Return of the Blind Ninja

[he_put_the_devil_in_me]

Ordering clothes and equipment from the internet is all well and good, but after Matt's entanglement with the FBI several years ago, the idea of completely untraceable gear has been a tempting prospect. Today, he's browsing the shopping district, rubbing fabrics between his fingers to test its properties, in search of something that might deflect bullets or knives.

It's the Nexus, you never know.

Unfortunately, despite his enhanced senses, there is at least one important factor in purchasing clothes that he cannot overcome on his own. Footsteps mark the approach of someone else, and though Matt keeps his white cane tucked close to his feet to be out of the walkway, it's visible enough to be obvious if you know what you're looking at.

"Excuse me, what color is this?"



[ooc: usual disclaimer - Matt is blind but his other senses are enhanced to superhuman extremes. Feel free to add nonvisual sensory details in your tags that might help him get a better idea of who your character is or what they've been doing recently.]

Comments

[the_rebel_son]

Lucifer wasn't the shopping type usually. Maybe this was Balthazar's incessant shopping rubbing off on him or the change of seasons. Whatever it was he was perusing the dress shirts.

For someone who relies on other senses his presence maybe overwhelming. The space around him is slightly warmer from the heat radiating from his wings. They carry the scent of spring rains, flowers, and a hint of sulfur. Maybe even a hint of apple and church incense for someone who really pays attention. The shifting of the hundreds of feathers brushing against each other as they moved with his thoughtful consideration of the clothing before him.

He wears satin most of the time though the shirt he's wearing under the vest is silk; the tightish fit on his slim figure causing the fabrics to rub more than usual. Dress shoes shuffling on the floor and the slow breath of someone calm and consideration. Perhaps even the perpetual brushing back of the lock of hair falling into his face is audible.

He had seen the man beside him when he shifted to another place to continue his search but hadn't paid him much mind until he posed the question. Lucifer turns and that is when he notices the blindness. He's very used to this since his own child and advisor have the same disability.

He makes a thoughtful sound while considering. "Sky blue dusted with a grey like the blue just before sunrise. Pale slate blue perhaps?"

Lucifer is trying to tone down his own vision to match something a human could relate to, especially a blind human, since his eyes see millions of colors beyond human eyes.

[he_put_the_devil_in_me]

The wings are definitely an ear-catcher, and Matt's attention is drawn to them long before he asks his question. He's already met one angel here, though Aziraphale had kept his wings concealed somehow, seeming perfectly human to even Matt's greater senses. This... angel? ...seems to feel no such need to be undercover, multiple pairs exposed to the open air as bold as anything, though this still can't be his True shape, surely. Aziraphale had said as much, that beholding an angel's real form would still overwhelm a sightless man, and that tracks well enough with what Matt has been taught by the Church.

Something about the scents that cling to him doesn't seem quite right, but how is he supposed to know what a divine being is supposed to smell like?

Either way, the answer is helpful in filling in the gaps in Matt's senses. He rubs the shirt's fabric between his fingers, a fine cotton that seems higher grade than most he can find at home. "Are there any of these in black? Or a dark red, maybe. Like communion wine."

[the_rebel_son]

"Let me see the tags." Lucifer knows to declare what he intends to do before reaching out. He pauses after speaking then reaches for the shirt in Matt's hands to read the collar tag. The warmth is there radiating from his skin too. The angel feels warm like summer sun; not hot but comforting. Lucifer barely gets the tag read before the comment about communion wine gets a stifled chuckle.

However, Lucifer has a love for the clean lines of suits and is invested in this kind of fashion. "Are you looking for a deep black or more of a charcoal?"

He has a feel for the fabric, knows the size and color. It takes him a moment to look, hangers clicking together on the rack before he pulls one. "This one is like a fine bordeaux wine."

He offers Matt the shirt still on the hanger. It isn't the same brand but the feel of the fabric is right. Lucifer's own senses are heightened and he can potentially understand the depth that a man without sight experiences the tactile.

[he_put_the_devil_in_me]

Subtler differences in shades are lost on Matt, whose memory for color only reaches back as far as when he was nine years old. The question gives him pause as he struggles to recall what the difference is... was charcoal more gray? "The darker, the better, I suppose."

He tucks the handle of the cane into the crook of his elbow and reaches forward to feel the fabric, then slips it off the hanger and examine it more closely with his hands. It feels like the same fabric as before, the same cut, roughly his size - though of course he can't read the tag to know for certain. "This will work, I think." He has his size memorized, of course, and gives that information to this helpful stranger.

There's something strange about all this, but Matt can't tell if it's out of the ordinary for interacting with an angel. Still, he's paying close attention as the other investigates the shirt size, if nothing else then to at least observe all he can out of fascination.

[the_rebel_son]

"The one you have is dark and matte. There are some here with a bit of shine." The man didn't look like the type for anything other than matte black but you never know.

