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

[okteiviakom]

Fandom chaos was by now the actual least of Octavia's worries. It hurt worse, every day, to watch Duke struggle.

She was bringing over a glass of fresh orange juice. Kind of grasping at things to do for him, anything that would make him feel even a little better.

"I've got juice, jaka."

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer poked his head out of the cabin, worry writ large on his face. "I'm working on something with sugar in it," he promised.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke let out a chuckle that ended in a cough. "Two mother hens," he said, wry and dry. "How'd I get so lucky?"

[okteiviakom]

"I'm not a hen," Octavia objected, trying for a wry tone just to mirror him. "I just have juice for you."

[my_own_advocate]

"It's a metaphor," Lucifer sighed. He frowned, stepping a little closer so he could get a good look at Duke. "Or carbs, perhaps? I can get you some bread."

[betterthanaplan]

"I'm not --" Duke broke off to swallow a groan. His head was pounding. "Not sure I could keep anything down right now."

That wasn't quite it. He wasn't sure he could fit anything in him around the troubles beating against his insides.

Something warm and wet pressed itself out through his tear ducts. Something warm, wet, and red.

[okteiviakom]

Oh no.

Octavia's eyes went wide. "Duke, your eyes --"

[my_own_advocate]

"Duke!"

And now Lucifer was walking a whole lot faster, dropping to his knees in front of him. "Octavia? Do you have a tissue or something--?"

[betterthanaplan]

“Fuck.” Duke bent at the waist, hand shaking as he reached for his eye. A drop of blood escaped before he could swipe at it, hitting the deck by his foot.

And vanishing.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia felt paralyzed. There was nothing she could do.

(Again.)

"This happened at the lighthouse," she said, with a tremor in her voice. "Right before --"

[my_own_advocate]

"Right before what?" Lucifer asked, reaching up to touch Duke's cheek, like he could just-- make the blood go away somehow.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke was staring at the spot where the blood had disappeared. His mind raced. What had just happened? Where did his blood go?

"I'm okay." He blinked. His head wasn't throbbing. The blood still on his face reabsorbed into his skin, but that didn't feel like anything. "I'm. . . ." He laughed a little. "I'm actually okay."

In fact he felt better than he had in days.

He looked at Lucifer.

"Wait, what color are my eyes?"

They were brown. But if Lucifer weren't Lucifer, he wouldn't be okay the moment his skin touched Duke's.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia was still looking wary. Like there was a horrible weight in her gut that hadn't eased up.

At all.

[my_own_advocate]

There was a faint sense of... something. Like a tickle. The odd sensation that something should have hurt, but didn't.

Lucifer ignored it. He tilted his head. "Brown," he said. "Just-- your usual colour."

[betterthanaplan]

"Right." Duke nodded, his eyes wide. He slowly sat up, moving in that gingerly way that came with having just been in terrible pain and expecting it to come back at any moment. "Okay . . . good, then."

He flexed his hands. Looked around. Tried on a smile and aimed it at Octavia.

"I feel . . . fine."

[okteiviakom]

"Okay," Octavia said. She didn't sound very convinced.

Or convincing. Take your pick.

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer took a step back. He looked at Octavia. "What happened the last time he did that?"

[betterthanaplan]

Look, Duke didn't get it, either. But he was pretty sure if he was in denial about something someone would have been stitched up by now, so. . . .

"I don't remember," he said. "I -- Jennifer fell. And I felt like I was -- choking or exploding or something. And then. I was on the beach and I was fine."

The pain had gone away. Like it had just now.

. . . And the stitching had started.

"Shit!" Duke flung himself back, out of Lucifer's hands, coming up short against the gunwale. "Shit shit shit I must have let out a trouble!"

[okteiviakom]

"Yeah," Octavia muttered, "that all happened." So they could see why she'd remained so concerned, right?

Of course, now it was a slightly different shade of concern she was turning towards Duke, at that reaction.

"Snogon, breathe."

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer looked at the door, but nothing outside had changed. "Do you feel anything... Troubly?" he asked. "I'm not seeing anything."

[betterthanaplan]

Breathe?? He could end up breathing poisonous gas!

…It was likely they would have noticed by now if he was. Unless paranoia was the trigger.

“Okay, I’m officially freaking out.”

[okteiviakom]

Octavia managed to dig in deep for a softer, more soothing tone.

"Hey, hey, we knew this would happen," she... lied. At no point had she managed to think quite this far when she'd worried about his deteriorating health. "We just need to figure it out."

[my_own_advocate]

"What was the last one? Something with sowing, right?" Lucifer said. "... What made that stop?"

[betterthanaplan]

“I stopped being in denial,” Duke said. “They’re all about emotional triggers. Which — I can’t figure the trigger out if I don’t even know what the trouble is!”

[okteiviakom]

"One thing at a time," Octavia said, holding on to that soft and even tone for dear life. "That's what we need to figure out, first."