Luke's, Thursday

[betterthanaplan]

Gull!Duke had made it out of the classroom yesterday! And somehow had the awareness to end up at the diner today. Where he sat on the counter and yelled at the staff.

When he was human again, he was going to be disappointed with how his staff made no effort at all to get the screaming bird out of his diner. (Even when said screaming bird was him.)

Today's Specials
Catch of the day!
Fish, presumably, if the boss ever shows up

He'd be disappointed with that, too.

Luke's was open!

[no OCD. Felt like gull!Duke needed another moment before he turns human again!]

Comments

[okteiviakom]

Octavia showed up around lunchtime, carrying a fairly ridiculous Easter bunny themed floral arrangement someone had ordered and - possibly having come to their senses - not wanted to pick up after all. So she'd thought to dispose of it gift it to the diner.

That thought was at least momentarily forgotten as soon as she made it in through the door, though.

Because the screaming bird was a new thing.

[betterthanaplan]

"Boss man's not here yet," one of the waiters said when he saw Octavia. "Kinda figured he was playing hooky with you, actually."

The gull stopped screaming in order to snap at him. It was a very angry little bird.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia frowned. "Haven't seen him in a couple of days." Which wasn't unusual, especially given her habit of disappearing into the woods here and there. "Why is there a bird in here?"

Okay, so it had been a frown for both things.

[betterthanaplan]

The waiter shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe it's a student."

It wouldn't the first bird who'd come in and ended up transforming back into a person in the middle of the dining room.

The gull started yelling again, flapping its wings at Octavia. Perhaps less angrily this time than just trying to get her attention. Or protest that he was thirty-three dammit why did people keep thinking he was a student?!

[okteiviakom]

"Could just be a bird."

Octavia figured it wouldn't be the first appearance of random wildlife at one of Fandom's businessess, either. Especially now that the porgs had taken over.

She wasn't sure she thought that was the case here either, though. Her head tilted a little curiously at the gull, and she moved a few steps closer, slow and careful. "Heya, strikon," she murmured. "Chon yu bilaik, hm? Raunon o bis?"

[betterthanaplan]

The gull visibly perked when it heard her say "strikon". It hopped up from its perch on the counter and leaned towards her, flapping and yelling.

One webbed foot hit a loose napkin and went skidding out from under it. The gull flapped harder but still up-ended forward, pitching towards the floor.

Where it prompty turned back into Duke, naked, baffled, and looking really annoyed.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia had been on the transforming side of this situation twice before. As it turned out, it had not prepared her for how weird it was to see a bird turn into her snogon right in front of her eyes.

So she kind of gaped for a few seconds there. "Well, that... answers all my questions."

[betterthanaplan]

This was Duke's first time transforming (other than into a female-shaped body or a child), so he was mostly just gaping back.

"Wh-what -- what the fuck just happened?"

"Boss is here," the waiter announced to the staff at large. No one else seemed at all surprised.

[okteiviakom]

That was a good way to get Octavia to snap out of her own useless gaping, though. "You were a bird," she said, aiming for a calming tone. "I think a seagull? That happens sometimes."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke continued to gape a moment longer, then pressed both hands to his face.

"Fuck. I was the bird. Why does anyone live here?"

[okteiviakom]

"If it makes you feel any better," Octavia said, already suspecting it wouldn't, which probably contributed to the mild dryness of her tone, "I was a raccoon for most of my first month here."

Anyway.

"You okay? Want me to get you some clothes from the Rouge?"

[betterthanaplan]

"Clothes." Duke looked down, then tucked his hands into his lap. He was pretty cool with nudity, but less so involuntarily and in the middle of his diner. "Yep, clothes would be good." He let out a slightly shaky sigh. "They were supposed to make fascinators. For me. I was the bird. What the fuck is wrong with this place?"

[okteiviakom]

"I don't know."

This was one of those moments where Octavia really wished she'd had a good answer for him about why random upsetting things happened. But she didn't.

She could, however, tackle other parts of the situation. "Hey!" she called out in the general direction of the kitchen. "You guys have aprons or something, right?"

[betterthanaplan]

In answer, an apron came winging out through the kitchen window. It slid across the counter and landed on Duke's head.

"Cool," Duke muttered. "Yep, that's -- this is -- all good, sure." He grabbed the apron and made quick work of pulling it on. "Or, actually, I kind of feel more naked."

Brains were weird.

[okteiviakom]

"It's just for a little while," Octavia assured him. "I'll grab you some, like... actual clothes."

[betterthanaplan]

"Yeah," Duke said, nodding a little too quickly. "Yeah, cool. Thanks." He still looked a bit shellshocked, and his next statement was almost too soft to hear, under his breath and full of wonder. "I flew!"

[okteiviakom]

'Almost' being the operative word. Especially for Octavia who tended to listen pretty closely.

She finally crouched down to his level. (Still cradling the damned floral arrangement under one arm.) "Hey," she said, the softness of her tone reminiscent of the way she'd spoken to him when he'd been a gull. "You gonna be okay while I'm gone, snogon? 'Cause I can try calling Larceny, too."

She could also terrorize the kitchen staff into definitely leaving him alone.

[betterthanaplan]

"What?" Duke frowned. "Yeah, no, I'm fine." Lord only knew what Larceny would bring for him to wear. "Go ahead. I can . . . hide in the office or something."

[okteiviakom]

"Okay," Octavia said, with a tiny nod.

Then she finally realized she was still holding the Easter bunny. And went ahead with just sliding that onto the counter.

"... Just gonna leave this here."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke followed the bouquet with his eyes. ". . . Okay."

Did she bring him bunny flowers? That was kind of cute, right?

"See you in a bit."

He'd get up any moment now.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia straightened up, only to bend down for a second to drop a quick kiss on the top of his head.

"I know it's your diner and you do what you want, but you better not still be on the floor when I get back."

And with that, she was gone.

[betterthanaplan]

". . . Fair," Duke muttered. He glared up at the waiter as he walked by. "Who lets a random bird just hang out on the counter?!"

The waiter shrugged. "You might've been a student."

Duke glared until the waiter walked away, then finally got to his feet. And walked gingerly to the office, holding the apron's skirt down firmly as he went.

This damned island.

[okteiviakom]

At least he could count on Octavia being as efficient as she possibly could be. Which was actually not as efficient as she wanted to be, since she had to go across half the island and back again.

But the biggest distraction she came across was just a few of the porgs making what felt like inquisitive noises at her once she got to the Rouge. Considering her considerable experience at herding porgs, though, it wasn't much of a distraction.

Beyond telling them "Gon we, ai ste hon Duke bakkova in", anyway.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke sat at the seldom used desk and put his head in his hands again. His memories of the last -- however long -- were incomplete to say the least, but he did remember flying. The wind through his feathers. The salt air.

The raw, uncleaned fish.

He dug through the drawers of the desk, looking for a bottle of booze.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia didn't spend much time on looking for any specific garments, but still made sure to gather things that were particularly comfortable - yes, including one of his ridiculous sweaters.

The last thing she did was go to the liquor cabinet and grab one of the bottles, only pausing long enough to check that it was whiskey like she thought it was.

And then she headed back.