9266/Heaven's Only So Far Away... More Alcohol Required

Heaven's Only So Far Away... More Alcohol Required
Date of Scene:	25 December 2021
Location:	Sara and Cael's apartment
Synopsis:	No description
Cast of Characters:	Sara Pezzini, Johnny Blaze, Cael Becker

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Sara Pezzini has posed:
After travelling astrally to the Silver City, something Sara truly hopes never happens again, an invite was offered to anyone interested for alcohol and a safe place to crash should drunk occur. Johnny Blaze had taken her up on the offer, and in the blink of an eye, a 'race' was on between the Ghost Rider and The Witchblade... motorcycle-a-motorcycle. By no stretch of the imagination did she believe that in a real race that she could beat him, but since he had no idea where her apartment was, she took the lead through the streets of New York to Brooklyn.

At the apartment, just off the sidewalk, was an area that looked like it might have once had grass, but it was now paved over and that is where she parked her motorcycle next to another already parked there. There was more than enough space for at least two, maybe three more to park there as the streets were covered in cars.

Pulling her helmet off with a laugh, she takes a really long look at Johnny's bike with a smile on her face. "I cheated," she states. "By knowing where we were going.

Johnny Blaze has posed:
After returning from the Silver City, Johnny needed a drink indeed. Though he wasn't expecting Sara to invite him out to get drinks, or anyone for that matter. But He does join her, and the sudden occurance of a race occured. Despite how fast they were going, Johnny made no movement to actually move past Sara. Not only did he not know how to get there, he didn't know how the parking situation worked.

Equal parts competitive and respectful.

s he gets off of his bike, Johnny runs a hand through his hair as he chuckled a little bit nervously. Unlike Sara, he hadn't worn a helmet.

"Yeah, you did. But don't worry, I'll get you next time." He says with a bit of a grin as he starts to walk. "Lead the way. I'm assuming you'd like to vent about what happened? Pretty deep shit."

Sara Pezzini has posed:
The helmet gets tucked under her arm as she heads for the front doors of the building. Technically speaking she was freezing some of her parts off, she hadn't dressed for winter due to the fact that she had no idea if she would get to keep her clothing, so her pace is a little brisk as she moves.

"With that beast," she gestures toward his motorcycle as she opens the main door. "You'd win, hands down. My racing bike is in storage, that one is for the streets." Once inside there is no elevator, just a single flight of stairs going up, and those are ones she takes.

"I didn't know what to expect," she admits quietly, going to the second floor then heading down the hall. "This sort of thing, the magic and mystical part, it's all still new to me... so to find myself /sort/ of standing in the Silver City... hell yes I need to vent."

Johnny Blaze has posed:
Johnny watches Sara start running for the building so she doesn't freeze to death, but Johnny doesn't seem to be too bothered by the cold weather. Maybe he's just an iceman or maybe the Rider gives him resistance to the extreme cold? Or...no, its probably the leather jacket that he's wearing. Thing looks comfy as hell.

But he chuckles. "It's been my ride for a long time, Sara. Gotten me through a lot, had plenty of time to modify it and make it faster, toughter, the works." Johnny shrugs as if its no big deal. Of course they walk together and Johnny keeps pace.

Her admittance though? That gets his attention.

"Well, I'm here for you. Hear I got decent ears. Unless you're talking to demons, then I hear like horse shit. But the nose knows."

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Stopping at a plain door with a random number on it, Sara unlocks it with the key on her ring and opens the door. Showing him inside, she sets the helmet on a stand by the front door before continuing straight back to the living room area.

"Here's the thing," she comments, turning up the heat then heading for a cabinet in which the alcohol is stored. From one of the bedrooms a dog barking can be heard and it sounds like a /big/ dog too. "I don't... didn't," correction required. "Believe in a God. Sure, I know Witchblade was created by Gaea and Chthlon, but I never thought of them as Gods. In my mind they were were more... primordial powers."

