Fun Time Summer Bar-B-Que.

[Ethan Snow]

“Ok, you have all of that handled mister Brown?” Ethan asked as he busied himself in the kitchen while his laptop displayed a digitally disguised image of a man with an equally obscured voice. While the war may have been over for quite some time, both Ethan and Mr. Brown agreed that it was best to maintain the secrecy of their communications network.

“Indeed it is sir. I sent out the messages this morning, everyone should have read them by now and the delivery company in Metropolis will have a courier out to your boat by two-O-clock.” the distorted voice replied.

“Thanks a bunch mister Brown. Wish you could join us.” Ethan returned as he set out some frozen selections of meat on the counter to defrost.

“That’s quite all right sir. Thank you for the offer though. Have a good party.” Mr. Brown replied again and prepared to sign out of the secured chat program.

“Ok mister Brown, and thanks again. I’ll talk to you soon.” Ethan said as he moved around the center island in the kitchen to the dining area and shut down his laptop after closing out the program. Then, picking up the platter of defrosting meats, from the kitchen counter, the shirtless teen headed to the upper deck via the rear staircase and started to prepare the grill build into the kitchenette counter for the day’s activities. If all went well, everyone Ethan knew should have received their invitations and be making their way to his boat at this very moment.

Brandon was around somewhere, either in his room or perhaps over on the island, the blue haired boy though hadn’t seen him since he started cooking. Ethan had parked the boat closer to one of the tropical islands in the area so that his roommate could more easily go to and from it, whether by swimming or by an inflatable boat with an electric trolling motor, so it was entirely possible he was out enjoying the island. He still needed to fly the grey skinned young man to and from the main land, but thankfully such trips weren’t inconvenient or unwelcome. He was of course invited to the party, it would after all be just plain rude to hold a bar-b-que and not invite your roommate. So hopefully with guests on their way, Ethan lit the grill, took out a bottle of fruit juice from the mini fridge and waited for it to warm up.

[Ethar Luxun]

"Hmm? Barbecue? What sort of Terran event is a Barbecue?" Ethar said, as he quickly looked up the term in his books after receiving the invitation. "OHo! It seems like fun!" He added, as he ran down into his basement.

Moments later, Ethar came back up with two barrels under his arms. "Where are you going Brandon?" Summers asked. The Succubus-in-training had grown recently from recent adventures, but Ethar thought she was responsible enough to look after the house. "To a friends place for a party. Care to join me?" Ethar asked, but Summers shook her head, and let out a sigh as she went back to her room. "Poor thing..." He said, but he went out the door, and used his foot to close it behind him.

Taking flight, Ethar held onto the two barrels tighly as he would travel at high speeds towards where he knew Ethan's boat was.

It wasnt long until he saw the boat parked near a small island.

Gliding down, Ethar saw Ethan on the deck of the boat, "Ahoy down there!" Ethar said, as he glided down onto the deck of the boat holding the two barrels. "I didnt miss the Barbecue did I?" He asked with a bright smile on his face.

[Ethan Snow]

Sipping his fruit juice and waiting for the grill to heat up, Ethan didn't notice Ethar's approach until he landed on the sun deck, as the other young man, while traveling fast, hadn't broken the sound barrier. Giving his brown haired friend a wave, Ethan stepped out of the octagon shaped kitchen area and regarded the barrels Ethar was carrying and then the clothes the young man had on. He was fairly certain his invitation stated that the party was a summer BBQ and strongly implied that swimwear was to be expected, though it was entirely possible that the message wasn't entirely clear enough for Ethar. He did hope though that it would be for the rest of his guests, Ethan could loan out one or two bathing suites for the guys, but the girls would be out of luck.

"Hey Ethar." the blue haired teen greeted his brown haired friend. "It hasn't even started yet." the boy chuckled in response to the other young man's question. "You can put those down near the kitchen so they stay out of the sun... and as for the sun..." the teen smirked. "...Lose the shirt. I hope you brought a bathing suit too. If not I've got a couple of spares." While Ethan didn't have the same type of physical attraction for Ethar that he had with Brandon, the young man still appreciated pretty things and didn't see any reason for Ethar to be covering up the pretty. None of his quests were supposed to be covering up today, the sun was shining, the weather warm without being too oppressive and the water calm and inviting.

With Ethar hopefully setting the barrels down where Ethan directed and then making himself more comfortable, the blue haired teen set his juice down on the counter and walked back around the octagon shaped kitchen. Pulling open a drawer, the boy removed a blue cooking apron with the words 'Kiss the cook' printed on it. While he might not enjoy covering up, working with the grill necessitated some precautions, besides, the apron was always good for a few laughs. Donning the garment and tying off the strings, Ethan opened the now well heated grill and started to laying out some thickly cut steaks. "So Ethar, what's in the barrels?" he asked as next to be introduced to the flames were some beef patties and finally some potatoes on the upper rack.

