Owner	Pose
Sinister	It isn't often that Nathaniel Essex gets a pleasant surprise. Truly, his existence has a tendancy to attract the other kind in droves, but he has, in his patience, learned to enjoy novelty in all its forms, even if sometimes unpleasant or unexpected. But this? This could be very easily construed as pleasant. Someone actually took him up on a social engagement and a pleasant june afternoon stroll. And that's probably where every scrap of normalcy flees out of the window, running for the hills at the speed of rats fleeing a sinking ship. At an appointed time, wearing a rather old fashioned style with a distinctly modern twist, Sinister arrives at the bridgehead over to Oakwood, beneath the spines of wrought iron and cabling, over river and delta water that flow further out to the Atlantic. A dress coat, tailored of course and in black leather embroidered very subtley with black cat-gut across the shoulders and around the hem, in celtic ravens, he is otherwise black jeans, a walking cane of ebony, raebans and crisp linen poet's shirt and waistcoat. The breeze stirs, bringing the promise of salty tang to the nostrils as he checks his fob watch.
Lucifer	The Devil is often faced with people pleading for favors, or basking in all the ammenities that Club Lux affords them. A few times, he has been apart from the club, usually at night when the club is closed and he can afford some peace and quiet. The fact that someone offered a social engagement, during the day, outside the club was a refreshing treat and because of that plus the pleasure he takes in being in this particular persons company - Lucifer accepted. He isn't present in one moment, and then in the next there he is. He has shed his three piece suits for something of a bit more casual comfort but still a bit of flair. A pair of dark blue jeans, a pirate's tunic of soft cotton and off white in color, his hair is still black and slicked back, eyes that darker shade of blue. He offers a smile as he appears at Nathaniel's side, eying the check the man makes to his watch and then looking forward. "Were you afraid that I would be late to our engagement?" This asked in that dark and sultry voice he always has, carried by his earlier pride-stricken English accent.
Sinister	"On the contrary, I believe you arrived precisely when you meant to," Sinister replies with a small smile, showing the face of the antique brass piece, with the minute to the hour almost on its last stroke. "You do not strike me as a man that is ever late, or prone to being early, but precision? Every single time." He smiles to Lucifer, looking over the attire with the smile cresting to the corner of his eyes with it. He looks human though, for the purpose of not making a city of people panic or stare and ruin their stroll. "Debonaire and stylish as ever, Lucifer. I am pleased that you came." Heels click together and he turns with a nearly military precision, gesturing with the cane along the bridge to the promise of little cafe's, the Maltese Falcon club and silly snack foods by the waterfront. "The day finds you well, I trust? All t's crossed and i's dotted for the night's festivities taken care of?"
Lucifer	"As it always shall be. I share the trait with a fabled wizard, I think?" Lucifer seems to think on this for a moment before he lifts a single shoulder in a shrug. "One can never be one or the other if they always arrive precisely when they mean to." This offered with a little smirk and side eyes his companion. "I could say the same for yourself, Nathaniel. I do quite like this ensemble you've put together. And since I am out and about, a three piece suit would be a bit...much. Save that for when I'm doing business in the club.." As they begin to walk, Lucifer takes in the surroundings. The smatterings of small shops and eateries, pondering the quality and fashion of them. "Ah, it finds me well enough. I've all the i's and t's crossed and dotted as I can. With room to wiggle around a bit should the need arise. I am pleased that it rarely does...but one can never be too careful." He offers these words and then tilts his head, glancing up as a bird wings through the air above them. "And for yourself? I hope, all things considered, that you are doing well also?"
Sinister	"Why thank you, I felt I had to be true to an old fashioned aesthetic today. It felt right," glancing down at himself, Nathaniel clucks his tongue. "I was always a bit of a so-and-so for well made frock coats, which never really left me." And at the question, he muses. "Oh, I cannot complain. I indulged yesterday, as well you know. Today, my morning was spent checking up on a number of ventures and shifting investments on the TSI. I think I made about two million in trades, by the time I handed it to my assistant. Somewhere..." Sinister narrows his eyes, tilts his head as he sifts through information "...in Dubai. It is occasionally fortuitous that I can be in multiple places at the same time." He smiles, looking to the passage of wings up above. "And I have a mind on those that I am working with also, all of whom seem to still be ticking along. It is strange, lately. I've been feeling almost friendly, in some avenues, but I forget sometimes how much work people can be." He laughs at that. A little souvenir place on the opposite side of the street has quite the line-up, apparently for ice-cream that is home made. Children point to their flavours of choice and it seems to be doing a brisk trade in the afternoon. "THis reminds me a little of Southend on Sea."
