seaoftroubles | Haven end run preplay part one! PARENTS WEEKEND

seaoftroubles

Ugh, when is PW this year, anyway? Any hope we actually manage this by then?

THE PLAN:

Mara poses as Audrey for PW. Finds Duke at the welcome picnic? Immediately flirts/constantly touches him (secretly filling him with aether)
Duke warns Lucifer and Octavia via text. They all meet together (at the boat? in the park?) to tell her to fuck off
Audrey breaks through Mara's hold for a hot minute. Duke re-manifests Jordan's trouble out of defensiveness and they learn that his troubles can affect her
Mara gives up the pretense and admits she's primed Duke to explode if Octavia doesn't open a portal to her home world right the fuck now. Lucifer(?) sets up a Portalocity portal to trick her into instead.
Mara goes through the portal into whatever random not-her-home-world-or-Haven dimension it opened to. Portal shuts. OT3 has a quiet moment of "fuck yeah, that's over" (with Duke trying not to ruin it with his "okay, but also Audrey" angst)
Duke FUCKING EXPLODES. Lucifer flings himself (and his beautiful wings) on him like he's a grenade and absorbs most of the troubles. One or two maybe escape and Octavia pounces on them, troubling herself(?).
Duke passes out, they take him home, we have some angsty h/c times before moving on to PART TWO -- later, when we get this sucker going pretty well first

With OCD incoming!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia could already tell from Mara's grinning that things had taken a sharp turn into shit - and then she practically felt Lucifer's voice in her spine and knew just how sharp.

But neither prepared her for what she saw when she looked to Duke. She saw his eyes, and gasped.

There was finally an unconcealed knife in her hand, now. Like she'd needed something to hold.

From:

betterthanaplan

"I made him into something awesome," Mara said, with genuine joy in her voice. "The husk just provided the perfect emotional turmoil to get it primed."

"What --" Duke shook his head sharply, black tears starting to leak from the corners of his black eyes. "No. No."

"Careful there," Mara said gleefully, gesturing to the tears. "You don't want to go off prematurely."

The tears lifted off his cheeks. Duke jerked away from them, startled, then grabbed them with his hand. They absorbed back into his palm just like troubled blood.

Edited Date: 2024-08-27 07:32 pm (UTC)

From:

my_own_advocate

It was moments like this Lucifer longed to have Maze back in his life. She'd be perfectly equipped to commit the murder he would not permit himself.

"Answer the question," he snapped, hands balling into fists.

From:

betterthanaplan

"Don't worry, it's very simple," Mara gloated. "I just packed him extra full of troubles. Like powder in a keg."

"No," Duke said again. He was starting to breathe hard.

"You send me home or he explodes shiny shiny troubles all over this quaint little town of yours," Mara said. "Oh, and if you kill me? Boom goes the Crocker." She tilted her head at Duke. "I'd work fast now. I really don't know how long he'll last like this. He's an original, after all."

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia had been fully primed for murder right up until Mara pulled out the 'kill me and he dies' card. It wouldn't have been the first time she'd bloodied her hands for the greater good.

But now she - they, but when was Octavia ever good at sharing responsibility when it came right down to it? - had to think of something else. Mara wanted a portal.

... Her phone was in her pocket.

She was thinking of a gamble, as her hand went to it.

From:

my_own_advocate

"You are mad," Lucifer said. His own mind was racing, but it kept pinging off of things, bouncing off the walls.

He didn't know what to do.

"We don't even know where your bloody home is!"

From:

betterthanaplan

Mara waved a hand, unconcerned. “Octavia opens thinnies. I saw it.”

Duke gritted his teeth, forcing himself to slow his breathing. “You hugged me. Pretending to be Audrey. You hugged me and —“

“And now your little trust issues are crying. Yes, yes. I know.” Mara rolled her eyes. “You people are so annoying.”

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia kept herself mostly behind Lucifer - crucially, she kept the hand that pulled the phone out of her pocket hidden behind him.

"I can try," she cut in, with a waver in her voice that was both pretend and not. Trying to sell being rattled while also feeling rattled. Adrenaline had blood rushing in her ears. "But you have to give me a minute. I can't -- my trouble doesn't work like that."

Please, boys, play along.

(Please let this work.)

From:

my_own_advocate

Had Lucifer properly communicated how badly he wanted to hurt Mara at the moment? His eyes filled with red once more-- he hoped that whatever Octavia was planning, she did quickly, or he couldn't be held responsible for what happened next.

"I'm sorry we're apparently too annoying for your tastes," he gritted out, "But you'll have to bare with us a moment longer, and no, I'm not particularly happy about it either."

From:

betterthanaplan

Duke shut his eyes, continuing to breathe slow and careful, trying to keep himself as calm as possible. He thought he could feel it now, all the troubles bubbling in his gut, pressing against the backs of his eyes.

"Let's see," Mara said. "What's your emotional trigger? Fear?" She tilted her head mock-thoughtfully, clearly enjoying herself. "Murderous rage, maybe? Let me know if I can help."

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia wasn't going to answer that at all, since she was pretty sure whatever she said would just make Mara try and provoke her more. Instead, she kept darting quick glances at her phone, where the Portalocity app was now open. Come on, come on, something safe and fast --

Something with a two-minute wait time caught her eye.

The destination was unfamiliar, but didn't seem particularly... populous.