[Ethar Luxun]

Setting the barrels down near the kitech, Ethar took out a couple of wooden spigots from his pocket and set them down ontop of them.

When Ethan told him to lose the shirt, he smiled. "Oh I know, It can get just a bit too cold up when your flying in the sky at slow speeds, so I had to cover up." He said, as he pulled his shirt off, revealing his pale, but almost perfectly sculpted chest. He then unclipped his pants, and slid them off revealing a pair of dark grey swimming shorts. Hanging them over the back of a nearby chair, He said "I came prepared."

Taking a seat close to teh kitchen where Ethan was cooking, he heard the teen ask what was in the barrels. "Both are enchanted to stay cool, but one barrel has Fruit juice. Really tastey. And the other has my infamous mead that I made myself. I figured, that if we are gonna be out in the sun all day, would be best if we had some nice cool refreshing drinks to go with the hot sun."

[Keliel]

Little Keliel had been minding his own business, building his own sand castle by the shore near his home. The residents were currently in disarray as the young boy miscalculated their distance from the ocean. Half of the castle was melted down by the figurative magma flowing from the great abyss. He never asked for this! Keliel was just a boy, why did he have to make all of these important decisions?? Panti, his little sister, attempted to help by frantically lifting up the fallen castle pieces with her hands -She was immune to the magma. The acrosian child clasped his cheeks with both hands, "Nooooo!" he cried helplessly as another wave washed over the ruin that was his domain. Regardless, Keliel was a child, and as kids often do, he was soon distracted by a flying man passing over the ocean with two barrels under his arms.

"Whoooooaaaa!" they exclaimed in unison, "he's fwying!" Panti said. They couldn't help but smile as the man soared across the ocean as if it were second nature. They laughed at each other and attempted to imitate the man. Keliel braced himself, crouching as low as possible before leaping into the air; however, as one might have predicted, the boy promptly dropped out of the sky -as you do, and inadvertently landed belly-first into his castle. Panti gasped and covered her mouth with both hands, only laughing when Keliel started cracking up. He no longer cared about his precious castle and his toddler mind had already forgotten about the poor people that had placed their faith in his incapable hands. Keliel was too preoccupied with the flying man and surely after started chasing him along the shore. Panti followed pursuit of her brother, arms spread apart as if she were about to take off.

Unfortunately, their chase met an end when their strip of land ended and the flying man disappeared into the adjacent island. Keliel puffed his chest and furrowed his non-existent eyebrows, he wouldn't give up so easily!

"Kewiel! Come back!" Panti called, but the boy had already set his mind. Keliel dove headfirst into the ocean and started swimming towards the other island. He's never tried it before, but the boy always thought he could do it. Scared for her brother, Panti retreated to their home to warn their parents.

"Moommmy!!!"

...

Keliel had been aimlessly wandering through the tropical forest until the scent of a most delicate morsel reached his nostrils. As expected, the swim across the ocean was a simple task for his surprisingly athletic body. The scent of delicious steak led him back to the shore, except there was a large boat banked at its edge and the sound of people conversing. As he got closer, Keliel could hear the sizzling steak as the blue haired man set it on the grill. His pupils shrunk, focusing on his target. The men probably wouldn't have noticed his presence due to the fact Keliel had been instinctively suppressing his presence to 1%; he didn't actually know that was a thing he can do. Fortunately, Keliel had been dressed for the occasion. He wore a blue swimsuit to complement the turquoise bulbs on his head, shoulders, and chest. It also had a hole in back for his tail, which his mother had so lovingly made for him. Waging his tail with anticipation, Keliel waited for his cue to advance.

The blue haired man rest his glass of juice on the table and turned towards to kitchen to take out his apron, meanwhile, the man he had seen flying through the air with the two barrels was preoccupied stripping down his clothes when Keliel tip-toed behind the grill.

"So Ethar, what's in the barrels?"

Keliel could hear the sound of food getting placed into the grill. He imagined the flames rising above the bars to greet the delicious meat and dance with joy. He could hear the sizzling as the beef juices bubbled over. His mouth began to water, and he grew desperate. As Keliel neared the edge of the counter to peer over the grill, he suddenly noticed the sound of footsteps as the man presumed to be Ethar approached a seat by the cook. Luckily, the kitchenette was an octagon, so the boy needn't move much farther but the nearest corner to avoid getting caught.

