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

[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?"

[hotheadwarmheart]

"Probably," Lea agreed. "But the strange theme is part of what makes it so unique. And weirdly enough it grows on you; it's kinda nice to see a place that takes something that's usually seen as dark and scary and making it seem a little less intimidating. I mean, not that it's not a serious thing when it's actually happening, but... well dark things can always do with a little lightening up now and then, you know?"

"We actually have a whole holiday sort of dedicated to that back home, called 'Halloween'," he said. "People dress up in monster costumes, put up spooky decorations at their houses, kids go door to door in costume at night collecting treats, and there's parties and costume parades; it's super fun. And yeah, it's a little dark and scary too, but none of it is actually dangerous, so you can still enjoy it."