Owner	Pose
Sinister	Quite some time later.... On the roof of Lux, the weather is sampled. Proving to be windy and partially overcast, November is quite thoroughly 'here' with a chill air from the sea. Therefore, padded leather turns out to be the choice of attire, with a white T-shirt beneath. Simple, but has a certain pizzazz for all of that. It suits the pale doctor. Once ready, with a GPS set to his smartwatch, wings are spread, black against the sky and with a smile to his white-winged partner, the destination is east south east of Lux, as the raven flies. Lights shine from below up to a point, like a grid map beneath, but soon, they become fewer and further between, as the great deciduous forest known as the Pine Barrens takes a hold of the land. It's got a rich history, so it has, of many a ghost town lost in the arbours, but it's most famous denizen is purportedly a son of the devil himself!
Lucifer	The Devil is actually a bit dressed up for the weather as well. His long sleeved shirt is a bit more thin, but it will at least help him not lose most of his normal body heat. He does run hotter than most, but that just means the cold bothers him a bit more as well. Smiles are returned as the two take flight, Lucifer easily gliding at his lover's side over the city lights below which get more and more sparse. As they reach the Pine Barrens, he looks over at Nathaniel for a moment and then chuckles. "Did you say something about my son being here somewhere? I don't rightly recall ever producing any offspring with anyone..."
Sinister	"So the legend goes, at any rate. At least one of them has you being the father of Mother Leeds' thirteenth child, born cursed by his own mother to be like the very devil himself. It it was truth, he'd have been beautiful. It's really amazing how many forget about who you -actually- are," Sinister chuckles, wings flapping a couple of times as he shifts enough to use the winds to balloon and gain a bit of free momentum. It turns out he's also brought a lazer pointer with him. "Look. Abandoned town and foundry," pointing at something swallowed in the dark in the woods. He banks, turns in the wind and folds wings enough to swoop down to the top of that ediface, made of stone and quite tall, it used to be the equivalent of an eighteenth century factory and fortification, backwinging to a landing. "I do love the spooky. One could imagine a lot of haunts here."
Lucifer	"I wonder if that's why people also think thirteen is an unlucky number..." Lucifer suggests and then smirks. "Well, I suppose he would have been. I am, after all, the most beautiful of all the Angels." At least, when he's in his true angelic form that is. Handsome as he is in the flesh of now, there has always been something about the tanned, slightly buffed, blonde haired version of him. As Nathaniel points at something with a laser pointer and then banks, so too does Lucifer follow. Down to the bones of a building that once stood proud and leaning back to land on his feet, folding wings behind him. "Indeed. The spooky is interesting. I wonder if there are any actual things going bump in the night here."
Sinister	Nathaniel is quite enamoured of the true face of the devil, it is true. He can become quite lost in just gazing and has, on the privaleged moments he's been granted a look and more than a touch. But it's much easier to have conversations when you're not waiting for your companion's brain to cope with the euphoria. "And this is why I brought the rings with me," Sinister grins, removing a small case from his pocket and opening it, applying a battery pack to his right wrist with a static electric transmitter. Ten silver rings are slid onto his fingers and thumbs and he waggles fingers thereafter. "It's the only way I can sense magic of any kind, they tingle when that force is being used. Sometimes, of course, I don't need any indicator, it's all showy, but ghostly things I expect, are quite considerably less showy." He pockets the case again and walks with agile balance along the wall that they landed on, looking down on either side with his wings slightly flared to help maintain the balance and hands held out with palms down and fingers spread on either side of himself. "If there's anything here, it's virtually null on the scale. Bother! I was hoping for striking it lucky on the first landing." He looks back over his shoulder with eyes a'glow and grins.
Lucifer	Lucifer watches as Nathaniel places those rings on his fingers and then begin to walk along the wall top, arms out and fingers wiggling. Like jazz hands, only he's also trying to maintain his balance. A tilt of his head is given as he then watches the sort of disappointment that comes with Nathaniel not being able to detect anything. He shifts and begins to casually walk across the wall himself, and then he spreads wings and begins to walk along the air as well. Wings wide, arms out as well, he sucks in a breath and closes his eyes. An attempt made to *feel* the air around them, for as far as his perception can stretch. "We could always keep looking. I love a good ghost hunt I think..."
