13872/A nice place to live

A nice place to live
Date of Scene:	10 October 2021
Location:	New Brighton, Buchanan, Central City (Gem Cities), Missouri
Synopsis:	The present isn't always comfortable. Tomorrow may look brighter.
Cast of Characters:	Sinister, Lucifer

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Sinister has posed:
Halloween is approaching, walmarts and big chains are stocked up on candy and costumes, spooky decorations have popped up in various neighborhoods. Selectively in the neighborhoods of the Gem Cities of Missouri. The rich can afford to look classy, where the poor tend to just want to have fun in a cheap and cheerful manner, with spray spiderwebs and inflatable animatronics. Even in the parks surrounding the museum here, there's a few odd decorations; jack-o-lanterns mostly, which are switched off in the middle of the day. On the banks of the river, watching the boats go by, sits an old man.

V-neck sweater, hair not receded, but gunmetal hued, he watches the world go by in a tweed jacket with a bag of sandwiches beside him which he is apparently sharing with the ducks, swans and geese. And occasional opportunist seagull. His grey eyes watch the water, a lifetime in wrinkles and more. Nobody bothers him and a few even smile as they walk on past.

Lucifer has posed:
Nobody visits Missouri. It's like one of the last places Lucifer would ever think he would find Sinister, but with their linked minds and a few other tricks he's been able to track the man down to this point. There might have been an extra day given for times sake, or something. He's not entirely certain how this balancing act should go, but for the moment there it is. None the less, and for the moment, he's just a passer by walking along the trail, passing the old man on the bench once and only giving a polite nod. Head down, features hidden, just so he can pass by once and then turn around when out of sight to come back. This time, when he reaches the bench, he sits on the other end, still keeping features hidden in shadow, even going so far as to wear a ballcap and a run of the mill jacket.

It's not until he lets levitate a pink snowcone that he turns his head to allow blue eyes take in the man he sits next to. How he's letting his age show in so many ways. From wrinkles to the color of his hair, and just the over all aging. Silence reigns for a moment as Lucifer waits - perhaps - for the gesture of snowcone to either be accepted or rejected. Not really wanting to break such a moment with words just yet.

Sinister has posed:
Sinister tosses some tuna paste to a mallard, a cluster of pigeons having realized that there's grub on the ground and they too come in to see if there's a free-for-all. The old man smile is somehow kindly, at least to the birds, as more little nuggets of tuna and bread are distributed. He doesn't look up as the figure passes on by, but perhaps he can sense things. Either way, only when there's a return made and a pink snow-cone floats nearby that he glances at it, grey eyes focused there a long while. He takes a cheese sandwich, bites with all his own teeth and chews idly.

"Not sure where you found a snowcone in the middle of October, but I applaud the effort." Still has the Christopher Lee kind of voice, though, not clogged up. "It's a nice area, I think. Don't you? Open spaces, not a lot of crime, pretty parks, nice malls. Middle America, with money and two point four children." The cone is glanced at again, reached for and brought to bear for a sniff. "Watermelon."

Lucifer has posed:
The effort made to feed the mallards and the pigeons gains a little smirk from Lucifer as he sits, presents the snowcone and just reamins silent for the moment. When the silence is broken by Nathaniel's voice, Lucifer gives a soft chuckle and a nod. "Some people are odd and still enjoy a bit of shaved ice even as the weather begins to cool." He offers first. "It is a nice area, peaceful and quiet, good place to come to try and get away from what could be considered the busy-ness of the city." He further comments, giving a side glance as the cone is taken and sniffed. "Watermelon is a refreshing flavor any time of the year I think. Plus, it's pink, so I thought you'd like that." Then silence reigns for another moment or so as they sit together.

"I've missed you." Words finally come from him to speak his mind and his heart as they spend time on the bench. His gaze is set on the sea where ships are crewed in merryment for the weather is fine and the winds calm. "Get up to much trouble these last couple of days?"

Sinister has posed:
Well. River. The midwest is lacking in sea! But it is a very large river, the sister of the Mississipi after all, wends her merry way through the south. Once, on steamboats taking people to new lives. Now, industrial cargo and occasional pleasure crews fill her waterways. "I bet there are quite monstrous catfish in this river," Nathaniel ponders, looking along to the distance. Nobody with a fishing rod in sight, but plenty of families with strollers and a cyclist or two. Joggers with their buds in their ears. Tourists getting close to a Heroic Icon. Half the cheese sandwich is eaten, the rest torn to scatter to the waterfowl as the tuna fish was. "Different kind of life here. Slower, yes. Church fundraisers, corporate palaces of the Giants of Industry. Gated communities too, I had a look around. Smart houses. There's an entire town of smart houses." He clucks his tongue, sitting back on the bench and pulling a bag of humbugs out, setting them on the bench to take one, upon which he sucks. The snow cone is for the time being, ignored.

