8653/How Many Brandy's Does it Take...

How Many Brandy's Does it Take...
Date of Scene:	12 November 2021
Location:	Avengers Mansion - First Floor
Synopsis:	Cael has a few too many - and doesn't manage to keep her cool around Sara and Wade when her sister inadvertantly pushes her buttons.
Cast of Characters:	Cael Becker, Sara Pezzini, Wade Wilson

---

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael does her honest to goodness best to be more friendly - and less bristly as idle chit chat and conversations happen around the table, amongst the various Avengers. She even offers a few comments that might not be describes as ascerbic - even without questions being directed her way.
    It gets easier the more brandys she has in her, of course.
    Towards the end of the meal, smaller groups wander off into different rooms, and Cael pushes herself away from the table, glass of brandy still in hand. "Oh, no, I met Stark the other day, actually. I mean - just the once. He was at SHIELD actually - God, he's every bit as-" She barely manages to cut off whatever she was about to say, given the fact that Tony people has multiple //friends// in the room. And, hell, may even be recording this conversation. "-uhh... confident as his reputation says." Yeah. Confident. That was totally what she was going to say.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Sara was not a nibbler, there was no delicate or dainty games with food for her. She ate between conversation like a real person, and finished off with a piece of her Aunt's tiramisu, making sure to cut it correctly so that anyone else who wants a piece can enjoy one as it should be, a precise size. Her aunt would be proud, well more likely she'd not give a damn, but Sara new her mother would be proud, and that's really what mattered.

She had sipped her way through one mulled wine, then switched to chilled non-alcohol cider so she would be sober to drive home. As the dinner wound down, and people broke off, she sat back in her chair with the cider in hand.

"You were going to say arrogant, right?" Sara asks, not giving a damn. If these people were Stark's friends, then they already knew and accepted it. "I'd like to meet him at some point, but if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen."

Wade Wilson has posed:

    Wade ate through his food at a ravenous pace. It was probably the first time he'd had an actual home cooked meal in *years.* He had switched to cider too because going through all the alcohol without suffering any effects from it was kind of a waste when it was a social gathering, right? He grins as Sara's quip about Stark.

    "Never met him" he says, leaving out the unnecessary 'here' in the statement. "But from what I know of him, he's got a tude, but balls big enough to justify it. And when the guy has enough suits to make an army of mechanical driods... I think he's entitled to a bit of arrogance here and there, right?" He's leaning back, an arm around Sara, despite the individual seating arrangements.

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael hadn't exactly been dainty about her own eating - and she was //stuffed// well and truly, though she'd happily found enough room for a little of the tiramisu. She seemed eager to get away from the dining table, though, now that the meal was winding down and find somewhere a little quieter.
    "...Arrogant. Sure," Cael agrees. "That's what I was going to say." She smirks slightly - hands going back into her pocket. "That wasn't a bad meal. I mean- Sam knows what he's doing, you know?" she remarks. "I'd have burned the shit out of everything."

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Sara's eyes follow something around the table and back to Cael, so green eyes focus on her friend while she slips her arm around Wade. Individual seating? Big deal, scoot the chair's closer.

"I can cook a ham," she admits with a smirk. "But turkey, no way. There are a few other simple meals I can make, so kudos to Sam for cooking the dinosaur, though I'm pretty sure it wasn't that size when he cooked it. My dad used to make the turkey, my Aunt would make the sides, and I'd stay out of their way, just like I did today in the kitchen."

Wade Wilson has posed:
    Wade listens with a smile. "I think this is the first Thanksgiving I've celebrated since..." he thinks. "I think this is the first Thanksgiving I've celebrated." He has memories of others, but he knows that's not him here. It's him elsewhere. "I'm Canadian so... that probably has something to do with it." He grins and sips his cider. "Dino turkey was good though. Perks of working with people who are scientific geniuses, right?"

