eyemind | Put your shame in a box // How could you be so wrong?

Lucifer approaches, keeping his gait and stance easy, but also obviously wary as hell. He doesn't say anything as he accepts the cup of tea, sniffs at it, then sits himself down a reasonable distance away from Murmur, pulls a flask from an inner pocket of his jacket, and dumps a generous shot of whiskey into the teacup before taking a sip.

"Murmur, then," he says. Far be it for him to call someone by a name they don't want to use. Though, good luck getting him to explain about Samael.

"I did give Mum her own universe a few years back, but I suspect that's not where you're from, based on your assumptions about me. But that's not why I'm here."

Murmur does raise an eyebrow at the flask, but makes no comment. Far be it for him to complain about someone's choice in drink. Was it better spiked, he had to wonder?

"Appreciated," If it came up he might ask but he also understands the desire to take command of your own identity enough to not press. Hardly important right now anyway.

"Unlikely," He expected his universe to be at least as old as this Lucifer's, though that was only wild conjecture on his part. Time didn't exactly have much meaning when they were talking about the multiverse. "I know," He sipped his tea. "What can I do for you?" At least he seems to be more amenable to conversation now?

He is more amenable to conversation, yes. For a few reasons, which he will elaborate on almost immediately. He sees no reason to beat around the bush, after all.

"I understand you've been... partnered... with Ella Lopez," he says simply. The emphasis he places on the word partnered is a bit strange - slightly contemptuous, but also slightly strained and sad. Hm. "I'm here to make sure you intend her no harm."

Another raised eyebrow, and a faint tilt of his head at the emphasis on the word. There was more meaning beneath it than Murmur currently understood. "The process is random and involuntary, I have no more control over it than you do. Is there a problem?" He gathered that they were friends from back home, that much was obvious. Any other implications were lost on him.

A dismissive gesture and a quiet huff. "Harm? Of course not. While I do not typically spend extended periods among humankind I bear them no ill-will unlike some of our brethren. Of course that does lead to what I wanted to express to you: I owe you an apology. Much as you are suspicious of me I provoked you with similar intent, to gauge what threat you may or may not pose to the mortals of this unwilling voyage. I jumped to conclusions and judged you unfairly, and for that I offer my sincerest apologies."

A Lucifer willing to give Murmur the "shovel talk" over his human friend was a quality Lucifer in his book.

He has, like, at least a couple of speeches prepared, depending on Murmur's reaction to his initial statement. He's got them all planned out in his head - spanning the gamut from more threats of violence (and just fighting again) to even one that involves something like a heartfelt confession of how much he actually cares for this particular human.

But then Murmur does something that is practically unheard-of in Lucifer's experience. He apologizes. To him.

No one apologizes to him for their assumptions, for their logical leaps, for their "Lucifer is evil and the Devil made me do it" bullshit. It just doesn't happen. Certainly not from his siblings. Well, maybe Amenadiel, these days, with his "I misjudged you, Brother" and whatnot, but that's it! That's the only one! And here is this perfect stranger, another celestial, who clearly knows who he is and clearly leaped to the usual conclusions about him on their first meeting, now apologizing for it.

He literally doesn't know what to do with that. So he's... going to ignore it, at least for the moment.

"My only problem is with the fact that she's here at all," he finally says, drumming his fingers on his knee impatiently. "I'm told that's purely a coincidence of some sort, but let's just say, my celestial relatives frequently like to use the people I care about to manipulate me in various ways, so I'm having a hard time believing that's not the case here." He's not saying he thinks Murmur is behind it - he seems like he's telling the truth as far as he knows it. He's just generally suspicious.

He's actually glad Lucifer chose to ignore it. Emotions are weird and something Murmur only has the loosest grasp of and he'd rather not be called out of his comfortable box of being monotone and somewhat robotic. Just take the apology and ignore it that's the best way. Lucifer might be a convenient scapegoat, Murmur wouldn't stoop to that level. He was as responsible for his own actions as any other and could have likely approached this in a much more reasonable way.

Although the fight had been rather entertaining, in retrospect.

