7937/Ice Cream Time!

Ice Cream Time!
Date of Scene:	22 September 2021
Location:	Mootant Town Milkshakes
Synopsis:	Two teens have afterschool ice cream and talk giant ants.
Cast of Characters:	Roxxi Smith, Madison Evans

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Roxxi Smith has posed:
     A teen enters, clearly having come from classes. A backpack hangs from one shoulder, as she pushes her way into the milkshake shop. Most of the kids at school were always talking about Mootant town, but frankly, she hadn't had money enough to spare for ice cream. However, with a recent scholarship check having come in, she had a bit leftover after books and necessities. She made her way to the counter with wide eyes. Ice cream time.
     At the moment she wore a pair of brand new cargoes, and a new Tee emblazoned with a frolicking unicorn. Her hair she wore in neatly paired twin buns, and presently in a fading Beast Blue. Hands-on the counter, she leaned forward, studying the menu.

Madison Evans has posed:
    Madison is already in Mootant Milkshakes - sitting at one of the tables and humming cheerfully to herself. She's watching something on her cellphone, and the sounds of lightsaber sound effects and laughter and squeals can be heard coming from it. Her t-shirt shows an AT-AT wearing a 'cone of shame' as if it's a dog just back from the vet, and a Jedi Academy backpack sits on the floor next to her. Yeah, someone follows a distinct theme.
    She takes another sip from her milkshake - or at least tries to. The things are THICK, and sucking them through a straw is hard.

Roxxi Smith has posed:
     Roxxi bounces up on tiptoes to lean forward to stare at the ice cream selections. When finally her turn comes she points to a few different flavors. After paying and turning around, Roxxi holds a waffle cone with several scoops of pink and blue ice cream, topped with a sprinkle of chopped nuts. She'll try a milkshake next time.
     With the place crowded with many other customers coming for after work and school frozen treats, it's hard to find an empty table. Eventually, green eyes rest on Madison and her partially utilized table. Bounding over, Roxxi asks in a bright tone, "Hi Watcha watching? Can I sit? It's kinda busy, huh?"

Madison Evans has posed:
    "Oh, it's umm - just a video editting technique some friends I were working on," Madison says hastily. "Umm, trying to replicate zero-G lightsaber battle footage. You know. Trying to get the special effects right." Rather than showing the video to Roxxi, though, the girl turns the screen off on her camera, adding with a big, bright smile. "Hi! I'm Madison. Join me. I mean, not waiting for anyone or anything, so why be a jerk about it, you know?"

Roxxi Smith has posed:
     Roxxi drops her backpack as she flops bonelessly on the opposite seat. A foot gets laced through a backpack strap, preventing it from walking away with a stranger. She then settles and takes a quick lick of a melting gloop of blue ice cream.
     "Oh that sounds so neat!" She replies enthusiastically. Roxxi then offers her own introduction. "Hi! I'm Roxxi. Thanks for letting me sit!"

Madison Evans has posed:
    "Yeah, it was pretty fun," Madison agrees in a cheerful voice. "I mean, I'm not much of a film maker myself. I was, umm, one of the actors," she explains. Now that her phone is down, she tries unsuccessfully once more to drink her shake through a straw - and finally gives up, putting a spoon to use. She has a vanilla shake with tart cherry swirl and chocolate chunks - it's good.
    "Nice to meet you, Roxxi," she adds in a cheerful tone.

Roxxi Smith has posed:
     The other teen listens enrapt as Madison explains the video. She nods encouragingly while eating her rather large ice cream cone. "Oh wow! I've never done anything like that. That sounds so fun!" Roxxi gushes, complete with a squeaking voice at the tail end of fun.
    "Nice to meet you too." She adds quickly, "Do you go to Xavier's?"

Madison Evans has posed:
    "Xavier's?" Madison asks - her brow furrowing slightly. "No. I think I met a girl who goes there once? Umm - she's Japanese. She seemed nice! I go to Happy Harbor, though," she explains in a cheerful voice. "It's a great school - the best! And I've made some great friends there. I just started there this year, you see. Moved out from California a few months ago. What about you?" She takes another scoop of her shake, shoveling it into her mouth with a satisfied sound.

Roxxi Smith has posed:
     At the mention of a fellow Xavier's student, Roxxi's brow knits in thought. There are a few that she knows that might fit that, but she doesn't know if they are Japanese, or not. Instead of volunteering a name suggestion, she says instead, "oh yeah, everyone I've met so far is pretty nice."
     Head tilts for a moment, before Roxxi continues, "Happy Harbor? What's that?" Unseen now that she's sitting, of course, hangs Muffins from one of Roxxi's belt loops.

Madison Evans has posed:
    "Umm... It's a High School," Madison explains. "They have a lot of teachers and students who have like... superpowers and stuff. Or who are like.... aliens or whatever." She gives a shrug of her shoulders as if it's not important. "And the teachers are just amazing! My favorite teacher's on sabbatical right now - but he's Dr. Pym, and he invented the Pym particle, and he let me use some for my science experiment for the science fair. I grew ants to different sizes to see how strong their bites are when they grow." In a wide-eyed but solemn voice she adds, "Turns out? Real strong."

