10330/Passing Off the Key

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Passing Off the Key
Date of Scene: 03 March 2022
Location: Pezzini House
Synopsis: Cael meets up with Sara just prior to going to Duat. They discuss important things - like TV. And eating live bugs.
Cast of Characters: Sara Pezzini, Cael Becker




Sara Pezzini has posed:
The Pezzini house once again looks like a lived in home. All of the furniture is uncovered, and at the moment there is a new entertainment center with television in the living room. Not a whole lot else has been added, but minor repairs here and there have been done, as well as the place being cleaned.

Sara was not the one who did any of this of course, it had all been Johnny, but she had tricked him into living there so it was all good. He'd been taking care of the house just as the loophole Sara had used implied. Sitting now by the front windows that look out over the front yard and street, she was watching the neighbors playing in the snow across the street while sipping coffee and plotting what comes next.

Cael Becker has posed:
    What comes next is Cael - riding her bright red motorcycle, which Alis had finished repairing once they'd acquired the right parts, bundled up warmly against the chill. As she pulls off her helmet, there's already a knit beanie pulled down over her hair, with just hints of colorful hair peeking out underneath it, mixed with her own blonde locks. She pushes down the kickstand and climbs to her feet, starting up the short walk towards the door, and flashing Sara's familiar features a smile through the window. She doesn't bother to knock - instead, simply trying the knob at the front door, since she'd been seen approaching.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Sara watches Cael approach the front door and just nodded, waving to the door which was unlocked. This allowed Cael to just walk right in, and that was perfectly acceptable because she was family. As the door opens, Sara stands up to walk over and greet her, indicating where the new coat rack was.

"Get comfortable," she then says with a smile. "Would you like some coffee? Also have a bottle of wine open, and I think there's some Coke in there if that sounds better."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Coffee's good," Cael answers Sara, greeting the woman with - of all things - a brief but casual hug. "How've you been? How've you been feeling?" They're pretty much the same question, but she asks them both anyways as she strips off her jacket and gloves, leaving her beanie in place for the moment. "Cozy in here," she remarks, making her way back to the kitchen, her gaze flicking around the home, noting all the little changes.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Sara takes a quick trip into the kitchen to collect a cup of coffee to Cael, then as she returns with cup in hand offers answers the questions asked.

"I've been good actually," is the first answer. "Feel good too, but heading to the Triskelion tomorrow for a final MRI on my arm just to make sure it's healed up. I trust that it is, need to work on strengthening it again, but figured was smart to make certain for the doctor's who have been nagging me."

She offers the cup offer before collecting her own cup again and moving to the couch. "Entertainment center is new," she comments more to herself than Cael, because it was obvious that it was new. "I'm still adjusting to that. Cozy was what my mother always went for and my dad tried to keep it as, but... they're gone, so it's time for it to be cozy for others, myself, whatever."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "I mean - it's gotta be compatable with modern tech or you'll just go insane. If your TV doesn't connect to your wifi then- what even are you doing?" Cael asks in a casual, amused tone as she settles onto the couch as well, crossing her legs and leaning back into her seat. "I like it, but- I mean. I guess I can get why change would be... weird. Sorta like me- I dunno. Changing stuff in Alis' tool kit? It's what I had to remember her." Before she knew that she had //her//. She takes another sip of the coffee, staring ahead of herself at the entertainment system - without really looking at it.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Settling onto the couch, Sara folds her legs up under her to get comfortable and looks at the television again. "I like it there," just new," she admits, then chuckles. "Trust me, the TV in the den does not have wifi capabilities, this one does. The one in the den really old school, but it still works for the console games. This one has all the connections, and I don't hardly ever watch it. The news sometimes, that's about it."

She glances around the room again, the small changes here and there, but she's smiling the whole time. "Change it good. We have to keep moving forward, and after letting this place sit for what... almost three years, it was time."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Well. I don't watch a lot of TV myself," Cael remarks - but Sara knows that about Cael already. It was too much... sitting still. Video games were more active - and more her speed. "Jon wants to show me some show called 'Elementary,'" she remarks in a quiet, thoughtful tone. "Maybe. We'll see - when he's... back." She takes a deep breath in, letting it out slowly, and taking another sip from her coffee, enjoying the faint taste of the whiskey underlying the bitter taste of the roasted coffee beans.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Her blue eyes shift to watch Cael for a moment as Sara takes another sip of her coffee. There wasn't much more she could say regarding Jon and what happened. She was already convinced in her own mind, the logic of it all, that getting Jon back would happen. The man has a destiny that requires he be alive, so it will happen... the process of it however, that's the part that was still in question.

"Isn't that a show with Sherlock," she asks, keeping conversation light for the moment. "Modern take on Sherlock if I remember, though I could be thinking of something else."

Another small sip before she finally asks, "When do you head to get him back?"

