okteiviakom | A Nice and Secluded Bit of the Preserve, Saturday

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A Nice and Secluded Bit of the Preserve, Saturday

The preserve was a fair bit more popular these days than it had been when Octavia had first began roaming around in it years and years ago, but she and Duke had still managed to find a nice spot for their little camping trip that people were unlikely to randomly stumble upon. There was a clearing, along a sort of a little cove.

Between the water and the trees, it was perfect.

Octavia had taken on the task of getting the tent set up, while she'd entrusted the hammock to Duke. (Would they even need both? Remained to be seen, but it was nice to have them.) And right now? She straightened up from hammering the last tent peg into the ground.

"Just needs the twinkly lights, I think."

[ooc: For that guyyy.]

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"No, he's been pretty good about this sort of thing," Octaviaa said softly. "It's me who has... trouble."

Which was awkward, since she had the most boundaries, and not all of them had been discovered yet.

"I'm trying, though."

"Maybe we can help," Duke said. "The thing with the colors is, I think everyone's supposed to check in with them more, too. Like, that's why there's a 'green means go' as well as a 'red means stop'."

"I tried suggesting something like that to Lucifer once," Octavia replied, thinking about it. The rubbing at his neck had turned into her fingertips gently brushing back and forth, somewhere along the way. "Like... prompting me with something like that when he starts getting unsure where I'm at. He seemed to find it kind of hard? Trying to hold on to his role and still try and get a genuine answer."

"You mean, being dominant over you but still asking for honesty?" Duke asked. He was quite enjoying the feel of her fingertips, and was idly brushing his own thumb along her jaw in return. "I guess I can see that. Though . . . I mean, if he's being dominant, then . . . demand honesty."

"That's what I said," Octavia replied, her eyebrows going up a little in recognition, or for emphasis, or both. (Maybe just glad they saw it the same way.) "And I get his point, kind of, but also I think I've done it pretty successfully at least once since then? When I wasn't sure if something was too much for him. I was -- I still had the reins, that didn't change, but I got him to tell me it was."

"What I'm hearing here is that he needs to practice, too," Duke said. "Which is fine, but maybe not something he's really used to having to do."

"Yeah," Octavia agreed on a little sigh. "But he is really used to trying to accommodate me. And all my issues."

Something Duke knew nothing about, she was sure.

"Even the ones that surprise all of us," Duke said. Then, because he couldn't help himself: "I really am sorry."

Yes, hon. She knew.

"I know, flapkrasha," Octavia murmured, something distinctly more petting-like about the fingers on his neck, now. "It was... unpleasant, but we're learning from it."

It had hurt her feelings pretty badly in the moment, actually. She just didn't have as much of a need to air that part out anymore, after talking things through with Lucifer.

So Duke was getting spared from the gory details.

"And we'll probably need to talk, all three of us."

"We're probably overdue, yeah. It's nice to think we're always gonna be on the same page when it comes to this stuff, but it's so easy to accidentally step on someone's boundaries that way."

"Yeah." Sometimes spectacularly. "And I would like -- even the kinky stuff to work."

The smile was faint and wry and lopsided, but there.

"'Cause I really like getting stupidly dirty with both of you."

"I do too," Duke said. "And . . . it was nice. Having you around for that. Would have been a lot nicer if you were into it too. So . . . I don't know. Maybe it's time to . . . try again? With you and me?"

Now that was not something Octavia had expected to hear, and it was kind of plain on her face.

"... Oh."

Yes, even before that small noise came out of her mouth.

Duke had been pretty sure it'd be a surprise. But he was having trouble reading anything other than surprise in her response. Which was throwing him off.

"Is, um. Is that okay?"

The slight staring probably wasn't helping, huh? "I just, I --"

Okay, get some actual words together, Tavi. Maybe even a sentence.

"I didn't think you'd ever want to," she managed. "Again. With me, because I --" Oh, now here was something she didn't want to say.

Couldn't, really.

"Yeah." Duke wouldn't be able to say that part out loud, either. He wasn't about to make her do it. "I -- really didn't think I would either. But . . . I trust you, gona. I can't guarantee I won't get started and then go 'oh shit actually this isn't working'. And I understand if you'd rather not take that risk. But if you wanna try . . . if we go slow. . . ."

"It's the only pace we can go," Octavia said, almost helplessly. Longing and dread mixed together. "Because -- you're not wrong about the risk."

"You can say no," Duke said again. "I won't be offended. I love what we have." He tilted his head at her, running his hand up into her hair and brushing it back from her face. "What color are you at right now?"

Octavia swallowed.

"Which one's 'excited but terrified but excited, but also... unsure if it's okay to feel either of those things'?" she asked, a little weakly. (But so fully honest.) "Yellow?"

Duke huffed a small laugh. "Yellow works. 'Proceed with caution'. Or 'prepare to stop'. Or the flashing yellow that means 'look both ways to make sure no one runs into you first'." He shook his head. "It's a good place to start, maybe."

"Better than red."

As far as jokes went, it wasn't her best attempt. She was still watching his face, her own head just barely tilted, like she was... searching for something.

"Definitely." Duke watched her back. "What?"

"I just..." She groped around for words, again, brow dipping into a helpless frown as she failed to get around the question that wanted to come out. "Do you really want to try?"

(This couldn't be a trick, right?)

(It would make no sense for it to be one, because this was Duke.)

Duke nodded slowly. "I do. Maybe not -- exactly the way we did it before, but. Power play is fun. It's like it lets me . . . let go, if that makes sense."

He didn't have to second guess himself when he was playing at following orders. And despite how often he had it torn -- usually brutally -- from him, he got a kind of thrill when he could hand control over willingly.

"It does." It really did. Even though they came at submission from two completely different angles -- "I do it enough to know that."

And then she shook her head.

"And it was never gonna be the same it was back then. Not just because..." Because he knew the truth of what she was. "But because -- well, I've had a lot of practice, I guess. And I've done a lot of work." Because what significant aspect of her life didn't come back to therapy? "I have more than one way of being in control, now."

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