The Pier on Cat Island, Monday Morning

[my_own_advocate]

Well, nothing had gone catastrophically wrong since Duke left yesterday. Octavia and Lucifer had taken their portal, and found themselves standing immediately in the sunshine. Whatever burdens had laid on Lucifer's shoulders, many of them sloughed off at the sight of the sand and the surf.

Sometimes he missed Los Angeles, still. The beach helped. And while the temperatures could have been higher, they were comfortable, much more so than Fandom. So he had stretched, and set up the Fin and Tonic for inhabitation for the next few weeks, and that had been all.

And now he was here. Sitting on the edge of their pier, a pina colada in one hand, wearing a swimsuit that didn't quite aspire to the heights (or lows) of Eric's small speedos, his legs kicking idly over the water. There was a peace here he was desperate to embrace. He could only hope Octavia could find a fraction of it, as well.

(And Duke, out there on his boat, processing his demons.)

[[ open for phone calls and she who is here ]]

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[okteiviakom]

Peace was... debatable. But a certain kind of internal sense of quiet had come upon Octavia after Duke had taken off and they'd landed in the Bahamas. There was a touch of emptiness about it, something a little worn down. But she'd take it.

(It wasn't like she had a choice.)

She'd slept heavy and dreamless, and felt kind of groggy even now, as she made her way down along the pier.

[my_own_advocate]

"Would you like a non-alcoholic pina colada, darling?" Lucifer asked. He didn't need to look up to know her footsteps, after all.

He patted the cooler by his side.

[okteiviakom]

"Sure," Octavia replied, not feeling a particular urge either way, but...

That was no reason to say no to a fruity thing.

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer opened up the cooler and reached in to grab a neat little plastic bottle of something extremely yellow.

He held it out for her.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia took it with a little nod, then turned her attention on the water stretching out in front of them.

Opened the bottle too, as she did.

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer took a deep breath, and then exhaled. Happily.

"I missed the beach," he said. "Ah, the warm, Caribbean beach, I mean."

[okteiviakom]

"So you missed the warmth most of all?" Octavia asked, glancing over, then back at the water.

She took a sip.

[my_own_advocate]

"A certain kind of warmth," Lucifer said. "We do live in a swamp."

[okteiviakom]

And now he was getting a mild but confused look.

"Right."

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer waved a hand, as if that explained everything. "So how are you this morning?"

[okteiviakom]

It explained nothing, but Octavia was willing to let it go.

"Tired," she said. It felt... accurate. Yes, despite how uncharacteristically long she'd slept.

[my_own_advocate]

"Sounds like you were badly in need of a break," Lucifer said.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia gave that one a vague hum.

"Well," she muttered, "I wasn't the only one."

[my_own_advocate]

"We were all badly in need of a break," Lucifer allowed.

[okteiviakom]

"Some of us needed to run away."

It wasn't... necessarily how she felt about it, and the wording wasn't exactly accurate, was it?

It'd do.

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer sipped his pina colada. "You think we're running?"

[okteiviakom]

Octavia sipped her drink. Once, then another time, letting silence linger.

"There any breakfast stashed away in that cooler?"

No comment, then.

[my_own_advocate]

"I don't think we're running," Lucifer said, but he leaned over obediently, rooting around until he produced a fruit salad for her.

[okteiviakom]

"I didn't say we were," Octavia replied, mildly.

She set her drink aside to take the fruit salad from him.

(At some point here she might want to consider sitting down.)

[my_own_advocate]

Yes. Yes, she should.

Lucifer patted a spot on the pier beside him.

[okteiviakom]

So, shrugging, Octavia sat down in it.

Carefully, because of the things in her hands. She didn't want to drop her breakfast in the ocean, after all.

[my_own_advocate]

"I do love this view," Lucifer murmured. "Lets me drift away from all my troubles."

[okteiviakom]

This time, Octavia's vague hum was at least somewhat merited.

She popped some of the fruit salad into her mouth.

[my_own_advocate]

"Penny for your thoughts?" Lucifer hazarded.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia sighed. Softly, sort of.

Then she looked over at him again. "I'm not sure I even know what they are," she admitted.