14301/Weird dreams are made of Apophis Stones

Weird dreams are made of Apophis Stones
Date of Scene:	11 April 2022
Location:	Lucifer's Penthouse, Melville
Synopsis:	Candyland Dreams turn to Surgical Needs. Lucifer is freed of his apophis stone and is now able to recover fully.
Cast of Characters:	Lucifer, Sinister

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Lucifer has posed:
It was decided, at some point in the early evening, that bed was a good idea. Course Lucifer is experiencing some weird things right now and on top of all the nausea and fever he's actually exhausted. Fatigued even. So he's laying in bed, eyes closed, and for the first time in a long while he actually allows himself to sleep. Cause he can make himself sleep when he wants to.

At some point during the night, there's a moment where linked minds open and there's a pull on Sinister's own to bring him into the dream. It's a weird space. Like, this dream makes CandyLand look like a horror scene. They stand on a road that seems like it's made of golden honeycomb, bubbles of all colors of the rainbow dance in the air, there are trees made of what looks to be candy floss (think the trees from The Lorax), and just all sorts of cutesy houses. The Devil stands in the middle of the square looking completely lost and confused.

Sinister has posed:
Sinister appears with a phase-in kind of effect and with a ring-master's outfit on. This seems to surprise him about as much as the surroundings do. "No, this makes sense. If I'm in the circus, why would I not also be where cellophane flowers of yellow and green tower over my head?" Although the rest of it makes him frown in perplexity, shaking his head in a vigorous little motion to clear it. "I didn't leave the sideshow to get to here..." he looks firmly at the confused archangel. "Lucifer. Although, I am fairly certain if my subconscious was dreaming you, that it would not be doing so here..." He advances, avoiding the holes in the honeycomb for some reason and giving them a very suspicious eyeballing.

Elsewhere, there's a few REM movements and a twitch or two, fingers curling into fabric and flesh.

Lucifer has posed:
"Hm? Oh. Well. I was a little confused because of ..." Lucifer gestures to their surroundings and then looks to Nathaniel. "This is not something I would normally come up with, and it was just odd enough that a part of me thought I should share it." This much more is offered before he shrugs his shoulders. "The road is actually covered with a layer of something clear and solid so you won't fall into the comb." Since he noticed Nathaniel sort of making sure he didn't do such a thing. "Also, why are you dressed like you're leading the circus?"

Sinister has posed:
"I have no idea. I was examining oddities at PT Barnum and had been having a conversation with the lobster boy," Sinister replies, still looking down at his feet. "I am having a weird case of trypophobia. I suppose a little part of my primative mind is expecting killer candy hornets to emerge at any second..." he steps onto something solid, then looks up at the houses that surround. "This /almost/ looks like we're in the game of life, or candy crush. Erm." He scratches at his nose with his pinky finger, looking to the horizon with a shading of his eyes.

"Apparently, I was going to be showcasing at Barnum's carnivale of oddities as the amazing mentalist."

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer looks to the ground for a moment when Sinister talks about his tryophobia - or the weird moment he's having with it. The road soon turns into something more smooth but still golden. Like solid honey, and still covered with a clear barrier. "That should fo it." Then he glances around once more. "So you were doing circus stuff and here I am playing CandyLand..." A pause. "And I don't feel like anything ominous... it's just... weird. This is just a simply weird dream."

Sinister has posed:
"Have you... I mean, where did this come from? If it's not something you'd ever dream of, are you tapping into someone's subconscious right now?" Sinister asks, poking the road with his boot tip. Satisfied that it is not full of dire bees, he steps onto it again. "Well, I suppose if we're on a yellow... candy road, we should see where it goes, no? I imagine that this might be window dressing of something else, or it may just be more surrealism to come. If the landscape starts melting, I will have to wonder."

ANd so, because to say is to do, Nathaniel starts off on the journey through this weird land, his coat-tails splendid and his boots immaculately polished.