Lucifer is leans in a little to glance at the tag. "It is the same measurements as the other one you had. "

As Matt pays attention more he might find that Lucifer's heartbeat is abnormally slow, calm and deep like one might imagine the rhythm of the Earth if they tried to play it on a bass drum.

"If you need more help let me know." Lucifer smiles, though he realizes Matt can't see it. "My son is blind. I am accustomed to helping with things like this."

[he_put_the_devil_in_me]

"Matte is fine," he answers, one side of his mouth quirking up in a small smile. Not just because it's in the name. He drapes the shirt over his arm, deciding he might as well buy it.

What the angel says next, however, strikes him as even stranger than that slow, earthy thud of a heart he has in his chest. "Your... son?" Angels don't have those, not that Matt was ever taught.

[the_rebel_son]

Lucifer is used to that response. Without other input his natural politeness put people in the mind of celestial angels which did not have children. They followed the edicts of God. Lucifer did not.

"Yes, my son. He was blinded...." Lucifer pauses wondering what to say. By Michael is lingering and about to be said but instead he changes directions with the comments, wings shifting in the moment of indecision. "... when he was the equivalent of a human teenager."

That was probably more meaningful to the human than anything about the war with heaven anyway. He's aware of the shift in his own energy. It comes across as a slight tension in his body and the physiological hints of anger that isn't being shown outright but buried. It takes a conscious action to subdue his own emotions and move the conversation to less tense territory. "He has a twin sister, too."

[he_put_the_devil_in_me]

Something is wrong here, and Matt can't quite put his finger on it. Yes, he does not know the intricacies of actual celestial daily life, and it's entirely possible that there's more to angels and Heaven than Catholicism teaches. But angels don't have children. They don't have bodies to blind.

"I... didn't know what was possible." His own body language is restrained, a little wary, but polite. Not terribly beyond what one would expect of a Catholic talking to a confirmed divine being, but enough.

[the_rebel_son]

"There is much that humans are not aware of." Lucifer tells the human but it is not condescending just a fact of differences. "Limited lifespan leads to limits on what you can learn. Even after eons I still have things I must learn."

Lucifer sighs as he returns to finding a shirt for himself. "I am not sure that everyone is pleased that there are children born of angels but it does occur often enough."

[he_put_the_devil_in_me]

"Why doesn't the Church know?"

Maybe this man is the wrong person to ask, but Matt can't see how such an apparently common thing would have passed ancient scholars unnoticed. Thousands of years of history, oral tradition and written knowledge, and this never got a mention? Why?

[the_rebel_son]

"I have not asked but I have suspicions about the reasons."

Lucifer sighs as he pulls a shirt out to buy. "There is also the idea that the portions of the bible dealing with angels and the universe before the creation of Earth are sparse at best. Add to it that those portions of the bible were written down by a handful of people at most and you are unlikely to get a complete picture of anything."

Lucifer, for the moment, held his tongue about God editing it out probably to make Lucifer unsympathetic and less human. This man seemed very Christian or at least invested in understanding it. There was no reason to ruin pleasant conversation yet,.

[he_put_the_devil_in_me]

"I suppose." That isn't exactly a satisfying answer, of course, and Matt is still visibly on edge over it. "I wouldn't have thought angels would be that concerned with the material world enough for something like that."

[the_rebel_son]

"What gave you that idea?" Lucifer's voice is full of confusion, wings rustling down to the individual feathers. He can see the shift in body language and frowns softly. This is like waiting for the other shoe to drop which is unfortunate since this had been going friendly so far.

There's a quiet laugh and then he shakes his head. "So many angels were created for and were tasked with interacting with and protecting humanity. Though, most of my children were not made the way humans make them. They were spontaneous creations that I did not particularly direct but as one tasked by God to care for the other angels, being a father was not an unknown position."

[he_put_the_devil_in_me]

“Because the material world is not what matters in the end.” This is entirely at odds with what the Church has taught Matt, and he wonders how much of that is due to this being the Nexus. But then, that way lies even more disturbing theological questions - is God in all universes? Is it the same God? Is this part of His plan?

“You’re...? Who are you?”

[the_rebel_son]

Lucifer isn't sure how to respond at first and then shrugs with enough vigor that his wings flutter with the motion. "I would like to think that the universe God commanded I create has some meaning and is not as worthless as believers would think."

It's an honest answer, maybe more honest than Lucifer usually is about things but it seems the only response.

"I am, or was, God's advisor and remain the oldest of the seraphim, angel of creation." Lucifer knows as soon as he speaks his name everything will change and despite not caring exactly there is a nervousness that comes with the anticipation of civility ending. The resolute dismay and discomfort is there in the sounds; nervous twitches of his feathers, the heartbeat spiking, and the quiet but elongated release of breath before he speaks.

"I am Lucifer Morningstar, first created of God." And he shifts his weight, waiting and though he does not expect it, hoping that for once a Christian will practice what they are supposed to believe.

[he_put_the_devil_in_me]

That sense of wrongness only increases at the angel's reactions, all signs of dread, resignation, anxiety. What reason would a celestial creature have to fear a human?

