entrancelogs | open ; we need to face our demons

Entry tags:

open ; we need to face our demons

Who: Lucifer Morningstar and anyone else who likes to party.
Where: Deux Lux
When: July Catch-All
Rating: TBD
Summary: Come hang out with the Devil you know you want to.
The Story:

[Lucifer continues to be here almost every night. Perhaps he doesn't need to be; he doesn't care who takes what from behind the bar and the place nearly runs itself, but he enjoys it here. He likes to noise and the presence of others. He likes to watch and learn and exist in a space that occupies more than just himself.

So in the aftermath of some not so pleasant moments in Wonderland, he's doing what he does best; getting other people drunk and doing whatever he feels like doing in any particular moment.

Feel free to stop by and have a drink with him. Or bother him upstairs in his penthouse suite after hours. He's fine with either.]

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Oh... Oh.

[ He will be able to map the realization as it appears on her face. It doesn't make any sense, and in reality, it makes things harder to understand. Why doesn't his power work on her? And how... ]

When you said I make you vulnerable, you meant literally.

[ She finally pulls her hand away. His face may not have scared her, but this? This is different. It freaks her out and worse, he knew this all along and didn't tell her. ]

Are you insane? I could have gotten you killed! [ The hand that had caressed him a moment ago now punches him in the shoulder, and she takes a step back. Devil or not, she's not going to let him get out of this easily.

There would still be hell to pay, so to speak. ]

Is that why you were so weird around me? That is why you left? [ She didn't think that one through, her eyes widening as she realizes she just played a hand she meant to keep close to her chest. She moved on quickly, with as little effort as she possibly could. ] Everything makes so much sense now. The weird behavior, all of the bizarre things you've said to me. Did you think I knew about all of this? Didn't you trust me?

Quite literally, yes.

[In the form of a knife across his palm which hadn't healed until she'd been a great distance away.

He winces slightly as her fist connects with his shoulder, surprise coloring his expression. He's about to protest the whole getting killed thing, after all it's not as if he wanted any of that to happen, but then she's talking about him leaving and he has no idea where she'd even come up with that.]

Of course, I trust you, Detective. I've only been telling you the truth for months and I haven't exactly been subtle about it. We tracked down my bloody wings together for goodness sake. [A beat.] And what do you mean I left?

[It had never occurred to him until RIGHT NOW that they might not be from the same point in time.]

[ With a grunt, Chloe turns away from him, circling in the room as she tries to gather her thoughts. This is almost more jarring than her coming to Wonderland; more lonely, at any rate. At least when she got here, people were friendly, people helped her. No one can help her through this one, quite possibly not even the devil himself. ]

It doesn't matter.

[ It does. It matters so much more than she can even say. ]

I know you tried to tell me and... I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't take you seriously. [ She finally turns to face him, mustering her strength to look him in the eye again. After what he had done and all they had been through, somehow, she still feels guilty. Chloe felt like he had owed her an apology for so long, but now, she feels like she owes him one. For once. ] I know you tried to tell me and I should have listened to what you were saying. And now that so much of your freaky behavior makes sense... [ Finally, Chloe drops into the chair near him. ] Honestly? I feel like an ass.

That's not necessarily a bad thing. I have quite a thing for your ass.

[It's a poor attempt at humor, at lightening up the mood. The way he says it is absent of his usual flippancy, as if his heart just isn't in it.

He doesn't want her to feel that way.]

You don't have to apologize to me for that. It never truly bothered me.

[A part of him didn't want her to believe him, but he hadn't thought it would go like this.]

My behavior is freaky, though?

[ She lets out a slow sigh, and even she notices how his heart isn't in his usual smutty, sarcastic comments. It didn't help how she felt, and he knew it wouldn't either. If Chloe gave herself time to think about it, she probably would have been boggled too. She had just found out her partner, the person who was as close to a best friend as she probably ever had in her adult life, just proved to her that he was the Devil.

And she wasn't afraid of him. She felt bad about hurting his feelings. ]

Come on. Even you have to admit you're... weird. [ Chloe attempts to not make it sound insulting, somehow. ] All that stuff about your relationship with your father who is... apparently actually God. You taking anything people say about the Devil personally. Oh, and checking me for angel wings? [ She tilts her head as she rants, her eyes widening thoughtfully. She's forgotten, at that point, about the things he probably doesn't know have happened yet. ] Of course, I guess if you're the only one who can make the devil get hurt, it's not exactly a surprise that you thought I was hiding something. Or that I was out to get you. But... [ She huffs, finally looking back at him. ] No matter what, I would always have your back. I hope you know that.

[ He is the Devil, sure. But she doesn't believe he is evil. He is her friend, and that matters more to her than anything else, especially right now.

She'll have to grapple through the rest later. ]

Ah, you mean for a human.

[Okay fine, he'll relent. There have been those who have claimed to be him over the years. Most of them were either stupid or insane.]

