4555/Germination: EAT. Eat

Germination: EAT. Eat
Date of Scene:	31 May 2018
Location:	Metropolis
Synopsis:	Tom uses magic to converse with the strange 'space mold'.
Cast of Characters:	Iron Man, Lucky Day, Crusader
Tinyplot:	Germination

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Iron Man has posed:
    There are a number of small pockets of "SPACE MOLD" sightings in Metropolis. There are two known in the beautiful Centennial Park that the scientists are aware of; currently, teams are mobilized to attempt to do something about them. One of them is lightly roped off with police tape, while the main, far larger spot is currently being dealt with in a more massive way. There are crowds of onlookers at the larger spot while they put the strange thick tarps up. Questions are being flung out to those working on it, in their eerie hazmat suits: what is it? Will it destroy the park? What about the city? Is it from another planet? What's going to happen?

    There are no real answers, though. There is technically a third spot, but has blended in with the edge of some long white pathways out near the pond. There's some feathers around and near it, but no police tape yet.

Lucky Day has posed:
Tom looks at his close personal friend, the Space Mold. No one understands it. It has needs too. He has defended it to whole crowds of people and they think he is crazy. But he isn't. He's just very empathic with those who need his friendship most. Still, he knows, ineveitably, the heroes of the world will kill this poor creature if an accomadation can't be made. So he is here to establish dialog.

He has done extensive research and figured out a ritual that should work. It is a straight up 'talk to anything' spell that would let you talk to a door, a cat, rock, 7:45am or the color yellow. The problem is, it only lasts 20 minutes and unlike a proper binding spell doesn't FORCE it to say anything. But he believes in the Mold. He knows it will come through for him.

Sitting in a chalk circle in the ground, he has two iguna eyes looking at it with a paper miche and tin foil hat on a small jackolantern looking at him which the Mold can speak through (if it so chooses). Lighting two Heliotrope colored candles, he then chants the words, "i-Hay ere-thay ace-Spay old-May, ow-hay ou-yay oing-day? It-way is-way I-way, om-Tay ight-Nay. an-Cay e-way alk-tay or-fay a-way ec-say?"

Iron Man has posed:
    If Tom thought this was going to be difficult, or it might take a little time, he'd be incorrect. The thing is extremely receptive. It does fall into the 'anything' category that the spell required, as is obvious when the request filters through.

    "EAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT," the jackolantern says passionately with a vibration of intensity, as if presented with a full buffet of its most favorite things in the world (or worlds). The squeaky voice is a little high in register, which gives a ridiculousness to the situation that the tin foil hat wasn't doing on its own.

Crusader has posed:
Considering the danger presented with the 'SPACE MOLD', it was of high priority. Especially after the dog incident. Crusader has gone over the video multiple times. And at this point, he was worried they were dealing with a planet killer. Which is any number of things that...well can kill a planet.

As he approches the area where Tom is...just in time to hear a talking jack-o-latern. He grunts in mild curiosity...not that 'eaaaaat' was less ominiouse, but as considering the situation he says in a deep baratone "Sir....you should not be in this area. It is dangerous here... you and...your...lantern best be moving on" after all the police were roping this place off for a reason and he had no clue Tom was who was...trying to help? He really doesn't know

Lucky Day has posed:
Tom has to concentrate for this spell. Fortunately, being cursed, he prepared for this eventuality and holds up a small sign which he sets on the ground which says, "Please do not disrupt the mage when conducting the highly dangerous spell with the alien creature."

He then procedes to ask it, "What do you want here friend? I'm afraid that your hunger has made the locals rather.....cross. Have you considered perhaps another planet? Or more annoying creatures like mosquitos?"

Iron Man has posed:
    The frothing spot near the duck pond that Tom is addressing modifies its tone. "Eat. Eat EAT eat eat eat," the thing singsongs in several different tiers of voices. That's the answer to the question posed. There's a pressure of multiple awarenesses all trying to express themselves, as if Tom had cast on a pile of loose gravel instead of a single rock.

    "You food, come," the mold declares through the jackolantern, as if that were its label for Tom, and the mold starts to bubble more clearly, a frothiness to the front lip of it, as if it would like to seek out just a little bit more of the grass in front of it, but doesn't actually move anywhere. The tone is not aggressive, no more than if you decided to tell your breakfast how nice it looked.

