15851/Too Many Devils in the Kitchen...

Too Many Devils in the Kitchen...
Date of Scene:	30 November 2023
Location:	Lucifer's Penthouse, Melville
Synopsis:	Lucifer travels thru planar quantums to visit Seven and discuss Things(tm).
Cast of Characters:	Lucifer, Sinister

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Lucifer has posed:
Quantum Phasing. It's a thing. It's a bitch of a thing even when it's not being a thing but when it's being a thing it can be akin to something like hell on Earth. There are RULES, Lucifer Morningstar. Rules that even you cannot bend or break.

Though that doesn't mean the Devil won't try.

He at least gained the signature of Seven, which gives him an inkling of where Seven is from. Is he still in the Arc Library of Sinister's lab? It's very likely. Staring at the spot where the probability machine used to be but no longer is because even IT is stuck in some sort of other-phase at the moment.

"Well. If Seven's realm is still there, I suppose this is where we find out..." He says aloud, to no one but himself, and then reaches and curls fingers into the air. The air itself begins to ripple as if water and then sizzles as if on fire. He pulls, tearing into the fabric of reality itself, using all his might and power to pull apart both space and time until there is room enough for him to slither thru...

Sinister has posed:
The in-between is not a place anyone wants to peer into the depths of. Sometimes, just sometimes, people get stuck in between and untold horrors befall them! Or sometimes, they just get lucky and are stuck just slightly out of phase and have to watch the world go by, going slowly mad.

Flashes of other existences between here and there, pop into the periphery vision. One that smells strongly of cheese, another that's loud, another dead silent, on and on, all passing by in the flash of a moment, like a super flashforward to the end of the movie, a montage in hyperspeed.

And then, well, this is a lab space, that's for sure. It's domed, it has the right accoutrements to be considered a lab space, but it's floating high, high in the sky, apparently contained in a bubble of energy. Clouds are turmultuous and slightly lurid in colour, polluted no doubt. The horizon has all the pretty colours to say that's the case at any rate. Where is it? Well, it LOOKS with a peer down and down some more, as if it's coasting quietly along the eastern seaboard of America. There are buildings, signs of mankind, but fewer lights than there really ought to be.

The signature is downward a ways, but easy to get to with a step and a hop, or a glide and a swish of wings.

The figure sought is stood in the air, hugging himself and stroking his chin thoughtfully as he looks down on the world below. He's thinner than the Lucifer that belongs here, not quite gaunt, but definitely on the swimmer's build side of things. "Well, it looks as if Atlantic city is holding out, which is a complete baffle if you ask me. I don't know that a city of hotels, tourists and casinos has the clout, but they've marshalled rather well..."

Lucifer has posed:
Yes. It's all pretty colors and hoping that you're riding the correct rainbow or else you may land tits down and ass up in a world you never were supposed to be in. Seems like that isn't the case here as he finds himself in a space where the man he intended to find has been found. A tilt of his head given as he finds himself floating next to him, wings out so he's not plummeting to the ground, and he raises a brow as he listens to the insights of the city he's looking over.

"Well that sounds both absolutely like our own Atlantic City but also nothing like it..." He comments back, giving a glance over to Seven before looking down over Atlantic City and perhaps a bit beyond for the moment. "It looks just enough the same to almost be mistaked for my world, but just enough different that I know it is NOT my world. Is that an odd thing to say?"

He pauses. Waiting a beat. And then he looks over. "What happened the other night? Did something close the link?"

Sinister has posed:
"Flux. The asynchronicity is occasionally bringing the other devices into alignment, but it's only for a certain period of time, before they drift back into flux. It's been a bitch to try and figure out the gigantic metronome that makes no sense unless you think of it upside down and back to front." Seven clucks his tongue, looks to the wing-beating Lucifer from the Primetime realm, lifts the hand from his chin and gives a fingerwiggle in greeting.

"Haaaaaaai," at least his skin tone is normal and not ultra bleached, that would look peculiar on that body. He looks back down at the city.

"Different companies bought up the land, different developers got their hands into the city coffers. Minor things, mostly, except for the Nether incursion. Nobody quite knew what to do about that when it arrived and there were a lot of casualties, before they got the hang of it." He nods to the coastline. "Mostly come out of the water, like they need the reflection. Sometimes out of mirrors. Negative plane phantoms, very hard to kill, they've decimated the population of what might be called heros here."

