seaoftroubles | Preplay, ep 4x01 Fall Out

Duke already did the very first scene, so the trick here will be to connect him -- and Luce and Tavi -- to Jennifer. I'm thinking that maybe, the same way I relocated Duke's mom to Baltimore, Jennifer could be in Baltimore for handwavy reasons, too? And she could go see this new therapist in town. Who listens to her story about hearing voices, recognizes the same things Duke has told her about the meteor storm and the barn, and goes "uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh so here's a thing you probably don't want to hear and I might lose my license but can I put you in contact with someone?" and clues Duke in?

Duke talks to Jennifer, figures she must be troubled, and tries to contact Haven again -- this time getting through only to be told that Duke Crocker's been dead for six months. He calls Dave, who he finally gets to listen, and finds out that Nathan is on the run. He talks Lucifer and Octavia into coming with him and Jennifer up to Maine to see if they can find Nathan and Audrey and find out what's going on

They find Nathan outside a biker bar, letting people punch him for money. Jennifer is apalled. Octavia is, I'm guessing, unimpressed. Maybe Lucifer makes the first move to say "hi" instead of Duke? I can totally see Duke getting ready to go over and Lucifer being all like "NAH LET ME GET A SHOT IN, THEN" and getting Nathan's attention

Arrival in Haven. Jennifer has caught Nathan up on what she heard from the barn bout how to end the troubles forever. There's a welcoming committee in town made up of Guardsmen with guns, led by Jordan. Duke catches Jennifer up on who's who in the crowd as the Teagues and Dwight show up to try to defuse the situation. Nathan tells the Guard that he's going to get Audrey to kill him to end the troubles forever. Enter a MFING TORNADO. Everyone takes cover, Vince convinces the Guard to clear out and let Nathan help defuse the weather trouble, Dwight offers to take folks back to the station to clue them in

I'm picturing the group splitting up here. Duke gets Jennifer to head to the Gull to get something to eat while he and Nathan work on the trouble. Octavia could go with her, show her the way to the Gull, maybe meet Wade? Or would she be unwilling to leave Duke with Nathan and Dwight? I'm guessing Lucifer will go to the station to find it deeply country and lacking in comparison to the LAPD. Anyway, either way, Dwight gives Nathan and Duke (and anyone who tagged along) a rundown on the weather events happening in town. Nathan remembers about Marion and her weather trouble. They decide to go check it out.

At Marion's house. There's a GIANT FUCKING STORM overhead, so it's hard to miss. Nathan, Duke, and Dwight go in to try to talk to Marion, but it's like the inside of an over-clocked meat locker. Ice and frost coat every surface. Dwight and Duke are immediately shivering. Nathan can't feel it though and sends them out so he can talk Marion down. This might be a fun place for Lucifer to step in and help out? I kind of like the idea of freshly capable of saying ILU Lucifer seeing a woman completely freezing up over her loved one's death. Nathan tells her that she has to learn to let go, uses his own example of not being willing to let Audrey go and thus ruining the end of the troubles as an example for this. Lucifer . . . responds like Lucifer? Anyway, Marion is eventually talked down (though not before trying to freeze Nathan solid). Meanwhile, outside, Dwight, Duke, Vince, and Dave watch the storm head towards town and lightning blow up Dave's old camper van

At the Gull: Duke expected it to be closed down since he wasn't around to run things even over the phone for six months (also they think the owner is dead), but the place is hopping. If Octavia has come with Jennifer, then maybe she texted? Maybe the text got lost/delayed due to Marion or maybe Duke is less nonplussed on arrival, either way. Anyway. Wade shows up all "OMG DUKE YOU'RE ALIVE" and Duke is all "oh fuck my brother is here, we have a killer trouble and he's a total nincompoop, he's doomed"

At some point during/after all this, Duke tells Lucifer and Octavia he needs to stick around at least until they find out what happened to Audrey. Nathan is a self-destructive wreck, Haven has lost its collective goddamned mind and appointed DWIGHT as chief of police, it's a shitshow! He brings them to his in-Haven boat (Lucifer is unimpressed with its tininess I'm guessing), and they talk about being stuck in yet another shit situation in someone's homeworld.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

seaoftroubles

SHOW DOWN AT HAVEN CORRAL! Also omgwtf tornado and WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOUR PLAN IS FOR AUDREY TO MURDER YOU, NATHAN???

