14845/Dare to Dream, Sin

Dare to Dream, Sin
Date of Scene:	24 March 2023
Location:	Lucifer's Penthouse, Melville
Synopsis:	Nick and Lucifer play around in Sinister's dreamscape once again. They find a monster. The monster? And let it out to play again.
Cast of Characters:	Lucifer, Sinister, Phantasm (Drago)

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Lucifer has posed:
"I don't really care if there's risk I'll get stuck in the dreamscape. Nick was good with leading me in and out last time...and if this is something your brain is doing then I'm going to tell your brain to quit it." Lucifer pauses. "Peacefully." He...promises. Though it's more a promise that it will start peacefully but if there's protest well...

So a message was sent to Nick asking the man to come to the Penthouse, likely for business first and socialing later, with the intent to re-visit Sin-Dream again. He also semi-jokes about a pay rate. It may go like, "So, what's your hourly rate? I need help going into Sin-Dream again because his mind is doing fuckery that we need stopped. Let me know. ~Luci." And then there's waiting.

"I wonder how we should put you out this time..."

Sinister has posed:
"The current way I'm thinking with how my subconscious has been behaving, I'm inclined to say punch me. But I'll put myself into a lucid trance. Mostly because now I -remember- how to do that..." Nathaniel, ever the cheery optimist, informs. "We really will have to pay him for his services -- but you know, I can probably bring you in willingly now and just let the more expert in the mindscape slide deeper."

The penthouse is INCREDIBLY clean. Spotless in fact and smelling fresh and polished. Occasionally, these things become an obsession, don'tchaknow. But now? The Doctor sits on a chair, with a bowl of water laced with a good many herbs and essential oils at his feet. He's tied his left wrist to the arm and has otherwise very simple houseclothes on -- white pirate tunic and black pants, barefoot.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
If Nick read the message, it is unclear until the elevator doors ding open to allow the musician in. Another cautionary glance in is made, part of him half expecting random criminals tied to chairs again. Because- Hell if he knows what the devil is thinking.

"So- to be clear," Nick starts, walking over to the pair, "We are NOT making this something that is done on a semi-regular basis." Nick pauses, "Well, the me taking guests along for the ride part. I actually need to do the traveling from time to time."

Seeing Sinister seated, he glances to the wrist tied down while the other is free. "...Sleep method?"

Lucifer has posed:
"I asked him what his hourly rate was, so we are on the same mind link with that." Lucifer says this while watching Sinister have the moment of tying down one of his wrists but otherwise seated and looking quite casual and relaxed.

When Nick arrives, Lucifer's attention turns to him and he gives, a raised brow at the first thing the man says. "I'm hoping to make it a never-needs-to-happen-again thing...and I get that. I truly do. Hell, if you want to just go in there on your own, you're more than welcome to...but they may not like an unaccompanied guest." He smirks then. He'll let Sinister answer that last question but does at least managed, "You never mentioned a value. We would like to at least compensate you a bit for your time and effort."

Sinister has posed:
"The methods of the parapsychical research institute were a lot of cockamamy for the most part, Nick, but some things they did get right, with some practice," Sinister replies, looking up to the door then sliding his bare feet into the water, settling back in the seat he's in and tightening the binding on his wrist slightly. "The trappings of a binding, ought help keep me more firmly in the sub, not the higher mind."

<<Great minds and fools, my love. We may never know which we are.>>

"This method however, requires no dream entry. Simply a willingness to depart your physicality and enter a more solidly fundamental existential travel. But Lucifer is correct, I do not know how the others will react, without a trusted face in their midst."

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
"I'm ok with taking you along because you know the rules and considering whose dream you want to go in and your status with them, it makes sense to bring you. The only real issue is that it limits my own mobility inside."

He moves over to the sofa, taking off his jacket to drop it on the piece of furniture. "And I didn't mention a value because I don't charge for this." Nick adds, "If you legitimately need help, I'll help. I just reserve the right to tell you 'No' if I don't think it's necessary or it's getting to be too much."

A glance goes back to the bound wrist. "So a bit of physical stimuli to try and get an off kilter feel when d-" He pauses to the mention of there not being need for dream entry. There's a slight frown as he considers the implications of the words. "...Ok, so what you just said now, kind of contradicts the message used to get me here. Is this like the last time?"

