InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I'm giving you the eeeevil eye"

The Fourth of July barbecue was something Jay Garrick always enjoyed, and it really wasn't because of his patriotism. Because for whatever the underlying reason, it was an occasion for distant friends and family to come together for a day.

Jay's been dead for years now. Wally West has made a big deal of the 4th and held a large barbecue every year -- with a few unavoidable exceptions. It's essentially an open invitation to everyone to come to the Wests' backyard. People from all over the superhero community have shown up and many coming bear food. Just to cite a few: Rex Stewart brings a few apple pies, Caitlin and Arielle Kent show up with a ton of salad, the Rayner family provides ribs and Olliver Queen arrives with plenty of his special brand of chili, being carried by his slave labor Tay Lance and Cam Queen. Roy Harper brings a keg, which a couple of his kids -- Jasmine and Tyson -- help bring along.

The BBQ has its share of surprising appearances. Zatanna's grandson is news to a lot of people, and Aquaman's daughter comes, as a lot were wondering if she would. There's also a share of surprising absences. The only grandkid of Wally's missing is Bart West, whose mother says he might be somewhere in Asia. Also missing is Victor Stone's son, who practically always shows up.

There seems to be endless fascination with Marina's little companion Dikos, especially from Tay and Arielle. Of coursy, everyone feels bad for him when he tries some Ollie's notoriously hot chili, and several of the women start yelling at Ollie, who defends himself by saying it's not like he spoon-fed it to the guy. He wasn't even watching!

So many people means so many grills, and so many grills means more people need to man those grills. This leads to an argument over control of one such grill between Roy Harper and Rex Stewart, with Arielle Kent in the middle. This ends in a disastrous compromise that has Arielle light the grill with her heat vision and Roy and Rex sprinting away from the resulting tower of flame.

The news about the new Liberty Belle makes its way into the barbecue, and that eventually explodes into a huge debate. It starts because Charlie brings it up, speaking against the idea to Rex and Nick. The next thing he knows, Oliver Queen joined his side, shouting and arguing their case against the like Derek Jeffreys, Rex Stewart, members of the Black Lightning family and just for the hell of it -- Roy Harper.

Happy Fourth of July.


((ooc: feel free to add things that went on at the bbq with your characters in a thread, and feel ever freer to rp bbq scenes over the weekend.))