14794/A brand new you

A brand new you
Date of Scene:	13 March 2023
Location:	Lucifer's Penthouse, Melville
Synopsis:	There was a thing that had happened. Sometimes minds need to descramble themselves, with a little help.
Cast of Characters:	Sinister, Lucifer

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Sinister has posed:
Let us just say that the events at the X-men's mansion took a lot out of a body -- Sinister was not joking when he said he felt the need to actually sleep that night and nor was he overplaying his need to sleep within angel wings. The doctor was practically velcro through the night, only still and comfortable when rested with his head upon a shoulder and the comfort of a white mantle around him. In slumber, pinions and down feathers both were held onto between fingers, loose but present and there -were- dreams. Some seemed to be a little restless, for the twitching and the roiling in his own skin. But they quelled, just as he did.

It is well into dawn's light and beyond, now. Late risers to begin with, the sound of soft breathing is a rhythm you could set your watch to.

Lucifer has posed:
The Devil refused to sleep. Did not dare to fall too deeply into any sort of restful state just in case Sinister awoke at any point and needed to be reminded where he was. That he was safe and sound. Perhaps Lucifer underestimated the power of his wings and even his very presence, but he also wasn't taking any chances. As the dawn breaks and the sun begins it's climb through the daytime sky, Lucifer tightens his wings and simply cuddles into Sinister that much more. Not wanting to face the day just yet, or not wanting to leave the comfort of the moment - it's likely hard to say. It's not like they have much in the way of pressing matters to attend to in the moment.

Sinister has posed:
Nothing pressing no. Nothing that cannot wait until the marbles are rearranged and everything is hunky dory once more. Maybe it's the stir of a living feather bed that does it, but there's a soft grunt and a turn of face -away- from the light, wan though it is, with eyes tightening against the glare of the sun. Moments later, there's a deeper, sharper intake of breath, a pepperwork of kisses and the murmur of 'dim windows' from the man. It soon becomes quite shady once again, the world, stark and often unkind to many, kept behind the fortress of polarized glass. "What time is it?" that voice is thick with sleep, a little gruff from deep breathing but inherantly Essex.

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer is certainly a welcomed thing when the windows dim against the light of the sun and Lucifer shifts once more to settle in the shadows. Peppered kisses are returned and then he nuzzles once into the neck of his cradled lover. "Mmn, I would wager sometime between nine and ten o'clock...but I haven't bothered to check." Comes the response and a light breath taken in but Lucifer still refuses to move. Maybe if Sin asks he will, but for now he's content remaining how he is.

Sinister has posed:
"Wow. I forget what time we finally returned, but that seems... a lengthy contemplation of eyelids." Nathaniel tucks his head down, rests his forehead against stubbly jawline and stills for five minutes more. There's no movement, save for the occasional curl of fingertips against the opposite shoulder, holding fast and close. "I'm feeling particularly weird today."

Lucifer has posed:
"Well, you did just use a very powerful mind searching thing, have a few people running around your psyche and all your memories shoved back into you. I would think that might take a little while to fully come around to." Lucifer says this and then smirks. "Unless you mean you're feeling weird in another context." Cause he knows he could be way off, especially when it comes to trying to pinpoint Sinister's actual thoughts. He's been wrong before and he'll likely be wrong again. "So, what *is* on this weird mind of yours?"

Sinister has posed:
"Well. Yes. All of that. That was a lot to process." Sin replies, poking the end of his nose against the smirk then resting once again. "I feel... relieved. But also? Angry. And then I'm confused as to why I'm angry. I suspect I am over deluged with the feels." There's a grimace at that, a sniff, then a grunt. "At times, I have quite forgotten what it is to feel deeply in completely random ways, or so it seems to the humbleness that is me." He squints an eye at the nearby blue. "No comment you."

Lucifer has posed:
"Well. I could suggest that the anger is for what a part of you did to yourself. What it took to even get a part of yourself back so you could be mostly whole again..." Lucifer offers. "But also, you've lost your ability to hide your feels behind a brick wall." Then he grins at that last bit. "What comments could I make? Aside the ones I have already made..." A chuckle then. "So, what shall we do with our day?"

