16118/Interlude: The Space between the Stars

Interlude: The Space between the Stars
Date of Scene:	11 March 2024
Location:	Lucifer's Penthouse, Melville
Synopsis:	Building a secondary hot tub on the balcony. And a greenhouse. All to tidy the mind to know the space between the stars.
Cast of Characters:	Sinister, Lucifer

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Sinister has posed:
Roll with the crowd most nights and it's easy to forget that the universe turns around whether you watch it or not.

If you're occasionally incredibly antisocial, that tends to sneak more into the forefront of the mind. No doubt the events at Lux have been successful, a few wheels, a few deals, generally happy punters, some not-so-happy punters. It's all in a day's work.

One night, Lucifer came back to the ceiling in the penthouse being filled with the cosmos. That was interesting. it even had the moon tracking where the moon was outside, in the same phase and everything -- meterorites being tracked in real time, only without the light pollution of major cities and from the comfort of one's own living room. That was neat, right? And maybe a bit odd, but that's an aside.

The ceiling is normal right now, but damn is it chilly in here, because all the doors to the wrap-around balcony are open. This is because there's sounds of industry /on/ the aformentioned balcony, hammering and the sound of tools being used.

Lucifer has posed:
It's not the first time the ceiling has been turned into a space-tacle. (Play on spectacle) But it is the first time it's been accurate to the actual sky outside in real time, just without the city light pollution and therefore it's a 360 degree wonder of stars and meteors and distant planets galore. Lucifer gives a soft whistle of appreciation until he hears those sounds coming from the balcony itself.

With a raised brow, he still goes through his nightly removal of jacket, hanging it on the back of a chair, removes his tie to toss onto the couch and then undoes the top three buttons of his shirt. Belt is unbunckled and whipped from the waist of his pants, tossed aside as well. Then he takes one step outside to the balcony, taking out a cigarette to light while he looks to see what might be going on. "You know, there are these things called Planetariums... wouldn't you be able to see all this stuff in the same way? Not that I might our home being turned into one, I just wonder if the effort will give you what is needed in the end."

Sinister has posed:
"Real time data, transmitted from the Hubble and the Webb telescopes, added to the data from my own satellites, with considerably fewer questions asked. Though I have gone out to those on occasion. It's not as if the holoimagery is permanent..." Sinister is apparently building an outdoor hot-tub. Judging by how far he's come, it's right at the end of construction, because it's so much easier when you can manoever it all and hold it in place with thought.

Although this does mean that Sinister is currently a plumber. Where on EARTH did he learn that trade? Same as he learned how to do all the engineering he does, no doubt. It also appears to be a little bigger and by the array of planters surrounding it on various sides, unfilled... this might be the start of a summer oasis. But not in the winter. This is March! maybe he's getting the drop on later in the year!

Or maybe it's a peculiar sign of hopefulness.

"I figured I'd put in a glass roof on stilts make a mild dome over the top so it can be used during the rain. Also, double as a hothouse. I'm going to make this an epsom and salt water tub."

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer smiles and nods. "Ah, everything combined into one place that you can monitor. Without questions. Aside from your lover simply wondering why. Of course that makes sense...and again. I don't mind it." He looks back into the house through the windows and smiles. "I actually kind of love it. We could have all manner of space-type images on the ceiling, either for research or pure enjoyment." Then he looks back to the tub and plants and listens to what Nathaniel is doing.

"Oh. I love that idea. Could we add some sort of sauna type something at the end of the balcony? Epsom and salt tub. For curing random aches and pains we never get, or just letting ourselves soak in something a little more...luxurious?" He has to wonder, and watch as Nathaniel has become a plumber. Seemingly overnight.

"You sure you know what you're doing there, darling? We could always hire a plumber to do the work you know...Although I suppose plumbing is just a puzzle of pipes to put together."

Sinister has posed:
"I must commend your patience when it comes to me and my occasional cosmic rays of inspiration that seem to be logical and mental nonsequiturs," Sinister smiles the private smile of the doting who is still very much in the 'honeymoon' phase. "I shall have to show you how to use the watch, so you can program the imager for what you might happen to like."

