The Beach, Sunday Afternoon

[okteiviakom]

Octavia had lost Friday to the inevitable post-jello hangover, and then she'd spent most of Saturday alone in the preserve just gathering her thoughts. By Sunday, though, she was feeling like she could maybe consider rejoining civilization.

... Spending time somewhere here she could at least be found or stumbled upon counted, okay? Most people wouldn't have been able to find her in the woods unless she'd wanted them to. But here she was, sitting on her favorite stretch of the beach, where she could see the lighthouse but also just look out over the water.

It was getting to be a little on the colder side to be just hanging out on the beach, but Octavia welcomed the chill in the air the same way she'd welcomed the exhaustion on Wednesday evening and the headache and nausea on Friday morning. They all meant she was feeling something. The feelings didn't need to be pleasant for that to be a good thing.

She had a notebook on her lap, open to a page with a drawing on it. Occasionally, she looked down at it, lightly tracing the dark lines with a single fingertip.

But mostly, she was watching the water.

[ooc: Quiet Sunday post is open.]

Comments

[died8yearsago]

Arlo 2 was having one of her antsy sort of days, and so Rosa figured she might as well take her convenient thread device dog out for a walk. That way, at least the only shoes she'd have to worry about Arlo 2 drooling all over would be other people's and not her own.

As they made their way along the beach and she saw someone sitting out there, Rosa already started shortening Arlo 2's leash and tightening her grip on it, knowing as soon as they got closer in passing by, the dog would be straining eagerly to get at those shoes. And, sure enough, once Rosa was close enough to sort of quirk her chin up in greeting at Octavia, Arlo 2 was all but dancing with her paws against the mysterious barrier that seemed to be preventing her from saying hello to a new friend, completely unaware or even remotely suspicious that the barrier might have something to do with the woman with the leash.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia saw them coming out of the corner of her eye, but it took her until they were closer to actually pry her eyes away from the water and look over.

She offered Rosa a similar nod back. "Hey," she said, flipping the notebook closed before her gaze dropped down to the straining dog. "Who's this?"

[died8yearsago]

"That's Arlo 2," Rosa offered, considering Octavia's attention toward the dog. "She's friendly, but if I let her go, she'll go straight for your shoes."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia's expression while looking at Arlo 2 was a fair bit more openly soft than it tended to be at most people. She was kind of like that, with animals. Dogs, cats. Porgs.

It faded as soon as she looked up. "And do what?"

She was pretty sure her boots had seen worse than whatever this dog had to offer.

[died8yearsago]

Rosa loosened up the leash a little, half afraid Arlo 2 would snap it in her eagerness for a new friend. She quickly rushed in with the extra space, though it was still at least a little bit of a distance because Rosa wasn't going to just unleash the little shoe-licker on an unsuspecting person that she didn't hate yet.

"Lick them," she offered with a shrug, "possibly chew them. It's a thing for a her, I don't know."

[okteiviakom]

"Is she okay with clown blood?" Octavia asked, with a slight drawl.

She'd cleaned the boots the same as everything else she'd been wearing that day, but... there had been a lot of blood.

[died8yearsago]

"Unfortunately, yes," said Rosa, sounding like someone who'd likely found this information out in the most disgusting way possible.

But, with that, she figured Octavia had been warned plenty enough, and Rosa loosened the leash to give more than enough space for Arlo 2 to rocket forward like the most wriggly little puppy to ever exist, heading not for the shoes first as Rosa would have suspected, but to Octavia herself, to give her suss her out first. It was a whole mess of sniffing and wriggling, then off to the other side, wriggle wriggle sniff sniff, a pause for a moment to let out a bark of approval before the sheer force of her waggling tail sent her whole small body wriggling again, and then, finally, after all that, in for the boots, giving them their first experimental lick, to be followed by many, many more.

[okteiviakom]

That was a lot of energy.

And Octavia just looked amused, in her own faint but soft way, as she carefully offered Arlo 2 her hand for inspection during the wriggly sniffing, then dropped it back in her lap when the excitable puppying moved on to her boots.

"That was a lot more than just licking."