Sinister	Sinister smiles broader. Oh, this is becoming interesting and because walking on air is occurring, he lifts his hands at the tingle. "Hah! Well, they're working. I can feel -you-..." is observed. He crouches then, concentrates a little while and his eyes fade from the red to become a luminous reflective greenish hue and he looks down at his feet. Boots fade away and his toes lengthen, incorporating gripping talons, mirrored by his fingertips. He tests out this grip on stone, nodding as it's vastly improved. "This will be an interesting flight, for I'm sure we have to be closer to the ground to be able to detect anything. How good are you at forest flying, my dear?" he asks.
Lucifer	"Well at least they are working..." Lucifer offers with a grin and then scents the air. "Hmm...I think...maybe..." He shrugs and then glances back. "As in can I fly between trees without smacking into them? I'm fairly certain I'd be okay with that... course we could also fly just above the trees... unless you need to be close to the ground for those rings to work." He suggests this much and then kicks up into the sky a bit. "What say we go on a little ghost hunt, hmm? Maybe we'll actually find some truths to the mysteries that are spoken of for these places."
Sinister	"Indeed," there is a pause "...I actually wasn't sure how close -you- had to be to sense mystical energies." He observes this, then points upward. "I want to challenge myself. You will no doubt be able to see me..." he grins again, then simply... falls off the wall, wings unfurling so that he's no more than ten foot or so from the ground when he starts wingbeats. Each downsweep stirs fall leaves, beats the ground with the most gentle of fladulation and he rises up to perhaps twenty foot swinging left and right as trees do become obstacles. He can see though, which is apparently what he did with his eyes, banking, occasionally kicking off a tree trunk with a scratch of noise as turning is a little too close otherwise. <<I will follow your star. WIth my eyes like this, you glow, oh-so-faintly.>>
Lucifer	"Ah, I can see quite well, and feel energies like yours and one...that is rather faint...but there..." Lucifer offers and he kicks up into the skies, a good ways, banks towards the trees and then pulls up just before knocking into one. A wingbeat, another and then he's off - but taking his time so Nathaniel can follow him. A southern direction back through the trees. The Barrens are thick in their offering of wooded areas between the ghost towns and it's several minutes of traversing by flight but then... Nathaniel's rings will begin to tingle a bit more - getting stronger as they near a place known as Friendship. Just on the verge of woodland and meadow, Lucifer banks towards the ground again and then lands gently on his feet. His wings fold back behind him and he scents the air just so. Nathaniel's rings are likely still a bit tingly (or maybe not - depending on how they'd react near the presence of Grimm and some farmer spirits). This place was a cranberry farm at some point after all. "...Somethings are here..."
Sinister	For the most part, Sinister keeps up. There was a snaggle in the middle, which in the mind was quite spectacular, with thoughts turning blue as a sailor's cussing streak. Audibly, there'd just been a thonk, and a lot of little snapping noises, where he'd found an unending tree canopy that was rather low-hanging. Ahem, we did not just do that. Nope. We totally did not get snarled up in a weeping willow that wouldn't end. He recovers well enough though, even if animals are avoiding the general vicinity, for the sake of that startling amount of snapping twigs and he lands nearby, folds wings close and holds his right hand out to the air, feeeeeling around the foundations that are all that remain of this place. The open area that it sits in makes it easier on the landing at least and with his other hand, he plucks twigs from his hair. "I feel... something. It's like a little vibration through my rings. Faint."
Lucifer	Lucifer takes a step forward, then he scents the air a little. His head tilts one way and then the other before he finds a focal point and simply stares. "Faint. Yes. It's because he's still hiding." Offering these words before he takes another few steps forward. "There's ghosts here as well. A couple. Likely husband and wife. Farmers tend to stick around if their crops disappear." The growl comes next. Though it seems to reverberate around the meadow so there's no way to really tell which direction it's truly coming from. There isn't a hound that's gone rogue or missing for some time, at least not the ones under Lucifer's domain, but far be it from him to claim that all hellhounds are of his own domain. "Careful love. The hounds can be quick. And deviant."
