First part of a collab between JWolfman and myself. Adam Tevela travels to Montreal to meet with fellow FBA Draftee and friend Julian Cross-Kiraly.

Adam Tevela belongs to JWolfman

Jean-Leon Baptiste and Narcisse Blackburn belong to RobbieSox

FBA belongs to  BuckHopper
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Draft night was over, and it wasn’t that long after he got the notice that his friend, Adam Tevela, was visiting Montreal for a couple of days. The saluki was damn excited; these last days hanging in solitude, practicing and honing his skills by himself. A good friend was more than welcome. Quickly, he ensured the house was ready to tend for a guest and asked his uncle for car rights for the day to pick him up. The noon he arrived, after the respective greetings, they left the airport and left Adam’s luggage at his house. Julian took the liberty to drive him to La Banquise, the poutine center of Canada, thing that many asked him to bring the linsang to.

Adam dug through the gravy mess that was this ‘poutine’ order with a French fry, prodding it in occasion.

"What were you thinking it was going to be?" Julian asked, eating his order nonchalantly.
"The kind of froo-froo that Trent would eat..." He shook his head.

"Dig in. C'est bon, c'est bon…."

After the first impression, he did so and took the first bite. "This is like... chili-cheese fries, dude." He chuckles and starts digging in, nodding in approval. "Not bad, though!"

"I'll admit I'm not big in it myself, but it's a must eat if you're visiting here on the first time. And trust me..." he takes a sip of his soda. "I'm French. I've seen enough haute cuisine that would make Trent's look like this... And I kind of prefer this" the saluki laughed.

Adam grinned. "So you're from this area, dude? Or... actual France?"

"I was born in France. Cannes, dans La Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur..." He noted that the linsang was confused and that he got Frenchy again. "Ahem… Cannes, town by the south of France; came here when I was 18…"

"What brought you here then?"

Julian took a hint of seriousness. "Long story... but I guess we got time..." he shrugged.

"If talking about it bothers ya, I understand dude."

The saluki shook his head. "I'm not that bothered. I'm worried that I might flood you with stuff and sour your trip dude..."

Adam chuckles again. "Dude, not many can sour me. Other than eating lemon drops and having a kook block my line."

Julian ordered a pair of beers, something that Adam understood when they actually got to the table. "Let's just say I wasn't a happy little 'grom' back in the day most of the time. I fought a lot with mon parents, hated school, the usual rebel stuff... Basketball I discovered by chance and loved afterwards, but was never taken as seriously. My school didn't have a program, so I kept myself busy with books about the matter and escapades to play outside with others. Book and street smarts, but no formality until much later…"

"Yeesh dude, that sucks..." He shakes his head. "Quite different from mine... I wasn't exactly Grade A's all the time, but it wasn't like yours. Your family ever supported you about basketball?"

"Mom viewed it as a distraction/nuisance that kept me from college searching, while Dad really didn't care. And my little brothers were too scared to speak for I'd punch them..." he snickered.

“Oi... must be interesting having siblings. I'm an only kid."

"Yeah, you have to assert dominance all day, every day, more with younger twins, C'est dificile... Anyway, the big picture started when my uncle and my aunt came over from here, Canada, to visit; they used to come by a lot, him being a diplomat and all. Them, with a gym teacher, Monsieur Bourguignon, really ignited the fire for me to get to the States. Well, Canada was easier; they offered to help me to get here if I confessed to my parents my desire. That's when things... got downhill... rapide..."

"Downhill? What happened?"

It was the ugly part of the story. Then again, Adam was trusted. He sighed. "...I might've told my mom off when she argued against me leaving after dad begrudgingly gave me his blessing... I might've told her my aunt was a better care-giver than her and that with her I was going to be who I wanted... And that might've been my last face to face interaction with her since today..." And my 'might've' he means it was the cold stone truth.

Adam’s head tilted for a moment, digesting that information in and then he sighs, sipping his beer. "Rough, dude..."

"Oui... been here living my life since... haven't seen them for... four years by now? I've always been the... how do you say it?... the outcast? Black... that?" Damn English sayings.

"Black sheep." He snerks.

"..So I'm living my life happy and doing what I want and taking the path I want thanks to my uncles. They gave me this chance and I want to be successful..."

"Well that's good though! And now you have a chance of going to the FBA and earn millions and probably get crushed by me." He jests.

