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

Duke jumped up from his seat on the porch. The others had already left, heading back to the police station to fill out paperwork, Nathan giving Duke a look that Duke was sure meant 'nice to see you getting ditched for once', because Nathan was a dick.

"Luce! What the fuck!"

From:

my_own_advocate

"Please tell me everything has stayed more or less unapocalyptic," Lucifer said, rushing across the lawn to get to him.

From:

betterthanaplan

"What?" Duke shook his head. "Yeah, it's fine. You know, other than you running off without warning."

From:

my_own_advocate

"Marion didn't tell you I'd be back?" Lucifer asked.

Sorry, Duke. You were getting yanked into a hug.

From:

betterthanaplan

That hug swallowed Duke's repeated "what?"

"She did," he said, hugging back after a moment. "Where did you go?"

From:

my_own_advocate

Perhaps that faint hint of sulfur answered Duke's question before Lucifer could.

"Hell," he said. "I can sense it here, and its time is flowing normally."

From:

betterthanaplan

"And you needed to swing by on a visit?"

Sorry, Luce, Duke was still stuck in his own problems, and not thinking about Dan at all.

From:

my_own_advocate

Lucifer leaned back a bit. "Dan's there, and he doesn't deserve to be."

From:

betterthanaplan

"Dan is --" Duke pulled away, turning to rub his hand over his mouth. "Shit. Right. You couldn't have told me yourself?"

From:

my_own_advocate

"It's Hell, time runs differently," Lucifer said. He straightened his suit. "I'd already condemned him to years of churn in his Hell loop just running after you lot."

From:

betterthanaplan

Duke nodded a little bit stiffly. "Right. Yeah." He swallowed, shoving that lock of hair that always fell in his face behind his ear. "So I guess you need to take care of him, now?"

He could handle Haven without Lucifer. He'd done it for most of his life.

He didn't much want to handle Haven without Lucifer now, though.

From:

my_own_advocate

Lucifer sighed. "I've spent about a month trying to figure out how to get him to move on to Heaven already with no luck," he said. "So I've parked him in a bit of... limbo. I'm hoping some time in Haven might spark some kind of brilliant idea, frankly."

From:

betterthanaplan

Duke relaxed a fraction. "Right. Well . . . I wouldn't get your hopes up. Haven mostly just sparks terror."

From:

my_own_advocate

"No terror so far, just annoyance," Lucifer said, "...And the realization leaving Dan in a functioning Hell loop would've been cruel."

He eyed Duke.

"You realize that to be gone long enough for you to genuinely miss me, I'd have to choose to spend decades or centuries in Hell, right? Which is hardly useful for anyone."

From:

betterthanaplan

"You couldn't have taken an extra minute?" Duke asked, and winced at the faintly whining tone in his own voice. "Or given Marion slightly more information? I had no idea where you were."

From:

my_own_advocate

Lucifer blinked. "I said I'd be back," he pointed out. "How long has it been?"

From:

betterthanaplan

"I don't know, I wasn't timing you. Half an hour?"

Well, no. But it had felt a lot longer than it was.

"This place kills people, Luce. I know you're immortal and all, but what if someone has a, I don't know, 'banish celestials' trouble?"

From:

my_own_advocate

"That seems extremely unlikely."

From:

betterthanaplan

"My entire life is 'unlikely', Luce."

From:

my_own_advocate

"Yes, but remember what your trouble did when you touched my blood?" Lucifer asked. "Whatever causes your bloody trouble has no idea what to do with me."

From:

betterthanaplan

Duke squeezed his eyes shut with a grimace. He tried not to remember that, thanks, Lucifer.

"Look. I'm just saying. A little more information next time would be nice, okay? I feel for Dan, I do, but this town does bad things to my paranoia."

From:

my_own_advocate

Lucifer sighed, dropping the attitude a tad. "I'll-- try to communicate more next time," he said. "I just didn't think the weather lady would understand."

From:

betterthanaplan

"Yeah, hence maybe taking a minute to tell me yourself." Duke shook his head. "Which would be, what . . . a week for Dan?"

He let out a long sigh.

"Uh. How is he?"