13999/Requiem for a Nightmare

Requiem for a Nightmare
Date of Scene:	01 December 2021
Location:	Lucifer's Penthouse, Melville
Synopsis:	Lucifer and Sinister have some jarring nightmares followed by washing them away in the hot tub.
Cast of Characters:	Lucifer, Sinister

---

Lucifer has posed:
The rift between planar realms in a trench beneath the Pacific Ocean has been closed. Lucifer's energy was spent, revitalized, and spent once more. Nathaniel Essex faced his own..clone? Twin? Other. Having been the culprit behind the rift and the strange activity within it. To destroy - or at least hinder - the Other, a great multitude of energy was spent on Nathaniel's behalf as well. Even Lucifer having turned Devil took a lot out of the Celestial. Prices paid to save Earth from otherwise sure devestation.

Now the Devil lies in bed, recovering from all the energy spent, and subsiding from having gone both full Archangel and full Devil all in one night. He's currently contemplating eyelids, though in truth, he might actually be sleeping in this moment. It could be a bit hard to tell, but there is life when the alternative would have been demise in it's most wicked form.

Sinister has posed:
It was a terrible and enormous cost. Terrible, is a kind of peculiar word though, as perhaps there's other prices for the Devil to come stomping. Assuredly, Nathaniel isn't certain on the dynamics of that and likely will take lifetimes working it through. He too, was subdued. All that was done in a relatively short period of time, was monumentally taxing on energy levels, even with the assistance of magic. He had crawled into bed after insisting on a shower and practically curled against the Morningstar. Beneath the surface, rather turbid dreams have their wicked way, surfacing and subsiding in waves, until one such tremor wakes him up in a cold sweat, hyperventillating and he sits bolt upright, looking about in the dark... disoriented.

But even such a fleeting instance did not suffice to keep him from the land of dreams and with an effort to blank his mind, he submits to its call once again, cuddling up to warm skin and dark hair, with his forehead actively pressed in against the jawline he knows so well. Fingers curl, twitch, slumber opens the mind to a world that's all grey and misty.

Lucifer has posed:
When a Devil sleep, does he dream? And if he dreams, what are they about? In this moment, he's in a world of grey mist. Having not been privy to seeing what horrors may have disturbed Nathaniel's sleep before, now their minds connect. Here, in the mist, the Devil searches with fleeting glances. Desperation is in his eyes as he does so. Two Nathaniels appear, much like they had faced last night, one is 'his' and the other is the other, wearing that shoulder piece to mark them as different.

Only something doesn't feel right here. There is a moment where the Other is speaking, whispered words that simply cannot be heard and yet...there are cruel intentions behind those crimson eyes. The diamond glows, and the Other finally speaks. "Well? You going to finally tell him, or shall I?" It says, a grim smirk on his lips. 'His' Nathaniel glances to the Other, then to the ground, and finally his gaze lifts, lips curl into a snarled smirk and he laughs - something dark and...sinister. (No pun intended.)

"Foolish Devil. So willing to grasp at straws. To take what is handed to you because curiosity is appealing. You were doomed from the start. Played your part very well. Without you, I... We... could not have gotten half of the things we've achieved done." Another chuckle comes, and he takes a step forward. "But your part is done. Your role finished. I shall do with you as I have done with all others in my life and cast you aside like the trash you are."

Sinister has posed:
Wait, is this my dream or his? Am I asleep? Whose nightmare. Hey. HEY! Lucifer. Luci? Samael? -- Waving his arms to try and gain attention on this scene, no sound comes out of Nathaniel's mouth. Everyone's had this dream at least once or twice -- yelling but you can't be heard. He walks up, he waves his hand infront of the Devil's face, but he isn't there.

This has to be my nightmare. Looking about, he stares into the mists, turning slow on the spot. Hello? Where are you? Where am I? That scenario I can't influence...

He walks steps away, stops, shakes his head and backs up. That way leads only to loneliness. Emptiness. Back up, back up, BONK! Back to back with Lucifer, but will either of them really be able to make the other aware?

"Samael? Don't leave me alone... please..."

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer just stares at the Nathaniels that are in front of him, caught up in the moment for...just a moment. A lingering one, but still, he shakes his head a breath later. While the *real* Nathaniel is walking away, Lucifer shakes his head. "No. No this isn't real. This can't be real. We sealed the rift. We defeated the Other. I..."

Then he feels that bump against his back. And hears...something? His name? Whispers that get drowned out by the nothing. Nightmare is a cruel mistress when she wants to be. But he gives a shake of his head. "I do not believe you. You would not do this to me...not after...not after everything..."

