(Preshow) Preshow Facility

[Little Ghost]

BAR AND RESTAURANT

The temerity of that little! All right, he could deal with this. Erratic as these events were, he could deal with this. These 'hooman'-type bugs where all crazy, but not like the bugs of Hallownest, no. This craze was one of individuality, for while he had seen others act similar to that strange Ron Burgundy-bug, most others had their own specific tasks to complete. If it wasn't for the obvious irritation, and sometimes lack of coordination, Little Ghost had noticed in between each of the workers whenever they inevitably got in each other's way he would have thought them controlled like those feral inhabitants of Hallownest. The smell of various foodstuffs being prepared for consumption interrupted his storm of- Void swelled beneath his thorax, rumbling like the approaching pressure wave of a hurricane making landfall. The burgeoning emotions clashed with the wave of Empty Void and, though they struggled, were eventually subsumed. Silence reigned within Little Ghost's mind, pale echoes of the earlier indignation at his situation was all that remained. A storm of what, again? A second rumble passed through Little Ghost, one of very unfamiliar origin. This one too emanated from his thorax, but also a bit further down than last time. Little Ghost stared down at what humans would call his stomach. It rumbled once more, surprising Little Ghost sufficiently to make him jump slightly.

An equally rumbling laugh sounded from his left, the cashier of Barry's Bacon Steakhouse was looking at Little Ghost with the current lul in customers. Grease, various meats, grease, bacon, and more grease was apparently not too popular a meal amongst these fighters intent on keeping their bodies in tip top shape. "Yah hungry, lil' fellah?" the large man asked, his voice a timbre that was... pleasant to Little Ghost's ears. The little bug looked at the man leaning over the counter, then left, right, and behind himself before meeting the eyes of the large cashier once more, a hand tentatively venturing outside the cloak to rest palm first on the center of his thorax, almost shyly asking the question of 'Me? Are you sure?'. The cashier smiled widely, teeth lightly yellowed from stress and a bad diet standing out almost white in contrast to his heavily tanned skin. "You see anyone else your size in here?" the man asked rhetorically. Little Ghost took a quick glance through the room. A table with three of those strange 'hoomans' talking to each other, and then scattered only scattered gatherings of people clad in the working clothes like the other attendant-bugs. "Heck, you see anyone else near you at the moment? Of course I mean you!" the large man continued with gusto, drawing attention to both himself and to Little Ghost. The table of three 'hoomans', one of which had this curvature to her upper thorax that Little Ghost had observed in roughly half of these 'hoomans', quieted for a brief moment. Sending quick evaluating glances his way they soon resumed their conversation and... Oh, they were eating. There was that strange rumble again, that growl from mid-low in his thorax.

"Well? What are yah waiting for, have a seat!" the large cashier declared, gesturing to one of the stools by the counter. Little Ghost began moving slowly, almost unsure of himself, before accelerating to a normal pace, his small legs bringing him to the stool indicated by the man behind the counter. Taking a seat, Little Ghost was presented with a selection of various meals on the sheaf of thick paper held out by the cashier. The paper had pictures on it and had Little Ghost onown anything about restaurant culture it would have made him understand exactly why this establishment was less frequented than the others. But with Little Ghost lacking said knowledge it was time to order. "Name's Barry, lil' fellah, now what can I get yah?" Little Ghost's eyes ran up and down the menu before locking with Barry's once more. A shrug was the answer. "Not sure? Hah! Then I'll be sending yah on a culinary trip you're not gonna forget!" Turning around to the kitchen behind him, he bellowed something about a "Full Course Roller Coaster Deluxe". The reply must have satisfied him because he turned back to Little Ghost with an even bigger grin on his face. "And don'tcha worry 'bout the bill, Syntech Corporation reimburses all of us in full when we serve contestant primes." Billy leaned a bit closer to Little Ghost and winked conspiratorially. "Even the mute ones."

