16637/Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay

Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay
Date of Scene:	05 December 2024
Location:	Somewhere, Conneticut
Synopsis:	Sin's been out of his mind, so Lucifer and Nick go figure out why. Lucifer apparently hits 'reset' on Nathaniel.
Cast of Characters:	Lucifer, Sinister, Phantasm (Drago)

---

Lucifer has posed:
Regardless of where Lucifer had gone when he stormed out of the house, he's come back after a short while. Though not to the house completely, instead, he's gone to the dock that's just down the small hill from their home. He keeps kicking himself mentally about having snapped at Nathaniel like he did. Trying to think of ways to apologize.

And perhaps try to reason why he's always doing things that need apologies.

None the less, he winds up at the edge of the dock and flops down. At some point, he's changed his attire to denim shorts, a black sleeveless shirt and flip-flops. If he's going to mope around, he might as well be comfortable while doing so.

Sinister has posed:
Flipflops and shorts in the winter. Only when you're the devil can you make your own warmth.

The ocean is a peaceful place, even in the depths of december's chill. The Long-island Sound ripples with the passage of the wind, making a thousand tiny sparkles from the lights on the shore.

There's quite a bit of time, before there's anything.

And when there IS something, it's a duck, which surfaces and stares at the devil. A mallard, bouying and bouncing on the surface of the water. The give-away is "Quack."

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer watches the sound for a long while. As long as it takes. Something about the water, the gentle sloshing of it against the dock, the slight waves that come in to find the shore, it has a very calming affect. He breathes in the salty air - even tho breathing isn't something he has to do. All in all just taking the scene in and seeing if it would help calm the storm in his mind.

However long after the nothing, is something, and as he hears the 'Quack' he looks down to see the duck. A mallard. Just sort of bobbing on the water. The fact that it speaks the word rather than produce the sound actually has him giving a smile.

"Well. Quack to you too."

Sinister has posed:
"Cluck," just to throw off the curve, the duck bobs under, then a flock of them pops up and flutters to the shore to amalgamate into Essex, exhaling as he comes to sit on the dock, bringing a knee up to hug, leaning forward around the limb and looking to the lighthouses and away across the water in winter.

"Frustration causes sarcasm. I'm sorry that came out the way it did, but it was not intentional. Just telling me to go ahead and evolve already, was what prompted it. I am a genetic master, but I can't figure out -what- portion of hybrid dna is causing the issues." He clears his throat. "Do you have your cigarettes? I think mine are waterlogged."

Lucifer has posed:
"It's alright." Well, maybe it's not all alright. "I think we both have some stressers that are causing our fuses to be a bit shorter. None the less, I am sorry I snapped at you and then stormed off. It was completely intentional...the storming off bit....but I am sorry I did it either way." Lucifer offers these words and then reaches into a pocket of his shorts to produce cigarettes, taking two out, lighting them and then offering one to Nathaniel.

"I just don't know any other way to help fix you except by figuring out which part it is wanting to go all super nova. And I can either play twenty questions, treat you like you have multiple personalities, or go into your Mind Palace.... which I know isn't how we wanted to begin this little vacation but... maybe it's for the best we try to nip it in the bud before you truly go cataclysmic."

Sinister has posed:
The smoke is taken, dragged on and enjoyed with an exhalation toward the sky, enjoying the nicotine because he can. He sighs, swallowing in a manner that makes his jaw shift when he grits his teeth, then relaxes, blinking slow.

Another toke is taken and he looks to the devil. "At this point, it could be a conflict of genomes that's causing this. I can do tests, but the divine in the dna is a cunning chamaeleon. Your DNA, as a human being, simply does not degrade. There are no free radicals and no cell apopsis. They're not programmed to die at all. But otherwise? They look normal. I just know that they're not. And some of the incorporation that was done was inherantly... I suppose... subconscious? I don't want to go hunting in my mind palace, but you may be right. It might -be- the only way to know."

Lucifer has posed:
"I know it's not ideal. But as you say, it might be the only way. We have Nick here to keep it safe enough and I bet it won't be but a fun little trip to see who's stuck in a closet." There's a pregnant pause. "Again." Then Lucifer actually chuckles before taking a drag off his own cigarette and exhaling it dragon-style out his nostrils. "You are a conundrum wrapped in an enigma, but I love you anyway." Turning his head then, he leans over to place a kiss on Nathaniel's cheek.

