(Untitled)

[freedomtoleave]

Who: Lucifer Morningstar and Elaine Belloc
When: Late morning, day 21
Where: On the porch of house #164
What: Elaine's visiting the neighbors. An impromptu family reunion occurs.
Rating: PG-13

Comments

[freedomtoleave]

One pale eyebrow twitched upward on Lucifer’s face as Elaine approached the bottom of the porch stairs, the only visible concession to the surprise he felt at her unexpected appearance. How long she had been in Bell Pointe, he did not know. Likely only a few days, he surmised after a moment’s consideration. Despite his weakened state, he was confident that he would have felt her presence on one of his many walks if she had been in residence for much longer than that.

Beside him, Uck lifted his head, ears pricked forward, to stare at her with wide golden eyes. “Ifer?” came the quiet inquiry.

“My niece,” Lucifer responded calmly. “Michael’s daughter.”

Not wishing to discuss the matter further, Lucifer rose to his feet - ignoring the way Uck’s eyes turned to regard him as the throcken uttered a soft “Icheal?” - and gestured to the building behind him. There would be time for explanations later. There would be time for many things.

“Welcome to my home away from home, Elaine Belloc,” Lucifer greeted Elaine coolly, just a hint of a smirk curving the corner of his mouth. “Had I known you were in the neighborhood, I would have come to greet you properly instead of forcing you to seek me out.”

[demiurgos_girl]

Lucifer. Lucifer is her neighbor. Lucifer is sipping tea on his porch next to a demonic weasel.

Elaine found herself clutching at the porch railing for support, thought not because she needed to, not yet. The appearance of Lucifer made a lot of things more likely. Her gaze shifted to the door as Lucifer gestured, suddenly very frightened that Yahweh might walk through it wearing a bathrobe and smelling faintly of shampoo. Then she'd need the railing.

"Lucifer, you're-" The words caught in her throat. It had been months! Months without his company, and she still found him to have all the grace and beauty of every angel. More. Too many questions at once fought their way to the front, and the improbability-- the absurd situation-- all of it was enough to render her speechless and frozen in place, staring.

Slowly, happiness and other emotions started to rise through the confusion. Very slowly.

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“Not looking worse for wear, I trust,” he finished for her blithely, lip twitching in an expression that was trying its damnedest to be a smile. “Far though we are from anything approaching the level of civilization to which we are accustomed, I have attempted to avoid going to seed.”

As he spoke, Lucifer moved across the porch to the steps, and after a brief pause, began descending them. A low sound of impact, followed by the faint ticking of claws against wood, informed him that Uck was trailing along behind him. Curious, no doubt, about this individual he had linked to Michael.

“It’s something of an adjustment, I know,” he continued easily, as though they had only seen each other yesterday. As if he had not spent a year in another world. As if he had not left her with an entire creation to sort out. “The darkness and the fog hardly helps matters, but I can assure you that at one time, not too long ago, there was a sun here. Still, you get used to it eventually. One step at a time.”

[demiurgos_girl]

She had to clear her throat. She wasn't sure- Everything he said barely registered with her. Certainly she understood it, but right then, with him talking about Bell Pointe, a new thought formed itself, one she had been subcosciously suppressing. Did he make the place? Did he bring her here? Would that mean, God forbid, literally, that they were at odds? It wouldn't be the first time Lucifer created a place for himself to live, as far away from heaven as he possibly could.

With a small shake of the head she shunted the thought aside along with any other doubts and confusion. If he was its creator then he would have felt her arrive, but he had said he hadn't. His word was golden. The old loyalty that she would follow him to the end of the universe, had followed him there, was slowly coming back to soothe her misgivings.

"It's good to see you." Finally she allowed herself to smile, content that this wasn't some elaborate trick. Her words are an understatement. "After you left, I didn't think I'd ever see you again." And yet, here he was. By her calculations, less than a year since she had last seen him. He had left so quickly, all that hard-earned friendship (could she even call it that?) gone almost before she had the chance to say goodbye. She'd been worried about closure: she had been angry with him, should be angry with him. But she wasn't.

And again she was at a loss for words, because nothing she could think to say did justice to the happiness she felt.

