From Lucifer's Penthouse to Los Angeles, Monday Evening

[my_own_advocate]

Right. Lucifer considered himself again in the walk-in mirror. Was his bow-tie properly tied? The rest of the white tux was immaculate, but the tie...

Look, he'd managed to finally come out of hiding on the Rouge a few days ago. He'd spoken to miss Lopez, and discovered almost no time had passed. Which had come in handy for when Linda had come over to yell at him about how hard it was to find an elementary school for a child that was only a year old on paper. And then... time had gone on.

Amenadiel had yelled at him again, but he'd ignored that.

No, if they were going to be in Los Angeles, he was... going to try and take his mind off of the whole God mess. No one needed him self-actualizing anything else in a panic, right? So he'd arranged something special for tonight. A visit to the only magician's club in all the world...

"Now if only I could get this bloody bowtie right," he muttered, as he gave up, and finally stepped out of the walk-in, back into the apartment.

[[ for them, and based on Lucifer season 6 episode 1, 'Nothing Ever Changes Around Here'. ]]

Comments

[okteiviakom]

"Why would this be weird?" Octavia rasped.

She leaned so hard into her natural deadpan that it was impossible to tell whether she meant it or not.

[betterthanaplan]

"It's definitely weird," Duke said with a small chuckle. "We weren't planning to be in LA at all. Much less in LA at the scene of a murder."

[exasperangel]

"Yeahhhh, I'll bet," Ella said. "And you're just here to grab a show, and then someone gets whacked, and--"

While she spoke, Lucifer's eyes tracked up. And aside. And...

"Lucifer," said another, very familiar voice, coming from a very familiar blonde woman. Beside Chloe stood a tall, extremely nondescript police officer, whose eyes darted between the three seated parties. But Chloe's eyes were on one person, and one person only. "What are you-- what are you doing here? I thought..."

[my_own_advocate]

Oh.

Oh.

It took Lucifer exactly three seconds too long to answer. "Ah, a, uh, godhood-related incident carried us here," he managed. "My fault. I'm afraid."

[okteiviakom]

"Not our first choice," Octavia agreed, mild rather than dry, now.

She didn't really think Chloe was paying her any attention.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke didn't say anything himself, because -- yeah, Chloe wasn't paying them any attention.

He watched her and Lucifer, eyes flicking between them. He knew how Lucifer felt (he did, dammit), but how Chloe did. . . . That was something else.

[nohottubgirl]

"Right."

Chloe crossed her arms. She nodded, one time too many. "Well, I... I'm going to have to take a statement," nod, "and then we'll... let you go."

"Ah," said the meathead behind her, "When we're done, sir."

Ella gave him a little shove between the ribs. "Carol."

[my_own_advocate]

"No, of course. I know the drill," Lucifer said. That laugh? Uneasy. "Octavia, Duke and I are at your disposal, of course."

[nohottubgirl]

"Of course," Chloe echoed. "Of course."

She yanked the notepad out of her pocket like it was a weapon.

"So did any of you know the deceased?"

[okteiviakom]

Octavia took note of the guy who seemed to think he was in charge - or at least had strong feelings about going by the book. Then she fixed her attention on Chloe.

Had she always seemed so... small?

Unimposing.

Octavia shook her head, just barely. "Me and Duke didn't even know who he was until about an hour ago."

[betterthanaplan]

“Kinda still don’t,” Duke noted. “Assuming the real Magnar is the one who came out of the box.”

[my_own_advocate]

"I can't say I do either," Lucifer agreed. "For all I knew, it was Magnar."

[nohottubgirl]

"Yeah. We actually, uh, got the ID back on him already," Chloe said. Her eyes darted up to Lucifer's face. Then, very quickly, back to her notepad. "It's Magnar's understudy. We're just... trying to find out--"

She shook her head, as if in conversation with herself. "Well, you know how this works," she said.

[my_own_advocate]

"Yes," Lucifer said, nodding. "You're trying to find out which people may have motive to kill Magnar's apprentice."

A pause.

And then, without thinking, he added, "Would you like some assistance? For old times' sake."

[okteiviakom]

Well, great way to get Octavia's eyes to dart over to Lucifer's face. Or his profile, anyway, whatever.

Her own face was unreadable, though.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke's face was not unreadable. Duke's face was in large print and translated into several languages for optimal accessibility.

He was not a fan of assisting with this murder case, no.

[my_own_advocate]

Ah. "Ah," Lucifer said, "If in exchange Duke and Octavia can go home, of course."

[nohottubgirl]

Chloe's forehead crumpled into a frown. "I-- this is not a hostage situation, Lucifer."

[okteiviakom]

"Also we're a long way from home," Octavia rasped, evenly.

Although now she was glancing at Duke, to get a read on him.

[betterthanaplan]

"My boat's the harbor," Duke noted. "We can, uh. Wait there. If you want to hang out, Luce."

He'd prefer to drag Lucifer back to the Rouge with them, but well. He understood wanting to do things 'for old times' sake' with a former fling. Even while he kind of hated it.

[my_own_advocate]

"Well, the show seems unfortunately done for the night," Lucifer said, tossing them both a-- sheepish sort of smile. "And the police are here, and I know you're not entirely comfortable with our dear detectives, but I would really like to get to the bottom of this mystery."

[nohottubgirl]

"I hadn't even--" Told him it was okay to join in, Chloe wanted to finish, but then she vividly remembered what life with Lucifer had been like, and she just rubbed her forehead. "You're free to go wherever you want after just a few more questions," she said. "That goes for all three of you."

[okteiviakom]

"Well, can we get to the questions?"

Seemed like those would be more simple than everything else they had going on here.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke raised a finger. “Am I going to get pushback if I plead the fifth?”

[nohottubgirl]

And Chloe already had a headache.

"No," she said, in a tone that read, but why would you?, "That is your constitutional right."

She lifted her notepad.

"Tell me about what happened. Step by step. Did you--"

Lucifer opened his mouth and started talking. He was very detailed. Probably too detailed.

After a few minutes of that, Chloe cleared her throat. "Mr. Crocker, Miss-- Octavia," did she even have a last name? "Please tell me in your words."