Port of Fandom, Sunday evening
Jul. 2nd, 2023 12:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
betterthanaplanThe portal let off at the end of the docks. Duke walked through, his head down, shoulders hunched, looking like a man under attack.
He wasn't anymore, at least not from the outside.
He paused just long enough to get his bearings, then started down the docks, not waiting for his partners to follow through the portal. He wanted to -- something. He didn't know what. Yell or hit something or dive into the ocean or maybe get on the OceaNyx and sail off over the horizon and just. Disappear.
He was pretty sure no one was going to let him do that last one, though.
[for said partners, please! And the return and general mood is fine for broadcast, but maybe not the precise details of conversations]
He wasn't anymore, at least not from the outside.
He paused just long enough to get his bearings, then started down the docks, not waiting for his partners to follow through the portal. He wanted to -- something. He didn't know what. Yell or hit something or dive into the ocean or maybe get on the OceaNyx and sail off over the horizon and just. Disappear.
He was pretty sure no one was going to let him do that last one, though.
[for said partners, please! And the return and general mood is fine for broadcast, but maybe not the precise details of conversations]
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Date: 2023-07-02 05:18 pm (UTC)Her gaze was trained on Duke the second she was through the portal, though. She watched, she followed.
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Date: 2023-07-02 05:25 pm (UTC)Lucifer wanted to go back. He wanted to go back and throw more people at Audrey Parker. He also wanted to go inside and lock all of them into the Rouge for the next week until they all recovered their ability to speak.
He took off after Duke immediately, brushing his hand against Duke's lower back. Not to linger, but to remind him they were there.
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Date: 2023-07-02 05:30 pm (UTC)That Octavia, at least, had had it all done to here.
"We shouldn't have gone."
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Date: 2023-07-02 05:34 pm (UTC)Especially to him.
Octavia hung back, several steps behind them.
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Date: 2023-07-02 05:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-07-02 05:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-07-02 05:57 pm (UTC)Octavia came to a stop. Considered the merits of pointing out either that other people would likely be dead, instead, or that she was already crazy to begin with. Neither thing seemed particularly useful, however.
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Date: 2023-07-02 06:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-07-02 06:10 pm (UTC)"Right. 'Cause I'm not going to do that now."
He turned around again, shoving his hands into his pockets. Getting on the OceaNyx and sailing away was sounding better and better.
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Date: 2023-07-02 06:14 pm (UTC)Octavia moved again, to follow. (Not entirely unlike a ghost. That was how she felt right now.)
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Date: 2023-07-02 06:18 pm (UTC)That probably should've sounded more consoling.
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Date: 2023-07-02 06:21 pm (UTC)The OceaNyx wasn't stocked for a long trip. And he didn't sail unprepared.
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Date: 2023-07-02 06:28 pm (UTC)So she kept following them.
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Date: 2023-07-02 06:32 pm (UTC)"Duke," he said again, and reached to grab Duke's arm as soon as they were aboard.
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Date: 2023-07-02 06:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-07-02 06:40 pm (UTC)Something in her tried to tell her to say something, again.
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Date: 2023-07-02 06:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-07-02 06:51 pm (UTC)"That makes it worse!"
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Date: 2023-07-02 06:55 pm (UTC)Not the profound thing that something in her had been trying to get her to say, probably. It was flat and tired, to boot.
But in spirit, she was still sitting on the police station floor, trying not to hurl her guts onto it, so this was the best that she could do.
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Date: 2023-07-02 06:56 pm (UTC)Lucifer made a strangled noise.
"You two go on ahead," he ground out. "I'm going to pull up the gangplank or whatever the bloody thing is called."
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Date: 2023-07-02 07:02 pm (UTC)Not that he made it much further than the galley. He found himself a large, unopened bottle of bourbon and wondered how hard it would be to convince Lucifer to just leave him alone to wallow his way to the bottom of it.
Octavia, he suspected, wouldn't be a hard sell. She was doing her closed off thing, and was probably looking for her own alone time by now.
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Date: 2023-07-02 07:04 pm (UTC)"No," she told Lucifer.
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Date: 2023-07-02 07:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-07-02 07:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-07-02 07:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-07-02 07:15 pm (UTC)"I would've listened to worries about outside forces." There was just a little bit more rasp, but it sounded exhausted. "Trapping us in isn't going to fly with me."
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Date: 2023-07-02 07:18 pm (UTC)He hadn't anticipated pushback from her. Duke, yes. Her, no.
"Fine," he found himself saying, "Then I'm going back to the mansion. Have fun."
