Colored Ice [Callie]

After having dealt with the clients he had on the list for today, it was nigh time for a well deserved break. Well, break in some sense of the word, as he figured he wouldn't be out for very long, as he still had some homework to complete that was due fairly soon. School could be a pain at times. He couldn't wait to graduate so he didn't have to tackle assignments on top of normal work and have more free time that did not involve responsibilities. Meh. Then again, what would he really do in this city anyway?

Locking up the door behind himself and pocketing his keys into the tightfitted black jacket he was currently wearing, Zane would make his way through the district, having a casual stroll and checking out the windows of some of the shops on the way. Eventually though, he decided to make a stop by an ice cream stand, scoping out for some cool refreshment to go along with his chill time.

Left, right, left again, wait was it a left or right here? Ahh no time to think! Uh, LEFT! Uhh, yeah this looks about right! Jump over that trash can, follow this path round to the right and finally take a last left aaaannddd! "TIME!" The young vixen would shout out excitedly as she slammed her hand onto the button on some weird watch Kay had 'leant' her that had a stop watch mode. Panting rather heavily as she stared down to read the numbers displayed on the screen. Taking quite a while to actually figure out which number was what and exactly what time it ended up meaning in the end. "Four... Four fifty, t-thr-no two! Four minutes fifty two seconds! That's a new record by like... Uhhh... One, two, threeeee... Seven seconds!" Callie would say cheerfully to herself as she spun round on the spot and pulled her hood slightly further over her head as it fell a little. That was the fastest she had ever ran that little route through the alleyways! She was getting faster and faster each day!

Taking a moment to look around herself for the first time since bursting out of the side alley, she'd smile awkwardly through her pants at a few people who were walking past her before spotting something fairly close to her that caused her tail to want to start wagging uncontrollably under her clothes. "Ice cream!" She'd shriek excitedly as she rushed over towards the stand, having to que up behind some other guy who had gotten there first, lightly bouncing on her feet in excitement and joy.

Hmmm. Zane was busying himself looking over the ice cream flavors that were on display, debating on which to pick when his musings were somewhat distracted by a young girl rushing over to stand in the line behind him. Huh, well, that was pretty sudden. Not that he was disturbed by it or anything though. More or less just a casual observation. Glancing at her from the corner of his vision, he took notice that she seemed quite eager to have her turn. Meanwhile, he wasn’t even sure which he wanted yet. Blinding.

Deciding to do a good deed of the day, the young man would step to the side slightly, turning towards the blonde girl. “You can go first if you want.”, he’d offer.

There were just so many flavours to choose from though, it was always a mental scurry of names flying this way and that, some being sorted into the 'bleh' files, others into the 'maybe' files, even other others being in the 'ooohhh more likely than the maybe' files. There was chocolate, strawberry, mint, vanilla, butter, caramel, mixtures of multiple flavours together, some other ones that she didn't know how to read and wasn't sure what they actually were from the pictures but didn't look as nice as the other ones that she did know from the pictures as she had asked about what they were before and so knew what they were now without needing to read the words under the pictures and such. BUT! Then there was the best one of all! The cookie dough flavour! Which honestly, why she even had this mental dilemma when she often just chose that one in the end every time was beyond her.

With a beaming smile on her face, the young girl would curtsy slightly before dashing in front of the guy who had offered for her to go first eagerly with a pleasantly cheery: "Thank you~!" To accompany the rushed action. The ice cream vendor would seem to give off a short chuckle when he noticed the girl, clearly being familiar with her presence around this part of town and her love for ice cream. The vendor would politely ask the girl if she wanted her 'usual', to which she'd nod and call out all the parts to her usual as the man put it together. "Yup, yup! Double cookie dough dollops with one of those big cones, lots a' lots a those sprinkle things. Yup, those ones! Then with those two different squirty sauce things that you put on top of them. Uhh... What's their names? Hm... Yeah, those are the ones I meant though! And finally one of them flake things!"

