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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From:

seaoftroubles

Duke pulls Audrey aside after they get back to the mainland to finally give her her birthday present. It's a locket he got from Lucy Ripley. Because he was the kid in the Colorado Kid picture.

DUN DUN DUN.

(I might do this live on the day, or just write it out in prose, depending on whether or not Octavia wants to weigh in.)

From:

betterthanaplan

Duke had done his best to balance being there for Octavia and giving her her space on the boat back to the mainland, and was pretty sure he'd failed at doing both. He wanted nothing more than to get them back to Fandom, where things at least felt a little simpler, but there was one last thing he needed to do first.

He flicked Octavia a quick smile. "I'll be right back, and then we'll head out, okay? I gotta give Audrey her present."

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia had been stony the entire way over. It was the only way, surrounded by strangers, and she hadn't seemed to care much whether Duke was near her or far away, because she hadn't seemed to care much about anything..

And now they were off the boat, and not much seemed to have changed. She nodded, but only barely.

"Sure."

From:

betterthanaplan

Ah, but Duke knew better than to trust how she seemed. He reached for her hand to give it a quick, hopefully reassuring squeeze. "Book us a portal?"

From:

okteiviakom

It wasn't that easy to switch off this particular mode of self-protection she'd been stuck in since the hotel. Octavia was still waiting to feel okay with letting her guard down.

She didn't pull her hand away, though. At least there was that, even if nothing in her expression changed, and she was as monosyllabic as she had been for a while, here.

"Okay."

From:

betterthanaplan

"Okay." Duke flashed her one last smile, gave her hand one last squeeze, then headed off down the dock.

Audrey glanced back at Octavia as Duke caught up with her and Nathan. "How's she doing?"

Duke looked back as well and shrugged. "She's pissed, mostly. I kinda promised her a fun night away from it all and -- well."

Nathan looked like he wanted to make some snide remark about Duke and promises, but instead just shook his head and headed over to talk to his dad. Audrey headed for her car, and Duke hopped a little as he fell in place beside her.

"Hey." He held out a little box with a big red bow on it. "Happy birthday."

Audrey grinned. "You're kidding me."

"Ah, just because you got body snatched doesn't mean you don't get a present on your birthday." He leaned against her car and watched her face closely as she opened it.

Under the ribbon was a intricately carved wooden box, inside of which sat a silver locket. Audrey looked from it to Duke, surprise and faint concern on every line of her face.

"Wow, this is beautiful." Even her customary smirk fell off her face as she picked it up. She had no idea how to react to something this fancy from a man she saw only as a friend. "Thank you."

"Look closer," Duke said. "At the engraving."

Audrey flipped the locket over. "L.R.?"

"Lucy Ripley," Duke said.

Audrey's eyes went wide. "How -- where did you get this?"

Duke didn't answer for a long moment. He was starting to realize that he'd fucked up here, too. Audrey wasn't reacting at all how he'd imagined. He'd let himself forget how intensely she pursued everything associated with the woman who might be her mother.

"Lucy gave it to me."

Audrey could only stare at him, her thoughts racing.

"The boy," Duke said slowly. He hated even thinking about this. "Standing next to Lucy in the Colorado Kid photo. That's me."

Audrey's expression wandered through more emotions than either of them could name, before landing on anger.

"Are you kidding me?!"

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia did not watch them. Her eyes lingered on Nathan and the Chief for a brief moment, as they walked away. Then she turned her attention onto her phone, pulling up Portalocity and scrolling to the earliest possible portal. And once that was done, she slid the phone into her bag - where her hand met something very soft.

The thin, simple knit blanket she'd brought to give to Audrey.

She pulled her hand out of the bag, and heaved it a little further up her shoulder as she turned her gaze towards the water. All she wanted was to get out of here.

From:

betterthanaplan

Duke shot a glance back at her, wondering if she'd heard Audrey's outburst. It didn't look like she did, so he looked back.

"That's . . . not really the response I expected," he admitted.

"I've been trying to find out more about Lucy for months! Months! Including while we were living next door to each other. And you couldn't mention that you knew her?!"

"It's not like that," Duke tried. "Look, Lucy's . . . complicated. . . ."

