The Ranch

"The Wilderness Must Be Explored" (4)

Tih surfaces from the water and swims back to shore. He sits and the sand clings to his skin. He watches Pierre build out of wet sand. It's interesting.

Kai stands waist deep in the water and stares at Tih's side profile. He pretends to have a cramp and calls out in an awkward and stiff voice,"Ah. Help. Someone help." He lowers himself into the water to make it seem like he's drowning.

He continues in a painfully onvious voice,"If only someone could rescue me!" Tih pokes the sand castle. Kai relents,"Tih, can you help me?"

Tih turns his head. He hops into the water and swims to Kai's side. Standing, the water reaches his belly button.

The first part of Kai's new plan succeeds when Tih brings Kai into a princess carry. It wasn't hard since it's become Tih's go to method of helping people. The amount of people he's princess-carried can't be counted on his fingers. It rose especially quickly after Tih started picking up the injured and dropped them off at the clinic.

Kai pouts and crosses his arms," A-are you stupid? I could have gotten out by myself."

Tih sets Kai down on the sand. He doesn't really understand what Lai is talking about, but he's still interested in the sand castle and after setting Kai down, he forgets about him in favor for the molded sand.

An islander spots the group from afar. Soon closer inspection, it's one of Chef Raphael's subordinates. He greets Tih and his team. His eyes lay on the buckets of seafood with only a little water inside. "Man, I don't think I've seen this much seafood before. You're going to eat it all by yourselves?" It's enough for a banquet.

Victor looks at the bucket, admitting that they may have caught too much. The chef makes an offer," How bout this. I'll call my co-workers over and we'll cook everything for you. In exchange, you share with us. How's that sound?"

They look between each other. The purpose of this exercise was to learn how to cook, but after having a bland lunch. "It's a deal." Sherlock says. They can always practice another day.

The chef smiles," I'll call them over."

While they wait for them to arrive, Basile asks the chef," What are you planning to make?"

The prawns will be skewered and the fish grilled. The chef then tells them about a clambake. They'll need seaweed when they steam the clams. Basile and Tih go diving for that. Tih for obvious reasons, and Basile can take air out of his space to breathe in.

While the co-workers make their way over, the team builds the fire pit. Round stones are placed around the giant wood fire. It consumes a lot of wood, so the team created a pile of firewood if any needs to be added.

Soon, five others arrive. Bringing with them pots, grates, metal skewers, fresh veggies, seasonings, along with blankets and fold out tables.

Victor calls Theodore back over for dinner. He arrives just as the first batch of food comes off the grill. "It's a whole party now?" He laughs when he arrives on the scene. There seems to be more people than before he left.

Now it's night and the stars shine brightly in the clear sky. A cool wind whooshes past. They're warmed by the heat radiating from the bonfire. The blazing light illuminates the surrounding area.

The atmosphere is happy and joyous. The two groups mingle with each other. Laugher breaks out here and there. The fresh and savory food warms their stomachs.

"Does your sister need a seat?" Theodore jokes, making a callback to when Sherlock awkwardly asked the same thing. Sherlock hides his embarrassment. He slugs Theodore in the arm, but it has little effect on Theodore's laughter.

Abel rolls his eyes and continues eating. He continues his conversation with Pierre. They complain to each other about their pompous and complicated families. A shared experience between the two.

A larger group is revisiting various memories of different incidents within Tih's team. The chefs laugh as they listen to the funny stories told by Kai, Victor, and Theodore, with Sherlock interfering to correct them now and then, but that makes the whole bit funnier.

Kai makes fun of Pierre's loud bluntness when they first met at the newbie tournament. They way he talked to Tih. Pierre sweats, thankfully that's worn off with age.

Theodore jokes about Victor's chunni-ness. Victor icily glares at him. Theodore feels a cold shiver down his spine as he explains that Victor's haughty aura has calmed down a lot since then. Theodore's choice of adjectives aren't helping his case. Victor asks for a spar. The chefs cheer on the two as they watch the entertaining fight.

The chefs have divided into separate cooking shifts. Kai takes a prawn skewer from the chef that is currently grilling and walks over to sit next to Tih. He hands the skewer to Tih," I just happen to be full. Hmph, you better be grateful." Tih takes and eats the food without much thought.

A shout," How's it fair that you eat so much but not gain a pound of weight!?!" A jealous Pierre points at Basile. He has a right to be jealous. Basile's metabolism might even be better than Tih's.

"But you've been dropping weight lately." Theodore mentions. He's noticed that Pierre has been shaving off his baby fat into muscle. He still has a slightly larger build, but it's more muscle than fat now.

They each reminisce about how much they've changed since coming to the island.

"Kai's also changed a lot." Sherlock starts. Then he turns to see Kai fighting over Tih with Theodore. "Or maybe not."

Theodore likes teasing the know-it-all Kai. He uses his large size to his advantage, picking up Tih and putting him on his other side so that he sits in between Kai and Tih. Tih munches on his prawn and swings his legs.

Kai gets up and leaves, knowing he can win this fight. He sulks in a corner, contemplating where he went wrong. He's followed everything by the T. Maybe he shouldn't have used those teenage romance books as references to gain Tih's favor.

In the books, they would develop good relationships with just a glance at one another. He even tried to emulate the girl's side when the boy's actions didn't have an effect. Or is it because of the so-called main character plot armor? Does he need a golden finger to even have a chance? Maybe he shouldn't have used those books as a reference in the first place. He'll burn those types of stories if he ever lays eyes upon them again.

Author's  note: I hate seafood and I hate looking at seafood, but I saw images when I was googling info about fishing. Why do I pain myself.