Dream A Little Dream...

[divinepattern]

Who: Chloe Decker
What: Arrival
When: Today
Where: The Dream Bay
Warnings:
Notes:

There are things in this world that shouldn't be possible. Things that would unravel the fabric of reality like a snag in a favourite sweater, so when Chloe Decker opened her eyes, she's pretty damn sure this is exactly what's happened. She'd seen Lucifer's face and--

And what?

Everything he'd said was true. He was actually The Devil, with capitals and everything. Yeah. She was going to just lay her for awhile and try to shake this grogginess, though she wasn't sure exactly what the cause was yet. A few deep breaths, maybe. Quiet reflection, compartmentalising, shoving her shock into a metaphorical basement. That was the best idea for now because this sure as hell isn't Los Angeles. It doesn't smell or feel right, nevermind where she is at the moment. Further investigation finds the pamphlet, the money, the phone, the necklace. Maybe it's the whole Devil thing but Chloe is oddly calm about waking up somewhere weird. Understatement of the century, maybe, but whatever. Someone has to deal with crazy in a responsible manner.

That falls to her like it always has.

So she gets up, gets out, listens to the hologram, pockets whatever she can, and immediately takes another moment to lean into the nearest solid object. It's as solid as anything else she'd touched. Her voice echoed as she snapped at herself.

"Get a grip, Decker."

She looked down at her pendant and grimaced before pulling out her phone and examining her instructions. She had her badge, her gun, her ID, but this place? This wasn't Heaven or Hell. This was some next level Narnia bullshit and she's pretty sure that's what Lopez would be saying about now, only Chloe was alone. She pulled her leather jacket around her a little tighter like it was her armor.

"Screw this," she murmured, firing off a text before striding out into the daylight of Genessia City.

It simply read:
LAPD. DECKER. 

Comments

Text

[watcheddog]

SFPD. Carver.

[Okay so it's less San Francisco and hasn't been for a decade since they moved out to Rosemont to be with his wife's family, and even "now" he was more ex-Gracepoint, but fuck that detail, it's fiiiiine. Inapplicable-ish here anyway!!]

Text

[divinepattern]

[Oh good. Law enforcement did exist, which meant it was time to meet the not so locals. She taps out a reply with narrowed eyes.]

ETA CITY CENTER, ARRIVAL PT?

Text

[watcheddog]

15 min by foot.

Stop by Genessia PD.

Did you watch the hologram?

Text --> Action

[divinepattern]

[Oh look, text options. She's not thrilled, so he gets back:]

Unfortunately.

[and then:]

You'll know me when you see me, Carver.

[The phone goes back in her pocket after she does a quick search. By the time she arrives, her looks like she's ready to break some balls. Actually, that probably would be pretty therapeutic. True to her word, Carver would not be disappointed considering her badge and gun in its holster was clearly visible. She raised her brows at the desk sergeant and folded her arms.]

Text --> Action

[watcheddog]

[Well... he works in the Everglade.... buuuuuuuuuut he can figure something out to speed over there.]

Might be late, coming from Everglade.

[But he'll try to be as fast as possible.]

[Also brings coffee. Not because he's usually this thoughtful but he remembers his first day here.]


I don't know how you take it, so if you want to add anything, head upstairs and borrow their creamer or whatever. They're underfunded, but not as badly as Everglade. I think.

Text --> Action

[divinepattern]

Not like I'm going anywhere unless this desk sergeant thinks my resting cop-face is too offensive.

[He brings her coffee, too. Not bad, Carver. Not bad.]

Thanks. [She needs the coffee probably more than she wants to admit and takes it carefully.] Not today. I could use a bitter shock to my system.

Action

[watcheddog]

[Closes his eyes and nods.] I always take it black. [But that's a heart thing.]

What year was it on Earth last for you?

I know that's a weird question, but it's different for everyone who gets here.

Action

[divinepattern]

2018.

[She answers without hesitation because right now, despite everything, it's too weird. Just as weird as the last few moments she remembers. She takes a sip of coffee and grimaces but it's hot and right now, it reminds her this is real.]

You?

Action

[watcheddog]

[That's a sucker punch to the gut.] 2014.

Who's President?

