Imperia

[Ryan Foley]

"Right on the pier. Prime estate, which is part of why they want to kick us out, y'know? Good place for business."

[Robin Stanton]

"Oh snap, yeah that sounds perfect. See you then! And try not to break any more people's ribs in the meantime." she teases.

[Ryan Foley]

"No promises. Try not to steal anymore mopeds, yeah?"

[Robin Stanton]

"Hey, I put it back!" she laughs and, feeling like showing off, grabs a nearby bollard and drags herself backwards until her arms are stretched out a good two or three yards. "Stay fresh, cheese bag!" she smirks and stops leaning against the tension, flinging herself down the street and over the rooftop of a one-story house.

[Robin Stanton]

A couple hours later as the sun is low in the sky and casting shimmering lights dancing across the sea Robin makes her way along the harbor, on the lookout for Ryan's dad's bar.

[Ryan Foley]

How Robin managed to figure out which location belonged to Ryan and her father despite never actually being told that information is a fun, rollicking tale, full of excitement and adventure, and shall be fully related at a different date and time.

Maybe it was the smell of cippolini.

One way or another, Robin found the bar, located right on the wharf -- down to actually having a jetty with an old motorboat docked outside, in front of a not-at-all-shabby view of the city proper..

The insides were more...modest, to say the least, though well-stocked. This wasn't a tourist bar, despite it's location -- it could better be described as ramshackle, brown and gritty; an old pool table in one corner; a TV with some football on to one side. And, at the moment, empty, other than Ryan leaning up against the barback itself.

"Yo, hero."

[Robin Stanton]

Robin decides the inside is 'rustic' rather than shabby, even though it's missing the old-timey vibe and architecture to really make it so. Still, it looked like one of those places that should be on 'hidden gems' lists but isn't because those ultimately still target tourists who want a quaint unpolished feel, not actual dirt. But Robin damn well knows that the best Indian food or Kebabs are found in the grimiest of narrow places selling food straight across a counter onto the street and this is just the bar equivalent. At least she hopes so.

"All in a day's work, ma'am." she laughs, striking a pose with her fists on her hips and her chest puffed up. "S'up. I'm not too early, am I?"

[Ryan Foley]

"Oh, no, you just avoided the rush," Ryan deadpanned. "C'mon in before you let the warm air in. What's your poison?"

[Robin Stanton]

"Hmm, I dunno, Long Island Ice Tea or Pina Colada? But I feel like I should try some of the local flavors instead." she says as she heads over to the bar and hops onto a stool. "Business not going great? You'd think with a view like this you'd have tourists waving cash in your face to get drunk on your porch."

[Ryan Foley]

"We get our fair share," Ryan said, with a shrug. "Business is slow because of, y'know. All the stuff. Not a lot of people want their beach view messed up with knives and threats, ey? And tourists, by and large, ain't got the brains in their heads to see what's good for 'em anyway."

Ryn wrinkled her nose a little at Robin's tastes. "Sweet tooth, huh? Don't get much asking for something fancy here, but I think I've got something for you," she said, pulling out a bottle of campari and an orange.

[Robin Stanton]

"Your bar-tending etiquette does seems like it needs some work." Robin teases. "Although without the armed thugs maybe that could be the vibe you go for. No kowtowing to tourist whims, just being known as the place that serves up what's good, not what horribly-sweet concoction is being demanded. You don't want this fancy cocktail, have some quality booze and don't dare ask for it on the rocks!" she chuckles, clearly aware that she has no idea about running a business but kind of leaning into the schtick.

[Ryan Foley]

"Yeah, I'm not going to be the one who's whipping up the latest Insta-friendly colorful nonsense for someone who's SPF is higher than their IQ," Ryan groused.

Ryan cut the orange into quarters and juiced it, using a whisk to make it nice and frothy.

[Robin Stanton]

"S'what I'm saying! Lean into the tough no-nonsense vibe. I bet there's people dumb enough to think they're getting an authentic experience rather than just being insulted to their face. Hell, it's working on me." she winks. "Don't think there's a force in the world that's gonna get tourists to stop capping stuff for their Engine though."

[Ryan Foley]

"I don't know you can really go no-nonsense when I'm making a drink with a fruit in it," Ryan deadpanned, combining the now frothy orange juice and the campari together and then sliding it over. "Most people just want a beer."

"Engine? This something to do with the moped, now?"

[Robin Stanton]

"Oh. Nah it's just slang where I'm from. Social media engine and all that." Robin says and takes a nonchalant sip from the Campari Orange. "Hey, this is a good! The just a beer people are missing out." she nods.

[Ryan Foley]

"Where ARE you from, anyway? Accent puts you British, yeah?"

[Robin Stanton]

"Yeah, an hour out from London, on the coast. There's an University for Mutants I go to. Pretty cool place, but the water's not nearly as nice as here."

[Ryan Foley]

"So, what, you getting course credit for roaming the beaches looking for people to punch? Sounds like my kind of school," Ryan barked.

