Free ice cream! [open]

[hack_rat]

 Alex sat beneath the shade of a large tree in a decent sized park. Those familiar with New York might recognize the sky scrapers in the distance, even if they didn't recognize the park itself.  Parked on a small service road was an ice cream truck with a merry vendor, who claimed that it was customer appreciation day, and was thus giving ice cream

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[zouichi]

Zouichi looked around at the buildings, curious; it looked just like the old pictures of New York he'd read about in books, a mass of tall buildings and sidewalks (no one had yet to yell at him to stop standing around blocking traffic, though). Alex was fairly easy to find, resting in the shade eating his ice cream.

As he approached, he didn't call out, but rather began tapping rapidly on his Omnicomm, presenting Alex with the screen after he was finished.

You must tell me how to beat the boss, it said. My units simply do not have the offensive power to destroy him and his minions.

He paused, then typed an additional, Nice park, by the way.

[hack_rat]

Alex read it and laughed, "You t-tell me. I think the AI m-might be a b-bit too intuitive. It l-learns your m-methods a b-bit too well. T-try doing something t-totally unlike y-your normal methods."

He looked around at the park, "I-it's a f-few blocks from my h-home. It's n-not quite as nice as Central P-Park, but... Is there a r-reason you're ty-typing on your o-omnicomm?"

[zouichi]

Totally unlike my normal methods? He thought for a minute, then typed, I always attempt to finish the levels in the most efficient manner possible. Are you saying that I must try to be less efficient?

What park is this? Bryant? It is still quite nice.

I seem to be under some sort of magical effect that randomly activates when I speak aloud. I am trying not to cause any more incidents until I can get this issue resolved.

[hack_rat]

"Marcus G-Garvey park, actually. M-maybe being less efficient would confuse the AI. Try being efficiently inefficient?" At least Alex didn't seem bothered by the communication method. It was a way that he wasn't totally unfamiliar with, since it hadn't been entirely uncommon for him to get nervous enough that he couldn't talk.

"I w-wish I lived near B-Bryant Park. There's s-some nice penthouses over th-there."

[ronnae]

Ronnae was looking forward to hanging with her friend again. She took in the city with curiosity and wanderlust, taking a bit of time to just admire and take note of the architecture.

After a bit she spotted the man giving out the ice cream and she couldn't help but smile wide. Sure it wasn't the ice cream shop in Silvermoon but it might be just as good!

She fidgeted a bit before getting close, forgetting for a moment that it was a sensorium person. Walking up she offered a cheery smile, "Double scoop strawberry with white fudge dipped strawberries, strawberry syrup, mint chips and sprinkles please!" She blushed a bit doing the order herself, it was usually one of her siblings ordering it for her and she just realized how ridiculous she sounded saying it. Though to be fair, their own choices were even more outrageous.

After acquiring her icecream she looked around for Alex. After noticing him she gave a shy wave and approached timidly his way.

[hack_rat]

Alex waved at Ronnae, "H-hey! How're you? T-that looks good!"

He was glad that other people were taking advantage of the park and the ice cream truck.

[ronnae]

She grinned wide, having already learned to feel a bit more comfortable around Alex. "It's my all time favorite from back home!" She took a lick and settled besides him.

[hack_rat]

"I u-usually g-go for the birthday c-cake flavoured ice c-cream, b-but I decided ta ch-change it up today!"

[morphitudinous]

Billy had been pleased to find Alex's message---perfect! He was checking off the list one by one, and here was an opportunity to boost his friend's confidence. He could hardly wait.

"Alex!" Billy called happily, sitting beside him and Alice. Ice cream could wait. There were other matters to attend to. "How have you been?"

[hack_rat]

Alex had felt weird making that post openly, but he had realized the list of people he wouldn't mind seeing had extended beyond the number that it would make any sense locking the message to.

Seeing Billy he waved with a big smile on his face, "Good! H-how about you, B-Billy?"

