Lucifer's Los Angeles, Sunday

[okteiviakom]

The portals back to Fandom seemed to be operational again. Octavia had half expected for it to have been just a blip when the first notificatins had abruptly hit Lucifer's phone, but no. Seemed like they were actually staying available, now.

Octavia was yet to take one. In part because maybe she'd been bracing for... something, after Rory had shown up. A swift change, maybe, but none had come. They remained at the same standstill they'd been all summer in LA so far, now just with the added complication of a daughter who'd been theirs but now wasn't.

And Octavia was stuck in the same pattern of trying to find something, anything, to hold on to.

Sunday was another one of those days. She traveled from Lux to the Rouge, first, and then with all of her little garden taken care of she just... picked a direction and took whatever means of transport there was to travel that way, to see where she would land, what she would see.

This time, she found a crowd. Not an unusual sight in LA, in itself, everywhere so busy with people, but this was different. More concentrated, standing outside a big building that couldn't have been chosen by accident, holding signs, chanting. That last part made the hairs on the back of Octavia's neck stand up, but she pushed forward anyway, curious. First to see the signs more up close, then to ask someone about them.

The people were making demands of the city. They wanted every new plan for housing to also come with plans for parks, they wanted the construction of houses itself to be greener, they wanted more of the city to be unpaved.

They planned for the demonstration to be ongoing throughout the following week.

And something in Octavia sang, maybe. Maybe this was what she'd been looking for. After all, she fit right in. Aligned with the goals, immediately learned some of the chants, struck up conversations with people who all told her of different grassroots efforts to make the city better for every living thing in it. She learned to scan QR codes and diligently bookmarked everything in her phone.

Later, as she was taking the elevator up to Lucifer's penthouse, her mind felt busy and her body was restless.

[ooc: NFB due to distance, but open.]

Comments

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer's initial attempt this week to go and speak to Rory had... not been long. Or useful. Or rewarding for anyone involved.

So he'd been spending a day or two on the sofa, staring up at the ceiling, going through his liquor cabinet. He'd work up the courage again. He was sure.

For now, though. Staring.

[okteiviakom]

When Octavia had left, she'd spared a thought to hoping she wouldn't come back to find him on the sofa again. Or still.

After the day she'd had, it wasn't quite at the top of her mind, anymore.

But the elevator doors opened, and there he was, staring at the ceiling, and even with everything bouncing and buzzing in her body, Octavia had to suppress an urge to sigh as she entered the penthouse.

"Ha yun, niron."

[my_own_advocate]

At least her voice was enough to jar him out of his thoughts? Lucifer sat up. "Ah, hello, darling," he said. "Welcome--" no, not home, "--back."

[okteiviakom]

"Not interrupting anything, am I?" Octavia rasped, in an attempt at something wry and joke-like.

She was already approaching the couch.

[my_own_advocate]

"No," Lucifer said earnestly. He cleared his throat. "How was your day?"

[okteiviakom]

Octavia considered it for a beat.

"Eventful," she said, as she sat down next to him.

[my_own_advocate]

"Eventful," Lucifer echoed, his eyebrows sliding up in surprise.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia gave a little hum of confirmation. "Did you know this city makes a lot of claims about caring about the environment while doing very little?"

It was a rhetorical question, for the most part, asked while she kicked off her boots.

[my_own_advocate]

"Not specifically," Lucifer said, reaching for the wine, "But generally, that sounds like humanity, yes."

[betterthanaplan]

“Hey, Luce,” Duke said, coming over to drop a kiss on Lucifer’s forehead. “How’s it going?”

[my_own_advocate]

"I think there's a cobweb up there," Lucifer said, squinting. "By the chandelier."

[betterthanaplan]

“Right.” Duke did not look at the chandelier. “You need me to bring you anything?”

He had no ground to stand on, complaining about anyone not getting off the couch all day.

[my_own_advocate]

"Do we still have ice cream?"

Luce. Honey.

[betterthanaplan]

“If you didn’t finish it while I was out,” Duke said. “How about I make you a float?”

Sans alcohol. He had a feeling Lucifer had already had plenty of that.

[my_own_advocate]

"Oooooh, I would love one," Lucifer said, brightening up.

He would absolutely try to put more alcohol in it.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke would be utterly unsurprised. But he’d have at least tried.

He leaned down to drop another kiss on Lucifer. “Be right back, then.”

He had an utterly decadent concoction to create.

[my_own_advocate]

"I love you!" Lucifer called after him.

And then sank, very slowly, back into the sofa.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke had gone out for the day, too. He’d gone to the Rouge to do maintenance, then ended up sitting on her deck, sketching the harbor.

Container ships should not be so hard to draw.

He gave Octavia a smile as he came in. “How was your LA day?”

[okteiviakom]

"Joined a protest putting pressure on city officials," Octavia replied, largely in deadpan, "so, the usual."

Well, everything up until that had very much been the usual.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke pointed at her. “Woah!” He let that sit for a neat, then grinned. “Was it fun?”

[okteiviakom]

Octavia took that question very seriously, of course. Meaning she paused to give it a little bit of thought.

"I don't know about fun," she said. "But it felt... right? Like I was... maybe supposed to be there."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke’s grin softened to something deeply fond. “That’s awesome. What were you all protesting?”

[okteiviakom]

"For the city to get its head out of its ass and stop just pretending to care about the planet."

He could maybe see how that would draw her in.

[betterthanaplan]

“Would that everyone would,” Duke said with a sigh. “Don’t think you might do another one sometime?”

[okteiviakom]

Octavia reached for one of his hands. No real reason except to touch.

(Not that that was ever actually without meaning.)

"Well, they're planning to keep this one going all week."