#food tw
aoi asahina !!!
dangan stimboards because im back on my main hyperfixation baybee !!!!! (1/???)
big-d-little-i-big-n-little-ozzo:
This was somehow his life. It was all his nightmares twisted into one tentacled being, the way she moved- the way she smelled- just everything about her left Tony paralyzed with fear that he hated acknowledging. But he had to. Sybil scared him worse than almost anything else. And she thought he was funto mess around with. So there would be no escaping her, not unless Mia left Baltimore. Or he did.
Somehow, conversation about eating human flesh was becoming his norm. He hadn’t remembered Baltimore being this crazy when he was a beat cop, but between the team trying to catch the Ripper and Sybil, there was almost always talk of cannibalism going on, no matter how Tony felt about the subject. He didn’t want to know what human flesh tasted like, could live without knowing the texture of folliculitis. But Sybil didn’t care for things like that.
“I don’t know how to not be afraid,” he watched Mia hold onto the tentacle that had been reaching into his space, a shudder running through him. How she could stand to touch them he didn’t know. But being born with the problem probably had something to do with it. He imagined that if he’d been born with a Goa’uld symbiote he would also be used to it. But he hadn’t been, and the move seemed so strange to him, so disgusting. But Mia knew what she was doing. “No offense meant, Sybil, but you’re one scary bitch.”
He moved away, going to grab the powdered sugar. “Pull that out of the pan, Mia. It’s done now.” He handed her a plate to put it on, holding up the sugar for Sybil to look at. “Yay or nay on the sweet cocaine?”
Mia had to remember that not everyone was used to Sybil as she was. That people could not simply brush aside her existence as one of annoyance and inconvenience – she was a tangible threat to not only those around her but to humanity as a whole. And yet, here she was, having her little tendril held like a hand and being fed funnel cake to satiate her.
“You are so much braver behind a screen than you are to my face. What was it you told me the last time we talked, Tony? “You are largely unaware of how much I don’t give a fuck.“ It appears you give quite the fuck now.” Sybil responded, those eyes staring at him unblinkingly.
“Sybil, stop being a petty bitch for ten minutes, or I’m going to fucking toss this oil in your eyes, okay?” Mia clipped, giving a small yank of the tendril in her hands before her attention went back to what she was doing. She was careful in scooping the pastry from the oil, making sure to allow the residual oil drip before transferring it onto the plate.
“Sugar.”Sybil responded.
“You were so close to doing the Men in Black sugar water scene,” Mia responded with a small chuckle. “Hannibal usually just does the sugar, she’s not a fan of fruit. I think she draws the line at pastries and sugar. Which is a weird line to have if I’m being honest but its not a torso in your kitchen so.” Did she just admit Hannibal knew well enough about Sybil? Sure. But what was Tony going to really do about that?
big-d-little-i-big-n-little-ozzo:
The idea of siccing Sybil on Uncle Vinnie was one that had Tony blinking in surprise. He’d never considered sending anyone after Vincenzo, but for a moment he wondered how that would look, to see Vinnie grabbed by the monster that he knew lay under the surface. Then he came back to himself and shook his head. He couldn’t do that- wouldn’t do that. Vinnie was somewhere not here, and that was all that mattered.
He felt the pressure of eyes on him and turned just enough to see eyes growing out of Mia’s scalp. It was disgusting, the squelch and the sight both. He felt his stomach drop at the sight, a wave of nausea rising up his throat. No amount of monster movies would help him adjust to the sight and sound of Sybil. That wasn’t even mentioning the smell of her. If he had to make a comparison it would be to the docks when he was younger, with his nonna, to get fresh fish. Coppery blood and slime, overwhelming the scent of the coconut oil in the pan. He managed not to gag, but only just.
It was even worse, watching as a tendril moved closer to him, teasing the edge of his personal space. He refused to step back, no matter that he wanted to. Instead, he purposefully looked past Sybil’s tentacle to the pan on the stove. “Flip the funnel cake so it doesn’t burn,” he instructed Mia before facing down Sybil again.
“Good to know that I rate above McDonalds. I’d prefer my funnel cakes over Big Macs too. You’re out just in time to tell me whether you want strawberries and powdered sugar. Mind, I don’t think it’s proper funnel cake without strawberries and powdered sugar.” Don’t move, Tony, don’t give way. “I even have whipped cream, if you want to get fancy about it.”
Once he’d gotten all that word vomit out, he swallowed, freezing up. His hands shook at his sides as he waited for the hellish bitch to decide what kind of mood she was in. Visions of Dean and Tali coming home to find his insides splattered all over the kitchen flashed in front of his eyes. Sybil could kill him before he even knew what was happening, before he felt anything. And Dean and Tali would never know what happened, who was responsible. They would never have closure. He blinked slowly, hoping Sybil was in a good mood, good enough to spare him another day.
