Survivors preplay check 1

[seaoftroubles]

Duke & Wade	They'd been in Haven all of a day so far, and it was definitely still weird. For one thing, the bed on the Sanguine Moon was definitely too small for all three of them to fit in comfortably at once. The boat itself was maybe a bit too small for all three of them. Duke was bracing for Lucifer to show up with a luxury yacht he'd just bought for the three of them to share. He was reminding himself he didn't actually care about what Old Sal and the other fishermen thought of him and any boat he might end up living on in the harbor. Even a luxury yacht. For now, while Lucifer spent a little time with Dan in Hell, helping him work through more of his guilt, Duke and Octavia headed to the Gull to grab breakfast with Jennifer. Or, well, it was supposed to be breakfast with Jennifer. It ended up being breakfast with Jennifer and Wade, who was still lingering like a bad cold. "So," Wade said, as he brought plates over to the bar for them all. "Of course my little brother dies without a will. Or a body. Makes it complicated if you're the next of kin." Duke sighed. "If I were my brother Wade I would have planned my unexpected death."
Octavia	"Do we have to keep calling it that?" Octavia asked, her tone very mild. It was not her favorite thing that Wade was here too, no. But she was trying to behave.
Duke & Wade & Jennifer	Duke flicked her a little smile and set his hand on her arm. "You need a will," Wade continued, clearly unbothered by Octavia's discomfort. "You all do. Especially in Haven." Jennifer gave him a polite curl of the lips. "I'll . . . look into it."
Octavia	"I won't." What, her existing official documents had all been forged by Duke anyway.
Wade & Duke	Wade frowned, startled by Octavia's refusal to bow to contemporary conversational convention, while Jennifer snorted a laugh into her scrambled eggs. "Wade," Duke said, failing to conceal a smirk of his own. "You're heading home today, then?" "Tonight, yeah," Wade said distractedly, as he continued to frown at Octavia in confusion. "I've been commuting back and forth between Haven and New York for months now. The wife is, um, starting to lose patience." He pulled his phone out, flicking them all a friendly smile again. "Which reminds me, I gotta call Marcy before she goes to work. Excuse me." He turned from the bar and started dialing. Duke untensed a little as he watched him go.
Octavia	Look, Octavia couldn't help being unnerving. ... Okay, that was a lie. She could have, she just didn't want to. Which meant she'd held Wade's gaze with a flat look the entire time he'd been frowning at her. But now that he had gone, she covered Duke's hand on her arm with hers. "That counted as behaving, right?"
Duke & Jennifer	Duke grinned at her. "Close enough." "What exactly does he think you've been doing the last six months?" Jennifer asked, spearing a piece of sausage with her fork. "I just told him that I was away on business. He knows better than to ask a lot of questions." Few members of the Crocker family were up to anything above board when they said they were doing "business".
Octavia	"Well, he's seen the kind of people your business has attracted, jaka," Octavia rasped, leaning over to steal something from his plate. Fittingly.
