It wasn't at all that he cared about Arianna. He didn't. Neither of them really liked each other, in the slightest. So of course that wasn't the reason he wanted her unharmed. Though, if he were going to be perfectly honest with himself, then he would at least admit that he admired her stubbornness. Nobody had ever really stood up to him in that way, and the few that ever had, he smote with joy. Smiting was entertaining. It was one of the few things about him that he still had from before the fall.
His wings were another. They were large, and sleek, and a beautiful snowy white, the same color they were before his descent to Hell. But they had burnt patches, and were permanently covered in soot and ash. They were dirty, filthy, nowhere near as magnificent as they used to be. Lucifer's wings were his only insecurity.
This time it was Arianna waving her hand in front of his face, rather than the other way around. "Hello? Luci, you gonna answer me?" she asked, looking either mildly amused or mildly annoyed. Perhaps both.
Lucifer snapped out of his trance, very much irritated, and almost went to strike the girl. Luckily for her he didn't, he just yelled. "What the hell do you want?"
She pulled her hand back and pursed her lips, choosing to stay silent. If he was going to be like this then she wasn't going to talk to him, even to repeat the question of where she was supposed to sleep if he was too busy daydreaming to show her the room. She resolved to just find it on her own, so Arianna turned on her heel and walked away. She'd find it eventually she was sure, even if it took her an hour or two to do it. And honestly, who cared if she got lost? She certainly didn't, after all, what was the worst that could happen to her? Truth be told, probably a whole awful lot- emphasis on the word awful.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Lucifer called after her. His new 'wife' was going entirely in the wrong direction. "Unless you would like to die a very horrible death, mauled to pieces by my hellhounds."
"Better than dealing with your attitude," Arianna scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Lemme guess, I'm going the wrong way? Gee, if only there was some way I could've known which direction I was supposed to walk in. Y'know, like asking you. I got snapped at for it."
"... I suppose you did, yes. But I'm not apologizing for it. You shoved your hand in my face, which was quite rude. You could have gotten my attention in another way."
"Are you serious? You did it to me first!" she snapped, crossing her arms. She was downright fuming now. "What was I supposed to do, slap you again? Kick you in the balls? Believe me, I wanted to do both of those. One right after the other. I tried to be nice and just wave my hand. Next time, I'll make sure not to do that."
Lucifer groaned under his breath, pinching the bridge of his nose. Humans were so... finicky, and touchy, and this one in particular was a sort of spitfire that he just wasn't expecting. Really, what had he been expecting though? A docile meek god-fearing woman? He supposed that, in that case, she really could be much worse. He didn't want her crying and pleading for her life, it wasn't very moving, it was just annoying. And he didn't want her praying to his father every night either. So in a way he much preferred the fighting. While still annoying, as he was rather used to obedience, she was at least entertaining.
"Fine. Just forget about it. I won't smite you, this time. However, I must insist on you not wandering off on your own before I give you a tour. I haven't disabled the traps yet, and I would hate to have to clean your blood off of the walls," he mused, while he looked at the nervous features on his new bride's face.
"You- You're telling me you booby trapped your own house? For fuck's sake, Luci, why?" she exclaimed. Arianna was exasperated with him more than anything else. "I really don't see that as necessary."
"That's because you're, well, you," he shrugged. "You're just a human. Why would you ever have need to booby trap your own home? I, however, have a very tumultuous rule over Hell. There are many out there, both demon and angel, who would see me deposed. Various reasons of course, but you would be one of those reasons."
"Let me guess, the demons are worried that marrying a human will make you soft and they don't want that, and the angels are worried about you corrupting me or some shit?" Arianna scoffed, crossing her arms.
Lucifer led the way to her room, remembering that that was what she had been waving her hand in his face for. And he didn't really want a repeat of that, he was irritated enough as it was. He had admittedly been too lost in thought to bother with it. And yes, he was indeed leading the way to her room, they weren't actually sharing. He'd just wanted to see the look on her face. That and he didn't want her stabbing him in his sleep, on the rare occasion that he did sleep.
"In a sense. And there are many here who would wish to get rid of you for much the same reason. Consider the traps as much for your safety as it is for mine."
"Gee, thanks," she drawled, rolling her eyes. Traps that could easily kill her, were for her safety. And he hadn't disabled any of them yet. Just great. Not that she really needed his protection, she could take care of herself quite well, but she wouldn't admit to that yet. That secret was hers to keep for awhile yet. She couldn't afford to tell anyone, so if she must take it to the grave, then take it to the grave she would.
