Party at the Pit

Log Title: Party at the Pit

Characters: Ace, Barbecue, Bazooka, Chance, Evac, Kamakura, Marissa Faireborn, Nalide Nakamea, Raven, Sgt. Sideswipe, Slipstream, Spike, Wild Bill

Location: Offutt Air Force Base - USA

Date: July 03, 2015

Summary: The Joes are having a barbecue!

As logged by Ace - Friday, July 03, 2015, 8:54 PM

Offutt Air Force Base - USA

 * Offutt Air Force Base is the headquarters of the US Strategic Command, the Air Force Weather Agency, and the 55th Wing of

the Air Combat Command. The base has a total area of 4.3 square miles and as of 2000 was home to nearly 9000 people.

Sgt. Sideswipe walks in. As part of the 'newer' class, he's one of the few tasked with the heavy lifting. Namely hauling the smokers, coolers, ice, and watermelon.

The Joes are having a barbecue! Barbecue himself has a pit going at the Pit, and has brats, burgers (cow and veggie), hot dogs, and ribs cooking as Evac strums a guitar and Bazooka sets up some early fireworks. Barbecue comes over to help Sideswipe, directing him where to put things and helping lift anything that's a little ungainly for one person.

Spike is with the gang - as an outsider. He has the 'visitor' badge and all. The perks of being a member of EDC. He's pattying out his own recipe for his burgers - chuck roast he ground himself, along with roasted garlic, bacon, worstershire sauce, and an egg to tie it all together.

Sgt. Sideswipe nods eagerly like a young recruit to Barbecue. "Thank you, sir!"

Ace stands off a little by himself. As an Air Force guy he supports the Joes 100%, but he's usually more comfortable socializing with them over a poker table than standing around out in the open at night.
 * Col Armbruster has a few years of experience under his belt, but he is still quite a handsome Air Force colonel, and

looks good in uniform.

Barbecue gives Sideswipe a welcoming smile, and goes to check on Spike, making room on the grill for his burgers a la Witwicky.

Kamakura comes into the base, bringing along several coolers and buckets full of something that smells chili-like. "Happy fourth everyone. I brought the soda, beer and a recipe for five alarm chili."

Spike looks around for Lifeline, Sci-Fi, or Marissa. Some familiar face to talk to. Diplomacy has given him an amicable nature, but still, in crowds, he still reverts to his 'would rather be around robots' self. He nods politely to Barbecue and says 'I'm cool, thanks.' he continues to patty out the burgers.

Raven is just hanging around. At the moment, he's mostly there in case any extra help is needed, but it looks like things are okay without it. So, he's munching on some Pocky that he got earlier. He has a thing for Asian snack foods. "Five alarm?" he repeats, glancing over at Kamakura with a slight smirk. "Not hot enough to set off the smoke detectors, I hope."

Barbecue nods to Spike, and then looks over at Kamakura's arrival. "Now, that's what I'm talkin' about!" he enthuses. He quickly puts a pot on the fire for cooking chili.

Sgt. Sideswipe grins as he hears 'Blink-182 from one of the radios. He says to no one in particular "Man, I love classic rock!"

Spike looks at his watch and sends the 'call' to the Autobots to pick him up. He wants to get back to his family back in Autobot City. Both organics and inorganic.

Marissa Faireborn spots Spike and comes over to say hello. "Hey, Spike! It's been too long! How's everything going with the Autobots? Is everyone OK?"

Sgt. Sideswipe grins widely as he hears 'Adams Song'. "Man, I used to play this all the time in 4th grade, drove my mom nuts!"

Spike smiles at Sgt. Sideswipe, but can't help but wince inside.

Kamakura looks to Barbecue. "Well you might need to spice it up but I did the best I could with the ingredients I have."

ninja chili time

Barbecue grins widely. "I'm suah we can come up with something. Between Gung Ho and Roadblock I can't imagine we won't have enough spices enough on hand."