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Yeah, something like that. Jon said it's kind'f like House, and that if I liked House, I might like Elementary, so... We're going to watch it together." She takes a sip of her coffee before adding in a quiet mutter, "I'm not watching it without him."
    She continues to stare towards the TV, her posture a little tense, but far less anxious than she has been in the past. "It's... soon. Today, so- I wanted to give you this." Reaching into her pants pocket, she pulls out a large, heavy black key, which she passes over towards Sara. "It's the key to the astral plane. It'll fit any door, and let as many people as we want through. I mean- just in case anything goes wrong. But I don't think- I'm planning on coming back." She offers the woman a tight smile before adding, "Bear's with Martin and Agnes. He really likes playing with Lady Grey, so... I figured he'd be happiest there. You know? Until I get back."

Sara Pezzini has posed:
The key. It had come up in conversation before, but Sara wasn't certain where it would end up. Reaching out she accept the key in hand, turning it over to look at as Cael explain how it works. Certainly was a pretty key to the eye, the sort that used to be used regularly for locks. Sliding the key into her pants pocket, she makes certain it gets down into the bottom of the pocket.

"I think Bear with Agnes and Martin is a good idea," she offers before looking back to Cael. "And I know you'll be back, this is just smart and logical management of a required asset. Yes, I'm going to worry about you while your gone, worry about all of it, but I know you'll be back and you'll bring Jon back."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "I'm not coming back without him," Cael says firmly, and fiercely, her hands tightening on her coffee mug for a moment, so her knuckles show white - before she forces herself to relax. "...I think it'll work out, though. I think it'll be alright. He, uh- Jon managed to get us a message. Through Agnes. She had a dream, and I was ready to just- to dismiss it as a distraight kid having a dream about her dad, but... she knew stuff, and-" Her right hand moves away from her mug, to trace the shape of the butterflies on the leather cuff she wears on her left wrist. "It was from Jon. It was his words."

Sara Pezzini has posed:
"Of course you aren't coming back without him," Sara agrees without hesitation. "I know you well enough to know you'll take as long as is needed, but won't come back until he's with you."

Her eyes shift to the leather cuff, not something she'd seen before nor did she ever think of Cael as the kind of person to wear such a thing. "At least you know now he's there," she adds. "Not quite fair to send messages from the grave to your daughter, but I guess you do what you have to do."

Cael Becker has posed:
    The colors of the leather cuff mimic the colors she'd most recently dyed into her hair - blue, teal, and gold, with holes cut into the leather to make it resemble a kaleidescope of butterflies fluttering around her wrist, and the way her fingers trace the shapes, it certainly has some sort of meaning for her.
    "He's there," she agrees. "And he told me to stop freaking the fuck out," she adds in a dryly amused voice. "And we've been, uh... Agnes has been teaching us what we have to do to help Jon journey through the afterlife, and succeed - fuck, I still can't believe I'm taking //any// of this seriously," she remarks with a quiet laugh.
    But here she is.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
For someone who not six months ago didn't believe in magic or an afterlife, Cael seemed to be doing pretty good over all. Sure, she was freaking out on the inside, Sara knew that, but she was holding it together and that's what mattered.

"I have no real idea about any of it," she admits with a sip of her coffee, looking into the cup. "I didn't know he had to go through a full on journey or anything, I thought you were just going to get him back before all that happened. Anyway... you're getting the information you need, putting together the plan and heading to get him today. I'll keep the key safe," she adds as she looks back up. "Because we're going to need it to finish this."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "He has to travel the Pharaoh's path. He... becomes the sun God, Ra, and... faces challenges, and gets his heart weighed, and the whole nine yards. He's //dead// - he's not just going through the motions, it's... real." She closes her eyes for a moment, then opens them again to take another drink from her coffee. "But he's been preparing for it," and she's tried to help. "And because he's supposed to become Ma'at's avatar, whatever that really means, he gets to come back. The rest of us will travel a different path to meet him. The commoner's path, because we're not Pharaohs. We have fewer challenges to face. We have to fight and defeat various monsters, and solve puzzles, and things like that." She gives a helpless shrug of her shoulders. She's been trying to learn as much as she can about the process - but it still makes so little sense to her.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Honestly, it made no sense to Sara either, even as Cael explained it. Up until recently she believed that when you died, that was it, end of everything, you just stopped existing in any form. Then Witchblade happened and she learned that some who died became ghosts, others became nothing, and more recently she went to the Silver City and that threw /everything/ out of alignment for a while. Now, now she didn't care where a person went or what hoops had to be jumped through, in this case for Jon though, she cared.

