7668/Price of admission

Price of admission
Date of Scene:	02 September 2021
Location:	Themysciran Embassy
Synopsis:	Lucifer visits Diana with a gift.
Cast of Characters:	Lucifer, Diana Prince

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Lucifer has posed:
"Yes, point being, I do have an appointment -- I'm just early," Lucifer parries with the front desk, with a sudden broad, flattering smile. "Time is something that is usually just an annoyance, not a strict /rule/," continues the sleekly built and suited man. He has an ambiance of something that he carries around, like a cologne cloud that is not in fact a true scent. Still, he can be sensed just as quickly: that something about him pushes against the environs, /changes/ them just slightly. It is a stain of a sort, but not every stain is bad: sometimes a dye is welcome on a drab piece of cloth.

"/Anyway/ I wanted to get this over with. I can just leave the object here in your custody just as easily, and cancel the appointment." Lucifer stands more straight, then, drawing his hands smoothly along the edge of the counter to rest in front of him instead, long piano fingers splaying open as if to display something not yet visible on the counter. He's being showy - there's a sense of being overdramatic about this - which is for his own amusement perhaps more than anyone else.

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana was having basic appointments this afternoon, meeting people in her office at the back of the embassy's first floor. One of those appointments is wrapping up right this very moment, as it so happens. She is walking upon heeled shoed feet through the central hallway with the guest she had been speaking with at her side. Diana is wearing a white sleeveless dress with a silver necklace around her throat and down over her collar bone. She has her dark hair tied back and her heels has her standing at a couple inches over six feet. She is a bit taller than the middle aged man she's walking with, he dressed in a business suit. They are speaking about a nearby park and some event coming up.

Diana's eyes look past the man she's with to Lucifer at the desk of the receptionist in the foyer's waiting area. It's a curious glance...

But, she looks back to the Guest she's with and spends a few more moments with him before he moves to leave after they shake hands.... Once he's gone, Diana places her hands together in front of her waist and walks toward Lucifer's location. "Hello there." She says softly in her husky accented English. "I am Diana Prince." She offers her hand to him then.

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer immediately pulls his attention entirely from the front desk, to look directly to Diana. His expression is beaming, though his eyes flare in a pleasure that often reads as /too/ intense. He's often like this, though: this sort of larger-than-life intensity in a way that feels like an elevated version of reality. Like an actor in a movie that was told to be 'just a bit more' than what would be a real life situation. Lucifer's 'too much' in a lot of ways, though not anything that easily can just be pointed at as otherworldy or inhuman. Even if he is those.

"Indeed, Wonder Woman herself," Lucifer chimes, with a radiance that while it is a lot, isn't /fake/. His handshake is pleasant, warm, exceptionally suave without any deliberate flirtation. "Lucifer. Hello there. I'm the Lucifer whose assistant arranged a meeting in a /week/. --- and I confess, I am very impatient. I've something of a gift for Themyscira - and direct to your hands would certainly be an easy route, if you might have a minute."

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana has dealt with a wide variety of people, that come from all walks of life, or death, and it's given ehr a pretty good judge of character within moments of meeting someone. She, in this moment, smiles back to Lucifer and nods her head softly once as they shake hands and he gives a bit of a rundown on his intentions here. "Ah, yes, well, we are glad that coming here is a reason to be excited." She firstly replies. As for the item... "And... yes, of course, come. We can find our way to my office."

She'll turn then toward that central hallway that leads down a polished hardwood floor, lined with art from-- and of --Themyscira along the way. "I do recall seeing this appointment on my schedule, as a name such as yours does tend to stand out..." She says with a small smile over at him as they walk toward the doors to her office.

Lucifer has posed:
"Morningstar is not terribly common, I've found. Only minor butchering of the spelling," Lucifer chats wryly, with a light sarcasm to the tone, but still in line with that his joke is meant to amuse himself, even if she does not share the humor.

Lucifer gives a light wave and winked smile to the woman at the front desk (regardless of the stone-faced expression he mostly had been given towards that behavior), and accompanies Diana readily.