 * One of the more junior members of the GI JOE task force, Pvt. Nalide Nakamea, an attractive South African teen, appears.

She wears her standard greenshirt clothes, though slightly less formal. After setting down an extra cooler filled with ice and refreshments, she uneasily looks around at the party's inhabitants. Out of habit, she shifts to a 'parade rest' stance as she surveys the scene.

Ace spots the attractive newcomer standing off by herself, and heads over to introduce himself. "Hello," he says with a winning smile. "I'm Ace. Welcome to the party!"

Raven finishes off his Pocky and peers around to see who all is here. Of course, some people he recognizes, others he doesn't. But no matter; just another opportunity to make new friends! So he slips off into the gathering crowd of Joes.

Sgt. Sideswipe grins and makes his way to Nakamea, feeling more at ease with the younger clientele.


 * Moving quickly to proper attention, Nalide responds, "Yes sir." Those boot instincts kicking in, as she peers straight

forward, her posture proper as well.

Ace is out of uniform for a change, standing in just a white button-up shirt, khaki pants, and comfortable dress shoes. He looks a lot younger than he is - not from the elixir that a lot of Joes take to stay young, but from the fact that he somewhat recently had facial reconstruction surgery after a near-fatal beatdown by Major Bludd. Now you can hardly see the scars, and his smooth skin belies his age, although the white at the temples of his light-brown hair somewhat give it away.

Ace grins. "At ease, private. It's a party. Besides, G.I. Joe isn't much on military protocol. You'll get used to it after a while." He gives her an appraising look. "Are you old enough to drink?"

It's a party! Barbecue has a barbecue pit going, at which several Joes are cooking food. Music is playing, and Evac is sitting around strumming a guitar.

Chance pulls up nearby, and climbs out of the jeep, with Risk shortly thereafter. He walks around to the tailgate and lowers it, moving to start unstacking various consumable beverages that Lifeline would Frown Disapprovingly at. Soda, some non alcoholic beer, but also juice and even chocolate milk. Risk was a little hyper, yipping loudly and bouncing up and down beside Chance as the joe drug the first case to the edge of the tailgate.

Barbecue looks over and gets a huge grin as Chance arrives. "Hey! Risk! Heah gahl!" He pulls a rib off one of the plates and crouches down to offer it to the hyper bomb dog.


 * With Ace's permission, Nalide returns to parade rest, taking a wider stance. "With respect sir, veterans are afforded a

great deal more leeway than rooks, sir." She adds a moment later, "And No, Sir. Old enough to serve, not old enough to drink."

Ace grins, and nods. "No beer, then. Would you like a Coke or anything?" He looks around, also leery of Lifeline's Disapproving Frown. =)

Fortunately, Lifeline is not here yet. Unfortunately :(

Raven is afraid of that Disapproving Frown, so he's going to try to go easy. The keyword is "try", of course. Not that it'll work, but still. He watches Ace for a brief moment or two, then smirks a bit to himself and slinks over. "Heeey," he greets, in a mock-seductive tone.

The Dog hears her name, and turns to bound over that way, very nearly taking out one or two Greenshirts on the way. Chance looks up at that point "No onions in that I hope? " he calls over to Barbeque, even as the dog pulls up short and politely sits, butt wagging enthusiastically.

"And any volunteers want to help with the sugary carbonated water, or do I have to 'volunteer' folk?"

Barbecue grins at the dog enthusiastically. "Ah, sit! Good gahl!" He offers the rib to her while glancing at Chance. "No worries! No onions on this one!"

Ace looks over and smiles. "Raven! Hello!" he says in a friendly, non-flirty-but-polite manner. =)

The dog glomps at the bone with a loud CRACK of teeth on rib. Fortunately, no Barbeque Bones involved in that. She quickly turns to take off with it, trotting happily past Ace, although there's a brief pause by the Private to give her a sniff at the knee.

Not getting any help, Chance moves to unload the cola by himself, not really going to 'volunteer' anyone.

