"Wow, I knew there were different version of Monopoly but I think this is my new favorite one!"
For anyone looking through the penthouse window of Lucifer's home they would have first… wondered how the hell they had suddenly ended up on the balcony of a really tall tower. But after that the next thing they would have marveled at was the odd collection of people that were currently gathered there to play a board game.
"What do you mean?" Trixie asked, munching on a drumstick (the ice cream, not the poultry… though she was thinking about asking her mom if they could have KFC tomorrow). It was rather warm that night and as such for once Lucifer didn't have the fireplace going and nearly everyone gathered had shed their jackets and gone with chilled drinks and snacks.
"Well for one the pieces are different," Charlie said, she herself eating a strawberry shortcake ice cream bar. "In Hell the pieces are all spiky."
"This is different from what I'm used to though," Chloe admitted. "Thanks from buying the new board, Amenadiel."
"Yes, thank you brother!" Lucifer declared, setting down on the couch next to Chloe and handing her a drink, nicely chilled. "These pieces are much superior. None of the pathetic ones in the old set. I mean a shoe? When would a shoe ever do any business."
"As opposed to a Penguin?" Amenadiel teased. He had recently discovered Dippin' Dots and was happily munching on those.
"Of course!" Lucifer proclaimed. "They are the most dapper of Dad's creations. And much better parents than him too. And some of them are nearly as horny as I am-"
"How do you know so much about penguins?" Maze asked. She was eating tacos with fire sauce because she liked to be a rebel even during Game Night.
"No reason," Lucifer stated.
~Dawn of Mankind~
"Adam says this one looks stupid," Eve complained, pointing to a penguin. Lucifer gasped in horror. "He is not! He is the most cuddliest of cuddly birds!" He went over and gave the penguin a hug. "Yes you are… yes you are!"
Eve watched him for about 10 minutes play with the penguin. "So… are we going to have sex?" "In a moment!"
"I'll let you put it in my-" "Look at how his little feet wiggle when I tickle him! ~MC~MC~MC~
"What about if it was a dress shoe?" Vaggie suggested, walking over and sitting with Charlie on the floor, munching on an Ice Cream sandwich (in hell the only flavors you could get were brimstone and banana… ugh). "One that went with your suit?"
Lucifer blinked. So did everyone else who had been around during his little 'Shoe Freakout'.
"…okay, even if you break up with Charlie we're keeping you around," Chloe said with a smirk. "We need someone that can deescalate Lucifer."
Vaggie gulped as she realized that she might have just commented her way into being the King of Hell's minder.
"In that case I do think I will be the shoe," Lucifer said, walking over and grabbing the shoe token he'd stolen a few years ago from a drawer and putting it on GO. "It is better than a top hat as honestly those can seem a bit tasteless. Like a bad magician."
"I'll be a T-Rex," Trixie said.
"As in you'll be the token or you want to become one when you become a demon?" Linda questioned, sticking with a fruit popsicle as she didn't want anything too sugary that might affect her breast milk. "Because honestly with this family…"
Trixie considered that. "Both."
"I call the puppy!" Charlie said happily.
"That isn't a surprise," Vaggie stated. "Then I'll go with cat."
"Aw, we match!" Charlie said, giving her girlfriend a hug.
"Ugh," Maze complained as she grabbed the battleship before Amenadiel could.
"Well, I think I will take the penguin," Chloe said. "Because I am going to… hmmm… I can't think of anything intimidating to say about penguins."
"Because they are utterly cute," Lucifer reminded her.
"Then I will be the race car," Amenadiel stated.
Lucifer scoffed. "Oh yes, that works wonders for you brother. Do you even know how to drive?"
"It can't be that hard."
"Trixie is a better driver than you," Lucifer complained.
"Wait, what?" Chloe said.
"I let her drive my car one."
"You did WHAT?!"
The Devil groaned. "It was centuries ago."
"But only a few years for her which doesn't make it better!"
As the two bickered Linda selected the Top Hat just as the elevator dinged and Eve entered with several bags full of snacks and drinks. "I decided to go against the norm and get watermelon flavored vodka. Trying to not become a stereotype. Hope that's okay."
"As long as its vodka," Maze said, motioning for Eve to join her. "Alright, so you've never played before?"
"No," the First Woman admitted.
