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]

Okay, this part was not like what Octavia remembered from the opera. She raised her eyebrows a little bit at the tables-and-chairs set-up, but said nothing about it. What did she know about magic shows?

She nodded towards a table, this time with a question in the raise of her eyebrows.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke leaned into Lucifer a bit more. "Do we have an assigned table? Are you a guest of honor?"

[my_own_advocate]

"Right there in the middle, near the front," Lucifer said, and his arm wrapped around Duke's waist without him giving it a moment's thought. He pulled Octavia with them too, towards that seat. "The best view they have."

He didn't let go of them until they were there. And, once there, of course made a point of pulling both of their chairs out.

[okteiviakom]

And so Octavia took her offered seat.

She set her glass down on the table, casual.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke took hos own seat and sipped his cocktail.

"So we have a passing of the reins to look forward to," he said. "Anyone else on the marquee?"

[my_own_advocate]

"No, Magnus is the main event," said Lucifer, the last to sit down. "And we are very privileged to be able to see this."

On stage, people were running around, setting up props and furniture.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia eyed the people doing prep for a second, but then immediately turned her attention to the rest of the room.

Exits, yes, but also curiosity about whoever else happened to be there.

[betterthanaplan]

"You do know how to show us an exciting time," Duke said, giving Lucifer a fond smile and reaching over to squeeze his knee. "So what sorts of magic does Magnar do?"

[my_own_advocate]

"Shhh," Lucifer hushed them.

An older man, somewhere in his fifties, took to the stage. His act was-- well, it was clearly a very traditional illusionist's act, disappearing assistants and all.

Lucifer had a smile on his face watching all of it.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia was... watching the show, sure. It wasn't like anything she'd seen before, and she had a little bit of fascination about how the tricks worked. Weird thing, coming from Fandom: it felt more impressive knowing they were tricks and not just a supernatural ability the guy had.

But more than that, Octavia was actually watching Lucifer out of the corner of her eye. Seeing that smile.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke was a little less subtle with how he was watching Lucifer as much as the show. He'd seen a lot of these types of illusions before, after all. He hadn't seen that kind of smile on Lucifer's face, though.

This was probably why Lucifer liked coming along when Duke went fishing. It wasn't about the fish. It was about seeing someone you loved doing something they loved.

[my_own_advocate]

"And now, for my last act on stage..." Magnar spread his arms wide. A large box was rolled up beside him. "I will literally conquer death! And emerge resurrected!"

The audience gasped. Lucifer clapped. Magnar's assistant opened up the box, and he climbed inside. Once he was in, she secured it with a turn of a key.

"She just locked it," Lucifer explained, unnecessarily.

On stage, the assistant reached for a rack of ornate swords.

[okteiviakom]

The resurrection bit had Octavia casting a quick glance towards Duke.

The swords would inevitably catch her attention in a second, but, yeah.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke’s attention turned back to the stage at that, a small frown crossing his face.

But, well. This wasn’t not a standard sort of trick. And Lucifer clearly wasn’t concerned. So Duke sat back and waited to see what happened.

[my_own_advocate]

The assistant, a stately black woman in a glittery dress, paced around the box. She made a show of sliding one sword in.

Then the next. And the next.

"Oooh," Lucifer said, grinning, as the last blade went in.

[okteiviakom]

Well, Duke seemed fine with the whole resurrection thing. Octavia turned her attention back to the stage.

... Were those supposed to be swords? Yes, the trick was kind of creeping her out, but it wasn't going to stop her from getting caught up in thinking very Octavia thoughts.

(It probably kept her from thinking about what it was like to get run through with a proper sword, too. So there was that.)

[betterthanaplan]

Duke sank back in his seat, sipping his cocktail and anticipating the reveal.

He was still watching Lucifer more than the stage.

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer still looked rapt, yes.

That was the thing about only coming to Earth for short spells so infrequently for so long: some things hadn't had the time to get old.

Unfortunately...

"Resurrection!" the assistant cried, as she turned towards an ornate sarcophagus on stage. She pulled open the door--

--and Magnar dropped out, onto the floor, a dagger sticking in his chest.

Lucifer's hands were already up to clap. "He's good, isn't--"

And then he blinked.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia frowned, and leaned towards Lucifer, without taking her eyes off of the magician on the floor.

"Is that supposed to happen?" she whispered.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke’s eyes snapped to the stage. He choked on his drink.

“Oh fuck.”

That’d be a ‘no’ from him to Octavia’s question.

[my_own_advocate]

Someone in the audience screamed.

"Someone call 911!"

The assistant dropped down beside Magnar, checking desperately for a pulse. There wasn't one.

Lucifer's eyes shot wildly from the stage to the audience to the assistant to the body. "I do believe he's been murdered," he managed.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia wished she could have claimed she felt surprised, but somehow, something in her didn't let her.

But she was sitting up a little straighter. "Duke, put your drink down."

(It made sense if you were her.)

[betterthanaplan]

Duke did so, with a visible flinch. He was staring at Lucifer again, for a whole new reason. (What? He didn't like looking at dead people!)

"Does Chloe know you're back in town? Because, uh. I think maybe she's about to."

[my_own_advocate]

"I have not yet had the time to alert the Detective, no," Lucifer said, blanching.

Not that he'd been avoiding her, or anything.

[okteiviakom]

"They'll want us to stay here," Octavia muttered. She was still looking at the body.

It was nothing new.

"Witnesses."