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer purses his lips for a moment and then nods his head. "Something else we'll have to look into, surely..." Of course by 'we' he likely means Nathaniel, with Lucifer just passing along the what happened and then doing his best to either help figure out how to fix it or just stay out of the way while Nathaniel does his thing. That fingerwiggle gets a brow lift and then a half smirk as he nods his head towards the other man.

"Ah... that... doesn't sound fun at all. Course we've had our fair share of beings attacking Earth. Mostly from space...sometimes from other realms. Asgard is on our list now... not sure if you have that here." There's a singluar shoulder lifted in a half-shrug. "So, you're here... but other machines existed in other quantums. Do I need to go convince a hundred of you what to do to align the machines all at once?"

Sinister has posed:
"Asgard? Oh yes. We've got those. Awesome chickens they are, with their northmen vibes and overabundant machismo. Ragnarok happened though and they're on an island somewhere close to Norway, those that survived anyway." So that's more or less the same. Seven cocks his head, the action very Sin-like as he stares down at the city again. There's a chew of the cheek, a patting of the pockets and the production of a cigarette, lit with a snap of the fingers. The pack is offered over -- nothing fancy, they're just John player specials.

"I don't know. Do you? I mean, you could, but I think you might be scandolously busy, in the not too distant future. Sounds like it might be a bit of a chore to go trundling across the multiverse, poking at potentially uncooperative Nathaniel Essexes and a Mister Fantastic. That one doesn't work nearly right, but I'm not about to tell him how to fix it. Stretch can just get himself in a knot over it and actually ask someone else for a change."

Smoke trails off, joining the polluted sky. "You and I also know how tiring that is. Why I'm just hanging around keeping an observation eye on things at the moment. Not interfering. I'm bloody knackered. But I'll get back to things in no time, with a good bit of thrill and punishment."

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer reaches for a cigarette when offered, lighting it with a snap of his fingers. He takes a deep inhale of it, enough that his cheeks dimple from the motion before he's fully inhaling and exhaling a breath of smoke. All the while he listens, and he watches. Everything. From the lilt in voice to the ticks in action when speaking. The head tilts, the chewing of the cheeks...every nuance is observed before he flicks ash, smokes again.

"Right. Busy bee I am. Trying to keep my world from falling apart. From being destroyed. While also having people doubt my every move, as if I wish the world to end so I can reign over all once more.." He chuckles. "So how did this..." Motioning towards Seven, "happen? I mean, you're essentially me, but with Nathaniel in the mind. You have his mannerisms, his speaking patterns... his looks...in some regard. The diamond. Tanner skin. Tighter jawline." He leaves that there for Seven to mill over while he continues speaking.

"And if you plan to just watch from the sidelines, why did you even bother introducing yourself to us? Letting us know you were there? I doubt the three of us can fix all the machines, and we need the majority of the machines fixed to get the best outcome. Unless you know something I don't and if that's the case I would highly suggest you consider telling me because I am not one to idly sit around playing games."

Sinister has posed:
"Which do you want me to answer first?" Seven asks, with a Lucifer smirk, lashes a little lowered over his red as red gaze. There is a shrug as he enjoys a lungful of cigarette. Another drag and ash is flicked with a simple motion of his thumb, which is not a thing either Nathaniel or Lucifer tend to do. "All it takes is a single tweak that wasn't quite right, for what was meant to heal, to undo. He played with fire when he unlocked the secrets of..." he gestures with the cigarette toward Lucifer "...our genome and it consumed him from the inside. Guilt is a fabulous thing though, isn't it? I didn't like that feeling and when the panic set in of this cloud of Sinister that was still hanging around, I let him in."

There's silence for a while.

"Lots of arguments in my own head later, we're together. Sometimes, I can almost look in the mirror and see him, but physical gifts he possessed rather obviously didn't transfer when all that was there was a mind." Sniff.

"And as to the second inquiry of the moment..." he grins again "...I'm helping. I'm just not keen on having to tackle that conundrum. Are you? I mean, if most of these were made by Nathaniel except for the one fluke, where does it actually fit in in Quantum? /Does/ it fit in? And Stretch is an ass."

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer frowns a little. Similar experiments, much different outcomes. He doesn't know what he would have done if Nathaniel injecting himself with the Luci-gene would have ended in such a...beautiful disaster. "Were you and he..." A pause. "Was it just friendship? Were you lovers?" Asking this as he takes another inhale of smoke into lungs, blowing it out slowly.