Lucifer has posed:
"Or..." Lucifer begins while they start to walk down the honeyed road. "This is what happens when celestial beings are tripping on drugs." A pause. "Or in this case... serum made for rats...and a little geneticist sprinkling." There's a grin as they walk then, looking around as the scenery doesn't really change all that much. "This isn't some weird dream you've ever conjured up is it?"

Sinister has posed:
Sinister shakes his head. "No, mine are often memories steeped in a flavour of the modern day. I do a lot of evaluation at night, unless I'm having some wierd episode." Case in point, gesture at Lucifer, gesture up and around with his eyes following. He stops at another row of multicoloured houses and stares down the street, looks back the way they came and forward again. "Does it all look the same to you? And... if this IS a dream, it's very static. Where's the action? Why are we just in the scenery?"

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer gives a little frown and seems to be lost in his thoughts for a moment. "Well I don't think I'm pulling from anyone. I just... you're right. This is all... plain. Static. Where's the conflict? I don't..." Then he pauses and shakes his head. "Uhm...I think...I think I might know." Another pause, he seems to be searching...something... "I wonder what time it is... and also... if you'll be ready to...I need to wake up. It feels like I have a fucking block of cement in my stomach..."

Sinister has posed:
Sinister's eyes dart to the celestial. There's a fierce awareness, a sudden and ice-cold kind of chill that lends that ferocious aspect to the gaze of the ringleader. And there is even a moment of weird dramatic lighting, where he is lit from beneath, taller, more imposing for it.

<<LUCIFER>> the voice booms through the mind <<WAKE UP.>>

And what in the world might be happening when eyes dart wide in Doctor Essex face and he sits bolt upright.

Lucifer has posed:
The commanding presence and voice wasn't quite needed but it surely does the trick. The dream crumbles and then swirls away like it's going down the drain and then the reality sets in. Lucifer's eyes open and he tries to sit up only to lie back down. "Nope. I can't even sit up cause it's just THERE and it's not moving... but it means I can't bend against it..." He says this in a rhaspy I just wkoe up voice and glances over to Sinister. "Sorry to interrupt the sleep cycle, love."

Sinister has posed:
Sinister swings his legs off the bed, already in motion as he gets the portable ultrasound ready. It looks like an old fashioned TV machine, with a microphone off of it. Imagine gel is spread over the end. "Warning, it's cool and slightly slimy," and then he's pressing the microphone segment all over the curve of Lucifer's side, working to image the stomach through the ribs. The image appears in fuzzy clarity on the screen of course, as ultrasounds do. A big calcified mass would appear completely black on the ultrasonography.

Lucifer has posed:
Cool to some is cold to the Devil who always runs hot. "Oooh..." He tries to remain still, however, while Sinister draws that wand along his abdomen to check his stomach. It takes a moment, and for that moment Lucifer wonders if he's just dreaming things. Literally. Then Sinister passes over it. A black mass a bit bigger than a fist (cause calcium layers yo) is right there. "Mmn, this is a little uncomfortable....did you find anything?"

Sinister has posed:
"Indeed..." Sinister removes the wand, holding steady for a moment in thought, then places it back at the best angle for imaging the mass and leaves it there. He glances sidelong at Lucifer, takes a long, steady breath and rises, the wand still staying put. "Ultrasound guided surgery is the best option for this, outside of CT assisted. Do you... want me to numb the area up?" He asks this as he moves to the washroom, followed by a host of floating utensils, which begin to unfold themselves on a surgical tray by the power of thought as he washes his hands thoroughly.

Lucifer has posed:
"Good. Lets get the fucking thing out of me. I promise I will never self-experiment again without being asked, prompted, or told." Lucifer says this, and given his streaks with promises, he'll definitely stick to this one. "Ha.. you know how much of a masochist I claim to be...lets see if it extends to getting something from my insides removed..." This as he watches everything being gathered to perform this surgery and he takes a steadying breath. "...This is going to be fun..."

