"Who in the Hell took my green tea ice cream?!"

Marie hadn't heard Scott holler like that since, well, she couldn't even remember.  She'd jumped a little at the freezer door slam, wondered what was up, and then heard that.

And so there she was, across the hall in the rec room, trying to stifle a giggle around the spoon still stuck in her mouth while sliding down further on the couch, stuffing the little carton under one of the pillows.

It was all Logan's fault.

She hadn't even given the funny carton covered in Japanese characters in the back of the freezer a second glance before, thinking it some weird concoction that didn't even sound all that appetizing.  And she'd always known it was Scott's, because he had some ties to Japan, being Mr. I-can-kick-the-crap-out-of-you-and-five-of-your-friends-at-the-same-time-while-blindfolded-because-I'm-a-Master-of-Aikido-beyatch, so she'd stayed away from it.

She'd had no idea, however, that Logan also had his own ties to Japan, until a couple of days ago, when he decided to drag her out to some authentic hole-in-the-wall place, where you sat on the floor at short little tables after taking off your shoes and only got chopsticks for utensils and all that jazz.  Or, as Logan had described, when she asked about what kind of Japanese place it was:

"A real one.  None of that Benihana bullshit."

So, off they went, to take off their shoes and sit at a short little table with only chopsticks to eat with.

The conversation had gone something like this, after Logan said to the waiter:

"Domo."

(And then Marie had jumped in with):

"Gesundheit."

"Huh?"

"Hehe, Ah'm just teasin'.  Where'd you learn to speak Japanese, anyway?"

"Spent some time in Japan."

"Really?  Ah neva woulda thought that about you.  When?"

"Not sure."

"Ahh."

And so on, and so forth.

Of course, it all fell apart because of the sake.

See, they'd been looking at the menu, with Logan explaining what this was, what that was, when Marie had discovered the list of sake.

And one of them had the best name for booze that she had ever heard of in her entire life: Mountain of Men.

Mountain of Men.  Had to say it again.  She could not believe it.  Well, of course she had to try it.

"But that one is cold sake," Logan had griped. "Sake is better warm."

Men just didn't understand, sometimes.

Anyway, it didn't help that she didn't eat all that much, either.  Miso soup had never been her thing, and she'd gone through three whole mountains and was feeling it when the lobster showed up.

You'd think lobster would have been a good thing, what with it being deliciously succulent and lobstery mouth-watering goodness.

The problem with that particular lobster was that it was still kind of alive, waving its poor little claws and poor little antennae and poor little legs around with its shell ripped open, just waiting for them to eat it.

She'd started laughing that nervous, horrified laugh at the thing.  You know, the one you do because you're not quite sure what else to do about something that’s remarkably disturbing and absurd at the same time?

So then, of course, of all things, she thought of the Chinese restaurant scene in that flick, The Christmas Story, because the whole family does that particular nervous, horrified laugh at the roast duck that still has a head and is "smiling" at them, and the owner chops the head off right then at the table, and the staff is trying to sing carols in the background, mixing up all their Ls for Rs.

And oh lord, Marie had started laughing like the devil at that point (she blamed the Mountain of Men) all the while trying to tell Logan to put the poor thing out of its misery.

So no, she hadn't eaten all that much.

Except for the green tea ice cream.

"Trust me, you'll like it."

"But Ah don't like green tea."

"Just try it."

"But-mmph!"

"See?"

Well, she couldn't remember much else of that evening beyond that point, but she had been craving green tea ice cream ever since.

So, fast forward back to the present, with a pissed off Scott, and her trying to not give herself away by laughing.

She wound up cracking up out loud, anyway, with all the thoughts of waving lobsters and mountains of men and "’Tis the season to be jorry, fa ra ra ra ra" swirling around in her head.

And when she heard footsteps coming up behind her, she was sure that she was busted, that a pair of red glasses was going to be glaring down at her, and that she was in for the chew-out of a lifetime.

When she tipped her head back to look, though, she was met by a smirk instead.

"Told ya you'd like it," said the upside down smirk, which only got smirkier.

And, before she could even get out a word, Logan, quick as you please, snatched that funny little carton covered in Japanese characters out from under the pillow, and ran off down the hall.

All Marie could do was blink.

Well, and yell.

"LOGAN!"

Well, and chase after him.

Damn, but she could have gone for another Mountain of Men right about then...