The Deck of the Cape Rouge, Thursday Morning

[okteiviakom]

Octavia had been having a lot of thoughts since her visit to Engelsøy the other week. About her past, sure, as always. About the present, likewise.

But the future, too. Her own, that of her loved ones, that of the planet.

A lot of that last thing, actually.

And all of those thoughts were beginning to trend towards action. Like there was a restlessness in her bones, reminding her there was still time, there were resources, there were fights to join and pursuits to engage in.

(Maybe even ways to make amends for everything she'd done wrong in her own time.)

She'd been quietly compiling things in two notebooks. In one, she was trying to collect every last bit of information she could remember about how the first Praimfaya had come about, whether it was something she'd been taught on the Ark, something she'd heard on the Ground, or something she'd read down in the bunker. Anything and everything, no matter how small.

In the other, she was putting all of her research into... well, the jumble things that were running the planet into the ground right now. Who the big players in fighting it were, and what the big things they were doing were.

Probably no surprise that Octavia had been sleeping progressively worse over the last week or so. Just the cost of throwing herself at something that called to her, for the first time in years. Still, right now on Thursday morning, after a too-early breakfast, she was working on something much more practical, easy, and very, very local: the little garden of planter boxes she'd handwavily established on the deck of the Rouge at the beginning of summer.

Putting her hands in some soil was doing a lot to center her.

[ooc: Open, ofc!]

Comments

[betterthanaplan]

Duke let out a slightly pained laugh. "Uh . . . no. But I'll let you know if I feel like I really gotta let one out right away."

[my_own_advocate]

"Duke," Lucifer said. Hesitated. Then said it anyway: "Please don't push yourself too far."

[betterthanaplan]

"Not too far," Duke assured him. "Just . . . a little bit further."

The longer he could go without risking hurting anyone else, the better.

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer sighed.

He reached up to run a hand over Duke's hair, and pressed a kiss against the top of his head.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke focused on those feelings, rather than the twisting in his guts.

"I love you," he said softly.

It sounded a little bit like an apology.

[my_own_advocate]

"I love you too, darling," Lucifer said quietly. He shifted a little, trying to make Duke more comfortable. "Take a rest."

[betterthanaplan]

"Feels like all I do, these days," Duke admitted. But he was getting heavier against Lucifer, as he let himself relax as much as he was able.

[my_own_advocate]

"Well," Lucifer said, "You are ill."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke let out a laugh-like breath. "Guess so. Not really how I've been thinking about it."

He tried to never think of himself that way.

[my_own_advocate]

"I've noticed, yes," Lucifer said wryly.

[betterthanaplan]

"It makes me feel . . . useless," Duke said. "You know how much I hate that."

[my_own_advocate]

"I do," Lucifer agreed. "As well as I know that you're not useless."

[betterthanaplan]

"I guess I am a very comforting teddy bear, spending all my time in bed," Duke said ruefully.

(He was keeping up with his therapy appointments. That didn't keep him from sometimes needing to be wryly self-effacing.)

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer let out a faintly exasperated, but altogether fond, sigh. "Not what I meant, and you know it."

[betterthanaplan]

"Yeah," Duke agreed. "But I'm not going to be mad if you want to explain it anyway."

His head hurt along with everything else, Luce. Take pity and be even more blunt than usual.

[my_own_advocate]

Oh. Duke.

"You get up several times a day," Lucifer reminded him, "You help with dinner, you maintain the ship, you keep us company."

He tightened his arm around Duke for a moment.

"Would I rather you have enough energy to go to the diner and do what you want? Yes," he said. "But you came out onto the deck and you're sitting here with me and it gives me comfort."

[betterthanaplan]

"Good," Duke said, kissing Lucifer's shoulder again. "And thanks. I guess I need reminders like that sometimes."

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer leaned into him a little bit, for as much as he could. "You are always necessary here," he murmured. "And you are a very long way from the state you'd have to be in not to fulfill that need."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke closed his eyes and swallowed, his throat going tight in a way that had nothing to do with the troubles banging against his ribs. He couldn't quite get any words out in response to that, so he just buried his nose in Lucifer's shirt.

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer had about a dozen things he wanted to say, and an equal dozen impulses telling him to be silent.

"You're still beautiful," he settled on, holding Duke close.

[betterthanaplan]

"In that wan, Victorian consumption victim kind of way," Duke said ruefully.

When in doubt, he could always fall back on snark.

[my_own_advocate]

"Don't," Lucifer murmured.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke lifted his head just enough to be able to look at Lucifer's face.

". . . Okay."

He wasn't used to people responding that way to his snark. Even after all this time with people who actually loved him.

[my_own_advocate]

"I meant it," Lucifer said softly, his eyes landing on Duke's.

[betterthanaplan]

"I look like crap," Duke said.

But Lucifer didn't lie. So . . . maybe he was both.