The first thing she noticed was the color. Outside, bright yellows and reds weren't exactly uncommon, but the general colors had been subdued, including both the natural greens and browns along with the human-made asphalt, steel, and concrete. The library had continued the trend, bathing dark carpet and brown-painted steel shelves with a somewhat comforting yellow glow. The 'Baskin-Robins' bucked that trend, the dark blue and polished silver acting as a contrast for the bright whites and pinks that filled the building. It reminded her a bit of the warehouse she'd raided, although the differences in scale had meant more attention had been put into every inch of the building.

The next thing Trinitite noticed was the noise. Like with Penang's Market and several other fleets she had attempted to join, noises similar to those playing over several radio frequencies filled the building, although here they seemed louder than normal. Whatever it was, the strange repetitions and not-quite-natural speaking was… off putting, like the whole building was putting up a front of cheeriness, but one that wasn't quite cheery enough.

It must have been a popular place. Besides the Fleet's uniformed workers, two of the tables were in use by humans, while several more patiently waited in a line behind the counter. Trinitite quietly took a position in the back of the line, peering around a particularly wide human to read the list of items Baskin-Robins was offering.

Let's see… 'Flavors.' Flavors of what? Skimming through the list didn't reveal much. What was a cake, let alone the difference between a 'Pumpkin Cheesecake' and a 'German Chocolate cake?' There were fruits, like Mango and Coconut, but they always came with some additional adjective that only confused the abyssal further.

How could something be Mango flavored three times? It either was a mango, or wasn't. Furthermore, what exactly was chocolate, and why were so many flavors some variant of it? She'd 'procured' some chocolate from the warehouse, but hadn't tried any yet. Maybe later tonight, when most of the humans had gone to sleep and-

"How can I help you?"

"Huh?" Startled out of her contemplation, Trinitite met the uniformed human's questioning gaze. Had they already gotten through the line in front of her? She'd hardly read through flavors list, let alone the other available items! Deep, she should have been paying attention to what the humans in front of her had been asking for!

"Ah…"

The Wo-class stalled, frantically searching the board of options behind the human. Baseball nut? Cotton Candy Crackle? Peanut Butter n' Chocolate?

"Uh…"

None of this made any sense! Trinitite would just have to bite the AP shell and ask.

"What do you sell, here?"

Whatever the human had been expecting, that hadn't been it. She visibly recoiled, giving Trinitite a look she knew she'd given to ships from other fleets, when they had asked her something exceptionally stupid. Trinitite could feel her cheeks darken in embarrassment, but to the human's credit, however, her smile returned almost immediately.

"We sell ice cream, miss."

Ice Cream?

Trinitite looked down at an array of metal canisters, their tops exposed to show a substance in all kinds of colors. That was ice cream? Maybe the curved glass that protected it made it difficult to tell. Trinitite only knew ice cream as the smooth white treat from Her Mother, and while one of the variants looked somewhat similar to what she was used to, it's texture was… different. Rougher, somehow.

"All of this is ice cream?" She asked. Maybe human ice cream was made using a different process then the machine her mother had used, and thus had a different texture. Still, there was so much…

Trinitite realized her mouth had been hanging open, hurriedly snapping it closed with a click. Her lips had probably hid her less-human looking teeth, but she had no doubt her grey tongue would draw attention, if someone had been watching her.

"Well, some of it's frozen yogurt." The human admitted, thankfully focused on the ice cream herself. She looked up, giving the abyssal an expectant smile. "Can I get you any?"

Trinitite swallowed. Now, she had the ability to claim ice cream back in that warehouse, but had refrained. Then, it had made sense to wait until she'd found Her Princess, but she'd underestimated how complicated of a process that would be, and probably still did now.

Besides, she'd gotten a lot done, so far! She'd survived a battle with four destroyers along with something larger. She'd successfully evade human attempts to find her, even raiding a major supply center in the process! She'd managed to disguise herself as a human, allowing her almost unrestricted access to their greater society, as well as ensuring she had established a steady stream of supplies, from the enemy's logistics network.

