Parents' Weekend Brunch, Sunday

[bigdamnprincipal]

The glittering of the park continued as everything was set up for a nice brunch, so everyone could have one last chance to hang out with their relatives, have a few more awkward introductions, and make people eat some more strange Earth food.

Pancakes, at least, had to be pretty universal, right?

Comments

Re: Tables [PW 2019]

[okteiviakom]

Octavia? Check. A big plateful of food? Check. Mimosa? Check.

Octavia didn't care if it was predictable. If there was free food, you took advantage of it until there wasn't any left. And in the meantime, you could quietly watch the crowd. Which was what Octavia was doing while she ate.

Re: Tables [PW 2019]

[firstofitskind]

Predictable also meant the people who wanted to find you, could. Liam slid into a seat next to her, bumping her shoulder gently in greeting.

"Hey."

Re: Tables [PW 2019]

[okteiviakom]

There was that, too.

"Hey, Liam," Octavia said, with the briefest and faintest flicker of a smile. (This week? This week had been a good week, and so she was a fraction more open than usual.) "How is your weekend?"

Re: Tables [PW 2019]

[firstofitskind]

Liam's week had been... all over the place.

His weekend, though? His weekend had been good. So he too was a bit more open than usual, in his own way. Hence that greeting that had actually involved casual physical contact. That he'd initiated.

"Pretty damn good," he said, a soft smile of his own blossoming on his face. "A friend from Verity's world came to visit. You meeting some interesting people?" He didn't ask if she had anyone visiting. He knew the answer to that question.

Re: Tables [PW 2019]

[okteiviakom]

Octavia shook her head. "Not ones that don't live here." That wasn't a real answer, and he was free to prod at it further. Maybe she'd elaborate, maybe she wouldn't. Her head was already tilting just a little. "And how's Verity's friend? Interesting?"

Re: Tables [PW 2019]

[firstofitskind]

“No rule that says interesting people have to be visitors,” Liam commented. “Anyone I’d know?” Don’t think he’d missed the fact that Octavia was in what, for her, passed as a demonstrably good mood.

“Dominic’s great,” he continued, expression clearly fond. “A little thrown by the presence of so many people who are visibly non-human, but we’re working on that.” After all, with one large bus-sized exception, all the cryptids Dominic had befriended so far (and hell, Liam himself) had been able to pass as human.

Re: Tables [PW 2019]

[okteiviakom]

"But he's at least got previous experience with the concept of non-human people, right?" Octavia checked. "And not running away screaming or anything."

She would get back to the interesting people... in her own time.

Re: Tables [PW 2019]

[firstofitskind]

“He definitely has experience with the concept,” Liam nodded. “He was raised by an order that had taken it upon themselves to work to eliminate anything ‘outside the natural order of things’ from the world.”

And yet here he was, willingly mingling in a group that included said non-humans and not trying to stab anyone.

Re: Tables [PW 2019]

[okteiviakom]

Yeah, Octavia was just going to pause for a second.

"I'm assuming he got over that," she hazarded with a slightly raised eyebrow. Obviously she had to assume that.

Re: Tables [PW 2019]

[firstofitskind]

“He did,” Liam nodded. “He started to see u- them- as people, and it was all downhill from there.”

Yes, that had been a near-slip where he’d almost said ‘us’ before he corrected himself.

Re: Tables [PW 2019]

[okteiviakom]

And don't think Octavia hadn't caught that, even if it didn't show on her face. She was just filing that away for now.

"Good," she drawled, instead. "Because it'd be weird if you were happy about someone coming here who could be a threat to people."

Re: Tables [PW 2019]

[firstofitskind]

“Does that seem like the sort of thing I would do?” Liam had to ask.

Re: Tables [PW 2019]

[okteiviakom]

"No," she replied, with the tone of 'of course not'. "But last weekend I thought marrying people and then murdering them was okay."

So technically, it was a valid thing to wonder about! Even if she hadn't done so seriously, this time.

[notgetkilled]

"How much food are you eating?" Bellamy asked as he found her in the crowd and took a seat. He reached for her drink and took a sip of it, making a face at the taste. "And what's that?"

[okteiviakom]

Octavia made a half-hearted attempt at swatting his hand away from her drink, never even intending to succeed - which she obviously didn't.

"It's a mimosa," she informed him. "And I'm eating enough."

She always went overboard at these things. It was free food!

[notgetkilled]

"A mimosa? It tastes like bitter orange juice. Why didn't you just go for orange juice?" Tasted better in his opinion. But, he could agree on the food thing. Might as well take advantage while you could because who knew how long it would last.

"Is it good?"

[okteiviakom]

"It's all okay," Octavia offered with a shrug. "They have the same pecan pie here today that they did yesterday." Because it was a multi-day event and of course she was scavenging here on every last one. She'd also brought some stuff back to the apartment yesterday. "Someone recommended it to me, it's really good."

'Someone', sure.

[notgetkilled]

"Someone?" Bellamy questioned, looking over at her. "Who's someone?"

Fill him in, please.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia picked up a piece of pastry from her overflowing plate. "Duke," she said casually, after a beat.

No, she hadn't mentioned him before.

[notgetkilled]

"Duke?" He arched an eyebrow. "Dumb name."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia gave him a Look.

"Bel..."

Bellamy, please.

[notgetkilled]

"What?"

He didn't do anything. He shrugged.

"It is."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia resisted an eye roll, somehow. Instead, she cast her gaze back down towards the plate, and said, just a tad more subdued, "Well, he's nice, anyway."

[notgetkilled]

"Who is he? Student? Adult?" How old is he? What does he do? "How'd you meet him?"

[okteiviakom]

"Is this an interrogation?" Octavia drawled, like she hadn't expected exactly this from him. And like she couldn't have avoided this easily by not bringing it up at all. But, sometimes... There was comfort in just being brother and sister.

She heaved something of a put-upon sigh. "He teaches at the school, and I met him at the Devil's Nest. Just this week. He has a boat, and he's nice."