"Unfortunately, yes," Lucifer said, but his hand caught hers on the way down and gave it a squeeze.

"Brat," Lucifer said fondly.

He let her hand slip out of his, and walked down into the heart of Samsara.

Lucifer paid no heed to whether she was following behind. The meal he'd brought was, he felt, fairly simple. Just some fish and pineapple and a few other fruits on top of a bed of noodles...

It would be good, though.

He took the noodles and the water kettle he'd brought, and got it hooked up.

Her... kitchen... if you could even call it that, didn't offer much in terms of ways to prepare anything. So he'd flambéd the salmon ahead of time, and while the noodles sat in the hot water-with-spices, Lucifer cut it carefully into thin slices.

He took two plates and divided the salmon across them. Then out came the pineapple, which he cut carefully into petal-shapes. Strawberries into small slices.

And just like that, all the components were ready. Lucifer made a little bed of noodles on each plate, and then layered salmon, pineapple and strawberry on it piece by piece, constructing a flower of a sorts.

The finishing touch was a little bag of edible flowers in lilacs and yellows. He placed those on top in a circle, giving the whole dish the appearance of a wreath.

He turned around and held out one plate for you. "Your dinner, darling."

Lucifer's mouth curved softly. "A little bit of the ocean and a little bit of the forest, I thought."

"And the noodles are from a particularly expensive artisanal brand," Lucifer said, mouth curving as he watched her-- appreciating his work.

The smile grew slightly bigger. "Only the finest wheat for my people, obviously."

"No, but it matters to me," Lucifer said. He slid into a seat with his own plate. "And who knows, perhaps one day you'll surprise me."

Lucifer's smile felt almost painful-- not in the stretch of his lips, but the way it touched his eyes. "Ai hod yu in, Σεληνη."

Lucifer cleared his throat. "But now," he said, glancing down at his plate, "Enjoy your meal."

Lucifer settled into his food as well - it was as good as he knew how to make it, which was quite.

But he snuck looks at Octavia from time to time, enjoying... her enjoyment.

There was something warm in Lucifer's chest, something that seemed to radiate into the rest of him.

He was still smiling as he ate his way through the rest of his dinner.

Lucifer was already done. He hadn't been as careful, after all.

He looked at the bite on her plate.

He looked at her.