"Both are enchanted to stay cool, but one barrel has Fruit juice. Really tasty. And the other has my infamous mead that I made myself. I figured, that if we are gonna be out in the sun all day, would be best if we had some nice cool refreshing drinks to go with the hot sun."

What does a boy have to do to get food around here??

[Ethan Snow]

Setting the last of this first group of meats and potatoes onto the grill, Ethan closed up the lid and looked to Ethar, watching the brown haired young man strip his shirt off as he’d requested and then pulled off his pants to show that he’d been wearing a bathing suit underneath. “Hehe!! I’ll say.” the boy commented in reply to Ethar’s statement that he’d come prepared. Taking a moment to admire the view, Ethan couldn’t help but remember their first sparing match together. While at the time he’d been, he guessed, too young to enjoy getting the stuffing beaten out of him as he does now, the match was still fun and even if it was just something innocent, Ethan wanted to engage Ethar in another.

As he was standing there musing about the past and future, staring at the other young man, Ethan completely missed the almost imperceptible sound of their diminutive guest, scurrying about under the rim of the octagonal kitchen counter. Instead his attention was too much on Ethar to notice. “You know, I was just thinking about our first match, what, a year and a half ago? We should do that again some time. It’s been way too long.” he stated to Ethar while the grill did it’s work.

[Ethar Luxun]

"Our first match? Yeah, it was about that long ago. We have both grown so much since then." Ethar said with a smile. Now that Ethan had mentioned it, Ethar quickly attempted to sense where Ethan's power was compare to his back then. Ethar had an advantage long ago, but the tables had turned and Ethar could sense that Ethan was considerably more powerful then him now.

Which was very impressive for a Human. "You've grown more then me for sure." He replied, as he had a bit of an idea.

"Say, perhaps after we have eaten and had time to digest, Maybe we could spar a bit? I wanna see how your skills have progressed since the incident with Zarbon." He added as he smiled. "Im sure you would want revenge for me using you as a step when I killed him. Heh."

[Ethan Snow]

“Hmhmhm. I bit of time to digest eh?” Ethan chuckled. “Sounds like someone already has a plan, and if it’s what I think it is, perhaps I’ll eat light or just wait until after.” The blue haired teen went on. At the mention of their battle with the blue skinned monster, Ethan recalled the strike Ethar had dealt him. The shirtless teen had been beaten to within an inch of his life and launch skyward for what he assumed would be a killing blow. Instead though, Ethan’s plan to distract Zarbon with his body, a target that just screamed ‘hit me’ had worked, the beast had been consumed with such zeal while beating the boy into practical unconsciousness that Ethar had had time to charge a massive attack. In the final moments, as Ethan was sent flying, Ethar had bolted into the sky and then buried his foot in the boy’s already thrashed stomach, altering both of their trajectories and enabling the charged attack to quickly dispatch their foe.

In truth, Ethan didn’t hold anything against Ethar, he’d done what was needed to get the advantage and as evidenced from the beating the boy had already taken, it was unlikely the additional kick in the gut would do him too much more harm. Ethan though was unsure yet of Ethar knew of his little kink. He hadn’t been in the building when Zarbon had forced the boy’s body to betray him, nor was he around any of the times Ohkara and he had sparred, or when Brandon and he would get playful. Given these facts, it seemed to Ethan to be fairly certain that Ethar did not know yet and the boy didn’t want to make things weird if his brown haired companion didn’t appreciate just what a disadvantage it did put Ethan in. Literally anyone could beat the boy if they knew how and not only was there nothing he could do about it, his rebellious body would enjoy every moment of it.

“Hah, I remember that.” the shirtless teen smiled. “But revenge? Nah. You did what you had to. Besides, remember our first fight and that battle? I can really take a pounding, so don’t worry about it.” Ethan continued, reassuring Ethar that he didn’t hold a grudge and in a round about way, giving him the go-ahead to do it again if he ever had, or wanted to.

[Ethar Luxun]

"Well, the meat will only take a few minutes to cook, and overdone meat is just the worst. No matter what you put on it. So afterwards when we digested our food would be ideal." He said as he saw down on a chair nearby and smiled to his friend.

"First fight? You mean the one that I cant really remember what happened, and where my skin was completely shredded? I cant remember that one to well still. Heh. I guess we havent had that many battles together now that I think about it... How many have you and Ohkara had together?" He asked, curious as to how many times those two had fought together, since he came to realize that they were spending quite a bit of time together.

"Speaking of which, you two are dating now arent you? Last I saw her with ya, she was all over you. Heh."

