(no subject)

[knivesforbaby]

Duke	"So, full disclosure, I haven't eaten here yet myself. But it's on every list of the best seafood in Baltimore, and judging by the menu, they know their stuff." He sighed faintly. "Even if they do advertise Maine lobster in Maryland." Look. He was born and raised in Maine. Even if he weren't a boat guy, he'd have Serious Opinions about lobster. "Here we go!" He spread his arms. "Rusty Scupper!" He'd totally picked this restaurant partially for the name, yes. But it was actually quite fancy. And if they weren't inflating their prices, their seafood was fresh. . . .
Lucifer	"'Rusty Scupper'," Lucifer repeated dubiously, his hands firmly in the pockets of his trousers. He looked about himself. "Sounds like somewhere you go to get tetanus, but I suppose I'll trust your judgment this time." He had given his word, skeptical as it might have been.
Duke	Duke grinned, having anticipated exactly that sort of response to his choice. "That's seafood for you, man. It'd be weird if it wasn't named for an old part of a boat." Also, the two best bars in his hometown were named "The Rusty Bucket" and "The Shiny Scupper", so a highly rated, fancy restaurant named "Rusty Scupper" was extremely amusing to him. He led the way in, adjusting his (new) old beaten up sport coat as he did. "Reservation for two," he told the hostess -- who was well-dressed and gorgeous enough to maybe give Lucifer some hope for the restaurant itself. "Under 'Crocker'."
Lucifer	Lucifer fixed a delighted and only moderately flirty grin on that hostess, yes. "Louis Vuitton?" he guessed, his gaze dipping down for a moment to take in the... dress. Well, it was at least 25 percent the dress. "I'm suddenly beginning to feel a small inkling of hope about this menu."
Duke	The hostess smiled back, giving Lucifer a once-over of her own. "Good eye." She picked up two menus and turned that smile back on Duke, where it lost a couple degrees of enthusiasm to professionalism. "Right this way, Mr. Crocker." She gave Lucifer one last look before turning and leading the way into the dining room. "You're hopeless, you know that?" Duke said conversationally. "A completely hopeless snob. No wonder you missed out on the street food in Boracay. You'd probably take one look at the carts and run screaming."
Lucifer	If Lucifer had been paying attention to anything other than the hostess, he might have noticed a familiar voice yelling outside. As it stood, he ignored it, following after the hostess. "I'm not that bad," he argued. "But as I told Octavia, I prefer not to put things in my mouth that I don't enjoy."
Maze	"--I know he's in there!" Maze yelled at the building, outside, swatting away the police officer currently still attempting to arrest her. "I told you to stop that, because it'll be annoying if I have to break all of your bones! Why are you humans so bad at listening?!"
Duke	"And I'm saying things don't have to be fancy to be enjoyable," Duke said, even as he frowned back towards the door at all the yelling. "Sounds like we got here just in time." As a general rule, he tried to avoid walking through situations involving an angrily screaming woman, even for good seafood.
Lucifer	"Probably just a particularly loud street preacher," Lucifer said, though there was something about that voice... He paused by the table the hostess had led them to, and glanced over his shoulder.
Maze	... Or a very loud woman in practical yet skin-tight leather, kicking open the door with a police officer hanging off her biceps. "You!" she bellowed, eyes flitting over the room, passing over Lucifer to settle on her prey - a thirty-something, already-balding man who scrambled to get away from his seat. She shoved the police officer aside. "I am hunting your bounty!"
Duke	This woman scorned police and looked like she could snap Duke in half. So -- exactly his type. "Huh. Dinner and a show, then." He made sure he was in no danger of ending up between her and her bounty and settled in to watch.
Lucifer	Unlike Lucifer, who froze in place for a few seconds-- and then broke into a grin. "Mazikeen?!" he said. "Fancy seeing you here!" Lucifer, waving like that was not appropriate for the sit-- sigh.
Maze	Mazikeen's eyes snapped to Lucifer in an instant. Her own eyes went huge, her mouth set in a disbelieving frown. "Lucifer?!" she shrieked. Her bounty sped to the door in the back and rushed through it.
Duke	"You know her?" Duke asked. "Why am I even asking that? Of course you do."
