"Are you even hearing yourself right now? This is why we believe you're fully competent for this initiative. Whatever you've gone through has been training you for these moments. You don't ever stop fighting, there's always another threat. A threat...
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'Ariti's Taverna' was bustling with customers, it was the peak hour of the day.
A group of regulars sat outside clamouring loudly over the sizzling plate of souvlaki I had just served them.
"Enjoy!" I exclaimed, wiping my hands on my apron and stepping back inside.
An old couple ate side by side near the door, one glass of wine each, studiously bent over their dishes.
"Some more, Mr and Mrs Franopoulos?" I asked, brandishing a bottle of Domaine Zafeirakis.
"Yes, please, dear," Mr Franopoulos squeaked as I topped up both of their glasses.
A group of women in their late thirties collapsed into a fit of helpless giggles as a stern women dining alone nearby looked at them with a frown. The corners of my lips turned downwards and I instantly made my way towards her.
I picked up the empty wine glass on her table and began to pour. "This is from Mr Adamos over there," I said pointing to a man with a peppered beard. "I think he likes you," I said winking at her and mentally patted my own back at my cleaver set up of love.
"Excuse me, could we have some help over here," a man called out to me in English.
"Yes, of course," I said, slightly breathlessly from all the commotion, in the same tongue. I made my way toward the American tourists trying to decipher the menu. "How can I help?" I smiled.
"Well, my son here is lactose intolerant," the father said pointing to his son who was munching on olives. "Is there anything on the menu that he can have?"
"Oh yes," I said pulling out a laminated sheet from the pouch of my apron. "There's a section on here with all the foods he can eat."
"Wow, awesome, thank you so much," the mother said, talking the menu from me.
"It's no problem, I'll be back later to take your orders." I smiled, turning back to get to the kitchen.
There stood my soft-hearted father, sprinkling a layer of fresh spices over a slice of pike crackling in the pan.
I had been back at home for just under a year now, only having to visit Olympus every month or so for celebrations or any monster outbreaks near me.
"Busier than normal, right, princess?" He huffed over the sound of the fish.
"Totally," I agreed wiping my forehead with the back of my hand, switching back to Greek. "It's the weather, people have been coming up here after the day at the beach."
"We'll go on Sunday, with Theodore and Ophelia." He said smiling at me. Much to my delight, as well as surprise, my father had listened to me when I told him to find someone. That evening I returned home, his boyfriend, Theodore, walked into the house and he's been apart of our lives since. Ophelia was his teenage daughter who I simply couldn't stand, my father knew this but I had no choice but to put up with her.
