Home, Home on the Waves, Where the fish and the octopi play.

[Ethan Snow]

Descending towards the gently rolling surface of the ocean below with his passenger's arms still wrapped around his waist, Ethan glided down to the upper deck of his houseboat. The vessel all white and black construction stood out quite clearly against the azure seas and lighter blue skies around it with definitive contrast, it was in fact difficult to miss the craft, especially since there were any other boats around for miles. Guiding his immaterial board down to the open portion of the upper deck, Ethan touched down and in an instant his translucent blue surfboard vanished, leaving the two standing on the rubber traction mats of the boat's deck. Still a little reticent to turn around and face the other young man though given his still prominent biological response to having Brandon's hands against his skin, Ethan just stood still and angled his head back.

"Heh, well here we are." the boy announced with a smile, although the expression wasn't natural given that he was trying to crane his head around like an owl rather then just turning around to face Brandon. Before them though there was situated the outdoor dining area under the upper deck's roofed area, a semi circle of counter space, a sink, mini fridge, a stove and seating all around. Ahead of that was the outdoor pilot's station and the stairs down to the front deck. Behind them, next to the starboard railing were a pair of lounge chairs and then to the port side, a spiral staircase leading to the aft deck.

[Brandon]

Looking over what he could see as they touched down, Brandon was happy that Ethan had such a cozy looking yacht to stay on. "Its beautiful... And you stay here all by yourself?" He asked, as he wondered if anyone else lived with Ethan on the boat. He let go of the boy, as he started to wander around on the deck, looking at everything there was to see. Eventually, He wandered into the kitchenette and sat down on a chair.

"It is pretty big, almost too big for just one person... You got a sibling or a loved one living here to?" He added, curious.

While he waited for an answer, Brandon listened to teh sea gulls that made their noises around the boat. Listening to teh waves that washed up along the side of the boat. It was alot more relaxing then he remember....

[Ethan Snow]

With Brandon letting go of him and starting to wander about the deck, Ethan took the opportunity to scoot over to one of the seats in the dining area, not knowing that they would be the other young man's destination, but rather to better conceal his ongoing biological issue. Thankfully it seemed to be subsiding of it's own accord now that the boy was no longer in such close proximity to the other male. Able to think clearly now as well as he watched Brandon look about, Ethan replied to his questions about the size of the boat and it's complement.

"Oh it's not really that big. About the size of a single family house I'd say, though without a garage and yard." Ethan responded. "And as for anyone else here, nope, not right now anyway. My older brother lives in Central and runs the Crane school. The rest of my family lives up in the mountains... What about you, is anything coming back to you?" Ethan asked, interested in if his boat was stirring up any memories of the other person Brandon knew. If he could trigger then with similar surroundings, it was possible he could help the other young man remember his past.

[Brandon]

Brandon was silent for a while as he looked around the boat from where he was sitting. More memories were flowing back to him, then a name was finally clear to him to go with the face he had been seeing in his mind.

"Yeah, quite a few more memories... A name even came back to me. I feel like he was a very close friend of mine... Im not very sure yet. Does the name Hyede ring any bells at all? I think he loved to go shirtless like you do, He also lived on a boat... I...Think at some point I stayed with him..." He said, as his hands moved up to his head, and he rubbed his temples a bit. "Ngh, the image of his face is so clear in my head, its like I saw him yesterday... if I had a pencil and paper, I could sketch his face out. The memory seems that fresh...."

[Ethan Snow]

Sitting back in his chair now that he was feeling a bit more comfortable, Ethan watched and listened as Brandon described his other boater friend from the past. It was good to see he was digging his memories up with some greater ease now, though still disconcerting at the same time that he couldn't recall everything. In any case thought the familiar surroundings seemed to be doing their job so that at least was working and perhaps by remaining on the boat for a while, the grey skinned young man would recall more. The name that he mentioned though didn't sound familiar at all, then again for the first sixteen years of his life, Ethan had never left the mountains and the family compound.

"Doesn't sound familiar to me, but I did kind of grow up in the boonies." Ethan replied. "I could go get my laptop and we could look him up though if you like." the blue haired teen offered and stood up from his seat.

[Brandon]

"Hah, I lived in the REAL boonies. Atleast, thats what I can remember before my memory went kaput. I lived in a beautiful, but small cabin built right into a giant tree deep in the forest. No signs of civilization for miles and miles, and I only had the creatures of the forest as company. We had a mutual friendship as far as a Human and a creature can have.... I remember now... The place in the forest I was in... Magic still had a strong presence there... All sorts of magical creatures resided there as well..." He said, as he let his head fall into his hands that rested on the table.

Memories of his old home in the forest came back to him. The fairies, the forest critters...the wonderful pond and the creek that fed it. Peaceful memories, but the memories of an android of sorts attacking his home.