[Don't tell him, he won't believe you.]

[hisfavoriteson]

[Look at that. There's a name he knows.]

Detective!

[Guess who.]

[divinepattern]

[Of course he was here.]

I should have just texted your name.

[hisfavoriteson]

[And of course it hadn't taken him long to find her.]

That would have been faster.

[divinepattern]

[She'd been thinking of him and--]

Smartass.

[She blinked furiously for a good moment or two. Nope. Emotions in check. Calm under pressure. Just another day of excruciatingly weird. In another. Universe.

With Lucifer.]

Come get me. Now.

[hisfavoriteson]

[He can be there in a flash, as soon as he knows one thing.]

Where are you?

[divinepattern]

Bay. Outside.

[She's good. Really. But she's pacing, her jaw tight and she has to close her eyes tight and take a breath in to stuff the whirling chaos of this right back into its little box once more. Focus and clarity are much better than spiralling out of control. If she let herself go, there'd be questions that would swallow her whole.

She'd take this a step at a time. Or moment by moment, if she had to because that was what she knew worked best.]

---> action

[hisfavoriteson]

[It doesn't take him long to get there, because he was still in the building where new arrivals live, although he won't have to be there for much longer.

He comes strolling over quickly enough to make good progress, but still slowly enough not to be obvious that he's in a hurry.

It's fine. Chloe's here. No big deal.

And he's dressed, as usual, in an impeccably-tailored, expensive suit.]

Detective?

Action

[divinepattern]

[She's moving before she even starts to think, crossing the space a beat faster than he does but before she can actually crash into him, she stops herself and sort of hovers for a moment as she looks up at him.

At his face, his eyes.

A strangely painful relief shoots straight through her. It's there on her face for about two seconds before her forehead touches that stupidly expensive shirt of his and her arms go around him. Texts are words on a screen.

He's solid.

Real.

And in all the madness of this place, he's the only thing that feels anything close to genuine.

As if he could ever be anyone else than Lucifer Morningstar, right down to damn shoes.]

[la_matrona]

She is wandering around Genessia innocuously enough, getting some shopping done. Though she hasn't really been to this part of town before and it doesn't seem to be where she's headed. She spots the unfamiliar woman, but thinks nothing of the strangeness as she knows so few people here.

"Excuse me. Would you happen to know the way to the Main Market?"

[divinepattern]

Is that a--

Ah.

How. What.

She's not insane but just in case, she's going to close her eyes for a moment. Or two. Maybe three. That was a skeleton. Of a woman. Talking to her.

"Not remotely," she manages to get out after a few tries.

[la_matrona]

Ay. Well, it's not as if she's unused to this sort of attention. She shifts the basket on her arm and eyes the woman critically.

"New to Genessia City or to..." she gestures, meaning all of this. Whatever this is.

[divinepattern]

"Extremely new." Chloe holds up the pamphlet, which she gets from her back pocket. "Honestly, within the last ten minutes or so." Probably less and a talking skeleton is no less as strange as it was a few moments ago but this is what a poker face is for. She's just going to have to deal with...all of this.

[la_matrona]

She can't help but feel sympathy for the woman. It was overwhelming even for the dead.

"There's a place that welcomes new people, one that I know of; though there may be more." She shrugs lightly. "Would you like me to show you?"

[divinepattern]

"Please," she says with a smile, gesturing for the skeleton lady to lead the way. "I'd like that. I'm Chloe Decker."

[la_matrona]

"You may call me Señora Rivera." Just to get that out of the way because no one seemed to know how to address each other properly. She starts toward where one of the bus stations are.

"You should have some red bills on you." She holds up a hand. "I'm not asking you to pay, but just so you know for...whatever you might want to buy here. Eventually you will have to pay rent and food and everything else."

[divinepattern]

"Señora Rivera, thank you for being so kind and helping me out," Chloe said with a smile. Honestly, it really was kind, especially since Chloe been fairly shocked before. But hey, at least nothing was dull around here, right?

"I do have them," she said with a nod. They were in her side pocket - which meant the first thing Chloe was going to buy was a bag to put all this crap in. "I should have a job pretty soon, so at least that'll take care of rent and I should be able to save most of this."