Season one catchup preplay

[seaoftroubles]

There'll be more detail in the OCD, but the basic shape is this:

As You Were: Duke and Octavia head back to Haven for Audrey's surprise birthday party (braced for troubles). They head out to a remote island off the coast where everyone's gathered at an old, closed down hotel. The proprietor turns out to be a shapeshifter that kills the people it turns into. Everyone wonders who the baddie really is. The ME dies, Lucifer sends up a demon to possess her body and yell at Duke for dragging Octavia back into his world's bullshit. Audrey is revealed to be the shapeshifter, but didn't die because She's Different. They all go back to the mainland, where Duke reveals that he's the kid in the Colorado Kid murder picture, and Audrey emotionally blackmails him into sticking around longer to answer some questions.

The Hand You're Dealt: Duke and Audrey hunt down and question a couple of the other people in the Colorado Kid photo. Meanwhile, Nathan and Audrey try to track down someone with a fire trouble. Duke's old babysitter turns out to have death visions when she touches people, and after getting blown up by the fire trouble, tells Duke how he's going to die right before she dies herself.

The Trial of Audrey Parker: Audrey talks Duke into hosting a poker game before leaving. Two of the other guests hijack the boat to try and get something Duke's smuggling for a client. Honestly there are a lot of holes in this thanks to the way things are shaping up with Fandom in the mix. Why would Octavia let Duke stick around when now they KNOW someone in Haven is going to kill him? Octavia isn't a good replacement for Julia, Julia's a ninny. Octavia would just beat the shit out of the baddies for being mean to Duke. And getting the boat cracked delays them too much in going back to Fandom. Maybe we should skip this one. It doesn't really add much to Duke's character development that hasn't kinda been covered by Fandom anyway.

Comments

Re: As You Were - the death

[seaoftroubles]

After a chance to claim rooms for the weekend and put their stuff away, everyone gathers for the party proper. It starts storming outside, and the power blinks. Audrey is the last to arrive. Julia goes looking for -- I don't know, the bathroom or something? -- and finds Vaughn's shed skin. The Chief infodumps about the local shapeshifter lore.

Re: As You Were - the death

[betterthanaplan]

The storm only got worse as the morning wore on. Though it couldn't be much past noon, the sky was as dark as night in between cracks of lightning. The rain was starting to come down in earnest as the guests began to gather again in the party room. The old men: Vince, Dave, and the Chief; sat around the coffee table, pestering Julia for stories of her travels. Nathan and Duke paced at opposite ends of the room, Nathan playing with a set of plastic party masks. Eleanor bustled about, playing party host.

"Anybody seen Audrey?" she asked.

"Uh." Duke shrugged. "Just long enough to know she was looking for Mr. Carpenter." He glanced back over his shoulder at the hallway, only to startle back a little when Nathan happened to pass by holding a balloon and staring at him from behind a white plastic cat mask.

Nathan had always been extra weird when it came to parties.

Re: As You Were - the death

[okteiviakom]

Octavia wasn't doing much better than Nathan, really. She'd found herself a corner of the room to stand in with a glass in hand, just quietly watching everyone else, figuring out the various dynamics in the room like the outside observer that she was.

... Also the party decor. She hadn't actually seen cardboard hats like that outside of TV.

Re: As You Were - the death

[betterthanaplan]

No one had. Not unless they grew up in a quaint little New England town, anyway. Or possibly the 1950s.

"I left her birthday presents in her room," Dave said, sounding entirely too pleased with himself. "Figured she'd need an outfit for the party? She's going to look fantastic!"

"Oh! Sweetheart!" Eleanor said to Julia, as she finished up the preparations. "Would you get Vaughn and get him to find some matches? I forgot to bring something to light the cake with!"

Julia rolled her eyes and got to her feet. "Aye aye, Captain."

At least Octavia wasn't the only awkward one at this part. 'Unspoken tension' seemed to be the theme of the weekend.

Re: As You Were - the death

[okteiviakom]

Octavia was picking up on that, yes. She might even have found it fascinating if she hadn't been one of the awkward people involved.

She downed about half of what was in her glass, and offered, before she could second-guess herself, "I can go look for Audrey."

It was pretty much the first thing she'd said since they'd all gathered here. And even now, it was more a convenient excuse to maybe leave the room again than it was anything else.

