I gots company!

[Heracles]

Heracles looked around his home with a frown. His whole house was covered in the bodies of his people still. He hadn't had time to clean up. And now Israel was coming over and it was a bit too late for all that, now wasn't it?

Maybe he shouldn't have been so lazy, he thinks to himself with a sheepish smile as he scratches the back of his head and thinks about what to do about the dead bodies.

He sighed and slung one over his shoulder, deciding to make a funeral pyre to at least clear a path.

[Israel]

Israel packed up the last of the valuables her people gave her. She sent a message by signal, already and hopefully the other Mediterraneans were still there.

She wipes her brows and her eyes, looking back at Tel Aviv. She doesn't feel safe leaving Israel, but the famine was so strong, she needed to secure more supplies and trade with others. Anything to help the Israelis.

Looking back at the people she yells "ASHER SHELANO!" before grabbing her rifle and heading across the Mediterranean to Athens.

[Heracles]

One he'd cleared the worst of it from the path leading up to his house, but it was still pretty bad. He surveyed the land and sighed. Somehow a few of his olive groves had survived, though all his wine grapes were wiped out. He doubted that most of what he fished from the sea would be edible, nor were the olives most likely.

But he scraped together some food and prepared dinner for himself and his guest. His country was better off than some for food, mostly because there weren't many of his people left to eat what they had. But Poseidon still shared his bounty with them from time to time and maybe with time the ground would heal and Demeter and Dionysus would as well.

[Israel]

Israel groaned as she took off her military jacket. She had forgotten how hot Greece was, or how the mediterranean was a long trip. She sniffed the sea before looking out. She shuld be near Greece, but where were the people? And the ruins?

She held her rifle tightly as she aproached shore. This did not look like Greece. Where was every one? Suddenly, her barge rocked. Israel heard a swerving in the water and shot the sea. But the boat continued to rock.

[Heracles]

Heracles made his way down to the water solemnly to meet the boat. He stood on the shore looking up at Israel with somber eyes. He wished she didn't have to see his house like this: covered in death, the few survivors huddled around for moral support.

"Hey, Israel. What's that you always say? Shalom?" He said, trying to be pleasant. "Get off that boat before you bake out here. I've got a path cleared to my house. We can go there and get something to eat."

[Israel]

Israel hears Greece, but he obviously doesn't realize there happens to be a shark. Shooting the sea again and groaning when there is no blood, the wavy-haired woman cups her hands around her mouth and yells, "Shark!"

[Heracles]

Greece searches the sea for signs of the beast, usually calm green eyes going as deadly sharp as daggers as he zeros in on the thing and dives into the waters. He says a quick prayer to Poseidon before taking off in the water after the shark, wrestling it with his bare hands and a fishing knife.

[Israel]

It has been a while since Israel has seen the whelp. She admits he is everything that wench of a mother wanted him to be. Her perfect son, athletic, cultured, smart. Even brave. Israel smiles as she watches the man dive after the shark, her bottle-green eyes lightening in delight.

She missed the other countries. For the past two millenia it was work, work, work. And there was no other nation to talk to. Humans were her children, her responsibility, but not her peers. Israel keeps her rifle cocked incase the boy needs help.

[Heracles]

Greece's lungs burn as the wind is knocked out of him by the shark's tail. He comes up for air, dripping hair whipping around his face as he takes a deep breath and goes back under. The struggle with the shark is fierce and bloody. He sustains minor injuries to his leg, but finally he drives the knife into the beast and it is still.

He kicks himself to the shore, dragging the great body of the monster with him. He drags it to shore and stands there, looking like a triumphant, soaking hero from one of the stories his mother used to tell him. He is a demi god returning from battle victorious.

"It's safe to leave the boat now." He says, as if nothing had happened and he hadn't just fought a shark.

[Israel]

Israel watches the boy fight the beast. Soon she sees red join the sea, both from boy and shark. Her nose twitches at the odor.
He comes out triumphant, looking like those ridiculous stories his mother told him. He strikes a slight hero pose, "not like Alfred's", Israel thinks, "but more of a classic pose."

She stretches and flips her way unto shore and ties her boat to a post. She looks at Greece's whelp and mumbles "Thank you" as she looks around. Bodies, blood, and absolutely none of his mothers ruins.

"What happened, Boy? Where are your mother's grandiose monstrosities?" Israel says, pushing her fringe from her face.

[Heracles]

A flash of sadness crosses Greece's face as he looks around, seeing exactly what she sees. A desolate wasteland where once there was the historic capital of the world. He sighed and put his normal impassive/sleepy look back on his face as he replied.

"They're gone. All of the things mother left me were destroyed. I'm lucky that we have a few olive groves and fishing boats left."

[Israel]

Israel frowns. She was hoping for some trade, not for her to give charity. She jerks her head to her boat, "I have some tangerines. Is there anything else? I can help you look."

She counts off her needs: Meat, Flour, some vegetables, bricks, clay. Perhaps she can find it here?

[Heracles]

Greece nodded and beckoned for her to follow him over to his house. He led her to his basement where he had barrels upon barrels of salted fish and olives in brine stored. He had even pressed some of the olives into oil, though they were probably worth more as a food than as an oil.

[Israel]

Israel looked over his wares. The fish was okay, although she had olives in Tel Aviv. But she could take more, for when she trades more goods further inland?

Israel takes out a pound of tangerines and some seeds. Turning to Greece with the sack, she asks, "Do you need citrus? I have a few more types. I can trade for some fish and some olives or oil."

[Heracles]

Greece nodded an affirmative. Citrus would definitely be beneficial to his sick and dying people. They needed vitamins and other nutrients other than what fish and olives could bring them.

"Yes, I will trade you fish and olives for your fruit."