"Hey Ringmaster! Don't forget the breadsticks tonight 'aight?"

[b][i]Ah yes[/i][/b], Achille thought to himself as he finished wrapping the thick woolen scarf around his neck, [b][i]the call of the wild co-worker being treated to free food. Some weeks I fear I might forget it's sweet, sweet sound.[/i][/b] Internalized sarcasm aside, Achille didn't mind the ribbing he was getting from everyone at the Black Fall Big Top that afternoon, having lost fair and square against his fellow acrobat Jessica not two hours earlier in the final act of last show of the day. Normally the Big Top had two shows in a single day, one before the afternoon and one in the evening, the evening show being significantly smaller and more catered to an older audience that would fully appreciate the belly dancers, knife throwers, and lack of clowns. Tonight however the show had been cancelled to allow for some of the performers to lend their crafts to the Christmas Fair. Achille had not, much to his secret joy, been one of those asked to do so. Instead he was in charge of purchasing dinner for the entire troupe, a task he was looking forward to. It was difficult for Achille to be unhappy about anything where good food was involved.

Slipping on his dress coat, Achille gave the list on his phone one final reading before heading out.

[list]
[*]12 extra large pizzas - 'get whatever just no bacon'[/*]
[*]Six bread bowl soups- half clam chowder half chicken noodle[/*]
[*]Three pitchers of beer, one bottle of vodka, one jug of mead[/*]
[*]Three 'Everything and Then Some' orders from 'Wok the Wok' down in Chinatown.[/*]
[*]'The hottest goddamn peppers you can find I'm going to get Marcus this week I swear to god man'[/*]
[/list]

That last item was a bit of a special request straight from one of the elephant handlers, a small balding man with glasses who went by George. He and one of the other handlers had been locked in a sort of not-so-cold Cold War where they would attempt to one up the other by means of ever escalating practical jokes and pranks. It was all in good fun of course and the elephants didn't seem to mind being dragged into the friendly conflict now and then either so that was a bonus. Achille added in a quick note about asking for a ghost pepper at a few stores before locking the phone and slipping it into his coat pocket.

It was only around eleven when Achille exited the Big Top into the sprawling parking lot that lay beyond, the snow that had lain thick and heavy across the blacktop that morning now thankfully cast aside into huge mounds of white crystal that would have shimmered had the sun been out in its full glory. Achille made his way to his car as quickly as he could, swearing softly as he fumbled for his keys in the brisk winter air. Despite his enjoyment of snow and wet weather in general, Achille's body was possessed of a rather poor tolerance for the cold which made even the slightest breezes shiver inducing. Finally locating his keys and mashing the unlock button, Achille threw open the door to his car, a 2016 model BMW G11 sedan that his grandfather Ermes had purchased for him a few months earlier on his birthday to celebrate his work at the Big Top. It was a nice car even if the mileage wasn't the greatest, with plenty of head and legroom for someone his size thanks to the adjustable seating and telescoping steering wheel. It also heated up fast which was all that Achille cared about as he practically dove inside, pulling the door shut behind him as he turned the key in the ignition and cranked the heat all the way up.

With the air inside the vehicle quickly warming up and a list of orders to make, Achille wasted no time in pulling out of the parking lot and onto the street that would take him to his first stop at the closest bakery, a small place owned by an older couple originally from Tuscany that he had taken to visiting every week due to their wide and delicious selection of breads and their skill with a stone brick pizza oven. Making sure to call ahead, Achille was met at the door by the owner and his wife, Sebastian and Simone. Simone was a diminutive woman of around fifty two who had a kind, motherly face that drew in customers almost as well as the aroma of the couples handiwork. Her husband, by contrast, was burdened with a face that seemed to always be locked in an expression of extreme boredom or mild constipation. Sebastian had never spoken a word in Achille's presence, possibly because his wife never left room for him to add to any conversation. Achille was well prepared for the verbal tango she would spring on him before he even stepped through the front door.

"Achille! My poor skinny boy!" Simone's usual greeting to him. She seemed to think anyone under the age of thirty should be as chunky as a two month old infant. "Tell me, what has you calling us in such a hurry today? A [i]hot[/i] date maybe? Come to buy a bouquet of baguettes for a lucky someone?" Achille shook his head and grinned.

