Whatever he needs help fighting, then, she must be learning about during the tour. The long story that Lucifer had warned her about, the lengthy explanation she was sure to get later. But at the moment, they were both too busy eating. She hadn't actually done all that terribly at cooking this time. "Do you? Where is my choice in all of this?" she asked coolly.
"Make no mistake, Arianna, I have no intention of forcing you into any of this," he said bluntly, his gaze as hard as steel. He did not enjoy having his morals called into question. It was just like a human, too, to buy into all the stories that he was evil. Evil for the sake of it, because he enjoyed it, got off on it even. He was many things, but not a cruel man. "You should be thanking me. Your father made this deal with me, he gave up your soul. And out of all the things I could be doing with it right now, I rather think this is your best case scenario. I showed you mercy and compassion!"
She was angry, very angry that he had the audacity to think that she should be thanking him right now, as if she should be grovelling at his feet that he deigned himself her husband instead of her torturer. She stabbed the fork into the table, frost spreading from where the tines made impact with the wood. "I never should have been collateral to begin with! It doesn't matter that you altered the deal into something you thought I should be grateful for, I still didn't have a choice! You could've refused the deal altogether, you know. You didn't have to accept. I still paid the price."
Lucifer took a deep breath and let it out with a sigh, calming himself. She was not wrong, and though he was still frustrated she didn't think him capable of a conscience, her anger was justifiable. "You are right. I apologize. But I will not force you into fighting any battles you do not wish to. Life here will not always be easy regardless, but if you wish to live as though you are not queen of Hell nor my wife you may do so. I will not impose my presence on you more than necessary. I am hopeful however, that once I show you what we are fighting and why, you will choose to help me."
Arianna plucked the fork from the table, dropping it onto her plate. She didn't think she had much appetite left and would most likely not be finishing her food. He did apologize, which she didn't think she'd ever hear him utter. And more than that, he had told her she was right. He saw things from her point of view. Perhaps she could see things from his, as well. "Fine. You can show me everything you think I need to know, give me all the knowledge I need to make an informed choice. But I make no promises."
It was a start at least, he would concede that much. This was important for her to learn, whether she decided to assist him or not. "Thank you. However I believe I have already overloaded you with a lot of information, and left you with much to think about. I will show you everything later, and merely start with just a tour of the palace for now, where you will be spending much of your time. Give you time to process everything I have said. Is that agreeable to you?"
She nodded, picking up her plate and scraping what was left into the trash and washing up the dishes, the leftovers going into the fridge. Perhaps she would be hungrier later. Time and space to really take everything was probably for the best, or else she'd just get overwhelmed and have a breakdown. Arianna was sort of surprised she hadn't already done so, to be perfectly honest. That would likely come later, she was certain she hadn't escaped that prospect. She wasn't looking forward to it.
Lucifer could tell that his wife was already starting to freak out a bit. He wasn't really sure there was anything he could do to help her. Did she need space? A distraction? Someone to talk to about it? If the latter, he was not very good at that. He'd never needed to be somebody's support system before. He'd had plenty of hookups and flings with numerous demons before, but that was all they were to both participants. Never an actual relationship, just mutually beneficial favors. Sex. Things of that nature. Should he even ask what she needed? Or would she take offense to that? Humans were so confusing.
She could feel his eyes on her, as if they were burning into her. He was watching her very intently, as if waiting for something, or trying to figure something out. When the dishes were done and put away, she turned to face him and crossed her arms. "Can I ask why you're staring at me?"
"You are... not handling things very well," he said carefully, a soft frown twitching at his lips before being masked by a carefully neutral expression. "I did not know whether I should offer my assistance in perhaps easing your mental state."
Arianna just rolled her eyes. "Well no shit I'm not handling things very well. Would you be, in my shoes? No, probably not. As far as your assistance goes, I highly doubt there's anything you can do. I don't even know what would help at this point because I have never been in this kind of situation before."
He thought for a moment, in moments of distress what would help him? He wasn't often in distress, but there were many times he was agitated and would spar with his generals to ease the tension and soothe his frustrations. Perhaps similar would benefit her, though he knew better than to frame it that way. His wife was definitely the type to refuse help just by nature of it being help. "Very well. Let us postpone the tour of the palace for now, then. I wish to see your fighting skills, if ever there comes a time I must leave you in the palace alone I would like to know that you could hold your own in combat."
