[ open ] the sky is full of dreams

[thevulnerability]

WHO: The Dear Detective + You + a closed starter.
WHERE: Jeopardy & De Chima
WHEN: Throughout the fairy plot but after the Swear-In
WHAT: Chloe attempts to plants a shrub and then tries to stop a robbery and then goes on a date with Lucifer. So just a day in the life, really.
WARNINGS: Possible adult-themed shenanigans in the thread with Lucifer, and possibly some violence with the robbery thread depending on where things go. Will update warnings as needed.


JEOPARDY #003

Chloe has taken up gardening. Well, that's a little bit of an exaggeration. You could call the tiny area near the house where she's scraped away the gravel and turned the sand a bit of a garden - if you tilted your head and squinted a little. She'd had higher hopes, thinking she could plant a few flowers, but after a few hours out there it became clear that the baffling increase of the desert heat wasn't having any of it, so she'd settled for the hardiest shrub the garden center offered. It was kind of gnarly and cranky looking, but it was green, so she figured it was a start.

She spends the next hour or so shoveling away at the dirt, turning some of the soil she bought into it to break it up some. Whenever a neighbor walks by she does her best to offer a wave in greeting, but for the most part, she's kind of stuck in her own head. Finally needing a break from the now oppressive heat, she stands up and beats her gloved hands against her thighs to knock some of the dirt off before turning around to look at the potted shrub that was, a moment ago, waiting patiently to be planted.

Except it's... gone? And replaced by a four foot, somewhat inappropriate garden gnome.

"What the fu..." She looks around, wiping her flushed cheeks with her wrist. "You gotta be kidding."

SHOPPING, DE CHIMA

Thanks to Jeopardy's limited shopping options and thanks, probably more specifically, to the fact that she spends 8-10 hours a day around said limited shopping options, Chloe prefers to do her shopping in De Chima. There are far more options that compliment her non-uniform style, and while they also tend to be a bit out of her price range, she's good at shopping sales. After all, one didn't find a way to dress as good as she does as a single mother on a cop's salary by paying retail prices.

Today hasn't been a bad haul, and Chloe is somewhat on her way to building up a wardrobe that, while it won't rival what she has back home, might at least be decent. She's got a few shopping bags clasped in her hand as she heads back out onto the street, debating whether or not she wants to head straight for the Porter or head to Lucifer's. The latter is seeming more and more appealing, what with the steady drizzle of rain that seems to be getting heavier and heavier, and the fact that she--once again--did not bring an umbrella with her.

Deciding to just drag everything to Lucifer's and wait it out, Chloe lugs her bags down the street for a few stores before the skies really open up and it starts to come down. She manages to rush into a convenience store before getting completely drenched, gasping and pushing strands of hair out of her face as she starts to shiver under the unreasonably cold air conditioning. It seems like a decent place to wait things out until she takes a look at the cash register and realizes she just walked into the middle of a robbery.

Great. That's great.

Whatever going on at the register is very quiet and understated, clearly with the culprit doing his best not to draw attention from other people around the store. And all but for Chloe, it seems to be working. Most people in there seem far more interested in waiting out the rain, so Chloe does her best to blend in, ducking behind a newspaper rack to give herself a better vantage point to watch the interaction. Sure, she could just go along pretending like she hadn't seen the gun in the guy's hand and hope that it all turns out all right once she leaves but... That wouldn't make her much of a superhero, would it?

Comments

for lucifer // burning down the highway skyline //

[thevulnerability]

One of the main differences between being here and being back home was not only that Lucifer and Chloe had plenty of opportunities to have dates, but they also had plenty of opportunities to finish them. There were no phone calls about cases or uninvited guests sweeping into the penthouse or badly timed plot twists that caused either of them to freak out and disappear for a month.

And it was nice. Occasionally, they went out and got something to eat but more often than not, they stayed in. He would cook or she would cook, and they'd kill some top-shelf bottle of liquor and, before it got too late, Chloe would draw some kind of arbitrary line and just... go home.

Lucifer was gracious enough about it, which she gave him plenty of credit for, even if she wouldn't admit it. He'd waited a long time for what they had, but she had, too. And now they were at a point where things needed to move forward or they risked stagnating.

So she's made up her mind, for the most part. Chloe insisted on dinner in, throwing together slightly overdone chicken and salad that she forgot half the ingredients for at her place because her mind was a million miles away - or, at least, a couple of hours in the future.

Once they were sitting down at the table, Chloe poured them each a glass of wine and scooted in next to him, taking her fork and pressing it gently against the chicken on her plate.