Sinister has posed:
"If by fun you mean an exercise in not moving, then yes, I agree..." Sinister returns after having thoroughly washed his hands, floating a sterile towel from his doctor's bag to dry his hands off with. Similarly, sterile gloves are removed from paper and folded telekinetically into place. A one-man operating room, where normally there'd be a requirement for multiple hands. A dim glow sets to in his eyes, along with a kind of halo about his chest and arms; why use a gown when you can manage just as well with a barrier shield? And iodine, over the lowest left rib and just below, where the softness of abdomen arrives. His eyes meet Lucifer's for a moment. "So, tell me..." he begins, as he selects a scalpel, twirling it in hand very precisely until it is in the right spot. "...why did you have a peculiar dream revelation? There must have been a crazy logic to your sudden need to wake up and it seemed to stem from what you were understanding of your surroundings."

Meanwhile, his left hand holds the skin steady and taut, his right makes an incision line, extremely precisely, following the contour of the rib. It's so swift and precise in pressure that the nerves feel barely a slither and a scratch. Provided that is, the devil lets himself be vulnerable. If not, this could be an exercise in abject futility.

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer is going to have to let himself be vulnerable or else his skin will never let Sinister get a cut on him. So there's that, and all the things that come together to let Sinister get that stone out of his lover fair. In the meantime, Lucifer explains :

"It was right when you brought up how the dream lacked conflict. It was a happy, poofy dream of just... nothing. No one else was there, nothing else was happening. It was like the drugs were keeping me in this very lucid but stoic state in order to actually do what they needed to do. And because I am who I am, the drugs were quick. Fighting against my metabolisation as they needed to... and here we are." Well, it makes sense to him anyway.

Sinister has posed:
"So, essentially you realised that you were being doped," Sinister's attention is now fully on his work. On the surface, very little seems to be happening that speaks of miraculous skill, until you consider that the cut does not bleed. At all. With very precise care, the skin is peeled back and held in place, exposing muscle and that layer is carefully sliced, peeled back ooooooooooooooh so precisely to the endometrium, the sack that surrounds the guts. With care, he pushes at that with the tip of his pinky on the left and gazes at it. That will feel mighty peculiar, as the intestines beneath it squish as kinetic force pushes down against the power of water adhesion that normally keeps it glued to the diaphragm but fluid enough to shift with movement.

"All is good?" - a trivial tone, very chill and relaxed as his focus shifts to the ultrasound screen, using it to guide his incision beyond, to pierce the edge of the diaphragm at the pyloric junction and gently rupture the base of the stomach wall. Never a SINGLE drop of blood spilled; psychic surgery in a very different way than the doctoring of the mind, he's literally taking the place of every clamp that would normally be used, by dint of knowing precisely what he needs to mentally pinch shut.

"You meant well by doing this, but I am not willing to risk you. There are many things I will do, in persuit of knowledge, but endangering you, despite your nature, is not something I ever want to do. There is no replacing you. There cannot ever be another like you, not even close. Nobody could fill your shoes."

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer tries very hard to remain absolutely still, and when he feels like moving, there are tendrils of fire that come up from beneath the bed and wrap around his arms and legs to further brace the Devil down. Some things he can't help but react to some things, like the kinetic pushing back of his intestines. That makes him giggle. The slicing into his skin he didn't really react to much at all and he notices how he's not bleeding. Is that because he's able to stop his heart because it doesn't have to beat, therefore blood isn't being pumped through his system right now?

"Hm? Fine. Quite so. You've delicate hands when it comes to surgery, Doctor Essex." He answers this and then listens further. "I..I know love. And I don't say that to sound egotistical. A part of it is ego. A part of it is fact. And a part of it is love. Just as no one can replace you. At all. Ever. I'm sorry and I love you. I meant well, but it was still a dumb idea."

