#in which: jerry's picky about his food and lani graciously provides another option

[greatshell-rider]

56. putting accidentally way too much salt on your food (sensory prompts)

Jerry listened intently as heavy footsteps tromped up to the cell door, his shoulders tensing and hands squeezing into fists as he awaited the guard’s arrival. Had the time come? Was this it?

“Food,” the guard announced in a grunt, and a second later the grate at the bottom of the door slid away with an unoiled screech, letting in slightly less dim light before a tray of mush was shoved unceremoniously through. The grate dropped, and the scuff of a boot told of the guard moving away.

“That’s it?” Lani shouted from the opposite side of the cell, also chained to the wall by her wrists, same as Jerry. “Not any kinda seasoner?”

The footsteps paused, then came back. “Ya really want something?”

“Yeah!”

“Heh. Take it, then.” The grate cranked open once more and an underhand throw lobbed a chunk of a dully gray rock at Lani’s head. She caught it in her teeth, neat as a hound.

“Huh.”

Lani mumbled something around the rock.

“Shuddup.” The grate slammed shut, and the guard stomped away, leaving them in dank gloom and silence.

“What is that?” Jerry asked, stretching his foot out for the food tray. Unfortunately, it had been shoved more towards Lani’s side than his. His toes curled and uncurled in vain.

Lani mumbled again, sounding suspiciously like purposeful garbled nonsense.

“Spit it out,” Jerry grunted, scooching away from the cell wall as far as his chains would allow, reaching for the tray with all he got.

Lani arched out one leg, deliberately placing her foot on the lip of the food tray. She wobbled it up and down, as if threatening to tip it over.

“Lani, no.”

She cranked up an eyebrow, gray rock still clutched in her mouth with little trickles of saliva rolling down her chin.

“Just fuckin’ give it here, would you?”

Lani leaned over and dropped the rock onto the tray, splattering both mush and her spit everywhere.

“Salt!” she said happily. “Blegh, that was fucking awful!”

“Laniiiiiii,” Jerry groaned, scrubbing his cheek against his shoulder to rub off the gobbet of muck that had landed there. “Oh, come on, no. No! Don’t—don’t do—Lani, stop that!”

She’d swung her foot up high and began slamming the heel down on the rock, cracking it and grinding chunks of the apparent salt into their dinner.

“That’s just—you’re gonna—” Jerry sighed, grimacing down at the mess. “Now you’ve ruined it.”

“It’s salt!” Lani said incredulously. “You wanted seasoning, didn’t you?”

“You asked for seasoning, not me! You always do this, taking whatever we’re supposed to share and making it all your own—”

“You can still have some, dumbass! I’m not not sharing!” Lani kicked the tray over to him.

Jerry kicked it back. “I don’t want it with huge bits of salt!”

Lani gasped. “You? You’re refusing a meal? After all we’ve been through? When there’s kids! Starving! In otherwise seemingly wealthy nations??”

“Fine, fine! You want me to eat it, huh? You want me to eat the salted monstrosity, Lani? Huh? Huh? Fine! Give it here! I’ll eat it!”

Lani swiped it with the side of her foot, spinning it incredibly fast towards him. Jerry stopped it with his foot and gave her a caustic look, and she grinned back.

He should’ve known better, then, but Jerry was too angry to properly assess the situation. He leaned down and began eating, the mush sliding oilily down his throat in nauseating globs and the lumps of salt crunching unpleasantly between his teeth, spikes of sharp flavor punctuating every other bland bite. It was bad.

When he was halfway through the tray he pulled back with a self-righteous air, wiping his chin again on his shoulder and kicking the tray back with a triumphant jerk of his chin. “There. Your turn.”

The tray bounced off Lani’s foot without notice. Her eyes were closed.

Jerry narrowed his eyes. His stomach gave an unpleasant lurch, and a small burp forced its way past his lips. Jerry grimaced, shifting uneasily, making his chains clink. “Lani?”

Her eyes opened. “Now, for our dramatic escape!”

She pointed at his stomach. Jerry looked down, right as an interdimensional portal opened up where his shirt should’ve been.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” he groaned, and his stomach, for the crimes committed against it, sought revenge and began eating him from the inside out.