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer raises a brow and looks to Sinister. "I did call Nick here cause I thought this would be like last time. Getting you to sleep and then him leading me into the dreamscape. Which is what I suggested." He then motions to Nick. "What he asked." Because Lucifer won't ask the same question again.

Eyes then turn to Nick. "Fine. And of course you can say No, that's not an issue. Like I said, I truly do not want to seem like this is becoming habit. But Nathaniel had a weird episode last night. He was staring into the mirror, only the mirror wasn't his reflection. It was like another him was in the mirror. Then the mirror shattered. We thought it a supernatural event at first only for Nathaniel to realize it was his subconscious playing tricks on him. Which he can do, himself, but this was without his consent. In a manner of speaking." He explains this and then shrugs. "I'm just going to go and tell his brain to behave. Nicely. Unless Nice doesn't work."

Sinister has posed:
"Oh, you can enter my head the same way as last time, if you wish. I won't stop you. I was simply offering a more functional way of coming in, that wouldn't leave you sitting on Lucifer's shoulder the entire time," Sinister replies, but shrugs, looking to Luci and then to the inside of his eyelids. "It was very disturbing, to be tricked by one's own talents; I would not have realized at all, saving for night-terror like dread, irrationally experienced. I realized at that point, I had been sleep-walking to a degree."

"But yes. You tie the wrist in an uncomfortable manner, so that the dream stays disjointed from casual. Aromatics keep the psyche calm, the water helps the state remain somewhat shallower than usual, the better to have a modicum of control." He murmurs this, letting his head roll slowly down so that his chin rests upon his chest.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Nick frowns, listening to the description provided by Lucifer to what happened. "So, one of your other selves was wanting to drive for a bit?" He wonders aloud, looking to Sinister, I assume you projected your thoughts in a way where Lucifer could see. Kind of what you did with the guy who was apparently watching me."

He frowns, "Before the whole dream stuff, have you guys considered maybe just, talking this stuff out on a more regular basis? While therapy takes time, it does help a bit."

He glances to Lucifer, "You two already have an advantage that you both seem rather open with each other."

Lucifer has posed:
"Ugh, therapy. It's just all talk, talk, talk. Then you shag a few times, because your therapist is hot and really wants a piece of you. Then you decide, it's not actually right to shag the same person who's trying to work your mental shit out. Oh and lets add on the fact that one of my brothers then got her pregnant. It's a whole thing..." Lucifer pauses after this and shrugs.

"I don't do therapy."

"Also I'm not sure this is a therapy required thing. Nathaniel is a delicate network of himself helping...himself. But if they're being twit-wits. I don't think a little come to Lucifer moment is out of order." He then realizes that Nathaniel has already put himself out and thus looks to Nick. "If you really don't want to do this, you can just say so. We can work out some other way to bump his mind around and get it to working right, I'm sure."

Sinister has posed:
Sinister is currently a patient vessel. Waiting, whilst being not quite awake. Muzak might be playing in the interim elevator of his mind.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Nick raises his brow to the mention of the sleeping with the therapist. Considering his was a much older man and he was still a teen it's probably a good thing that assessment seemed out of the norm for him. Nick tilts his head, "You're...not supposed to sleep with your therapist. Your experience with therapy is vastly different than mine."

As Lucifer points out that Sinister's already out and Sinister hasn't exactly explained what the alternative method is, the musician sighs and nods. "Maybe something to talk about afterwards."

A look to Nick as he starts to shift is a little odd. Like a slowly shifting reflection, he first starts to mirror himself. And then with a hop and a flip, he's gone full raven.

The purplish black bird lands on Lucifer's shoulder and proceeds to filter some of his energy into the devil. "Ok you know the rules. We'll just pop in and see what's up."

Lucifer has posed:
"I probably wasn't supposed to sleep with half of New York, yet here we are." Lucifer, before Nathaniel, was very much a sex idol. Honestly, he still is, and he can be caught flirting on occassion. It just doesn't go beyond that anymore.

Or, at least, it hasn't yet.

Then, as if to answer his unspoken question, Nick becomes a raven and lands on Lucifer's shoulder. "Right. Eyes closed, remember I'll lose most my senses, and you'll direct me until it's okay to open my eyes. Here we go..." And he takes a few steps forward - at least until Nick begins to direct him where to go.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Once on the other side of things, Nick does his usual routine. After checking for any objects that might bisect Lucifer and ensuring he's not standing in them, he nods. "Alright, eyes open. Good to go."