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Date: 2023-07-02 07:23 pm (UTC)His statement just made her look more tired, somehow. But she didn't move.
"So the flight risk is you."
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Date: 2023-07-02 07:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-07-02 07:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-07-02 07:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-07-02 07:33 pm (UTC)"Gangplank's not the answer, Lucifer."
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Date: 2023-07-02 07:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-07-02 07:43 pm (UTC)Duke was kind of insulted.
(Hurt. He was hurt. But he was pretty sure he wanted to be left alone, so the hurt didn't make sense, so he was telling himself he was insulted.
("Insulted" sounded less pathetic.)
He'd managed to down a good quarter of the bottle already, and between the exhaustion, the lack of a decent meal in the last several hours, and the mix of bourbon with his still-new medication, he was definitely already feeling the effects as he swayed his way past the pillow room.
They'd expect him to hole up there. That's what he'd done last time. He wanted to be left alone (it hurt that he was being left alone) so he went looking for a spot they wouldn't necessarily think of.
The boat had plenty of those.
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Date: 2023-07-02 07:48 pm (UTC)Octavia looked at Lucifer and wondered whether there was even a point to talking to him, anymore.
She shook her head. "You're trying to protect him from your imagined worst case scenario by hurting me to my face." And pushed past him. "Just know that."
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Date: 2023-07-02 07:53 pm (UTC)As soon as she had passed him, he resumed walking. Onto the dock. (The adrenaline of two straight days of feeling like the lone driving factor in protecting him had gotten to him, crawled into his limbs and his bones and his belly.)
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Date: 2023-07-02 07:58 pm (UTC)She made her way to the hatch, and then into the ship.
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Date: 2023-07-02 08:01 pm (UTC)Duke settled himself into it with his bottle and listened to the footsteps coming into the boat now.
Too soft to be Lucifer. Duke must have finally scared him off. Well. He lifted his bottle into the air with a soft scoff. Cheers to that, then.
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Date: 2023-07-02 08:05 pm (UTC)Too tired to manage making it sounded kinda-sorta like a question, which would have been the usual call of trying to find someoone.
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Date: 2023-07-02 08:10 pm (UTC)He didn't say anything though. He wanted to be alone. (He wanted to know if she'd look for him. If she'd worry.) He rested his head against the wall and closed his eyes and listened.
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Date: 2023-07-02 08:16 pm (UTC)The walk-in, too.
"I know you're in here somewhere."
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Date: 2023-07-02 08:20 pm (UTC)He snorted, not particularly softly, and set the bottle down with a thump. His stomach was starting to protest, and he was thinking maybe he should have holed up closer to the bathroom after all.
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Date: 2023-07-02 08:24 pm (UTC)With the fading adrenaline came the reality of his worry for Duke.
He looked up at the mansion, already peeking above the trees. So much easier than anything that awaited in port. He could go, be angry at Octavia, full of violent rage at Haven and Audrey and all that lot, or he could...
He sighed deeply.
"Bloody hell," he muttered, as he turned 'round and walked back towards the Rouge.
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Date: 2023-07-02 08:33 pm (UTC)And she was so very tired.
"I just don't know where," she called. "But I'm gonna be here in the galley, when you feel like coming back to me."
Except for the next small while. Which involved a return into the bathroom, for a big towel, and then into the bedroom, where she unceremoniously ripped just about all the bedding off the bed to drag it into the galley. If everyone else was going to be hiding or storming off, then she was going to do exactly what she wanted, and apparently that was making a nest on the floor.
(Recreating something that had brought her solace during one of the many times Haven had fucked them over in the past.)
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Date: 2023-07-02 08:40 pm (UTC)make her prove she still loved himbe alone. He pressed the bottle against his forehead and grimaced, then pushed to his feet.There was a more direct route to where it sounded like she was right now, but he was not up to crawling out through a low bookcase in front of anyone right now. Not even her.
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Date: 2023-07-02 08:43 pm (UTC)He didn't, though. Blame the fear or the general tiredness or perhaps the vague conviction he would still leave (to spite her) once he was done (for worry of him).
"Duke?" he called, as he yanked open the hatch.
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Date: 2023-07-02 08:47 pm (UTC)"Hiding."
And no, she wasn't going to stop doing what she was doing just because he was back, because... Well, she couldn't currently really access any feelings about wherever he chose to be.
So she kicked off the other boot, and set the towel down where it would best protect the sheets if the cuts decided to start bleeding again - and laid down on it. (Still mostly to the left of the center, even alone.)