Brandons eyes shot open wide, as memories of when the android had fired energy at his chest came back. This caused him to instinctively stand up, knocking the chair backwards as he stumbled back. Sweat quickly covered his body, as he was clutching at his chest.

His breathing was heavy, like he had woken up from a very horrible dream, as Ethan could then see that Brandon was clutching the scar that was on his chest. "Holy...F-Fuck... What the hell happened to me?" He asked, as he looked down at his chest. He now knew where the scar had come from, atleast... some idea anyways.

Looking back to Ethan, Brandon almost looked even MORE pale then he already was. "New memories... Very vivid... I was attacked... He used some sort of energy, and blasted me with it... I fell into the pond.... And I... think I might of blacked out then..." He said, still panting hard.

[Ethan Snow]

Watching and listening to the grey skinned young man describe his forest home and then go into a trance-like state that reminded him of the shyster fortune tellers that are a part of every traveling side show, Ethan sighed and shook his head. ‘Boy, people three hundred years ago certainly were weird.’ the boy thought to himself as Brandon continued to go through his mental convulsions. Thankfully though he wasn’t acting nearly as weird as that other young lady with the strange fashion sense, at least not yet, which meant, at least for the moment, he’d put up with the escalating drama.

“Well, regardless of if you were blasted in the chest or not, you’re here now and no one’s looking to do it again.” Ethan responded and then got up from the counter. “Let me go get my computer, we’ll look this guy up. You need some more pleasant memories to think about anyway.” the boy added and started for the rear staircase. Loping down the spiral stairs, Ethan slid open the glass doors to the living room and spotted his laptop where he’d left it, charging on the dining room table. Walking over and unplugging it, the shirtless teen headed back through the living area, out onto the aft deck and then back up the spiral stairs to the upper deck. Returning to the kitchenette counter, the blue haired teen set the computer down where he’d been sitting and then re-seated himself.

“Ok, what did you say his name was? Hyede? And three hundred years ago… Do you have a last name to go with that?” Ethan asked as he pulled up a chat window on what looked to be a very sophisticated program. It was in fact the encrypted communication protocol he used to speak with his contacts in the former F.R.E.E. organization and even though the organization now served no official purpose, the infrastructure was still in place and Ethan still kept regular correspondence with his friend and coordinator, Mr. Brown. While Brandon responded to his questions, Ethan started typing in the information he already knew, prefacing the information with a request for Mr. Brown to dig up any information he could on the man in question.

[Brandon]

Getting himself back up, Brandon stood the chair back up, and sat down at eh kitchenette countertop again, and waited for Ethan to come back.

He took a deep sigh as he waited for a headache he was getting. He rested his head on the countertop and breathed softly.

When he heard Ethans voice again, He lifted his head up, and listened to him. "Cranston. His name was Hyede Cranston." He replied, hoping that Ethans laptop would have something pertaining to Hyede.

(Sorry for the shortie ><)

[Ethan Snow]

"Hmmm, ok, Cranston... Let's see what we get." Ethan replied and typed in the rest of the name Brandon was looking for and then forwarded the request to Mr. Brown. It would likely take the secretive man a few minutes to dig up all that there was to know, so Ethan decided to make good use of the time and see if he could make his house guest a bit more comfortable. "So, while we wait, can I get you anything? I've got juice, water, pop... aspirin." the boy added the last suggestion with a bit of a chuckle, having noticed that Brandon's head was still bothering him. Anticipating his reply, the blue haired teen got back up out of his seat and circled around and into the middle of the kitchenette where he could better serve his guest. While he tried to avoid drama as much as possible, Ethan wasn't completely indifferent and felt for the grey skinned man, he didn't know how he himself would react in a similar situation, but the boy did know that he'd welcome a host as attentive as he was being.

[Brandon]

Brandon was silent and didnt react until he heard Ethan possibly offer him some pop. This made his ears perk up as he then looked up to the teen and asked "IF you have any root beer, Id like some with a couple of Asprins?"

His head felt like someone was going to town with a jackhammer on it, but the less he tried to think of it, and think of more of the ambient sounds that Ethans boat made, it seemed to alleviate the pain slightly.

Chuckling slightly, Brandon said "After a day like this, I know Im going to sleep like a freaking rock tonight. eh?" as a smile crept across his face."