Duke & Jennifer	"Uh huh," Duke said, giving her a fond smirk. "I prefer the kind of people I attract." "You two are adorable," Jennifer said, then broke into a wide yawn. "Sorry, up late. Nathan wanted to know every detail about the voices I heard from the Barn." Duke snorted. "Yeah, it's like a cop thing. He can be thorough. Especially when he thinks it might help find Audrey."
Octavia	Octavia popped her stolen goods into her mouth, and used that to cover up the urge to sigh. "Did it seem like he got anything he wanted?"
Jennifer & Duke	"Does he ever seem like that?" Jennifer asked ruefully. "But, I mean. He's right. The antipsychotic meds I know can make my memory a little fuzzy. Maybe I did hear more than I realize." "Jennifer, I don't know why you're still taking those pills. You're not crazy." Duke shook his head, leaning his elbows on the bar top. "Besides, the Barn got destroyed. You're not going to hear those voices anymore."
Octavia	Octavia considered not saying anything to that, but... It was already on the tip of her tongue, and then it was out, soft and mild, as she looked at Jennifer. "He's never had to take anti-crazy pills for anything."
Duke & Jennifer	Duke opened his mouth, then shut it and looked away. "I thought so," Jennifer said, shaking her head. "He doesn't understand what it was like hearing the same voices over and over again. For six months!" Duke grimaced, then lost the battle to keep his mouth shut. "Okay, yeah. But time moved differently in the Barn. What seemed like seconds for me in there was like six months of the same song on Barn radio for you."
Octavia	"Do we actually know that?" Octavia wondered, her hand creeping onto Duke's arm as if on its own. Reflex. "You've been in Fandom, and time has been extra screwed. We're just assuming the six months is how long the Barn took."
Duke & Jennifer & Wade	Duke frowned. "I guess . . . maybe they could have been echoes or something. . . ." "Well now I'm definitely not going off my meds," Jennifer decided. Which was when Wade returned, and Duke quickly broke in, trying to make sure his brother didn't overhear the weirder parts of their conversation. "What, no Marcy?" Wade shook his head. "Probably giving the contractor marching orders. We're in the middle of a big remodel. Speaking of, if you fix this place up, you could get way more than those two guys were offering." Duke went cold all over. "Someone tried to buy the Gull."
Octavia	Octavia frowned, but honestly didn't think too much of it. Like she hadn't thought too much of finding the place open even without Duke, too. Wasn't that kind of just how businesses worked? "Who was it?"
Wade & Jennifer & Duke	"Two old guys," Wade said, shrugging. "Which, you know, got me thinking. This town has got tons of cheap seaside real estate. But then I started looking into local insurance costs and it was like 'whew!'" "Makes sense," Jennifer said. "Which two old guys?" Duke pressed. "Uh . . . Vern and Dan?" "Vince and Dave?" Wade snapped. "That's it. You know them?" Duke shot Octavia a knowing look, then looked past her to Jennifer. "Hey Jennifer. Want to go see how a small town paper works?" Jennifer frowned but shrugged. ". . . Sure?"
Octavia	Off Duke's look, Octavia held back another sigh. And just muttered, "Here we go again." Off to see the freaking Haven squirrels.

