The Cape Rouge, Sunday Afternoon

[my_own_advocate]

He just wanted to be home.

For the second time that day, Lucifer fell. Not far this time, though. Just a few inches, really. His back hit the ground? with more noise than was strictly necessary for the impact that he'd made.

Oh.

Maybe it was the other two bodies making the same impact beside him.

He stared up at the sky, disoriented for many more reasons than just the fall itself. Oh my Me, indeed.

[[ for the two other people who just got teleported across the country out of nowhere. ]]

Comments

[betterthanaplan]

"My boat," Duke said, still laughing. (His arm hurt but right now he didn't care. Lucifer was alive and holding him and they were home.) "Our boat!"

[my_own_advocate]

He'd wanted to go home.

A very real possibility struck Lucifer in that moment. But like just about anything else about the past half-hour, he had no idea how to deal with. So he hugged Duke a bit tighter. "Small blessings," he mumbled.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia mostly wondered whether she was going to throw up.

She finally looked over at them. Meanwhile, the porg tried to reach up to chomp at the ends of her hair, and she didn't even notice.

[betterthanaplan]

Oh. Oh no, hugging harder hurt.

Another strangled noise pushed its way out Duke's throat next to the laughter, and he curled up, trying to shield his arm without actually pulling away from Lucifer.

[my_own_advocate]

"...Sorry," Lucifer said, loosening his grip. What had happened to Duke in his absence? "Are you all right?"

[okteiviakom]

Well, that enough to jolt Octavia into a coherent thought.

"One of your brothers threw a rock at him," she said, a little growlier than before. (Anger, anger was always easy. Simple.) She shifted the bird off her lap so she could move to get up. "He needs to go see a doctor."

[betterthanaplan]

"'M fine," Duke said automatically. "Okay, that's a lie. Not fine. Might be broken."

It really hurt a lot, especially as the shock of the last several minutes started to wear off.

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer nodded, retreating. "Right," he said. "We should get you to the clinic."

Something to do, rather than swim around in his overloaded mind. That might help.

[okteiviakom]

"Can you just fly him there?" Octavia asked, trying to regain some of her battlefield poise from earlier, for comfort and stability.

She only felt a little bit woozy, getting up.

[betterthanaplan]

"Or -- wish it better or something?" Duke asked, a faint whine in his voice.

They'd just gotten back to his boat. He didn't want to leave again yet! (Not to mention, he wasn't the biggest fan of being poked and prodded by doctors, thanks.)

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer didn't really want to think about wishing anyone anything right now, sorry, Duke. "I can fly him," he said. "They can see if it's broken, at least."

He leaned back enough to look Duke in the eye. "And then I'll fly you back immediately."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia nodded.

"And I'll check the boat while you're gone."

For... anything the island had broken during their time away? She didn't know, she just needed to make herself useful.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke didn't really much want to leave her behind either, but he bit his lip on his protest. The sooner they did this, the sooner he could stop hurting and they could all just be for one goddamn minute.

He nodded to Lucifer and slowly started to pull himself upright without the use of his dominant hand.

[my_own_advocate]

"Oh, stop," Lucifer muttered, scooping him up into his arms midway through that ridiculous performance. "This won't be long," he promised Octavia (even though he probably couldn't promise any such thing).

He unfurled his wings and took off, without delay. Maybe he'd feel a bit more settled after this. If he was lucky.

The visit took longer than he'd hoped, but shorter than he'd feared. The same went, more or less, for the extent of the damage in Duke's arm: enough to be splinted now, not bad enough to need any kind of surgery.

"Here we are," he said, as he descended towards the Rouge. "The ship's still in one piece."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia wasn't up on the deck anymore. She was down in the galley, having ended her general check-up around the boat on clearing out things from the fridge that hadn't survived the wait for them.

She'd started tearing up somewhere in the middle of it, for no discernible reason.

(The shock -- the shocks were starting to wear off.)

It had not improved her mood.

[betterthanaplan]

The x-rays had hurt, in Duke's opinion, almost as much as the original injury had, and the painkillers they'd given him were doing nothing to help the tanking of his mood as the adrenaline he'd been running on since -- he didn't even know by now -- had drained out of his system.

He wriggled out of Lucifer's arms the moment it was safe, letting out a faintly disgruntled noise, his arm tucked into an ugly beige sling.

"Think I need a drink this time."

Not on those painkillers he didn't.

[my_own_advocate]

"Loathe as I am to argue with that," Lucifer said, his fingers falling to the small of Duke's back as soon as the man had stepped away, "What you need is a lie down."

What they all needed was a lie down. Preferably with all the doors locked for the next 24 hours.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia hadn't heard them yet.

And that meant this still felt like the first time she'd been entirely alone since... she wasn't even sure when. And everything was just coming back to her in disjointed flashes, from Jophiel throwing that rock, to the roar of battle, to Lucifer's I love you --

She leaned heavily on her hands against the edge of the counter, and tried not to shake.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke didn't pull away from Lucifer's touch, but he also wasn't melting into it the way he usually would, either. He moved a little stiffly to the door to the galley, figuring Lucifer could follow along at will.

"Fine. Bed works too, I guess."

He paused when he saw Octavia.

"Shit. Are you okay? Did something else happen?"

[my_own_advocate]

"Do you need a visit to the clinic as well?" Lucifer asked, following right behind.

Unlike the two of them, he hadn't let anything sink in yet.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia had forced a deep breath as soon as she's heard the door open, but it didn't seem to be helping. She told herself to straighten up, to pull herself together, to push this aside.

But instead her brain was now looping around one particular moment.

That was never part of the plan.

That was never part of the plan.

That was never part of the plan.

And she stood there, gripping the edge of the counter in silence, shoulders hunched and tense.

[betterthanaplan]

Shit.

Duke shoved his own mood aside and hurried over to her, carefully reaching out to set his good hand on her back.

"Tavi. Hey. It's okay, we're home."

[my_own_advocate]

"Octavia?" Lucifer said. He followed Duke, decidedly more hesitant about it.

About everything, really.

[okteiviakom]

And with good reason. Because when Octavia suddenly moved, it was a flail as she whirred around to face them.

To stare at Lucifer, and to wail, like she had no control over the words coming out of her mouth, "You didn't tell us the whole plan!"

[betterthanaplan]

Duke jumped back, not in any hurry to get his remaining arm injured, then snapped his gaze over to Lucifer.

Fuck. In all the -- everything -- he'd forgotten that part.