YOU SCREAM FOR IKESCREAMS

[raw_angel_power]

Who: Pit and Ike.
What: Ike doesn't understand why ice cream shops exist.
Where: In town. Sprinkletown.
When: March 28th.

When it had been snowing ice cream in January, Ike had been boggled by the concept of ice cream and why it had to come out of the sky. He also did not understand where it was supposed to come from, and neither did Pit. The only answer the angel could come up with was 'ice cream shop', to which Ike scratched his head and wondered why the creamy dessert deserved its own specialty store. And so, Pit decided this was criminal and that he should show him the ice cream shop pronto. Or, at least, when the weather stopped being below freezing.

It was pushed out of his mind after their exchange only to reoccur to him late in March when he mispronounced 'ice cream' as 'ike cream' in one of his reading lessons, and then, the epiphany hit him like a meteor impact. "Oh, right!" he declared, shooting out of his seat. "I was gonna take Ike for ice cream!" After that, he retained that little reminder and sought out Ike to ask when they should go. Friday afternoon was established.

And here they were. At Sprinkletown. But there would be no gay drama unfolding in THIS sprinkletown! It was a cheery atmosphere with pastel walls and a checkered floor. The place wasn't busy and sure enough, tubs of ice cream were submerged beneath cases classifying what flavor they were. It was the first thing Pit pressed his face against.

"This is it! This is the ice cream in its natural state!" he told him, jamming a finger against the glass.

Comments

[welikeike]

Ike peered through the glass at Pit's side. There were canisters upon canisters of frozen goop that kind of resembled mashed potatoes in appearance, only wildly colored. There was mint chocolate chip with a pastel green speckled with brown flecks of dark chocolate, but then there was a rainbow mess of sherbert. Natural state? Hardly believable. Nothing that colorful could be natural.

The mercenary just took a moment to look at it all. "They're really colorful," he commented, backing away from the glass. He decided to look at the labels for guidance. 'Soccer Mania', bananas foster, butter pecan, pink bubblegum... Some of them made no sense, even after he read the description.

He hoped he didn't have to pick one.

[raw_angel_power]

That's just too bad, Ike. Pit's going to make you pick one.

"That's because they have so many flavors." He pried himself from the glass and dawdled over to another section of the case to eyeball more of them. "Which ones look good to you?"

[welikeike]

Great.

Ike stared into the glass in contemplation. He couldn't pick a flavor, so maybe he could just straight-up tell Pit to pick one for him. "What's your favorite?" he asked. He'd just get whatever that was.

[raw_angel_power]

If Pit had known Ike was not in the spirit of exploring his various ice cream options, then he would be greatly disappointed. "Mine's chocolate cookies and cream!" he exclaimed, then skipped over to its hiding place. "It's got chocolate chips in it. It's sooooo good."

[welikeike]

"I'll get that one. Cookies and cream."

He had no idea if his and Pit's tastes would align, but it would save him from making the choice. The choice that was way more complicated than it needed to be. Besides, cookies and cream didn't sound as odd as "Incredible Beetle-Boy 2" flavor, so. That was what he'd get.

[pitticus]

"Now that's what I like to call a good decision!" cried Pit with a sideways pump of his arm. He swiveled around and approached the counter, where the scantily-clad polar bear stood in all his chill glory. Pit gave him his order and slapped some coinage into his paw, and right away he got to scooping their ice cream into sugar cones.

"Are you ready to scream for ice cream, Ike?" he asked with subdued excitement.

[welikeike]

"What?" Ike didn't get the phrase. "Uh, I'll leave the screaming up to you."

No fun Ike.

[raw_angel_power]

"Yeeeeah, ice creeeeeeam!" belted the angel as he stretched out his hand to receive the cone that he paid for. There were two things he was excited for: sinking his mouth into the creamy chippy goodness and waiting to see what his new friend thought of the dessert. The first one was accomplished in no seconds flat. While he took his first bite, his watchful eyes focused in on Ike's next move.

[welikeike]

Ike copied Pit and took the cone from the polar bear dude, who gave him a short nod. His sunglasses glinted, too. Why was he wearing those inside? What a mystery.

Anyway, he had some ice cream to sample. Ike took a step back and looked at Pit as he took his gleeful first bite. It couldn't be that bad: it was just sweet cold stuff. Kind of like snow. Ike realized that Pit was watching him intently, which made him sigh.

"Is it that interesting to you?" he asked, but then he just focused on his ice cream again. "Alright, I'll try it."

Ike bit into the ice cream with his teeth, much like how Pit did. He let it melt in his mouth while he chewed the cold chocolate chips, and he looked at his ice cream cone some more. "It's okay," he said, his head moving from side to side. "I'm still not a big fan, but it's fine."

