3375/Dinner with relatives. What a clusterfudge!

Dinner with relatives. What a clusterfudge!
Date of Scene:	15 September 2020
Location:	Pub somewhere in Brooklyn
Synopsis:	No description
Cast of Characters:	Achilles, Hercules, Sara Pezzini

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Achilles has posed:
    The pub was fun, but Sara mentioned the other place. Angelo laughed and shook his head. But then things moved. A taxi managed to ferry the three of them a few miles away and stopped out front of Angelo's Pizzaria. He gets out of the cab and gestures that way, "I had nothing to do with the name. Even with my modern psudonym."
    But of course, he is reaching to offer his hand to Sara. Again with the old world BS.

Hercules has posed:
Hercules walks beside the two, "Now this is what I have been looking forward to! The ale here is too weak to cause inebriation but drunkeness is not the only pleasure to be found! Pizza.. a dish that started with such simplicity and turned into what I believe to be the most extraordinary meat pie ever concieved."

He holds the door open for them, "Shall we then?"

Sara Pezzini has posed:
     Sara guards her amusement to herself, taking his proffered hand to exit the taxi without bristling like her younger self might have. She knows the man behind the old world manners.

"We shall! I don't think it will disappoint you...Hercules. There is more to life in Brooklyn than weak ale." The name and the owner of the name still widen her eyes though in Latin countries it is nearly as common as Jesus.

Achilles has posed:
    Chuckling, Angelo gives Sara's hand a squeeze before letting it go and moving towards the restaurant door to open it. Not just for the lady. He holds it for both of his companions for the evening. "Herc. You need to regale Detective Pezzini here with some of your famous tales. Please... tell us about the Argonauts. Maybe... like usual, the story will be different again." he suggests.

Hercules has posed:
Hercules laughs loudly, "I have a great many tales to tell.." He coughs, "But yes the details can be a bit hazy.. as I was drunk in almost every one of my battles!" He grins, "Most of what I remember is factual. Besides what does it matter if I cut off the beast's foot or their hand? Or ripped out an eye or a tongue? They don't get any less dead right?" He laughs again and continues on into the establishment.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
    Scratching her upper lip to hide her smile, Sara looks between the two, saying innocently, "What could you mean by that, Angelo? Are you accusing your cousin of telling big fish stories about the Argonauts." With a snort, she nods at Hercules, thinking, this is my new life?
    Barely through the door, the owners spot her and Angelo, Teresa making straight for them with an open gesture to a checkered cloth table on one side of the room. There is nothing fancy about the place, the love and the energy of the owners is invested in the food they serve. The plastic grapevines hanging from the ceiling and the old posters of Sophia Loren were passed down to them from Teresa's parents. The food is what brings the customers and keeps them loyal.

Achilles has posed:
    "Teresa." says Angelo with a smile. He steps forward and says, "I will be providing my cousin here with his first taste of -Angelo's- Pizza. So please, we will take two of your deluxe pies. Plus your -world- famous breadsticks and..." he lifts his head and sniffs the air, "Is that Baklava that I smell?" he asks with a wide smile before glancing back to Heracles, "You like Baklava, right?"
    Yeah, he's having fun, and looks back to Sara, "I would never accuse my cousin of telling fish stories. I think only one of those tales involved fish. I am however, saying that he truly enjoys his drink.. wherever and whenever he can."

Hercules has posed:
Hercules grins, "Of course I do cousin! All of this food sounds wonderful! You always know how best to order the appetizers!" Appetizers? After just eating somewhere -else-? Yep Hercules clearly hasn't reached his main course yet.

"And as for my adventures? Some of them happened centuries ago, others even longer! Sometimes they blur together, and like I said, I was drunk in most of them. Mankind was kind enough to record the most famous, and most important adventures! It is easier to recall the details in those more than the rest! Reading about yourself is incredible! You should try it!"

It doesn't seem to occur to him right now that Sara might NOT be a famous hero.. or what have you.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
    As Sara passes Teresa, she says quietly, grinning, "Bring it on. The arancini, the prosciutto crostini, the smoked buffalo...what else? Whatever you have in the kitchen today fit for a king, like always. Don't hold back. Two bottles of the 2015 Chianti Classico."
    Nodding enthusiatically, Teresa replies, "Like to eat, do they? No worries. We'll take care of you."
    At the table, Sara is again seated across from Hercules. Far from thinking of herself as a famous hero, the young detective is vastly amused at the idea of reading about herself. "I don't think the head honchos would love that, Hercules. I mean, unless, it was another big solve for the Precinct. Then, the captain would take all the kudos for that. I want to hear your stories!"