Amenadiel nodded. "Heaven isn't much into these kinds of board games."
"But it does have board games?" Linda asked.
"Oh yes. Very fun ones."
Lucifer shot his brother a look.
~MC~MC~MC~
Charlotte Richards, taking a break from figuring out how to get out of Heaven and go see Dan again, watched on as several angels played Sorry.
"Oh, I'm terribly sorry, Remi," Gabriel said.
"Perfectly fine, brother."
As in 'Each person moves one space at a time on the board, says they are sorry for doing that as it means that they are now in competition, and then everyone wins'.
"This ALMOST makes me want to go back and talk with that baby deer." She pursed her lips. "Almost."
"Sorry!"
~MC~MC~MC~
"You'll love it, Eve!" Charlie stated. "We always played Monopoly down in Hell. Family game night." She held up her puppy token. "And these are so much cuter than the ones in Hell. And playing with a board is fun!"
Seeing the looks the others Chloe shifted. "Uh…"
~MC~MC~MC~
10 year old Charlie rolled the dice, clapping when she got a 7. "Yay!" she giggled… and ran up to the bullhorn that was set up on the balcony of the palace. "I ROLLED A SEVEN!"
Down below in the streets of Hell a demon that looked like an exercise bike nodded and walked along the large squares that Lucifer had commanded be drawn on the streets of Dis. Stopping at the seventh one he looked up at Charlie.
"No one owns that property," Chloe said. "You want it puppy?"
"Uh huh!" Charlie said, counting out the money while Lucifer rolled his dice.
"This is degrading," Cain muttered, still dressed as a school girl.
"Double fours!" Lucifer called out and Cain grumbled as he began his walk. "I really hope I don't have to go straight to jail." He looked at the actual jail… and the massive demon Thunderdick who stayed there. "Uuuuuuhhhhhh." ~MC~MC~MC~
"Oddly enough there were less fights down in Hell playing it than there are on Earth," Lucifer stated. "Though we do use it as a form of punishment. Did you know that there is an entire wing of cells for murderers who killed their families playing this game?" The others (save for Chloe) looked at him in shock at that; even Charlie was startled by that revelation. "To be fair its usually murder/suicides. So we stick the whole family in a cell and they have to play forever and ever."
"With no candy?" Trixie asked.
"Not even potato chips," Chloe confirmed (being the Queen of Hell meant she didn't hide the darker aspects of her work from her daughter anymore).
"You know, I wish we had more people playing," Charlie said as Maze explained the rules of the game to Eve. "We could have done teams." Her eyes lit up and for those not quite used to her yet it was startling that there were actual stars in her wide pupils. "Oh, so many different combinations! Me and Vaggie, of course! We could have done Team Hell, Team Earth, and Team Heaven."
"So Amenadiel all by himself then," Lucifer quipped.
"I could invite Rae Rae," Amenadiel commented. "She could use a night off, what with her job and ducking those weirdos who want to date her…"
"The large bald one still giving her trouble?" Lucifer asked, Amenadiel giving the 'sort of' hand wiggle.
Charlie began to tick off points on her fingers. "I'd say Guys versus Gals but we outnumber dad and Amenadiel. We could have sisters both by blood and honorary, so me and Trixie, Maze and Linda… OH! We could do opposites! Me and Maze, of course, Vaggie and Ella if we invited her-"
"Pass."
"Trixie and Amenadiel-"
The angel frowned. "Wait, TRXIE is my opposite? What about Luci?"
"Linda is his. Eve and Angel Dust-" The others stared and she shrugged. "First Woman and Transwoman."
"Ah."
"We are NEVER inviting Angel to Game Night," Vaggie said firmly, causing Charlie to pout.
"So," Linda said as she began to pass out the money, having decided she would be banker as honestly she either didn't trust the others or they'd be horrible at it, "what are the plans for the rest of the week? I'm still on leave so if no one minds Charlie… my Charlie… to be around I can help out."
Charlie was the first to speak up. "Amenadiel and I are going to begin interviewing people to work at the hotel."
"So you should go with them and help, Linda," Chloe said, her daughter and the angel both squawking in protest. Chloe though wasn't moved in the slightest. "You are both horrible judges of character. Linda has a good head on her shoulders."
"I… I am not!" Charlie exclaimed.