[freedomtoleave]

“To be honest, I never expected to see you again either,” Lucifer conceded, taking the last few steps so that he could join her on the ground. “It was not my intention to return from the Void.”

And yet there he was, two worlds - two creations - away from where he meant to be. It was an irony that he could not pretend was lost on him. The best laid intentions of gods and angels…

“Still, here I am. And here you are. The family, minus those lost and those I should hope never return, back together again. I admit that I am glad for that, though the circumstances of our reunion are not those I find particularly ideal.”

It was one thing to pluck a handful of people from around the multitude of universes and collect them in one place. It was another to affect that change on beings powerful enough to shatter the cage that held them. It was still another to hold gods in that manner. Real gods. Not upstart spirits who fancied themselves higher than was their warrant.

[demiurgos_girl]

"So you were brought here unwillingly?" She looked away, thoughtful. "I'm glad we're both here, too..." Though she didn't sound so sure, worried about the implications. It felt good to have him walk toward her, like he didn't feel the need to keep distance or like he wanted to greet her properly. The thought made her smile, and she wanted to hug him but she held back.

She snapped out of her reverie. "I was tricked. Careless, I suppose. I felt something different, something I hadn't felt before, and I focused on it. Eventually I was walking in it, and I didn't realize what it did to me until it was too late." For some reason she felt shameful admitting that to Lucifer. Maybe she hadn't lived to his expectations... But she found she could still look at him levelly.

Although she still felt worried that he could feel the reduction in her power. Irrational fear that he would scold her for losing what was left of Michael made it hard to look at him. Of course she wouldn't hide the truth from him, wouldn't even hold it back, but it unnerved her nonetheless.

[freedomtoleave]

Nodding, Lucifer came to a stop a few paces away from her and slipped his hands into his trouser pockets. "That is an accurate assessment of my arrival, though perhaps it was less intrusive than your own experience."

The story he could have told her of his time prior to finding himself in Bell Pointe was a long one, and as he could not yet find a direct correlation between what was occurring now and what had transpired then, he did not deem it prudent to weigh her down with unnecessary details. Opting instead for the truncated version, Lucifer allowed himself a brief, wry smile.

"I was in the midst of exiting another universe, passingly similar to the one from which we hail, when I realized that this was not where I meant to go. By that time it was, regrettably, too late to turn back. The spell was fading and I discovered that my powers were effectively diminished," he tossed it out there negligently, a careless admission of his own reduced power. It was a source of irritation to him, of course, but for the present, it was one about which he could do nothing.

"Still, I was able to bring a handful of individuals with me from that other world, so I suppose all was not completely lost." Tilting his chin, Lucifer looked in the direction of the creature watching them from the top of the stairs. "That is Uck, a throcken of the Mid World that served for a time as my home. Forgive his interest in you, Elaine." For just a moment, his voice grew minutely softer and edged with some indefinable quality that spoke of a great deal of water under the proverbial bridge. "He was a friend of your father."

[demiurgos_girl]

Oddly enough, Lucifer losing his powers made her somewhat more relieved. It meant she hadn't messed up as much as she though she had, if even Lucifer was sidetracked. The mention of several universes made her curious, though. She wondered what he'd been up to while away. She also wondered how much more she was supposed to learn before she actually knew what was going on for once. Several universes? She'd been so busy in her own that she hadn't even considered taking a look at any of the others. The sad consolation was that she'd have an incredibly long time to get the hang of being god. If she got out of this irritating mess... hopefully in Lucifer's company, too. Seeing him smile, no matter how wryly, was a rare occassion in the time she'd known him.

"Uck." Elaine smiled at the name, amused. She walked up the stairs a little bit, toward the weird looking creature. "How did he... How could he be a friend of dad?" A bit of hope seeped into her voice, though she knew it was probably misplaced. She didn't think it was necessary to hide her interest at any connection to Michael, so she didn't hesitate to crouch beside the throcken and try to pet its head. "Hi, Uck." Not expecting any sort of response, she faced Lucifer again, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.