Sinister has posed:
And thus, when there is a hop and a skip, or rather a step 'cross-wise' they find themselves in an entry hall. It's vaguely familiar, in that it looks like the same darkwood panelled hall of the victorian townhouse in Old London Town that Sinister had been in before, with its double grand staircase sweeping up to the upper level and artfully tasteful plants and vases. The red of the curtaining seems a bit duller, more faded, but otherwise it is similar.

The door to the solarium is open, the humidity of the place implied rather than felt, for they can do nothing but see and hear.

Essex is in there, standing by the high glass panes, gazing out onto an Englishman's garden, which is artful disarray and cultured chaos.

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer opens his eyes once he's told he can and takes a look around. At leas the place looks in better arrangement than the last time he was here. Lights seem to be on - which is a good sign. And then he spies the solarium, door open, and what looks like could be humid air thick as butter enough to put a knife through.

This is where he goes, spotting Essex there gazing out into his garden. He pauses just in the doorway and tilts his head one way. Then the other. "Hello, old friend. It's nice to see you again." Start casual. That's the way to go, right?

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
As Lucifer steers the pair inside, the raven perched upon the shoulder quietly observes the surroundings. The general visibility of condensation upon some of the glass is enough indication of the differences in temperatures between the inside of the solarium and the outside. The bird's head turns, looking over towards Essex, giving a bob of his head in greeting.

Sinister has posed:
In victorian times, they would occasionally have pet jackdaws. These smaller than a raven corvids, were rainbow black, white and grey, looking like dapper fellows in monochromatic evening suits. Oddly, although everyone knows that Nick is a raven, he currently looks like he's inhabiting the space of a ghostly jackdaw, complete with silver chain upon his ankle. Lucifer also, looks incredibly dapper in the ghost of victorian garb. This dream has imagined him with a little mephisto moustache and soul patch also, for a wonder. It's waxed and entirely insubstantial, a fingertip will go straight through it.

"I'm afraid I cannot linger too long this evening, I am unfortunately put upon to be otherwise engaged. I am truly sorry my friend, i would like nothing dearer, than to while away the hours in conversation and company..." Nathaniel replies, looking back over his shoulder toward the pair. A younger man, he is perhaps 25 in this particular subconscious vignette. "Although... I feel that perhaps this salubrious encounter is a herald of times yet to come. I am after all, ultimately damned, am I not? Rebecca is due to present me to her parents, but I loathe the notion."

Lucifer has posed:
"Oh I believe that can wait, my friend. You'll meet her parents in due time..." Lucifer doesn't want to stay too far off the path just yet, so he'll have to hold this conversation delicately. "Most every one is ultimately damned, but that is neither here nor there. If you would give me leave of a moment of your time, I was wondering if you've been experiencing anything...strange...lately. Perhaps an odd visage in a mirror or...whispers upon the mind?"

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
The raven glances down to the 'jewelry' that appears around the ankle as well as the outer layer of jackdaw disguising his true form. Not finding issue with the new look, in his mind he accepts the new appearance for the time being. But as Lucifer plays along with the dream's theme, the Jackdaw ends up slack jawed.

Sinister has posed:
"What a peculiar question to be asking, of course I have not... and surely I cannot keep her parents waiting, that would be rude and I cannot abide rude. So =very= many individuals are uncouth and loose tongued with their profanities and impudence, it is quite intolerable!" Dream Nathaniel does not notice the sound of a pistol shot going off in the building. From the sounds of it, it came from the attic.

Or perhaps not: "Pay that no mind. It has been happening regular as clockwork."

"Sirs, the tea will be served in the drawing room." An elderly voice from behind them all. If they turn, there is nobody there. "Ah, yes." Nathaniel inclines his head to the invisible butler. "Very good. Please make sure all the upstairs and downstairs doors are secured. We cannot abide the interruptions on this auspcious day."

In one wall of the solarium a pair of doors become visible. One is marked 'Sinister' the other 'Dexter'.

Lucifer has posed:
"Ah. Well then. I surely won't keep you, as I do not wish to mar the good name of Essex with something as horrible as being late and rude in one swift motion." Lucifer offers, a hand on his chest and he half bows.

