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In the beginning, time meant nothing. There was no one and nothing for it to tick for, and the angels formed of celestial dust and grace were unchanging.
The concept of time didn’t start until mortal life came into creation, when the humans grew up, aged, then died for no reason but a predetermined lifespan. Even the natural world felt time as seas dried up and mountains eroded away.
Time could be observed through the never ending cycle of life and death.
However, after reaching a certain age, time begins to work differently.
In Heaven, it was little issue as the Heavenborn all perceive time in similar, barely noticeable ways, but to the singular angel abandoned to Hell, no one felt the passage of time as he did. His Hellborn were mortal and even the nearly immortal Sinners continued to count the days and years past their deaths.
Unwilling to leave his palace and face the wretches of humanity caused by his actions, Lucifer found ways to occupy himself. He’d lose himself in his projects, never resurfacing for days, weeks, months, but those were mere seconds and hours to him.
Sadly they weren’t to Lilith. Though a very special example, she followed the tick of the clock and days on the calendar just the same as any other mortal Sinner in Hell, and he knew she often felt neglected despite his intentions.
His depression certainly didn’t help the matter, causing him to not only ignore passing time but to not even be aware of what happened during it.
Then his daughter was born, and time settled for a while. Couldn’t be swept away in its flow when there was a child to care for, and she helped. Long lived unlike the native Hellborn but ever changing like the Sinners never would. He would often sit by her crib and watch, his entire concept of time defined by her needs and desires.
It was easier then, but once she’d grown some, he began taking her into his workshop. These times were often interrupted by Lilith arriving to take Charlie away, and while Lucifer was never sure how long he’d had Charlie - fairly certain his wife worried he’d be swept away in whatever he was working on and keep Charlie in there for weeks at a time - it never felt long enough.
The older Charlie got, the less he was needed and the slower she physically changed until he had nothing to use to mark the days with.
He tried television when it arrived in Hell, but it brought its own issue. He thought the serialization would provide a steady time marker, give a weekly point to judge things by, but if the show was too interesting, Lucifer found that without even realizing, he’d sit on the couch unmoving in silence for the entire week until the new episode aired.
So he had to get rid of his television set.
His family was helpful in pulling him from his thoughts when it became too bad, but—
—then Lilith left.
—then Charlie left.
And time raged forward again.
Seven years was nothing in comparison to the millennia he had existed. It could pass by without notice if he so much as blinked too long. He made sure to call Charlie a few times within those years, certain she’d feel a bit lost with her mother gone, but made sure not to over do it and be clingy. After all, angels could speak once a decade and feel as though they spoke all the time.
He was ecstatic when she reached out to him, especially so soon after the last time they’d talked. While he didn’t hold much hope for the rehabilitation of Sinners - which, really, they all averaged only a few quick decades in Hell, anyway - he adored listening to her excitement. She achieved so much in so little time, that she must have inherited his tendency to lose herself in her passions.
It wasn’t until Lucifer moved into the Hazbin Hotel that he realized Charlie did not experience time as an angel did.