I'm On A Boat - Evan, attn boat party guys

[Evan Hughes]

“All I’m saying...” Evan managed to get out, in between bites of a meatball sub he was currently requiring use of both hands to hold, “Is that it’s obvious that Superman would win! Batman wouldn’t stand a chance, sure he’s got shiny gadgets and stuff, and a kick ass car, but all Super would need to do is fly past, grab Batboy, fly up as close to space as possible and just drop him. Even if you add Robin to the mix, still, no chance.”

Taking a swig of his coke, he flopped back against the chair in which he was sitting, taking a break from the fierce debate to chow down some more. Worries about Brittany were still playing in the back of his mind, as much as he tried to shake them. If you went by her words, everything was fine, but he still couldn’t help but think he was missing something. And he didn’t know if he was reading too much that she didn’t say she loved him back, in those terms.

Snapping out of it, he could worry tomorrow, tonight was party time, he wiped some sauce from his lips. “I’m thinking that I should totally jump off the top of the boat into the water. I mean, seems a waste not too, all those poor unfortunate people out there who don’t have boats to jump off, so if I can, I should. Oh, that means you too Patch, I ain’t jumping alone.” Evan grinned. “You know, I reckon the X-Men could take on Superman.”

[Patch Kimball (aka DJ Fluff)]

While superheroes were vastly more entertaining than, say, class, Patch couldn't exactly claim to be an expert. Whether or not Bobby Wratten had better projects than Jack White, sure -- because nobody could deny Wratten's superiority. Or if Evan had wanted to debate the merits of Sepp Blatter as president of FIFA -- Patch was not a fan -- or if Chris Armas or Piotr Nowak -- a difficult decision, but one had to admire that Piotr was 15 when he began playing professionally. Still, the point wasn't the subject matter, but the presence of friends and food and tolerable music.

"Sure, I'll bet they could, too, I mean, a whole team of X-men against one dude hardly seems fair." He pointed out, flicking crumbs from the front of his shirt. He'd (somehow) avoided getting sauce on his clothes, though this was probably due to the fact that most of it ended up on his face.

He began to pull of his shoes, grinning, "Race you to the top," He suggested, rushing to beat his friend the moment his shoes were properly thrown into the corner. He lacked the proper attire to go swimming, but the temptation of jumping off things was too great to resist. And anyway, surely Kian had towels on his boat, after all, he had to know that anyone on a boat would want to take a dip in the water.

[christophe]

Christophe played the role of listener to the conversation surrounding superheroes. Of course, he'd heard of them all. He came from Paris, not Mars. It was fun to witness the debate and he relaxed back to enjoy the sandwich that had been pushed into his hands moments after they'd arrived on the boat.

He laughed when they bolted for the top of the boat, intent on leaping off. "Ils sont fous," he murmured. They were... Crazy indeed. Christophe reached for a bottle of soda, knowing damned well he'd soon be joining the rank of 'crazy' soon enough when he also dove into the sea. He'd finish his sandwich first...

He turned to Kian - the owner of the boat and their host for the party. "How long have you had your boat?" he asked. "I am deeply jealous," he added with a grin. "Back in Whistler I had a RIB that I kept moored at Horseshoe Bay. I used to take it out across the sound to Vancouver Island. I really miss that," he added with a rueful look on his face. "Do you get many orca pods around here? I had the job of cataloging one and... Well, if you get sightings I wouldn't mind seeing about getting involved... If I can!"

[Dare Madison]

"All Quicksilver would have to do is fly to Krypton and grab some Kryptonite, he could even go back in time to get it before it was destroyed," was Kian's answer to the x-men vs Superman debate. He grinned at Christophe when he asked about the Marine life in the area. "I am not an expert but I have seen orcas and a lot of dolphins; even an occasional seal cluster. The person you should talk to is Genny Bailey, she wants to be a marine biologist someday. Or some of the surfer clans, like the Patridges or the Juarez's. They are always out on the water or at least so I have heard. Kian liked to surf, but he wasn't a maniac about it, he hadn't even purchased a wet suit yet.