Lucifer makes no show or flex to prove who he is (or isn't). His manner is just natural, open: his 'truth' such as it is. It is more on others to decide what they make of his facts. He gets distracted by the visitor chairs, though, with a slight purr of sound, looking at one of them and brushing hand over the top of it. It has a sensuality to the exploration of the texture with his hand, though without any aimed intent. He enjoys things for himself, such as the feel of a fine piece of furniture. "Impressively comfortable space. I should have brought a gift sooner. ...though more properly it is a return of something lost, less of a gift."

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana's office is well furnished and filled with bookshelves, displays between the shelves, and a wall of windows set behind her desk allowing natural light in from the courtyard at the heart of the embassy.

Diana is on her way to her desk when Lucifer speaks of her furniture, the two chairs set before her desk. She shows a faint expression of amusement at this from the man before she simply motions to one of them. "We do our best to make this place quite comfortable." She says. "And returning something lost can be quite a wonderful gift." She states, following her words with a smile before she'll move to sit down in her chair at her dark wood desk.

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer drapes himself in the chair as if he were about to do an intimate photoshoot. It's effortless yet staged at the same time. Like an ancient actor sliding into his favorite play. He adds a catlike stretch to it, and flares his eyes at Diana a little - which proves ALL of that probably was done just because she remarked about the comfortableness of her furniture.

"I /could/ preface this, but sometimes gifts speak on their own," Lucifer says mysteriously (which is actually a preface to cause anticipation...).

He stretches to draw a wrapped cloth parcel from an interior suit pocket, a flutter of fingers parting the buttons to gain access, and then leans to set the item on the desk. The suit remains unbuttoned then, a long length of ebony black shirt exposed.

On the table, the item is approximately 3", neatly folded in a silky blue cloth. "I removed a residual curse, but I won't be offended if you prefer your own tests."

Inside the cloth is a broad-wristed metallic bracelet, inset with nearly black jade: a relic of centuries past, lost in time - an item devoured by a beast of old tale, when it devoured the Amazon wearer. A shine of history.

Diana Prince has posed:
Once in her chair, Diana sat straight with her arms on the wooden arms of the chair itself. She watched his flourish of seating, which had her eyes locked on him and a lingering expression of small amusement. But when he offered the item up, and it became visible, the Princess of Themyscira slipped forward on to the edge of her seat. She eyes it intently, already processing the authenticity of it... and it only takes a moment for her to know it's true, real.

"My goodness." The Princess utters as she reaches across her desk to accept it and draw it across the polished wood surface to be closer for her to touch with her fingertips lightly.

"This has been ... away... for a very long time." She states, turning the bracelet over in her hands to take in the design metalwork. "Sophina..." Diana states, finding the name of the Amazon it belonged to. She seems lost in thought for a moment before her gaze goes back up to him.

"Sophina was the captain of a scouting vessel from my island. She was lost at sea when I was very little, in my first decade of life. They said she sacrificed herself to stop a monster from breaking through the barrier to our home and finding its way to our shores...."

She places the bracelet down again upon the cloth on her desk. "I do not know how you came across this, but it is a very great gift to return to us." She tells him with honesty lacing her voice.

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer seems to enjoy the storytime, he inclines his head with a curiosity and patience in it. There's no sign of whether he know some of it before, or is enjoying the story just for the story's sake even if he did know pieces.

The pleasure and appreciation lands well on him, and he preens a little with his success. "The monster, if I read my own tea leaves right on this one, was a Necraphid. A deep nasty which was host to a demon... et-cetera," Lucifer says, with a waggle of wrist and fingers as if he were listing items he bought at the store. Part of the story but not something to linger on.

"The bracelet had a lot of /potential/ to house deeper magic, and so it was passed between two different summoners of the depths. More recently one needed to parley for something, and the bracelet came to me. As I said, I cleaned up some ancient curses on it, such as a very amusing riff on mind-control, which I abhor." Lucifer clicks his tongue inside his teeth once, a darkness fluttering into his features like a sudden little flutter of a black moth, but then it's gone. He does hate mind control.

