3172/Translation Services

Translation Services
Date of Scene:	31 August 2020
Location:	Lux
Synopsis:	Amanda and Nessa drop in on Lucifer, hoping he can translate the mysterious stone tablet.
Cast of Characters:	Lucifer, Nessa Donovan, Amanda Sefton
Tinyplot:	Zodiac Rising

---

Lucifer has posed:
The nightclub Lux, during the day, is not open to the public. Today, there's activity: there's a long line outside of a variety of young men and women, though, all with little packets of paper, and many of them going through their auditions one last time while they stand in line. There's two manger sorts moving down the line, checking in with paperwork, and so forth. On a glance, it looks like some kind of talent hire, maybe dancers, by what they are doing.

Nessa, though, was expected with her +1, and heading to the front and inquiring with one of the managers will get her escorted inside by an assistant.

Inside, the dance auditions are actually happening; a talent team is set up to preview and evaluate. The assistant indicates, though, that the man they seek is up on one of the overlooks, relaxed at a table, like a remote lord overseeing his domain below. The whole of Lux has an otherworldly ambiance to it: like any other number of supernatural hot-spots. This one has a reek of the demonic, but not purely that: still, this is a place demons tread - and probably often. It has wards, and strings around it in a thick web, but the sense of it is only that of keeping the place neutral and safe, not oppression.

Still, the overall feel of Lux is that of a nightclub that is actually some sort of supernatural networking spot, but what exactly it is? Elusive, yet potent.

Nessa Donovan has posed:
Nessa stayed well away from the lines of dancers on the outside, thankfully not mistaken for one as she approaches the front to get in. It's easier to wait out front for Amanda, so she remains there until she arrives to make sure the two can go in together. Taking a look at Lux itself, she turns to Amanda a bit to preface things.

"Luci might seem a bit weird at first, all of this is a bit weird, but I'm pretty sure he can help and I trust him. He hasn't lied to me and he's given me help when he didn't need to or really get anything out of it, which speaks a lot for someone."

Amanda Sefton has posed:
Amanda gazes briefly at the 'cattle call' as they pass it. In a way, she empathizes with the people in line. She's been in their position -- albeit rarely. Still, she remembers soaring above the center ring in the big top that was her home as a child and teenager.

However, the sense of the magic of the place draws her attention. Her magical sight shows her the wards and a blonde brow arches faintly as she feels the demonic energy clinging to the place, despite the neutral overlay -- or is that underlay? She glances to Nessa, a trifle uncertainly. She's dealt with demons before... most of them are not really that trustworty.

But then, most of the ones that interact with mages and the material plane are cacodaemons, not the more 'benign' (read: disinterested) eudaemons.

Still, it does make her wonder about just who 'Lucy' is. Nessa didn't say her friend was a demon, however. So, maybe there's another reason for the darker energies. Especially given the endorsement he's given now.

"It does," she concedes. She looks around the building as they enter. "This place feels like a 'crossroads'," she notes. "Neutral ground." She can live with neutral ground.

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer slid out of his seat to stand, which triggered all of the managers and talent people to look up, expectant of some verdict from their boss. Lucifer just gives them a loose 'carry on' motion, and they do just that, resuming to go into the next interview.

Lucifer himself comes to the head of the stairs, though he remains above, but possesses only a relaxed demeanor. He's being a host, pleasant but a little removed, as if he had a lot of people to greet. Still, he seems to warm soon enough, and comes down the stairs to them, with an open quality to it. Lucifer is a master at projecting a relaxed comfort that is often very infecting.

"Nessa, there you are. And Ms. Sefton, I presume, lovely to have you. Welcome to Lux - such as it is during the day. We'll need private room, I expect?" Lucifer guesses, in his crisp, british-leaning accent.

Lucifer is neither vampire nor demon: the streaming sunlight from the main doors proves the first, and his ambiance the second. He's in a sleek, dark suit, with a light blue collared shirt under it, open at the first few buttons.