She was clearly mocking him, but Lucifer decided to play along and act as though she wasn't. He was just mocking her back anyways, it seemed they both had a love of sarcasm."You are very welcome, Arianna. Only the best for my wife, of course."
She just rolled her eyes again, staying silent. They were pretty much at the room anyways, she was exhausted, and frankly didn't have the time or energy for his bullshit. Of course, Ari recognized that in this particular instance she started it, but that was not the point. Regardless of whether she started it or not, she didn't have the time or energy to deal with him at this present moment.
Lucifer opened the door, dipping down into an overly exaggerated low and sweeping bow. He did have a flair for the dramatic, after all. "Her majesty's chambers await," he grinned, straightening himself out again. "Yes, Arianna, they are your chambers alone. We were never going to share, I just wanted to see the look on your face. Oh it was priceless, and well worth whatever harsh words you may have for me."
She sighed heavily, choosing to ignore him for the time being. Instead, she decided to focus on exploring her new room, which was actually quite luxurious looking. Far better than anything she was used to, that was for sure. She wasn't poverty stricken by any means, she had a few nice-ish things, but nothing like this. No, this was far beyond her means.
The color scheme was largely darker, mainly blacks and grays, accented with silver and pops of turquoise to brighten things up just a little. Dark gray walls with black trim, large windows that lead to a balcony draped with black curtains, black furniture and bedding, turquoise pillows both on the bed and the velvet textured couch on the other side of the room. Attached was her own personal bathroom complete with both a deep walk in tub and stand-up shower, fluffy bathrobes, luxuriously scented soaps and shampoos, bath salts and foaming bubbles, bath oils, the whole nine yards. Her bags had indeed been placed there as she had been teleported into Hell.
Lucifer watched his wife gaze around her new room with reverence. Though he was largely unhappy with this whole situation, he could not deny that he was proud of the efforts he went to in order to make Ariann's personal space as accommodating and pleasant as possible. The better they got along with each other the less miserable they would both be in the coming eternity together. That, and he imagined they really wouldn't spend all that much time together, and the least he could do was make the place she'd be spending most of her time comfortable.
"Do you like the room?" he asked, and despite their earlier banter, there was no trace of snark or sarcasm present in his voice.
"I mean it's... a lot," she admitted. "It's beautiful, gorgeous really, it's just a lot to take in."
"Oh I'm sure it is, I saw the hovel you were living in," he remarked, a faint amused smirk on his face. "I'm sure by human standards it's alright, but no queen of Hell will have anything substandard in their possession."
"Well you will not be getting rid of anything I brought with me, Luci. I don't care if it's substandard by your qualifications. It's my stuff and it's all I have left of home, and my old life, and I'm keeping it."
"Oh I never had any intentions of disposing of your things," he said dismissively, waving it off. He chose to ignore the nickname for the time being, he knew that if he brought it up she'd keep using it just to spite him. Lucifer knew he couldn't stop her. Why bother even trying?
"Good. Thank you," Arianna said bluntly, turning her attention back to her room. She may as well unpack. "What time is it? I'm sure time runs differently here, right?"
"Well, yes and no. Typically yes, any amount of time on earth would be stretched out here. Minutes up there would be days down here. However for the sake of your adjustment to this place, time here is currently more analogous to how it runs on earth. There just isn't really a sun or features in the sky to mark the passage of time. So it is probably, I would say, shortly past four in the morning. As I know that humans need their sleep, I will leave you to your rest. Shout for me when you wake up and are ready for breakfast, I'll be able to hear you regardless of where I happen to be. Your soul is now tied to mine- or whatever passes for my soul, at least."
"Uh huh, okay. I'll do that. Will you at least give me a tour tomorrow, of all the places I should probably know about? You know, like the booby traps? Or really just the palace in general? I'm not sure if my curiosity is high enough to want to see the rest of Hell."
"You don't have to worry about the rest of Hell, dear Arianna," he chuckled. "We reside in my own personal circle of Hell. You do not have to see the rest if you do not wish to. But should your curiosity change your mind, all you need to do is ask."
She just nodded. She doubted she would ever ask Lucifer to show her where the circles of torture were, much less get a tour of them, but if there was anything else she may decide she would like to explore. Currently unlikely, though. She bid him goodnight and shut the door, choosing to at least for now not lock the door. Hell as of so far did not seem to be stifling her abilities.