A tilt of head, and False Nathaniel laughs again. "Everything? What. A couple of dates, a sudden living situation. Oh, the family bit though. I'll admit that one... that one might have been a little... but even still. You truly think I wanted a family after what happened to the last? I *begged* for a miracle to take the children away..." Now he laughs heartily, but it's a cruel thing.

Lucifer can still feel that presence against his back, but he's having a hard time pulling from where he's trapped. "Nathaniel... Please..." He reaches, trying to grasp for a hand. "...Make this stop...I can't..."

In the real world, away from dreams, Lucifer curls and holds tighter, but there's a wetness from his eyes he cannot stop. The pain from the dream seeping into reality and cuts deep enough for even the Devil to cry.

Sinister has posed:
"Wait a minute. Wait one sodding minute. Who is the powerful telepath in this scenario?" -- Nathaniel frowns at himself, reaches behind himself, feels hands, feels shoulders against his own. "Come on, Nate old man. Get it together. Who is in control?" Shoulders heave against Lucifer's back, a bucking of bone and skin against their other half, a push, a reminder, but wings do not unfurl. As if he actually -can't- turn around, he gropes for fingers, laces them, forms fists behind himself with Lucifer's own. "Samael Lucifer Morningstar!"

And then something silly occurs to the Doctor. "Right then..." like a flea circus, the mists take on a kind of curtained look, like a big-top and with his eyes closed in concentration, the scenario, the pair of sinisters starts spinning around becoming like a zoetrope. Shadow puppetry. "See that it's a dream. Help me break us out of it. Out of this nightmare. Ludicrous! Damn, I don't have a wand..."

Lucifer has posed:
"You know what I am saying is true! You're a pawn! You always have been!" The Other says even as the mists grow. Hands laced with hands begin to grip back and Lucifer shakes his head. "A nightmare. That's what this is. Just my nightmare....our...nightmare..." And the mists grow even thicker, the pair of Sinisters that plague the mind with lies begin to rip asunder ever as they spin around....

.....

...and soon, in reality, Lucifer finally bolts straight up, gasping for breath and then panting. His body shakes, and after a moment he reaches to Nathaniel beside him. "Nathaniel? Love? Is...is it over? We're back now..right?" Of course they are! Soon as light draws and the bedroom comes into better view. Still hours before dawn though.

Sinister has posed:
"OOF!" The flomp against pillows answers that, and the nasal "....Yep." Said decisively, as Nathaniel briefly rubs his nose where it got a brief wallop by a rising Lucifer. His forehead was right up against that jaw, the rise ended up with a bit of a collision. But he regenerates fast, sniffing as he turns on the bedside light to its dimmest setting with his mind. "The sheets need changing," is said conversationally as he peers askance at the sweat soaked linens. But even as he says this, he's reaching an arm for the other, joining it with the other when he manages to detangle it from the covers. That seems to baffle him, how he's managed to wrap his left arm like it's coiled in rope. Sheets are twisted, like he turned them in that dream.

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer blinks and glances over, he had felt the collision but his brain didn't compute it until a bit after. "Oh my. I'm sorry...are you alright?" Of course, Sinister heals quick, but that doesn't stop the concern from Lucifer. When he feels an arm reaching for him, he gently and carefully turns to face his lover and pulls him close. Wrapping arms and a leg around the man to simply hold him tightly for a moment. "I don't know what that was... probably the worst of my fears seeping out...due to my lacking energy...or something." That's the excuse he's going to go with in the moment anyway. "Are you alright?"

Sinister has posed:
"Well, other than wanting to murder my own subconscious, yes." Sinister tangles, bringing his partner close and stilling afterwards just so that proximity can be appreciated in all its tranquil glory. "I think it was a well founded crisis of self-esteem, doubt, horrifying stereovision of handsome villain and a lot of being too tired to sort out your head before contemplating eyelids."

Which is basically what was just said, but a bit more specific. He breathes deep of the scent of them both and unfortunately the sweat, also. "This is no good..." levitating himself and Lucifer, he remains still and serene, resting his face against the chest nearby as the bed linens bundle themselves up, whisk off, including pillowcases and float themselves to the laundry chute. Clean linens are sorceror's apprenticed in, shaken out, fitted to the mattress and pressed with doctor's corners and smoooothing of the linens. French linens, soft and silky when they've been worn a few times. Only when there isn't sweat and filth does he lower them both again to settle, covering with a pleasantly cool slither of white. "I had a nightmare before this one, too. I was finding that all that is Sinister was turning against me and contaminating all that I care about."