Some part of Matt knows the answer before it's spoken, yet he still feels his spine stiffen, the little hairs on his arms and the back of his neck prickling at the revelation. He has battled evil in its physical forms as Daredevil, fighting back against those who exploit others and keep them beaten down. Many times he'd spoken to the late Father Lantom about the nature of evil and Satan, and whether or not he is real, or simply a metaphor for the great evil that humans are capable of themselves. He had never really pictured meeting the Devil in the flesh, let alone in a clothing store, of all places.

He cannot be certain if Lucifer's heartbeat can be relied on to be honest to his ears, but what reason would he have to know that this would matter? God knows all things, but it's never been said that the Devil does. And yet he is the Prince of Lies. This is a dangerous edge that Matt walks, and he knows it.

But then he's skirted close to mortal sin before, walking the razor's edge. He does not retreat, nor flinch, but crosses himself reflexively. "And... you're going shopping."

Not exactly something the Church would probably expect of the great tempter.

[the_rebel_son]

Lucifer has to stifle the laugh at the sudden crossing of himself but otherwise the lack of overt response relaxes Lucifer. His heartbeat and breathing starts to return to normal, or at least what Matt sensed when Lucifer first approached.

"The truth?" Lucifer speaks with a hint of amusement in his voice. "My kind were created long before God gave clothing out as a curse to mankind but mortals find blatant nudity to be offensive at varying degrees. If I have to wear clothing I am going to choose it for beauty and fine quality."

The devil was being truly honest. If Matt wasn't going to react, outside of the ridiculously ineffective signing, then Lucifer was going to maintain civility. "In the modern era, I have taken a liking to the tailored three piece suits that humans produce."

[he_put_the_devil_in_me]

Lucifer may be laughing and relaxing, but Matt certainly isn't. Lucifer needs not fear a sudden attack - Matt is not even close to that stupid - but this is a situation he considers far more dangerous than any physical fight he's ever been in.

The line of his shoulders still speaks of tension, the set of his jaw betraying his discomfort, alert to every detail his senses can detect. Even as he knows that any threat likely won't come from the physical. "Only the best for the Devil?"

[the_rebel_son]

Lucifer watches the man turn as tense as a bow string right before his eyes. "I am a person with personal aesthetics as much as anyone else."

Lucifer sighs with disappointment though at the changes. He wishes this didn't happen but in the grand scheme of what he's heard from other places it's an easy to understand response.

"You should try and relax. Much of human mythology is not true of me, though it may be true of other versions of Lucifer, including the one in your creation. If there is one in your creation." Lucifer shrugs because what else can he do. "Ask what you will of me. I will be honest and if you are anything like my son I know you can sense when others are dishonest."

[he_put_the_devil_in_me]

"Please forgive me if I'm reluctant to take you at your word," Matt says, a little stiffly, fully aware of the irony of phrasing it this particular way. Asking forgiveness from the Devil? Father Lantom is probably rolling in his grave.

Up until now, Matt has avoided pondering too deeply about the theology of the Nexus - if God is truly everywhere, surely He is here too. Is it the same God? It has to be, right? But the Bible is rather lax on mention of multiverses, or any other Earths. And yet he has seen unrelenting evidence for years now that there are other Earths, with a whole other set of humans. Sometimes all that seems to separate them is a simple question.

What question would have lead Lucifer to be trustworthy? In a place of infinite possibilities, the odds are impossible to calculate, but it's more than zero. If Matt was not so used to having to doubt, he might just walk away here and now.

Neither is he quite ready for a theological debate with the actual Devil. Not yet, so soon after having his world thrown off its axis. Instead he hesitates, and unfolds the shirt draped over his arm again. "You said matte black, right?" An absurd response, and yet, perhaps the safest.

[the_rebel_son]

"I would expect no less. Traditions that have existed for millennia are not easy to ignore." There's no sense in denying that a human with obvious Christian ties was going to feel stand offish and distrustful of the devil. "That being said, it does not bother me for mortals to ask questions of me. I am fond of humanity and respect your curiosity."

It wasn't a necessary addition to the conversation but Lucifer felt that it was worth mentioning. Openness bridged gaps after all.

"Yes." Lucifer confirms while sliding easily back into the less stressful part of their interaction. "That one is matte."

[he_put_the_devil_in_me]

Matt's not quite sure what to make of that. But while he's angling toward wrapping this up and making his purchase, maybe there's something to be said for the fact that he's willing to trust Lucifer is giving him an honest answer about something in the first place. Even if it's just the color of the clothes he intends to buy.

"That suits me just fine. ...thank you." He visibly debates whether to add the last part, but says it anyway.

[the_rebel_son]

"You are welcome." Lucifer has no intention of blocking his way to his purchase. After all, Lucifer had come here to do his own shopping which was interrupted by helping.

"I am happy to help whenever you might need." He's honest and then moves himself out of the way so that Matt can get past to the counter if he wants. Matt triggers Lucifer's desire to help because of his own son, though there is no way to know how the human will take the offer.