"Hohn..." The frenchiest snerk ever, dammit. "...You wish. Anyway, 1 vs 1 to prove it? There's a park nearby…" Julian paid and they got out on their way, the Canadian afternoon creating a nice temperature, barely clouds in the sky. "So, yeah, we talked about moi, so what's your tragedy?" he jested.

"Me? Well... I dunno…. I suffered a few bad injuries while surfing and Dad grounded me when he caught me surfing during a thunderstorm..."

"I mean your life, dude..."

He pauses in silence, still walking with him however. "It's not something I want people to know. Not even my parents know."

"Was talking about you growing up and what did you do, but do as you want, dude..." He got searching for a ball nearby. "...Mais, as my aunt says, the more you talked about your problems, the less they pry at you. Plus, you're in a place where a good 1 in every 4 furs doesn't understand you... 3 with the accent..."

Adam rolls his eyes, snickering. "Funny... well, I have this… vice. Like, some people have a gambling vice, an alcohol vice, that sort of thing. With me, it's women." He snorts. "And growing up, nothing really tragic happened. I just followed my parents a whole lot as they competed in surfing. Been to Florida, Hawaii, a lot of coastlines; spent over half my life looking at the ocean, probably."

Julian laughed. Aiming at the board and launching, the ball ricocheting away after bouncing on the board. "Heh, sounds like my trip to Spain. Let's say my own vice started there..." he pointed to his wrist, a small "I&I" tattooed on a simple font. "…Mom wasn't happy."

"Oh man... my Mom would be so mad if I put on a tattoo. My Dad's too chill to be angry about something like that though. What does that tat mean?"

"The spiritual connection of myself with my own reality; that destiny is under my control and that I'm one with the world... Kind of sounds like something you'd say, but with less ocean metaphors..."

"That's deep, dude. I could say the same, but the water gods taught me enough times that I need to work with destiny, not control it." He chuckles, grabbing the ball to dribble a few times, casually. "But yeah... I guess I like women a bit too much. Maybe not as bad as say... Tanya or that vixen Trent knows. But with me, I know how to keep it on the down low, ya know whadaymean?"

"I see... I have a dumb idea... "Never have I ever". Each of us takes a 3 point shot. Who makes it gets to ask a "Never have I ever done something" and the other responds... You in?"

"Oh man... like you did in Twitter." He chuckles and nods. "Fine dude."

"You first." he throws it to Adam and sees Adam nail that quite easy 3 pointer. "So?"

"Hmm. Never have I ever got in trouble with the police."

Big guns, heh... "Hm...One time when they broke in a warehouse party when I was 17... No arrests, no nothing, just a 'You're in private territory, go home or you'll be in trouble' thing..."

Adam laughs, giving him the ball. "That could've gone very badly."

Julian throws. Bounced a few times, but got in. "Never have I ever was presented with or did a "Hallucinogène", to put it that way..."

He headtilts in confusion. "You mean like... LSDs? Drugs?"

"Oui"

"Meh... growing up in Huntington Beach, I've came across a good share of pot smokers. A friend in high school offered me one, but I didn't smoke it."

"No wonder my uncle says I sound high when I got enough of your English to sound like you..." he laughs. “Allez!" he passed the ball.

"Ha ha..." He catches the ball and quickly makes his shot, ending it with a clean swish of the net. "Oooh... hm. Never have I ever streaked naked in public."

Julian got a blank expression. "You knew that already, I told ya, ya cheater!" he pushed his arm "Yeah, European style beaches. They don't care... And yeah, trip to Spain..."

"Damn. Wouldn't mind going to one of those, really..." He’s reminded about the towel incident back in Hawaii...

"Two words. Summer break." he laughed. After a couple of flukes, the canine managed to get another net. "Oh boy, it's gonna be a big one... Never have I ever cheated on a girlfriend..."

Adam groans. He pauses, hesitant. "Sorry, you got me with the vice thing. Lips are sealed. Literally if you may" he pointed to his piercings

"Heh.. alright dude. UFLA, I had a girlfriend in my freshman year. Sweet girl, curvy vixen hips, but she didn't really care much for basketball. She was a surfer like I am, that's how we met. Then this ferret girl came into the basketball team... one night when the team was in Oklahoma for a road game, I snuck into her hotel bedroom and... Did it." He sighs.

"Dude..." he looked taken aback.”...Guess she found out? Or was it a perfect plan?"

"Nah, it was a one night thang... but I did break up with the vixen. She wanted a family, and I didn't wanna get sucked into that. We fought and finally she went overseas to some college in England; haven't heard from her since."

