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If there was such a thing as 'critical limit of things to process', Lucifer had hit it sometime yesterday. He had a child, apparently, and his partners doing their best to accomodate her while struggling not to fall apart, and he was still trying to figure out how on Earth it could even happen to him.
So he'd decided to do better today. To try and entertain her, and make sure she knew he wasn't-- that he wouldn't just drop her on someone else and ignore her.
"How about we play some music?" he'd asked. And Aurora had gotten a look on her face.
They'd wound up on the deck, him with a guitar, her with Duke's ukelele that she had insisted on getting and he couldn't stop her from getting because she knew exactly where it was.
It had been nice. Oddly enough.
But now he had retreated to the back portion of the deck with his coffee. Rory was perched on the railing of the ship, looking out over the coast of Fandom, and... still playing that damned ukulele.
[[ open for boat dwellers and passers-by alike! ]]
So he'd decided to do better today. To try and entertain her, and make sure she knew he wasn't-- that he wouldn't just drop her on someone else and ignore her.
"How about we play some music?" he'd asked. And Aurora had gotten a look on her face.
They'd wound up on the deck, him with a guitar, her with Duke's ukelele that she had insisted on getting and he couldn't stop her from getting because she knew exactly where it was.
It had been nice. Oddly enough.
But now he had retreated to the back portion of the deck with his coffee. Rory was perched on the railing of the ship, looking out over the coast of Fandom, and... still playing that damned ukulele.
[[ open for boat dwellers and passers-by alike! ]]
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Date: 3 Apr 2022 11:05 (UTC)Besides, being out here with him, playing this thing, even as he just watched...
Look, some parts of this weekend weren't easy. And this was. That was why she was lingering with it, just a little while longer.
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Date: 3 Apr 2022 11:58 (UTC)(Yes, he knew exactly why she'd played Wonderwall: Duke's terrible bloody influence.)
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Date: 3 Apr 2022 12:27 (UTC)"What's that, dad?" Rory called back. "You wanna hear Wonderwall again?"
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Date: 3 Apr 2022 12:30 (UTC)But they were trolls.
"Don't you dare!"
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Date: 3 Apr 2022 12:34 (UTC)"Fine, fine," she said. "Maybe later."
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Date: 3 Apr 2022 12:45 (UTC)no subject
Date: 3 Apr 2022 14:40 (UTC)Wasn't much of a spoiler, that one, was it?
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Date: 3 Apr 2022 15:41 (UTC)He got up out of his seat, though, and walked over to join her again. "Well, it's true."
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Date: 3 Apr 2022 16:19 (UTC)no subject
Date: 3 Apr 2022 18:22 (UTC)no subject
Date: 3 Apr 2022 18:32 (UTC)"Well, maybe not sick," she said. "Sorry I'm not living up to my full potential of not playing the right ancient songs, anyway."
She gave his arm a little bump with hers.
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Date: 3 Apr 2022 18:37 (UTC)no subject
Date: 3 Apr 2022 18:42 (UTC)"Ocean Size," Rory agreed, leaning into the nudge a little. "For one." She gave a little snort. "I think she was singing that to me before I was even born."
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Date: 3 Apr 2022 19:38 (UTC)no subject
Date: 3 Apr 2022 19:47 (UTC)"It's like you know her or something, Dad," she teased.
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Date: 3 Apr 2022 19:51 (UTC)no subject
Date: 3 Apr 2022 20:15 (UTC)no subject
Date: 4 Apr 2022 06:20 (UTC)no subject
Date: 4 Apr 2022 13:54 (UTC)Spoken like someone who had happily made this same point repeatedly over the years.
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Date: 3 Apr 2022 15:46 (UTC)But after another night of uneasy dreams -- and another morning of sleep paralysis, feeling trapped in his own body while an unknown figure loomed over him, intent to do . . . things to him and his partners -- he was just. Done. He got up, stumbled into a pair of pants, and threw himself into the pillow room, locking the door behind him. And proceeded to throw things, secure in the knowledge that nothing in here was going to break while he did. And the cushioning would even muffle his screams.
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Date: 3 Apr 2022 16:01 (UTC)As for Rory, she distracted herself with her other parents, and the curiosity of the old town around her. She had grown up with three more or less stable parents, who made no secret of the fact that they loved her. She was old enough that that had taken root; taking Duke's absence personally was very far from her mind.
But by the time they'd crossed so far into the afternoon the sun was starting to descend noticably towards the horizon, she did start to worry. And... that's how she wound up outside of the pillow room, the ukulele under her arm, a bottle of iced tea in her hand as a peace offering.
She knocked.
"Dad?"
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Date: 3 Apr 2022 16:10 (UTC)Fuck.
"Yeah," he said, hoarse from screaming. "What's up, kid?"
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Date: 3 Apr 2022 16:14 (UTC)no subject
Date: 3 Apr 2022 16:22 (UTC)(His upbringing hadn't really come with any healthy examples of having boundaries with your own family, no.)
And, well. He was kind of dehydrated after a day of screaming and throwing things.
So he reached up silently and flicked the lock on the door, then cracked it open.
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Date: 3 Apr 2022 16:29 (UTC)A moment later, she tried to do just that, pushing forward slightly so she'd have more room.
