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:

okteiviakom

Just about as soon as they'd made it into the building, Octavia wanted to file this entire thing under F for "Frustrating". Still, she'd picked a section to look through, and was - so far - managing to fight the urge to just throw everything onto the floor, even as the place kept prompting more questions than it did answers.

But her posture was getting more and more tense practically every second.

From:

my_own_advocate

"Why isn't there more under D?" Lucifer asked loudly, as he flung a stack of papers carelessly over his shoulder and then slammed the cabinet shut with a loud clang. "Or C. You'd think they'd have a bloody Crocker file--"

He cleared his throat, thought of something, swung around and paced across to-- "T for Troubles. Come on..."

From:

betterthanaplan

"How about Y?" A voice asked.

Duke walked through the wall with the clocks and stopped in front of the 'Genealogy' filing cabinet.

"For 'You are an idiot'."

It was Duke's voice, but everything about it was wrong. The tone. The timbre. The enunciation. He sounded like an alien, someone only vaguely familiar with how human speech actually worked. His posture was wrong, too, head held too far forward, chin down, shoulders high and tense. Arms too still as he walked.

Also, his eyes were solid black. So there was that.

From:

okteiviakom

There was that.

Octavia jumped, when he appeared, and gasped his name like there was hope in it. But then the sight, the sound of him processed, and the expression on her face closed off immediately.

This wasn't Duke.

It wasn't.

(It couldn't be.)

She'd already stepped back before she darted a very quick look towards Lucifer.

From:

my_own_advocate

Even the sentence itself was wrong. Lucifer straightened up as soon as he heard that voice, turning to face--

What, exactly?

He stretched his arm wordlessly to his side, as if to shepherd Octavia into his protection. "What are you?"

From:

betterthanaplan

“Insulted,” Duke said in an airy sing-song. He brushed his fingers over the front of the top drawer of the filing cabinet. His mouth twisted into a close-lipped smile, though he didn’t look at them. “Don’t you recognize her snogon?”

The Trig was even more uncanny valley than the English; hyper-enunciated until it was nearly meaningless.

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia allowed herself to be herded, this time. She stepped back behind Lucifer's arm, without taking her eyes off of -- whoever, whatever this was, before them.

Although she was finding it very hard to look at his face too closely, or for too long.

"You're wearing him like a mask." Yeah, maybe that was it. "That's all."

From:

my_own_advocate

"Yes, you seem to have a distinct air of bodysnatcher about you," Lucifer said. The muscles around his eyes twitched as he tried to keep his face neutral. "I would suggest you unsnatch him immediately."

From:

betterthanaplan

Duke looked at him then, as he pressed his finger to the lock on the filing cabinet. (It burned out with a faint hiss and a wisp of smoke. He had so many useful troubles already!)

"There is nothing to 'unsnatch'," he said. "I have merely . . . become."

From:

okteiviakom

Some distant part of Octavia wanted to scream. Or maybe it was already screaming?

"Then you can unbecome," she said, her voice raspy and icy. If there was any background tremor to it, maybe it was rage.

(She needed it to be rage.)

From:

my_own_advocate

Lucifer's eyes dipped to the lock, and then back up to... whatever that thing was's face. "Who made you, then?" he snapped.

He needed to do a violence.

From:

betterthanaplan

"Better question," Duke sang. He opened the drawer and began flipping through it. "My father. My mother. Your father. . . . Ooo, weather control. Maybe I'll go get that one next."

From:

okteiviakom

How was Octavia's face finding ways to just keep on tightening?

She looked to Lucifer again. Did he have ideas? Because she was feeling an urge for violence even she knew better than to go with.

From:

my_own_advocate

Should she know better?

Because a second later, a filing cabinet went flyng at Duke's head, courtesy of the very same man she'd been looking at.

From:

betterthanaplan

It went right through Duke as though he weren’t there. Duke rolled his head to look sternly at Lucifer

“I suppose I shouldn’t expect a ‘we know you’re in there’ speech from the two of you.” He bared his teeth. “Neither of you has ever been any good at talking with me, have you.”

He turned back to the files.

“Here you go, Tavi.” He held up a folder. “Cannibalism!”

Edited Date: 2025-01-12 09:51 pm (UTC)

From:

okteiviakom

There was the start of a startled noise of protest in Octavia's throat when the cabinet went flying. It died out when she saw what it did.

Or didn't do.

"Go float yourself," came out sounding gravelly, taking the place of the 'don't call me that' she shoved back down. "You're not him."

From:

my_own_advocate

"Someone did something to you," Lucifer said. "Or something. This bloody place."

He started forward. Towards Duke.

From:

betterthanaplan

"Ah, there's that celestial genius," Duke said. He tossed the file aside and smirked at Lucifer, clearly unconcerned by his approach. "Or did you pick those deductive skills up working with Chloe?"

He looked past Lucifer to Octavia.

"I am him. I am me. I am more me than I have been in years. I am who I have always been meant to be." Another baring of teeth, full shark-grin.

"Aren't you so proud?"

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia didn't know what Lucifer was planning, and it made her wary.

But she was trying to harden the expression on her face even further.

(Trying to block out the way what Duke -- what his mouth was saying was trying to slither into her brain.)

"About your empty posturing?" she bit out. "No. Duke has always been better. He is better."

From:

my_own_advocate

"You are nothing like him," Lucifer agreed. "You are only wearing his face."

And he reached for Duke's arm, to grab him.

From:

betterthanaplan

Duke allowed it. A flicker of . . . something . . . passed over his features at the touch. Something scared and deeply pained.

Then it was gone, and he was grabbing Lucifer's neck.

"Acid touch," he said, almost musingly. "Let's see if I can still hurt you."

From:

my_own_advocate

Lucifer saw it.

His eyes widened.

And then further, a moment later, as he let out a gasp of pain and Duke's fingers left blackening marks on his throat.

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia caught the flicker, too.

And then the marks.

"Lucifer!"

From:

betterthanaplan

Duke's expression shifted again, tightening down. He let go of Lucifer's neck, his hand shaking. The black cleared from his eyes, and for a moment, it was Duke, their Duke, marble-pale and terrified, looking out at them.

"Luce," he said, voice choked but correct. "Your neck. . . ."

From:

my_own_advocate

As soon as the hand fell away, Lucifer sort of-- half-pitched forward. It took him a second, but he managed to stay on his feet. "Not the most pleasant way you've ever touched me," he panted.

Wait.

Duke?