Haven end run preplay part 2: the bloodening

[seaoftroubles]

• Duke gets his trouble triggered by Octavia in a kitchen accident and our crew discover that post-trouble bomb, it is EVEN MORE DIRE as he goes black-eyed and can't stop himself from trying to stalk whoever set him off
• Lucifer and Octavia stop Duke from doing anything bad (has Octavia make him bleed maybe so he can use his massive power supply to knock Duke tf out?). Duke recovers and says "fuck this, we need to end it" and suggests they go back to Haven one final time to figure out how to end the troubles forever.
• They arrive in Haven and Duke IMMEDIATELY goes into convulsions and vanishes in a burst of green smoke. OOPS.
• Lucifer and Octavia find Gloria (and Dwight maybe? And/or Nathan?), find out about the "no marks killer" who has been going around killing troubled folks -- and all the troubles that are going off like crazy without Audrey around to talk them down. I imagine there's some "okay, that sucks but WHERE THE FUCK IS OUR BOYFRIEND????"
• Duke is spotted around town murking folks, but they can't quite catch him
  I may or may not write a scene of Duke and Croatoan while Duke is under his control
• Trap set for Duke? Not at the police station. Gloria's house or the hospital/morgue, maybe, since she's coronering. Duke takes the bait, Lucifer pounces again to keep him from, getting away. After a false start or two during which Croat!Duke is DEEPLY UPSETTINGLY CREEPY AT THEM, Lucifer and Octavia manage to talk him around. (Possibly using Duke's new joy at being the subbiest sub who ever subbed!)
• Duke starts leaking troubles when Croatoan realizes he's broken his hold. He panics, and Octavia or Lucifer cover his eyes to keep the troubles in. Gloria goes "I'll get some drugs!" and scoots to find something to drug Duke with if need be (and gets out of harms way ;D). Duke takes over the eye-covering -- and goes into muscle contractions as Croat tries pull aether out by another route. This doesn't last long before Croatoan APPEARS DRAMATICALLY IN THE DOOR looking like a gremlin cosplaying as a noir detective. Duke can't even see him -- he's covering his eyes -- but goes "FUCK THIS SHIT" and starts launching the troubles he still has control over at the guy. I really like the idea that at least one of them is radioactive. Maybe Croat!Duke killed the lady from the nonsense trouble episode and got her "shooting microwaves" power. Lucifer and Octavia also fight. Eventually Croat EXPLODES (or . . . dissolves . . . or otherwise dies grotesquely) and our three spend a moment just panting for breath and looking at each other, all "omg, is that it? did we win?"
• Duke collapses dead. Weeping and gnashing of teeth. Lucifer gods the fuck out, wiping out the troubles in a giant aether-nado, and resurrects Duke, who's spent maybe 30 seconds dead -- but that's [mumble mumble] amount of time in Hell so he's still a littttttle bit fucked.
• They go home and have more angsty h/c times yay!
• (Also probably Octavia checks on Gloria first and maybe convinces her to retire to Baltimore XP)

Comments

The bloodening and the decision

[seaoftroubles]

Aka: the on-island stuff. Octavia sets off Duke's trouble, he goes full creepy horror movie villain, she and Lucifer knock him out or lock him up, he comes to/the trouble fades out and they go "fuck this shit, let's end it"

Re: The bloodening and the decision

[okteiviakom]

Octavia's efforts at learning how to cook more things had been sort of... repeatedly starting and stopping, over the past couple of years. But now, with twice the date nights in some of her weeks, some of the motivation had been seeping back in. So, she'd asked Duke to teach her a dish. To cook it with her, in the mansion's kitchen.

And they were well on their way in doing just that.

"And now I just cut these?" she asked, with a gesture towards the small array of vegetables she'd just rinsed. "Slice and dice?"

Seemed simple enough. She was great with knives.

Re: The bloodening and the decision

[betterthanaplan]

"That's right," Duke confirmed. "You want them to be about bite-size. Small enough to cook quick but big enough to still feel a little substantial."

Re: The bloodening and the decision

[okteiviakom]

"Bite-size?" Octavia repeated with a wryly amused look over at him. "Doesn't that depend on the mouth taking the bites?"

Re: The bloodening and the decision

[betterthanaplan]

"It's an approximation," Duke said with a playful eye roll. He finished rinsing off the fresh herbs and flicked a little water at her. "Like . . ." He held his hand up, fingers demonstrating the size he meant. ". . . that big."

