betterthanaplan | Port of Fandom, Sunday evening

The 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]

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From:

okteiviakom

"I didn't want him taking the gangplank away," Octavia agreed. Louder and clearer, but very mild.

From:

betterthanaplan

“And . . . that made you mad enough to leave.”

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.

From:

my_own_advocate

"I just wanted to make sure you wouldn't leave," Lucifer said. A beat. "And that no one could show up to make you leave." Another pause. He eyed that bottle of Duke's warily, something clicking into place. Of a sort.

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."

From:

okteiviakom

"Because he wanted to try turning this into a prison."

The reasons half their bed was now in the galley (again) may have been connected.

From:

betterthanaplan

Duke looked between the two of them, then let go of Octavia’s hand so he could get his bottle with both of his.

From:

my_own_advocate

"Well, if you decided you'd rather go frolicking in the woods for the next week rather than be here you could've just jumped in the water and swam away," Lucifer said crabbily.

... 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.

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia wasn't going to dignify that with a response.

She watched the bottle, though.

From:

betterthanaplan

“Hey,” Duke protested. And grabbed for the bottle.

And missed.

From:

my_own_advocate

Lucifer wanted to say 'I need this more than you'.

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.

From:

okteiviakom

"All that booze is gonna do is make you feel even worse in the morning, anyway," Octavia told Duke, flatly, as she settled her abandoned hand onto her stomach.

Half cradled it with the other one.

No, she hadn't been looking at Lucifer's face.

From:

betterthanaplan

“Different kind of bad,” Duke corrected in a mutter.

He saw Lucifer’s face. And misinterpreted it.

“Hey, that’s decent bourbon. At least mid shelf.

From:

my_own_advocate

"I know." His voice kept doing that funny thing. As did his face. Some part of Lucifer was mortified and wanted to rub it away, another wanted to crawl forward and curl up into a little ball next to Octavia and maybe drag Duke down and forget about it all.

What was happening?

(Adrenaline crash.)

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia's gaze flicked to him when she heard how he sounded.

And, oh. Now that was happening.

From:

betterthanaplan

“If you want better booze, we have better booze,” Duke said. He was too drunk for this.

But at least he wasn’t hiding or irrationally angry anymore.

From:

my_own_advocate

Lucifer shut his stupid wet eyes (tearing up, all over his face) and tried to find-- some sort of compromise for. Whatever was happening right now.

"Just sit down, Duke," he said, strained. "We should all clearly not be trusted to talk."

From:

okteiviakom

Oh, were they finally catching up to what Octavia had wanted to do this entire time?

"He's crashing," Octavia translated. A little detached. (That, too, could hopefully be fixed with rest.)

From:

betterthanaplan

Duke was about to point out that meant Lucifer really didn’t need his booze — but didn’t. Because Lucifer was crying. And Octavia was all mild.

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?”

From:

my_own_advocate

"This is not a pillow room situation," Lucifer mumbled.

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.

From:

okteiviakom

And Octavia had never really been a pillow room person. That was for them, and this was more her speed. But she didn't say that.

She didn't say anything.

Just offered Duke her hand again. Did her best to give Lucifer a little nudge, too.

From:

betterthanaplan

“We also have a bedroom,” Duke pointed out. But he took her hand and wriggled in closer. “Just saying.”

From:

my_own_advocate

"No bedrooms," Lucifer said. "Nest."

He shifted closer at the nudge, until he felt himself touching them both. He threw an arm over Duke.

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia's voice was raspy and tired. "Open space."

Well, more open and bigger than the bedroom, anyway.

She gave Duke's hand a squeeze.

From:

betterthanaplan

“Open space,” Duke echoed, snuggling in a bit closer.

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.”

From:

my_own_advocate

"It's not your fault," Lucifer murmured.

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia knew (on a distant, theoretical level) that she should probably have been taking part in being reassuring. But she just didn't have it in her, purely in terms of energy.

She could still keep her firm hold on Duke's hand, though. And brush her thumb back and forth against it.