[OPEN] Can I get extra sprinkles with that

[bridgeburning]

Who: Actual IRL Alien Badri Barkley and you!
What: Hanging out. Trying new things. Plugging those cultist meetings that are happening in Vegas. NBD.
When: Backdated to Tuesday!
Where: Outside Espresso Yourself
Warnings: None!



[ Anyone around the area of well-known Numbered hangout Espresso Yourself is likely to notice something considerably different about the place today. There is a loud, slightly off-key tune coming from the immediate vicinity of the shop, and anyone following the sound will encounter an ice cream truck parked outside it manned by the most enthusiastic ice cream vendor in the universe.

Except anyone who has ever watched the news should recognise him as being one of the three aliens who landed in Locke a few months ago. One might not expect an alien to be hawking frozen dairy treats, but hey. Maybe he's fallen on hard times?

Not that he looks like he's suffering any hardships, what with the way he's grinning. And anyone watching closely enough may notice that he seems to be giving ice cream away for free. Why not come bother him? If you're easily recognised as one of the Numbered, he might even wave you over. Besides - free ice cream, guys.

Free ice cream. ]

Comments

[onecream_fivesugar]

[Robyn wasn't actually going to Espresso yourself today, she was just passing by when the tell-tale jingle of the ice cream truck started to play. It might be a little off-key but that wasn't important. It wasn't the tune that she cared about, it was what it meant.

There's a freakin' ice cream truck coming and she was going to get some.

Her eyes brightened and she made a mad dash for the truck. There might be a big line up but that didn't bother her. In fact it gave her plenty of time to realize that the customers didn't have to pay for the ice cream. It was free.

Free. Ice Cream. THIS WAS THE BEST DAY OF HER LIFE. She was literally bouncing with excitement by the time she was the third person in line.

Robyn may not exactly be well known that Robyn was a numbered, but she had went to see Geoff when he had his little meet and greet. So it's possible she might be recognized.]

Oh oh! I'll take a strawberry cone, please!

[bridgeburning]

[ She is indeed recognised - Badri leans forward and squints at her for a moment before straightening up and clapping his hands together delightedly. ]

Strawberry! My personal favourite! As well as chocolate. And vanilla. And toothpaste flavour. Delicious!

[ He begins assembling the cone, adding more sprinkles and chocolate shavings than are really necessary. But more is better, right? ]

You're one of the special ones, right? You spoke to my colleague!

[greenisthenewblack]

[Sheila's been avoiding Espresso Yourself ever since it gained a reputation for being a Numbered hangout. She's still been lucky enough to avoid being recognized as part of the club, and for her job's sake, she hopes to keep it that way.

But that doesn't mean she can't walk by it now and then.

And, what do you know? There's an ice cream truck right outside. With free ice cream. Probably some sort of promotional thing, but what does she care? She's wearing full sleeves and gloves in the middle of August, for crying out loud! Sheila's not in any position to look a gift horse in the mouth.

She doesn't recognize the driver until halfway through ordering.]

I'll take a mint co-ooooh wow. You're the alien.

[Subtle and tactful, isn't she?]

[bridgeburning]

Mint...

[ He ignores the latter part of her comment for a moment, his brow furrowing as he mutters ice cream flavours under his breath. ]

...The green one! That tastes of toothpaste! It makes my nose itch.

[ He taps the tip of his nose, grins, and starts scooping ice cream into a waffle cone. Yum. ]

But yes. I'm the alien! One of them. Badri Barkley.

[ The fingers of his non-cone-holding hand flutter in a little wave. ]

Bark! Like a dog. Or a tree.

[ruleorserve]

[Walking by is very certainly something that can be done. True, Emil himself isn't much interested in the ice cream (it's interesting, but not something he couldn't get elsewhere), but he passes by at just about the right time to hear the comment about aliens.

Of course, he waits until she's done with ordering to actually speak up. No sense in being impolite about these things.]

My apologies, but did you say alien?

[professorwolf]

Lyall can't actually afford anything at Espresso Yourself, on the heels of the lower pay he gets for summer school and several weeks off, but he does occasionally swing by to see who's there and maybe say hello to a few people, if he recognizes them. So since school hasn't started yet, and he's stressing out about tonight's plans to make a public spectacle of himself, he's out for a walk with a wide-brimmed hat to block out the sun and to see who all might be at the hangout.

Plus, that teleportation machine is there, and he's curious.

He gets side-tracked, however, by the ice cream truck. He can't have any, anymore, but he hasn't seen ice cream trucks in this part of the city in a long time. Why bring ice cream somewhere so close to other places that sells it, usually at half the cost or at double the quality? When he spots-- and scents, just barely-- the alien, he has to pause and stare in confusion. Badri might recognize him from his own meeting with Geoff a couple months back, as well. And he does finally drift over when there's a lull in the crowd, still looking puzzled.

