I Scream for Ice Cream | Church Outing

It was warm, plain, and simple- the temperatures were rising and it was affecting all of burrowgatory. Thankfully most of the nuns and priests of the Church of Sulfur had clothing that allowed for a lot of room to breathe, the keyword being most. Some of them were a bit more apprehensive about stripping a little in order to beat the heat, and for one particular priest on this day, it was quite uncomfortable.

 

Bahem was heaving and panting by the time he placed the baskets of supplies out by the gardens. The basket itself wasn't heavy, only holding a collection of seeds and some leftover gardening supplies donated by some of the people of burrowgatory, but the heat, it was killing him. 

 

"Uhm, Bahem? Are you alright?" Bahem looked up and met eyes with Law, who was doing some of the church's laundry outside. The burning heat did wonders for drying clothes, after all. "Oh, yes I'm quite alright, Law! Just... a bit warm." He laughed, though it quickly devolved into a wheeze. "You're sure? You look very... uncomfortable." It was true, Bahem's full-body coverage wasn't exactly doing him any favors. He was kind of surprised that Law's own leather coverings weren't burning him up too, but he had to admit that at least Law had some room to breathe in there. 

 

"I suppose I am a little... overheated, but that's unimportant! I still have many tasks around the church today, and I can't be fretting over minor things." The priest nodded, picking himself up a little bit and trying to fix his posture. "Minor things like... your physical health?" Law questioned, eyebrow tilting upwards as he moved to fully look at Bahem. "Well, when you put it like that..."

 

The two didn't have any more time to question all of that, a loud snapping sound making both of them flinch and turn towards the garden's door. Bahem recognized that sound immediately and turned his head away. "I'd appreciate you looking at me when you know you've been caught, Bahemont." The dark voice, the aggressive tone, the use of his full name- of course, it was Kuro. "I've been trying to catch you all day, you know. I don't appreciate having to chase down those needing punishment." Law gasped slightly. "Punishment?! What did you do?" He whispered towards Bahem, causing the other greed bun to whine slightly. "More like what I didn't do..." 

 

Kuro walked up to the two of them, looking Bahem up and down before crossing his arms. "Your warm weather attire is unacceptable, for a start. Don't think it hasn't been noticed that you're close to downright killing yourself. You do physical labor around here, I'd expect you to be dressed accordingly. Not to mention that you've done nothing to indulge in sin and care for yourself in the process. No naps, No cold snacks- or snacks at all, no shedding of clothing. You even refused the ice packs provided by the church." Bahem rubbed his arm slightly. "There weren't enough for all of us, and I didn't want someone else to get overheated."

 

"So you let yourself get overheated instead!?" Kuro yelled, slamming his crop down next to Bahem's hoof and causing the male to squeak out. Law, watching with something close to abject horror, also flinched back heavily as the movement. "Well, if Bahem not allowing himself to cool down is the issue...we could go get ice cream... Oleander said something about wanting more of the church staff to uhm... enjoy some 'creamy delights' outside of our norm." Kuro rolled his eyes at the wording, but it also made him know that those words definitely came from Oleander, and wasn't just Law trying to escape the church premises again.

 

"Fine. Bahem wouldn't be able to handle punishment in this overheated condition anyways... I'll wait until we get back." Kuro noted, meeting Bahem's eyes with an intense glare. Bahem let out a nervous chuckle, starting to move away from the two of them. "Alright, in that case, I will go... get the others, and I'll meet with you all at the front door..." In an instant, Bahem was bolting into the church. 

 

It seemed that the other side of the church had a similar idea. As soon as Bahem entered the room, he almost collided with Bliss, her ditsy sort of smile greeting him. "OH, Bahem! I was just looking for you!" Bahem tilted his head slightly, a cue for her to say more. "Oleander told me to come get you and the others, we're all going out for ice cream! He said it's a 'mandatory church bonding activity', or something like that!" 

 

"Funny thing, that. Kuro, Law, and I were just about to try and grab you all to go get ice cream too." Bahem explained, and Bliss clapped her hands together in joy. "Oh yay! That means I don't need to do as much work! I can probably take a power nap before everyone gets here then..." She giggled and didn't even let Bahem say another word before she was skipping over to one of the pews to collapse for a few minutes.

 

"Just wake me up when we're leaving! I'm going to dream about how much ice cream we're going to eat... yummy yummy ice cream..." She made a happy little hum as she laid her head down, a smile on her face as she let her mind wander to all the potential flavors she would be able to get. Bahem couldn't help but smile as well. Bliss had her own problematic aspects, of course, but at the very least she was cheerful.

 

It didn't take very long at all for Bahem to find the remaining two who were at work today. Partially because one of them was arguing at a very loud volume. "Absolutely not! I've much work to get done today, and I will not distract myself with this silly little outing!" Elest huffed out, clinging to the doorway to the church's library. The sloth bun behind him wasn't even doing anything to cause him to cling to the doorway, only standing there looking a bit somberly at him. "But... Oleander said that everyone needs to come with... besides, it'll only be for a little bit... unfortunately." Iris sighed.

 

Bahem walked over, and Elest turned to look at him. "Bahem! You know better than anyone how important the organization of the church's religious texts is! Tell Iris that I cannot go to this group outing!" Bahem looked towards Iris for a moment, before turning back to Elest. "Well, about that..." The pause was enough to cause the pride bun's face to turn to one of despair. "You too? I thought you were on my side!" Bahem scratched the back of his head. "I am! It's just... I was asked to come grab you both for the ice cream outing too... and I think if I let someone stay behind Kuro will really bruise my backside when we get back..." It seemed the mention of the master of punishment was enough to shake both Iris and Elest a little.