Sinister has posed:
"Oh, much as I should be flattered by that, it is an entirely personal statement, my love. I -can- be replaced. The world, at large, might find itself grateful for the lack of me. But to you, I am one of a kind. And for that I -am- grateful," Skilled hands have done such things as this a thousand times and the mind that powers the knowledge can keep everything precisely held. One more little slice and Lucifer will give birth to a bouncing baby stone, removed with a careful slide of fingers and placed on a tray. What follows is a dilligent holding closed of things and very careful placement of absolutely tiny dissolvable stitches. It's so VERY neat, so absolutely tidy, he would have been a fantastic plastic surgeon for how unobtrusive the stitches he uses can be.

Not to mention that the individual he works on will show not a scar in a day or two. But that's no reason not to be extremely delicate in your work. The stone with all its celestial energy inside of it and a layer of angelic bone surrounding it, is dropped into a jar of saline, the lid screwed tightly shut. It clonks to the base of the glass. "Might I suggest that we figure out how to actually use that for a positive purpose, as it's been eating you for several days. The energy it contains will be quite mind-bendingly potent. If it can be unleashed. I have no idea how to actually do that though."

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer eyes Sinister for a moment, as best as he can eye him, but then he just gives a little huff of a sigh and just lies there. Letting Sinister do his thing, and finish up the job that he's doing. He can feel the stitching that is done, and how precisely it's being done. Though it really isn't going to matter, he does appreciate that it's being done. Once he's all sealed back up, he shifts to sit up a little - being careful not to ruin the doctor's fresh work - and looks to the stone in the jar.

"I think it would be a decent idea to use that for good. In some sort of way. Yes. If only there was a way to get it tested.." He smiles then while settling back and then takes a big breath of air. "Oh... I feel...a million times better. Thank you, Nathaniel. Truly." Offering these words before he gives a tilt of his head. "So, what's the doctor's orders for recovering? Can I have a bit of food, a bit of sex and then try to sleep properly again?"

Sinister has posed:
"Actually, best not have any food but liquids in the next twelve hours. I'd say twenty four, but you are you. Alcohol should be fine, despite it being a blood thinner, I trust my stitching." Sin quirks a twist of lips in a smirk, which honestly is an expression he -rarely- wears. "As to sex, as long as you're not vigorous, which means that your partner is going to have to respect that you need to lie back and take it," said deadpan "...you should be fine. Yes, though. It should be tested. If the potentcy of potential energy I've observed in this material is to be believed, the energy taken out of you should be roughly equivalent you understand..."

Pause for dramatic effect.

"...of a small nuclear bomb. One immortal, a handful of days. Yes, I think that this is roughly the equivalency mystically of Trinity new mexico."

Lucifer has posed:
"Ah, well then. Put on order a bottle of our finest whiskey and then come and give your devil a little tender loving care, hmm?" Lucifer says this with a grin. Despite how deadpan Essex is being, apparently the stone's removal has turned Lucifer's attitude around ten fold. When the news about the stone and the energy it has could amount to the equivalent of a small nuclear bomb. "Well, isn't that a thing...lets hope it doesn't go off anytime soon..."

Sinister has posed:
Sinister tidies up. It's a thing that he simply has to do, sterilizing all the floating equipment, putting it away neatly, tucking it into the bag, removing the iodine mark and ultrasound gel. And honestly, it's quite fascinating to watch all these things happening in the air around him, multitasking mind functions whilst he cleans his own hands off with a smile and an arch of an eyebrow. There's a snicker, then another one and he walks out the surgeon's bag, back to the lab and walks back /in/ with one of the better bottles. "You never know, there might be just enough ordinary person in you right now that you could get tipsy off a bottle..." a glass is /handed/ over, along with the bottle. The sound of the safe shutting can be heard, the bottle with stone, safely esconced.

"About that. The explosion bit. I say all of that, but I never got that far in figuring out just -how- the cult of Apophis accessed the energy that they took from people via the meteorite. Strangely enough, secret cults are secretive and didn't write down helpful instructions on their secret rites. But someone must have worked out some of it, because that's what started all this; that there were knock-offs here and there. I just so happened to have a real one. Well, Giles has it now. He's become something of it's keeper."

