Learning the Peregrine

[lessandmorethanhuman]

Passengers: Alex Mercer and You.
Location: Around the Peregrine.
Date: Feb 7th
Summary: Alex is learning the layout still, with a few special stops. At least two places require a warden to help.
Warnings: Language? Possible body horror discussion depending on how things go.



Alex was limited in where he could go, and what he could do. He hated it, thanks. But he'd agreed to be here--if these beings really could return him from death, to his world... Then he could clean up the messes still; he didn't trust the military to do so. Not after they'd tried to nuke Manhattan to 'fix things'.

S.I.R.E
Alex hated that this required a warden. But he was curious, and maybe wanted to do some thinking out loud. Which meant he needed to find a warden who was willing to activate this thing, and then give him some privacy. (At least the illusion of privacy would help.) Was it so wrong that he wanted familiar surroundings?

Athletics Department
He'd at least learned, that while this area required a warden's supervision, to time his use of it to when one of them was using it. Seriously though, this was getting old. Not that he'd expected much freedom, but this absolutely sucked. He wasn't even planning on causing any trouble. Just using the free-standing punching bag. Getting used to being 'limited' to a human-based form and body again.

Resource Library
At least THIS place didn't require a warden's permission. Alex still would've preferred actual books, but the variety was impressive at least. Right now he was browsing to see whatever seemed interesting.

Comments

[dealwiththe]

Well, that's not creepy at all. Not just the story itself, but the way he tells it - third person, like it's someone else's story.

"And is there a reason why you're talking about yourself in the third person?" Lucifer asks, curious.

[lessandmorethanhuman]

"I was a different man then." Alex replied. It was true, and he wasn't even speaking metaphorically. Yet he remained Alex Mercer all the same.

"Worked for Gentek, a biological and genetic research company founded in 1976. Because of the founder's expertise in Genetics, a group known as Blackwatch contracted unofficially to work on their viral biological weapons research. The Founder became the head of the company, in many ways, and soon enough we were working with samples and ignorant of its use in the field. Think of the company as 'need to know silos'--highly paranoid and secure. Dr. Alexander J. Mercer was the head of the Blacklight Virus project.

I discovered the real source of the virus--a woman named Elizabeth Greene. She was the source of 14 different strains of what was known as the Redlight virus, and the only survivor of a town called Hope, Idaho. She was held in a secure facility in Manhattan. Apparently my 'investigations' were seen as a threat, and soon the project was being covered up. Usually with a black bag, for those of us involved."

That was a lot of information Alex had just given Lucifer, and he knew it. He had a bit more, before he was done though. Lucifer had asked about his sister after all. "Alex moved out when Dana was 16. Up until he was 10, it had been foster care. But at 10, Dana was born, and Alex was placed back with his mother. He'd have been better off in foster care though--he was often more the parent than their mother was. Moving out when Dana was 16, they gradually lost most contact with each other over the next few years until he sent her a secured laptop out of the blue."

A pause, Alex turning to look at the figure of Dana. Illusions. Comforting lie.

"I cleared a 10 ft security fence in one jump, when I escaped from Gentek. Had no idea I could do that--or survive being shot again. Found Dana as she was being arrested by Blackwatch--she tried to headbutt them in protest. I punched through the soldier--literally, killed the other, and we headed for her safe house.

[dealwiththe]

That is quite the info dump - and this from someone who is often the king of over-sharing. But, that's the thing - Lucifer knows, to help anyone on this ship, he's going to have to learn all about them. Not just the bare facts of their lives - which is what this seems to be - but how they think and feel about those events.

He definitely notices that there are no feelings here. He's just recounting a history. It might not even be his own, the way he keeps switching back and forth between "I" and "Alex".

"And how did you feel about all this?" Lucifer asks bluntly. "Or, how did Alex feel, being a pawn in a larger game he didn't know the full picture of? How did he feel about his sister being dragged into it?"

[lessandmorethanhuman]

"There's the therapist huh?" Alex said with a half-smirk, and a hint of snark. "Good thing I don't believe in hell, because this would be the funniest manifestation of it ever. The Devil playing therapist."

[dealwiththe]

"This is exactly how it manifests," Lucifer says with no snark whatsoever. "If you were in Hell, your Hell loop would be a series of your own memories. Your worst memories, probably. And the only way to escape it, is to understand why. Why these memories? Why did you condemn yourself? And what would you have needed to do, to do better? To forgive yourself?"