If Her Princess knew what she'd managed to accomplish for her, surely she'd reward her, right? On top of that, it was look supid, no, suspicious, if she walked in here, waited in line, asked a few questions, and just left, wouldn't it?

"What would you suggest?"

She had to buy ice cream. Her Princess would understand!

"Well…" The human nervously glanced behind Trinitite, and the Abyssal was suddenly aware of the line that was building up behind her. "Do you like Fruit? Chocolate?"

The answer obviously was fruit, but…

"I've never had anything chocolate."

"Alright then." The human turned her attention to the instruments in front of her. "How about one scoop chocolate, one scoop chocolate chip, one scoop german chocolate cake. That sound good?"

"Uh- yes." Trinitite asserted. She had no idea what any of those were, but considering the human's disposition she was probably taking too long here.

"Want it in a cup or a cone?" The human followed up.

"I'll take it in a cup." The Wo-class replied. Whatever cones were, Mother's Ice Cream always came in a cup, and she'd always take the possibility of some familiarity.

"Alright!" The human replied, imputing Trinitite's transaction into the machine. "That'll be Six-oh-seven."

Remembering the labels at the warehouse, Trinitite removed the fruits of her day's work and withdrew her '10' note. It was a waste of four dollars, though… Couldn't Dan have given her more… flexible money?

Resigned, she placed the ten dollar bill on the counter. Like many things, using her money to resupply was going to be more complicated then she'd expected.

"Anything I can do with the other four dollars?"

"Hmm?" The human asked, accepting the ten-dollar note. "I mean, I'd like a tip, but that'll be up to you." With a click, a compartment in the human's console slid open, revealing several other green notes. Slipping the ten in, she removed three others, placing them back on the counter with a collection of metal disks.

"Three ninety-three."

Oh. That was convenient. Good to know Dan hadn't hurt her supply situation by only giving high-value notes.

"Ah, uh, thank you." Trinitite accepted the money, pocketing the paper and scooping the disks up with another hand. Money came in two types? Come to think of it, with how much she was relying on this, why hadn't she added this topic to The Research List?

Hopefully, she'd eventually get around to that. It was starting to look like a process she'd never finish, as she'd only finished with one topic off so far, out of forty eight.

"Alright!" The human replied, handing Trinitite another piece of paper and nodding to the other uniformed human. "Here's your receipt! He'll get you your ice cream shortly." Trinitite nodded, scanning the paper while the uniformed human turned her attention to the person behind Trinitite. It looked like some kind of log, reading off how much she'd given the Baskin-Robins fleet and what for. Presumably, they'd made one for themselves, preventing Trinitite from modifying the deal then accusing them of betrayal. Another thing that would have been useful back in the abyssal fleets, although the Supply Depot Princess had invented such a system and it hadn't spread at all.

Once she found Her Princess, it might be neat to look at all these receipts she'd collected. Trinitite knew her supply officer was going to love these, at least.

"Chocolate, Chocolate Chip, German Chocolate Cake?"

Trinitite looked up at the tall, thin man who must have been referring to her. Hastily she gave the human a short nod, stowing her receipt. Trinitite watched as the human took a metal scoop of some kind, plunging it into a bin filled with earthy-colored ice cream, and carving a channel into the dark treat. Despite its color, the way it gave without much resistance confirmed for Trinitite that it was related to the ice cream she was used to, if not the exact consistency.

Again, she had to swallow as the human deftly filled a small cup with three scoops from each container. It wasn't much, especially compared to those gallon cups she'd get from Mother, but despite the fact that this building had so much of it, Trinitite wasn't surprised it was valuable. Six dollars, for three scoops… She'd have to remember that, when comparing it to other food she could get. Not that Ice Cream was that filling a food, but how efficiently food contributed to her general supplies wasn't the only factor she was concerned with, else she'd just dip steel in bunker oil and eat that. That didn't sound too bad, but it would get old quickly.

"Here you go." The human placed the cup on the glass counter, producing a plastic instrument and plunging it into one of the scoops. "...And your spoon. Enjoy!"

So that was what those were called. Trinitite would have to remember, although she didn't think it was worth putting on her list. Giving the human a smile as thanks, Trinitite took the ice cream and found the most isolated table she could.

