Spoiler
“Thank you so much!” Edge says, giddy at the thought of taking so much ice cream back to the group, but also intimidated by the size of it all. “Oh. But how are we going to carry all of it? I saw big tubs of ice cream in stores when I went grocery shopping with my mom when I was younger, but none of them could have had this much ice cream in them. This has to be more than five litres!”
“You can’t put a number on love!” Giver chimes in. “If you could, there should still be enough love in there for ten people. If there somehow isn’t—”
“We can come back anytime?” Edge finishes for them before giggling.
“You can come back anytime!”
Edge looks down at Rook’s ice cream. It hasn’t started melting, since the temperature in Sin City doesn’t feel hot at all — and he knows there can’t be no temperature, since he learned about that in biology and it’s a colder kind of freezing than even at the poles! — so there shouldn’t be any rush to finish it. “I could hold your ice cream for you?” He scoots a bit closer to her neck and moves the ice cream cone to his left hand so he can rest his arm on her head. “There! I have a hand free again!”
Rook shakes her head vigorously, unintentionally almost throwing Edge off. He yelps and clutches at her shoulder and the top of her arm.
“Oho, no, my young friend! I cannot risk you falling off my shoulder for my sake!”
He laughs. “I could just climb off!”
She looks up at him and gives him a determined look. “Ho! I will not be defeated by this escort duty! I will deliver you and the ice cream safely to the group!” She then stares intently at the cone in her hand. “If I must sacrifice kisses and hugs so our comrades can have some, I will do it!” She bites off the entire top part of the cone, chews a little, bites off two-thirds of the remaining cone without swallowing, and then stuffs the tip into her mouth as well. “Hmm!” She then nods at a ninety-degree angle, just as if she would have bowed, and then carefully lifts the tub off the booth’s serving surface. “Hmm-hmph!”
“Thanks again, Giver!”
“It’s my pleasure!”
Edge swaps the cone back to his other hand. “Are we going back the way we came,” he asks Rook, “or are we seeing the rest of the alley and hoping we find our group at the other end?”
She turns and considers some of the other signs. Ooh! There is cotton candy served by a cotton-candy person! And apple pie served by an apple-pie person! She takes one step down the alley, but then she stops and says, “Ho!” in a way recognisable to Edge even with her mouth full. If she continues down this alley, it will only tempt her! If all the desserts here are made with love, she must try all of them! So, she turns around and cautiously jogs in the opposite direction. She cannot allow herself to be defeated by love for trying to share it!
Though he’s not privy to her thoughts, Edge understands the general temptation and giggles merrily. “Back the way we came!”
While he and Rook return to the group, Gold has steadily become more and more agitated at their absence. He wants to be responsible — he needs to be — and show that he knows what the priorities are: they need to participate in the tournament, forget about their selfish desires, and do the most virtuous thing. Waiting around so people can fool around is hardly responsible or virtuous, but what if those two get themselves lost? If he had been a parent, abandoning his children just because they were being silly and didn’t want to listen would be unforgivably reckless. Edge is still just a boy, but he’s old enough to think for himself. And Rook is a fully grown woman! He can’t be held accountable for their poor decisions. But… what if Our Grace sees that as a lack of patience and tolerance?
Amber, of course, still doesn’t care either way. Gold told her she can’t fly past the rooftops anymore, which is preposterous, but everyone else in the group, even the timid Flit, says it’s true, so she’s stuck walking behind him. And she has to save her time spent being invisible, which makes it doubly awkward. If Our Grace had wanted them to travel in such a large group, wouldn’t it have said so? Maybe Rudder, Flit, and Tiara should have joined Rook and Edge.
…Actually, no, Twist should definitely go. He would, anyway.
“You’re all stressing too much,” the red panda says. “I’m telling you, they’re on t— Ohoho!” He interrupts himself to mimic Rook’s style of interjection when she comes jogging around the corner ahead. “See? Wasn’t I just telling you?”
Iridescent sighs and waves him off. “Yes, yes, you were right.” She wasn’t even the one being concerned, but the sooner someone gives him the validation he clearly wants, the sooner he’ll drop the matter.
“Darlings! We’ve been so worried. It felt like thirty minutes, even though it could just have been three.” Erudite strides to the front of the group, welcoming the returnees with open arms.
Rook finally swallows the mush of ice cream and cone in her mouth. It had felt like carrying around a bowl of her grandmother’s cold soup and hot soup, each made for different seasons, while a choir of angels were singing!
“We brought ice cream!” Edge calls excitedly.
“It was made with more love than even I could eat, haha!”
“You sure about that?” Twist says under his breath and cackles softly. Once he gets a proper look at the tub she’s holding, though, his jaw drops and he whistles. “Whoa, that thing’s huge! I could bathe in it!”
Iridescent stops and pinches the bridge of her nose. “We don’t need to envision that.”
He smirks wickedly. “I didn’t say you’d need to eat it off me.”