Lucifer shook his head. "The only good choice you've made when it comes to people to work as Hazbin-"
"Happy!"
"-Hotel was Vaggie and that's only because she's the best of a bad bunch."
Charlie glowered at her dad. "Take that back! Its mean!"
"It's true," Vaggie said. "I hate people. Well, except for you." Charlie beamed at that before remembering just what conversation they were having. "The King is right… you need someone to help you out and I can't handle my interviews and yours."
Charlie pouted and Amenadiel held up his hand. "I would like to point out that I am nearly as old as the universe itself-"
"Malcom," Chloe, Lucifer, and Maze said at the same time.
The first born angel sputtered before waving at his significant other. "Linda is best friends with Maze!"
"You slept with me!" Maze pointed out. "Before she and I became friends! Horrible judge of character there!"
Eve crinkled her nose. "Hmmm. So Amenadiel slept with Maze and Linda. Maze slept with Amenadiel and Lucifer. Lucifer slept with me and Maze and Chloe and Linda. Chloe has slept with Lucifer and Dan and my son-"
"Ugh, don't remind me," Chloe grumbled.
"Dan was with Chloe and… Lucifer's mom?"
"Don't remind me," both Amenadiel and Lucifer said at the same time.
"So… that means Charlie and Vaggie are the most stable relationship in the room!"
"YAY!" Charlie celebrated, hugging her girlfriend who rolled her eyes but still returned the hug.
"Eve and I are going to work on getting her bounty hunter silence," Maze said, cutting through the sex math because honestly unless it was to start and orgy she wasn't interested and even she wouldn't begin fucking people in front of Trixie.
The First Woman nodded. "I was thinking about leaving and going to find myself but Linda and I talked after everything and I realized… okay, yeah, I've defined myself by my relationships but isn't running away from that just another definition? Isn't it me saying that I can't be around anyone because I'm too weak-willed?" She shrugged. "So I'm sticking around. Going to try some different things out. Bounty hunting sounds fun so I figure I can try that out first."
Maze smiled but for once it wasn't a predatory snarling smile but a soft and excited one.
"And the detective and I are going to close out some cases and then see if there are any more bad guys to stop… assuming Daniel doesn't cause problems for us."
"Are we going to play or what?" Trixie complained.
"Play," Chloe assured her. "Though, you best be careful… Lucifer and I are much better than we used to be at this game."
~THE NEXT MORNING~
"Hey guys!" Ella said, walking over to Chloe's desk where the partners were currently sitting. "Rough night?"
"Hmm?" Chloe said, not looking away from the computer.
"I said rough night." She waved at the two of them. "Kind of slouching and tired looking… out burning the midnight oil?"
"Game night," Lucifer said and Ella quickly noticed that he wasn't merely tired looking but he was actively trying to avoid looking at her. He was turning his head away and when she moved to get a better look… yup, he actually twisted in his chair so he was keeping her back to her.
"Dude, what is wrong? You get a black eye or something? I know that happens when my family has Game Night."
"No, I didn't get a black eye. As if I'd let anyone mar this handsome visage."
"Then look at me," Ella complained.
"No."
"Come on!" Ella whined, quickly darting around the desk several times.
"Would you knock it off, Ella?" Chloe snapped only to shut her eyes and groan. "Sorry, that came out rude and-"
Ella snorted.
Chloe took a moment to realize that she'd sat up during her apology, letting her hand fall away to reveal the temporary tattoo she had on her check of the cubby cherub, complete with happy little white wings.
"That… is some fashion statement," Ella said with a grin.
Lucifer let out a chuckle. "Its undignified and she should be ashamed she has it-" Chloe growled and forced Lucifer to twist around, revealing to Ella that he had a matching tattoo on his check. "-as I am. Ashamed. I am ashamed. Which is rare for me."
"There has to be a story around that," Ella said.
"Not much other than our… the Detective's daughter… is rather vicious when it comes to Monopoly." He huffed as Ella just stared him down. "She wiped the floor with us and I wasn't in the mood to concede defeat so easily so I made a deal with her: 500 Monopoly dollars and if we lost we had to get branded."
"She settled on temporary tattoos," Chloe clarified. "From a stash she got last Valentine's Day."
Ella though merely stared at the two.
