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[seaoftroubles]

Duke and Nathan fight in the galley. Nathan gets Duke pinned and starts choking him, then sets Duke's trouble off and he throws him across the galley. More fighting. They're both on the ground, trying to reach a gun first, when suddenly everything metal in the galley flies up and sticks to the ceiling.

Nathan immediately suspects Duke of doing it. Duke says that's not in his wheelhouse. Nathan says he just threw him across the room. Duke explains the rush his trouble gives him. More arguing, then Nathan locates his chill and agrees to let Duke and Danny help look for Audrey.

We covered all this in the other post.

This stuff gets summarized before the first OCD thread: They find out that the magnetism thing happened all down main street in town. Nathan asks Dwight to take care of it while he focuses on finding Audrey, finds out another woman has been abducted, the owner of an inn outside of town. Nathan and Duke head out there to go find out if it's connected to Audrey.

OCD starts here with the son of another abducted woman: The woman's son is a conspiracy nut with a hard-on for UFOs, and claims his mother was abducted by aliens. Duke plays along to try to get the guy to go to the police station, but he runs off on a motorbike, and Nathan, Duke, and Danny give chase.

Second OCD thread: Nathan's truck dies, as do all the phones and radios. Nathan stubbornly tries to fix the truck, resulting in an argument with Duke about not being able to fix everything (which Danny is sure to be highly amused by), capped off by either Nathan or Danny getting dragged off by their ankles into the middle of a crop circle.

Then a UFO floats by and crashes into the ground not far away. The phones and truck start working again, and they decide to go check out that UFO. It landed right next to UFO guy's house, where he's gone to get his alien fighting equipment.

Summarized, not played out: They discover all sorts of clippings and news reports taped up in the house, all about aliens showing up around the country. It's all the things that have been happening in town. There are two that haven't happened yet: strange lights in the sky, and a big blast from a UFO taking out an entire town. RUH-ROH. Meanwhile, Audrey has managed to escape from her kidnapper and finds a phone. She calls Nathan, tells him she and other woman were being held in the basement of the Inn.

Next OCD thread: Nathan, Duke, and Danny rush over. Duke finds Audrey first, tries to calm her down, but when she sees Nathan she all but flings herself at him. Duke has very visible Feelings about this.

Lights appear in the sky. Followed by a massive, threatening UFO. TOWNWIDE DESTRUCTION IS IMMINENT. Audrey tries to talk UFO guy down from his trouble by empathizing with having your entire world view and identity turned upside down. It doesn't go super well. Duke starts wondering if he's going to have to use his trouble to save the town, which freaks Nathan out. Instead, Nathan talks the UFO guy into letting himself get abducted so the aliens go away.

Last OCD thread, mostly me until the end: Duke has a whole "wtf, how was that plan better?" conversation with Nathan that ends with "You're a hypocrite, Nathan" and Duke storming off. He decides that, yeah, he's getting the fuck out of Haven again. He tries to talk Audrey into doing the same, up to and including offering to take her to Fandom with him, but she refuses. She still has too many questions. Duke hates it, but he understands. He heads back to his boat to sail home, offering Danny a ride, though I'm gonna guess Danny will just portal back to Fandom instead. ;D

Comments

Re: Conversations with Nathan and Audrey

[betterthanaplan]

Duke was really glad they'd made it a fair ways away from the crowd at the inn. He didn't need Nathan and Audrey to see him fall apart.

"I'm scared, okay?! Is that what you want to hear, man? I've been alone my whole life and I'm terrified of what's inside of me!"

Re: Conversations with Nathan and Audrey

[hatesparadise]

"It's okay to be scared." Danny said, not backing down, but his tone gentling a little. "We all are. Anyone who says otherwise is a freakin' liar."

Re: Conversations with Nathan and Audrey

[betterthanaplan]

"I wanted to kill that guy," Duke hissed. "Nathan was right. My whole family is full of murderers, do you know what that feels like?"

Re: Conversations with Nathan and Audrey

[hatesparadise]

"No," Danny said softly. "No, I don't. But I know killers. And I like to think I know you. What happened there was a choice that should never be forced on someone."

