seaoftroubles | Season one catchup preplay

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.

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Following him, Octavia held on tightly. Like an anchor.

For now.

The broom closet was in a crawl space, tucked under the stairs. The door stuck, swollen with the damp of the storm; it took Duke and Nathan together to finally yank it open.

"It's in here." Nathan rushed to the trunk, Duke just barely behind.

"Someone find the lights," Duke ordered.

Nathan yanked the trunk open. Duke landed on his knees at one end, where Audrey's head was revealed, and gently lifted her upright. Her head lolled bonelessly (he tried not to think about Ted) as he felt for a pulse. "She's alive."

"Parker?" Nathan called. He picked up her hand, squeezing it. "Parker! Julia, some help?"

Octavia was the one to get the lights.

The time for fighting had passed, so it wasn't as if her particular skill set would be of much use to Audrey.

Nathan kept calling to her, kept patting her hand while Julia did a quick check of Audrey's pulse and pupils. Duke just cradled Audrey's head and tried to remember to breathe.

He'd lost too many people this summer. Whether they died or disappeared or just left. She wasn't allowed to be another one.

"Hand me that disinfectant," Julia ordered.

". . . I don't think she needs to be disinfected," Duke said.

"The ammonia will act as a smelling salt."

Octavia tossed Julie the disinfectant. And then just stood and watched, with the rest.

She could feel herself sliding towards something unfeeling, again. Blamed it on the adrenaline beginning to wear off.

Edited 2020-09-20 08:39 (UTC)

Julia soaked a tissue in the disinfectant and held it under Audrey's nose. "Audrey? Can you hear me?" She picked up Audrey's wrist. "Pulse is getting stronger. She's going to be okay."

Nathan let out a series of relieved breaths, rocking faintly as he stroked Audrey's hand, bringing it to his lips. "Parker. You're gonna be okay. You're gonna be okay."

Duke watched him, recognizing that look in Nathan's eyes. He glanced down at Audrey as she started to stir, a little flare of jealousy lighting up in his chest.

This was what Octavia felt every time Nathan was even around, wasn't it.

Audrey groaned softly. "Are you crying?" she murmured. And smiled. "'Cause crying will not be tolerated."

Duke laughed, recognizing his own words reflected back at him, then glanced back, looking for Octavia.

He'd put her through hell today. So he could spend time with other people he loved. When she was already going though a hell of her own.

Lucifer had been right to send Ted to yell. Duke had fucked this up hard.

Oh, but Octavia's dislike of Nathan had always come from all the hurt - both physical and otherwise - that the man had repeatedly inflicted on Duke. It had never been about jealousy.

Until today, anyway.

When Duke looked back, she wasn't there anymore. As soon as she'd heard Audrey speak, she'd had enough confirmation that they were out of the woods with this one, and she'd turned on her heels and silently walked out of the room, then out of the house.

Let them celebrate Audrey's continued survival together. They didn't need her for that.

That was . . . problematic.

Duke looked down, flashing Audrey a wobbly smile as he helped her sit up a little more, then slowly let her go.

"I'll, uh. I'm gonna go see if I can get that radio working. Call us a boat."

They'd all had just about enough of Carpenter's Knot.

And Octavia?

She sat out on the front steps, breathing in the night air, letting the rain soak through her clothes. Stared at nothing.

And waited to go home.

(Whatever the hell that even meant.)

Season one catchup preplay

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