He snorts unceremoniously at the use of 'faith', which promptly derails any response he may've had about how very obviously him and the beast would've rolled the ol' party along and no one would be hangin' on behind. And if he had somehow come out of it eventually, managed to separate himself from the monster, he would've been gone, fled into those mountains where the cold wouldn't have been his only problem.
Kyle would maybe have been sent to scout if enough time had passed and he had recovered, and only would meet the stench of death and perhaps misery whether or not Lucifer was still possessed. Lucifer would kill him, too, possessed or not, for much different reasons.
But there's no point on dwelling.
"It makes me wonder if anything Summoned from outside worlds automatically get pulled through the arcana system, if that's part of the tether, if it has nothing to do with the Summoning Ritual itself." He hums, enjoying the way his mind, in spite of its sluggish state, feels a little bit clearer, and he idly, distractedly, nips and kisses just under Istredd's chin as the thought starts to coolly coalesce before the words murmur out of him: "Do you think the remaining beasts have a Singularity connection like ours?"
That's an approach he hadn't considered. That's what makes them a good team, they are good at giving each other different ideas by talking out what they do or don't know. He makes a thoughtful 'hmmm' sound and tilts his head back so Lucifer can nip to his heart's content, running fingers through his hair.
"Yes, I do. They were in the Horizon. There's no way they could have gotten in there without a connection." He had at least one or two fights when going to his library and finding creatures there making trouble. It was a shock at first, but it makes more sense now. "But they weren't pulled in by the factions, if the vision we had was true. So how did one of us have the kind of power to do that? Or did he just tap into the Singularity's power?"
Istredd suspects the culprit is in Solvunn and he hasn't asked Wanda if they have identified the person. She probably knows who it is. They're a close group, it's possible she'd defend whoever it is.
"Maybe you're right. Maybe there are multiple ways to look at the tether." Which is annoying for him, as he is so focused on the Singularity being the best way, but he can't deny Lucifer's logic in arguing about that otherwise.
He will treasure that 'maybe you're right.' It's a (little) win. He won't call out to it and even the reaction is under the tumbleweeds of rolling cloud cover in Lucifer's mind. See he's getting better at this again.
My concern is whether or not Thorne and the like can capture any creature left behind from the rifts and harvest their Singularity connection instead of ours. Which, fine, I don't care, experiment all you want on animals he's not someone that's gonna balk at a hair care product or whatever and find out things were tested on rabbits or something, but I don't know.
It should make their lives easier.
There you go Thorne, and anyone else looking! Leave the Summoned alone, you have a source over there.
Something about them having that link worries me. Unfounded, and maybe it is just a possessiveness. Just as Josselyn may as well have crowed, that was theirs. Paws off, Abraxas. "I forgot that they had been in the Horizon, but I haven't seen any of them since." What if they still have a connection but it's been corrupted because of the different method of being pulled here? Always more questions, but he feels all of these answers could have much greater dangers for the rest of them.
He's not going to question another Summoned's power. Look at Wanda. She probably could summon her kids here if she went full hardcore Scarlet Witch Prophecy Mode.
Istredd is many things, and arrogant is one of them, when he thinks he knows better. He also gets tunnel vision so one of the things he appreciates about being with Lucifer is having another point of view to bounce off of. They've theorized together for a long time, but he still can be a stickler for things surrounding the Singularity. He knows Lucifer isn't tormenting him with that 'maybe right' statement on purpose. It's appreciated.
There are dogs still in Solvunn, not the ones from your sphere. The ones from Adora's sphere. I believe one of the creatures survived in the Free Cities, I could follow up. Steve or Castiel would know. He considers and shakes his head. I don't believe any survived here ... that we know of. Which means any of the governments could get their hands on one of the rift creatures, dead or alive, and be experimenting on them.
"The ones that lived, they probably do still have that connection. I don't believe I've seen them in the Horizon since, but they could be." He's more curious about why they haven't been rounded up in that case. "We'd have to get our hands on them ourselves to get some of those answers." But Thorne doesn't have one.