Raven grins at Ace. "Just wanted to see how you were doing!" Hey, Ace is attractive, what can he say? Noticing Chance, however, he calls over to him, "Want any help, bro?"


 * Nalide looks at the dog warily for a moment, "Sir, No thank you, sir." Obviously still a bit uncomfortable with the whole

situation, she notes Chance dragging a cooler, the same type she had added herself. "Sir, Pardon me, Sir." With that, she retreats temporarily, to follow up with Chance, taking half the burden of the cooler in transit.

Ace calls over, "Doing well!" but lets Raven help Chance himself. Being a colonel means other people do the heavy lifting.

Chance gets some help the passive aggressive way! He grins and allows them to assist him though "I'd appreciate it. Careful with that case though, I think it fell off the stack coming over the security gate." he warns as he steps back "They gave us a discount too." Risk sniffs once more, wriggling her butt before giving NAlide an approving snort, and then moving to find shade to gnaw on the bone.

"What's your name? I forget new faces sometimes" Chance adds to Nalide.

Kamakura watches the others getting along and smiles. "There's a lot of new faces. Either that or my sensei has had me out training too long again."

Raven happily assists Chance. "Fell off, huh? Thanks for the warning; don't need a bunch of sodas exploding at once." Overhearing Kamakura, he calls over to him, "We're all just figments of your imagination!"

Chance quips "I was lost, and by now I'm in too deep to admit to it." then winks jokingly at Raven as he hauls the last few sodas "Keep that Root beer for me, Raven."

Barbecue stands and smiles at Kamakura. "Yeah. Good to see some new blood around heah. Some of these Greenshihts will make fine Joes someday. How have you been? How's Snake-Eyes -- or ahe you allowed to tell me?"

PVT Nakamea regards Raven as he to moves to assist Chance as well. She wasn't sure of the person's rank, even if he was wearing standard fatigues. Still, best to follow the golden rule 'Everyone is your superior'. "Sir, Private Nalide Nakamea, Sir." After setting down her share of the load, she takes a step back, her eyes darting around the situation. All these colorful characters in their own eclectic outfits, Colonels and Sergeants palling around. This was quite different than the training hammered into her in Basic.

Raven blinks at Nakamea. Well, that kind of respect was certainly new. "Don't call me 'sir', okay? Makes me feel old." He grins regardless, and using one hand to handle the sodas he's carrying, he extends the other to Nakamea. "Raven. Nice to meet ya." He also makes a point of quickly sticking his tongue out at Chance.

Kamakura chuckles. "I'm not sure to be honest." he says to Barbecue. "Hes had me out on some solitary treks recently. Helping in Napal after the earthquake, then back to Syria then back to Nepal. Its good to have some time back home again. I missed you guys."

"Nalide. Nice name. Call me Chance, or Mike if you want. The hairy twerker with the bone who sniffed you earlier is my partner, Risk." explains Chance, once the cooler was over by the picnic tables. The man starts sorting the cans by type in the ice bins, humming to whatever Evac was playing.

Barbecue nods, turning to check on the food before responding to Kamakura. "Yeah, did you heah that most of Ninja Fohce is back at the Pit right now? Lost theih dojo in New Yohk to some real estate thing. Rumoh has it they might be heading back to San Francisco, though, if Dojo has his way."


 * Nalide responds warily, "I'll call you sir, Sirs, until I know your pay grade. The memory of proper doctrine and 'dress

right dress' in Boot is still fresh in my mind." She does accept Raven's handshake, a firm clasp in response.

"Fair enough I guess. We'll just have to wait till its past expiry date I guess." remarks Chance to Nalide "Mister Cunningham works too I guess as I'm no 'sir' officially. At least relax and have some drink okay? That can be an order if you want." he remarks to her, and glances up at the sky.

Evac is sometimes playing along with the music, and sometimes just stumming tunelessly, lost in thought as the party goes on around him.

Bazooka gets the fireworks in place, ready to fire over the base.