Although the narrators mind did bad things and quietly saw the practical joke of Luci covering the ceiling in Gifs of him grinning and turning. BOTH WAYS!!

But as to the hot tub: "Well, a sauna... we could tuck it into the lea side of the balcony, but I don't see why not. They're easier to construct, I suspect." He looks at the lug wrench in hand, at Lucifer, at the lug wrench again and spins it in his palm. "What's the worst that could happen? I do usually do the pipe work and ducts in my designs. And I did machine this myself." Oh dear. "Three-D printing in a variety of materials makes life so much simpler."

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer takes another drag off his cigarette, flicking ashes that tend to just disappear rather than fly anywhere. "Is it patience? I just like seeing you work, and the changes you're making are things I would never think of... further, it makes me think that you're finally considering this place your home. First with the funiture pieces, and then with this on the balcony." Saying this much and then he takes another drag off the cigarette. "You almost done? Or need a break? Have a smoke, and a drink?" Asking this before tilting his head the other way to watch. Either in interest or admiration is unclear Perhaps it's both.

Sinister has posed:
It may well be both. Lucifer dislikes the cold, but it doesn't seem to both Essex in the slightest and woe betide that his clothing become dirtied, even if it doe shave its own secrets -- just a wifebeater on and sweatpants, barefoot. The physique is plain as day.

"Well, it has to be test filled and run, but that will take several hours... and... I suppose that I do. That I /am/ at home now. It maketh of me an irritable sod, when people disrespect our home."

He cleans off his hands, eyeing the smears left behind, as he floats tools away and stands to his full height. There is a grimace. "No matter how I try, I inevitably get grease where I do not want it to be."

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer eyes the man up and down once he stands tall in just the wifebeater and sweatpants. He swallows. There is no hiding the physique of the man he loves in this moment and all the signs of admiration are there. "It does. But I - too - dislike when people disrespect our home, our club, or each other. Comes with the territory of relationships and such I'm learning." He admits while going through the motions to light up a second cigarette, offering it out to Nathaniel.

"Is it ready for all that? Or do things need to set. Like the epoxy and such... that has to set first, right? Or are you using some sort of super setting stuff that you created yourself?" Mirth in the eyes of the Devil asking such questions. Then he motions. "Had I known you were hard at work out here I would have brought home some sort of take out. Not that we need to eat but it would have fit wonderfully in the provider bringing home something hot and fresh for their working spouse." Or something of that ilk. "Also. We can wash the grease off wherever it's gone... I'm sure of such."

Sinister has posed:
There's a moment where Sin is not aware of eyes upon him, too engrossed in the grime. But that doesn't last as that not insignficant weight is appreciated in the back of the psyche, which might just be snickering silently at him. Grey eyes tick over then up beneath brows and it elicits the devillish grin he can -sometimes- give. It really does pale in comparison to the real genuine article, but Luci doesn't usually get to -see- that one or feel its weight much. Because laws of existence and all.

"Oh, I have no doubt we can wash things off," the chin jerk, grin-broadening in response to the cigarette has him reaching for a clean rag, to wipe... well, possibly more than just the grime off. His hands -are- very clean as he hands the dirtied cloth over. "Burn that for me, would you?" sweetly asked, he looks down the short distance to the handsome devil he's occupying time and space with.

"Actually the doohickies have these rolls of tape these days that prime immediately, when you apply to the screw tracks on the piping. And the 'hard' plumbing is soldered. It should be ready to go. And if it's not, the roof is waterproof and we'll just end up with a monstrous mess all over the deck."

A pause "That feeling. Tell me more about that feeling. The one involving differences in outlook in relationship." His voice is slightly softer.

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer blinks, mostly because he feels like he's been caught, which causes him to grin. Then he sees the grin on Nathaniel's lips and while it's not HIS trademark grin - there is just something about it that causes the Devil to melt just a little bit. Maybe more than. He takes a slow breath in before taking another drag off the cigarette while his free hand takes the dirty rag and he burns it to nothing as requested. THEN he asks, "Couldn't we have just...washed the rag?" He wonders.