That was the secret she was keeping from her husband, that the devil himself had unironically married a cryokinetic. Sort of like Elsa (which an old school friend had nicknamed her as a matter of fact) but without the whole living snowmen thing. She was not capable of breathing life into snow. Nor was she, unfortunately, capable of feeling heat. The warmth of a hot shower or a sunny summer's day was completely lost on her. Thankfully though it meant that if any of the other circles were excessively hot she would likely be unaffected by it.
Sighing once again, Arianna unpacked her bags into the dresser, which seemed to already have some things in it. She was quite tired, both mentally and physically, so she laid down on the bed and pulled the covers up, swiftly falling asleep.
While his wife slept, Lucifer kept himself very busy, meeting with his generals and informing them of her arrival. A few were visibly displeased, but they dare not speak out against him. They knew of the fate that befall them if they did. Others were better at masking their emotions, but even so, not a single one was fond of the prospect of a human queen. Many demons both low and high ranking thought that if their lord needed to take a queen at all, it should have been one of them. None understood why he needed her. Even he barely understood why himself.
After the meetings it was on to paperwork with the influx of souls needing punishment, and it was up to him to place them where they needed to be. They were not automatically sorted upon arrival, no, he had to do so manually with forms and signatures and other bullshit. He hated paperwork, he much preferred taking part in the torture. And once in a while, for a particularly heinous human being, he did. And he delighted in it. Lucifer had other duties as well, going to the lowest circle of Hell and fighting back monstrous beasts formed out of the collective despair and pain of the souls. Today however, was a day he was not needed down there, so it was just paperwork after paperwork until the metaphorical sun was high in the sky.
Several hours after she had closed her eyes, Arianna woke up, albeit slowly and with much disdain. She did not want to be awake, but she knew at this point she had to be. The clock on the wall showed noon, she had gotten nearly eight hours sleep and couldn't really justify sleeping in any later. She drug herself out of bed and into the bathroom, she really needed a shower.
Once she was done scrubbing herself up thoroughly and attempting to do something with her mop of curls, she got dressed in something she had brought with her, opting for just plain jeans and a graphic t-shirt she had bought at some random mall when she was a teenager. It was still in good condition. She should probably call Lucifer soon for breakfast- or rather, lunch now- but she couldn't be bothered at the moment.
She walked out onto the balcony instead, to get a good look at what this circle of Hell was like. Not much was visible beyond the palace courtyard except for dark mountains that seemed to have storms brewing, off in the distance, almost invisible against an equally inky sky. There was a faint ambient glow for a light source, though she couldn't be sure where it was coming from or what was causing it. The courtyard itself seemed to be a rusty sort of dead and cracked soil, with very few plants growing and no grass. And whatever the plants were, she didn't recognize them. Ari highly doubted they were any sort of species found on earth. Some of them even glowed, others were full of spines like cacti, but in bright unusual colors. It was all definitely fascinating, and even sort of pretty. She would have to make sure that she asked Lucifer about them later.
Speaking of Lucifer, she figured that it was definitely time for lunch. Time to get this over with, and spend more time in his company. At least she assumed that they'd likely be eating together, and that he wouldn't just shove food at her and leave. Then again it wouldn't surprise her if he did. "Uh, Lucifer... you said to call you, so..." she trailed off, her voice raised slightly higher than a normal speaking voice.
He appeared in her room pretty much instantaneously after that. "I was wondering how long you were going to sleep for. I'm uncertain how much humans need. Human needs though, included food. I gather that is why you called me, yes?" he asked, slightly arching one eyebrow.
"Well don't you just sound all formal," she chuckled. "Yeah, I called for food. That's what you said to do, right?"
"Indeed," Lucifer nodded. "As for my formality in speech, it's a habit. I had meetings this morning, and a dreadful amount of paperwork. Can't really be too casual in those instances. And I will not adjust my speech for you."
"I... Wasn't asking you to," Arianna scoffed, crossing her arms. He was already getting on her nerves and the day had barely even begun. Fantastic. Hopefully this wasn't an indicator for how the rest of the day would go.
"Yes, whatever, regardless. Just consider it a forewarning. And if you are to eventually join me in my meetings as queen, I wouldn't be so crass in vocabulary. Humans do so love their profanity and I do not believe you are any exception. Now, would you like to cook something in the kitchen, or shall I just materialize something for you?"
"I'll cook thanks. And if you won't change your speech for me- which I never implied I wanted in the first place- I don't have to change mine for you. If I want to use a curse word in a meeting, well you damned well can't stop me," she shrugged. Fair was fair, right?