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The Devildom, despite its inhabitants, remains one of the safest places for a person (or, rather, demon) to reside. However due to the magic that flows among the residents, there are some faults that are bound to happen. This, of course, cannot be entirely stopped. Sometimes this magic is used for malicious purposes. In this case, the circumstance was no different.
Seven people stood around an archaic parlor, all silenced by what was before them. A brilliantly colored peacock analyzed its surroundings, looking curiously at the people staring at it. The silence was only omitted by the small taps of clawed feet on marbled tile, as the peacock roamed around the circle that the seven people formed.
It was silent for a minute, two, three, four. Nobody wanted to move or make a sound. The bird ruffled its feathers and continued exploring around the circle. Finally, someone spoke up.
"What the hell just happened?" Belphie asked, eyes glued onto the bird. Only shortly before, his eldest brother went up in a cerulean smoke to reveal a peafowl who's head barely reached his thigh. The peacock quickly tapped past him, gaining the attention of the circle. The residents of the House of Lamentation had lost the Morningstar to a curse which turns oneself into a beast.
The moment the circle broke, the house went up in flames. Cries of confusion, argument, and disbelief flew put among the crowd of demons, still floored by their avian companion.
"Satan, what the hell did you do? Look at him!" Asmo squeaked: He was still reveling in the scolding of a lifetime given to him earlier. By now he's lucky he's still on two feet. Satan looked over at his brother, a cheeky smirk forming on his face.
"It wasn't me, I don't have access to beast magic like this. Though, I am curious to see what happens." His snide remarks reached a brunette who was tailing the peafowl around, making sure not to lose sight of it.
"Satan. If you destroy this house while your brother is incapacitated as a bird I will start going through your restricted book collection and tell everyone in excruciating detail what they contain."
Satan sneered. "You would not…"
"Oh, but I will. Can someone guard the exits so that we don't go on a wild goose chase looking for Lucifer? He's essentially a fancy chicken at this point. Dunno if you've dealt with chickens, but they have attitude. I don't want to piss off a flying animal who has no regard for material items or bathroom etiquette." Monroe had stopped chasing Lucifer at this point, watching the bird explore the living room with a renewed vigor. "Anyway, I need at least one of you to go get Solomon and tell him to come over here. From what I've gotten, beast magic is largely exclusive to the human world; it's worth a shot asking him for counter magic. I am going to take Lucifer back to his room and stay with him so that I can act as damage control. At least then he'll be responsible for broken items."
The brothers listened. Their partner was right; a bird flying around the house and causing havoc was not ideal. They did care for their brother, and would rather not see his ego crushed by actions he was incapable of registering.
Levi spoke up: "well, since he's a bird at this point, it wouldn't hurt to get him some appropriate food. I'm going to order some food off of Akuzon, and it should get here pretty soon." Levi rushed away, off to lock himself in his room so he can process this debacle. Asmo, Beel, and Satan were in charge of finding Solomon and bringing him to the House of Lamentation, and set out quickly to fetch him. Belphie had fallen asleep on a nearby loveseat during job allocations, leaving Monroe and Mammon, and a peacock making rounds around the living room.
"I am going to need you to be my escort of sorts. I'm going to pick up Lucifer, and you will open and shut doors behind me. Once we get to Lucifers room, I'll be good from there. Also, grab my notebook from my back desk, I need to jot this down in case it happens again." Mammon nodded. His lover was a thorough person, someone who articulated their needs to the very last detail. They relied on him to be able to carry out favors for them, as they only had so much energy and strength. To help both his lover and his brother struck a chord with him, though he would never admit it.
Monroe peered over at the peacock, making its 6th lap around the living room. Cautiously, they approached the bird, making sure to not make any sudden movements. They didn't want to frighten the bird, but in the same caliber, they were unsure of the situational awareness of the bird. They approached within an arms distance, and firmly picked up Lucifer. He squirmed in their hands, making an exasperated squawking sound. Vox flipped the brilliant bird onto his side, in hopes that this would calm the bird.
"They do this with chickens so I'd assume it works on most other birds?" Monroe chuckled nervously, making their way over to Mammon and the entryway. The two walked to Lucifers room, and soon enough, Monroe had secured all possible bird exits. Mammon knocked on the door, and opened to give Vox their notebook. Quickly, they jogged over to grab the notebook, and pecked Mammon on the lips, with a slight blush, he was ushered out, so that the bird would not escape. Sighing, Monroe plopped down on the couch, their body slumping over.