She booked the portal, and immediately squeezed her eyes shut. Like something was a lot of effort. "I'm trying."

From:

my_own_advocate

The muscles around Lucifer's red eyes tightened, then relaxed, with all the force of someone clearly trying to control himself. "What's yours?" he snapped at Mara. "Cruelty?"

Sharply.

From:

betterthanaplan

“Oooo, aren’t you a sharp one. I can see why Duke likes you.” Mara moved to elbow Duke, and he full-body flinched away. “But no. I’m the mastermind. I don’t need a trigge.”

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia had a lot to say about people who referred to themselves as masterminds.

She said nothing.

In fact, she only even inhaled again once the portal sprang into existence near them. Her eyes opened too wide, when they did.

"There's your thinny."

From:

betterthanaplan

“Finally!” Mara clapped her hands. “I’d say it’s been fun, but you’re not worth the effort to lie. Ta-ta!”

She started for the portal. Duke grabbed her arm as she passed, making her shout.

“Hey! What about fixing me?!”

“Ugh. So needy.” Mara pursed her lips and flicked him in the forehead. His eyes cleared. “There. Bye now!”

Duke let out a breath and watched her hop through the portal and vanish.

“So . . . where the fuck did we just send her?”

Edited Date: 2024-09-08 12:58 am (UTC)

From:

my_own_advocate

"Please tell me that was a one-way portal?" Lucifer added, looking towards Octavia.

If his tone was still tinged with something... off, it's because he wasn't inclined to believe this was the end of it.

From:

okteiviakom

The portal winked out of existence soon after Mara had gone through it, and yet in Octavia's opinion that was not soon enough.

Not that any of the tension went out of her body even after the portal - and Mara, with it - was gone. "I didn't book her a return," she said, eyes darting from Lucifer to Duke. (His eyes weren't black anymore. That was good. It was, right?) "I don't know where exactly. I'll -- have to look it up."

From:

betterthanaplan

“Well. Uh. She’s gone.” Duke ran his hand through his hair. “That’s the important but, right? She showed up and was really creepy and then she went away and we’re fine now.”

He rubbed his eyes. He was feeling weird again. (Had that really been Audrey again for a second? Where was she now? This was all his fault and the nonsense trouble was going to come back along with Jordan’s trouble and she’d shown up in Fandom, Fandom was supposed to be safe and — and —)

“Um.” He wiggled his fingers as he pulled his hand away from his face. “Something’s, uh, wrong.” He looked up — lifted his face anyway — his breath tight again. “I, uh. I can’t see.”

His eyes had gone black again.

From:

my_own_advocate

The red burned away from Lucifer's own eyes the moment he finished speaking. His gaze snapped to Duke. "Duke," he said, alarmed, "Duke, your eyes--"

His feet took two steps towards Duke, entirely of their own volition.

No. (Of course.) No, Duke had to be fine.

Edited Date: 2024-09-08 05:33 pm (UTC)

From:

okteiviakom

Duke was obviously not fine and see, this was exactly why all that tension had stayed in Octavia's posture. There was never any time or reason to relax, only cold, harsh dread all down her spine.

"They're black again." All the tone had fallen out of her voice. (Duke didn't know. It felt like it did something to tell him. What that something was supposed to be, she didn't know.) "Do we need her back?"

Had she made a mistake, sending Mara away?

From:

betterthanaplan

“I.” Duke swallowed. He was shaking. He stretched his arm out, still trying to see anything but black, and wobbled as his body tried to compensate. “I don’t think she fixed me.”

A faint, insectoid buzz started as Duke’s wobble turned into a twitch. Then a jerk. He let out a muffled grunt, his jaw clenched too tight for speech. The troubles inside him were swarming, making his muscles spasm.

From:

my_own_advocate

And then--

Lucifer was moving. More than a few steps, reaching for him, blind instinct sending him hurtling towards-- "Duke!"

From:

betterthanaplan

Duke’s head went back, his back arching like he was going to go into bridge pose. But there was nothing controlled or intentional about this movement.

He’d lost consciousness shortly after he started spasming. His body was moving of his own accord, nerves set off into a seizure by the mass of troubles inside him.

The mass of troubles that started to pour from his eyes, like little sentient ink spots. Or black holes in the fabric of reality.

From:

okteiviakom

... Octavia had made a mistake, sending Mara away. Octavia had made a mistake, and now there were -- was that a mass of troubles pouring out of Duke's eyes like blood from an artery? Had to be.

And was that her voice, screaming Lucifer's name?

Had to be.

She rushed forward (her body rushed forward) but Lucifer was already there.

From:

my_own_advocate

That dark mass flowed from Duke's eyes and set something in Lucifer's stomach turning-- the wrongness of it, an affront to a natural order even he himself would have claimed he did not care for. And yet, some instinct-- or was it affection? Worry? A desire to protect Duke?-- propelled him forward.

Faster. Faster.

Mara was a blight. He would not allow her machinations to cause any further damage.

His wings came to him without a thought, spreading wide from his back, white and massive and blocking out the rays the sun struggled to deliver to Octavia through the air. They cast a large shadow across the lawn, and then--

Lucifer reached him. He wrapped those massive wings around Duke like a coccoon as his arms closed around the man. (Felt an instant of perceived pain, like bullets burying themselves into sensitive tissue, thought about a limp body in his arms--)