The gunshot was heard, but Lucifer doesn't react and actually gains a little smile. "If you would permit me, my friend. To make amends for my attempt to keep you, I will secure all the doors for you. It would be my honor. And will keep you and your butler free in case his attention is needed by your guests."

Cause, honestly, Lucifer has some snooping to do and it will be better done if the dream Sinister does not suspect anything.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
The slackjawed jackdaw blinks as there is a sound of a shooting elsewhere. However, judging from Lucifer's general response to the things said by Sinister, it is apparent that they are going to be keeping things close to the chest initially.

WHICH MEANS NO RAVENS HAVING FLUENT CONVERSATION.

The bird makes a cro-acking sound instead.

The presence of the two differently labeled doors doesn't miss the shoulder adornment's notice and he strongly suspects in the ACTUAL house, there's just one door, if any, in that area of the room. But that'll be something to look into once he and Lucifer are free from the POV's watchful gaze.

Sinister has posed:
"Well, if you insist, I will be much obliged of the assistance. I am sure you know where the keys are kept?" Young Essex checks his appearance in the mirror, then with a straightening of his tie, heads on after the elderly butler, to meet and greet the phantoms of his own mind. This leaves the duo alone in the room of two doors, in what ought be hot and humid as hell, and really would've been a horrible place to get dressed up and receive guests in, would it not? Sweat, sweat and more sweat, but perhaps it's a memory of a pressure cooker that did the young man until he was done? Who knows.

The doors are helpfully ordinary looking, except for the writing upon then, in a nicely filigreed plaque. There's no more sound from above.

Yet.

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer simply gives a nod of his head to silently answer Essex's question about the keys. Then the man leaves and the room is silent. Empty. In a few more ways than it should be which leaves one to wonder many a thing.

Lucifer is curious, but he also knows that when Essex keeps company, it will be filled with conversation, food consumption, perhaps a cognac and pipe. So this should give Lucifer and Nick a bit of time to do their snooping without interruption.

So best they begin.

But where to first? The gunshot above wasn't alarming aside from being told to pay it no mind. But Essex is a lot like Sherlock in a way that he would just shoot a gun randomly at a wall. For science. Everything for science. And they're here now, with that door labeled 'Dexter' right there for the viewing. "Well. Here goes." And with that, Lucifer and his shoulder companion make for the door labeled with a name that ought not exist in this mindscape.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
The bird quietly waits a few more moments after Sinister makes his leave to look over to Lucifer. "A little side trip before the confrontation?" Nick asks, keeping his voice low so the dream has little excuse for the established Nathaniel of the dream to overhear.

The bird's head tilts, observing other things that seem out of place for the scenery the events take place in.

"I'm sure I don't have to point this out, but just in case. What you see may not be an exact representation of what once was. Sometimes the mind does- abridged versions of the memory. Leaving the brain to fill in the gaps later with what makes sense or items and people that symbolize things."

Case in point the door Lucifer's steering them through.

Sinister has posed:
Indeed. When one studies latin for the necessary Theology that Oxford demands, when taking Anatomy and Physiology, it has a whole different set of meanings, from the fundamental, to the obscure.

Inside the door is an office -- it's wood panelled, but in what seems to be beech and is bright and airy and exceptionally -neat-. A diagram of a dissected human being, flayed in its entirely and neatly labelled, occupies one wall panel, hanging from a neat little hook unobtrusively placed. The desk is a writing desk, but it contains an old fashioned microscope that has been cobbled right on into an electron one and a fluroscopy unit also. Ink wells are neatly set in a row, with modern fountain pens arranged in order of quality.

There's a comfortable chair, padded well enough in black leather and a book shelf covered in Imperialist texts, Darwin's theories and many an article from the Enlightened society.

One fountain pen is writing itself on a journal, neatly labelling the dates in the top right corner, the entry title in the top left, in elegant fluid script, with flourishes but not as many as you'd think.

"....acquired samples from the scottish gentlemen. The legs appear to be on the surface quite ordinary, but on inspection beneath the fascia there appeared to be a denser ligature than expected and the femur was measurably thicker than average..."