He just looks at Alex steadily.

"You don't need to have those answers now. In fact, I'd be very surprised if you did. But you'll need to figure them out, if you want to make progress here as you've claimed."

[lessandmorethanhuman]

"Oh these aren't necessarily my worst memories. Things got a whole lot worse before they got at all better." Alex said gazing steadily back at Lucifer. Quiet for several moments while he stared and studied the other. It's kind of unnerving, Alex's icy blue-eyes looking like they're trying to visually dissect the other--he didn't even blink.

Until he finally did, still meeting the other's gaze but with his head shifting slightly to the side as he talked. "What does forgiveness even mean? Or to do better. I was already trying to do better, by breaking the back of the infection, clean up the mess I made. I am here because I was flying a nuke out over the water so that the military didn't use it to blow up Manhattan to stop the damn infection."

[dealwiththe]

Alex’s gaze doesn’t unnerve Lucifer in the slightest. Creeping him out is just very difficult, generally. He’s spent thousands of years in Hell, after all, dealing with dead human souls and an army of demons under his rule. He’s almost always the scariest thing in the room.

“That’ll be on you to figure out,” he says simply. “What it means for you will be different from what it meant for me, what it will mean for the other inmates.”

This is just an initial consult. If they get paired up, Lucifer will start really working on pushing him, digging into these issues. Right now, it’s enough to get a glimpse, and point out that these issues even exist.

He’s had this conversation a number of times, with people in Hell.

[lessandmorethanhuman]

Alex took a deep breath in, held it, then let it out. Then got up from his crouch, put his hands in his pockets, and slouched against the wall. "Your turn, Mr. Headshrinker. Tit for Tat, remember?"

tfw you cant just find an empty set pic

[dealwiththe]

"Of course."

Lucifer never goes back on a deal - he's meticulous like that. Of course, it takes a moment to figure out how to reset the S.I.R.E. Computer, end program is the obvious answer, so of course that's it. He almost rolls his eyes at the blatant reference.

But once that's settled, he speaks - LAPD, precinct ##, forensics lab, circa 2018. He knows exactly what memory he wants to conjure, and sure enough, the environment that comes into being is highly detailed. Lucifer's visual memory is incredibly good, and this is clearly a place that he is very familiar with.

The room is empty for the moment, until Lucifer says Miss Ella Lopez, and then she arrives - small, smiling, her ponytail jaunty, cross necklace glinting at her neck and a t-shirt with a cartoon vampire on it that says Mornings suck!. She approaches Lucifer, her face lighting up, reaching out for something that he must've been holding, and sure enough, she comes away with a coffee mug, a big pile of whipped cream and sprinkles on top of it.

"Aw, you shouldn't have! Thanks!" and then she's off, sipping at her coffee, chattering enthusiastically about blood spatter patterns on concrete versus glass. Her words quickly devolve into nonsense syllables, with occasional science gak!, as it's clear Lucifer doesn't remember most of what she actually said on this occasion, but that's clearly not the important part of this memory.

Lucifer, standing next to Alex the entire time, almost seems to be holding his breath for a moment. He swallows, hard, as he watches the scene unfold. It's one thing to see someone else's memory - and something else entirely to watch one of his own.

There's a reason why he chose Miss Lopez, and not some other people from his life.

[lessandmorethanhuman]

Alex looks around curiously, then turns to study the person that goes with the memory. Listening, clearly understanding what she's saying up until it starts becoming gibberish because Lucifer hadn't paid attention. Alex noticed Lucifer swallow--was he actually nervous? That could be interesting and useful.

"So, private lab or?"

[dealwiththe]

"LAPD," he repeats, and if Alex looks closely he will see the official logo of the LAPD on many items around the room - laptops, tablets, etc. Even the coffee mug in Ella's hand has it stamped on the side. Lucifer isn't paying any attention to Alex, though. He's watching the woman, the expression on his face one of infinite fondness, tinged with sadness.

No, he's not nervous. Just dealing with a wave of emotion that, even if somewhat expected, is still there. Still threatens to overwhelm him.

[lessandmorethanhuman]

Alex took more of a look around, quiet--even taking some extra time as he moved in the small space. His way of letting Lucifer have that moment and some privacy. Now why was this important to the devil, of all people?

