My unicorn got run over by a tractor

"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]

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]

Audrey was still MIA, and no matter how many of his cop contacts Nathan made use of, they still had no leads. Jennifer was off her meds, but hadn't heard anything new since the night before. And Wade was refusing to leave, and Duke wasn't quite willing to totally alienate his only decent family member left in order to get him to do so.

So he was in a holding pattern.

He hated being in a holding pattern.

"Are you still watching Animal Planet?" Jennifer said, making a face as she came down from the apartment upstairs. "I swear, when I went to bed last night you were right there on that bar stool, watching lions tear into a wildebeast."

"They're rescuing puppies right now," Duke said, rubbing his face with a sigh. "It's sweet."

It was heartbreaking, actually. People cared way more for puppies in this world than they did for human children in similar circumstances. Maybe he would have had a better life if he were a puppy.

And now he was feeling sorry for himself. And he wasn't even drinking yet. He had two very nice, very attentive partners who were taking turns sticking to him like glue over here, and he was feeling sorry for himself.

Good job, Duke, Haven clearly brought out the best in you.

[for thems who're in town with him. NFB due to distance, natch. Taking a day break from preplays to just do some SPing through daily life!]

They were running out of time to figure out how to prevent Audrey from going into the barn, and everyone was on high alert. Especially when Audrey called and asked them all to meet her at an old warehouse on the water, on the outskirts of town. There was crime scene tape all around it, and what looked like the beginnings of an excavation on one side. Lucassi and a handful of techs and uniformed officers were gathered around it. Duke thought he saw a flash of bone in the pit and looked away as Vince and Dave pulled up in Vince's old '50s sedan.

Duke gave the thing a hefty side-eye. He wasn't sure he'd be able to look at a 50s car the same way again.

( You may be wondering why we've called you all here today. )

[NFB, NFI, OOC welcome. Adapted from Haven 3x11 and 3x12, "Last Goodbyes" and "Reunion". Almost there!]

They were in the middle of a session, one in which Duke was just rambling on about whatever the hell he happened to think about to avoid talking about anything of any importance (which Claire occasionally let him get away with just, she insisted, because sometimes he was entertaining), when Claire spotted it. Duke couldn't say for certain whether it had actually just appeared on the shelf while she was sitting there, or if he had actually put it there sometime the last time he was in town. He couldn't say for certain where he would have left it, just that he knew he'd left it out of the silver chest of weapons when he'd buried it in his father's grave.

The Crocker family journal.

She'd picked it up, idly turning it over in her hands, and Duke cut off mid-ramble. "Put that down."

Claire looked up, one immaculate eyebrow raised curiously, but she obeyed. "What is it?"

( Nothing good )

[NFB, NFI, OOC welcome. Adapted from Haven 3x09, "Sarah". CW for an existential crisis, and thoughts of self-harm in the last scene. And time travel mayhem and the usual death and misery through the rest]

"Hey," Audrey said. "Come to Colorado with me for a few days."

So he did.

( They would always have Colorado )

[NFB, NFI, OOC welcome. Adapated from Haven 3x07, "Magic Hour part 1". THERE'S ONLY ONE BED.]

Duke knew he needed to talk to Claire. If he were watching anyone else do what he was doing, he'd be yelling at them to get their head out of their ass and go ask for help.

Instead, Duke bought a truck.

It was a little old Ford, the kind you could fix up yourself with the right sized wrench, and while it lacked the charm of the old Land Rover still back on the Rouge (wherever the hell that was now, because neither Lucifer nor Octavia knew how to sail and he'd been gone for weeks), it served his purposes perfectly well.

His purposes being buying stock for the Gull, getting around town without having to hoof it everywhere or beg anyone for a ride, and accruing parking tickets.

( As you do. )

[NFB, NFI, OOC welcome. Adapted from 3x05, "Double Jeopardy". CW for brief mention of rather gruesome karmic revenge. . . .]