betterthanaplan | Still Haven, Maine, Friday Fandom time

So. Today had sucked. Even more than most days in this town did. Duke had a stab wound in his leg from a pen, and would likely be having nightmares about being possessed by a homicidal 20-something for the foreseeable future. Octavia had a gunshot wound in her arm, and had been locked, however briefly, in a vault. Lucifer had had to watch both of them be retraumatized, unknowing if he'd ever get either of them back whole.

But that was over now, at least. Time to reconnect, reassess, and figure out where to go from here.

[for those in the narrative, and likely slowplay. MMMMM, AFTERMATH]

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From:

betterthanaplan

For Duke, who has some questions for Lexie

From:

betterthanaplan

Duke limped through the Gull, grabbing some provisions for another little private post-trouble tete-a-tete out on the decking, and tried to ignore his brother's hovering. "Wade. You know that wasn't me."

"I should've known it wasn't you when you actually seemed interested in what I had to say," Wade said, frowning. "I did call the cops. I saved your ass. So you could show me some gratitude and tell me what the big secret is about you."

Duke looked back at him and shook his head. "And I am doing you a favor by not sharing it."

Wade scoffed, but let Duke head out — just in time to find Lexie lurking instead.

"So I used to live here?" she asked. "What was I broke? I mean, it's nice and everything. It's a little nautical."

Duke snorted. Well, I'm glad you like it. You owe me six months' rent."

Lexie grinned. "I just tried to save your life. Shouldn't I get the first month free?"

Everyone seemed to be playing that line with him today. Instead of playing ball, Duke took the conversation in another direction. "You know, I've been thinking about what happened down in that basement. How you just stepped aside and let Tyler try to take me."

How she'd been trying to say something to Lucifer while she did it.

Lexie bit her lip, looking down. "I don't know what to say. I'm sorry. I just — I — I didn't want to get stabbed. I'm not like your boyfriend. I bleed for more than a minute, you know? I was scared."

Duke nodded slowly. "See, that's where I get stuck. The way you jumped out of that barn, went down in that basement, even without Luce's invulnerability. . . . I guess I'm just having a hard time believing that you were scared." He leaned in a little. "I think you knew that my curse would kick in and save me."

"I really —" Lexie ducked away from him, heading for the door to the bar. "I don't know the first thing about it."

Duke lifted his chin, not following her. "But Audrey Parker would." He turned slowly, saw her frozen mid-stride. "Isn't that right, Audrey?"

She ducked her head. "Damn it, Duke." Then she spun on her heel and was wrapping her arms around him. "Yeah," she said softly. "It's me."

Duke was honestly a little startled to hear her admit it that easily, but he slowly raised his hands to hold her back.

"You can't tell anyone, okay?" she said. "I mean — I don't know if Lucifer has super hearing or something, but — Nathan can't know."

"Audrey —" Duke started.

"Promise me, Duke."

"I." Duke pulled back a little and looked down at her. She was gorgeous, even more so with the dark make-up and piercings, in his opinion, but even without it, she'd always — shone to him. Like a lighthouse. A beacon. "Yeah. Alright."

She popped up on her toes and kissed his cheek, then turned and headed into the bar.

From:

my_own_advocate

"Well, that looked cosy," Lucifer commented idly. He'd been at the bar, pounding back a scotch, and then-- then the sound of voices had drifted his way.

And so now he was ambling towards Duke, fiddling with his sleeve.

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia had been listlessly looking for ginger ale behind the bar. Her head kind of hurt, and she was tired, and had the use of only her non-dominant arm, and everything still felt like a lot.

Quietly following Lucifer seemed more like reflex than anything else.

From:

betterthanaplan

"Yeah, um. . . ." Duke trailed off, looking where Audrey had just gone.

She really was Audrey. Audrey with a very sexy new attitude, but Audrey nonetheless.

Audrey was back.

And he couldn't tell anyone.

"Yeah, that was." He swallowed, looking at Lucifer. Who hated people lying. Or hiding things. "I just found something out that needs to stay on the down low. I don't -- want to keep secrets from you guys, but I need to know you won't tell anyone else."

There. Now Lucifer had . . . an out. Of sorts.

From:

my_own_advocate

Lucifer blew out a faintly disbelieving breath. "Who would I tell?" he asked.

(Besides random, completely unrelated people in bars or in Fandom or whatever, had he not been asked to give his word.)

"Of course I won't tell anyone. You have my word."

From:

okteiviakom

This was where Octavia was supposed to say something too, right?

She was just frowning in a faintly confused (concerned?) manner.

From:

betterthanaplan

She was much less likely to blurt anything with or without a promise. Duke still gave her a raised eyebrow before he spoke.