Re: As You Were - the death

[betterthanaplan]

Eleanor had just been about to assign that to Nathan, but she turned a bright, only slightly forced smile on Octavia instead. "Thank you dear! Octavia, wasn't it?"

Before Octavia could actually leave, though, Audrey came swooping through the door.

"Sorry I'm the last one here!" she announced, running her hands down the blue dress she'd changed into. "It took me a little bit to figure out this whole 'glam' thing."

Julia looked her over and leaned towards Dave. "My birthday's in March," she said, and ducked out to go look for matches.

Dave looked so proud he might just burst.

Re: As You Were - the death

[okteiviakom]

Well, that was a nice half-step Octavia got to take, before shifting her weight back again as Audrey came in. Guess she was back in the corner, sipping what was left of her drink while watching everyone's attention on Audrey.

The dress looked good on her, Octavia would give her that.

Re: As You Were - the death

[betterthanaplan]

"Do you like the decorations?" Eleanor asked.

"Dr. Carr, this is amazing," Audrey said. "It's like a whole . . . dragony. . . ."

"Underwater," Duke whispered as he headed past her to join Octavia in her corner.

". . . Underwater wonderland! What is that, is that a seahorse?"

Duke reached for Octavia's hand to give it a squeeze. "Just a little longer," he whispered to her. "Then we can go enjoy the room you picked out."

Re: As You Were - the death

[okteiviakom]

Octavia let him take her hand. Even gave his a squeeze back.

And then let go of it. And finished her drink.

Re: As You Were - the death

[betterthanaplan]

Duke flexed his fingers and grimaced to himself. He was really batting 100 here today.

It was almost a relief when Julia screamed. Maybe Octavia would get to fight something.

Re: As You Were - the death

[okteiviakom]

Well, she certainly took off immediately like she'd been itching to go even before the scream had startled her into moving.

Re: As You Were - the death

[betterthanaplan]

Duke was close on her heels, Audrey right behind him. The rest of the party followed behind her.

Julia was standing in what looked like an old utility room, staring down at a set of clothes on the floor.

And the loose, shed skin still wearing said clothes.

"What the hell is that?!" Duke asked.

"Get back!" the Chief ordered, bullying his way to the front. "Parker, everyone, get back. Don't even touch it." He stared down at the thing on the floor, his expression stony. "Oh boy."

Re: As You Were - the death

[okteiviakom]

Octavia stared down at the -- remains? On the floor.

And then, looked up at the Chief as realization about his reaction dawned. "You know what this is."

Re: As You Were - the death

[betterthanaplan]

The Chief looked back, giving her a long, measuring look.

"Is that true, Garland?" Eleanor asked. "That looks like -- like moult."

The Chief wiped his hand across his face, then fished out his cigarettes. "You're both right," he said. He took a moment to light his cigarette, then looked over the assembled group, as though measuring each of them up. "Vaughn Carpenter . . . was a chameleon."

Re: As You Were - the death

[okteiviakom]

Now, Octavia finally looked over at Duke with a question in her eyes.

But he didn't know what the fuck was going on either, right? Except that they'd sailed right into another trouble, yet again. Had to be.

Re: As You Were - the death

[betterthanaplan]

None of them had any idea what the fuck was going on. Except, apparently, for the Chief. Duke reached back for Octavia's hand again, eyes glued on the skin on the ground.

Yeah. They'd sailed right into a trouble again.

"Chief," Nathan barked out.

"Sorry, Nathan." The Chief nodded, flicking ash off his cigarette. "A shapeshifter. A monster. For want of a better term, a chameleon. And it's now shed Vaughn Carpenter's form and found itself a new one." He nodded, looking over the assembled group again as he took a long drag. "One of ours. Somebody right here in this room . . . is a chameleon. Which means one of us is a killer. And one of us . . . is dead."

Thunder cracked above the hotel. Duke threw his hands in the air. "Jesus fuck," he said, storming his way back out into the hall. "How do I keep getting dragged into this shit?"

Re: As You Were - the death

[okteiviakom]

This time, Octavia didn't pull her hand away.

... But he did. She followed him into the hall, though, without even a second thought. And didn't even point out he was the one who'd wanted to come out here.

Again.

"Well, this is great."

