Port of Fandom, Monday Afternoon

[okteiviakom]

It had been a month, almost to the day, since Lucifer had taken off to do... whatever exactly it was that he needed to do before he would be able to come home for good. A month that they'd then spent in Los Angeles, grappling with his absence in whatever ways they could. Days had turned into weeks, and then weeks were turning into --

Anyway. Duke and Octavia had finally decided to sail back to the island. Or sail into a portal and out of one, anyway, which brought them here, to Fandom's achingly familiar port. Into their usual slip, right by their other boats. As if they'd never left.

But they had very much left, abruptly, nearly five months ago. And now everything felt surreal, and once Duke had maneuvered the Rouge where it needed to be, Octavia focused all of her attention on going through the usual motions for making sure they docked safely and securely to keep herself from thinking about anything else.

"Is that everything?" she checked, once they seemed to be done. She was in fact pretty sure it was everything.

Maybe she was just hoping to keep doing things with her hands.

[ooc: Primarily for the guy, but open!]

Comments

[betterthanaplan]

“That’s everything,” Duke confirmed, though it very much felt like they were missing something.

They weren’t. Just someone.

“Well. Guess it’s time for everything to feel weird here now, instead.”

[okteiviakom]

Octavia gave him a low hum of agreement.

She watched as some porgs came waddling up the dock towards the Rouge.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke came over to wrap his arms around her from behind, resting his head against her shoulder.

"How you doing?"

He didn't expect much of an answer. But he'd been trying here and there all month.

[okteiviakom]

"I don't know," Octavia muttered. She covered one of his arms with hers, leaning back into him just a little. "Not great."

Restless.

[betterthanaplan]

"Yeah," Duke agreed. He let out a long sigh. "At least we're home."

It did not feel like they were home. Not without Lucifer here, too.

[okteiviakom]

"Mmm."

It really didn't feel like it. Even with the porgs now making themselves at home on the deck like they'd never left.

"How are you?"

[betterthanaplan]

Duke took his time answering that, giving her a little extra squeeze as he did.

"Tired," he said. "Sad. I miss him."

[okteiviakom]

"Me too," Octavia replied. It came out more of a whisper than anything else. "Every week I think I'm... more used to it. And then it just ends up feeling worse."

Sigh.

"The wait."

[betterthanaplan]

"The worry," Duke offered.

He kept picturing Lucifer on that high, lonely seat. Getting deeper and deeper into his father's plan, maybe without ever realizing. . . .

"I wish he'd let us know what's going on. The fruit and flowers are nice, but. . . .'

[okteiviakom]

"But they don't tell us much except that he's alive," Octavia finished.

Which wasn't nothing. They both knew that, having been both the one that was away with no way to communicate back, and having been the ones agonizing over not receiving any communication.

But still.

Octavia hugged Duke's arms closer to herself. "Doesn't even tell us if there's any kind of timeframe."

[betterthanaplan]

"It's probably been decades, down there." Maybe centuries. He didn't like thinking about that. "In a place that's just. It's so lonely, Tavi."

[okteiviakom]

"I know," Octavia said, quietly.

But she didn't.

But she did.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke had definitely told her about it before. Not in detail, maybe. But he'd brought it up a number of times over the last month.

"He's coming back."

And if he didn't soon . . . Duke might try to head back down himself and get him.

[okteiviakom]

And yet it still wasn't literal Hell that Octavia had been thinking about.

"I know," she said again.

More conviction, this time.

[betterthanaplan]

How many times had they had this conversation now?

Duke picked his head back up and gave her another squeeze.

They were back in Fandom. They should take advantage of that, somehow. Go camping or --

"I might go to the onsen in a bit."

They had bath houses and spas in Las Angeles, of course. But Fandom's onsen had its own appeal.

[okteiviakom]

"Right," Octavia murmured. "Well, it's probably still there."

Not that there was any way of knowing what had or hadn't changed while they'd been gone.

[betterthanaplan]

"If it's not . . . I'll be sad."

It was getting into too cold to swim season here, wasn't it.

He nodded to the treeline in the distance. "Preserve's there, at least."

[okteiviakom]

"Mm-hmm," Octavia hummed softly. "Town, Perk, rest of it too, probably."

[betterthanaplan]

"Probably." He leaned sideways so she could see his small smile. "Town and the Perk aren't historically where you go to deal with stress, though."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia turned her head so she could see him better.

She also shook her head, although the movement was slow and slight. "I'm not really in a rush to go anywhere," she admitted. "But you can go if you want. I don't mind."

[betterthanaplan]

"You could come with?" Duke offered. He was less enthusiastic about his own plan if it meant leaving her here alone so soon after getting home.

[okteiviakom]

"I just said I don't want to, jaka," Octavia told him, gently. "It's fine if you do."

She hadn't needed to be stuck to his side all through the last month (although she'd definitely felt more of the urge than usual), she wasn't going ti start now.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke frowned a little. But telling her he didn't like leaving her alone wouldn't necessarily go over well.

"Okay," he said instead, and dropped a soft kiss on her hair. "I'm going to go get a towel. Call if you need anything?"

[okteiviakom]

He was welcome to his feelings. Octavia wouldn't have faulted him for them. She wasn't overjoyed about him going, either, but she'd gotten the impression he needed it, so...

She just nodded. Faintly, as to not disrupt the kiss while it was there. "Okay."

[betterthanaplan]

"I'll be back soon," Duke promised. He gave her another final squeeze, then let her go and headed below-decks to get ready to go.