It's a party for your taste buds. Or maybe torture. OTA (foreward date for tonight really)

[magnetic_magpie]

It's entirely possible the person who had caused this little challenge wasn't going to show up - that didn't matter. Really after the fun of having a third puberty - grant it only the second he remembered - he needed a distraction. So he'd been cooking more and when challenge to make something "really hot" he'd worked at it until he had something not only incredibly spicy - probably far more than most people could eat - but also flavorful. There was actual flavor, not just heat to the pasta he'd created.

And then he'd send word that this dish was ready and he'd put it together in Ten Forward. Over the last few days, he'd mentioned it here and there and towards the evening, he popped his cooktop into a girdle-type base and set up on a table to start cooking.

Winner gets bragging rights. It's only a moderately sized plate of pasta, how bad can it be right?

It's probably just food prep safety that has Magneto and Annie wearing gloves. Couldn't be the spice levels at all. And the cooler to the side that contains ice cream? Also not a warning.

Comments

[fishermansweater]

He's not, actually, as much of a jerk as he plays on television. Mostly. And the guy seems harmless enough now they've chatted a bit, even if he did bring this on himself by letting Annie goad him into eating the stuff. (Then again, Finnick knows just how hard it is to resist Annie when she's in that sort of a mood.)

And the guy is choking so much on the stuff that he can't even admit he was wrong and ask for some ice-cream, so Finnick, smirking, is just about to reach for the cooler anyway when Annie pushes him towards it.

"Okay, okay," he laughs, and bends down to get the guy some, offering it out to the wildly gesturing hand.

[treadswater]

And Annie, so often so shy and nervous in this place (always), who had just not two minutes earlier almost stepped behind her fiance to hide, is giggling.

Not hysterically. That is higher, scratchier, eerie.

No, this is genuine laughter.

[tanteiotaku]

He weathers the giggles and is only too happy to accept the ice cream bar. He makes a moan of relief after a moment and drops into a nearby chair. He rests his arms on the table top and the side of his head on top of them. He made another whiny moan.

[fishermansweater]

This guy really cannot hold his spicy food.

Of course, Finnick can't entirely comment on that, since he's been kept carefully away from eating any of the stuff by his solicitous girlfriend. (Whom he's been trying to tempt with the ice cream just about since he walked in.)

"That better?" he asks.

He's not, by any means, without sympathy. He's also still grinning.

[treadswater]

(Ice-cream later, Finnick. No need to give people an additional prior warning.)

"Are you okay?" Annie echoes, still giggly but also concerned. A little concerned.

Shotaro could just be playing it up, after all. Some people are like that. Play up for sympathy.

But then, that doesn't really fit in with his previous behaviour.

[tanteiotaku]

After a moment, he nodded to the both of their questions. He prised the ice cream from his mouth. "I have never seen anything like that before in my life and I never want to again."