Alastor shadows into Calli's room to tell her he's going to be out of the Hotel for probably most of the day, due to the Overlordss meeting Carmilla called - he stops dead in his tracks, though, at seeing Emily sitting in a chair in a black dress with white trim and her magical eyes stitched onto it. "Oh no," he says after Calli floats a palate of eyeshadow to hold up, "absolutely not."
Calli sighs, holding up a dark purple next to Emily's face, and says "I know, trust me. But there's a meeting down in Sloth Lucifer, Charlie, myself and Emily need to attend, right along with Stolas and Octavia. And, unfortunately, the usual style dresses aren't going to cut it, the lot of them besides Bee, 'Modeus, and probably Belphegor will think she's a naïve little kid they can take advantage of. And, before you say it, we already tried a suit of armor." The suit of armor was her first idea, similar to her own - it was abundantly clear five seconds in that it was a terrible idea.
Emily grimaces, her eyes suddenly lined with black eyeliner and purple eyeshadow, and says "I felt ridiculous. The warrior look is not for me, that's for sure."
Calli asks "Besides, imagine if Emily was going with you to the next Overlords' Meeting. What do you think she should wear?" Alastor opens his mouth, and Calli quickly adds "Valentino and Vox aren't at this hypothetical meeting. They skipped this one like the last."
Alastor hums, his microphone crackling with irritated static, and eventually says "This would get her taken seriously…so long as that perverted moth keeps his eyes away from her." As much as he doesn't like to admit it - and he really doesn't like to admit it - Calli's got a good point and they all know it. He's seen the concept in action plenty of times now thanks to Stolas, not to mention the condescending stare the feathered Prince has perfected - if the fancy, feathered cape, vest, and heeled boots aren't enough to get someone out of the Owl's way, then he's sure that look would do it in a heartbeat.
He'll never admit it to anyone, but he's been secretly practicing it - and, if he wants to see Vox lose his damn mind over it at the first opportunity, as maybe a look like that will be enough for the box-headed annoyance to get the hint, then that's his business.
Besides, he's sure it'll be hilarious to watch when it eventually comes to pass. Velvette would be even funnier, now that he thinks about it - she'd likely stamp her foot and screech like the five-year-old she resembles, if he had to take a guess.
After a moment, Alastor says "Just remember what I said about smiles - and, if you can't keep a smile up, give them your best approximation of that look of Stolas' and go find Calliope." That's, unfortunately, the best advice he can give - he's well-aware that dealing with the Overlords is a whole different game than dealing with Sins and whoever else will be attending this meeting. "Speaking of which…who all will be at your meeting?"
Calli hums as she puts a few pins in her hair via magic, saying "The Sins, the Ars Goetias, Von Eldritchs…basically, Hell's 'High Society' so to speak." Or 'Low' Society, considering the detail that they all live in the Lower Rings. "Let me guess…you've got a meeting to?"
Alastor nods, saying "There's an Overlords' meeting every few months or so. Given Extermination Day, though, I'm surprised it took Carmilla this long to get another one set up."
Calli gives him a sympathetic look, and says "Oh, joy…remind me to make you a magic stun-gun or something. If push comes to shove, it'll buy you a few extra moments while Vox is glitching out. And it'd work as an actual stun-gun, so Valentino would get taken down to."
"Ha! I can't say I don't like the idea, watching that damn moth twitch and spasm on the ground would certainly be amusing to say the least."
Lucifer sighs in relief when he sees Charlie's got on a dress for the meeting, rather than her usual shirt, pants, and jacket - she could go like that, technically, but then some like Paimon would try to take advantage of her. Frederick and Bethesda are pretty close with them even now, but some of the other families…well, neither he nor Calli would put it past them. Stolas and Octavia are also ready, Octavia looking supremely annoyed at having to actually look like demon royalty - she prefers her hoodie, ragged jeans, and sneakers, personally - and Stolas says "We should be ready, your Highness. All that's left is- ah, there they are now."
Calli and Emily come down the stairs, Calli in her black and red business dress while Emily's in a new dress altogether, and Charlie says "Woah, you look…"
Emily coughs into one of her fists, blushing as she says "It was this or armor, and we already tried the armor…"
Octavia mutters "I'd have been thrilled to get armor, honestly." This dress just isn't her! At least it's nothing like what her mother wears on a daily basis, though.
