[Day 187]

[coolerthansora]

Who: Roxas and you!
Where: Vicinity of the ice cream shop
When: Afternoon
Style: I'll match~
Status: Open!

It's not exactly unusual to see Roxas in the vicinity of the ice cream shop. He's probably one of its top customers, aside from the not-having-to-pay part.

What is a little unusual is that he's eating... strawberry ice cream. It's gotten to the point where he doesn't have to say what flavor he wants, but this time the lady at the counter gave him something different, remarking she heard it was his favorite. He's overheard a few similarly strange things from the natives, but mostly harmless stuff about people he doesn't know and he dismissed most of it.

Anyway, there's nothing wrong with trying new things, right? Actually, strawberry's not bad.

((Another rumor going around which Roxas hasn't heard is that he likes kissing folk. Vanitas sure got all the important parts out of that diary. So be forewarned your character may be subjected to kissing... on the cheek.))

Comments

[flared]

Well, it used to be. Now it's like anything other than Sea-Salt tastes funny to him.

"Tails, huh." He scoffs at that. "I bet you'd look awesome with a pig tail."

[coolerthansora]

"What? A pig tail?"

Of all the things...

"Well, then you can wind up with- with a beaver tail."

[flared]

"A beaver tail?" Snort. He rolls his eyes. "Hey, if I had one of those, I could at least build some pretty cool stuff!"

[coolerthansora]

Roxas blinks, and then starts snickering at the image. "Build stuff? I don't- think you can build dams over the ocean."

[flared]

"Hey, I'm sure I can manage somehow. And if everything else fails, I'll have something to smack you around with." He snickers at that and then gives Roxas a playful push.

[coolerthansora]

Roxas pushes him back. "Just you try it. I'll totally kick your tail." The idea of them actually sparring with these ridiculous tails is too funny, and he starts laughing.

[flared]

"With a little piggy tail? As if!" He laughs along with Roxas and gives him another push, you know, like boys do. "You just wait. If that happens, you're gonna be so sorry."

[coolerthansora]

"You're gonna be- all off-balance with that huge tail. So I'll still win." Roxas shoves back a little harder this time to emphasize his point, still laughing.

[flared]

Axel snickers at that push and then reaches over to try and steal Roxas' ice cream away instead. "Dream on, porky."

[coolerthansora]

"Ah, hey!" That's his ice cream! He leans back away from Axel, quickly taking a few bites; he's down to the cone now, almost done.

"Maybe I'll just kick your ass now."

[flared]

Well, that's not worth stealing at all, now is it? But he's still reaching anyway! "Hey, hey! Who taught you how to talk like that, squirt?" He's still smirking, however, showing that he doesn't mind Roxas talking that way at all. If anything, it's cute.

... Not like Roxas would like to hear that about himself again.

[coolerthansora]

"Talk like what?" He doesn't even realize he's doing anything. He grabs for Axel's hand, meaning to hold it back from his ice cream.

[flared]

"Who told you you could use 'kick my ass' like that?" And now that Roxas is holding his hand Axel stops to tilt his head at him.

"Gee. If you wanted to hold my hand, you could've just asked."

[coolerthansora]

"I- " ...He really doesn't know where he picked it up. Axel doesn't say it? "Doesn't everybody say that?"

And then he stares at their hands for a second. "W-well, you can't steal anything this way." Axel probably already knows that, but it seems important to make it clear.

[flared]

"Not everyone." It doesn't bother him, so he'll just let it go. Axel scoffs at the next response before he shrugs and leans back against the bench so he can eat his ice cream before it starts to melt all over his other hand.

"Ah, well. It's not like there's much left to steal of your ice cream anyway." He nudges his chin over towards that empty cone.

[coolerthansora]

"You were still trying." Roxas settles back, too, not letting go of Axel's hand just yet. So long as he has some of his ice cream left, even if it's just the part in the cone, he has some excuse for holding on, right?

It feels kind of nice.

[flared]

"It looked like fun to try." Messing around with Roxas usually is. Axel laughs and doesn't move his hand either. Nothing wrong with it, really. "It's just nice pokin' fun at the real you and not someone else after that last curse, you know?"

[coolerthansora]

"Yeah. I actually missed it."

He'd avoided pretty much everyone for that week. It's nice being around people again, especially his best friend.

[flared]

He sighs and licks up more of his ice cream. It's good, but it's just so sweet. He's not so sure he can finish it. "With luck, this one will be over soon and we'll get to chill for a few more weeks without any interruptions." It's almost funny, really. Axel can recall walking around distraught and uncertain back when Roxas had left the Organization, but now that he has time to spend with his best friend it's like there's too much time and not enough things for them to do. He glances up at the sky in thought. Or maybe that's the other way around. Maybe they do have a lot of things to do, but not enough time. After all, who knows when one of them might disappear?

After a beat he shakes his head. No sense brooding. Either way, he wants things for them to do now while they're still here. "You know, we still haven't been to the island up there together, have we?"

[coolerthansora]

Roxas thinks for a moment. Of course he's hung around a lot with Axel, and he's been up on the island with other friends, but the only time he can remember being there with Axel was for that boat party way back. He's not sure that counts.

"I guess not." He peers up at Axel, curious. "Do you even swim?"

[flared]

Of course they've been there for the boats, but they hadn't done beach-related stuff that time, so clearly that doesn't count. Axel glances over at the other towards that question and laughs. "Sure, when I feel like it. Do you?" But just because he can swim doesn't mean he enjoys it, especially of the water's cold.

[coolerthansora]

Roxas just gives him a look at that question. Sora grew up on an island, Axel. ... But maybe he doesn't know that? It's not like they really talk about those things.

"Of course I do."

[flared]

Oh, come on; he's just trying to keep the conversation going! And, hey, so what if Sora grew up in an island? You forgot loads of stuff and couldn't even figure out what to do on your days off. For all Axel knows, he might just have to teach the kid how to do everything from ride a bike to tie his shoelaces.

"Huh. Well, I've never seen you do it. You sure you don't just drown?" He realizes now that he's had his hand with Roxas' own for a while now and with a slight twitch of his fingers he sees I he can pull it away.

[coolerthansora]

Hey, he remembers a lot more now! Besides, he doesn't have any shoelaces.

...oh. That's right. He's finished his ice cream now but he didn't let go of Axel's hand. At the movement of Axel's fingers, he loosens his own hold and, a bit reluctantly, starts to pull his hand away.

"I- I'm not gonna drown, jeez. I remember how to swim, I've tried it."

[flared]

Axel doesn't notice the reluctance on Roxas' part, but if he had, he might have said something about it. Not to tease him or anything; just to check if he was ok, you know? He's not that much of a jerk.

"Is it actual swimming or doggy-paddling?"

He can, however, still tease him with the swimming thing. Who will ever understand Axel.