Deck of the Cape Rouge, Sunday Afternoon

[my_own_advocate]

This certainly had been an emotionally eventful week, hadn't it? For the first time since Duke... exploded... Lucifer found himself in a decent mood, sleeping in to just about noon before cooking himself up a ridiculous breakfast.

Then there was coffee, and a still-somewhat-asleep Devil wandering onto the deck with a large mug that read 'Nail Satan' and a blanket slung over his shoulder. He sat down, facing the boardwalk, and stretched his legs out.

Sigh. A content one, for once. Not entirely without underlying strain, still, but close enough.

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[okteiviakom]

And here came Octavia's confused frown. Getting the most genuine reactions out of her lately really had a lot to do with surprise, didn't it?

"You taught?"

[my_own_advocate]

"My first semester here," Lucifer agreed. "Wasn't... entirely my style at the time. But who knows, perhaps I've found an appetite for molding young minds?"

Unlikely.

[okteiviakom]

"I... doubt it," Octavia hazarded. "Even if I think the 'young minds' have been getting older."

[my_own_advocate]

"I suppose we don't need free vacations," Lucifer mused. "Still. One does get a touch jealous, this time of year."

[okteiviakom]

"Why?" Octavia asked. "You have the money to go wherever and whenever you want."

[my_own_advocate]

"Well, yes. But it's not a fully-funded school trip somewhere we wouldn't think to go by ourselves."

Lucifer considered it.

"...And we haven't gone anywhere by ourselves in some time."

[okteiviakom]

"Well, we haven't wanted to," Octavia said, resisting the urge to shrug again, "so..."

So, they hadn't.

[my_own_advocate]

"It would be nice," Lucifer said. Sip. "...If we got back to wanting to."

[okteiviakom]

"Duke would like it."

Sip.

[my_own_advocate]

"And you wouldn't," Lucifer took from that.

[okteiviakom]

"I'll go wherever you want to go," Octavia returned, lightly. Ish. This was Octavia, after all.

(An Octavia who was trying.)

[my_own_advocate]

"Well, that's an answer to a different question," Lucifer pointed out.

[okteiviakom]

"I didn't say I wouldn't like it," Octavia pointed out in return, easily enough. "I think I'm just probably more picky than he is."

[my_own_advocate]

And oh, look. He was eyeing her again.

"Darling," Lucifer said, and sipped his coffee, "I'm a bit better at this game than you are, you know."

[okteiviakom]

There was the tiniest shift in Octavia's expression. A flattening, in parts. "I'm not playing."

No, she was fighting for her life, and clearly failing, now.

[my_own_advocate]

"No, you're dodging, equivocating, and twisting around the point," Lucifer noted, lowering his coffee. "I can go back to not pointing it out and giving you space if you prefer, but honestly. I practically invented all three of those verbs."

[okteiviakom]

Weird how fast something tired could creep into her features, wasn't it? "What was the point, Lucifer?"

She took a sip. It didn't look natural.

[my_own_advocate]

"In this specific case, your not being in the mood for a vacation," Lucifer said, and reached for the Bailey's to add an extra shot to his own mug. "In a more general sense, I haven't the foggiest, but I promise you I will continue to wait until you're willing to expand on it."

[okteiviakom]

"Did you ask me that?"

Goddammit, she'd tried so had to keep her voice from going flat.

[my_own_advocate]

"Ask you what particular thing?" Lucifer asked.

And took a swig of Bailey's, while he was at it.

[okteiviakom]

"If I was in the mood for a vacation."

She wasn't touching the rest. But she was also looking away now, towards the boardwalk, away from the Bailey's and the guilt it brought with it.

"I could be," Octavia forced herself to continue. Her tone didn't hit much outside of mildness, but at least there were words. "See someplace else to take walks in."

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer sighed.

"When I said it'd be nice if we could all get into the mood for one again, you said Duke would like one," he pointed out. "Whereas I meant all of us."

He put the bottle down.

[okteiviakom]

"I said Duke because aside from whatever anyone wants, I think he could use one," Octavia replied, only barely waiting long enough for him to finish. "I think... it would make him happy."

Boardwalk, so interesting.

She took another sip.

"I know you two have been working things out," she added. Softer, or at least more quiet. "It could keep the ball rolling on that."

[my_own_advocate]

"I suppose."

Octavia just seemed so ever so subtly off lately. And it was going on for long enough that even his unshakeable faith that she'd talk to him eventually if she needed it was... getting a touch shakey.

"But I believe that ball will continue rolling regardless."

[okteiviakom]

"Well," Octavia said. "Good."

Guess they didn't need to talk about a vacation, then. See how that worked out?

This time, the sip was a much longer one.

"How has it been?"