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As a general rule, Lucifer didn’t like sinners.
Humans weren’t all bad, but sinners?
Sinners were humans who had wasted the gift of free will that he and Lilith got eternally punished for giving them, so he only interacted with them when he had to.
Lilith was almost always the one to deal with sinners and overlords, while he was usually the one to deal with the sins and hellborns. Which for hellborns he hardly had to do anything. The other six sins handled their own rings and residents quite well; all he had to do was keep Mammon’s greed and Satan’s anger in check and it was smooth sailing with the rest of them.
He had no clue what he would do without her.
Probably flail around and ignore things until the sinners had enough of him and tried to throw a coup- in which case he wouldn’t even be able to fight back as they literally crucified him because of God’s punishment for the apple incident. As if getting thrown to hell wasn’t bad enough.
The other sins had been bothersome lately, as Lilith had complained that he wasn’t helping her with sinners as much as he used to and they were pissed that he wasn’t helping her.
But Lilith was a sinner, she knew what they wanted from experience, so she could do a much better job than he ever could.
They had argued with him when he said that, but he didn’t really pay that much attention to why they were angry or their arguments.
He just knew that Lilith was handling it well, and she’d never actually asked for help. If she had, instead of complaining to the sins, then maybe he would’ve considered it.
They kept yelling at him, and that had been why he’d wanted to get away from the sins that day.
So, naturally, he’d teleported away to a random spot in the Pentagram.
How was he supposed to know it was raining acid that day? (Who decided this was what hell’s weather was like? It certainly wasn’t him.) But he was able to summon an acid-proof trench coat with no problem from his wardrobe, so he didn’t get hurt.
He walked into the nearest building, which happened to be a cafe, planning to wait out the sins’ anger for an hour or so. If they found him, he’d just teleport away again.
And, of course, being a cafe in the pride ring, it was full of sinners. There were a few empty chairs, but all of them had one or more people sitting at those tables.
So he chose the only person sitting alone who hadn’t already threatened someone in the moment he’d been in the cafe- a sinner with one of those new-fangled devices for a head. He wasn’t even sure what they were called, but he’d seen them a few times.
The sinner just seemed annoyed that he’d sat down without properly asking to, which was weird.
Sinners usually behaved well when in his presence. Only God knows what they get up to when he isn’t looking, but he bets it’s something deranged and sinful, as is their nature.
So this sinner not snapping to attention the moment he walked in was the first thing that got his attention.
The second was that he was pretty sure he recognized him from somewhere.
After a while of talking, the sinner mentioned that he was an overlord, and only then did Lucifer realize that that was where he knew him from. He’d probably seen Lilith’s files on the overlords and seen his face before.
But while talking to the sinner, he found that he was quite entertained, and didn’t even notice an hour had passed until he glanced at the clock on the wall.
He’d spent millennia thinking that he’d understood sinners.
Then he’d spent one afternoon with Vox.
A sinner who hadn't cared that he was the King but had still treated him kindly.
It didn't fit with what he'd always believed about how sinners behaved when not around an authority figure.
He couldn't stop thinking about it.
But conversations about sinners with Lilith rarely ended well. She didn’t tend to appreciate his opinions, always reminding him that she was a sinner too.
So, rather than explain why Vox had fascinated him, he simply told her about the conversation instead.
With the overlord gala coming up, he made sure to check if Vox would be there, simply because Vox was so much more interesting than the other overlords he’d met.
He’d introduced Lilith to Vox, but then Vox had admitted that he hadn’t realized who Lucifer was.
And that really caught Lucifer’s attention.
He’d assumed that Vox did know, but that he just didn’t care that he was the King.
But him not knowing who Lucifer was? That changed things completely.
Most sinners were polite because he was the King. They knew who he was before they knew anything else about him.
But Vox hadn't been trying to impress him.
He hadn't been trying to gain favor.
He hadn’t been trying to get his attention by being different, which was a thought that had crossed his mind a few times over the week.
He hadn't even known who he was.
That meant that that entire interaction was simply how Vox treated strangers.
So after the gala, he went looking for Vox again.
There were a few times he went to the cafe and Vox wasn’t there, but eventually Vox was there when he was.
And then, even when Vox knew who he was, Vox didn’t treat him any differently than when he didn’t.
Which was incredibly nice, because the moment he’d realized that Vox hadn’t known, he was worried Vox would begin acting just like any other sinner around him, and that would prevent Lucifer from finding out more about why Vox was different.
And even though Vox treated him the same as before, he seemed slightly uncomfortable this time around.
Lucifer couldn’t quite understand why, but it likely had something to do with the realization that ‘Lu’ was the King. He could see why that would make someone uncomfortable.
So, instead of sitting together and letting the conversation turn awkward, Lucifer brought up something that he figured Vox might know something about; television. He had one for a head, so surely he would know something, right?
Charlie had asked for one after the gala- he was going to let Lilith handle it initially- but then Vox had clearly needed something else to talk about, and television seemed like a good, easy turning point so Vox would keep talking.
And then Vox mentioned that he’d died to a television, and… well… that was a little awkward for him. Vox, surprisingly, didn’t seem to mind at all even when they were talking about what was probably the most traumatic event of his existence.
And then there was the whole time thing.
Vox prefaced ‘fifty years’ as a long time.
Which he supposed was a long time for mortals, but when you’ve lived for over ten thousand years, it was simply a blip in your existence.
Of course, some decades went by faster than others- like the last hundred years had felt fast because his first and only child had been born and was growing up so quickly- but surely he wasn’t that out of touch with mortals, right?
