abraxaslogs | Open Log + Closed Prompt

"Ah, Lucifer!"

Mat smiles in greeting, turning his attention to the older man. Here for archery, he assumes. But his brow furrows for a moment in puzzlement...ah, yes. That's right. Another name for mogwai, he remembers that.

"Gizmo? He was a gift from a casual friend. I'd say he's the warden of my domain, but he has to stay in the house when I'm not here. Just in case."

He's never going through that again.

"Say hello to our friend, Gizmo."

A furry paw lifts and waves in greeting over Mat's shoulder.

He offers a small, flabbergasted wave in return, because he knows what that thing could spout out of it in the wrong circumstances.

"Did that 'casual friend' give you particular care-taking rules?" he asks mildly. It's the Horizon, so it might not matter, but then Lucifer can also picture something going wrong in the Horizon again and just dozens of trouble-making parasites suddenly scattering across domains with Mat's as the source.

... Actually that would be hilarious.

Heh.

"Ah, I see you come from a world that's familiar!" Mat laughs.

"Not at first, as it happens. And we nearly had ourselves a little disaster. But only the once, and we got it all set to right, and this one is not left alone where he could encounter water." The food doesn't seem to be an issue, Gizmo apparently can manage his own feeding schedule just fine.

"I have to say, I'm amazed they're popular as pets. All the many ways something could go wrong, and on top of that they're smart. Gizmo understands me and he can talk a little and all of that." But who is he to comment on how other world's work? It's not like he treats Gizmo as a pet.

"He likes to sing, too!"

Ohhhh he's familiar all right.

Lucifer may not be completely up-to-snuff when it comes to pop culture, especially compared to (1) Dean Winchester, but he's got his moments.

"Nearly" a little disaster is shocking. Less shocking is Gizmo maintaining his own eating schedule because weird, but he probably doesn't want to pop out dozens of Actual Gremlins. Or whatever.

Lucifer's memory is limited on terminology, okay.

"Popular as pets is..." Wow. Who the hell gave him this creature? "A bit extreme, but..." Wow. "Sure, let's go with the exotic appeal."

Please don't sing.

"Let's just say we're lucky it happened in the Horizon." It had been easy enough to contain and correct. Well, for some degree of easy, anyhow.

"Ah, I was under the impression they were common, but makes more sense they'd be more of a rarity. Either way, I'm very glad for my little furred friend here. But! You didn't come by to chat about my animals."

Much as Mat enjoys talking about the various creatures that live in his domain.

"I'm going to guess you've stopped by either for archery lessons that don't involve training bows and straw targets or to revisit the possibility of me turning my hands to clandestine weapons monger. And have a proper talk about it."

He's not going to tell Mat the creatures are from a movie franchise, if only because he doesn't think Mat would understand the concept, but even from the movie itself they were still something exotic if he remembered correctly.

And who knows. Maybe there is a world out there where they truly existed.

But he definitely didn't come here for the animals, or the rainbow trees.

"All of the above," Lucifer answers. "To be fair, you're still the best option. Kell and I briefly considered using his funds from actually having a job to arm the Summoned, but that'd be more suspicious and likely to backfire extremely." And, no offense to Mat, but Lucifer is much more likely to risk Mat's safety than Kell's.

What?

Devil's got favorites. He's perhaps mellowed significantly, but he's still a manipulative asshole.

"No, buying weapons is a bad idea. Can't hide that, and it's as likely to get whatever poor blacksmith you buy from in just as much hot water. Or more."

Mat shakes his head. No, as Lucifer had first implied, they have to be able to do this unseen.

"I have given it more thought," he assures the older man. Stretching, Mat undoes Gizmo's harness and sets the mogwai on the ground, telling him to head on home. A pair of bows materializes beside him, far more ornate and well crafted than the training and simple hunting bows they're allowed to use at the castle.

"Now...let's say I was amenable. Do you have any sort of actual plan to safeguard discovery?"

"I'm trying to get in with the guards through offering training, though that likely will take time." It's fatalistic maybe to think that it'll take more time than he thinks they have. "At the moment I believe the heat for any suspicious actions, regardless of what they are, will come down on Istredd's or my head. Always blame the figureheads."

The amount of things that have changed since the last time him and Mat talked, before the negotiations.

He picks up one of the bows, playing around with the weight of it in his grip. He's always preferred blades.

