The Park, Thursday Morning

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer wasn't an early bird by any stretch. But the night, alone as it had been, had been worse than the one before. And now Hell wasn't far from his thoughts.

Or other things, though they flitted determinedly through his mind as he walked around the island. It was as if his mood darkened every time he found himself in the shadows, like he needed the sun to keep the clutter out of his head.

Eventually, he settled on a park bench with his flask. Staring determinedly at a pair of flamingoes, sharing his ray of sunshine.

"Bloody Hell."

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[betterthanaplan]

Duke had had another bad night himself, and had spent the early morning hours in the water trying to clear his head before heading into work.

Trouble was, for once the deeper he dove, the worse he felt. Being underwater was supposed to be his escape from bad memories. Today it felt like all he could do was float along on the surface and soak up the sun.

He wandered, faintly dripping, through the park on his way to the diner. "Hey man," he said when he saw Lucifer. "Those flamingos personally offend you, somehow?"

[my_own_advocate]

"Hm?"

Lucifer's head jerked up. He'd clearly not been paying attention at all.

[betterthanaplan]

That was . . . very unusual. "You're staring at the birds like they're getting ready to sacrifice a goat in your name." Duke tilted his head. "You feeling okay?"

[my_own_advocate]

"Just a bit of a poor night's sleep," Lucifer said, feelings of sadness, then being caught, then panic, flitting over his features before he finally settled on a vaguely smile-like smile and straightened his shoulders. "Figured a good morning drink would solve it."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke watched that particular dance of expressions with a sinking feeling in his stomach. "Let me guess," he said. "Bad dreams?"

[my_own_advocate]

"Second night in a row, and the first night was very strange," Lucifer said, taking a quick swig from his flask to wipe away the last of all... that.

[betterthanaplan]

"Yeah," Duke said. "That's been going around." He shut his eyes with a sigh -- then snapped them open again. He hadn't connected the bad memories to a lack of sun, yet, and thus didn't trust that leaving them closed wouldn't result in more trips down awful-memory lane. "We might be . . . having a thing. As an island."

[my_own_advocate]

"That would explain why I was suddenly encumbered with Seivarden's nightmares," Lucifer muttered.

There had been crying, Duke!

... not by Lucifer. By Seivarden. Who thought it was a good idea to force Lucifer to deal with a crying Radchaai?

[betterthanaplan]

"Jesus," Duke hissed softly. "Yeah, Octavia got a headful of mine this morning."

And they'd both had the same ones the night before. Because what anyone needed was Duke and Octavia's various issues combining.

[my_own_advocate]

Well, say hello to their next Kaiju invasion?

"That's just... incredibly irritating, isn't it?" Lucifer muttered, squinting at Duke.

Choosing to get up. "Someone's decided to start playing tricks again."

[betterthanaplan]

"Guess so. So help me, if I end up in another volcano. . . ."

Which would be right around when a passing cloud drifted over the sun. And Duke got himself a full, technicolor, surround sound reminder of just what dangling for hours over a pit of lava in the caldera of an active volcano had been like.

[my_own_advocate]

"Duke?" Lucifer said, frowning.

Unfortunately for him, he hadn't stopped moving towards Duke, and now the faint sense of something unpleasantly hot hit him like a hammer.

[betterthanaplan]

The heat had been oppressive. Smothering. From the lava, from the people he'd been tied to, from his own aching, exhausted body.

He'd wondered, at various points that day, if that would be what his hell would be like.

So, you know, sorry for that, Lucifer.

[my_own_advocate]

Even that hint of Hell got Duke a vision of obsidian stones haphazardly strewn across a hallway full of doors, and Lucifer rubbed his forehead firmly as the scent of sulfur seemed to mingle with it.

"I am--" he growled, "--not amused!"

(and a flicker of a pale, wide-eyed blonde with a strong jaw and blood coming out of her nose-- at least until he shoved it down under all the lava)

[betterthanaplan]

"What the hell is that?" Duke ground out, pressing his hands to his temples. Thankfully, the sun was coming out from behind the clouds again, and he was able to start wrestling his brain back to the present. "Okay. There is definitely something weird going on."

[my_own_advocate]

"You think," Lucifer ground out, sounding more on edge than he really had any right to be.

[betterthanaplan]

"Did you get hit with it, too?" Duke asked. He hadn't quite connected the 'weird extra images' with Lucifer, just yet. "I swear, I just had, like, a flashback or something."

[my_own_advocate]

"Yes, you were somewhere toasty," Lucifer said, eyeing him.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke eyed him. He and Octavia had shared a dream that morning, and now Lucifer was sharing his flashbacks, too. . . .

Now he made the connection between Lucifer and the unfamiliar images.

"The doors. That -- that was actually Hell, wasn't it."

[my_own_advocate]

"Yes," Lucifer said, and took a big swig from his flask. "It seems to be haunting me recently."

[betterthanaplan]

He might want to pace himself there.

"Who was the blonde?"

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer waved with his flask, as if just thinking of her name was going to finally invite in the worst he was trying to put off.

[betterthanaplan]

Fortunately, Lucifer was quite predictable.

"Chloe." Duke called up as much of that flash as he could. Lucifer's trauma was way easier to deal with than his own. "She's cute."

[my_own_advocate]

"She's a very capable LAPD detective," Lucifer corrected him irritably.

Glaring at Duke meant he wasn't exactly paying attention to the weather, which was beginning to grow cloudier.

[betterthanaplan]

"I'm sure she is." Duke was just going to ignore the fact that she'd been bleeding in that flash. He'd had enough nightmares about blood already, lately, thanks.