She rose one eyebrow. He was offering for her to, what, fight the devil himself? That was certainly interesting, and could be a welcome relief. She was still upset with him and vice versa, a sparring match could be good for the both of them to safely work out their aggression with each other. And it was his idea to begin with, so she wouldn't apologize for any ice in any unsavory places. "You know what, sure. Let's go beat each other up."
He frowned again, this time staying on his face. She was awfully confident. "I hope you know that, while I will not intentionally injure you, I won't be going easy on you either. I don't think you could beat me up if you tried."
Lucifer was probably right, she very likely couldn't fully beat him up. But she could hold her own and get in a few good shots, especially if she used her abilities as well, and that was satisfying enough for her even if overall she lost the sparring match. "Good. I hope you don't. Make it all the more satisfying when I kick your ass," she smirked, clearly boasting a bit. The banter was fun.
Ah, there it was, that made more sense. She didn't actually think she could kick his ass, she was just messing around with him. Even being Satan, he was known to sometimes have a sense of humor and have fun. Maybe he could have fun with her too, even if she was human. "You know, even my generals couldn't 'kick my ass', as you say. And in fact only my generals have ever had the privilege of even sparring with me in the first place. You should consider yourself honored, truly."
Ari just sighed and rolled her eyes. In a way she did feel sort of honored but that was overshadowed by the sheer excitement of getting to show off a little bit. She didn't often have the opportunity to utilize her abilities, and it had been awhile since she even sparred at all. At the very least it would be a killer workout, even if it didn't end up helping lift her mood. She was sure that it would though, for a time anyways. "Mhm sure, whatever you say."
"You know, if you aren't going to be grateful, darling, we can always find something else to do. Like just a regular old punching bag. But see, now where's the fun in that?" he smirked. He just loved to rile her up. Not upset her, or anger her, just rile her up a bit. He would taunt and antagonize his generals, as well. Made for a better fight that way.
She knew exactly what he was doing, but that didn't make it any less effective. She bristled slightly, very disgruntled and trying not to show that he was getting to her. It didn't work very well. "Fine, you win. I'm honored," she grumbled, huffing. "And don't call me darling."
"But... darling... we're married," Lucifer grinned. "Why am I not allowed to use pet names on my wife? After all, I allow you to call me Luci, right? Should I not be given the same accommodations?"
She was slightly surprised he honestly hadn't said anything about the nickname before now, she'd really been calling him that just to get under his skin. The fact that he'd been 'allowing' her to call him that meant that it was working, at least a little bit. "Yeah but I only call you a shortened version of your name, like you calling me Ari instead of Arianna. You might have a better argument if I kept calling you, I don't know, babe or sweetheart. But I don't."
Lucifer rolled his eyes. Was it worth arguing? Did he really need to call her darling? No, not particularly. It made no difference to him if he got to call her a pet name or not. "Fine. If fair is fair, and that's what you deem fair, I won't call you darling. For now."
With that out of the way he led her towards the home gym of sorts. It really wasn't much of a gym, just a sparring area and a weapons closet, and a small area he had hastily set up for Arianna with a few weights and a treadmill. Lucifer had no use for weights or exercise equipment. If he wanted to go for a run, he did so on the grounds. "Well, here we-" he started to say, stepping inside, when out of nowhere there was a fist in his face and a couple drops of blood pooling underneath one nostril. The look of what seemed to be pure glee on his wifes face quelled any bubbling anger.
"... Impatient, much?" he sighed, wiping his nose on his sleeve. "I didn't say we were starting yet. That's the second time you've given me a bloody nose in less than twenty four hours."
"Not my fault you were too slow, and didn't see it coming," Arianna shrugged. "You could've stopped it but ya didn't. That's not my fault."
"Have you ever been told how aggravating you are, even for a human?" he snorted. He really wasn't that miffed, he just swung back at her, nailing her in the ribs. Not hard enough to injure, but enough to feel it. If she didn't want to stretch first and do this on the mats, that was her downfall.
"Multiple times, yes," she said casually. Was she really upset at the insult? No. Was she still going to use it for motivation to absolutely kick his ass? Of course she was. And she'd dish it right back, too. "What a weak punch... darling."
Well that made him stew in irritation, just a bit. Yes, he was holding back, but he was up against a human. He was being responsible. That and she called him the pet name he was told not to use on her, clearly just to piss him off. "Do you want me to hurt you? Break a bone? Cause internal bleeding? I'm pretty sure that's a form of self harm, love."
"Well it's not like I'm a stranger to the concept," she muttered.