My unicorn got run over by a tractor

After some negotiations — and promises to radio regularly — Duke had his plan worked out. He’d booked a water portal large enough for the OceaNyx to sail through and get him about halfway to the Bahamas, from where he would sail solo to meet Lucifer and Octavia in a couple days at the port Lucifer had bought him years ago.

Duke was excited. Possibly more so than he’d been about anything in as much as a year. He was hitting the water, taking some time for himself, and would be spending the holidays with his partners somewhere warm and happy. The boat was loaded with the necessary provisions and he was ready to set sail.

“See you two beachside!”

[establishy/for the partners and slow play, depending on player moods!]

Octavia had come home from the club last night reporting on Tiny's weirdly animate toothpick village. That, plus the radio reports, had been more than enough to convince everyone that it was time to nope out of town for a bit.

Mindful of the difficulties that portals had posed recently and Octavia's admission that their vacation spots had felt like Fandom replacements, it was decided that this particular noping out would happen aboard Duke's lovingly restored mid-century Dutch sail boat.

Something had unknotted in Duke when they hit the open ocean. He was still pale and sounding like he'd been swallowing sand, and his body felt like one big cramp. But at least now, the potential casualties of the troubles bouncing around inside him were nice and limited. And, well. . . .

Of all the really terrible things that had happened to him in his life, very few had happened at sea.

He was up with the dawn that morning, checking the rigging and manning the rudder and just generally enjoying for once knowing just what needed doing and how to do it.

It felt good. And it had been ages since anything had felt that way.

[for the partners! NFB due to distance.]