Mia was mildly impressed that he managed to immediately push past the initial shock of Sybil rising to the surface once more to instruct her notto burn the cake. At least he had his priorities straight. She did what she was told, taking a small step backwards to try avoid the small splash of hot oil – eyes locked on Tony as her body moved.
“I do not have experience with strawberries. I do have experience in Folliculitis, called strawberry skin by your kind. An interesting taste profile, and an interesting texture,” Sybil remarked. Where her voice was coming from exactly was unknown, but had the same volume and clearness as though she were standing right in front of him. Those eyes were unblinking, pupils consistently adjusting as though she was deeply analyzing his movements. In reality, she was gauging his level of fear – and potential for enjoyment.
Though, her push into his personal space was stopped once Mia reached up and looped the tendril around her hand. She seemed relatively unphased by the limb, more uncomfortable at the sudden blast of vision in her brain than she was with the sickly sensation of the tendril lacing between her fingers idly. “You’re really bad at managing fear, Tony. No wonder she gets a kick out of you,” Mia remarked, turning so she could look at him with her own eyes and flashing him a smile.
“He is quite perturbed.”
“No kidding. If you bite him, its no funnel cake for you. I’ll sooner turn you into calamari right here. You’re fine, Tony. I wouldn’t have come here if I suspected she would eat you. And I say that, knowing it would be really funny and horrible if she ate you right now just as I said that,” she chuckled, though, began to backpedal. “You’re gonna be fine Tony. Trust me.”
big-d-little-i-big-n-little-ozzo:
“The only problem I ran away from is the Mafia, and anyone smart enough to know better would be wise to stay away from them. Sybil is bad, but at least she won’t cement my shoes and drop me over the edge of the dock. Not really my ideal death, if you know what I mean- which I wouldn’t be surprised if you did, given the number of self-destructive things you’ve done to yourself.”
He temped the oil and grabbed a funnel and the batter bowl. Holding the bowl out to Mia, he gestured towards the oil. “Pour the batter through the funnel. Make a design. Draw Sybil’s tentacles. Anything you want really. Have fun with it.”
He knew he was feeding into Sybil’s behavior by entertaining Mia when the monster was bored. But what else was he supposed to do? Entertaining Sybil kept her from going out and killing someone, at least for the amount of time that Tony kept her busy. If he could keep one life from ending then he would gladly do it. He had to protect people, somehow. This was just the only idea he’d come up with, at least until he knew how to kill the squiggly bitch.
“I’d rather reward her with attention than become a Sybil Big Mac. Out of the two, this is the better option.”
That was a new one. She didn’t know why she expected Tony to be one who didn’tget in trouble with the Mafia. He always did end up finding trouble. “You ever need an eldritch abomination to sic on the mafia, I’m your person. Give me ten minutes and we could solve that problem quickly.” Usually it wasn’t a good idea to overfeed Sybil, but she could make an exception for taking out the Mafia. What a story that would be.
She was slow and careful as she added the batter from the oil. The times she did work with oil, it usually had an attitude and splashed on herselfjust as much as it did the food. She was already experiencing discomfort as it was, she didn’t need hot oil to be added to the list.
Nor did she need the sudden view of Tonynext to her. With a sickening squelch, Mia’s scalp had made way for a cluster of a dozen or so eyes to sprout, rolling around aimlessly before they locked onto Tony. Their bottom eyelids lifted in content, as a single tendril emerged from the cluster of eyes and began to inch its way closer to Tony.
“I would much rather Tony-Funnel Cake than I would a…Sybil Big Mac. What is a big mac?”
Mia made a sound of nausea. “The big burger things with the bread in the middle. The slop.”
“The Slop.”
big-d-little-i-big-n-little-ozzo:
“Not really looking for my fiancé questioning my sanity,” Tony agreed, “Dean has a hard time believing in things that aren’t right in front of him and easily explained. I have a feeling that Sybil would be a little too much for him. He’d probably demand we leave Baltimore immediately and well… I like Baltimore. I don’t want to upend my daughter’s entire life because of Sybil. But I will, if I have to.”
He met Mia’s eyes with a promise in his own. Lifting his own cup of tea, he sipped on it for a few moments before sighing. Mia looked so tired and run down and Tony felt for her, he did. She was too young to have struggled with Sybil for as long as she had. She needed a break, but there were none to be found, not for her.
He finished mixing the ingredients for the funnel cake and turned around to grab his wok and frying oil. “Come on over here. Frying funnel cake is the fun part. Gotta keep it from burning and keep yourself from getting burnt too. Oil gets hot real quick.”