"I'm thinking lobster at some point this weekend. Do you think we might be able to catch a couple nice fresh ones out in the bay? Have to make sure they're not clipped or tagged so we don't ruin the numbers... and maybe steak. Like a nice surf and turf. With dilled potatoes and...hmm...some other side. Fresh cobbed corn?"

Sinister has posed:
Sinister smiles fleetingly at the kiss, but it's a genuine smile. He leans into it too, finishing off the smoke and pinching it out, handing the butt over to the devil for disposal. "I am a chimera and I'm unused to that being a little out of control. Maybe I am the sword of griffindor, taking in what which makes it stronger..." He's read those books? Yes. In a day. It was a thing.

A pause.

"I'm sure we -could- find a lobster, but I'm not sure it would be a sensible thing unless we went a little further out. The Maine straits come down from labrador and newfoundland, so we may get lucky." Consideration is given "Carrots and green beans would be better. Less sweet against the already sweet meat."

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer takes the proffered smoke butt and incinerates it just as quickly as he takes it in hand. "Maybe you are... but you're also a stubborn mule. I say that lovingly of course. Sometimes the thing we do not wish to be done has to be the thing done... especially when it comes to you. Because so few things outside of you can fix you." He thinks on that a moment. Then another moment. Then he nods. Yes. It made sense.

He hopes.

"Well...we could also just as easily buy one. I just thought it would be a little fun thing to do. Go catch our dinner. Like hunters do. Or...something. Yes." Then he finishes his smoke and incinerates his own smoke butt before he shifts to stand. "Come on, Quacker. Ready to go back to the cottage?"

Sinister has posed:
"Pragmatic application of a necessity in a life that's been solo for a good whack of it. But you're right..." out over the sound his gaze sweeps, then with a nod he stands from the dock and checks himself for being bone dry.

"A nice lobster -would- be nice. But yes. Out there. I suspect anything that grew where NYC disgorges into the hudson is probably a tiny bit unpleasant..." He winks, stretches and turns his back on the water, to gaze at the house.

"You know, we both left Nick to his own devices. I imagine that's mostly a safe plan?"

Lucifer has posed:
"Nick's a big boy and so far there hasn't been anything suspect happening around here... so I think he's okay." Lucifer offers at that, at least and then nods. "Yes. Since we can both fly, we can shoot up to where the lobsters will be plentiful and delicious, then bring them back here." Like he's just deciding that for them both in that moment.

He offers his arm for Nathaniel to link with before leading them back up to the house. "You'll eventually learn that you can trust me to help with your own mental faculties. Sort of. Maybe." Then he grins. Trying to turn the whole debacle into a joke.

And he truly does hope Nick is alright.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Whelp, when family starts getting dramatic, sometimes the best coping mechanism is doing something else.

Anything else.

So as the couple make their way back in the cottage, the cottage does look a little cleaner than before. But the step is still squeaky.

Squeak!

But other than that, it's pretty peaceful. Likely because Nick in the smaller of the bedrooms, curled up on top of the bed, napping. The small blanket that had been folded at the foot of the bed was not ignored as it is currently tugged over the minimized form.

Sinister has posed:
"My dear, it is not a lack of trust that's the issue, it's a lack of asking and a lack of thought to not solving something alone. Trust is a planed sail in a storm where you are concerned, but my habits are hard to break. As are yours..." but they do strive.

He doesn't SEEM to be bothered with the notion of flying to fish for crusty crustaceans at least. It will be a different kind of post-thanksgiving, nova-scotian style at this rate.

The linked arm is looked upon a small smile forms and then...

In the bizarreness of a world where -this- actually happened, one might be forgiven for finding this vignette of slumbering phantom to be almost... too familial. My two dads? Two uncles? A comedy in bizarro world and...

"Should one gently poke at a sleeping Phantasm, do you suppose?" A kiss on the cheek and a gesture to the kitchen. "...I'm going to put the kettle on."

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer looks a little sheepish. "Ah, yes. That was poorly phrased. I know there is trust between us... this wouldn't work if there wasn't. And we are both stubborn when it comes to asking for help with more personal matters." This all discussed as they approach the cottage. At least there was no protest to lobster hunting. They should take Nick along too just for the fun of it.

