Jia smiled at the other woman as she listed a few different choices. The chocolate sundae with the peanut sauce sounded like a bit much for her. She couldn’t only imagine the burning sensation it would cause in the back of her throat. The banana split sounded tasty, but she had had it in the past. She wanted something new. That left the small caramel sundae. It sounded sweet, and she absolutely loved almonds. The idea that the caramel was homemade only made it sound better, and she felt a bit surprised that she had never tried it.
Matilda’s always had great ice cream. Jia had known about it since she started going to school in Alden, and it had never disappointed her. Of course, she only came for ice-cream. She wasn’t a huge fan of fast-food, and she didn’t eat meat, so that severely limited the choices for regular food in the diner. Their pies weren’t bad, but it was the ice-cream that stole the show for the dryad.
“I think I’ll have the caramel sundae with vanilla ice cream. I think the chocolate ice-cream would probably be a little too rich for my blood. Almonds are also my favorite nut, so you had me sold the minute you mentioned them.” If there was too much caramel, she could always scrape a little off to the side, but she imagined that it would be the perfect amount.
She wondered if it would be sweeter if it was homemade or if it wouldn’t be as sweet because of it. Of course, a lot of people always wanted extreme flavors these days: spicier, sweeter, saltier, etc. It was one reason why she liked to make her own food most of the time, but she couldn’t deny that the ice-cream in this facility was ten times better than anything she would be able to produce by herself.
Jia’s green eyes moved to the name-tag over the breast of her uniform. Marie… That was a pretty name, and it seemed really well suited to her physical appearance even if Jia had always felt that name-tags were an invasion of privacy. What if someone didn’t want their name to be known? What if a stalker became more interested in someone because they discovered their name? A first name was only the gateway to obtaining more information which was why she preferred to give it herself to people rather than just wearing it proudly. She was glad that she didn’t have to wear a name-tag when she worked, but most of the time, she only ran into animals, not people, so it wasn’t a big deal.
“How long have you worked here?” Jia asked curiously. She would understand if the woman didn’t want to answer, and she would respect that decision. She was simply curious because she couldn’t remember ever having seen the other. The young woman couldn’t imagine forgetting eyes like those. Of course, the dryad didn’t come to Matilda’s often. She had to maintain good eating habits if she was going to maintain her dancer’s body, but indulging every once in a while wouldn’t kill her.