Cape Rouge, Fandom, to Los Angeles (eventually), Monday Afternoon

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer had been having a nice day. A bottle of red. The galley. Something enjoyable to watch on his phone.

"Brother."

Lucifer had been having a nice day. And now he was up on the deck of the Rouge, barking into the phone. "Amenadiel," he said, "Don't you have a child to rear or something?"

"Charlie is fine," Amenadiel said, on the other side of the phone. "He's also in Los Angeles. As am I."

"Ah, so you've moved? How nice, LA weather is excellent this time of year," Lucifer said, already halfway to turning off the phone. "But this could have been an email. Now, if you'd excuse me, I have an excellent Orion Swift waiting for me--"

"No, I mean he is in Los Angeles," Amenadiel repeated slowly. "Our Los Angeles. Time has resumed flowing." His voice brightened considerably. "I'm so glad you've finally embraced your Godhood, Lucifer!"

Oh, no.

"Oh, no," Lucifer said.

[[ for them who live here, please ]]

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[betterthanaplan]

Duke rubbed her arm again.

“And you?” he asked gently. “How are you feeling?”

[okteiviakom]

"I'm fine."

She was not fine, but it was going to take time for her to (allow herself to) process anything beyond that.

"How are you?"

He seemed a little more steady than when they'd landed here.

[betterthanaplan]

It had taken him a minute, yes. But on the upside, he’d had his freak out and could now approach the situation with more emotional honesty.

“I’m kind of annoyed. At Amenadiel, mostly. And the universe. I was hoping we could have a nice quiet summer.”

[okteiviakom]

"I think I kind of knew we wouldn't," Octavia admitted. "He was already freaking out before."

That they were here now seemed like it had only been a matter of time.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke nodded. "We talked a little about that, too," he admitted. "But then we both kind of decided it'd be okay, since he wasn't the first angel to resurrect someone, even in recent memory."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia's instincts kind of wanted to say something about them feeding off each other's denial, but she knew better than to actually voice that. It wouldn't help anything.

"Well," she said instead, almost successful in holding back a sigh, "here we are anyway."

Dealing, surviving.

[betterthanaplan]

"Yes, yes," Duke said, with a little amused huff. "You were right, we were wrong. I get it." He breathed in the scent of her hair for a moment.

"He'll be okay," he said finally. "We'll get through this, too. I don't know how yet, but we will."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia pressed her face a little more fiercely against his neck. Just for a moment.

"Yeah," she said. "We have no other choice."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke didn't like the fatalistic attitude, but didn't argue the point with her. Instead he went with "We defeated Haven. It wasn't easy -- it sucked in a lot of ways -- but we did it. We can definitely handle Heaven."

[okteiviakom]

"Like I said," Octavia murmured. "We have no other choice."

Because it wasn't fatalism.

It was refusal to entertain the other potential outcomes.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke had already died once. He was deeply aware he could do so again. Even if they all tried hard to get through whatever came next.

But that didn't mean he had to speak it into existence. So still. He wasn't going to argue with her. He just kissed her hair and held onto her and thought about everything he knew now about just what Lucifer had first come to Los Angeles to get away from.

Lucifer loved being on Earth, at least for right now, and had the kind of longevity that "at least for right now" could easily encompass several human lifetimes. If he didn't want to take over the role of God and have to go up to Heaven, then Duke was going to defend that choice for him as long as possible.

(His mental image of Heaven might have turned into another high, lonely seat, just made of pure crystal instead of ash and rock.)

[okteiviakom]

Octavia pulled back soon after. All of this time felt stolen, somehow.

"Come on," she muttered. "Shouldn't leave him alone for too long right now."

[betterthanaplan]

"Briyon gona," Duke murmured, turning towards the galley. "Let's go see if we can soothe our Devil."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia pulled away - almost. Her hand slid down to take his.

And then she pulled him along to the galley.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke let her, giving her hand another squeeze.

"Luce," he called, voice carefully light. The good old (old) patented Duke Crocker irreverence in full force. "We're coming back in. If you drank the good bourbon, you really will be paying me back!"

[my_own_advocate]

Oh, hell. Lucifer stared down the almost-empty bottle, and straightened his shoulders. (How his hair had gotten in that state in that short of a time? Impossible to know.)

"Just the wine," he called. "I haven't had enough time for the bourbon."

[okteiviakom]

"Told you," Octavia muttered to Duke.

It was supposed to be kind of a joke, if a dark one, about what she'd said about the wine up on deck. But it was pretty flat.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke hummed a little agreement. Once Lucifer was in sight, he glued a smile to his face.

“Hey babe. Is the wine helping?”

It clearly was not.

[my_own_advocate]

"I clearly need more of it," Lucifer said, holding up the bottle.

So no.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia gave Duke's hand one last squeeze, then let go.

She wasn't smiling, but the few moments up on deck with Duke had softened her demeanor some. "Maybe you need something else to go with it."

No, not more alcohol.

[betterthanaplan]

“I could whip something up,” Duke suggested. “A frittata, maybe?”

[my_own_advocate]

In a few hours, Lucifer would find the wherewithal to ask for ice cream.

For now, he just blinked, half-shook his head, and then said, "...a frittata would be all right, I suppose."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia looked to Duke and gave an encouraging, grateful little nod.

(One step at a time.)

[betterthanaplan]

Making ice cream was a bit harder than making a fritatta, and Duke didn't know for sure if they had ingredients on hand to make anything to satisfy Lucifer's well-known sweet tooth. But calories were calories, and protein was never a bad idea for most humans, and Duke knew he made a mean frittata. So fritatta it was. He set to bustling about, getting peppers and onions and eggs and some baby spinach from the fridge.

"Would hacking at something with a knife help either of you with emotions right now?"

[my_own_advocate]

Well. That one didn't take much thinking.

"Not even a little bit," Lucifer said. "I'm sorry. I'm just... brooding."

And in need of a distraction.

(Ben and Jerry's would've done fine, Crocker.)