Re: The bloodening and the decision

[okteiviakom]

Octavia snorted at the flick of water, then raised her eyebrows some. "You sure you don't wanna show me how to do it?"

Too bad she'd never seen meta for the movie Ghost. She could've been making a direct reference.

Re: The bloodening and the decision

[betterthanaplan]

"Do you want me to show you how to do it?" Duke asked with a grin. "I believe in you."

Re: The bloodening and the decision

[okteiviakom]

"Hey, if you don't want to take the excuse to get close to me," Octavia rasped, setting the cutting board where she needed it, and picking up the knife, "I'm not going to force you."

Re: The bloodening and the decision

[betterthanaplan]

"Oh, is that what that was." Duke laughed. "That's good, I like it."

He edged closer into her space.

"You want me to maneuver your hands, too, or is this good?"

Re: The bloodening and the decision

[okteiviakom]

"Maneuver, no," Octavia replied, "but guide, maybe?" A beat. "Or pretend to, because I don't actually need it."

They'd had kind of an unsteady go at date nights. She was trying to bring in something a little more... playful, into things.

Re: The bloodening and the decision

[betterthanaplan]

Duke was very glad to follow that lead. He looped one arm around her waist and rested the fingers of the other by the edge of the cutting board.

“Guidance. I can do that.”

Re: The bloodening and the decision

[okteiviakom]

"Thought you might," Octavia replied, and turned her head to steal a quick kiss against his cheek.

Like he'd earned something by following her lead.

Re: The bloodening and the decision

[betterthanaplan]

Duke wasn't going to complain about that.

He was going to tease her mercilessly, though.

"Okay, so first off, let's look at what you're cutting, not your handsome snogon."

Next Morning

[okteiviakom]

It was morning.

Once all of the adrenaline had faded, Octavia had slept like a rock - for some hours, anyway. It was still early when she found herself standing on the balcony, her hands against the top of the railing, looking out over the town.

Cursing Haven in her mind.

Cursing what she pretty much already knew she was going to do, too.

Re: Next Morning

[my_own_advocate]

There had been no rude awakenings, at least. So why did Lucifer still feel tired, waking up as he did? He wasn't sure.

But he saw Octavia on the balcony, and pushed himself out of bed. Took a moment, just to get into his bathrobe, because it was cold and he wasn't a fool.

"I'd offer a penny for your thoughts," Lucifer said, as he finally made it onto the balcony, "But I suspect I can guess."

Re: Next Morning

[okteiviakom]

Octavia gave one of her noncommittal hums without looking over.

"That we're about to do something stupid?"

She'd tried to figure out another way forward. She hadn't found one.

Re: Next Morning

[my_own_advocate]

"Incredibly, terrifyingly dumb, yes," Lucifer agreed.

His hand slid up, almost automatically, to touch the middle of her back.

Re: Next Morning

[okteiviakom]

With her slight forward lean against the railing, Octavia couldn't really lean back into the touch. But she didn't pull away from it, either.

"We have to go to Haven," she muttered, "with no leads. And no Mara."

Re: Next Morning

[my_own_advocate]

"That last one might be a boon more than a handicap," Lucifer muttered.

Re: Next Morning

[okteiviakom]

"Well, at least she can't make anything worse, anymore," Octavia replied, heavy on the rasp, but quiet. "But if she put all of this in him..."

Re: Next Morning

[my_own_advocate]

"I don't think she's the type of person you can trust to take it back out of him," Lucifer said. A little flat, though it wasn't really focused on her.

Re: Next Morning

[okteiviakom]

Octavia wasn't going to waste her breath pointing out Mara pretending to fix Duke had been the last thing they'd ever seen her do, so he might as well have saved his, too.

"Worried we're thinking about subjecting ourselves to Haven for nothing," she said, instead.

Re: Next Morning

[my_own_advocate]

"Yes."

The word was a sigh. Lucifer stared out at Selkie Peak.

"But I don't think we'll be able to convince him that we can manage his trouble here, either."

Re: Next Morning

[okteiviakom]

Octavia let her head fall forward a little, squeezing her eyes shut. Frustration all over her expression and her posture.

"If I could've just not cut my hand..."

It didn't seem fair, how little had happened to set all this off.

Re: Next Morning

[my_own_advocate]

"Then it may have been something or someone else," Lucifer said. He looked at her, properly, or as much as he could. "This is not your fault."