Luke's, Thursday

[betterthanaplan]

"You guys are getting way too hung up on the name of this dish," Duke informed his kitchen staff. "No, it's not a reference to my fishing style, and no, it's not supposed to explode."

"Okay," said Greg. "But is it at least made with nitroglycerin?"

". . . No."

Today's specials
Baked dynamite

Luke's was open. And not likely to explode. We're, like. 99% sure.

Comments

[okteiviakom]

Octavia gave a small sigh in response, though thankfully it didn't seem like a particularly bad one.

"I've been... trying to find something online since when I was at work last night," she admitted. "No luck, so far."

[betterthanaplan]

"Oh yeah? What're you looking for?"

[okteiviakom]

"A painting," Octavia said, her voice just a little quieter, a little softer. "That I saw on the Ground, a... long, long time ago."

[betterthanaplan]

"Oh," Duke said, his own voice going softer. He reached up to brush some hair off her face. "Want to tell me about it? Maybe I'll recognize something that'll help you look."

It wasn't super likely, but This was Duke and she was Octavia. He was always going to offer to help.

[okteiviakom]

Which Octavia knew, and which was probably why she'd kept her search to herself until now. Sometimes she still got a little caught up in trying to do things by herself.

But clearly that had proven itself not to work, by now.

"I think it was mostly gray," she said, after a tiny moment of chewing on her bottom lip. "And there was like a... like a spiral? Of people?"

[betterthanaplan]

Duke hummed softly, not recognizing her description. He tugged her towards a table, thinking.

"It sounds interesting. I can see why you remembered it."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia followed his tugging. Maybe the small nod was for that too, maybe not.

"I think it was supposed to be Hell," she said, only half out loud.

[betterthanaplan]

"Oh yeah?" Duke asked, a smile in his voice. "Sounds like it doesn't have enough pillars."

[okteiviakom]

"Maybe I just don't remember them," Octavia offered. "Is Hell supposed to have pillars?"

[betterthanaplan]

"I feel like Luce talks about them sometimes," Duke said. "Or . . . columns? Not sure what the difference there is."

[okteiviakom]

"Well, I don't remember seeing either," Octavia said with a little shrug. She slipped away from him, but only to take a seat at the table. "But it's been a long time."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke nodded. "Is that what drew you to it?" he asked. "That it was supposed to be Hell?"

[okteiviakom]

Octavia shook her head a little, but maybe not for the obvious reason. "I'm not who was drawn to it," she said. "It was Jasper."

Not a name she'd spoken out loud too many times in recent years.

"I'm not even sure you know who that is."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke tilted his head, trying and failing to place the name.

"Tell me about him?"

[okteiviakom]

"He was my friend," Octavia replied, softly. Softest, really. "One of the first."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke nodded. Waited to see if there would be more.

He knew without asking that Jasper's story wouldn't end well. None of the stories from the Ground ever did.

[okteiviakom]

At least Jasper's story ended on his own terms. It was more than could be said for most people on the Ground, if you asked Octavia.

"You remember how on my first day on the Ground, I got attacked by that... I don't even know, creature in the water?" she asked. "Jasper was the one who actually jumped in and dragged me out of the water."

[betterthanaplan]

"Sounds like my kind of guy," Duke said. "Kind of wish I could meet him."

[okteiviakom]

"I think you two would've gotten along," Octavia murmured. "I would have wanted you to meet him."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke sensed the sorrow under all that.

"What happened to him?" he asked softly.

[okteiviakom]

"I lost track of him for a while," Octavia admitted, gaze sliding don towards the table. "But in the end he... chose not to come to the Bunker."

And yes, over the years, she'd wondered if he hadn't made the right call, right there.

[betterthanaplan]

"He. . . ." Duke frowned, then his eyes went wide with realization. "Oh. I'm sorry."

[okteiviakom]

"It was relatively quick, and he wasn't alone," Octavia said, a little milder and quieter now. "Or so his best friend told me later, anyay."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke nodded. "Good." He gave her a tiny little smile, barely a curve of his lips. "I'm still sorry, though."

He was sorry for every single person she'd lost. (Including herself.)

[okteiviakom]

Octavia was still looking at the table.

"Anyway," she said, straightening up a little, like she was trying to physically pull herself away from the edge of that particular pit again. "The painting, it's... It was the favorite of this girl that he loved and lost. After she was gone, and -- a little after I'd ended up back on the Ground, I found him looking at it, down in this warehouse where they kept all the art in Mount Weather."

[betterthanaplan]

"Because where else would you keep art," Duke muttered, then shook it off and reached for her hand, encouraging her to keep going.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia took his hand. Pushed her fingers between his, too.

"Maybe they rotated it out, I don't know," she muttered. "Never cared much about the Mountain Men." And it had been ancient history to her by the time she'd been sittin with Jasper in the warehouse. "But he'd cared about this girl. And it looked like he'd torn the place half to shreds looking for the painting, too."

She chewed on her bottom lip for a second, thinking about it.

(The way Jasper's voice had cracked, the memory so much clearer than so many others from that time.)

"Like it was all he had left of her."