Whickey, scotch, rum, she starts pulling the bottles out to set on the table as she talks, and once they are in reach, she heads to the kitchen for glasses, ice and a couple of Coke's in case a mixture is desired. Pausing, she also grab the six pack of beer from the fridge because it might be a beer night too.

"I just had all that thrown in my face," she says as she returns. "No... not thrown, I was just given an upper cut."

Johnny Blaze has posed:
Johnny patiently waits to be let into the apartment after Sara, and he walks in after her when the door opens. She starts to speak then, about how she didn't believe in a God. He starts moving and eventually pulls up a chair. He hears the sounds of a big dog, and starts wishing he had one. Man, the joys of settling down.

He shrugs though. "That's pretty fair. You didn't have a reason to, right? Too much awful shit in the world. But tell me more." Johnny heard her words on Gaea and Chthon, but didn't comment on them quite yet. Though she starts pulling out bottles, and he starts to reach for the whiskey. Gotta have the hard stuff.

"Yeah...it can be a big eye opener. I'm a Christian. Went to church in between stunt shows, found it to be my peace and quiet. Had my doubts, as anyone in any religion happens to experience, and well...happy to know I was right. Too bad that they'll probably see me on the wrong side." He takes a breath. "I'm sorry that you got shell-shocked by this."

Sara Pezzini has posed:
The last items added to the table is a bag of pretzels and some cheddar cheese, then Sara plops into a chair and opens a can of coke. Three ice cubes go into a glass, followed by rum, lots of rum, then a dash of coke is added last. Really it's mostly rum, the coke is just to make it look like she's mixing.

"I went to church as a child," she says after a drink and trying to relax, which isn't working yet. "Catholic to be exact. Every Sunday my Aunt would drag my butt out of bed and make me go, and not once... not a single time, did I believe any of it was real."

Shaking her head a little, she takes another drink, getting some of the alcohol into her to try and mellow the rampaging that's going through her head. "So... if God is real, does that make all of them real? I mean is Buddha out there some place? Does that make Gaea and Chthlon actual Gods?"

Johnny Blaze has posed:
Johnny watches as Sara starts to pour herself some rum and add some snacks. "Cheers." Johnny lifts his glass of whiskey to 'clink' against hers if she was so willing, before he's listening to her tell her tale. "Yeah, that's about how it starts, I think."

He shakes the ice around in his glass before he continues. "I always went to church too. 'cept my dad was always sick, sicker than a dog. Didn't know my mom. So I would go to church and pray for his survival, for him to live just one more day. I felt like I was begging, and I hoped more than anything that He was real."

He hums.

"The shit I've seen in my day, I knew He was real before I was even Ghost Rider. But, I can see how this can be overwhelming. Knowing that other gods existed too, but he was the head honcho, was something else." He shrugs then.

"Well, Buddha was a person I think before he died, but I think so. Far as I know, Gaea and Cthon are actual gods, yeah, by our definition of that word. Pretty insane beings."

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Sara taps her glass against his, offering a smile and a quiet, "Cheers." before another large drink is taken and she finally sets the glass back on the table.

"My mother died when I was young, my dad worked way too many hours on the force," she explains. "So it was my Aunt who did the 'motherly' things, well she tried anyway. I preferred doing things with my dad, you know, guy things. Tomboy all the way."

Opening the bag of pretzels, she pulls one out and then just sits there with it, blinking a few times and staring at Johnny like snakes just sprouted from his head. Clearly something he said just hit her, perhaps another upper cut.

"OOoooookay," she breaths out slowly. "First... I'm sorry about your dad being sick, that had to suck. Second, I've seen shit that would melt the brain of most normal people into insanity, and I'm talking padded room, straight jacket insane."

She starts tapping the pretzel against the table nervously, "All that said... I... just realized something. Let's take a little trip along my train of thought. God is real," she nods to him at this point. "Gaea and Chthlon are... Gods, like actual Gods."