Raven rolls his eyes, but he's clearly amused. "Okay, call me what you like, then. No biggie." He grins. "But we're all friends here, so just relax, all right?" He pauses momentarily. "And for the record, the name's Jayson Redfield. Or Jay, or Jase...whichever. Just an FYI."

Slipstream is wandering about, mostly making "Sam the Eagle" speeches at various people about nudity and other such things, ending up behind Evac. He fiddles wit his drink and his hand drops down near the mans' collar...

Chance grabs up a root beer as soon as he was done setting up the cola and pops it open, slurping a few times as it still fizzes.

Evac jumps, cursing in Spanish, and then looks up at Slipstream and laughs. "Thanks for the cool-off, amigo. But I was fine." He twists his hand back, trying to fish the ice cube out of the back of his white-with-tiny-flowers Western shirt.

"Hey, you have no proof that it was me!" a grinning slipstream returns to Evac.

PVT Nakamea eyes Chance's chevron, "Apologies Sergeant. I'm still new on the roster." She adds after a moment, as the situation seemed passive enough. "I've been cleared for five weeks now...saw action here shortly thereafter." So she was one of the ones at the PIT when the Cobra assault last hit it.

Evac snorts. "Well, I don't see Airtight around, and I doubt it was the dog," he laughs, picking up his guitar once more.

Raven's eyebrow twitches. "You need to find better a defense than that, Slip," he calls over. "In your case, lack of evidence is still evidence."

Chance nods "No apologies. That's my job." he explains cryptically, and lifts a cream soda for her "Oh? I think I can guess that action. From what I hear you guys all did brilliantly.

Slipstream smirks at Evac and Raven "That's the thing. Airtights' like a ninja - when you don't see him, he's at his most dangerous - right Kamakura??"

Kamakura smiles at Slipstream. "Don't tell snake eyes or he'll have you climbing mountains shirtless in the winter."

"Go shirtless!" Raven calls over. "Winter or not!"


 * Nalide responds, a hint of pride in her voice. "Three on Three for heavy weapon attacks. Critically damaged a Hiss in the

process. Purple Heart awarded." She shrugs in her humblebrag, "We managed."

Slipstream chuckles at Kamakura, and then focuses on Raven at that, lifting both eyebrows. He shakes his cream soda teasingly "what, you like shirtless? What's your thoughts on wet tshirts? " he asks innocently. Uh oh.

Chance nods at Nalide, smiling "You managed VERY well. A full on repulsion with no warning at all. " he remarks, still holding the soda out to her.

Raven pretends to think about this. "Well, wet T-shirts are okay...but shirtless is better. I like a good show."

Kamakura shakes his head. "Trust me you don't want to see me in a wet t-shirt. Compared to people like Roadblock, my abs will curl up and hide." he chuckles. "Still this isn't a good image for the new guys is it?"

PVT Nakamea takes the drink a moment later. "Well enough." While she doesn't open it, she does seem to relax at the shoulders a bit. She takes a moment to assess the unusual choice of conversation about her, noting Kamakura for a few moments.

Ace raises his light eyebrows at the turn the conversation has taken, but merely smirks, walking over to get himself a beer.

Chance overhears parts of it too and looks that way as well. He takes two steps sideways, away from any 'wet tshirts', although he himself was wearing a shirt with a Canadian flag on it, with CAPTAIN TRACTOR printed on it.

Slipstream chuckles at both, and just puts the shaken soda back - amongst several others at the table. "What, you don't want to reveal yourselves to the Jedi?"

Raven slinks over to Slipstream and lightly pokes him. "This is not the Raven you're looking for."

Barbecue notices Chance's shirt as the food is about to be passed out prior to the fireworks starting. "Hey, Chance! With youh dual background, do you get to celebrate Canada Day and Independence Day both?"

Chance gestures Nakamea to go line up for food first and chuckles "Yup I do. I didn't get leave to go up north for the Secret Society Meetings at midnight on July First, but I did give the family a call and celebrated with some Tim Hortons coffee. And of course, Molsons' beer." he remarks.