Maze	"Are you stalking me?" Mazikeen demanded - ignoring the tiny part of her that definitely wanted him to be stalking her. And then she heard the door slam. "Argh! You made my human get away!" she snarled, taking off at a rapid run. "If I lose him, it's on your head!"
Duke	"In this Baltimore," Duke said. "Weirdly high." He'd managed to run into his mother out here. He wasn't surprised by anything anymore. "Wait, did she work for you in a club, or like. . . ." He pointed at the floor. Or, you know, Hell. "Is she hunting down a sinner or something?"
Lucifer	"Both," Lucifer said. "She's a bounty hunter now--"
Maze	Maze shoved him. Hard. "Stop being in my way and help me get him," she snapped.
Lucifer	Lucifer stumbled a few steps towards the door, glancing at Duke with some alarm. "Why me?" he said. "Can't you get him yourself?"
Maze	"I know you," Maze snapped, dragging him to the door as she picked up the pace. "You brought a car."
Duke	"She's got you there," Duke said. He flashed the confused and alarmed hostess a quick smile and slipped her a twenty. "Thanks, but it looks like we need to cancel the reservation. I am definitely not missing this."
Maze	"Maze, I was about to have some supposedly great seafood," Lucifer started. And okay, he could have probably stopped her dragging him along, but... ehn. Behind them, the police office was clambering somewhat grudgingly to his feet.
Maze	Mazikeen ripped open the door - it slammed into the wall. The guy was running down the alleyway. "Be. Useful," she snapped. And then she was after him at a dead run. Lucifer sighed, following right behind. "Honestly, there are easier ways to do this--!" "Don't tell me how to do my job!"
Duke	Duke offered Lucifer a crab leg he’d stolen off a passing waiter’s tray. “She seems nice.”
Lucifer	"She's a demon," Lucifer said, snagging the crab leg before he poked his head out the door. The guy was running towards a... ah, a car. "I think we better start running the engine."
Duke	"Right." Duke started for where they'd left the car. "This happen to you a lot when you come into town?"
Lucifer	"More often than I'd like," Lucifer said, speeding up alongside him. "On the bright side, at least this time, none of my siblings are involved."
Duke	"That we know of," Duke said, scanning the area for -- he had no idea what Lucifer's siblings might look like. Lucifer himself looked like any other human most of the time, but maybe he had to make an effort not to look like a set of wheels covered in eyeballs or something. "I'm still wrapping my head around a demon being a bounty hunter." And seriously hot. Maze was just fabulously hot. He might be in a monogamous relationship, but he wasn't blind.
Lucifer	"She's had a few years to find a place for herself on Earth," Lucifer said, and they rounded the corner to find-- Maze sitting behind the wheel of the Corvette.
Maze	"Keys or I hotwire this stupid thing," Maze snapped. "And don't argue. This is your fault."
Duke	Seriously. So hot. "Shotgun," Duke called, raising one hand. "Possibly literally, if we're actually doing a car chase, here." It wouldn't be his first high speed chase. Though he was usually driving his old truck, not riding in a sports car.
Lucifer	"If we're doing a car chase, you're not driving," Lucifer snapped, running to the other side of the car. "Shoo."
Maze	Maze bared her teeth-- and then gracefully catapulted into the back seat. "Fine, but hurry up," she snapped. "He's getting away! Blue car!"
Lucifer	"Fine, miss Snarly," Lucifer said, irritable as he slid into the seat and immediately ran the engine, hitting the gas. The car sped forward.
Duke	Duke grabbed onto the dashboard and the door, since he hadn't had a chance to get his seat belt on, yet. "Hi," he said, glancing back over the seat at Maze while he pulled his pistol from the back of his waistband. (What? Unless he was going to the school for some reason, he didn't leave home without it.) "I'm Duke. Nice to meet you."
Maze	Maze's attention swung to Lucifer for a split second. "Where'd you pick this one up?" she asked, eyes dipping about as low down Duke's body as they could, from where she was sitting. Mostly sizing him up. Maybe a little bit of eyeing him up.
Lucifer	"He's a friend," Lucifer said. He sounded distracted. "Not whatever you're thinking." Might have been the way he just threw the wheel so he could speed the car past a large jeep. Maybe.
Duke	"Not a date," Duke said, he'd gotten plenty 'half-sizing, half-oggling' looks before; it didn't phase him. "Or hook up or whatever. So what are you tracking this guy down for?"
