Ice Cream Truck Beat

[ViolentMedic]

((Daniel 'Danny' Brooks continued from Having Fun Isn't Hard.))

Work was boring. Work was sooo boring. Capitalism or whatever it was that made jobs and money necessary was balls. Why couldn't the world just be made in a way that let him dance or draw shit or whatever instead of standing here?

Danny tried not to look bored as he stood at the counter, staring at the metric shitload of ice-cream, because he'd gotten yelled at already today for being late to work. He didn't want to push his luck. But, as great a food as ice-cream was, it was very hard to look excited about it. Especially with no customers currently in the place.

He drummed his fingers against the counter and hummed a tune under his breath, before bouncing around a little on his feet. He was in a dancing mood, and it was making his feet itchy. It couldn't be that long until his break, could it? Could it?!

Oh my god, it had only been half an hour since he got there.

Time was the worst.

[Sansa]

OSKAR PEARCE: START

Oskar Pearce wouldn't call the Diamondback Ice-Cream Parlour one of his regular haunts.

As much of a sweet tooth as he possessed, it was rare for him to indulge it in every single café and eatery in town. His spare income was pretty scant nowadays, and it was a fat chance that he'd allow himself to consume just as many calories as his heart desired. All the pilates and cheerleading routines in the world couldn't make up for a slow metabolism and a strong weakness for chocolate, so abstaining from it was usually his method of choice.

Some days, however, Oskar really needed something sweet. A burst of sugary goodness was just the trick to keep up his energy and peppiness, especially when the stresses and events of the day had steadily been whittling away at it. Unfortunately, his very favourite café was temporarily closed, so instead of acquiring a mug of his favourite Ferrero Rocher hot chocolate – the desire for which had been gradually escalating throughout the day – he'd instead set off on an impromptu search for a suitable replacement.

It didn't take him long to settle on Diamondback. It'd been a family favourite, way back when he was little and things were easier, and he knew that a fair few of his classmates worked there. Even if he didn't have the good fortune to run into one of them, he could still snatch a few moments of quality conversation with whomever served him as a consolation prize. All of the friends he'd contacted were sadly otherwise preoccupied or hadn't yet responded to his texts. It seemed like it'd been forever since he'd properly talked to someone, and he felt that if he didn't manage it soon he'd go stir crazy.

Crazy wasn't a good look on him.

His mind made up, Oskar strode into the parlour, the top-knot he'd pulled his hair into bobbing in his wake and his ugg boots padding softly against the tiled floor. As he took in his newfound surroundings, the carefully maintained warm visage that Oskar projected over his features quickly gave way to a much more genuine grin. Daniel Brooks wasn't someone he was particularly close to, but he was a familiar, friendly, and popular face, and right now Oskar really couldn't have asked for anyone better. Sadly, the parlour was wholly empty save for the two of them, but while Oskar preferred to be around as many people as possible, he could at least take comfort in the knowledge that he was assured at least a semi-decent conversation.

"Hey Danny!" He chirped, energy instantly picking up as he bounced jovially towards the counter. "How're you?"

[ViolentMedic]

Danny, upon hearing the door make that little tinkling noise of the door opening, stretched out his arms as though Oskar was a traveling water salesman in the middle of a desert. Or a camel. Camels had water inside them, didn't they? He should google it.

Oskar was cool. Super-cheery and bubbly and all that. Really good at all that cheerleading stuff, which was like one step off from dancing, so that made him cool. And okay, Danny might have mistaken him for a girl first time they met and mistakes--awkward, flirting mistakes--may have briefly spawned from that understanding, but that was water under the bridge. Or something.

"Thank god you're here. It's so empty here. I'm so bored. I'm dying. Entertain me or you'll be responsible for my death from boredom." Danny grinned and stopped the melodrama before leaning on the counter. "Seriously, what's up? Stuff good? You want some ice-cream? That's cool." After a pause, he digested his accidental pun and laughed. "Heh. 'Cool.'"