Sinister has posed:
"Smart ass," Sinister murmurs, with absolutely no spite whatsoever. He turns his cheek away, craning so that he can rub against the underside of wing with it, then rests once more, staring across Lucifer's nose to the dark of the windowpanes. Of an impulsive sudden, he clutches with the overarching arm to hug the devil hard. MINE. "I think at some point, I need to try and work out what in the name of blue blazes that device was, that got utilized. THAT needs to be neutralized, but honestly it can also wait. Although it's probably pressing, I have to recharge."

He shifts, so he can watch the archangel's profile in extreme close-up. "I do need a new ruby quartz. That can also probably wait. And I feel strangely compelled to try something utterly new."

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer is enjoying the sensations of Sinister cuddling, rubbing and hugging in random bits. Then he listens to Sinister as the man lists off several things that need to be done, but can wait being done, but are also slightly pressing. And that he needs to recharge. But also get a new ruby quartz. Lucifer just lets out a chuckle. "Okay so. Recharge, new quartz, find out what the device was and neutralize it. In that order, and at your own pace. Since it's important but not really." Oh the grin he sports at that while trying to actually shift to begin to rise, unless Sinister stops him from doing so.

Sinister has posed:
Almost all the way up, before he's tackled from behind and dragged back down again. Hugged from behind, with arms criss-crossed over the chest, chin upon shoulder cheek pressed to cheek. "Basically. And where do you think you're going?" Up, obviously. Duh! "Just a little longer," squeeze, face buried, sudden flurry of kisses and a squeeze of knees and: "Okay, you can get up now." But can Sin? He sits, staring around himself at various objects in the room, then back to the rising Devl, there to admire. "By the by, in case I forget to mention it today... I love you. Madly, truly, deeply and abidingly."

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer actually lets out a bit of a laugh as he's tackled and brought back down. Those kisses and such accepted of course before he's finally let go again. Up he goes, wings gone by the time he's fully on his feet. "I love you too. Then, now, and for always." He offers back and then tilts his head one way, the other, before he reaches a hand down in offering to Sinister. "Do you want to get up or shall I leave you here and perhaps bring you tea and...some sort of food stuffs."

Sinister has posed:
"A tea would be a fantastic proposition, but I should rise, shouldn't I?" And with a sigh and a stare at his feet, he does so, stepping close for a fond fare-thee-well to sartorial absence with a brush of fingers and off into the walk-in closet to stare at all that there is. "Oh hells bells, this could take a while. I've come over all indecisive."

Lucifer has posed:
"What are you indecisive of? Something to wear?" Lucifer asks this while giving a tilt of his head. "Remember, you can dress yourself in whatever you wish...at least I'm pretty sure you still have that ability." This offered before he shifts to move and exit the bedroom so he can put the kettle on for tea and such.

Sinister has posed:
"Oh, I know," is called out, but then a much quieter, sotto voce to himself: "that's not the issue here..." Lucifer has a lot of suits, Sin's wardrobe is rather sparse by comparison, except for Miss Sinister's inspiration closet. None of -that- is going to be particularly helpful, now. Sounds of busy work, mutterings and occasionally louder 'Nopes' can be heard from the walk-in. The sound of a lot of things pulled off hangars and shoes examined can also be made out.

Lucifer has posed:
Kettle. Boiling. Tea. Earl Grey. Into a cup to steep for a few minutes while Lucifer finds and cuts into one lemon. A slice of which is squeezed into the cup and then dropped in. Tea spoon added for charm. Then when all is prepared, Lucifer walks back into the bedroom and peaks into the walk in closet. "You could also wear absolutely nothing. We're on a high floor and no one visits really. It's just us..." He grins. "I'll even dress to match if you wish."

Sinister has posed:
"My word, the emperor's new clothes, post-modern metrosexual style. I like it. Could be a thing..." Sinister is holding shirt colours up against himself, various other pieces of accessorizing and patterning and simple material is being sampled to figure out what is yelling at his brain at the moment. "You know, I suspect I need a better complexion. And to go watch a fashion show in the fashion week. With all the Kings and Queens of New York, there has to be quite the novelty of style to be gleaned. There's no reason everything has to be specifically classic, is there?" He looks over a plum armani with eyebrows raised, holding up the most yellow of ties against it with a stare.