Eighteen was so young- too young- to be an adult, but mortal’s brains developed much faster, so he guessed it made some sort of sense.
But living for only seventy years?
That was absurd, and not nearly enough time to be adequate for the test that determined where they ended up for the rest of eternity.
What had God been thinking?
Seventy years was hardly enough time to decide who you wanted to be, let alone who you were going to be for the rest of eternity!
Not to mention, Vox had spent longer in hell than he had on earth. That was normal for sinners over two hundred years old, yes, but it felt wrong for someone who wasn’t much older than his daughter, who- by his standards- was still a child.
While Vox was far from a child, he was still young by both sinner and immortal standards, and now he was going to be in hell for the rest of eternity.
That was oddly… depressing.
And that felt wrong, because Vox must have done something that got him sent down here. That was how it worked. There was always a reason.
But forty eight years- even if every single one of those years was filled with mistakes and cruelty- was still impossibly short.
It shouldn’t have been nearly enough to make someone suffer for the rest of eternity, simply because it was eternity. It wasn’t something that had any sort of end point.
And then Vox said something that confused Lucifer even more.
He considered going to hell a good thing.
Not just an opportunity- but as a second chance.
Which was fundamentally wrong.
It wasn’t even that hell wasn’t a second chance; it was that hell was the end.
No one, not even hellborns, went anywhere else after it because there was nowhere else to go.
Life was the only chance humans got, and then they were sentenced to the place they had earned.
Vox seemed to know all that, but he still said ‘hell was supposed to be a punishment, but for me it was a second chance’. He’d even admitted that, for some people, hell was a punishment.
But it wasn’t one for him.
Instead, it was another shot.
Which made absolutely zero sense, because hell was… well, hell. It quite literally didn’t get any worse than hell. By definition, hell was the bad place.
And here was someone saying that they were glad they ended up there.
Lucifer didn’t get it.
Why would someone be grateful for an eternity of suffering simply because the alternative was nothingness?
Because that was what Vox was saying, right?
He’d said that he hadn’t thought there was anything after death, but he was glad that there was, regardless of if it meant being punished for his actions.
‘Hell was meant to be a punishment, and for some people it is, but for me it was a second chance.’
That one sentence made Vox so much more fascinating.
Not only because he didn’t understand it, but because Vox had said it like it was the most casual thing in the world.
And despite not getting it, Lucifer wanted to understand. He wanted to know how, or even if, what Vox was saying could be true, simply because Vox meant it.
He didn’t say it like something he needed to think about, an opinion, or even something debatable, but something that just was.
And that was amazing.
Amazingly confusing, especially for something said with absolute clarity.
Amazingly simple, especially for something so complicated.
Amazingly sincere, especially for such a statement.
Amazingly fascinating, especially for a sinner.
Any of those would work, because Lucifer wanted to know more about Vox and his thoughts.
That was… rare.
Most sinners who had ever caught his attention made him wish he knew less about them, not more.
Vox changed topics quickly after that sentence though, looking vaguely like he regretted saying it. Whether that was because it made him think, or because it was different than the norm, Lucifer didn’t know.
But Vox looked uncomfortable, so he went along with the changed topic even when he’d rather ask more questions.
Wanting to spend more time together, Lucifer naturally suggested that they go shopping for the televisions- TVs- together.
Vox accepted, and they walked a few blocks down to the TV outlet store. He noticed the store was called TVox, (the ‘ox’ was in a font about thirty times smaller than the ‘TV’ font was,) but didn’t comment on it. It made sense that Vox would take him to his own store, regardless of whether it was the closest one or not.
Vox explained how each model worked, and Lucifer didn’t understand. Granted, that was probably because he still hardly understood how electricity worked. Judging by how clearly Vox explained things, the fault likely wasn’t Vox’s.
But, even though he couldn’t understand how they worked, it was clear that they did.
And Vox being the first sinner to make intentional, permanent changes to their body was incredible. How hadn’t he heard that that was now possible? Lilith must have known, but she had never told him. Or she might’ve and he’d just forgotten because it was about sinners so he didn’t care. That was actually a high likelyhood…
Either way, Vox shrugged it off like it was nothing and kept talking about TVs.
He spoke about a new model that was in production, and Lucifer was immediately intrigued.
Not only because it was new, but because it meant Vox was actually involved in making them- he didn’t just have the sales pitch memorized. Then again, it wasn’t even much of a sales pitch, was it? It was more of a genuine explanation of something he was passionate about.
Huh…
It was surprisingly nice to see someone passionate about something in the same way he was passionate about ducks. When Vox finished talking, Lucifer found himself disappointed.
So he asked about the new model, saying he wanted it. Which he did, if it was supposedly so much better then Charlie deserved it- but he wasn’t ready for Vox to stop talking just yet.
Then Vox said that they didn’t have the money for it to be done soon, and that was a problem Lucifer could easily solve for him, so he offered a sponsorship.
And Vox didn’t instantly accept.
He asked why Lucifer would do that.
Lucifer answered mostly honestly; he said that Vox’s work was incredible.
Which it was, don’t get him wrong- but more than that, Lucifer knew what it was like to have dreams that people didn’t understand.
That was why he’d offered the apple in the first place- because free will for all was his dream.
Of course it didn’t turn out like he wanted it to. People squandered his gift.
But this was different.
If money was the only thing standing between Vox and finishing something he believed in, why wouldn’t Lucifer help?