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[The feed starts out of focus and when it comes back into focus, the view isn't much better. Mostly just a glass of amber liquid, but then these days Seth isn't much seen without one. Not unless a certain friend has been saddled with talking him down again. After a moment though the view shifts, showing the man himself. Midnight black suit, snowy shirt, even his tie is neat and knotted just show.

So much for predictions that after a while he'd start dressing down, though the girl that made the prediction had been shipped home so that might have something to do with it.

Anyone that knows the area though might recognize a booth at Lux. The same one his child self had occupied a few weeks earlier.]

Right so it hit me just now that I've been in this place over a year, which given I haven't stayed in a place longer than about six months since I was eight would be impressive. You know if not for the fact that this is about as mandatory as my last stint, and without the fun knowledge of a release date but with just about as many visit from my brother so that evens out.

[Even without Richie there, Seth's taking jabs at him. Not that he could fault Richie not visiting him in prison, but logic has no place in Seth's rantings.]

Whatever though. Most seem to keep a calendar here and the holidays and all. Christmas. Thanksgiving. What? Arbor Day's coming up, right? What about the rest though? Given we stay our same youthful, beautiful selves [He bites back saying Grunkles not included because dude, what even with the fez] does the rest matter but for ourselves? Do we count the years, or just the celebration of being alive to be stuck in this place? What about anniversaries and other dates from before?

Or does it all just become when you got here, and when all the people that matter left?

[Because for some barely functioning alcoholics without jobs to distract them, that's what's sticking in their heads, apparently.]

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You need to stop mixing up honest with being an asshole, Seth. It's not a good look.

[ Wow really you don't say? What a complete shock. ]

I also do the whole be grumpy about something random because I'm ignoring what is actually bothering me thing too, Seth, so don't think I can't see right through this. I know you're not actually mad at the calendar so what's really going on?

You're just used to me being only one with you. The man I want to be around you? Is not the man I am to... anyone else.

[Which is a huge admission for him, and it's hard and he knows his emotions are being a fucking roller coaster between not dealing with them and drinking, but the least he can give her is honesty.]

I am a dick. It's all I've known how to be for a very long time.

You don't get it. It is the calendar. I'm being honest, even if I'm not saying it outright. You ever thought about why it is I want me and Richie here and not just getting over our last fucking fight and going back to our life? It's not about the culebra. Fuck them. I can kill them. It's about him being one, and the fact that here? That doesn't fucking matter. I won't grow old and die without him, and I don't have to become one of them either.

Maybe you should think about finding someone else to be honest with. Expand your friends circle a little.

[ This is not the most healthy relationship to have with your ex, Seth, even if you are still both really close.

What he says next stills her because - no, she hadn't thought of that. It had never occurred to her, somehow, that it would be an issue, even though it was something she thought about a lot when it came to her and Lucifer. That was the problem with loving something immortal while knowing you'll never be it yourself. ]

Seth, I didn't think about how hard that must be on you. [ She wishes he had said something sooner. ] I do get it, though, you know.

[Boy that's a thought he's not even sure if he should take seriously, and yet...]

If that's saying I'm being a pain, go for it. I can keep my shit to myself. All good.

[Because he shrugs at her comment, trying to be dismissive.]

Yeah, I know. It's why I can talk to you about it. But again, if it's a nuisance, say so.

I'm saying that... I think being honest with me has been good for you and I think that having that with someone else would be good for you, too. I'd say that even if we were still together.

[ She wants to see him keep opening up and connecting with people, especially now that Richie is gone. ]

You're never a nuisance. A dick, yeah, but not a nuisance.

I don't feel trust with a lot of people, Chloe. Hard to be honest with people who I don't trust.

[Which was the literal story of his life.

He nearly smiles then.]

Yeah well, I told you that from the start.

So, I have this friend back home, right? Ella. She's pretty religious, so when I was going through some stuff with Lucifer and his devil thing, I actually had some of his blood and I was going to get it tested... It was a whole thing. Anyway, I asked her about God and angels and all that, and she told me that, uh... The point of faith is putting your belief in something even if you doubt it. I threw away Lucifer's blood sample because I realized that putting my faith in him was more important than one of us being right.

[ Chloe pauses. She's not sure where she was going with this, exactly, but it seemed important to bring it up. ]

You have to have faith in people, Seth. Even if it means you risk being wrong.

And I put my faith in you. A cop. The moment I met her. That paid off. My odds aren't good now.

[And while he's smirking, there isn't quite as much game in his words. That does worry him, because she's been a better friend than anyone he has ever known, and he's not sure that will ever come close to being replicated.]

I don't know if I have it in me, Chloe. I can try, and I can't say I'm not. [There were a couple of people he would share the cache he's been building, and to him that is a huge deal.] But you and I? We're different in that. You have hope, and I'm glad you do.

Yeah, I guess so.

[ She hated this. Chloe was good, but sometimes it didn't make her feel any better. For everything she was, she never thought of herself as better than anyone else, and it was frustrating to know that both Lucifer and Seth had this bizarre attitude that they somehow didn't deserve her.

She wishes, sometimes, that they could see themselves the way she does. ]

But if you're trying, that still matters.