Lucifer has posed:
"We could go to fashion week. Might be a few things to pick up while we're there as well. I could also look into some up and comers doing break out fashion shows before then..." Lucifer offers, taking a sip of the tea in hand then makes a bit of a face at it. "I like lemon. And I like earl grey. So why do I not like them put together?" Though this is asked and then he looks at the plum and the yellow tie. "Oh dearest me, no no no... that combination is two seasons old and should die with the times..." He lets the cup hover in midair and walks into the closet. "Maybe a bit more of a light tan complexion and then let's see how you like this muave with a splash of the royal purple..."

Sinister has posed:
"Well, contrasting would be fantastic for the roaring twenties, if that happens again. Light tan? Golden complexion. Hmmm..." Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the sunkist of them all? And it doesn't come from a bottle that California glow. "This reminds me of the turn of the nineteenth century, when I was hiring french trappers to find a wild man in British Columbia. He doesn't remember me, I'm sure. At least not properly..." Sinister eyes the purple offerings with a tilt of the head, observing the various slacks that are available and ensembles himself in a leather mod coat, mauve shirt, purple waistcoat and pinstriped slacks, with black suspenders. Violet sunglasses, round of shape are crafted and placed on his nose and the finisher? A steam punk tophat, complete with brass magnifying goggles and a hatband full of micro-tools. "I simply must have something of the avant Garde for inspiration, so I think that could be enormously fun."

Pause.

"I shall wear a giant puff ball made of multicoloured ostrich feathers, tight silk and a pair of trousers made of soda pop tags. Nobody will ever expect it."

Lucifer has posed:
"You look almost like a punk rock vampire...I'm into this one." Lucifer offers after Sinister finally seems to make an outfit for himself. Then when he speaks on the other things he shall wear, Lucifer makes an absolute face. "Maybe we can stick to our usual fashion trends, hmm?" Offering this much before floating the tea cup over towards them. "Now that you are sufficiently dressed, shall we leave the closet and enjoy the sitting room for a time?"

Sinister has posed:
"Well, perhaps. But you never know, I could pull it off. Didn't you enjoy earl grey with lemon before? Did I dream such a thing?" Sin asks, as he tips his tophat and with a wave, sends the clothing back to its hangars and the shoes all neatly into their places. Organized! His own tea taken, it's sipped for the refreshment that it offers as he saunters side by side with Samael, in a sibilant symphony sans spit-takes. "Some alternative music, please..." speaking to the hidden AI's quiet background tunes play.

"So, having... managed to feel moderately well composed once again, my traumatized psyche feels comfortable enough to inquire how you felt all that went. With the X-men, that is. I mean, there's hearing about it, then there's experiencing it."

Lucifer has posed:
"Working with Jean Grey was pleasent enough. And I suppose that Logan fellow had a good head on his shoulders." Lucifer begins with this. "Also, I may have liked the tea once before but it doesn't sit right now. Maybe I've passed through too many multiverses..." He puts in that joke while they move to walk into the living area.

"However, there were plenty of times I wanted to just pick up that Scott fellow and toss him against a wall. Or duct tape his mouth shut. Maybe even a bit of both. He was annoying. Kept lamenting the same schtick over and over. I got it. He hates us both, and that tune got a little old a lottle fast." He waves a hand towards the bar so that a whiskey on the rocks is made and floats over to him. "Overall, pleasent experience...with a few dings."

Sinister has posed:
"Oh, that's entirely possible. Dimensional sickness? I suppose given that we can get travel sick, jet lagged and temporally unhinged, why might there not be a ... I shall have to study that!" The couch is glanced at, then he sidles to one of the high-backs and drapes himself over it, sideways, head a'dangling and legs kicked up, one knee folded o'er the other. He leans back, looking at Lucifer upside down. A finger is pointed and twirled at the cognac, plus a slice of orange for the sheer hell of it -- a fresh form of Grand Marnier. Tumbler. Ice. Pour. Float.

