The deck of the Cape Rouge, Monday afternoon

[betterthanaplan]

Duke woke up . . . feeling perfectly fine, actually. Or as perfectly fine as he ever did. Perhaps his body had built up an immunity to the pollen after all these years. Perhaps he'd eaten some particularly quirky yogurt as a depression snack the day before. Perhaps -- and this was the unlikeliest of all if you asked him -- whatever was in charge of the island's whims and quirks was just giving him a damned break this time.

Whatever it was, he was not feeling any extra-strong urges today. He was, however, bemusedly watching a pair of porgs chase each other around the deck while he drank his first coffee of the day, and wondering if it was a sign that spring had finally sprung.

". . . Aww, c'mon, guys," he said, as one porg finally caught the other. "Get a room. I know you have access to several belowdecks."

He didn't even have a salad for them to be in front of! Come on, now.

[open! I'm trying a whole "30 minutes working, 5 minutes walking" thing after listening to NPR yesterday and it's maybe actually doing a good thing for my brain!]

Comments

[okteiviakom]

Octavia had not been blessed the way he had, which considering Lucifer's immunity meant she was the only affected person on the Rouge. But, she'd also proven in the past that she could muscle through the discomfort of the week, so...

It was what it was.

And right now what it was was her returning from a lengthy hike around the preserve. Energy had to be burned off somehow.

"Ha yun, jaka," she called, from the dock.

[betterthanaplan]

"Ha yun, gona," Duke said, saluting her with his mug. "Have a nice walk?"

[okteiviakom]

"It was more of a run," Octavia drawled as she made her way over the gangplank.

Her tone betrayed that she wasn't much of a runner, usually.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke frowned a little. "Everything okay?"

[okteiviakom]

"Just burning off energy," Octavia replied, on more of a sigh, coming to a stop by him. "How're you doing?"

[betterthanaplan]

Duke shrugged. “I’m alright. Porgs seem to have some extra energy to burn too.”

[okteiviakom]

"Yeah, there were a lot of weird bunnies in the preserve, too."

Which was new, but not surprising, all things considered.

[betterthanaplan]

“They must’ve been multiplying like. . . .” Duke trailed off with a snort. “Well. Like bunnies.”

[okteiviakom]

Octavia rolled her eyes, but it was mostly good-natured.

She nodded to his coffee. "Are you willing to share some of that?"

[betterthanaplan]

“Sure.” Duke held the mug out for her. “Should be a fairly fresh pot left belowdecks too, if Luce hasn’t drunk it all.”

[okteiviakom]

"I just want a sip," Octavia told him, taking the mug from him, carefully (and also all too aware of the way their fingers brushed against each other). "Probably had enough this morning. Chof."

Okay, so it turned into more of a gulp, but anyway.

[betterthanaplan]

“De nada,” Duke said idly, watching her face. “So . . . what’s up?”

There was definitely something going on with her.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia raised her eyebrows just a little. "The pollen?" she said. "Guess I was even more right than I thought when I thought you couldn't feel it this time."

Since he'd actually still been in bed and asleep when she'd woken up this morning. That had very much not been the case last time.

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer stumbled onto the deck a while later, wearing precious little besides very short pyjama bottoms and a luxurious bathrobe. He squinted.

"Is it me, or do they seem frisky today?"

[betterthanaplan]

"Not just you. I have a feeling we're going to get a . . . flock? Litter? A bunch of tiny porgs. Soon."

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer squinted. "... Well, make sure they don't nest anywhere annoying," he said. "I don't want to have another two-week 'humane shower pause'."

[betterthanaplan]

"Your confidence in my ability to control the porgs is . . . I dunno, endearing or something. But I definitely cannot control the porgs."

They were all lucky that none of the porgs had decided they wanted to share the big bed with them.

[my_own_advocate]

Aw, they could've woken up to the dulcet tones of porgs fucking.

"Are you sure?" Lucifer said, frowning. "They seem to listen to you more."

[betterthanaplan]

“If they listen to anyone, it’s Tavi,” Duke protested. “She’s got a way with her strikons.”

[my_own_advocate]

"Do they, or does she just exist near them better than either of us?" Lucifer asked, sitting down.

[betterthanaplan]

“Not sure the two are that different,” Duke said with a shrug. He leaned against the railing, sipping his coffee. “They’re wild, and on some level so is she.”

[my_own_advocate]

"I suppose," Lucifer said. He sounded skeptical.

He looked up at Duke. "So how are you this morning, excitable porgs aside?"

[betterthanaplan]

Duke bobbed his head. "I'm doing okay. Didn't manage to get up before noon, but now that I am up, things aren't looking too bad."

[my_own_advocate]

"Good," Lucifer said, with a little curve of his mouth. "Perhaps we can go out and pick up some proper coffee and some pastries soon? A proper breakfast."

[betterthanaplan]

"I could be down with that," Duke agreed. "Oh, hey, I found an interesting looking milkshake place in Baltimore I've been meaning to try."