The thoughts of bizarro world and relations to Nick aren't known so he cannot say anything to them. There might be a similar thought process in his own mind, however. Great minds, yes?

"Ah yes. You conveniently go to put on the kettle leaving the waking up job to me. You know I could just leave that to a demon. Have one of the more meaner, snarlier ones hover over his bed..." This is said with a laugh as he jogs upstairs.

Squeak!

Ah. Yes. A project for the weekend still. Stair repair.

Knock, knock. "Nick. Wanna get conscious and do a little mind diving?"

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
With the rapping upon the bedroom door, an eyelid opens, giving the pale eye a chance to see the shadowy objects in the room. Just enough light exists to give form.

Lucifer's voice registers. "Mrr that got decided on?" Nick queries, giving a slight grumble as he un curls, demonstrating just how small the blanket was.

Behold the power of nap time induced laziness.

The musician pushes himself up on the bed, reaching over to the nightstand to turn on a light.

Sinister has posed:
<<It could be worse. Also, would you like cocoa?>> -- courtesy of a thought and a distinct grin felt in the mind. <<Or would that induce more sleep? Thank you for cleaning, by the by...>>

Those blankets were locally knitted by the Women's institute and several grannies, you know. But they're /supposed/ to be just for the feet. And decorative purposes. But this is what it is.

More privately to Lucifer: <<That would be hilarious and potentially just disasterous as an alarm clock. I highly doubt Diabolical Disco Dave coming to poke a person awake will catch on. Though it might be a fantastic torment to the perpetual morning person...>>

Kettle. Coffee. Irish. Possibly cocoa. Tea.

Lucifer has posed:
"Yes. In a sense. Sort of talked into it...sorta lamenting that it's the only option. Come down when you're awake enough or I'll send Diabolical Disco Dave to come get you." There's a grin, cause Lucifer knows NICK won't have any idea who that is.

<<Nice name. I threatened Nick with it.>> Thinking that back to Nathaniel as he continues back down the stairs.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Nick tilts his head to the internal offer.

.oO(Cocoa sounds good. And eventually. But first it'd probably help with mood.)

Lucifer's comment gets a look. "Dia-"

Blink. Blink.

"Who?"

Sinister has posed:
Cocoa is therefore made -- full fat milk boiled in a rather more traditional manner in a small saucepan on the hob. The rest of it is rather more conventional manner. Tea is definitely steeped carefully and thoroughly and is served in the English style and black.

It's in the drawing-room/living room at the front of the cottage, rather than the open plan kitchen-dining that Sin ends up setting up the mugs.

The curtains have been drawn enough that only a little bit of window is showing through them. The drawing down of blinds, as it were.

He looks somehow... trepidous.

Lucifer has posed:
"The demon that I threatened to come have wake you up. Nathaniel named him. Though he doesn't technically exist at all." Lucifer offers as an explanation while going back down the stairs.

*Creak!*

"We'll fix that this weekend I think." He comments further and then continues to walk down and into the kitchen where a variety of drinks are served. Well. Maybe not a variety. Cocoa. Possibly tea. And a trepidous Nathaniel.

"So...I suppose we'll sit and ponder and then...do?"

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
To the explanation Nick blinks. "So being that you don't like to lie, is that nickname going to be assigned to an actual demon now?"

Squeak!

Nick glances back to the offending stair. "...Or you could think of it as a security measure." He muses, continuing his descent.

The cocoa when ready is received and while Nick calmly sips his drink, the pale eyes look over to Sinister making his preparations.

The mostly consumed mug is lowered. "While it might not seem like a long time for either you. I have been able to dream travel for over a decade. And we've already determined that I don't need to maintain contact with Lucifer when over there, so I'll have my mobility."

Sinister has posed:
"Diabolical Disco Dave is fantastically alliterative, don't you think?" Sinister looks over at the other two, his lips going wry but muted in their affect, glancing back at the blinds and curtains.

It is rather Society of Psychical research, without all the paraphenalia, isn't it?

"A decade is a generation," helpful statement, but nothing further is added to it, as if that makes all the sense in all the world, that time and its span is relative.