"Dodged a bullet...No worries on me blabbing. Besides the French not viewing as taboo or as a moral thing to everything, you came all the way here. Whatever you say, safe with me" he patted the linsang on the back.

It's a bit of an addiction though..." He shakes his head. "But I know how to control it. Otherwise it'll destroy me or something. PR skills, ya know?"

The game continued, technical difficulty and the intensity of the questions rising. "Let me see if I you can nail this one to follow up with a 1 on 1 so we can return home"

Adam grabbed the ball and shoots, ending with another swish of the net. "Hmm... never have I ever had slept with anyone." Since the topic was a constant in that game.

He looked down to the floor, looking kind of ashamed "Only once, and it wasn't even all that. Could've gived me a supermarket-bought card saying 'vous n'êtes pas plus un vierge' and it would've felt the same. Trip to Spain. 17, drunk, half a pill of X, as friends told me... All I remember is me waking up in my room snuggled with this lioness. Everything else blank expect for roomies testimonies…"

"Dude, that's like the worst kind of sex, if that really happened. Could be just snuggling..."

"When your friends scream "Le champion! Le champion!" the next day, it's hard to round it to just that..." he rolled his eyes.

Despite the topic, Adam snerks loudly and shook his head. "Oh my god, dude... hehe.."

"Get a bunch of 17 year olds fresh from high school to a free beach resort and you get crazy. And a daily visit of paramedics..."

"Yah, I hear ya... imagine living right by the beach and being 15 or such. Temptation all over the place…"

"And what you see on the body mod world, buuuut that's tomorrow's story" he laughed, Adam sounding fakely disappointed. They were playing most of afternoon, sun already orange and dusk nearing. "Putain, time flies. Let's chill at home, and maybe you can meet my uncle and my baby cousin."

“Sure thing dude. And obviously, you better keep this a secret. It's bad enough I already have a woman out there that hates me, and I never even slept with her." He snorts.

"You too? I mean, yeah as you say so..."

"You got one too?" He laughed.

"As I said, story of another day. I just want to relax a bit and get busy doin' nothin" he stretched, showing sweat stains all over his shirt as he shook his head to chill out.

"Another day then..." His large ringtail slaps Julian on the lower back. "Got no probs doin' nuthin…"

They got home, where Julian presented him his uncle, Jean-Paul, and her 4-year-old daughter, Julian’s cousin, Celine, pretty much presented herself by pulling the viverrid's tail without prior notice. "Yeah, get used to that. You'll want to get used to that, trust me..."

Adam blinks, his tail tugged repeatedly but he just lets her and even tries to play by curling up the tail just out of her reach only to drop it down so that she can grab it again. "Cute!"

"Let's see how cute you'll find it if it keeps going. Once tore a friend's by accident" He said, channel surfing.

Adam winces, sitting with him. "Ouch dude... well, my tail's like the most rad part of me besides my spots, so that would suck!"

"He was a horse, so she ripped a chunk of hair rather than actual tail. No biggie..." They passed a nice while watching whatever interesting flashed through the TV at the time. "Say, how did your family get started on this surf thing?"

"Grandpa was the first surfer, really... back then, the surfer scene was mostly otters, aquatic species, water avians, that sorta thang, and Grandpa was an outcast, being a viverrid. But he did his best to hang with 'em, and my Dad took up the sport in his footsteps. When Dad won the US Open of Surfing championship, he shocked everyone."

"Not to disrespect, but how big is he in that world? Like Healy Davis or Vicki Turner?"

"Eh... he was when he won that championship, but nowadays he's just popular locally in Huntington Beach. He's retired, only surfs for fun now. A lot of people thought I would follow in his footsteps. But I got other dreams, dude, as you may have guessed…"

"You could say that again about me, but with law school or business school instead. Kinda lamer..." A nice while was spent before Julian presented the linsang to the small, yet organized guest room. "Here's your room and your bed. And because I'm so amazing and attentive…" He took his shoes, socks and sweaty gear off and flung them to the room at random. "Giving you the full Combine/Hawaii feel and ‘atmosphere’ to put it that way" he grinned.

Adam laughs, crossing his arms. "Totally tubular! But I have no surfboard for you to trip over!"

"Oh I sure missed that so much" he said, sarcasm heavy. "But the seaweed twang should suffice on the beach aspect. Yeah, I read that report and roomed with you twice..."

"Do I really smell like seaweed, dude? That Alphas dude thought I did."

He took and sniffed Adam's jersey by the underarm, prompting a stifled laugh from the linsang. "I wouldn't say seaweed-seaweed, but, not roses either, dude." the saluki laughed and made a face of mocking disgust.

