2025-07-28 - Ice Cream is Friendship

The trip out to the main island had been well-worth the effort of getting into adult clothes on Ari's day off. Adult clothes in this instance meaning another free Spellbound t-shirt (this one from his orientation back during the 2024 holiday season, the screenprinting already very faded) and paint-splattered jeans. Call this little adventure a side-quest, because that's what he does to motivate himself to do things. Gamify it. It really works, at least if you're a nerd with anxiety.

He's got one of those reusable totes that are lined with insulating fabric to carry the pints he's come back with, a few of the "normal" flavors along with the three seasonal ones to try. Is it far more ice cream than one person can eat?

Absolutely. That's why he's recruited Artemisia to help him. The deal had been: he provides the ice cream, she provides the drinks, and they meet at the Fox Run courtyard. Which is where he is now, sprawled on a picnic blanket on the grass, soaking in the sun while the ice cream remains safely hidden away as he waits.

Is it far more ice cream than one person and a cuddlebunny can eat though? That's the question.

"Ari!" Artemisia calls as she approaches in a black check and daisy print sundress, a pair of red heart-shaped frames, a back pack and Fluff the rabbit in a sort of boho-shawl baby bjorn. (Look, she followed the instructions from youtube and the rabbit is secure enough.) She waves as she approaches, carefully stepping through the grass as to not trip and squish Fluff. "You were kind of vague on drinks so I brought alcoholic and non," she explains, skirt fanning out around her as she takes a seat.

The cuddlebunny does introduce a new element to the equation, one that Ari hadn't anticipated beforehand. They might actually be okay, then.

At Artemisia's use of his name, Ari of course responds with "Arte!" and a wave as well. His boots are kicked off and sitting in the grass next to Ari, his hand-knit socks bright against the dark blue and green plaid of the picnic blanket beneath him. He pats the spot next to him as he sits up, and then twists to start digging into the bag for the ice cream.

The first pints out are the usual vanilla and chocolate. "Oh so it's a party now?" he asks, when Artemisia reveals she's brought alcohol along with her beverage selection. Ari grins over at her. "I've had milkshakes with alcohol in them before."

"It's always a party," Artemisia says with a wink, getting herself settled and then loosing Fluff from her sling. At Ari's visual invitation, she also takes off her shoes revealing short pink socks covered in smiley faces. "But yeah. Thought it might be fun. These are mostly mixers."

Out come the seasonal flavors, which include Yo Ho Hibiscus, Treasure Island Twist, and Blackbeard's Banana Rum. Which are all very fruit-forward, given it's summer. Ari sets them all in a circle, their lids peeled off, and then hands over a spoon to Arte.

"Well let's mix them up," Ari tells her with a small smile. "I'll have whatever you're having, I'm not picky."

He says that and then goes with vanilla to start with, the most boring selection ever for the picky eater.

"These look awesome," Artemisia says with delight, pulling a small bowl out of her bag to scoop some fruit medley for Fluff. The rabbit falls about the sweets with a cute chuff of pleasure, wiggling her grey tail.

"Okay. So we've got." She sets down cans and bottles. "Hard Iced tea. Classic. Root beer rum. And a few bottles of cider. Nothing that would make a good milkshake, alas," Artemisia lets out a dramatic sigh. Her eyes are bright and flicker with pink sparks as she looks over at Ari. "Had I but known. We'll just have to do that another time."

Ari positively beams. "Don't they?" he agrees, even though he went with vanilla to start with. But one spoonful in, he pauses to oversee the cans and bottles that Artemisia sets out. "I dunno, I feel like the root beer rum and vanilla might work out. Sort of a float vibe?"

He tries it, by opening said beverage to try a mouthful of it with vanilla ice cream. He hums, and hmms, and then nods his head. "Yeah, that's good!" He's quick to offer the vanilla over for Arte to try herself.

Plus that means he can get into some of the seasonal flavors too. He starts with the banana rum one, since he's already drinking something similar.

"That might be good." Artemisia has to admit it. It really might. She is currently holding one of the specialties and the iced tea as if ready to defend her territory, then laughs as the vanilla is offered. "I'll get there. I'm starting fruity," she admits. Then, pauses and laughs. "Well, as fruity as I usually am at least."

Ari sets down the vanilla in Arte-reaching range for her later pursuits, but for now it's the rum (in both drinkable and eatable formats) that he's latched onto. "You know, even with the banana in this, it's not as overpowering as I expected it to be," he says.

The fruity comment gets a snort and a "Mood," as Ari laughs along.

He takes another spoonful of the Blackbeard-themed ice cream after, and chases it with a sip of his drink. "Yeah, this works too! Shame we don't have a blender handy."

