betterthanaplan | A parking lot in Baltimore, Saturday

Lucifer	"Right, well, this is the best thing I could find on such short notice," Lucifer said, eyeing the car critically. If there had only been three of them, he would've been tempted to just shove everyone into the Corvette and sort it out later. Instead, he gestured at the new... troubled... person, whatever her name was, with his keys. "Newbie, you take the back seat."
Jennifer	"Um." Jennifer raised her hand, eyeing the two extra new people dubiously. (One new person was bad enough. How the hell had she let her new therapist talk her into this? Or the existing embodiment of one of the voices in her head for that matter?) "Or . . . we could just take my SUV?"
Duke	"It's better to just let him have this," Duke told her. "Luce is . . . particular. About his transportation." Jennifer frowned at him, and he clapped his hands together with too broad of a grin. "Right, sorry! Jennifer, this is Lucifer, my boyfriend, and Octavia, our partner. Luce, Tavi, Jennifer. The woman who hears the Barn. Heard the Barn?" "Heard," Jennifer muttered. "I'm on meds now."
Octavia	Octavia wondered how much medication would do to something that was coming from outside of your head, but kept it to herself. The wary way she was eyeing Jennifer wasn't personal. Not that anyone would be able to tell. "Hi," she said, a little on the flat side.
Lucifer	"Hello," Lucifer said, gesturing impatiently at the back seat. Again. "No judgment about the medication here, I had to listen to Duke yell 'Audrey' for a bare few minutes and it already damn near drove me batty, now please sit."
Duke & Jennifer	"Hi," Jennifer said. ". . . Wait, Lucifer?" "We'll explain in the car," Duke promised, pushing her towards the back seat. "We're driving a convertible to Maine," she muttered, climbing into the backseat. "Sure." Duke slid in with her, leaving the front for Octavia. "It's fine," he said. "It's May there." ". . . What?"
Octavia	"You'll be asking that a lot," Octavia rasped, blandly, as she slid onto the front seat.
Lucifer	"Just don't bother, really, it's a complete waste of your time," Lucifer said. He waved his hand, and the engine started purring. Then he hopped into the driver's seat.
Jennifer & Duke	"Did he just magic the car on?!" Jennifer hissed. "I'm guessing it's a remote starter," Duke said. "But yes, he's the Devil, yes, he's still our boyfriend. Pop culture gives him a bad rap." "Oh." Jennifer nodded, then frowned. What the fuck had she gotten herself into?
Octavia	Haven via Fandom, obviously and unfortunately. "Best wear your seatbelt," Octavia drawled, as she went to to do just that. "The Devil doesn't drive slow."
Lucifer	"It does and I don't," Lucifer agreed. He hit the gas as he tore out of the parking lot. Fast.
Jennifer & Duke	Jennifer let out a startled shriek and grabbed onto the door -- and Duke -- to brace herself. "Right," Duke said after a moment -- and a small grimace down at her hand on his arm. "So. About this Barn?"
Lucifer	"Anything helpful you might have heard?" Lucifer added, slipping down his decidedly keyfob-less car keys into his pocket.
Jennifer	"I don't . . . know?" Jennifer said. She took the hint and let go of Duke's arm to hang onto her seatbelt instead. "Um. I heard -- Duke, I guess. Yelling for Audrey. And someone called 'Howard'? And something about -- ending troubles."
Octavia	Octavia's expression was starting to look a little tight in its mildness, again. Not that anyone could really see, except Lucifer. "Not super useful," she noted, mostly under her breath.
Jennifer & Duke	“Hey, I didn’t ask for this!” Jennifer said. “It’s fine,” Duke soothed. “We’re just . . . frustrated. What else do you remember? What’d — whoever — say about ending the troubles?” Jennifer shot him a small thankful look. He was clearly the reasonable one here — even if she had spent months hearing him yelling for Audrey like a maniac in her head. “Um. That to do it, Audrey had to, uh. Kill someone. Someone she loved. Which, I mean, that seems like a lot. How bad even are these ‘troubles’?”
Lucifer	"Ah, think somewhere in the realm of natural disasters," Lucifer said casually, as he hit the gas a little harder. "Often the specifically homicidal kind. Quite a trick my Father played on all of you lot with those, I have to say."
Octavia	"He means God," Octavia filled in, still a little flat. She said it mostly to distract herself from thinking various unpleasant things about Audrey having to kill someone.
Jennifer & Duke	“Oh,” Jennifer said in a small voice. After a moment, Duke reached over to pat her knee reassuringly. “You get used to it eventually.” “None of this is making me think I’m not crazy,” Jennifer told him. “Just so you know.”
Octavia	Octavia heard that 'oh', and thought -- Fuck. This was another person getting pulled into Haven's bullshit, probably through no fault of her own. (And not just the reason they were getting pulled back into Haven's bullshit.) "But it's good practice," she rasped, with a glance towards the back seat. "Because Haven's probably going to be worse." A pause. "On the bright side, you're with people who've been there before." Metaphorically and literally, depending on the person.
Jennifer & Duke	". . . Yay?" Jennifer said. "I grew up there," Duke told her. "And I've been dealing with the troubles off and on for the last few years. But Audrey's the real professional. If you can help us find her, then the rest of us can probably just hang back and let her deal with things."
Octavia	Well, so much for Octavia's feeble attempts at being reassuring. Much better to stare stonily out the windshield to keep any of her feelings on those statements from spilling out. This was going to be a long ride.