[OOC][PLOT] The Fifth Thread of Planning for Arc 1 - Arrivals

[robkelk]

Submitted for your consideration...

When Benjamin runs errands, he does not do things by halves.  He is a stone-cold killer when he has a list of objectives and a lot of driving to do.

Of course, with San Antonio being such a sprawling city, you had to be smart about how you run your errands.  That was why he already had an itinerary completely plotted out, with each stop allotted in the calendar app in his iPhone, addresses included, so all he had to do was hit the link to navigate to the next “appointment”.

And the day before the party, there was a great deal to accomplish.

Food to be purchased.  Supplies.  Booze.  So much booze.  Beautiful booze.  You’re gonna love this booze.  Benjamin actually had to make several stops just to get it all, loading up Scrappy’s cargo bed with multiple kegs and a great many cases.  The orders had all been placed and paid for in advance - Ben only needed to pick it all up.

He left nothing to chance.  He wrapped everything in moving pads he picked up at the nearby U-Haul to insulate them, keeping the precious booze cold even as the unrelenting Texas sun turned the cargo bed, covered by the faded-silver camper shell, into an oven.

He went back right away, storing everything in the coolers in the wet bar that had been set up in one of the 3-Bedroom units - of which there were only two, so Ben kept them in reserve for when they REALLY needed it.
Sasami, Noike, Tenchi, Kaname, and even (surprise!) Sousuke had been busy preparing treats, snacks, and entrees for the buffet line.  Benjamin remembered a fun trick from a Halloween party from years past.  Grape juice in a clean latex glove, tied off and left in the freezer.  This, along with a few pucks of dry ice, were left in the punch bowl.

Meanwhile, everyone else helped with the decorations.  Sousuke got called from the kitchen to help Mao, Kurt, and Ryoko put up the sun screens that would provide much-needed shade.  Several fans were also set up - no misters though.  This was not California.  This was Subtropical Texas.  Misters did little to abate the humid heat.  But the sun screens would be enough - cutting out the worst of the glaring sun’s heat while the fans provided convection cooling.

Even with that, Benjamin had set aside several units for activities in air conditioned environments.  One he set up as a theater that would show Halloween-appropriate films.  Labyrinth and Spirited Away early on for the younger ones.  The Lost Boys and Army of Darkness later for the older crowd.

Another unit he set aside as a sort of “Chill Room”.  The two bedrooms had several board games and party games for a more low-key and introverted kind of fun.  The living room had several comfy couches, coffee tables with interesting picture books, and low-key music playing.  The kitchen held a variety of refreshments - most of the non-alcoholic drinks were here.

Outdoor activities had been planned as well.  Boccie ball, badminton, and volley ball - with the last two sharing the same space.  There was also a jumbo-sized Jenga tower made from two-by-fours.  A stage had been set up for 33 Stars to play on.  There was also a podium set aside so someone could DJ when the band wasn’t playing.

Indeed, the residents of the Westwoods Apartments had been very busy in the last day, though some preparations had been going on for much longer.

It had taken Ben only a phone call to his mother, and she gladly imparted to him the secret Farmer Family Barbecue Sauce Recipe.  This he prepared quietly in his own kitchen en masse two weeks before the party.  And then he prepared the meat and tofu (yes, barbecued tofu is a thing!) to marinate.  Briskets, pork loins, pork ribs, chicken - wings, legs, and even whole chickens, all marinating in the bright-red sauce for a week.

He requested advice from his uncle - the man who, right after his dearly departed grandfather, had been up to his elbows in making this very same sort of barbecue for the family's eating and drinking establishment.  Several large smokers were rented out, and Ben had gone to the old Farmer family homestead for the secret weapon - fallen branches from the many pecan trees on the family plot, carefully kept dry, but not too dry.

A little known secret where the laymen default to mesquite, the pecan wood imparted a smoother, richer, and more buttery flavor that was reminiscent of the delicious nuts they provided.  Benjamin made sure he was on his preferred 4am-to-noon sleep cycle in order to be up through the night, tending to the smokers, only going to bed in the early morning once Noike came to relieve him.

Everything had a set amount of time they had to spend in the smokers.  The briskets went in first.  Being a very tough cut of meat, they required a bare minimum of eight hours until they tenderized.  Longer was better - the more time they spent in the smokers, the closer they got to that much sought-after melt-in-your-mouth tenderness.

The pulled pork and pork ribs needed less time, the fatty meat already having everything it needed to turn into a juicy and tender mass of meat.  And then the chicken - four hours being plenty of time to get to the point where the meat simply slid off the bones.  The tofu needed the least amount of time, spending only a scant two hours in the smoker, but it would be no-less delicious for that.  The Vegetarians would not be disappointed.

He'd brought Sasami along because she'd expressed an interest in learning how to smoke meat properly. That was the only reason she was outside and looking in the right direction when two people walked past the apartment. "Rodesu-san... are they who I think they are?" She gestured where only he could see.

Ben looked at them. They were Asian, and looked to be related to each other. The male was older than the female, so Ben guessed they were brother-sister or possibly father-daughter. He was tall for an Asian, and wearing a green jacket and black slacks. Is he a Lupin wannabe - or maybe Lupin himself? No, he has the wrong hairdo. Then he turned his attention to the girl. Ben couldn't help but notice her pink hair, and he wondered what sort of parents would let somebody that young dye her hair that color. The he noticed the cats that were with them - one black, one white, on either side of a gray kitten. The pieces fell into place. "They might be. Do you have Rob Donaldson's phone number?"

"I didn't bring my phone. And it would look suspicious if I go get it. It looks like they're thinking of coming in," commented Sasami. She was right - after a moment of conversation among themselves, they turned and walked into the courtyard, headed for Ben and Sasami.

Or, at least, the man walked in. The girl took three steps in, looked at Sasami, and stopped in obvious surprise. Then she asked, loudly enough for Ben and Sasami to hear, "Is that girl who I think she is?"

"So many strange things have happened lately that another one wouldn't surprise me at all," the man said to the girl. Then he turned to Ben and Sasami. "Please forgive us for entering unannounced. We're looking for whoever here would be able to rent us a place to live."

"That would be me. Benjamin Rhodes, but my friends call me Ben."

"Mamoru Chiba. Pleased to meet you. This is my daughter."

Sasami grinned. "Yep, they're who I thought they were! And your cats are named Artemis, Luna, and Diana, right?" Before they could respond, she bowed slightly and continued. "I'm Sasami Masaki Jurai. Pleased to meet you."

The girl looked up at Mamoru. "I never thought I'd meet an anime character in the flesh." Then she turned to Sasami. "But how did you know our cats' names?"

"Usa, it's called 'cosplay'."

"Well..." Ben grinned to lighten the mood. "Usually it is, but not this time. Sasami really is from 'Tenchi Muyo', and I'm one of a group of people whose job it is to help people who've been dropped into this universe - at least to the extent of maintaining places for you to stay. And as for how we know who you are -" May as well dump everything on them all at once, he figured. "- Usagi, Ami, Rei, Makoto, and Minako asked us to keep an eye out for you."

"Thay're here?" asked all five visitors in excitement - immediately followed by the cats putting their paws over their mouths in the same "I shouldn't have said that" maneuver.

Sasami answered before Ben could. "No, but they'll be visiting us tomorrow."