"Sorry, Lucifer. It's a new recipe." She bounces her fork on it, frowning. "Maybe we should order something."

[hisfavoriteson]

"We could." He had been polite enough not to say anything about the state of the chicken, and she's the only one who would get that consideration from him.

"Or I could throw something together. It wouldn't take more than thirty minutes." Which is about as long as it would take to order something in.

Although if they order something in, he could make use of the piano while they're waiting.

[thevulnerability]

This is already going all wrong, starting with her ruining the nice, romantic meal she'd had planned and, probably, inevitably ending with her chickening out. She didn't want him to make dinner, and she didn't want this date to go anything other than the way she had meticulously planned it out in her head.

But at some point, Chloe had to learn that things with Lucifer didn't ever go as planned. Hell, nothing in her whole life ever went as planned. And if she kept putting it off waiting for the perfect moment that wasn't ever going to come, things were never going to change.

"I don't want you to cook. Lucifer, listen." She sighs, putting her hands in her lap and closing her eyes briefly before she turns to look at him. "We've been dating for a month now. And it's been amazing. You've been amazing. And I love that we get to just do this - spend time together, talk, watch movies, whatever. But I think maybe it's time that we talk about the elephant in the room."

[hisfavoriteson]

This..,does not sound like a good start to this conversation. Not that he's sure, of course; he's had exactly one relationship that lasted more than a day or two, and well, there's just no comparison. But there just seems to be something ominous about the way she said it.

When she'd turned down the offer of him cooking, he'd been planning on eating the chicken anyway, but now he puts his fork down. It seems eating isn't happening right now.

"What elephant would that be?"

[thevulnerability]

Chloe should have known better than to let it hang there. She should have known better than to assume he might have any idea what she was referring to. She is a little surprised he hasn't brought it up yet, but she hasn't exactly made this easy for him. Chances are he's been dancing around the idea as much as she has, probably stuck in the same thought process that pushing too hard might rock the boat so much that they both fall out.

Of course, maybe he's just trying to respect her boundaries. He is getting better at that.

"The, you know, elephant." She gestures, as if that is in any way helpful, before blowing a puff of air out from her lips. "Sex, Lucifer. I'm talking about you and me and sex."

[hisfavoriteson]

That clears it up a little bit. And tells him that she's at least thinking about it, if nothing else. Which is something. He doesn't want it to happen until she wants it to, but he's also not used to going this long without any. And every time their night might have gone that way, she found a reason to leave.

If only he had some way of knowing what she was thinking.

"You don't want me to cook because of sex?"

[thevulnerability]

She has been thinking about it. A lot, actually. And for a lot longer than she would even admit, considering the lengths that her subconscious has gone to in the past. But that isn't exactly relevant to the current conversation.

"What?" His question completely baffles her, and she shakes her head. "No, that's not... You can cook if you want. But that's not really my point."

She's not actually sure what her point is, but she's going to plow forward and just do her best.

"The last person I had sex with was Pierce. And I was going to marry him." Somehow, that whole thing feels like it was lifetimes away. Chloe isn't sure she would even recognize the person she was back then if she met her now. "I... don't really know where to go from there."

de chima

[sathan]

Lilith had noticed the gun on the man but had also promptly ignored it. It didn't frighten her and if it was ever pointed in her direction she wouldn't be submitting to her. But she was also content enough to ignore the mortal and whatever petty act he was getting up to, wandering the aisles to see what she could find, to see if anything would draw her interest.

Instead, something else drew her interest. Or rather someone did. Seeing Chloe duck behind the newspapers, watching the man had her quietly stepping over to her, leaning closer to whisper--

"Chloe-- you wouldn't be thinking of doing something?"

Not knowing what she does she thinks it's just foolish heroics. Though nothing would probably change her mind there.

[thevulnerability]

Chloe turns to head, a little startled at the sound of her name, but she does look visibly relieved to see it's Lilith. Not that she necessarily should, probably, but at least it's not another person with a gun.

"Of course I am," she whispers, glancing at the register again while trying not to be too obvious about it. "Are you not?"

[sathan]

"Well, with all of these people here--"

Except Lilith was probably one of the people whose powers would allow her to get the danger away easily. Conjure the gun, stop the men from acting, bilocate them out. But would any of that really stop the problem? She wasn't motivated nor naturally predisposed to want to do anything.

"I was keeping out of their way."

[thevulnerability]

"You mean you were going to let him do this."

