Lucifer's Mansion, Sunday Night

[okteiviakom]

It had been another weird week. But enough of the weird - both from this week, and the ones before it - had apparently passed for Octavia and Lucifer to meet up at the house again on this Sunday evening for another date night.

The previously unfurnished room on the second floor was no longer unfurnished. Octavia didn't know whether Lucifer had noticed yet, especially since she'd left the door closed after she'd been done with it. She didn't know whether it would come into play yet, anyway.

And either way, they were downstairs, sitting down properly at the dining table. A gesture towards things Lucifer liked. And Octavia had cooked, even if the main had been just a very simple salad, which they were just about finished with. The equally simple dessert was still waiting in the fridge.

"Maybe one of these weeks you could give me a lesson." A beat. "You know, for cooking. We could make a thing of it."

[ooc: For, you guessed it, that guy.]

Comments

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer hadn't noticed any second floor... renovations, no. He did come here at times between date nights, but the house had a lot of rooms, and he had his favorites. (None of those had ever been unfurnished since he'd moved here.)

"I'd love to," he said, grinning, clearly pleased. "There's something joyful about communal cooking, I've found, strangely enough."

He sipped his wine.

[okteiviakom]

"What's strange about that?"

[my_own_advocate]

"I don't know," Lucifer said, holding his glass in front of him, thoughtful. "I suppose I just never used to think of it as something that could be enjoyed socially."

[okteiviakom]

"But you like cooking so much," Octavia replied with faintly raised eyebrows. "And being with people."

Well, more than she did.

[my_own_advocate]

"Yes," Lucifer said. Another sip. "But you're the one who fully embraces food as a communal thing." Beat. "Not that I haven't enjoyed cooking with others before, but it was rarely on my radar."

[okteiviakom]

'Not even with Chloe?', Octavia didn't ask.

She speared some of the last of her salad onto her fork, and shrugged. "Well, I'm glad it's working in my favor then, I guess."

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer hadn't specified how long ago he'd changed his mind about it (it had been pre-Chloe), but Chloe had never been the greatest fan of cooking, either.

"Do you know what you'd like to learn how to make?" he asked. "Or should I surprise you?"

[okteiviakom]

With his lifespan, sometimes it was really hard to guess at which scale he was talking about the past.

"Surprise me," Octavia said. "You know what I like."

[my_own_advocate]

"I do a bit," Lucifer said, grinning. "We can make a project of it next weekend. Surprise Duke with a meal."

[okteiviakom]

"I think I'd like that," Octavia said, a touch softer. "So would he."

She hoped, anyway.

[my_own_advocate]

"And we do want to keep his spirits up," Lucifer added, taking a thoughtful bite of his salad. "Right, that's settled."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia gave a tiny nod.

A beat, and then: "Should we just make that his birthday surprise?"

Half kidding, half not.

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer blinked.

"Hm," he said. Another bite. "Perhaps if we could combine it with a change of scenery. Not a massive one, more of a... 'bring the Rouge somewhere nice in the area' affair?"

[okteiviakom]

"Maybe," Octavia said with another little nod. "Something that makes it more... special."

[my_own_advocate]

"We could decorate," Lucifer suggested. "Put up some lights, and whatnot. And then we'll cook him seafood."

[okteiviakom]

"Sounds nice."

It wasn't Ireland, but... They could probably save Ireland for another time.

"Is seafood hard?"

[my_own_advocate]

"Depends on the seafood," Lucifer said, mouth curving. "I won't ask you to prepare anything you can't handle, darling."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia's nose wrinkled.

"Would kind of defeat the purpose if you did."

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer chuckled. "True," he said, and reached for his wine. "You know, Duke and I once had a nice evening out where we just moved the Rouge to the other side of the island, facing the preserve," he added. "It felt quite private and magical, really."

[okteiviakom]

"I've been there," Octavia murmured, gathering the last of her salad onto her fork, "I know."

[my_own_advocate]

"Do you think that might be an idea?" Lucifer said. "Or we could ask Duke to take the Rouge down the bay to one of the other islands, or even all the way to the ocean proper."

[okteiviakom]

"I think maybe another island?" Octavia replied, mulling it over. "A little change of scenery but still kind of... connected to something."

Maybe it was a personal thing of not feeling up to being fully at sea right now.

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer nodded. "Good idea," he said. "We'll just... have to ask Duke to do the captaining and then make him sit in the hold for a bit or something while we work."

[okteiviakom]

"Maybe not the hold."

She said that a little too quickly.

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer frowned. "The bedroom?"