The rest of the morning moved along in much the same way. While there was some lingering tension between the two of them, when it came to scooping ice cream and serving customers, they worked seamlessly together. If they were standing on opposite sides of the ice cream flavors, they would slip in front or behind each other to get to the other side. And always, they would have a warm smile to offset the cold desserts they served.

  Ever always knew when lunchtime hit without looking at the clock. That was when the greatest variety of customers came into the store all around the same time. The thing that he found most interesting was that no matter what they wore, be it business shirts or pencil skirts, hard hats or black flats, they all had the same expression on their face: a specific type of hunger that only an ice cream could satisfy. That was, until this one customer.

  “Hey there, thanks for waiting, what can I get for you?” Ever asked.

  The man looked Ever in the face, as if trying to recognize him. He wore a trench coat, but strangely enough didn’t put his arms through his sleeves. Instead, he had it draped over his shoulders. There was a hint of a smile on his face before he looked down at the flavors on display.

  “Yeah hey, I’d like to try something but wanted to ask first, do your ice creams contain any dairy?”

  “Yes, all these flavors,” he made a sweeping motion on his side of the ice creams, “contain dairy, but they don’t contain eggs.”

  “Don’t contain eggs, you say?” The man bent down to look closer, as if trying to see if an egg was somehow embedded deep within the vanilla. “What do you recommend?”

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  People were jostling a little bit, but Chaos kept serving them so Ever could keep speaking with this customer.

  “My personal favorite is the hazelnut. If it's a sorbet you’re after, you can’t go wrong with the strawberry.”

  The guy nodded slowly. Not bad, the motion seemed to say.

  “Sounds good, I’ll have a hazelnut then.”

  “In a cup or in a cone?”

  “A cup thanks.”

  The man leaned against the counter, glancing at the scoop as Ever shaped out the nut flavor from the tub. He took payment, stood in the corner and started eating his dessert, taking a seat as soon as it was available.

  —--

  ∞There was something suspicious about that customer.∞

  *Which one?*

  ∞The one you served during the lunch rush, treating his jacket like a cape.∞

  *Oh him. He wasn’t like the other customers. Didn’t have the same expression. Can you keep an eye on him?*

  Chaos stopped wiping the table. While Ever couldn’t see his face, he could imagine the sort of reaction he had on his face - one that was too human for him to admit.

  ∞I don’t answer to your mentor, what makes you think that I would answer to you?∞

  *What if he comes back to rob or attack us?*

  ∞I would cast him into my realm, crush his soul and scatter the remnants for my voidlings to fight over.∞

  Hm - good to know, Ever thought to himself.