Owner	Pose
Lucifer	Contemplating eyelids ends after a jaunt through a memory of an event that ended in tragedy for many people. It still provided a bit more insight into the man that Nathaniel Essex is as a whole - or perhaps was growing into. Still, memory trips shouldn't last forever and at some point that resembles morning, Lucifer awakens and spends a couple of minutes regaining his link to the real world before slowly shifting to roll over. Though he's not getting out of bed, not yet. Instead he turns towards the man he shares this bed with, atop the covers as that is how they went into the dream world, curling arms around his lover to cradle him close for a moment. Decidedly needy and in a mood to simply hold and cherish for a lingering space of time before letting the day actually claim them for any work that needs to be done.
Sinister	Sinister, in repose seems a much gentler man and younger for it. His newly lengthened hair falls in a spread over the pillow, his face turned toward Lucifer whilst he lays upon his back, right hand laying across his diaphragm. Slow breaths tell the story of being still quite deep into eyelids... that is until he is gathered up against and held. Somnolence sloughs off with a deep inhale and subtle rise toward the light, lashes opening enough to shine the ruby through them and he smiles. "Oh, hi," softly murmured with thick tone, he rearranges himself with the slow molasses speed of the still a'bed, arm sliding beneath Lucifer's shoulder, to make of himself a pillow. "I think sometimes, that I dream I am. Then I will wake up and all will be folly. But then, I keep awakening and there you are."
Lucifer	"Hey there, yourself." Lucifer offers softly before leaning in to press lips against forehead while Nathaniel makes that so very slow motion of turning towards him. Shifting an arm in such a way that someone becomes a pillow, and then there's nuzzling. "And you will keep awakening to me being there, aside from the times when I am not - but those are fewer and fewer as our live meld closer and closer together. A thing I surely do not mind." He offers, nuzzles again, and breathes deep the scent of freshly awoken Sinister. "Mmn...I could lie here all day...yet I know there is work that needs to be done. Yet also I am in no rush, and I don't think you are either...so what shall we do in the interim?" A pause and a chuckle. "Shame there's no room service here..."
Sinister	"Mmmmmmmmmmmm," aaah, the sinful stretch. Like a warm python, bits of him brush sinewy and strong all over the place as he reaches up tautens this muscle and that muscle as he wakens them, extending leg and arching back. The relaxation after comes without tremble or hesitation. "I like the thought of that. Wonderment will never cease, mmm?" He chuckles, considers as nuzzles are festooned, returned and chased with the brush of lips, burying his nose in Lucifer's hair thereafter, breath a warm bath against the scalp. "Who says there's no room service? Did I? I think not. This is the Institute. My Institute!" Pause, beat "What do you fancy?"
Lucifer	Lucifer shakes his head. "I do not think it will no." Wonderment cease, he means, of course. As nuzzles are returned, followed by brushing lips and nose against scalp, the Devil lets out a soft sound of pleasure. After a moment, he pulls back when Sinister mentions that this is his Institute and no one ever said there wasn't room service. "Me?" He thinks on it a moment and then answers - "Fried chicken and waffles, with an apple and a banana..." It may sound strange, all of that combined, but for some reason to him it just sounds good. "And coffee. I have a strong urge for coffee..."
Sinister	Sinister's face seems to smooth out a moment, then two, and then returns to animation with a chuckle and a rub of the nose with the back of his hand. "Done and done. Are you having a southern style morning? There should only be sweet tea," he proffers with a grin, just as the bed starts to move and shift, hardening in some spots, softening in others, with the entire back raising up so that they can comfortably sit up. Yes, it's a magic mechanical bed! In the institute, there must be such wonders, activated by a mere thought from their master. "I am afraid I shall be quite boring by comparison. Porridge with a spot of milk and demarara sugar. Though I shall share on the fruit side of things." Glancing at the clock, it proves to be coming onto eight in the morning and he smiles at that. "So ahhh, did you discover anything about me of relevance on our last jaunt?"
Lucifer	Lucifer chuckles. "Sweet tea might actually be nice, yes." This before the bed begins to move and sits them more upright so they can remain in bed and enjoy food and company. Magic indeed! "I don't think that's a boring breakfast really. Simple, maybe, but not boring. Fitting for you... when I'm not slaving in the kitchen cooking you a full English." A grin, as that last bit is mostly meant in teasing. At that last question, Lucifer seems to think on it for a lingering moment. "It seemed to be something of a turning point in your life. One of many, I would suspect. And a part of me thinks that something started turning the gears in your head...though to what angle I wasn't quite able to determine. You seemed...alone...and while you radiated a sense of being fine with such...I don't think it was a full truth. Lonely, perhaps still a bit bitter over...something..." He pauses to take a breath. "I could be way off the mark tho..."
