Along Apocalypse Ave, Near Galactica Point, Thursday Evening

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer hadn't been lying to Duke when he said he hated being alone with his thoughts. Just... sometimes his mood propelled him to anyway, and while the worst of the edge had come off his pensive state of mind after Octavia's visit on Tuesday, he still felt... unusually quiet.

Quiet enough to go for a walk along this side of the island, instead of going to see if there was anyone willing to be bothered in Fandom's port. He had his long grey coat back on, and he strolled idly over stairs and along the winding path by Fandom's outer walls.

Occasionally stopping to stare out over the water.

Not long from now, he'd be surprised with a phone call from Miss Lopez, and he'd be happy to let her chattering wash over him and distract him. For now, he was just... ambling.

[[ open, CW: discussion of narcotics use in the Seivarden thread ]]

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[1000yearstoolate]

Seivarden too was out for a walk, something that had become a habit as a way to deal with her restlessness. She had made her way through most of the town when she, looking up from the path in front of her, noticed Lucifer.

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer, for his part, hadn't noticed her yet. He'd stopped to enjoy the view somewhere along the way.

Or at least, to light a cigarette. One of those things.

[1000yearstoolate]

"Lucifer? Out for a walk?"

Seivarden wasn't going to interfere with him watching the water if that was what he preferred to do.

[my_own_advocate]

"Yes, an astute observation," Lucifer said, and took a drag of his cigarette. "Didn't expect to find you out here."

[1000yearstoolate]

"Why not?" Seivarden raised an eyebrow. "I do go for walks, too, you know."

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer shrugged. "Honestly just didn't think of it," he said. "It's not a flower shop or a bar, after all."

[1000yearstoolate]

Seivarden decided this qualified as Lucifer preferring to look at the view, but the comments annoyed her.

"Going for walks around the island is a normal thing," she pointed out. "Especially in a place when there isn't much else to do."

[my_own_advocate]

Seivarden had a habit of making assumptions and deciding everything was a criticism worth arguing with, didn't she? Lucifer didn't know why it'd taken him so long to notice it.

"Did I say it wasn't a normal thing?" he wondered. "Trust me, if I was criticizing your life's choices, I would have been louder about it." He took a drag off his cigarette. "Sometimes surprise is just surprise."

[1000yearstoolate]

Considering that Seivarden had spent two years among people where a comment like that could likely be considered a criticism, she didn't really take the response seriously.

"Well," she said. "I'm glad to have provided you with some surprise, then."

She spoke pleasantly, if not quite sincerely.

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer squinted. "Why are we being passive aggressive?" he said.

[1000yearstoolate]

Seivarden had a quick internal debate where to go with this, where the goal was not to end up with something resembling an argument with Lucifer.

"Because everything you've said so far would come across as more of less insulting in the Radch."

She sighed.

"And now you're going to say that I'm being stupid, and then this will escalate, so I'm just going to leave."

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer rolled his eyes. "Well, I sure am glad to have been an entirely passive participant in this conversation that you already mapped out the moment I opened my mouth, apparently," he said. "We're not in the Radch."

[1000yearstoolate]

"No, you haven't," Seivarden said. "And no, we're not. But my friends there generally stop saying things that insult me when they realise it upsets me."

Actually, it had been explained to her that she should do that to people she cared about, and she had managed to listen.

[designateddadfriend]

There was still a lot of clean up and organizing to do at the station, so Travis was ... doing anything but.

Exploring the island he could at least rationalize as needing to orient himself before the first big call came in (bless his heart).

And here was yet another absurdly pretty man. Which the island seemed to have come well stocked with. Travis nodded to him and tried not to look him over too obviously.

[my_own_advocate]

"Newbie or visitor?" Lucifer asked idly, without bothering to look over at the man much at all.

He was also, as per usual, entirely aware of someone overtly trying not to look at him. It happened to him a lot. At least he wasn't in the mood to snark about it this time.

[designateddadfriend]

"Really is a small town, huh," Travis said with a self-conscious laugh. "Newbie. Just moved in yesterday." He offered his hand. "Travis Montgomery."

[my_own_advocate]

"Disgustingly tiny," Lucifer agreed, half-turning when he caught that hand heading towards him. "Lucifer Morningstar," he said, glancing Travis down briefly as he went to shake that hand because old habits died hard, especially when you weren't putting in any effort to murder them. "I work at the bar, so I see my fair share of faces every week."

[designateddadfriend]

The good Christian boy inside Travis, who'd been ranked in competitive bible quoting of all things, raised his eyebrows very high at that name. And then lowered them again at the whole "working at the bar" part.

"Ah! The Devil from the Devil's Nest, right? I heard about you. You play piano."

[my_own_advocate]

"I see my reputation precedes me," Lucifer said, halfway between serious and amused. "Tuesdays and Fridays. Don't mind the music the other nights, we've had staffing issues since Eric started eating all the DJs."

[designateddadfriend]

They really leaned into the whole evil theme, didn't they.

"Maybe I'll swing by tomorrow then. Hear you play."

[my_own_advocate]

"You're more than welcome," Lucifer said, smirking. "I think I've got the chansons out of my system for the moment, so it might even be cheery this time."

[designateddadfriend]

"Chansons?" Travis asked.

[my_own_advocate]

"French pop songs," Lucifer explained. "They have their own allure, but they are... very French."

He shrugged.

"And you know the French."

Well. Probably not like he did.

[designateddadfriend]

Definitely not like he did.

"Moody?" Travis guessed. "Maybe a little pretentious?" He laughed softly. "Now I'm kind of disappointed I missed that phase."

[my_own_advocate]

You go on one century-long quest to bang as many hot French people as you could and you never lived it down, did you.

"Moody and pretentious," Lucifer agreed, amused. "What, is that your style?"