Uncle Pat: So you tricked him!

Aunt Lisa: Very clever, Oren.

Mr. Cusp: Please, Lisa, don’t encourage him.

Prototype: Besides, I knew he was following me. I just wanted to make him think I didn’t know.

Necropus: Uh-huh.

Prototype: I did.

Necropus: Uh-huh.

Mr. Cusp: I want this talk to end right now. This is my home and you’re sitting at my table with food I’ve provided. I’ve spent the last two years of my life living in embarrassment because my only son was a professional wrassler.

He looks at Necropus.

Mr. Cusp: Do you know what a goddamn disappointment you are?

Mrs. Cusp: Warren . . .

Mr. Cusp: Stay out of this! This is between me and him!

Aunt Lisa: You’re just like Father, causing a big scene at the least appropriate time possible.

Mr. Cusp: You stay out of this too!

Aunt Lisa: Don’t talk to me like that!

Mr. Cusp: I’ll talk to you however I damned well please in my own house!

Strangely, it was Prototype who broke up the fight.

Prototype: Don’t you want to know what happens with Helen and the War and all that?

They all look at him.

Aunt Lisa: Why don’t you tell us?

Prototype: Well, the Greeks sailed from Greece to Troy and besieged the city. They outnumbered the Trojans but the city of Troy was so well fortified, and its walls so bravely defended, that it was impossible for the Greeks to take the city. The fighting lasted for ten years.

He looked at Necropus, silently instructing him to continue the story.

Necropus: The greatest champion of the Greeks was Achilles who, according to legend, had been made invulnerable to harm over every inch of his body except for one heel on one foot. That was the only place he could be hurt. Troy, however, was defended by an equally powerful warrior – Hector. He was the son of King Priam and the defender of the city.

Prototype: If you ask me, what’s especially amazing about the story of the Trojan War isn’t just that there was such a great battle between two nations. I mean, we’ve seen far worse wars than that one. No, what really amazes me is that this war was so passionately fought and the soldiers so strengthened by their obligations to duty, virtue, and pride that even the gods themselves were forced to invervene.

He paused for a breath, looking down at the table as he spoke.

Prototype: This war tore the divine family apart. Some gods fought on the side of the Greeks. Other gods, Aphrodite for example, fought on the side of the Trojans. Everyone played some part in this battle, from the very highest gods to the lowliest mortals. Of course, in the end, Zeus had to intervene and put an end to the war. It took the will of a god to finally stop the bloodshed. By then, the worlds of men and gods had been rent asunder.

Everyone sat in silence.

Prototype: Would you like me to finish my story?

Without waiting for an answer, he began to recount the final minutes of the Bar Room Brawl.