betterthanaplan | Haven, Maine, Break week

They'd taken their dear, sweet time sailing up the coast, Duke in no real rush to get back to his hometown, and Octavia in no rush to get anywhere with anyone else.

Duke did his best to hide the ball of dread gathering in his stomach as they approached Portland, even knowing that Octavia could probably see right through him. He could easily have insisted on making this drop there, or literally anywhere else along Maine's substantial coastline, but ever since his trip up here to visit Nathan last fall, Haven had lurked in the back of his head like an unpaid debt. He had a responsibility to his hometown somehow, though he had no idea what it was. His father had made that clear before he died. And while part of him just wanted to say "fuck it" and let a 26 year old promise go unfulfilled, he knew how much it would haunt him if he did.

The troubles were back. And while Duke wasn't about to ditch Fandom and move back home in any sort of permanent sense, he could at least check in every now and then, make sure the town hadn't burned down.

[for the snogon with whatever pace of play happens to work this week. Minor OCD on the way.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only | Expand All

From:

okteiviakom

The good news were that Octavia had eventually pushed her panicky flashbacking aside, replacing surface-level fear with anger, that good old usual go-to emotion of hers. The bad news were that this meant she had absolutely tried to kick Nathan in the junk when he'd been getting her out of the car.

... Oh, and also that she was currently back to rotting in a cell, after having been booked and fingerprinted (and identified as 'Tavi Gona' on the paperwork because nothing on her had suggested otherwise, and like fuck was she going to say differently) and thrown in. There was nothing to do but wait - for Duke, for Gloria, for someone. Nothing to do but sit there, or pace around like the caged animal she currently was.

Occasionally, she would kick the bars. They made the most wonderfully annoying clanging sound when the side of her boot hit them.

From:

seaoftroubles

Gloria was as good as her word. She and Duke were at the station by the time they'd finished processing Octavia, Gloria making a beeline right for the Chief's office, Duke dogging her heels the whole way. They'd have gotten there sooner, but Gloria had insisted they wait for the "cleaner" to arrive before leaving the scene of little Timmy's trouble.

The "cleaner" was apparently a giant named Dwight. Who'd snorted at the "pest control" line, but agreed at least raccoons were better than another gas leak.

The Chief had given Duke the stink eye when he'd come in -- nothing new there -- but listened to Gloria calmly enough as she explained what had really been happening when Nathan showed up.

"She's the one who took down those action figures, Garland. She didn't even blink when she saw them, just dove in with her sword. You really want to start going around arresting people brave enough to deal with the troubles?"

"Nathan said she punched him," Garland said. He didn't exactly sound like he disapproved.

"Yeah, well," Duke said. "Nathan was being a dick."

Garland sighed. "So what's your story then, Crocker? You back in town for good?"

Duke shuddered. "God no. Leaving the minute I get my friend back."

Garland nodded. "Good." He pushed to his feet. "I'll go talk to Nathan, get him to drop the charges. You go talk to your girl. I know my boy; she ain't getting out without at least an apology here. And don't you go rolling your eyes at me there, beanpole, I'm doing you a favor. Say 'thank you'."

Duke scowled. Gloria elbowed him. Duke's thanks came out through gritted teeth, but Garland nodded anyway and went to find Nathan.

"God, I hate cops," Duke said.

Gloria patted his arm. "I know kitten. I know."

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia was still pacing, back and forth right by the bars, occasionally glaring daggers through them. And at them, too.

At least, until --

"Duke!"

From:

betterthanaplan

"Tavi." Duke came right up to the bars, reaching for her. "You're alright." It was as much a question as a reassurance. "Gloria's fucking amazing. She's got the Chief of Police talking to Nathan right now. You'll be out in no time."

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia thought 'alright' was a stretch, but she wasn't going to be saying that, not with the way she'd rushed the bars and grabbed for his hands.

Her sigh of relief was a little shuddery, and, okay, maybe the 'not alright' was kind of bleeding through in the way her expression twisted into something vaguely pained as she said, "Duke, I hate it here."

It was another hole, after all.

From:

betterthanaplan

"I know. I know, it's --" It had to be bringing up even more shit for her than it did for him. "It's the worst. But I'm not leaving until you do. You just . . . Chief says you're gonna apologize to Nathan."