"That sounds a great deal more complicated than it should be." She takes a sip of her coffee. "Hoops, too many hoops, but we'd all do what was needed to get Jon back, so learning about it is a smart move."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "A lot of hoops. Your heart gets weighed against Ma'at's feather, to see if it's too heavy to be worthy of reaching the afterlife. You have to testify about... whether you're lied, or stolen, or hurt people... I mean, honestly, I heard the list and I think I would be in some serious trouble if my heart were being weighed," she remarks in a dry voice. "Thankfully, I won't have to - since I'll still be alive."
    She takes another sip of her coffee, then adds in an amused tone, "You know, it's not the challenges that bother me. I have to //eat a live bug// to get down there, Sara. I swear, I am //never// letting Jon live that down. Never."

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Facepalm, that's the reaction to the mention of the bug again. Sara can't help it, the reaction just happens.

"You really need to get out more," she laughs. "The bug thing, really, that's the worst part of it? I'm not advocating running around, picking up bugs and eating them, but honestly... it's just a bug, that's the worst part?"

She just can't handle it and keeps laughing cause that's just... she can't wrap her head around the bug eating part being the worst part of it.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "It's a //live// //bug,// Sara!" Cael protests, though she lets out a laugh of her own. "Yes it's the worst part! Ugh. I don't- I'm not the most adventurous eater. I mean - maybe we can hide in a bowl of noodles. I, uhh... tried these new noodles earlier." 'New.' As if the recipe isn't hundreds and hundreds of years old. "Some sort of Japanese thing. Umm... Zamasoba, or something like that?" That's definitely not the name. She wrinkles her brow in thought, and shrugs her shoulders helplessly.
    "Anyways. Yeah. I'll fight... Lions, and alligators, and jackals, and whatever else the Egyptian afterlife wants to throw at me. No problem. I just wish there weren't any bugs involved."

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Sara finally manages to stop laughing, though she shakes her head a few times in disbelief. Cael would face off against the hordes of hell, which ever version it might be, but eating a bug was the challenge.

"Cover it in chocolate," she says again, as she had in the hospital. "Then just pop the sucker in your mouth, grab water, wash it down. You're good."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "What - and risk associating chocolate with wriggling bugs?" Cael counters. It's a little unclear if she's joking or not - she seems perfectly serious, though.
    After a heavy sigh she adds more quietly, "I just want this all behind us. I want it to be something we look back on and say 'remember when...?' and joke about, and- I just want it to be all over." She gives Sara a small, tight smile.
    "Soon, yeah? And I know I've been a pain, lately. It's just- this has been hard. In a way, it's the- the anticipation of it all is the worst part."

Sara Pezzini has posed:
"You don't do waiting well," Sara offers as she looks back to Cael's face. "You don't have patience, I get it. I've known that about you for a while. So anticipation isn't your thing, and this is all been around the man you love, more than you've loved anyone else in the world, so that means you get to be a pain."

Reaching over she gives Cael's shoulder a light squeeze. "So don't worry about that part, alright? Also, use white chocolate... that shit isn't real chocolate anyway."

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael can't help but let out a snort of amusement. "True enough," she agrees. "It really isn't." There's a thoughtful look on her features before she adds, "Or maybe I can put it in a shot of whiskey, and swallow it down without even noticing. It all depends on how big the damned thing is, I suppose."
    She's silent for a moment before she adds softly, "I appreciate that //you// have patience, though. Even if I don't." She leans over, nudging Sara with her shoulder - and downing the rest of her coffee.
    "What a fucking mess, huh?"

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Sara leans against Cael and gives her a return nudge, then offers a soft smile. "I remember my dad telling me once that life was meant to be challenging else people get bored or stagnate. At the time, it was very helpful information, very sage like... and then life dumped literally everything in my lap, just like it's doing to you right now... so you have two choices."

She grins a little broader as she continues with, "One, go to my father's grave with me and scream at him about there being limits old man, or two, go to my father's grave and drink, while informing him calmly how fucked up it is that we aren't allowed to get bored."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Don't really got much time for either right now," Cael remarks. "But how about we pour one out for him when I get back, yeah?" She flashes Sara a smile, then glances around the room for a moment.
    "So Alis is either eavesdropping on everything we're saying right now," like she does, "...or she's in the garage messing with your dad's bikes," she adds with a smirk. "Probably a toss-up."

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Sara smirks, "I meant when everything that is currently on the table is off the table, then we go."

Then she looks around the room slowly and her eyes pause near the stairs. "She's here, cause if she touches my dad's bike without talking to me first, I'll find a way to lock her in a room for a month." She grins at this, to let them both know she's mostly teasing. "What she does with /your/ bike in the garage, that's between the two of you."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Good luck with //that,//" Cael remarks in dry amusement. "And I've long since stopped telling Alis what to do with my bikes, and cars. She knows what I like - and what my strengths are, and I've always just left her to it." She's silent for a moment, then muses, "I should leave you both my card - so Alis can order whatever parts she wants while I'm away." Since she has no idea how long this all will take, and Alis will definitely need //some// sort of distraction. Reaching into her pocket, she pulls out her cellphone, extracting her credit card from a little pocket secured to the back of the phone - and holding it up into the air.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Sara taps the card that Cael is holding up. "She doesn't need that," she states with a smirk. "She has a card for ordering parts already."