Lucifer	Lucifer chuckles softly. "I suppose we both could have gone for something more modern, but I think that may not quite fit either of our asthetic." Commenting this gently before he listens as Sinister speaks on his day. "Ah, yes, quite the indulgence indeed as well. I have, also, gone ahead and sent a few bottles of that wine to Miss Frost's office." A pause for affect perhaps. "Sans any type of billing..." This causes him to chuckle. What's three thousand dollars worth of wine to perhaps sparking a reason for another visit from such a person as her. "Being in several places at once can have it's advantages. Though I wonder...should something happen to any of those projected personifications... does it reach the host in any fashion?" Perhaps not even a *bad* thing but just any sort of happenstance occuring. "Feeling friendly isn't as horrible as it may seem. Though, I suppose, you could always balance it out by doing something exceptionally dastardly if you should feel it necessary." Another glance around is given and Lucifer nods his head. "Does have a very similar appeal to it. I happen to like that most people are just minding their own... it's a refreshing break from being approaching consistently by the masses."
Sinister	They are being checked out though, by the occasional person on a walk with their dog, or young people, married couples. The men are striking after all, it should not be unexpected to draw some gazes. "Truthfully, it feels a little like a door being slammed shut and locked. It's not a common occurance, but then you either have to find the key again, or admit that that door isn't opening again." Smiling up at the sunshine, Sinister looks at a little stand selling T-shirts, sun-hats and snow-globes along with some other kitsch, soon strolling by. "I imagine she will be quite pleased by the gift of the wine, although I dare say for a while she will simply be smug about it. But it ought to have the desired effect after a while, once the novelty has worn off." He is quiet for a while though. "What kind of dastardly thing? There are plenty to chose from, but I suppose it is like a dinner menu with far too many choices, it becomes fraught with indecision. I'm just rusty at the friendliness thing. It doesn't crop up often enough that I've had much practice."
Lucifer	Lucifer actually pauses at the kitsch niche shop, plucking up one of the proffered snow-globes. This one a bit more like a glitter-globe really, as it's little sparkles flitter about whilst he gives it a subtle shake. The inside scene is a castle upon a jagged hill with a dragon curled about it's base. "Ah, I see. Well I hope that such things do not happen often, if at all." Regarding the explanation of being in multiple places at once. "Never understood the purposes of such things..." He now says, in regards to the globe he's holding, "and yet, I find this one especially intriguing. Almost makes me afraid my mortal shell is affecting my thought process to a point." At the commentary about Miss Frost, Lucifer gives a chuckle. "Well good. I expect the current wonder is how long it will take before she begins to truly wonder why she's not been billed for the bottles." A smirk. "Then, hopefully, the price can become one battle of the minds - if she so sees fit to indulge me." On the topic of dastardly things, he shrugs again, and then sets the globe down finally. "Mmn, and therein lies the problem. I wouldn't even begin to know what sorts of deeds to begin planting the seeds of within that lovely mind of yours, my dear Nathaniel." Saying this much before he shifts to perhaps begin walking down the boulevard once more. "Even I have my choices and yet also my limitations...both bound by limits of this mortal form but also... it takes a lot of effort to rain down destruction upon the masses...and would hurt business."
