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:

betterthanaplan

"Would that I could," Duke said, shaking his head. "Linda has a troubled patient."

From:

okteiviakom

They hadn't talked about Haven in a long time. Amd 'troubled' had other, more general uses.

But maybe Octavia was refusing to connect the dots only because she still could.

"... And?"

From:

my_own_advocate

"She's a therapist, all her patients are troubled," Lucifer pointed out.

His cluelessness was definitely genuine.

From:

betterthanaplan

Yeah, he could have phrased that better. He was kind of lost in how much he hated this right now.

“Haven troubled. She’s, um. She’s been hearing the Barn. Me, yelling for Audrey. In the Barn.”

From:

okteiviakom

And there came the unavoidable dread.

Octavia stared at him.

From:

my_own_advocate

"Oh, enter terrible plot development, stage left."

Lucifer pinched the bridge of his nose.

From:

betterthanaplan

“Yeah.” Duke let out a heavy sigh. “She, uh. She thinks she’s actually insane.” He laughed uncomfortably. “Which isn’t surprising, but — anyway, um. Turns out people in Haven think I’m dead?”

Look, he was dealing with a lot of weird information today.

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia should probably do something other than just stare some more.

"Did she tell you that?"

From:

my_own_advocate

"Suppose you were in a large building when it exploded," Lucifer said, eyeing Duke warily.

From:

betterthanaplan

“Fell apart?” Duke shook his head. “Uh. No. I tried calling Nathan to see what’s going on and everyone kept telling me I couldn’t be Duke because Duke’s dead.”

From:

okteiviakom

"But you could get through to Haven."

Not a question. More like Octavia was stating it outright to get herself to accept it.

(She hadn't yet realized how fast her heart was racing all of a sudden.)

From:

my_own_advocate

Lucifer sighed loudly. The reality of the situation clearly hadn't quite hit him yet. "Does this mean we have to roadtrip back to your hellhole?" he asked. "Word chosen deliberately, I assure you."

From:

betterthanaplan

Duke swallowed, hand in his hair. He didn’t like this any more than they did.

“I — I think we do. Jennifer needs help, and — and Audrey’s still missing and Dave said Nathan’s on the run. . . .”

He trailed off, shaking his head. He couldn’t believe this was happening. It’d been almost a year, and he’d almost started to relax.

“You don’t — have to come. But. I could probably use the backup.”

From:

okteiviakom

"You are not going on your own," Octavia snapped. The burst of anger wasn't directed at anyone here: it was a crutch.

He'd been on his own, last time. And look at how that had turned out.

(The floor felt like it was giving out underneath her.)

From:

my_own_advocate

"I would've made some flippant comment about how you must be losing your mind, but Octavia covered it quite nicely," Lucifer said, gesturing towards her.

None of this sounded especially good.

But after seeing the way Duke had been since coming back the last time, Lucifer also didn't see the point of arguing with him.

From:

betterthanaplan

Duke nodded, giving them a shaky smile. “Thanks. I’ll, uh. I guess I’ll let Jennifer know. And maybe after this . . . we can finally be done.”

From:

okteiviakom

The panic Octavia was ignoring did not buy that at all.

But Octavia forced a nod.

From:

my_own_advocate

"We'll just pack up, check in on what's going on over there, fix whatever needs to be fixed, and then ride out of there as fast as possible with your nerves soothed one way or the other," Lucifer said.

Optimistically.

From:

betterthanaplan

“Yes. That. Exactly.”

Duke really wanted to believe in that optimism.

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia... nodded again.

She didn't buy this, either. (And her heart sounded like thunder in her ears.)

From:

my_own_advocate

"Right, well," Lucifer said, looking at Duke a bit helplessly, like a train that just ran out of steam. "Now what?"

From:

betterthanaplan

"I'll . . . call Jennifer. And . . . I guess we rent a car?"

He was kind of hoping someone gave him a hug first.

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia looked a little too frozen in place for that. The reality of the situation was really starting to seep in, now.

She looked off to the side. Breathed in.

From:

my_own_advocate

Lucifer rolled his eyes. "I'll buy something," he said.

He glanced at Octavia. Frowned.

Glanced back at Duke's face. Frowned again.

"... Are you two all right?"