Re: Conversations with Nathan and Audrey

[betterthanaplan]

But it would. It would be forced on Duke again and again and again.

"It's in my blood," Duke said, digging his hands into his pockets even deeper, as he tried to resist the urge to hug himself. "The trouble from Dad. Addiction from Mom. How am I supposed to resist this shit when there are people who actually need it?"

Re: Conversations with Nathan and Audrey

[hatesparadise]

Danny sighed and reached out to put his hands high up on Duke's arms. "You are not your family. You're you. Don't give up on yourself, you hear me?"

Re: Conversations with Nathan and Audrey

[betterthanaplan]

Duke twitched his head away, but didn't try to make Danny let go. After a moment, he nodded.

"If it had really come down to it. If Nathan hadn't come up with his weird, 'let the aliens take him' plan. . . . Would you have stopped me?"

Re: Conversations with Nathan and Audrey

[hatesparadise]

"Yes."

Re: Conversations with Nathan and Audrey

[betterthanaplan]

That wasn't what Duke had been expecting.

"His trouble could have killed thousands of people."

Re: Conversations with Nathan and Audrey

[hatesparadise]

"Then I would have stopped him too," Danny said calmly.

Re: Conversations with Nathan and Audrey

[betterthanaplan]

Duke was not even a little bit calm.

"How?! He thought an alien mothership was going to level the town! You don't even know how troubles work, Danny!"

Re: Conversations with Nathan and Audrey

[hatesparadise]

"So, what? I should let you hurt yourself over this?"

Re: Conversations with Nathan and Audrey

[betterthanaplan]

"Yes!"

Re: Conversations with Nathan and Audrey

[hatesparadise]

"Not gonna happen!" Would you believe this was probably an argument he'd had with Steve too?

Re: Conversations with Nathan and Audrey

[betterthanaplan]

Maybe Audrey was onto something with the disaster magnet trouble thing. Just, you know, for human disasters.

"Well it should!" Duke broke away to storm down the hill again. "I don't matter!"

He stopped, grimacing, as he heard what he'd just said. And how it would sound to anyone else.

"Not compared to a whole town."

Re: Conversations with Nathan and Audrey

[hatesparadise]

Well, he'd picked up a new one recently, so... yeah. It was possible.

"Everyone matters, you putz," Danny snapped. "You matter."

Yeah, definitely a thing that he'd had to tell Steve.

Re: Conversations with Nathan and Audrey

[betterthanaplan]

“One of me,” Duke said, and pointed down at the lights of Haven below. “Twenty thousand of them. Even a bleeding heart like you can do that math, shortstop.”

Re: Conversations with Nathan and Audrey

[hatesparadise]

Danny stared at him for a moment longer. "I don't know what you want, Crocker. You don't want to be a killer, but you don't want to find another option. It didn't come to that, but you want me to say I'd stand by and let you?"

Re: Conversations with Nathan and Audrey

[betterthanaplan]

Duke looked away, dropping his arms to his sides. “I don’t know either.”

He started down the hill again, his hands coming up to lace behind his neck. “Let’s just . . . go home, man. Catch your portal, and I’ll see you in a couple of days.”

Re: Conversations with Nathan and Audrey

[hatesparadise]

Danny let out a frustrated little sigh before nodding in agreement with that. "C'mere."

You were still getting a hug, you moron.

Re: Conversations with Nathan and Audrey

[betterthanaplan]

“Why, so you can hit me again?” Duke asked. While standing right where he was and letting Danny come in for that hug.

Re: Conversations with Nathan and Audrey

[hatesparadise]

"That's for when you're being willfully stupid," Danny informed him, up on his toes for this hug to happen. Everyone he knew was too tall. That wasn't fair.

Re: Conversations with Nathan and Audrey

[betterthanaplan]

Duke bent down a little to compensate. And maybe press his face a little into Danny’s shoulder. “Can I ask you one more question?”

Re: Conversations with Nathan and Audrey

[hatesparadise]

Which Danny said nothing about because the guy very clearly needed it. And Danny was prone to showing his affection with physical gestures. "Go for it."

Re: Conversations with Nathan and Audrey

[betterthanaplan]

Duke appreciated that. Both parts.

“What the fuck is a putz?”