Owner	Pose
Lucifer	Something like this takes planning. Timing and planning. Timing because such has to be right. It cannot be done hours after decisions were made. No, time has to pass a bit, things have to settle. Then you simply put your heart on the line and prove that things still mean something to you. Also, to make it seem less like a begging for things to go back to the way they were. This isn't that. This is merely a sign. A symbol. In the only way that Lucifer knows to make it. Loud and proud. Planning was just the details - which of course he's got a knack for being in. The piano placed in such a way, the PA system set up so it gets all he's doing. Permissions to make such changes - easy to get when one owes you a favor or two anyway.... The note would be delivered with a single deep purple rose (yes, a REAL purple rose), a single helium balloon in the shape of a heart that says 'I love you', and the note is a rolled up piece of old school parchment paper. The note simply says : Grand Central Station. Noon. And the date. ... Then that day comes. It's five minutes til. But will Nathaniel answer the calling?
Sinister	This probably doesn't work all the time. Some people would find this abysmally embarassing. Others probably get a tremendous kick out of it. Yet more are probably just stunned and don't know what to say to such grand gestures. But Grand central station? Well, it's a nice building. And there are trains there. Quite like trains. They're a surprisingly simple, but extremely useful icon of the industrial age. WIthout trains, none of what came afterwards, would have happened quite the same way. So. There might be a model train station somewhere in a place Sinister doesn't tell anyone about and he might have actually travelled on the original model by Trivethick and then on the original Stephenson steam locomotives. He might well be here, beneath the clock, looking at it and his fob watch, but his face is a businessman in the crowd, at least for the moment. Only when it seems that there's safety to be had here, does the appearance become familiar, grey of eye, Modern Victoriana, he looks like he's going to a Steampunk convention, truthfully.
Lucifer	There is no fanfare when the clock strikes noon, and Lucifer makes no move to approach Nathaniel even when the man sort of makes himself known. He simply sits himself at the piano which is also slightly out of sight so there's no REAL way for Nathaniel to know what in the world is about to happen. The PA system chimes on and there's the sound of the piano being tuned or played idly for a moment before it delves into song. A particular song...which may not completely fit lyric by lyric but the meaning behind it as a whole - at least to Lucifer - fits well enough...And soon his voice along with the piano comes over the PA... "It's a little bit funny...this feeling inside...I'm not one of those who can...easily hide. I don't have much money...but boy if I did... I'd buy a big house where... we both could live..." And then, in the middle of GCS of NYC, a space comes out and dancers begin to fill the hall in a sort of ballet meets freestyle ballroomish slow dancing. Flash Mob. Nathaniel Essex is being flash mobbed. "If I were a sculptor...but then again..no...or a man...who makes potions in a...travelin' show. I know it's not much but..it's the best I can do... my gift is my song and...this one's for you..." The piano is still being played but it's wheeled into the middle of the dancing crowd. An Elton John impersonator now playing it with Lucifer standing on top of the Grand, reaching out towards Nathaniel himself. "So excuse me forgetting...but these things I do... you see I've forgotten if they're red...or they're blue.... anyway, the thing is...what I really mean... yours are the sweetest eyes...I've ever seen...and you can tell every body...this is your song." He begins to step down from the piano then. "It may be quite simple but...now that it's done... I hope you don't mind... I hope you don't mind... that I put down in words...." Reaching Nathaniel with a hand held out. "How wonderful life is...now you're in the world..."