Lucifer has posed:
"So which mutation theory is this one? Thicker bone density? Nearly unbreakable?" Lucifer questions as he continues to walk in, keeping his demeanor calm and his voice even. He walks over to the poster of the flayed body and studies it for a lingering moment - if allowed.

The pen is moving by itself, so naturally Lucifer is talking to no one. Or is he? It's likely there's something linking the mind to the pen so naturally there might be someone who can hear him. He moves on from the poster and goes towards the bookshelf, looking over some of the titles that rest there.

"Every century or so, before modern society anyway. Essex was always accused of being mad. In every sense of the word. Cold, methodical speech. Calculated autopsies of the recently deceased." Now he's just speaking in general. Aloud? Yes. Otherwise his raven couldn't hear him. "This seems almost like a lab within a lab. I wonder if Dexter is a way to hide himself from being found out as Doctor Essex...with a combination just to snub his nose at people."

And while it may seem like Lucifer is simply poking around idly, he's looking beyond what is before him. For that slip of paper used as a bookmark, or the mislabeling of the poster. The little things that might be clues pointing to the bigger picture.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
"Well I know what ligature means in music terms..." The bird comments, isn't it a means of tying off things in medical terms?" He looks to the scenery as Lucifer turns. He's got no medical training, nor is he thousands of years old to the point where medical knowledge may have been acquired from *ahem* conferring with those of such industry. So as far as looking around for clues, he's restricted to just looking for visible oddities.

Sinister has posed:
The only thing that's OUT of place in here, is that the glass in the windows has smears. Finger prints. Palm prints -- a legacy of looking out at the world and being apart from it? Away from the sunshine, from the life ordinary that walks, talks, enjoys. There is though, a measure of IN place that's unusual and perhaps speaks volumes to Lucifer's assumption: Across the window sash a hair has been stretched very carefully; a human hair, black and familiar, affixed with a little tiny dab of wax to the sill and the sash itself. If anyone were to open these, to get in or to get out, the hair would be snapped. And he would know.

If other notes are looked upon, there's hundreds and hundreds of them, hand written and incredibly detailed. This woman who had a jaw strong enough to snap bone. The legs are apparently from a man that could jump clean across a river. Small, but ordinary mutations, catalogued, documented and filed away with little samples.

He use quite a number of 'sources' for his sources, also. Never naming them, only calling them such things as 'This and that' or 'the scottish gentlemen'.

He also it seemed, went to India. Sailed there in fact, to get samples and study some of the yogis. Not many notes are kept from there of the same quality of detail and scientific exactitude; these are all notes on meditation techniques, the conceptualization of mind over matter, those people that could walk on coals and never get burned. Who could drive pins through themselves and never bleed and his attempts, without equipment to actually measure it as modern science would, to figure out how.

And at the very bottom of the notes on the desk, is a very short list of apparently... crimes.

Graverobbing
Bodysnatching
Kidnapping
Petty theft
Grand theft
Aggravated assault
Human rights violations....

They're all written in red ink.

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer continues to walk around. The hair is noted, as is other few nuances here and there. When he comes across other notes he looks through them. Calculated. In order. So this was when Doctor Essex was a bit more....stable minded. When he sees the accusations written in red ink he gives a little hum.

"Calculated observations and sample reading. Accusations of crimes he supposedly committed. I cannot remember when in his life this was most applicable..but it fits the past he's told me about." Saying this much and then he turns and moves to make his way out of the room. "Alright. Time to 'lock up' this place then." Does he use air quotes when he says this? Yes.

Provided they are able to leave the room without a hiccup, Lucifer will exit the sunroom as well and begin to head upstairs. Unless something keeps them from doing either of those things.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
While Nick may be one for reading, his attention ends up fixating upon the fingerprints and palm prints upon the glass. Thoughts of one driven to isolate, trapped behind walls, having but a window to possibly get a glimpse of what is outside-

A frown sets upon the beak. Is it possible that Nathaniel found himself isolated through outside means leading to developing an obsession with research as a form of coping?

Or is Nick guilty of projecting?

Lucifer seems more focused upon the book's contents and when he mentions accusations of crimes, he glances over, spotting the graverobbing and bodysnatching at the top of the list. "...If he was a doctor back then, at least the graverobbing. I don't know the exact years but I think that was kind of a necessity due to the need for bodies and the lack of people willing to give permission."