[died8yearsago]

"Yeah," said Rosa, who was usually a queen of the understatement, it was true, but this was next level right here, "she can be pretty energetic. Every time she sees a new person," or even when she saw people she'd seen a million times already, "it's like the first time she's ever seen a person ever.

"I think she likes you, though," she added, after a moment of more wriggling and licking from the clearly thrilled pup. "Don't take it personally; she pretty much likes everyone."

[okteiviakom]

"I guess someone has to," Octavia noted with a quiet huff. It seemed like a productive use of all that energy, if nothing else. "Like everyone, I mean."

Not her, specifically.

She watched the dog for a little while before lookingup again. "Looks like Halloween season's finally over."

[died8yearsago]

It appeared as though Arlo 2 had deemed your boots to be particularly good boots, Octavia, as she was now flopping herself comfortably down on the sand, draping one paw over them as if to hold them in place, while she diligently attended to licking them, leaving Rosa to just sort of shake her head for a moment because why were you like this, dog?

"That tends to happen after October," she pointed out, once her attention shifted back to Octavia. "Now I guess we just wait for the next one, which'll probably include fighting off giant turkeys or maybe vampire pilgrims or something equally stupid."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia wouldn't have put it past the island after the last two weeks to have just continued on with its Halloween-themed shenanigans right up until Thanksgiving.

"I would fight either." No one was surprised by this, Octavia. Or the mildness with which you delivered it. "But I'm okay if it takes a while before it happens."

She'd made at least one person uncomfortable during the day with the clowns, and she didn't know how to feel about that.

[died8yearsago]

"Well," said Rosa with a shrug, "Thanksgiving's not until closer to the end of the month, so we've got at least a few weeks to breathe. Or make other plans."

Because Rosa did have the benefit of knowing she could just go home to avoid these things, but sometimes, she wasn't so sure dealing with her parents or Santiago's awful cooking was much better than whatever weirdness the island threw at them.

"Or at least time to get the clown blood off our clothes."

That clown blood was never coming off, Rosa, and you knew that.

[thatwaslucky]

Rey had just felt like going for a walk after her shift, which usually ended up with her here for a bit. Today though, she'd stop. "Hey there."

[okteiviakom]

See? This definitely counted as rejoining civilization, now that Octavia had seen all of two people. She looked up from her notebook. "Hey," she greeted Rey back. "Quiet today, huh?"

Really, it had been quiet since the clowns. Definitely since Halloween itself.

[thatwaslucky]

"It really is," she agreed, and admitted, "I don't know if it's my fault or the island's that I don't trust quiet anymore."

Maybe that had something to do with her brainspace.

[okteiviakom]

"It's just good policy," Octavia replied with the mildest little shrug. "It's not like the island's been really inspiring any trust in that lately."

[thatwaslucky]

"I'm sure we're actually two days from something annoying," Rey said, and nodded towards the notebook. "What've you got there?"

[okteiviakom]

Octavia glanced down again. "Just something I've been thinking about."

That was a very vague answer, yes. But she hadn't closed the notebook, and so Rey could probably see there was a drawing on the page, a design in thick dark lines: an angular sort-of spiral in the shape of a triangle with a few rays around it, and several vertical lines above it.

[thatwaslucky]

"I like it," Rey said, peering down at it. "Any special significance to it?"

[okteiviakom]

"It's a tattoo." That was a kind of significance, right? Even if it wasn't the entire thing. "Well, it's going to be."

[thatwaslucky]

"Yeah, but does the design mean anything?" Rey said, figuring she just hadn't been clear. "I'm guessing this is for you."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia's voice dropped into more of a rasp, again. "You'd have to ask the person who drew the original." Except, he wouldn't be born for another century, and they had no way of getting back to him! Good times. "I drew this one from memory."

It wasn't exact. But it would do.

[thatwaslucky]

There were a lot of times in conversations when Rey wasn't sure if she should ask for more or not, such as whether she should ask about the original artist.

She went with, "Ever gotten one before?"

[okteiviakom]

Octavia probably wasn't going to be of very much use in helping her navigate that kind of decision, either.

She shook her head. "This was supposed to be the first." And would be, obviously.