"I admit to being genuinely surprised that the reception we got was as smooth as it was. But yes, it did seem like Scott was a one-trick pony with a one-track mind."

Lucifer has posed:
"It would have been better if he hadn't of shown up at all..." Lucifer grumbles, taking a sip of whiskey and sitting long ways on the couch. "You...seem to need a bit of a ... reconfiguration of the mind. You've got one who was locked up for a time released, a whole part of you missing because we decided not to give it back, and likely a mess of things out of place. For one who likes to be organized within the chos." He offers with a grin and sips his whiskey. "Just don't look to me for any help. I'm done with dream, time, and dimension walking for a little while. I'm rather content to stay right here."

Sinister has posed:
"Well, I..." opening the mouth, there's a click of teeth at the speed with which he closes his jaw. Sinister wrinkles his nose, lips pressed firm and rather pert as he swings his legs back up and over and sits on the chair in a more 'jester on the throne' kind of manner, with one leg and ONLY one leg hooked over the arm. He props himself on his elbow. "You have a point. Actually, you usually have several points BUT! I digress..." he stares roughly at the spot where Lucifer's heart beats, then flicks gaze up to the nonchalant handsomeness. The gaze drops, unfocuses again in thought. "That might take a bit. It's only been a day. I think part of my sponteneity was locked up, also. Unnecessary, the flights of whimsy, except here and there. Crafted whimsy is paradoxical after all." He taps his chin, sips his cognac, taps his chin again and floats it beside himself.

"Question!" with a click of the fingers "Did you feel like there were bugs under your skin at any point in there? I felt strangely skittery when I was deep in concentration."

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer watches Sinister for a lingering moment. All the mannerisms and positions he takes while talking and seeming to try to find a comfortable(?) position. Of course it may take a bit, and this is fine. "Oh I was only commenting, my love. Of course this will take time, and you have all the time available to you for taking...and we can trip in the meantime. Perhaps back to our cottage on the coast. Or back to Germany. Salzburg. Or Azburg. Wherever that sodded home is." This much and then that final question is posed. Lucifer seems to think on it a moment. "Bugs under my skin? No. But I think I was too focused on the end game to notice, really. That or because I was a part of the connection it didn't affect me..."

Sinister has posed:
"Ausberg. You were in a ballpark, it was just a pingpong park, not netball." Sinister says, grins, sobers, rearranges and drapes his leg over the OTHER side, shifting to the mirror opposite. "Ahh, that's better. I think." For now. "We could try somewhere entirely new, too. Like surfing on Bondai beach. That would be peculiar though as I don't think I can surf." A psuse. "Or ostrich riding. Maybe a trek to Myanmar, or india. Or into orbit. I have a space station you know." Pick a thought. Any thought. Stop bouncing! His ankle sets to going up and down, as if focusing the bounce will calm the rest.

"Drat. I do hope that was just me. If it was just me, that would be splendid. If it wasn't just me, I am going to have to figure that out. Why, that is. Uuugh, I haven't felt like this since the first year of college!" he puts his free hand to his head and rubs at his temples.

Lucifer has posed:
"We could. Maybe go camel riding in Egypt. Climb Mount Everest. Explore the Andes. Maybe go digging for gold or diamonds or something..." Lucifer mentions a few extra things and then shrugs. "All of these things in due time. You are a little bit of everywhere at the moment my love. Not complaining, mind you, but I do think you need to do a little organizing in that mind of yours before we go trekking off to places unknown."

At that last bit, he tilts his head and shrugs. "It was likely just you. You had the most expending to do, and I bet the feeling of things crawling under your skin was more you trying to keep control of the link, plus yourself, and whatever was happening to me that you can feel because we're mindlinked."

Sinister has posed:
"I hope you're right. I really do. But good idea on the diamond mining. Or at least speculating. There's uses for high grade diamonds, and flawless crystals of all manner." Sinister finished the cognac though, considers a moment, floats the glass to the sink and takes off his hat. He looks it over, turns it about in his grasp a moment or two, then pulls a long pea-green cockerel feather from himself, to stick in the hatband. It's resituated on his head with a gentle tap to the top.