With Lucifer declaring it is time to lock up, the bird grows silent again. He rides along, pondering the prints upon the glass while they scan their new surroundings.

Sinister has posed:
He's not wrong, the raven that is. Nor is the Devil in his observations.

The clues harvested, insights catalogued or whichever you wish to label them as, the pen barely stops upon the latest note that it was writing as the declaration is made. But it does pause. There IS awareness, on a deep subliminal level.

The house is still exceptionally quiet. Whatever conversation was being had, if that figment of the imagination even went off to address something in a different neural pathway... it is very quiet. Faded glory continues to surround them. Portraits on the staircase, bespeak of an austere gentleman and a prim lady, both of whom had the victorian restraint clearly visible on their faces. They watch, accusatory, from oil and canvas. The nature of the artists that painted these portraits, one a man in naval uniform that has a striking resemblence to the doctor, the other a woman that gave him his storm-grey eyes... their gazes follow no matter where you are. Seem even to do so from the second story landing. And then there's the attic.

the stairs up to THAT are bare of carpetting, which wasn't unusual at the time. The panelling is cheaper wood here, less hardwood and polish. In most households of this time, they were a converted bedroom, where the servants slept if they did not have a quarters on the grounds somewhere. This is London. Space is premium.

And yet, there's no feel of worn steps here, at least not so much as you would expect.

Lucifer has posed:
"Bollocks..." Lucifer says as they get upstairs. "I can't do this from the dreamscape. I need my senses... I need to be able to smell things..." He offers as he looks around. "I can't smell the gun that went off... and since it was up here I can't gain a bearing on where it came from."

Still, he looks at the steps that lead up to the attic and take note of their condition. "This is a dream though. Maybe this was before the upstairs was occupied. Though this is also Nathaniel Essex, who likely wouldn't let anyone occupy his home. Especially not after the trouble with his wife and the tragedy of his children." He pauses. "Something is out of place here... which is why his conscious is being finicky. I think I'm getting too sidetracked. I need to find the bit that's out of place..."

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Similar to Shredder expecting Nick to mount a campaign to go after and kill the Punisher, to expect a dream to have every detail in place is folly. There are reasonable reasons for his subconscious not to factor in the wear and tear. One namely being if the upper area was meant for a servants quarters, what would he have reason to travel up there?

As Lucifer complains about the lack of smell, the bird looks over to Lucifer. "Well, everything has a cost. In exchange of taste, touch, and smell, you get a new vantage point." He glances over. "Also what is there to say that smells even exist in dreams? Perhaps the dream itself is just telling you you're smelling something without actually producing it." He glances up. "Being he's talking of a fiance, parts of this is well before any tragedy." He turns his head looking to Lucifer, "What tragedy do you speak of? You know more about Essex than me."

Sinister has posed:
The attic door stays rather neatly shut. No smell of chordite for the noses of the dream-travellers!

Lucifer has posed:
"No. Wait. He was calculated during all that. It was after the tragedies that he went a little..." Lucifer makes a gesture next to his head as if to symbolize craziness. "Tragic tale really. His son died young, he wasn't sure of what until later. His wife died giving birth to their second child. What would have been a girl...but the child was birthed a sill born."

He walks as he talks, going up the stairs to the attic door. "He preserved the son to research why the child died. Wife didn't like the idea too much... and I think that's where the craze began. Slowly. Very slowly, but grew more and likely exponentially when his wife and daughter were taken from him." At the attic then, he reaches for the handle of the door and turns the knob to open up and see what ever is inside...

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
"Hmm." The bird considers, "We have already established the multiple personas aspect. New turning point, new persona. Your very reason for stepping in here involved that. So what's to say that this dream isn't being influenced by more than one?" He thinks back to that other room. "The list of crimes, were they all attributed to the younger version, or was it more cumulative up to the time he met you?"

Sinister has posed:
That's an interesting line of inquiry -- certainly that litany of sins applies somewhat to when he was younger, but also to a lot of his adult career as Sinister. That is what he would be, for all time, unequivacably, irrevocably, unrepentently... Sinister.

The door is yanked open, from the inside as the handle is reached for.

It's well... Frankly, Nick's never seen this Sinister before. Oh, sure, he's seen the pale skin, the red eyes, the ruby diamond in the forehead. But never the look -- this figure glaring at the intrusion, looks at the world with hate in his gaze. He's lethal, he's calculated, he has stared out of the reflection in the mirror and looked straight in the Devil's eye, in challenge. This man is a monster.