[Emprexx Plush]

((BREAWARE, ISAAC LIVES))

Ice cream was the kind of thing you didn't really make a case against. Unless it would, y'know, kill you or something. Then maybe you could get away with it. Otherwise though, it was pretty much the shit. That'd be why despite knowing for a fact that one half of the Brooks brothers was working the counter today, he was rolling into Diamondback's with a smile.

"Sup?"

Things would probably stay pretty frosty while he was inside. Danny got all weird when he was around. Well, weirder than usual, which was saying something. Oskar probably wouldn't be an ass, but he reeeeaaally didn't want anything to do with that noise. The dude was kinda a spastic overachiever and way thirsty for attention, and Isaac's well of fucks was bone-dry today. This was a simple in and out job, no need for complications.

He tried to keep that in mind as his eyes drifted around the parlor and his feet carried him up to the counter, searching for what kind of trouble he could get into in here if he tried. Purely for speculation's sake to keep his mind occupied while he waited for Danny to get it together, of course. He'd never mess with a guy during his work hours, Scout's Honor.

Course, he never did do much with the Scouts, so maybe his "honor" was a little patchier than it should have been. He didn't figure on that being an issue, though.

[Somersault]

((Candice Banks Pregame Start!))

Candice loved ice cream. She loved digging into a tub of some chocolate goodness, while she watched Jane the Virgin on the couch. Perhaps it wasn't the healthiest thing to do, but for Candice, it was one of the most enjoyable things to do. Perhaps it couldn't measure up to singing or acting, but more than a lot of other things, Candice enjoyed it. For her, when she first ate ice cream, it wasn't exactly heavenly, but until she got up to those pearly white gates, she would consider it quite close.


Candice hummed as she entered Diamondback, wearing a purple t-shirt, jeans, along with flip-flops. Her shoes sharply clacked as she entered, and the ring of the bell above the door, echoed a bit in her ears, but she ignored it. She was here! Ice cream was here, she had money in her wallet, and it was burning in her back pocket.

Walking to the counter, she saw two guys, and...Candice was fairly sure that person was a guy, but she wasn't entirely sure. However, she felt that her mood was lifted just by being here, and walked up to the guy at the counter, with a bounce in her step. It may have been more like a limp, but for now, Candice was just going to be getting some ice cream, and nothing would stop her.

Taking a moment to glance at the flavors, Candice walked up to the counter, and started to grin. "Hi! So, could I get one scoop of the chocolate?" She continued to smile, and also started to re-tie her hair.

[Sansa]

Oskar chuckled softly at Danny's pun, delicately clapping his hands together in appreciation for the his jest. He'd always appreciated the other boy's humour, and it was so good to have to someone around who was willing to part with a joke or two – especially when he hadn't entered the store in the most spectacular of moods. As he grinned back at Danny and formulated a reply to his query, though, he could already feel his emotions being buoyed.

"Yep, things are excellent! I've not got much on today, so I thought a nice trip into town would be the perfect recipe for something exciting! How about you? I hope the daily grind's not been too harsh on you."

Almost forgetting the secondary purpose behind entering the parlour, Oskar's eyes lit up as he hurriedly perused the multicoloured selection of creamy treats laid out before him. "Oh! And could I get a double scoop of chocolate and raspberry ripple, please?" He grinned as he spoke, absently sifting through his messenger bag to pull out of the coinage he'd need.

It didn't take long before another of his classmates entered: Isaac Brea, someone with whom he was similarly lacking in a strong acquaintance. He'd heard a few tales of the boys antics, and watched him a few times performing in talent shows in the like with his brother, Frederick. Isaac's twin was someone he adored spending time with, for he was pleasantly laidback and had an amazing voice. Honestly, Oskar couldn't help but wish it was him who'd walked through the doors instead – it would've saved him the anxiety over interacting with someone he didn't know too much about. Ordinarily, he knew just how to adjust the way he conveyed himself to suit whomever he was with at the time, but when it was with someone who was almost a mystery to him, he'd have to do it on the fly.

