savetheearth | did somebody order WEIRD FIRE BUGS?

Who: Eugene, Mort, and Shiro
What: Dinner gets rudely interrupted by firebugs
Where: THE YOKUGAWA APARTMENT YOU SAW NOTHING
When: Backdated to late last week
Warnings: Fire. Lots of fire. Mort getting a disturbing echo.

Eugene Yokugawa was in a good mood tonight, which was absolutely not unusual at all. Eugene had luckily been blessed with more than his fair share of good humor and even the uneasiness he'd felt of late whenever a girl in elegant gothic lolita had come to his bakery (any of which could be the Network's Lolita) could not bring him down more than momentarily.

He was in an especially good mood tonight because he'd invited his current baker's apprentice ~~as opposed to his former apprentice who'd left MAGNIFICENT BAKERY to start his own patisserie in Schenectady~~ Shiro to his apartment in order to share a family (and apprentice) supper with him, Mort, and Rhonda. He'd even baked a special cake in honor of the occasion.

Mort's ridiculous turkey burgers couldn't get him down tonight. Even arguing about the motivations of that odd young mad with the hawk candroid couldn't wreck his mood.

It would take something much, much worse.

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Going over to his boss' place for a big dinner was... well... Shiro could honestly say that this was the very first time something like this had happened to him. But the guy was so nice, and surely a man who baked as well as he did could cook pretty well, too. And Shiro wasn't one to pass up on free food, not with his hunger like it was.

Shiro is quiet, at first, but warms up pretty quickly, chatting at dinner and making himself right at home.

"This is great, Mr. Yokugawa. Everything is great."

Of course, all food tasted pretty good, with how he was. So far it had been a great evening! Nothing could go wrong!

... Right?

Mort was enjoying the evening, as well. Though he was a quiet man who often enjoyed being alone, he did like having the odd dinner guest from time to time. It was a welcome distraction from the odd chest pains he'd been having since witnessing that pink flash in the sky, as well as the arguments he'd been having with his brother regarding the man with the bird robot. Whoever that man was, he was bad news. Mort was convinced of it, but Eugene refused to see reason. A nice family supper with a guest was just what he needed to forget about that for a while.

"Well, it's nice to see someone appreciates turkey burgers." Really, Mort didn't see what the big deal was with Eugene's resistance to the turkey burgers. They were healthy. He was just trying to look out for people with that.

Besides, something had to balance out the decadent cakes Eugene was so fond of making for the family. The man would have cake for every meal if Mort would let him.

Yeah, well, Mort would have them living on nothing but bean sprouts if Eugene let him. And also, Eugene was quite sure there was nothing sinister about the bird robot man. In fact, he was quite essential to all of Eugene's plans. (Why he was so essential to opening up a third branch of MAGNIFICENT BAKERY Eugene wasn't quite sure, but the moment he'd seen the bird robot video he'd known how very useful the man would be to him.)

"Maybe I would appreciate them more if you wouldn't make them all the time," Eugene retorts. "If it were up to you all we'd eat in this house is turkey--tofu and turkey!" He takes a bite out of his own burger for emphasis.

"You do know that Thanksgiving only is once a year," he adds after he swallows. Not that it matters because in the Yokugawa household Thanksgiving is no longer a turkey-based meal but one centered around beef. Specifically prime rib. Eugene had put his foot down.

Behind him, something that looks a little like a cockroach with a red plastic shell scuttles in through the window and proceeds to light the curtain on fire.

"There's something to be said about a decent turkey burger. These were definitely more moist than some I've had! That's the real problem with 'em, there's so little fat that they can dry out just like that," he snaps his fingers to emphasize. Well, he loved a good beef hamburger more than anything, but he was polite, especially to his boss and his brother. And his plate was clean. Not that it meant anything anymore, with constant hunger driving him out of his gourd. "Now tofu I'm not so fond of... it CAN be good, but usually I find it to be tasteless. You really have to work with it to make it decent."

