So go downtown, things'll be great when you're

[hotheadwarmheart]

Who: Lea and people!
When: Mid-May
Where: Various places in the city
What: In between schoolwork, Lea has some errands to run and other things to do in town. Care to join him?
Notes: Sub threads for Xion and Eleven are closed, but otherwise, have at him! :3

[For Xion]

Over the past couple months it had become rather painfully clear that there were a great many things about normal life in a school and city that Xion just didn't know about. Up til this point, Lea had been explaining things as they went, but he'd begin to realize that this was somewhat impractical long term. Thus, having heard about a more general library in the city, he'd opted to take Xion there to see if they had some books that she could refer to that might help.

Hopefully they had a children's section somewhere because he didn't think any other books would explain the kinds of basic concepts Xion needed to learn...

[For Eleven]

Having discovered through conversation that Eleven had never had ice cream before, Lea had taken it upon himself to correct this unfortunate oversight. And he knew just where to take Eleven for his introduction to frozen deliciousness: the Ice Creamatorium.

"Now I gotta warn you," he said as they approached the unusual ice cream shop, "the themeing of this place is a little off the wall. But trust me, you'll like it."

[For anyone]

Having a little money in his pocket now opened up a great many more possibilities for things to do in the city, both in terms of errands and in terms of leisure activities. And Lea needed to get to know the city a bit better anyway. Thus he could frequently be found out and about on weekends (and occasionally when he should have been doing other things), running errands or taking in the sights and wouldn't mind having some company.

Comments

[bearshermark]

He was a little apprehensive about trying something he'd never heard of before. He'd had it explained to him and the idea of eating frozen milk didn't sound terribly appetizing, but Axel insisted it was good.

And here they were.

Immediately, he could see why Axel felt the need to warn him: motifs of death seemed to be everywhere. It was more than slightly off-putting, honestly.

"..You're sure it's safe?"

[hotheadwarmheart]

"Totally safe," Lea said as they headed inside. "The only thing you might be in danger of here is brain freeze, depending on how fast you eat your ice cream."

The the funerary theme of the decor continued within, down to the flower arrangements decorating the walls, and the employees dressed in black, including the female employees wearing small hats with black veils- the latter being obviously more for decoration that anything as they didn't really conceal much. Even the order counter was made of dark wood like what some coffins were made of.

The woman behind the counter smiled pleasantly as she spotted Lea entering though. "Hello," she said. "And welcome back; it's always good to see one of our dearly departed customers back again. Especially when they bring a friend." She gave Eleven a friendly nod. "Just let me know when you two are ready to order."

"Right," Lea told her. "I already know what I'm getting, but once we've both decided, we'll let you know."

Turning back to Eleven, he indicated the menu board, which contained many individual flavors as well as some of the more... interestingly named house specialties including the special of the day, S'morture. "So, any flavor in particular you wanted to try?", he asked.

[bearshermark]

Shifting in place and tugging at the cuffs of his sleeves, Eleven decided he really didn't care for the theming at all. But for the sake of his friendship with Axel, he would at least try it before never returning.

Turning toward the menu, his eyes immediately sought familiarity- and skipped over the morbidly named flavors entirely. While he did recognize a few fruits, he had a difficult time imagining how they could be made into ice and taste good.

"...Chocolate," he decided on, a touch relieved. "I think I'll try that."

[hotheadwarmheart]

"Right," Lea said. "So one sea-salt ice cream for me, and one chocolate for my friend. No toppings or anything for now. Best to keep it simple to start with." He handed over an appropriate amount of money to the woman behind the counter.

"Thank you," said the woman, putting the money in the register and handing Lea a small amount of change. "That'll be ready in just a moment." Indeed, another employee could be seen already scooping up the ice cream a little further down, behind a portion of the counter blocked off by glass. And a moment later, they were presented with what two dishes of the same sort of glazed ceramic that urns were often made from, each containing a generous portion of their chosen ice cream and a spoon to eat it with. "Here you are. Enjoy!"

"Thanks, we will," Lea said picking up the dishes of light blue and brown ice cream and directing Eleven to one of the smaller tables nearby. "C'mon, we can sit over here."

[bearshermark]

"Okay." Eleven followed along and took a seat. He accepted his bowl and spoon, weirded by the shape of the container but on his friend's assurance, willing to give the contents a try.

He waited for Axel to take a bite of his own, then carved out a tiny sample of it on the tip for himself. It was just frozen, softer chocolate, he reasoned, and sampled it.

Such a small bit melted away almost instantly on his tongue, but the taste wasn't bad. Brave enough to try a more generous portion, Eleven delighted in the unexpected texture and the deeper flavor coating his tongue.

"This is really good!" He announced, grinning. "Wow, I've never had anything like this."

[hotheadwarmheart]

Lea didn't hesitate to dig into his own ice cream once they were seated, so Eleven didn't have to wait long to try his. At his friend's delighted reaction, he too grinned. "See, what'd I tell you? Totally worth it, right?", he said. "Places like this are why the old saying about not judging a book by its cover is still around."

[bearshermark]

Eleven glanced around, still a touch uneasy with the motifs of death, but more willing to forgive it for the wonder of the bowl in front of him.

"That seems to be true," he said with a nod. "But I think they might attract more people if it didn't seem so.. dark?"

Down On Skid Row

[nobodys_puppet]

She wasn't sure where they were going. But so long as Saïx wasn't involved, she was happy to go wherever Axel wanted her to go. So long as they were together. She stayed close to him, looking around, curiously.

Since they were out in public, her hood was back up.

Re: Down On Skid Row

[hotheadwarmheart]

Where they were going turned out to be the Dragonfire Library, a large and impressive building that housed may books too niche to be considered useful at the Magicademy or by private collectors in the city. And thankfully, Lea had discovered, this included a small children's section, which is where he directed them upon entering.