"Via, darling, we've talked about this. As a Goetia, everyone expects-"
"Well, screw what everyone expects, Dad! Granddad's expectations are what got you stuck with mom for…how long? At least eighteen years!"
Calli hums, saying "While I completely agree, going in wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and sneakers is best saved until they all know for certain it's better for their health not to screw with you. And not just because of what Stolas will do, either. Give it a few years, at least until you come into your full powers, then think about telling your grandfather to kiss your tailfeathers. Until then, though, it's safer for you to give the impression of an all-powerful Goetia Princess who's used to this sort of thing. Alright?"
Octavia grumbles, but nods her head reluctantly - as much as she hates it, she knows Calliope is right. If she's going to be doing this sort of thing often - and, according to her father, she is since she's a Princess of the main Ars Goetia line - then she needs to establish herself as someone not to be messed with before shoving it in all their faces just who she is.
Lucifer says "Look, it'll be fine, really. The three of you stick together, act like it's nothing new to you, don't look surprised by anything - bored, exasperated, angry, just anything but surprise or hesitation - and don't shake anyone's hand unless Calli, Stolas, or I do first."
Stolas adds "Also, don't agree to do anything either, verbal agreements can be just as binding depending on the demon."
Calli and Lucifer trade a glance, and Calli mutters "Don't we know it…"
At everyone's questioning looks, Lucifer off-handedly says "We made a bet, way back when. Shook on it…and then it was sealed in magic, no matter the detail that neither of us knew it was even possible. We kept things strictly noncompetitive after that…and that was before I learned I lost our bet because of Calli's Luck Curse."
Calli waves a hand, saying "Enough said about that, honestly- no, Stolas, I promise you don't want to know. Really, you don't. Just…shoulders back, heads high, and the three of you stay together. Nobody should be stupid enough to try anything underhanded while any of us are right there, but there's always one or two. Luce, cane."
Lucifer snaps his fingers, making the cane appear, and says "Good catch, Calli."
Gabriel blinks, frowning for a moment, then asks "Why the cane? I've hardly seen you use it after the day we arrived."
Raphael frowns, thinking - obviously trying to think of anything that would give him an answer - and Lucifer quickly says "Trust me, guys, you don't want this answer. You really, really don't want this answer. We ready to go?" He and his brothers are...better now - not perfect, but getting better - and he doesn't really want to guilt-trip them once more.
Stolas cocks his head to the side for a moment, then lets out a surprised noise before asking "You…were injured when you arrived in Hell, weren't you?" That...would explain quite a lot. Their sudden arrival, Calliope's ruthlessness in setting up the Royal Family's reign, his absence for the beginning of it...it puts a lot into a whole new perspective, to.
Lucifer pinches the bridge of his nose, saying "Stolas, now's not really the time for this conversation. The short version? Yeah, I was injured. Yeah, I know the smell of my blood whipped every single Demon in the entire Ring into an absolute frenzy back then, fairly certain that's why Calli cleared them all out at first. The story behind the cane is that I still couldn't walk very well when it was time to introduce myself to the rest of the Sins. I still use it now because I can't really stop since we played it off as me preferring it."
Stolas blinks, then says "They…had no idea what sending you down here would mean, did they?"
A sharp laugh escapes Lucifer, even as Calli discretely spells a Calming Draught into him, and he says "Not a fucking clue, and Sera wouldn't have cared even if she had known. Now, c'mon, before we're late." A sharp gesture opens a portal to what looks like a giant meeting hall, and Lucifer goes through before anyone else can ask anything. Calli goes after him, followed by Charlie, Emily, and Octavia, and then finally Stolas.
Alastor waits until the portal closes before saying "Well, I'm heading out. Meeting of my own to get to, unfortunately."
Husk huffs, saying "That's one thing I certainly don't miss about being an Overlord." At everyone's curious glances, he says "Bunch of in-fighting, backstabbing, and idiocy, 'specially from the Vees. Some of 'em are fine so long as you don't mess with them. Others - especially those three idiots that call themselves the Vees - will do literally anything at all to get more power."