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Ears flattening back, Uck butted his head against the palm of her hand. "Ello, Laine," he responded, his voice not quite human but far from the incomprehensible barking and hissing of an actual weasel. Despite Lucifer's best attempts to talk him into speaking in whole words, he continued to resist, preferring instead the use the broken language of his ancestors.

"He named himself," Lucifer offered as he watched his niece and his strange friend interact. "I believe the first phrase out of Michael's mouth upon seeing him was, and I quote, 'what the fuck is that?'" Another smile twitched at his mouth at the memory. "Apparently Uck thought he was being cute. As far as I'm concerned, the jury is still out on that score."

The abbreviated version of the story might not make much sense in the telling, but World's End had not, on the whole, been comprised of sense. Having so little to work with, Lucifer could not hope for miracles.

"World's End was a bit like this place. A nexus of sorts, between one universe and another, one reality and the next. I found both my brothers there, though you would not have recognized Michael in the form he held and Gabriel was trying his hand, rather unsuccessfully, at being a woman." Taking his hand out of his pocket, he pointed to the house next door. "In there, much to my irritation, you will find the Laughing Magician of our universe. And in there," his finger moved to point at his own home. "You will find the John Constantine of another reality similar to ours. I brought quite a few of the individuals with whom I lived during that time with me here, and some I did not bring found their own way."

[demiurgos_girl]

Elaine looked around in surprise at the response from the throcken. "I think he just talked to me." She laughed a little, as she petted Uck more. Lucifer's story about the animal's naming brought another laugh, and though it was sincere, it was also a little bittersweet. The phrase certainly didn't sound like the Michael she knew. It actually made her a little sad to know that there were other Michaels around, although from the way Lucifer phrased it, he might've been the same Michael in a different body. Still, she thinks the worlds would end before Michael ever said "fuck." Kind of ironic, really. And if it was the same Michael... she didn't know how to feel about that at all. If she had known him better, or for longer, then maybe she would.

Her gaze followed his gestures. The "Laughing Magician" brought a sense of familiarity rushing into her. "I think I talked to him, when I first arrived. The Laughing Magician, I mean." She stood up. "How many people did you bring?" Glancing down at Uck, she added, "And animals?"

She knows that Lucifer rarely appreciates the company of other people, that those few he did enjoy being with were picked very carefully and methodically. He had never hung out with Mona much, for example. Any interaction between the two of them actually made Elaine a little nervous, more for Mona's sake than anything else. Mentioning that he brought other people with him made her think they were certainly people worth meeting. They'd be interesting at least, and if they were anything like Mazikeen then Elaine would be even more curious.

[freedomtoleave]

"He did. I've never met another of his kind, they appear to be a rarity in their world, so I do not know if his proclivity for speaking is common among throcken or unique to Uck. But that was what passes for his take on English." A wry smile curved Lucifer's mouth, his appreciation for sarcasm undiminished. "Perhaps he's making a statement on our language of choice."

How many had he brought? Too many, if he was asked to be honest. Much as Willow cared for the Magician, Lucifer would have been happy to have left him in World's End. He was more tolerable now that he had a home of his own and was out from underfoot, but even so, he was still a nuisance that grated on the former angel's nerves.

"Three humans," he responded finally, ticking them off as he spoke. "The Laughing Magician of our world. A teenage girl named Willow Tenbrook. John Constantine. Had she not returned to our universe prior to our departure, I would have brought Mazikeen as well. The throcken. And nineteen creatures that bear a passing resemblance to large lobsters. I can introduce you to them all at some point, if you'd like."

[demiurgos_girl]

"And you're living with them? Mm." And he'd seen Mazikeen in that... other place. World's End. Funny thing to call a universe, it seemed to her too much like tempting fate. Though she'd never actually believed in fate, less so after the whole... fiasco with Fenris. Eventually she'd have to start naming the events that changed her life, or else she'd never get to think about them straight. What had Lucifer called it? Neoapotheosis: "new transcendence." She had no idea how to feel about that.

Getting lost in her own thoughts was a bad habit she picked up after a year of quasi-solitude. But she quickly snapped out of her philosophical musings. She looked curiously at Uck for a moment, before glancing at Lucifer again in a double-take. "Wait, lobsters?" Okaaaaay. It seemed to her that Lucifer had picked up a few new habits too. She grinned at him.