Giggling happily, Callie would exchange her over dressed ice cream cone for some of the VC she had in her pockets still from the last time Kay gave her some pocket money before digging in happily beside the place, deciding that she wanted to concentrate more on eating than walking back yet. She was still tired from all that running after all! "Thanks a lot~!" She'd call, both to the supplier of the ice cream as well as to the guy who let her go first. "Which ice cream are you gonna get mister?" She'd ask, assuming the guy was friendly enough to have a small chat with alongside her unstoppable curiosity on the smaller things in life. There was nothing else she had to do right now anyway~.

Well well, that was certainly an interesting scene to behold. Zane had figured the girl behind him was pretty excited to get her ice cream, but he sure wasn't prepared for the surprisingly giddy onslaught that erupted soon after he let her order first. Heh. Well, at least he got an amusing show out of this, if nothing else. Then again, it wasn't like he was in that much of a hurry anyway, so it wouldn't have been a bother regardless.

For the most part, the young man would simply watch with a mildly amused expression, not having any reason to interrupt the girl from getting her ice cream put together. It would just seem creepy to do something like that either way. Nevertheless, he would give the blonde a faint cheeky smile when she said her thanks a second time. "No big deal." Nah, not like it took forever and it did give him a bit of extra time to try and pick what he wanted to get, which he kind of appreciated. Albeit he still wasn't completely sure what to get. Frankly, he wasn't that picky of a person, so several flavors sounded appealing enough while he didn't really plan to get a big heap of ice cream right now. Hmm. He would tap a finger against his chin in brief thought, glancing towards the girl once more as she asked him a question. "I think...I shall go with one scoop of caramel. Nice and simple.", he would answer, nodding towards the vendor as a confirmation of his offer.

As if she hadn't eaten in days, Callie would be licking at her ice cream with a very fast pace, occasionally stopping to either take a bite out of the flake or to take a full bite of the ice cream itself and eat it that way. The treat was so delicious and cold, it was very refreshing after her sprint down the alleys. Even if the result of her eating it this fast was imminent brain freeze. The girl would shudder slightly as the expected brain freeze hit, smiling sheepishly as she continued to eat her ice cream anyway but at a slightly slower rate now.

"Hey, would ya slow down a bit with that! You know it makes me feel funny when you get brain freeze! It's not like the ice creams going anywhere if you slow down a bit Cals, neheh." Terra's voice would speak to Callie from within her head as the brain freeze struck, causing the girl to laugh at seemingly nothing before patting her own head and telling her shadow that she'd slow down a bit mentally. To which the shadow fox would add a cheeky remark. "You think you could save me a bit for later too? Nehehe."

As for the mans response for what he was getting, it was a little disappointing how simple of an order he decided on. Not that it actually mattered to the girl, it didn't affect her or anything, she just saw it as a shame herself to waste such variety! "Caramel ice cream is awesome too, that's one of my favourites alongside cookie dough, vanilla, chocolate, strawberry and buttered! Though I suppose that isn't saying much when you have so many favourites, huh? I actually like all of the flavours, except mint. Mint is too, uh... What's the word..." The girl would pause, her face locked in a contemplated stare off into the distance as she rattled her brain to find the word that fit what she meant. Breaking her near motionless thoughts only by raising her ice cream up to her mouth once more and giving it a few licks before lowing it again.

"Spicy?" Zane would suggest offhandedly to the side as he got a hold of his own ice cream, searching through his pockets for the money to pay with. "I think all ice cream is good when you don't eat it often enough for it to start getting old though." He kind of didn't really have super clear favorites, and besides, he only really ate ice cream once in a while. There were other types of sweets that he kind of preferred more in most cases, although he had nothing against an occasional step outside the box. It's not like he was in the mood to search for a different candy shop at the moment, so ice cream it was. It was as simple as that, really. Nevertheless, he would proceed to pay the vendor guy for his fill, moving away to the side himself in case any other customers came in as well.