Sinister	Sinister's eyes, covered by purple lensed goggles with brass finish, look up at the PA system as soon as the piano starts to play. "Oh, gosh..." and then it begins. The thing. THis is a THING. Actually, this is a spectacle and damn if it isn't exactly what Lucifer likely envisioned it to be -- Nathaniel's hand goes over his mouth, kind of stuck in this position with his other hand on the handle of his walking cane, surrounded by dancers. He even walks out into the dancers, FULLY aware of all the camera phones that are out and recording this. It will go viral in a very short period of time and there's virtually nothing he can do to stop that from occuring. Too many phones, too much data streaming and he can't control them all! So, instead, he goes with it, even doing a spot of ballroom bow-and-twirl, some Fred Astaire -- though he really wasn't the star of that. You have to remember Ginger Rogers did everything Fred did, backwards and in high heels. And then the piano wheeled out, the Devil atop of it, EVEN MORE cameras out because the Notorious Lucifer Morningstar, playboy of Lux is serenading some random man in GCS, who is quite thoroughly PINK now. "~Everyone is watching!~" he hiss-whispers as the hand is extended and he glances aside, whilst the hand is taken, drawn to looking at a thousand screens held up and then Lucifer's face. "You mischief!"
Lucifer	"Yes, but you love me..and know that sometimes I have a nerve to be theatrical..." Lucifer offers, microphone down so none could really hear that. "But tell me darling...would you have me any other way?" He smiles then, the microphone handed off, Elton John still skimming over keys as Lucifer drags Nathaniel closer then and seals the whole moment and further words with a kiss. Passionate, heated, but somehow also brief, with a nip and a rub at the end. "I love you, Nathaniel Essex. Will you go on a date with me?" It doesn't take much for the song to be over and the dancers to go, the phones to finish recording but still a myriad of whispers and murmurs fill the station as people begin to go about their days. Leaving Lucifer and Nathaniel surrounded by a bustling crowd in GCS and the Devil waiting for an answer on pins and needles it seems.
Sinister	It's probably a good job that the kiss is brief, it might have gotten awkward otherwise, with enough of those cameras still rolling. Oh, there'll be internet chitchat over that. Who IS that man? Who has Lucifer been woo'ing that deserved a Flashmob? But there was applause, and when all eyes are not turned on this moment, right here and right now: "I do, damn you. Damn me, too. The man of panache and star quality, indeed..." Around the crowd of people now going about their business, Sinister's eyes travel. "I suppose you've swept me into it, so you definitely have my attention. And we're in a station, I have no doubt we could get on a train if we wanted. Or go into any cafe, or out onto the street. Did you have any escape route so that I can pop this huge pink powderpuff of embarassment I have hanging over my head?"
Lucifer	"I did, but it's the middle of October, so I've had to do a little compromising..." Lucifcer says this and then he takes Nathaniel by the arm and they walk, weaving through the crowd until one step, two step, three...they're in a clearing. A grassy clearing surrounded by woods. A place where they have been twice now. Once when Nathaniel met the Angel Samael in all his glory...and once when someone destroyed it before he renewed it again. Now a third time. There's a picnic basket, a blanket, the skies are dark and the stars are out with a half moon shining. "A place where none can follow us..." And in the picnic basket? All of Nathaniel's favorite foods, a bottle of the best cognac money can buy, and a few things Lucifer has grown to love food wise. "I do hope you like it..."
Sinister	One step, two step, three step, FOUR. No more though, that rhyme is gone roamin' in the gloamin'. From Light to Dark has Sinister's steps faltering as the clearing is viewed, all the memories associated with it tumbling straight back to the forefront. He doesn't look upset though, merely that he can't seem to get his feet to cooperate with him. They're rooted as he looks up at the canopy, to the stars above and the moon that hangs there: the judge's moon, half in light, half in shadow. His hand has found itself over his mouth again, the goggles lifted up to his hairline and acting like a hairband, squiffing his longer bangs up to frame his forehead where they fall over the fashioned lenses. If he had fans, they might end up thirsty with just how things managed to fall there. He takes a very deep breath, looks down at his feet and taps the ball of one a couple of times, to check that they're operational, then walks with care to the picnic laid out. "This is... a little much. Not over the top, but it's a little surreal, my love. Oh my. Tiny little tea-cakes. Petite fours! And fresh earl grey tea..." in a pot, not a flask, which had to have taken coordination. "... and here. I don't know what to say."
