Los Angeles, Sunday

[my_own_advocate]

Waiting for Father to get on and step down so that Amenadiel could take over the job had seemed like a grand idea in theory, but after a full week, it was beginning to get... well. Dull. So Lucifer had decided to spend this time on important pursuits. On developing himself as a person.

Which was to say that, besides catching up on all the sex he and Octavia and Duke hadn't had since Dad's return, he was... trying to explore a few hobbies.

"Enough with these silly distractions, Lucy!"

Lucifer looked up at his brother from the floor, where he sat bent over a bottle with a teensie, tiny boat in it. "Excuse me," he said. "The impossible bottle is a time-honored craft of which I was recently reminded!" And wouldn't it make a great gift for Duke at one point or another?

"Mhm-hm," Amenadiel said, crossing his arms. "And what about the prank you pulled on poor Dan?"

"Very important business. It took weeks to plan, and, after that was over, it was obvious it was finally time for me to learn the French horn." He slid to his feet and plucked the instrument from a nearby chair.

He put it to his mouth. And, all right, he really did still have a long road ahead of him, but still--

"Lucifer!" Amenadiel yelled through the noise. "Luce-- Lucy! We need to discuss Father. God might be retiring, Lucy. God. We need to figure out what to do if He does."

Oh, right. Lucifer knew he'd forgotten to have the 'Amenadiel's going to take over for Dad' conversation with someone.

"Oh," he said, lowering the French horn, "That. Well, if I have been avoiding something, it's certainly not that." He stalked past Amenadiel towards the bar. This felt like a 'bar' kind of conversation. "Don't get your feathers in a twist. There's nothing to figure out."

He poured a measure of whiskey into his cocktail shaker. "So Dad's retiring. He's had quite a run, if you ask me."

"The world can't be without a God," Amenadiel pointed out unnecessarily.

"You're right," Lucifer said, pouring a bit of honey into the shaker. "Somebody will replace Him." He set the bitters down and reached for the egg. "And by somebody, I mean you."

Amenadiel frowned. "...Me?"

Oh, come on. Lucifer cracked the egg. "Oh, don't play coy, brother," he said, nimbly separating the white from the yolk and chucking it in. "You've been training for this since you were in angel nappies. God's right hand, the greatest warrior, His bloody favorite son..." Where had he left the lemon--? Ah, there.

See, even Amenadiel had to cop to that. "You're not wrong."

"You have wanted this your whole life." It was disgusting, really. All that well-done-son-guy energy.

"I've never said that," Amenadiel said slowly.

Lucifer closed the lid on the shaker and gave it a good... well, shake. Who was he kidding, really? "You don't need to say it, brother. Words are just words," he said. He took the strainer and carefully poured the drink into two glasses. "I know how you feel."

He picked up both drinks and held them out. "Honey-lemon whiskey sour?" he offered. "I took a mixology course the other day to freshen up on modern techniques. Variety is the spice of life, you know."

Amenadiel sighed as he took one of the two glasses and slipped past him. "Lucifer," he said. "Being God isn't simple. It's... It's a big job. The biggest. How would I even go about making that decision?"

You know? This drink wasn't as good as advertised in class. Lucifer took a sip and then... gingerly pulled the glass away. Made an angel miss Miss Smith's intimidating knowledge of jello shots, really. (Perhaps she would teach a course? That would be interesting...) "Well, in situations like these when much is at stake, I like to ask myself, 'What's your knee-jerk reaction?' You obviously want this, so leap before you look."

He beamed.

"Maybe that's how you used to act, but, dear brother, you've changed," Amenadiel said, patting him on the shoulder. "Don't pretend otherwise. It's the therapy. Linda has really helped you to be more mindful, to really think things through."

"How dare you," Lucifer said, aghast. "Therapy ruined me, frankly. I spent weeks overthinking everything, and look where it got me - nearly annihilated my relationship. No, my life has been much better since I went back to-- 'Just do it'."

Beat.

"Metaphorically speaking, I'm obviously a Louboutin man, but you know what I mean."