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Date: 2023-07-02 08:51 pm (UTC)He wondered wha had taken him so long to come in.
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Date: 2023-07-02 08:53 pm (UTC)He wasn't here for her (he'd remember to be here for her in a moment). He climbed down into the galley and strode right past her, yelling. "Duke? Duke, are you in here?"
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Date: 2023-07-02 08:55 pm (UTC)Octavia chose to ignore all of them, and stare at the ceiling.
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Date: 2023-07-02 09:00 pm (UTC)Instead he dragged himself up the ladder to the deck the galley was on.
“Stop yelling. Jesus.”
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Date: 2023-07-03 04:31 am (UTC)Was it possible for an angel to look like he hadn't slept in days? Because he did look the part. (It was the worry and the frumpled hair.)
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Date: 2023-07-03 09:21 am (UTC)Some numbed sense of relief had definitely rolled over her when she'd heard Duke's voice, though. Gaze immediately drawn in his direction.
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Date: 2023-07-03 02:03 pm (UTC)Oh. He was doing that thing again now. The "drive them away before they can hurt you" thing. Implying that they didn't now share ownership of the Rouge, in spirit if not in legal fact. Oh good. That would end well.
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Date: 2023-07-03 02:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-07-03 02:47 pm (UTC)It was also their home, and if he tried implying anything about that, well...
As things stood, Octavia said nothing. Just slowly pulled her knees up.
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Date: 2023-07-03 03:21 pm (UTC)His stomach was not excited by him drinking more. But it did serve to punctuate his point reasonably well.
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Date: 2023-07-03 03:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-07-03 03:33 pm (UTC)Extended one of her arms in Duke's direction. Held her hand out.
She wasn't really expecting anything to come of it. (Not even the hurt that ought to follow him inevitably rejecting it. Or ignoring it.)
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Date: 2023-07-03 04:06 pm (UTC)“Did you — drag all the bedding in here so you could camp out?”
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Date: 2023-07-03 04:52 pm (UTC)You hadn't said anything about it so far, Luce.
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Date: 2023-07-03 05:00 pm (UTC)She hadn't pulled her hand back yet.
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Date: 2023-07-03 05:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-07-03 05:21 pm (UTC)Irritably.
In a second he was going to realize that included him, too. ... Maybe a minute?
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Date: 2023-07-03 05:23 pm (UTC)Her tone was mild, but the offer of the hand remained.
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Date: 2023-07-03 05:42 pm (UTC)Baby, you were hiding in a secret passage.
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Date: 2023-07-03 05:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-07-03 05:51 pm (UTC)The hand was beginning to sink towards the mess of bedding. Her arm was tired.
"Yes, in here."
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Date: 2023-07-03 05:58 pm (UTC)And finally set the bottle down.
“I was,” he admitted, rubbing his mouth with his free hand. His head hurt, and his stomach was screaming at him to put something other than alcohol in it, but all he did was sink down onto the bench seat near her. “I don’t know why.”
Liar.
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Date: 2023-07-03 06:02 pm (UTC)He was oddly stilted as he turned, and took a step towards her.
"... Because I remembered there was something more important than being right."
Oh look: without anyone continuing to play prickly chicken with him, Lucifer was actually sort of figuring something out.
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Date: 2023-07-03 06:07 pm (UTC)"Was that what that was?"
There was no bite, only tired.
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Date: 2023-07-03 06:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-07-03 06:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-07-03 06:38 pm (UTC)Her gaze just returned to the ceiling again, instead.
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Date: 2023-07-03 06:42 pm (UTC)This was why they hadn’t followed him? They were too busy being mad at each other? He wasn’t sure if that was reassuring or infuriating.
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Date: 2023-07-03 06:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-07-03 06:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-07-03 07:06 pm (UTC)Duke fumbled for his bottle again. The fact that he wasn’t quite coordinated enough to grab it was probably a good sign he’d had enough.
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Date: 2023-07-03 07:16 pm (UTC)Like a rusty, failing cog in a dusty machine.
"And I wanted the illusion that we could all sit on a small tin island together for a bit and have no one else bother us for the next day or two and then she said no."
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Date: 2023-07-03 07:26 pm (UTC)The reasons half their bed was now in the galley (again) may have been connected.
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Date: 2023-07-03 07:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-07-03 07:37 pm (UTC)... and then reached to yank the bottle out of Duke's hand. He needed it. So he could sink down into a sad sitting heap on the floor.
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Date: 2023-07-03 07:38 pm (UTC)She watched the bottle, though.