"I understand you have a puzzle of sorts, that requires some particular and unique skills that I possess," Lucifer asks, upbeat: he clearly likes puzzles. His look is bright, but very penetrating, as if he were looking a little deeply. Maybe he's just intense.

Nessa Donovan has posed:
"Neutral ground seems to be accurate, from what I've seen," Nessa says, keeping an eye out for those around her, though she doesn't particularly seem worried about any strange magical feelings or anything around her. When Lucifer approaches, he's offered a smile in his direction. "Amanda, this is my friend Luci." There is, perhaps, an amused tone when she uses the name. "A private room would be excellent... this isn't exactly something that would be great for everyone to overhear. It's a puzzle, but it's got some danger to it. I'd appreciate it if you could help."

She glances carefully between Lucifer and Amanda. The 'this might be weird' was the only heads up she had really given her, so she's checking to make sure she's not too spooked.

Amanda Sefton has posed:
Amanda's own accent is British-leaning, with more of a Continental feel. She extends her hand to greet her host as he greets her. "Mr..." she begins, then pauses, slightly flumoxed. "I'm sorry. Yes. Nessa's only ever referred to you as 'Luci'." She recovers quickly, a woman well-used to keeping her balance in awkward situations. (Just try keeping a plane full of entitled business executives happy on an eight hour flight between New York and London several times a week... it gives a girl serious people skills.) "But, please. Amanda is fine."

She nods to Nessa's words, hand folding over the strap of the bespelled satchel on her hip. Protective magics saturate the tanned and dyed leather, thanks to cleverly stiched runes and mystic symbols meant to look like decorative ornamentation. Nothing hostile. And nothing 'loud' that grates against magical senses. Just a sublte 'do not touch' sort of vibe that will keep all but the most determined from trying to relieve her of it. "A private room would be welcome."

Lucifer has posed:
"Luci, hm?" Lucifer asks directly at Nessa, with a softened, easy laugh. He doesn't mind even a little bit. "Short for Lucifer," he says, with a lift of brows. He accepts her handshake with a polite, smooth quality. He doesn't exert anything that would tip any magical senses off, beyond a slight aura that coaxes everyone to relax. it's mild, though. "Use either of those, Amanda; 'Morningstar' /can/ be a little cumbersome," he jokes. It's the manner of someone named Lucifer that knows what it sounds like, and is able and willing to have fun about it. Nessa did say he was weird.

There are some curious faces from the bar area observing the meeting of their boss with the two women, with something akin to skeptism or jealousy. One of those is probably a demon face, but seems entirely human at the visual level.

"We'll use one of the small suites; overhearing should not be a problem, I think," Lucifer laughs, as the music from the dance auditions once again returns to full volume. He gives a little toss of head to indicate to follow him, and leads the way towards one of the smaller rooms upstairs. It contains comfortable clean seating, a small bar, end tables, low lighting - an intimate setting for an obvious purpose, but Lucifer adjusts the lights to bring them up, and that 'mood' reduces.

Lucifer seats himself, a little grandly, but with an open and sunny demeanor. Maybe a little overly smiley, but it isn't in a smarmy way. He's just having a good time, and isn't concealing that fact.

Nessa Donovan has posed:
"You did say I could call you Luci," Nessa points out with an amused look. "It's a little less complicated and confusing to call you that in front of people than to try and explain the name. It requires less people asking questions that I don't have answers to. Yet." The tone remains as amused as her expression, but then she glances to Amanda, then to the bag.

Once they've arrived at the private suite, she moves to seat herself comfortably nearby, gloved hands folding in her lap. "I stuck my nose into magical things and it turns out Amanda has a situation that requires someone who might be a little better versed in uncommon languages and maybe even weird old things and relics. You're honestly the first person I thought of."