Holding up her right wrist, the one with the silver bracelet, "What does that make him? He is the child of Gaea and Chthlon."

Johnny Blaze has posed:
"I'm sorry to hear that." Johnny takes a long sip of his whiskey as he hears what she was saying. "Was your aunt or your dad a cop too? Or was that a sudden shift in interest?" He questions her. To him, cops weren't a bad thing. They were necessary and needed. But its hard to be a police officer, they go through a lot of shit every day. He's just asking her process to that point.

"Tomboys are cool. My daughter was a tomboy too."

Wait, Johnny has a kid? Though he shrugs a little bit. "Yeah, it did. Its what lead me to...well, this in the first place. Long Story." He shakes his head. "But, well, sometimes we see what we're ready to see...and what we're not ready to see. Thats where we're alike, I think."

Though Sara tries to put God in the pecking order, listing him as a child of Gaea and Chthlon. Johnny actually seems to chuckle. "I appreciate your train of thought, but its more like the other way around through a long, long chain. A hierarchy, if you will." Johnny suggests then. "God, or...as some call him, the 'Presence', is with the big G. Guys like Gaea and Chthlon are little g."

Sara Pezzini has posed:
She starts turning the silver band on her wrist around and around. "Little g, big G, doesn't matter.... it means a hell of a lot more than I realized."

Collecting the glass, another large drink is taken. "My father was a cop, served his entire life and died on the job, killed by fellow cops he was investigating." There is a bit of a bite to her tone at the end of that, and her eyes shift to the pretzel on the table, just laying there now.

"I know that Gaea and Chthlon are what he called First Gods, just don't know what that means... well until now. I know that The Witchblade served as the blade of Atum, or is Atum... he doesn't share a lot, as if he thinks I'm not capable of comprehending. Maybe I wasn't, but I am now."

Lifting her blue eyes up to look at Johnny, her head tilts slightly. "What's your daughter's name?"

Johnny Blaze has posed:
"Honestly, I have no clue what that thing is." Johnny gestures to the Witchblade. "But its likely that yeah, the Witchblade is a spawn of some kind through the First Gods.Does it have a mind of it's own? Or are you the boss?" He questions Sara curiously. "But what you've got there is like few things I've ever seen before."

Johnny takes another sip of his drink. "That's rough. Sorry that happened to you. So you followed in his footsteps. Ever catch the guys that did it?" Johnny questions. Vengeance never rests. Johnny doesn't care if they're 96 or 18, there's hell to pay for the kind of dirtbags that do shit like that.

Hell. To. Pay.

As for her question, he chuckles. "Her name was Emma. Emma Blaze. The sweetest little girl." He pours himself a tall glass then, and proceeds to drink through all of it. He needs way more alcohol in his system for that conversation.

Cael Becker has posed:
    The door to Cael's room opens - and a massive mound of white fur on four legs bounds into the room as Bear goes to greet Sara with a sniff, and then starts curiously towards Johnny before abruptly stopping, turning around, and sitting next to Sara with his tail thumping cheerfully on the floor, and his tongue lolling out. Despite still being a puppy, Bear is nearly 100 pounds of good cheer as he watches Johnny with a curious look.
    On the dog's heels, Cael emerges, recently showered hair still damp. Rainbow hues dyed into the lower layers of her hair peek out from under her naturally blonde bob cut, as she offers a nod of greeting to the stranger in her home. "Hey. Uhh, sorry I missed the thing earlier, Sara. Hope it went alright." Cael's dressed in her usual casual get-up of jeans, a shirt, and her black leather jacket as she finds herself a bit of wall to prop up.
    "I invited Jon over," she adds. "I think he's on his way? I don't really know. He never replied."

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Noting the 'was' before his daughters name, and the addition of more alcohol, Sara decides that's a topic to be careful about. She was interested of course, not out of some sort of sick curiosity but more because everyone needed a friend, and Johnny struck her as someone who /really/ needed a friend.