[Ethan Snow]

"Ok, let's see what I have in here, I'm pretty sure you are in luck though..." Ethan replied with a smile and turned around, crouching to rummage through the miniature fridge under the counter top. "..Lets see here, Popsy... Cuke... Got cherry cola in here... Ah, there it is." Standing back up, the blue haired teen set a bottle of root bear down on the counter in front of Brandon and a bottle of fruit juice for himself. "And I'll be right back with your aspirins..." the boy added, jogging back around the counter and heading down the front staircase this time. Going in through the front deck door, Ethan turned as soon as he was inside and went into his room and from there to his medicine cabinet. It took him only a minute to retrieve the pills and bound back up the front stairs and finally return to the counter where he took his seat.

"Here you go, hope they do the trick." the shirtless boy stated and set the tablets down on the counter. "And yeah, head ache or not, if I'd been through that fall I'd definitely be sleeping in tomorrow. Speaking of, I think you'll be comfortable, I have a nice guest room right next to mine." the teen continued but just as he finished his sentence the laptop chimed in with a response to his earlier message. Looking to the computer, the boy smiled and turned it to face both of them.

"Ok, looks like Mr. Brown came through... Hmmm, Hyede Cranston, son of Richard and Emma Cranston, head of Cranston industries, nice... One son, Zachary Cranston. Oh, and there's a picture." Ethan read off the screen and then clicked on the image which as it turned out was in fact a video of an older, handsome gentleman in his late fifties, wearing a white business suit, attending a ribbon cutting ceremony. While older then Brandon might remember, the physical resemblance was unmistakable.

[Brandon]

Brandon was happy that Ethan found a bottle of his favorite beverage, and when it was put infront of him, Brandon took the bottle, pried the cap off with his hands, and took a nice long drink from it. "Oh wow, that is more refreshing then I remember. So yummy." He said, as Ethan came back with teh asprins.

After popping them into his mouth, and drinking them down, Brandon heard Ethan offer Brandon the guest room next to his. "Thank you Ethan. I will take you up on your offer for a night or two. After that, I have to go see what is left of my home out in the woods. Three hundred years of disrepair, there is going to be ALOT of work to do to restore it." He said just before the laptop chimed in.

His heart skipped a beat when Ethan started to read out information that sounded like Hyede. But the 'Head of Cranston Industries', and that he had a son, was a new one to Brandon, and when Ethan showed him the video of Hyede, He saw that he was considerably older then he could remember. Tears began to well up in Brandons eyes as his smile turned even brighter. Good memories came back to Brandon, and while they made his headache worse, he didnt care.

"Yup, Thats him... Oh yes that is him... Im so glad he succeeded when I wasn't there anymore... The clever boy..." He said, wiping the tears in his eyes away.

[Ethan Snow]

Looking to Brandon, Ethan could see the other young man was getting upset as he read off the contents of the page. Persing his lips, the blue haired teen raised his hand up and rested it on the other's shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze. He knew it had to be hard to be so long removed from the people he knew, at times even Ethan, who willingly left the family compound to get away from his father's cultish ways, found himself missing his brothers and sisters and most strongly, his mother. The very least he could do was the reassuring pat on the shoulder, though in truth he'd rather give the guy a full on hug to let him know he wasn't alone, they may have only known each other for an hour or so but Ethan could tell they were going to be friends.

"It's ok, looks like your friend had a good life, and hey, even a so... Wait a moment." Ethan stopped mid sentence and leaned closer. "'Had' might be the wrong word. There's a date of birth here but no date of death... Same for his son..." Ethan stated in genuine surprise and continued to read down the page. "Hmmm, seems around age seventy, he moved off-world to a planet called Arakeen. Seems so did this Zachary guy... I could have Mr. Brown dig up more on them if you like... But it's upsetting you and I don't want to do that..." Ethan went on aloud, feeling a bit conflicted about the whole matter.

[Brandon]

Brandon was dead silent for a moment as soon as the news hit him.

"The more information the better. I dont know how he could still be alive, but if there is any chance, I want to know." He said, giving Ethan a serious look. If there was any chance that his old friend was somehow still alive, Brandon was gonna be all over it. If there was anyone that could help Brandon regain his memories, it was Hyede.

Granted, meeting him again after all this time was sure to make things awkward for Brandon, but did that matter to him? Hell no.

Something in Brandon stirred up, a feeling that made Brandon want to see Hyede no matter the cost...

[Ethan Snow]

Ethan sighed and nodded, not really wanting to upset Brandon any more then he already was, but the other young man seemed to want to press forward with finding out about this old man and his son. "Ok, I'll ask Mr. Brown to dig up everything he can, though it'll probably take a bit." the boy replied and slid the laptop back to himself and started to type out a message to his mysterious friend. As he typed though he thought it best to try and get Brandon more acclimated to the boat since he was going to be staying a few days.

"So, while I send this off and Mr. Brown does his magic, we should get you a proper tour of the boat, if for nothing else then to get you familiar with it." Ethan continued as he finished typing out his request and sent it on to his associate. "Would you like that?"