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

[betterthanaplan]

“Good,” Duke said. “Sad, but relieved to hear we’re alright. They lost a lot of people. But Aaron and Lincoln are doing fine.”

[okteiviakom]

Octavia's hand rubbed his back as she nuzzled him some more.

"That's important," she murmured. "That she has them. They have her."

[betterthanaplan]

“It is,” Duke agreed. “And I may have tried taking her into moving the family to Baltimore.”

[okteiviakom]

Octavia couldn't really pull him any closer to herself, and yet she seemed to try to.

"I'd like that."

Probably not all that surprising.

[betterthanaplan]

“I thought you might.” Duke nuzzled her hair. “When you don’t have many people, it’s nice when the ones you do have are close.”

[okteiviakom]

Octavia gave a little hum, half as agreement, half as enjoyment of the nuzzling.

"And she's one of the best people I've ever met."

[betterthanaplan]

“She might actually be the best,” Duke said. He grinned. “I love you and Luce more than anything, but Gloria is incredible.”

[okteiviakom]

"I know," Octavia murmured. "She is."

She hesitated.

"And she's... family."

[betterthanaplan]

“Sha, gona,” Duke said. “Gloria belaik kru.”

[okteiviakom]

Octavia huffed out a noise that made it sound like something there had surprised her.

But he was right.

"Sha, jaka," she murmured in turn.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke laughed a little at the noise. “Did I say it wrong?” he asked. “It’s been a bit since I tried to put together a sentence like that:”

[okteiviakom]

Octavia shook her head a little, pulling back so he could see the wry look on her face. "No, it's not that. Although, bilaik." Details. That really wasn't what was behind her reaction. "It's just been a while since anyone's talked about... kru."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke sucked on his teeth. “I knew that didn’t sound quite right,” he mused. He pulled back enough to meet her eye. “It has been a while. But I can’t think of a better word for her.”

Nathan and Audrey were his family too, after all. But they weren’t kru.

[okteiviakom]

"Yeah," Octavia murmured, looking up at him. "Me neither. It's... just what she is."

And that felt good, in ways Octavia couldn't exactly pinpoint.

"You remember that first time I met her?"

[betterthanaplan]

“It was . . . at that diner, right? When people were being shitheads to me.”

[okteiviakom]

Octavia nodded. "That entire trip, she was the only one who was on our side."

It had been 'our' in her head back then, and she wasn't going to start thinking otherwise now.

"She didn't have to be, but she was."