betterthanaplan | Haven, Maine, over the weekend

The last time Octavia had been to Haven, she'd gotten arrested and Gloria had had to go yell at the Chief of police.

The last time Duke had been to Haven, he'd gotten arrested and Gloria had had to go yell at the Chief of police.

They could both be forgiven for being a little nervous pulling into the harbor now, even without the "let's go meet our mutual therapist in person" part of the deal.

[for one! NFB due to distance]

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From:

betterthanaplan

Assuming, you know, they survived that arrival thread

From:

seaoftroubles

Claire had a heads up they were coming, and made sure her office was nice and welcoming.

And that none of her other troubled clients were anywhere around to see her welcoming Duke Crocker.

From:

okteiviakom

There was no amount of 'welcoming' that would actually make Octavia comfortable.

But she wasn't glued to Duke's side the way she probably would have been if they'd done this seven years ago. Her coping methods were slightly different now, and they involved projecting a sense of unflappable confidence with every step she took.

How well that would work on a woman who'd heard her lock down more and more over the course of an hour (well, probably less) on the phone earlier this week, though...

From:

seaoftroubles

Duke hung back. This meeting was so much more for Octavia than it was for him.

Claire didn't smile. From what she knew of Octavia so far, a smile wouldn't be calming or reassuring. Instead she nodded to her, giving her a firm, assessing look.

"You must be Octavia."

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia was giving her one back. It was odd, putting the voice to a face. She'd never actually had to do that before.

"Yeah, and you're Claire," she rasped. Since they were pointing out the obvious. "Hi."

From:

seaoftroubles

"Hi." Claire gestured to one of the chairs. "Do you want to take a seat?"

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia glanced at the chair, then back to Claire, looking like she had no intention of sitting down.

But then she paused.

And took a second to remind herself why she was here in the first place. Because she wanted to get better, because she needed to get better, and for once it didn't matter that she couldn't tell the difference between those two things. And for any of that to happen, she would have to strip at least one protective layer off herself.

Still couldn't help the vaguely dismissive shrug as she went to take a seat.

From:

seaoftroubles

Claire knew how to recognize small milestones when they happened. And that dismissive shrug couldn't hide the milestone of Octavia actually accepting a step in the process.

"Thank you," she said, and glanced up at Duke. "Do you two want to chat together, or. . . ?"

Duke shrugged, looking at Octavia. "Up to her. I can wait out here, no problem."

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia looked back at him, her gaze instantly a lot softer. She gave him a little nod towards the hallway.

"Ai na dula dison op soulou, jaka."

From:

seaoftroubles

"Sha, gona," Duke said. "I'll be right out here."

Claire waited for him to close the door, then turned to Octavia again. "You two have a secret language?"

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia's voice was mild. "Only secret if you're not from the 22nd century."

Which technically made that a 'yes'. (And also, it really wasn't that simple.)

From:

seaoftroubles

"Are there a lot of people from the 22nd century where you live?" Claire asked. Her tone was a little too pointed to be entirely conversational.

From:

okteiviakom

"No."

It'd take a while before Octavia would start elaborating on anything without prompting, probably.

From:

seaoftroubles

"How many people other than you and Duke speak this 22nd century language?" Claire asked, unphased.

From:

okteiviakom

"One," Octavia said. A beat went by, and then she added, "But he's cheating, so it doesn't really count."

Because apparently the Devil spoke all human languages.

From:

seaoftroubles

"Cheating?" Claire asked, looking amused. And "How is that not a secret language?"

From:

okteiviakom

"Because it's not by choice."

From:

seaoftroubles

Claire nodded. "Fair enough. Duke's not from the 22nd century, how does he know it?"

From:

okteiviakom

"Because I taught him," Octavia drawled. "That doesn't make it a 'secret language'. That sounds like something kids would do."

She really wouldn't know, she hadn't had use for one.

From:

seaoftroubles

"It's something people who care about each other do," Claire said. "Having a shared language, just between the two of you."

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia shrugged.

"Shared, yes. Not a secret."

Welcome to Octavia's occasional habit of getting hung up on terminology, Claire.

From:

seaoftroubles

"Shared," Claire agreed. "That's an important distinction to you."

Welcome to someone calmly and coolly asking you to explain that habit, Octavia.

From:

okteiviakom

"Because that's what it is," Octavia rasped.

She may have still seemed a little reluctant to talk, but... This was already much more than she'd managed to say on the phone.

Turned out actually seeing the person she was talking to was important for her.

From:

seaoftroubles

Which Claire was definitely making a note of. Video calls weren't quite as nice in 2010 as they'd be by 2020, but she was making a note to look into the technology anyway.

"How did you and Duke meet?"

From:

okteiviakom

"At a bar, in Fandom," Octavia rasped, after a beat to take in the slight change of subject. "I'd been there for a couple of years, he'd been there for a little while. He came over to talk to me."

She'd seen enough movies in this time to know that wasn't a particularly remarkable start to a relationship.