[Keliel]

Keliel was slowly becoming restless. He imagined the beef sizzling inside the grill's casket, just out of reach. The two stubborn men remained, loitering over the food like some kind of guardian protecting their treasure from the lusty adventurer. The large, floating structure they stood upon was the dungeon, and Keliel needed to use his wits if he wanted to claim his prize. The boy's chibi-like eyes narrowed as he peered around the vicinity, looking for things which may serve to his advantage. He needed a decoy; something to distract the giant overlords and lure them away from the boy's brunch. A rock would have sufficed, but this contraption they stood upon was spotless! What kind of dirt was he standing on anyway?

There! Perfect!

Keliel grinned with delight. He had devised the most elaborate and perfect scheme of schemes that would totally work in his favor. He was brilliant! The boy swiftly kicked the chair next to him, causing it to fall over. THUD!

Silence...

Keliel waited with anticipation. The five-year old had no idea he had just sabotaged himself and fully expected his plan to work. It was a decoy, right? That's how they work? You make some noise and then people walk away from your food allowing little Keliel to eat their precious meat? Right?

[Ethan Snow]

"Hah hah, nah, that was our second fight." Ethan replied after Ethar described the altercation they'd had at the blue haired teen's birthday party. "No I'm talking about when we first met. After I gave you the tour of the school we had a little sparring match." Ethan continued, elaborating on the events on their first fight enough to hopefully jog Ethar's memory. "In any case, eating before another pasting like that might not be the best idea, considering you seem to have discovered my soft spot... but you're also right about the food I should have thought this out a little better... Dating?" Ethan halted after Ethar mentioned him dating Ohkara. "Uhh... I wouldn't call it that... I don't know what you'd call it. I don't think we're exclusive if that's what you're asking..." the teen stumbled a bit, trying to find the right description for their unique relationship.

Ethan's train of thought though was interrupted though when their as yet, unseen guest executed a brilliant plan to get himself found out. As Ethar seated himself and they spoke, another of the chairs surrounding the kitchenette moved of it's own volition, tipping back and clattering to the rubber matted deck. "What the?..." Ethan asked as his gaze moved from the other shirtless young man to the fallen chair. Little had he known his boat had been boarded by a diminutive assailant, intent on eating his precious meat.

"Quit knocking over the furniture will you. Geez." the blue haired teen added and then paused. Ethar couldn't possibly have knocked that chair over, it was fully a quarter of the way around the octagon, well out of leg's reach. "What a sec..." he mumbled and set his spatula down, motioning silently to the chair and then attempting to convey in hand gestures that he was going to look under the counter from one side and that Ethar should do so from the other side. Then creeping out of the center of the kitchenette, the shirtless boy made his way around to the opposite side of the fallen chair as Ethar and crouched down to see what, or who had knocked the seat over.

[Ohkara Minamaru]

”DAMMIT ETHAN!” Ohkara shouted from inside her space ship, a roar that nearly shook the small structure, ”CAN’T YOU EVER GIVE A GIRL MORE NOTICE THAN A FEW HOURS!?”

To the blue-haired boy’s defense, it wasn’t his fault. She’d received the mail earlier that morning, however she’d been sleeping- not exactly being an early riser. This left the woman with a slight issue, she was going to be late to the party.

With an agitated growl, Ohkara rose from her bed, flinging her phone into her pillow, and headed for the shower. Thankfully, the party was being held on a boat, and suggested everyone be in summer attire. For Ohkara, that meant she wouldn’t have to rifle though her whole wardrobe for the right piece of clothing. Heading for the cramped bathroom, she stripped down and hopped into the shower. Rushing through her daily routine, like washing, brushing her teeth, doing her hair, and applying a thick layer of water-proof eyeliner, she’d prepare herself as quickly as possible.

After all was said and done, Ohkara threw on her bathing suit, and then covered herself in her signature yellow training gi. Sliding her parasol into her belt, she headed for the fridge to see if there was anything she could bring to the party. Of course, she had plenty of food, and grabbed what she though was the perfect addition to a barbeque- a huge tub of her handmade coleslaw.

With tub in tote, she stepped out of her ship, and returned it to its capsule state. Of course, she could have taken the ship to Ethan’s boat, but having slept in, and being headed to a swimsuit party, she figured it best to take a more scenic approach and get in a little exercise in the process. Taking to the sky, she’d do her normal routine of aerial acrobatics while in route.

Soon enough, the familiar yacht would come into view near an island, and Ohkara would steady herself. It seemed that Ethar had already arrived, and the smell of meet on the grill was strong in the air. Making her presence known, Ohkara let out a cheery holler: ”Heya, boys!” she exclaimed with a wave, slowly descending towards the deck of the ship.