Sinister	Now, Black dogs, hellhounds as some call them, grimms, black shucks... not all of them actually -are- hellhounds. But they do all share a connection with sin. They help the righteous, hound the wicked and sometimes are just plain spooky tooth. Sinister would have to be deaf not to hear the growl and frankly, that is not the case. Approaching with his back to Lucifer so that his eyes can scan the forest borders, Sinister raises his hands slightly to be defenses if they need to be, drawing close and with wings lifted slightly in a mantle. "I can feel minds... they are not like ordinary minds though, like... echos. But I can feel..." Out of the edge of the forest, a black shape pads forth. The edges of its fur are very slightly luminous, so that the overall shape of a black canine is obscured but there is nevertheless an aura surrounding the creature. It's tall, too -- easily over a meter at the shoulder, lanky and slender, like an irish wolfhound, but the hovering eyes, green as Sin's own are at the moment, catch all the light that exists as it stares at the Devil and his lover, silent as the grave.
Lucifer	"Echoes of the souls that once were perhaps? Restless spirits from a time long gone now... That sort of thing?" At least, when it comes to the farmers who once lived here, is what Lucifer refers to in the moment. He doesn't only hear the growls, but he narrows his eyes and gives a little smirk. "Ah...I might know this one after all..." He offers and takes a step towards the edge of the forest where the black shape emerges. "Are you just going to stare me and mine down or does any of this include you saying hello?" Lucifer asks the creature, standing tall, and then he thinks on it. Does the hound know the presence he is within? Does Lucifer premeate enough for there to be a recognition? "One does have to wonder... am I Devil enough for you to recognize?" He finally asks the very question aloud and then simply waits to see what happens.
Sinister	"Most curious," Sinister muses, narrowing eyes on the animal as it emerges from the treeline. "I can feel the mind. More than a beast for certain..." he quiets then though, as Lucifer's majesty inches to the fore. He watches the Shuck's reaction. ~I know who you are,~ it is little more than a whisper on the wind, seeming to come to the ear without there being any speech actually involved. A breath, neither male nor female, simply there. ~What are you doing here?~ The growl comes again, a wary sound, because why the hell not. A being of this kind has a good reason to be wary of the -real- powers being within its domain. ~There are none here to save, nor are there any here to claim.~?
Lucifer	"Indeed. They are more than. But I would still use caution. We are in their territory...since they're more rogue than under the law of any particular.." Lucifer waves a hand. "Deity." Is the word he lands on. Attention back on the hound again and he holds up that same waved hand. "We mean no harm, this I promise. I am not looking for anyone to save or claim. We were just passing through. Rumors spread of these lands, but it takes a certain...penache...to sus out the truth." He offers and then lowers his hand. "However, if there are none to save or claim, why do YOU linger here?"
Sinister	The Shuck takes its gaze from Lucifer, nose twitching a few times as it looks directly at Sinister, weighing and measuring there also. It lowers its head, so that its ears are flatter and everything is in alignment with its spine. In response, Sinister crouches down where he was stood, wings lifting up and fanning high, a display and not dissimilar to a bird making itself look bigger for effect. The stare off continues for a beat or two, before the dog actually looks away. A good sign. ~The Truth is a complicated business, Quick-heels. There are many truths here that most have forgotten entirely. I am here because I am still needed. There is evil in this place, still.~
Lucifer	Lucifer watches the stare off for a moment and then nods when the hound finally looks away from Sinister. Listening when the hound speaks again, he tilts his head slightly to one side. "Evil in this place still? It doesn't feel evil. I do feel the presence of a few souls that haven't seemed to pass over but..." He looks around again before back to the hound. "Not that I don't trust your words... and perhaps I've lost my touch a bit. It's been happening more and more the longer I stay on Earth and outside of my domain." Admitting the truth without actually saying as much. Then he glances to Sinister. "Don't suspect those rings of yours can pick up between good and evil, hmm? Maybe there is more to this place than just what you can read in texts. Likely worth looking more into. At some point." A chuckle from him then.
