unknownballad | Hybrid Kingdom PSL

Typical upscale hotel lobby decor. A little dark with some glitz. Beyond the concierge desk are plush chairs and settees for guests to sit and socialize. Somewhere is a bank of elevators.

[Ah, this is... fancy. Even knowing it's owned by the people - gods, that part was real all along, the gods - who took down Set's cult doesn't make the lobby any less daunting to someone like Conor, who's gone from a compound to the hospital to Daniel's nice but modest apartment with only a handful of sightseeing trips in the process. Comparatively, this lobby full of glitz and sparkle and stark black and white patterns is a touch overwhelming.

But Conor doesn't panic. There are people milling around the lobby to get from one place to the next, which means someone he's met is bound to walk past and notice him if he's just patient enough. With that goal in mind, Conor finds it much easier to get himself over to one of the comfortable armchairs and sit down - it's an automatic reflex to pull his knees up to his chest and rest his heels on the edge of the chair, but if someone finds him after he's sat and people-watched for awhile, he may just have one leg crossed over the other.]

(( With everything said and done, there's no need for Lucifer to try slinking around like he isn't supposed to be here any longer. Nor does he have to immediately be on alert if one of the hotel's residents show up at his bar. What he's doing here? Anyone's guess (probably here to harass his brother in some form or other). He's just leaving from another afternoon mischief making when he spots a familiar face in the lobby.

Well, well, well...

He saunters over, all in black and bends at the waist to get on eye level with the boy. ))

Do you remember me?

[The gods are real. Setekh was a real god. Osiris and Horus and their family are real gods. Lucas is an angel.

Which means that this man in front of him is...

Conor has never confronted Setekh, so this is the biggest shock he's had since leaving the cult and it's a doozy. His eyes fly wide open and he shrinks back into his chair, arms clutching his legs white-knuckle tight. He helped them, Conor reminds himself frantically, he helped them, he helped them, he left Setekh's side willingly, he helped to take the cult down, but memories still spin and flash through his mind at the very sight of him.

Deep breaths. Stay in the present.]

... Lucifer.

(( Lucifer hardly moves at the boy's reaction. It's certainly a reasonable one after all he's gone through. The only change happens in his face, his dark eyes widening slightly, softening in the face of such fear.

It takes more will power than Lucifer cares to admit to keep from uttering that old angelic adage be not afraid. How long has it been since he wanted a human to feel comforted by his presence? He can't even recall. ))

That's right. Can you still breathe alright, little prince? I'm not here to do anything to you. I'm actually pleased to see you. I'm very fond of someone with a face like yours.

[... little prince?

Conor relaxes just a little and tilts his head at Lucifer, blinking rapidly. Glad to see him? Is it possible that Lucifer left because Setekh hurt him, too? He swallows hard and forces himself to relax even a little more, slowly setting his feet back on the floor one by one and hugging himself around the waist instead, and finds that there's room in his heart and mind for curiosity about this man.

This - oh, isn't Lucifer an angel too, originally?]

I heard that you left. You helped to stop him.

Edited 2025-05-21 23:21 (UTC)

(( That's right. Just relax. The boy's presently in no danger from Lucifer or anyone else. Anyone who causes trouble in this place is a fool. With so many powerful beings here, yes, it's nothing short of idiocy to try to start shit. ))

You heard right. Though, don't mistake it for altruism. My reasons were completely for my own benefit. I won't hear any slander otherwise.

[There's no wrong or bad reason to take down someone like Setekh, Conor thinks, but he just nods. Honestly, the way Lucifer insists on his own selfishness is kind of funny.

Sense of humor regain: +1]

I'm not the same person I was then. I don't know who that was or who I am, but they're not the same.

I can tell. Your eyes look clearer.

Really?

[Now that idea pleases Conor a lot. He's felt so horribly foggy since he woke up at the hospital... maybe some of that was because he's forgotten what clarity feels like.

It feels a bit silly to ask Lucifer this, but suddenly Conor wants to know.]

Um - how have you been? Since... all that.

(( It's true. There's more going on in his eyes when Lucifer sees them now. And lingering haze he can easily attribute to whatever medications the humans have deemed best for him. Not because of whatever hypnotic effects Setekh had.

Lucifer stands upright then promptly plops down in a chair next to Conor. If they're going to have a conversation, he may as well be comfortable for it. ))

Me? Oh, I'm someone who likes to stay busy. You know, there really aren't that many people that make it to Heaven these days.

[So. They still have the hotel. It seems to have been converted into some sort of short-term rental/living space for the other-than-human, judging by charge that Set can still feel in the air - the very same charge that blurred his senses so badly when they first set up the place for Horus and the priest's protection.

Set can admit to himself now that he's glad they survived. All of them. Processing his own regrets still feels strange, but sometimes the memory of what he put his cult through feels even stranger because he was so thoroughly lost in the grip of insanity. If there had been a point to the cruelty, he might feel differently, but acting out Osiris's murder again and again through acolytes? That was no means to an end. None of that violence empowered anything but his fractured ego.

The brand on his neck has helped him get to this point. The extreme humbling he's received through his role at the brothel has helped him get to this point. Sacrificing power and autonomy to regain the stability to stand on his own two feet - it isn't something anyone would have thought him capable of, and it did need to be forced on him in the end, but he's here now.

Here in the lobby of the hotel owned by his brother and nephew, well aware that he may be thrown out or beaten bloody or this body may simply be killed. Anyone who knew him then will see through the new face when they spot his hair. He just hopes he can talk to Horus and Osiris first.]

(( Emmanuel doesn't always stay in the hotel. He actually has a home that he, occasionally, returns to. He still has his obligations as a hunter, as well. And, despite his departure from the Church, his contacts within it still funnel jobs his way. Not exorcisms, per se, but... well, they know what he's capable of.

Coming back to the hotel feels more like home these days. Since Sobek's partner bought the place, it's not like they have to check in or out anymore unless they want something from the concierge. He has a suite and its always available when he needs it. Not everyone stayed after the war was decided. Many had their own duties to return to, just as Emmanuel. But unlike them, he keeps coming back to see specific familiar faces.

What he doesn't expect at all as he rolls his suitcase across the lobby is that shock of of fire engine red hair. By now, the blinding hot hatred Set inspired in him has cooled to your run of the mill every day kind of hate. It's bitter that he has to swallow it because of who he is as a person. He can't forgive Set, not ever, but even Set deserves this second chance.

Does that stop Emmanuel from stalking over to him and hissing? Not at all. ))

What are you doing here? Get out.

[Well, of all the people Set could run into first, Emmanuel is probably the worst. At least this icy greeting makes for a good test of his determination to make things right, and will provide ample evidence of the same if he takes it with grace.

And that's exactly what he does, even if an old part of him would like to sneer at the priest who has succeeded in so many places where Set failed.]

Hello, Father Yoon. [Set lowers his head in a respectful nod.] My employer granted me three days leave to come here and see if there's any hope of - well, "making things right" would be asking a bit much, but at least having my apology heard.

Hybrid Kingdom PSL

THE LOBBY

post-war

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VERY post-war

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