genessia | Dream A Little Dream...

Entry tags:

Dream A Little Dream...

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

You're a good person, Lucifer. I have watched you fight for others because you genuinely care about what happens to them to the point of your own health and safety - or your comfort. Maybe you hide that with some pretty stupid humour, with jokes and teasing, but I've seen situations touch you in ways they maybe didn't when I first met you.

[She rests against him, letting her fingers fall against his neck.]

I mean, the way you look at me, the way you are with me, even when you're being ridiculous on every level, has come so far since the day I first met you. The face I see, the person I know chooses to be good with me and those he cares for to the best he can.

[Chloe smiles warmly, though this is super touchy and very, very feely, and probably more exhausting than it has any right to be. Most of her weight leans into him as she closes her eyes. It's been coming for a long time, well beyond the shock of his Devil face. It's been coming at the both of them like a freight train.]

No matter what happens, in the end, I will always choose and always believe in us. Whatever that is or will be or...whatever shape it takes.

[She knows him as well as he knows her, it seems, though he wonders: does she know the reason for the jokes and teasing? Does she know that it's a shield against anything that might one day hurt him again, like he had once been so irreparably hurt by his whole family?

Probably, since she knows everything else.

There's so much she doesn't know, too. Things she hasn't seen, that he didn't tell her about. Things he did for her.

One hand moves up behind her head, to support it, or to keep it where it is, close to him.]

Chloe.

We're out in public where anyone can see us.

I-- We should probably--

[Of all the stupid, stupid things, right now, he's stealing her lines and she's on an emotional rollercoaster. Chloe sniffs a little and does her best to pull her shit back together. It's exhausting, really. Going from his Devil face to this clearly even more ridiculous world makes her bones ache or her psyche or everything.

But if they're not in their own universe anymore...who is even here to care? It dawns on her, rather suddenly, that she's freezing.]

Find somewhere warm and I think I could use a drink. Maybe two.

[There's a beat or two before she adds very quietly.]

My nose is cold.

I know a few bars. [Because of course he does.] We could find one. Warm up your nose. [And the rest, too.]

Here. [He takes off his jacket and drapes it over her shoulders. Not because he doesn't feel the cold (he does) but because it's the least of what he's willing to do for her. (Enjoy the sensation of expensive clothes, Chloe.)] There's a good one not far from here.

My nose appreciates that.

[Actually, her everything appreciates that. California girl in a really nippy city where there's snow. And...yeah, snow. Lucifer has given her his jacket...and she's careful with it as she works her arms through. Her fingertips disappear as she murmurs a soft thank you.

She's definitely enjoying the jacket, though not for the fact that it's expensive.]

How long have you been here?

[Small talk, no feelings. Okay, lots of feelings because they don't just go away when Lucifer does things like...this. A bar. Drinks. He owes her that date. She hasn't forgotten it. And she needs to take a breath because between one moment and another, things have gotten crazier than they have ever been.

Part of her is terrified but she's doing her best to let that not bother her. Slowly she pulls away because neither one of them are going anywhere if she doesn't. Chloe misses the warmth immediately but gestures, doing her best to ignore it.]

About a month. [He answers as he leads them in the direction of the nearest bar. He hasn't forgotten the date that wasn't, either. Maybe this is the way to start with that. Drinks. Something simple.

Although this might not be the best time to worry about that, with her having just arrived.]

My treat. We can celebrate.

[Celebrate so many things.]

That's...a while.

[She hasn't forgotten the date either. It still lingers in the back of her mind as she walks beside him. Occasionally, she brushes into him as if making sure he's still there. There are so many elements about this place that just freak her right out. But like all the Devil shit (even if it's true), sometimes the best way to deal with it is to just accept it.

That's where drinks come in, mostly.

Chloe glances up at him and laughs quietly.]

I guess we do have a few things to celebrate.

Like you being here? [It's the closest he has come -- in her hearing -- to admitting to having feelings of any sort, even if it's been obvious for some time now. But it is also a question, too. What does she think they have to celebrate?]

I just found a [he makes a face] job.

And you being here.

[Really. They should celebrate that, both of them in this crazy place. She hears him, though. She always does. Her head tilts so she can eye him for a while, a little smile touching her lips at the face he makes.]

Oh no. [There's a mock gasp.] A job, what's the world coming to? [She's teasing him and it's playful without weight behind it.]

What kind of job have you found?

Both of us. We make a good team. [So far they've only made a good team at solving murders, but they haven't found a murder yet that they can't solve.

Jobs mean rules, Chloe, and someone else being charge. At least he found one he can tolerate.] In a nightclub. As a performer.

We do make a good team and that's a reason to celebrate, too.

[She smiles when he reveals the job.]

That's probably one of the only jobs I can see you in.

[That doesn't have any teasing in it at all. She'd be lying if she said his voice wasn't insanely good. He sang often enough at Lux, after all, and it was more than a treat. Chloe found it a familiar dynamic, especially when she was pretty sure she was going to hit up the local police for a job.]

