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]

"I'm not entirely sure how we prepare," Lucifer admitted. "This has never happened before."

[okteiviakom]

"I don't have any ideas yet, either," Octavia admitted, voice dipping into something just a little more dry. "But I don't want a repeat of how going to Haven went."

[my_own_advocate]

"Well, I don't think anyone is going to whisk me off as soon as we set foot in LA," Lucifer said. "I'm... the top dog in that department now, I suppose."

[okteiviakom]

"That's not the only thing that can happen," Octavia replied, although with a sigh that sounded a little bit resigned already.

Since she'd known him for a while, now.

[my_own_advocate]

"What are you afraid of, then?" Lucifer asked.

[okteiviakom]

"Surprises."

Him just vanishing was only one concern.

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer nodded. But he didn't respond, feeling his thoughts pulling him inward, rather than out.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia didn't try to prod anything out of him, at least not right this second.

She kept walking. And holding his hand.

[my_own_advocate]

They did keep walking, and Lucifer-- found his eyes drawn to small things around their path. A particularly cheerful bird, flapping past. The ocean pushing some bottle onto the sand.

The way the sun peeked through the trees as they passed.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia was more about hearing things. The sound of the waves in the distance, rustling, rickshaws on cobblestone. She was always listening for things that suggested the landscape around her continued well beyond what she could see.

She was trying not to think about much at all.

It was going about as well as could be expected.

[my_own_advocate]

"Father was supposed to be omniscient," Lucifer said finally, almost surprised by his own voice. "He knew everything."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia turned her face a little more towards him, and made a faint, soft noise.

Half prompt, half question.

[my_own_advocate]

"It was impossible to surprise Him," Lucifer said, staring at the horizon.

[okteiviakom]

Saying this felt like a risk, but:

"That doesn't mean that's going to be you, too," Octavia told him.

[my_own_advocate]

"Doesn't it?" Lucifer said.

He sounded more than a little helpless.

"I... like life's many and varied mysteries, Octavia," he said. "I love surprises."

[okteiviakom]

"I know."

In fact, the first thing that had come to mind when he'd said the previous thing had been how he sounded whenever she managed to surprise him. The little delighted laugh --

Her hand held his a little tighter.

"But he's supposed to be all-powerful, too, right? What sort of power is not being able to choose to block things out?"

[my_own_advocate]

"I don't know," Lucifer admitted.

He let out a loud exhale.

"You think I could?"

[okteiviakom]

"I think if you want it," Octavia replied, "you could make it happen."

She sounded like she believed that, yes.

[my_own_advocate]

"You may have more faith in me than I do in myself," Lucifer admitted.

He took a turn, beginning their trek back towards the city. "I feel like," he added, slowly, "...omniscience may have been a mistake."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia gave a little hum. At the first part - which wasn't news, and wasn't the first time - and then the other one.

"No single being should know everything. Or have to."

[my_own_advocate]

"How can you understand what it's like to never know for sure, if you always know?" Lucifer said. "How can you possibly wrap your head around life?"

[okteiviakom]

Octavia's fingers tightened a little around his, again.

"It's an outside perspective," she replied, quietly. Faintly raspy. "Theoretical."

[my_own_advocate]

And Lucifer's fingers tightened in turn.

"I want to stay me," he said, quieter. "I'm afraid I might not."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia's chest hurt.

"You've been you for a very long time," she said. Even quieter, too. "Even sometimes when it's got in your own way. This isn't going to be the end of that."

She had no idea.

[my_own_advocate]

"I am not theoretical," Lucifer said. He blinked back some unexpected wetness. "I have never been. I refuse to be."