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer doesn't protest when they are lifted, knowing that the bed sheets are being changed beneath them. All he cares about are the arms that he is currently resting in. Truthfully, he'd probably do good with a nice soak in the hot tub just to relax - even if he is still a bit weary. But he'll tackle that desire shortly. For the moment, his concern is on the man against him. "Is that something which could happen? How is it this one Sinister sort of...turned against the consciousness? Went a bit astray..." Though a part of him, however small, also fears that his Sinister, may just be a clone of the other and the one he put in the void IS the 'real' Sinister. It's a little confusing, and he hates himself for thinking it anyway.

Sinister has posed:
It's a terrible thing to wonder that, isn't it? Maybe Nathaniel thinks it himself, from time to time. Am I a mouse, dreaming that I am man? Or a man, dreaming that I am mouse? "It's highly unlikely. I've far too many controls over most of them for that ever to occur. None of them are entirely me. And how it happens... well, that's why we have a Jack working in Lux, isn't it? They occasionally happen. Occasionally, like with Jack, free thought is even by design, to evaluate an experiment, by testing to prove the rule." Sinister curls tighter, letting his eyes close against the light, but not letting go at all.

"And each clone, you would think would be identical, but that's not ever the case. It isn't even the case in identical twins, where two lives form from the one egg that split in two. There are subtle differences, even if the overall code is the same. Occasionally, one will actually mutate and will be found to have a different ability than I do. And I, myself, am a devious fellow, but often the best way to get a result and multitask, is to give autonomy of purpose to a degree, within limits. Even when you've bred a thousand healthy brown rats, one will pop up albino, every now and again, so to speak."

Lucifer has posed:
"I see. So it's not a threat that looms like suddenly they'll all turn... but among the masses there will always be the odd one out... for whatever reason." Lucifer sums up all that Nathaniel explained ino a single statekent that helps him understand. At the very least, he hopes he's understanding it correctly. "Well, that eases the thought a little bit. But I do not want to go back to that nightmare again. I am sorry you had suffered another nightmare just before it as well." He offers this, nuzzling into his lover's neck and then breathes in the scent of Essex. "What a pair we make hmm?"

After a lingering pause, and with some hesitation, Lucifer pulls back just a bit. "I think I need something to do for a bit to take my mind off of what just happened. Though I also feel like a bath. Do you wish to join me in the hot tub?" A smirk a moment later. "I'll add a bath bomb and bubbles. We can pop some champagne or share a bottle of cognac? Just...relax together?"

Sinister has posed:
"Yes, basically. You nutshell what I novelize." Sinister chuckles, pausing only long enough to look the archangel in the eye and give him a long, but relatively chaste kiss, of the melty kind. "Stop apologizing for my brain, hmm? Though I do appreciate the sentiment. And my shower is all but redundant after that sweatfest. I think the bath sounds like a capital idea." He looks distant a moment. "And I've ordered some of those coconut shrimp they serve downstairs for the not-quite-drunk-enough."

Reluctantly, he detangles. "You're in the mood for a bit of silliness aren't you? Putting a bath bomb in the hot tub is a recipe for bubble mountain." That said with a grin over his shoulder as he rolls himself off of his side and flat-foots toward the bathroom, all 'morning man' even though dawn hasn't broken. He pauses to look at himself in the full length mirror, down, up, down and up again, nods to himself and carries on out. "I still like what you added to the Essex mix."

Lucifer has posed:
"I refuse. Your brain is a wonderful thing, and I don't like it when it does bad things to you." Lucifer comments with a grin and then nods when Nathaniel approves the idea of a bath. When he also mentions he ordered coconut shrimp, Lucifer chuckles and then sighs when the detanglement occurs.

"A bit of silliness to offset everything else. Yes. And bubble mountains are amazing. You'll see." He offers as he gets himself out of bed as well, following the flat-footed Sinister as the man exits the bedroom. "I am glad you like when I added. I like it too, for what it's worth." This and then he's in the bathroom and moves to the hot tub, beginning to fill it with as-hot-as-can-be-tolerated water. "What bath bomb shall we use? Rose and Jasmine? Lavender and Eucalyptus?"

Sinister has posed:
"Well, good. It would be rather distressing if you didn't, considering..." There's a laugh from Sin, a grin at the chuckle and he's lazy about floating anything else out, preferring instead to sniff bombs. "How's about the rose one. I rather like that one, it reminds me of evenings in the mediterranean," is offered as he drifts a hand through the heat of the water. Very hot is not intolerable for him, as water can only get to boiling point and he makes the decision moot by holding the bath bomb as he slips into the tub, tossing it with a plop and a cheerfy "Whoops!"