"There are lots of towels in the topside bathroom and a couple of robes even. They aren't in the greatest shape, but they are good for keeping the wind off wet chilled bodies," he suggested. "Personally I prefer warm water so I will relax in the hot tub while you guys risk freezing your balls off. I'll make a pot of coffee now so it will be done when you're ready for it, unless you would rather have hot cocoa?" He walked into the kitchen area and began to set up the cappuccino machine which could also do cocoa.

[Evan Hughes]

“He’s not just one man, he’s Superman! He’s...well...um....super! He’s alien, right? Not human, so he’s already got an advantage right there. The X-Men are human, with cool powers and all, but still, if you shot most of them they would die, but you couldn’t do that with Superman, the bullets would bounce right off.” Evan explained, trying to prove that while he was right, the X-Men would win in a fight against the Man of Steel, it wouldn’t be as unfair a fight as Patch made out it would be.

“So I reckon there would be casualties, maybe like Storm, cause a bit of lighting wouldn’t beat Superman, but I reckon they would wear him down eventually. Quicksilver so could win it though. Wonder if he’s magnetic? Maybe Magneto could kick his...I’m thinking too much about this, aren’t I?” Evan asked, but started laughing at himself anyway before he got an answer from any of his friends. “Still, would be a cool fight to watch. Not like our fight Patch, with evil chick and random guy.” he shuddered, making it known just how awful this was. “And I bet Superman wouldn’t have to deal with Jimmy Olsen taking photos of him getting beat up, would he, Photo Dude?” Smirking at Connor, he managed to keep up an annoyed look him for all of two seconds, before laughing again. “I’ll let you off this one time. I would have wanted to take photos too if you were getting whipped by a girl.”

It took Evan just a moment to get into a competitive state of mind when Patch threw his shoes aside and took off. “What? Wait, that’s not fair! No head starts!” he yelled out at the top of his lungs, jumping to his feet and racing after his friend, hopping along on one foot a couple of times as he pulled his own shoes off. “No freezing pain, no gain Kian!” Of course, Patch did beat him, but it actually worked out perfectly for what he wanted to do, laughing as he pushed his friend into the water, executing his own perfect belly flop straight afterwards. After the sound of the splash, a hoarse cry of “It’s cold! It’s bloody cold!” could be heard.

[Connor Pearce]

At the reminder of his eager snapping of Patch’s and Evan’s now not too recent beat down, Connor grinned sheepishly, glad that Evan seemed more amused by it now than anything else. “It was pretty funny, I couldn’t help myself.” he admitted. “If it’s any consolation, next time you get beat up by a girl, I won’t take any photos.” Evan seemed happy enough with this idea, either that, or it was the race with Patch that got him grinning.

Connor hadn’t known anything about boats, nor much about the water and marine life until Kian had gotten his boat. Now, he knew almost nothing about boats, the water and marine life, but a little was better than nothing at all. He hadn’t even seen orcas or seals outside of an aquarium or zoo, and he’d only seen a lone dolphin in the ocean. He was more than happy just focusing on stuff on dry land. “I know the Patridges a little, Ben and Eden.” he spoke up. “I’ve talked to them once or twice, and I’ve taken a few pictures of them surfing. I can introduce you, if you want.” he offered Christophe.

Laughing at the sound of the guys hitting water, he moved to follow Kian into the kitchen. “Knowing those two, they’ll go with anything chocolate related.” he answered on their behalf as they were preoccupied, laughing lightly. “Coffee sounds great to me though. Christophe, want anything?”

[christophe]

Genny Bailey. Christophe committed that name to memory. He'd have to ask around, of course, as he had no way of knowing who she was but perhaps the biology class would be a good place to start. She was, after all, keen on marine biology so it made sense she'd be taking that class.

Christophe turned to look at Connor when he spoke. "Thank you. I would be very grateful for an introduction. They may be able to help me." Things were looking up more and more by each passing second and if he could become invovled in monitoring a local pod then so much the better.