Sinister	"You weren't. You're a very perceptive fellow, my love. I doubt you would be quite the formidable being that you are, had you not honed your skills as you have, for millenia." Sinister winks, gestures at the door in a little Ruby Rod 'fizzzzzzt' of fingers and it opens to one of the human staff rolling in a trolley, a'la room service, with covered hotplates on trays. Buttons are pressed on those and they hover helpfully, moving with the slightest nudge where they're desired to be. The coffee smells like it has hints of chicory root in it and the fried chicken smells just as it ever does. That is to say, appetizing. Cups and saucers, rather than mugs are provided and the karafe left where it is, before the staff gives a precise half-bow and departs. Cute young thing, Asian youth with a certain feline mein to him. "That was the point where I decided I needed to make a short list of self-improvements and to keep a firmer eye on the other influences in the world. To attempt a larger catalogue, as..." he spreads hands and shrugs, looking distastefully at the memory of the bygone "...I was painfully naive at that time. It was after all, before the great surge in Earth's destiny. Now you can't throw a stone without hitting a hero. Then..."
Lucifer	"Yes, there is that...but I also don't think I can be entirely accurate all the time. Always room to miss something along the way, isn't there?" Lucifer asks this with a shrug. It's almost like he's showing humility in a sense. An imperfection in a world that thinks the Devil - while inherently Evil - is also perfect in all he does. Eyes turn to the door as the servant is let in, food and drinks distributed, and then the servant leaves. Lucifer makes no notion to hide the fact that he's watching that ass as it heads out. The scent of coffee draws him then and his gaze shifts to the food and drink while he listens to Nathaniel speak further. All the while, he dressed up his waffles with butter and syrup. "Well, you could have likely thrown a stone and found someone with a power, an ability that could make them heroic. Back then, however, there wasn't as much of an acceptance as there is now. That took a long time and a lot of fighting, and I don't just mean for the mutants and metahumans. Anyone who took a stance for justice and all that." He offers this with a shrug before cutting into his chicken and a bit of waffle, taking a bite of it altogether and relishing in the moment of eating.
Sinister	"Well, yes, I suppose so. Mistakes teach you what not to do, though." Sinister muses, doctoring his porridge with the right level of milk, stirring it lightly and letting the oats separate a little. His fruit is served chopped up with some ruby grapefruit chunks also. He watches Lucifer a while, fondness in the regard as the devil gets into things. A whistful smile haunts his features briefly, before he tucks in and swiftly, but methodically, empties his bowl of porridge. The fruit he eats with a fork, in more delicate morcels. "And thus, a hundred odd years later, we come to the point where paths crossed and I finally felt sufficient in my understanding to attempt to understand a little of the mystical. And to see if that could solve my folly-- which it did as we know, but not in the way expected. At least partially. I am free of Apocalypse' expiry date, at least, though not the man himself. Self-styled god." He wrinkles his nose, spears grapefruit and sucks on it as he considers. "Do you think I take a stance for Justice? I don't, you know. I tend to leave that to the card carrying hero types. I have larger concerns, usually."
Lucifer	It does not take long for Lucifer to polish off the chicken and waffles, one bite at a time. Washing some of those bites down with coffee, and then he wonders if Sinister was right, and sweet tea would have been better. The coffee is exqisite though, and he wonders if he could make it even better. What he could mix it with to enhance flavors and aromas even more. Ears prickle, as he listens to Nathaniel still while he speaks, picking up a napkin to wipe syrup off his lips. "No. I don't think you take a stance for Justice. I was just throwing words out there. Words that the heroes use these days. Which, in some ways, can be just as devestating as us villians..." And he is, in many ways, a villian in a lot of stories, though it's not like he minds. "Your larger concerns are for humanity as a whole, as well as yourself, from what I've gathered in the length of time we've been together." A pause, a tap of fingers. "Remind me how you got freed of Apocalypse's expiry date? Does he know of it?"