"Uh huh..." He rolls his eyes but smirks. "Thanks for being an awesome host, by the way. Sorry for the short notice but I wanna surprise ya."

"Thank you for coming over. I was pretty much crazy lonely here. Whatever needed, ask" he gathered his things and headed out. "Bathroom first door at left, we'll show you more of town tomorrow. Maybe even the day job place. A coworker got some heat today, maybe more calm tomorrow. Later" he tossed one of his balled-up socks to Adam.

Adam catches the sock against his chest. "Later, man." He chuckles and will unpack finally, settling in the room.
_________________________________________________________________________
A fair 10am. Adam was just finishing eating up something he whipped up quickly. Julian got down, quite the... edgy t-shirt on his arms, showing all the tats for a while "Ready, mec?"

Adam looks over and nods. "Sure thing..." He looks at the tats and grins. "Hey, which one of those was the most painful?"

Julian took a while to recap. "The clock was insane and intricate. But I'll have to say the sword" he pointed to the saber running top to bottom of his ribcage. "Wherever is a lot of bone will hurt." Once Julian put on his shirt, Adam could see quite the pinup doe it had designed on.

Julian caught him staring. "You could say these are work clothes..."

"Work clothes?" He chuckles and stretches his body. Growing up near a beach, the sight of Julian dressed like that doesn't really bother him anyway.

"I'm in one of those few slander of jobs that require you to be nutty and crazy..." He jokingly covered his shirt. "My eyes are up here!" he jested.

"Ha ha..." He stands up from his chair. "Let’s go then! We gonna see this Karmic, I assume?"

"Yes. I have to pass by for a while, if you don't mind and then we can go to the Saint Laurent Boulevard. The same artsy feel from Venice Beach with lots of stores and stuff. Something else you want to do?"

"Well I'm curious about this whole snails thing you people eat... not sure why."

Julian raised his newly pierced brow and glared at him. "There's more than just snails dude... but wait a while…" Julian went to his uncle and, after a quick flurry of what sounded as gibberish to Adam, Julian came back. "Seems we can arrange a full fletched French dinner; at least the most we can reach for. You in?"

"Might as well while I'm here dude!" He smiles. "Most of the travel I did growing up was only because of my Dad competing, so I never really got to experience culture a lot outside of my home."

They got out and on their way to Karmic. "Only and if only...You get a taste of everything. No holding back." He looked at him deadpan and serious, but it was evident the canine was mocking.

"... I'll try even espargots, dude. And that tripe thing my Dad told me to try."

"Escargot" he corrected. As they arrived at Karmic, it seems Murphy's Law struck the saluki. Jean-Leon and Narcy were arguing again, and Isis' clothes were enough to catch eyes; or not enough on that matter. To top it off, Denis, his boss was revising the portfolios; the ones full with conceptual weird pictures. ("Damn you, I told you to get your best impression today guys...") he said in French as he facepalmed.

"Yeah... I work here... This is not habitual, but it's seen many times indeed"

"Even in front of customers?" He snerks and then gazes at the surroundings of the place's interior, looking at all the designs on the walls and photos covering the place.

After some talking with Denis his boss, the cat approached Adam. "Of course not. We're just blowing off the steam for when they get here. It's been a slow day..." He barked a few orders at the dueling horse and bat and effectively silenced them. "I'm Denis Lagrave, Nice to meet you" He DEFINETLY looked menacing, from big plugs in his ears to the designs on his arms where once spots were. The most striking feature, his eyes were injected with black ink; the hazel irises standing out in the blackened sclera.

Adam blinks his eyes, looking back at him and after a bit of hesitation, he finally extends his paw for a shake. "Woah, dude..." He quickly shakes his head. "Err sorry, never seen... eyes like that before."

"I get that a lot. Got ink in them, first Quebecois to do so and was in the small slew of Canadians who wanted to go through..." he pointed to the shapely Afghan hound. "She's Isis..." and then pointed to the hose and the bat.”The two numbnuts are Jean-Leon and Narcisse..."

"BLACKBURN" replied the bat.

Adam smiles and nods back at them in greeting. "So this is the pack that Inkdude's been talking about in twitter, hm?"

"Hope he's been talking GOOD" the bat butted in.

"Yeah, we're the puppy's employers…" said the canine lady, a glare shot from the saluki at her.”...And from where you came from?"