He pushed himself to his fweet and followed Connor and Kian. "Coffee. Thank you," he replied. He knew American coffee wasn't like the French stuff he was used to but he was slowly adjusting to the very different taste.

"So there is good surf around her?" he asked as he leaned back against the bulkhead. "I have never tried that myself. The waters off the northern coast of France are particularly flat and those off the Vancouver coast are little better. No waves to speak of but I would be more than happy to give it a try. If it means I am in the water then it can't be a bad thing." He heard cries from outside, stating how cold the water was in no uncertain terms. "Although I have a feeling I will avoid testing the sea around here until the sun has warmed it a little. You mentioned a hot tub? Now that sounds much more appealling!"

[Kian O'Connor]

Kian finished setting up the machine and flipped the switch. The machine made fizzling and swishing sounds as well as sending out a heavenly smell. He set out cups and saucers along with sugar and cream for everyone. Then he disappeared for a moment and came back in his bathing suit with a handful of towels. I have a couple more suits if someone needs to borrow," he offered, knowing it was too late for Patch and Evan. Mike had disappeared but he figured he was checking out the boat. Kian didn't blame him. he was going to be living on it at least until school let out. "The hot tub is up those stairs," he said indicating the spiral stairs in the middle of the living area. "Topside there is another bar, the hot tub, a bathroom with a shower and tub and the door into the master bedroom and bath." Luckily there was also another stair leading to the master bedroom or you would have get sopping in raining weather. "Help yourself to the coffee and you can take it up with you, there are tables around the hot tub. The coffee should be good, a friend sent it in a basket from one of those gourmet shops. I don't drink coffee so I don't really know how good it is. The only coffee i drink is Irish."

[Patch Kimball (aka DJ Fluff)]

Patch yelped as he hit frigid water, unexpectedly helped along by Evan before he'd had time to do more than doff his shirt. "No fair!" He spluttered, splashing water at his already soaking best friend. "What's the deal, you want me to win that bad?"

He shook damp hair out of his eyes, spraying water everywhere -- not that it made much difference to the ocean, or to his hair; both remained quite wet. "So cold!!!" He added, shivering.

Soon, however, his attention was occupied with attempts to submerge Evan, cool temperatures forgotten. "Stop squirming!" He demanded with a laugh, "How'm I supposed to get you back if you won't stand still? Damn, I think I need reinforcements!"

He cupped his hands to his mouth, shouting at the boat in the hopes their other friends would hear, "What're you guys waiting for, the water is great!" He lied, "Tell 'em, Evan!"

There really was nothing quite like spending an afternoon with friends -- his current best friend, along with two of his best friends from childhood who had so happily drifted back into his life, and a new friend who would, with any luck, stick around. The only thing that could have made their outing any better was if he'd had his dog with him, and added man's best friend to his list.

[Evan Hughes]

“Get off me!” Evan protested half-heartedly in between fits of laughter himself, squirming as much as he possibly could as Patch tried to push him under the water. “You don’t get me back! I win! That’s how it’s supposed to work. Uh-huh, no, no reinforcements. That’s cheating again. You’re a cheater! Everyone Patch is a cheater! He’s a che...umph...” he spluttered, more salt water getting into his mouth than he was comfortable with, excitement making him forget for a moment that you actually had to move in order to tread water.

“As if I’m gonna help you and call out for your reinforcements. I’m not that stupid.” he smirked, rolling his eyes. “But...okay truce. We could so team up and take them on instead, all four of them. We’re that good.” He relied heavily on the fact that they wouldn’t be able to talk all four, if any, of them into joining them in the ocean.

“Sorry, was wrong!” Evan bellowed at the top of his voice, winking conspiratorially at his friend. “Water is awesome! It’s not too cold, it’s like a nice cold! Come on, jump!” he yelled. “It’s fun! Don’t be party poopers, you....party poopers.” He sighed, turning his attention back to Patch. “I don’t think they believe us.” He made himself look completely offended. “As if we, the two of us, would ever lie! We’re like little angels. We’re like...look, a shark!” he yelled out before launching himself as best he could at Patch, grinning wildly. “I’m gonna win!”