InsaneJournal

WHO: Claire Winchester & Lucifer
WHAT: Claire Winchester has a point to make. Lucifer, surprisingly enough, is still alive after it is made.
WHEN: After this
WHERE: The Park
RATING: PG
STATUS: Log; COMPLETE

Although no one would really know it by reading her responses to Lucifer, if they could, the fact was that Claire wasn't actually too upset with the Archangel. Yes, she was still reeling at having lost her daughter. Yes, if he'd come back and made his presence known before Meri's return, she might have reacted very differently than she did and probably much more deadly. However, the fact was that, over the past several years, Claire had done some growing up and knew that, when it came to life in Colligo, sometimes exceptions just had to be made. Because sometimes, you did things when you weren't technically you that you regretted. And while she knew that Lucifer probably had very few regrets in his existence, she was fairly certain that killing Meri - even if he hadn't technically been the one to do it - probably ranked very high on his list.

Or, at least, it had better.

The point was, though, she wasn't as angry as she'd seemed. In fact, the only reason she'd even seemed that angry was because, well, she could. It wasn't often that she was given the opportunity to troll the Devil in a way that wouldn't backfire rather terribly in her face, so she was going to take advantage of being able to do so while it was still possible. Besides. Even if he hadn't been himself, technically speaking, he had still murdered her daughter. The way she saw it, he deserved a bit of trolling and having to live with worry and wariness for just a bit longer.

Of course, she had no real intention of keeping the mock deadly rage up for very long once they were face to face. There was getting a small bit of vindictive payback and then there was just being cruel. Lucifer might excel in the latter, but Claire preferred to stay on the side of the former if she could help it. But even with that in mind, she couldn't help but keep the charade up for a bit longer. At least while she made her way into the park and looked around for Lucifer. And, okay, probably once she saw him too, for a few seconds or so until she dropped what was probably a pretty epic sized bombshell by making it clear she didn't actually hate him for what had happened and wasn't going to kill him for it either.

That was, if she ever found the guy. For someone who had agreed to meet, he sure was doing a damn good job of hiding. Which was... typical, now that she thought about it. Sighing heavily, Claire ran a hand through her hair then muttered softly, "I swear, if you stand me up, I'm going to trap you in holy fire and make you watch Gabe having sex with Kali for the rest of forever..."

Lucifer had gotten to the park almost immediately after suggesting it. He hadn’t wanted to arrive after Claire, only to end up taken by surprise, even though he had similar reservations about getting her before her and making it seem as though he was readying an ambush. But staying hidden had seemed like the best option in his book until he had spotted her approaching. The desire to run, to flee and save himself, was weirdly overwhelming in the moment, but Lucifer managed to suck up his breath and present himself. Mostly because overhearing her words, he had absolutely no desire to give her reason to be something that twisted, cruel, and absolutely disgusting.

“I do think Kali would murder me if she had any idea I was there,” Lucifer said, quietly materializing at Claire’s side. “Or rather, she would likely torture me, then murder me, especially if I was in absolutely no position to fight back. She has more than enough revenge to enact for her fellow pagans, if she feels so inclined,” He said, taking a slow, deep breath in a way that showed that at least half his words were coming out in a torrent of nerves.

“So,” Lucifer said, pausing to look her over. Weird. It didn’t look like she had a blade with her. Winchesters were good at concealing weapons, though, so he might just be overlooking it. “I guess I should say I’m sorry first off,” He said quietly. “Meri didn’t want to hear it...”

When Lucifer first appeared, Claire's stomach dropped slightly and she turned toward him with a wary look. It wasn't forced and it certainly wasn't planned. He'd managed to make her jump, even if she hadn't actually jumped, and that put her a bit on edge. However, she recovered quickly enough and snorted at his initial response to her threat. "I'm pretty sure Gabe would stop her," she pointed out as she met Lucifer's gaze, before smirking. "If only so he could drag it out and make you really suffer by watching them again, and again, and again." It seemed, for a moment, that Claire had forgotten that she wasn't exactly friends with the guy. It wasn't really her fault, strictly speaking. When speaking about Gabriel, Claire was automatically in a better mood, more often than not. What? The Archangel had a great sense of humor and was one of her best friends. Beyond that, he always, always, found a way to cheer her up no matter how upset she might get. That alone was enough to make her forget her upset. At least for a heartbeat or two.

