Patterson Park; Baltimore, Maryland; Saturday [07/29].

[sword_chocobro]

The heat was definitely still persisting, which made Gladio think that maybe his grand plan of finding an ice cream place on the mainland near a park, so that he and Nell could make their picks and then go take a nice walk while they enjoyed it was...a little less than ideal. But there was some good shady spots and the ice cream itself did a lot to help...assuming they could eat it before it melted too much. The heat never really did bother Gladio too much, though; he just mostly hoped that Nell wasn't too uncomfortable with it.

And, if he was entirely honest, even though Baltimore was pretty tiny compared to Insomnia, it did sort of feel good to be in a metropolitan area proper again. After all, even with all his love of nature and the outdoors, he was at his roots a born and bred city boy. Made him feel a little homesick, but what didn't, really?

None of that really mattered that much, anyway, as long as Nell was having a good time, so he'd of course be sparing her a few speculative glances here and there, and, at one point, letting out a soft huff in regards to the quick work he was making out of his ice cream cone.

"Might need to swing back around for a Round Two," he speculated, with a bite to really highlight that, between the battle between the heat and Gladio's appetite, the winner was clearly the latter.

[[ for the ice cream date~ and NFB for distance, obvi~ ]]

Comments

[mylandmyrules]

Nell had only ever been in big cities on trips with the school, so Baltimore was a bit of a wonder to her. There had been so many flavors to choose from that she'd ended up picking one more or less at random and ended up with moose tracks which was surprisingly delicious. It was hot in the city, especially for someone wearing long skirts and a tunic top, but she'd had many years of practice and the shady bits were not bad.

She enjoyed people watching as they strolled and the ice cream was a perfect sweet treat for the weather.

Besides she was with Gladio and currently amused at how quickly he was eating his ice cream. "I might be ready for a round two when you get to round three," Nell said with a fond smile.

[sword_chocobro]

It was good ice cream! And it was, a little bit, a race against the heat, too. Plus, he'd wound up with the s'mores, of course, and it did not disappoint.

"Good opportunity to get to try some of all those favors," he pointed out.

[mylandmyrules]

"It is," Nell agreed. Big appetites didn't bother her at all. "I'm only maybe a little sad we can't try them all."

She looked at him speculatively. "Well, maybe you can," she teased and poked him gently with her elbow.

[sword_chocobro]

Grinning over at Nell, Gladio lightly nudged her with his elbow right back. "Think they'd give me some sort of prize or something if I did?"

[mylandmyrules]

Nell laughed. "Maybe. We should ask them when we go back. Though I'm not sure I can roll you all the way back to Fandom."

[sword_chocobro]

"See," Gladio pointed out, "that's when you just call for a portal and just send me back that way. Seems they work just fine for jaunts like that."

Less so on, you know, things that actually mattered, but he was going to just have more ice cream instead of delving back into that.

"S'nice here, though," he said, taking a moment to look around a little, thoughtfully. Not a huge shift in topic if you followed the processes in his brain, but a shift all the same.

[mylandmyrules]

"And isn't that just frustrating," Nell agreed. "Still, all those steps. Good cardio at least and then I could have more ice cream!"

When he spoke she looked around as well. "It is," she said with a smile. "And a nice change from home. I know it's close, but on the rare occasions I'm here I don't really take the time to wander about like this."

[sword_chocobro]

"Probably good workout for the arms, too," Gladio noted. "All that pushing.

"Probably plenty else to do out here, too. If we get sick of ice cream."

[mylandmyrules]

"I might be the one needing the back rub then," Nell said daringly. "All that lifting and pulling."

She laughed up at him. "Sick from ice cream might be more likely," she teased. "But there does seem to be a lot to do. We'll have to make mental note as we wander for things we want to come back for."

[sword_chocobro]

"I probably owe you one, regardless," Gladio chuckled faintly, and he rolled his shoulders a little, tilted his head to stretch him neck, as if to emphasis how good and loose they felt. "Especially since you did a such a great job.

"And, yeah...we came out all this way, might as well make the most of it, right? I don't really know a lot about this place, even with being so close...might be a good time to start changing that."

[mylandmyrules]

"Told you I was good with my hands," she said a little smugly. "Deceptively strong, too, but you knew that one already. Glad it made you feel good."

"I want to go into DC sometime too," she said, "Go to some of those national museums."

[sword_chocobro]

"Maybe that should be the next one on our list," Gladio suggested, grinning faintly at that little burst of pride from Nell. "I think maybe Steve's mentioned that one, too? Might've been someone else, but he's the one who gave me the idea of coming out here for ice cream in the first place."