[bridgeburning]

"Oh!"

As Lyall approaches, Badri hops a little in excitement, pointing.

"Hey, partner! That's quite the hat! Magnificent." A stack of empty cones get knocked over amidst his excited flailing, but the alien doesn't seem to mind. "Where did you get it? It's so big!"

He cranes his neck slightly, trying to get a better look at the face under the allegedly magnificent headgear. It's safe to say that he thinks he recognises Lyall, but isn't entirely sure yet.

[wirsinddiejager]

[Alan's been hanging around Espresso Yourself quite a bit lately. The place is the closest thing he has to a lead on the mafia, and though he doesn't exactly expect goons to suddenly pop out of the ground and take him to their leader, walking the streets here is better than sitting awkwardly in Levi's apartment.

He didn't consciously head towards the ice cream truck when he started hearing the jingle; he wasn't really thinking about where he was going at all. However, when he finds himself coming near it, he doesn't mind. It occurs to him that it's been some time since he had some ice cream.

Plus, the ice cream is being handed out by an alien. For free. That's kind of awesome.]

So is this space ice cream or something?

[bridgeburning]

Space ice cream?

[ He seems pretty confused by the notion, pausing midway through reaching for a cone. ]

Ice cream from space? Does that exist?

[ Have a wide-eyed and slack-jawed stare, Alan. Badri's mind is apparently blown. ]

[abhero]

[Emil doesn’t really frequent Espresso Yourself, but he’s curious about the teleporting machine. Having become quite averse to crowds, he almost ends up turning back when he sees all the people, but he stops when he them talking about the alien vendor.

He promised himself to get over his fear-- getting free ice cream from an alien is as good as incentive as any.

Usually he’s a line cutter, but he doesn’t want to draw attention to himself, as his reputation isn’t exactly spotless. Some people seem uneasy at the crazy demon kid’s presence, but it goes better than Emil expected.]

Why’re you selling ice cream? Can’t pay spaceship rent?

[bridgeburning]

No no, it's free! We paid off our spaceship mortgage a long time ago!

[ His smile gets wider and brighter, if at all possible. ]

That was a joke! I have been learning a lot about Earth humour during my time here. Because you let me practice jokes at you, you can have two scoops!

[ And he gives Emil an expectant look. Choose your flavour, kiddo. ]

[blastiaobsessieanonymous]

... Well, uh. Huh.

Hi.

[Britany remembers Badri from the news reports, but hasn't met him in person before as far as she recalls. She was a more active Numbered a while ago.]

Any reason why ice cream?

[bridgeburning]

Why not ice cream? Ice cream is delicious!

[ Since he's currently wielding a cone with four scoops stacked on it, it's safe to say this is a heartfelt statement. ]

Do you want one? It's free! You do like ice cream, don't you?

[espigeonage]

[Few people are more easily recognized than Julien. He probably shouldn't be wandering around unescorted when there are thugs about... oh, ice cream! It's going to take him a minute to recognize Badri; people look very different on screens versus in person to him.]

Suilon! Is this a promotion?

[bridgeburning]

Yes! It is a promotion to promote me giving you free ice cream! Tell your friends!

[ He's babbling slightly - apparently Julien is a very exciting sight. Not that there are many things that don't seem to excite Badri, but still. ]

I'm Badri, which is almost like 'birdy!' Birds of a feather flock together!

[ Yep, full on babbling. ]

[peacefulwinter]

Fun fact: Winter really, really likes ice cream, and other sweet, cold things. So her original idea was to swing by Espresso Yourself and look into one of those iced coffee drinks, but this immediately draws her attention, and gravitates toward the window almost automatically.

"Ooh... what's the occasion?"

[bridgeburning]

"I like ice cream! And I'm celebrating my return to this city." Badri grins, taking a large bite out of his own ice cream (his fourth today, if anyone's counting).

"I've been away, you see, a-- ow."

His face crumples completely as he touches his forehead.

"Brain freeze."

[waltharius]

[ It might not be 100% safe to wander around aimlessly, but applying common sense to himself has been difficult lately. He's about ready to head home, though. Until he sees the ice cream truck.

It's childish, but he really wants a cone, and nobody is around to judge him. So he approaches the window, absently searching for change in his bag, and when he goes up to order --

...yeah that sure is an alien. ]

Oh, um. Hi... there.

[ STAYING COOL. Even though there's a million things going through his head and he's easily identifiable. ]

Can I just... can I get a chocolate cone?

[bridgeburning]

Of course! Two scoops of chocolate for Spiderslayer!

[ Badri salutes. He actually fucking salutes. Who knows where he learned that little gesture. ]

I saw you in the newspaper. With a cow! I love cows! Can you ride them?

[radiantchicken]

[Torin works in Espresso Yourself. He's around there quite a lot, so of course he notices the ice cream truck parked out there. He is also quite clearly a Numbered--because what else could a bird-dinosaur-man in priestly white robes be?--and so he finds himself being waved over.]