"Huntington Beach, California. Way far from here, heh heh. But I'm liking this place so far, I just feel... sticking out like a sore thumb here, ya know? Like when I talk, people here look back at me like I'm some idiot."

"Some frenchies, I swear..." replied the horse.”...Some do that with the tourists, no biggie. Besides, that's pretty much how several look at us on a daily basis, we know the feeling. You're safe here."

"It's been a slow day, mainly checking the new photos we got. Wanna check?" Julian looked petrified when she said that. "Oh putain..." he muttered.

Adam's ears perk up in curiosity, and hearing what he's sure to be a profane word from Julian, he grins mischievously and walks over to her. "Sure!"

Julian's face screamed. "I hate you all" as Adam looked at quite the pictures. From topless and letting all the tats out to crazy and conceptual, like portraying sins, circus freaks or killer demons. A whole new perspective of the team, including Julian, who resigned to just look and laugh as catharsis.

"No worries. No nudity here, save Isis’ ‘artistics’…" said the boss, prompting a double take by the viverrid.

"What are these for?"

"Exhibition, presenting at art expos and shows, promoting the store, that kind of stuff... Oh look, Julian has prosthetic horns and otter webbing here. His idea..."

Adam chuckles. "The otter webbing may be a bit much, but the horns are cool."

"If you only knew what the puppy wanted to have at one point... Ever since-" Julian and the horse glared at the bat, the most menacing look yet. "Uh... nothing."

"When he walked in, I got the urge to go on a diet with just lettuce and water for a year..." said the afghan

"... Woah."

"Yeah, he's that perfect skinny. I didn't make it, by the way" she laughed

"Yeah but I saw him eat..."

"We all do. Adam, we all do..."

"Unreal." He shakes his head, grinning. "How long all of you been together?"

"I founded the place with Isis about 7 years ago when I got booted off my old workplace. Jean-Leon came from Sanguenay a year after and Blackburn from Edmonton shortly after him. Pup's close to commemorating 3 years..." said the cheetah. "Julian came here naked of ink expect for that small smudge on his wrist. We got him in and he's been a great errandboy, and very devoted to the store. He slowly took into the arts and knows some stuff. He doesn't tattoo to our level, only solid, all-black designs as of very recently, but he picks up stuff so quickly and he draws like no other. I swear, the puppy can draw like insane"

"That's pretty rad." He nods with a grin. "In fact, over twitter he and I had spoken about a little tattoo I could have, though it has to be hidden cuz my parents are a little hardass about that sorta thing. Well, mostly my Mom."

“He told us that, but we really don't recommend an in-mouth tat" said Jean-Leon "Not as permanent and a big pain to take care of..."

Isis added. "Upper thigh ones are good if you want to hide. Wrist ones as well if you don't mind to wear bands over it"

He shrugs. "That's fine dude... the FBA Draft is just a little over a week away, and the last thing I wanna do is show up not being able to speak cuz my mouth's all swollen and shit." The linsang chuckles. "Upper thigh... well, that's something to think about. I don't know what design though. If it's gonna be permanent on me, it has to be something that really means something for me, ya know?"

"We understand. Rules are either get one with a lot of meaning or just really like the design. Doors are welcome whenever you're ready, sexy" winked the afghan.

"Ever since Julian got here, we had much more celeb pull. You know Barnaby Jazz is coming over soon?" added the cheetah.

He blinks at the term thrown at him, but thankfully the cheetah distracts him just enough to change expression quickly. "Oh really? He's pretty rad, met him when I was in the Hawaiian/Alaska camp."

"The pup's definitely a welcome addition, whatever he ended up doing..."

"Seems they're going to open soon. Let's go eat something, Adam..."

"Oh shit, you're going to see him eat?! Tell me everything with detail when you come back man!" the bat joked, prompting a now usual eye roll of the saluki.

"I've already seen him eat a burger larger than his head, but now it's going to be um... food that has names I won't be able to pronounce."

"Or able to diges-" the horse's elbow to the stomach of the bat stopped the snark in time

"It's been a blast, hope we see you again soon Adam!" the cheetah waved goodbye. Adam swore he saw the afghan wink at him.

He grinned, trying to hide the blush underneath his fur. "Same! I might be back soon, dudes." He waves and then heads on out with Julian.

"Don't worry about Isis, she does that literally with everybody just for fun to the reactions." said Julian.

"Uh huh... for a moment, I thought you told her beforehand about my... vice." He chuckles and elbows him on the arm playfully.