"Wanda, maybe?" They both go to the well of Wanda Maximoff when they have Solvunn-based questions. It might be worth her seeing if she could catch the dogs and find out for herself. She certainly has the power to do it.
my favorite thing about backdated threads is nods to the FUTURE
There's a couple here that Mat and I lost. But I don't want Thorne to get any ideas. Even if he will a month from now mention those dogs to Mace. What? Conversation starters are important when you need to get a foot in.
"I gotta find me other contacts in Solvunn that aren't Wanda or Michael." Gabe Does Not Count, sorry bro. He can push the reliability thing on his little brother as much as necessary, but there's other roadblocks to consider. "I'm sure Wanda has enough on her plate from her faction alone, not just us." He'd say that's what friends are for but it's not like he actually knows the answer to that. He won't even know who Himeka Actually Is until a months from now when she is in a cube of jelly from her own awry rune use and Kell calling out to her. Like you do. "It's something to be careful about. Let it linger for a bit, let the locals forget and see the additions as invasive sure, but here to stay. Then bring it up maybe."
"There's a woman named Himeka who has been around since the start." Lucifer might not meet her for some time, but the name at least might resonate. Istredd's known her from the start of his time here, but only in passing. She seems pleasant and helpful enough. Wanda's just been his go-to. They have their connection but Lucifer might be right, Wanda has plenty going on without the two of them constantly prodding at her.
"I suppose I wonder ...." Istredd considers, tipping his head to the side, taking Lucifer's hand because he likes points of contact. "Let's say we're right about the gods being former Summoned. Let's say these rift monsters proved that other entities have that same connection if pulled from other worlds. And that there's corruption possible in those examples. What does that mean for us? Should we be concerned about our future? What will we do if everything we suspect is true?"
"Of course we should be concerned about our future," he says, very much thinking that's obvious. "We already know we can be influenced against our will and not even on purpose." Lucifer and the Myriapod Arcana Problem. "There's likely at least a baker's dozen of ways we can be corrupted and half of them are likely just environmental, half be done against us. Heck, maybe the Singularity's connection will straight-up eventually poison us." There's the tie-breaker thirteen of the split.
For someone that tries to look multiple steps ahead to their Fate when a problem comes up, even Lucifer knows the rest of his answer, "We can't plan for every eventuality, Istredd. Maybe we can save us, or someone else, from going down that potential road." Look at Dean and the Mark. An other-world problem crept into Abraxas, but still an impossible problem solved, presumably with next-to-no known consequences. "But we may just have to put someone down, one day."
"I've never been very good at looking forward." He's a historian, his job is literally to be stuck in the past. Looking for answers to things that were long dead and buried, and knowing he may never get them. Istredd didn't have much he considered worth looking forward to. A long life that he saw as more books and historical digs and avoiding all the things in his continent he didn't want to engage with.
But it changed there. The Book of Monoliths made him invested, and then it all fell apart. And here? Istredd's been intensely engaged with Abraxas, the opposite of his aloof indifference to his own sphere. He knows that he wants to stay here for his future, he's said as much. Here with Lucifer, here with the others. But what that looks like in a hundred or five hundred years, he hasn't thought ahead to it.
"You know I can't help it. I'll have to plan for those eventualities, as best as possible." It's the Pit all over again, obsessively putting everyone's problems on himself, but it's better in that he's not actively dying. They have time. The new gods didn't go from Summoned to that overnight. They all are on paths. But Lucifer said 'We can save us' and that means it doesn't have to be him alone. Not just with Lucifer, but in general. It's all of them who has to have a buy in.
Istredd kisses him firmly, reminding himself how close they keep getting to losing everything, but they haven't yet. "It won't be us." Having to be put down. He's determined. "If it's me, I give you full permission. But don't offer me the same because I wouldn't be able to." He's honest about his weakness.
"Ahhh, that's why you keep making me look forward, because you're bad at it," Lucifer says in a sage-like tone. Now it all makes sense. The fact that Lucifer's even a little bit better of again looking forward is impressive because he was fully loose-cannon after Dad used and ditched him again. Heck, it's how he ended up with a child. He had no plan and no care and just wanted everyone to feel what he did, damn the consequences.