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Date: 3 Apr 2022 16:34 (UTC)"Thanks." He let her set it down, then picked it up. Not really feeling up to touching anyone at the moment. (Not really feeling like he deserved physical touch at the moment.) "Sorry I'm not . . . more of a dad, right now."
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Date: 3 Apr 2022 16:39 (UTC)no subject
Date: 3 Apr 2022 16:52 (UTC)no subject
Date: 3 Apr 2022 16:54 (UTC)no subject
Date: 3 Apr 2022 17:03 (UTC)no subject
Date: 3 Apr 2022 17:09 (UTC)no subject
Date: 3 Apr 2022 17:16 (UTC)"Don't I?"
Lucifer had meant it to be reassuring, but Duke had taken his "you've done all you can" as a slight on his usefulness, and he wasn't handling it well.
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Date: 3 Apr 2022 17:23 (UTC)But Rory had no idea about that backstory. She sighed, and bit down on her bottom lip, and tried to think about how much she could even say.
"No," she said. "Look, if this is about being a dad, then-- fuck, you're my dad because dad, and mom, and you all fought really hard to make sure you could be. You being my dad is kind of like, a constant annoying reminder that my parents really love me and each other. So, no, you don't have to prove anything. You're already proof. Just like. Being someone I know."
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Date: 3 Apr 2022 17:35 (UTC)"It's not about you," he said softly. "You just . . . showed up at a bad time."
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Date: 3 Apr 2022 17:41 (UTC)She dropped to a squat, so she was at least speaking to him face-to-face. "I told you, I have three parents I know love me a ton," she said. "Didn't you hear me just now? You and dad like, pulled some crazy dimensional space-time shit to be there for me when I was a baby, come on. You don't do that if you're not krei about being a parent. So even if you weren't right now, I know you're gonna be."
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Date: 3 Apr 2022 18:39 (UTC)“You’re — were you born in Octavia’s universe?”
That was the only explanation he could think of for the need to pull “ crazy dimensional space-time shit”.
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Date: 3 Apr 2022 18:49 (UTC)Rory opened her mouth. Closed it. Sighed. "Yeah," she said. "Talk about a really bad case of portal napping timing."
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Date: 3 Apr 2022 18:55 (UTC)That was actually not the point she'd been trying to make here, Duke.
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Date: 3 Apr 2022 18:57 (UTC)"There were a couple of hiccups," she said. "But for most of my life, all of you have been pretty stable and happy, actually. After dad got you all there, apparently the post-napping period was actually, like. Healing. After a whole fuckton of bullshit."
In a different way than Duke was likely to take from that, but. Well. Spoilers.
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Date: 3 Apr 2022 19:00 (UTC)no subject
Date: 3 Apr 2022 19:16 (UTC)She shrugged, finally sliding the ukelele out from under her shoulder. "It's going to stop some day."
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Date: 3 Apr 2022 19:30 (UTC)"You know, me and Luce argue about that sometimes. Whether anything can really go on forever. I've kind of lived my whole life on the premise everything stops some day."
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Date: 3 Apr 2022 19:33 (UTC)no subject
Date: 3 Apr 2022 19:39 (UTC)no subject
Date: 3 Apr 2022 19:43 (UTC)no subject
Date: 3 Apr 2022 19:56 (UTC)"You look beautiful, kiddo. You don't need to worry about growing out of anything."
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Date: 3 Apr 2022 19:59 (UTC)(Because he still sounded exactly like her dad.)
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Date: 3 Apr 2022 20:07 (UTC)He finally noticed the ukulele. "What's that doing here?"
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Date: 3 Apr 2022 20:10 (UTC)no subject
Date: 3 Apr 2022 20:21 (UTC)no subject
Date: 3 Apr 2022 20:25 (UTC)That got a real smile.
"I mean, sure, I guess," Rory said, to cover for how quickly she reached for the uke. "Got any requests?"
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Date: 3 Apr 2022 20:31 (UTC)“Play . . . your favorite.”
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Date: 3 Apr 2022 20:35 (UTC)She reached behind her to close the door. And began to play. "Birds flying high, you know how I feel...
"
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Date: 3 Apr 2022 20:52 (UTC)It felt better than the screaming did. He'd have to remember that later.
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Date: 4 Apr 2022 06:22 (UTC)That was good.
Maybe she was helping, just a little.
"And I'm feeling... good!" she belted.
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Date: 4 Apr 2022 13:52 (UTC)It was hard. It made his chest ache. And he wanted it so badly.
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Date: 4 Apr 2022 14:04 (UTC)And-- right.
That look.
She knew that look.
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Date: 4 Apr 2022 14:31 (UTC)“That was meizen, kiddo. Thank you.”
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Date: 4 Apr 2022 14:34 (UTC)no subject
Date: 4 Apr 2022 14:38 (UTC)“Nah, kid. I’m good. But thanks.”
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Date: 4 Apr 2022 14:43 (UTC)As she got up, she leaned over just so and dropped a kiss on top of Duke's head.
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Date: 4 Apr 2022 14:47 (UTC)Duke swayed towards her a little when she pulled away, but he didn’t stop her. Didn’t say anything. Just sat and felt it.
The quiet, unassuming love.
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Date: 4 Apr 2022 14:48 (UTC)As she left the room, she closed the door behind her just as gently.