From:

seaoftroubles

"What a cute little town!" Jennifer said as they caravanned up into downtown from the beachside highway. And she meant it!

You know, until they turned a corner and saw the armed militia blocking the road, a very angry looking goth chick with a shot gun leading the way.

From:

betterthanaplan

Duke leaned forward in the passenger seat of the Rolls Royce, ignoring the Guard member aiming a gun at him through the window in favor of Jordan, aiming hers at Nathan in the car in front of them.

"I really didn't miss this place."

"Hello, Nathan," Jordan said, loud enough to be heard from both cars. "Get out of the car."

From:

my_own_advocate

"Hello, Havenites," Lucifer chirped cheerfully. "Please take your gun out of my boyfriend's face before I snap it in two, thank you."

Not that he was giving them that kind of time, leaning over Duke to grab the gun as he was.

From:

betterthanaplan

"The fu --" the Guardsman started, as the gun was yanked from his hand. Duke took the opportunity of his surprise to open the door sharply into the man's legs, knocking him back a step.

"Hey!" Jordan shouted from the car in front. "Is that Crocker? We'll get to him next."

"Nice to see you too, Jordan!" Duke said, overly brightly. "Still . . . breathing and everything."

He didn't think he'd have been too sorry if he'd managed to kill her, last time he was here.

Nathan was climbing carefully from the lead car, his hands up. "Jordan. Can we talk?"

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia, looking absolutely fed up with Haven being so Haven this early on, was also getting out of the car. With her hands up, yes, not that her concealed knives were far from reach.

(She knew she should've brought the sword.)

"Stay behind me," she muttered to Jennifer.

From:

seaoftroubles

Jennifer, all of 5-foot-not-much, was already doing so, yes.

“Who is that woman?” she asked.

“Jordan McKee,” Duke said, edging his way over to them. “She and Nathan used to have a thing but — then he dumped her and I shot her and the whole thing got weird.”

“. . . Oh.”

From:

my_own_advocate

And Lucifer hopped over the car door and onto the asphalt. He, predictably, didn't look too fussed about any of it as he sauntered towards the lady who seemed to be in charge.

He was not holding his hands up.

"Now can we stop waving the guns around?" he said. "I mean, it won't hurt me, obviously, and Mr. Romance Novel over here may be a touch on the suicidal end, but all the shouting and the iron is all a bit much, isn't it?"

From:

seaoftroubles

Jordan glared at him. “Who the fuck are you?”

From:

my_own_advocate

"Lucifer Morningstar, pleasure to meet you," Lucifer said, sliding one hand into his pocket while he gestured at Duke with the other one. "I'm his boyfriend, the woman who's glaring at you is our partner. We'd like to keep heading onwards into what even I can only describe as a 'hellhole', and you're making a bit of an unnecessary nuisance out of yourself."

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia was not so much glaring as she was squinting.

She was trying to place Jordan. Something about her looked familiar...

From:

betterthanaplan

Jordan opened her mouth for another angry reply, but before she could speak, another car pulled up. Dwight stepped out of the driver's side, wearing a bullet proof vest and a police badge, while Vince and Dave got out the other side. Duke shot the shorter man a glare.

"Way to keep a secret, Dave!" he hissed.

"Believe me, you're glad we're here."

"Oh yeah, it's going splendidly so far!"

From:

my_own_advocate

Lucifer brightened. "Well, if it isn't the big fuzzy lumberjack," he called. "Come to join this little soiree, have we?"

From:

betterthanaplan

"I know you?" Dwight asked, frowning.