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer watches as Sinister puts things away and cleans things up as well as himself with the power of mind. As the man then disappears to go finish putting things up and away - including the stone - Lucifer shifts just a bit more to sit up better in bed. When Sinister comes back, he tilts his head at the words offered and then gives a chuckle. "I don't think I'll be ordinary long enough, but I suppose we'll see. I'm already letting things resolve back to normal, and I feel a lot better.

"Well maybe having a live and energized stone will help you figure that out? Should we maybe go to Giles and have him help us look into it? Or someone else entirely. Surely there is someone on this planet or even in this universe that has some knowledge about these things.." Offering this much more before he pours himself a glass of whiskey. "Not drinking, love?"

Sinister has posed:
"Keeping an eye on you for a bit. I'll catch up, not to worry," Sitting on the edge of the bed once again, Sin looks out the window, lips forming a musing line, pressed close. "I must say, I don't really know all that many magicians. And those that I do are hellbent on dominating things, don't like my ilk, or are Constantine. Speaking of him, I've not seen or heard from him in ages, I suspect he's gone to ground again. DO -you- know any that might have such knowledge? That aren't liable to turn me into a toad?"

Lucifer has posed:
"Oh don't be absurd. No magician in their right mind is going to turn someone into a toad..." Lucifer says this and then waits a beat. "It's rabbits. Duh. Where else do you think they get so many to pull out of a hat?" He grins, and then drinks a couple swallows of his whiskey before making a sort of face. "Whoah-ha-ho! That's a bit spicy on the way down..." A chuckle given then before he shifts his gaze to Nathaniel and shrugs. "I might know a few. I'll have to figure out who might be the best for it... that won't turn you into anything abnormal..." A thought. "...I might even have a few owed favors I can pull..."

Sinister has posed:
"It's something. And now you have something for them to gawp at, considering I'm sure that that stone has a magical signature a mile long." Nathaniel gives a small, empathetic wince at the burn. "Well, seeing as you're not screaming bloody murder..." he floats in the bottle of cognac that is latest opened and a glass, levitating over to the other side where there's more space to prop himself up beside. It's not like he's not dressed appropriately, after all. Wake up, do surgery, clean up, resume business as usual. "Is -that- how they do it? Rabbits. Well. I would be that one with a viscious streak a mile wide." He says in a very passable scottish brogue.

Lucifer has posed:
"I do. Yet you must realize I'm going to be picky about this. Even then I'm going to be picky about my pickiness. There are not many people I would trust with certain things... and for some reason... this feels like one of those things. Shouldn't be trusted to just anyone." Lucifer comments, taking another drink of the whiskey and makes a little 'ahhh' sound after. "Okay. We're getting there. I like the flavor of whiskey. It's never usually given me that burning sensation that alcohol does...which is weird...but also kinda nice." He looks his glass over for a moment before glancing back to Sinister. "Unfortunately, I don't have a Holy Grail for you to guard with that vicious streak..."

Sinister has posed:
"No, but you do have the handgrenade of antioch, metaphorically speaking," nodding toward the safe in the living room, Sin chuckles. His glass is raised, clinked against the whiskey tumbler. "Well, then. Here's to the fire water. I honestly thought that was why you liked it so much, because it burns all the way. It seemed fitting for you." He crosses his ankles, nodding to the rest. "And I summised... in that we are alike, there's very few I would trust with everything. Or for that matter, with anything." -- He eases himself back further, glancing at the sound system and kickstarting some classic rock in the background, quietly -- Then, without so much as a by-your-leave, he reaches over to examine the site of his stitches. "Yep, that's as I figured. The line's glued together and the skin is all pink, already."

Lucifer has posed:
"I figure that the burning sensation is the alcohol oxidizing in one's system on the way down. Since it really wouldn't do that to me, it doesn't burn as much. Or as harshly I should say. There IS a warmth, but not like one of those chest holding breath taking burns you know?" Lucifer clinks his glass and grins. "So we'll be careful who we trust." There's a glance along with Sin to the area that was so recently cut open. "Exquisite work, my love. I owe you one."