"I have absolutely no idea what either of you is going to find in there. FOr once, I'm /utterly/ at a loss. Just so that you know."

Lucifer has posed:
"A lie is the omission of the truth when the truth exists. I like to think of it more like I joked about sending a demon after you to wake you up and Nathaniel named it. So where's the lie?" Lucifer offers this and then he grins.

After drinks are supped a bit, he looks to Nathaniel and shrugs his shoulders. "I never know what I'm going to find when I visit your mind palace. Last time it was a rickety mansion set in times like what Edgar Allen Poe wrote about. All black mist and dark gloom with the house standing foreground. This time it could be rainbows and dew drops with a candy palace in the center." He just grins then.

"I suppose whenever you're both ready..."

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Nick nods, tilting back his cocoa mug to get the last drops. Waste not, want not. Especially when it comes to cocoa being made the slow way.

"Alright." Nick replies, moving over to the sink to rinse out the mug. "Ready when Nathaniel is."

Sinister has posed:
"If my mind is full of rainbows and dewdrops we really -do- know I've descended into some kind of psychotic episode..." Sin says deadpan, though it has to be a joke. There's even a slow blink, which suggests volumes, but one never can tell.

The process is a thing that can be varied depending on time available and intention -- this time, it's a very slow thing. A somnolescence induced by the background 'white noise' of a powerful psychic sending trance signals. But it might be required for the rather more physical transfer of ....

No... the colour has drained from the room, except where the light slants through the gap in the curtains. It oscillates, something that wasn't entirely apparent before it became glaringly obvious: the distant cycle of a lighthouse, automated out in the Long-island Sound. It's vivid and orange-tinted. Otherworldly and somehow... wrong. The house is -very- quiet. Very. Very. VERY quiet.

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer blinks as things just seem to...change. The color drains from the room almost entirely except where light hits but that light seems to come and go from the outside and only through the curtains. He tilts his head and stands from his chair, taking note of how very -very- quiet the room has become. Or more so, how quiet everything has become.

"So... not the mind palace I was thinking. Right then." It's time to begin searching. Obvious spots first, though he figures how this will go. There is something within some hidden cranny or never-noticed-nook that is either going to jump at them or cower from them. The biggest question however...

How many Sins and where are they all?

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
One of these days. They'll actually use the dream traveler for going IN to the dream as opposed to someone simply pulling them in. Either way...

The Phantasm looks around to the monochrome scene before moving over to the window, peering through the gap in the curtain to the highlighted landmark outside.

"Direction...or Guidance. Commonly associated with the feeling of being lost or need to find an unseen danger."

Sinister has posed:
And dreams are definitely symbolic. They're also not really romping in Sin's /consciousness/ -- that after all, is not the part of him that knows what the hell is going on.

The lighthouse is rather gothic looking. A Tower, struck? There's is a kind of crackle at the top, as if lightning hovers unbidden and ungrounded, but this isn't the world outside, after all.

The sea is flat, like it could be walked upon, but the depths are black. Like unfathomable glass.

The township exists nearby, even in this mindscape, but it does seem to be... painted on? like a backdrop on a movie set.

There is a ghost Sinister upon the dock, hands in his pockets, a greatcoat sported, looking out to the lighthouse. He's see-through, as if he isn't really... well... real.

Vibrating through the feet is the .sensation. of a massive foghorn.

Lucifer has posed:
Ah. There he is.

Or there it is?

Either way, Lucifer will look to Nick and then points out towards the direction of the dock. Then he's making his way there in the way that he can in or out of a dream. A step and he's outside the house, another and he's at the back of the dock walking onto it. He doesn't stop until he is right beside the ghostly figure and following gaze out towards the lighthouse. Lucifer goes through the motions of lighting up a cigarette and lets the smoke slowly drift out through his nostrils.

"So. Any great words of wisdom? Or eebs of warning? Or perhaps a finely tuned riddle. A puzzle in which the most important pieces are missing..."

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
"The color itself seems contradictory though. Orange is generally associated with good things. But that could just be the actual color of the lighthouse. Or the effects of the light."

Note to self: Take a look at the actual thing.

