A Spot in the Preserve, Sunday Evening

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer and Octavia had their Sunday rituals down to a T. And that-- well, that made Lucifer a bit contrarian, at times. There was nothing wrong with their tradition, healing as it was, but doing the same thing over and over again wasn't always that exciting.

And, all right. Perhaps he was still processing his own healing breakdown a week after the fact.

So he'd promised Octavia a surprise. Shown up with some take out bags and a smile.

She'd probably figured out where they were going well before the first trees came into view. It was a bit chilly, that couldn't be helped, but still: Lucifer thought the ambiance would help. "Almost there."

[[ for her ]]

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[my_own_advocate]

"You'll have ample opportunity to try," Lucifer said.

He let go of her hand, but only to hold up his arms. So she could hop into them, obviously.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia sort of... blinked at them.

Look, the urge to hop anywhere didn't come quickly to her, just give her a second.

[my_own_advocate]

"What?" Lucifer said, a gentle laugh in his voice. "Would you rather crawl on my back?"

[okteiviakom]

Now this pause was Octavia thinking on that.

"No," she decided.

So, hopping into his arms, it was. Or something close enough, anyway.

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer chuckled, making sure she was cradled firmly in his arms. "Comfortable?"

[okteiviakom]

"Yeah."

Enough, anyway, with her arm slung around his neck for extra support.

(She had some complicated feelings about being held like this, sometimes.)

[my_own_advocate]

"Then let's go."

He gave her another moment or two to adjust to that idea.

And then, with a loud clap of his wings, he took to the sky with her.

[okteiviakom]

Time to adjust or not, it was weird, and Octavia couldn't help her little gasp.

Air rushed past her, against her skin, in a way that wasn't unfamiliar - except for the direction.

[my_own_advocate]

It didn't take much from those wide, strong wings to lift them several dozen feet above the woods. There, Lucifer paused, keeping them aloft in place.

"All right?"

[okteiviakom]

"Yeah," Octavia said again, but this time sounding distracted.

Because now she was looking down at the trees.

[my_own_advocate]

"Okay," Lucifer said softly.

Beat his wings again, going higher.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia said nothing, just... watched, as the trees drew that little bit further away.

Got smaller, even if just by a little.

[my_own_advocate]

He didn't want to go too far up. Not yet. So with one more clap, Lucifer stopped. Held still again.

"We can do a loop, in a moment."

[okteiviakom]

It was weirder, somehow, to be suspended in the air like this than it was to be in movement. Octavia didn't realize she seemed to be trying to push herself a little tighter against him.

"Like... around the preserve?"

Over. Whichever.

[my_own_advocate]

"Yes," Lucifer said softly. "A tour, of sorts."

[okteiviakom]

"Oh."

She needed to stop saying that.

(But it was the soft, 'I think I'd like that' kind. Even if it was perhaps a touch hesitant.)

[my_own_advocate]

"Shall we?"

He was leaving all this in her hands.

[okteiviakom]

Her very unsteady hands.

The best she could do was a nod.

[my_own_advocate]

It was important he keep asking, rather than blithely rushing past her comfort. So Lucifer picked a direction and flew, keeping the beats of his wings slow and steady.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia was still doing that thing of pressing against him, though it was really not much more than a kind of tension in her body.

She exhaled an unsteady breath.

"It's -- weird, from up here," she said. "Like it's not real."

[my_own_advocate]

"It's the perspective shift," Lucifer murmured. "It is as real as the woods you see every day, but humanity wasn't built to see it from here."

[okteiviakom]

"Humanity in my day was built to see it from way further up," Octavia murmured.

Not her, of course.

[my_own_advocate]

"Not the same, is it?" Lucifer asked gently.

On many levels.

[okteiviakom]

"No."

On many levels, and for several reasons.

"I don't know what I was built for, anyway."

[my_own_advocate]

"Something incredible you stitched together in your own way, I imagine," Lucifer said. With a graceful arc, he flew over the water, then curved back towards the preserve.