Doohickies. Nathaniel is using technical terms that Lucifer can actually understand! "Ah. So we fill it with water to make sure it fills and stays and then we drain it to make sure it drains correctly and then we fill it again but the second time is for the actual using of?" He asks, because somehow he's beginning to understands things. Kinda. The watch is likely helping.

There's a smirk at that last bit. "Well...not to name any specific occurrences...but there are times that I have wanted to send people six feet under and their souls to Hell for things I have heard in conversations you have. People who have entered our home, the club, and disrespected you...for whatever reason. I often times feel like a mob boss, and I want to just send my people to take care of the problem while keeping you safe. I know you can take care of yourself in almost all instances, but there is a part of me that wants to keep you wrapped up in a wing and protected above all costs..." And then, as if to drive the point home, his wings flare out. Brilliantly white and gleaming in the moonlight.

Sinister has posed:
"Yes. That very thing. In plumbing, so much of it is 'well, this should be right, but the best way to find out if it isn't is to run water through it and hope there's no leaks' --" and why professionals command quite a bit of moolah for doing it right more often than not.

Could that rag have just been washed? Possibly.

Words are spoken, shared in the evening gloom and backlight of NYC and inside -- living a life through the light, if one only looked and saw, they'd see that in Lucifer, all the time. He loves the light, even BECAUSE it takes a bright light to make the darkest shadow. Perhaps that's the point? And then... there are the wings. Nathaniel takes a deep breath, looking up and across their mantled brilliance and slowly back down to the man in the middle. He reaches a hand, brushes the curtain of feathers beneath one side, with the backs of his knuckles and fixes on eyes. "There are times when I feel like a sociopath, which is unique and unusual, mostly because I'm not used to -feeling- any of that. It probably still gets muddled, but there are times I've heard the call of sadism in revenge. But I also feel... safe. You make that happen, you know."

Lucifer has posed:
"And I hope to always make that happen. I want you to feel safe around me, always. You've seen me at my brightest, but also at my darkest points yet...and still you have remained. To find someone like that, so accepting and understanding. Willing to face it all and be there when those moments end. I say it often, but it remains true, I am a lucky Devil. And I love you, Doctor Nathaniel Essex. To the very end and beyond." Lucifer says this, shivering a touch at that rap of knuckle against his wings before one shifts to wrap the Doctor up within their span. This way Nathaniel can still have his cigarette and a wing to hold him.

The moment continues even as Lucifer shifts the subject a bit. "So, has anything come up interestingly in your combining all the telescope data with your own sattelites? Nothing else going to try and crash-burn into the world anytime soon, right? Or is there anything out there going supernova? Black holes colliding or any such?"

Sinister has posed:
There is just a smile to those words shared, but it shines with the same light that blinds others. And it is right. And it is good. And it is love. But perhaps something just can't quite escape notice, in the frame of black humour. "I'm sure there's a church to you somewhere where they'd desperately like to swap places with me. Aren't you the very King of luck? You, my dearling, are once in a lifetime. Never before, never again." And into that wing he leans, the warmth of it palpable and sheltering. It does make for a very good smoke-awning, though celestially speaking, that probably is both par for the course and cheapening of the Grace. (What did you do today Samael? Oh, I stopped the wind blowing nicotine into eyeballs." ... ... and it's a good job that that sort of nonsense doesn't happen!)

And of the Cosmos: "There's always black holes colliding to form super black holes. Novas. All that fun stuff. Nebulas forming new stars... but no, luckily all that seems to be far away. I have been... running math. You see, we can't track what's coming, because we can't measure it. But we can measure those things we know and see where there's discrepencies, you see. I've been working on an algorhythm that calculates the mathematic forces of dark matter, not by what we see, but by what we don't."

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer lifts his non-embracing shoulder in a shrug. "Possibly. You know. I've never thought of actually visiting a church dedicated to me. I know there's a whole religion of Satan worshipers... and wouldn't it be interesting if we just....showed up one service." He grins at the idea and then shakes his head. "As for wanting to switch places with you. Possibly? But, of course, it wouldn't happen. They'll have to keep worshiping me from afar, I think. I don't want to change a thing about my life in this moment." This much said and then he chuckles at the idea.