Achilles has posed:
    Chuckling, Angelo shakes his head, "While I did my best to stay... as the modern vernacular says, under the radar because of all of the stories, my cousin here, given a choice... would bask in the glory of the tales while encouraging the storytellers to keep going." he adds with a grin.
    But he reaches a hand to rest his fingers on the forearm of Sara. However, he turns to regard Hercules, "Word of advice, she is a police officer." A squeeze of his hand is used to try to indicate a message of some sort as he adds, "Nothing more than that, a real hero among humanity. A fantastic one, and of course beautiful... a fact of which I have no doubt you are aware."

Hercules has posed:
Hercules nods with another grin, "You want to hear about how I strangled snakes sent to kill me when I was an infant? Or my twelve boring labors? All that stuff seems so long ago at this point.. nothing compared to what came after. Gods mad at other gods, including me. Stuff happens, violent stuff." He laughs as he pulls the cork out of one of the bottles and presses it to his lips, clearly accustomed to large servings.

"But fetching Cerberus was probably the most memorable quest I undertook, if I had to choose one from my youth, after all it was the guard dog of the Underworld, the very pup of Hades himself! Brought the hound back to Eurystheus, this demi-demi-god.. ish. He had weak blood trust me.. anyway the bean pole told me to bring Cerberus BACK to Hades after all that mystery.. intiation.. religious nonsense that I had to go through before I could even enter the Underworld. Anyway Eurystheus was scared of a three headed hell hound! Ha!"

He takes a swig from the wine, "At that point he just gave up.. probably had twelve more 'labors' planned for me but he'd had enough of it! All the wrongs I had committed in my youth were absolved after he declared my atonement done."

Sara Pezzini has posed:
    "Does exaggeration run in the family, too, Hercules?" Rolling her eyes and shaking her head at Angelo, Sara dismisses the hero among humanity with a wave of her unoccupied hand. Angelo's squeeze puzzles her enough to merit an under the eyebrow glance. The red stone on the silver bracelet wrapping her wrist winking in the light reminds her. Sometimes, still, she wants to forget what fate has brought her.

Teresa fills their glasses with the other bottle. With a discreet circular motion of her finger, she asks Sara if they'll need more. Sara holds up two fingers with a smiling glance then returns her gaze to Hercules and his story.
    "Seems a bit harsh don't you think? Were you that bad to earn that type of punishment?"

Achilles has posed:
    "It was a different time." offers Angelo, "And surely you heard the tale of the reason behind the labors. I suggest we move on and -not- go into that right now." he suggests more softly. He just reaches for one of the appetizers and takes a small bite. He washes that down with a sip of wine before looking to Hercules. "So, perhaps you could tell us something of what you have done in this last century?" he asks with a smile, trying to distract from the stories of the labors.

Hercules has posed:
Hercules shrugs, "I just tell it like I remember. Funny thing.. I actually remember being an infant. Not many do. Angelo is right though, you really don't want to know what my teens and early twenties were like. Young and stupid doesn't even begin to cover it." He shakes his head and takes another swig.

"The past century? Wandering around, drinking, eating, watching the world nearly tear itself apart mostly. I spent most of that time back home on Olympus but recently I decided to come back for a longer period of time. Monsters are stirring again and there are more heroes walking this plane than before. I figure that I can help!"

Sara Pezzini has posed:
    Memory of why Hercules had to perform the Twelve Labors drops squarely into place arresting Sara's appetizer on the way to her mouth. Right. Good save, Angelo. She'll tell him that later. She nibbles a piece of crostini topped with paper thin prosciutto and parmesan cheese.

Hercules' narration of the last century and why he descended Olympus earns a sympathetic nod from Sara and a question. "Is it that bad?" Perhaps, that will tell her why the Witchblade came to her.

