The Marina, Cat Island, Friday Afternoon

[okteiviakom]

As most days this week (and the one before that, and the one before that...) Octavia had spent most of the early parts of her day working around the marina. There was always maintenance work to be done, things to fix, areas to tidy. She knew how to do most of the usual things by now, too, and had less of a need for the local workers to show her the ropes, whether literal or figurative. She could just be helpful. Just that, and not a burden or a hindrance.

It settled something in her. At least a little.

But by now, her tasks for the day were done. She'd cleaned all of the maintenance grime off of herself, and was now sitting near where the Fin & Tonic was docked. Watching the water, listening to whatever noise was coming from elsewhere in the marina.

Thinking about home.

[ooc: NFB, open for all the usual with likely SP.]

Comments

[okteiviakom]

Octavia snorted.

(It was a very positive sound, in this context.)

"Yeah, we should sit. Somewhere we can sit... close."

To each other, obviously.

[betterthanaplan]

"Good call," Duke said, and led the way over to a handy bench-like rock, where they could watch the water.

[okteiviakom]

Was Octavia going to end up sitting on the sand in front of the rock, sooner or later? Stay tuned to find out.

But for now, she took advantage of the bench-like quality to sit down. Then glanced around, and gave a soft little sigh. "Yeah, this should do."

It felt private.

[betterthanaplan]

"It's gorgeous," Duke agreed, sitting next to her.

He was looking at her, not the cove.

[okteiviakom]

It took Octavia a second to realize that. She was about to voice her agreement right up until the second she actually looked at him, and saw where he was looking.

"Are you hitting on me?" she drawled, raising her eyebrows. "Because... it might work."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke laughed. "Good," he said. "And yes. I am almost always hitting on you."

[okteiviakom]

"You did bring me out here to hear sex stories," Octavia replied, with an amused look. "So it wasn't exactly subtle."

Also the lighter she could keep the moment, the less likely it was they'd create a paralyzingly Big Deal Moment out of their potential sharing. Maybe.

[betterthanaplan]

"Yup, I sure did," Duke agreed. "And I brought snacks!"

He pulled out the grapes and unwrapped some cheese.

[okteiviakom]

"And you brought snacks," Octavia agreed.

In fact, she was going to steal a grape or two right now. (Well, 'steal'.)

[betterthanaplan]

It was fully not stealing when it was freely offered. But Duke was amused by the attitude of it anyway.

"I have no idea how to gracefully dive in," he admitted.

[okteiviakom]

There was very little left of the younger Octavia who'd joked about scheming, but sometimes bits still shone through the cracks, so to speak.

She gave a soft snort. "I don't think there is a way to do that," she said, with a small shake of her head. And then she tilted her head, and lifted one shoulder a bit. "You wanna maybe start with a question?"

[betterthanaplan]

Duke nodded. "That works." He popped a grape in his mouth and chewed thoughtfully. "Well . . . let's start at the beginning. You've said it was a process. How'd you two get started in the kinky stuff?"

[okteiviakom]

Octavia's faint, wry smirk faded until it was gone, replaced with something more thoughtful, as her gaze slid from him to the water.

"I don't know if I really even remember," she admitted. It had been a few years, after all, and this was a question she'd... never actually thought about, before. "But... you know it started out between me and you, first. And after that went away..."

The kindest possible way to phrase it, all things considered.

"It stayed away, for probably a good while. But there was something else in me that, kind of... looked for an outlet, maybe? The, I guess, the opposite of what we'd been doing."

She paused, hesitated, tried to pick the best words.

"And if there's something in you looking to be put in its place," she said, slower, "who's better than the Devil?"

[betterthanaplan]

Duke swallowed at the reminder of his . . . flinch . . . but nodded along, not interrupting. Reminding himself that none of this was about him, just now.

"You'd been dominating," he said. "You wanted to be dominated, too."

[okteiviakom]

The movement of Octavia's head was so slight that it was best characterized as about half a nod.

"I'd done bad things," she said, a touch more quiet, "and I wanted to be punished."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke lifted his hand. Let it hover hesitatingly for a moment, before moving to wrap his arm around her shoulders.

He didn't say anything. Just held her.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia made a noise in her throat, like objection, like he didn't need to. Funny how it didn't keep her from leaning against him, taking what was offered.

"I found that with him," she muttered. "He could act cruel and still make it safe."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke made an affirming noise, trying to picture Lucifer -- who could be doting to a fault when he tied Duke up -- acting cruel.

He gave her another squeeze.

"The perfect outlet."

[okteiviakom]

Lucifer was extremely good at taking on different roles depending on what it seemed like his partners needed.

As Octavia was about to elaborate on.

She nodded. "I think I told you about how sometimes I need it to feel real?" she said. "At the beginning, I needed to be -- basically wrestled into submitting. Like there was this... conflict, in my head, like there was one part wanting to be ground down to dust, another part way too angry and proud to let that happen."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke could picture that only too well. Needing to be subdued. To have the plausible deniability of not surrendering.

He’ll, he’d suggested it to her as a way to get back to what the two of them had started, once upon a time.

“And now?” he asked gently.

[okteiviakom]

"Now..."

She looked off into the distance again.

"By now, I've done enough work that we can just... feel it out, you know? Whichever way it goes." How the power shifted. "I can... want whatever I want. Including being manhandled, but I can give in without it now, too."

[betterthanaplan]

“That’s amazing,” Duke said, with feeling. “I’m so proud of you.”

[okteiviakom]

Octavia looked up at him. Surprised, almost hopeful.

"You are?"

[betterthanaplan]

"I am," Duke confirmed. "You did the work. That's -- It can't have been easy. But it sounds like it got you somewhere really good."

[okteiviakom]

"Yeah," Octavia murmured. "It did. It has." The expression on her face turned a little more wry, but stayed soft. "I guess that's sometimes what you can get if you're using your date nights for extra therapy."