"Hey I only knew of that since yesterday! Besides, she's been like this since I knew her. So yeah, there's my slice of life.” He concluded, but then chuckled, reminiscing. “Remember when Dad said my two conditions to go to Canada were no more tattoos besides the wrist one and no facial piercings..."

"And things went downhill from there." He snerks.

"Nah, he knows, but he just groaned... So let's hit the town and we'll head back for the feast at night!"

"Boss!" He fist-pumps a bit. It was a nice day of sight-seeing, a bit of shopping and just overall going all around Montreal. It was what was needed; the calm before the big storm that was going to be the Draft. Night got the guys quickly, as Julian got a text and saw his phone. "Uncle JP says dinner's ready when you are..."

Adam's wearing a new set of sunglasses that he got while shopping, and his ears perk upon hearing Julian. "Oh, sure thing! Ready, dude." He always gets a chance for free food!

They managed to get a passing bus at the nick of time "Remember the promise... Try all of it, no regrets. You don't want to be rude to the hosts, especially in a consular home..." sarcasm in the saluki's voice.

Adam chuckles. "I'll try all of it, no worries."

Not long passed until they were at the saluki's home. "A little while longer, use the TV if you wanna". Adam shrugged and sat to wait as the two canines approached the kitchen. The linsang felt the familiar tugging on his tail again, followed by a giggle.

Adam chuckles and curls up his tail playfully, patting the fluffy large tip of it teasingly at the puppy’s face. He kept flipping through the channels. “Very different TV up here! Where are the English ones?”

"Adam, viens ici..." said the elder canine, a groan by Julian following it.”You can come now." The viverrid saw the table neatly set up. Various utensils he saw as alien. Even domes, to add suspense, he might say. Julian came by, glasses on hands and baguette under an arm.

"Yeesh dude... like I'm not the President or something. Don't need to be all this fancy for me." He chuckles, and picks up one of the utensils that he's confused with, a tiny spoon. "Why are these so small?"

"You said full-experience, no? You'll see later...Jean-Paul, L'Escargot et la langue du boeuf... Grab the bread you want." First serving, from a ceramic pot in the oven. Boiled and roasted cow tongue, left complete as an added shock value. Adam took a bit of time to process what he was seeing.

Adam headtilts looking at the cow tongue. "Dude, is that a tongue? Like... this tongue tongue?" He opens his mouth to point his own finger at his tongue.

"Ding ding ding... Winner" he said as he helped his uncle slice it to serve; quite the messy plate, splashing a bit. "Sorry if I get some on ya..." he laughed.

"Yeesh dude..." He shrugs though and will accept a slice of it. He wonders how it became a cuisine... like hundreds or thousands of years ago, ancient people saw a cow tongue and wonder if it's tastefully edible. He grabs some bread and looks at the rest of the food.

"The French pride themselves on using every part. Literally" interceded Jean-Paul. "That's the meat in there..." He pointed a while of cutting later.

At least Adam's respectful enough to wait before the hosts eat before he starts on it. He looks at the meaty part of it, but resists the temptation of poking it with a fork.

Adam completely expected them to actually use utensils, so this method surprises him. He blinks, watching them and then he moves to copy them, stuffing his tongue in his bread and eats. His reaction was immediate and quite priceless.

"You dont' seem that good there, dude" Julian was struggling not to laugh, the linsang in obvious discomfort. "Spit it out, how was it?" Pun intended..

He swallows. "Um... maybe I'll grow to like it..."

"...You're not touching that shit ever again, no?"

He puts the food back on the plate, pushing it away a bit. ".... Sorry. No." He chuckles, awkwardly.

Both dogs laugh. The scenario was hilarious to them. "It's ok. You did say full experience, no?" added Jean-Paul. "Uncle JP's idea. Loves shock humor..."

Adam shakes his head. "Uh huh... dang, dude..."

"I'm really sorry...but it had to be done..." the younger saluki recovered from the scene.”I'm sure the next one will be more of your liking. More honest to home..." He brought from the oven again a fancy, but simple plate. The trigger of Adam's curiosity: Escargot. "You might want to use those there..." the saluki pointed to the odd looking tongs and the smallest fork.

"Oh! Those looks like snails..." He looks at the tongs and fork. "... And these are to take the meat off the shell?"

"Yup. Garlic-butter, the classic. Follow me..." Julian grabbed a shell with the tongs and scraped inside for the meat, sticking all the contents in his mouth. "...As much as I want to distance myself as a French culture icon in the FBA... I love these..." he said, a bit of shame in his tone.