    He looks at Cael and then at Sara. He *wants* to ask if the woman getting plastered is the intention or if it's a symptom of something else.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Well - it's been years since I actually did a Thanksgiving. Some of the homes, growing up, cooked the meal from scratch - but others ordered it-" Her brain catches up with her mouth right about there, causing a brief hitch in Cael's speaking - but it's too late, so she finished the thought anyways, "- in. That was good, though. I'm glad I came," she continues on determinedly, hoping to cover from her gaff of revealing more about her past than she'd really meant to.
    "But I've never really learned to cook anything more complicated than one of those pre-prepped meal boxes." Yes. Cael tried one of those for a while. It'd gone //alright//.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Sara leans a little toward Wade as she talks, eyes once again starting to follow nothing.

"I usually volunteer to work the holidays now so that detectives with family can be home, so it's been a while," she offers, trying to distract away from Cael's gaff by adding, "We could try burning our own meal on actual Thankgiving, or I could make a ham if you'd both like. I'm sure I can get some recipes from my aunt, she's got...."

She stops there, eyes pausing at the archway leading toward the main foyer, before she sighs, rubs her forehead a little and continues. "... a lot of recipes she could share."

Wade Wilson has posed:
    Wade doesn't comment on Cael's trip up. Because he's being a good boy today. He nods though to both women. "That might be fun. All things considered" he says with a grin. He wasn't in any danger really. "Might make this a bit better even" he adds, gesturing to his face.

    Sara's pain is harder to ignore though. "You okay, babe?" he asks, looking at her with concern in his eyes. He places a hand on her leg and tries to follow where he gaze ended. Maybe something she saw is effecting her.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Hell, that's if either of us get the day off. I'm with you on that - let people with families have the actual day off. Besides - holiday pay." Am I right? Her own gaze goes towards the same archway - a wince showing before she looks away again. Look - there's no harm as long as Cap remains unaware, right? ... right.
    "But, sure, whenever we both have the same day off - we set the kitchen on fire. What could possibly go wrong? We can put the marshmallows on the yams, and get those... why are they called Hawaiian rolls anyways? One of my- we used to get those, you know, for Holidays. I always liked them."

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Sara drops her hand and looks over at Wade, realizing she had an outward reaction to the unseen nothing by the archway. "I'm fine, just..." how to explain without giving away something not her place to give away.

But before she can even try to find a way to explain it, Alis takes matters into her own hand. The only people left in the dining room are Cael, Sara, and Avocado boy. She darts over, right into Wade's face and materializes as she screams, "BOO!" What could go wrong with that?

Wade Wilson has posed:
    Wade probably shouldn't have been leaning back so far but there he was. "Holy shit!" he exclaims as the ghost takes matters into her own hands. He topples back, chair and all and falls. There might be a loud snap as his collar breaks from the awkward fall.

    "Ow..." he says softly. "Ghost. Got it. Friend of yours?" he asks, rising to his feet and looking around. His left arm hangs at an odd angle for a moment before there is a counter snap as the bone mends itself before their eyes.

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael lets out a loud groan as Alis does the most cliche thing a ghost could possibly do. Seriously? 'Boo'? But that isn't the problem she has. Not really.
    "There's security cameras in the Avengers Mansion," she mutters under her breath. And now they almost certainly have Alis on film. What are the odds that doesn't get flagged and shown to Stark?
    And yes - that is where her thought goes first, because the sound of the bone breaking was completely hidden beneath the sound of the chair falling. It isn't until she sees the angle of his arm that she realizes that something is amiss. "Shit. Shit! Should we get a- do we need a doctor? Some of the Avengers have medical training..."
    And if they call any one of them in there's //zero// chance that that footage will avoid being reviewed. //Shit//.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
It's instinct that leads to Sara's actions, from sitting to kneeling beside Wade once his fall is complete so she can help him stand up. The snap of his bone isn't missed, but she knows what his body will do in the end as she's seen it before with gun shot wounds.