In that case, I'm surprised you didn't have me thrown in the looney bin.

[He lifts his eyebrows as he gestures with a nod of his head toward her.]

As for the angel wings, only a few things can usually physically harm me, another angel being one of them. It seemed like a logical conclusion.

[He looks at her then, silent for a moment. He had thought so, but he hadn't quite believed entirely that she would regardless of understanding his truth. He hasn't known her as long as she's apparently known him, which complicates things further, though it insinuates that they're close back in LA.

That knowledge pleases him, warms him. His smile is soft.]

I do now.

[ She forgets sometimes that she has nearly a year on him when it comes to their relationship. For him, they've only been working together a while, but for her, there's a whole history made only the more complicated by how things began. They grew closer though the search for his wings, but more so later, in her investigating him for murder, his saving her and Trixie from certain death at the hands of Graham. Then her father, the new investigation surrounding his death and the trial that brought them together as much as it nearly wedged them apart.

For the first time since she arrived, Chloe hated the fact that so much of their history was only hers now. From where he stood, he barely knew her; he couldn't even know if he could trust her. That, though, made his truthfulness all the more meaningful. It also made her glad for the memories she had, if nothing else having known him well enough that walking away would have been impossible. ]

Not for lack of trying. [ She returns his smile affectionately. Amenadiel had almost convinced her that Lucifer was insane, and she had known in her heart that he wasn't. Troubled and scared sometimes, maybe. Although, knowing the truth, her opinion on that still hadn't changed. ]

But why me? [ She finally reaches for the glass he poured her, deciding now was the best time as ever for a drink. Chloe pauses before the glass reaches her lips. ] If you can get hurt only when I'm around... Why me?

I've asked myself that very question. Repeatedly.

[It's troubled him ever since he realized it. He doesn't know what to do about it, nor how to fix it. He isn't even sure how to even begin figuring it out, especially now that they're here. His last resort would be to try and ask his father, but he hadn't gotten that desperate.

He wasn't sure he'd ever get that desperate.]

I've actually discussed it with Freya. She said she'd look into it for me, though I don't know how successful that will be. She isn't even from our universe.

[ She is tempted to snark as to why he doesn't just ask God, but he has made it quite clear where that relationship stands. And when it comes to her knowledge of the Bible, well... She'll have to ask him about that some other time. ]

You told Freya? [ She can't help but be surprised, and a little hurt. Yet another thing he's hidden from her, another thing he didn't trust her with. Of course, it was another thing she wouldn't have believed. ]

Maybe Freya can figure it out. Though I don't know if the magic from her world is necessarily compatible with our... I don't, whatever. [ Part of her hopes Freya can figure it out, though. Chloe doesn't like knowing that she can do something to the devil that no one else could do. ] Amenadiel tried to tell me you were lying. I didn't believe him, though.

She was curious as to why her brother was able to harm me.

[Which means he only told her very recently, at least.]

Klaus and Elena are aware of it for the same reasons. I didn't see a reason to lie about it. [And they'd always believed him. He didn't blame her for not; they lived in a world where vampires were the norm.] Yes, well, Amenadiel will do just about anything in order to get me to go back where he thinks I belong. He was the cause of that entire wing fiasco, by the way.

I don't know about that. I think he was trying to protect you. I don't really know what is up with your relationship, but he does care about you.

[ He doesn't lie, after all. For a time, Chloe was almost convinced he had broken her promise to her. Part of the reason she was trying to be kind was because she now knew he hadn't. And after what happened before, it meant more to her than he could ever know. ]

Why was that Amenadiel's fault, anyway? You said you were the one that... cut your wings off. [ She winces. ] Which now that I know you meant literally, it seems a little extreme, Lucifer.

Technically, Maze did, under my orders.

[Same thing, really, though it's quite difficult to cut wings off by yourself.]

Amenadiel was the one to tip off Carmen as to the whereabouts of my wings. He was hoping that the reminder of them and the need to see their return would make me want to take them back up and return to Hell. [He smiles.] So I burned them.

It was a bit like hanging up my crown, so to speak. My mantle. Most of my angelic power was in those wings.

[Power he got from his parents. Parents he wanted to forget existed, who hated him. He was glad to be rid of it.]

[ Now that she knows the truth, he is making more sense, at least. She can contextualize it into some kind of reality at this point; insane, but real. ]

For so long, I always thought there wasn't anything else. I mean, I didn't know, but I just accepted that the chances of there being anything else out there were so small... And now my partner is the devil.

[ She sighs and shakes her head, burying her head in her hands for a long moment. ] Why would you give that up? I understand things with your dad... With God weren't easy but, to give up all of that, Lucifer... That's a big deal.

Yes, I am your partner. And I'm the same as I've always been.

[That wasn't entirely true; he'd certainly changed. Part of that had to do with her, and some had to do with Wonderland, but he wasn't the same man he was two years ago.