"Afraid not. Do have a big order for you though if you're up for it." Simone held out her hand as Achille offered his phone to her, the list blown up on the screen. Giving it only a passing glance she turned it over to her husband who raised an eyebrow, grunted, then walked off towards the kitchen after tossing it back. Achille had been at the bakery enough to know that Sebastian had given his approval. Now all he had to do was extract himself before-

"You [b][i]know[/i][/b] Achille," Simone suddenly crooned at his side, her arm interlocked with his own. Achille sometimes forgot that Simone was a meta-human herself, she and her husband both sharing varying degrees of speed acceleration that made managing an order as large as his quite easy. It also made trapping young bachelors like himself a joke. "I have the most beautiful granddaughter. She is the [i]tesoro[/i] of Tuscany I always say. She's a quiet little thing, soft on the eyes and on the ears; a perfect wife one might imagine. If, of course, she met the right young man...?" 

"Simone you know I'm not ready for that kind of thing." Achille chuckled nervously, a slight flush reddening his cheeks. She always did this to him. "Besides, isn't she dating that chef down at the Rising Sun?" Simone made a face and waved her hand dismissively. 

"That good for nothing? He tried to tell her to use her powers for food delivery. Can you believe that? No man worthy of being my granddaughter's husband would let his wife to be run about in this dangerous town delivering greasy gutter food."

"And the sous chef you were talking about last wee-"

"He moved to France with one of the waiter boys."

"Did he? Well I guess that will happen when you meet the right one, ey? But listen, Simone, I've [i]really[/i] got to get going." With a bit of awkward twisting and what felt like momentarily dislocating his shoulder Achille managed to free his arm from the matchmaker's death grip. "I'll be back around six for the food if that's alright. As long as they're warm I don't think the troupe will care when you make them." Knowing she had failed to catch her quarry yet again Simone blew a small raspberry before crossing her arms and huffing.

"You never bring in any girls with you. Or boys." she said crossly, clearly having hoped for a bit more time to grill him, "What am I supposed to tell the other mothers at poker night?" Achille laughed and shot her another smile as he prepared to brave the windy wastes once more.

"Tell them that if they want their kids or grandkids to get a look at me that we're always selling tickets at the Big Top." He ducked out of the store before she could brain him with a loaf of pretzel bread. 

Things went significantly smoother after escaping Simone, the traffic on the street moving at a surprisingly acceptable rate given the preparations and rerouting the Fair was causing. It took twenty minutes to arrive in Chinatown and not even a quarter of that to place his order with the bright eyed young boy sitting behind the desk at the entrance, 'Wok the Wok' being another family owned business that Achille liked to frequent both for its food and it's people. Despite asking numerous times Achille had yet to get the boy's name out of him. Around the 'Wok' he was referred to simply as 'boy' or 'you'. Either way, the boy was a frequent attendee to his shows down at the Big Top so he always lit up like a christmas tree whenever Achille walked in to order. He even managed to talk to one of the shop owners in the 'town about acquiring some hotter than usual peppers (after informing him several times that, no, he would not like to purchase a bear cub).

 With a bag of strangely shaped peppers on his terminal and quite a few hours to kill before he would have to pick up the food, Achille drove back to Arcadia heights, placing a pickup order at the liquor store for later that night on the way and arriving shortly after the digital clock on his dashboard hit 12:00 PM. A detour along the way took Achille down a street he'd been on numerous times, though he'd only been in several of the establishments that it boasted. One of the ones he recalled never having entered caught his eye, a large building that strongly resembled some of the old theaters Achille had seen in movies and shows before. The neon sign brightly proclaimed the eye catching structure as being the [i]'ARCADE BLUES'[/i]. Achille had heard quite a lot about the place from his co-workers and his sister, though he always seemed to forget about it whenever he had free time to explore the city.

[b][i]Well[/i][/b], he thought to himself as he started to look for a decent parking spot nearby, [b][i]I've got the time now so why the hell not.[/i][/b] After several more minutes of searching Achille managed to find a spot, slipping the sedan neatly into the open space and hiding the peppers away in a small cooler he kept in the back seat for occasions such as this before exiting the vehicle and making his way across the street to the storefront. If the exterior of the Arcade was interesting then the interior was doubly so. Rows upon rows of neatly lines cabinets housing arcade games of all sorts and seemingly from any time frame. Achille recognized a few of the titles like Pac-Man and Galaga but the rest were foreign to him.. Needless to say his interest was piqued. He also had no clue how anything worked in an arcade. Content to just watch for now, Achille wandered the aisles for a time, occasionally watching others mash away at the buttons and joysticks before moving further into the store. 

Turning a corner sharply he nearly bowled over a small red headed child, pulling himself to an abrupt halt before he could so much as bump into her thankfully. She appeared to be playing Pac-Man, at least for the moment. Figuring he could use the situation to his advantage, Achille adjusted his scarf and gave the girl a courteous smile.

"Oh! Sorry about that little miss. Nearly flattened you there. Say, would you happen to know how I go about actually... playing anything here?" He rubbed the back of his neck as his smile turned sheepish. "Never been to an arcade before I'm afraid."