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

[betterthanaplan]

Duke sat back down and tried not to look suspicious. Not because there was any reason to suspect him; this was just his natural response to the police showing up where he was.

He really hoped they weren't going into the lion's den, as it were. (And he kind of wished he had another cocktail to down.)

[my_own_advocate]

It didn't take long before the doors swung open, and revealed--

"OH MY GOD I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!"

-- Ella Lopez, a blinding smile on her face, bursting inside and making a beeline for the three of them without any hesitation. "For months I've been dragging myself to Lucifer-less crime scenes, and now, boom! You're a witness! Oh, this is so amazing!"

Beat.

"I mean, horrible for the dead guy, but not horrible for me!"

[okteiviakom]

... Well. Guess some things around here really stayed the same.

The look on Octavia's face went extra dry.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke, on the other hand, grinned back and offered Ella a little wave. "It's my favorite cop! Admittedly not a high bar. . . ."

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer's smile was a little... pained. "It's nice to see you too, Miss Lopez," he said.

"Hi Duke!" Ella exclaimed, giving him an excited little wave. "And..." She groped around for a little extra bubbly to counter that dryness. "...Octavia! Gosh, this must be weird for you guys, right?"

[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.”