"So...", Lea said as they headed that way, "it's become pretty clear to me that there's a lot of stuff you don't know about. Which isn't your fault; the Organization wasn't actually the best when it came to basic education, to put it mildly. But I can't keep explaining things myself when they just happen to come up; it can lead to some interesting conversations, but it just isn't practical in the long run."

"Which is why we're here," he said, indicating the children's section of the library. "I'm hoping that we might be able to find some books here that'll help fill in some of the gaps for you."

Re: Down On Skid Row

[nobodys_puppet]

She actually liked those conversations. A lot. It meant he would always have something to teach her, and he seemed to enjoy that. What would happen if she ever knew as much as he did? Would he have less time for her? Less interest in talking to her? "Like the books they tell us to read for the classes?" she asked softly.

Was he that tired of explaining things to her?

Re: Down On Skid Row

[hotheadwarmheart]

Not tired of it, just recognizing that if he had to keep doing it it would make it difficult to get much else done in a lot of situations. "Sort of?", Lea said. "At least in the sense that they're meant to be educational too. But rather than being about magic, these are about a a lot of basic stuff like how towns work and other really basic things. Which means they'll probably seem a bit simplistic to you, since they're aimed at really young kids, but they tends to assume that most people who are older than that already know this stuff. So..." He shrugged, indicating that there really wasn't anything he could do about it.

Upon arriving in the children's section, Lea began examining the shelves. "Let's see... Looks like the educational books are... ah, here," he said, beginning to scan that section for potentially useful books.

Re: Down On Skid Row

[nobodys_puppet]

She kept following him. "Young kids?" she asked. "What... makes someone a young kid?" Compared to what?

Re: Down On Skid Row

[hotheadwarmheart]

"Generally anybody younger than kindergarten age, but older than a toddler," Lea said. "So people between about three and six years old. But things are a bit different for you; even if you don't know a lot of things, you're a lot more able to comprehend things than a kid that age would be. That's why a lot of these books will be using small words and simple sentences; stuff like that. Just wanted you to know why it might read as a bit stilted compared to the books up at the school."

Lea pulled a few books off the shelves as he spoke. 'All Around Anastara', 'Millie's Market Day', 'The People in My Neighborhood', 'All Kinds of Families', and 'Little Dragon Goes to School'. "These ones should do for a start," he said. "And I saw some cushions we could sit on while you read them."

[shiningkindness]

Fluttershy had been heading into town herself when one day when she spotted him, and with a smile she called out, "Hi, Lea...!"

[hotheadwarmheart]

"Hey, Fluttershy," Lea said, waving and heading over to meet her. "What brings you into town today?"

[shiningkindness]

"I was just doing a bit of shopping. With the Twilight Ball coming up, I thought I should maybe get a new dress."

She had a bit of money saved up, but she hoped it would be enough.

"How about you?"

[hotheadwarmheart]

"Eh, I was figuring I'd just rent a tux for that," Lea said. "Or whatever the local equivalent of a tux is. No sense straight up buying something like that when I'll only probably be wearing it once."

"But you're right," he said. "It probably wouldn't hurt to check around, even if that's not originally what I came for. I actually came into town to get some more food and stuff for Smoke, my rat. I've been stretching his supply a bit by giving him bits of toast and things from breakfast til I had time to go shopping, but it's probably not good to give him too much people food."

[shiningkindness]

"Well, that depends on what you're feeding him," Fluttershy replied with a smile. Animal care was definitely a topic she could talk about all day. "Toast is actually okay for rats, but you have to be careful because rats can choke on bread. But bread itself is pretty good for rats now and then."

[hotheadwarmheart]

Lea nodded at the advice. "Mostly I've been feeding him the same kind of stuff they gave me when I got him," he said. "Those little kibbles or pellets of rat food. Started running short on that earlier this week though and haven't been able to get into town til now, hence the toast. Let him try a bit of scrambled egg too, yesterday, and he seemed to think that was the best thing ever the way he gobbled it up."

"What are some things that it'd be good to give him for treats?", he asked. "I know there are some things that you're really not supposed to give cats and dogs, but I'm not sure about rats."

[afterthemoon]

Lea and Isa had decided to study in a little cafe instead of the library, or one of the dorm rooms, for a change of pace.

After some time, Isa leans back in his chair and starts pinching the bridge of his nose, seemingly nursing an apparent headache.

[hotheadwarmheart]

The change of scenery had been a good idea. Not only did this cafe have some really good cinnamon tea, the fresh air, actually made Lea more inclined to use this particular study session for actual studying- as opposed to their usual study sessions which tended to shift into 'random conversation sessions' fairly quickly.

When he noticed Isa rubbing the bridge of his nose though, he looked up from his History of Wizardry textbook, frowning slightly in concern. "You OK there, Isa?", he asked.

[afterthemoon]

He looks up at Lea, "I'm fine, just resting my eyes for a minute."

He turns his attention back to the textbook he was reading and if Lea is paying attention, he'll probably notice Isa squinting at it.

[hotheadwarmheart]

Well if Lea wasn't paying attention before, he certainly was now. After a moment's observation, Lea said, "You're having a hard time reading the textbook aren't you? And I don't mean in terms of understanding it I mean in terms of actually being able to see the text properly."

[afterthemoon]

Isa back looks up a Lea, a sheepish expression on his face. He had been trying to be discreet about it. Unfortunately, it looks like he wasn't being discreet enough.

"I was hoping you wouldn't notice that..."

[hotheadwarmheart]

"Probably because you knew I'd make you do something about it," Lea said. "Anyway, is this a recent problem, or has it been going on for awhile?"