From:

okteiviakom

The scowl was practically instant.

"... What?"

From:

betterthanaplan

"The Chief's Nathan's dad," Duke said. "You don't have to mean it. We will call him all the worst names we can think of in Trig the minute we're out of here."

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia made a frustrated noise of protest as she let her head rest against the bars.

But: "Promise?"

From:

betterthanaplan

Duke reached through to hug her as best he could. "Promise. What's the word for that in Trig?"

From:

okteiviakom

"Yu swega klin," Octavia muttered, with her hands through the bars to curl into his shirt the way they always tended to. "'You promise'."

From:

betterthanaplan

"Ai swega klin."

"Cozy," Nathan said. Duke let out a low growl. "When you called her your 'partner', I assumed you meant in business."

"Yeah, well, you always were pretty oblivious, weren't you, Nathan."

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia exhaled a heavy sigh.

And let her hands drop back down.

From:

seaoftroubles

"I'm here to speak to the prisoner," Nathan said.

Duke stepped back just far enough to turn and face Nathan, leaving one hand through the bars for Octavia. "Go ahead."

"Alone."

"No."

Nathan moved into Duke's space, glaring. Duke stood his ground and stared right back.

Nathan caved, looking at Octavia. "Chief said you have something to say to me."

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia bristled at being referred to as 'the prisoner'. She straightened up some, and while she wasn't quite holding Duke's hand, hers was still touching his. Keeping up that little bit of contact while, if she was entirely honest, staying ready to grab his hand if he tried to move further away.

But he didn't.

And so she took her turn to stare Nathan down through the bars.

There was a long pause, and then she said, "I'm sorry for punching you." Her expression was mild and steady. Just like her voice, which was a low rasp but not particularly antagonistic - not particularly anything. "And for trying to kick you in the crotch."

Yes, that absolutely had to be mentioned separately.

... Only because Duke needed to hear that she had.

From:

betterthanaplan

Duke snorted, then turned it -- not at all convincingly -- into a cough when Nathan shot him a look.

"Thank you," Nathan said. "What were you doing there with a sword?"

"She doesn't have to tell you that." Duke put himself between Octavia and Nathan again. "You got your apology, now let her go."

From:

okteiviakom

"Yeah, pretty sure you're supposed to be giving me my sword back now," Octavia drawled, but very mildly.

She had not, for the record, parted with it particularly gracefully.

From:

seaoftroubles

Nathan glared harder. "You two are perfect for each other."

He didn't sound happy about that.

But he did unlock the cell door.

"You can pick up your things with Stan. I see you around here again. . . ."

From:

okteiviakom

Some of Octavia's thinly veiled and poorly repressed desperation bubbled back up to the surface in the way she was at the door as soon as the key was in the lock. Fidgeting to get the hell out.

"You'll come at me whether I've done anything or not, m-hm, yeah, I figured."

From:

betterthanaplan

Duke laugh-coughed again. "She's got you there, Nathan."

Nathan sighed. "Just -- get out."

Duke saluted. "Mochof, nomonjoka."

Nathan glared.

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia could not have slipped out of the cell faster than she did. Nor reached for Duke hand right after, though they were for slightly different reasons.

"Taim yumi gon we, en ban disha sankrola au."

From:

betterthanaplan

"Ciao, Nathan!" Duke said, tugging Octavia along.

He didn't want to stay in this room -- or this building -- any longer than necessary. He was pretty sure Octavia felt just the same, too.

Fortunately, Stan was perfectly good-natured about giving them Octavia's things back, including the sword. Even if he did try to get chatty about it.

"This thing is pretty neat. You do a lot of backwoods hiking?"

From:

okteiviakom

Yeah, Octavia was clearly getting twitchier by the second. Now that there weren't any bars holding her back, she wanted out.

Stan was a perfectly fine person, probably, but she wasn't gentle about yankng her sword in its scabbard out of his hands. He was a guardsman, the same as the rest of them.

"You had me locked up," she said, flatly but still somehow managing an edge to those two words, while she shoved the rest of her things into her pockets. "That's all you need to know."

From:

betterthanaplan

Stan pouted. Duke clicked his tongue and shrugged.

Gloria found them before they left. "You doing alright now, wildcat?"

"Gloria, it was lovely to meet you, but we need to go."