"Spicy?" The young girl would repeat after the guy had, being knocked from her thinking trance as she mulled over the word given to her. "No... I don't think that's the right word, spicy things are usually hot or like, make your tongue burn. Mint is more, fresh? But like, a weird kind of fresh. Like it leaves this odd feeling in your mouth and you can feel it when you breath kind of fresh. I think. Does that make sense?" Even if it was a little odd to be asking some stranger who she hadn't even asked if he was fine with her talking to him or not about how mint tasted, Callie had always been the type of girl to not judge anyone poorly for no reason. Everyone was a nice or had the potential to be a nice person if given the chance, and the guy had already done a nice thing for her so for the moment she saw him as being in her good books.

Lightly rocking from her heels to toes and back again, the girl would continue to engulf her ice cream as she thought about the words that followed. "I can sometimes get a little bored of a flavour, though I don't think I'd ever straight up not want ice cream. It's by far one of my favourite treats to have! I just love how cool and refreshing it is, especially after a long sprint like I was just doing. Hehe."

Well, yesss, it wasn't exactly spicy as in spicy hot, but he wasn't sure whether there was actually a good enough word for that. Personally he would probably just describe the flavor as minty, and leave it at that. In most cases, that would be more than enough to get the point across after all. Zane would shrug lightly. "Uhh, it's like toothpaste I guess? I wonder if that means someone's tried to make toothpaste flavored ice cream too..." Well, that was kind of a weird thought, but he probably couldn't put it past people to do that. There were plenty odd ass inventions to be found, even within the realm of food.

He would take a taste of his ice cream before giving the girl a light smirk. "Cool stuff is always great after exercise. I just prefer other types of candy and sweets over ice cream. Like pancakes with maple syrup." Orrr, maybe one could put ice cream on top of that too....? Hmmm. That was actually a blinding idea.

"Oh! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! It's like toothpaste, and toothpaste always leaves that fresh taste in your mouth cause its cleans your teeth and makes your breath smell nice, right? So its kinda like that. Which just personally, toothpaste isn't really a food flavour, which is why I find it weird on ice cream." The young girl would nod, happy with her conclusion on the topic. It was simply just a flavour that reminded her of something she didn't enjoy doing, she was never a fan of brushing her teeth. Obviously she did it anyway, she didn't want her teeth to like, fall out or anything. That'd really suck! T-though it was still something she wished she didn't have to do _every_ night. Ya know? At least it wasn't as bad as taking a bath or having a shower. Those were horrible, being wet was the worst.

Wait why was she thinking about baths? Uh. Oh! Callie would give the guy a pleasant smile in return as she listened to his take on treats. Which she must admit, made her really want some pancakes now... "Mmm... I love other kinds of sweets too, all kindsa ones. I was just saying that I love ice cream no matter what. Nothing wrong with having both every now and then, right? Hehe." With a brief pause to lick her ice cream once more, Callie would realize she had already eating over half of the thing already. H-heh, she knew she was hungry but that was still fast even for her! She needed to slow down a little to make sure any was actually left for Terra. Despite this however, the girls stomach would rumble lightly. "E-eheh... I really fancy some pancakes now..."

Zane would chuckle slightly. "I think it's just cause most toothpastes are mint flavored. It's a pretty specific flavor. I kinda like mint sweets though. They're better than toothpaste cause they're actually sweet." While toothpaste was just very minty to the point of burning your tongue with the taste. He didn't mind the flavor too much however. Mint was definitely way above some other bad tasting options a toothpaste could be like. Just imagine brushing your teeth with something that tasted like rotten fish for example...man, that would be terrible in all kinds of ways.

"Even in winter? I feel like an ice cube just thinkin' about having ice cream when it's already cold outside." That was one of the times where he would definitely want to opt for something different. Just like avoiding hot treats during a strong summer. Stuff that makes matters worse is a pain in the ass. Zane would give the girl an amused glance for a moment as she spoke about wanting pancakes. "Dontcha have to finish this one first?", he would poke at her somewhat teasingly before shrugging a bit. "I dunno if they sell pancakes anywhere close by though. That's the kinda stuff I usually either cook or at least buy in a mall." He had no idea if there was like a pancake stall thing around here.