Sinister	"Aaah, I see, a figure of speech," Chicory could actually be a good addition to the house blend at Lux. It has a nutty overtone and on its own, can make a very good hot beverage! It is, in some countries, mostly germanic. Sinister gives a side-eye to Lucifer at this, the Archangel definitely dabbles in the dark side of things, that's true. "You. You are what broke that. When I spliced you into my DNA, it stopped the onset of the cell replication degradation that had rather suddenly begun. I wonder if that occurred -because- I'd approached you, like a punishment. I do sometimes wonder how much that bastard watches." He sniffs, takes up his own cup and cradles it, letting the vapours occupy his sinuses. "It's not something that heros tend to observe on a regular basis, but my track record isn't large on mass slaughter or innocent bystander casualties. There have been times when I've exploited tragedy and when I've acted to limit it, but I dislike slaughter. My collateral damage tends to be rather different." Psychological sometimes, physical sometimes, material a lot of the time. But he'd much rather slip off and let things go on as they will. Trauma is a catalyst to change and a mutagen in its own right and oft, a natural approach produces different results. "And I mention this, because that was another thing that came out of the Titanic, given that I discovered it was highly unlikely to just have been chance that sank her. So much plays havoc with mankind. Becoming gifted and exemplar to ourselves is probably our greatest chance of survival. Too often, humans /are/ collateral damage and that's such a tragedy."
Lucifer	"You think someone intentionally sank her?" Lucifer asks, taking up a banana to peel and eat it - only he goes a bit slow with it. He asks that question first because - after listening to all of what Nathaniel said - it was one thing that stuck in his mind the most. A sort of interesting tidbit and not something he had ever thought of until Nathaniel spoke it as a possibility. Another bite of his fruit taken and he seems to think a bit more. "Isn't humanity a bit like fodder, though? The collateral damage, as you call it, is just sourcing out the weak and leaving the strong to survive?" Settling back a bit then, he produces a silver case that holds his cigarettes, proffering one to Nathaniel while taking his own.
Sinister	"I'm almost certain that all the coincidences that had to occur for the absolute perfect storm of misfortune to happen, wasn't happenstance. I've never found a lead though, that had any merit. There's a scientific calculation though, that can be done on data collected and chance calculations, that shows if a probability is significant or insignificant. It's known as Mu. In the case of the Titanic, it comes up as significant probability, which identifies that it was not -just- chance." Sinister replies, "...though it wasn't a terrifically high significance of number, it was significant enough for me to stare at it, when I ran the numbers and repeat it about a million times." "In some instances, yes. In others, like the collapse of a skyscraper because of a superhero dual, or the sinking of the Titanic, has zero to do with survival of the fittest. Zero. Nil." He takes a cigarette, finally downs his coffee and sets his empty bowls aside on the floating tray, so that he can enjoy it properly. And then, he ends up staring into nowhere with the fag just dangling from his lips. "Well, I'll be..." he comes out of it though, leaning to the side to manifest a wing, staring at it as he arches it over the bed, lifting it in certain ways to look at the pinions and primaries. Then FWIP off it goes again. Maybe.
Lucifer	"Mmn... two very valid points..." Lucifer offers, snapping fire into existence to light his own cigarette and then he goes to proffer it to Nathaniel only to notice the man sort of staring off. He lets the flame go out and then suddenly there's a single wing that manifests for the man to look over. Lucifer reaches, if even briefly, to stroke against feathers and make sure there aren't any pinned ones that need to come out or something. "...Am I missing something? Is something...wrong?"
Sinister	The wing flittered and curled in to the touch, however brief it was. The feathers all looked pristine though, no pins and no raggedy annes, either. "I was just visually comparing mine to others I've seen that weren't yours. Yours are overwinged. You have very large, very long wings, my love." Sinister replies. "Mine fit with being a little larger than others, but... probably midpoint between theirs and yours. I think I need to actually review my own DNA again later on. I think I might have just had a eureka moment." He chuckles.
Lucifer	"Well, perhaps you can tell me about this eureka moment later..." Lucifer offers, as floating trays are likely moved out of the way for the time being now that their breakfast is over. "I'm still not quite in the mood to get out of bed yet..." This, and he grins that same grin Nathaniel has always loved from him. "Few other ideas on my mind to pass a little more time while enjoying the comforts of a bed..." And, should his lover reciprocate, a few hours would be spent enjoying the presence and company of a loved one in all ways possible.