[freedomtoleave]

"Not all of them," he was quick to correct her, the corner of his mouth pulling down into a frown of mild disgust. One year spent in the Magician's insufferable presence had been quite enough. That he had escaped an untimely, and undoubtedly painful, death was due solely to his placement now. Not as far away as Lucifer would have liked, of course, but not having to see him every day drastically decreased the possibility that he would lose his patience completely and resort to murder.

The frown twisted into a tolerant smile, and Lucifer laughed quietly under his breath. Trial though his time in World's End had occasionally been, there had been moments, a rather large number of them, that had made the whole affair worth experiencing. Finding himself still capable of being surprised had been the first, though certainly not the last.

"The lobsters are quite vicious and will, if the opportunity presents itself, prey on humans," he explained, wholly unperturbed that he was advocating the acceptance of a dangerous predator. "The people with whom I had the unfortunate luck to coexist found it beneficial to slaughter them. As for myself, I found it more entertaining, and irritating to my neighbors, to take them under my wings. Figuratively speaking, of course. The amount of time I spent on the beach permitted them to grow accustomed to me, and I to them. Feeding them, I found, also assisted in that acclimation. As they were a part of the peace I was able to glean from World's End, I thought it fitting that they not be left to die as their own world perished."

[demiurgos_girl]

"Mm." It's really not the first strange thing she had seen him do, but it still surprised her. Some people get attached to dogs. Lucifer gets attached to carnivorous lobsters and talking squirrel-things. She noticed how quick he was to correct her assumption that he lived with all those people he mentioned, though. Maybe he wasn't as attached as she thought. Or maybe there were some tensions present, and for a moment she didn't want to know. She'd known him long enough to accept that his mind was faster, deeper than her own. Whatever convoluted plans he was in now, she didn't want to be a part of it again.

She wanted to be a part of his life, but did that always come down to being a part of his plans?

Or maybe, and she barely allowed herself to think this, maybe he was done with planning. He'd left the universe, after all, the ultimate retirement after millenia of maneuvering. Maybe sipping tea on his porch was the ending he had always wanted. Too many questions, and not enough answers, but... What exactly was so wrong with asking?

"Lucifer." Her expression was serious, as she walked down the porch to stand beside him. Just a moment ago they had seemed to be in a casual, relaxed mood; she wouldn't fall for his tricks again. She didn't want to. "What happens now? And do I get to meet your new..." Was family the right word? She left the question hanging, letting him fill the space.

[freedomtoleave]

That was a good question. What did happen now? There were so many options he could voice, so many paths to be taken, but in the end, they all came back together at the same point. An illusion of choice, when one did not truly exist.

"At present, I suspect all we can do is wait," he answered finally, without prevarication. "I tried to create an exit from this universe and was unsuccessful. A subsequent attempt left me nearly comatose. An opportunity will come eventually, they always do, and we must be ready to take it when it does."

Just as Elaine had left the term hanging, Lucifer did not categorize those with whom he shared his life. "You may meet them if you wish. No doubt you and Willow will get along easily enough. She's an outgoing young woman who enjoys making friends. John will know you when he sees you, both for what you are and no doubt who you are. He's possessed of the Sight, and I've spoken of you often to him."

[demiurgos_girl]

"I tried exits too. It didn't work." Curse any place that's easier to walk into than it is to leave. Waiting had never been her strong suit, but if Lucifer was there, it would be interesting at least. And so many other people, people she didn't know from her own universe! That's enough to lift her mood slightly again.

"I do want to! I can hardly wait." As for John knowing, well, as long as he could keep it a secret. She wasn't ashamed of being god or anything like that, but people tend to be a bit intimidated. She wanted to meet them on their own terms, and besides, any rumors that god was hanging around the town would send both the misguided atheists and fanatical religious to her door. Not to mention the blatant social climbers. It was sure to be an unpleasant experience.

But if Lucifer lived with the man, then John could certainly keep his share of secrets. And it would then be unfair not to let the Willow girl know, if everyone else in her household did. Elaine wouldn't really mind telling them.