Sinister	Sinister looks to Lucifer's profile with a very slight squint of eye, probably against the light. "Not frequently. I am thankfully rather hard to damage, which has its benefits. No particular weaknesses that I've discovered yet, other than extreme and I /mean/ extreme concussion. It tends to make my molecular cohesion struggle far more than it ought. I did note yesterday, regarding having spent the first two weeks after aquiring shapeshifting, being little more than a gloopy puddle. The aftermath of that was surreal," There might be a story there, but for now he's not sharing it. The pause extends as his cane punctuates their steps, then comes to a stop, turning back to the kitsche stand. He pays the five dollars for the snowglobe and brings it back, considering it in his palm as he walks. "Glitter, castles and dragons? I suppose that could definitely be a subconscious manifestation. But it is quaint," it's held out. An odd gift. "I suppose I could always cause a ruckus, just to observe responses. But I think, I shall be demure and refrain from wanton acts of vandalism and destruction, it's not really my style. I don't see the point, you know? Other than venting and there are better ways to do that." He looks up at the architecture then. "It's very industrial, isn't it? Neo-gothic, mixed with a measure of bauhaus. It is a strange world we live in... the more I have seen, the less I realize I would have been equipped to handle it back when when all this started," he waves the cane at the concrete and cables, lights and civilization. "My young self would have stood and stared. Do you ever have those moments of sweet hindsight?"
Lucifer	"Yes. You did share that. About the goopy puddle, which I can only imagine... then to come out of that and into some sort of further put together wholly form. Well." Lucifer shrugs. "I could point out that you have spent your entire life playing god...but...at least it has been on yourself." For the most part. Does Lucifer know of Sinister's other antics? He could probably look it up in some sort of Tome of Everything. He won't however. As the globe is presented to him, he raises a brow and reaches to take it from the man, a more genuine smile tugging the corners of his lips upwards. "Mmn. Thank you. I now need to consider a proper place for it to reside within my shelves..." Which likely won't take much more consideration than placing it where he's already sure it will fit. He has a couple of kistch figurines of dragons and castles - one of which is actually an incense burner. This would fit well between the two. "See? You're not so bad at this whole being friendly thing after all... though sometimes gifts can mean a bit more, depending." Oh, Lucifer is now fishing but in a sort of subtle way. The fiend! At that last question presented by Nathaniel, Lucifer has to think on it for some time. "I often times long for simpler times... when naught but plague and famine ruled the world...this mix mash of times long past and times that have come is a bit...interesting. The fact that we can mould ourselves to fit within is a benefit... but... I can't quite answer the question as there were many more limitations back then for when I would leave Hell to come here. My path now is more because I got bored and so I finally decided to leave. There is nothing more or less for me to look back on and wonder about."
Sinister	Sinister blinks at that subtle fish. It is so elusive is it not? Looking part profile toward Lucifer, he raises an eyebrow lightly and lets his lazy smile polute his face. The rest, so much as it is a truth, brings about a shrug. "I am not god, though. It took a great deal of hard work and study, to isolate the genomes that trigger certain factors, as related to the gene related to mutation. I have that gene, that fleck of cosmic dust, but in my case it was not the M-gene, but others. Less. My stock was flawed. I named certain traits the essex factors for lack of anything better to call them and after /extensive/ study, set about myself." He shrugs lightly, looks straight ahead and frowns, as something seems to have occured to him, but this too, he doesn't share. "By the by, Lucifer, I do not really consider -that- to be a gift," he nods toward the snowglobe. "That was whimsy. Gifts take considerably more thought. That's why the vikings named an entire futhark rune after them. True gifts have greater meaning-- but perhaps a whimsy is worthwhile enough that a gift in the future, might be accepted?" He looks curious and perhaps eeeeeeeeeeeeeever so slightly hopeful. But he doesn't give himself much time to dabble in that emotion, it is a closeted thing and quickly protected once again. "So you have perhaps a little more experience than I. I would not have guessed... I had not imagined you to be... oh... I don't know if imprisoned is the right word. Bound by duty? I believe this is one of those situations where it's safe to say 'it's complicated', hmm?"
