11 Glade 121
Mino had missed ice cream. Sorely.
If there was any other way to talk milk and cream other than hot, it would be cold and with a biscuit to dip into it. The sugary goodness of ice cream had been far removed from him with the constant cold of Frost. A single drop of it, and he would find himself shuddering under layers of clothing or blankets. He’d been robbed, in a way, of experiencing the full spectrum of his favorite thing.
Second favorite, at the moment.
Mino’s fingers laced with hers, pulling her along. Offering his elbow had seemed stiff. A useless barrier between them that would have been forgotten anyways. Her hand was warm in his. He gave it a gentle squeeze, purred softly. The smile on his lips was a wide thing. All teeth. Teeth that gleamed in the light, tongue curling around them the closer they got to the stand he frequented most. With the new year upon them and seasons changing, there came the sort of rousing of people similar to animals awoken from their hibernation. People flooded the streets, still closing their jackets and cloaks around them, but no longer red-faced and numb fingered. The same people who let their gaze drift toward the noble for but a moment, soon forgetting him as they let themselves sink into gossip.
He glanced down at Fawn. “This cart does wonders with a cone and cream. You’ll love it.” He wondered, for a moment, if she would feel the eyes of the people watching them the same as when they had been in the cabaret. “You got any flavors you like?”
The cart itself was unassuming. A plain wooden cart with creaking wheels, tucked in a corner. The owner, an older man with a hunched back and thick brows, sat in the shade of the umbrella above it, carefully scooping ice cream from his own cup into a bowl in a small child’s hands. No, the cart itself was unassuming, but it was the cats scattered around it. They lounged about, piled on top of each other or just under the old man’s feet. A chorus of meows went up as the child move away from the man and set the bowl down. It joined many more that were spread out around the cart. Several cats eyed the bowl before looking up to the newcomers with interest.
“You must be good and trained with cats now after deal with me.” He peered down at her to gauge her reaction. He hoped for laughter, or at least some sort of animated response to the horde of creatures.