"Would you rather I just stick to shit about Witchblade?" She asks, then just decides that's the best route to go.

When the door opens, the entire direction of the conversation changes because first, she is mauled by a Great Pyrenees, though he's only ten months old and Cael is entering the room. Bear gets petted of course, then she looks to Cael.

"It's alright that you didn't show," she states bluntly. "It would have destroyed your mind... again. It's destroyed mine." She indicates the bottles of alcohol all over the table. "Cael, this is Johnny Blaze. Johnny, this is Cael Becker. It's okay to talk about reality in front of each other, no secrets here."

Johnny Blaze has posed:
Johnny nods softly to Sara. "That would probably be a good idea. I don't got any reason to lay that shit on you. Not your business. Not your fault." Johnny eventually decides, even as his eyes remain fixed on the alcohol for a moment, taking a deep breath. "Yeah....Yeah." He runs a hand through his long hair as he leans back against that chair. Johnny's been by himself a long, long time. A friend would be good.

But a friend who is capable of helping Johnny through his shit and vice versa? That's hard to come by.

Though Cael's arrival seems to make Johnny turn his head towards her. No alarming situation, no craziness to withstand. He gives Cael a little wave. "Hi." and a simple greeting immediately after that. "Went fine enough, I'd say. If Jon's coming over, I better make myself scarce. I doubt the heaven situation made him happy one bit."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Jon's- he has things rough right now," Cael remarks without clarifying. "He hasn't answered my text, but... I suspect he'll accept an invitation from me to come over. So... I think he'll be here."
    Her eyes flick towards the alcohol on the table, though there's no hunger or longing in her eyes. In fact, though she still has bags under her eyes from poor sleep, she seems more relaxed and contained than she has all week. Maybe she's just been smoking a //lot// of weed?
    "It's probably just as well I was here. I... had a visitor, and I think it was helpful."

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Everyone needed someone, even if Sara might not be able to help, she was still going to be there, or at least try to be. He'd probably get sick of her at some point, or it may end up like Cael... kept trying until she managed to get in. Friends didn't have to be perfect, they just had to be loyal, and Sara was.

"You don't have to leave Johnny," she says first and firmly. "I invited you over, I said you could crash on the couch if you wanted to, and I meant it. Just because Cael invited him over, doesn't mean a damn thing. They can always talk in her room, or we can finish our drinking in my room, but either way... you don't have to go."

She takes another drink from her glass, smaller than they had been. She studies Cael a moment, noting the bags, noting the state of being, and just let's it go. "Visitor?" She finally asks, whatever Johnny and she had been talking about apparently shelved.

Johnny Blaze has posed:
"Well, shit. How do you say no to that?"

Johnny seemed to frown a little bit as Sara attempted to speak to him about him not having to leave. Its not like Johnny has an apartment even anywhere. So he takes that deep breath. "Alright...last time we had it out a bit about religion and belief. After that, heaven seemed to have done a number on him. You guys seemed close. Dunno if you're dating or what, but something tells me he needs more help than I do right now."

Johnny was tough. He's seen so much hat living should be unbearable. But he's still here.

His eyes shift to Cael then. "You had a visitor? What kind of visitor?" Anytime there's a hesitation, it implies something supernatural had occured.

Though Sara seems to be on the same page as him at the moment.

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael looks from Johnny, to Sara, and then back again as she lets out a laugh. "Aw, hell know. She's dating this guy named Wade. I doubt Jon's her type," she remarks with obvious amusement. "We're all just friends - Sara, and Jon, and me," she says easily, mainting her position leaning up against the wall.
    "So the name he gave was Raphael. I let him - sorry, //it//, in - didn't seem much point to trying to keep it out," Cael remarks in a dry voice. "Said he- ..it, didn't mean me any harm, but you know. I pointed out Michael'd claim the same. Raphael seemed to actually mean it, though. In a way that //we// would recognize as not meaning any harm."