He leans back, folding one arm over his chest in thought while he continued to sip at his tea. "While I have not detected the presence of any other Celestials within our vicinity that doesn't mean your hypothesis is impossible. Thus far I've been chalking this entire situation up to the various Universes' cosmically abysmal sense of humor." Suspicion is fair and to be expected. "The only thing I ask is you do not take it out on Navi, the ship. They are also at the whims of whatever lunacy this is."

"I don't harm innocents," Lucifer says immediately, glancing around them - the stars outside, his gaze skims over lightly. They're not his stars, and even if they were, he's not usually inclined to stare at them these days. It's the ship themself that he studies. A living being, transporting them to Dad-knows-where. He sighs heavily.

"I only punish the guilty, a job which I'm supposed to be doing right now," he finishes with a twist of his lips.

He nods, satisfied. "Good, we are in agreement." There was a moment, just a brief moment, where Murmur looked deeply saddened to hear those words. They were not very true whence he was from, the the cost had been great. Still, he had no reason to suspect Lucifer was lying to him and indeed this particular Celestial came off as dreadfully honest. A refreshing change of pace.

"Indeed, unfortunately there's not much to be done about it at this juncture but hope that in the meantime things can avoid collapsing altogether. For what it's worth, time makes absolutely no sense here." So things might be perfectly fine back home!

"Time doesn't make much sense in Hell, either," Lucifer drawls. "So, that's not much of a reassurance. Sure, I could get back and it'd be fine. Or I could get back to a bloody shit-show because I abdicated again and the demons decided invading Earth was a good idea."

He is, in fact, painfully honest. And indeed, fixated on protecting humans. Specifically his humans, but also just... humanity more broadly.

It's surprising! Things were quite different from the Lucifer Murmur knew, but he'll keep that to himself for the time being. No sense in punishing one for the crimes of another. "Unfortunately there isn't much we can do to return but wait." Yep, an absolutely infuriating answer he's sure.

"The other angels wouldn't ensure they stay where they're supposed to?" Sounds to him like Lucifer's brothers are dropping the ball. Isn't protecting humanity kind of their job?

It is infuriating. Lucifer sets his cup down and stands again, because that's how frustrated he is at the whole situation. He can barely even sit still. Not that he's ever good at that, anyway. Lucifer is always movement, energy. Rarely stillness or calm. That would require the presence of another human entirely.

"They'd have to give a damn about humanity first," he says with a scoff. "And almost none of them do. Amenadiel would do what he could, but one angel, even God's greatest warrior, against an army of Lilim, that wouldn't work well in his favor. And only their rightful king can keep them in check."

Y'know. Him.

It doesn't seem to bother Murmur. He just stays put, going to enjoy his tea while Lucifer paces and has a moment. One could hardly blame him, all things considered.

A resigned sigh. Of course not. "That would be too convenient," He mused. "None loyal among your own who could keep them in line during your absence?" Demons didn't like to listen to angels on principle, but sometimes could be persuaded to listen to other demons. With enough incentive. At least, that had been his experience. Although, that did bring to mind another question.

"Wait... are there no other Fallen?"

Another sarcastic snort.

"I was the only one who got kicked into Hell by my Father, if that's what you mean." Fallen is sort of relative, given that angels in his universe self-actualize. "Presumably Dad found other ways to punish my supporters in the rebellion. I only have the Lilim at all because - an old friend took pity on me."

Otherwise he would've been alone among the souls of the damned.

"You're alone?"

Sorry, he's just having a hard time wrapping his head around that. Oh yes they were from vastly different universes and yet close enough to recognize one another for what they are. It's strange, is all. Parallel and yet not. Wow...

Well, that certainly explained a few things about this particular Lucifer. It didn't exactly bode well for the future of his world though. With a thoughtful frown he offered: "What about Ella? Have you inquired what timeframe she's from?" It seemed close but if she's from after what he last remembers then there's a possibility that things were okay. For now.

"Good to know my version of Dad is particularly cruel and capricious," Lucifer drawls, pacing a bit as the questions come fast and loose at him.