Amanda Sefton has posed:
Amanda's blonde brows drift skyward as the man names himself 'Lucifer'. She regards Nessa for a beat, as if to say 'seriously?', and can't help but pulse out a whisper of magic to ascertain how much of a 'jest' this presentation might be. And, yet, she doesn't sense 'evil' about him. Nor even 'demonic'. Of course, Nessa did say he was 'a little weird'.

Considering what she now believes they're up against, she decides to trust her new friend... and her strange friend.

Thus, a smile finally touches Amanda's face and she once again recovers a warm composure. "Morgenstern," she says, a wry smile on her lips, German accent strong as she translates the usual 'Morningstar' into the language of her childhood, "was fairly common, where I was born." A beat. She chuckles. "Or, at least, no more cumbersome than most other surnames." Danged Germans and their cofounding compounding word-phrases.

She takes a seat opposite this self-proclaimed fallen (?) angel and lays her satchel on the table, moving slightly so that there's room for Nessa, too. Her demeanor grows more serious. "But, Nessa's right. I do have an object I need translated. Here."

She unfastens the old fashioned buckles on the satchel and draws out a 3D-printed replica of the stone fragment she's recently fallen heir to. The original is hidden away in the Asgardian plane, by now.

Laying it on the table between them, she then reaches into the sachel and pulls out a second replica. This one is a slightly less precise replica, though the markings on it are clear enough. The first piece's markings are an Ancient Hellenic script. The second piece displays a pictograph that is, to those versed in the interpretation of the same, a glyph-encoded map meant to be deciphered only by those who hold the key.

Unfortunately, the key is missing, since the two pieces together only make up a fragment of the whole. And Amanda has no idea how many pieces are missing -- just one or several.

"This is a replica of an artifact related to at least a pair of devastating magical attacks -- one of which was against a very dear friend of mine. I would like to find out just what it says, so I might have a better idea what the attackers are after."

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer scoots forward when she reveals she has tablets, and immediately gets handsy with them: he reaches out to adjust them to face him more. There's a slight entitlement to that - in that they should face him so he can properly read them, as opposed to the others present being right-side up to the orientation of the tablets. Then again, they DID bring them for him to read. "I like the 3D-print, clever," Lucifer says, distracted by that momentarily.

He looks them over, leaned forward, eyes bright and thoughtful, as if he were looking over an interesting piece of artwork, so he wanted to get a bit closer. He looks up as Amanda adds the known information. "Yes, I can read them. ...You're definitely missing a piece; these phrases are interrupted, here and here," Lucifer says, extending a hand to point to the two areas. "So you'd like me to paraphrase? I don't think the lyrical /majesty/ will convey....." Lucifer reads across a stanza, in the language. It has a flux of syllable, a rise and fall like an intense prayer.

"I can make some good guesses here, due to the rhyme pattern, about what's missing, but it won't carry over into English." As if they were there for the aesthetic value of the thing.

Nessa Donovan has posed:
A little weird was the best wording Nessa even had to describe Lucifer's... weirdness. She shrugs a little in Amanda's direction with a smile. It's weird, but he knows his stuff. She takes a seat but leans forward, mostly to take a closer look herself--she might not be of use in this, but it doesn't mean she's not curious. Magic stuff was always interesting, especially the stuff she didn't understand--she really enjoys exploring new magic.

Lucifer's examination and recitation get the slightest raise of an eyebrow. "Going to read us poetry now? Very charming." It's a playful tease, but she doesn't detract from the situation. This is important to Amanda, so she's going with that.

Amanda Sefton has posed:
Amanda chuckles at Nessa's teasing, a half-smile on her lips.

She nods to Lucifer, her expression amused. She grew up with a flamboyand show-off, after all. Lucifer and Kurt do have a passing resemblance to one another. "A paraphrase would be fine," she agrees. "Perhaps you can write out the literal translation?" Just in case she needs to refer back to it, later. Sometimes nuance matters. In this case, though?