"Please... tell me about the mind that you know. My mind that is. Help me reassemble a little before I drive us both bonkers."

Lucifer has posed:
"The mind that I know? It's a bit more calculatory. Decisive. Strategical. Less...how shall I put it? Aloof? Though that may not be the right word I should use. You were a little bit particular for a place for everything and everything in it's place. Though I suspect that came over time, as from what I saw within your dream and the one that was locked away...had a bit of both world. Sporadic in one way, random notes and bits all around. But also particular and organized in others." Lucifer offers all this before giving a shrug. "I think we need to find a way for both the emotional and logical of you to work together and become more whole and beneficial to one another."

Sinister has posed:
"Can't see the wood for the trees, that's my problem in a nutshell. A hazelnutshell, in the trees of the forest I can't see...." Sinister clucks his tongue, nodding faintly, slowly and with a purposeful sigh at the end. "Do you have any ideas? I am afraid I'm at a mild loss, unless I populate my head with myself and have a very heartfelt discussion. I'm not sure how that would go, at the current time." He leans further back in the chair, letting his gaze unfocus, his chin rest in the cradle of his palm, plucking at his lips with his pinky, propping his eyebrow up to a very high spock with his index finger. The rest of the digits remain rather artfully coiled.

"I imagine that having the ability to compartmentalize properly is a good thing. I image, when you can wear a thousand faces, one can lose a grip over ones own self, if one lets the lets-pretend method actor out for a strut in the limelight." His gaze remains unfocused. "I have recollections of saying such things. How did I do that?" He narrows eyes. "I watched people. Plays. Yes. Theatre. Characters in politics. How they talked and moved. But how did I keep who I was?"

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer thinks on all of this. Taking it all in. Yes, he sounds and makes sense like Sinister would. Retains, informs, makes correlations...but something about it all still seems...willy nilly. All over the place. Then, as if the lightbulb goes off over his head. "The ruby." He says. "I wonder if the ruby has anything to do with it. Cause when I was in your mind...in the dream world...you had... notes. Theories. The ruby was like a third eye...and the third eye can sometimes be...be..." Lucifer tries. Oh he tries so hard, but then he loses it all in the end because he is NOT the scientific person that Sinister is. "...Maybe that's got something to do with it?"

Sinister has posed:
"Oh, you clever bugger, you might just be right. What did it do? I know I told you. Or did I only imagine that I told you? I've had a lot of conversations with you over the time we've known each other, which I never actually had with you, you know." He taps his head at the temple with his middle finger, then relaxes it again. "Sometimes, there'd be very productive conversations. Other times, I think I talked myself into or out of things, thanks to trying to second guess the you that wasn't you. Did that make any sense?"

INhale, pause. "Ok. Too long, didn't read. Right? Did I just imagine talking to you about that?"

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer tries to think and then shakes his head. "I recall little things about the ruby here and there. That it wasn't really ruby but some sort of quartz...and that it helped you...perhaps..but." He sighs. "Never any specifics. At least none that I can recall. I'm sorry...if we did talk about it...I don't recall." He offers this and then sits up. "And you gave up a ruby recently to hold your evil self in. So if you were you and wanted a fail safe in case the ruby was lost, broken, or otherwise gone... would you have kept materials somewhere to make a new one? Or do we need to acquire them?"

Sinister has posed:
Sinister's eyebrows turn into very flattened caterpillars, attempting to press his eyeballs down into their sockets with the concentration. Or the annoyance at himself. "That's a really important detail to miss, you twazzock. Why didn't you ever say something?" he cusses at himself, then silences as Lucifer has a lightbulb moment. Or would it be a torchflame for him, due to his advanced age? He blinks.

"If I were me, which I am, but I was worried of contingencies, which I often am, as I don't like being caught unawares if I can help it. I would've stored a spare for safekeeping. Only... where? Ok, logic that. Safest place you know of. Where would nobody ever look for..." His eyes widen and he sits upright in a mirror of the devil. "You're going to laugh..." he hastens upright and hustles to the bathroom, to the one thing that they never, ever use. The toilet. The cistern lid is lifted and he plucks out a ziploc from the tank, brandishing it triumphantly.