"Uh… Miss Lopez?"
"Your daughter."
Chloe nodded. "That's what I said."
"No, what he said. He was going to say 'our daughter' but he caught himself." She seemed to be… vibrating. "Are… did you two get married?"
"…yes," Lucifer said because the Devil does not lie.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee."
"Is an alarm going off?" Lucifer said, looking about wildly.
"I think that's Ella."
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee."
Lucifer slowly stood up and circled the ME, who continued to just standing there, hardly moving. He brought his ear towards her mouth only to quickly pull away. "I believe you're right. That is her. How very odd."
"Hey Decker!" someone called out and for a moment Chloe completely blanked on who the officer was. That was the problem with spending centuries down in Hell… other than their friends she had mostly forgotten about who was who. Lucifer knew of course who they were, as he was good at that, but when they'd used Hell Loops to pretend to be solving cases again he'd mostly used stand-ins for everyone they interacted with. Thus she was used to a demon wearing a paper plate mask to be Ella, Dan being a literal douche, and Pierce/Cain showing up in his school girl uniform to give them a case.
She paused, remember how fun some of the cases Lucifer had gotten the demons to come up with had been. Some were based on actual murders but other times he'd made it a challenge to the demons to come up with something new and different for them. 'Creative Exercises' he'd called it…
~MC~MC~MC~
"…this is just Clue," Chloe said.
Lucifer scoffed. "It most certainly is not!"
"It's Clue," Chloe said once again. "Dead body in a mansion, locked up tight so only the guests at the party could have killed him. Blunt force trauma… oh, and his name is Mr. Body."
Lucifer blinked at that before leaning towards one of the demons playing a suspect. "Did you base this on Clue?" "I suggested Candyland, my lord, but was outvoted." ~MC~MC~MC~
"Lieutenant wants you to head to the O'Roarke Building. Murder there. Nasty one."
Chloe and Lucifer shared a look. "Not connected to our rash of deaths from… yesterday?" She hoped no one notice that stumble. She had to keep reminding herself that it was only a day ogo when the demons had attacked.
"No way," the officer said. "This looks like a gang attack." He frowned. "Except it happened to some actor. Press is going to be all over this so you should head over there quick."
"Right," Chloe said only to frown when she saw Ella still just standing there. "Uh, Lucifer?"
"Hmmm?" her husband said, Chloe waving her hand in Ella's direction. "Right, of course." He easily walked over and looked at the ME before casually picking her up; Ella was stiff as a board and thus it was like Lucifer was carrying a cardboard cutout. "Lead on, Chloe."
Of course neither of them noticed Dan watching them, thinking about what his new friend had suggested...
~MC~MC~MC~
"Now see this is very important," Charlie said, resting her chin on her hands. "It is our duty to make sure that our parents actually take time to breathe and to smile. Sometimes that means grabbing them by the hand, dragging them away from the torture pits, and telling them that we need to eat ice cream and watch bad movies. Other times it means being there for them as they rant about their day and nodding our heads even if we don't understand what they are talking about. And sometimes it just means being cute."
She reached out at booped baby Charlie on the nose.
"But that is going to be easy for you, isn't it?"
Baby Charlie gurgled before spitting up.
"…Vaggie!" Charlie cried out. "Is it normal for babies to expel goo?"
"Yes!"
"…okay, thank you!" Charlie declared, grabbing a towel and cleaning up the spit up. "You are just so full of mysteries, aren't you?"
Linda and Amenadiel were close by, sitting on their couch while Vaggie took the arm chair, Trixie sitting on the arm of said chair. While Vaggie wasn't really a fan of kids she did like Trixie as she reminded her a lot of Charlie but, interestingly enough, was far more mature and wordly. Most likely because the Queen and later the King hadn't been so protective of Trixie as they were with Charlie.
"Do you ever look back at how quickly your life has changed and just shake your head?" Linda asked. "I mean… if you had told me-" She stopped.
"What?" Vaggie said.
"I just realized I was about to do the 'if you had told me' cliché and I'm really not a fan of that."
Vaggie just shrugged. "Go right ahead. You get used to it. In Hell most of the shows are just clichés."
~MC~MC~MC~
"California…" the TV played as yet another episode of THE OC began.