Alastor's out the door before anyone can ask just what the three annoying power-hungry idiots can do in that regard, not particularly wanting to go into detail about any of them. Vox can't hypnotize him, as it works via radio waves and he can control them, but that doesn't mean he can't electrocute the other Overlord to make him more susceptible.
And that still leaves Valentino the drug-moth-pimp, who's very presence is quite literally intoxicating, his saliva the most addictive substance in Pride Ring, and Velvette the social media influencer. He's unfortunately sure that she's got enough power to start a Ring-wide hunt for someone just from a single post on her phone.
And he gets to spend the next few hours dealing with them, oh joy! Maybe he'll get lucky and Vox and Valentino will skip this meeting like the last one?
Alastor keeps his sigh of irritation to himself when Vox slides into the seat directly opposite him - looks like his wish wasn't granted. At least the box-headed annoyance isn't next to him, as he's sat between Rosie and Zestial once more.
Glancing up, though, reveals Calli was absolutely right when she said the room now has vaulted ceilings - the table also looks nicer than he remembers it, less like a certain brat has walked on it almost every other meeting she deigns to attend.
Alastor runs a hand through his hair as he pushes the door to the Hotel open, ready for nothing more than a shower and then going to bed - ten damn hours for that meeting, mainly because Velvette and Valentino wouldn't shut up with their ridiculous interruptions. He cannot possibly fathom why Vox ever went into business with an overgrown larva and a spoiled teenage brat.
Husk slides a cup with three fingers of Rye Whiskey over to him when he sits down at the nearest barstool, and says "Mimzy came back, wanted to talk to you. She didn't say why, but she's supposedly waiting up in your room."
Alastor's brain kicks into overdrive - usually, Mimzy waits for him at the closest source of alcohol. That, or she'd be dancing and singing away to keep herself entertained. After a moment, Alastor downs the entire glass of whiskey in a single gulp, asking "Did the others come back from their meeting?" It's too convenient that this is happening now, on the one day that Lucifer, Calliope, Stolas, and Charlie are all gone from all of Pride Ring - because he seriously doubts it's actually Mimzy in the Hotel.
Husk shakes his head, saying "Nope. Been pretty quiet here today."
Shit… Shadowing up to his room, Alastor opens the door only to see…Mimzy, but not Mimzy. Oh, it's a perfect replica of Mimzy, but Mimzy's gaze isn't that sharp, Mimzy doesn't have that cruelty in her smile.
Mimzy has never surprised him in his bedroom - much less by sitting on his bed.
Fury and disgust well up in him, and he says "You can drop the act, Eve."
Eve hums, sliding off the bed - still in Mimzy's form, the bitch - and says "My, my, looks like you've remembered me at last." Now she changes back to her natural form, lanky black hair falling over her face as she does - when she pushes it out of the way, she's got a familiar crazed expression on her face that Alastor knows means she's in a dangerous mood. "But, I wonder, do you remember why I let you come back here in the first place?"
Shit. "Yes, how could I forget?"
Eve scowls at him, grabbing him by the front of his coat and lifting him in the air, and says "For someone looking for ways to bring down an impenetrable magical stone barrier, you've been spending a lot of time in this…pet project of Charlotte's."
"If you didn't know about it," Alastor says, mind racing, "then the average Sinner wouldn't know anything either. If the Second Woman herself has no idea what it might be, then I thought the Morningstar Royal Family would be the best bet for information." No, no he didn't. He figured the Morningstar Royal Family would be the best bet for getting Eve killed. "I've been trying to get in their good graces, trying to subtly find out any scrap of information on it." No, no he hasn't. He came to the Hotel to see if Charlie could get in touch with the elusive Lucifer Morningstar, or if he was living there already.
He didn't expect for the young Princess to grow on him, though - and he certainly didn't expect Calliope. He doesn't regret a single moment of any of it, but he can't let Eve learn of it all either.
Eve drops him to the ground suddenly, saying "I see your point." Alastor feels a bit of relief run down his spine…right up until Eve says "Time to see what you've learned from them."
