betterthanaplan | The Cape Rouge, Port of Fandom, Monday

Bolstered with caffeine thanks to the Perk, Duke had returned to his boat to see just how much damage his younger self had managed to wreak over the weekend. The place was a wreck, especially the galley, with weapons (that had been toys, which was reassuring and terrifying in equal measure) strewn about wherever wee!Duke had happened to drop them, and a sticky film of grape jelly coating pretty much everything. He'd thankfully been quick enough even as a ten year old to keep the small fire he'd started trying to use the waffle iron contained to a very small space, so that wouldn't take much more than replacing the outlet and maybe resanding part of a cabinet.

And, as predicted, there were five pizzas, two giant cookies, and a rather unholy amount of Pepsi leftover in his fridge. Also, most of a frittata, at least half a serving of beef stew, and several stale and/or smashed cookies. He fed those last items to the porgs, who were all terribly pleased to see him, and set about making the Rouge a proper home again.

He had the door to the deck propped open to air out the smell of small semi-feral boy and to be able to hear if Octavia -- or anyone else -- came around. And, well, if he ended up humming some Violent Femmes under his breath while he did, well. Not everything he remembered from being a kid was a bad memory.

[expecting one, but also open]

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From:

betterthanaplan

"We can always do one cold later." There was so much pizza. "I, uh, was maybe a little bit of a hoarder as a kid."

From:

okteiviakom

"Makes sense," Octavia replied mildly, after taking a second to figure out the oven and get the pizza safely in there. Then she straightened up again. "Get it while you can, that kind of thing."

From:

betterthanaplan

"Pretty much." Duke sipped his apple juice with an ironic little smile. "Wasn't like I was going to get it at home."

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia went to empty the rest of her shopping onto the counter. An entire pineapple (because fruit was better when there was knifework involved), a few oranges, a thing of strawberries. And a bag of those mini peanut butter cups because those were kind of a comfort thing, not that she'd say so.

"It's why I'm half made of Oreos now, too," she said. "And cake."

Liam had used his precocious adorableness for good to get them that.

From:

betterthanaplan

Duke raised his eyebrows at all that, and went to grab his knife roll to pick out the proper one for that pineapple.

"I was very impressed with your stashing abilities, by the way." Even if he'd also been pretty sure Bellamy had kidnapped her for nefarious purposes. "And the cute bunny, too."

From:

okteiviakom

At least going overboard with grocery shopping was still her healthiest coping strategy of the day.

"My mom made it for me," she said, as she popped the strawberry container open. "His name was Bunny."

From:

betterthanaplan

Duke pulled out a bottle of tequila and some grenadine to make some fruity cocktails. Because his coping strategies weren't great either.

"That's really sweet." It didn't make up for keeping her under the floor though. "So was having an extra kid really punishable by death on the Ark?"

From:

okteiviakom

Oh, look. That question alone made the tequila seem all the more appealing. Also made the fruit all the more interesting, judging by where Octavia's gaze was now.

"Yeah."

From:

betterthanaplan

"That's fucked up." She probably already knew that. "I'm sorry you had to deal with that."

He knew a little something about your community thinking you should never have been born.

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia picked up the knife for the pineapple, then glanced around for a cutting board, and a bowl or something.

Focusing on doing something with her hands, instead of her words.

"You asked about Unity Day," she said, after a long pause.

From:

betterthanaplan

Duke grabbed a cutting board and passed it over, then grabbed one of the oranges to do a little cutting himself. "I remember."

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia's voice dropped quieter again. "Bel had just been made a guard," she said, as she began cutting the pineapple. "And after sixteen years of me just staying stuck in our quarters, he convinced me that he could take me to this stupid Unity Day dance. Said it would be okay 'cause everyone would be wearing masks anyway. Said we'd be back before Mom ever knew we were gone."

And she'd believed him, both because he was Bellamy, and because she'd just wanted it so badly.

She sighed. "He took me to watch my first moonrise, and we went to the party, but --" Here her voice got much more dry. "-- surprise, surprise, everything went to shit when there was a solar flare alert."