Chloe turns to look at her again, narrowing her gaze. Maybe she and Lilith hadn't started off on the right foot, but Chloe can't believe anyone is that completely callous.

"I'm not going to let that happen." She's just... Not entirely sure how to stop it. She's not a cop, at least not here, and on top of that, she's fairly certain her powers don't work on anyone but other imPorts. Super useful. "If he uses that gun, someone might get hurt."

[sathan]

"And how will you stop him from using the gun?"

To her allowing the robbery was a small price to pay. She preferred not being involved unless it affected her business which this certainly didn't.

"Unless that's another power of yours."

[thevulnerability]

"I don't need powers to bring down a guy with a gun."

To be fair, it usually helped that she also had a gun, but that wasn't worth pointing out right now. It was a shame - if Lucifer were here, they'd be done with this in no time. But instead, she's got Lilith.

"Do you have a power that could help?"

Jeopardy!

[goodtobebad]

Crowley is walking by. Because of course he is. He gives the gnome a once-over.

"Not bad," he says easily. "They're getting more creative."

[thevulnerability]

"Sorry, what?"

There's really no point in asking what Crowley is doing strolling by because... Well, she should be used to this. She'd be disappointed if an angel or demon didn't show up in her life at least once a day at this point.

"What do you mean 'they?'"

[goodtobebad]

"What, you haven't met them yet?" Crowley asks, raising his eyebrows. "The fairies, of course."

[thevulnerability]

"Right. Fairies. Obviously."

She really fights not to roll her eyes. She's talking to a demon. Fairies can't possibly be that far of a stretch.

"Why would they steal my plant and replace it with..." She gestures. "That."

[goodtobebad]

"Because they think it's funny to inconvenience you. Also, possibly someone bribed them to," Crowley says with equanimity. "Amazing, what a little pizza can get you in this day and age, if you just know the right fairy."

[thevulnerability]

"Seriously, Crowley? You are such an ass."

She groans, letting her head drop back and trying to take a few steady breaths. Can you strangle a demon? Maybe when he's in human form. She could give it a shot.

"You don't have anything better to do with your time?"

Jeopardy

[redcosmedic]

Knock Out pulls up to the driveway while Chloe's taking a break; he's not often at the house anymore, but sometimes he returns for short periods of time. He's in the process of building a Cybertronian-scaled household for himself and Riptide, and potentially for other mechs who might arrive.

"I have to say, you get points for attempting the unlikely. Gardening in this climate seems... challenging."

[thevulnerability]

It's been a while since she's seen him, and but she still greets him with somewhat of a wilted smile.

"Yeah." She grits her teeth. "But I've got high hopes. The guy at the hardware store said these are basically impossible to kill."

[redcosmedic]

Knock Out reverts to root mode, suddenly towering over Chloe, but far enough away that she isn't in danger of being underfoot.

"A salesman who knows how to cater to his audience then," the medic replied lightly. "How have you been, other than attempting to dominate the local flora?"

[thevulnerability]

She peers up at him, a little intimidated, but mostly because she worried about being stepped on. Things here never stop being weird.

"Fine, mostly. You know, the usual stuff. Thinking about getting a new job, trying to figure out how I fit into all of this." Typical existential crises for a person, she figures. "How about you? You haven't been around much lately."

[redcosmedic]

Knock Out wouldn't want to clean his pedes out from human squish, so she's safe on that front. He will crouch slightly to get a better look at the work she's done so far, before straightening up to full height once again.

"I'm surprised you haven't gotten rid of your assigned job already," he commented. "Then again, I held onto mind for longer than was advisable, so I shouldn't say much."

He shrugs, lifting shoulder plating with a smooth motion. "Working, mostly, and building housing more appropriately sized. I won't be assigned here much longer, once it's finished. Much as I appreciate the driveway to sleep in--" The tone suggests that he doesn't, in fact, appreciate it all that much, though it's no fault of the housemates.

"--Having a proper berth for recharge is something sorely overdue at this point."

[thevulnerability]

"I don't know how you put up so long with sleeping in a driveway. You needed to upgrade ages ago."

She's not at all offended. The living arrangements haven't exactly been the best for him, and Chloe is nothing if not understanding of other people's needs. Hell, her roommate back home has moved out probably three times at this point, and Chloe's never taken it personally. Sometimes, people just need to figure out what they want on their own.

"Yeah, I needed to quit ages ago but I think I was putting it off. I guess I kept expecting to go home but at this point, I don't think that's happening any time soon."

And, to be fair, she doesn't particularly want it to.