 * Apprehensively, Nalide eventually takes her spot in the line for Barbecue's barbecue. She silently ponders a

firefighter's love of fire, as she is delivered a bratwurst without noticing. Well then, it was time for Mess. She moves to an empty seat at one of the tables, absently cleaning her kit as was standard practice, everything being set out properly. When it came to eating though, she ravenously polishes off her meal quickly enough that all too soon her eyes trail back to the line...

Barbecue grins. "Excellent." He starts passing out food, hot off the grill -- brats, burgers, hot dogs, ribs, and sausages, next to a picnic table laid out with potato salads and a plethora of other sides. Barbecue does love his fire, almost as much as he loves a party. Well in his element, Barbecue happily serves the Joes as they come through the line, some of them already getting up for seconds.

Evac puts his guitar back down in a safe place, and gets up to eat. He gets some carna asada off the grill and quietly puts together his own plate.

Slipstream eventually lines up too, but not before poking Raven back. "At least ONE person got the reference!" he remarks.

Chance gets some steak himself and takes up a seat next to the Private, eating much more casually. Risk is still somewhere munching on her own rib happily as the hubbub of the party quietens into happy snacking.

Once people are sufficiently fed and watered, Bazooka switches over to a patrotic mix tape, and prepares to blow up the sky. =)

Chance keeps glancing to Bazooka. He got to help build the fireworks. and this was his first 'colored' show.

Bazooka gives Chance a wink. "You want to do the honors, kid?" he offers loudly, with a voice that hints at a bit of inner-ear damage.

Chance perks up a little bit at that, and actually ABANDONS his steak to go do so, almost with boylike excitement as he moves to approach Bazooka. "If you think I'm trained enough for it." he responds finally.

Bazooka nods approvingly. "I certainly think you are!" he says loudly, showing Chance the setup and pointing out the timing marks to make the show correspond with the music.

Chance grins and glances to Raven, and then back once more "I think I got it." if he screwed up, he'll blame the (root) beer.

Bazooka nods, and at the right point in the music, signals Chance to begin.

Chance hits the triggers!

artillery and explosive experts to be the biggest show this side of legal to perform over a military base on US soil. Thunder rolls down over the crowd as blazing lights seer their eyes, each explosion bigger, louder, and more colorful than the last, building as patriotic music swells and crescendos below.
 * BOOM!* Chance and Bazooka light up the night with a pretty spectacular firework show, designed and hand-crafted by

Chance winces a few times, but laughs as well. Risk whimpers and hides under her table.

Ace smiles quietly, eating grilled steak at a picnic table while he watches and listens to the show.

Kamakura watches the demonstration a kind of thoughtful expression on his face. He grabs his own root beer and sips. "Yeah. I missed you guys." he says.

Chance finishes up as well, and rejoins the others. "Risk where are ya? " he crouches down to drag the dog out, and hefts her up into his lap for reassurances "Sorry. I forgot you didn't like that." he apologises.

Chance grins at Kamakura "Give it a few more weeks and you'll probably be sick of us again. " he jokes.

Wild Bill appears to be napping in a chair nearby, hat slumped forward, but he gives a big thumbs' up!

Bazooka grins as the show winds down after the climax, and some of the Joes start to break off and head to bed. "That's the pre-show, boys," he says loudly. "Tomorrow is the REAL show! We're bringing out the FLAK, the HAL, and the Thunderclap!" he jokes(?).

Chance blinks at that and peers at Bazooka "You didn't tell ME that. I would have brought my burritos!" he remarks jokingly, and then stands "I Gotta go take care of Risk. She's fine when we're on duty but off duty she's a p... a cat." he remarks, remembering where they were as he carries the sixty pound dog off.

The party starts to break up, and Ace finishes his beer and steak and heads in for the night. It's been a good day, and is sizing up to be a good weekend. =)