"Out of the dark, time to go home, for some things." Lucifer's tone went serious, but then his smile erupts bright. "I'm pleased you like the gift."

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana keeps her stare upon Sophina's bracer for a moment longer as she listens to what Lucifer adds to the story. She looks back up after he speaks of the curses and magic elements behind his time with it. "Amazon Steel is strong. It is capable of surviving the process of many forms of enchantments.... thus I imagine whomever put curses upon it, was using it for that very reason." She glances back down to the ornate item and runs her fingertips over it lightly once more. "My people will be very happy to have this returned to them." She says. "I do not suppose you would like your name attached to its recovery...?" She asks with a slight lofting of her left eyebrow. "To have your name in the museum that this will undoubtedly be displayed within back at my home." She shows a quick smile to convey that this is a honor, to some anyway.

Lucifer has posed:
"If I am /invited/ to view the museum, then yes," Lucifer says smoothly, serenely. "I do know of your 'rules'. Rules sometimes chafe quite badly." Lucifer's free action policy is well known, if he is who he seems to be. "Though I would argue that I am a loophole regardless, not specifically being human by any stretch of what this world thinks of as humanity."

Lucifer evaded addressing if he could or could not go to the museum without an invitation - because to him, it was less about that. It is more about the invitation itself: of the interesting nature of that group making the choice about whether they evade association with him or not.

"Should that invitation not exist, then cloaking my contribution may also be in your better interest." Lucifer lowers his chin a little, his smile oddly subtle compared to the eye intensity. He is, though, extremely aware that it can be costly to openly address that they have worked with the Devil even in a small way.

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana's hands come back to the edge of her desk where they rest one over the other. At his words, his request, she shows the hint of another smile before she glances away to her laptop that is open, but on a screen saver. "Well..." She starts her response, sweeping her stare back over to him. "I do not make the calls on this, but when I present this--" She motions toward the bracelet. "--to the Queen, I will speak of the request and... I assure you it will be one that catches her attention. What she says to it, I will have to let you know sometime in the future."

Diana does smile again, it isn't a fake or forced expression either, she may be speaking to someone of less than widely-stellar reputation, but his presence here today has been one of cordial kindness and, quite honestly, benefit for the Amazons.

"I assume you left a way to reach out to you with my assistant in the foyer?" She asks, of the young Greta Candy down the hallway.

Lucifer has posed:
"Well. I've felt like being more than my /job/ lately. Everyone can be more than the title of their employment," Lucifer says grandly but with a lot of emotion flowing through the declaration. Being the Devil is a job he's trapped in, without pay. Terrible hours. Worse coworkers. Misery!

Just ignore that the job was basically made FOR him...
"I admit I /do/ take refusals a little personally. But that doesn't mean I'll burn the house down." He's being cheeky. His mood does not suggest he's aggressive about it: maybe oddly sad. "Contact? Yes. Cell phones are great. Don't email though: those are even easier to forget to check than prayers," Lucifer jokes slyly, with a light laugh at himself. He stands, and leans across the desk to offer a handshake. He clearly can let himself out. "Enjoy your relic."

Diana Prince has posed:
The man's suave demeanor and style is unmistakable, and Diana knows that generally means 'dangerous' too. Especially when a man openly flaunts the skill so brazenly as this one does. But... it all only fits his reputation... even if still... something about him is far more unique than she would've assumed. But that's assumptions for you...

She shows a smile for his joke, as she assumed it was truly just that. "I will remember that." She says, as he rises up to offer a hand over the desk. She stands up as well and reaches out to do the same. "This truly is a wonderful gift to bring back to us. I will tell the Queen at once, and I do believe she will be grateful, if nothing else." Diana says this in a calm, kind voice as she has spoken throughout this exchange.

"I will get back to you on that request as well." She states, showing a brief hint of a smile. "Thank you for coming by, and should you find any other items of this variety... do not hesitate to reach out." There's obviously a second bracelet still missing out there somewhere!