Figuring it'd be best to start off with his trademark exuberance, Oskar gave the other boy a sparkling grin and offered him a "Hey Isaac!", hoping it would be enough of an initial foundation.

And as luck would have it, yet another loose acquaintance of his entered shortly afterwards; Candice Banks, a junior whose sheer enthusiasm for singing made up for the fact that Oskar honestly didn't really like the way her voice sounded. It could've been worse, though – there were a lot more people to whom it was much harder to dish out compliments. And if he could apply the same veneer to Isaac he usually managed with Candance, maybe things wouldn't be too hard after all.

"Hey Candice!" He chirped, giving an obligatory greeting before picking up on the similarity between their orders. "Ooh, chocolate, aye? That's my favourite!"

[ViolentMedic]

"Daily grind's always the worst. It's times like this I wish I had, like, some sort of weird watch that you spin it forward and time skips ahead." But if he did that, what would happen to the him that was skipped over? Would they just auto-work? Would they still be bored? Would his consciousness then murder the other one once time stopped skipping ahead? That was some fucked up shit. If people all had time-winding watches that would be cool, though.

His mind got back on track at the ice-cream order. "That's a good choice. Coming right up."

As he shuffled around to where the relevant ice-creams were, other people ended.

First one was Isaac. Isaac was a dick. Danny tried not to say this to his face, but he was a fucking dick. Sometimes he picked on Danny's brother, and that shit was not on. Danny was totally going to stand up against the brother-bulliers one day. One day. He just... needed to prepare.

"Hey." His tone came off as surly, so Danny coughed lightly and said, "I mean, hi!" And that sounded excruciatingly fake-happy. Fuck it.

Second person, Danny wasn't so familiar with. He'd seen her around, but he couldn't really recall where. Oskar filled in her name, thankfully.

"Hey, Candice. One chocolate coming right up, after I get Oskar's thing." After he said it, Danny recalled that Isaac had been there first, but fuck it, he should have been faster with his choices. Danny located the scoop and started serving up Oskar's ice-cream.

[Emprexx Plush]

From the forced mood in here, he was starting wonder if he'd wandered into an ice cream parlor, or a funeral parlor. He'd ask who died, but he had a pretty good idea that it was everybody's good mood sometime after the heel of his shoe found it's throat in the doorway.

Whatever. He could play that up, but he wasn't in the mood to fuck around with the Thirsty Twins today, at least not when Danny was messing with his food. That was a line he tried not to cross most of the time, given all the ways he could think of offhand for someone to ruin food in a bad mood. Most of them would be pretty hard to pull off here, but why take the risk?

Isaac walked up to the counter, trying to ignore the other patrons as best he could to keep his eyes on the prize. He leaned in and tapped on the glass idly as he looked around, bobbing his head as he glanced between the flavors. "Chocolate chip cookie dough," he clipped out before raising his head with an equally fake, shit-eating grin to match Danny's, "when you get a sec."

[Somersault]

Candice smiled at Danny, and moved away from the counter for a bit. Ah, ice cream. Candice was looking forward to lazing about for the rest of the day, maybe skyping some friends, but not really doing much. While there were a few projects that still needed to be finished in a few weeks, and a few chores to be done, overall, it was a pretty easy day for Candice.

Hearing Oskar say hey to her, Candice turned around and waved. "Oh, hi Oskar!" While she didn't know Oskar all that well, Candice thought he was fairly nice, if a bit overexcited at times. Then, she saw Isaac.

While it wasn't as if Candice would kill Isaac in a heartbeat, but mainly from hearsay, he seemed to be a pretty big a-hole. Not that Candice would ever confront somebody about that, but Isaac would definitely not be part of her facebook friend list. Then, Candice took out her phone, and started to check Instagram. It didn't seem like there was a lot to do other than that, so she started to lean against the wall and scrolled through the pictures.

