If at first you don't succeed, tie, tie again

Aah, was it just him or did Liliana and he have g r e a t chemistry? He really really wanted to grab his phone and text Wren about it, but he had to contain that enthusiasm, because it would be rude and stupid to do that in the middle of a conversation. But he could no longer contain the hype, he had to move his body, get some of this sunshine fuelled energy burnt off! And maybe grab a quick snack while they were at it.

Liliana seemed to be slightly more familiar with the island, so he left it up to her to scout them a good spot – and she did. ‘Well done, scout!’ he belted loudly. He praised her detective work with a clap of his hands. An ice cream truck, excellent! ‘Go go, power rangers!’ He slowly strolled backwards, so that he could keep his eyes on her as she grabbed her stuff. Then, he turned around and continued walking towards the ice cream truck energetically. ‘So, do I wanna know what you were shooting with those arrows?’ he then asked, curiously.

Oh damn, she was a real hunter. That was so cool! Although the honey badger part slightly worried him, he decided not to get hung up about it. She surely didn't go around killing all those cute honey badgers, she didn't seem the type. And she also mentioned paper targets. Maybe he should ask her to teach him, he had always wanted to learn to shoot a bow. He'd never come much further than catapults and the occasional paintball gun for a birthday bash. ''You'll have to teach me one day,'' he subtly suggested on their way to the ice cream truck.

Once they arrived at the truck, he was completely distracted from their conversations, looking through the list, reacting with ooh's and aah's, and the occasional disgusted sound when he came across the creepy crawly insect flavours. ''So many options, so little time,'' he complained. He listened to Liliana's choices and nodded approvingly. A bit boring, but you couldn't go wrong with the classics in ice cream flavorology. ''I'd like.. Let's start with forest fruit cheesecake, green apple, oooh, and white chocolate please, and can you add whipped cream? And chocolate sprinkles? In a cup, but with the cone on top, as a waffle.'' Genius level idea. He turned to Liliana to explain: ''This way, you have access to all your flavors, but you still get the crunchy cone!'' Maybe she'd also be inspired, or maybe she was a waffle-disliking one.

He looked as the employee started to create their treats, and then dug his hand into his pocket to produce a worn out leather wallet. From it, he took a twenty pound note, ready to give it to the employee, when a realization struck him. ''Wait, what money do you guys use?'' he asked sheepishly grinning.

Boom, that was easy. He had just secured some epic bow shooting lessons - now he only had to make sure to follow through on it, something that often proved more difficult than you could imagine. After all, there was so much to do and only so little time! But whatever happened, at least they had a good ice cream right now.

''I am operating at the cutting edge of ice cream choices It will be revolutionary, or.. a bad combo,'' he said to her with a mysterious hand wave. They'd find out shortly. When he went to pay, he suddenly realized that his coinage might well be void on this island. Oopsie. He should have known, only their own puny little island used the pound after all, even the European mainland had a different system. ''Ooh, that makes sense,'' he answered. ''Maybe I should've checked before coming here. But yeah, I'll get you back next time!''

The two ice cream cups arrived on the counter, and Allen collected his monstrosity with a big smile and a thank you, before handing Liliana hers. ''Let's go taste test,'' he proposed, and lead the way to the few fold out tables and chairs that were set-up to the side of the ice cream truck. He sat down and scooped up a bit of whipped cream. ''Mmm, so good.'' Hungrily he started going to town on his scoops. ''How's yours?'' he then asked with a half-full mouth.

Neither of them wasted any time before digging in to their jummy ice creams. Allen quickly rotated his cup to sample all the flavours, being very happy with his decisions. ''Goood,'' he went again, when Lil approved of her flavours. ''Here, try some of mine,'' he said enthusiastically, sliding the cup over to her side of the table.

''Ehh, yeah, it's been really good so far!'' he told her. ''It's beautiful, and super chill. Though some of the classes are like super boring.'' He chuckled. Nothing else to be expected from school though. ''Though.. some of the ehh creatures walking around here are pretty freaky,'' he said, lowering his voice a bit. ''Very different from boring ol' England for sure.''

After eating some of his own flavours, Allen decided it was time for an exchange. Or at least, an offer to Lil, so she could try all these exciting flavours. When she offered him some of hers, he felt his heart jump in happiness. They completed the swapsies and he had a quick sample of her flavours. The chocolate was pretty darn delicious, so he snuck another bite of that one with a cheeky grin, before giving her cup back.

Everybody knew sharing was caring, so that clearly meant good things for this new found friendship. Lil gave him some examples of the crazy stuff to expect around here, making him laugh. ''Glad I got hashtag blessed with my normal legs,'' he joked. He continued to destroy his ice cream, almost too fast. It was a stark contrast to her delicate, determined bites. And karma quickly caught up with him as he grimaced. ''Brain freezzze,'' he complained, but he quickly shook it off. ''I came here with my bestie, Wren, but I haven't had time to really meet many cool people. So that'd be wicked, yeah. Should I give you my number?'' he ventured, reaching for his mobile phone in his pocket.