I didn't need you alive that badly, he argues. Yet. Istredd was right at the time: what affected Lucifer affected him, but he was hardly a Necessary Factor. Lucifer's effort in the equation was mild. Everything else was Just Istredd. And maybe pushing that is just Lucifer slathering that shine right back on. It was very much all you.

But maybe he did take an interest in that mind. Who's to say?

(Eventually, Lucifer will be able to recognize and understand it, but not right now.)

He thinks about devouring Istredd and grins deviously. It would be very nice, he argues, with enough surrounding the thought that he's simply being contradictory just because he can. He likes it, what can he say. Just as he's begrudgingly adopted snakes as a connection to him, he's well-accustomed to the phrase 'devil's advocate'. Maybe even likes that one.

It's rare that he likes the things humans slap to his identity. He'll accept the ones he can.