seaoftroubles | 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)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

betterthanaplan

“Great. We just need to knock me out to reset me now.” Duke rubbed his face again as Lucifer opened the door. “I cannot do that again. What the fuck are we going to do?”

From:

okteiviakom

There wasn't anything or anyone behind the door to answer that question. Octavia had set aside her feelings of failure when it came to immediately reassuring Duke about what had happened, as well as the feelings of untamed hurt that had rolled in with getting shut out of the situation altogether (or feeling as if she had been, anyway), and had grabbed onto things she could actually do.

So she'd retreated all the way down the stairs, and back into the kitchen. Was rinsing off the knife that had started this whole ordeal, then washing her hands, thinking about where to find a first aid kit in the house. She was pretty sure she'd brought in one of the survival kits she'd made, once upon a time, but where it had ended up was a different question entirely.

She was listening for any noises from upstairs, but with the distance and the water, she wasn't expecting to be able to make out much.

From:

my_own_advocate

"Octavia?" Lucifer called over his shoulder. "It's safe!"

Where had she gone?

... It was an easier question to answer than Duke's.

From:

betterthanaplan

“She’s avoiding me,” Duke said blandly. “She’s not still bleeding, is she?”

From:

okteiviakom

Exactly the sort of thinking Octavia had been hoping to nip in the bud.

(Or... maybe some other metaphor that was less relevant to other things she'd been facing lately.)

Before Lucifer really had a chance to reply, Octavia's voice could be heard faintly from downstairs. She'd thought she'd heard something, and now the water was off, and she was leaning out the kitchen doorway. "Lucifer?"

From:

my_own_advocate

"She's trying to stay out of your way in case you were still black-eyed and murderous," Lucifer retorted. " Which you no longer are."

He stepped out onto the landing. "He's himself," he bellowed. "How are you?"

From:

okteiviakom

"Where's the first aid kit?" Octavia called back.

There were more important and pressing questions than 'how are you?'

From:

betterthanaplan

“That’s what I meant,” Duke said. Then: “Black-eyed?”

It made sense. It was also terrifying.

“Fuck.”

From:

my_own_advocate

"Third cabinet from the left, above," Luciffer hollered down the stairs.

He looked to Duke. "'Fuck' would be my description, as well."

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia nodded to herself, and went to the third cabinet from the left.

Faster she got this done, faster she'd be able to join them upstairs.

From:

betterthanaplan

“I can’t do this,” Duke said lowly. “I won’t. She cut her finger and I tried to tar her apart. I’m not doing this!”

From:

my_own_advocate

Lucifer's attention had drifted back to the stairs.

Now his gaze snapped to Duke. "Do what?"

From:

betterthanaplan

“Living this way.” Duke wanted to scream, but he was trying hard to keep at least a little chill. “I’m tired of it. Aren’t you tired of it?”

From:

my_own_advocate

"Extremely," Lucifer agreed, warily. "But what's the alternative?"

From:

betterthanaplan

“I don’t know yet. But there’s got to be something. This — letting my body just get hijacked by trouble after trouble. I’m not just letting it happen anymore.”

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia had bandaged up her finger probably much too thoroughly - but she didn't want even the slightest possibility of anything bleeding through.

And now she was finally coming up the stairs, checking her hands for any blood she might have missed, and trying to make out what they were saying.

From:

my_own_advocate

"Then what?" Lucifer asked, his brows knitting together in a heavy frown. "Go back to Haven, shake people until they find a solution?"

From:

betterthanaplan

“Maybe?” Duke admitted. “It’s not my favorite, but it beats having to tiptoe around my snogon or risk needing to be taken out by my boyfriend on a regular basis.”

From:

okteiviakom

Oh. Lucifer was still on the landing.

Octavia came to a stop at the top of the stairs.

Edited Date: 2024-11-19 06:54 pm (UTC)

From:

my_own_advocate

And Lucifer-- paused, looking over his shoulder. "Octavia," he said plaintatively, "He's-- we're-- having terrible ideas."

From:

betterthanaplan

“If you have a better one, I’m all ears,” Duke said. He tried to peer past Lucifer without getting up. “Tavi. I’m so sorry. This is not how date night was supposed to go.”

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia stepped onto the landing - and then rounded past Lucifer, and into the room, towards the bed.

Reaching for Duke with the uninjured hand, keeping the other one and its bandages behind herself.

Edited Date: 2024-11-19 08:15 pm (UTC)

From:

my_own_advocate

Lucifer watched them for a moment, still a touch-- nervous. But he didn't want his fussing to get between them right now.

"It's a bloody disaster," he muttered.

From:

betterthanaplan

“You’re okay,” Duke said, confirming rather than asking. He took her hand and tugged it to pull her into a hug. “I don’t ever want to do that again.”

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia kept her injured hand away from him, but otherwise didn't hesitate at all in sinking down to sit next to him and hugging him back with the other arm.

"Ai get daun in," she murmured. And, "Moba."

(She'd been the one who'd insisted he should get close to her, and the one who'd cut herself, and the one who'd spilled it on him.)