Seasons - Lucifer's Voicemail

[dadbeatdad]

Why hello there. You've reached Lucifer Morningstar. Sorry I can't come to the phone right now. Leave a message after the tone and I might get back to you. Make it good~ Byyyyyyye~

Comments

[bluediligence]

[ Macaque and Lucifer's reactions may be tempered — for her sake? — but their anger and disgust are palpable all the same. For … her sake?

It's a lot. It's … it's a lot. Not scary, there's nothing here for her to flinch from, but there's a weight to care. There's a weight to seeing, knowing, that what she's saying — what she's been through, who she is — has meaning. With meaning comes feeling and it's —

It's always a lot, and this is more than most. ]

[ She nods. Drags her hand away from her neck and gives her plush cat a tight hug. ]

Nn. Thank you for listening. [ She just about manages to hold back the apology that tries to follow. ] … In a way, the objectives — some of them, at least — are as bad as the taboos, if not worse.

Speaking of which … um, there was … and maybe kind of still is, but as far as I can tell it's not really active anymore? a taboo against wearing scarves. And one against haircuts. Then there's, um …

Not eating for twenty four hours or more; not sleeping for forty eight hours or more; breaking a promise; anyone breaking a promise they made to me; self-sacrifice, which can but doesn't have to include mortal peril; all of my team nicknames … [ she pauses ] Lott's usual nickname for me is fine. Wash-nii's hurts, if it's in reference to me specifically.

And our birth name.

[dadbeatdad]

Lucifer is sure Macaque is about one bad revelation away from needing to destroy things or needing to fight a monster and kill it in a bloody fashion. He nods to Korone as she thanks them for listening. Then she continues with more. Scarves, not eating, not sleeping, breaking promises or having them broken, cutting hair and self-sacrifice. Finally, her name.

The more Lucifer hears, the worse this gets. They controlled her completely and took from Choco her birth name. It's like an unwilling soul contract. The completely domination of her person, her mind, and her soul. The terrible worlds she came from did all of this to her and for what? Entertainment? Sustenance? Shits and giggles?

"That is a lot you have had to deal with for a long time. If you do not mind me saying, it is very much long past due to remove those from you, indeed."

[castaside]

Lucifer isn't wrong, but Macaque calms down as he listens to his daughter talk. She dealt with these with aplomb, mostly -- shouldn't have had to, but she has -- what right does he have to get angry? And what good would it do?

He draws a breath, slow.

"I agree. It'll be much better, and much safer, without those weighing you down."

[bluediligence]

N-No, it's — um, I don't mind. [ Korone smiles briefly. It's genuine enough, though it's also something of a bandaid smoothing over that momentary stammer. ]

[ Squishing Ringo transitions to fidgeting, tracing small circles across the toy's fur with her thumbs. 3 clockwise, boop, 1 anticlockwise, 4 clockwise, 1 anticlockwise, 5 clockwise… ]

Being able to hide the list has helped? But it doesn't — it just, all it does is slow down people like Relius … [ who saw everything the moment he deigned to look at her, and used it, and please hold: there's been a minor oopsie on the Thought Process Monkey Bars. A missed ring. A fumble and a slip. She trails off, both words and fidgeting left hanging, incomplete. ]

[dadbeatdad]

[Lucifer gently reaches over and squeezes Macaque's arm. Just a small confirmation he understands his feelings and is here too. Then Korone talks about Relius and trails off. Oh. Uh oh. Okay. He reaches out slowly to wave not too close to Korone's face to see if she would react.

Then he gently moves his hand to settle on the nearest hardest surface and starts to tap a steady sequence on a four beat. Tap tap, tap tap. Tap tap, tap tap.]