Maze	"There's a bounty on him," Maze said, shooting Duke a funny look. "I hunt bounties." Beat. "It's hunting humans for money," she specified, like she thought he might have been dull and/or unaware of this.
Duke	"Yeah, no, I know that part." That was what he sounded like when he thought he had to explain Earth concepts to folks from other worlds, wasn't it. Oh god. "I mean, what'd he do to get the bounty put on him. He a murderer? Drug runner? Embezzler?"
Maze	Maze gave a casual shrug as she lifted herself up, standing upright in the seat. "Does it really matter?" she asked. "He's in range." And with one elegant flip, she pushed herself out of the seat and onto the hood of the car.
Lucifer	"For the love of-- will you try not to scratch the paint?" Lucifer called, hitting the pedal even harder. He glanced at Duke. Quickly. "Can you get the tires on that hideous blue thing before she wrecks my car?!"
Duke	"If I end up with a bounty on my head for shooting in the middle of the street, I'm going to be really unhappy," Duke told him. And leaned out the window, drawing a bead on the blue car. "Can you get us closer?!" It'd take several shots -- it wasn't like he'd practiced shooting the tires out on a moving vehicle -- but he'd get at least one tire eventually.
Maze	"Faster," Maze snapped in agreement. The blue car was dodging and weaving between the traffic. But there was a light coming up ahead-- maybe if they caught it before they got there... She shifted into position, ready to pounce.
Lucifer	"Yes, well it helps if I can get a clear view," Lucifer yelled. The Corvette shot past the next two SUVs, the blue car coming closer into view-- --and a small Peugeot slid in front of them. "Of course! The bloody French!"
Maze	"Just keep moving," Maze gritted out. "And you! Shoot already!"
Duke	"Not while the Peugeot's in the way!" Duke kept the gun out and aimed, his finger off the trigger. "Just because I hoard guns doesn't mean I can't use them responsibly!"
Lucifer	The Peugeot turned on its right turn signal. "Oh, finally," Lucifer said irritably. ... and then dawdled in place for a whole thirty seconds before actually moving into the next lane. "I'm going to murder someone," Lucifer muttered, as he hit the pedal. The blue car was so far away now! Though at least they had a clear line of sight.
Duke	Duke narrowed his eyes and took careful aim. . . . "Dammit, we're still too far away. I'd need a rifle at this distance!"
Lucifer	"Yes, I suppose you'll have to start practicing hiding one of those in your trousers," Lucifer joked, with a kind of grim determination. "Look, I'm going to--" The car veered violently to the left, ducking into a side-street. "--Maze! Get back in here!"
Maze	"If you'd driven faster, I could have made that jump!" Maze growled, but she flipped back into the back seat.
Duke	"Or we all would have died in a fiery car crash," Duke said, then sighed. "Or I would have and you two would be fine because you're supernatural beings. Either way, I'm personally glad he didn't go for the fiery crash option."
Lucifer	"Yes, well, I need you both to hold on now," Lucifer snapped, "Or we'll be going for the fiery crash after all--" He swung the wheel around, narrowly cutting off another car, as the Corvette turned sharply in the direction their prey had just fled in.
Duke	Duke grabbed onto the door and tried not to drop his gun. "I would consider it a personal favor if you didn't get me killed. Even knowing the secret to Hell, I'm not anxious to go there."
Maze	"I see him!" Maze crowed, shoving forward so she was hanging over the back seat, in between Lucifer and Duke. She pointed. "Hurry up before we lose him."
Lucifer	"We're heading into a tunnel. Might not be the best place for car-heist acrobatics, Maze," Lucifer gritted out through his teeth.
Duke	"Or shooting," Duke said. "I'm not really interested in sending other people to Hell, either."
Lucifer	"Yes, let's please not make the roof of the tunnel collapse onto our--" An SUV pulled into their lane. "Bloody soccer moms!" ...and Lucifer threw the wheel, slipping to the right.
Duke	Duke muttered a curse, grabbing onto the inside of the car. "When are we going to just admit we lost him?"
Maze	"We have not lost him," Mazikeen growled.
Lucifer	"Unfortunately, I think he might have a point," Lucifer said irritably.
Duke	"I'm sure you can find him again," Duke said reassuringly. "You seem . . . very competent."