Katie Killjoy sighed. "This can't get any worse"
"And after this its another marathon of The Masked Singer." "What did I do to deserve this!?" she demanded before blinking. "Oh yeah…"
"Seriously?" Amenadiel asked, surprised. "Things must have really changed since I was down there… they didn't really have television shows when I last watched over Hell."
"Oh yeah, things got WILD with the Sinner Demon population exploding. Movies, TV shows, plays, only one book though for any souls that aren't let out of their Hell Loops."
"I'm guessing not a good one," Linda said with a smirk.
"All about bird watching," Vaggie confirmed.
"I'm not being a bird," Trixie stated, pulling out her notebook. "Lucifer has wings already. I want scales." She paused, tapping her chin. "Do I still call him Lucifer?"
"You can call him whatever you want," Charlie said. "Mom and him talked though and they agreed if you want to call him papa that will work. That way you can call Mr. Espinoza 'dad' still. But," she grinned as she looked back at Baby Charlie, "don't call him daddy because that is oddly sexual. Yes it is! Yes it is!" She wiggled Charlie's toes before looking back at Trixie. "And don't dismiss wings. They are great. Vaggie and I go flying all the time and if you get wings you can join in too! Mom's still working out how to make her hair form wings… right now all she can do is glide."
"Hmmm… I guess leather ones would be okay…"
Amenadiel however was frowning at what Charlie had said. "You have wings?"
"Oh yeah!" Charlie said and with a pop large elegant wings the color of fresh snow burst from her back. "I don't pop them out much because the demons freak out but hey, maybe I can show them off more on Earth." She saw the looks she was getting and rolled her eyes. "Not in front of the humans. I'm not crazy."
"That's debatable," Maze said, entering from the kitchen with two baby bottles. She passed one to Baby Charlie, which was filled with formula, before taking the other and sitting down, sucking on it as the others realized it was filled with whiskey. "What's up with popping out the wings, Princess?"
Charlie shrugged and sucked her wings back in. "Just showing off to Trixie how cool wings are. Still figuring out her true demon form."
"Think carefully and think hard on that, Trix," Maze advised. She pressed her lips together. "Trust me on that…"
~MC~MC~MC~
Lucifer frowned as he looked down at the 5 year old. "And what do you want your demon form to look like?"
"Spooky face," Little Maze said… oddly in the exact same voice as her grown self.
"Uh… anything else?" "Spooky… face."
"…okay then." ~MC~MC~MC~
Charlie sheathed her wings and reached over, picking Baby Charlie up and rocking him back and forth as he sucked on his bottle. "Oh, yours are going to take a while, aren't they? Can just feel them under the skin…"
"Wait, what now?" Linda said, growing concerned. "You can feel his wings? Like a tumor?"
"No!" Charlie said with a gasp, cuddling the baby close. "Mom and dad explained it to me… wings are… okay, its hard to explain. You just have to know how to find them. Dad showed me so I'd understand when I have kids, which is going to be a long time coming but still good to know. You just have to know how to find them." She carefully held Baby Charlie up. "They are in there," she said, running her fingers between his shoulder blades. "Very tiny… like itty bitty chicken wings you'd get from a restaurant but even smaller and I am sure so much cuter!" She touched her nose to the baby's.
Amenadiel frowned, glancing at Vaggie. "So you two are going to get a surrogate or adopt?"
"No, we'll have our baby," Vaggie said, turning away and focusing on tearing at a tissue.
"…how?"
"Self actualization," Charlie said with a grin.
It took a moment for the other adults to get what Charlie was saying.
"You mean… you two can…" Linda gestured at her crotch, "just grow…"
"How did I not know this?!" Maze complained.
"Dad figured it out," Charlie said with a shrug. "That's why it will be years before Vaggie and I even consider kids. First off we're far too young; second… weeeeellll…"
"I have issues with men," Vaggie said bluntly. "So becoming one or fucking one aren't really in my wheelhouse, even if the rest remains female."
Linda held up her hands. "Can we maybe not discuss this around little ears?"
"Why?" Maze said. "Trix lives with me and is now living with Lucifer and Demon Chloe. She's going to see far worse."
The little girl just bobbed her head up and down and Linda realized she had no argument for that.
~MC~MC~MC~
Ella licked her lips. "Okay, I've seen some bad crime scenes in my life but… wow, this one is managing to make me gag."