If he ignored the tentacle monster then he could almost forget that Mia was possibly the most dangerous person he’d ever met. She was just a young woman struggling to make her way through life. If he could offer her just a few minutes of break he would do what he could. Maybe he was mellowing in his old age.
“So what’s got Cthulhu all up and tentacly today?”
“Don’t get used to running, up and leaving at any sight of trouble. It becomes a horrible habit,” Mia replied as she finally took a sip of her tea. That was a habit she was still struggling to give up. It was so much easier to just leave and disappear than it was to beginto explain. It was easier to not grow attachments to people with finite time – which often was shortened dramatically by risking engaging with an eldritch horror.
She was still dreading the day where Sybil had enough playing nice and ended her little game.
A small huff of amusement broke through the exhaustion and she nodded, taking another sip from her cup before she stood up and walked around to where he was. “Being burned alive would certainly be a new way for me to die. Gotta keep experiencing new things, right?” Her tone was heavy in sarcasm, but she shot him a genuine smile regardless. Leave it to Mia to joke about the horror of what she had just said. She had to fight the intrusive thought to dunk her hand in the oil.
“Most likely because I’ve been working more. Not paying attention to her. The people she doesknow are busy as well…she’s just needy and wants to cause drama so she’s got attention. She certainly got it. You’re rewarding this behavior, you know.”
big-d-little-i-big-n-little-ozzo:
“Audrey Two isn’t exactly my secret to tell, now is she,” Tony started gathering the things he needed to make funnel cake. Might as well keep the creepy tentacle monster happy too. “I didn’t want to assume you’d be okay with me going around and blabbing your secrets. Dean knows that there’s something going on, but he doesn’t know what- or who it involves. I wouldn’t do that to you.”
He grabbed a bowl and set it down on the counter in front of him, measuring and pouring ingredients in. “You keep visiting me when you’re teetering on the edge. I figure it means something. Either Gizmo goes full Gremlin and eats me or you needed someone who could talk you back away from that edge. She hasn’t shown any inclination for scarred up Italian lungs, so I figure I’m okay on the eating part- for now.”
The tea kettle whistled and he busied himself with making them each a mug, pressing Mia’s into her hand. “Drink up. Then you’re going to help me make this. Frying food always calms the mind.”
Well, that calmed her nerves some. Mia had always figured that it was simply a matter of time before he told someone else – the fact he had no plans on telling other people was a relief. “I’m not entirely sure how you would even begin to explain to someone else. I still struggle with it and I’ve been dealing with this for decades,” she commented as she took another bite.
At least she would be able to learn how to make the creature’s comfort food. She hated turning to other people because it was never to Sybil’s standards, or because she had accidentally burnt it.
“Granted, there isn’t a whole lot of people I can turn to whenever she starts acting out. Only…a few people know, and you’re unfortunately now one of them. So for now, its you and your shitty lungs that has to deal with the wiggly bitch.”
big-d-little-i-big-n-little-ozzo:
“Well come inside,” Tony moved away from the door so Mia could enter the apartment, gesturing her towards the kitchen. “Dean and Tali are out right now. I’ll make you some tea. Chamomile might sooth Sybil’s rough edges. Have you eaten? Of course you haven’t eaten, who am I talking to? Well, what do you want? I know what Sybil wants but if I’m making funnel cake she’s going to have to behave herself.”
He grabbed the teapot and filled it with water, setting it on the stove and turning to grab the tea things. It took a lot for him to turn his back to Mia but he was hoping that she had enough control over Sybil to make sure that he didn’t become past tense in his own kitchen. That would suck.
Grabbing some leftovers from the fridge, Tony put them in the microwave before handing the bowl to Mia. “Chicken fettuccini. I just made it last night. Eat up. Tea’ll be done in a minute.”
Mia kept her hands tight against her body as she entered the home, as if her wandering limbs would suddenly knock over a priceless artifact that happenedto be there. There was some relief that no one else was home and that there was few people she needed to worry about. While the truth would come out inevitably, she would much rather it didn’t happen today.
“Behave is a loose word for that. But, I think not eating everyone around her is a good start,” Mia remarked as she sat down at his countertop, once again retreating into herself. Fed like a stray. “Thank you, Tony. I appreciate it,” she said with a faint smile before taking a bite. She nearly melted on the spot. Much better than whatever hell she attempted to make.
“So…uh…when exactly do you plan on telling Dean?I can’t imagine you’ll be able to keep the wraps on whatSybil is exactly. Especially if she–and me– keep visiting you with a nest full of hair-tendrils.”
More pixel stuff :)
I beg your pardon
At this point he’s just fucking with us.
Wow just fucking wow
Vanilla rose loaf cake ♡
