The Not-so-abandoned Warehouse: Thursday Afternoon

[badassprodigy]

Barry hadn't slept. This wasn't new of course. However what was different was... well whatever the fuck was going on with him.

Weird muscle contractions. Random spouting off of phrases or noises whenever he cursed.

And worst of all? The tests he had run so far were showing nothing out of the ordinary.

Which made him wonder if he was finally losing his shit and had gone crazy.

Rikku	"ANYBODY ON A DATE HAS TEN SECONDS TO PUT THEIR CLOTHES ON!!!" Really, anybody not on a date got the same ten seconds, but it felt good to be specific. See, Barry? See how respectful Rikku was, of the shared space? She was even going to count to twelve before poking her head out, just in case.
Barry	"No dates here, Rikku," Barry said in a tired voice. "Just me doing science." Although Barry wasn't wearing any pants. He wasn't quite aware of that either. "SCIENCE!" And he was also randomly shouting the word "science" out loud from time to time. It's a thing.
Rikku	"SCIENCE!" Rikku answered, striking a pose. Oh. Sometimes, she just shouted the word 'science' for absolutely no good reason whatsoever. Because science!!! "Maybe you wanna put some pants on?" she added. "Doing science in your skivvies always leads to burns and scars in really unfortunate places."
Barry	Barry looked down and groaned. "Seriously?" He said closing his eyes. "Where the fuck-" Nanananananananananana! "-are my pants? Jesus, this is getting ridiculous."
Rikku	Oooooooooooooooooooookay, that was kind of weird, even by, like, Rikku's standards. "You lost your pants?" she asked, glancing around quickly to see if she could spot them. "Are you, uh. Doing okay? Because you don't seem so good, is all."
Barry	"Yeah... I'm not sure what's going on," Barry said sounding frustrated. "I've been blacking out and acting weird. And today I started to-" Barry's feet started working on their own and he started to moonwalk backwards. "-move erratically."
Rikku	"Soooooooooooo." Rikku was now, officially, Concerned. "Did you do a lot of drugs? Like, the kind that you're really not supposed to do, all together? Because I think maybe you're having some kind of reaction-thing." Very helpful, Rikku!
Barry	"No. No drugs or at least not the kind you're probably thinking of," Barry said as he moved back to the console. "I made a gremlin vaccine to prevent anyone getting embarrassed when they were bit. I accidentally was given the vaccine and now I'm-" Barry paused and his face scrunched up. And the let out the sneeziest of sneezes which for some reason made gummi bears appear and fly everywhere. "-having issues." He looked at all the gummi bears around the room. "And that's getting really old as well."
Rikku	"Did you just sneeze gummi bears?" This was a really important question, Barry. "Did you shove gummi bears up your nose earlier, or, like ... are gummi bears made out of snot and nobody told me?" It would explain the consistency. Also, ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. Rikku may never eat gummi bears again.
Barry	"No. I don't have enough room in my nose for this," Barry said beginning to feel woozy. He took a seat. "But you did see that right? I didn't hallucinate it?"
Rikku	"I don't think so," Rikku said. "You'd have to be hallucinating me, too, and you're not. I'm real. I mean, I might be hallucinating, but I can't prove to you that I'm not, so we'd better take that as a given." Way to get existential with it, Rikku. "I have potions," she said. "D'you think they might help?"
Barry	"What?" Barry said looking woozy. "Like medicine? I've already tried some of that. It's not working. In fact..." Barry paused and sat down for a moment, holding a hand to his mouth. He took a deep breath and relaxed, the nausea apparently passing. "In fact-" Barry suddenly started making retching noises. Which was followed by Barry throwing up a rainbow. As in literally the light spectrum popping out of his mouth and bouncing around the room.
Rikku	"... You just puked a rainbow." That was very helpful, Rikku. "What did you eat that made you puke a rainbow!?" Rikku asked. "Were you doing stupid science things again!? Because if you broke your own digestive system, you are gonna be very sorry about that, mister!"
Barry	"I didn't eat a rainbow. Or a leprechaun for that matter," Barry trying to cover up a small belch. "It was SCIENCE!" There was a superhero pose there when he said that. Marvel in that pose, Rikku. "Seriously. Did you see that? Because I think I'm going fucking nuts. I'm not sure what's real or what's not. I..." Barry started moonwalking again. "Oh, Jesus. Fuck- AH-OOOOO-GAH! -me."
Rikku	"Okay," Rikku chirped. "This has been, like, really great and all? But this is where we go take a visit to see some doctors. Or some healers! Magic, science, I don't really care what mojo we get, but you just won yourself an all-expenses-paid trip to ClinicLand."
Barry	"Nonononono!" Barry said vehemently. "Fuck-" HONK! "-no! I got this. I can fix this. I can fix anything. I know I'm not crazy now so I can definitely fix this."
Rikku	"I am highly skeptical of your own sanity and claims thereof, Barry," Rikku said dryly. "I mean, you honked just now, and I'm not entirely sure that you know that you honked." She kinda had a point.
Barry	"No. I don't know it," Barry groaned. "Every time I fucking-" Baaa-aaa-aaa-aaa-aah "-swear, I do something wacky. I'm not even fucking-" Ahhhhh-woooooooooooo "-aware of it."
Rikku	"A real scientist would have realized it's time to stop fucking swearing." Just FYI, Bar.
Barry	"Have you fucking-" Wah-wah-waaaaaaaaah "-met me?" He sighed. "Don't answer that. Just give me a few more days. I can beat this," he said looking more tired than he ever has.
Rikku	Rikku ran a hand through her hair. "Okay, so," she said. "I really think this is a terrible idea? Buuuuuuuuut I guess, okay. You can have a few more days. But if you, like, permanently ruin some of the furniture with rainbow-vomit, that's coming out of your deposit, okay?" He hadn't paid a deposit. But Reno would be sad that there'd be less places to have sex in here. ... as if rainbow-vomit-stains would stop Reno.
Barry	Like anything else could stop Reno from getting nookie from Rikku. "I don't have a deposit but I'll pay for damages. I can do this," Barry said wearily as Rikku started to leave. When the door shut, Barry looked up again at the monitors with all the crazy data. Trying to figure it all out. "I hope."

