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"It's always, 'Lucius, help me be happy in my life' this and 'Lucius, help me find love' that," Lucius pouted, twirling the straw around the tall glass of his mimosa. "It's like, you're fine! Just go to therapy!"
"Mm, I wish they would." Olu fiddled with his fork, trying to arrange a perfect bite from each component on his plate. "And sometimes it's even like, get a good night's sleep. Your life's not broken, just gotta turn it off and back on again."
"The number of human problems which could be fixed with a good night sleep!" Lucius threw up his hands, getting himself riled up as Olu just nodded and hummed in agreement. "I’m not sure how long I can do this, really. Don’t think I have the temperament for it. Am I in the wrong line of work?"
Olu had just gotten the pancakes and hashbrowns to coexist on his fork, only for a bit of egg to fall off the other end. Resigned, he set the fork down and leaned back, giving his wings one good flap as he settled. "I don't think so. You've worked hard to get here. All that time spent as a dog."
Lucius shrugged, taking another sip of his drink. "Wasn't so bad, in retrospect. I did miss thumbs, but nothing's quite like a back scratch, not even here," he said, gesturing vaguely around toward the heavenly cosmos. After a moment, "Think it's too late to go back?"
"I think you do more good this way," Olu said, pulling an iced tea out of the air. "The humans need that temperament of yours, the kind they only get when you're bipedal."
"Well, what do they have to do with anything?" Lucius said. He adjusted his wings to accent his petulant slouch.
Olu chuckled. "Come on now. Don't pretend you don't have fun with them."
"Noo."
"What about 74348d?"
"Noo! She was whiny."
"You're one to talk! What about 929301e?"
"Okay, no, he was actually the worst."
"You had fun with him."
"He was ridiculous!"
"Absolutely he was! And you had fun with him." An orb twinkled softly and began to glow in Olu's pocket. "Ah, speaking of the Humans."
"Tell them it's rude to call during brunch," Lucius said, bypassing the straw altogether now to take another drink.
"I gotta start cutting you off, man," Olu said, standing from their shared table and stretching out his wings. He held the orb in front of himself and peered into it, navigating its information with one finger. "Go sleep this mood off. Turn the thing off and back on. I'll see you next week."
Lucius smiled, despite himself. "See you next week."
In a blink, Olu was gone. Lucius took his tipsy pout back to the comfort and privacy of his home. He settled onto his sofa, just sitting for a moment, then pulled a book out of the air. He flipped through his endless pages of notes and sketches and calendars and memories. A few thousand entries in, he found it: a stack of moments of 929301e, a gentleman from Barbados, circa 18th century.
There are a few of 929301e flitting about the decks of pirate ships in various moments, frequently making clumsy mistakes. There’s one of 929301e utterly failing at negotiating with a beach vendor, too, and one of him squatting under a tree to dig. There's one of him staring through a spyglass and muttering (Olu is in that one, too--this case was the only time in Lucius' three-thousand year career he'd called for backup); one of him tied up in front of an English firing squad; one of the man he loved hiding in a blanket fort. There's one of his great relief as his eyes fall upon Lucius, the curl of his lips saying, "I'm glad you're alright."
There's one of Stede with his eyes closed and a soft, effortless smile on his face as he stands comfortably in Ed's arms, slowly swaying, before he realizes anyone is at the door. His eyes open and he sees Lucius over Ed's shoulder, but he doesn't stir, doesn't miss a step. His eyes slip closed, and he mouths, "Thank you."
Lucius woke up to the persistent twinkling of his orb. He sat himself up and fished it out of his pocket, almost knocking over the moments stacked neatly in his lap.
It's a text from 1073105g. He'd been invited to a movie night to distract her from her broken heart. There will be popcorn and tears, and with any luck, it will set the tone for how she handles these next few crucial weeks. He's needed.
Lucius pulled himself together, getting ready to say just the right thing and be just the right person. He grabbed the stack of moments and tried to set them back into the book on his way out the door, but they could never seem to go back in without a fight-- one slips out from the middle of the stack, falling gently to the floor. Against his better judgment, he gives it a look.
Stede is on the deck of the Revenge, the crew and his newfound love surrounding him. The salty air is sweetened by lute music and laughter and the smell of rum, and people are dancing and hollering into the setting sun, and every face in the crowd is smiling.
"Ridiculous," Lucius muttered to himself with a smile. He tucked the moment in his pocket and ducked down to earth to help another Human find their happiness.