Blinx stared at a bottle in his hands gormlessly. It was half empty, the liquid inside being an orange in its colour. Blinx had left it on the floor of the travellator in the main Time Factory corridor as he tightened the laces on his boot, but the reason he held it and stared vacantly was because after he took a large gulp, he noticed the drink inside did not taste as it was supposed to. He tried to remember if anyone stood around him whilst he fumbled his laces, thinking someone possibly spiked it. His mind turned up blanks. He could almost swear his bottle had been moved or put down hastilly, but no one around him seemed to be close enough to the bottle to do so.
Blinx stepped off of the travelator and tried to walk to one of the bins to put his drink and bottle into. Given his previous accidental exposures to hallucinogens, He did not wish to risk another bad trip. Along the trip, Blinx saw a few pranks unfold in front of him. One being a sweeper sniffing a plastic flower on another sweeper's jacket. Another being given a box of flour. However, the sweeper giving the box held the bottom of the box, with the receiving sweeper holding the sides. Only for the giving sweeper to let go and step back, revealing the bottom of the box was unsecured, and dropping flour all over the legs of the recieving sweeper.
Finally at the bins, Blinx was just about to put his bottle into the bin, when the mound of waste inside shifted and shuffled as a sweeper dressed as a Dust Herder leapt up and screamed at Blinx. Blinx jumped in fright and dropped the bottom. Now he wasn't holding the bottle anymore, Blinx scowled at the now laughing costumed sweeper as he turned and rejoined the travellator.
To his surprise, Blinx felt an arm wrap around one of his shoulders, and the chest the arm belonged to hold tightly to him. Picaro had pulled himself beside Blinx and huddled himself up to him. 'Hey, try one of these jelly beans'
Blinx looked at a collection of jelly beans in the hand Picaro didn't have around Blinx's shoulder. The hand moved in front of Blinx in a way to urge him to have one. His face dropped to silent horror. '...no...' Blinx quietly replied.
Picaro rustled a single bean as he closed his hand, holding the bean betwixt his finger and thumb. 'Come on! Just the one!' He laughed, shoving the bean between Blinx's lips and using his thumb to pop the bean into Blinx's mouth like a coin into a machine. The bean slipped into the back of Blinx's mouth, causing him to swallow.
In reaction to his sudden ingestion, Blinx broke free of Picaro's grip, looking and patting himself up and down. Picaro looked down to his hand with a frown. 'Aww. You didn't taste the flavour...' He said. Blinx looked at his own hands as they shook. The anxiety seeming to drip from his face.
'I. I gotta go' Blinx said frantically, starting to walk counter to the travellator. Blinx slowly veered to the opposite side, and continued to walk on the opposite travellator as he did so. The whole time he still stared at his hands.
Blinx ended up bumping into another sweeper, NecoJi. NecoJi turned around to see Blinx in a distressed state. Seeing this, he spoke to Blinx in a calm, quiet tone. 'Hey, you okay? You look a little panicked'
Blinx looked around him with darting eyes as he replied 'I think I may have been spiked. If not from my drink, then from Picaro's jelly bean'
NecoJi's face recoiled. 'Eurgh, you fell for Picaro's manky-beans?' He asked.
Blinx's face snapped back to normality. 'Manky-beans?'
'Yeah. Jelly beans with awful flavours. I can still taste the earwax flavour as we speak...' NecoJi explained. Blinx stared at the floor, silently, feeling like an idiot. 'You thought it was an illicit substance?' NecoJi asked. 'That's not a funny prank. It's supposed to be fun for everyone'
'Yeah. I guess you're right. Maybe the drink just tasted weird because it was a different flavour, too' Blinx replied, coyly.
'No. I think you should get that looked into. It may have-' NecoJi was abruptly interrupted by Blinx wretching and vomiting all over NecoJi's pristine green uniform. '-expired...'
'Oh no... I'm sorry. I'm gunna, I gotta, I'll just... oh god...' Blinx was pulling words as he pushed past NecoJi and through the travellator once more. Blinx was relieved he had not been spiked, yet the relief had been overcome from the embarassment of ruining a fellow sweeper's uniform.