[Preplayed with the fabulous the_merriest. Because every plot needs a little Rikku, don't you think? And... open for interaction.] Warning: Barry is not wearing pants. Because that's how he rolls.

Comments

[spin_kick_snap]

"Hey, Barry?" Tentative Kathy was tentative and also on so much SP it was ridiculous. "You around?"

And also still crazy? These were important questions to answer.

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

Fandom has its own definition of crazy. Though at this point, Barry totally fit that description.

"NOT WEARING PANTS KATHY!" Barry shouted.

And then:

"SCIENCE!"

Yep. Crazy.

[spin_kick_snap]

"WHY THE HECK AREN'T YOU--" Kathy realized she was yelling, which was only necessary if you were currently under the effects of gremlin vaccine and crazy. "Why the heck aren't you wearing pants?" she demanding coming into the warehouse with her eyes mostly covered. "Haven't I seen enough of you already?"

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

"I'm wearing underwear," Barry said rolling his eyes. "So I don't have all my goods out in the fucking-"

Do-wop-dee-doo-dee-doo-dee-doo

"-open. "

[spin_kick_snap]

"Were pants just too much trouble?" Kathy asked, moving her hands but resolutely keeping her eyes above shoulder level. "And, wow. Okay, so the radio wasn't lying. You really can't swear, can you?"

This had to be the worst ever for him.

"I kind of want to go around poking things now, just to watch you freak out," she admitted. "I'm mean, I wouldn't do that, but I'm tempted."

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

"I can swear just fucking-"

TAAAAH-DAH!

"-fine. I just apparently make a bunch of noises when I do," Barry said wearily. "And I don't know what happened to my pants. I was wearing them earlier."

And it was at that point Barry's pants fell down from the ceiling and landed right in front of him.

"... Ah. Found them."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I'm not even going to ask," Kathy mumbled, shaking her head. "You were less trouble when you were a puppy. Then at least your clothes stayed on."

Much to puppy!Barry's chagrin.

"So what progress have you made in figuring out what happened?" she asked, pulling a chair over to where she could see what he was doing.

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

"I wasn't wearing clothes when I was a puppy," Barry said with a sigh. "And the one thing I've learned is... is... AH-CHOO!"

Yep. More gummi bears. Everywhere.

"You don't want to be around me when I sneeze."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Elsa and I have pictures of you in a puppy tux that says---ewwwww!"

That's not what the pictures were saying, no. But the sentiment fit.

"So, can you even offer a scientific explanation of...that?" she asked, waving a hand at the gummis that were littering his workspace now. "Like, how the heck it can even happen?"

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

"Gummi bears are essentially sugar. C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁. Somehow the vaccine is triggering a spontaneously accumulation of it in a gelatinous form which just happens to look like multi-colored bears," Barry said sounding tired. "It's pulling it from whatever I've been eating. Mostly carbohydrates which probably explains the fatigue."

Barry rubbed his face in frustration.

"Of course nothing in my scans show why it's happening. Just that it is."

[spin_kick_snap]

It was the bit summed up in the 'that just happens to look like multi-colored bears' that Kathy actually wanted an explanation for, but she was willing to let it go, especially since Barry actually looked tired, too.

"Any chance of you being able to sleep? I know it's usually a problem for you, but with the fatigue and all...?"

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

"I've slept but it's not doing me any good," Barry said shaking his head. "I feel more fatigued than when I go to bed. Better just to stay awake and try and power through this."

[spin_kick_snap]

"That's an interesting use of the term 'better,'" Kathy noted, but didn't push. "Next question. Is there anything I can do to help? I have a decent grasp on non-super-genius levels of science. Even if you just want me to go through your findings and organize data, I can do that."

And maybe find a broom and clean up the assorted gummi bears?

"When was the last time you ate? And what was it?"

Maybe he just needed a big bowl of her mom's Korean chicken soup. And probably some kind of mad science super-pill, but the bowl of soup couldn't hurt!