And he snorts at the two of them, raven and devil and steps aside, gesturing inside the attic. He turns crisp on heel and stalks back into the center of the room, staring out of the tiny window that overlooks a cobbled street below. There are bulletholes in the walls up here. Some peek out to the sky above.

Lucifer has posed:
The raven on his shoulder may have never seen this Sinister. Yet Lucifer has. In the reflection on the mirror the other night. The monster within. But how. They trapped the monster in another place entirely. Right?

"You can be annoyed all you like. But I suppose we should cut to the chase. You know me. I've seen you. You must know why I'm here." Lucifer says this as he follows the man who has - for now - been silent as the graves he's robbed. "It's not easy for you to scare yourself, but you managed it. You really just annoyed me. And you owe me a mirror, on top of everything. So. Out with it. What do you want?"

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
With Lucifer pretty much getting to the point quickly, the raven once more goes back into character. Silent and simply observing.

Sinister has posed:
"It isn't what -I- want, you fool. It's what -he- wants. Why the HELL do you suppose he's locked me in the goddamn attic?" Sinister snorts, turning his head to glare back at the intruders in his own private hell. He shakes his head, going to the window and leaving smears on the glass, as his palm reaches up to touch it. Just like in the Dexter room.

"He'd be quite happy to end me entirely, wouldn't he? Keeps trying. Keeps failing."

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer prickles just a bit. "I am not a fool. I am simply someone trying to understand. As far as I am aware we put you into a diamond - a separate diamond - and handed that off to some people..." Offering this much. "Yet here you are now. I suspect he's put you in the attic to keep you from showing face for a little while. Knowing you're still here would mean there's been a breach of contract." At least, this is how Lucifer is putting the pieces together for the moment.

"I don't think he wants to end you entirely...you are very good at what you do...and you have helped him in many ways. Though I would be lying if I said I wasn't enjoying the person he's become now."

There's a long pause, and Lucifer steps further forward, walking to stand beside Sinister at the window and looks out at the grounds below. "And yes. This is very much about what you want. If giving you what you want keeps you out of my mirrors and stops Nathaniel's mind from losing itself without his doing."

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
The bird glances away for a moment to the mention of this version being locked away. It's hard to erase something that's a part of you and yet there's been a least one failed attempt. Especially if they were borne out of necessity.

What is the reason for this one?

"At what point in his life did you come to be?" The bird asks, breaking his temporary silence.

Sinister has posed:
Sinister's tense eyes come to settle on Lucifer first, when he steps up to the plate as it were and bats for the team, right up next to the Man in the Mirror that stands at this window, looking out. The window, now that it's looked at, is rather oval. Eye-shaped. "My dear Devil, you are in no breach of contract, I assure you." The Monster sighs, looking out through the eye, then over to the Raven.

"You're standing in it. I was born here. I came into being under this roof." He looks out again. "Nathaniel was always a man attracted to the bright shining light of power. At first, that was knowledge, but then it was airs, graces, the right person to groom, to talk to. It's amazing what a flattering word achieves, what hiding your sins can make happen. I was born about the same time that drunkard lout arrived on the scene, crafted in different ways. The difference now, I suppose... is that he's quite real. And I? I am nothing more than a figment of his imagination."

He laughs blackly at that. "And he can't kill me. No matter how hard he tries." He points around at the bullet holes. "Too damn literal for his own good. The science in this case, is utterly faulty."

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer glances back to the door of the attic. The symbol of this ones confinement. He squints a little at it and then looks back at the oval eye. "You're always here." He finally says, as if it's a sudden realization. "No matter how many times it's tried to get rid of you, there's always a part of you that remains and manifests. Over and over."

He seems to go into thought then. So the monster is trapped for some reason. Thinking it's a figment when really, it's just a part of Sin that was locked up - figuratively and literally. "Well...I was the one who let the drunken lout out of his confinement." He offers. "If you think you can get along with him. Work in tandem. NOT fuck up Nathaniel's mind too much...perhaps a balance. Calculative, but also emotional. It's a balancing act, but I think there's desire enough to keep it relatively scaled."

