betterthanaplan | The Cape Rouge, Port of Fandom, Sunday evening

The joys of sailing in from 2008, Duke was not dealing with a giant winter storm as he made his way down the coast from Maine. The weather had in fact been perfectly fine until he crossed into Fandom waters and the first of the white flakes hit the boat. He'd had some warning about this, sort of, thanks to Octavia's voicemail, but it still took him a couple minutes to work out that it really was powdered sugar falling from the sky instead of snow.

He managed to get his boat docked without getting too much of a contact sugar high, and paused on the deck for a few moments to just watch it drift in the glow of his string lights. It didn't sparkle quite the same way a good snowfall would, but it was pretty enough in its own way, and with the hood of his slicker pulled to protect his hair, he could let himself relax for a minute and just enjoy it.

A porg landed on the deck, liberally dusted and practically buzzing like a hummingbird as it rolled around in a small sugar drift. He was going to be cleaning up tiny sugar porg prints for days. Duke watched it for a moment, then turned his face back up towards the sky, tasting sugar on his lips.

"Home sweet Fandom."

This couldn't possibly be good for the fish.

[can be open, sure!]

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From:

betterthanaplan

"You were supposed to conclude that porgs are wiley," Duke said. "Not that I'm deficient."

From:

okteiviakom

"But they're not."

Okay, definitely a smirk, now.

From:

betterthanaplan

"You say that, but you haven't seen them somehow escape a locked storage room to go wandering around the galley."

And trigger the argument that activated both Nathan and Duke's troubles. He was wishing he'd used a different example.

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia's head tilted a little as she considered that.

"... Luck?" she offered, slowly.

From:

betterthanaplan

"The doors around here are metal," Duke pointed out. "They didn't just, like, fall open accidentally."

. . . There were also secret escape hatches in basically every room on the boat, though. And porgs were very small.

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia shrugged. "I don't know enough about porgs or boats to say anything to that," she decided. "But, look: no one eating my sandwich but me."

She was actually halfway through with it already.

"And it's a good one."

From:

betterthanaplan

"Well then. That's what's really important." He took a good size bite of his own sandwich, and spent a moment just enjoying it before continuing. "But porgs are definitely wiley."

From:

okteiviakom

"I think one of them is licking my leg right now."

There were four sugar-dusted legs under the table, what was a porg supposed to do?

"Not sure that's evidence in your favor."

Edited Date: 2019-12-05 12:08 pm (UTC)

From:

betterthanaplan

"Well. In the porg's defense, your leg is probably pretty sweet just now."

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia snorted, looking amused.

"True. And that's a first."

From:

betterthanaplan

"In the literal sense, maybe. I'd say it's pretty sweet most of the time, metaphorically."

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia wasn't even remotely the blushing type, but she ducked her head with a tiny smirk all the same.

"That's... not a first, really," she replied. "But it's been a while."

From:

betterthanaplan

"Shunsui hasn't told you how sweet your legs are?" Duke shook his head. "And I thought that guy had game."

From:

okteiviakom

"Maybe even Shunsui has to leave something for other people," Octavia replied, glancing up without lifting her chin. "Besides, he's..." She trailed off for a second, thinking about how to put it. "He doesn't go for my legs, he tells me I'm lovely."

His was an all-encompassing sort of flirting.

From:

betterthanaplan

"He's not wrong about that," Duke said. "But sometimes it's nice to hear the reasons why you're lovely."

From:

okteiviakom

"It is."

It was a quiet Sunday night, and it was just them (and the porgs). Maybe that helped Octavia go for something more honest than the kneejerk 'I guess'.

"Whether I buy them or not," she added, wryly.

From:

betterthanaplan

"Just means I'm gonna keep pointing them out until you do," Duke said.

Another porg showed up to start licking his pants. It was a very strange sensation.

From:

okteiviakom

Right? Octavia had mentioned it for a reason.

"Limb by limb?" she asked with a lopsided little smile.

From:

betterthanaplan

Duke leaned over the table, reaching for one of her hands. "Finger by finger if I have to."

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia thought the thrill that ran down her spine was an overblown reaction to just some words.

And yet still a welcome one.

She let him take her hand. Actually, she slid it closer to him when she realized he was reaching for it. "Sounds pretty dedicated."

From:

betterthanaplan

"Some things are worth dedicating yourself to."

From:

okteiviakom

"That's a lot to put on a girl," Octavia joked quietly.

She gave his hand a squeeze.

From:

betterthanaplan

"Does that mean you want me to stop?" Duke was pretty sure he knew the answer to that already, yeah.

From:

okteiviakom

"Do you want me to stop being happy when you come back?"

That probably still qualified as the answer he was expecting.

From:

betterthanaplan

"Mmm." Duke leaned his chin on his hand. "That is . . . very weird. But no, I don't."

He figured it would, sooner or later, and it was going to hurt like hell when it did, but he was just foolish enough to want it anyway.