He chuckles and copies the technique, eating the meat. ".... Actually this isn't too bad, dude." He nods in appreciation and goes for the second one.

"You see it's not all weird and shock value. And let me tell ya." the dog went for the second one. "As much as Trent wants to paint it, this is true French food: Messy and you eat it with the paws..."

"Heh, Trent's style is very... art and not real food." He chuckles, shaking his head.

"I know, right? You deserve the real deal. Not all french is wannabe froo-froo..."

"...This might help" added JP, filling Adam's wine glass. "Santé"

Adam nods. "Thanks. Err, sante?" He sips the wine.

Not long passed before everyone cleaned their plates. "You see? Wasn't that bad..." said Julian as he cleaned the plate with a piece of bread before eating it.

"Honestly I'm surprised, dude. But I guess that means I should get out more often." The linsang says and he'll help them clean the plates. "Thanks for the meal."

"Y'know there's still the main one..."

"What? You believed French serve small and infrequent and that's it?"

"Considering how thin you are..." He snerks, jokingly.

Julian frowned. "Just sit down and eat the Coq au Vin..." He got a pot full of chicken in a dark, fragrant stew.

"... Cock aw vin?"

"Yes? Coq au vin. Chicken"

"Sure sounds like a naughty dish, dude." He laughs!

Took a while for the saluki to digest "...Oh fuck!" he facepalmed, hard. "Thanks for that! Dinner's over! Done!"

Adam keeps laughing, shaking his head. "Oh dude... I don't swing that way but I'll try it!" He clutches his abs, as it's hurting from the laughter.

Still ashamed, but snickering. "Enjoy!" he took quite the gulp of wine

"Qu'est-ce que ça veut dire?" Jean-Paul asked, confused.

"Rien, Rien" he replied.

Adam lowers his laughter into a giggle but he'll taste the chicken meal. "Sorry dude, but that was just... it was begging to be called that."

"Don’t phrase in another langua- Zut alors..." he dug on his dish, now with a whole new POV. “Karma from the tongue, hohn hohn..."

"Karma is right!"

Everyone seemed quite pleased with the food. Each time Adam had a France-related question he was answered with much honestly and knowledge. "Small servings, means dessert! Attends un moment..." said the elder saluki, bringing very nice looking crepes later. Adam seemed quite eager to dig in, but was stopped. "Non non! Missing something..."

Crepes do look delicious! But he blinks and looks back at JP. "... Missing what, dude?"

"Flambeé..." Adam quite didn't catch that at first, but it was definitely something when he saw lighting the contents of a saucer on fire and pouring some on his plate, causing it to flame up. The canines were totally nonchalant through the process.

"Woah, dude!" Although it looks impressive to him! "Are you two showing off again?"

"Non. Crepe Suzette, made like this..." replied the older canine. "Caramel and liqueur filled and flambéed, lighted up with more liquor..." followed Julian.

"The rest of the consulates love this..." added Jean Paul.

Adam smiles! "Rad!" Though he doesn't dig in already, he waits for the fire to die down.

"Good call... Although is logical you shouldn't eat fire... Well in some cases..."

"Well, some people do like eating fire though in the form of strong spicy peppers." He chuckles.

"I'm familiar with that..." he laughed.

"So... Something special you eat or drink at the surf community?" asked the uncle.

"Nah, it's not too out of the ordinary really. We're not a very picky bunch." He grins. "Because of where I live, there's a lot of Mexican influence in the food I eat, but really it's nothing special."

"I heard they 'lace' stuff there often with cannabis in that part of the states. Cookies, Brownies, what not... Heh, kind of like Canada, when thinking of it..."

Julian rolled his eyes "It's his accent, no?"

"Doesn't help!"

He laughs. "Naw dude, I don't smoke pot. Really, I don't. I have friends that do, but not me."

Conversation was pretty lively and lighthearted most of the time. "Well Adam, you passed the test. You didn't finish all the plates, though... You're lucky we aren't the stuck up kind everyone thinks frenchmen to be..." said Jean-Paul as he picked up the dishes, referring to the first tongue plate.

He chuckles. "Dude, I learned a lot just sitting here. I won't make the same assumptions again, dat's fer sure."

"Now I'm curious about what the reactions of others would be... Trent... Wendy Brown...Your agent... Brad Pullman..." said Julian. All scenarios making him chuckle.

"Wendy would curse a lot... Brad... ugh, I dun wanna think about that dude." He shakes his head.

"Freedom fries this and that. Wonder if he also says Freedom Toast and Freedom kissing..."