As he's speaking that, he's been walking towards the door of the attic again. A tilt of his head one way and then the other. "Time to put you back together, my love. You can never exist as only a part, one or the other. It has to be the whole. It always has to be hole..." And while saying that, a leg lifts and he kicks down the door in one fell Devil-strength kick. "That should do it."

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
So the persona itself is gone but that doesn't erase the memory? The head tilts, "...Guilt perhaps? Not fully coming to terms with past deeds while operating under the persona of you?"

"This sounds like something that should be resolved with therapy."

Is there an added emphasis to the last word? Or is that imagined like the rest of the world?

Orrrrrr Lucifer can kick a door out of its frame.

Right. He's just the cab driver.

Sinister has posed:
Well. There's the funny thing about this being the dream of another person and not the real life door of a real life house. Kicking the door with devil strength, should make it just shatter spectacularly into pieces and fly off, with hanging hinges. What actually happens is far more mundane: the lock splinters and is busted and it slams into the wall beside it and creaks back pathetically.

"Well, that is never going to sit in the jam again, properly," The monster observes, looking askance toward the raven as it pipes up again. "Who's to say that this isn't precisely what this is? I can imagine him walking into an office and being very swiftly put on very large amounts of lists, if he does what he sometimes does and goes all brutally honest." There's a pause. "But well done. He's also not very good at confronting himself. It all comes out in little digs. You though..." he nods to Nick "... may have it bang on the nose. Guilt does some terrible things. Makes terrible things happen. Creates monsters in one's own mind, that harrow and niggle and stare out of the mirror."

The Monster smiles then, inhaling deep of the air of freedom. "Perhaps coexistence is possible. It had better be, or he's going to have a day when he simply can't do what he has to do, because he's feeling all bad about it." tsking his tongue, he walks through the door and begins to fade away with each step. "Toodles. I shall see you both around, I'm sure."

And then, because this is a mind that is very, very potent and is capable of doing such things, raven and devil are summarily ejected, through a lens that turns every ounce of light, bright red for a moment.

In the penthouse: "Next time I suggest going through the mindscape in lucid consciousness, can we please try that method? I have a very strange headache right now."

Lucifer has posed:
"As if you wouldn't have a headache if I kicked a door down in your conscious mind." Lucifer says this and then sighs. He'll likely have to go there next, just to make sure that everything is - in fact - in it's proper place again.

No offense, Nick, but he'll likely do that job without you.

"Well...I think we've done it. I won't know for sure until you confirm later but for now I suspect tea and a pain killer would be best for you, hmm?" Course, they were just ejected from the dreamscape. Which might make a Nick very upset. It also means all his senses come back at once and when it realizes this he takes a moment to let himself be very much AWARE and then not.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
When the signs of the collapsing dream present themselves, Nick provides sufficient warning. And due to the time needed, in as few words as possible.

"Close eyes!"

Nick remains latched on to Lucifer for the process. Once they end up in the penthouse, he takes a quick look around. Confirming no issues with the landing area, the bird pushes off of Lucifer's back. Immediately taking his powers with him. The musician lands on the floor in human form, soon un mirroring as his power is dropped.

He walks over to the sofa, collecting his jacket as he figures his absence to be requested soon.

"Now, I know how you feel about therapy." Nick states, "But basically just talking about the issue with someone you trust does help out." He looks between Sinister and Lucifer, "As you've said before, what's said here, stays here."

Sinister has posed:
"I'm sure that might smart some, yes" Sinister unties his arm, takes his feet out of the bowl of aromatic waters and somehow doesn't make the carpet wet as he gets up from the chair, stretching himself tall. He looks over at lover and friend both, giving a nod to the latter and a thin smile to the former. "The trouble is sometimes being too close to the object you're trying to repair, study or solve. The desire to get it right, to help more than you should, or could, can be problematic. I suspect willing ears are necessarily... detached somewhat. Maybe I should grow a creature made of ears, that can just listen."

That seemed to be a joke for he chuckles wryly at it. "Tea." A nod.

And then to the Phantasm. "I think perhaps, I can teach you a thing or two. If you're willing to learn that is. As a thank you." But with the coat, he but looks to the kitchen and floats something out. It's ground coffee, of a very high quality. "For when you're up at all kinds of hours. Or you're staying keen in subway stations." Ooooh. "Good night, Mister Drago."