"Are you possibly suggesting that what we -actually- need to do is remove the one outlier of the group? The machine that's possessed by Stretch? Even if he is an ass, I'm a bigger ass, and if he doesn't want to play nice, I can certainly play dirty..." Offering this much as he tilts his head. "One out of the hundreds and thousands of others... might could be what's keeping everything out of sync. Always has to be a dirty cog in the machine, eh?"

Sinister has posed:
Seven doesn't reply for about a minute, letting his attention drift to the distance with tensions in his face fading away to a shadow. It makes him look very lonely, stood in the air, watching a world fighting to continue just -being-. "We were lovers. It was very new. I think from what I can tell, it mirrored your world up until that unfortunate moment. I think that's why I didn't just let it happen, because... well, it -was- all new and I wasn't exactly willing to let it just fizzle. Maybe if we manage to not poof spectacularly out of existence, we'll figure out how to extrapolate one another."

He hugs his chest again, flicking the ash with his thumb, drawing his focus back to Lucifer with a look beneath brows that manages SOMEHOW to convey -some- measure of innocence.

"Maybe. Possibly. Unless you can think of a nice and flower-persony way to correct that hiccup? I mean..." he grins "...what's the worst that could happen?"

Lucifer has posed:
"If anyone can figure that out, Nathaniel can..." Lucifer says this much, but he watches the body language and how it changes. A slight frown appears on his face. "I'm sorry. I'm sure that wasn't an easy decision to make...but I can almost feel like it was the right decision. The best one." He offers this much and lets that frown sort of form into a smirk. Course now he has a planned conversation with his own Nathaniel to perhaps introduce the idea and see if Nathaniel can science his way to a solution.

It could work.

"You know...the last time I asked that question I believe was when I decided to lick some magic ink..." He smirks. "It didn't go quite well.." A chuckle from him then before he shrugs. "But...I agree...what is the worst that could happen?"

Sinister has posed:
"Well, there's evidence that it appeared to be a good decision. Case in point..." A round about gesture with a single hand encompasses everything, conversation included. "I think I would have probably hit things with a hammer until something broke or pinged off, if I didn't have a very verbose instruction manual in my head at times. It's helpful when he highlights what he means illustratively in my mind." Seven slides a finger up his nose, like he's adjusting spectacles, ending the gesture with a light press of the red diamond embedded there, a flash of eyebrow elevation punctuating the gesture with a full stop.

"You also give me hope that if, when and how we manage to untangle this mess, I might even have some fun with a physical Nathaniel. Clearly we didn't implode relationshipwise..." he shrugs, laughs and shakes his head. "I think I must have missed that particular moment. Sounds like it was worthwhile, even still. Experience, right?" And a nod, just a single one. "By the by, you should poke him to look at the samples he took from Anna-Marie. It might help you... ahhh... circumvent a few issues with being able to fix things. He probably hasn't thought about it yet."

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer smirks. "I'm of the mind that, aside from leaving Hell, it's been one of the better ideas of my existence. To embrace the budding relationship that was there. And to think it started with a stroll on the boardwalk and a snowglobe." Lucifer hangs onto that memory for a moment, finishing his cigarette with a puff of smoke in his hand and then brushes off all the ashes. After a moment he shakes his head and glances over, giving a nod. "I can see where that would be beneficial. Most the times I feel like I have to look Nathaniel in the eyes and ask him to repeat some of the things he says as if I am but a five year old child...."

That all said, he thinks on this for a moment and then nods. "Seems I have a few things to discuss with my Nathaniel... and perhaps I ought take my leave now to go do such." He offers this and then smirks. "If there is anything we can do for you...please let us know. I am sure we will be in touch again quite soon.."

Sinister has posed:
Seven nods, it's a small thing but it's present. There is a fleeting expression of empathy, sympathy AND understanding all at once and he chuckles voicelessly. "Oh, if I come to any sudden lightbulb moments, I shall be sure to let you know. I have your signature, I can probably manage to project through quantum, with Nathaniel working out the math of it." A soft snort follows that, amused sounding.

Then, there's but a wave of the hand, a small thing done at the wrist, before he's floating off toward Atlantic City, apparently intent on doing some ground work there.

It might even be fun for him, you never know. Unleashing can be therapeutic.