"Right?" Artemisia sighs and sinks into the blanket a bit with her legs extended. She's propped up on her elbows, eating ice cream before swapping for the banana rum. "That isn't bad." She makes a face. "It actually does remind me of a mixed drink. You know?"

"Nah. It's for the best. We'd be tempted to mix everything together."

"I can see that," Ari agrees, with a slow nod. He squints as he looks out into the distance, as if he's trying to remember something. "It feels like it would make a good tiki drink," is what he decides.

And then he's laughing again, spoon shoved into the floral-fruit mixed ice cream this time. "Franken-shake!"

"Oh my god. We have to do that now, you know?" Artemisia informs him of this as she takes another bite, this time vanilla before checking in on Fluff when she lets out a tiny sneeze. Ice cream is cold!

Mid-spoonful, Ari pauses. "So what I'm hearing is, we need to save some of each of these pints," he says with a grin to go along with the amused statement. He looks down into the banana-rum flavored ice cream, which they've already made a dent in, and so sets it down to start in on the chocolate, which hasn't yet been touched.

"We can head upstairs after and use my blender," he says, conspiratorially.

Artemisia sighs, but it's a happy sound. "This is gonna be terrible," she says with some amusement, taking a sip of her iced tea as she reaches to stroke Fluff's ears.

"Oh for sure," Ari agrees. He crosses one leg over the other and props himself up on an elbow. Sure, it makes it a little bit more difficult to eat his ice cream, but the relaxation effect is worth it.

He watches some people throwing a frisbee back and forth for a while, and when one has to go running off out of the courtyard to chase after the thing, he laughs quietly. "As much as I can't wait for fall to hit, summer has been nice here on the islands."

Artemisia has her phone out and is taking pictures of Fluff, who has had her head and fur decorated with flowers from the grass. She looks up with a smile at Ari. Then, she snaps a shot of him and laughs. "I love summer. Are you an autumn sweater guy?"

Immediately Ari flashes the v-sign when the phone camera is turned his way, and he sticks out his tongue too for extra measure. Then he's back to eating ice cream.

"Not so much sweaters," Ari says as he licks the back of his spoon. "Just really love Halloween and spooky stuff. It's why I was so excited to work on that new ride in the Boo'edwalk."

"That was so anime," Artemisia teases with a laugh, texting him the photo. She puts away her phone now that Fluff has had her beauty shots taken and sips at her drink. "How's that going anyways?"

Arte says that, which means Ari immediately has to pull out his phone to check the pic. Which makes him laugh again, hard enough that he falls back fully onto the blanket. Thankfully no ice cream is sacrificed in the movement.

"It's going!" he reports. "I feel like I'm totally out of my comfort zone, full imposter syndrome. But I'm trying to get over that."

"Out of your comfort zone is good," Artemisia declares around a spoonful of ice cream. "Imposter syndrome is just a dirty liar. You're smart, talented, cute. It's a good mix. You got this."

It isn't until Artemisia gets to "cute" that Ari ducks his head, but he was already starting to go a bit warm in the cheeks about it all. Now even his ears are heating up. "Well, thanks," he says, accepting the compliments to some degree even though his internal urge is to deny it all. "It's been good, though, yeah," he mutters.

"It is good and will be good for you. So tell me about the ride," Artemisia encourages with a warm smile, petting Fluff.

"Well, I'm not sure how much I can tell you, but it's putting my escape room knowledge to the test, that's for sure," Ari says. He sits up long enough to stow away his spoon before he's sprawling out again, arms behind his head. Ice cream is on pause, for the moment.

He looks up at the sky and lets out a slow exhale. "As much as I love working with my family, this feels like something that's... just for me, y'know? I mean, not that I'm the only one working on it, but I am the only Warner."

"You've got a big family, don't you?" Artemisia says with a tip of her head, eyes flickering like pink television static as she tries to remember them all.

Ari snorts at that like Arte has just made a joke, but then his expression sobers, and he mumbles a "Sorry, yeah, huge family. I live with two of my brothers, who work here too," he explains. But as for an exact number? "There was seven of us here at one point."

"Lucky number?" Artemisia tries with a slight smile and a shrug of her shoulders. "Which unit are you?"

"Not sure how much luck played into it," Ari admits with a laugh that's just reedy enough to sound uncertain, maybe a bit awkward. He looks down at their ice cream, melting in the sunlight, and replies, "403, with my brothers. Speaking of, wanna head up there and watch a movie or something?"

He motions to the cartons of ice cream. "We can get these into the freezer before they turn to soup." So he starts packing things back up into the insulated tote.