Hello, there.

[And he considers the situation.]

I have never had ice cream before. Do you have any fruit flavors?

[bridgeburning]

You have never had ice cream?

[ Badri's hands fly up to half-cover his face as his mouth drops open into an intensely ridiculous expression of horror. ]

Then we have to fix that right away! I have vanilla and strawberry and chocolate and cookie dough and toothp-- mint and coconut and... whatever the blue one is. You're a special, so you can have as much as you want!

[gogoghostpowers]

[Danny has started frequenting Espresso Yourself a lot more after he helped smuggle a giant teleporter machine into its basement. And sure, there's an ice cream truck out front of it, but those come and go (after all, isn't that their entire purpose?), so Danny is content to walk past it.

Until he sees who's manning the thing. That is...that is definitely one of the aliens, alright. Suddenly, he is that much more interested. MOVE ASIDE, PEDESTRIANS, Danny is parting through all the foot traffic like Moses through the Red Sea with how determined he is all of a sudden. He is a numbered super ghost hero on a MISSION.

As far as Badri can tell, though, he's just some random kid who's really into ice cream. After all, he's Danny Fenton right now, and he's taken care to deflect any connections between him and Cure Phantom.

Oh my god what does he do now.]

Uh--hi, I. Um. Heh. What--what kind of ice cream do you...have?

[onecream_fivesugar]

[Don't worry Danny! Help is on the way! In the form of a very familiar voice and some footsteps coming toward him from the right. It's his old buddy Robyn, with an ice cream cone of her own in hand.]

Ohoh! I got this! They pretty much have it all, Danny. Strawberry, chocolate, vanilla, mint chocolate, cookie dough. That's what I've seen so far, but I'm sure he's got more than that.

[scramasax]

[Site and/or attractor of catastrophe it seems Espresso Yourself may be, and Anthony's not quite as effectively anonymous as he was prior to going on camera - but can't withdraw and let himself fade right now. He's staying in public on high alert.

The off sounds of - ice-cream-truck-ish music is a break from routine enough for him to take it as disturbing - and therefore worth investigating. He listens and "feels" for a gap in the doorway, mumbles an "excuse me", keps his head down, and - a couple more points overheard. Brow lifts - what's going on here...?]

Umm. Bad -- ...Badri Barkley...?[That was the name given in the early reports, wasn't it? He doesn't know whether he's close enough to be heard, but it's asked to whoever might be close enough to respond, baffled and scrambling.]

[bridgeburning]

Bad Badri Barkley? Somebody's been telling tales about me!

[ He laughs, clapping his hands in delight at his own comment, then leans out of the truck window to try and get a better look at the person addressing him. Personal space? Boundaries? What are those? ]

Howdy howdy! You here for ice cream? You look like a coconut kind of guy to me!

[originaloddcouple]

So the Dians don't recognize Badri at all. What they do recognize? ICE CREAM!

"Do you have any rainbow sorbets, good man?"

"Or any lemon sorbets?"

[bridgeburning]

"None of my bays are sore!"

Because. Sorbets.

Yeah.

"But I have ice cream! For free! Vanilla and strawberry and chocolate and mint and coconut and cookie dough and blue!"

He points to each of the flavours in turn as he recites them, beaming all the while. Badri is every bit as enthusiastic about this as the Dians are, apparently.

[icy_heavens]

[He drops by Expresso Yourself every so often. Not regularly, really, but frequently enough. He's also got it a bit in his head to see if L is back there after that whole mess he'd been through. Toushirou wouldn't call the guy a friend, exactly, but he likes that he talks to him more as an adult. Seeing if he's okay enough to be back at the shop seems reasonable enough.

[What he winds up focusing on, however, is that loud, hideous music coming from just outside it. And the ice cream truck. Manned by . . . that's one of the aliens, isn't it?

[Just . . . what?

[Yeah, that's about the extent of his thought process on the whole thing right now. Excuse him while he dead-eyes at this scene. It's too weird.]


[[OOC: Robyn will be butting in to encourage this weird kid to actually get some ice cream. Toushirou also isn't public about being Numbered, didn't go to the spaceship meeting, so unless Badri knows that white hair is really odd for human kids, he might fly under his "Numbered" radar.]]

[onecream_fivesugar]

[Honestly, Robyn had been hanging around this truck for probably a little bit too long. She was just about to continue along her way when she caught sight of Toushirou in dead-eye mode.

At first she thinks he's giving her that look, it's not until she take a step to the side that she realizes it's the truck he's looking at.

They had once argued that ice cream wasn't all that important and didn't deserve to be on Robyn's priority list. Today would be the day that she proves him wrong and shows him the wonders of ice cream.

She marches right on up to him with a smile. She was on a mission now.]

Hey! Why are you just standing around? The line up's over there.