"Lucifer Morningstar, what am I ever going to do with you? You are as much as a handful as your brothers. I guess antics run in the family." Lucifer responded with a squawk, and Monroe shot up.
"Hold on. Run that by me again. Do you understand me? Squawk twice if you can." Two squawks. Vox scrambled for their notebook. So he was, in fact, conscious.
"Full disclosure, I only take back the comment about the inability to use a toilet. If you scratch something up, it's on you. That includes me. Your feet look like tiny dinosaur talons." Monroe jotted down their discovery in the notebook. There is a common trend of something happening to Lucifer also happening to his brothers. Vox kept this in mind after scribbling down more barely legible notes. Lucifer ran over and pecked Vox’s leg. Monroe yelped.
“You little asshat,” Monroe seethed. Their hands curled and they made some garbled noise while their hands encased Lucifer’s head. They recoiled after, rubbing their leg. “If this made me bleed I am switching around your drawers.” In all of their twenty-some years of life, Vox had never seen a more offended bird. Lucifer, who had backed off, started to charge at Vox again. Knowing better this time, Monroe jumped the couch and ran to the other side of the bedroom. The peafowl followed, his feet making inoffensive tapping sounds on the ground. ‘Inoffensive my ass’ Monroe thought as they jogged across the room as the bird charged at them.
“How does it feel to have tiny little legs you feathered goober?” Monroe jumped onto the bed, moving into a wide-legged stance. The peacock fluttered up onto the bed, his head bobbing as he ran full throttle at his still-human partner. Vox jumped off the bed, and Lucifer quickly followed with a disgruntled squawk. Then, he stopped. Vox squinted at the bird as he unfurled his tail.
It was mesmerizing, really. The bright colors with the illusion of eyes embedded on the tailfeathers with almost fluorescent patterns was nothing of what Vox had seen before. The feathers shook themselves out, rippling in waves.
Monroe stood there, their eyes transfixed at the sight before them. Sure, they’d seen peacocks in the human world, but never up close. They were mostly guard dogs where they lived, so they stayed away from any humans. A childlike wonder crossed their gaze before they snapped out of it. Peck.
Lucifer bit their toe.
“SHIET” Monroe retracted their foot away from the perpetrator and croaked out a groan as they backpedaled from the bird. Even with his tail feathers unfurled, Lucifer was not ready to give up trying to bite his caretaker. And back to it they went. Monroe running laps around a luxurious room, a peacock chasing after them and squawking.
Mammon opened the door, showing a certain cheeky sorcerer peering into the room. Monroe was red in the face, panting as a peacock tried to juke them out of their security behind the couch. Mammon guffawed. This was really Lucifer? Why the hell was he chasing around their partner like a rowdy child in a game of tag? The peacock looked over at Mammon, a feasible dark aura surrounding him. He stifled his laughter, and quickly looked at Solomon for assistance. Solomon chucked, revealing a weathered burgundy book from his coat pocket. The book glowed an expensive champagne gold as a bright flash illuminated the room. Once everyone recovered from being flashbanged by the sorcerer’s remedy, Monroe looked up at where the peacock once stood. There stood Lucifer, hair stuck to his face as he panted from his previous activities, looking like he was ready to pounce. Monroe sighed in relief as the peacock was no more.
Lucifer coughed and re-adjusted his position to be more formal and familiar. He looked up at Mammon and Solomon, and frantically cleaned his face from sweat.
“Ahem. Thank you, Solomon. That was quite a debacle.” Solomon’s smirk only grew wider. “Of course, I couldn’t ask for a pact if Lucifer was incapacitated as a bird.” Lucifer shot him a nasty look. “But, if you do have those notes, I’d love to have a copy of them.”
Monroe picked up their notebook, which was ruffled from the previous chase sequence, and gave it to Solomon. He thanked them, and walked away.
“Oh, by the way, Lucifer, that was quite a spectacle you put on.” Solomon chuckled as his voice became softer as he walked away. Monroe turned around slowly, and blinked Lucifer.
“You were conscious through that?” Vox blinked slowly.
“Of course, the curse disabled some of my magic, but I was aware of my actions.”
Monroe drew in a breath.
Stomp. Stomp. Stomp. Monroe was still ranting, thundering down the hallway. Lucifer looked at them, sporting his usual shit-eating grin.