paterelohim | IC contact: Sirenspull

[Yeah, it's a little bit stalkerish, but Lucifer is waiting for Chuck this fine morning. He knows when the prophet goes for coffee, and he steps out from nowhere once those wards on HoA are no longer an issue.]

Chuck.

[Sonofa.]

Lucifer.

[All he wants is to get some midday coffee and pretend the lack of real Thanksgiving doesn't bug him. Is that so hard?]

You're looking better.

Let's take a walk.

[Much better. He's barely leaning on his cane; it almost looks there for decoration.]

Uh... is the kind of walk with windowless rape vans?

It is if you don't agree. [Joking, joking. ...Or not. That little twitch of a smile might have been purely habit; Lucifer is too tense for anything else.]

I need to ask you something. [A glance at the HoA, then at Chuck.] Personal. You understand.

And I'm lojacked. You understand.

[Just... pulling out his NV to fire off a text message to Magneto. NBD.]

Yes. And as long as you don't go gossiping about this to, well, anyone we can stay civil. [It's not as vicious a threat as one might expect, but that really just means he's more serious about it.]

[If you don't give me a reason I won't have to.]

Okay.

[He nods, and reaches out to zap Chuck and himself to the park where it's more secluded. He realizes he has chosen the fountain where he and his brothers went over Halloween, and wishes he'd taken them somewhere else. Too late now.]

You can probably guess what this is about, can't you, prophet?

[Chuck looks at it, and- wonders why this place.]

Um. Michael?

You said that if I asked him, he would say no.

[He doesn't explain what the question is. He doesn't need to, does he? Not with Chuck.]

I think things have changed. [And before Chuck can argue, can smash this tiny ember of hope he holds up a hand to stop him] The other night, I Created something for him. At first it was a joke, but he decided to keep it--

He wants peace now. With me, with the others. Especially me. [He looks at Chuck, daring him to say otherwise.]

[One thing stands out, out of all of that.]

You Created something? [Pause.] For him?

[The little kernel of pride in his chest hurts more than anything he's felt in a very long time. A father hearing about his kid's macaroni art and thinking it's just the greatest thing he's ever seen.]

Yes. [Lucifer is well aware he's never Created anything for anyone on earth--nothing permanent, nothing that wasn't simple bribery. This had been genuine, as everything for Michael tends to be.

But he's not sure what to make of Chuck's reaction.]

It's a bird.

[A bird. He remembers the day He taught Lucifer to make animals. It had been so difficult, so complicated- he could never breathe life into them just the right way, not until He took the tiny angel's hand and showed him how. He finally got it right?]

Huh. A bird. [Chuck is distantly impressed with how casual his reaction is.] Really? What kind?

[It's not just some polite, pretend-you're-interested question. Which is why Lucifer answers, but with the same wild-animal caution he gets anytime he tells Chuck something that actually matters to him.]

A parrot. It's a red and orange parrot, about this big--it sits on his shoulder, and grooms his vessel's hair. [As he describes it, the caution starts to fade. Lucifer even looks pleased with himself, but it's not so much with arrogance for once.]

[As soon as Lucifer says it Chuck can see it vividly: a great macaw, maybe the scarlet ones like that girl from college loved so much? picking at Michael's hair while the angel just smiles serenely. It aches like an old war wound, deep and low.]

That's really cool. Can I see it?

[That surprises him most of all. But he thinks, then smiles slightly. Perhaps it's this new faith that his plan will work, after all. Maybe it's just that he woke (so to speak) on the right side of the bed for once. But he doesn't just nod, he gestures in an 'oh what the hell' almost-happy sort of way.]

You'll have to bring it an offering. Michael has been giving it bananas, I think.

Bananas? [It's not that that amuses him. It's the image of the great archangel Michael, feeding bananas to a shoulder parrot.] I guess bananas work, huh.

[Goodbye, topic, see you in another life.]

[Lucifer still has the question hanging in the air, but. But. If Chuck says what he's afraid he will say, where does he go from there? And Chuck doesn't receive visions here anyway--if he did he would have to tell all about them. There's no point asking a hobbit-sized alcoholic prophet something that important when he can't actually prophesy.]

Michael is still home, if you'd rather go see it now.

[Chuck's visions are back full-force but he's told only Castiel and Fred so far; even if Lucifer knew, he wouldn't cough up for love or money.]

That sounds... pretty fucking trippy. Okay, [shaking himself] we should focus first.

[Focus. Yeah. There is one thing Chuck can answer without visions.]

When I gave him the bird, we decided to teach it Enochian. [A small pause. Other people wouldn't recognize it as Lucifer steadying himself, a breath before a plunge so to speak.] He said its first phrase would be to tell any new siblings we have peace now. Here.

Wow.

[Give that a couple seconds to sink in. Enochian from a parrot; it seems a little wrong, almost.]

A declaration of peace, that's... a pretty big deal.

...Are you patronizing me?

[He can't tell, but this is something so important that he's torn between being dangerously defensive and bragging about it to every angel (and prophet) who will listen.]

W- no. I'm just... processing. It's a big deal.

[A really big deal, bigger to Him than Lucifer could know. And on some level, He hates it. He doesn't want this peace, and he's disgusted with Himself for it. After all this time, so many thousands of years, and there are still some parts of His nature that he can't escape, some scraps of near-savage Alpha that have yet to humanize.]

I didn't know birds mattered so much to you.

[Still wary, feeling horribly exposed. He'll crush Chuck's skull if the prophet laughs.]

[Action]

[Action] Thanksgiving day~

[Action forever!]

8|

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