“Do you know why Malinois are often used for the sort of work we do?” Jaxon asked, not bothered that Gabriel didn't fully understand. Most people didn't know much about the breed.<br/><br/>“One, they are smaller than say a shepherd or a rottweiler. Kiv is at most sixty pounds, and there are instances we might need to pick them up and carry them over something. The motivators are there too. Naturally, this breed enjoys biting. They are mouthy, and it's what they are meant to do, and we actually encouraging biting in holding as puppies, rather than discouraging it like someone might do with a pet. You want a dog with a good bite. Dogs that let go get shot. They find the work itself rewarding, be it a toy, a man in a bite sleeve, or in your ex's unfortunate case, a man waving a gun around. Kiv isn't food motivated. He likes his job and wants to do it. He's easy to train in that way. Just not your average golden retriever.” Not that Kiv wasn't well trained. “If you come by to look at some of our dogs, I'll show you more of what I mean. I can teach you how to play with Kiv as well. Show you some commands, just not while there are children running all over the place.”<br/><br/>Gabriel didn't imagine Kiv capable, especially how they were around one another. He reached out to touch the old scar on Jaxon's arm, commenting that it must have hurt. Jaxon smiled.<br/><br/><br/>“I'll take a mean dog over a mean person any day of the week. Mean dogs can be fixed.” People, on the other hand, were different stories altogether. Jaxon had known what he was getting into with Kiv and it was all just a little more work initially. “My mistakes with him initially.” Not fully Kiv's fault, but brought on by another training going a little overboard with trying to aggravate the dog before a working session. It had started to fry his brain and burn the animal out. Jaxon hadn't taken the proper steps, but Kiv had taught him a lot about the difficult ones.<br/><br/>They were going back inside to finish prepping for a few other things, and Gabriel complimented him on his own, and then mentioned some of his medals and badges.<br/><br/>“Oh, sure. I can show them to you later,” Jaxon affirmed. He appreciated the meticulousness in which Gabriel worked. That was how Jaxon went about anything and people that were sloppy actually seemed to bother him. Despite what his friend said about needing a woman in the kitchen, Gabriel and he actually worked well together to finish things up. The comment didn't register as sexist to Jaxon as it really sounded, something he was more commonly used to, and he brushed it off easy enough. He didn't pick up on Gabriel's mostly hidden irritation at it either. He introduced himself to the man and then they all helped one another move supplies out to the backyard.<br/><br/>Jaxon shifted some of the coals around and held his hand over the grill, checking the temperature. He wanted it heated up high to lock in the flavors of the meat and of course to get those pretty charred marks.<br/><br/>“Not really the best cuts all the time, but I know how to use every part of the cow to make you think that you were eating prime each time,” Jaxon said, laughing. As a farmer, he had a great appreciation for food and of course, being southern, he learned all sorts of nifty little tricks. Not that he claimed to be the best sort of cook but he could handle simple and straightforward things like making even tough cuts of meat tender and delicious. For entertaining at a barbecue though he'd picked out some of the nicer cuts.<br/><br/>“I don't mind at all,” Jaxon said, especially if he wanted to learn a thing or two. “I don't know how things are cooked at the restaurant. Probably the same. Trick is patience on a grill. Getting everything just as hot say if you were waiting on a cast iron skillet. If you try to cook the steak too slow, it'll dry out and turn that sorry gray color. Most people worry you'll burn it, but that's not the case.” Once the steaks were about ready to flip he moved aside to let Gabriel do the honors. “Not long on each side, just enough to get the grill marks, then you flip four times total, to get the marks square. A little longer for yours. Here's a trick I learned.”<br/><br/>He put his thumb and pointer together like he was making a sign for 'ok', then pressed into the flesh part of his palm, the muscle connecting to his thumb. It was pretty squishy, relaxed. He let Gabriel feel.<br/><br/>“When a steak feels like this it's rare.” He connected his thumb to his middle finger, then his ring finger (empty now of wedding band), and last his pinky. He had Gabriel feel each time, and as he transitioned to each finger, the flesh firmed up and became more rigid.<br/><br/>“Pinky is well done, but we don't cook our steaks like that here,” he said, partially joking. He let Gabriel help him, cut up pieces, and then passed out steaks. He let theirs rest on a plate, Jaxon taking his steak medium rare. Once others have been served, Jaxon closed the grill and then went with Gabriel to pile more onto their plates. They found a seat with others at a picnic table, Jaxon more than ready to eat.<br/><br/>“I hope you enjoy our food too. Nothing fancy, of course. Some of if you might actually be tired of, livin' here in Texas.” Jaxon hadn't acted opposed at all to trying the more unusual thing Gabriel had brought along, and more people than not simply followed the behavior. Leading by example, and all that. Some even complimented Gabriel on it, but of course, there were the close-minded that simply were not open to putting such unusual things in their mouth.<br/><br/>“Your loss,” Jaxon said with a shrug. He doubted he'd be stopping at only one plate. It wasn't an official get-together until someone dragged out the pallets and beanbags to play cornhole.<br/><br/>“If you don't know how to play it's fairly simple. Two people actin' a fool trying to toss a beanbag through a hole in plywood at about a twenty-seven-foot distance. I imagine there are some actual rules to it. All I know is that people manage to keep score somehow. I probably seem like right proper country bumpkin now.” He was laughing again, though he didn't really care. All in good fun. Most were drinking as they played, but Jaxon had a bottle of water. “They don't like when I play, 'specially if I've not been drinkin. Say I have improper advantage.”<br/><br/>Jaxon was going out of his way to be a good host to Gabriel. Most already knew each other and would be comfortable, but Gabriel only knew him. He hadn't invited to leave him entirely on his own. He felt that would be rude, and he wanted his new friend to have a good time. Show that they weren't all bad folk after all even if the police officer hadn't been a good example.<br/><br/>“The neighbors who reported you are trying to avoid you,” Jaxon commented, pointing them out, a couple in their forties. They probably didn't expect that he would have invited the man that had allegedly broken into his home to his next gettogether.