It's no wonder Crowley got a one-up on him.
It probably will be them, more than anyone, but Lucifer doesn't push that certainty.
"Oh, don't worry, if I become irreparably corrupted I'm taking you down with me and we'll both be walking disasters on the world."
Is that a kindness? Well it's better than being on the other side, isn't it? Lucifer thinks it is.
Istredd laughs. "Partners are supposed to balance each other out. Fill in each other's weaknesses. I think that's why we work so well." They aren't a case of opposites attract exactly, although they are very different people, but from the beginning it was more about how one of them bled into the other when they needed to. Lucifer used to be the one who pulled Istredd out of the library and into the world. Istredd did the same emotionally, soothed his darker edges, broke down his walls.
He doesn't believe it will be them. They've managed to keep it together for Thorne so far, and if their connection to each other becomes corrupt, they still have the others. It's why Lucifer's comment makes him laugh again, kissing his forehead.
"Well, I'd prefer it to the other option." He agrees with that. If they're together, he has faith in them. They've always brought out the best in each other so far. Killing Lucifer is too impossible of an idea. He's already said before he'd go down protecting him, and he meant it.
"Let's get some rest, love. Our brains have been bleeding." Painfully! This new bond will help that, but it was still not easy, and Lucifer's been struggling with the monster.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hmmm
Kyle would maybe have been sent to scout if enough time had passed and he had recovered, and only would meet the stench of death and perhaps misery whether or not Lucifer was still possessed. Lucifer would kill him, too, possessed or not, for much different reasons.
But there's no point on dwelling.
"It makes me wonder if anything Summoned from outside worlds automatically get pulled through the arcana system, if that's part of the tether, if it has nothing to do with the Summoning Ritual itself." He hums, enjoying the way his mind, in spite of its sluggish state, feels a little bit clearer, and he idly, distractedly, nips and kisses just under Istredd's chin as the thought starts to coolly coalesce before the words murmur out of him: "Do you think the remaining beasts have a Singularity connection like ours?"
no subject
"Yes, I do. They were in the Horizon. There's no way they could have gotten in there without a connection." He had at least one or two fights when going to his library and finding creatures there making trouble. It was a shock at first, but it makes more sense now. "But they weren't pulled in by the factions, if the vision we had was true. So how did one of us have the kind of power to do that? Or did he just tap into the Singularity's power?"
Istredd suspects the culprit is in Solvunn and he hasn't asked Wanda if they have identified the person. She probably knows who it is. They're a close group, it's possible she'd defend whoever it is.
"Maybe you're right. Maybe there are multiple ways to look at the tether." Which is annoying for him, as he is so focused on the Singularity being the best way, but he can't deny Lucifer's logic in arguing about that otherwise.
no subject
My concern is whether or not Thorne and the like can capture any creature left behind from the rifts and harvest their Singularity connection instead of ours. Which, fine, I don't care, experiment all you want on animals he's not someone that's gonna balk at a hair care product or whatever and find out things were tested on rabbits or something, but I don't know.
It should make their lives easier.
There you go Thorne, and anyone else looking! Leave the Summoned alone, you have a source over there.
Something about them having that link worries me. Unfounded, and maybe it is just a possessiveness. Just as Josselyn may as well have crowed, that was theirs. Paws off, Abraxas. "I forgot that they had been in the Horizon, but I haven't seen any of them since." What if they still have a connection but it's been corrupted because of the different method of being pulled here? Always more questions, but he feels all of these answers could have much greater dangers for the rest of them.
He's not going to question another Summoned's power. Look at Wanda. She probably could summon her kids here if she went full hardcore Scarlet Witch Prophecy Mode.
no subject
There are dogs still in Solvunn, not the ones from your sphere. The ones from Adora's sphere. I believe one of the creatures survived in the Free Cities, I could follow up. Steve or Castiel would know. He considers and shakes his head. I don't believe any survived here ... that we know of. Which means any of the governments could get their hands on one of the rift creatures, dead or alive, and be experimenting on them.
"The ones that lived, they probably do still have that connection. I don't believe I've seen them in the Horizon since, but they could be." He's more curious about why they haven't been rounded up in that case. "We'd have to get our hands on them ourselves to get some of those answers." But Thorne doesn't have one.
