The Deck of the Cape Rouge, Saturday Morning

[okteiviakom]

Thursday night was still on-going had been something else. Stupid, probably, but it had made Octavia feel alive in a way that had been in short supply in the past few weeks. And she'd come back, late at night but with no major injuries, taken a shower, crawled into bed. Played it all off like a long walk. A breather. Nothing too different from all the other walks she'd been taking.

Even just this morning, a full day later, she'd already taken one. Just around the island, nowhere near the preserve, or the woods, not even in the park. Streets and stairs and beach, confined. Thinking, whether she wanted to or not, about the dreams she'd been having the past two nights. Walking into the preserve and letting the undergrowth bury her. Her mother had been there, too, bathed in a golden light from somewhere beyond the treetops.

It all seemed a little heavy-handed, if you asked Octavia.

Anyway, the walk was over. She was yet to go back inside, although she felt like she'd probably need a shower soon. For now, she was sitting on the deck, right by her little garden. Like it was enough just to be near it.

Because it had to be.

She had to be fine. She was losing entire days to pretending to be, acting her usual self for Duke and Lucifer's benefit, doing the usual things, with her quiet snark, holding hands, playing her part while they fixed the shit between themselves. (Ignoring the ache that came with them doing it someplace she'd spent years developing a big stake in. Ignoring that she'd almost dropped by the house for a bath just this morning, only to find herself unable to actually go in.) Sometimes she pretended so convincingly she even fell for it herself.

And wasn't that the goal, really?

She had her phone out. Checking out the news for anything new on the chemical plant. That was where it had started, anyway: now she was just scrolling through whatever else happened to be there. Maybe she was stalling? Didn't really matter. Something caught her eye either way, in her recommendations. A fresh discovery in Pompeii.

She tapped it open. Read, scrolled.

Came to a stop when she came up on the photo of the altar. Two snakes, surrounded by greenery, painted two thousand years ago, but their color still retained, unearthed from the ash.

Something in her chest clenched.

(It all seemed a little heavy-handed, if you asked --)

[ooc: Expecting one, open.]

Comments

[betterthanaplan]

Duke had slept in a little, but nearly as late as he had for most of the summer. He stepped out onto the deck now with a tray of coffee paraphernalia and greeted Octavia with a smile.

“Hayun, gona.”

[okteiviakom]

Octavia didn't startle, because she'd heard him coming. It still took her a few beats to actually pull her gaze away from her phone - though once she had, the screen swiftly went black, where she was holding the phone on her lap.

"Ha yun, jaka," she replied. "Fresh coffee?"

[betterthanaplan]

“Yep, thought you might like some.” He set the tray on the table by his favorite bench and nodded towards her phone as he sat. “Anything interesting?”

[okteiviakom]

"Nothing much," Octavia replied, glancing down at the black screen. She didn't seem to be in a hurry to move towards any real seating, still sitting cross-legged right on the deck. "They just found new stuff in Pompeii."

She said it with a shrug, like there wasn't still an odd tightness in her chest about it.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke raised his eyebrows. “That’s cool. What kind of stuff?”

[okteiviakom]

"They're finding out even the smaller homes had... impressive decoration."

Oh, would you look at that, another shrug.

"Digging them up from the ash."

[betterthanaplan]

“Makes sense. Are they nice? Not too burned up or anything?”

[okteiviakom]

Octavia shook her head. "They're beautiful," she said. Her voice was soft.

(Sometimes she pretended so convincingly she even fell for it herself.)

[betterthanaplan]

Duke watched her for a second, then slid off the bench to sit on the deck next to her. “Van you show me?”

[okteiviakom]

Octavia watched him move.

She hesitated for a second, but then picked up her phone again, unlocked the screen - and quickly flicked away from the picture of the altar, back up to the top of the article, before holding the phone out for Duke.

[betterthanaplan]

“Oh wow,” Duke said, taking the phone and enlarging the first image, a mural displaying human figures. “That’s incredible.”

[okteiviakom]

"I know," Octavia murmured, leaning against his shoulder a little under the guise of seeing the screen to see what he was looking at.

(Since when did she need a guise for doing that? Please don't ask her.)

"Two thousand years," she added, just as quietly. "That's how long they've been buried. That's how long ago someone painted it."

[betterthanaplan]

That was how long it’d been forgotten.

“And they found it again. And now we get to see it.”

He scrolled further, pausing on each image to give it a good look.

When he got to the snakes he looked over at her.

“It’s beautiful.”

[okteiviakom]

Unfair, Octavia had been trying to look at his face while he looked at that one. Now, instead, he caught the tail end of something naked, searching on her face before she managed to reel it back in and averted her own gaze towards the screen instead.

The nod, though as tiny as usual, looked a little shaky.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke caught that flash of vulnerability, and for the first time in a while, felt he might just be equipped to do something about it.

He wanted to speak, but that so often backfired. So instead he just leaned in to press his forehead to hers.

[okteiviakom]

There was a moment, no matter how brief, where Octavia clearly almost twisted away from it.

But then right after, she relented. With a quiet, shuddery exhale.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke swallowed down the guilt that flared up at that. But self-recriminations for not somehow maintaining his connection with her better through his dark days.

She didn’t need that. And he wanted to give her what she needed.

So he stayed quiet. Slipped a hand up to rest gently on the back of her neck. Slow, ready to pull away if she didn’t seem to want it, but offering that second point of connection.

[okteiviakom]

He was taking stabs in the dark at what she needed, and the silence was fast starting to feel oppressive to Octavia. Yes, she was aware that was an odd thing from her, but she had no control over it.

She was fighting tooth and claw to have much control over anything, lately.

"Why are you being so quiet?" came out of her mouth, a little hoarse. Uncontrollable.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke huffed softly, half a laugh.

“I didn’t want to say the wrong thing,” he admitted. “But we can try this: how are you?”

[okteiviakom]

"I'm fine," Octavia said, and managed to make her voice behave itself, this time. Casual, as much as she ever sounded casual, anyway. "Just need a shower. Maybe coffee."

[betterthanaplan]

. . . Yeah, funny how Duke had trouble believing that.

“Well.” He sat up, leaving the hand on her neck for an extra moment before turning towards the tray. “I can help with the second thing at least.”

[okteiviakom]

Oh, good, that had been the wrong thing for her to say on multiple counts. That it prompted him to let her go was the big one.

But Octavia said nothing about it (shocking), just reached out to reclaim her phone while he busied himself with the coffee.

[betterthanaplan]

It didn’t take long. He had a cup fixed for her quickly and returned to his seat next to her, mug held out for her.

“How was your walk?”

[okteiviakom]

Octavia took the mug from him carefully, and shrugged a little. "It was fine."

There was less effort behind that fine. It was accurate, give or take a few details along the way, like the way her hand had refused to reach into her pocket for a key.

(Or the caged nature of where she felt free to go otherwise, but she was pretending to herself she was getting used to that. Again.)

"Still quiet in town," she added after a sip. "Guy at the Perk said it was because the school's still on vacation."

[betterthanaplan]

“Huh.” Duke looked out towards the town. “You know I haven’t been out often enough when I didn’t even notice the school’s on break.”

He would let her keep pretending everything was fine a bit longer. She didn’t historically react well when he pushed her on that sort of thing.