Dr. Linda Martin's House, Thursday Morning

[my_own_advocate]

Was Dr. Linda's floor really where Lucifer wanted to wake up this morning? Absolutely not.

But Duke had been in no state to go to the penthouse last night, and Octavia had been in some kind of shock, and it had just seemed easier to stay here. Linda only had one couch, and that seemed better-suited for the drunk, so Lucifer had found himself on a mattress on the floor for the first time in... quite some time.

It was not ideal.

Which was likely why he woke up as early as he did, the floor poking against his shoulder as the air mattress had apparently sprung a leak during the night.

"Ugggh."

[[ for octavia and duke ]]

Comments

[betterthanaplan]

Duke took it and drank a good half of it in a single go, his free hand pressed to his forehead as he tried to keep his brain from exploding before he got through Lucifer's head that they weren't okay with him getting shot.

"We had to watch you get shot," he said. "You -- you went down, and we thought -- and then you shot yourself again --"

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer wasn't exactly thrilled about being shot either, but, well. He was fine. So he'd shuffled that bit to the back of his mind.

He was rather insulted Daniel had shot him, however.

"I had to make sure I was genuinely invulnerable," he pointed out. "And I was fine."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia, who had been hearing echoes of gunshots in her ears all through the night, said nothing.

She sat back down in the arm chair again.

[betterthanaplan]

"Well I'm not!" Duke said, then winced at his own volume. He swung his legs around so he was sitting up properly on the couch, and set the water glass down so he could cradle his head in both his hands. "Nathan died, okay? When I was ho -- in Haven last time. He was shot -- twice -- and we had to deal with his body while we tracked down a goddamn resurrection trouble to bring him back. And yeah, he's fine now, but that doesn't mean his death didn't hurt. Just because you're okay doesn't mean we weren't scared."

[my_own_advocate]

Over the years Lucifer had been on Earth, he'd picked up no small number of human traits, or at least managed to pass as human more and more often.

This was definitely not one of those traits.

Staying silent and trying to process that instead of telling Duke he was being ridiculous, on the other hand, probably was.

[okteiviakom]

Sitting back down already seemed like a mistake, but it wasn't one Octavia could really take back again, either.

She knew she should have been... contributing. Saying something. Maybe trying to soothe Duke.

She couldn't make herself do any of that, either.

[betterthanaplan]

"Do you get that?" Duke asked, stretching his hands out towards Lucifer. "We care about what happens to you, and we can't just -- shake things off like you can."

[my_own_advocate]

The whole stretchy hands thing meant he had to come closer, right? Lucifer was at least interpreting it as such and following through.

"I didn't realize it was such a big deal," he said, his eyes darting briefly to Octavia. "I mean. Beyond the bit where Daniel thought it was a good idea to shoot me."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia looked impassively towards the kitchen.

Maybe she should've brought herself a glass of water, too.

(It would not have stopped the vague roiling sensation inside her.)

[betterthanaplan]

It had been more of an unconsciously plaintive gesture, but Duke was not arguing with Lucifer wanting to come closer.

"Yeah, well, I'm not exactly happy with that, either."

[my_own_advocate]

"It deserves proper payback, at the very least," Lucifer said.

[betterthanaplan]

"Yeah, okay, we can cycle back to that," Duke said. "I'm still pissed at you here."

Scared and angry got very easily crossed in Duke's head.

[my_own_advocate]

Well, that stopped his slow advance. "Pissed at me for what, exactly?"

Lucifer was deeply confused.

[okteiviakom]

"The pain."

Had she said that out loud? Oh well.

It was very dry, and she still wasn't actually looking at them again.

[betterthanaplan]

"Yes, that!" Duke pointed at her. "Because you shot yourself!"

[my_own_advocate]

"I needed to be sure it wasn't some kind of fluke!" Lucifer retorted. "Anyway, it's not like I aimed it at my head."

There was definitely some level of Celestial-Human Values Clash happening here.

[okteiviakom]

Had Octavia meant to stand up? Like as anything approaching a conscious decision?

(Were any of her decisions that right now?)

She was standing up now, either way. And then walking towards the front door.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke broke off his retort to Lucifer before it even got started. He twisted in place to watch her go, his already sunken heart plunging even further.

"Tavi?"

[my_own_advocate]

"Octavia!"

Lucifer was already up. And so it wasn't much effort to hurry after her. "Where are you going?!"

[okteiviakom]

"Need air," Octavia said roughly, with no intention of stopping. She wasn't planning to go much further than right outside the door, anyway, so what did it matter?

She hadn't yet realized why that might be a bad idea. Considering where the events of last night actually happened.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke got up to follow, even as the change in position sent more stabs of pain through his head and set his stomach roiling.

Or maybe that was his abandonment issues piling onto the fear and anger he already going at Lucifer for the scare last night.

[my_own_advocate]

"Octavia," Lucifer sighed, pottering after her as well. "What's wrong?"

[okteiviakom]

Octavia ignored both of them. Opened the door and continued on outside with that same grimly determined air to the way she moved, until --

She stopped, with a tiny gasp and a shudder.

Right, here was where they'd been. But it wasn't just that: now there was another memory mixed in, twisting her stomach into knots.

(Lucifer really shouldn't have talked about a shot to the head.)

[betterthanaplan]

Duke nearly ran her over. He reached for both her shoulders to steady himself and her.

“Hey,” he said softly. “What is it?”

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer sort of... loitered behind them, unsure.

He was still trying to figure out how him getting shot equated to everyone being angry at him.