Physical sensation such as touch is lost when Phantasmed. And as such, that clue is lost to him. But the ignoring of detail upon the township but focus upon the lighthouse and dock makes it apparent that the answers they seek are likely in that direction. But the question is, do they start with the dock, or pull a Jesus and head to the lighthouse?

A glance is given towards Lucifer, allowing for the devil's impulses to narrow down the option further. Lucifer does not disappoint.

The dream entity lingers behind, watching Lucifer's approach to the ghostly doctor. Stomping a foot down to push off the ground, Nick takes a dream leap to descend upon the dock. He slows in his descent, lightly touching upon the dock. Even paler eyes scan the scenery for any foreboding shadows upon the glassy water surface.

Sinister has posed:
There are many, many forboding shadows, but the glassy surface of the ocean itself and its obfuscations, seem to act like the lid of a mason jar. Or a glass prison. Either way, what lies beneath does not breach the surface, only hints at the shadows that might lie unspoken.

The orange isn't the bright orange of the sunshine on a hot summer day. It's the faded, lurid orange of steel and industry, of untended light bulbs that have begun to slowly die. Ancient street lights. Or obscured lanterns in the pea soup fog of London-that-was. That shade of orange in Sin's mind, /tends/ to keep the darkness at bay. It also tends to make the glassy ocean glitter, hidind the depths.

"Well, it's possible that a nutshell is the size of an entire universe..." Sinister replies "...so obscure riddles are simply a part of a universal truth. The more we know, the less we understand, the less we understand, the more we question until there's more to be unknown. It's endless and entropic in its own way..." The sin replies, glancing to the two. Recognition exists, but there's but a small nod. "It's down. The ID. I don't usually go there." He gestures at the ocean, down in the dark.

Lucifer has posed:
Now. Lucifer is not a man of science by any means. But he is, in some ways, one who thrives on philosophy and psychology. So when Ghost Sin speaks, he listens and he nods. There's not much to comment to at that point, and then Ghost Sin says something that perks Lucifer a bit. "Ah. The ID. Indulgence. That may already explain a bit... but the fact that you don't go there... well..."

Now he looks out at the ocean. How still it is. Like black glass. There's no telling what would happen if someone were to just.... jump in. Which seems to be the only way he's going to get any more answers. Especially if he's being pointed that direction. Down. In the waters.

So this cannot be considered a WTWTCH moment...because he was directed to go there. Without another word uttered, Lucifer simply nods his head and steps off the dock...

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
As Lucifer splashes in, Phantasm sighs and steps off the dock. But he stops at the surface of the water. Standing upon it like a floor. This may be a world of Sinister's makings, but Phantasm is not. There's a moment of consideration, lips not moving as he reaches into his pocket, somehow pulling out a pair of glowsticks.

A breaking motion is done before a blue light cuts through the scenery. Bringing the arm back, he slings it forward, causing for the arm to whip int the water after Lucifer. The unbroken light of the sticks cast illumination for the devil while Phantasm watches from his perch.

Sinister has posed:
The ID, it must be said, doesn't really like to have light shed upon it. Except for the odd monster in the depths that is exhibitionist and doesn't care WHO sees. There's behemoths, which seem in truth, to be skins that /contain/ other things -- beneath their skin, memories, thoughts, events, urges, they all roil. A leviathan roils along that seems to be made of surgical tools, scapels, knives, gas masks with surreal goggles atop them.

Another looks like a shark from Finding Nemo, saving that somehow it's definitely Sinister consuming lesser thoughts...

The glowstick tumbles, sinks through the depths, an unreal moment where knowledge sits, seeing the light bubble, tiny and blue, with the eyes of unseen things watching outside of the bubble, the fallen angel falling deeper, the Phantasm upon the surface of the water.

And the Lord Said, let there be Light. And there was light. And the lord saw the light and that it was good.

But space is just full of vast black and twinkling hope in the form of stars.

All that, visible as if by the audience watching the scene from a screen outside.

And then there's the edge of the abyss. It drops off into fathomless shadow and the light glowstick barely penetrates. But that light landed by an anchor -- rusted of course. And the lighthouse -- but here it's upside down, like the Underneath and seems to be a thing in negative. The lighthouse is black and white but holds the colour. It shines shadow into the depths, piercing it with solid black.