I'd give you a piano and a microphone any day.

[The best partner she's ever had, she'd said. It had surprised him at the time but that doesn't make it any less true now.] The best.

[The look that crosses his face now can best be described as pure glee.] That's not even the best part.

[Wait for it.]

It's in a converted church. And there's a strip club in the basement.

Lucifer.

[That made her laugh. Really laugh.]

That's...kind of amazing and ridiculous all at once. And perfect, really.

[Not that he's been to the strip club (or is admitting to it, anyway) but just the fact that it's there is enough.]

You should come sometime.

[He holds open the door as they reach the bar.]

[She's not sure she'd be offended if he'd gone to the strip club. Not really her business.]

I doubt I'd be able to stay away, all things considered.

[Chloe is hit by the warm air of the bar and it's so nice she nearly stumbles as she moves through and into the bar proper. Winter. Sucks.]

Oh yes. The piano and the microphone.

[He points at a table in the corner, the question unasked. It's a little more private, and a good place to talk.]

Shall I get us drinks?

Mhmm.

[It's both an affirmation and a go-ahead. Nice table location as well, so yeah, she's fine with that. The cop in her says it's a good spot since it's shielded on three sides and has a clear view of the rest of the bar -- like somehow she's expecting trouble. Chloe tucks herself into the very corner where the light is the darkest and she can see as much of the bar as possible.

It helps that his jacket is around her. Maybe it's stupid to think it but at the moment, it's a security that's much needed. He can get the drinks while she normalizes herself to the environment. It's like every other (nice) bar out there even if it isn't Lux.

The jacket sleeves are long and the fabric fine against her fingers, which curl as she absently worries it in an attempt to shake off another round of the shivers. It's not that she's necessarily cold anymore. Slow, easy breaths to slow her heart rate down.

Everything is just fine.

Eventually, if she says that enough, it will be.]

[He heads up to the bar to get drinks, and chats with the bartender while he waits. It's what he does, charming things out of people. Except for Chloe, but it means so much more now that she says it because she wants to. Because she really means it.

He comes back with a drink in each hand, only the best for him, and one of her favorite -- of course he knows it -- and sets them down on the table before taking a seat himself.]

Have you seen your assigned housing yet?

[She gives him a long look after a few sips of her drink. Chloe knew she needed to figure out if he was here or not, first and foremost. Checking out her housing situation? Not a priority.]

I'm not sure I even want to, at this point. Eventually, I guess I'll have to sleep, but... [Her shrug is small and she finds herself thinking about Trixie. That means she takes long pulls on her drink to shut up the voice in the back of her head on Mom Alert.]

You're not missing out. I'm about to move out of mine.

[Another reason to be proud of him, Chloe. More acting like an adult.]

You miss Los Angeles, don't you?

Well, look at you.

[The words might have been teasing but her expression says he's managed to impress her. His question gets an answer as she downs the rest of her drink. The expression on her face is a little haunted as she gives the bartender a look. They have a silent exchange and, yeah, he gets it. Chloe Decker will definitely be nursing this next drink considering it's a few fingers of Glenlivet on the rocks. It's not her favourite, it's not even off her usual menu.

But she needs it and to careful swallows in, she finally finds her voice.]

Yeah, I do, but it's more than the city. Trixie, our place. [She leans her head back against the padded booth and her ice cubes rattle as her she absently swirls her drink around.]

Lux.

You're only allowed to stay there for a certain amount of time anyway.

[So it's not a choice he made entirely on his own. But he still did it.]

You miss Lux? [He missed it, of course, but he didn't expect her to. He takes another sip of his drink and sets it down again.]

I would like to open my own place again sometime. Here.

I'm not sure if I want to stay there at all.

[The bartender eased his way back to their table and left the top shelf bottle. Chloe glanced after him thoughtfully.]

Hmm? [She refocused on Lucifer a moment later after the warm fire of the liquor started to warm her belly.] Yeah, I do miss Lux.

[Whiskey probably shouldn't be continuously swirled but too bad, that's what was going down as she put her chin into her hand.]

You should do it. [She pulled her hair from its ponytail with a slight wince, letting her hair down with a sot sigh.] A home away from home. Where there's a Lucifer, there must be a Lux. That's rule number one, right there.

It's too bad my new place only has one bed, or you could stay there. [It's not like he hasn't been trying to get that very thing to happen from the start.

You know him and rules, Chloe.]

The rule? I might not mind that one so much.

[He reaches over to still her hand by placing his own on top of it.] What are you doing to that poor whiskey?

I suppose your bed is just going to have to learn how to share.

[She shakes her head a few times and her hair obscures her face like a curtain until his hand stills hers. Chloe frowns softly, eyeing the glass and its contents with a soft huff as her nose scrunches.]

Committing my first liquorcide if your expression is anything to go by.

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