"It's her," he said, voice low. Low enough even they would probably need to lean in to hear him. He ran his hand through his hair. "That's her, that's really Audrey."

From:

my_own_advocate

Lucifer did lean in, after that first statement.

Nothing really showed on his face, bar the brief twitch of an eyebrow. "Of course it is," he said.

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia had also leaned in, half just taking Lucifer's lead.

And then she'd blinked.

And now her expression hardened, instantly. Though they only got a second to look at her before she whipped around, and started for the bar.

From:

betterthanaplan

"Tavi, don't --" Duke started, reaching for her -- only to jerk back at the last moment as he realized he was reaching for her bad shoulder. "Look, I get it, okay? Why she lied. And it's how she knew she could let Tyler kill himself and I'd be okay."

From:

my_own_advocate

Lucifer had started rubbing his forehead before Octavia had even moved.

"Duke, stop," he said, surprising himself with how even it sounded. "Let me translate Octavia to actionable steps for you: we are going home. Now."

From:

okteiviakom

Oh, was that what they were doing?

Because Octavia was still headed for the bar door with the very clear intention of beating Audrey into pulp.

(... Okay, 'clear' might have been kind of a stretch. It was more of a 'white-hot fog of rage' type of thing.)

From:

betterthanaplan

Well. Nice of the narrative to support Duke's immediate assumptions for once.

He was a bit too distracted staring at Lucifer now to notice, though. He backed up a step. "Uh, no, no we're not. Wade's still here. And Au --" He shot a glance around. "-- Lexie is still going to need help. The Guard is pissed and looking for someone to blame, and at some point they're going to realize that Nathan's at least mostly a good guy again."

From:

my_own_advocate

"Lexie is back, which according to your previous claims, should fix everything for everyone here," Lucifer said flatly. "Everything else is not your problem, unless we're going to count problems that only exist because you trust people who don't deserve it. We have been here for a week, and you have been possessed, puppeteered into murder, and forced to use your power when you don't want to. All in the name of Lexie, who still can't be arsed to be truthful to anyone."

He took a step forward. "No," he said. "We are going home. Whether we do it before or after Octavia rightfully clocks Lexie is up to you."

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia had stomped right on through the door, her insides churning, both her hands balled into fists.

And all she could think about was finding Audrey. Where was she?

From:

betterthanaplan

Duke tried to dodge around Lucifer to grab for Octavia again, this time reaching for her uninjured arm.

"Tavi, please!"

Shit, Audrey had asked him for one thing and he'd already screwed it up.

From:

my_own_advocate

Octavia was quite a bit ahead towards the Gull now. Lucifer extended an arm, meant to block his way. "She has every right," he snapped.

From:

betterthanaplan

"Dammit, Lucifer," Duke said, jerking up short at the arm coming out. Trying to shove Lucifer out of the way would be like trying to shove a whale, so he ducked under his arm, wincing a little as the motion pulled on angry, injured muscles. "This isn't Lexie's fault!"

From:

seaoftroubles

The scuffling was hard to miss, as was the tiny war machine marching in. Lexie watched her with a raised eyebrow and her customary smirk.

"Lover's spat?"

From:

okteiviakom

The tiny war machine in question marched right at her. Octavia yanked her arm out of the sling, and reached out and grabbed Audrey's shirt with her right hand.

And swung with her left fist, for her jaw.

Put all her anger into it.

(The pain of having had to watch Duke the way he'd come back from Haven last time. The pain sure to come of having to watch him recuperate from this time.)

From:

my_own_advocate

"Isn't it?" Lucifer snapped, twisting around. Doing what Duke had told him not to back when 'Lexie' had still been watching: lifting him right up.

By the back of his shirt this time, to be fair.

"Or did a man die today for no good reason but that she wanted to be clever?"

From:

seaoftroubles

Lexie flopped back against the bar. Wade let out a startled shout.

Jennifer, coming in from upstairs, where she'd been making sure the apartment was ready for its new-old resident, let out a shriek and hurried forward.

"Octavia, oh my god!" She hurried over, eyeing the sling and the blood now on Lexie's face, and Duke and Lucifer outside the door, Duke held off the ground and writhing like a naughty kitten. "What's going on?! Let her go!"

From:

betterthanaplan

"A man died because he stole me and shot you!" Duke yelled back.

Even as, yes, he writhed like a kitten.

(Garland Wuornos doing something not dissimilar was possibly where Gloria had gotten her nickname for Duke from.)

From:

okteiviakom

There was shouting happening around Octavia. It didn't really register.

She was already going for another punch, because someone had to pay. For everything.