That said, he's always been himself. Whether she thinks of him as The Devil or just Lucifer doesn't change anything. Not really.]

Because I don't want anything associated with what my Father decided he wanted me to be. I wanted to prove to him that I wasn't a pawn in his little game. That I was well and truly done. Keeping them safely locked away only provided me with an out if I decided I didn't like Earth after all. It was time I took that out of the equation.

[ Chloe rolls her eyes, because even she knows he isn't the same person he had always been. Even in the time she had known him, he had changed. He cared about things that the Lucifer she first met at Lux wouldn't have cared about. And even if this isn't her Lucifer, exactly, she knows Wonderland has changed him for the better. In a way, he isn't far off from the Lucifer she left behind.

Which is more of a reason for her to not betray what had happened between them and move on as if things were the way they always have been. ]

So you trapped yourself into mortality because you were mad at your dad. You do realize what that sounds like, right? [ Sure, it's a simplification, but Chloe can't imagine what it must be like, to be so bitter at the person - the being - that had created you. She had been so young when she lost her father. To think that Lucifer threw away any chance to even try to fix things with his father was mind boggling to her. Of course, the difference was his father was God, and the fight had been God throwing him out of Heaven to reign over Hell. It wasn't exactly a normal argument.] I'm sure Hell isn't that great of a place to be and... Well, knowing that I probably need to rethink some of my life choices. [ Her partner is the Devil. Is that an instant ticket to Hell? She's not sure if she wants to know. ] But why is Earth so special that you would want to trap yourself there?

I don't for a moment believe my Father isn't somehow involved. Regardless, I don't consider myself trapped. In Wonderland, perhaps, but not on Earth.

[It was one of the only things he's ever directly chosen for himself. He made his life himself, from the bottom up, and it didn't belong to anyone but him.]

Because it's my home. I don't want to leave.

[ His home.

He's told her that before. It was the reason she went through all that trouble, called in those favors to save Lux. Because it was his home, and he was her friend, and it means the world to her that he is safe and happy.

And then he left. Where could he have gone? If he turned away from his divine duties, and then he left Lux... He has nowhere to go.

Worst of all, Chloe is the reason he left. She is the reason he turned away from the only thing he had left. The only thing he loves. The thought makes her ill, and she swallows a gulp of her drink to try to stave off the incoming feeling of doom as she tries to put the pieces together. He obviously already knew what she could do to him, that she makes him mortal, yet he still wanted to be with her. Maybe it was his feelings that scared him away, maybe it was almost losing her. Or maybe it was something else altogether.

It finally dawns on her that maybe he didn't run because of what she can do to him.

Maybe he ran because he found out why. ]

Yeah. It is your home. [ She smiles at him weakly, while all along her heart breaks. Chloe wishes she knew what lay ahead, as if it would somehow ease his mind if she had insight he didn't. Knowing now what he hid from her, the magic that she would have never believed, Chloe knows that she was completely in the dark at home. Everyone seems to know what is going on except for her.

Still, she smiles. Still, she leans towards him, her eyes meeting his, telling him the truth because it's all she really has left to give him. It won't change anything at home but maybe, just maybe, it will make things better here. ]

I hope you stay.

Edited 2017-07-19 04:20 (UTC)

Yes, well, for now at least, Wonderland must be my home. At least I have a piece of my true one here with me.

[He doesn't mean his bar, this time. He leans toward her as well, reaching an arm out so that he can drag the back of his fingers over one cheek. His eyes flick over her face, over each soft curl of her hair.]

Why would I ever want to leave?

[ She knows he doesn't mean the bar. His hand may have well punctured her chest and curled around her heart, what with the rush she feels when his skin brushes hers. Chloe has to remind herself that this the old Lucifer, the one who had been trying to get her in bed since day one. Things have changed now, sure; there was a truth spoken between them that had been ignored before, a distance between them that had been bridged. While their relationship may have changed on a fundamental level, and a stronger connection had been forged, it didn't change what they were to each other.

Friends. Best friends, even. Partners. But that was all. ]

I'm still not going to sleep with you. [ At least her tone in honestly teasing this time, blowing off his advances in the manner she did at home. ]

[He smiles more broadly at that, amused by what he takes as simply a private joke between them. He's slept with plenty of people and while he certainly enjoyed it, what he had with the Detective was...different.

Better.]

I suppose I could settle for a drink and a dance.

[ She can't believe what it took, but knowing now what she had vehemently denied before was like a pressure valve between them. While Chloe knows in her heart that road that lies ahead will not be any easier - perhaps harder, knowing what she knows now - she doesn't mind as much.

He was honest with her. And knowing who he really is makes her feel closer to him, and she hopes it might just start healing the hurt that he doesn't know he caused. ]

I think we can manage that.

[ Maybe things can go back to normal now. Well, not normal. But better. ]

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