[mylandmyrules]

"Steven?* Nell said curiously. "Or, no, there are a lot of Steves, right?"

[sword_chocobro]

"At least three," Gladio confirmed, with a nod, "that I know of. You got Steven, McGarrett, and then Rogers. McGarrett's the one who mentioned the ice cream; he's a regular at the gym, too. He and his partner have apparently been making some rounds of ice cream places around here."

[mylandmyrules]

"Oh, yes," Nell said. "I think I've seen him in there. You'll have to thank him because this is truly wonderful ice cream.

"Gladio? How would you feel about me going to the Devil's Nest sometime when Annie is back bartending?" she asked. "She suggested I might come sometime and that she could show me a trick she does."

[sword_chocobro]

"You could always tell him thank you yourself," Gladio pointed out, albeit gently, since he knew going up and talking to an unfamiliar man was not something that Nell did comfortable. "He's a good guy. Maybe he'll tell you about the time he nuked a wave."

And there was a moment, before he got to the other part, as he made good work in making sure his ice cream didn't end up just melting all over his hand, a good moment to decide which of the responses that sprung to mind to go with.

"The blender one, probably," he finally said, with a faint grin, "right?"

[mylandmyrules]

Nell nodded. "If I see him again I can say something." She was getting better at these sorts of things - more comfortable the longer she was back in Fandom.

"Yes, she did mention it was a blender trick," Nell said. "But I know you enjoy your time at the bars, so I wouldn't want to intrude."

[sword_chocobro]

And Gladio figured the extra practice wouldn't hurt, and McGarrett really was good people, so he nodded at that, with a small, approving smile, before the rest of what she said made him snort.

"You wouldn't be," he assured her, now with a small shake of his head over the idea that she'd even think it would be. An infringement on his time wasn't he issue he was concerned with here. "I just figured it wasn't...you know, really your scene or anything."

[mylandmyrules]

"It's not," Nell said. "And I told Annie that, but she said her night was usually quiet and that it might be fun. And that she had gotten good at making non-alcoholic drinks."

Then she blushed and laughed a little. "Then she said I could go when Summer was at Caritas because she usually had virgin shots and I... misunderstood. It was funny once we both realized."

[sword_chocobro]

"She's gotten pretty good at the alcoholic ones, too," Gladio noted, with a faint, fond sort of smile, because, well, it hadn't been as long for her, sure, but seeing Annie's progression with her confidence behind the bar over the months/years was not something that'd slipped by his notice. Then he regarded that blush and that small laugh with a lift of his eyebrow , his smile gone a bit wry. But, well, if she was bringing it up, sure, he'll bite.

"Did you think," he speculated, "they were shot reserved strictly for virgins? Can't imagine they'd move very quickly, around here."

[mylandmyrules]

"Well, or were made specially for them," Nell agreed, still a little blushy about it. "So, I quietly told her she wasn't and, well, then she explained and we laughed about it, but she was very kind about it."

She figured Gladio knew she'd been married, so he surely knew she wasn't.

[sword_chocobro]

Yeah, well...it...sort of went with the territory, but therein was a whole can a worms that even skirting around it could be enough to put Gladio off his ice cream a little, so the wider breadth that side of the topic was given, the better, probably.

The other side of it, though...

"Well, it's Annie," he said. "Of course she would be."

[mylandmyrules]

At least he knew if and when the topic did come up, that Nell wasn't all bothered by it?

"Most people are," Nell agreed, "and she'd seemed very nice when I met her before, but you never know, do you?"

She pointed to a bench overlooking a small fountain. "Want to sit for a few minutes? I think the heat is winning out over my ice cream."

[sword_chocobro]

Because it was definitely just as simple as all that, too...

Gladio followed where Nell was indicating and nodded a little; his ice cream was mostly gone by now, so he supposed that meant he'd won the battle between the two of them. "Sitting sounds good," he said, with a nod, before he began to drift that way. "But no need to worry about Annie. She's a real one. Wouldn't want to be on her bad side, though, that's for sure, so it's a good thing I don't really every plan to be."

He gave Nell a soft smile. "One good thing about coming back, when I did," he said. "Didn't have to miss her wedding. So that was nice."

[mylandmyrules]

It was only simple for Nell.

"Good to know," Nell said. "But I don't think that will be a problem. And I'm glad you got to be here for her wedding. She seems awful special to you."

She sat on the bench, curling one foot up under her, and took another lick of her ice cream. "I think this second one may be getting the better of me."