deck. The creature on the other side of the gangplank seemed to notice them at the same time Octavia realized they were there.

The creature lunged.

And without even a second's thought, so did Octavia, to put herself between the beast and the porgs.

The porgs let out a burble of squawks and flaps, loud enough that Duke decided it warranted investigation.

“Dammit, are they trying to eat yoga mats again—the hell?!”

Well. The porgs were at least not eating any yoga mats.

Oh, that didn't sound terribly good. "Duke?" Lucifer asked, hurrying into the galley. "What's going on?"

The porgs were not eating any yoga mats, no! They were too busy scattering.

And Octavia had just enough time to register the swipe the civet had taken at her arm when they collided - and only the swipe, not the pain or the blood - before... Well, before there was no Octavia at all.

Unless you counted the growly thing in her place, now.

“Tavi!”

Was Duke grabbing one of his many guns and running out onto the deck explanation enough for you, Luce? Because right now that was the only one you were getting.

At least there was no one on the boat to watch Lucifer go white as a sheet. Not that it mattered. He rushed up the stairs and out the door. "Octavia? Duke? What's-- oh my."

The hyena - if the giant hulking thing actually qualified as one - growled at the civet.

And then towards Duke and Lucifer, for good measure, all gnashing teeth and obvious ill temper.

Duke wasn't entirely sure what had happened. Octavia had jumped in front of the porgs. The civet had jumped at Octavia. Then there was this hyena thing.

And Octavia had vanished.

He swung his aim from the civet to the hyena and back to the civet and didn't fire at anything because he had no idea where his snogon was and he was not about to risk hurting her somehow.

"Octavia?!" he asked, distress evident in his voice -- and his face, and the way his gun shook in his hand. "Fuck, please tell me you're in there!"

And then--

Lucifer got the full picture. "Duke, get back," he snapped, pushing forward in front of him. "And don't shoot anything."

The civet appeared to think all of this was too much commotion, the tasty porgs had gone into hiding - and also possibly it found the hyena intimidating.

It took off, though not before doing some damage to the gangplank along the way.

The humans were making noise, though. The hyena crept closer.

Duke wasn't going to shoot anything, Lucifer, don't worry. He wasn't entirely lowering his gun yet, though, because he was still freaking out, and having the gun at hand and half-raised was helping with that.

He was happy to let you take point with the giant hyena thing, though.

"Tavi?" he said again, softer this time.

More of a plea.

"Octavia, will you please calm down," Lucifer said slowly, arms spread placatingly. A pause. "...That is her, isn't it? Or are we just assuming?"

He hadn't a clue.

"That's our -- very best guess," Duke said. "So don't kill her. It. And hopefully she won't kill us."

None of their pleading or placating seemed to be inspiring any sort of reaction, least of all recognition. The hyena just growled at them again.

And then pounced at them - or, well, at Lucifer.

It was very claw-forward.

"Octavi--" Lucifer started.

The world suddenly flipped upside down, and pain flooded into his system, along with the taste of something odd and metallic. He stared up at the sky, or mangled fur, and blinked, confused.

Why did his chest hurt?

"Octavia," he tried.

It came out as a gurgle.

Oh shit oh shit oh shit --

Duke's first instinct was to grab for Lucifer, try to staunch the bleeding. Duke's first instinct was trash because one drop of that blood on him and his trouble would kick in and get overwhelmed and he'd be out like a light, and this thing that might or might not be Octavia would be able to rip through them both like they were tissue paper and --

All that went through his head in the amount of time it took him to jerk his hand to the left and fire three shots into the deck of his own boat, hoping the noise and explosion would drive the beast -- and its now blood-soaked claws -- back far enough to buy him the distance he needed to figure out an alternate game plan that wouldn't get all three of them killed.

The hyena startled off to the side in the opposite direction, making a giggle-like noise as it went.

But it didn't go far. Not at all. Better think fast, Duke.

Oh don't worry, narrative, Duke was absolutely doing so. As soon as he confirmed the thing was moving away even a little, he lunged backwards, grabbing the pipe he'd propped the galley door open with, and swinging it up at the hyena thing's jaw.

If it turned out this was in fact Octavia, he'd apologize profusely later. And maybe invest in a taser. Or like. A tranquilizer gun. (Or several, and stash them all over the boat alongside his regular guns, and some cattle prods, maybe load some of the regular guns with rubber bullets too? And something that could take down Lucifer if he ended up going evil for some reason? Something nonviolent of course and this wasn't the time for this particular thought spiral right now, Duke, refocus, your boyfriend is BLEEDING. . . .)

Still bleeding. Lucifer had sort of forgotten about the whole 'able to hurt me' bit, what with neither of his partners really feeling a drive to stab or maul or otherwise wound him in recent years.

He spat up a bit of blood, and felt the first inkling of something beginning to knit together.

Tried to sit up.

Laid back down.

What...?

The hyena stumbled backwards with the hit, and snarled as it tried to take a swipe at Duke.

Thankfully, it was just a little too far, and its vision was blurry.

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