”Sorry I’m late, I guess I got the invite a little late,” carefully touching down, she noted the barrels next to the hexagonal kitchenette, and the chair that seemed to have been pushed over beside it. Her brow rose as she eyed the two men curiously, not exactly sure what she’d arrived in the middle of, ”Uuuuhhh… Am I interrupting something?” she asked, slowly striding inside the counter space to put her tub of coleslaw into the small fridge.

[Ethar Luxun]

Thinking over what Ethan said for a moment, memories were brought back, as Ethar said 'OOh yes right! MY that was sometime ago! You have a better memory then I do! Well done!" as he laughed a bit.

His attention was quickly grabbed by a chair falling over on its own, and Ethan joking blamed it on him. Watching Ethan make his hand gestures, Ethar started to go around the other way around the kitchenette to see who, and what made the chair fall over. And as he crept, he used his abilities to sense energy to see if anyone was there, and he did sense a good strong energy from right next to the chair. "Someone is there, and I dont recognize the energy..." He thought, but he also sensed Ohkara coming in, and her energy was much more powerful then he remembered. More powerful then his by a long shot.

”Heya, boys! Sorry I’m late, I guess I got the invite a little late, Am I interrupting something?” She asked them, and Ethar waved to her wit ha smile, but then gestured her to 'Shhhh' as Ethar peeked around the kitchenette to see who and what their uninvited guest was...

[Keliel]

Keliel's long and thin tail wagged back and forth with anticipation. By the time the two men poked their heads around the corner of the kitchenette, they would find a tiny and overly eager creature with big and bright red pupils to match his misguided bright smile. For those familiar with his race, he was the poster child of Acrosian people with his large turquoise bulb sitting between his stubby horns and hollow sockets at the temples for ears. However, while one might instinctively fear an egregious race such as his, the boy had an aura about him which disarmed those in his presence. Perhaps, it was a natural defense mechanism that kept toddlers alive by appearing harmless, only to grow into gruesome foes later...

Wait... what?

Keliel's smile slowly faded. His gaze shifted between the blue haired man and the brown one. How did they know where he was? His plan was PERFECT! Not one for deep thought, Keliel concluded that this is what was supposed to happen and his plan had indeed worked. His bright smile re-emerged. "HAH! Got ya!" he squeaked, as if he had successfully tricked the evil meat guardian overlords of hell.

Before they knew it, Keliel had instinctively cast an afterimage of himself, and ran straight past them. Without question, it was an ineffective tactic; the afterimage technique doesn't work if the opponent can see you walking out of it. Evidently, Keliel was no warrior. Looking back, the boy would soon realize his afterimage hadn't worked and they could still see him. "Uh oh..." Keliel would promptly start kicking the rest of the chairs, knocking them to the floor to distract his persecutors. Ignoring the green haired woman in the kitchenette, he would run right past her feet -no taller than her leg, heading straight for the meat bearing treasure chest.

If not stopped in time, Keliel would open the grill and help himself the their delicious meat.

[Ethan Snow]

Creeping around the bow facing side of the kitchenette while Ethar took up his post at the stern facing side, Ethan was glad to see his hand signals were understood. Once both were in position, they leaned down to see who or what was under the counter. Ethan has had many guests aboard his boat in his time, though none were younger than him. Finding a child hiding under the counter, an alien though he may be, was a surprise indeed. "What the?... Who the heck are..." Ethan was just starting to say when Ohkara, whom he'd not noticed approaching, chimed in. At the same time, the excited little kid bolted out from under the counter just as Ethan was looking up to regard the green haired young lady and predictably, confusion ensued.

Before Ethan could make a grab for the kid, he was past him and bounding around the kitchenette. The curious thing though was that there was still an image of the child under the counter, fading away even as the shirtless teen straitened. Clearly the kid knew some tricks, but his execution was sloppy. The only reason Ethan hadn't grabbed him on the way by was the surprise of finding a child on his boat, especially when there were no parents about. The whole, being an alien thing, also contributed to the shock as well. So with the kid having already run past him, Ethan did his best to get out of Ethar's way, should the brown haired male be faster on the uptake than him and already be in motion, by straitening up and pressing himself against the counter. Ohkara by this point was in the middle of the kitchenette and with Ethan facing her, she had a clear view of his blue, 'Kiss the cook' apron, though it wasn't at all on his mind, rather finding out who the little kid was and what he was doing on his boat were.

"Ohkara, he's going around your side." Ethan called out as more chairs clattered to the deck. Ethan considered hopping over the counter to get into the center of the kitchenette, but Ohkara already had that position covered, so he remained where he was and waited to see if either Ethar or Ohkara would be able to grab the kid.