Re: As You Were - the death

[betterthanaplan]

"If I didn't know better," Duke muttered. "I'd wonder if my trouble was actually really shitty luck."

"Where the hell d'you two think you're going?" the Chief demanded.

"Somewhere someone isn't going to try to kill me?" Duke shot back.

"Uh uh." The Chief looked over his shoulder. "Nathan?"

Nathan looked deeply pissed under his trademark stony facade, though it was hard to tell if he was madder at Duke or the Chief. "Should all sit down," he grumbled, as he moved to herd Duke and Octavia back into the party room. "Talk this through."

"'Sright," the Chief said, glaring at everyone. "Nobody's goin' anywhere until we track this monster down."

Re: As You Were - the death

[okteiviakom]

"Anyone tries to pin this one on Duke, they're going to regret it," Octavia informed no one in particular in a low rasp.

She didn't like getting herded, or anything else about this situation, and that had to be let out in some way.

Re: As You Were - the death

[betterthanaplan]

Julia gave her a long, suspicious look. "Really. You think you know him so well, huh?"

"Can it, Carr," Duke growled.

"Alright, alright, everybody sit down so I can explain," the Chief ordered, and then proceeded to start his speech without actually waiting for them to sit. "I was a rookie. The one time I saw one of these chameleon things. Just back from 'Nam, where I guess I thought I'd pretty much seen and done everything. Until I was forced to shoot my own partner, right in the head, to stop him from killing me."

"You shot your partner?" Audrey asked. Nathan, hovering just over her shoulder, gave his father a narrow-eyed look.

"Chameleon killed my partner," the Chief said. "He'd taken his shape, taken his personality, taken everything. I killed the chameleon. But not before it had copied and killed six people. Now, 27 years on the job, and the only thing I've ever hoped for was that I'd never have to see one of them again."

Re: As You Were - the death

[okteiviakom]

Octavia met Julia's look with a steady one of her own, before all their focus shifted to the Chief.

Her expression was hardening again. "And you're sure this is that, again?" she asked.

Re: As You Were - the death

[betterthanaplan]

The Chief scoffed. "Sure I'm sure, peanut. You all saw its shed skin. That's how it changes."

"Her name's Octavia," Duke said through his teeth. The Chief opened his mouth to snark back, but Nathan spoke first.

"How do we stop it from . . . taking someone else?"

"Everyone just has to stay within earshot of everyone else," the Chief said firmly. "'Cause this chameleon thing, it seems to need time with its victim in order to mimic its soul. Get jumped, you just scream as loud as you can."

"What does it want?" Audrey asked.

"It wants to kill, basically. It wants to change, it wants to renew itself. I think everyone in this room is pretty much well aware that the troubles are now back." He looked up at Octavia. "Except maybe our tourist here."

"The 'tourist' could take you apart," Duke said. "Without breaking a sweat."

"You wanna go now, yoga mat? I've coughed up tougher than you!"

Re: As You Were - the death

[okteiviakom]

"The tourist knows about the troubles," Octavia cut in, speaking over the Chief, her voice firm and just a little bit icy. ('Peanut', really?) "Keep your focus where it's supposed to be."

Re: As You Were - the death

[betterthanaplan]

"You told her?!" Vince asked, looking scandalized.

"Yes," Duke said, glaring back. "I did!"

"Look!" the Chief said, loudly cutting them off. "This thing's killed one of us already. And I guarantee it's not going to stop at one!"

Thunder rumbled as the assembled guests all side-eyed each other.

"Hang on a second," Duke said, shaking his head and trying to push off the growing panic that this time Haven might actually succeed at killing him. "I'm trying to be zen about all this." Nathan snorted. Duke flicked him off without looking at him. "Just so I'm clear: you're saying you haven't seen one of these chameleon deals since the Reagan Administration. And now, of all the times. And all the places. We just happen to get stuck inside a storm inside its damn lair?!"

He was very much failing at being zen about all this.

"I'm just curious about how that happens."

Re: As You Were - the death

[okteiviakom]

Octavia was never going to understand the collective psyche of Haven when it came to trying to keep the weird a secret. Or thinking that it even could be.

But, anyway.

"That does seem like a convenient coincidence," she agreed in a drawl. Duke was all hands; Octavia was very, very still. "Did we get brought here to be preyed on?"