There's the Upside Down at the top of the inverted lighthouse where a spiral stair sits, looking a lot like one to the London Underground. It goes parallel to the abyss, into the dark ocean floor depths. It has a sign there: 'Good Intention Way'

Lucifer has posed:
It's a good thing Lucifer doesn't need to breathe. Or maybe breathing doesn't matter for anyone - even in the dream world. The behemoths and leviathans that float by while he continues to sink have him tilting his head one way and then the other. Mostly out of feigned interest, but the items within the creatures make sense to a certain point. All the things Nathaniel loves - the ID is about enjoyment afterall. Pleasures.

Recoils from Pain.

At least that's what... Freud? Socrates? Tim-Tam The Mindful Man? Someone at some point said about the mind as a whole.

Down, down, down. Until there is the Upside Down. Lighthouse and stairs aside it that go inverted. Then a sign that draws the Devil's attention. So he decides to take the stairs...

After all...the Path to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
The guiding light follows along the path, granting a view of the sights on the way down. It becomes apparent that Lucifer does not need a quick exit from the below.

With a blink Nick is no longer at the surface, but instead beside Lucifer. Hands still holding on to the glow sticks, Nick follows alongside Lucifer.

Apparently Phantasms are fine under water.

Sinister has posed:
The light of the glow-sticks edges from a brilliant blue-ish glow to the somewhat flickering energy of a guttering candle.

The steps start off smooth, easy not to trip over, but soon, as the spiral descends further, they become less regular, less smooth, less well worn and more than a little slippery.

Blood, on many. Ichor and other fluids, bits of... slipperiness. The walls are a zoatrope of window slits -- a silhouette with its back to the viewer as the spiral becomes a helter skelter, as those images flicker past to the side, the figure turns toward the slits in the spiral's wall, draws closer... a red eye staring through narrower and narrower spaces in the walls....

And finally?

Plop. That widdershins ride down into the depths disgorges in an oubliette, where lots and lots and lots of bloodless bodyparts are littering the floor.

Dressed in an abbetoire apron and elbow-length gloves, a tall figure with a haggard aspect is attempting to assemble them into something appropriate.

"What do you do, I wonder?" Something squishy is held up to the light from above, examined then put on the mangled puzzle infront of him. Goggles sit over eyes. There isn't much -gore- exactly... but the parts are tiny and plentiful. Whatever is going on here, it seems like there are more parts than one ... entity... to be assembled.

Lucifer has posed:
"I think that actually goes a bit more upwards and to the left..." Lucifer offers as he finally gets down to the bottom pit. Looking around the room at...everything. He takes a slow breath in and then likely surmises that might not have been the best idea.

"So. Nice and calm above... bit of chaos below... and this must be where the bubbling over creative aura but no where to actually go...is coming from. For all the things you are in life... your own creation is your best and worst. In the sense of...you have done all of these magnificent things... and yet the puzzle continues." He talks, to talk. Perhaps more to himself, or just to the room in general. Outing ideas and suggestions in the way Lucifer knows how.

"So. How do I fix you? Or, perhaps the better question. How do I help you fix yourself?"

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Phantasm glances to the side as the world about them grants for a more mood appropriate level of light from the glowsticks. A hand lifts, taking one of the two glowsticks to offer over to Lucifer.

"Here...Tell me if it does anything funny." Phantasm states without providing any detail to what. There's no point in giving this world ideas. The ones it has already is messed up as is.

Sinister has posed:
Oh, by a long, long way, this could get so very screwed up beyond all measure.

It does not smell good in the depths of the subconscious here, no. Like the memory of a lot of formaldehyde to drown in?

The figure looks up, staring, then straightening. The goggles are jerked up, the eyes have bags, are bloodshot beneath and have the look of Obsession glimmering in their depths so strong that it's almost contagious.

"What?" blink. Stare. "Oh. Oh yes, maybe." The part is looked at, turned a few ways, then slotted into place. The mad doctor stares at the creation with a tick at the corner of his eye, inspecting it all.

Lines of silvery gold energy like lost and confused lighting, crackle along pathways of whatever that will end up being.

"Do you know what all of this does? It defies! All of these things, locked into tiny, tiny keys and I can move them around like puzzle blocks. I'm trying to sublimate them all, this collection. But you can't be two entities at the same time, in the same space -- the laws of physicality deny this." The scientist scowls at the creation. "And I don't know what you -are-. How can I assemble you, when I don't know what you ever were in the first place?"