There she sat, allowing herself a moment to examine the first thing she'd ever traded money for. The first scoop of ice cream was dark, but had the smooth simplicity Trinitite expected from ice cream. The second was light, similar to the color she was used to, but it's texture was interrupted by evenly-spaced fragments of… something that Trinitite didn't recognize. The third, at the bottom of the cup, seemed to be a variant of the first, but bands of dark and gold materials interrupted it's even sheen.

Well, she couldn't let it melt…

With a slight pang of guilt, Trinitite awkwardly gripped the spoon, plunging it into the simple dark scoop of ice cream and carving a section out. Emulating other humans in the room, The Abyssal slid the spoon into her mouth, closing her lips and started to withdraw the spoon. Meeting her teeth, the spoon's sweet payload slid off the utensil and fell to her tongue.

!

Trinitite froze, stunned. This was ice cream, no doubt about that, but the taste! Withdrawing the spoon, Trinitite shifted the ice cream around in her mouth, feeling it's texture as friction and her tongue broke it down. Instead of the traditional sweetness she was used to, this flavor was overwhelmingly sweet, with a tantalizing bitter undertone to keep it interesting. The room around the abyssal seemed to fade as she focused on the new sensation, the room's temperature transforming into a pleasant warmth as a second bite cooled her.

At the same time, she was overcome by the novel taste of this ice cream, and nostalgia from when she'd had her own. Once her current bite had been reduced to the base cream it had been, she'd quietly place another one in. It could have taken one or thirty minutes, but before she'd realized it, she was through the first scoop and digging into the second. Here, the taste loosely resembled the ice cream Trinitite used to know, but chunks of this 'chocolate' interrupted its texture. Whenever Trinitite chewed, an explosion of dark flavor would punctuate the familiar taste.

By the time she'd gotten to the third scoop, it was starting to melt, meaning she didn't have as much time to enjoy it. Unlike the firm chunks of chocolate, though, the bands in it fell apart with the rest of the ice cream, punctuating the flavor in new ways. One band had a more intense version of the same flavor, dissolving soon after it met her tongue, while the other had both a different flavor and texture, seeming to hold together more as she shifted the ice cream around in her mouth.

Soon, Trinitite found her spoon scraping against the bottom of the paper cup, scooping the melted ice cream from the bottom and into her mouth. At Bikini, she'd probably start eating the cup to get the last out, but it didn't seem like anyone else was doing it, and the abyssal couldn't afford to ruin her disguise. She'd just have to be thorough with the provided spoon, then.

Had it been worth it? Trinitite leaned back, idly sliding the now-empty cup from one hand to the other. Yes, absolutely. She hadn't had a chance to forget herself and focus on something truly trivial since the fall of Bikini. Learning in the library had been fun, sure, and work was relaxing in it's own way, but there she'd still been focused on a task. She'd needed this.

Trinitite sighed, looking back up at the list of flavors behind the human. The room seemed to cool as her hull slowly returned to ambient temperature. That chocolate had been amazing… but she was used to fruit. Why had she never thought of mixing a bit of mango with her mother's ice cream? Firestorm probably would have laughed at her for the idea, but she wouldn't have had any issues convincing her to try it once she had.

Trinitite snorted. That is, if mango ice cream was any good. She stood, dropping the cup in one of the storage boxes the humans had been discarding their cups and returning to the back of the now-smaller line. Sure, she needed to get that pair of steel-toed boots tomorrow, but they couldn't cost that much, right? She could afford to explore a few more of these.

Me, after finishing and rereading this chapter: Wait, it's all fluff?

Anyways, I guess Trinitite did deserve a bit of a break, although I feel a bit weary about posting something that, let's face it, doesn't advance the story at all. Let me know how you feel about this chapter. Because of that, there isn't much I can say about this, although I have relied mostly on store-bought ice cream or a local place a mile from home, so if I got any part of Baskin-Robins wrong, let me know. Unlike the last big battle scene, I probably won't rewrite anything, but I'm all for making minor corrections even in less important parts.