The Chili Fling

       ((Louis rewinds the timeline a tad...))

       Everyone turned to look at the van when it pulled up. I watched with interest to see what new guests had just arrived. I recognized Brian. He was unhappy and yelling about something. I watched as everyone else got out of the van: one, two, three, a little fourth Velan, a large black unicorn, and a white... a beautiful... a... a...

       *THWACK* *THUMP*

       "Oh, Josh! So sorry!"

       I managed to look away. Over in the grassy area, my raccoon was sprawled out on the gound. The ball he and Faehlyn had been playing with lay on the ground. I watched as Faeh ran to the dazed raccoon and knelt beside him. "Josh, Josh, is OK?" she asked as she ran her hands over the sides of his head to check for any injury.

       Josh rubbed his eyes. "What happened?"

       "Mean ball! So sorry," cooed Faeh. When Josh struggled to sit up, the kinkajou held him still and put his head in her lap. She gently ran her fingers though his hair, but wasn't letting him sit up.

       I laughed silently to myself. Considering that they had only been tossing the ball around, it was pretty surprising that Josh been hit in the head hard enough to cuckoo him. Apparently gentle little Faeh was not as gentle as she led us to believe.

       Shouting turned my attention in the other direction. The Nas Kan had apparently outdone themselves this time, as the chili has set the carrying poles for the vat on fire. I stood up to help, but Kyrn and Naldantis seemed to have it under control. Lythandi and Kyri were providing, ahem, vocal support. Kalindra just watched with a slightly prideful smirk.

       When the excitement at the chili pot died down, Brian grabbed a rootbeer from the cooler and sat down next to me.

       "Hi Louis, thanks for the invitation." *swig* "I don't suppose I could interest you in buying some characters I have for sale, I'll sell them real cheap." The Velans and Unicorns glared at him. "Real cheap..." he muttered.

       I laughed. "Hi Brian. Glad you could make it."

       Just then there was a splash. A new group of damp creatures was standing between two trees. Foxeris had arrived! The new arrivals trouped over to our picnic site and layed their food out beside the rest. This was looking to be a good picnic!

       After introductions, the humans sat down together.

       "You know, I get the feeling Brian is going to stay right where he is for the whole day." I said.

       Brian glanced back at Foxeris and I. "Damn right." he said.

       *GLUP*

       A blob of flying chili flew trough the air right by Brian's ear and splatted itself on the side of a tree. The bickering stopped as everyone looked at everyone else. Nobody saw who did it, and nobody was admitting it.

       "Damn, Brian, what did you put in that? The chili is so potent it starts food fights all by itself!" I whispered aside to Brian.

       Lan Louis jumped up on the table. "Nobody throws chili at my Da!" He grabbed a spoon, dipped into the pot, and flipped a globlet at Kyri. It hit the beautiful unicorn on the shoulder.

       "Wow! Good shot! He's had practice!" I commented.

       Kyri gasped, horrified. "My dress! You little worm!" She too grabbed a spoon and dipped into the pot. The kit was fast and the unicorn inexperienced, so Naldantis got hit instead. Now Naldantis, being male, may have been willing to forgive Kyri for this. Lythandi, however, was neigther. Another glob of chili flew through the air, accompanied by an equally potent Velan insult. This one hit Kyri on the cheek. The 'corn screached in outrage. Her next shot hit Lan Louis who was expecting the ivory unicorn to go for Lythandi next.

       Nutsy jumped onto the table top and ran to my potato salad. "I'm with you, Lan! Down with the horned menace!" the flying squirrel chittered gleefully. He flung a piece of potato at Kyri who was slinging a glob of chili at Lythandi.

       "Horned menace? I'll show you a horned menace!" growled Kyrn. Nutsy quickly learned it's not healthy to insult an assassin (retired). The black unicorn flung a glob of chili with deadly accuracy and knocked the little squirrel backwards into the potato salad bowl. This managed to splatter Oriana pretty well with bits of celery, mayonaise, and potato.

       I kept hoping that maybe Oriana would compliment my potato salad, but all she did was reach for a spoon and begin flinging.

       Kyri, meanwhile, had hit Lythandi. Naldantis now felt honorbound to respond. The volleys of chili and potato salad were becoming more rapid. Naldantis hit Kyri. Lythandi hit Kyrn. Kyrn hit Nutsy, which sent the squirrel's shot wild. The glob of chili flew through the silver cloud which caught it and hurled it back. Lan Louis shot at Zen who this time parted and let the chili sail by. Unfortunately, it hit Sora who was displeased by this turn of events. Kyri missed Naldantis but hit Kalindra. Kyrn hit Naldantis. Oriana hit Kyrn. Sora grabbed Orianna's jello and flung a glob at Zen. The nanite cloud redirected the jello so that it hit Lan Louis. Lythandi missed Kyri and hit Josh. Josh hit Kalindra.

       After that, food was in the air pretty much continually, and things got a bit confused. Kyri hit Faehlyn. Nutsy hit Thrysten. Naldantis hit Oriana. Lan Louis hit Kyrn. Zen redirected shots to random places, sending Lythandi's shot to hit Sora, and Lan Louis's shot to hit himself. Sora flung jello at Josh. Serin grabbed the fried chicken and began munching on it. Faehlyn hit Kyrn. Orianna hit Lythandi. Lythandi hit Nutsy. Thyrsten hit Naldantis. Lan Louis tried throwing the lettuce in Thrysten's salad, but didn't have much success until he found the little cherry tomatoes. Lan threw a tomatoe at Naldantis. Kyrn hit Sora. Kalindra hit Kyri. Faehlyn hit Kyri. Nutsy hit Lan Louis. Josh hit Nutsy. Kyri hit Faehlyn. Thrysten hit Kalindra.

       This was all I saw. Being only mildly splatterd, I joined Serin under the table. He offered be a drumstick, which I accepted. There probably wouldn't be much food left when the battle all around us got finished. "You know, Sora makes really good chicken." Serin nodded in agreement.

       He listend to the giggling and screaming going on above us for about 15 minutes. I figured I had better put a stop to the battle before they ran out of chili and started throwing the spoons and bowl. So, I reached into the cooler and grabbed a can of Coke. I shook is vigorously, then crawled out from under the table.

       "STOP!" I yelled, and, pointing at the crowd, popped the top on the Coke can. My shout and the shower of soda were enought to get everyone's attention. I was quickly covered in chili, jello, potato salad, and a few cherry tomatoes, but they were looking at me. "You guys are disgustingly filthy!" More chili. "Last one in the lake is a rotten egg!" I yelled, and then bolted. I wasn't sure if they'd follow me, but Nutsy and Lan Louis were hot on my heals. When Lan yelled, "I bet Naldantis could beat Kyrn any day!" soon everyone was running for the water.

       Nutsy and Lan Louis were splashing each other the moment we reached the lake. The unicorns and the Velans went back to glaring at each other, but everybody was glad for the chance to wash off.

       I was the first one out, since a human pelt is much easier to clean than any other. When I trooped back up to the picnic tables I made disturbing discovery. Brian and Foxeris were gone! They weren't in the lake. They weren't at the tables. Brian's van was still here. Everything was as it should be (all things considered) except for that my two fellow humans and the keg of Mountain Dew were gone!!