The gym of the O'Roarke building was a disaster. The stench of death just clung to everything and Ella didn't know how the owners would ever manage to get it out. There were hardened beat cops who worked the harsher sides of LA, the ones that really dealt with gang violence, who were gagging as they tried to look anywhere but the crime scene.
"There certainly is a large amount of blood," Lucifer said, crinkling his nose before slipping on a pair of white booties. "These might be utterly tasteless looking but I'd rather not ruin these shoes…"
"It's a bitch to find good shoes in He… around here," Chloe said.
Ella frowned at that before brushing it off. Chloe probably meant affordable shoes. In LA it was either shit or high end, no in-between. "Alright, so let's see here," she said, walking over to the…. Well… "Okay, this is very unprofessional but this wad of meat was once a person." She poked at a jaw bone sticking out of the pile of muscle, organs, and blood. "Makes the two over there riddled with bullets look like they went the easy way."
"Right," Chloe said, pulling out a notebook. "So according to the building manager the gym was closed down, available only to a Mr. Victor Chuse and his buddies." She flipped through her pages. "Manager Eddy Munfree, half brother Jimmy "Tragedy" Chuse, and Samson "Sloth" Asenage were the only ones that were supposed to be up here." She frowned. "So four bodies, four guys. Look like all of them got hit."
"They got more than that, Detective," Lucifer said with a frown. "I dare say this poor chap looks like he was thrown into a blender with the lid left off."
"And this guy," Ella said, pointing to Sloth, "the attackers must have had a dog or something with them. Throat is completely torn out."
Lucifer walked over and looked over the body, frowned. "Not quite…"
"Huh?" Ella said.
"Nothing." Lucifer smiled and stood up. "Detective, I think we should talk to the owner of the building."
"Right. Let Ella work."
The ME frowned at the two hurried off before focusing on the task of figuring out how to get the remains moved. "Temperance Brennan gets a team of Squints," she muttered.
~MC~MC~MC~
"You noticed it too, didn't you?" Chloe said.
"Not hard to miss the scent of home sweet home," Lucifer quipped as the two of them walked through the lobby. "It's not lingering through here. They came in through a different way."
"Demons," Chloe said, shaking her head. "Maze?"
"No time and not her style," Lucifer stated.
"Dromos?"
"He didn't have time and we interrogated him already in Hell; he gave us all the names of his victims." Lucifer shook his head. "What I found weird was the throat of that one man." The two of them stepped outside and began to walk along the length of the building, hoping to figure out where exactly the perps could have gotten in. "Those were the bite marks of a hellhound."
Chloe frowned at that. "Hellhounds… they don't like to come up to Earth anyway. That's demons."
"Yes, quite the-" He stopped, pressing a finger to his lips and motioned for Chloe to follow him towards the back alley of the O'Roarke Building.
"What do you mean that fucker wasn't there?" a voice complained, clearly aggravated. "You know our client wanted that shit bag dead!"
"Well, she also wanted them other bastards dead so it's not like it was a waste of time," a woman with a southern accent said with a helpful note.
"Yeah yeah yeah, believe me that's the only reason I'm not really losing it here! But we don't get paid unless we kill that needle dick and he wasn't there! This is all your fault."
"Sir, you were the one in charge of examining the building and confirming everyone was there!" a second man said.
"Don't get technical on me!"
"I don't what your problem is," a second woman, who sounded a bit like Maze at her most bored, said dryly. "We just track down the fucker and tear him apart."
"My problem is that I had plans tonight."
"Hooking up with your sugar daddy?" the second woman asked.
The first man muttered, "More like trying to hide from him… he bought some new cock rings and-"
Chloe chose that moment to swoop in, going full demon. Scales grew on her limbs, horns burst from her forehead, a tail wiggled out of her pants, and her hair extended and grabbing all four of the murderers before slamming them into the walls of the alley before they could reaction. She tilted her head and took them in, her toothy smile falling when she saw it wasn't exactly demons she'd caught.
Lucifer went up to the one that was clearly the leader and smiled with all teeth and very little pleasantness. "Well well well… look who is topside rather than in Hell." He leaned in close. "Hello… Blitzo."
"The… O is silent… my lord," the owner of IMP stated.