(Untitled)

[itty_bitty_o]

Despite her misgivings about the place (after all, she'd run into Chuck here), Olive isn't the type of gal who backs down when there's a glowing doorway in her closet.

"So, this place again, huh?" she says bravely to anyone who might be listening, still clutching a neon plastic hanger.

Moments later, Olive can be found in a booth. She's nursing a

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[quithauntingme]

Yes, okay, Suze is still in her pajamas.

Shut up, it's summer and there's a recession and her boyfriend is abandoning her for higher learning. She's wandering the bar with a pint of CHOW® cookie dough ice cream; this stuff can really grow on you. (Weirdly, her stomach is simultaneously growling.

This is probably why Olive's pie looks so appealing.

Grumblegrumble.)

[itty_bitty_o]

Olive can hear the girl's stomach from at least ten paces. (Whatever a pace is.)

So, she looks up, beaming, ever the Piehole hostess. "Sounds like you could use a piece of pie."

[quithauntingme]

Suze looks more than a little embarrassed to be caught growling.

She glances down at her ice cream.*

"Well, I am having a snack already," she says, attempting to muster the last of her dignity. "But ... actually ... that smells really good. Maybe I'll go get some. Does apple go with cookie dough?"

*In name only. In actual fact it contains nearly zero calories and the approximate nutritional content of a walkman.

[itty_bitty_o]

"Yes," says Olive, who's had quite a few late nights to experiment. "It also goes with pecan and pumpkin, if you like either of those."

[quithauntingme]

"Pumpkin's not exactly seasonal," Suze muses, glancing down again at her pint, "but I think right now that's making me crave it even more. Uh, do you want some of this once I get it?" She hefts the ice cream. "Eating a whole pint of ice cream and a giant slice of pie would be kind of excessive, I feel."

[itty_bitty_o]

"No, you're young," says Olive with more joviality than is probably necessary. "Your metabolism can handle it!"

She eyes it.

"Still, I may have to take you up on the offer."

[quithauntingme]

Suze smiles slightly. "One sec."

Hoping her metabolism really is up to the challenge-- and with all those kickboxing tapes she's been doing, it should be-- she sidles over to the bar and returns with what is, indeed, a giant slice of pumpkin pie to go with her ice cream.

"If it helps, the ice cream's low-calorie," Suze says cheerfully. "It's actually really good. I have no idea what universe they make this in, but it's not mine."

[itty_bitty_o]

Olive snorts. "You're telling me. It'd have to be from another universe, if it's low-calorie and good."

It's possible Olive hasn't quite wrapped her mind around the whole Milliways is a portal into other worlds thing yet. Give it time.

She gestures for Suze to sit down with her pie, across the table. "Pumpkin. Good choice."

[quithauntingme]

"Oh-- thanks."

Suze slides onto the bench across from her and sets the ice cream down between them.

"I ... brought an extra spoon. Just in case you wanted to try." Her expression is Very Serious. "The way I figure it, ice cream from another universe like this, you've gotta try it. It's practically for science."

Not that that'd fly back at old Junipero Serra Academy.

"And as a high school student, I take science very seriously."

[itty_bitty_o]

Olive accepts the spoon graciously.

"Yes, definitely. It's not a subject you want to take lightly, all things considered. Particularly when it comes to ice cream."

She smiles. "I'm Olive, by the way."

[quithauntingme]

"Suze." She smiles faintly.

And, with great care, she spoons herself an amount of ice cream complementary to her serving of pie. She takes a bite, chews thoughtfully, and grins.

"This was completely not an intuitive flavor combo ... but I like it."

[itty_bitty_o]

"Yes, sometimes things that don't seem right really do go together quite perfectly."

Olive can think of at least one good example off the top of her head besides pumpkin pie and cookie dough ice cream. Like... herself, and a certain piemaker she works for.

Ahem. Olive takes a spoonful of ice cream. "This is really good stuff."

[quithauntingme]

"Isn't it?"

Suze beams. She's proud of this discovery.

"It's some brand called CHOW®-- they also make milkshakes and pastries. I bet their pie's not as good as these, though."

[itty_bitty_o]

"Hope not," says Olive, mouth full of half pie and half ice cream. Her mother would be turning in her grave right now, if she weren't still alive.

"That would be an injustice to decent pie everywhere and its humongous calorie count."

[quithauntingme]

"Right."

Suze makes a bit of a face.

"Luckily, we're axing that calorie count with mysterious diet foods. I'm pretty sure there's nothing in here that'll give my children radioactive cancer, but admittedly the list of ingredients is pretty vague."

[itty_bitty_o]

"You never know," she says, blissfully eating the ice cream. (Olive, her mother told her frequently after she turned 30, is officially too old to worry about future children.)

"There's no such thing as a free lunch, as they say. And that means..." She loses her train of thought momentarily, eats a bite of pie.

"That means there's either going to be lots of calories, or something else wrong with it. I can't help thinking this ice cream is too good to be true."