Then she was somber once more, her eyes flashing with a mixture of hurt and anger at what had happened to her daughter at Lucifer's hand. Yes, it wasn't really him. She knew that. But he didn't know that she realized as much as she wasn't about to show her hand too soon. So instead she said, after a moment of simply staring at him, "Oh, you're definitely sorry, all right." Was it a lame sort of insult and nothing more than a play on words that any third grader could come up with, if given the chance? Yes. But she couldn't resist. Not when he made it that easy, at least.

And, of course, that was the precise moment that things took a far more serious turn. So much for pretending to be furious enough to kill him, she thought with a touch of regret. She'd been enjoying herself, too. With a slight shake of her head, though, the anger was gone - or at least not nearly as prominent - and in its place was a much softer look that probably looked a bit out of place to Lucifer, considering how angry Claire tended to be when dealing with him.

"No," she agreed in an equally quiet tone, "She didn't." Pausing for a heartbeat, Claire finally admitted, "In fact, I'm pretty sure she's decorated just about every flat surface that exists in our house with banishing sigils, in case you decide to stop by again." Another pause, this one to give him a moment to realize just how serious Meri was about him staying away, and Claire tacked on, "Which is precisely why you and I need to talk. Because, before I make a move to have Dean talk to her, or even try talking to her myself, I need to know that it isn't going to be the biggest mistake I've made since I made a habit of jumping in front of trains and videotaping it."

Lucifer had been expecting a dressing down, a lecture, to be stabbed, something that would allow him to tell exactly what level of pissed of Claire he was going to have to weather. What he didn’t expected, though, was for the initial anger that he had been faced with to...fade rather quickly into something almost resembling -- no, scratch that -- exactly like sympathy. Blinking in the face of her statements, Lucifer’s features briefly went blank, not entirely sure how to respond to what she was saying.

Have Dean talk to her? Talk to her herself? Since when were either of the elder Winchesters on his side? There had been a few twilight zone moments with Dean, but beyond that, Lucifer didn’t see any reason that either Claire or Dean should feel the need to defend him in this matter. He’d killed their daughter. She had every right to not want to see him again, and they had every right to want him dead.

“How am I supposed to help you decide whether or not that’s true, exactly? My words can’t be trusted. I’m the devil, after all. King of lies,” Lucifer drawled, even though he knew that he hadn’t told a lie in his life. Not an outright one. Manipulations of the truth, sure. But nothing that qualified fully as an untruth. “Just tell me what you want of me, and I’ll do it.”

Claire knew that Lucifer was pretty shocked by her significant lack of a violent reaction, and even more so by her sympathy for his plight. That was definitely rewarding in its own small, petty little way. After all, it wasn’t everyday that she got to knock the devil for a loop. However, she wasn’t putting on a show or just plain faking it, and she definitely wasn’t biding her time to attack him. She was authentically trying to do the right thing in this situation. She just had to be absolutely sure what the right thing happened to be.

Of course, when he started talking about how his words couldn’t be trust, how he was a liar, Claire very nearly did get angry. Or, really, more like heavily annoyed. Slowly she arched an eyebrow as she stared at him for a moment, before asking flatly, “Do you want to maybe try that “I’m a lying liar who lies” line on someone who actually is an idiot? Because I know I may do stupid things, and I’m definitely a blond, but I’m not as dumb as I look. And I know you don’t lie.”

Okay. That felt a bit odd to say. It really was easier to just think of him as the ultimate villain than as someone who was deserving of a second chance. But that wasn’t what she had come to the park to do, and she wasn’t going to let his own self-deprecation make her veer away from her ultimate goal. Which was to determine if he really was sorry about what he’d done or if he was simply sorry that he’d lost the only possible “in” he had with her family.

Hands sliding into the pockets of her jacket, she finally decided to do her best to explain why she wasn’t trying to stab him in the face with an angel killing blade. “Look,” she began, “this is simple. The you who...” She trailed off, not quite able to say the words ‘viciously murdered my daughter’, so instead she settled on, “did what you did, that wasn’t the you that you are now.” She paused for a second, shaking her head. “And that sentence had far too many you’s in it.” Drawing in a breath to help her focus, she got back on track.

“Anyway. Yes, I know that it was still technically you. It wasn’t some alternate version of you, which would probably make this a little easier to handle, truthfully, but I still know it wasn’t you. I might not have really seen it before, or been willing to accept what bits I did see, but I know that you’ve changed since you’ve been here. And besides that? I have seen what my daughter is like as an adult without you in her life versus with you in it. Frankly, I’d rather her not grow up to be a crazy person who hates the world and pretty much everything in it.”