Little Ghost looked back at the observant man, apparently the owner of this establishment, and tilted his head questioningly. "How ah noticed? Hah! Ol' Ron was rollin' live when he interviewed yah!" Little Ghost did not know what "rollin' live" was, but it sounded important here. "Could've been the biggest mistake o' his life, if not for Nealaphh's bombshell about Diablo." the atmosphere among those working at Barry's Bacon Steakhouse being dampened very perceptibly by the mention of that name. Someone cursed in the back and a mad scramble of feet was heard. Barry's expression darkened and as he was turning to ask what the fuck they were doing back there a shout of 'all clear, nothing broken' forestalled his tirade. Grumbling to himself the relatively goodnature man faced Little Ghost once more. "Yah should know better than to mention that name, Barry." Shaking himself out of the mood, the large man once again tried striking up conversation with Little Ghost but was once again interrupted by a call from the kitchen. Apparently a 'Double Baconator Deluxe' was coming, accompanied by a 'Malt Chocolate Mind Twister'. Strange things these, and before  Little Ghost thought to check the menu in front of him for pictures with matching names, Barry had whisked the paper away and replaced it with the largest burger a person could reliably order without the chef resorting to Omnillium transmutation to make it. For those well versed in the 'American Style' of cuisine it was a beautiful monster. Several levels of alternating bread, lettuce, onions, grilled beef cuts, tomatoes, sauces, and, most important of all, lots and lots of bacon. Bacon smoked over applewood chips. Easily as tall as Little Ghost's head he looked at the magnificent beast of a burger with dubious eyes. "Don't knock it til' yah tey it," Barry laughed at Little Ghost's blatant skepticism. "Go on, have a bite."

Surreptisiously observing others eating their meals, and Barry's strange attempts at miming how one should eat a hamburger such as this, Little Ghost believed that he had an idea on how to proceed. Two carapaced hands rose out of Little Ghost's cloak, attached to dark grey carapaced arms, to secure the burger in a steady grip. A part of the carapace covering his mouth slid back, splitting down the middle to allow access, and then a cute little "nom" as the first bite was taken. Little Ghost's eyes widened in marvel at the strange feeling in his mouth, at the strange sensation of smoke, fat, salt, sourness, and spiciness balancing itself like a brutal heavy metal concert. The rumbling in his thorax returned, now a roar of hunger. It was a new feeling, of an emptiness in his thorax that very insistently demanded to be filled. Little Ghost was all too happy to oblige, decimating the Double Baconator Deluxe in ten seconds of voracious feeding, leaving naught behind. "Ahaha, a big eater. I LIKE IT!" Barry exclaimed with enthusiasm. "Get the rest of the stuff out here, on the double!" he hollered back to his kitchens, much to the annoyance of the closest surrounding 'food court' restauranteers, before explaining the functions of a sstraw by sipping on his own bottle of water from behind the counter. And just like that Little Ghost mimicked him with the Malt Chocolate Mind Twister, draining the overly large milkshake creation in even less time it had taken him to finish the burger. Another roar of hunger. It seemed like whatever black hole had replaced what should have been Little Ghost's stomach demanded even more of these magical foodstuffs. Not to strange given what it was made of. More and more plates of food and glasses of milkshake were put on the counter and much like their predecessor they were emptied with outmost haste. Barry leaned back and watched the proceeding in morbid curiosity as a single creature no more than four feet tall proceeded to dish after dish empty out his stock and his stores more quickly than the delegated Syntech Corporation cargo-people could replace it. The Empty Void roared within Little Ghost, requiring more and more and more to feed it, causing Little Ghost to actually accelerate his feeding frenzy.

Barry's laughter, once boisterous and loud, now slowly growing quieter with the rapidly expanding mountain of emptied plates and drained milkshake glasses. The mirth faded into awe, the awe transitioned into neutrality, and through neutrality worry broke out once Little Ghost had spent ten minutes of eating at the same pace with no sign of stopping. Barry was conflucted, for while he hated turning a good customer away he needed to preserve at least some of his stores for other customers so that the cargo-people could bring in fresh supplies. He had to stop Little Ghost and make him move on. "Hey, lil' fellah!" Little Ghost paused at the call for his attention, half a fried chicken leg wrapped in bacon three quarters down his mouth and gullet, eyes locking with Barry's and asking for the meaning of this interruption. "I have tah send you on to the next one, lil' fellah, or you'll empty our stores hours before we can next restock." Little Ghost finished the piece of food in his hand and looked pleadingly at the very tanned cashier and owner. "All right, all right, you can finish what's left on these before yah go."

It took less than a minute but a still hungry Little Ghost moved on to the next restaurant, one dedicated to eastern cousine, leaving a mountain of polished off plates more than twice his size behind him.