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

Jennifer looked up, a martini glass in her hand, and threw them a little wave. "Hey! There you two are! Did you find the tornado person?"

From:

my_own_advocate

"And ended the tornados, at least for the time being," Lucifer agreed, wandering towards the girl. "Hello, small... elfin... displaced... trouble... person?"

From:

betterthanaplan

"Hello scruffy well-dressed devil person," Jennifer answered cheerfully. "That's so much easier to deal with when you've had the world's best margarita. Totally worth the cheat!"

She held the glass up for Duke and he accepted it and sipped, still staring around the place. "You don't drink?" he asked.

"Not supposed to with my meds, but your brother and I decided that this was worth the exception."

That got Duke's attention off the crowd. ". . . What."

From:

my_own_advocate

Lucifer's gaze darted from Jennifer to the bar (alcohol!) to Duke and back through the whole loop again.

"Did you have a brother, originally?" he checked.

From:

betterthanaplan

"What -- Yeah, I --" Duke stammered.

And then a voice came from behind him.

"Duke?"

Duke turned slowly. "Wade."

And was engulfed in a hug.

His life just got way more complicated.

From:

my_own_advocate

Lucifer blinked. He would have commented, or tried to rescue Duke, or something, but under the circumstances?

He slid around the two hugging brothers to grab a bottle of scotch from behind the bar.

From:

okteiviakom

What a time for Octavia to wind her way to them through the crowd. (She hadn't hiding in the bathroom until her emotions leveled out, post-Gloria. Of course not. It just -- looked like it, that's all.) She looked relieved to find them.

"Took you long enough."

She assumed the bartender hugging Duke was just...the bartender hugging Duke, honestly. She'd seen weirder happen with his staff at the diner.

From:

betterthanaplan

Duke gaped soundlessly at her, idly patting Wade on the back.

"You're alive," Wade said, astonished and relieved.

"So cool that your brother owns a bar," Jennifer mused, sipping her drink.

". . . Yeah," Duke said, wits not at all about him again yet. "Super cool."

From:

my_own_advocate

"It's Duke's bar," Lucifer felt obliged to state, reaching in the general direction of Octavia. Octavia and booze. He needed both in his hands right now. "And Duke's brother."

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia shifted a little bit in Lucifer's direction, but she was eyeing the new guy with some open distrust, now.

It had been a long time since she and Duke had last talked about his brothers, but she seemed to distinctly remember they were all assholes.

From:

betterthanaplan

They were. The one hugging Duke now had the distinction of being the only blood relative Duke had that he could remotely stand.

It wasn't a high bar.

"Wade," he said again, as his brother pulled back, grinning at him. "The hell are you doing here?"

"Taking care of my little brother's earthly goods," Wade said. "Come on, this calls for drinks all around!"

The crowded bar broke into cheers. Duke followed numbly after as Wade started towards the bar.

From:

my_own_advocate

"We should probably rescue him," Lucifer muttered to Octavia.

From:

okteiviakom

"Yeah," Octavia said, her tone and expression somewhere between grim and concerned.

Already pulling him along after Duke and Wade.

From:

betterthanaplan

"Wade," Duke said again, one hand reaching out to blindly grope for Octavia's hand. "What are you doing here?"

Wade picked up a bottle and popped the top. "You don't seem happy to see me."

From:

my_own_advocate

Lucifer settled his hand on Duke's back. "Aren't you supposed to be-- elsewhere?" he added.

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia said nothing, just eyed Wade.

While taking Duke's hand, and giving it a squeeze.

From:

betterthanaplan

Wade eyed them both, a faint crease between his brows. "Again, I thought you were dead," he said. "You didn't leave any instructions behind. Someone had to come take care of your boat and your bar."

"And Wallstreet Wade was on the ball," Duke said dryly, leaning just slightly into Lucifer's hand. "Right, uh, Wade, these are my partners, Lucifer and Octavia. Luce, Tavi, Wade. One of my many brothers."

"I'm the good one," Wade said. "Partners, huh?"

There were many, many questions in his eyes.

From:

my_own_advocate

"As in romantic, yes," Lucifer said. He wasn't about to leave that even remotely a question as he studied Wade right back. "So you just swept in, did you? The selfless, dutiful brother?"

From:

okteiviakom

"As far as I know, Duke doesn't have good brothers," Octavia added, dry and flat.

Since Lucifer had already had already handled the rest of what she would also have said.

From:

betterthanaplan

"Duke!" Wade pressed his hand to his chest. "I'm hurt."

Duke rolled his eyes. "Wade is . . . the brother I hate the least," he told Octavia. "He's only just kind of a douche instead of a full-on asshole."

Wade snorted. "There's the old Duke charm." He slung his arm around Duke's shoulder, rocking them both a little as he took a long sip of his beer. "I'm Duke's successful brother, then. You can't argue with that, can you?"

"No," Duke said. "No I cannot."

From:

my_own_advocate

"Fan of substances, are we," Lucifer observed idly, and took a large swig of scotch straight from the bottle.

From:

okteiviakom

Now, Octavia did not try and yank Duke out of Wade's chummy embrace.

She really wanted to, though. But made herself just leave it at a muted glare.

From:

betterthanaplan

"Don't tell me my baby brother hooked up with a couple of teetotalers," Wade said, and looked at Duke. "Has death changed you so much?"

Duke grimaced and edged away a little. "You know Wade, now that I'm . . . not dead and all, don't you have things to get back to? In New York? Like, say. . . . Your wife?"

From:

my_own_advocate

"Or at least cocaine," Lucifer said helpfully.

What? He recognized Wall Street when he saw it.

He'd also pointedly swig from that bottle of scotch.

From:

betterthanaplan

Wade chuckled, but his expression hardened a bit as he looked thoughtfully at Lucifer.

At Lucifer's suit, especially.

"Hey, gotta have something to keep up with the international markets," he said. "And yeah, I've been splitting my time between here and New York for months now. But I don't need to leave until at least morning. You're back, man! Let's celebrate!"

Duke forced a smile in return. "Yeah. Sure thing, man. Let's celebrate."