The Cape Rouge, Port of Fandom, Friday morning

[betterthanaplan]

Duke was expecting a guest this year, and as such had headed into town early this morning to pick up some treats to share with Gloria when she arrived. He was excited to get to show her around, introduce her to some of his other friends, as well as a little nervous about whether or not she'd get along with said friends. . . . Was this what having an actual parent would have been like?

Nope. Gloria was just his very cool old-lady friend. He was not going down the substitute-mom road. Not at all.

Anyway, he was in a pretty good mood, finally. Able to push away the weirdness for the last several days and feel at least a little bit normal. Until he got back to his boat.

And saw he had another visitor, as well.

He paused, taking just a second to have all the shocked, angry, worried, and even insanely hopeful feelings that face brought back, then continued down the dock with an almost exaggerated swagger.

"My, my. Evidence Ryan."

The woman sitting on his bench turned and smiled.

Duke was so screwed.

[for . . . me . . . but also open!]

Comments

[seaoftroubles]

"Duke Crocker," Evi said, giving him a long, thorough once over. "Now, is that the hello I get after all this time?"

[betterthanaplan]

Duke nodded. "Hello, Evi." He smirked at her for a beat, then asked "What do you want?"

[seaoftroubles]

"Why do I have to want something?"

[betterthanaplan]

"Because your lips are moving."

[seaoftroubles]

Evi stood and strolled slowly over to him. "Maybe. . . . Maybe I wanted to see ya." She circled him, watched the way he covered for his discomfort. "Maybe I missed ya."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke was very uncomfortable. Braced in every sense of the word. For whatever con Evi was planning, and for how badly Octavia was going to react to her presence.

"That's not why you're here."

[seaoftroubles]

And Evi was thoroughly enjoying that discomfort. She smirked back and gave him just a tiny little shrug.

He still knew her so well.

[betterthanaplan]

"Just . . . out of curiosity," Duke said. "How did you know I'd even be in Fandom? Or that Fandom existed?"

If this was the school's doing, he was going to need to have words with the moose.

[seaoftroubles]

Evi's smirk grew into a sharp smile. "What are you even doing in Fandom?"

[betterthanaplan]

Ah yes. Of course. Evi never gave anyone a straight answer. (There'd never been anything straight about her. It was one of the things he'd always loved about her.)

"You should leave."

[seaoftroubles]

Evi walked slowly up to him, giving him another thorough once over. He was as fit as ever, the only thing different she could see being the new ink on his arm. She pressed her hand to his chest, right where his shirt ended, baring his collarbones.

She wondered what other new ink he might have gotten.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke didn't move, except to peel that hand back off his chest.

"Stop."

[seaoftroubles]

"It's been two years, Duke. You can't possibly still be mad."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia was still exhausted. Honestly, Octavia assumed she would be exhausted for the rest of the year, at this rate, if not even the rest of her life. She'd slept in, this morning, after another restless night.

Evi was long gone by the time she made her way up on the deck, dressed to head out onto the island, though still tiredly rubbing her hand over one eye.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke considered not telling her. He really seriously considered it. She was stressed out enough, and he HATED potentially adding to it.

But if she ran into Evi on her own.....

“Heads up,” he said. “Apparently my ex is in town.”

[okteiviakom]

"... Nathan?"

Yes, it did feel like a weird way to refer to Nathan after everything. But, look, she hadn't wondered about Evi in a long time. She wasn't going to get there on her own.

[betterthanaplan]

“I wish,” Duke muttered before he could think better of it. “Evi. Says she has a job. I turned her down, but I don’t think she’s done asking.”

[okteiviakom]

It still took Octavia a second to process that information.

And then she said, "Your wife." She sounded exasperated, tired, a little resigned.

She wanted to crawl into a hole in the preserve and sleep for a week without his past - and his future - creeping up at every turn.

[betterthanaplan]

Yeah, so did Duke.

"Only because we never got divorced," Duke said. "She's my ex. And she's staying that way."

[okteiviakom]

Well, nevermind all that. Octavia breathed in deep, then exhaled harshly.

"Why is she here?"

He'd just said. She didn't mean it like that. Maybe what she meant was why this was happening to them.

[betterthanaplan]

"Because she wants something," Duke said. "And because I was apparently a terrible person in a previous life."

It was the only way he could explain how ridiculously bad his luck was these days.

[okteiviakom]

The next exhale was more of a sigh.

"How'd we just get one day?"

It wasn't enough.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke shook his head and shrugged. "No idea. But if Gloria weren't coming too, I'd be tempted to go hide in the preserve all weekend. Or maybe Baltimore.

"Or Timbuktu."

[okteiviakom]

And to think, Octavia had been a little bit wary about even Gloria coming here, after everything.

Now she was grateful for it.

"We could take Gloria and hide," she offered, not in a serious way. Just, hoping for another reality where they got a break.

[betterthanaplan]

"Pretty sure Gloria's not a big camper," Duke said. "And I promised to introduce her around. Like a fool."