Audrey hit him, open handed on the chest. It felt kind of nice, so she did it several more times. Duke made a token effort to block her.

"Complicated?! She's my mother!"

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia had been pretty studiously ignoring them, actually. But now Audrey was raising her voice again, and she couldn't help looking over, almost despite herself.

From:

betterthanaplan

Duke winced. "Yes. Okay, that's fair. But really, the whole Colorado Kid thing --"

Audrey went from hitting him to grabbing the front of his shirt. "You know about the Colorado Kid!"

"Um," said Duke. "Sort of." He looked back at Octavia again, this time faintly pleading. "Look, we need to be getting back."

"Oh no." Audrey's hands tightened on his shirt. "No no no no no. You are not going anywhere, Duke Crocker. Not until I get some answers!"

From:

okteiviakom

Right. That was enough to make Octavia march over to them.

"What's the problem?" she asked, in a tone that suggested 'there isn't one' would be the sole acceptable answer.

From:

betterthanaplan

"The problem is," Audrey said, ignoring Duke's attempts to shush her. "Your boyfriend here has been keeping secrets. Like everyone else in this damn town!"

Duke let out something that was halfway between a sigh and a groan. "You, uh. Might have to head back to Fandom without me," he told Octavia. "Just for a little while."

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia's gaze flicked from one of them to the other.

"Why?" she asked - surprising even herself with how much that already sounded like a no.

From:

betterthanaplan

Duke opened his mouth to try to explain, then gestured to Audrey, who was already digging in her pocket, yanking out a copy of an old newspaper photo.

"You just carry that thing around?" he said, a little helplessly. Audrey glared at him and thrust it at Octavia.

It was blurred, a copy of a copy, but the details were still there to be made out. The dead man in the foreground, lying against an old wooden post. The woman standing tall in the center, with Audrey's face. The boy next to her, who Octavia had a bit higher a chance of recognizing as eight year old Duke Crocker.

"I don't know anything about that photo. About that woman. Except that her name was Lucy Ripley, she helped people, and she bought flowers once. Oh, and now apparently that she gave Duke here a locket!"

"I wasn't keeping it a secret on purpose," Duke tried. "I just -- don't like to talk about it."

From:

okteiviakom

It had been a long, long time, but yeah - Octavia still recognized young Duke in the picture. She looked up at both of them, her eyebrows raised.

"And what is he supposed to do now?" she asked Audrey, before turning to Duke. "Isn't it enough if you just tell her whatever you know?"

From:

betterthanaplan

"I don't know anything," Duke protested. He picked up the photo and gave it a look over. "Look, that's --" He flicked the teenage girl in the background. "That's Vanessa Stanley. She used to babysit for me sometimes. That's all I've got."

Audrey snatched it back. "That's more than I've had in months," she said again. "You're going to help me find her. You owe me this, Duke."

He opened his mouth to protest, and she pointed at him.

"Who kept you out of jail for murder?" she asked. "Tased Nathan when he went crazy? Saved you from Beatty? Got Bill to give you your restaurant?"

He shut his mouth and his eyes and hung his head with a tiny nod. "I owe you."

From:

okteiviakom

There was a question Octavia didn't get to ask before -- all of that happened, and her eyebrows went way up, unimpressed and all challenge.

"Oh, wow, you really don't know how to ask for things, do you?"

From:

betterthanaplan

"It's okay, Tavi," Duke said, flicking her a sad smile. "I'll help her find some of the others in the photo, and then I'll come home."

From:

okteiviakom

"I'm not leaving you," Octavia said, immediately.

From:

betterthanaplan

Duke looked from her to Audrey. Audrey's expression didn't shift. He looked back at Octavia.

"Yeah. Alright. Guess we'll . . . reschedule that portal for tomorrow, then."

From:

okteiviakom

In a little while, Octavia was going to wonder about both their reasons for staying here right after such a shitty day.

But right now, she just nodded.

From:

betterthanaplan

"Great," Audrey said. "I'll see you at the Gull then. First thing tomorrow morning."

She got into her car to drive off. Duke watched her go, his shoulders sort of slumping into themselves.

"Well. Guess I have time to show you the Sanguine Moon, at least."