Calli opens up a portal back to the Hotel, and everyone piles through - mentally exhausted, after a solid day of navigating Paimon's ridiculousness, Bael's suspicion of Emily, Beleth looking to go to war with Heaven and Belial right there with him…Hell's a mess, ruling it is even messier half the time.
Gods, does she hate politics - has ever since she was on the Wizengamot
At least Charlie and Emily did alright for their first time, and at least Octavia didn't get any crap about anything. Though, she will want to check in with Frederick and Bethesda, as she's pretty certain Bethesda had a son around the same time Charlie was born…Seviathan, she thinks he was named? Either way, there was an Eldritch staring at Emily almost the whole time like Ron stared after Hermione the whole time at the Yule Ball.
Like she was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen, even though he'd seen her every single day for the better part of four years by then.
Calli glances around for a moment, most everyone either heading upstairs or getting checked over by Blitz - Stolas - and that's when she feels an insistent tug at her arm. Looking down, she sees Alastor's shadow standing next to hers. It points upstairs, looking frantic for some reason, then darts away to the stairs.
Ice runs down her spine for a moment, and Calli bites the bullet and Apparates up to Alastor's door without a second's hesitation. After taking a moment to keep herself from hurling, Calli gets in…only to see Alastor looking the worst she's ever seen him, once she makes his figure out in the near-total darkness that is his room - for one, he looks almost feral. Ears flattened to his head, teeth bared in what's more of a snarl than a smile, and he looks ready to leap at her.
"Oh no," she murmurs, "what happened? Alastor?" Changing her dress to more comfortable clothing - and something she can move in, if absolutely necessary - Calli looks around and asks "Alastor? C'mon, talk to me. What happened? Vox do something? Valentino?"
Alastor seems to calm down some, ears standing up as he shakes his head, and says "She came. I've been called back."
Calli's sure the look on her face is devastated, because Alastor stands up and pulls her to him - and he's shaking when he does, has likely been trembling like this since Eve came to visit. After a moment, Calli asks "How long do you have?"
"Not long. I told her I needed to tell people I was leaving, else there'd be a Hell-wide search for me. And even wherever it is she's staying wouldn't stay hidden for long if that happened."
Calli nods, then asks "Did she say for how long?" At Alastor's negative, she quickly makes a black knife appear in her hand, cuts her hand for some blood, and starts hissing. After a solid minute, she presses the rune-inscribed knife into his hand and says "This will cut through anything, Alastor. Rope, flesh, bone, blood, anything. You get the opportunity, free Lilith's hands and have her break your deal with Eve - she knows what to say, but she'll need to be touching you. Last I knew, she preferred to hold someone by the hand or wrist." She so wishes she knew where to go - Alastor told her everything he knows about Eve's hideout, that it's a large cavern with no light bar what anyone can make, that there's one way in but no way forward, but he hasn't got the faintest idea where in Hell it is…or if it's even in Hell to begin with, for that matter. There's a massive barrier that looks just like another wall in the place, but he can feel some kind of oppressive presence behind it, pure malice the likes of which he can't even begin to comprehend.
And Eve wants to get past that stone wall, wants to get to the source of all that…he's never been one for cliches, but if he had to describe what that presence feels like, he'd say it feels like pure evil. And he doesn't know of anything…wait, yes he does. Calli told him about one that fits! As much as he hopes he's wrong...
"Calli, I think…I think I might've just thought of what she's after. After getting back from that meeting with Heaven, you spoke of some kind of bound creature…Roo?"
Calli goes paler than Blitz's burn scars, but nods her head, saying "The Root of All Evil…she'd said she'd gotten to Eve after Lucifer's Fall…" Staring at Alastor with wide, horrified eyes, she says "She wants to free Roo."
Of all the crazy things anybody could want to do…freeing Roo from her eternal imprisonment takes the cake, on every single level. She's not sure whether it's because Roo drove her mad, something about being mind-controlled did it, or she just went nuts from loneliness or hatred, but Eve is certifiably insane, it's official.
After a long moment, Alastor says "Tell him. Tell him everything. It doesn't matter if she finds out I told you anymore, much less whatever her reaction to Lucifer himself knowing will be."
That's the main reason why he hasn't just gone to the Fallen Archangel himself, aside from the detail that he doesn't have that much actual information to give...Eve's reaction to Lucifer knowing about her would likely be apocalyptic all on its own.