Lucifer	"I figured if we're going to date, then we'll start at the beginning. Sort of. Start at the moment I fully realized that I love you, and that I would allow you a glimpse into me. The whole me." Lucifer explains as he watches Nathaniel take those steps to the picnic and gapes at the offerings there. "A simple picnic. A moment alone. To regain ourselves. What we are together..." A pause. "Maybe I rushed things... bringing you into my home, in to my life, settling down a bit quicker than I should have. Giving you promises that, ultimately, I couldn't keep. This is my apology. My way of trying to make things right. I love you. I love Vlad. I want to make things work for everyone. More importantly, I want you to know how much you truly mean to me, apart and together." He's rambling now, which he does when he's nervous. "Anyway, please. Come. Sit." And he sits, patting a space next to him on the blanket.
Sinister	"Hopeless romantic," those two words are whispered as Sinister sits down, looks about the clearing with a wide-eyed regard, up at the sky again, to count some of the stars and slowly back to the devil. He looks about at all the little offerings, smiling a very small little smile that he calms to sincerity as he looks back to Lucifer's face in moonlight. "..." the words not there, he reaches for hands instead, taking Lucifer's in his own and squeezing the fingers, looking there at simple limbs, holding one another. "You know... that's why I told you off for making promises to me and asked you not to do it. They're very easy to say, very hard to keep. I didn't want you to end up breaking them. To /only/ offer them if you really mean and will fight to uphold the spirit of them. It's also why I only ever... asked for the one deal out of you. I don't want that." He continues looking at hands, squeezes the fingers. "You have pianists hands. Which is a rather obvious statement, I suppose. They're elegant."
Lucifer	"I know. And still I made them. Because I'm Lucifer fucking Morningstar. The man who doesn't tell lies. So when I make promises I keep them because to break them would be to lie..and yet..." He looks down at his taken hands, squeezing Nathaniel's right back. "I won't do it again. We have one deal, and I ... don't think I've broken that one yet. Don't plan to either. I was too new to love, and wanted everything to be perfect, thinking that it was you and me and nothing could ever be imperfect." He smiles. "Over ambitious. Things will go slower now, better than...but I am sorry for fucking up the first time around. If you can find it to forgive me." That last comment causing him to smirk. "I suppose I do... have pianists hands. Thank you... they've treated me well thus far. Petit-four?"
Sinister	"Well, unless you plan on letting the eternal flame go out..." Sinister replies softly and trails off with a lump in his throat and a squeeze of the fingers. He huffs a breath out, with a smile. Fanning at his face as he releases one of those hands. "I'll be fine," he assures, leaning over to take a look at the little cakes on offer. "Ohhh, cherry bakewells, they're always good," it's a little bright, those words, but he tucks in, playing mother with the tea, to pour black with a slice of lemon for each. All the while though, he was listening. Intently listening. "I think I can forgive you for being eager and in that first flush," he hesitates a moment, then holds out his bakewell to share. Sharing food has significance, after all.
Lucifer	Lucifer shakes his head, but he has no words. They're lost in a moment as he listens to Nathaniel's words when they're offered and watches his motions. "I believe you..." He offers. "If this is too much..." He begins, but then Nathaniel is diving into the cherry bakewells and Lucifer can't help but smile, watching as he eats and teas. When the offer of forgiveness comes, it seems like a weight is lifted off Lucifer's shoulders. Like a fear is now squashed. "Good. I know such may take a little time but...thank you." Then the bakewell is offered and Lucifer leans in to take a slow bite. "Oh... these are wonderful." There's more in the basket beside them, bakewells just an appetizer perhaps.
Sinister	Crumbly and very tart in the middle with a hint of lemon to offset the cherry. Bakewells are a very english tea-cake, for sure. "I hope so. Most of the little tea-cakes and petit-fours I recall were competatively created, usually for a celebration of one form or another. The Victoria sponge, the cherry bakewell, battenberg, napoleon slice, chelsea buns... along with all the sauces that used to be had, to excite the palate. The only two that regularly survive to today, are mayonaise and worcester. Condiments survived better, I suppose. Little slice of culinary history that you probably didn't need to know," he laughs at that, draws one foot closer to himself, to adjust how he sits, to look over at water-cress and cucumber sandwiches with a soft sigh at the cornish pasties. "I must admit, I am afraid, Lucifer. I wasn't before, but I am now. There's an annoying little niggle of fear that keeps hounding me."
