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

Re: late August

[dadbeatdad]

"Please please tell me they aren't somehow still etched into your soul...please."

Re: late August

[castaside]

"I don't know. It was a dream, but that long? Maybe we were really there and they sent us back." Normally they'd return through the research center in that event, but anything's possible.

Re: late August

[dadbeatdad]

Lucifer does not like the sound of this.

"Love...may I look at your soul? Will you lend it to me so I can? To make sure?"

Re: late August

[castaside]

Macaque draws a slow breath. He's not even close to through with the story. But Lucifer seems preoccupied by this, and he can't bear to hurt another person he loves right now.

So he nods.

Re: late August

[dadbeatdad]

[The purple collar and chain appear around Macaque's neck. He starts to gently feel each and every link on the chain.]

Okay love. Continue your tale. I can listen and do this at the same time. You were at this Temple, with these horrible games, if they can even be called that. What happened next?

Re: late August

[castaside]

There is something very wrong with Macaque's soul. Lucifer will be able to tell immediately. The damage from the snake god Qhyone is very evident. Something was feeding on his soul. And the telltale etchings are there.

Was it really only a dream?

"Choco and I went into a game. A memory game. We had to watch events from each other's lives. The most painful ones, naturally. I held her for the first part, hid us with my magic even though it hurt. But I used too much magic, and it ate my soul away. I had what's called a death hangover. And I forgot her."

Re: late August

[dadbeatdad]

[He can feel the evidence of the bites. The damage. He draining. This snake god, Qhyone. Lucifer makes a note that should he and Miyuni ever have a moment together, they are going snake hunting. He usually likes snakes too.

Bastard is giving them a bad name.]

Death hangover. So did you just forget her or other memories? That had to be hard, being in memories with someone you no longer knew.

Re: late August

[castaside]

"I forgot everything. Back to the time when I wanted to kill Wukong. And all I knew was that someone was using shadow magic. My shadow magic. So I hunted her. I tried to kill her. The more magic I used, the worse it got."

Re: late August

[dadbeatdad]

"You tried so you did not succeed? What stopped you?"

Re: late August

[castaside]

"I chose not to. I wanted answers as to how she knew my magic and how to evade me. She told me to use telepathy to delve into her memories. So I pushed my way in. I didn't remember her so I wasn't delicate about it, and now knowing that's her worst fear..."

He has to draw another shaky breath. "So I told her that I didn't know what was going on, but I wasn't her father. You should have heard the way she sobbed."

Re: late August

[dadbeatdad]

Lucifer keeps gently feeling Macaque's soul as he tells the story. Another him appears to pet Macaque's hair and kiss his temple.

"I am sure she was quite hurt hearing you say that. Allow me a quick question, my love. When you arrived. Your memories that you had of your world. Where they the same in the dream? Or were more memories erased in the dream? Or less? As a comparison."

Re: late August

[castaside]

"It's worse than that. Her biological father told her the same thing once. So it was having all her fears of rejection realized."

He blinks, almost as if coming out of a dream all over again. "At first I had all my memories from this place. It was as thought we'd been plucked out of here and taken there. Until the game started and my soul was too shredded to remember."

Re: late August

[dadbeatdad]

"I will remember that and punch the man in the dick should we meet," Lucifer says. Then he focuses on the question and the soul in his hands.

"And once you shredded your memories and regressed. Which version of your past were you at? You saying it was when you hated Wukong, that has a spectrum of time to it. Does it not?"

Re: late August

[castaside]

"You'll have to get in line." Macaque has first dibs to punch that man in the fucking face. Maybe along with Wash. But there's no heat in the statement, it's bland. A calm fact.

"It was after I met MK. After the Lady Bone Demon." Has he ever told Lucifer about her? Well, it doesn't matter.

Re: late August

[dadbeatdad]

"I will gladly wait in line," Lucifer confirms. The damage to the soul continues but he hasn't found any taboos etched into it. So far, he will take that if it continues.

"I don't think you've told me about her from your perspective. Wukong has mentioned her. So. That past version of yourself could have killed her, but didn't. You hurt her, yes. But you were no longer the man who is her father now. I'm sure Choco understands that after the pain cools. And you were not gentle looking through her mind."

"Once you learned how she had the powers, what happened next?"

Re: late August

[castaside]

The objectives and taboos are in there, but they may take a little time to find. His aren't as prominent as his daughter's.

"What does it matter what I knew? I forgot my child and then tried to harm her. I did harm her emotionally, in a way that I'm not sure I wanted her to forgive. How would you cope with that?" Not well, he can imagine.

"We kept jumping from memory to memory. Things I can't tell you about since they're her stories. Then some of my own. And then one scene from my future, that I didn't recall before the dream but I do now. The time where MK sacrificed himself."

Re: late August

[dadbeatdad]

Lucifer keeps feeling every link until he feels them. He doesn't need to look. He knows it from just the feeling of them etched into his very soul.

"Fuck."

"I would not cope with it well and I am not saying it in an attempt to wash away the pain or guilt you feel. But as a reminder that you choose to forgive yourself or not. But it is her choice to forgive you. Not yours."

"I would not want you to tell me her stories and her secrets. That last one. Sounds as though the memories were all painful and difficult, weren't they?"

Re: late August

[castaside]

"...They're there, aren't they?" He sighs.

"I'm not going to push her away as long as she doesn't want that. I couldn't bear to. Doesn't mean I feel like I deserve it."

A nod. "They chose our worst memories, both of us. My fight with Wukong. The day Flowerfruit Mountain burned. Things like that."

Re: late August

[dadbeatdad]

"They are, love." Lucifer tries to feel them and test how strong they are, how embedded they remain.

"Of course not. I am certain so many of us, of not everyone, feels as though we do not deserve forgiveness. At times or at all."

"And this new memory. One from your future, that has yet to happen for you. How are you after seeing that on top of those other painful past memories?"

Re: late August

[castaside]

"Figures." His luck just gets better and better. "Can you get rid of them?" They're not deeply embedded so it's possible, though it will take some work.

"I don't care about how I am. I care about how she is."

Re: late August

[dadbeatdad]

"It will take some time. I can't just file them out. Your soul has suffered damage, love. I do not wish to damage it further," He hates saying it but it is true. Still, he can work on it whenever they are just together.

"...I care how you are. Do you want me to call her and check on her for your mind?"

Re: late August

[castaside]

"As long as they're there I can't use shadow magic. At least not without risking another death hangover. You can't let them take that away from me." Not being able to talk to his shadows... he'd rather die. He won't, of course, but he'd want to.

"The more people who will check on her the better. She may not be willing to talk much."

Re: late August

[dadbeatdad]

"Alright. Stay with me tonight in the hotel. I will see what I can do." He will simply stay up all night working on this. Several nights if he needs to.

"I will reach out and check," Lucifer pulls out his phone and sends a quick text.

"Then what happened after the forced memory exploration?"

Re: late August

[castaside]

"I'd stay with you anyway. I don't want to be alone. And I have to figure out how to tell the others." Nobody is going to like any of this.

"She's still asleep. She was in her summer molt when this started and I don't think she has much energy."

"After... the usual torture games. I had my arm amputated and she was forced to sew it back on. Things like that."

Re: late August

[dadbeatdad]

Lucifer kisses Macaque's forehead and keeps working on those etching into his love's soul.

"Well, she will know you're with me when she awakens. Would you like me to ask the others to watch over her to start? I am sure they already are. ...That sounds horrific. How did the dream end?"