Crusader has posed:
Crusader looks at the sign, looks at Tom, and than at the mold spot. If it wasn't for the fact he has delt with magic before, he would probably be in disbelief. Instead he silently face palms.

Oh well, it presented a unique oppertunity

He eyes the sign once more and goes to the edge of the mold, just a foot or two away. he wasn't sure if he can be heard, so he looks to Tom "...ask it...them, if they can eat anything" he says. He rubs his tendrilled beard in thought, curiouse now that there was a way to facilitate comminication. If Tom was the real deal anyways.

Lucky Day has posed:
Tom gives a vaguely thumbs up sign to the person who is PROBABLY not here to help his good friend the poorly misundertood mold so MIGHT be terrible though he has no evidence about this. Meanwhile to the delightful eccentric, creative and ravenously passionate alien creature he nods, "I do find the experience of dining rather a special one myself, with candle light and a sprig of parsely you can make even the most dire meal a meaningful experience. Tell me friend, what do you MOST prefer to eat? Is there anything you CAN'T eat? And is there anything we should avoid feeding you?"

As an after thought he adds, "I find Shrimp gives me indigestion. According to the allergy test it wasn't really a full on reaction but it does give me gas. So as your friend, I'd like to know what your preferences are."

Iron Man has posed:
    "Come seeeeee," the jackolantern suggests eagerly and ominously, like a small child attempting to fool someone. It's pleased with itself, a sneaky obvious smugness apparent. There's some small activity from the patch, a different response from before, as if it were collecting more towards the center. As it peels away from the dead earth, there's no dead grass: no skeleton of dead duck, no anything, just dirt and cement. Presumably it doesn't eat dirt or cement, but clearly has spread over and into the dirt in some manner. "Eat eat eat, get big and tall," the mold childishly assures them. It isn't being deceptive really, it's saying a bit too much; Tom's unlucky vibe is having an effect.

Crusader has posed:
Crusader was making a note of ALLL this nonsense. But his relaxed nature also had him chuckling some. He had to wonder if the mold was truely sapiant, or if it was just the spell "Fancy. Personly, one prefer a bucket of beer, an entire fried pig and as much bacon and chocolate as one can get." he licks his canines at chocolate.

But still the activity of the mold was being watched. And when the mold mentions 'Big and Tall' he frowns. Okay...it doesn't eat cerment, it doesn't eat dirt. mabey he is safe. He cracks his knuckles "....you best..." a pause. "...you know what...One is being rude, here" he offers a handshake "One name is Crusader...what are you called" unlike many people...he could afford to lose limbs and stuff occasionly. It would be a good way to see if this stuff can even effect him and how fast. But if what he is observing is true, he should be relatively safe. he inches closer to the mold like mound

Lucky Day has posed:
Tom suddenly liked Crusader. Deep down, he didn't want to, but you could only lie to yourself so many different ways. And right NOW the mold was his friend. The problem with this particular paradigm was that anyone else who....wait. HE was the only one who was the mold's friend. Lucky and LUCKY alone should talk to the mold. And besides, this was a highly complicated and dangerous spell! (Granted...it WAS designed to allow groups to talk to groups of people so it might work, but what did THIS guy know about the highly complicated nuances of metaphysical thinking in 11 dimensions?) What did THIS guy know about the mold and its pains. It was a growing child. It had needs. This guy was trying to steal his friend! How DARE he.

Tom took a deep breath. No, no he could do this. He had faith that the Mold would believe him and see through this strangers lies and deception for what they truly were. Lucky smiled "Hey growing big and tall is what every growing child needs. Well, I'll post some ads in the news paper and on the internet and I'm sure that we can get some of locals to help feed you things we don't need. You know, we waste SO much material every day as a society, I mean TONS and TONS of it in dumps and refuse bins and someone who has such AMAZING talents as you would be welcome there. We need to get rid of this stuff and YOU need to eat.

I need to be honest with you Mold. As your friend you should know that this planet has...smart people. People who can do smart things. You need to be...nice my friend. Let's all get along. You can eat. They can feed you things, and you can grow big and tall. And then we can all hug! We can hug wearing a concrete or rubber or dirt suit, but hug just the same!