[dealwiththe]

Well, that's considerate of Alex, at least. After a few moments, Lucifer lets out a breath. He's got enough control of himself, at least, to speak without sounding like he's about to cry.

"Go on. You can ask all your burning questions," he says finally. Tit for tat, right?

[lessandmorethanhuman]

Alex shrugged; he was a bit confused with himself, as that had clearly been a moment of weakness for the warden. Yet Alex had decided to not prod at it, or poke it. Mostly because aside from noting what it was, he hadn't seen a point or benefit to doing so.

"How'd you end up working with the LAPD?" It had clearly been a friendly relationship, so it had to be working with. "Unless you worked FOR the LAPD, and 'm not sure even my skepticism could survive the idea of the devil working for the cops." With a short chuckle. "Even here, you're working with the system, most likely--not for it."

[dealwiththe]

Perhaps, just perhaps - emotion isn't weakness.

Lucifer lets out a breath. "I was a civilian consultant," he says, matter-of-factly. Alex can decide for himself if that means he worked for or with the cops. Lucifer never bothered to make the distinction, himself. "And I did it for the same reason I did everything back then: on a whim."

[lessandmorethanhuman]

"I have to wonder how they found you and asked you to be a consultant." Alex said with some amusement. "Or did you go looking one day when you were bored?"

[dealwiththe]

Lucifer finally, finally manages to tear his eyes away from the looping memory of Miss Lopez, in order to give Alex an appraising sort of look. But it's no matter. He's said he's an open book, and he is.

"I'd been living in Los Angeles for about five years. I'd left Hell - another act of rebellion on my part - and was running a nightclub. One night, a young lady of my acquaintance was gunned down outside my club. I couldn't let her killer go unpunished, so I... consulted. And then I kept consulting."

His look now is almost nostalgic. Like he's conjuring up fond memories - but in his head. Their surroundings remain the same, of course.

[lessandmorethanhuman]

"What kind of cases did you consult on?" Alex is genuinely curious. He has appreciated so far that Lucifer, whether really the devil or not, has dealt fairly and honestly. The man seems reasonable, and Alex can work with reasonable.

Of course, he'd also given him some things to think about, which Alex wasn't too happy about. But that could be dealt with later. Alone.

[dealwiththe]

"Murders," he says easily. He waves his hand vaguely at the image of Miss Lopez, who now appears to be talking about something to do with gunpowder residue.

"I helped solve dozens of them over the next few years. Miss Lopez was part of the team. I said tit for tat. You showed me your sister, and now I'm showing you mine. Not literally, of course, Miss Lopez is human. But she's done a far better job of it than most of my actual sisters."

[lessandmorethanhuman]

"Most people get that whole quote about blood being thicker than water wrong. It's about the blood you spill with others that makes you family, rather than the water you were born from." Alex commented. Part of the whole point of basic and training together was to make a cohesive unit, regardless of where or what you were born into. Pulled from all the memories and minds he had of military and Blackwatch ops.

So...Alex got it.

"What was your favorite case she helped with?"

[dealwiththe]

Aw, Alex is mansplaining the Bible to the actual Devil! Lucifer will simply smile and nod his agreement.

“My favorite case with Miss Lopez would almost certainly have to be the time we went to Las Vegas together, to investigate the disappearance of my ex-wife. There was murder, gambling, glitz and glamor, and even a musical number. I believe Miss Lopez kept her showgirl costume.”

Yes, he’s deliberately playing up the absurd elements of the story, but they are all true!

[lessandmorethanhuman]

He hadn't intended to do that, but he wasn't sure where the saying had come from. He'd heard it was from old Roman times or something. In any case, Lucifer had gotten the point--that Alex understood.

"Well now I gotta hear details. That sounds exciting." Alex replied with amusement. "Why a musical number?"

[dealwiththe]

"Because it was Vegas," Lucifer says. Self-evident! "It's not a trip to Vegas without a show. And we had to flush out the killer, so it wasn't all fun and games."

[lessandmorethanhuman]

"Surprised you're not giving me the whole 'what stays in Vegas' line." Alex murmured. "So what happened to your ex?"

[dealwiththe]

"I think that goes without saying," Lucifer says easily. "And Candy was fine, actually. The killer killed someone he thought was Candy, but it wasn't. She was clever enough to go into hiding and she helped us find the man behind it. So far as I know, she's still in Vegas, doing quite well for herself."