“Please, stop.”
“You can’t put a number on love!” Giver chimes in. “If you could, there should still be enough love in there for ten people. If there somehow isn’t—”
“We can come back anytime?” Edge finishes for them before giggling.
“You can come back anytime!”
Edge looks down at Rook’s ice cream. It hasn’t started melting, since the temperature in Sin City doesn’t feel hot at all — and he knows there can’t be no temperature, since he learned about that in biology and it’s a colder kind of freezing than even at the poles! — so there shouldn’t be any rush to finish it. “I could hold your ice cream for you?” He scoots a bit closer to her neck and moves the ice cream cone to his left hand so he can rest his arm on her head. “There! I have a hand free again!”
Rook shakes her head vigorously, unintentionally almost throwing Edge off. He yelps and clutches at her shoulder and the top of her arm.
“Oho, no, my young friend! I cannot risk you falling off my shoulder for my sake!”
He laughs. “I could just climb off!”
She looks up at him and gives him a determined look. “Ho! I will not be defeated by this escort duty! I will deliver you and the ice cream safely to the group!” She then stares intently at the cone in her hand. “If I must sacrifice kisses and hugs so our comrades can have some, I will do it!” She bites off the entire top part of the cone, chews a little, bites off two-thirds of the remaining cone without swallowing, and then stuffs the tip into her mouth as well. “Hmm!” She then nods at a ninety-degree angle, just as if she would have bowed, and then carefully lifts the tub off the booth’s serving surface. “Hmm-hmph!”
“Thanks again, Giver!”
“It’s my pleasure!”
Edge swaps the cone back to his other hand. “Are we going back the way we came,” he asks Rook, “or are we seeing the rest of the alley and hoping we find our group at the other end?”
She turns and considers some of the other signs. Ooh! There is cotton candy served by a cotton-candy person! And apple pie served by an apple-pie person! She takes one step down the alley, but then she stops and says, “Ho!” in a way recognisable to Edge even with her mouth full. If she continues down this alley, it will only tempt her! If all the desserts here are made with love, she must try all of them! So, she turns around and cautiously jogs in the opposite direction. She cannot allow herself to be defeated by love for trying to share it!
Though he’s not privy to her thoughts, Edge understands the general temptation and giggles merrily. “Back the way we came!”
While he and Rook return to the group, Gold has steadily become more and more agitated at their absence. He wants to be responsible — he needs to be — and show that he knows what the priorities are: they need to participate in the tournament, forget about their selfish desires, and do the most virtuous thing. Waiting around so people can fool around is hardly responsible or virtuous, but what if those two get themselves lost? If he had been a parent, abandoning his children just because they were being silly and didn’t want to listen would be unforgivably reckless. Edge is still just a boy, but he’s old enough to think for himself. And Rook is a fully grown woman! He can’t be held accountable for their poor decisions. But… what if Our Grace sees that as a lack of patience and tolerance?
Amber, of course, still doesn’t care either way. Gold told her she can’t fly past the rooftops anymore, which is preposterous, but everyone else in the group, even the timid Flit, says it’s true, so she’s stuck walking behind him. And she has to save her time spent being invisible, which makes it doubly awkward. If Our Grace had wanted them to travel in such a large group, wouldn’t it have said so? Maybe Rudder, Flit, and Tiara should have joined Rook and Edge.
…Actually, no, Twist should definitely go. He would, anyway.
“You’re all stressing too much,” the red panda says. “I’m telling you, they’re on t— Ohoho!” He interrupts himself to mimic Rook’s style of interjection when she comes jogging around the corner ahead. “See? Wasn’t I just telling you?”
Iridescent sighs and waves him off. “Yes, yes, you were right.” She wasn’t even the one being concerned, but the sooner someone gives him the validation he clearly wants, the sooner he’ll drop the matter.
“Darlings! We’ve been so worried. It felt like thirty minutes, even though it could just have been three.” Erudite strides to the front of the group, welcoming the returnees with open arms.
Rook finally swallows the mush of ice cream and cone in her mouth. It had felt like carrying around a bowl of her grandmother’s cold soup and hot soup, each made for different seasons, while a choir of angels were singing!
“We brought ice cream!” Edge calls excitedly.
“It was made with more love than even I could eat, haha!”
“You sure about that?” Twist says under his breath and cackles softly. Once he gets a proper look at the tub she’s holding, though, his jaw drops and he whistles. “Whoa, that thing’s huge! I could bathe in it!”
Iridescent stops and pinches the bridge of her nose. “We don’t need to envision that.”
He smirks wickedly. “I didn’t say you’d need to eat it off me.”
“Please, stop.”
It's 1031 words! We'll be back on track after this, and since I've decided I'm officially going to take a break from the novel (for five or ten weeks; TBD) once I hit Week 100, that means I have eleven weeks left to wrap up Round 1. It's time to stop dallying and to drop the bomb already! >:D