seaoftroubles | Haven end run preplay part 2: the bloodening

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)

"You hope the answers are in Haven," Lucifer agreed, looking from one to the other. "And it is Haven. It will get worse before it gets better, if it does."

“Give me a better idea,” Duke said. “Seriously. I would love not to put us all through Haven again.”

He looked between them hopefully.

For historical reasons, Octavia really hated ending up in situations where someone was asking for a better idea.

(There isn't one, Jaha had said.

Indra, too. And Kane.)

"We're not gonna be able to come up with one right now," she said, "after all of that... just happened."

"We should... probably sleep on it," Lucifer agreed slowly.

"It's cute how you think I'm going to sleep," Duke said dryly. He let go of Octavia with one hand so he could run it down his face. "Okay." It was at least half sigh. "But I'm not waiting long here, guys. I'm tired of waiting. I want all this to be over so we can just live our damn lives already."

"If we're talking about going to Haven by choice," Octavia said, straightening up further, her voice taking on that mild-but-definite tone she sometimes got, "then I need it to be an actual choice, not some blindly panicked flail."

Or Duke choosing to act because he was tired, like they weren't all tired.

"I'm... willing to consider it, and you know that's not easy for me to say," Lucifer said. He was firmly looking at Duke now. "But... I also agree with her."

Duke nodded. He couldn't exactly claim to be surprised. (Well. He was a little surprised that Lucifer was even considering it. He was also a touch annoyed at the implication that he was flailing, when he was pretty sure this was the most rationally he'd thought about any of this in a long time.)

"If I attack again, take me out. I know that's what you did, I'm just -- I don't want to hurt either of you. For all we know, we woke something up. I'm not, like, hankering for blood right now or anything, but. . . ."

But who knew.

He might not have been flailing. Octavia had been talking about them collectively, however.

And all she really wanted was at least the tiniest bit of distance between their latest trauma and whatever their new game plan would be. (And maybe to take her finger by the clinic.)

"We know how to keep an eye on things now."

"Exactly," Lucifer said, nodding slowly. "And... we're at the house. We may as well stay here, no? If any blood cravings kick back in, I can just lock you back in."

“Maybe you should now,” Duke said. “I can crash in here while you two stay in the master bedroom or something Just in case.”

"I don't want you to be left alone," Octavia said, shaking her head.

It was a little less vehement now than it had been while he'd still been out cold, however.

Edited 2024-11-20 19:15 (UTC)

"There's a sofa in the master bedroom," Lucifer said. Feeling a touch stuck between the both of them, again. "He could sleep there?"

"You can't lock me in on a sofa," Duke pointed out. "I'll be fine by myself," he told Octavia. "I'm more worried about you."

"Well, I'm not," Octavia retorted, raising her eyebrows. "And if somehow you do end up... reactivating again at random, a lock is not going to hold you."

"Honestly, if I just sleep on the end between the sofa and Octavia, it'd be nigh impossible for you to try anything without waking me up," Lucifer sighed. Loudly.

Duke threw his hand in the air. "Fine. Sofa. Though I'd still argue a locked door would slow me down plenty, if not actually stop me."

Did he want Octavia to point out she'd seen him pulverize a rock, before, back when his original trouble had at least been something he'd had a shred of control over? Because Octavia didn't want to go there.

Her jaw tightened, with her inhale.

But:

"Sofa's fine. Whatever."

They weren't going to find better solutions tonight, for anything.

Edited 2024-11-22 12:46 (UTC)

Haven end run preplay part 2: the bloodening

Re: The bloodening and the decision

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Re: The bloodening and the decision

Re: The bloodening and the decision

Re: The bloodening and the decision

Re: The bloodening and the decision

Re: The bloodening and the decision

Re: The bloodening and the decision

Re: The bloodening and the decision

Re: The bloodening and the decision

Re: The bloodening and the decision