"And it's difficult to say. Miss Lopez claims I returned after a couple of months, but I can't fathom how or why I'd be able to. And there's another possibility, apart from timeline or multiverse shenanigans. I have an identical twin brother. Who's always hated my guts, even before my rebellion."

"Your siblings less supportive at the very least," Which doesn't exactly help with the current situation.

"A twin?" That does complicate things. "You suspect he might be responsible?" The idea of an angel having a twin was baffling to him but he'll let that slide for now. It's not like they're born... are they?

"I did lose a rebellion against the most powerful being in the universe," he says bitterly. "Why risk Dad's ire to, oh, pay me a visit?"

It's old news, really, so the bitterness has lost some of its edge. He has other concerns these days. Many of them.

"It wouldn't be the first time Michael's impersonated me and tried to make a big mess of things," he adds, almost thoughtfully. "I wouldn't have thought he'd ever leave the Silver City - most of them don't. But I'm hardly the most up-to-date on the Heavenly goings-on."

"I'm surprised any dissenting voice might have been permitted to remain." Definitely different, also very far in the past and hardly important to the topic at hand. Still it was interesting to touch on these differences all the same.

He's sorry what? Murmur almost chokes on his tea at that one. "Did you say Michael?" Michael is his trouble making twin? Goodness their universes were different indeed! Alarmingly so.

That outburst gets Lucifer to pause, and even smile faintly, though it's still not a happy smile.

"You mean your universe's version of Michael isn't a scheming, sniveling, slope-shouldered toerag with a persecution complex? It sounds better and better all the time."

He hasn't actually seen or heard from his twin in millennia, and only suspects he might be interfering with his humans, but he's still got the string of insults at the ready.

That is absolutely not the kind of description Murmur would have ever expected to hear of Michael.

"...You don't happen to have more alcohol do you?" Because frankly he could use a bit with this revelation. "In my universe, Michael leads Heaven's armies. None can deny his martial prowess nor that he is typically honorable in his approach. However..."

No one's listening right? He's not going to get a sword through his gut for having the audacity to levy any criticisms at all? Murmur does look wary, as though he fully expects that speaking the words is enough to summon one of them down on his head. "He is still self-righteous, self-important, and quick to rip the wings from your back and cast you into Hell. So, it certainly isn't all sunshine and roses."

Lucifer lets out a bark of laughter at that - particularly the mental image of Michael being any kind of leader.

"Most of my siblings couldn't lead themselves out of a paper bag, least of all Michael. No one ever liked him. His affinity is fear, you see. I'm, well, me. The epitome of desire. I draw them out of people, know all the best ways to fulfill them. All Michael has ever been able to do is terrify people."

He glances at his flask, gives it a little shake. "There has to be something decent available here, especially if I'm going to be here a while."

Talk about weird. "It would seem our universes truly do have an abysmal sense of humor. It's as though the two of you swapped places, then developed a severe case of murderous psychopathy in my own." He knows angels and demons to be excessively stabby where he's from. This is quite refreshing.

"We may have to wait for a visit to another planet, the ship isn't kept stocked. Though Julia may have a stash at hand." She was pretty good at keeping herself well pickled.

"Earth has always had the best liquor," he opines with a weary sigh.

"Several of my siblings are murderous psychopaths, they just don't care enough about humanity to bother." Thank someone for that. "Amenadiel got better, he's evolved from trying to send me back to Hell to - well, he'll probably be in the running for dad of the year soon. If he stops fretting about it for five minutes."

To be fair, any dad is better than Lucifer's Dad.

"Oh I don't know, have you tried any of the other worlds?" So far everything he's encountered on this adventure has been much more potent. Whether or not that's better is up for debate.

"Ah well, at the very least yours seem a tad more tempered. Mine have grown... zealous as the eons of silence draw on. Does Father speak with yours?" Wait. What did he say? "What do you mean dad of the year?"

You guys can reproduce?

"Oh, practically radio silent for millennia," Lucifer says dismissively. "Always has been that way, though."