Lucifer	"I did say playing god, not that you are a god...though at this point with all your mish mashing, I suppose you're very close to god-like status aren't you?" Lucifer offers and then he lifts a hand to wave fingers in the air like he's willing it all away. "A detail. I'm not trying to get onto you for any of it. Far from such a point. I admire the work you have done - if I'm being honest - and look forward to what else more your research may uncover." A pause. "Providing you're still researching on things, of course." Then there's a thought. "The Essex factor... how quaint..." The globe is not a gift. It is whimsy. A fleeting thought that came to pass so that now it is in Lucifer's possession by way of Sinister's purchase of. "Well. This whimsy seems worthwhile. Which would mean that a gift, a true gift, would indeed be accepted. And cherished, further, for coming from someone such as yourself." He seems to chew on that phrase for a moment longer, but only that. The hopeful look he gains from Sinister is seen, but then he notices how quickly it ebbs away and so the moment passes and they move on. Those last words are mulled over and he shrugs. "I did my time. Served my penance. Who knew it would take him this long to decide when eternity should start." A pause, and then a chuckle. "So yes. Safe to say, in a nutshell, it's complicated."
Sinister	Sinister turns toward the boardwalk proper then, using a zebra crossing and everything. Safety first! Besides which, just walking out into traffic is gauche. "You flatter me. But in quite a few ways, I suppose that is the case. I do intend to do more self-experimentation, but there is a truth that is both frustrating and intriguing at the same time; there are compatable and incompatable factors. You can cause massive instability, if you add something that genetically argues with a different ability. Teleportation is unfortunatley one of them and after one of my rhesus monkeys that I had been working on exploded when teleportation was added to a range of psionics, I started studying those interactions. I call it the chimera project; it's very slow in progress, because unfortunately, sometimes you simply cannot know, until you try it. But I'm sure I'm boring you there," waiting for Lucifer to catch up, he pauses again, this time to purchase a cone of caramel kettle corn and a couple of fruity slush drinks from a vendor, proffering the choice of "Pink or Green?" This just has to be one of the strangest situations to a fly on the wall, or a passing hero on the run. It would be the kind of thing that usually requires a doubletake. "Do you have a summer residence, or have we not quite got that far in the layers of decomplication?"
Lucifer	Is there a joke here? Why did the Devil and the Geneticist cross the road? Perhaps that question should simply remain unanswered. "Quite the contrary, Nathaniel, despite what you might think.." Lucifer offers as they cross the boardwalk at the zebra crossing. He follows along until they pause once more at a confectionry stand. "I find all of that fascinating, and the fact that someone has taken the time is even more wonderful. I may not be able to quite follow along with all of it, but the majority makes sense. Though I would think an exploded rhesus monkey would make quite a mess..." He seems to ponder this even as the other man buys kettle corn and slush drinks. The color choice is prompted and Lucifer tilts his head. "Green." He chooses and then tilts his head in a certain fashion. "You flatter me as well. Seems we're both on a sort of precipice. A teetering edge? I'm just wondering when we may fall over, or perhaps back away not willing to make the leap. As much as you flatter, there is..." He pauses, shrugs. "Confusion... but... then I suppose I should be above such miniscule emotional constraints, should I not?" At that last question he shakes his head. "I have a place I could visit if I wish. Another who has seemed to taken a liking to my company and I his. Especially and since a few other notions...hit brick walls." A pause. "But no place of my own personal use, no." He considers. "Perhaps I should look into that. Especially since it wouldn't take much for me to move from one place to another should I be needed for anything in particular."
Sinister	"I wouldn't be able to say, Lucifer. This," Sinister gestures with the green cup, before handing it over with a flashed grin "...I don't know the rules of it. I don't know the rules of you. I am rather certain that what you see, sense, feel and are, is considerably different to what I perceive. But then, the same exact dicotomy of arguments can be made of every single other sentient being on the face of this world and others." He glances up to the sky, looking at clouds, at beyond. "One day, I shall visit other worlds and it will be magnificent. Just like Jules Verne." He smiles to himself at that, then exhales. "I suspect at this point, I ought to make note of the fact that we can both fly. It does make precipaces a little redundant, even the existential ones, the socially nuanced ones and the tingly unnervingly exciting ones. What MIGHT we discover?" But he steps down onto the beach area, where the boardwalk continues and shadowed little shops are tucked in under the street. Little cafes, little boudoires, taco joints and holes in the wall. There are storm drain tunnels here and there too, set back in the shadow. Just of note. The popcorn is offered then a bench is selected, halfway in shadow and half in light, where the strand can be viewed from beneath a shadowed parasol made of iron and salted wood. Beach combers hunt for treasure in the endless sand. "I have about two dozen places I visit all over the world, at least on a regular basis." He doesn't share all the ones he keeps secret. Pause, beat. "You truly are fascinated? It is quite ... a thing. You see, part of all of this is mathematics. The code of nature though, is a chaos equasion. Even the DNA follows the same fractal pattern. So far, physical empowerment tends to be compatable with almost anything, as far as I can tell. Thus, physical and psionic do not cause a counterargument. I have toyed with the idea of playing with extra sensory perception, or if I can manage the understanding of residual energies... psychometry. That one is very tricky."