Lucifer glances up when he hears a knock at his bedroom door, and opens it up to see Calli standing there with a devastated look on her face. "Calli? Sis, what happened?"
Calli looks down at the floor, one hand gripping the other shoulder, and she says "Luce, we…we need to talk." Dread runs down his spine, but before anything can break free from his mouth - probably because there's so many different responses that immediately spring up, they all just get piled up and stuck before anything can come out - she adds "It…it's about Lilith."
Lucifer gently pulls Calli in by the wrist, knee-jerk panic dying now that he knows she's not about to say she doesn't want to be around him either, and she just suddenly spirals. "I probably should've told you when I first suspected, but I didn't want to hurt you worse than you already were. I thought I could just find her myself and that would be the end of it, but more info's come up and it's gotten ridiculously complicated and-"
Lucifer pulls Calli into a hug, partly to stop her anxious pacing and partly to stop the tears running down her face - he can count the number of times he's actually seen Calli cry, good tears and bad, and have fingers left over. Including the time she 'wasn't' crying a few months ago when they reunited. So, if Calli's got tears running down her face freely because of…whatever it is she's worried about that has to do with Lilith, then he knows without a single moment's hesitation it's bad beyond belief.
Making two chairs appear, Lucifer sits Calli down and says "Whatever it is, Sis, I'm not mad at you or anything, alright? I know how you think, and you've always tried to protect me. I get that, know it without a shadow of a doubt, alright? So, whatever it is you're about to tell me, I could never hate you for it."
Calli sniffles, wiping at her face, and says "You say that now…Luce, Lilith was kidnapped. And not just recently, years ago. The Lilith that left you with Charlie…she was a shapeshifter, one I've been trying to find ever since Extermination Day was such a flop on Heaven's part."
Lucifer feels his blood turn to ice, feels his brain just freeze, and gets hit with two things simultaneously - guilt and self-loathing, and the knowledge that that's exactly why Calli didn't tell him. She was his wife for over nine millennia, though, and he knew her for even longer - he should've known it wasn't her!
Again, exactly why Calli didn't tell him, she didn't want him blaming himself.
And he can't blame Calli for not telling him when she knew exactly what his initial reaction would be, especially not with how terrible she clearly feels about not telling him.
But…he can absolutely blame this shapeshifter.
Feeling his horns and tail sprout from his body almost without meaning to, Lucifer growls out "Who was it? Who's this Shapeshifter?"
Swiping at her eyes once more, Calli finally says "Eve."
Lucifer gapes in utter shock, demonic features disappearing from his surprise, and asks "Eve?! Like, Eve-Eve? The Second Woman, Eve?!" At Calli's nod, he runs a hand through his hair and asks "We freed her, why would she…?"
Calli nods, saying "We freed her, we promised her a safe place to stay, keep her away from Heaven…and then, from her perspective, we vanished."
Lucifer shakes his head, saying "No, Sera Fell me! And then you had to go get Lilith, and then…"
Calli nods, saying "And then I sealed up the original entrance to Hell. And we never came back for her."
"We couldn't, though! I was in and out of it, you and Lilith were taking care of me, and…and…"
"And we never thought about her again, far as she knew. And that was before Roo got to her."
Lucifer's cane drops to the floor, and he's supremely glad he's sitting down because otherwise he would've just hit the floor altogether. "Roo. That…that thing that made Hell, she got to Eve?"
Calli nods, and says "Yeah. Made her believe we weren't ever coming back…didn't deign to tell her we couldn't come back, or what had happened to you. But, Luce…whoever Eve was, that's long-gone. She went insane at some point. Roo's powers infecting her, or hatred, or maybe Sera screwed something up in her mind when she first controlled her, I don't know. But she hates Heaven, wants to see it all burn for what they did to her."
"So why us? She must've known we're as far from Heavenly as it gets by the time she took Lilith!" And why would she target Lilith in the first place, for that matter? She never even met Eve!
Calli shrugs, saying "I don't know, really. Revenge on us personally, because she thinks we abandoned her? Maybe she wanted to use Lilith's image to start an uprising against Heaven? I don't know, haven't been able to find her all this time."