Lucifer has posed:
"It only defies because you do not know what it is. You're trying to put together something without the blueprints. That doesn't ever really get anyone anywhere..." God complex. Check. He takes a few further steps in.

Does the glowstick he's suddenly holding do anything? He doesn't know, but he'll hold it. Like a baton! As he then looks to the crackles of lightning and begins doing trickery as only Lucifer knows to do. He peers into the veil, eyes going narrow and brimming with hellfire. Slowly pieces begin to pick themselves up. This moves there. That moves here. The other thing yonder becomes a side piece as it wasn't needed.

The energy crackling around is also sort of harnessed. "You're playing Frakenstein. You should be playing Sinister. Yours was never to mutilate and put together.. not from these kind of pieces. Molecular. That's more your deal..." He grins. "So lets see what we have here..."

Then he tilts his head. "Some people may want to duck and cover..." A warning that may be for Nick's benefit without directly speaking to Nick and thus confusing the Mad Doctor.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
This world seems to like to justify how the loss of a sense of smell is sometimes a good thing. Either way, Phantasm looks to the puzzle being worked on, trying to determine what the finished picture is going to likely look like.

A brow raises to the mention of two entities comment. "...Is this reference to combining your DNA with an angel? Trying to figure out what part ends and the other begins?"

To the Frankenstein comment, he tilts his head. "Well that might be more for illustrative purposes. Some things aren't meant to be literal."

As for the warning, the phantasm tilts his head. "What?"

Sinister has posed:
What, indeed!

The passed baton, the glowstick that flickered like flame, pulses as the devil looks at the entity of no parts that make sense. It briefly becomes as a flaming sword, so, that's definitely something.

As the mystical engages the actual deep and dark in the subconsciousness of a Dangerous man, the assembled parts seem to move around one another and through each other like a flesh gyroscope -- a flare of wing, a mouth, a face, more faces, horns, scales, claws, flesh, smooth lines and jagged edges and the mad scientist cries out, covering his eyes with the crook of an elbow as crimson fire consumes the entire contents of the oubliette.

They're standing in nothing but dark, a moment later, knowing full well that the entities in the darkness all around are circling and watching.

There's a sound like a gigantic water droplet hitting a silent well and the red light returns.

Essex, naked but anatomically blank for the moment, stands in the midst of this red light, holding hands up, turning them slowly this way and that, as excess... **plop** sloughs off. He appears to be fascinated by the contour of his own limb, looking up and around with a slow, purposeful intent. "I think," is said. "This is progress. I should, I think, not think so very hard. My internal circuits are geared to a lower voltage."

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
puts in a different place holder so Lucifer can take back their placeholder so they don't forget about the placeholder and then we have to play the pose shuffle

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer blinks. Everything sort of just...happened. Though Lucifer swears that, even for a moment, he was able to hear a drop of water among all the creatures here in the dreamscape. Now they're done a goggled Essex, and just the one on the table surrounded by red remains.

"I suppose that only matters depending on what you were thinking so hard about. Whatever it is, it's been both driving you crazy and emotionally bankrupt. You really can drive your mentality a hard bargain." Lucifer quips, doing a slow walk around the table only to pause when he reaches the ashes of Goggle Essex. Those ashes are lifted from the floor by the power of mind and then he looks around for an empty jar - hopefully finding one even a little bit clean - and dumps the remains within.

"So. Back to stage one are we? Is that what this is or is there more or less to it?"

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Despite the flambe scene and jigsaw Sin now standing in the room, Nick doesn't seem surprised, or upset by the gore.

The lack of a sense of smell probably helps.

"Hmm."

Astute observation, Nick.

Sinister has posed:
"Stage one. Well, that I suspect depends on what the stage is. Perhaps what this is, is a psychic cocoon," Essex looks slowly around at the bubble of colour in shadow, knowing what exists beyond. He looks at Lucifer, smiles warmly, then at Nick who he examines a moment or two critically, then also smiles at. Smiles. Smiles are good, right?