[Sansa]

Danny's time-travelling comment elicited another burst of Oskar's trademark laughter, causing him to reflect on his own workplace and the drudgery it sometimes caused him. Shifts practically flew by if he had Tiresias working alongside him or the store had enough customers to keep him occupied, but working in solitude got both terribly boring and terribly lonely. A time-winding watch would certainly help pass over those periods of solitude. In fact, it vaguely reminded him of a book they'd recently stocked – though the title completely eluded him. Oskar made a mental note to see if the store still had a copy – his reading list needed replenishment, and although it wasn't one of the Harlequin novels he'd grown so fond of recently he figured it'd be a good break.

As his friend went to prepare his food, Oskar couldn't help but notice that he'd been given priority over Isaac in the queue. That knowledge filled his heart with warmth and gave his smile a level of genuineness it hadn't experienced for a while, and although a small part of him he knew he shouldn't take pleasure in such prioritisation the temporary elation he was experiencing was enough to mute it.

"That would be cool, wouldn't it?" He said thoughtfully, gently placing a couple of notes upon the counter while Danny continued to work on his order. "Oh, and keep the change!" It wasn't too much extra - just a dollar or two - but it couldn't hurt, especially if it helped solidify a positive opinion of him in Danny's eyes.

Not wanting to provide too much of a distraction, lest he prove an annoyance to Danny, Oskar opted to adjust his messenger bag as he waited, smile still plastered warmly across his face.

[ViolentMedic]

"Sweet, thanks." Like Danny was going to say no to a couple of extra bucks. That was like... two free things off a dollar menu. He could live on that for two thirds of a day. Screw you, threat of starvation.

Danny handed Oskar his ice-cream before starting to scoop up Candice's. As he did so, he tried for an friendly customer service smile at Isaac. "And sure. One chocolate chip cookie dough coming up." Bah. Why'd he have to have good taste in ice-cream flavours? Whatever. Danny was gonna be polite. He was gonna polite the shit out of Isaac.

He finished serving Candice's chocolate ice-cream as well and held it out. "Hey, here's your ice-cream. It's great. Eat and be merry."

[Emprexx Plush]

He was so close. Just so, so close. Just a little longer of wearing on this pasted on smile and he'd earn his reward. Danny would be an open target later when he didn't have his food to fuck with and he could make up for all of this later, because he was guaranteed to have plenty of opportunities with this spaz. He was getting his ice cream, though, and he was getting it without any secret ingredients.

Isaac just nodded with forced politeness when Danny spoke. The mindless yammering between him and Oskar was making this way harder than it should have been. Why did people go in for this small talk shit? There is a service, there is money, exchange the two with as little effort as needed by both sides and get it all over with. It was a job, and yet Oskar was probably going to hang around and keep talking while his ice cream melted, and Danny was going to keep playing into it instead of just, y'know, doing what he's paid to do. It wasn't like they were real friends or anything anyway. He wasn't even sure if needy losers like those two could have real friends.

What a pain in the ass. At least the other girl had the decency to hang out and quietly stare at her phone, not bothering anybody, more specifically him.

Isaac hung around quietly until his ice cream was ready. He paid and swiped it up without a word and stalked out of the ice cream parlor. This whole scene was way too irritating for him to stick around, so he'd find somewhere else to enjoy this goodness.

((Isaac Brea Continued In The Funny Thing Is, I Keep On Returning Over And Over))

[Sansa]

"Thanks Danny!" Oskar delicately took his purchase from his friend's outstretched hand and licked it heartily, sighing in utter bliss as the perfect concoction of raspberry and chocolate melted over his tongue. But before he could revel in the contented mood the ice cream had placed him in, a faint vibration emanated from the depths of his messenger bag; his free hand snaked inside it to retrieve his cellphone. The battered and ancient secondhand Samsung was one of the banes of his existence; the second he'd saved up enough money he was strutting right into the closest Apple Store and finally buying a replacement phone he wouldn't be ashamed to be seen with in public. Concealing it from view, he opened up his messages folder, hoping to see a text from Juniper or Jasper pasted across the screen, but finding instead