She gives a wan smile. "I assumed it was fragmentary. I'm just hoping not too much is lost." She gestures lightly and a shimmering appears around the pieces. "My best guess is that there's another piece, or pieces, here and here." The light she conjures flares slightly, suggesting a loose perimeter for the missing piece. "But this is based solely on assumptions based on what little research I've been able to do and what similiar objects I've found as a result."

Chances are her guess is inaccurate, but perhaps in the ballpark, at least. She's been chasing relics for years and has something of a feel for how these things usually look. She's just not 100% familiar with this particular period and style.

"I know this pictograph is a glyphmap. But I think it's incomplete. And the key's missing."

Lucifer has posed:
"Poetry reading to some is a type of torture; I will spare you," Lucifer says playfully to Nessa, with a flare of eyes and then a wink. He looks back down at the tablet. It's very casual, he's not struggling: as if they just gave him something in English, for as much as he needs to focus. He's clearly just reading it. "Nessa, write while I go through it, then?" Nessa can take down the literal translation! He's busy enjoying himself...

"All right! Here's the way I'd translate this," Lucifer begins, starting at the top. "The defender is first, here. Zalmoxis. --- And yes, I pronounced that accurately." Lucifer's accent even slid a little, to emulate the tongue he's translating. There's some skill here. Subtle. "This language in the description around him suggests he is like..." Lucifer weighs. "Jesus. Approximately." There's some disinterest around that comparison - Lucifer might not be Christian.

"This part, relates to his place of rest - specifically after his death - and twelve stars, plus something else. You're missing that." Lucifer points at the broken piece. "I would make a guess about possibly whatever the thirteenth is. That would rhyme pleasingly."

"Now we have a lot of prose here about the map, it's importance, and the evil guarded by all of the above. There's reference to a key, but I don't see that. Probably on the missing part, this is describing it like it's here by this map. Approximately 'look to the key'." Lucifer flutters his fingers to the end of that line, and the missing piece of rock.

"This is, essentially, some pleasant prayer detailing the defenders and the location of what they defend," Lucifer summarizes, with a victorious tone. He sits back a little, observing all of it. "If I had the real thing, I'd be able to tell you more about it's nature. But this is all very familiar. A tablet of the map of thirteen stars, broken in three. I may know where the other piece is."

Nessa Donovan has posed:
"I didn't know I was getting hired as your personal secretary," Nessa notes, but she doesn't at all sound like she's annoyed. Fetching some paper from her own bag, she starts to take notes--by hand seems wiser given that this supposedly could put people in danger. She listens attentively, taking notes both on the actual translation but noting on the side if there's any extra bits such as how he pronounced the words. When he mentions knowing where another piece is, she looks up from her writing.

"Well that's good, I was going to ask if we had any leads for the rest of it. I got a taste of what the magic was like from whatever person or people have a hand in interfering and I do have to say it's not someone I'd like to have over for tea." She wrinkles her nose a bit.

Amanda Sefton has posed:
Pleasant prayer? "Huhn," Amanda chuffs. It's a thoughtful sound. "So, a Christlike figure named Zalmoxis is guarding something related to a combination of twelve or thirteen stars. Or maybe protecting something with their help." A beat. "Stars like constellations? Or specific stars?"

Thirteen zodiacal constellations tracks, she knows, with several ancient magic systems. Most of them predate the age of this tablet, however. But twelve matches the more common aspects of the zodiac used by many modern mages. So, the numbers would track. But that seems like the obvious answer and magic is rarely obvious.

She shakes her head, trying to keep her thoughts from running too far down the rabbit hole. The completed tablet would be far more helpful before she starts speculating too much on meaning. Thus she looks up at Lucifer, as well. "Where's this other piece, then?"

Lucifer has posed:
"Now, if I had them in front of me physically, there'd be more accuracy here," Lucifer says, as if trying to tone down their expectations. "I can only do so much with a 3D-print; it lacks the, mm, presence. But you both know: you're magical," Lucifer laughs, with a move of hand. He is probably capable of some sort of scrying, by his tone. So these copies block that: for good and ill, if they fell into the wrong hands!