Lucifer	"The rules of me are simple. In so far as it's another It's Complicated scenario. As I explained last night. In this mortal form... I am limited to a point. If I wanted to actually do anything substantial, I would need to shed this shell and take on my true form. And even that can differ depending on the day." Depending on how Lucifer is feeling about himself. He follows Sinister to those benches and gives a smirk. "To visit another world would be magnificent indeed...and yes...I know we can both fly. You can likely do such with a thought...I would have to spread wings. Though I suppose that's not nearly as faux paus as it would have been a century ago...what with mutants now more publicized than ever." So sprouting wings and flying wouldn't really cause much anyone to bat an eye. As they sit on that bench, Lucifer sits among the shadows, leaving Nathaniel to sit within the light. Though, he takes a look one way and then the other for anyone who may be looking even in their general direction and when satisfied that all attention may be off them, he procures a bit more shade for Nathaniel. The popcorn is taken, as is the slush drink. He then listens, munches, drinks... and then allows the slush to levitate near him so he can switch hands with the popcorn to free the hand close to Nathaniel's person. Even as the man is talking, Lucifer turns a bit to face him, to listen intently and follow along. Though after a short time, he shifts a closer hand to push back a stray strand of hair behind Sinister's ear - if allowed and not deflected - which would, in kind, allow fingertips to briefly brush against skin. "So the power of the mind and the body are not so connected that they fight each other if and when enhanced, in your findings...but adding in a manipulation of the whole - such as when teleporting - and the whole thing goes to shit." A pause. "Must be a work around somewhere..."
Sinister	"There likely is," Very still, poised even, Sinister lifts his chin into the light and into the touch, so light as it is. His chest rises, a deeeeeeeeep deep breath taken in that singular moment. There is no shying, turning toward the shadow, he leaves his eyes almost entirely furled, regarding through lashes with ice-blue eyes that sport a core of red in the shade. The popcorn is placed in the air, left to hang much like the slush which is held in his far hand, resting his arm along the back of the bench. He makes to play with Lucifer's mid-back with the edge of his thumb, but he leans forward toward the devil here and in a sotto voce whisper says: "I didn't mean -those- rules." Sip. "Oh, Kiwi-strawberry." Aaaaand back to the moment. "But you are correct, your wings would not make anyone look twice in this world we live in, which I suppose is excellent and a shade thrown at society that we can be so blase these days. Are they white? Or golden? Or bronze?" Pause. "I know you think, you feel, you are. You have your own will. But there is where knowledge stops. I cannot fathom a Celestial being, likely unto the same as I could not fathom any other, without learning and experiencing. Dabbling. Exploring. Do you see the same things I do? DO you even -see- the same way I do? Now that's a very interesting thought to unravel... Do you feel the same things..."
Lucifer	Lucifer raises a brow, but it's a subtle thing, while watching as Sinister turns towards him. The popcorn hanging in air while the two men inch closer together. His own hand, once hair is tucked back in proper place, shifts so that his arm rests gently on top of Sin's own outstretched across the back of that bench. Fingers touching against the cowl of his jacket before subtly reaching to touch the back of Nathaniel's neck. Those whispered words, he just about answers them, until Sinister sips and declares the flavor of the slushie. "You'll not so easily be able to get out of this one, Sinister..." Lucifer offers darkly, "What rules are you refering to? There are so many..." His head tilts in such a way and then he chuckles. "Remember when I said my form depends on my self reflection? My wings are the same. On good days they are feathered and pristine white.. on worse days they are leathery and solemn black." A smirk. "I would surmise that, under current circumstances, they would be white and feathered...which is likely a good thing." His head then tilts the other direction and a chuckle comes from him. "All of the above and then some, my dear Nathaniel. I see, perceive, feel...in many ways. I have loved and lusted, hurt and broken...but you'll have to lure me in just a little bit deeper if you truly wish to dissect my mind - and do not tell me that is not a thought within that pretty brain of yours.." His voice remains, as it has been since they've closed distance, a whisper of darkness and tinged in sultry. The Devil's tongue is silver, and brilliantly so.