"Alis," she warns, looking toward the ghost who is now giggling profusely and moving over to Cael. "I get it, you've been bored, don't take it out on my boyfriend."

Alis slips over beside Cael and sighs softly, "I didn't expect him to fall! I'm sorry about that, and the... whoa, did you see that?! His arm just healed itself! That's totally rad!" She nudges Cael a few times and then what Cael starts to sink in and she starts looking around for the cameras, waving in every direction just in case she can't find them.

"Cael," she says, getting the same right the first time. "I was /bored/! I can't stay hidden all the time now, it's just... gods, so boring you have no idea. Seven years of nothing... seven years alone... I can't stay like that any more, I just can't."

Wade Wilson has posed:
    Wade rolls his shoulder a bit. "Unless the cameras are hidden" and they very well may be, "there aren't any in this room" Wade replies. "Not a friend of yours... a friend of *hers.* Got it." He doesn't appear to need a doctor. Healing factors are handy like that.

    "Alis..." he says, pointing to the ghostly woman, taking a cue from Sara. "What's the relationship here?" He points between Cael and the ghost. "Going to guess... sister?" he asks, by the seemingly youthful appearance of the ghost. He smiles at Sara. "Really. I've had worse from living people. I'm fine. Slap some aloe vera on it and call it a burn..." He adds quickly. "Please don't,actually. Aloe on this," he gestures to his body. "Not a fun time. Like acid."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Look, I- I get it. I'll talk to Stark, if it becomes an issue." He was already digging into her history - and doubtlessly had already learned Cael's birth name, and about Alis' death. She turns a hand through her hair in frustration before adding, "I'm not mad, I just..." She sighs, shaking her head before looking towards Wade.
    "Yeah - my sister. She, uhh... She was killed a while ago, but we only recently learned that- that she's still here, so..."
    She glances aside at Alis, fighting the urge to let out a frustrated sound. She'd been an idiot to think she could keep her past private at this point.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Sara runs her hand over Wade's shoulder gently, checking the bone or feeling him up, one or the other. She's still not happy about it, but since he does heal quickly she'll let it go for now. Bending down she picks up the chair he had been sitting in, setting it upright again.

"Witchblade helped originally to see Alis," she explains before sitting back down. "Now she can apparently appear at will." Her eyes shift from Alis to Cael, she can see the frustration on her roommate's face.

"No one needs to know anything more Cael," she offers, not knowing about Stark poking his nose into business that wasn't his to be poking his nose into. "We can talk to Steve, work it out. I mean if we get fully technical, Yee's around here as well, he was watching Nadia in the kitchen earlier. How many other spirits might have passed through here in the many years the Avenger's have called this home? It does not need to be a major thing."

Alis stares at Cael for a moment, "Uh... if you don't want people to know, you don't have to tell them anything. You look at them and go, 'Yeah, she's a ghost from my past.' get it?" She grins, then nudges Cael again. "It's not a big thing, they don't need all the details unless /you/ want to share them."

Wade Wilson has posed:
    "Or you drink yourself into a stupor too deep to realize you're giving away personal secrets" Wade comments. "Like now." He shakes his head. "My lips are sealed. aside from the three in here... no one will hear about it from me."

    "How?" he asks Alis. "I mean... Witchblade first, sure. That makes sense... but after? Just a learned talent?" He asks. The ghost was something that piqued his curiosity, after all, as far as he knew he would never experience the afterlife. Being a ghost would forever be a mystery to him.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Drinking myself into a stupor is one of my talents, I'll have you know," Cael counters - letting a quirk of amusement show on her features. Her gaze drifts towards her sister again - as she continued to struggle to sort out the mess of emotions that seeing her again still stirred up in her. The urge to protect her, and hide her - and scream at the unfairness of it all, and rejoice that she was back at all...
    But then Wade asks a question that earns him a quick, sharp look. "It's classified," she says bluntly.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Sara picks up her glass of plain apple cider, then slips her arm back around Wade as she takes a sip. She was about to say something herself, perhaps a touch more nicely, but Cael threw out the standard answer which made Sara sigh a little.