"I have a mind that can split itself into multiples -- you know that. I don't always know what the rest of me is doing... a moment..." the red light glows brighter, the flicker of flame becoming more pronounced and there's a deep, subvocal rowling sound, like something massive in the deeps stirring its vocal chords like a monstrous whale.

"Thinking too hard... I think about what is going on with us. With him. We are... metamorphosing."

He looks down at himself, grunts and with a casual flick, ends up wearing what looks a lot like a black velvet robe.

"I had no idea how to assemble parts of a being I am not and have never analyzed. And thus, we are... assembling? Thank you for speeding that up. Maybe I will be examined."

Lucifer has posed:
"So because you've never analyzed yourself...you weren't sure of how...yourself...was put together." It's a statement but in the voice of a question as Lucifer is trying to make sense of what all is going on. When he's thanked for speeding up the assembly, he gives a little shrug.

"I'm just glad that most of my powers in the real world also exist in the dream world. The real question is... was this all that was needed. Or is there more to the story? I would love to get my actual weekend of relaxation started...and I'm sure Nathaniel would love to have his mind quelled for a little while as well."

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Nick tilts his head. "Why do you need to know the how they're assembled? Without knowing the environment they were created, it doesn't make much sense. Wouldn't it be simpler to monitor the finished product's actions instead and then just go back?"

Sinister has posed:
The assembled Essex looks over at Nick once again, tilting his head just so, which makes it seem like he's looking down the slant of his own cheekbone, slightly side-eyed. "In an ideal world, you simply would allow a hybrid creature to grow in the normal manner. If, for instance, it were to be the combination of two gametes that came together naturally. I am not a mule conceived by practicality -- part of me must be switched on or off, as is the nature of the many switches in a genome that allow characteristics to be displayed."

He pauses. "I sound like a text book. Goodness."

A slow blink follows. "I was unclear. You were very helpful putting the bits where they needed to go and switching things on that needed to be on, off that needed to be off. You were very helpful, Lucifer. I think it is fair to say I will simply be confused and bewondered, if I am anything. I shouldn't have any further headaches. I think. Probably. Possibly."

Lucifer has posed:
Science makes Lucifer's head hurt.

He has no idea what Nathaniel just explained means. He also doesn't want to know. The age-old (well, at least recently age-old) turn it off and turn it on again in certain areas seems to have worked. Wunderbar. He'll likely see himself and Nick out at this point.

"I'm going to take all of that as meaning. Yes. Simply enough. So...if there is nothing more...we should leave you to analyze yourself in theory and return to the other world." He offers this and then turns on his heels with a look to Nick. "I think my powers work enough I can two-step it back to the dock above and then we can exit this world. I know you can make a quick work of traveling too, in your current form. So. Shall we?"

Is there an answer? If so. He likely doesn't wait for it. One step. Two. Towards the staircase that goes sideways but if he works it right, he'll be back on the dock.

And dry as a bone.

Sinister has posed:
There is also the desire felt to remove the self from the place -- That alone, is enough for the 'unreal' to feel considerably more /surreal/ as if the mind is becoming far more aware of its consciousness.

It may have been a very sudden plummet down, bungeed into the depths, it's a far gentler 'lift' from the depths the other way around.

Essex seems to have made a fresh coffee given the smell on the nostrils. AND fresh hot chocolate. There is irish. THere's cigarettes. There's gentle music playing.

"Success?" seems to come from a long way off, getting clearer and sharp as a bell shortly after. "I feel less out of sorts, so I assume i shall find out in good time."

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
With Sinister's 'Yes and No' response. Nick gives a slight nod.

Ah...

Lucifer's suggestion of them leaving gets another nod.

While Lucifer reappears at the dock. Nick's presence is notably absent there, having popped out into the house instead.

Along with the gentle music, there's color. Not just from between the curtains.

Nick looks to his empty mug. Wishing for a bit more.

Lucifer has posed:
From Dock to Home was another quick trip and then all the colors return and Lucifer takes a slow breath of relief. "Well. Not what I thought it would be... but the end result was turning things off and turning other things on. And assembling a you. Maybe not in that exact order but...there it is."

He shifts to where cigarettes are, taking two and lighting them before proffering one to Nathaniel. "Either way. A success, I think. Now. Drinks, relaxation, and fixing a step. I think that we could all agree those are in order now."