"I was in Chicago for a bit, got some research done. The data is going to take some analysis, but I'm hopeful. Otherwise, I've just... been. Here seemed quiet." He crunches down on the humbug, chewing a few times to get the gooey center of the mint masticated and dissolved, then finally takes the cone. "Thank you. It's refreshingly thoughtful." Pausing, he uses the little wooden spoon to take a mouthful or two. "I've cleared out my things from the Penthouse."

Lucifer has posed:
"I don't think I'd ever be able to wrap my head around a smarthouse. I'd probably be arguing with all that technology before I was able to comprehend and allow it to work for me." Lucifer offers, a chuckle on the end of the statement. "Yet I can appreciate this. The suburb life as it were. Sort of mingling there between mid and upper class society..." With some lower class sprinkled in when they can manage to splurge. Still, it's an interesting thing and he watches for a moment while also taking time to watch Nathaniel as he ignores the snowcone and enjoys other treats. For now seeming fine with such. It's October, and the snowcone was more just a gesture of memory.

"Oh good. I'm glad you were able to do such. Kind of your element there, isn't it? Research and data analysing. What sort of results are you hoping to gain from such?" Asking this, as he's curious. He doesn't have anything to really munch or drink so instead he busies himself with lighting up and smoking on a cigarette. A bit of an inward smile is given when Nathaniel finally takes the snow cone and has a few bites. What is said next, however, brings every elated feeling crashing down within Lucifer's mind. "...Wait. What? ..." A pause, a blink, and he idly flicks ashes. "I...wasn't aware you were...moving out? Why..." He stops himself, swallows back and then takes a breath. Yet says nothing more.

Sinister has posed:
"...Because I'm a temptation. I'll find a place out of the many places I've got all over the place, or get someplace new, I'm not sure which yet. I've just been bedhopping since -- maybe I'll get a place in one of the towers of New York, a condo or something for proximity." Sinister replies, looking at the snowcone as he says this, moving flavoured ice around. He looks up only when he's moved the same lump a few times, to get it entirely soaked in the flavouring. "We can date."

Lucifer has posed:
"Do you always deal with things in such extremes?" Lucifer asks, looking down at his hands even as he lifts the one holding the smoke to take a drag. "No discussion, no working things out, you're just up and leaving." In some regard, Lucifer saw this coming, but he thought it would be some sort of mutual decision and not just Nathaniel deciding to leave. 'We can date'...is like another punch to the gut for him. "I feel like you're taking a huge step back...and forcing me along with you. We could have worked something else out." A pause. "I...I don't want to go back to an empty home..."

Sinister has posed:
Sinister tosses a sandwich. Unfortunately, it lands clean half-way across the river with a plop, which sends a whole bunch of waterfowl diving for it, some from the opposite bank. "I don't really know what to say, Lucifer. Everything my thoughts produce, sounds terrible when I speak it outloud and I've done that a few times. I'm not leaving. I'm just moving out, there is a difference. I haven't -left- you." He lets it hang, then looks at the snowcone again, taking a small bite of it, then another. It's a focus point. "For what it's worth it's terribly confusing in here. But I do know that me living with you, is not equitable time management and I can't feel like I'm the excusing novelty. Even if that's not what I am, feelings are not always rational. I mean... what do you actually -want-?"

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer is silent for a moment as he listens, finishing one cigarette which he incenerates in a burst of hellfire and then immediately he lights another. "I'm sorry if I contributed to any feeling that led you to moving out...but I don't want you to go. I want to know what it is your thinking, and I want to..." Then he stops himself and shrugs. "Fuck. Maybe I'm just being selfish. It's your life. I'm just a part of it. I shouldn't have said anything...and just let myself figure out what to do. I could easily fit time in for Vlad when you're off doing your experiements or taking care of business in person. Which was something I thought of while trying to figure out how to fix it all.." He gives a sigh. "If moving out is what you need to do...then fine. Suppose then I will...see you when I see you."

