Voicemail

[betterthanaplan]

"Buddha says 'All good things come to those who wait.' With that in mind, leave me a message."

*beep*

Comments

[betterthanaplan]

youre different, Duke noted. and everything else is the same

He got a little bit of that when he went back to Haven. Though of course it wasn't even remotely on the same scale.

[okteiviakom]

I guess so.

Yeah. That was exactly it.

Theyre pretty

And she should probably not have been kneeling on the cold ground by the side of the stream for as long as she already had, but... There was something soothing about the sight of them.

[betterthanaplan]

you have that in common, Duke said. Then: good day?

[okteiviakom]

Decent

That was about as far as she was willing to go, the majority of the time.

Its quiet out here

[betterthanaplan]

Well. There was a reason Duke didn't ask if it was 'fun'.

quiet can be good

[okteiviakom]

It was a good move.

It is, Octavia sent back. Calmer out here than in town

The wording there was ambiguous on purpose.

[betterthanaplan]

generally, I’m guessing

He was also pretty sure it was easier for her not to think about the recent developments in their relationship.

[okteiviakom]

Sometimes a woman just needed more breathing room. And to feel a little... outside of time and space.

There was so little to worry about out here except paying attention to the terrain under her boots.

Yeah
Been here a lot this week

[betterthanaplan]

town’s felt kinda noisy, huh?

[okteiviakom]

Something like that

'Noisy' didn't feel like quite right word. But she trusted him to have the concept right.

We should come out here together when its warmer

[betterthanaplan]

we should. Or maybe try to recreate our Valentine’s Day trip.

The parts that didn’t involve her bleeding and him making an impromptu pile of gravel, anyway.

[okteiviakom]

It took Octavia a moment to connect the dots in her memory. But she did.

And it was a good memory.

Maybe yeah

Octavia looked at the text after she'd sent it, and -- No, actually, that was far too mild.

Id like that

Better.

[betterthanaplan]

The mildness wasn’t a surprise, but Duke appreciated the follow-up anyway.

me too. I like getting cozy with you

[okteiviakom]

I remember camping being pretty cozy

And somehow she even remembered that was what it was called.

[betterthanaplan]

He was so proud of her!

easy enough to dig out the tent again. when do you want to do it?

[okteiviakom]

Octavia thought about it for a moment before sending a reply.

Next week?

Sometimes it didn't pay off to wait.

[betterthanaplan]

next week works. Got plans on Tuesday, but we could do the end of the week, maybe

It was his diner, he could play hooky from it if he wanted to.

[okteiviakom]

Have the club on wednesday, but thursday onwards is fine

She wasn't terribly attached to her bartending shift, but she had already skipped several shifts lately.

[betterthanaplan]

thursday night? Duke suggested.

He'd skipped several lately, too.

[okteiviakom]

Thursday night works

Octavia sent that, then... wrote something else. Deleted it. Wrote another version.

Deleted that, too.

[betterthanaplan]

Which left Duke with lots of 'typing' bubbles.

He leaned back in his seat and tried not to read too much into how long they were sitting there for.

[okteiviakom]

Sometimes Octavia just got caught on the smallest things, and wondering whether she should say something that seemed small and vulnerable and whether it would seem dumb, somehow.

Because once the bubbles finally materialized into a text, this was what it was:

Feels like we haven't made plans in a long time. It's nice

[betterthanaplan]

Guess I kinda blew up the last one we made

Their date at the diner. And then nearly blew up the ones with Lucifer after that.

He was suddenly very paranoid about how this camping trip would go.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia looked at the text, and couldn't help sighing.

Don't think about that one

She was trying to tell him how nice it was to have something to look forward to.

I'm not counting that one

[betterthanaplan]

too late :P

Duke shook his head at himself.

I promise to try not to overthink this one