Istredd suspects that he'll get burned someday, yes, but it's not as if he really has a choice in these things. He's permanently attached to Yennefer and he isn't going to stop being friends with Lucifer because things might get complicated. It is pointless to worry about. Things will happen as they happen.
"I don't tolerate you, I like you. Even if you did just give me a bad headache and told me you saw me as a placeholder."
He is going to just be annoying as fuck by countering Lucifer's defensiveness with honesty and teasing him about his cold explanation of why they started interacting. Istredd is fairly certain this headache is going to last him until tomorrow but that is fine. He'd love to go back into his head, to be honest, but he is definitely not going to saky as much.
"At least I didn't try to turn you into a spy!" He folds his arms with a huff. You know, the whole reason they are currently in their room like this. Which--no, that's not the reason, the reason is Lucifer got whammied and his control stolen from him and then tried to be a good guy regardless about it.
It has nothing to do with his original actions!
(Give it time and maybe he'll come to terms with the truth.)
"Be happy you only got a headache." Is he glossing over the 'I like you' comment? Yes. Yes, he is. "I assumed you might turn out to be braindead." He says it like it's a joke but there is the barest visibility to actual concern there, but they didn't have much choice.
Istredd actually laughs. "Me? A spy? How very glamorous." The very idea is genuinely hilarious. Istredd with his inability to keep his mouth shut. Very little subtlety. Disliking people and crowds. There would be ways in which he'd be a good one, but he simply doesn't have what it takes.
"Someone less qualified than I am very well could have." He is still being careful not to indicate what it was that they did in case someone is listening in. Although he very much doubts they are. He would feel the brush of spells if that was the case, but it's better to be safe. "It was fascinating though. Beautiful, in a way."
"You'd make it work." But even as he says it he makes a face because no... Istredd's inability to keep his mouth shut is completely a problem. "Eh. I'm sure you'll lead your glamorous library life instead."
It's been a long time since anyone referred to any part of him a beautiful. The angels, despite everything he'd done to them, still saw something there. Maybe spitefully. But he's been sunk so far from his own kind that everyone else only sees the monster. The demons, Sam, Rowena.
It was his true form and multiple faces that followed him in mockery, and because of the proximity to that event he doesn't just flippantly say 'of course it is.' Instead, Istredd gets the extremely eloquent, "Uh. Thanks."
"Honestly I hope if I make it a few more centuries I just fake my death and retire to a library somewhere and stay out everything." He's not a century yet so he is still young by mage standards, but he has an old and grumpy soul who is often tired of everything. As it is, he can't just disappear without people going looking, they want all mages accounted for. But once he's older, he could probably swing it.
Istredd pauses when he realizes what he said and that it might be, well, bizarre. He flusters a little, having not (as usual) thought before he spoke. "Sorry, I know that must seem like a strange compliment."
"No it's--fine." He waves Istredd off. For him honestly it's not bizarre. It didn't used to be, anyway. "Thank you in... general, really." For more than tolerating him, for Wilhelm, for whatever partnership they've found themselves in that Lucifer is still learning how to handle.
Istredd is getting anxious when he thinks he maybe misspoke, so he relaxes at Lucifer's wave off. He generally believes he would tell him the truth, so it was probably him getting into his head too much. As per usual. He isn't that good at having friends either, even if he's found it very rewarding so far.
"You're welcome in general, really." He smiles faintly along with a slightly teasing tone. "I ... like having someone count on me. It's new."
"You have no idea how much I can relate to that," Lucifer says, though perhaps that isn't completely true. Lucifer hasn't told Istredd what he's done in his world, but he has alluded to an extent what he is. The storybook villain--much of it true, much of it very wrong.
Emotionally wrung-out, he flops down to his side. Better than the last time he dropped back, but Lucifer is very much more cat than bird most days, and his constant ways of movement prove it. He might sleep. He might dip into the Horizon anyway. He has some books here but three days in confinement is enough to make him twitchy, even if it's their room, even if he gets Istredd to bring him something.
He's going to be hell to live with towards the backend of it, regardless.
"Say hello to the outside world for me," he says, as though he actually has much of a social presence on a good day.
"I'll go get you more books." If he is going to stay there, he will have the Horizon or he will have that. And Istredd does not want an excuse to get those claws into him, which feels inevitable. "And yes, yes, they won't be my kind of books." He says before Lucifer can make a face at him and ask for something not as dull as Istredd's mountain of history textbooks and spells.
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no subject
Date: 2022-12-17 12:15 am (UTC)"I don't tolerate you, I like you. Even if you did just give me a bad headache and told me you saw me as a placeholder."
He is going to just be annoying as fuck by countering Lucifer's defensiveness with honesty and teasing him about his cold explanation of why they started interacting. Istredd is fairly certain this headache is going to last him until tomorrow but that is fine. He'd love to go back into his head, to be honest, but he is definitely not going to saky as much.
no subject
Date: 2022-12-17 12:23 am (UTC)It has nothing to do with his original actions!
(Give it time and maybe he'll come to terms with the truth.)
"Be happy you only got a headache." Is he glossing over the 'I like you' comment? Yes. Yes, he is. "I assumed you might turn out to be braindead." He says it like it's a joke but there is the barest visibility to actual concern there, but they didn't have much choice.
no subject
Date: 2022-12-17 12:31 am (UTC)"Someone less qualified than I am very well could have." He is still being careful not to indicate what it was that they did in case someone is listening in. Although he very much doubts they are. He would feel the brush of spells if that was the case, but it's better to be safe. "It was fascinating though. Beautiful, in a way."
Apparently you have a beautiful mind, Lucifer.
no subject
Date: 2022-12-17 01:21 am (UTC)It's been a long time since anyone referred to any part of him a beautiful. The angels, despite everything he'd done to them, still saw something there. Maybe spitefully. But he's been sunk so far from his own kind that everyone else only sees the monster. The demons, Sam, Rowena.
It was his true form and multiple faces that followed him in mockery, and because of the proximity to that event he doesn't just flippantly say 'of course it is.' Instead, Istredd gets the extremely eloquent, "Uh. Thanks."
no subject
Date: 2022-12-17 01:33 am (UTC)Istredd pauses when he realizes what he said and that it might be, well, bizarre. He flusters a little, having not (as usual) thought before he spoke. "Sorry, I know that must seem like a strange compliment."
no subject
Date: 2022-12-17 05:22 am (UTC)Could be nice.
"No it's--fine." He waves Istredd off. For him honestly it's not bizarre. It didn't used to be, anyway. "Thank you in... general, really." For more than tolerating him, for Wilhelm, for whatever partnership they've found themselves in that Lucifer is still learning how to handle.
no subject
Date: 2022-12-20 01:38 am (UTC)"You're welcome in general, really." He smiles faintly along with a slightly teasing tone. "I ... like having someone count on me. It's new."
wrap here or the next?
Date: 2022-12-21 06:01 am (UTC)Emotionally wrung-out, he flops down to his side. Better than the last time he dropped back, but Lucifer is very much more cat than bird most days, and his constant ways of movement prove it. He might sleep. He might dip into the Horizon anyway. He has some books here but three days in confinement is enough to make him twitchy, even if it's their room, even if he gets Istredd to bring him something.
He's going to be hell to live with towards the backend of it, regardless.
"Say hello to the outside world for me," he says, as though he actually has much of a social presence on a good day.
here!
Date: 2022-12-21 11:55 pm (UTC)