Lucifer has posed:
Having been sleeping just before this, obviously they're in the buff, but such is fine. Lucifer slips into the hot tub, and then gives a laugh as Sinister simply 'drops' the bath bomb into the water. "Oops indeed..." Instantly, the water foams as the bomb disintigrates in the water, a rush of rose and jasmine fill the air and Lucifer places an invisible dome around them so the scent just floats about and premeates a bit. The water is turned off, jets are turned on and he siiiiiiinks into the water until only his head is above the surface. "Ahhhh...this...this is wonderful..." A hand reaching to tug against Sinister as he can. "Come. Relax with me a moment."

Sinister has posed:
Sinister slips fully under the water, coming up on the other side of the tub beside Lucifer, with a snort and hands wiping his face and his hair back in a slick. It's a trivial thing for him to sink against that side, shoulder rest aquired, butt on the ledge beneath and shifting just enough that points of contact are made all along the side. "Aaah, this is the life. And soon, they won't be able to find us for all the bubbles." He laughs at that, giving a satisfied mmmmmmm of the penetrating effects of heat and massaging water jets. "So that was you going on full on King of Hell. I have to admit, that was quite magnificent, from what I could see of it out of the eyeball that wasn't trying to dissolve."

Lucifer has posed:
Case in point, bubbles do begin to form from the agitation of bath bomb by massaging jets of water. Not that Lucifer cares. Let them be covered in bubbles! He will have a bubble kingdom! A soft chuckle comes from him after a moment and he nods. "You witnessed two things. A miracle and a damnation. I have performed one or the other at different points in my existance... but what you witnessed... is a true first. Never have I called upon both the Archangel and the Devil in the same happenstance." He pauses a moment, thinks on it. "I have you and John to thank for being able to do both...even though it cost us all greatly. I do hope John is alright."

Sinister has posed:
"I think I'm going to donate a sizeable chunk to the Make-sure-Constantine-has-lots-of-smokes fund. He always seems to be ratty and dishevelled, but he seems to live his life like that. I don't think he'd take kindly to charity, but something he's hooked on? I doubt he'd complain. He -might- even take some funds." But then Sinister's quiet, contemplating what was just shared. He rolls his head to the side, looking Lucifer over with those pupil-less red orbs, "Is it weird that I found you just as attractive and magnetic like that, as I ever do? Maybe it's the power, the raw unadulterated truth, but it was magnificent, in both ends of the spectrum. I just wish my heart didn't try and do little tarantellas when you're your true self. It gets embarassing for me, when the monkey in the middle of me, wants to fawn."

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer nods his head. "You know, I may give him a lot of shit, but I truly do respect him. And I appreciate the help he gives us." This said and then he smirks. "You give him ample smokes, I'll give him a never-goes-empty flask." As he says this, he shifts to press close against Sinister while shifting to relax back against the ledge of the tub, just enjoying the heat and the scent for a moment. "Mmn...did you? Perhaps I should let you play with either or... so you can go all monkey fawning on me in the privacy of our home... to your heart's content." He says this, gives a wink and then simply settles for the moment.

Sinister has posed:
Sinister laughs at that, a low chuckle. "That would be a perfect gift, methinks. It is amusing watching the two of you go at each other, like frenemies..." But then, with the offer and the closer shift, Nathaniel raises himself up just enough to look down at the relaxing Celestial in the tub with him. A hand, absolutely covered in suds and bubbles, reaches for cheek, then smooths suds into hair and strokes thumb along the line of nose and folds of the mouth to chin. "I love you. I never meant to, I never thought I could, I never thought I would again, but I. Love. You." It's punctuated by a kiss, then a withdrawal enough for nose to nose candelabra in negative space. "Three times in my life. Two women, one man. I am capable of it. But know with that, it doesn't mean nothing, it isn't trivial, it never will be. /You/ never will be. Trivial is not something I will ever think of you as, my Beloved Monster." But that last with a grin.

Lucifer has posed:
That kiss is returned, and Lucifer listens to the words offered even if he is mostly covered in bubbles from the gestures made by Sinister. "I love you, too. Never expected it, never thought I was capable of truly loving someone. Yet I know... I know that this is love. The everlasting kind." Another kiss offered and then he just enjoys the moment for all that it's worth. Relaxing, loving, soaking, and soon an other attempt at contemplating eyelids, but with a more level headed mind and calm heart. *Click*