"But now it's cake time, right? Hahaha!" Shiro gives a laugh, but it immediately cuts short. After all, he's sitting across from Eugene. He doesn't see the little bug, but he DOES see the fire. "... Ahh!! Boss! The curtains!" Shiro jumps out of his chair and points, "Fire!"

"Well, now, if you want to try anything with tofu, I've got a great marinade I like to use when I prepare mine..." Mort might have said more, but he was quickly distracted by the curtains suddenly catching flame--and the little critter that had started it. "What in the world--?!" He jumped up from where he was sitting, flipping his chair, and tried to make a futile attempt at dousing the fire with the remains of his tea.

Rhonda, showing more clear thinking than anyone else in the room, has run to get the fire extinguisher which is a good thing as the red lighter cockroach has been joined by three others: a neon green one, a neon pink one, and a bright purple one.

The last of which has just set Mort's upended chair on fire. The other two are working on the wallpaper and tablecloth respectively.

"Can't you see that it's the ENEMY, Mort?" Eugene thunders, trying to stomp on the purple bug. "They want revenge for the evil dead bats!"

Bless you, Rhonda, for being the only intelligent person in the room. Shiro is wearing his heavy-duty motorbike boots, which he uses to stomp out the fire on the curtain.

"Shit! ... Hey! Cut that out, you little--!" he knocks the firebug away from the wallpaper, then steps on it, hard.

Only, it's NOT full of bug guts like he imagined.

"They're... these things are zippo lighters!!"

Indeed they are living lighter cockroaches!

... this is going to make everything a lot more complicated.

(And man, forget about Eugene opening another store. The money's probably going to go towards fixing up the kitchen again after this is done.)

Mort is about to go run and call the fire department, or maybe get another fire extinguisher--did they even have another one?--or maybe get some baking soda to throw on the fire, when there's one of those pounding sensations in his head. He stumbles against the table for a moment, eyes going wide as a memory starts to play out in his head.

As far as memories go, it was a simple one. His vantage point was that of a child's, and he was holding a lit candelabra. He looked down upon a sleeping woman in bed, and then he dropped the candelabra...the room burst into flames, so much fire, unstoppable flames, no one could have survived that, he'd killed her but everything had to end...

...he's kind of looking too freaked out at the fire roaches to do much good. One of them would probably be able to set him on fire, as attentive as he is right now. Whatever's going on inside Mort's head isn't pleasant; he has effectively checked out for the moment.

Shiro has managed to stomp another one (though this one is just injured and not smashed, yet-- fuckers are FAST). He sees Mort lean against the table like he was in serious pain.

"Doc! Are you ok?"

Meanwhile, Taco the Octopus Candroid has sprung to their defense, squirting ink at the pink lighter roach. It doesn't seem to be quite effective.

More effective--at least with dealing with the flames--is Rhonda and her fire extinguisher. Supper, however, has been thoroughly ruined, soaked with chemicals as it is. And luckily she doesn't seem to notice the floating robot, possibly because it's out of her direct line of sight.

There is a small fireball on the wall at the demise of the bright green lighter roach under the cast-iron frying pan. Its wielder, Eugene, is quite thoroughly distracted, however.

"Mort? Mort, are you okay? Mort!"

The sound of his name seemed to snap Mort out of it to a certain extent, but he was still pretty shellshocked. He rubbed at his head a bit, as though the action might make that memory fade. It was still pretty vivid, right down to the detail of the hair burning off of that doll...the doll he had in his desk. "I...I..." He shook his head. No, he was not okay. He was man enough to admit that.

Shiro can tell that there is something amiss with the good doctor. One of those echo things maybe? ... Hopefully not. Maybe it was something mundane, like food poisoning!

"You stay with him, boss. I'll make sure there's not any more of these little assholes around."

And close the window so that more don't decide to come in, Jesus Christ.

did somebody order WEIRD FIRE BUGS?

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npc-ing rhonda for now as her mun has yet to app

HOPEFULLY this is ok?? I think I remember you saying they were lighters

YES, THEY ARE

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