For as much as Lucifer would protect Kell over Mat, they're in the thick of it now. Whatever happens from their meeting, whatever thread they lose control of, and Istredd takes the brunt. Lucifer's just refused to let him do it alone. Which. Is really just. Really grating.

"Mmm, somewhat reassuring but I'm not hearing any ideas about how I'm to gather materials and make in secret a number of deadly weapons and their ammunition. So I assume that bit will be left to me to figure out?"

Well, not impossible, Mat's clever and he's certainly done things in secret before.

"Because while the brunt may come down on you or my magic tutor, that doesn't mean it won't come down on us all in some way." He's seen how Thorne responds to threats. It's not in what he'd call a rational way.

"How many bows were you seeing me craft?"

Blood and ashes, there's so many things to think about, if he commits to doing it. Maybe he's being an idiot, maybe he ought to forget about the whole thing. What would he even be risking his hide for?

"I can gather the materials from one of the hunting grounds; whether it be Thorne's or Nocwich, but Nocwich may actually be easier. You'd know more than I would how closely they watch the trails, but who knows how much they'd care if you're 'making instruments.'" The problem is how much could they reasonably bring in to actually make a handful of bows and also make some kind of instrument to fuel the lie.

"If you have a reason to visit people's rooms for however long it takes to make a bow, you could just leave it safely there. They haven't searched rooms yet, far as I know. And if it's only a couple," at least at first, "I think we could get away with it. Right under their noses."

He tilts his head. "The real question is, what do you want for this endeavor?"

"It's no secret I like to sleep around." Mat shrugs. "It's not unusual for me to spend a few hours behind a closed door in someone else's room. Wouldn't be suspicious."

He's presented himself a certain way, a rather foolish young man mostly concerned with having a good time. He likes to be seen that way. Always good to be underestimated, then no one's paying as close attention as they ought. Like now.

Of course he just assumes they aren't watching him that closely. He's done all he can to give them no reason to.

"And I'd say a reasonable expectation of safety, but I'm not an idiot. It's fine, I don't want anything from you." He shakes his head and lifts a hand. Things are different now, even though it's only been a month or so since Lucifer first brought up the idea.

Still.

Things are different now.

"Ah."

Lucifer was not actually aware of Mat's... habits. Involving other people.

He hardly pays attention to rumors involving himself, which are incorrect, let alone that of the other Summoned. How much stock could he put into it, really, if everyone thought him and Istredd were sleeping together?

"Well," he's going to just try and skip by his open surprise, "that's as good a cover as anything."

He did expect there to be something Mat wanted though. Maybe the time on the boat, or even the meeting Istredd had organized, had changed some things, as they hoped it would.

"There's no shame in it. I enjoy my fun!" Mat simply smiles, as shameless as he claims to be. He likes to fuck, and he has ample opportunity to. It's nothing he's made any attempt to hide.

"And it is a good cover, that explains lengthy stays and any odd noises and me coming out of it sweating and tired." Bow making isn't exactly easy work, it's hard labor.

Mat's cautious agreement stems from one thing, really. If he's not in a position to defend and help himself, he's entirely certain Jesper really will try and storm the castle to rescue him one of these days. Though the meeting they'd all had... it had opened his eyes to the fact that despite his low profile, he likely was in some form of danger. He'd already offered archery classes there, may as well jump in with both feet.

He rather feels as though he's going to get fucked either way, might as well try and do the right thing for once.

You do you, man.

"It's more safety than I could provide you." Mat may have the best chance at having cover than any of them would. "So, you get the cut wood beforehand. That's the biggest time drawback. You said otherwise it wouldn't take you many days... but it's something to spread out over time to keep the suspicion down. Ideally a few for those that aren't strong in magic or physical combat. Something to give maybe some advantage."

He taps the bow against his hip. "Can the wood get 'too dry'? Or rather, does it have to be used at a certain point, or can it just be collected, worked on, and ready until needed?"

"Leave it out long enough, yeah, but it takes well over a year so I don't imagine we need to worry about it. If it stiffens up you just wet it some and rework it." Mat shrugs one shoulder. He's clearly not concerned about that.

"It'd just be the getting it into the castle in the amount we'd need. Could start with just one, and see how it goes. Don't need too much wood for one bow."

And one weapon is likely a lesser offence than say five weapons. One is a project. Five is the start of a stockpile.

Open Log + Closed Prompt

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