[morphitudinous]

"Same here," Billy answered, smiling down at Alice for a moment before turning back to her owner. "I'm finally making progress on some projects that have been waiting for a while: specifically, we're getting the department organized. We'll have infrastructure specialists, programmers, mechanics, and a number of other crews, but people can belong to more than one."

That was the first thing to get out of the way. "Your best area is programming, right?"

[hack_rat]

Alex nodded with a smile, suspecting nothing. "Y-yeah, I'm a-actually not th-that great with anything else, though it'd be interesting to learn other things t-too, e-especially building c-computer parts.

"Do ya n-need help w-with paper w-work, or databasing?"

[8wings]

Anwei stepped into the Sensorium a little less gingerly than the last time - she was still going to have to ask Stacy about setting a telltale. She was wearing her usual denim shirt shrugged over her plantsuit, and there was a distinct bounce in her step as she moved. She had good news to share.

"Hello, Alex," she said, coming to stand beside him. "What do you recommend for ice cream? I don't think I've ever had it before."

[hack_rat]

"Anwei! I-it's good ta see you! I'm a b-bit partial ta Birthday C-Cake, but I d-decided ta g-go with ch-choc-colate strawberry sprinkle c-caramel c-cone."

He offered his cone to her, "Y-you c-can try if you'd like!"

[8wings]

"Oh, may I?" With a squinch of mental effort she called up a spoon, neatly took a bit off the top of the cone, and tasted it.

"It amazes me what your cultures do with animal milk," she said, rolling the taste of the ice cream over in her tongue. "I think I like the chocolate best, out of this combination. Oh, I did look for chocolate on Gondepetil, but I couldn't find any. I did find some hard candy, would you or Alice like some?" She took a small metal box out of her pocket and rattled its contents invitingly.

[hack_rat]

Alex laughed a bit nervously, scratching at the back of his head. "Th-thanks, I'd l-love one! Wh-what's it made of? I-it's n-not good for Alice t-ta have too much s-sugar. T-those are j-just sensorium f-food, so she c-can enjoy as m-many as she'd l-like.

"Th-the vendor'll l-let you taste a-as many as you'd l-like, if you w-wanna t-try."

[alwaysamoirail]

Kanaya was curious about the ice cream, but even more than that, she'd decided the company would help. She walked slowly towards the ice cream truck, still taking in the nature and the skyline behind it; it was all disarmingly human, or at least disarmingly highblood. That wasn't to say it was a bad thing, though.

Once she got closer to the ice cream truck and the gathering, she decided to approach Alex and the others first. "Hello, Alex. It was quite generous of you to extend the invitation." She tried for an authentically human smile, trying not to let her frayed nerves show as much as she was feeling them.

[hack_rat]

The only thing Alex considered himself any good at when it came to inter-personal relations was knowing when someone wasn't feeling good. He literally would need to be blind to not be able to tell when someone was upset.

But one thing he learned from his friend Mikel was that you didn't always need to address something directly in order to help it get better. As such, he pretended he didn't see the small shadow and smiled brightly at Kanaya. "I f-figured, th-this was always a p-public p-place at home, wh-where even p-people with nothing else c-could enjoy something nice. It f-feels odd when I r-recreate the place with no people. Why n-not let r-real people enjoy it too?"

[alwaysamoirail]

"I suppose I can understand," replied Kanaya. "If it was a communal place in the real world, it ought to be a communal place here. Nonetheless, I appreciate you sharing it with us all." With all her recent wandering in the city, Kanaya's curiosity about human life had only grown, and it was a pleasure to see a little of it firsthand -- and, of course, it was a pleasure to see Alex again.

As if suddenly remembering just why she'd come, Kanaya glanced towards the ice cream truck. "Do you have any recommendations, by the way? This will be my first time with ice cream." Well, it was true; with the exception of certain wicked elixirs, sugarcraft was a rather limited art form on Alternia.

[hack_rat]

"I'm g-glad you appreciate it th-then," he said.

Considering Zouichi's reaction to the Birthday Cake ice cream, he suggested, "Ch-chocolate i-is usually a g-good standard. O-or vanilla. M-most people l-like them, or at the v-very least don't dislike them."