[open] This Fire is outta control; gotta burn this city!

[npc_kun]

Characters: Open
Date/Time: Oct 24-26, anytime
Location: Park & elsewhere (please specify location in comments)
Rating: Varied
Summary: Ladies and Gentlemen, we are gathered here to memorize a great tragedy that befell our sphere one year ago today. With HOT DOGS! A-BOOYA! Who's gonna cut the Fugue cake?! Second Annual Edensphere BBQ is ON!

[ooc

Comments

i debated between being funny or cruel so I ended up being both. SORRY KRIS

[man_genius]

Well if it weren't for Youth forcing Genius to train with him twice a week, Genius would be in very real danger of rolling down a hill as a fat bloated ball of starch. His genes (no pun intended) were doing him a favor, as he seemed able to eat a lot of junk food and still maintain the appearance of a relatively skinny guy (actual weight? a different story).

He was taking full advantage of this as he reached for yet another bowl of potato chips that had a strange look to them. Some of them appeared to have a tiny face burned into them, almost impossible to see. Genius certainly didn't notice. In fact while one hand was reaching for the chips, his eyes spotted a hot dog nestled in a bun that looked equally appetizing. There was also a face on the hot dog, but it was difficult to see. Hm. Decisions.

He looked up when Gene spoke and gave the man a startled smile. It was a content grin, one that probably wasn't seen that often on the young medic. "Name twin! How could I NOT enjoy a shady, free meal cooked up out of thin air and claimed by no one?"

Potato chips or hot dog? He could do both. Genius grabbed a handful of chips and began to munch. "Want some?" He pushed the bowl towards Gene even as he took a big bite out of the sausage that seemed to have Gene's face burned into it.

Awkkkkward.

Funny-cruel is ALWAYS the best combo.

[live_ringer]

Not expecting anything to be patently strange about the food, Gene had yet to realize the amount of detail that had been put into them. Though Genius's description of the little get together made Gene wonder.

"Appearing out of thin air, yet claimed by no one, hm? Maybe everyone else is too suspicious to fully enjoy the break when they get it."

Once Genius pushed the bowl towards Gene he grabbed a few of the potato chips. While his friend started chowing down on the hot dog Gene squinted when he noticed something a bit odd.

"I think there's... mold or something on these crisps." He scraped at the surface of one, then squinted as he realized there was something strange about the pattern on the chips. It wasn't random so much as... it seemed to form a face. One that sort of seemed familiar, now that he thought of it.

He jabbed an elbow into Genius's ribs in an attempt to get his attention. He had yet to even get a close look at the hot dog. "Oi. Does this look like something to you?" he asked as he held up a chip for Genius to get a good look at.

U NO ET BB

[man_genius]

"It's not the first time food's appeared. There was a wilderness that was a giant buffet wasn't there?" Genius shrugged. "I haven't seen anyone drop dead yet and honestly? Poison's a bit too tame for this place." Well it was true. People tended to die horrifically via shooting rampages or giant insect attacks, not mundane poison. There was some logic going on in his head.

Genius had taken another giant bite of hot dog--it was actually smoked sausage but such culinary nuances were lost on him--before Gene pointed out the marks on that chips and the poke to the ribs made him almost choke. "Ack-!" He swallowed, coughed and glared at Gene. "DUDE!" Never interupt a nerdling during feeding time.

He gave the chips a cursory glance--then did a double take. "That's not mold. That's a...something." He put his sausage down slowly. "Huh. It almost looks like a face right?" He reached into the bowl to find a bigger sized chip. "...It is a face! What the--they're all faces! What the--"

Confused, he looked around at the table of food around him with wide eyes, with his gaze eventually turning to the half eaten sausage in front of him. He couldn't not pick it up, turn it around--

And scream.

[live_ringer]

"Too tame?" he asked while raising a brow. "That's one way to look at it, I guess."

Gene raised a brow at Genius's protests after he recovered from his choking spell and it was clear he wouldn't be dying from sausage inhalation. "Maybe if you didn't shovel down food so quickly, that wouldn't have been so likely to happen." Sure, it was more or less Gene's fault for prodding a man while he was eating but... really, that was nothing to focus on right now. Clearly, they had a mystery of sorts to solve.

"That's what I thought--wait, all faces?" Gene glanced over the table of food, about to inspect a plate full of chocolate covered marshmallows when Genius screamed.

"Jesus Christ, what the hell is your..." then Gene saw exactly what Genius was staring at. A half-eaten smoked sausage that, in and of itself, seemed innocuous enough. That is, until he leaned closer and got a good look at its face--his face. He was used to sharing his face, but this was rather pushing it. And while he wasn't feeling the urge to scream, he did feel any sign of appetite up and leave him.

