Lucifer's Mansion, Sunday Night

[my_own_advocate]

There were plans to open the club - finally - and plans to go to Austria for a few days to see an opera - exciting - and Octavia had been doing better recently, so... Lucifer was in a good mood, actually, when Sunday came around.

So yes, the candles were out again tonight. And a rather imposing spread of seafood, picked up from the mainland. With mango rice, of course.

It was Octavia. Couldn't do without the mango rice.

"How do you feel about the snapper?"

[[ for her ]]

Comments

[my_own_advocate]

"I'm sorry," Lucifer murmured.

[okteiviakom]

"Don't be," Octavia muttered. "It's not -- not like that."

A sigh.

"I don't know."

[my_own_advocate]

"What's going on in your head?" Lucifer asked.

He'd learned better than to assume.

[okteiviakom]

"I don't know."

A stock initial answer. Octavia hoped she wasn't the only one who knew that.

She leaned over, awkwardly, against his shoulder. "We went a little further," she murmured. "I guess... I was bound to have some kind of reaction. If not during, then after."

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer's arm immediately shifted, wrapping around her. "Too far?" he asked softly.

[okteiviakom]

"I can't tell," Octavia murmured. She hoped she would have known if it had been too too far, though. That that would have been something she would have stopped. "Everything was okay in the moment."

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer nodded slowly. "Take a few moments to think about it, if it helps."

[okteiviakom]

"I don't think that's going to make a difference, Lucifer," Octavia murmured quietly in response, pulling his arm a little closer around her.

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer sighed. "I just don't want to-- hurt you, ironic as it may sound now."

[okteiviakom]

"It doesn't sound ironic," Octavia mumbled. "I know you don't."

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer nodded slowly. "I can go... less far next time."

[okteiviakom]

"This feels more complicated than that." Didn't that sound familiar? "A lot of me wants to go much further."

[my_own_advocate]

"So you're... conflicted," Lucifer said carefully.

[okteiviakom]

"Always."

Well, maybe not always, but she was trying to bring something wry back into this. Something even faintly lighter.

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer snorted softly. "Most of the time," he amended.

[okteiviakom]

"Yeah," Octavia sighed, her head tilting further against his shoulder. "So I don't know how this works."

[my_own_advocate]

"One step at a time, and occasionally two steps back if need be?" Lucifer said. He kissed her cheek. "Though you seem... even."

[okteiviakom]

It was all the crying. Clearly it booted most of the... uneven out of the body.

Octavia sighed again. "I feel like I need a shower, and like I kind of want you to come with me." A pause. "But it also kind of feels like you shouldn't."

[my_own_advocate]

"We can go halfway," Lucifer offered. "I'll follow you to the bathroom, you'll take a shower, and if you decide that you do want me there after all, call on me."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia shook her head. "Yeah, I... don't like the sound of that," she admitted. "Feels like a one-way ticket to making it a stressful shower."

[my_own_advocate]

"Then I... will stay here, and you can always call on me, but I won't expect it?" Lucifer tried.

[okteiviakom]

"No," Octavia said, soft but... final. She was quiet for a thoughtful pause. A little moment of contemplation, until she found her way to --

"You go take a shower. And I'll figure out if I want to join you."

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer nodded. Slowly.

And then nodded again.

"Yes," he said softly, and rose from the bed. Walked to the bathroom. Getting naked in front of her felt... contrary to the point.

[okteiviakom]

Kind of would have been, yes.

Octavia watched him go, as she... weighed her feelings about all of this.

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer closed the door behind him, and then efficiently stripped out of his clothes.

A few moments later, he turned on the shower, and got under the spray. Trying not to worry.