[pitticus]

Pit's face fell. "What? Seriously? What's wrong? Is it the chocolate chips?"

[welikeike]

He shrugged with one shoulder. "No. I told you I'm not into sweets, and ice cream didn't change my mind."

[raw_angel_power]

"Oh."

Man, what a bummer. He bathed his tongue in another lick of creamy deliciousness and wondered how Ike could find it so mediocre.

"Um, do you wanna sit down and eat?" he asked, already scooting over to the door. "We can sit inside, but let's sit outside since it's nice and not too cold." He opened the jingly door for him. "Or we could stroll around and see the city sights! I don't care."

[welikeike]

"It's fine either way," he replied nonchalantly, trying a bit more of the ice cream. It was like a constant experiment: he'd never had anything that was supposed to be eaten frozen before. It was strange and new, so he kept taking bites until his teeth got so cold that his head hurt. He squeezed his eyes shut.

[raw_angel_power]

Ike, you're eating ice cream all WRONG. Pit noticed him scrunching his face up like that as he exited from the shop.

"Is it really that bad?" he questioned in a concerned tone. Nobody he knew made faces like that when they indulged in ice cream.

[welikeike]

"No! It's just really cold," he said, sounding strained and pressing his fingers against his temples. "So cold that it hurts my head."

He looked at Pit's ice cream and then at his own, which he realized was much more gone than Pit's. "Yeah, okay. I'm eating this wrong. I told you I don't have this where I'm from, so I just dove into it without thinking. It feels like my head is freezing over."

[raw_angel_power]

"That's called brainfreeze," informed Pit. He saw his bitten ice cream and knew exactly what was up. "You can't scarf ice cream down like that, Ike! You have to take it slow, or else you'll be eating nothing but sweet pain and regret. How about you try licking it instead of chomping down like it's a big slab of meat?"

[welikeike]

"But that's all I know"

He looked at the teeth marks in his ice cream. "It's food, so I was eating it the way I'd eat food. Now I know better." Licking it is.

[raw_angel_power]

Pit let out a huge sigh and took another lick of his ice cream. "I wish it wasn't so disappointing to you," he said as he wandered over to hit the crosswalk button. "Sorry you came out all this way just for brainfreeze. Maybe there's something else you could try?"

[welikeike]

Ike shook his head briefly. "I appreciate it anyways, Pit. Besides, it's like you said: I had nothing to lose. And it's not that bad, honest. I bet my sister would like this."

Just as he was saying those things, the two were passing a pizza parlor on their idle stroll. Ike slowed down a bit, curious about the smell in the air. It was unique: something he'd never tried for sure. What could it be? He looked around them.

[raw_angel_power]

It was the pizza place across the street from Sprinkletown. Since Pit brought up other options, he stopped to hang around the entrance, breathing in the aroma of rising dough, baking cheese, and the whole party of topping smells that mingled with the main deal. It sure was enticing, even though he was tongue-deep in ice cream. He wondered if Ike would be interested in that.

"Have you heard of pizza yet?"

[welikeike]

Pizza. Ike looked at Pit squarely and shook his head. "No. Is it a food?" He took another lick of the ice cream.

[raw_angel_power]

"Yeah. Check it out." He pointed to the menu that had a photo of pizza on it, then to the interior of the restaurant. "It's like pie, only flat and less crumbly, topped with sauce, cheese, and whatever else you want. It's soooo good! Pizza's the perfect party food when you don't feel like cooking. Just call and order and they'll deliver it right to your door." Pit had ordered his fair share of pizzas in the past. A clear favorite.

[welikeike]

As foreign and new as pizza looked to Ike, it didn't look so bad. And if it was as Pit said, it wasn't too strange of a concept. Like a flattened pie, but with the toppings right on top. In fact, it looked tasty. He continued to stare at the picture, but his eyes focused on the menu beyond the glass.

"Looking at it makes me hungry," he realized, even though he was already eating ice cream and everything. Not a huge surprise, considering how often Ike was hungry and how much he ate in a day.

[raw_angel_power]

Pit tore his eyes away from the parlor and landed them on Ike's face with an expectant gleam in his eyes. "Then... you wanna go for a slice? It'll be on me as my way of making up for the ice cream you didn't care about! Dessert first this time. How about it?" He was bouncing on his heels in the way he did when he was excited about something.

[welikeike]

He smirked. "I told you, you don't have to make it up to me for treating me to something new," he reminded him. But then he faced Pit and added, "But I wouldn't mind trying it. Let's do it."