betterthanaplan | The deck of the Cape Rouge, Monday afternoon

Duke woke up . . . feeling perfectly fine, actually. Or as perfectly fine as he ever did. Perhaps his body had built up an immunity to the pollen after all these years. Perhaps he'd eaten some particularly quirky yogurt as a depression snack the day before. Perhaps -- and this was the unlikeliest of all if you asked him -- whatever was in charge of the island's whims and quirks was just giving him a damned break this time.

Whatever it was, he was not feeling any extra-strong urges today. He was, however, bemusedly watching a pair of porgs chase each other around the deck while he drank his first coffee of the day, and wondering if it was a sign that spring had finally sprung.

". . . Aww, c'mon, guys," he said, as one porg finally caught the other. "Get a room. I know you have access to several belowdecks."

He didn't even have a salad for them to be in front of! Come on, now.

[open! I'm trying a whole "30 minutes working, 5 minutes walking" thing after listening to NPR yesterday and it's maybe actually doing a good thing for my brain!]

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From:

betterthanaplan

Duke shrugged. “I’m alright. Porgs seem to have some extra energy to burn too.”

From:

okteiviakom

"Yeah, there were a lot of weird bunnies in the preserve, too."

Which was new, but not surprising, all things considered.

From:

betterthanaplan

“They must’ve been multiplying like. . . .” Duke trailed off with a snort. “Well. Like bunnies.”

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia rolled her eyes, but it was mostly good-natured.

She nodded to his coffee. "Are you willing to share some of that?"

From:

betterthanaplan

“Sure.” Duke held the mug out for her. “Should be a fairly fresh pot left belowdecks too, if Luce hasn’t drunk it all.”

From:

okteiviakom

"I just want a sip," Octavia told him, taking the mug from him, carefully (and also all too aware of the way their fingers brushed against each other). "Probably had enough this morning. Chof."

Okay, so it turned into more of a gulp, but anyway.

From:

betterthanaplan

“De nada,” Duke said idly, watching her face. “So . . . what’s up?”

There was definitely something going on with her.

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia raised her eyebrows just a little. "The pollen?" she said. "Guess I was even more right than I thought when I thought you couldn't feel it this time."

Since he'd actually still been in bed and asleep when she'd woken up this morning. That had very much not been the case last time.

From:

betterthanaplan

Duke blinked a few times. He looked at the porgs. Then back at her.

". . . Wow, yeah, I'm not feeling it at all."

That was a good thing, right? He suddenly wasn't sure.

From:

okteiviakom

It was if you asked Octavia.

"Mm-hmm," Octavia hummed, and stole another sip from his mug before holding it out for him to take back.

From:

betterthanaplan

It definitely helped him not want to flee the island. Which, considering they had just been on vacation, and shortly after that talked about how uncomfortable Octavia could get on vacation. . . .

Yeah. He was going to go with this being a good thing.

He accepted the mug absently.

"Weird."

From:

okteiviakom

"But good," Octavia said, because it probably deserved to be said out loud. Couldn't hurt, anyway.

Even as Octavia was already resigning herself to obsessively working out this week.

From:

betterthanaplan

"I'm definitely okay with not getting triggered," Duke agreed. "How do, uh. How do you want to handle it?"

From:

okteiviakom

"I'm handling it," Octavia replied, a little on the mild side. "You don't have to worry about it."

So reassuring, Tavi. Really.

From:

betterthanaplan

"Okay." Duke nodded. "I'll do my best."

He was definitely going to worry about it. But hopefully not overly much.

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia just nodded. And then said, "I think I need a shower."

That run had been serious business.

From:

betterthanaplan

Duke nodded, reaching out automatically to brush her hair behind her ear -- then pausing a few inches away when he remembered that that might not be quite helpful in this particular situation.

"Sounds like a plan," he said, leaving his hand hovering rather than pull it back directly. Letting her decide if she wanted to lean into the touch or pull away.

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia gave a very soft (and maybe a little weak) snort, and leaned into it.

"You can touch me," she murmured, attempting a wry little quirk of her lips for him, too. "It's fine."

From:

betterthanaplan

"Especially since you're about to go shower?" Duke noted with a wry quirk of his own. He brushed his thumb gently over her cheek. "Just, you know. Seemed like a good idea to let you keep the lead here."

Yeah, he was letting some of his own issues with this week show through. But hey, when was getting consent the wrong thing to do?

From:

okteiviakom

Never, and Octavia hoped he wouldn't think she didn't appreciate the care.

"I get it," she promised. Smirked, faintly. "Though the shower time does help."

From:

betterthanaplan

"Well, sure. Who among us hasn't needed a shower like that from time to time? Pollen or not."

From:

okteiviakom

Snort. "It's still also a shower for just the sweat."

From:

betterthanaplan

"And the pollen," Duke said. He brushed his thumb against her one more time and pulled his hand away. "Which is probably stuck in the sweat."

That was kind of a sexy thought, actually. Her all sweaty and . . . dusty. But, like. A normal amount of sexy thought. For him at least.

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia could practically still feel his touch even after he pulled his hand away, although she managed to at least keep herself from swaying after it.

Just made her think about his hands even more.

"Yeah, I'm not expecting to wash that off."

From:

betterthanaplan

"Not out of your sinuses, anyway," Duke noted. He remembered all too well what the pollen felt like. (It occasionally still featured in his nightmares.) "Go wash up. Then maybe we'll find another way for you to burn energy."

Possibly including sexy-times. Duke was cool with that if she was -- it wasn't him feeling pollen-pressured. And he wasn't about to pretend like Octavia didn't know her own mind about things.