OK TIME TO MAKE THIS HIDEOUS

[man_genius]

He knew it! He should have listened to his instincts about the free food! Why God why did he let his base instincts and greed win out?! Genius whimpered, pushed the sausage away and looked at Gene with horror in his eyes.

"I ate you! I ate your sausage!"

There was no time to consider how horrible that sounded. Genius' mind was racing--why did the food have faces--did they all have faces?! He jumped up and backed away from the park bench still whimpering. "Oh God--I already had a plate of food--"

He felt sick. Was this some kind of horrible joke? Or did it mean something? After all this was Edensphere, the place where people grew cat ears and unicorns and what if the food was connected to something--did he really just eat his name-twin?! WHAT IF HE ATE DERRICK?!

"Where's Derrick?!" He was just here a minute ago. "Are you ok?" Not content to wait for an answer, Genius grabbed at Gene's shoulders and began to pat him down, looking for injuries.

Hey it was a logical conclusion when you lived in a giant Tree.

[bloody_pens]

Derrick had rather been enjoying his Derrick-tinis- he liked all the free food, actually, and of course he was well on his way to getting nicely-drunk, so it hadn't occured to him to actually LOOK at what he was eating.

"I'm right here," he said, coming up behind Genius with a plate full of food, then stopped and almost dropped it when he started patting Gene down.

"... Okay, am I drunk or are you trying to grope Gene?"

[live_ringer]

...As horrific as the situation was, Gene wasn't quite so preoccupied with it that Genius's unfortunate phrasing escaped his notice.

"If you're going to shout things in a panic, could you at least try to pay a little more attention to your wording?"

Genius looked fit to lose his very disturbing lunch. Gene was about to ask if he needed a plastic bag or a bush or something when Genius started asking how he was and... started frisking him?

Yeah, Gene had pretty much had enough. He grabbed Genius's wrists, pried them off his person and forcibly sat the other man down on the bench. ...Right as Derrick showed up. Well, that curbed the rising desire to deck Genius just to get him to stop spazzing.

"Dunno how drunk you are," he all but growled out, "but I'd don't think that's what's going on. ...Right?" He raised an expectant brow at Genius, not yet releasing the other man. For all he knew, the food had a strange effect that made other people more touchy-feely than they should be.

everyone always wants to deck him

[man_genius]

"Shout what in public?" Really why can't a guy just talk about sausages?

Genius was clueless as to how bad his actions appeared because he was too busy going into doctor mode. Gene felt like he had all his muscles and major bones and organs intact. He wasn't complaining--or screaming in agony like someone who had a bite taken out of them would--but maybe the food had a delayed effect? He was about to start counting Gene's ribs with surprisingly adept fingers when he was caught by the wrists and easily pushed back onto the bench. "Hey--I wasn't finished!"

Then Derrick came back with his martini and Genius about lost it again.

"Groping?! No no no. Get your minds out of the gutter and STOP!" He wanted to leap up but he was still being held. "DON'T TAKE ONE MORE SIP! THAT COULD BE PROMISE YOU'RE DRINKING! OR YOUTH! OR BELL!"

Bell would be some type of alcohol, honestly.

"Man-twin the food is people! THE BBQ IS PEOPLE!"

[bloody_pens]

Derrick watched Gene roughly shove his protesting brother down onto the bench and was about to drop his drink and get in-between them- perhaps throw a few punches himself- but backed off. For now.

Setting his tray on the table in front of Genius, he raised his hands, hoping to calm the situation.

"OK, let's settle down here," he said, brow furrowed in confusion. "The food is people? Drinking Promise? What the hell are you..."

It was then that he spotted the bowl of chips with what looked like faces on them.

"Oh, God. Oh, GOD." He wasn't sure whether to be amused or disgusted- he was actually leaning toward 'amused', but he knew that obviously wasn't what either of them wanted to hear at that particular moment. "But what does THIS have to do with giving him a pat-down?"

[live_ringer]

Gene just shook his head when Genius asked what was wrong with what he was shouting. As clueless and distracted as he was now, it was likely a lost cause to even bother.

"You're finished now." The tone he used left little room for argument. He let go of the other man and stepped back a couple of feet as Genius told Derrick about the situation with the food. Hopefully that discussion would distract Genius from resuming whatever the hell it was he had been doing.

"Yeah, welcome to the madness," Gene deadpanned as Derrick clued in to the Sphere's latest game. He crossed his arms and glanced at Genius, waiting to see what the answer to Derrick's pat-down question would be.

[man_genius]

"See!" Genius wanted to flail but well, being held down limited his options. He compensated by shooting both Gene and Derrick big wide eyes. "It's a trap!" You know they were in trouble when there were two major movie quotes in the span of five minutes.

