My unicorn got run over by a tractor

Going from a warehouse in Haven to his own boat back in Fandom was a bit of a whiplash. It wasn't necessarily new -- the multiverse had always liked to yank Duke around -- but after everything he'd been through in the last not even 24 hours, it took him a little bit longer than usual to recover.

Oh fuck. He had so much to recover from.

He sat back, bumping against the booth bench, and took a second to breathe. Either Lucifer was God or he was still in Hell.

So much to recover from.

"Let's just. Not go anywhere for a couple days, yeah?"

[for the partners. YAY AFTERMATH!]

Duke was back in the mansion already for another date night, this time with Octavia. He felt a little more like he was settling into the whole ‘being a functional adult human being’ thing, and decided to try a new-to-him recipe, samosas with tamarind and date chutney. He also made sure to have plenty of lassi on hand, because the samosas were going to be quite spicy.

And, well. If he was also regularly reminding himself to relax and breathe. . . . Date night with Octavia didn’t historically go quite as well as it did with Lucifer. But getting all up in his head about it wasn’t going to help with that at all.

[for her as is mentioned!]

The trouble -- ha -- with the troubles inside Duke was that the pressure from them was constantly building, even if it didn't constantly register as pain. So what was painful but tolerable last week was now absolutely debilitating.

Fortunately, they had a plan. Well. Of sorts. When Duke got out of bed that morning and promptly passed out, it was decided that enough was enough. He was loaded onto the OceaNyx and he, Octavia, and Lucifer headed out to sea to minimize any possible bystanders getting hit with whatever came out when Duke vented a trouble.

Hopefully, all he would have to do was bleed on Lucifer and he could get some relief without magical hijinks! But let's be real. When had anything in Duke's life gone that smoothly?

[For thems as is in the narrative, please!]

Octavia had come home from the club last night reporting on Tiny's weirdly animate toothpick village. That, plus the radio reports, had been more than enough to convince everyone that it was time to nope out of town for a bit.

Mindful of the difficulties that portals had posed recently and Octavia's admission that their vacation spots had felt like Fandom replacements, it was decided that this particular noping out would happen aboard Duke's lovingly restored mid-century Dutch sail boat.

Something had unknotted in Duke when they hit the open ocean. He was still pale and sounding like he'd been swallowing sand, and his body felt like one big cramp. But at least now, the potential casualties of the troubles bouncing around inside him were nice and limited. And, well. . . .

Of all the really terrible things that had happened to him in his life, very few had happened at sea.

He was up with the dawn that morning, checking the rigging and manning the rudder and just generally enjoying for once knowing just what needed doing and how to do it.

It felt good. And it had been ages since anything had felt that way.

[for the partners! NFB due to distance.]

The portal let off at the end of the docks. Duke walked through, his head down, shoulders hunched, looking like a man under attack.

He wasn't anymore, at least not from the outside.

He paused just long enough to get his bearings, then started down the docks, not waiting for his partners to follow through the portal. He wanted to -- something. He didn't know what. Yell or hit something or dive into the ocean or maybe get on the OceaNyx and sail off over the horizon and just. Disappear.

He was pretty sure no one was going to let him do that last one, though.

[for said partners, please! And the return and general mood is fine for broadcast, but maybe not the precise details of conversations]

"Double red-eyes . . . Straight, no chasers," Duke announced, holding up the coffees he'd picked up for Audrey and Nathan when he and his partners had hit up the shop on their way over. "And we wrote down everything we did yesterday, like you asked."

Audrey accepted the coffee Duke offered her, and the piece of notebook paper along with it. "Thank you." She gave him a smile that went wan when she looked at Octavia and Lucifer. "All of you."

( And so begins what will hopefully the worst Sunday of Duke's entire life. And not just the worst Sunday of his life SO FAR. )

[Following this. Adapted from episode 4x07, "Lay Me Down", with the fantastic my_own_advocate and okteiviakom. Warning for NPC character death. NFB, NFI, OOC welcome]

( Duke Crocker lay on the bed of the Cape Rouge, bandaged and bruised. )

Duke jerked awake with a choked gasp, fighting to sit up against the weight of his partners' entangled limbs, dream-Octavia's words still echoing in his ears.

Who knew the word 'girlfriend' could be so terrifying?

[Len asked an AI to write a h/c fic of our OT3 and naturally I needed to turn the result into a nightmare for my boy. Thanks Bing! For the partners please, :D]

Duke took a deep breath as he stepped through the portal onto the remote campground they'd booked for Octavia's birthday. "Ahhh," he said. "Smell that pine-y, sea air. Feels good!"

If, you know, a little cold. Since this was Maine in October.

"What do you think, Natshana? Does this place look good?"

[for the partners!]

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]