"I don't care!" Jordan bellowed, reshouldering her rifle to aim at Nathan. "He dies now!"

"Jordan!" Vince ordered. "Put the gun down."

"Jordan," Dave said, much softer. "Remember it was Nathan who found you unconscious in that field. He explained your condition to the doctors so they could operate on you. He could have let you die, but he didn't!"

Jordan didn't appear moved. "Maybe he should've."

From:

okteiviakom

... Oh. Puzzle pieces locked together.

Jordan had been one of Claire's patients. Or -- that was what Octavia had assumed, anyway. Much like she'd assumed Jordan had been the one to send Dwight tailing her, the only time they'd met.

Her squinting mellowed to something quieter, and more steely, as she watched the situation unfold.

From:

my_own_advocate

"Can we please stop it with the pointing guns at each other," Lucifer said, heaving a sigh as he weaved between people until he found himself standing in front of Nathan. "It really is completely unnecessary."

He wouldn't mind even a little bit if Nathan died, and yet even he was acknowledging as much!

"I doubt it is what you actually want, either," he said, as he reached for the rifle.

The situation could escalate at any moment, and if anyone here got shot, Duke would be upset, or worse, Duke would be shot. So the words just slipped out. After the whole incident with Duke, he did not expect them to work.

"So tell me, what is it you truly desire?"

From:

seaoftroubles

“Luce,” Duke hissed warningly.

“I want to be normal,” Jordan said. Practically wailed, even. She shoved her gun at one of her goons and ripped her glove off. “I want my trouble gone!”

She grabbed for Lucifer’s bare neck.

From:

my_own_advocate

Lucifer's hand shot up and caught her by the wrist, tilting his head, his eyebrow raised. "Well, shooting him or throttling me isn't going to help you."

From:

seaoftroubles

Jordan stared at his hand on her wrist, then at Lucifer. “You can’t feel it?”

She looked like that fact might make her knees buckle.

“What does she mean?” Jennifer asked Duke.

“Jordan’s like — a human taser. Her touch hurts most people. That’s her trouble. Luce . . . isn’t most people.”

From:

my_own_advocate

"Whatever weird little trouble you have?" Lucifer asked, as he let her wrist slip from his fingers. "No. I'm not human, darling."

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia's eyes darted from Lucifer to Duke.

He didn't think it was necessarily the best idea to advertise that part, either, right? Even here, where 'human' could be a relative thing.

From:

betterthanaplan

Duke didn’t love it, but he was under no illusions about how long Lucifer would be willing to keep it under wraps.

“Yep, that’s right,” he said. “My boyfriend is the literal Devil. Surprising possibly none of you.”

Dave blinked, mouth open. Vince frowned, but nodded slowly. Jordan looked like she wanted to cry, and Nathan looked stoic as ever.

Dwight shook his head. “What.”

From:

my_own_advocate

The chances of reeling in Lucifer in any way were small to none, yes.

Lucifer adjusted his jacket. "As I said, I'm Lucifer Morningstar, nice to meet you," he said, "Now can we please all stop attempting to put holes in one another? There's at least one or two humans here I actually care about."

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia looked briefly unimpressed.

Then she shifted in place just a little, making sure Jennifer was still behind her. She wasn't exactly convinced this revelation - as much as the people around them actually even believed it - wouldn't make anyone more likely to try any stupid moves.

From:

seaoftroubles

“That’s fine,” Jordan growled, collecting herself. “Just give me Wuornos and the rest of you can go.”

“You start shooting,” Dwight said, pulling off his vest, “the only one you’ll hit is me. That what you want, Jordan?”

Jordan snarled and threw her hands up in disgust.

“You told us Duke was in the Barn with Audrey,” Vince said to Nathan, a dark tone in his voice. “When it was destroyed!”

“He was,” Nathan said, then raised his voice, talking to the whole crowd. “Which means Audrey is still alive!”

The Guardsmen reacted in shock, lowering their guns and muttering amongst themselves.