The Cape Rouge, Friday Morning

[okteiviakom]

Octavia hadn't been sleeping well. Night after night, she kept waking up every hour and a half or so, just to make sure she could still hear two other people breathing in bed with her. If they were quiet, she would hold her own breath until she was sure she could hear them, or she felt them move, or something.

It wasn't making for very restful nights, but she'd survive. She always did.

Granted, on Friday morning, that survival involved giving up on trying to stay asleep, slipping quietly out of bed and making her way into the galley. She got the coffee going, because she might as well. If actual rest wasn't going to give her energy, then maybe caffeine would at least keep her going.

She'd also made sure to leave the bedroom door open more than enough that if anyone else was awake, or woke up, they would either be able to hear her puttering away, or at the very least be able to smell the coffee sooner rather than later.

She hadn't vanished. She wasn't going to let anyone think she had, either.

(It felt like the least she could do.)

[ooc: For the two.]

Comments

[my_own_advocate]

"Well, it's a lovely morning for ice cream and thievery," Lucifer said, clearing his throat as he straightened up. "Shall we get going?"

Yes, he knew he wasn't exactly subtle about dodging the question.

[okteiviakom]

"And now you're stealing my evasive thing," Octavia noted, a little dry, even as she nodded.

They could go. It was fine.

[my_own_advocate]

"I'm just not entirely sure what to say," Lucifer admitted, as he stepped off the ship onto the boardwalk. "You're being odd, which appears to be making me odd."

[okteiviakom]

"I'm not being odd." Well, Octavia thought she was about the same level of odd as she always was after traumatic events, anyway, which she felt counted. For something, at least. "You definitely are, though."

But she followed him off the ship, and moved to fall into step beside him.

[my_own_advocate]

"You're being all mild and monosyllabic and quietly observant," Lucifer argued back. "Am I not supposed to respond to that oddly?"

[okteiviakom]

Octavia shrugged. "I'm not the one that wondered about the odd," she pointed out, not unkindly - at least to someone as well-versed as he was in listening to her. "I'm just wondering how you're doing."

[my_own_advocate]

"I'm--"

All right, he wanted to say, but that would be lying.

"--Something."

[okteiviakom]

"You're God," Octavia said. What, it was true, and sometimes she struggled with not being blunt.

Even if it was quiet.

Even if she then added, "It's fine if you're not okay with that."

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer opened his mouth to say something.

And then... he didn't.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia watched him for a second, waiting. When nothing came, she just shrugged faintly.

And went to link her arm with his.

[my_own_advocate]

"I'm sure I can... take another few months," Lucifer settled on. He let her take his arm. "Make sure I don't go in half-cocked."

[okteiviakom]

"That's not a lot of time to prepare yourself," Octavia replied, quiet and even.

Holding his arm.

That 'yourself' was really working overtime in that sentence.

[my_own_advocate]

"We'll see about the, ah. Runway."

He really did not want to think about the runway. He did not want to be running anywhere.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia didn't really know what that meant, so... Sorry.

"The runway?"

[my_own_advocate]

"To... godhood," Lucifer said slowly. "You know. The runway to... liftoff."

[okteiviakom]

"... Right," Octavia replied, just as slowly.

With a faintly confused frown.

[my_own_advocate]

"... You've never been on a plane before, have you."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia shook her head.

"Not even once."

And space ships didn't quite work the same.

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer sighed. "Well, when you go on a plane, first it has to drive down the runway for a bit," he said. "Pick up speed, get itself oriented properly. Only then can the plane... lift off and fly."

[okteiviakom]

"Right," Octavia said, her head doing that very faint tilting thing. "So you're thinking about... needing to pick up speed."

[my_own_advocate]

"Having a runway," Lucifer agreed.

[okteiviakom]

"And what's that... supposed to look like?"

It was the best way she could come up with to word that.

[my_own_advocate]

"I... will... see?"

No, Lucifer had no plan. All he had was terror.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia's hand squeezed his arm.

"We," she said, simply. "We will see."

[my_own_advocate]

"Yes." What way was Chilly Boulder again? He'd completely forgotten. "We."