Alis pops into existence to take the card anyway, "This is for her bike and car, totally different, Sara." then she pops out again with a laugh.

"Well I guess that's settled then," Sara snorts a laugh. "She still hasn't told you then?"

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Yup. Totally different," Cael agrees. She sets aside her empty coffee cup - and shoves her hands into her pockets, simply relaxing in the seat for the moment.
    "Told me what?" she asks. "Has she developted some sort of side-hustle?" There's an amused smirk at the thought. "Is she running a car and bike repair shop out of your garage? How'd you get the card, though? Who's //name// is it in?" she asks in puzzled curiosity.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Cael can't see Alis staring at Sara intently, like the Italian just let the cat out of the bag. Sara ignores it for the most part, keeping her eyes on Cael.

"No side hustle, no shop in my garage," Sara states. "The card is in my name, so she could get what she needed for her project, but I can't say more than that. I thought she told you, my bad."

Alis reappears on the other side of Cael. "It's not done yet, so she doesn't know yet... but soon, it should be ready soon, then she'll know." The teen now looks like the cat who caught a mouse. "Nothing to worry about, just a hobby, you got more important things to worry about, right Shell?" She grins then disappears again.

"It's like playing pin the tail on the donkey with a moving target," Sara comments dryly, then finishes off her coffee.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Well. Just a matter of time before there's //also// a side hustle," Cael remarks in an amused tone. "...but I look forward to seeing whatever it is you're working on," she muses in a thoughtful tone.
    Her gaze shifts to Sara as she adds with a grin, "Whatever it is - thanks for helping her with it." Her gaze goes to where Alis had been a moment before, as she adds, "I mean, you know you're a pretty God damned important thing too, yeah?" she says with an amused smirk.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Sara's eyes follow the movement of Alis heading out of the room to the stairs before she looks back to Cael.

"There's probably already a side hustle, but I pretend not to know what's going on," she offers with a chuckle. "It's not a big deal really, so long as she's happy. I think she is, but she doesn't do a lot of talking with me. She's like you in that way, keeps it locked up. So I wanted to give her something to help her stay busy."

Stretching her legs out, she stands up. "You want more coffee or do you need to head out now?"

Cael Becker has posed:
    "As long as she's happy," Cael agrees quietly. "I want her to be happy - she deserves to be after all the shit we went through." She spends a few moments, trying to imagine what Alis could be up to on her secret project - building a custom bike, maybe? She couldn't possibly be doing a whole car on Sara's dime - could she?
    Shrugging her shoulders slightly, she looks back at Sara with a wry smile as she adds, "I should probably head out, to be honest. It's... we go pretty soon. But I wanted to stop by, give you that... Let you know that I'm alright. That I'm ready for this." She hesitates a moment before asking quietly, "Think you could check in on Martin and Agnes a couple times, depending on how long we're gone? I mean. Tell them you're just bringing Bear treats or whatever, if you want, but... I think staying behind is the harder of the options here."

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Sara stands up and stretches a little before eyes return to Cael. "Of course I can," she replies. "I'll drop by with some of the special treats my Aunt keeps making for Bear, they're piling up. I have no issues telling them I'm there to check on them, well Martin really, I've never met Agnes... but I don't want to intrude, so I'll just take some treats over."

She picks up both the coffee cups, "Just let Martin know, okay? That I'm going to bring some treats by, I really don't want to create an issue by just dropping by. I can't handle that shit any more, the sudden explosions of emotion over unexpected or unintended things."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "I don't think that'd happen," Cael remarks with dry amusement as she climbs to her feet as well. "But I'll send them a text," she promises. "And I'll send you and Alis a text when I'm- when //we're// back," she promises. "So you're not left wondering."
    She leans in for another brief hug with Sara - then calls to the air at large, "Finish up that project, yeah? I look forward to seeing it when I get back!" she remarks with amusement, before she starts towards the door - and her waiting jacket and gloves.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
The hug is returned, however brief it might be, then Sara walks Cael to the door.

"Thanks, I appreciate the text and since Alis will be stuck here with me, I'll keep an eye on her."

Once the jacket and gloves are back on, Sara opens the door for Cael. "Just be careful and get the job done Cael, I know you can do it."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "That's the plan," Cael agrees. "Whatever it takes. See you soon." Raising her voice she calls again, "See you soon, Alis!" There's a momentary flicker of concern, over how being separated from Alis might affect her sister - but there was nothing for it. After a nod towards Sara, she pulls her jacket and gloves back on, and makes her way back to her waiting motorcycle.
    Time to get this over with.