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 ]]

Comments

[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.

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer let out a soft huff. "It has been a few weeks, hasn't it?" he murmured. He shook his head. "I tried to talk to Duke the other day. And... I can see why you were concerned."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia's expression turned into one of a tired question.

He could pick which one it was.

[my_own_advocate]

"Well, we're not doing the thing I suggested we try, that's for sure," Lucifer said. He looked at Octavia. "He agreed. He's too... up in his own head right now to handle it."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia couldn't even tell whether she felt disappointment, or an odd sense of relief.

(It was both.)

"Right," she murmured.

[my_own_advocate]

"He seems... very focused on being heard, specifically," Lucifer added, "But you noticed that already."

[okteiviakom]

"I noticed his ears seem to barely work," Octavia muttered, looking down at her fruit salad only to pick up the drink instead.

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer sighed. "He wants me to ask you for permission to tell him more about our sex life," he said. "I tried to tell him that if he just approached you slightly differently, you would tell him yourself, but..."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia had been about to take a sip.

Her hand stopped. Her expression wobbled.

Her voice sounded hollow and forced. "He asked you?"

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer sighed. "Yes," he said. "I-- you're right. He's not really listening to anything very well right now."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia stared at the water.

Words would come. Just not... not immediately.

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer let out another sigh.

His hand reached out gingerly to touch her... leg?

Well. That was what was available.

[okteiviakom]

Still staring out over the water, Octavia fumbled the bottle out of her hand so that she could grab his hand. Grip it, really, as tight as she could.

And then she squeezed her eyes shut, and she screamed, as loud as she could. All fury and frustration, one of those banshee cries she hadn't felt the need to let out in a long while.

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer winced. But only a little.

"Understandable," he said.