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:

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.

From:

seaoftroubles

Claire smiled anyway. "And you two hit it off, clearly. If you don't mind my asking . . . how'd you end up in Fandom in the first place? I don't quite understand how all that works yet."

From:

okteiviakom

"If that's something you want to understand, you're asking the wrong person," Octavia replied in a dry, faintly unimpressed drawl, though the tone wasn't really directed at Claire, as such. "One minute, I was in the woods, and the next, I was in a different forest, a hundred years earlier."

From:

seaoftroubles

Claire's brows shot up.

". . . So something of a culture shock, then."

To say the least.

From:

okteiviakom

"You get used to those," Octavia drawled, "after the first few."

From:

seaoftroubles

"Were you used to it, when you showed up in Fandom?"

From:

okteiviakom

"A little."

She could guess the next question. But she would let it come to her, instead of rushing to it.

From:

seaoftroubles

Claire nodded. "What about the first time it happened to you? When was that?"

From:

okteiviakom

"I was sixteen."

Octavia looked off to the side, although aside from that, nothing about her demeanor changed. It was mild, like it had been.

"Don't know if Duke told you, but I was born on a space station. The Ark, where having more than one kid was illegal. And I had a big brother." Have. Had. Both worked in this context. And otherwise, too. "At sixteen, I was discovered. My mom was floated into space, my brother was demoted from a guard to a janitor, and I was thrown in prison."

From:

seaoftroubles

"First, it doesn't matter what Duke did or didn't tell me. It matters what -- and how -- you tell me. Second. . . ." Claire bounced her pen in the air for a moment. "Second, that's absolutely batshit nuts and I can't even imagine having to deal with all that at just sixteen."

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia shrugged one shoulder. She had more distance between herself and that particular trauma, by now. Mostly thanks to all the more recent things, but still. "Multiverse doesn't care what you can or can't handle."

General 'you', obviously.

From:

seaoftroubles

"Maybe not," Claire said with a shrug of her own. "But that doesn't mean people can't sympathize. So . . . you lost your family and got arrested. But you came to Fandom from a forest. How'd you get there from space-prison?"