Aboard the OceaNyx, Wednesday afternoon

[betterthanaplan]

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.]

Comments

[my_own_advocate]

"I've spent the past week convincing Octavia that she isn't worthless just because she didn't manage to tear off enough flesh to convince you not to go through with it," Lucifer said, eyes fixed on Duke, now. "I'm sorry if I'm not an entirely sympathetic audience."

[betterthanaplan]

“I haven’t actually asked you to be. And if she asked me, I’d tell her — again — that I made my choice.” He set his glass aside and hugged himself again, looking at the water. “And I’ll figure this out. She doesn’t have to change what she does because of me.”

Duke, you beautiful idiot.

[my_own_advocate]

"She's going to regardless," Lucifer pointed out. He looked towards the direction Octavia had gone in, again. "You're just... making her feel like she doesn't get to have any control over this."

[betterthanaplan]

“None of us have any control over this!” Duke scowled. “These things are specifically about loss of control. So yeah. I’ll put on pajamas and gloves and sleep on the deck to keep from hurting her, because that’s all I’ve got.”

Or he’ll stick his hands in his armpits. It was symbolic and dumb, but it felt better right now.

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer just looked at him.

"That's what you want to do with the situation," he said. "She wants to do something else. You're not even considering it. That's the minute amount of control we are talking about here."

[betterthanaplan]

Oh good. Something to get Duke’s hackles up even further.

“I’ve felt this trouble, Luce. It knocks people out. It could probably kill if I held onto someone long enough. Look what it did just because I reached for her. I don’t want to do that again.”

Duke was nothing if not stubborn. Sometimes that meant sticking to someone trying desperately to push him away. And sometimes it meant pushing away someone who wanted to stick to him.

[my_own_advocate]

"Yes, I think you've made it abundantly clear you have no interest in listening to anyone else on this boat," Lucifer said, and downed the contents of his glass again. "Enjoy sleeping on the couch. Physically and metaphorically."

He set the glass down.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke sighed and looked back out over the water.

Well. He really couldn’t hurt them with this trouble if they decided they hated him.

[my_own_advocate]

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.

[betterthanaplan]

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

[my_own_advocate]

"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.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke swallowed. Watched the water.

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

[my_own_advocate]

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

[okteiviakom]

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.

[my_own_advocate]

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

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

[okteiviakom]

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

[my_own_advocate]

"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."

[okteiviakom]

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

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

[my_own_advocate]

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

[okteiviakom]

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."

[my_own_advocate]

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."

[okteiviakom]

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.

[my_own_advocate]

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

[okteiviakom]

"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.)

[my_own_advocate]

"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."