"Wanda, maybe?" They both go to the well of Wanda Maximoff when they have Solvunn-based questions. It might be worth her seeing if she could catch the dogs and find out for herself. She certainly has the power to do it.
my favorite thing about backdated threads is nods to the FUTURE
"I gotta find me other contacts in Solvunn that aren't Wanda or Michael." Gabe Does Not Count, sorry bro. He can push the reliability thing on his little brother as much as necessary, but there's other roadblocks to consider. "I'm sure Wanda has enough on her plate from her faction alone, not just us." He'd say that's what friends are for but it's not like he actually knows the answer to that. He won't even know who Himeka Actually Is until a months from now when she is in a cube of jelly from her own awry rune use and Kell calling out to her. Like you do. "It's something to be careful about. Let it linger for a bit, let the locals forget and see the additions as invasive sure, but here to stay. Then bring it up maybe."
no subject
"I suppose I wonder ...." Istredd considers, tipping his head to the side, taking Lucifer's hand because he likes points of contact. "Let's say we're right about the gods being former Summoned. Let's say these rift monsters proved that other entities have that same connection if pulled from other worlds. And that there's corruption possible in those examples. What does that mean for us? Should we be concerned about our future? What will we do if everything we suspect is true?"
no subject
"Of course we should be concerned about our future," he says, very much thinking that's obvious. "We already know we can be influenced against our will and not even on purpose." Lucifer and the Myriapod Arcana Problem. "There's likely at least a baker's dozen of ways we can be corrupted and half of them are likely just environmental, half be done against us. Heck, maybe the Singularity's connection will straight-up eventually poison us." There's the tie-breaker thirteen of the split.
For someone that tries to look multiple steps ahead to their Fate when a problem comes up, even Lucifer knows the rest of his answer, "We can't plan for every eventuality, Istredd. Maybe we can save us, or someone else, from going down that potential road." Look at Dean and the Mark. An other-world problem crept into Abraxas, but still an impossible problem solved, presumably with next-to-no known consequences. "But we may just have to put someone down, one day."
no subject
But it changed there. The Book of Monoliths made him invested, and then it all fell apart. And here? Istredd's been intensely engaged with Abraxas, the opposite of his aloof indifference to his own sphere. He knows that he wants to stay here for his future, he's said as much. Here with Lucifer, here with the others. But what that looks like in a hundred or five hundred years, he hasn't thought ahead to it.
"You know I can't help it. I'll have to plan for those eventualities, as best as possible." It's the Pit all over again, obsessively putting everyone's problems on himself, but it's better in that he's not actively dying. They have time. The new gods didn't go from Summoned to that overnight. They all are on paths. But Lucifer said 'We can save us' and that means it doesn't have to be him alone. Not just with Lucifer, but in general. It's all of them who has to have a buy in.
Istredd kisses him firmly, reminding himself how close they keep getting to losing everything, but they haven't yet. "It won't be us." Having to be put down. He's determined. "If it's me, I give you full permission. But don't offer me the same because I wouldn't be able to." He's honest about his weakness.
no subject
It's no wonder Crowley got a one-up on him.
It probably will be them, more than anyone, but Lucifer doesn't push that certainty.
"Oh, don't worry, if I become irreparably corrupted I'm taking you down with me and we'll both be walking disasters on the world."
Is that a kindness? Well it's better than being on the other side, isn't it? Lucifer thinks it is.
We can wrap on here or you can end tag!
He doesn't believe it will be them. They've managed to keep it together for Thorne so far, and if their connection to each other becomes corrupt, they still have the others. It's why Lucifer's comment makes him laugh again, kissing his forehead.
"Well, I'd prefer it to the other option." He agrees with that. If they're together, he has faith in them. They've always brought out the best in each other so far. Killing Lucifer is too impossible of an idea. He's already said before he'd go down protecting him, and he meant it.
"Let's get some rest, love. Our brains have been bleeding." Painfully! This new bond will help that, but it was still not easy, and Lucifer's been struggling with the monster.
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