Of course, he does know of at least one time in recent memory when his Father had issued a direct order to one of his siblings - less than 40 years ago, when Amenadiel had been tasked with blessing an infertile human couple - John and Penelope Decker.

But Chloe Decker's miraculous origin is one of the things that is proverbially stamped with an "OFF LIMITS" sign in Lucifer's mental filing cabinet.

Amenadiel's foray into parenthood, however, is not off-limits, and he chuckles. "My brother didn't bother to Google the pull-out method. Rookie mistake."

"The more things change, the more they stay the same." Always has been, good to know at least the most infuriating part is consistent.

That would certainly strike as a strange, but not unheard of, event. Mysterious ways and all that.

Murmur pinches the bridge of his nose to quell the immediate alarm that followed at that news. "You can reproduce?" Excuse him he's having a minor existential crisis.

Lucifer's shrug is eloquent. It speaks volumes of what he doesn't know. Remember how he just said his Father is practically radio silent?

"Amenadiel did. Of course, we self-actualize, so he possibly just self-actualized himself into child support payments for the next eighteen years."

Okay, yes, but he expected they'd know a bit more about their own physiology to some extent wouldn't they... Apparently not.

"And no one is concerned about Nephilim?" Although, wait, no he's calm this is fine. It's probably fine! These are very different angels and they're probably fine. Lucifer sure doesn't seem concerned by it. Maybe they never had the Nephilim issue in the past? And with the self-actualizing that actually made a lot more sense. "We do as well to... a small degree. Well, as far as I know. This is a recent discovery. Most remain unaware."

"Those are a myth, at least in my corner of the multiverse. Fun stories, though, you'd think if any of us was going to have a lot of little half-angel monster babies running about it'd be me, but I've never heard of it."

Lucifer basically invented the concept of sluttiness.

"Anyway, Charlie seemed normal enough to me. Barring any more kidnapping attempts by rogue demons - which I was going to stop by returning to Hell - I don't see what the big deal is. And we only just found out about the self-actualization as well. All those millennia, I thought it was just Dad messing me about. Still sort of was, I suppose, since He never bothered to tell us how it worked."

Edited 2021-06-06 18:12 (UTC)

"You're lucky they're just stories for you..." He muttered, more under his breath than anything. Phew, alright, well... No crisis there. Hopefully. Monstrous half-angels are an absolute nightmare.

It would be really bad in Lucifer's world.

A dismissive gesture. "Why would he? Mysterious ways, questioning forbidden, so and and so forth."

"Might've saved a lot of pain and misunderstandings, but you're right. He'd never make it that simple," Lucifer says, bitter again. Yep, he invented daddy issues.

Lucifer is the poster child for daddy issues. "Too easy. We can't be having that now can we?" Everything always had to be horribly complicated and stress-inducing. It's like suffering was built-in from the start. Maybe it was, though Murmur wasn't exactly up for philosophizing about the inevitability of suffering with Lucifer already stressing himself out.

"Well, that aside there's not much more we can do here but wait. Navi is en-route to some kind of machine that can allegedly return us to our homes but space travel never can be a snappy endeavor."

"...Right." He hates sitting idle. Lucifer is just not the type, so this is going to be tough.

"So, Miss Lopez," he says, finally returning to his original point. "She's been a believer as long as I've known her. Even got me to go to church with her once," he adds, an amused, somewhat affectionate aside, before he shakes himself out of the nostalgia. "But she's only just learned the truth. As you saw. So. Tread carefully. Not for my sake, for hers. She's strong, but she doesn't deserve, well... any of this."

Surely Lucifer will find ways to keep himself entertained and distracted in the interim. And since he isn't a threat to the mortals Murmur's not going to worry about it.

Ah, yes, the angry human who beat him with a shoe. "Something about the image of you attending a mortal church is highly amusing, did you critique the pastor the entire time?" Because he would have had a very hard time not telling them they're reading it wrong. There's a reason Murmur isn't invited to book clubs. Although, he gets the point and nods. "Very well, I will endeavor to not disillusion her excessively. Though I make no promises, humans are still somewhat... foreign to me." He likes them, they're just weird.