"Freedom kissing..." He bursts out laughing, leaning back on his chair.

"Going to go sleep soon please put Celine in bed when you can. Glad you liked it Adam..." said Jean-Paul to Julian.

"No problem JP. Good night! "So yeah, you could say I escaped France and wounded up in... Mini-France" Julian chuckled. "Say... How did you discover basketball?"

"I found a basketball when I was five years old... did a lot of outdoor games, pickup games."

"Heh, mine was a bit later. Twelve, by accident and, as you kind of expected, continued as a trait of being a rebel...I hated soccer…"

"Wow, a frenchman that hates soccer."

"Everyone doing it, me sucking at it... it was natural..." He noted the puppy looking at Adam's tail again. He was well off-guard, and pulled it; quite strongly this time.

Adam jumps slightly in surprise, sudden sharp pain on his lower back "Ouch! woah..."

Julian looked, ashamed but taking it quite the humor. "Man, I told you to don't trust her!"

"Sneaky one..." He chuckles and grabs his own tail, holding it teasingly out of her reach.

"Celine. Apologize...Pardonner, pardonner"

"Je suis desoleé" she said, a bit pitiful...

"What did she say?"

"She's sorry..."

"sowy..." she tried to imitate what she heard.

Adam grins. "It's okay dude... just not so hard, okay?"

She looked confused; a bit clearer once Julian traduced it. "Yeah, she's trying to learn both languages. She's slowly getting there..."

"Ooh okay. Well if she wanna learn English, I'll be a bad teach for it, dude."

"You've been a bad teacher to me! Uncle JP put me in a French-only timeout after Huntsville!" he said.

Adam laughs so hard that he stumbled back, leaning against a wall, almost bowled over in laughter.

"No joke! You guys are made it hard. You, Theo, Clifford, I mean... thanks and all, but... wow..." Time flies when having fun. "Damn, it's deep in the night already. Lemme take her to her bedroom..."

"Alright... hehehe. Good night, Celine!" He waves. She waved back. Once he left Celine in her bed, they chatted for a bit longer in Adam's room, both of them also soon in the need of rest. "So, how's everything so far?"

Adam slumps onto his bed to sit with an exhausted sigh. "It's been good, dude! Learned a lot of stuff, saw a lot of stuff. No regrets coming here, man."

"I gotta say, you taking time to get here... It's been really nice. Not a lot of Basketball friends here to contact and stuff here interfere with all the travelling, so everyone taking time to see me and the town... it's quite humbling. How was Biloxi? I'm dying to hear that one..."

"Heh... well, have you seen the two games on TV?"

"One live and another delayed, man you killed it!" commented the saluki. "But... I'm referring to the emotion, the thrill. Getting to see that in the site, playing the game, going through all the prep...I wish I could've..."

"Heh dude..." He flops down on his bed, crossing his arms behind his head as he stares at the ceiling. "There is that emotion, all that thrill... then there's the ceaseless talking to microphones, posing for that camera, posing for this camera, one appointment after another. Even flew to New Orleans for a photo shoot and spoke with an Ocean Pacific company rep..."

He seemed content, but a bit conflicted. It kind of showed. "Incroyable... I just been busting chops here, staying on the court for so much time practicing in every single way. With me taking care of Celine and my job at Karmic, it became hard to travel, y'know. But...I felt I needed that time alone. As much as I wanted to be in that attention spot. I made big progress in other court skills. Karmic even gave me free passes these last weeks..."

"I grew up under a popular Dad, but even I'm not used to all this attention: It’s shades more than what I got back in UFLA, man." He chuckles. "But hey man, is rad that you've been busy! You might just wow all of us after you get drafted."

He sighed. "I hope I get in... All I wish for... Something special for tomorrow?"

"Hmm. Uni visit?"

Julian was taken off-guard, and took quite the while to answer. "Sure..." he said, maybe not as convincing as the linsang wished, his expression a bit tense.

"You don't sound enthused."

"Meh, it's nothing.... We will go" he smiled as convincingly as possible.

"Alright dude. And hey, if you're ever in SoCal, I would so love to tour ya around UFLA."

"Sure, seeya... Wait..." he sniffed the room, moving towards Adam's armpit. "...You smell seaweed?"

Adam's tail curls up to slap Julian on the arm. "Very funny, dude. See ya in the morning."

"Ha! Night!" he got to this room "...Uni... had to expect it...but... still... Open facilities year round, her summer extension isn’t over yet…” He sighed. “Guess I’ll have to take the risk. Good host after all…”