Lucifer smiles a little as they ask for the information: and he doesn't charge them anything. There is no attempt to quid pro quo, or barter, at all. He just tells them.

"There is a group of monks in Cairo, that focus on Zalmoxis. I want to say thirteen monks - one for each aspect of zodiac. The Monkey being particularly high prowess, their leader. .... Try them." But maybe don't push on how he knows that. Lucifer's weirdness.

Lucifer seems done, he's relaxed back, one arm on the back of his couch, smile pleasant. A good puzzle.

Nessa Donovan has posed:
Nessa nods slowly as she listens, tilting her head to the side thoughtfully. "Is this all some weird map to some unknown or lost planet or something?" Stars and zodiacs and stuff always make her think of either star charts or really bad horoscope readings. "Cairo, huh? Hopefully those monks have some information." As Lucifer sits back, she observes him.

"You're pretty good at these weird magic puzzle things, I must say."

Amanda Sefton has posed:
Amanda gives Lucifer a wry smile. "Well, the first piece is no longer on Earth," she tells him. "And the second is in the hands of the attackers. So... I'm afraid this is the best I can do for you." She's trying to avoid becoming their next target, though she's pretty sure she's already put that marker on her head just from the magic she cast in Starling City.

She inhales a deep breath. "Cairo, then," she says, letting it out. "I've always loved Egypt." Actually, aside from the tendency of their 'tourist police' to beat up every vagrant, beggar, or hawker who dares approach a white person outside of proper market stalls, she really does like visiting the country. It's exotic and rich with magical heritage. As long as she's careful not to attract undue attention, it can be fun.

She takes the 3D tablets, now, and slides them back into her satchel, bucking it back up once more. "Thank you," she says to Lucifer, now. "I appreciate the help you've given me. Very much."

Lucifer has posed:
"Of course. I've enjoyed the pleasure of your company," Lucifer says, with his genuine, open honesty. He means what he says. He moves to his feet, with a liquid stretch. "Should you find more, with this or other things, my door is open. I enjoy historical trivia like this, magical relics, whatever you find. During the day is best, but with a bit of warning, nights can work."

Historical trivia of DOOM!

"Almost as good at it as I am with people," Lucifer teases Nessa as an aside, drawing up to stop near her, and attempts a tap of fingers towards her wrist - a zone between glove and sleeve. It's playful, but has an undertone of tease that leans flirty. But that's all part of his overall vibe, anyway. "If I think of more about this or a zodiac, I'll be in touch." /Touch/.

Nessa Donovan has posed:
Nessa gets to her feet, smiling a bit as she looks to Amanda. "Let me know if you need help with anything. I'm no mysterious puzzle solver like Luci here, but I can help." She grins. "I'm not sure the desert's quite my cup of tea, but you know how to reach me for whatever you need." Somehow, Lucifer manages to find the tiny sliver of skin between sleeve and glove, and she nearly jumps. It's a reaction more of being touched at all rather than seeming particularly annoyed that it's Lucifer doing it. She makes a face at him, though it's more playful than anything.

Amanda Sefton has posed:
Amanda rises, slinging the bag back over her shoulder. "I appreciate it," she says again to Lucifer. She reaches into a pocket to pull out a small card case, from which she extracts a business card with her number on it. "Thank you again."

And then to Nessa she nods. "Oh, we'll definitely be in touch," she tells her. "I have a feeling I'm going to need all the help I can get on this one. Thanks."

That said, she watches the interplay between them and a light smile touches her lips. She resists the urge to shake her head at the playfulness, instead.

"Well," she says, "I think it's time I be going. I've taken up enough of your time. I'll leave you to finish your auditions." That said, she gives one more nod of farewell and takes her leave.