Reggie was still getting used to Night Vale and being not-dead and not-a-ghost-anymore, which meant he spent his morning wandering around and seeing what was up. Night Vale itself wasn't very big, at least not like Los Angeles, and yet there was still a lot to see. For one, the day before when Reggie was walking around, he saw something called "Pinkberry" but it was closed and he didn't know what that meant and he wanted to know what it was.
So he returned, pleased to find it was open now, and swept inside, the door jingling when he opened it. He was still getting used to being able to easily touch things again, so he overcompensated his opening motion and the door nearly pulled him forward with it, as he stumbled into the "Pinkberry."
It was chilly and the air smelled sweet, and he looked around. "Is this an ice cream place?" he asked out loud. "Oh I want chocolate sprinkles," he said, rushing over to the counter where he saw all the toppings spread out.
Violet was lost in her own thoughts when she saw someone stumble into the shop, literally. It wasn’t exactly a busy day for her, so she spent most of her time daydreaming and watching the front while another employee worked in the back. She didn’t want to laugh, but she couldn’t help but smile as the boy entered. He looked about her age, but it was hard to tell, she wasn’t the best guesser.
“It’s frozen yogurt, actually.” She grinned. “It’s similar to ice-cream but the main ingredient is you guessed it, yogurt.” As he made his way to the toppings bar she gave a small but kind laugh. “We have sprinkles. There’s also other candy-like m&ms, gummy worms, brownie bits, and even fruit.” She motioned behind her to the menu of different flavors. “There is chocolate plus other great flavors and you can combine them as well.”
"Oh," he said, cheerfully. "You mean like TCBY? We used to get that at the rest stops on road trips when I was a kid." Reggie leaned over and peered into the case to see what was what. It was pretty weird talking to someone who wasn't one of the guys or Julie. And without his bass in hand, too. If he thought getting used to being dead was hard, getting used to not being dead anymore was even harder.
"Wow, that's a lot of flavors." Reggie's eyes widened. He would probably end up overindulging, seeing as how he could eat again. And he loved eating. "What's your favorite?" he asked her.
“I think so!” Violet replied. The name certainly sounded familiar, but there had been different frozen yogurt places in Metroville that she couldn’t keep all of them straight. As she watched him, she hoped that he wasn’t feeling too overwhelmed. There were a lot of choices, especially if one wasn’t used to it. After being here a while, she knew there were all sorts of people coming through, not everyone would have the same experience as her.
“That’s hard to decide!” Violet laughed. “I really like the orange peach mango, but” She motioned over to her right. “Combining peanut butter and chocolate will give you that really intense delicious Reece’s flavor, and if you add the Nutella,” she motioned to the topping. “It’s even better!”
Reggie rubbed his chin and looked from the flavor menu to the toppings and back again a few times before he strode confidently over to where he could order. "I believe I'll have the chocolate with peanut butter and I want those gummy worms and Oreo pieces on top, please!" He grinned at her.
“Coming right up!” Violet turned to grab one of the cups, and carefully pulled the middle lever that would combine the chocolate and peanut butter together. She watched it swirl and just top, like ice-cream, the top made a small swoop.
As she brought it back to the toppings bar she broke the silence. “Are you new?” She asked him. “I know we’ve been getting a lot of new people in Night Vale lately.”
He watched everything she did, trying not to visibly drool over the idea that he was going to get to taste this, actually eat it and taste it in his mouth. Actually taste it, he reminded himself. At her question, Reggie leaned forward a little on the counter and nodded. "Yeah. Just a few days ago. It's so weird. I was just trying to go from the garage to the kitchen and then poof, I was here in Night Vale. Not like the normal poof I was usually doing, but one I didn't even do myself. Just showed up here!"
Violet laughed. “I know what that’s like. It’s so strange how quickly and randomly someone can just arrive here.” She finished up and before she handed him his treat, she made sure to weigh it first to get an accurate total. “Here you are! And your total is…” Then she looked up and smiled. “Oh, and I’m Violet by the way.”
"I'm Reggie," he said with a big smile, looking at her but getting distracted by the frozen yogurt he was just about to have. He dug around in his pockets to find the money to hand over to her. "This looks so cool, thanks, Violet!"
“Nice to meet you, Reggie!” Violet took his money and promptly returned his change. “Have a great day! I’m sure I’ll see you around Night Vale sometime!”
"I think I'm going to get a job at the record store," he told her. "So if I don't see you here, maybe I'll see you there!"
“Oh cool,” Violet replied. “Yeah, I like going into the record store so I’m sure I’ll see you there.” She gave him a small wave. “Have a good day and enjoy!” Violet was used to using her customer service voice and while she typically said that to almost everyone, she was more genuine when speaking to Reggie. Her voice had her more natural tone, but still happy to be meeting someone new, especially around her age. Teens seemed few and far between in Night Vale.