 

"Won't Kuro punish Elest too if he doesn't come with?" Iris questioned, and Bahem nodded almost immediately. "I mean, we both do enough work to where it gets in the way of sinning sometimes..." To that, Elest sighed dramatically. "Fine! I'll come with if only to keep Kuro off of my back." Iris gave a small smile. "That's good to hear, now let's meet up with the others!"

 

With that, Iris was gone, and Bahem was allowed to let out a sigh too. "At least some of them are happy about this." Elest just shook his head. "You care about others too much sometimes, Bahem." Bahem already knew this, as if it wasn't told to him seven times over in just the past week alone. "I suppose you could say that..."

 

Oleander was already there by the time everyone gathered back up near the front doors of the church, "I hope you all are excited for a lovely outing with your fellow church members!" The response was a mixture of genuine excitement from some and unenthusiastic acknowledgment from others. Even so, it was enough for Oleander to smile. "I'm sure that everyone will enjoy it, and we'll be back in no time, I promise!" Elest and Bahem couldn't help but doubt that, thinking about the work they both still had to do once they returned.

 

Not like they could argue, they were going to get ice cream whether they wanted to or not.

 

The ice cream parlor they ended up in had most flavors and types they could think of. Bahem wasn't an ice cream expert by any means, but he was pretty sure that some of the flavors that were on the menu should really not exist. Maybe they were popular during breeding season? Even then, he couldn't imagine anyone wanting... macaroni and cheese ice cream. Thankfully, there were regular flavors as well, ones that were good for an ice cream novice such as Bahem.

 

Oleander ended up ordering much more than was necessary, but Bahem supposed that was partially the point, especially considering some of the buns that they had brought along... well, Bliss especially. Two of the tables were pushed together in order to make enough room for the entire party, and all sorts of ice cream and popsicles were placed in front of the group. Banana splits, bowls of ice cream scoops, buckets full of ice, and push-up popsicles. If you looked far enough, you could even see a miniature freezer brought out to keep some ice cream sandwiches and creamsicles cold. 

 

Bahem looked at the options with some confusion. How many should he take? What were the flavors he should try? Strawberry and Raspberry were pretty popular, so he probably shouldn't take those in case others wanted them. Vanilla and Chocolate were pretty safe options for those who might not like the more out-there flavors, so he probably shouldn't grab those either. He was also doing math in his head to make sure everyone at the table had an equal amount of ice cream- with some exceptions. He knew that this was supposed to encourage gluttony and greed, but it was in his nature to worry about everyone getting a fair share- or more accurately, as much as they wanted.

 

As he thought, Oleander moved to sit next to him, putting a hand on his shoulder while the other hand passed over a packaged popsicle. Bahem couldn't reject an offer like that, of course, taking the popsicle and unpackaging it while Oleander talked. "It really is nice to see you've joined us, Bahem. I was worried about you, you know." Bahem's face turned a little concerned, though he still licked at the orange popsicle as he spoke. "Wha? Why?" Oleander laughed slightly at the way the other attempted to talk while licking the cold treat. "Well, you looked quite overheated today, and while I understand you wearing a bit more than your peers- well, even I have some room to breathe in my robes." 

 

"I thought it would be okay-" Bahem began to try and speak again, only for Oleander to hush him with another small laugh. "Don't talk while you're enjoying your popsicle, Bahem! My point is that I'm very happy to see you cooling down." Bahem almost smiled at that but ended up unable to do so as he saw some intense dark eyes staring at him from his peripherals. Kuro was staring at him, no doubt judging him for how well he gave into greed and gluttony during the outing.  He looked away from the gluttony bun, feeling himself start to sweat again, but for a greatly different reason. 

 

Bahem ended up enjoying the orange flavor a lot for a lot of different reasons- it was one that tasted good but not many people considered their favorite, it was more common in popsicles than it was in ice cream, also making it less likely to be favored in comparison to larger bowls of cream. It was both a common enough flavor that Bahem had a lot of them while being unpopular enough to where he could grab it for himself without any guilt or negative reaction from the others. It was, in his mind, a perfect loophole. He could be as greedy and gluttonous as he wished as long as it was specifically in orange popsicles only. 

 

It wasn't a bad deal either, the more he ate, the more he enjoyed the orange flavor. It was more energetic, and the crunch of the popsicles was more appealing to him than the soft texture of the ice cream. Sure, it hurt his teeth a little to actively bite into the treats, but it was a temporary pain for a delicious reward. That sounded like something a gluttony bun would say! See, he was already getting better at this whole 'sinning' thing! He apparently just needed to find the right thing to spark his gluttonous spirit.

 

Everyone else seemed to enjoy their time too, indulging in their own gluttony at different amounts. To be entirely honest, Bliss enjoyed her ice cream with enough joy for everyone, even making up for Elest and Kuro- distracted or focused on their own rights to the point where they didn't indulge as much. Iris enjoyed almost taking a nap while eating her ice cream, and Law was just grateful for the chance to leave the church for a little while. 

 

The outing was a success overall, cooling down the church staff while allowing them to enjoy themselves, even if some of them wouldn't dare to admit that even if they were forced to. Ice cream was enjoyable to most buns, and especially on a hot day like today, it was an appreciated way for all of them to cool down. Oleander even made sure that he'd take a few back to the church, with flavors that each of the members of the church enjoyed, including a lot of orange popsicles- way more than Bahem thought logical. 

 

Bahem made a small noise at the sight. Bahem knew what Oleader was doing. Everyone else knew what Oleander was doing. Oleander knew what he was doing. There was no doubt that Bahem's encouraged sinning practice would now include orange popsicles for the entirety of summer.