He huffed a laugh. "Anyway, good talk," he said, "I need to get back to my bottle. Bye-bye, Amenadiel Almighty!"

[[ this post taken and adapted from Lucifer episode 5x13, 'A Little Harmless Stalking'. for myself, me, i, and octavia and duke. ]]

Comments

The Loft, Sunday Morning

[my_own_advocate]

It took about three minutes of ignoring him before Amenadiel finally left, but it worked, that was the important part. Lucifer settled back behind the magnifying glass with a grin. "Oh, hello, sailor..."

Re: The Loft, Sunday Morning

[betterthanaplan]

"Hello, Devil," Duke said as he came in. He'd just gone to see -- and not buy -- yet another boat.

He saw Lucifer bent over something and tilted his head. "What's that you got there?"

Re: The Loft, Sunday Morning

[my_own_advocate]

"An impossible bottle," Lucifer said, beaming. "I experimented with these a few centuries ago when they were all the rage..."

Re: The Loft, Sunday Morning

[betterthanaplan]

"An impossible. . . ." Duke came over and peered over his shoulder. "You know, not what I expected."

The Precinct, Sunday Morning

[my_own_advocate]

"So you committed an 'impulse crime'," Lucifer said. "Not a bad choice, the best decisions are made in the heat of the moment."

Re: The Precinct, Sunday Morning

[knivesforbaby]

Maze stared at him. Around them, the station bustled as it usually did, as if nobody realized that it was categorically insane that Dr. Linda Martin was standing here in handcuffs.

"And how did you kill him?" she asked sharply, looking at Linda like that was gonna explain anything.

Re: The Precinct, Sunday Morning

[exasperangel]

"...Really... good," Linda said, nodding. Christ, how did you kill people? She didn't know how you killed people! "And... hard," she improvised. "All the way dead."

An Art Gallery, Sunday Noon

[nohottubgirl]

"All right, so, the painting Maze saw at Clive's house traces back to this gallery," Chloe said, as they pulled up on the curb opposite the gallery. She killed the engine. "The owner's name is--"

"Jamie," Linda said quickly. "Is it Jamie? Say it's Jamie."

Re: An Art Gallery, Sunday Noon

[my_own_advocate]

Clive. It was an irritatingly stupid name for a man Linda had described as 'Scary Guy', but it's what the BOLO led them to, and Maze had been very helpful.

Unlike whatever the doctor was doing.

"Right, and we're in a tizzy why?"

Re: An Art Gallery, Sunday Noon

[exasperangel]

"That's who the boyfriend said Adriana fought with on the phone," Linda said, leaning forward in the back seat. "And she's connected with the guy I saw threatening my daughter? Shady. Shady. Let's get her to 'fess up!"

She reached for the door handle.

"Linda," Chloe said sharply.

And... backing off the handle. "What? You said I could ride along because my knowledge of the case could come in handy."

The Precinct, Sunday Afternoon

[exasperangel]

Time felt like it flowed too quickly, and yet too slowly. Had they done it? Was Adriana safe? And was Eve okay? Maze had gone out on a limb for her, to help save Adriana, figure out what Clive was up to, but she'd heard something had gone wrong and Eve had been there, and...

Linda couldn't hear what Chloe and Lucifer were talking about just outside the... the waiting room, or whatever it was, they'd put her in. But Lucifer seemed to be gesturing a lot, and Chloe was arguing, and...

What did that mean?

Was Adriana safe?

The door opened abruptly. She looked up. Oh. Lucifer. When had he gotten here?

"Is Eve okay?"

Re: The Precinct, Sunday Afternoon

[my_own_advocate]

"Uh," Lucifer said, as he closed the door behind him. "I hope so?"

Best he could give her, really.

"She's in surgery at the moment." For a bullet wound.

Re: The Precinct, Sunday Afternoon

[exasperangel]

Linda nodded. That was... something, wasn't it? "Told you Clive was a scary guy."

Interrogation Room, Sunday Afternoon

[nohottubgirl]

"Nothing," Adriana said. Her big blue eyes and her tight blonde ponytail made her look every bit the part of a librarian.

