The Perk, Monday Morning

[my_own_advocate]

The bloody muzak was gone, and Lucifer had managed to coax a new Extreme Shake out of the Perk staff. He had no idea why they insisted on declaring the strawberry-forward concoction 'The Dante', beyond some terrible attempt at humor, but the amount of sugar in the drink quickly papered over what complaints he could raise about it.

Yes, Lucifer reflected, as he put large amounts of whipped cream in his mouth, this was much better than last week.

Time to keep this vibe going, clearly.

[[ open ]]

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[1000yearstoolate]

Seivarden had seen Lucifer through the window, which was why her habitual argument with the barista about how to make proper tea was unusually quick and to the point. She picked up her cup and walked over to the table.

"I'm not sure I want to know what's in that thing," she said, with a grin. "Good morning."

[my_own_advocate]

"A large amount of extremely delicious things," Lucifer said, grinning brightly. (For a guy who could get extremely uppity about his food intake, sugar turned him into a small child very quickly.) "Good morning, Seivarden. What brings you here at this horrific hour?"

It was 11 AM.

[1000yearstoolate]

"I needed to get out of the apartment, I went for a walk, I saw you thought the window with that terrible concoction, and thought you might be in need of company," Seivarden said. "And why not have an almost acceptable cup of tea."

[my_own_advocate]

"Because you could have much better tea at home?" Lucifer teased. "Sit down, please."

[1000yearstoolate]

Seivarden took a seat opposite him.

"If course I could. But sometimes I prefer company. Or at least getting out of the apartment. How has your weekend been?"

[my_own_advocate]

"Annoying," Lucifer said. "I'm rather glad the bloody animals are gone."

[1000yearstoolate]

"So am I," Seivarden said. "And now Issa doesn't have a butterfly to chase. Tisarwat stopped by the flower shop on Saturday to buy a flower, so that offered some distraction from that music."

She took a sip from her tea.

[my_own_advocate]

Smooth segue there, Seivarden.

"Your baby Radchaai friend?" Lucifer said.

[1000yearstoolate]

Seivarden wasn't even going to pretend it was smooth.

"Yes," Seivarden said. "And she's also Summer's friend, and since she's no longer a student I think she feels a bit left out that she can't join her friends drinking at Devil's Nest."

You wouldn't have approved of the proper way of asking this, Lucifer.

[my_own_advocate]

"Are you trying to get a teenager drunk?" Lucifer asked, amused.

[1000yearstoolate]

"Tisarwat seems more interested in socialising than getting drunk," Seivarden said. "Although of course I might be mistaken."

She grinned. "Which doesn't mean she doesn't need to get drunk. Sometimes she seems a bit serious, which is strange, considering she probably spent her first paycheck on purple eyes."

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer shrugged idly. "She's welcome to enter the club," he said, "As for drinks, we'll see if Eric's still hiding."

Not that he couldn't bludgeon Eric into submission, but that sounded like effort for someone he didn't actually know.

[1000yearstoolate]

Seivarden gave a small nod, then sipped her tea.

"I think I've only talked to Eric once. He seems to hide a lot, doesn't he? Oh, and Tisarwat will be embarrassed if she finds out I asked" - that is, if Lucifer was blunt enough to mention it, - "so unless you want her to be" - she assumed Lucifer didn't care enough - "it might be best not to mention it. I'll just introduce her." As she would with any Radchaai.

[my_own_advocate]

"Right," Lucifer said, eyeing her. "Are you mother henning?"

[1000yearstoolate]

"She's Radchaai and very young. It's only proper. Besides, she's stuck here too, and I actually enjoy talking to someone who understand, well, what I assume you'd call cultural differences."

She looked at Lucifer.

"Is that what you call mother henning? I'm not going to expect you two to be friends, just for her to be able to socialise more. And possibly get drunk."

[my_own_advocate]

"You're worrying about her feelings more than you worry about most people's feelings," Lucifer pointed out, "It's amusing. But fine. I won't make her sink through the floor with embarrassment." Beat. "About that, at least."

[1000yearstoolate]

Actually Seivarden worried more about Tisarwat's opinion of her, considering her situation here, but there was no need to go into that.

"That's fine," she smirked. "I won't mind."

She reached out to nudge his fingers.

"And for the record, I do worry about people's feelings. I'm not cruel."

[my_own_advocate]

"I never said you were," Lucifer said, shoving a spoon into his drink. There was this stray strawberry at the bottom he wanted to get to.

[1000yearstoolate]

"No, I suppose not."

This was heading into something potentially awkward or uncomfortable, so Seivarden said:

"I've changed my mind, I do want to know what's in that drink."

[my_own_advocate]

"So far, I believe it's ice cream, strawberries, some kind of strawberry syrup, rainbow sprinkles, some banana, and..."

He pushed his spoon up. "...Doughnut holes."

[1000yearstoolate]

"Sometimes, although very rarely, your taste is questionable."

Seivarden sipped her tea.

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer rolled his eyes. "It's delicious," he said, shoving the doughnut into his mouth. "You should try it."

[1000yearstoolate]

"You know I won't."

She grinned.

[my_own_advocate]

"Yes, because sometimes, although very rarely, you hate joy."

[1000yearstoolate]

"Because sometimes, although very rarely, we don't agree on what's enjoyable," Seivarden said.

"I want to do something enjoyable this week."