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Date: 2023-07-03 07:44 pm (UTC)And missed.
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Date: 2023-07-03 07:47 pm (UTC)Instead he made an odd little strangled noise, which he tried to drown with a big swig of whatever Duke had been drinking, but to his consternation and alarm something else had happened by the time he lowered it: his eyes had gone very wet.
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Date: 2023-07-03 07:50 pm (UTC)Half cradled it with the other one.
No, she hadn't been looking at Lucifer's face.
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Date: 2023-07-03 07:56 pm (UTC)He saw Lucifer’s face. And misinterpreted it.
“Hey, that’s decent bourbon. At least mid shelf.
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Date: 2023-07-03 08:00 pm (UTC)What was happening?
(Adrenaline crash.)
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Date: 2023-07-03 08:02 pm (UTC)And, oh. Now that was happening.
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Date: 2023-07-03 08:06 pm (UTC)But at least he wasn’t hiding or irrationally angry anymore.
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Date: 2023-07-03 08:08 pm (UTC)"Just sit down, Duke," he said, strained. "We should all clearly not be trusted to talk."
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Date: 2023-07-03 08:13 pm (UTC)"He's crashing," Octavia translated. A little detached. (That, too, could hopefully be fixed with rest.)
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Date: 2023-07-03 08:20 pm (UTC)And Duke realized he was really, really tired.
He slid awkwardly off the bench to sprawl onto the pile of bedding on the floor.
“You know we have like. A whole room for this, right?”
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Date: 2023-07-03 08:22 pm (UTC)He finally gave in. Crawled over to the nest, and curled up in it, half-upright.
"We make a nest when everything's been terrible."
They did. It was tradition.
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Date: 2023-07-03 08:27 pm (UTC)She didn't say anything.
Just offered Duke her hand again. Did her best to give Lucifer a little nudge, too.
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Date: 2023-07-04 03:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-07-04 04:55 am (UTC)He shifted closer at the nudge, until he felt himself touching them both. He threw an arm over Duke.
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Date: 2023-07-04 06:56 am (UTC)Well, more open and bigger than the bedroom, anyway.
She gave Duke's hand a squeeze.
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Date: 2023-07-04 01:59 pm (UTC)He was the opposite when he got stressed. He liked close quarters. He’d absolutely spent nights curled up in various walls in his time.
“I’m sorry all that happened.”
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Date: 2023-07-04 02:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-07-04 02:22 pm (UTC)She could still keep her firm hold on Duke's hand, though. And brush her thumb back and forth against it.
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Date: 2023-07-04 02:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-07-04 02:51 pm (UTC)He also sounded tired.
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Date: 2023-07-04 02:56 pm (UTC)Had been. Whatever.
"And it's useless."
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Date: 2023-07-04 04:28 pm (UTC)Not the people committing suicide on his knives. Not the damage Haven did to his partners. Not even the troubles themselves anymore.
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Date: 2023-07-04 06:18 pm (UTC)But that made him reach out, and brush back some of Duke's bangs, and trace his face with his fingertips.
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Date: 2023-07-04 06:35 pm (UTC)She was barely here, anyway.
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Date: 2023-07-04 06:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-07-04 06:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-07-04 07:34 pm (UTC)“I feel like I can’t do anything.”
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Date: 2023-07-04 07:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-07-04 07:55 pm (UTC)Like she was sinking into some kind of a pit.
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Date: 2023-07-04 09:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-07-04 09:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-07-04 09:31 pm (UTC)But, the hand holding his had slowly gone slack over the last while. And her breathing had steadied.
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Date: 2023-07-04 10:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-07-04 10:10 pm (UTC)He hesitated. Before he found himself, inevitably, leaning past Octavia to kiss Duke. Very gentle. Very exhausted.
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Date: 2023-07-04 11:47 pm (UTC)“We should sleep,” he said finally.
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Date: 2023-07-05 04:44 am (UTC)"We should," Lucifer agreed softly. "Octavia's already setting the right example."
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Date: 2023-07-05 12:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-07-05 12:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-07-05 03:21 pm (UTC)Yes, dear. They most certainly did. Please do not take that as an excuse to stop taking them, though, okay?
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Date: 2023-07-05 04:12 pm (UTC)A pause.
"Duke?"
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Date: 2023-07-05 04:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-07-05 04:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-07-05 04:28 pm (UTC)Which was the half-asleep, drunken version of "I love you too".
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Date: 2023-07-05 04:31 pm (UTC)He closed his eyes, and hoped for sleep to come. His body felt so tired.