Lucifer breathes out "That's where you go when you're down in the other Rings. You've been looking for her - for both of them."
Calli nods, saying "Some of the time. Some of it, I really was getting Charlie's party ready. But, yeah, I've also been scouring all the Rings looking for Eve. Not so easy when she can be anything or anyone she wants at a given moment."
Lucifer blinks, then asks "If you haven't been able to find her…"
"How do I know as much as I do?" At Lucifer's nod, she glances away and says "Alastor. Eve tricked him into a contract, disguised as Lilith at the time."
Lucifer takes a deep breath at that, torn between wanting to throttle the Overlord right then and interrogate him about every single detail he knows. Calli's hand on his arm jolts him from his thoughts, and she says "He literally can't say some things, Luce. But he was able to tell me Eve has Lilith. They're in some cavern somewhere, one entrance way in and out - he doesn't know where, though, since she took him through a portal. He gave me as many details as he could, even via his shadow playing charades with me. But, Luce…Eve's got him on a tight leash, and he didn't even know where she was until tonight."
Lucifer raises an eyebrow, asking "Tonight?" That's...oh. She waited until all of them were out of Pride Ring, leaving Alastor an easy target. How long has she been waiting for that chance, then?
Well, fuck, now he can't really be mad at Alastor when she's been waiting to ambush him the second he didn't have one of them around.
Calli nods, saying "She paid him a visit. Tried to drag him back to wherever that cavern is while we were at our meeting. It's only because he told her there'd be a Hell-wide search for him if he just up and vanished that he was able to stay long enough to tell me he had to leave. But, Luce…we're both sure Eve wants to free Roo. At least, it's the only idea we have that makes any kind of sense."
Lucifer nods, wrapping his arms around Calli, and says "We'll find him, we'll find both of them. A big cavern, though…fuck, that describes thousands of places in Pride Ring alone."
Calli nods, saying "I've been scouring the Rings from one side to the other, checking every cave I can find, watching everyone around me…Alastor isn't even sure this cavern is in Hell. I've searched everywhere I can think of, bar the Eighth Ring - and the chances of her having actually found the place when it's nearly impossible to find the entrance in the first place…and that's knowing exactly what you're looking for..."
The way into the Eighth Ring isn't something anyone can just stumble onto, it's hidden away in the side of a treacherous cliff - Eve would've had to know exactly where she was going to find it, since it's so easy to miss. She'd have had to climb up the cliff, not die about a hundred times, and then jump down to the right tiny little ledge - she made it as difficult as possible, as the entire cliff is one massive suicide climb.
Lucifer hums, then glances towards one of the paintings of him, Lilith, and Charlie. After a moment, he asks "Calli? You're desperate, right?" Calli nods, and Lucifer adds "Desperate enough to make a bet with the Devil himself?"
Calli pulls back and stares at Lucifer in shock, doing an impressive fish impression. After a solid ten seconds, she says "Luce…you know how dangerous that is. I know how dangerous that is. I win in the end, but…what happens before that…"
Lucifer nods, saying "I know. But, if Eve is this good at staying under everyone's radar, then we need to do something to flush her out." And this is the only thing he can think of that has any chance of working.
Calli nods, running a shaking hand through her hair, and says "You're right. I know you're right…gods, I just hope this doesn't blow up in our faces, Luce."
Lucifer nods, and says "Me to. Alright…Charlie's birthday is in a week…"
Calli thinks for a moment, then says "I bet I'll have Alastor and Lilith back here by the time midnights hits on her birthday."
"I'll take those chances, Sis." Lucifer holds out a glowing golden hand, and Calli shakes it - the resulting shockwave can be felt throughout all of Hell, and even makes it up to Heaven.
Of course, not twenty seconds after the initial power-high fades, Calli gets a call from Sera. Picking up the call, she immediately says "None of your damn business, Sera, now goodnight!" She quickly disconnects the call, tempted to just remove the battery altogether for the time being.
Glancing at Lucifer, she asks "You want to have a sleepover? Your room or mine? I…I don't want to be alone right now, is all."
Lucifer promptly makes two giant bottles of Apple Juice and a giant deck of cards to make a house of cards with.