"I would like to watch that. All of it. One night watching black holes collide, one night of a nova, new stars forming...just.. all of it. With you. On our plush couch with whiskey and cognac, and perhaps some celstial music of sorts softly playing in the background." He then ponders. "I could go and watch it IN space if I wanted... but this?" He motions. "This lets us share the moment together without putting you into any sort of space-will-kill-you danger."

Sinister has posed:
"It certainly takes the edge out of the space between the stars, doesn't it?" Sinister looks under the canopy of the wings to their roost, his chin angled and grey eyes tracked higher, to those subtle little bits of technology he's peppered into Lux; extra eyes, extra ears, extra power buried deep beneath their feet. His focus swims back slowly, moment to moment, thought to thought to the devil.

It is sometimes very, very easy to forget who the Morningstar is, depending on where you stand. But he always is who he is, Nathaniel. "They'd be a mixed bunch you know. They all know, as I do, who you are and what. But half, I am sure, face the light and let it blind them. And half stand with the brightest light behind them, looking at how deep and dark and long their shadow has become. I think I would like very much, to watch that reaction, one day. And to know which way they face."

He slides an arm around shirt be'decked waists nearby, steps closer into the aspect of Lucifer and flicks his ashes into the ether.

"And tell them that we watch entire worlds crash and burn, get born and burn brightly, from afar. Because they don't need to know that I cheat like a pathological liar."

Lucifer has posed:
"It does, but that's a good thing right? Cause the whole, even though you're technically immortal, space would still literally kill you." Lucifer says this and then watches as Nathaniel moves his eyes, wondering on the thoughts within the mind but just letting the moment pass for what it is.

When it comes back around to those who worship the Devil as if he were truly some sort of god, Lucifer chuckles. "There would be. And there would be those who do it because they truly believe in me, and those who do it because they think it makes them seem edgy and...cool I guess. It would be interesting to see just how those reactions would be as well. And I might have to exert some sort of power in order to sus out the truth behind the lies." Which, in truth, fills the Devil with some sort of sinister glee.

The arm is felt, and Lucifer leans as Nathaniel steps, bringing them closer together and the wing holds a bit tighter. "Tell them. Yes. Because showing them might burst their already shriveled little hearts."

Sinister has posed:
"Oh, that's delicious..." like dark chocolate and cocaine, Sinister's voice has just the right pitch of depth and smoke to leave absolutely no doubt as to why that is his NAME.

There's a click of his fingers and the lights go dim on the balcony and brighten indoors. The fire flares brighter and the lighting turns a trace of red and orange and yellow, a lurid warmth that is both the comfort of a hearth and the flames of the inferno. The fire doesn't care.

"The art of discerning truth is rapidly getting lost you know. Maybe it'd be an abject lesson on their part."

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer grins and nods. "Indeed..." Saying this as he looks over to the tub which is likely filling with water now. How that's happening is anyone's guess. Telekenetic powers allow things to be turned after all. "And us the perfect pair to give those lessons, no?"

He takes a breath and then side-eyes his lover fair. "I can only guess that the longer you stand there in your shirt and pants covered in grease and grime the worse you are feeling. I know you. You hate being dirty...in some ways. Perhaps a shower...hot and soapy...with fresh scents to boot." He smirks, but he doesn't make a motion to move just yet. Noticing the lights dimming in one place, brightening in the other, with the fire burning brighter. "Then we can relish in the starscape you've made for the evening, calculations aside, it's a lovely scene....enjoying it and the fire. And each other. However that plays out."4

Sinister has posed:
"You know me rather too well, I feel. Indeed. I don't like to feel filth -- at least not the physical kind. Fastidiousness is one of the few virtues I possess..." and then the smooch. Stars are born, galaxies die in that instance. Because they always do....

"Set up the furs and order us something. I won't be long."

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer smiles and returns the smooch. Reluctantly the wing releases Nathaniel - but the wings do not disappear. Instead he nods and steps back inside. "I know you won't be. Furs, food and drinks coming up." He offers this and then goes to work on just that while his Sin gets clean and dapper - as a Sin does.