my_own_advocate | Samsara, Sunday Evening

It wasn't a great idea to keep sticking to old traditions to the letter, Lucifer and Octavia had found last weekend. And so Lucifer had suggested something else for this Sunday night.

Samsara.

It was a place where she felt safe. And it could-- go somewhere else, for a nice change of scenery. "Should we take her to the back of the preserve? Or head further along the coast?" Lucifer asked, as he hopped aboard, basket of food in hand.

[[ for her ]]

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From:

my_own_advocate

"Ah, you've got your lemon sorbet, you've got your mango, and black cherry," Lucifer said, reaching out to point out each scoop completely unnecessarily. "All made from fresh fruit."

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia might have been able to tell from the colors, yes, but it was nice that he made sure.

"Oh," she murmured, "they sound nice."

She was going to go for the... mango, first.

From:

my_own_advocate

He'd had a feeling she would. Lucifer told himself to stop being so self-conscious just because she was being a bit subdued, and dug into his own cherry ice cream. "Bon appetit."

From:

okteiviakom

"Chof."

Well.

This first bite was definitely mango-y.

From:

my_own_advocate

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.

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia hazarded a little glance at him, at the noise. A little connection.

"Yeah," she murmured, "it's really good."

From:

my_own_advocate

"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."

From:

okteiviakom

"I think this is where I'm supposed to call you a nerd."

Look, a joke! Even if it was a feeble one.

From:

my_own_advocate

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."

From:

okteiviakom

"What's that?" Octavia asked softly.

It was clear from context, more or less, but... If she could get him talking, even for a little bit, about something he'd enjoyed a long time ago, then maybe it would also help draw her a little more squarely into the now.

From:

my_own_advocate

"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."

From:

okteiviakom

See? It was beautiful to listen to him like this. (Yes, even with the bittersweetness of thinking about him returning to Hell.)

"It sounds good," Octavia murmured. "Like something I would like to try."

From:

my_own_advocate

"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."

From:

okteiviakom

The edges of Octavia's lips twitched a little. "Colored powder?"

A shameless prompt, yes.

From:

my_own_advocate

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.

Edited Date: 7 Jun 2022 17:43 (UTC)

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia leaned over to look, and once again, her expression softened further.

"Is there music?"

Of course she'd ask.

From:

my_own_advocate

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."

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia's nod was almost laughable in its sincerity. Also had a distracted quality about it, like she was still thinking it over. The whole concept of it.

"It sounds beautiful."

From:

my_own_advocate

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

From:

okteiviakom

"I think so too."

That was barely more than a whisper, her gaze still lingering on the pictures, thinking about what it would be like.

From:

my_own_advocate

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

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia finally relinquished his phone back to him.

"Well," she said, a wry curl to her lips again, like she'd been caught doing something she shouldn't be doing (but nothing too bad), "the ice cream is a good start."