Achilles has posed:
    Nodding his head, Angelo shrugs. "The world has become more chaotic. More desperate. There are more threats and dangers in the world now than I have ever seen since the days of my youth. This is why I removed myself from the shadows, from my life in concealment. I have never been one who could stand by on the sidelines while there is a potential to make a difference."
    But he shakes his head and shrugs, "It seems that all of the ancient evils and heroes seem to be rising up, waking, or whatever. All over the world.." he adds, nudging Sara's arm with his own and casting his eyes towards her right wrist for just a moment.

Hercules has posed:
Hercules laughs as his cousin tries to explain, "That's one way of putting it but.." He takes another swig, "Every ancient rivalry over the past few thousand years.. maybe longer.. it's all playing out. Gods against gods, other things against other things, and beings from other solar systems with all of their problems. It's all spilling out here, so yeah it's chaoticm, desperate."

"It's why you can be a normal mortal one day and wake up with some strange new destiny the next. It all might feel random but it's not. Up in Olympus? We don't have the all of the answers but some of them up there? They're causing some of it. The rest is between other pantheons of gods, other beings from.. other places that I don't understand. Aliens.. other stuff."

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Sara leans briefly against Angelo's shoulder acknowledging his look. It's a lot for a normal mortal to take in. The Witchblade does not coddle her, riffling memories of great beings clashing together with the abject aftermath of war. Sara drops her eyes, lips pressed together as though in pain, until the images pass. Of course, he knows, he's a deity.

"Sometimes simple mortals want to have all the answers handed to them. We're big babies." She puts a piece of mozzarella on her plate but leaves it untouched, reaching for her wine instead. Shrugging unhappily, she adds, "I'm glad the likes of you think it is worth getting involved."

Achilles has posed:
    Noticing the look on Sara's face, Angelo does his best to draw the attention back to him. "So, I assume you recall how humorous it was for me to let the whole Greek army think that arrow killed me somehow by shooting my foot." he says with a smirk to Hercules as he reaches for a slice of the pizza as it arrives.
    "I wanted to thank you for helping spirit me away from there. Your assistance was -much- appreciated, but not nearly as much as your silence afterwards."

Hercules has posed:
Hercules nods and drinks again, "Sometimes you do get the answers handed to you, just depends on who's listening, and whether they want to tell you IF they know. I may not be the smartest god ever, some of them think I'm an idiot, but here I am seeing what they're doing. I'm one of the few that bothers to intervene because it's what I do. I've been doing it since I was born.. you could say it's MY nature. The rest of them step in whenever they think they can gain something from it, or that's what it feels like."

"I'm not saying all of the gods are callous, but that they think differently, I just had the benefit of spending much of my existence here. This place rubbed off on me and it gives me a different perspective than most of my family has. But there are others up there who want to help, but they don't, or can't, or whatever the case might be. But eventually they come through, a lot of the time it's when it's most needed."

"Priests will tell you to keep faith. I say keep fighting and if help comes then all the better! All these mortals with power now.. some of them are pawns. That can be good or bad. I don't personally coerce mortals into doing anything but some gods are just.. like that. They don't like getting their shiny hands dirty. It's a complicated mess if you ask me though. I like that Thor guy though.. son of Odin? Haven't met him yet but I feel like we have a few things in common. I can't burp out tornadoes though.. that guy can." He laughs and drains the wine bottle.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
The bottle tilted up into Hercules' mouth inspires Sara to drink her wine. She hangs on his every word. They fit what little experience she has had of the gods. A glance for Angelo when he mentions the mortal realm having rubbed off on him, she leans against his shoulder. Unconsciously, she rubs the bracelet on her wrist, worrying at it, tracing its outlines as though rediscovering it anew but never taking her eyes off of Hercules.

"You haven't met Thor yet? Somehow, I think you both would be good company for each other." Sara remembers her smile thinking of the hammer wielding god. "I haven't seen you around town at any of the social galas, not that I normally do that sort of thing." The real grist of what Hercules has said stays with the young detective, she needs the encouragement like plants need sun but talking about the important things doesn't come easily to her especially since the Witchblade chose her.

"I get what you mean about some gods just going about their business and dropping things on mortals." She frowns, "Or something like that." Tapping the bracelet, she stretches her hand out on the table for him to see. "This is a gift of that nature. It's how I met your cousin."