Sinister	Sinister's eyes flare just a little wider at the response, words as powerful as heroine in the bloodstream. His lips play ohhhhhhhhhh-so-subtle. A tick, a lift, not a smirk, something /else/. "I would not dream of being so disingenuous as to say I wouldn't love to take a peek inside pandora's box," He leans in closer coming in in a swoop so he looks eye to eye, left, then right, then left, then right, faces making the shape of eternity between features, embodied in an hourglass. The hand that touches the back curls, plays the frets of that particularly forbidden guitar and plucks the strings along the spine of such a very clever instrument. His voice is pitched low, deep. "To read you would be the acomplishment of a lifetime, you know. You have done all of those things? Have you ever healed?" The hourglass is now a candlestick, so close. Sluuuuuuurp. "Still kiwi-strawberry." He tips the straw right under Lucifer's nose and his eyes -glitter-.
Lucifer	"Child's play. I have that in a closet somewhere." Pandroa's Box, he likely means, or something akin to it. Many have claimed to own it, to open it and shut it just to lose it again. Oh Lucifer knows what Nathaniel means, but... there's something about playing on those words. Keeping the man just there. Interested, piqued, but not satisfied. His own fingers shift to trace against the flesh at the back of that neck, some curling into hair, then others. A subtle shift until Lucifer's gained a good little fistful. To keep him there, possess, disable movement and push a bit against the force he feels so beautifully. "I have done all of those things and then some. If using my feathers for their ability to do such as heal, then yes. Not a commonly offered thing, but in dire needs..." Lucifer offers as the hourglass becomes a candlestick, the flame so close to burning and he perhaps swoops in to close the distance... To a straw from which he sips. "Kiwi-Strawberry indeed..." Taking in the gaze that glitters, and his own flickers, the blues of his eyes a bit brighter and the pupils now nothing more than flickering flames. The straw is relinquished, and replaced, by a brief passing of lips against lips - a subtle shift - a test. "Which chapter would you like to begin with?"
Sinister	"Prologue daaaaaaahling, you don't dive into the middle of the chronicle," said /against/ lips, so each single syllable tickles, pain does not seem to bother Sin in the slightest. It may even have its own added zest, like that kick of lime in the marguerita. "I might even begin with the dedications," his head turns, screwing his own scalp against fingers, to inhale the pulsepoint at the neck, damn near vampiric. Except that there are other things told by such things. Lust? It has its place. Desire is a chainsmoking gender fluid slice of seduction that never inhales that desperate nip. And Dream? Makes the world go away. Of all the things to do in the wake of THAT moment, Sinister choses to clutch his fingers where they hold the tunic at Lucifer's back and then to pull him closer... into a hug? Yes. His hand releases and spreads, cradling instead of grasping and he makes to rest his chin upon the devil's shoulder with a slow, poignant sigh.
Lucifer	Everything has its place. It's time. It's final destination. Lucifer takes in both the words offered, and the way that they come with those brushing of lips against lips with each syllable spoken. Then the head is shifting, and Lucifer does not keep his grasp in a way that forbids such - and in fact - perhaps even helps to guide. His own head tilts in a way to expose more of that pulsepoint, lips parting to draw in a breath not needed but given to enhance the moment just that much more. Then, in another moment, among silent offerings that further both men, he finds himself...hugged. Such an interesting gesture, and yet his hand relinquishes it's hold in the other man's hair, items are all set to levitate where they were once held and that hug is returned. An embrace not oft seen or experienced, and a moment of respite for them both. He holds, he squeezes gently, and keeps for a moment longer. Relaxing, even just a touch, hearing that sigh and after such turns his head to gently nuzzle against skin and coat alike. "As you wish, dear Nathaniel."