Come home now. Got a nice friend here so I'm taking you and her out to dinner tonight. Please be nice to her

Oskar resisted the urge to roll his eyes at his father's message, lest any of the others in the parlour notice and inquire if anything was wrong. Telling others about the intricacies of his personal life was not his jam, especially if it involved his family life. He could count on one hand the amount of people who knew anything more about his father other than the fact that he was an office worker and often busy. A great deal more people knew about his Grandma Cecilia, but he had no issue with his friends knowing about her kind nature and sharing with them the seemingly endless stream of home baking she supplied him with.

Swallowing the bitter pill of resentment, Oskar slowly resigned himself to the evening ahead. He could already see how this would go with perfect clarity – he'd been through it often enough. His father would overblow his achievements at work and play the part of a perfect parent, treating Oskar with a layering of faux-kindness so thick it was suffocating. They'd likely head to Cheryl's and he'd spend the whole time staring at his food and not talking while his father made excuses for him, calling him 'painfully shy' instead of admitting how uncomfortable the whole experience made his son. And lastly, he'd have to schedule in an extra hour of pilates tomorrow to burn off whatever caloric meal he'd be downing tonight.

Over the years, he figured it'd get easier with time to adjust to his dad's string of paramours, but it hadn't. And the pessimistic side of him, the side that he couldn't ever show anybody else no matter how tempting it may have been, told him that it never would.

Shaking himself out of the fit of introspection he'd fallen into, Oskar looked around at the others around him, knowing there was no way to avoid the inevitable return home, as much as he wished he could.

"Oooh, I'm super sorrrryyyyyyy! I've gotta dash – family stuff," he began, letting his face slip into a small pout before returning to its trademark beam. "But flick me a message if you wanna hang out sometime, Danny! Oh, and it was awesome seeing you, Isaac! See you in choir, Candice. Ciao!"

Having bade his farewells to the occupants of the parlour, Oskar stepped out into the outside world and behind his trek back home, the smile he'd worn throughout the encounter still affixed to his face, but the reality behind it utterly vanquished.

((Oskar Pearce continued in Goodbye May Seem Forever))

[Somersault]

((Whoops, so sorry.))
Candice got up and grabbed her ice cream from Danny, staring at it hungrily. As she put her phone back in her pocket, she started to dig into the ice cream, savoring the sweet, calorie-loaded goodness. Candice  squealed in delight at the taste, though she had been expecting it. Diamondback had really good ice cream.

With some remnants of the ice cream on her face, Candice waved Oskar goodbye as he left through the doors. "See you too, Oskar!" She then went back to digging into her ice cream, and started savoring it yet again. But damn it, the ice cream was good. Candice wanted to just eat it like a savage hyena on the prowl for a meal, and just tearing into it, but that seemed like a bit too much. Anyways, Candice was happy just eating her ice cream.

[ViolentMedic]

Danny saw Oskar briefly pouting about something, but combined with the family remark he figured it was just some sort of 'oh my god family hangouts are the worst' thing. Danny got that. Like, yeah, Danny's dad was alright but all he ever wanted to do was look at or talk about football and sometimes it's like 'dad, please, I'm busy trying to dance.'

"Alright. Later, dude!" Danny would have waved if he hadn't been busy finally scooping up Isaac's ice-cream.

He handed it to the dude and Isaac just walked out without any more words. Danny capped it off with, "Have a nice day!" Who got the last forced politeness word in? He did. Fuck yeah. Polite-ed the shit out of him.

He looked at Candice, the only one remaining in the store, before gesturing to the back. "Gotta do something in back, just ring the bell if you need anything else. Cool?"

He wandered into the back of the store, back to bemoaning the several hours until he could actually leave.

((Danny Brooks continued in Tank!))