From:

betterthanaplan

"They found you out," Duke said, careful to keep his own voice level as he halved and jucied the first orange.

She'd stayed in her family's quarters -- which he had to assume were not large -- for sixteen years. He hadn't even managed to stay at his parents' house regularly for ten, and he'd at least been allowed outside. What exactly had her mom been planning to do with her when she grew up? Just keep her shut inside forever?

Jesus.

"What'd they do about it?"

From:

okteiviakom

At least that question had a clear and factual answer. Even if it was threefold.

"Demoted Bel to working sanitation, threw me in a cell to rot... And floated Mom."

From:

betterthanaplan

"Threw you in a cell," Duke said. He'd already gathered the part about her mom, who honestly he was having trouble feeling sorry for -- though that might partially be his own mother issues rearing their ugly head. "For existing."

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia kept working on the pineapple, predictably quick and efficient about slicing off the peel. Probably helped keep her voice mild and steady, too.

"I already told you, once." The first time she'd been on his boat. Which felt to her like a lot longer ago than the month and a half it actually was. "Getting locked up for being born probably sounds like a quip without the context."

From:

betterthanaplan

"Kinda, yeah." Duke shook his head, making quick work of the first tequila sunrise and sliding it her way. He was pretty sure she'd want some alcohol after talking about all that. "And then they sent you all down to the ground rather than have to deal with you properly. And I thought the cops in my hometown were terrible."

The Chief was really kind of surprisingly reasonable, given Haven's . . . unique issues. Just maybe not where Duke -- and his relationship with the Chief's son -- were concerned.

From:

okteiviakom

He was not wrong. Octavia reached for the glass almost immediately, for a quick first sip.

"Guess that's the apocalypse for you," she drawled. "Everything just gets worse."

From:

betterthanaplan

"You'd think people would band together for survival, but no. They just start killing each other." Duke was really tempted to just take a swig directly from the tequila bottle, but managed to restrain himself and set about making a second cocktail instead. "And you didn't even have anywhere to run away to."

Running away was one of his very favorite coping mechanisms!

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia took another sip, while giving him a quick sidelong glance. "No one's ever going to be as much in favor of me running away as you," she noted, setting the glass back down so she could finish off the pineapple.

From:

betterthanaplan

"There is nothing wrong with getting the fuck out of a bad situation," Duke said. "I'm not here to tell anyone how to live their life, but I'm always ready to help if someone wants to just -- flee."

Which, oddly enough, would probably make him fit in even more with Floukru and their whole "we're just going to live over here on our rig in peace, thanks y'all" attitude.

From:

okteiviakom

Funnily enough, Octavia was thinking about that. Not that she knew quite that much about Floukru yet - but Lincoln had told her enough that her reasons for calling him that weren't just that he had a boat.

But she wasn't saying that now. A quiet "Mm" was her only response. Then she let the silence stretch out for a little while she finished chopping up the pineapple, before she asked, a little more lightly, "Still think my first nickname's a dumb sigh?"

Well, she'd been thinking about names, just now.

From:

betterthanaplan

Duke winced. "I was a dick as a kid." And she hadn't even gotten nearly as much dickishness as he'd heaped on other people. Who hadn't hit anywhere near the levels he'd heaped on Nathan when he was actually a kid. "I was also pretty sure your brother was some kind of predator. So -- you can basically just assume I don't mean much of anything I said this weekend."

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia snorted, which probably said enough about whether she minded, just by itself. "It doesn't matter, I don't want anyone using that but Bel, anyway."

No one called him 'Bel' but her, either.

"And I was lying to you a lot, anyway," she added, cleaning up the pineapple carnage to throw away the non-edible bits. "Felt bad about it, but stil."

From:

betterthanaplan

"I like 'Tavi' better, anyway," Duke said, flashing her a small smile. He sipped his drink and went to pull the pizza out of the oven. "And I wouldn't call it lying exactly. You just -- talked around the truth. Unless there's some outright lies in there I managed to miss."