Sinister has posed:
"Well. It was that or have you lying there like a lump. Can't have that, can I?" Drolly replied, but there's a wink with it. "You're welcome," pondering, he twists his nose and lips to the side a smidge. "I suppose that's a working theorum. I really couldn't speculate much -- this is a mortal shell, powered by immortal energy, which does not behave quite like other anatomical studies. As we know, even the wing anatomy is different, significantly, along with the function of them. I suppose as you are granted them, they're yet a part of you, but you can also lose them due to your self-image, they aren't merely a physical thing." And then he stops himself, before going further along that tangent. "I keep wondering if mine come with a price of sorts."

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer listens to the ramblings of Sinister while sipping on whiskey and wearing a smile on his face. He could really listen to the man go on about any topic for hours. Just to hear him speak. Or learn something new. Or both. Could he comment on some of the things said? Possibly. Does he? No. At least not until that last bit is offered and he lifts his shoulders in a bit of a shrug. "I don't think so. Or if they do, you've likely already paid it. Or are paying it and just don't know it. Though it's all new to the both of us, and if such a thing is... a thing... we'll deal with it when the time comes..."

Sinister has posed:
"Well, now you have me thinking about monthly installments of a metaphysical nature that I'm unaware of. Maybe my soul is being added to, a drop at a time, to unwizzen it." Sloe-eyed look sidelong, wide grin with dimples to follow. He fingerguns over his cognac. "You're indulging me though. Not that I mind, but I know I can be a pedagogue at times," he relaxes once again, listening to the strains of Sweet Caroline for a few moments. "Did I tell you I've been attempting to learn arameic?"

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer shakes his head, giving himself one more refill before setting his bottle to the side, downs the last glass, and sets it on the bedside table as well. "You have not. Is there a reason why you're learning? Just curious." This and then, "You could practice with me, you know." This much and then he nestles down a bit more. "I'm in need of affection... join me?"

Sinister has posed:
Sinister polishes off his cognac, claps his hands twice with "...Dim windows..." to cut out some of the glare, the surface polarizes. That done, he lays himself down upon Lucifer's right hand side and curls into, with care to the left hand side. "My wings respond to arameic. At the moment, all I know is how to tell them to go away in my mind. Coming out, they don't have a problem with. But yes, I could..." clearing his throat ~Happy greetings of name Gift-from-God.~ Oh. Oh dear.

Lucifer has posed:
"You know. That makes sense. In some weird way. Being the holy texts are mostly centered around the nations where arameic was spoken back then." Lucifer says this much and then smiles as Sinister curls into him. Cuddling the man a bit, he listens and then tilts his head as Sinister tries a bit on him. "Almost..." Then he repeats the phrase but changes a few things so it's "Holy greetings, Fallen of God."

Sinister has posed:
Sinister listens accutely to the differences in tone and language and repeats it, relatively well. "Well, this could go quite well, I think! But yes, it was supposedly the holy language. More, just the language generally spoken by the chosen on Yaweh, but there we go. Minor details. But they do have an attitude, they respond to it and they're soothed by familial contact. I've been disinclined to let anyone else touch them, all things considered."

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer nods. "Makes sense, really. We'll surely work on it..." When he speaks on them responding to familial contact, Lucifer grins. "Well they did spawn in you after you injected me into you so... makes sense. I tell you they seem a shadow of my own feathered ones... and kissed by fire. A true testament that they - and subsequently you - belong to me. Wholly." He grins. "I'm beginning to wonder if the good doctor is stalling. Perhaps afraid of being intimate so soon after having had to cut into me?"

Sinister has posed:
"Makes me wonder about your subconscious. Mind you also did -choose- to administer the serum, so perhaps it's all rather connected." Sinister shrugs, but then? Then there's just a husky little chuckle. "Giving you as much time as I can before I run out of willpower actually. Speaking of..." -- and thus, with darkened windows and a victim of his own happenstance recovering and therefore non-jiggleable, there will be delights. With a semi-captive recipient, bound by his own body.