Genius rolled his eyes at his brother. "First off, will you stop making Bell-esque innuendo about my name twin? Seriously, gross." He paused and then gave Gene a sheepish look. "Er no offense, I mean--you have a great body. Er...you know from a purely...scientific...point of view. As your doctor. Good muscle tone, just a bit too manly for my tastes. Not a fan of smokers either."

Sigh.

"Secondly, think about it! Food with people's faces on it. Correction free food with Gene's face on it! This is how all bad scifi horror plots start with the hero unknowingly devouring something that used to be his best friend or his lover!! Don't eat the mystery meat! The school cafeteria is serving students! I was making sure that by eating sausage!Gene I wasn't causing real Gene any damage--it could SO happen, remember the hourglasses and the cat ears?! Psycho Tree defies logic and science!"

He twitched and stared at Gene. "Are you sure you're feeling alright?"

[bloody_pens]

"OK, OK, I'll stop with the innuendo," said Derrick, fighting an urge to roll his eyes at Genius. "You have to admit it looks rather supicious to come back from getting more... food-people... to see you giving him a thorough pat-down, though. And your words aren't really helping your case, either."

Derrick stared forlornly at his martini, then at his plate of food. His appetite wasn't really gone, but it obviously squicked Genius out that everything was people-shaped or had some kind of face on it, so he was hesitant to just start stuffing himself.

"This is incredibly creepy and spooky," said Derrick calmly. He wanted to laugh at the sheer absurdity of it all, but he could tell from the tone of Gene's voice that he didn't seem to be in the mood. "But there doesn't seem to be any real harm done to anyone, either. So try and chill, okay?"

[live_ringer]

If Gene could ascribe any one talent to Genius, it wouldn't be the products of his massive intellect. No, it would be his ability to illicit a strange mixture of bemusement and amusement out of him on a regular basis. He shook his head and couldn't quite suppress a snort of resigned humour at Genius's ramblings.

"No offense taken. You're not my type either." Though that probably went without saying, given his reaction to the impromptu pat-down.

"If this is meant to be some kind of weird, edible voodoo, it must be on the fritz. Can't say I'm feeling any phantom pains and, as you can see, everything's in tact." Spreading his hands to the side Gene stepped back, as if to show the lack of any missing parts due to sinister food-likeness-eating. Then he shot a glance at Derrick. "Won't argue with you, though. It is weird as hell."

[man_genius]

"Ah it only looks that way because you're a perv!" Genius crowed at Derrick. "You're letting Bell rub off on you." He frowned, now that he was aware of it, that phrasing sounded wrong. "Er...yeah. If I were to molest anyone, Gene would be pretty far down on my list, is all I'm saying."

...Oh please God nobody ask him who was on that list.

Genius didn't know how amused or bemused he made Gene. All he knew was the guy was COOL and willing to talk to him. That? Made him feel AWESOME. It was a shame he didn't really know how complex Gene really was...but probably also for the best.

"There could be a delayed reaction..." He bit his lip in confusion. "Or-well ok, so why does the food have creepy faces? Is it on everything?" He turned to look behind him. Yup. God how had he missed this before? He must be going blind or something.

"Wait there was something--this morning I got an apron that said "Second Annual Edensphere BBQ". Or something like that. So this happened before?"

[bloody_pens]

"That's true," said Derrick, biting back asking who would be at the TOP of the list, were that the case. It was a question for another time- when he needed to embarass Genius. "And hey, I hang out with the guy a lot- we're bound to start talking like one another sooner or later. Maybe some of my wit and charm will rub off on him in return."

His face then fell when Genius mentioned the apron.

"If this is the second time they've given us people-shaped food... that's even creepier than doing it once." His stomach growled a little, and he stared at it grumpily. "Hush, stomach."

[live_ringer]

"There's a list, hm?" Gene asked with a smirk. He wasn't about to ask who would be on such a list, and he rather doubted it actually existed in list form. Still, he had to poke at the opening once it presented itself. Things were turning odd enough that he could use the levity.

Said levity died pretty quickly once the others brought up the apron and how it would be related to the food. His old suspicions about it came bubbling up and left a bitter taste in his mouth. "This time last year we didn't have any people-shaped bits of food, no. What we did have was a massive fire. Took out half the damned Sphere."

He shrugged, then crossed his arms. "It could be related, or I could be putting too much thought into it. But this 'Second Annual' business sounds suspect to me."

The frown Gene was wearing furrowed deeper once he remembered another detail. The entry he had transcribed the repeated "Fugue did it" message from... he had all forgotten the content beyond that message until now. "Now that I think of it, not long after I--" Gene paused to cut himself off from saying 'after I came back'. There was no real reason to bring that up. Chances were they'd just make a big deal about it like they did with Fred's deaths. "Not long after, there was an entry that suggested holding a barbecue. It wasn't exactly tactful, and not many took kindly to it."