Sinister	"Unfortunately, no. Although psychic investigation often elicits the truth there, very few of us believe we are evil, even when our actions dictate otherwise." Sinister observes with a light shrug, lowering his wings back to folded and rising once again, the face off finished. He tilts his head up, painting pale skin with the light of the moon as it shines through a clear patch of clouds and seeming all the more silvery for it, he looks slowly around, turning on the spot. A long, deep breath is taken, then eyes close as he lifts his chin up proudly and everything, literally everything within earshot falls silent. Then, there's a pulse -- Most of the time, Essex is subtle with his mind. It pays him well to be so. But in the middle of nowhere where there's no people to freak out much, he doesn't have to be cautious. The psionic wave passes through the minds nearby, feeling like well... a little like a ghost rush, as sentience washes through and further out. And his feathers stand on end. ~Not specifically here, Quick-heels. This place was always quite benign. Those that lived here, simply do not want to leave here. This was home, had family and friends and laughter. But there are other places. I was simply passing by here when you arrived. My work is usually elsewhere.~
Lucifer	"That's fair... but remaining here doesn't help the numbers above or below. Not that I really care much about that any longer." Lucifer offers. "Hmmn. Why Quick-heels? That seems like an odd nickname for me to have." Not that he's opposed to it, he's just curious as to it's origin or use. Another glance is given to Sinister as he seems to feel those feathers stand on end, that pulse that pushed outward a tingle in the back of his own mind. "What is it, Nathaniel? Everything alright?" Though his attention is drawn by the hound once more. "Well, certainly did not mean to interrupt your travels, and as stated, I promise we're not here to mess with anything really. Just being curious minds..unless there is some aid we could provide you? Otherwise, we won't keep you any longer than necessary. If you need to be on your way."
Sinister	"Oh, that's victorian. Quick-heeled or Spring-heeled jack, you seem to get everywhere," Sinister replies in a murmur, proving that he is actually paying attention, though it is absent sounding. "Please hold..." his face pinches a little, as he studies what he's feeling. The Shuck glances at the geneticist, then nods its muzzle. ~You can be a place in an instant. All the way around the world, in the blink of an eye.~ It replies, looking over at where it can see spirits, though perhaps merely ordinary eyes cannot. This creature is saturated in evil and death, but much like Lucifer, not in the way that many paint. ~Be careful. There are ways to hurt in these woods that have nothing to do with the physical. Be wary. The black hood stalks the forests and has taken many with him.~
Lucifer	"Well, this is true.." Lucifer offers and then glances to Nathaniel who's told him to hold. So he lets the man do whatever it is he needs to do and focuses his attention back on the hound. "Well that's a bit ominous. The black hood huh?" He looks over to the woods as if just saying the name would bring out the being. Like simply summoning him. "We'll keep that in mind...but I think for now, we've appeased our curiosity. Should be getting back home." Not that Lucifer is afraid, perish the thought! However, he is getting a bit of a sinking feeling and is very much prefering the comfort of the Penthouse or something over the ever quickly darkening woods.
Sinister	The Black dog nods, lopes off without another thought shared, disappearing as if he was on the baskerville moors. A whipoorwhil sounds its folorn call fleetingly. Sinister comes to, shivering once as he walks in swift strides toward the archangel. "The creature was not wrong. There's bad here, as well as indifferent and those just locked into whatever they did in life. Again, I have to think that's rather interesting. The entire area is saturated in tragedy. I've felt similar things in Hiroshima." And other places, but we're not going to talk about those. He frowns as he nears. "You ok?"
Lucifer	Lucifer watches as the hound disappears and then lets out a breath that he didn't need to take or even hold, but he had held it anyway. As Nathaniel gets his attention, Lucifer looks to him and nods slowly. "I'm fine. Just...some of the forces here are those I would rather not tango with. Not when I have dinner and sticky toffee pudding in mind..." He smiles, but it's...almost forced. Like he doesn't feel right leaving, but definitely doesn't want to stay. "I would offer that quick way home...but I don't want to leave much of an imprint here...to be honest. We should just fly. Home. Likely soon...if not now."
Sinister	"We can do that," No quick-heels for the devil tonight, Sinister simply spreads his wings and leaps skyward, downbeating until ascension is high enough to make cruising altitude a possibility, with cunning shifts for the prevaling winds. But there will potentially be some work to do here, sometime. Not strictly for him, but for peace of mind of his lover fair.