---

Duke & Vince	The Teagues brothers were, unfortunately, pretty unavoidable when it came to the troubles in Haven. The magical ones and the ones that were just interpersonal and annoying. "First you don't tell me that my brother's in town," Duke said, cornering Vince at his desk. "And then you try to buy the Gull?" Vince peered over the edge of his glasses up at Duke, unconcerned. "Well, I wanted Wade to settle your estate quickly so he would leave."
Octavia	Octavia wasn't entirely comfortable with having left Jennifer with Dave. But, she'd also taken note of which of the Teagues had been in charge during their run-in with the Guard. And so there'd been no chance of her letting Duke talk to Vince alone. Or at least without her in the room, as right now she seemed content to stand by the door, looking grim and unimpressed.
Duke & Vince	"Why is that?" Duke asked, his jaw tight as he loomed over Vince. Vince smiled faintly. "The Guard doesn't want another Crocker in town taking over the family business." Duke shook his head. "He doesn't know anything about that stuff." "Oh? How can you be so sure?" Vince tilted his head. "He might have found your father's things, his weapons, his journal. . . ."
Octavia	"Do you think Duke just leaves those lying around?" Octavia rasped. (She didn't know, actually. She hoped he didn't, though.)
Duke & Vince	"I don't, thank you," Duke said, nodding to her. "It's all hidden." In Fandom, even! Duke leaned his palms on Vince's desk. "I want your word that the Guard is going to leave my brother alone." Vince sat back, taking off his glasses. He laid his forearm on the desk, underside facing up, and the Guard symbol faded into view just below the inside of his elbow. As though Duke needed the reminder that Vince was one of the many, many people in town who could be the one to eventually kill him. "Are you going to get Wade out of Haven?" Vince asked.
Octavia	Octavia finally stepped forward, a little closer to being side-by-side with Duke. Yes, it coincided with that... weird tattoo thing. But looked a little more controlled than just reflex. "He's already leaving tonight."
Vince & Duke	Vince smiled pleasantly at her, then at Duke. "Then I guess the only Crocker with a target on his back will be you." Duke stared back at him, his jaw tight. "It's like you — you actually enjoy upsetting me." "Everybody needs a hobby."
Octavia	Octavia's expression got both colder and more flat in response to Vince's smile. "Taim yumi gon we," she rasped, putting her hand on Duke's arm, still eyeing Vince. "Fou ai teik disha nomonjoka drein au."
Vince & Duke	Vince raised his eyebrows curiously at the unfamiliar language. "Well. Aren't you just an interesting young woman." Duke stuck his finger in the old man's face. "No." He pulled back, trying to usher Octavia behind him. "Sha, gona. Yumi gon we. Much as I'd love to see what you do to him."
Octavia	Octavia allowed herself to be ushered. But it was definitely more for his benefit than hers. Judging by that parting glare towards Vince.
Jennifer & Dave	Meanwhile, on the other side of the office, Jennifer was having a much nicer conversation with the other Teagues. "Thanks for helping. Duke told me you had a picture of Audrey Parker?" Dave nodded, flipping through a file drawer. "Mm hmm, in here somewhere." Jennifer smiled and looked around the office, trying not to feel the tension coming off the trio on the other side of the room. "So. These troubles. How come the whole world doesn't know about them?" "Well, that's what we do here at the Herald." Dave gave her a little conspiratorial smile. "We cover it up." He held up a newspaper clipping from the files. "We said that this one was caused by 17-year cicadas." He set the article aside and kept flipping through the drawer. "Haven also has a lot of 'gas leaks'." Jennifer bit her lip, thinking. "Are they like . . . evolution, or . . . magic?" Dave shook his head. "Oh, no, it's — it's more like having a supernatural ability. That you don't want and can't control. They tend to cause a lot of death and destruction. Sometimes maiming." He said that far too casually. "Ah, this is her." He passed a folder to Jennifer, who flipped it open. "Oh, she's so pretty." "She's always the same age every time she returns to Haven." "When the Barn takes her away, where does she go?" Dave shook his head. "We don't know. But you and Duke found each other after he fell out of the barn, and I'm betting you'll help find Audrey, too." Jennifer grimaced faintly. "That's what everyone keeps saying, yeah." The conversation on the other side of the room seemed to reach a boiling point, and Jennifer set the folder down. "Uh, I guess we're going now. Thanks again." "No problem!" Dave said, clearly neither concerned nor perturbed by the looks on the faces of the two who'd been speaking to his brother. "Come back any time."

