betterthanaplan | Aboard the OceaNyx, Wednesday afternoon

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Aboard the OceaNyx, Wednesday afternoon

History said that the weirdness in town had probably abated by now, but Duke and his partners had quietly agreed to stay at sea a bit longer. Let things with them settle a bit more, before inviting Fandom chaos back in.

Unfortunately, Fandom chaos wasn't the only kind they had to worry about.

Duke had been feeling increasingly ill as the days went by, and by Wednesday morning, he heaved himself over to the wheel only to pretty much collapse into his seat, panting.

How could just existing be this draining??

[for those on the boat with him, and slow play. NFB due to distance.]

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Lucifer set the bottle of scotch down, too. He wanted to stalk off, check on Octavia.

He settled his hand on the top of the bottle, and - as Linda had taught him - counted to ten to see if he'd feel otherwise.

"I understand that this is hard, and you are likely feeling like hell," he said.

Duke wanted to say something mean. He bit his tongue and kept watching the water instead.

"We wouldn't be having these disagreements if we didn't care about you," Lucifer continued, after a moment. "Please consider letting us care."

He patted the bottle. He turned for the direction Octavia had gone off in.

Duke swallowed. Watched the water.

This was as close to letting them do that as he could get, just now.

And with that incredibly disappointing response, Lucifer left to check on Octavia.

He would find Octavia sitting on the floor of the ahip's tiny galley.

There was no real reason for the choice. It was just... Away. And probably not Duke's first choice of where to go to, which seemed important right now.

Even without looking up, she knew these particular footsteps weren't his.

"I'm sorry, darling," Lucifer said.

He didn't hesitate; he sat down next to her immediately.

"Guessing you talked to him and it didn't do anything," Octavia muttered, looking at her lap.

"He says none of us have any control over anything," Lucifer said mildly, "While asserting control over literally anything we are actually capable of controlling. Lovely."

Octavia shook her head. "He's scared."

Funny how that didn't actually make her feel any better.

"Well, he could try being scared without locking us out of everything," Lucifer said irritably. "He's not the only one."

Octavia inclined her head just so. Like a very mild 'tell me about it'.

She sighed, her voice going quieter. Still mild, though. "Feels like I'm being punished for getting hurt."

Lucifer let out a breath.

He slid his arm around her shoulders. "I'm sure he doesn't mean it like that," he said. "Useless as that is to know."

Octavia was very still for a second.

Then she leaned into it. Deliberately, as if she'd made a choice. "It still feels awful," she muttered.

"I know," Lucifer murmured. "I wanted to fling him into the ocean, frankly."

"To shock the trouble out of him?"

No, she knew it wasn't that. Of course she knew. She was just having a hard time finding a jokey tone.

(Maybe the urge to try anyway had rubbed off on her from Duke.)

"No, because I'm intensely angry at him for myriad reasons," Lucifer fulminated. "I never knew it was possible to love someone this much while wanting to scream at them so loudly at the same time."

Octavia didn't know what to say to that. She couldn't find the energy in herself to be angry, too, but at least a part of her would have preferred it if she had.

It would've been easier. It always had been.

She stayed quiet.

The vehemence in Lucifer's voice abated somewhat. "The least he could do is treat you with more care."

"I'd like that," Octavia muttered, raspy and tired. "But it's too much to ask."

Apparently.

"Because he thinks he's already doing it."

"Yes," Lucifer said irritably. "That would be the part that is making me want to throw him into the ocean. We're apparently just here to be recipients of his decisions."