Trooper Station, Friday

[firstofitskind]

Do you know what was super helpful when you were fighting off a lingering migraine?

Carol of the Bells playing nearly goddamn everywhere, that's what.

The Troopers had decided to combat this by singing any other Christmas carol that involved the word "bell" or "bells".

"I hate all of this," Liam decided with a sigh.

Comments

[firstofitskind]

"But even then, she either won't- or can't- tell you where she's from," Liam said thoughtfully. If she'd been able to provide satisfactory answers, after all, Octavia probably wouldn't have come looking for him.

[okteiviakom]

"I don't think so, no," Octavia replied with a brief shake of her head. "But at least it's progress from when we found her in the aquarium."

[firstofitskind]

"When you say 'in'..." Liam said slowly.

At the aquarium made a certain amount of sense. In made less sense.

(Unless you knew what she actually was, of course.)

[okteiviakom]

"Well," Octavia replied, after a beat, "at the aquarium. But in a tank."

So... Yeah.

[firstofitskind]

"How'd she get in there without anyone noticing?" Liam had to ask.

Assuming, perhaps naively, that everything had gone down during normal operating hours where a woman swimming in a tank might have garnered no small amount of attention.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia was about to help him shake off some of that naivete! "I don't know how long she'd been there, but apparently the guard doesn't go in the exhibit rooms much, so..."

She shrugged.

[firstofitskind]

"The gua- " and that's when the impact of that particular statement hit. Because while he knew Octavia was any number of things, being around large groups of people, like the kind you'd find at a tourist attraction, didn't seem to be one of them. So yeah, he laughed.

"You broke into the aquarium after-hours," he realized.

Again, terrible at being a cop, because that was also trespassing. Deliberate, calculated trespassing, in fact.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia shrugged again. "Well, technically Duke did."

For her.

[firstofitskind]

"With you along," Liam pointed out. A beat. "Was this a date?"

[okteiviakom]

Octavia looked like she wanted to roll her eyes. "Why does everyone keep asking that?"

'Everyone' being him and Magnus.

[firstofitskind]

"Probably because it sounds like a date," Liam pointed out.

[okteiviakom]

"I don't do dates."

No, she just did some extremely date-like things with people (well, a person) she also kissed and on occasion cuddled with.

[firstofitskind]

That's... that's pretty date-y.

Liam didn't say anything, just bit his lip like he was trying to hide a smile.

(He wasn't terribly successful. But then, he wasn't really trying all that hard to begin with.)

[okteiviakom]

"I can see you're smiling," Octavia drawled, unimpressed.

Well, she could see he was trying not to, anyway.

"Knock it off."

[firstofitskind]

“This is just how my face is naturally,” Liam tried to protest.

It was not. He kind of had resting scowl face actually.

[okteiviakom]

"It's not." Come on, Liam. Octavia had spent too much time around him to buy that. "So knock it off."

[firstofitskind]

Okay, okay, and now Liam really was making an effort to stop smiling. "Does implying it's a date really bother you?"

[okteiviakom]

"I don't do dates," Octavia repeated, shrugging. That wasn't really an actual answer to his question, though, except perhaps between the lines. "That wasn't a thing where I came from."

[firstofitskind]

"Neither were pumpkin spice lattes," Liam pointed out. "Yet you still do those when the season comes around."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia snorted. Quietly. "How's that comparable?"

[firstofitskind]

"Because it's something from here you tried out, found you enjoyed, so kept seeking out," Liam pointed out. "Yes, it's on a smaller scale, but it's the same principle."

[okteiviakom]

"I don't think the principle's enough for this one, Liam," Octavia replied mildly. "One's a drink, the other's... not."

[firstofitskind]

"Okay," Liam shrugged. "Then how about: if it's okay for me, then why not for you?"

It was an argument he was pretty familiar with, although he was usually the one being asked that question.

[okteiviakom]

"It doesn't fit me," Octavia pointed out, with the slightest frown. It wasn't a part of this time's culture that she wanted to adapt to. "Doesn't have anything to do with whatever words you choose to use about anything you do."

[firstofitskind]

“Okay, well, that’s different from ‘It wasn’t a thing where I came from’,” Liam pointed out.