Pausing again, Claire finally got to her point. “But I’m not about to try to explain to my daughter that she should forgive you unless I know you won’t hurt her again.” She didn’t offer up how he could convince her of that fact. Frankly, she wasn’t sure how he could do it. She just figured, if he tried to bullshit her now, she’d have her answer and that would be that.

“Well, to be completely fair,” Lucifer said, taking in what Claire was saying but having a little trouble believing it. Not to say that he didn’t believe that she could be that forgiving. He had absolutely no doubt within himself that she was capable of such a feat. Dean had found himself a most remarkable wife, someone who matched him in both power of spirit and intensity of will, and he had absolutely no reason to doubt what she was saying, but he still felt as though he didn’t deserve it. “The her that hated the entire world also had her entire family slaughtered and was being constantly hunted by me and mine. That isn’t about the happen in this place,” He said, offering Claire a bit of a sheepish smile. Because, really, even if Meri could never find it in her heart to forgive him for what had happened, he wasn’t about to turn into someone who would be willing to bring down the world around them to suit his own petty desires. Not anymore.

“But I want her to be happy more than anything, Claire,” Lucifer said with a look of sincerity, an expression which looked rather odd upon his features even if it looked equally at home there. “Whatever that requires. And if she is willing to forgive me, I will go out of my way to make sure that she is never hurt again. Not by my own hand, and I will try and stop all other threats which may came as well. Even if I’ll probably not be able to stop her own judgment from causing a few incidents,” He said with a bit of a laugh even though it had a hint of sadness to it. “No prevention of harm can ever be entirely foolproof when you’re dealing with someone more than capable of getting themselves into trouble.”

Not that Lucifer would particularly want to stop that. Meri’s ability to get into a glorious amount of chaos just because was one of the things that he adored about her the most.

Claire couldn’t help but smile a bit fondly as she found herself more than agreeing with Lucifer’s assessment of Meri. Her daughter was a handful and a half, to be certain, but she wouldn’t change her for the world. Meri’s propensity to get into trouble, as headache inducing as it could be at times, was simply part of who she was. And considering it could be so, so much worse, Claire really was finding herself grateful more often than not these days that Meri tended to at least keep her insane ideas and stunts to a minimum.

“Okay,” she finally said, figuring she’d heard enough. Either he was playing her for the fool or he was being sincere. And as much as Claire knew Lucifer was capable of doing the former, without even blinking an eye, her gut told her that this time it really was the latter. For reasons she didn’t quite understand, and honestly wasn’t sure she wanted to, he cared for Meri and really did feel remorse over something he technically hadn’t even done. It was a surreal thought - a guilt-ridden devil - but in Colligo, she had definitely seen stranger. “I’ll talk to Dean and we’ll talk to Meri. And now, I need to get going before the kids convince Emma to let them eat all of the ice cream in the house then run around in circles until they get sick, or something.”

Turning to go, Claire paused. “Oh!” she said as she turned back to him. “One more thing.” And with that, she balled up her fist and punched him directly in the face. The bones in her hand shattered on impact, the slight tingling alerting her to the injuries, and he was, of course, not even bruised by a pretty well-aimed punch if she did say so herself. But that was entirely beside the point and hadn’t been why she’d done it. Dropping her arm back to her side, she arched an eyebrow at him.

“That is for killing my daughter,” she said simply. “You get a pass, because it wasn’t actually you, but if any version of you ever hurts her again? Not even your mother will be able to stop me from ripping you to pieces.” Then she offered him a grin. “So, you know, just keep that in mind in the future.” Finished, she offered him a slight wave with her once again re-healed hand then turned on her heel and made her way back out of the park.

His face was really taking a beating from the Winchester women. He supposed the least he could be was grateful that Gabi couldn’t add her own punishment to that, but he hadn’t really gotten very close to the infant before. She’d probably grab his nose or something if he did just to add to the injury of it all. But as Lucifer watched Claire walk away, the impact her fist made on his face already rapidly being forgotten, he couldn’t help but smile a dorky little disbelieving smile.

“They like me,” Lucifer said, coming to the conclusion that that was the only way that Dean Winchester would ever ultimately end up on his side, if he really did come to learn to like him in some fashion. “They really, really like me.”