Lucifer	So the bakewell is surely enjoyed and Lucifer listens as Nathaniel explains about bakes, and the ins and outs of them. Along with things that have survived to today which does not include most of the pastries that he mentioned. "Well that's a shame. More places should make these so the world can enjoy them..." This much and then he laughs. "I don't mind learning any sort of history from you, my love." Then he watches as Nathaniel draws himself a bit more inward and the conversation turns a little. "Afraid? What are you afraid of?" He reaches out to touch the closer knee.
Sinister	Oh, there are surviving niches of these things, but most exist solely in britain. They didn't spread out anywhere else, more's the pity. "I feel a little silly telling a being that's billions of years old, about what is basically a recent drop in the ocean, so to speak. I know you were paying attention to far bigger and far smaller things at various points in time, but it seems surreal..." Sinister replies, with a chuckle, then to have his knee touched. He looks at the hand, reaches to take it with both his own to cradle it between palms, sandwiched. It's a hand sandwich. He glances off to the side, as if looking at something, frowns and looks back, up from hands to face. "Having my heart bruised, mostly. Maybe even broken. I know you love me, that isn't even a remote possibility of being misunderstood and I hope you know I love you." A reversal of the time it was said the other way. "I feel like a fool though. Like I've let myself be fooled, or that I fooled myself and that's made me wary that everything beneath my feet might just be thin ice. It's a horrible feeling. Worse, because I've missed you terribly. I don't like a cold bed any more. That leaves me feeling hollow. Terribly hollow."
Lucifer	Commentary about pastries and such things as history fall to the side the moment that Lucifer feels his hand taken and sandwiched. He watches Nathaniel's face even as the man glances off, then back to hands before catching gazes together. In this moment, he listens to everything that the man before him has to say. A tension drawn as Nathaniel speaks about his heart being bruised, even broken, about how they love each other. Then how somewhere along the way something foolish has happened at an unknown fault before admission of missing and hating cold beds. "Well I...I don't know why you feel like a fool, or like you've been...fooled. Like, I don't understand where that feeling comes from. And my bed is cold as well. Big and cold. None have come to fill it, and none will, because I haven't...there hasn't...it's only you. Nathaniel. It became our bed and you're no longer within it and I can't...I won't...fill it with anyone else." Then he sighs. "What do you want, Nathaniel? How can I make all of this right?"
Sinister	Sinister doesn't unsandwich the hands, but there's a definite feeling of being flicked int he forehead by an invisible finger. "It isn't only me. Stop saying that it's only me. It /isn't/. That's a fib." But his hands squeeze Lucifer's. "And that's not an argument against anything, I'm just... /saying/. Ok? Ok. And that's probably where the fooling feeling comes from. Just... go with me." He closes eyes for a moment, purses lips, nods to himself and continues on, eyes opening to match the devil's. "I knew. I know. I don't hold your heart exclusively, but behaviours are confusing. I suppose a little bit of me wondered, but I ignored it, because you genuinely seemed to absolutely and utterly want to build a regular life -- coming home, chatting, doing the things you do outside, but that was a place where you could relax, where rest was warm and companionable. I truly -don't- want to rehash things, I just want to try and help you understand, I guess. It doesn't matter where you get your appetite, as long as you come home for dinner. Am I... was I... the coming home for dinner? I don't think I was. It's complicated, I'm sure. Does Vlad want to live with you, too? Unlive, I suppose. Erm." He trails off there. "That just didn't come out right /at/ all."