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer raises a brow as Sinister sort of solves himself into a solution. This is, of course, after he's cussed himself out for not giving Lucifer extra details. When the man is up and hurrying towards the bathroom, telling Luci he's going to laugh, of course the Devil is going to follow. Watching as Sin goes right for the toilet and goes to grab something out of the tank. In a ziplock baggie. He does actually chuckle. "Well I'll be damned... that is both a hilarious and smart place to hide something like that. Now the question becomes...do you just..." He puts a hand on his own forehead. "Socket it into place or...is it a bit more complicated than that?"

Sinister has posed:
Sinister promptly sits down on the lid of the can, opening the ziploc with a grin to extract the thin diamond shape. It's held up to the light, turned this way and that, to make sure that there's no damage to it and then, he rests it in his palms, in his lap as he looks up. "So you know; I discovered this a long time ago. Actually in studies of some very unusual finds that were made of such material. There were several crystal skulls made, the rarest of them being the red ones. One ended up in a private collection and I was able to get my hands on it." He looks down at the slice and smiles, looking back up again. "They focus energy. It actually doesn't matter -what- energy. Mental. Kinetic. Even holy, I suspect. They can, if cut right, block it too. Attuning them is a matter of... ahhh... focusing that energy through and into the crystal. In my case, I think I just... pop it back on. The nature of who I am, makes that sort of thing easy." Inhale deep. And then he offers it to Lucifer. Do the honours?

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer listens to the explanation that Sinister gives, and what he found out the ruby could do. Energies it could hold of all kind, but he does grin. "I don't think it holds holy energy very well. At the very least, it didn't quite like holding the holy energy I gave it when in the psychic dimension." He offers this and then reaches when the ruby is offered over to him. He looks it over as well and then takes a step closer to Sinister. The ruby is held up for a moment and then slowly he presses it - however gently - against the spot on Sinister's forehead that he knows is it's home.

Sinister has posed:
"Sticker action for the win?" Going a little cross-eyed at the incoming fingers, the focus shifts back along the arm to the devil. He reaches up, takes the hand and brings the knuckles to his lips in a silent kiss, curling fingers into the grasp of his hand. And amazingly? It sticks. Or rather, very subtley, Lucifer can see the skin growing over the edge, turning transluscent and firm. "Hard reset," his other hand lifts to place the middle finger in the center of the ruby diamond where he presses, closing his eyes. A short sharp breaht in, then a deeper, steadier breath, fingers are squeezed with it. "Ahhh, that's the ticket."

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer watches and waits. Silent and likely with breath held. The ruby sticks, well sort of, but then the skin around the ruby grows over the edge to hold it into place - as it has always done. A smile is offered at that kiss to his knuckles and then he hears the words 'Hard reset'. They've been saying that a lot lately. But Sinister goes almost silent, breathing deep and solid and those fingers are given a squeeze back. "Ticket? So? Everything sort of....getting put back into place?"

Sinister has posed:
"Not entirely. It will take some time. But it's like dousing my mind in ice-water with a slice of lemon and a really strong dose of cocaine for good measure," Sinister replies, turning knuckles up again and bowing his lips to them once more. "Thank you. I don't think I say that enough."

Lucifer has posed:
"You don't really need to thank me at all. I love you. This is part of what that love gets you." Lucifer says this and then lifts that hand after knuckles are kissed to press it against his cheek. Turning his head, he kisses the palm and then lets the hand go so it can do as it wishes. "How about a night curled up on the couch by the fire. We can put on a movie and just...relax?"

Sinister has posed:
"Gratitude is not a privalege, it is a right. Shush!" Standing from the toilet, Nathaniel steps up close and just... well, hugs. A tight, close embrace of his other half -- likely his better half -- complete with a gratuitous bum swat for good measure. "I will thank you if thanks are deserving, mister, so help me..." murmured to the ear, he transfers his hat, feather and all, to Lucifer's coiffed noggin. "I have a hankering to watch that animation 'Megamind'. Part of me always wonders if it's a comical biopic." And with that, he leads the devil fireward.