"Uh huh! I mean, sure it isn't the best to eat outside when its cold. But you can still be inside in your warm cozy room and have ice cream just fine, ya know? Though don't turn the heating up too high, or it starts melting way too fast! And you get moaned at by the other people in the house... The girl would say with a lopsided grin, remembering back to a time when everyone was out of the house and she had turned the heating up and forgot about it so when they got back it was like stepping into an oven. Apparently it had messed with one or Professor J's experiments... T-though he said it caused another one to be done much faster than expected, s-so you win some you lose some?

"I'm not aware of any either..." She'd reply, slightly defeated as she took the time to stare up and down the street anyway to see if she could spot a place that looked like it sold pancakes. Though when she thought about it, what does a place that sell pancakes look like? She hadn't recalled there being a special kind of place just for them and, uh, her memory for any other place possibly having them wasn't quite the most reliable source. "Heh, it's okay. I can just ask Kay to make me some when I get back home! I'm sure she wouldn't mind, or she will be busy but let me do it myself or something. Though often times even if she is busy she prefers to stop whatever she'd doing instead of risking letting me cook for myself. I teeennndddd to make quite a mess, hehe." At this point, the young vixen's ice cream had nearly all but been eaten and she had purposefully tried to stop herself from eating any more for now. Though the occasional lick was still in order just to keep the taste lingering in her mouth, ya know?

"I live alone so complaints ain't a big deal. Naah though, I'd probably stick to keeping myself warm rather than tryin' to put hot and cold together." He wasn't addicted to ice cream, so he saw no problem with laying it off during cold times. In fact, it would likely not even cross his mind to stuff himself full of cold stuff when it was a better idea to conserve the warmth.

Hmm, Zane would glance around himself when the topic of pancake stalls came up, though he doubted it would be so simple that they'd see one right away. Luck generally wasn't that generous as far as he was aware. Eh, what gives. He would chomp off some off his ice cream as he gave the blonde an ok sign with his free hand. "Guess that works. 's that a relative of yours? Maybe you should have her teach you how to make less mess. Then you can cook by yourself." That's better than bothering people all the time, right?

At first Callie would pull a slightly worried looking face as the guy mentioned he lived on his own, though this quickly left as she thought about it more. He did look a lot older than her, he was probably old enough to live on his own and look after himself. Though the idea of living alone still kinda sucked to her. "Living alone isn't always that great, even if it does mean that you never get complained at, or you can do whatever you like. I've always preferred living with others once I got the chance." The girl would nod before adding. "Though, I suppose everyone's different, huh? Some might like the quiet, I guess." Even if loud noises pained her sensitive ears, Callie had always been one to like being around noise and commotion rather than dead silence. Silence was creepy.

The young girl would pull an odd face for a moment, folding one lip over the other, scrunching up her face slightly and staring upwards in thought of the question asked. "Kinda? Not really. I mean, the blunt answer is no. Me and Kay aren't related, though I have been living in the same home as her for the past five years. So she's more liiikkeee, what was that word people used. A, uhm... A guardian! I think." The girl would remember the word, saying it confidently at first before adding that last part as slight doubt crept in. Though she was pretty sure she was right with that one. "To be honest, it's less that I'm messy in the way that I get stuff everywhere... Whiiichhh, granted I do that sometimes too. It's more I'm really forgetful, so I tend to forget to set the alarm when cooking things. Then I forget about the thing myself. Then later on there's just this weird smell of burning, then the foods all ruined." The blonde girl would explain with a sheepish grin as she swiveled on her heels.

Zane would scratch the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, I ain't gonna just move in with some random stranger, ya know?" That would be rather weird, and serve nearly no point. He didn't need to find himself a roommate for absolutely no reason. Besides, managing a lot of things was simply easier when one didn't need to take other people in mind. And he kind of had plenty company anyway, when he considered the fact that his job required him to deal with some social contact.

"Ah, 's that so? Maybe you should just stay by the food as it cooks then. You can't forget about it if you don't let it leave your sight.", he would suggest with a faint grin. And if you forget even then...well, that would be kinda weird. Can you really forget about something that's right in front of you? That certainly shouldn't happen in a normal case scenario.