Lucifer	"I think I get it. And you're right. It's not only you in the grand scheme of my love life. It's you and Vlad. It was only you filling that bed for a while however. And somewhere I latched onto building a life with you. A come home after a busy day, relax and talk, unwind and just exist together life. And it was amazing...but in doing that I neglected Vlad. In trying to make all that right...something went upside down and I don't like it." Lucifer offers. "I haven't talked to Vlad about moving in with me...with us..." He corrects that last line. "And if he was of the mind to do so, then we would need a house, because the Pent is just...too small and too...intimate. I think." A breath taken in and out then. "the Penthouse and the Cottage are ours. Maybe the Cottage could be shared, but, I also think there should be a place where we could all mingle together. I believe Vlad may be a bit fond of you as well, Nathaniel, even if you do not share the sentiment with him." Eyes sparkle just a bit at such a thought. "I don't know how much of that made sense... but... I've been trying to come up with ideas I guess..." Obviously.
Sinister	"He is fond of me, but I am still fighting the feeling like I am prey. I am not. Maybe in future interactions, that will become obvious; I understand at least in principle, the hunger -- that is for myself and himself to work with and mould to our design. I respect him." To the extent that he was willing to work out work-arounds and scientific syntheses to assist the hiding of that bloodline from society, integration and otherwise. There's another flick feeling to the forehead though. "The penthouse is plenty big enough for him also, but you would have to live your life in shadow, for important parts of your day, or move the bed you share to a place where the sun won't hit him. And you, you've a love for the best of views, a love of the light and the spectacle of being in the middle of it... even if you then hide in the shadows and cling to the darkness you think you were born to. All my clothes fit in one single wardrobe, that which I haven't mastered the knack of shaping out of my own self. AS far as space being taken up, the penthouse of Lux is absolutely big enough for three people, it may not be big enough for three egos, though." He teases.
Lucifer	"Why fight the feeling? Even /I/ am prey to him..." Lucifer offers, with a slight jovial tone, but there's something that speaks a bit of seriousness with it. "Still, I trust you two will work things out together in your own time." Then he listens to what Nathaniel says about the Penthouse and how it's big enough for three people but things would need to be shuffled around or amended, how Lucifer likes the light and the dark for different reasons. "Oh I could accomodate Vlad living in the Penthouse easily enough and still have a room where if I wanted to bask in the sunlight, we could." He offers this and then chuckles at the last thing about egos not fitting in the Penthouse perhaps. "Okay smart ass. Is that something you would be open to? Vlad coming and living in the Penthouse with us? I surely don't mind it, but if I'm going to invite, I want to make sure I have your permission. All on the same page and such so no one gets hurt in the long run right?" He reaches for a sammich then, loving a cucumber and watercrest sammich himself.
Sinister	"Because I am not you," even with the jovial tone, Sinister has to untangle hands then, to bop nose and settle himself to a watercress and cheese sandwich. There is something very traditional about them, in refined English culture after all. "I will explain it: I spent my life being in the shadow of an Admiral of the navy, being not a military son as would perhaps have been expected, but a man of science instead. Although doctors were respected, I was still less than my father was as a man in society and society was cut-throat. I learned early, as a small boy for my age and a sensitive fellow up until I found my feet, that being a weakling was not a good thing. I have never let myself be prey for anyone -- even when they tried to lynch me, I turned them to my perspective. I've done it my whole life. Being a healer, does not make me weak. I am prey to nobody... if I give, I give because I choose to do so. I am nobody's fodder, you will not take from me without my permission." That is essentially what happens for Lucifer, also, but he has significantly more of a kink for it than Sin does. "You should ask him if he even wants to, but yes. I could handle it quite fine, I would suppose."
Lucifer	Lucifer raises a brow, but he does listen to all that Nathaniel explains and then gives a nod of his head. "I get it. Trust me I do. I was mostly joking. My allowance of being prey to Vlad comes with benefits that both he and I enjoy. I am surely not actually telling you to let him make you prey. And, he would never without your permission, but I am sure that is something left to be proven in the long run." He offers this and gives another nod. "I will ask him then, and see where this all leads. But, at the end of it, I do intend to bring you home and share a bed with you again. As I do not think I could suffer another night alone." He says this much more and leaves it at that. Perhaps a response, perhaps not. But the intention remains to enjoy the clearing, the picnic, each other...under stars and moonlight to their hearts content. Tomorrow is, yet, another day.