"Better to save that question for another time," she offers more softly, offering Wade an apologetic expression as she adds, "Cael's still struggling with all this, including Alis even being able to do more than she could a week ago. I could probably explain a few hundred possible reasons for it, but right now it's apparently 'classified'."

Alis lets out a huge, long, LOUD sigh right in Cael's ear then looks to Wade with a shrug. "I don't want to upset her any more than I already have, and clearly I've upset her... so maybe once she chills the fuck out, we can talk."

Wandering away from Cael and into the kitchen, she walks back to the table carrying the bottle of brandy and refills Cael's glass... her sister needed it, she could tell.

Wade Wilson has posed:
    Wade holds up his hands in a pacifying gesture. "Fair enough. No more" he twists an imaginary key over his lips and tosses it over his shoulder. He settles into the chair and shifts a bit. There's another pop from his collar and he breathes out another sigh of relief.

    "Oh there... that's better" he says and slips his arm around Sara once more. "Is everyhing you can do classified?" he asks. "Like... do you have to be visible to pour brandy? Or can you do it invisible style too?" he grins.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "//She// isn't classified. What she //does// isn't classified. It's-" Cael's frustration is palpable, even as she looks at the glass her sister just poured for her. "Fuck," she mutters under her breath, knocking back the drink, and starting abruptly towards the door. "Look. The three of you sit and talk about- whatever the fuck you want to talk about. I'm gonna go get some air," she remarks, before striding out of the room.
    Is she being unreasonable? Probably - and she knows that. But she just needs to get away for the moment.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
At the extra pop, Sara winces slightly. It's not a pleasant sound and normally that sort of sound means someone just hurt something. "Man, you are so lucky you only sort of feel that Wade," she offers with shudder. "Cause just hearing it makes me cringe. The last time something on my body made that sound I was rolling around on the matt of the boxing ring in pain. Oh, that reminds me, do you box Wade?"

Alis grins over at Avocado, no that wasn't a nice nickname but it's what popped in her head when looking at him, but the minute Cael goes off the smile disappears and she shoots after her.

"Come on Sh... Cael, don't be like that," she calls after her then walks out with her.

Sara watches Cael depart, not saying a single word. It was becoming rather regular that Cael lost her shit and walked away, and Sara knew damn well that when she did that there was no talking her down, to calming her down, there was only letting her walk off to deal with it. More therapy required.

"Well, that leaves you and I Wade."

Wade Wilson has posed:
    Wade gives a sigh as the two sisters, living and not depart. "It does. I do box... sometimes. I'm more an MMA type combatant. I like to use my legs." The tone he uses indicates he's trying to be lewd.

    He looks around. "Avenger's mansion, huh? I wonder how much trouble it would be to break into a room. I mean, Stark's gotta have a room here. Maybe we could find that room and--hypthetically--I could gain us entrance and then we can see if the suave playboy image he presents is contagious?" He grins at her. "I'm asking you to make out in one of the Avenger's rooms. If you want."

    The fact that he was suggesting breaking into someone's private quarters to a *cop* (if an off duty one) didn't seem to cross his mind at the moment.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Continuing to look in the direction Cael went, the suggestion of breaking into an Avenger's room to make out has Sara slowly turn her head back to look at Wade, and blinks.

"So many things to say about that," she says as she blinks a few times, trying to put the thoughts in order. "One, I'm not breaking into an Avenger's room, that's illegal. Two, I'm most definitely not breaking into Stark's room, his security is all over this mansion and I'm trying to join this group, not alienate them or end up in jail. Three, you're way better than Stark, you don't need to 'catch' anything from him." She takes a sip of her drink, then takes his hand in her own and stands up. "Four, we don't have to find a private room to make out in, there's lots of nocks and crannies in this place, so let's go find one."