---

Jennifer & Duke

Jennifer looked across the park as she and Duke made their way slowly towards the festivities. Octavia was off visiting Claire's grave at Hillside Cemetery, after giving Duke strict orders not to antagonize any Havenites without her there as back up, and Lucifer was still off doing . . . whatever he'd decided to do to keep from getting bored to tears spending time in a small, rural town, so it was just the two of them for a minute. Duke didn't mind. Jennifer, it turned out, was good company when there was nothing overtly supernatural showing up to kill them. (She was decent company then, too. Her whole "I DON'T LIKE IT HERE" performance during the tornado had been classic.) "This town is like a post card!" Jennifer said, shaking her head in disbelief. "I saw an old woman actually sweeping the sidewalk. But — there's a family of mermen here? Like real mermen." "That's the least of it," Duke agreed, his hands shoved in his pockets. "Which is why I want my brother Wade to get out of town." Jennifer gave him a dubious look. "So Haven is too dangerous for your brother. But you and your partners are staying. And you want me to, too." Duke sighed. "My brother Wade doesn't belong here." He stopped walking, looking around at the trees, trying to think of how best to explain just how normal Wade was. "When . . . we were kids. In grade school. He, uh, he came to visit one Christmas. We took him sledding." Jennifer stopped too, nodding as she listened. "We were with this troubled kid who couldn't feel anything. And he couldn't feel it when — when he broke his arm, and it was so bad that the bone was sticking out of his parka." Duke shook his head again at the memory, the blood streaming down Nathan's arm, the kids screaming all around them. "And my brother Wade, well." A soft snort. "He puked. He just — he freaked out. He couldn't handle it." Jennifer tilted her head. "What did you do?" Duke shrugged. "I just . . . carried the kid to the hospital. And then I went back to sledding." He grinned. "It was a good day." He skimmed his hand across the air, mimicking the motion of his sled. "Icy." Jennifer watched him, a little smile on her own face. Picturing Duke as a little kid, gleefully flinging himself down the side of an icy hill even after a friend had ended up with a compound fracture. Then her smile faded. "I don't know what I would have done." Duke bobbled his head a little, considering. "You didn't freak out too bad back in Baltimore, when you found out the voices in your head were real. And you're here now, helping us find Audrey." He ducked his head a little, so their eyes were more level. "I'm pretty sure you would have helped that kid. And then gone back to sledding." They watched each other for a long moment, and Duke realized what he was doing. How he was feeling. Octavia was going to murder him if he developed another crush here. "You know what," he said quickly. "I, uh. I should get back to the Gull, make sure that he gets out of here." Dismissing Jennifer too fast would be rude, so he added "Do you want to come with or. . . ?" Thankfully, Jennifer didn't seem offended. "No no, go say goodbye to your brother. I want to go find some saltwater taffy." Duke chuckled. "Salt water taffy. Alright." He looked around, then pointed down the street towards the row of shops near the waterfront. "Well, after that, there's a coffee shop: Blackhouse Coffee, only place in town that makes a decent espresso. I'll let Tavi and Luce know to meet us there." Jennifer smiled, bouncing a little on her toes. "Sounds good!" She headed off at a light jog, and Duke backed away, watching her go. Found himself picturing what that kind of energy would be like in bed, and had to shake the moment off again with a little muttered "yeah." Octavia was so going to kill him.

Wade & Duke

Wade was still at the bar in the Gull, slamming back shot after shot. Duke watched him for a long moment, a sinking feeling in his gut. "Drink too much of that you won't be able to drive home!" he said, full of forced cheer that drained fast as Wade filled his shot glass again. ". . . You're not going to drive home." Wade wordlessly pushed a tablet towards him. Duke frowned with his eyebrows, even as his mouth maintained its hopeful smile, then looked at the screen. At the screenshot of his sister-in-law in bed with a distinctly non-Wade individual. "Woah." "Nanny-cams," Wade said, tossing back another shot. "Not just for nannies anymore." "Who's the guy?" "Contractor. Supposed to be installing a skylight, but I guess he's waiting until he's done screwing my wife." Duke set the tablet down again. "Did you know Marcy was cheating?" "Suspected. That's why I installed the remote access camera." "Wade, I am —" Duke shook his head, at a loss for words. "I'm so sorry." Wade sighed. "It's what I get for spending so much time up here." Fuck. Fuck. Duke pictured Vince's evil smirk. The tattoo on the inside of the man's arm. He was going to get his brother killed. "You . . . came here to help me," he said, trying to think how to be supportive while still spinning this into Wade leaving town. "I'm not going to forget that." "Good." Wade nodded. "Cause I can't go back until I lock up the assets and serve her with the papers." No no no no no no no. . . . . "What about your job?" "I trade high-tech stocks. I can — I can do that anywhere." "Right." Duke knew that look. Wade was digging in his heels. The man was all but unmoveable when he got that look. "Look, we'll . . . figure something out." Something that didn't involve Wade sticking around to get caught up in Haven's bullshit. Maybe Lucifer would have some theories.