On his way out of the map store, Anti walks straight into Ted Tango, noteworthy member of the Tango bloodline, who happened to be strolling by at this particular moment.
"Watch it, buddy." snaps Ted, glaring at Anti.
"My bad. I was looking at the map, and you weren't marked on it." Anti responds, holding up the cluster of maps he received.
"The map? Give it to me!" growls Ted, before swiping one of the maps out of Anti's hand, much to his mild irritation. Ted scrutinizes the map for a few seconds, and then casts an annoyed glance back at Anti. "Is this some kind of joke? You thought you could trick me with your stupid map? I'll have none of your shit!"
"It's not my fault they didn't have any proper maps for this place." Anti responds, shrugging.
"Listen up, moron, do you wanna go grab lunch?" Ted demands in a louder than indoor voice.
"Sure, that could be fun. Let me check the map for any nearby places…" Anti begins searching through his maps, while Ted glances at the nearest clock.
"Hurry it up, will you? Designated lunch hour is almost over."
"Looks like the closest lunch spot is some local place called the 'Beaten Meat Deli'." Anti remarks, before continuing, "Does that sound good?"
"Beat n' Meet? Sounds like a good time to me!" chuckles Ted, and Anti folds up the map and puts it away before heading down the road, with Ted following close behind. The two arrive at the Beaten Meat Deli, and upon opening the front door, a man who appears to be a blacksmith of sorts stops hammering a slab of meat on his anvil and wipes off his brow before turning to look at the customers. Ted clears his throat and calls out to the blacksmith. "Hello, my friend and I are here for the meat beat, as they say."
"Ah yes, of course. I'm Meatsmith, the owner of this establishment. You don't seem to be from around here, so let me give you the rundown on how this place works. None of my meats will cost you a single unit of money; the only payment I receive is the time that you spend waiting. It might not sound like a sustainable business strategy, but I have other sources of income, running this place is more of a hobby of mine." Meatsmith explains, before taking out a notepad. "So, what will it be? Beef? Chicken? Mammoth?"
"Hey, give me…" Ted starts, walking up to Meatsmith and leaning in close, before whispering, "the secret item." Meatsmith seems somewhat surprised by this order, but he nods and winks at Ted and writes the order down anyways.
"And for you?" Meatsmith turns to look at Anti, who has been looking over the vast menu of available products.
"Oh, beef sounds good. I haven't had a good steak since I got here." Anti chuckles, and Meatsmith nods again before heading into the back room. Anti and Ted take a seat, and Ted begins foaming at the mouth. "You doing alright?" Anti raises an eyebrow at this behavior, but isn't too concerned by it.
"Yesh, I'm jusht very hungree." slurps Ted, and Anti gives an understanding nod. After just a few bangs on his anvil, Meatsmith returns from the back room with two freshly beaten slabs of meat. One of them is clearly a steak, and the other is the peculiar special dish that Ted ordered. Meatsmith places the dishes in front of the two customers, and Ted cautiously begins cutting his meal into bite-sized chunks, making sure to take the proper measures to not die of radiation poisoning in doing so. Anti starts eating his steak using his scythe as both a fork and a knife, and Ted looks up from his highly dangerous meat product. "How the FUCK does your steak taste?"
"Well-beaten, for sure." Anti responds, not showing any particular reaction to the strong language being used by Ted.
"Mine as well, excuse me as I give my compliments to the beater." Ted replies. Ted stands up and begins to walk towards the back room where Meatsmith is, but for some reason, he stops in his tracks and feels compelled to turn around and finish his meal. Ted slowly makes a full 180 degree turn and once again sets his sights on the special dish. Ted walks back to his seat, and continues taking bites out of the glowing slab of questionable origin. The powerful gamma ray emissions from the meat begin to flay Ted's entire being with the energy of eighty suns, yet despite this, Ted pushes onwards, as he always has in these types of situations in the past. Ted's slimy skin begins visibly bubbling from exposure to the highly radioactive meal, yet despite this, he feels the need to keep on consuming the dish to completion. The meat itself seems to be beckoning, even taunting, for Ted to keep going, the deadly radiation doing little to even make Ted think twice about his faulty decision to even request this dish in the first place. Ted continues devouring piece after piece of the meal he ordered, stopping not once to even so much as acknowledge his own body as it slowly loses its solid form and begins melting down into a putrid and unstable fleshy puddle of irradiated goop. Ted thinks back to all the great times he spent with his brothers, and how no matter how many times Ted lost his temper, he would always be forgiven and understood, even if he personally didn't think he deserved it. Anti seems relatively unperturbed as he wipes the last few crumbs of steak off of his face, watching as Ted continues physically decaying at an alarming rate right in front of him. Ted's unwavering determination pushes him further and further, and he looks down at his plate to see one final piece of meat in front of him, one last obstacle to surpass in order to see through this endeavor to completion. Ted shakily takes hold of the meaty morsel and maneuvers it towards what little remains of his face, before biting down on it triumphantly. Mere moments after the last of the meal is consumed, Ted's physical form collapses entirely, and he melts fully onto the floor, the noxious ooze bubbling and fizzing ceaselessly as Ted's restless spirit writhes helplessly within.
"Man, I'll have to order what he had next time I come here." Anti remarks, before picking up his maps and heading back outside.