"And what if I test getting my head cut off and I can't heal it? I'm dead. No thanks. Kind of hard to do much of anything helpful if I'm dead." He didn't want to die. It had been a passing thought before, but he refused to accept it as an option. Couldn't accept it as an option. Even if Conri was dead and he'd thought he couldn't care about anyone else.

Lost in his extremely depressing thoughts, Bailey's offer came as a complete surprise. Aiden blinked at him a few times. "Ice cream?" Well, that was hardly a silvertongue record.

Sadly... it wasn't the worst response he'd had. Even among events he didn't actively try to forget.

He did generally find ice cream to taste good, but he couldn't expect a near stranger to buy him ice cream, and it didn't seem appropriate to charge ice cream to the school. Eventually he'd have a way to pay for things again, but he was kind of caught between things right now.

"Thanks, but, uh, I'm going to have to pass. I'm not actually the one paying for these clothes as it is..."

The guy... Didn't want ice cream?

Who didn't want ice cream?

Did he want ice cream?

What if he only though he wanted ice cream?

Bailey's whole life was a lie!

A brief look of panic flashed in his eyes before he settled. Of course he wanted ice cream. He always wanted ice cream. It was strange that the other guy didn't want ice cream.

Maybe he was lacto-whatever intolerant or something? Or maybe he just didn't have any money for ice cream? The money problem would be easier to solve than the intolerance, so that was what he tried first.

"Well so if the right person is working today then we might just be able to get it for free. If not, then it's still only, like, a dollar a cone when I get it. You sure you don't want to get some? I have enough change for two cones."