Sinister has posed:
Sinister sits, stares. Mostly, for a lack of figuring out what else to do. One of the pigeons starts pecking at his boot, distracting him enough to stare down and toss crumbs from the sandwich bag that way. "I'm thinking that for some reason or another, which makes absolutely no sense to me, that you want to live your life with me, except when you don't want to live your life with me, because you're juggling. I don't know how that ultimately works, which leads me to confusion as it seems you're lying about something somewhere along the line, but you don't do that. So, it leads me to conclude you can't actually get what you want, the way things are arranged, because there never -is- going to be equality between your time with your lovers if you live with me and jet set off to Vlad half the time. It makes me wonder why you haven't asked VLad to move in, or if that's even what you want. So... as there's an actual argument that's paradoxical in this equasion, the solution -seems- to be, level the playing field again and let it work itself out how it's going to work out. Maybe I'm the one that ends up being occasionally visited, I don't know."

Lucifer has posed:
"Vlad has a home." Lucifer offers. "You didn't. At least not a sort of stable place you could call a home. Those were your words to me. So I let you into mine. So you could have a place, and we could be together... cause you have yourself split in so many ways and can be anywhere and everywhere at the same time." He begins. "I don't have that, and neither does Vlad, but why you would take me out of the equasion of living with you for the moments that I would be taking to go visit Vlad...isn't fair. It doesn't make me any less yours when I'm not physically with you than I am any less Vlad's when I'm not physically with him.." A pause, a drag off his cigarette. "And yet I guess, in a way, I get it. So if this works out better than maybe it's...worth a try..." He stands then, pacing away from the bench a step or two while looking out to the river. He won't admit to what it feels like deep down at his core. Shoving that to the side to deal with later. A moment longer of silence before finally he looks to Sinister and says gently, "I love you."

Sinister has posed:
"I don't. I didn't then, either. I burned the place I called a home to the ground," Sinister says this mildly, like he's replaying it. "I love you, too, Lucifer. I always will." Sandwiches finished, he sags back into the bench, just a little old man with his hands in his lap and expectant mouths who will take a few minutes to figure out the lunch is done with. He stares at the water silently a few moments, lengthy as they are. "Who isn't it fair to, Lucifer? That's the whole crux of feeling this damn miserable. I'm the one with the unfair advantage."

Lucifer has posed:
"I mean I suppose technically there's the cottage, but I surmise that will be going back on the market here soon as well." Lucifer says, with perhaps a hint of bitter in his voice. "This is pointless. We're just talking in circles at this rate. Something was tried, it failed, and we'll move on and try again." He offers in an attempt to put it all to rest and let it be. He can't change what's happened, so he'll just deal with it now. Always in the aftermath. "Just let me know when you'd want to spend some more time together I suppose...and know that I am sorry it fell apart to this..." His second cigarette done and incenerated, he looks around a moment before waving a hand. "Suppose I should let you get back to...whatever it was I interrupted."

Sinister has posed:
"You are welcome to stay, if you like. I was going to see if there's any restaurants on the river, maybe take afternoon tea." Nathaniel replies, balling up the paper bag that contained the sandwiches. "I've just been wandering around getting a guage of the place. It's easier wearing this face," he muses that, considers it thoroughly for a few more moments, then lets the age fall away, face filling out and colour returning to his hair, once he's made sure nobody is looking. He casts about for the litter bin and aims a throw, which miraculously goes in unaided. "Boooya," he hasn't lost the tweed or the loafers though, which makes him look oddly like a professor. He looks at Lucifer's ball-capped head with a squint of one eye just a little, then relaxes to a kind of wary smile. "Actually, the ball is in your court. If you want to see me, please call. And you don't have to sell the cottage, either. It's a little getaway close to the city, after all. I'm... It..."

Lucifer has posed:
"As much as I would like to, I think I'm going to go back to the Penthouse. I need to tend to some paperwork anyway for Lux." Lucifer offers while watching as Nathaniel shifts to more 'himself' but with that professor type look about him. "Heh, that looks rather decent. I like it." When the topic of the cottage comes up and Nathaniel makes note that he doesn't have to sell the cottage, Lucifer nods. "True. It is our sort of get away place... we can see how it works out." A pause. "Yes. I'll contact you in whatever way I can, and we can make some plans to spend time together. On a date." A smile then as he takes the cap off and lets it disappear into the aether. He then takes a moment to step up to the man, reaching however necessary to offer a single tender kiss before stepping back again. "I shall talk to you soon." And unless interrupted, he'll turn and after two steps, he'll disappear.