That was the beauty of homemade ice cream: the vivid flavors. It was why Lucifer had opted not to just buy a pint of Haagen-Dazs.

He made a soft noise when he took the first bite of cherry. Nothing like an explosion of flavor to save you from your woes.

"Learning how to make ice cream was a revelation," Lucifer said, mouth curving into a small smile. "You can't reproduce those flavors on an industrial scale."

Lucifer chuckled softly. "I prefer 'passionate about the things I enjoy'," he said. "I think the first time I had an ice cream worth the reputation was when I had kulfi a few centuries ago."

"It's a frozen dessert, a bit like ice cream. They invented it in the...15th? 16th century, in India?" Lucifer mused, looking thoughtful. "Unlike our ice cream, it doesn't have eggs in it. It's just milk, cooked very slowly, and then they flavor it with spices and nuts once it's cooled."

He smiled.

"You'd walk the streets of India and there would be a kulfiwallah on every other corner," he said. "I liked the pistachio one the best. It had the most vivid flavor. I must have eaten several dozen before I was herded back to Hell."

"Perhaps one day we'll visit," Lucifer said, smiling a bit. "It's quite colorful, India. Quite literally. Especially during Holi, which I think you'd enjoy. It's this festival where they throw colored powder around as they celebrate the coming of spring."

Lucifer nodded. "Let me find a picture," he said, reaching for his phone. "The images are quite vivid. I can already picture you dancing about in a cloud of pinks and purples and yellows..."

He held the phone out to her.

Lucifer nodded. "They have their own traditional music for it," he said. "It's supposed to be a joyous festival, all about love and companionship and so on."

"I think... I think you would really love it," Lucifer admitted softly. "All that joy and colour and life."

"I want to show you so much of that," Lucifer murmured. "Anywhere we can find it."

"Thank you," Lucifer said, smiling. "I'm hoping to expand my repertoire this summer."

"If you ever think of a fruit or anything else you'd like to try in ice cream form..."

"And here I was going to make you pinky-promise," Lucifer teased.