"Oh, I found far more interesting things to do than debate the padre," Lucifer says, already going back down happy memory lane. "She was brunette, and had the loveliest legs." Well, not quite as nice as the Detective's, but nobody is quite as nice as the Detective. "Amazing how easy it is to find people in church who want nothing more than to desecrate the confessional booths."

Spoken with the air of a man who has desecrated, like, dozens of them over the years. What was he talking about again? Oh, right.

"She'll hug you. Almost certainly. Just let it happen, she does it to everyone," he adds with a shrug. "Miss Lopez is a force of nature."

Edited 2021-06-06 19:22 (UTC)

Oh. Oh. Right yes, that's a thing this Lucifer does apparently. No Nephilim. Murmur's really going to have to wrap his mind around that horror. "I'd say I was surprised but... that would be a lie." He might not spend a lot of time around humans but he's distinctly aware of how little they like to follow their own rules. It's a fun game they play.

"I don't know, I think we may have gotten off on the wrong foot. Er, shoe." But it's not like he'd really argue against a hug either. Humans are weird.

Lucifer waves that off. "She's not just a believer. She's one of the good ones. She'll give you another chance. She believes in those. Forgiveness, acceptance - those aren't abstract concepts to Miss Lopez. No matter how little you think you deserve them."

He says that simply - a rote statement of fact.

A bemused sound. "Truly? Interesting. I shall take your council under advisement." He's really not sure how to navigate around her faith and not being utterly disappointing but... he'll try. It is interesting that Lucifer mentions how little he might think he deserves it, but he's pretty sure this isn't an observation of Murmur. He's pretty good at keeping to himself.

"How has she adjusted to her revelation about you? Given that you're here, I'm guessing things went well enough?" In other words: Lucifer isn't still sulking about it.

"She had as many surprises for me as I did for her," Lucifer says cryptically. Nope, he's not elaborating on that.

"The first time we met, she hugged me and told me the Devil gets a bad rap. She thought I was a method actor."

"I think that I shall refrain from allowing my curiosity to traverse that offered thread, thank you." He'd prefer Lucifer didn't, this one sounds lewd he'd like to avoid that.

"Really? Interesting indeed, well then, perhaps I should stop avoiding my new partner and present myself for whatever I may be in for." He's expecting more shoes, to be honest.

It wasn't actually a thread Lucifer was offering - he's happy Murmur shut it down. Hilariously, it's not lewd at all - nothing about his relationship with Ella is sexual in any way, she's like a sister to him. If it had been lewd, he'd've been happy to talk about it in detail, as a matter of fact. But it's about like, his feelings and future stuff that he's still trying to process, so, yeah. Nope. Not inclined to discuss in detail right now.

"She's one of the most remarkable humans I've ever met," Lucifer says of Ella now, with no prevarication. It's a rarefied list - Doctor Linda and the Detective are the only other two on it, with perhaps Trixie making an appearance as well. "She is worth your time."

The one time Lucifer isn't being lewd and Murmur didn't even catch it. He'll learn to read him better with time, for now he's just glad they seem to be on better terms now. Truth was he could use some help in protecting the mortals on the ship, so if Lucifer had more incentive all the better. Feelings are hard, best just to ignore them in his opinion.

"A ringing endorsement, indeed. Of that I have no doubt. Now, if you'll excuse me. If you need me in the future you have but to ask."

That doesn't seem to be sarcasm. Which is weird. Most people - certainly other celestials - are unlikely to take any endorsement from him to heart.

Huh. He'll need to think about that for a bit.

"Right. We'll have to hunt down some good liquor together," he says with a faint smirk.

Definitely not sarcasm. Lucifer has proven himself a staunch ally and friend to mortals, so there was no reason to discredit his opinions on them out of hand. Ultimately he wasn't going to judge this Lucifer on the actions of the one from his own universe. That would be irrational.

"I look forward to it." But, with their conversation at a close he didn't remain long. In what's probably a fairly familiar scene for Lucifer a brief gust of wind is all that signals that Murmur's dispersed.

Put your shame in a box // How could you be so wrong?

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