She was rigid in her seat. Clearly her nerves were going a mile a minute.

"Well, we looked at your statement and did some legwork," Chloe said, settling in her own seat. "There are some pieces missing that we would like you to fill in."

Just close the investigation already," Adriana snapped. "I did it. That's all I'm gonna say."

Outside an Apartment Complex, Sunday Afternoon

[nohottubgirl]

"Linda, put down the gun!"

They found Linda outside of Adriana's boyfriend's apartment, with a gun in her hands, pointed straight at him. Just as Chloe had feared.

Re: Outside an Apartment Complex, Sunday Afternoon

[exasperangel]

"I can't let him get away with this," Linda yelled back. "He framed Adriana!"

The boyfriend gestured helplessly at her, turning to look at the newcomers in a desperate bid for help. "This, this woman is nuts!"

Outside the Precinct, Sunday Afternoon

[exasperangel]

Once again, Adriana walked away. And once again, Linda let her. She watched Adriana as she descended the stairs, with her blonde hair that looked exactly like her own, the purposeful steps she saw whenever she walked towards a mirror.

(She was much taller, though. She got that from her father, Linda supposed.)

She sucked in a deep breath and said, without turning around, "All right, Lucifer, you have my undivided attention. What is it you wanted to talk about?"

Re: Outside the Precinct, Sunday Afternoon

[betterthanaplan]

Duke had been on his way in to check on things (after another pointless day of wandering around LA -- he really needed to find something to do around here that wasn't just boat window-shopping) and saw Linda and her taller, younger doppelganger. And had hung out at a respectable distance until the younger woman walked away.

"Not Lucifer," he said, raising a hand. "You, uh. You okay?"

Re: Outside the Precinct, Sunday Afternoon

[exasperangel]

Linda spun around and... blinked. "Oh, hi, Duke. Sorry, I thought... well, you know what I thought."

Lux, Sunday Night

[my_own_advocate]

The club was hopping, as per usual, and Lucifer swept through it. Soaking up a bit of the vibe, but really, mainly looking for someone.

He found said someone sulking in a corner, apparently content to look frowny while everyone else was having a good time. "That's the kind of God you're gonna be, isn't it? Grave and weary."

Re: Lux, Sunday Night

[betterthanaplan]

Duke had found another table, off from the crowd (and a good distance from Amenadiel too). His walk and subsequent chat with Linda had calmed things down a bit in his brain, though his legs felt a bit like old rubber after spending so much of the day wandering around.

He was now more sort of . . . quietly depressed. Thinking about Haven, and Nix, and Audrey and Nathan.

He hadn’t heard anything from any of them. Portalocity didn’t even list his Haven as locked down so much as it just. Didn’t list his Haven. Dwight’s, sure, but the adventure with Sarah and Roy in 1955 had taught him not to believe heading into the past could change a damn thing.

His world was gone. Sure, he hated it, but it was still his.

He’d never see his Audrey or his Nathan again.

Re: Lux, Sunday Night

[okteiviakom]

He knew Haven would never release him from its clutches like that, right? Octavia couldn't help thinking that, anyway.

She'd had a pretty rotten day, too, as was to be expected. She'd put the shards of glass in the trash only to smash the bottle Duke had been drinking from into pieces, and then she'd cleaned that up, too. Then she'd considered getting absolutely hammered with some other bottle.

And then decided against that.

And then she'd spent the rest of her day pacing around the loft like a caged animal, and now she was down here, and still considering a stiff drink. She was halfway to the bar when she caught Duke across the room.

And stopped, with an exhale that felt like something dragging her down.

Re: Lux, Sunday Night

[exasperangel]

Amenadiel managed a soft, rueful huff. "It's just," he started. "...I thought I would be so eager to take Father's place, you know? But instead, I'm having doubts." He sounded faintly confused with himself. Maybe even disgusted.

Re: Lux, Sunday Night

[my_own_advocate]

"I think I... actually understand," Lucifer said slowly. Thoughtfully. "You feel... unworthy."

OOC

[my_own_advocate]