[Robin Stanton]

"Hah, I mean sort of for the X-Team courses at least. But no, I'm just on summer break and channeling the half of me that's American by back-packing through Europe."

[Ryan Foley]

"An American, huh? Well, I'll try not to hold that against you too much."

[Robin Stanton]

"Only on my Dad's side." she chuckles. "And I grew up in the UK, hence my posh and sophisticated accent." she says, shifting from her slight Essex accent to a intentionally hackneyed Cockney tone.

[Ryan Foley]

"You planning on sticking around here for a while, or are you wandering out of town soon?"

[Robin Stanton]

"I got no real plans. If I like a place I'll stick around is the gameplan, I guess. Just... seeing what I come across." she says, taking a sip of her drink. "Mmm, that's good. Not very sweet but I like the tart."

[Ryan Foley]

"Well, maybe the cioppino will get you to stick around a couple days. Fresh catch and all that. Pops should have it ready soon."

[Robin Stanton]

"Free food and drink's a pretty compelling argument, I gotta say." she grins.

[Ryan Foley]

"Oh, you were expecting things for free? Huh, better tear up the bill," Ryan joked. "Americans and their entitledness, I swear."

[Robin Stanton]

"You know it. And eeeeverybody loves us for it. Yeehaw." she nods and tips an imaginary cowboy hat.

[Narrator]

The banter continued for a bit, the two awkwardly dancing around conversational topics until Ryan's father came in from the back with a bowl full of cioppino.

Cioppino! Now THAT'S what I call a bunch of seafood in some tomato sauce (TM)

Ryan's pop was a large man -- a good six and a half feet tall, pushing well over 300 pounds, and with a presence that took up even more space than that. With a big bushy black beard and a loud, booming voice, he was the kind of person who warps the room to surround them, dominating the center of attention.

"So, I heard you saved my daughter this afternoon," he said, after the trio had sat down and began eating. "Guess she was lucky you happened to be walking by."

[Robin Stanton]

Robin digs in with the appetite that puts people twice her size to shame. A metabolism to fuel shapeshifting probably doesn't apply to a physics-defying blob of protoplasm, but someone else's logic has never stopped a Stanton.

"Oh yeah." she says between spoons. "Though I think she mighta done just fine without me." she chuckles. There's something about a mountain of a bartender/cook that feels perfectly hospitable once one gets past the immediate intimidation-factor. "Hell of a swing on that bat." she adds, rotating her arm at the shoulder and miming a swing with her spoon.

[Ryan Foley]

"Well, she's learned from the best," the man said, with a rolling, deep belly laugh. "Still, she should know better than to get corned like that. Taught her better than that, I did."

"Ah, blow out your ass, old man," Ryan scowled back. Family banter, perhaps?

[Robin Stanton]

It's a little rougher than what she's used to but Robin can pick up on a close-knit family dynamic. Which of course begs the question of where Ryan's mum is but she guesses there's no answer to that that isn't a sore spot.

"Hell, from where I was standing it didn't look like she'd get cornered by a brick wall. I mean she went through a guy built like one, can't imagine an actual one poses much more of an obstacle, yeah?" Robin laughs, for a moment forgetting that the possibility exists that Ryan's dad doesn't know she's a mutant.

[Narrator]

"Still. You win 100% of the fights you don't get into. Ryan should know better, so she's fortunate you came along to pull her ass out of the fire. Just takes one mistake, yes?"

[Robin Stanton]

"Dads, am I right." Robin says with a conspiratorial lean over towards Ryan. "But hey, I'm glad I could help, just ended up in the right place at the right time."

[Ryan Foley]

"Nah, I would've been fine. Gotta show some backbone or they'll walk all over you, right?" Ryan said, with a laugh, though one laced with a glance back at her father. "Though at least I appreciate the help."

[Robin Stanton]

"I mean, I gotta side with Ryan there. Be nice and carry a baseball bat, especially when they got brass-knuckles and knives."

[Narrator]

"No need to provoke things much further. It's fine just defending our own turf; they'll leave eventually when they see they can't get what they want," Ryan's father insisted.

[Robin Stanton]

"I dunno... You can't ever let your guard down and they only have to get lucky once. You gotta be real tough to win a fight only playing defense."

[Ryan Foley]

"Well, we're not planning on taking down the entire 'Ndrangheta or anything," Ryan's dad laughed; a large, roaring sound. "We just want to run our little operation in peace."

Ryan seemed unimpressed by the plan.

[Robin Stanton]

Operation's a weird choice of words for a restaurant and Robin's instinct is to put it down to talking English in Italy, but then Ryan's accent... She shrugs it off for now, stuff is weird all the time in her experience.

"Well, you're still around so far, I guess." Robin chuckles but she casts bit a dubious glance at Ryan. To her it only seems like a matter of time until whatever the Ndrangheta is decides to stop messing around.

[Ryan Foley]

Ryan caught Robin's glance, and subtly nodded. Aha, so there was a reason she had asked her over, other than bragging about seafood.

"Gonna try to keep it that way," Ryan agreed, out loud, raising a glass.