Iron Man has posed:
    That is a lot of information for the juvenile plant goop to process, or maybe it lacks the vocabulary, or just isn't that strong of a spirit. The reality is more that the spell IS spread fairly thin with the sheer number of little spirits all trying to speak at once. "Food friend brings more food," it manages to come up with, though. It seems entirely unresponsive to whatever a handshake is, and doesn't make any moves towards or away from Crusader. Since all it has done is bubble around a little, that isn't surprising. "Put hug closer," the mold adds, and then with a bit of frustration, "Will come eat soon. Not stuck here foreveeerrrr," it promises.

Crusader has posed:
Crusader...does not like the sound of that. Crouching down, he reaches his hand forward...and after taking a deep breath, plunges his hand into the mold, forarm deep.

A pause....and he is VERY quicky jerking his hand back out. his gauntlet looked like it had holes begining to grow quickly, rust of inorganic material turning to dust as the mold seeks out what biological componet the Juggernaut had.

He shakes his hand to no avail as it was spreading and quickly, begining to move up his arm. Crusader takes his other hand and clenches his arm and squeezes tightly and down wards, shedding a thick layer of 'goo' befor it spreads to his entire body. The goo dissolves into dust within seconds as the mold helps itself the what it could. Crusader arm thickens back to normal as his matter rearranges it self "...that...was unpleasant."

Lucky Day has posed:
Tom nods sagely, "You bet friend. You bet. We will all hug. I mean, just the other day I was telling my Dog, who, by the way is technically not a dog...and technically not mine...and technically also wants to eat me, but we're friends really. I was telling him, "Organic von Neumann machines are actually swell guys." He didn't agree with me, but I can now prove him wrong and I thank you for that."

He looks at Crusader and then back to the Mold, "Well, he fed you a little but I think that this world has way too much waste and we can kill two birds with one stone! Well, you can eat the birds and leave the stone. I think the phrase, "this is the way the world ends, not with a bang, but with a wimper" is not anywhere near as lovely as "this is the way the world ends, with a fantastic all you can eat buffet!" he grins widely, "I'm going to go home and work on that concrete suit so we can hug, but I just want to say, how PROUD of you at how fast you are learning. Why, just at the start of this spell, all you could say was 'eat' and now you're saying full sentances. Gosh, in a few days who KNOWS what you'll be capable of." He grins and says, "Well, thanks for this quality time. Any final words before I go put the ads on the internet for people to bring you all the waste we can find?"

Iron Man has posed:
    "Get big, tall, smart," The oozy mold replies to Tom, still mostly cheerful. Full sentences? Surely it's learning well. "And then, eat. Eat eat eat," says the jackolantern, as the spell's length gets towards the end of how long it can remain active.

    It doesn't really seem to react to whether or not Crusader was delicious, just: "Come back. More. Or come find you. Eat." That's a threat, yes. With that plaintive, squeaky tone, before the spell ends.

Crusader has posed:
"And one is being threatened by talking mold. Joy" Crusader says with a dead pan expression. He clenches and unclenches his gauntleted fist. He eyes the pile of mold having heard what it said. While he believed all life should be respected...he can't help but think this was going to get worse before it get better.

After all, Tom did have a good idea. If this stuff can eat trash and not care about the taste...than a potential symbiotic partnership could be formed..... if they don't kill each other first

"One best get this...infomation to the League, Avengers...and even the Fantastic four" he muses in thought. After all...it did sound like the plant was getting legitmatly smarter, but that also means potentially more dangerous.

Lucky Day has posed:
Tom turns and frowns at Crusader, "Well sure. I mean, its not like one of them just you know...TOTALLY ignored my sign." He pinches his nose after snuffing both candles (just to be sure). He looks at Crusader and takes a deep breath and says, "Look, I'm sure the world killing mold is big enough to have BOTH of us as friends and I appreciate you trying to be nice to it but...really, just...remember. I was its friend first. Also, yes. Symbiosis is good. You are not entirely rude for a spell interupting super hero person."

He chuckles,"You know the joke about the bear right? Two guys running, and one guy just has to run faster than the other." He winks, "Except for the part where my friend eats the bear and both guys and the the entire woods. It's HILARIOUS." He grins, "And I think he was more threatening me and sort of not sure what to do with you. He was saying if I don't bring him food he was going to you know....eat me later when he can walk around all Cloverfield and stuff. Which is, frankly, I think totally fair. I mean, people who brake promises are rude.

Iron Man has posed:
The alien mold doesn't do anything, aside from settle back into the same state it was in before it made any new friends: except, of course, that it's larger. It was fed.