The Devil's Nest, Wednesday Evening

[okteiviakom]

Octavia hadn't been in for a couple of weeks, but that didn't matter much. Everything was the same as it always was, with piano bar-y music in the background, Tiny serving drinks, and the axe-throwing range fully operational.

That Octavia herself was exhausted in a way that stopped being a feeling altogether and just seemed to come right from her bones, well... That wasn't as unusual as it should have ideally been, either.

But she was there, behind the counter, doing her best to not look like she wanted to go home to sleep.

(She'd been doing it since Friday. Thought she was even getting pretty good at it.)

[ooc: OCD free because I am also tired.]

Comments

[betterthanaplan]

Duke’s hair hung in his face — even more than usual. His arm burned with the repeated, unfamiliar movement. But he didn’t stop. The axes thunked deeper and deeper into the target with each throw.

Audrey had used him.

*Thunk*

Arla had tried to. Nathan had expected him to murder people and then turned around and ordered him around like he was one of his officers.

*Thunk*

Moseley had thrown him back and forth in time, Lynette had scapegoated him in her self-righteous crusade, even Daphne and Ginger had almost killed him, just for trying to help.

*Thunk thunk*

The multiverse could pick him up and shuffle him around whenever it wanted to, and he couldn’t. *Thunk* Control. *Thunk* Any of it.

He threw the last ax with a short roar. It missed the target entirely, instead sinking into one of Lucifer’s potted plants. Duke stood and stared at it, panting softly, his throwing arm dropping to his side while the other found its way to his hair.

[okteiviakom]

Well, he'd broken something, and now Tiny was looking over towards the axe range.

Guess Octavia had to do something.

She hadn't fixed him a drink, yet, but oh well. She grabbed the strawberry vodka since it was already there, and came out from behind the bar. Made her way over to the range.

"Think that's enough of that, jaka," she rasped, without much in the way of a tone, otherwise.

[betterthanaplan]

"Yeah." Duke's tone was just as flat. He caught sight of the bottle out of the corner of his eye and reached for it, even as he turned back towards the bar.

Not looking at her, really. Not looking at Tiny or much of anything else, either.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia let him have the bottle.

She stayed back. Looked at the poor potted plant for a moment, then went to at least grab the ax out of it.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke took a swig from the bottle as he headed to the bar, then grimaced at it.

"That Dante kid was here again, huh?"

He sounded almost normal again already.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia would've told him that Dante wasn't a kid, but Octavia hadn't followed him back to the bar.

She weighed the axe in her hand as she brought it back to the line. Then, threw it.

Dead center.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke looked back at the sound of it hitting the target. He stared at it for a long moment, then took another big gulp from the vodka and turned back to the bar. He flicked Tiny a little smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"I'll get there eventually."

Tiny didn't look like he liked that idea.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia left the axe where it had thunked into the target, and finally came back to the bar.

And slipped back behind it.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke watched her move and sipped his vodka, the bottle blocking view of his precise expression as he said: "Show off."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia shrugged as she picked up her glass.

Then downed what was left in it, in one go.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke watched her.

"Feel better?"

[okteiviakom]

Feeling better didn't really enter into it at all, for her.

She looked up.

"Do you?"

[betterthanaplan]

Duke met her gaze and held it for a long moment as he sipped the vodka.

“So how’s Dante doing?”

[okteiviakom]

Octavia's gaze dropped again as she went to get herself a fresh drink. "Chipper as ever."

That was so not the right word for Dante.

[betterthanaplan]

"You make him sound like a chipmunk," Duke said, sounding amused.

(It was easy to sound amused, even when he'd just been furiously throwing axes. Duke had been wearing a mask of amusement from the womb.)

[okteiviakom]

Octavia wasn't as good at that, and her particular mask that she'd been wearing for a few days now had been kind of slipping tonight.

She poured herself gin.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke sipped his vodka, then turned the bottle to look at the label again. "Not as good as rose vodka. But it'll do."

[okteiviakom]

"Mm."

She took... really far too big a gulp from her glass.

"I didn't look." They probably had the rose stuff, too. But she'd just watched him instead of finding it.

[betterthanaplan]

"Grabbed whatever was handy?" Duke guessed.

[okteiviakom]

"It was there."

So that was a yes.

(But she should've been making an effort to sound something other than flat.)

[betterthanaplan]

Duke made an affirming noise. He considered the bottle. Considered getting up and leaving.

Considered whether their relationship could handle both of them being messed up at the same time.

There was still vodka left, so he stayed where he was, drinking steadily and letting his eyes rove over the wall behind the bar.

[okteiviakom]

And Octavia kept drinking her gin. Kind of a poor choice on her part for more than one reason, but that was where she was at, tonight.

Trying to fill a pit with alcohol.

Tiny gave them both a wide berth.