Roxxi Smith has posed:
     Roxxi listens wide-eyed, as she tries to eat her ice cream, balancing fast enough it doesn't melt and slow enough she doesn't get a headache. "Oh wow! That's kinda like Xavier's except, you know, different." She continues to listen and gasps. "Oh wow, ants? What did you do with them afterward?!"

Madison Evans has posed:
    "Is it?" Madison asks with puzzlement. "I didn't know that." She takes another spoonful of shake before adding, "Well, they're Dr. Pym's ants. I gave them back to him. He probably shrunk them back down again - but he keeps Bo pretty big all the time. Bo's like... his pet. And therapy animal." Picking her phone back up, she opens up a photo album that includes ants that range from normal size - up to her riding an ant the size of a pony. It also shows the pony-sized ant tearing a tree in half with his jaws.

Roxxi Smith has posed:
     Roxxi blinked hard! Was that one of the things she wasn't supposed to be open about? It was so hard to remember. It was easier when she knew she shouldn't share anything associated with her abilities. "Oh, well, it's for gifted students." She amends quickly.
     She slurps up a melting dribble of pink ice cream. Well, more purple now, as it combined with the blue. "Oh I've never had a pet before! A pet ant would be so neat! What kind of ant?"

Madison Evans has posed:
    "A carpenter ant. A big carpenter ant, like the side of a dog!" Not a small dog either - from the size Madison is indicating - about the side of a rotweiller. "I had one of them pick me up once and drag me into the middle of this meeting - it was wild! He just picked me up and plunked me onto his back. And I wasn't scared or nothing - he was real gentle - but when I was testing the bite strengths later? Stronger than a great white shark! He couldda taken my leg clean off if he'd wanted!" Madison explains with wide eyes. "Just wild. But they're real nice ants, they've never hurt anybody."

Roxxi Smith has posed:
     Roxxi barely took her eyes off Madison. Somehow her eyes just grew larger and rounder as she listened. "Oh wow, a Great White! That is wild!" She agreed. Her voice then turned wistful as she mused aloud, "I would like a carpenter ant as a pet, that's so neat."

Madison Evans has posed:
    "I mean. ... if I'm being honest, so would I. I was working up the nerve to ask him if I could keep one - but I think ants are supposed to live in groups and colonies? So I'm not sure if you //can// keep just one, and I don't think my mom would want a bunch of giant ants running around the apartment," Madison laments, letting out a sigh. "Oh well. I'll see Bo again when he comes back from his sabbatical."

Roxxi Smith has posed:
    The blue-haired teen fell quiet a moment as she considered that. "What if you keep the rest small, like in an ant farm, but keep one out and big? I guess that wouldn't work either, huh?" She then shrugged. She'd have to keep on the lookout for some other unusual pet. "Oh, what's that, is it like a vacation?"

Madison Evans has posed:
    "Yeah, probably not," Madison confirms with amusement. "But it'd be cool if it did!" She takes another scoop from her shake, savoring it as she nods her head in confirmation. "Oh, yeah. Like that. Basically a vacation, but you know, I suspect he's not just like... on a tropical island or something. I bet he took time off from teaching to work on some more science stuff. I wish I could go be his lab assistant and find out what he's discovering! I bet it's cool."

Roxxi Smith has posed:
    She sighed. "Oh ell, I don't know if we can have pets in the dorms anyway." She says, only mildly crestfallen. In the next moment, it seems forgotten. "Oh! Are you really into all that science and stuff?" She asks curiously. "I'm pretty bad at it. Mostly if it involves math. I hate math."

Madison Evans has posed:
    "I mean - I wasn't particularly? But the science fair was so much fun that- well. Yeah, I guess, maybe a little now. It's pretty interesting stuff, if you're researching the right stuff. And Dr. Pym researches the right stuff!" Madison insists with a broad, excited smile.

Roxxi Smith has posed:
     "What kind of stuff is that? Like the Pym particle? Does that just make little things, big?" Roxxi was starting to make some progress on her ice cream. She's gotten it down to mostly what was in the waffle cone, which she now began to crunch down. Oh yes, she was putting that entire ice cream away. She tipped back the cone and started to slurp down the melted slurry within. "Oh wow, this really //is// the best ice cream!"

Madison Evans has posed:
    "Ummm, it also makes things small. And somehow shunts excess mass into a parallel dimension or something? I didn't understand all of it. It was... complicated. I mean, otherwise - the inverse square law, when things get too big, something about the surface area versus the volume and the amount of muscle and bone needed to move a larger mass... Umm. It gets complicated. Pym particles do thins they shouldn't be able to do, basically."
    She takes another bite of her shake before adding, "They have really good quality ice cream. But I miss the weird flavors Salt 'n Straw would make... Oh well."

Roxxi Smith has posed:
     Roxxi's eyes glaze over as she listens to Madison expound on what the Pym Particle does. The other teen might as well be speaking a foreign language. Roxxi finishes her last couple of bites and starts cleaning the ice cream off her face.
     "Is that another ice cream place? I've never been there." She gave a contented sigh. "Well, I should head back to my room and start on my homework..."

Madison Evans has posed:
    "It's only on the West Coast - California, Oregon, and Washington," Madison explains. "I'm from LA, you see." She gives a shrug of her shoulders - then beams brightly at Roxxi. "Well, goodluck with your homework. Roxxi, right? If you see a girl in this like.... Japanese coat with swingy sleeves and flowers on it - I wish I could remember her name - tell her Madison says hi!"