Of Meg Taking the Lead

"All the odds are in my favor
Something's bound to begin."

- Maybe This Time by Susan Egan

They had found their way to a seedy tavern at the town of Thebes: it was the kind of place where hetairas would entertain their male quests late into the night and until the next sunlight.

"So, you know who this Barak is?" Cassandra asked, eyeing her surroundings with suspicion.

"Oh, that's him. Right in front of the podium. Let's go and get… Erm, whatever he has in his possession," Hercules told firmly, already starting to make his way to that direction.

"Hold your horses, Wonderboy. What exactly are you doing?" Meg held her hand out on his chest to stop him from galloping right at the guy.

"Umm, I'm gonna make him talk?" Hercules sheepishly replied.

"Uh-huh. Like that's gonna work? He doesn't look like the talkative type," Meg nodded slightly back to the direction of the rough looking thug. Hercules had to agree with her logic there.

"I know it's not your cup of ambrosia, Herc, but I would say subtlety would do the trick," Cassandra agreed.

"But… What should do we do then?" Hercules was taken aback by this turn of events.

"Hmm. I might have a plan. I'm looking for some type of symbol, religious or otherwise, right?" Meg made sure, looking at Cassandra.

"That would be my first guess," Cassandra shrugged.

"Right. Just… Be ready to leave quickly, okay?" Meg told them before she breathed in, obviously bracing herself before she hurried to the offstage, covered with dusty velvet curtains.

"She's a gal with a plan," Icarus happily pointed out as the three of them were left standing there, confusedly watching after quickly retrieving Meg.

When Meg reached the offstage, she quickly scanned her surroundings. She found a pile of discarded clothing which the hetairas used for their performances. She rummages through them, picking up a red dress: it was laced from the back so she was pretty sure she could make it work. Quickly she changed her clothes and pulled her hair free. As she judged her looks, she came to the conclusion it would do.

Then she approached the girl, waiting for her turn to perform next.

"Take five, doll. Barkeep's orders," Meg told her. For a moment the other girl looked like she would disagree, but after giving Meg a suspicious look she thought again, shrugged her shoulders and went away.

Then Meg quickly gave her instructions to the musicians playing the flute, lyre and githara before stepping to the other side of the veil and onto the stage. Her father had always enjoyed listening to music and she had been requested to perform at the royal palace many times when she was growing up. This was, however, a quite different performance.

The crowd went silent when she stepped onto the podium and she started singing, the band quickly following after her suit.

"Maybe this time, I'll be lucky
Maybe this time, He'll stay
Maybe this time
For the first time
Love won't hurry away," Meg sang with a sultry voice, moving her seductively to the music.

"Is that…?" Icarus asked, his jaw dropping to the ground.

"Meg, yeah," Hercules told him, awestruck himself, inspecting the quick change of appeareance his girlfriend had experienced: she for a red dress, showing quite a bit of her cleavage. Her hair was cascading around her like an auburn waterfall. For all they could know, she appeared like she was born to perform on the stage.

"So she did have a plan after all," Cassandra noted drily.

"He will hold me fast
I'll be home at last
Everybody loves a winner
So nobody loves me," Meg sang a bit louder, pulling her own arms around herself as she moved her hips seductively as she got closer to the crowd, consisting mostly of men who were completely enthralled with her performance.

Hercules, Icarus and Cassandra were left watching her performance with their eyebrows almost meeting their hairline.

"It's got to happen, happen some time
Maybe this time I'll win," she sang, picking even more force as she got herself completely immersed with her performance. The men were going crazy, catcalling and whistling at her.

"Herc, how did you exactly land on her?" Icarus asked from his friend, completely taken aback with her show.

"I have no idea," Hercules replied, equally surprised.

"All the odds are in my favor
Something's bound to begin," Meg's voice was at its strongest now as she was writhing on the edge of the podium while stretching her long limbs seductively, facing closely the first row of her captured audience. The catcalls and wolf-whistles got even louder now.

"Herc, Icarus, please stop doing that, I need no more public humiliations," Cassandra pressed her hands to her temples, grimacing at her two friends who were both shocked and very much captivated by Meg's performance at the same time.

"It's got to happen, happen some time
Maybe this time,
Maybe this time, I'll win," Meg sang more quietly now, reaching towards the man on the front row who conveniently happened to be Barak, touching him lightly on his chest while winking at him and giving him a seductive smile. The man smiled wolfishly back at her, reaching for her.

Before she could react in anyway, he had her in her arms and he lifted her into his lap. The man around them cheered and encouraged Barak, who was already eating Meg with their eyes.

For a passing moment, Meg looked uncomfortable, but she quickly adapted to the situation, smiling sweetly at the man.

Hercules felt unfamiliar tightness in his chest and he realized, that he was actually feeling jealous.

"Calm down, loverboy, she's only acting," Cassandra whispered at him, obviously noticing his discomfort.

"Quite a performance, at that," Icarus was still shaking his head.

"I hope she doesn't have to keep this up for long," Hercules replied when he finally found his voice again.

Back by the podium, Meg was still accompanied by Barak.

"I haven't seen you before here. Who are you, love?" Barak asked from her, his eyes dark with desire.

"That's because I'm new here. I'm Galathea," Meg smiled back at him as she felt him caressing her thigh.

"Would you care to join me for a drink?" Barak asked of her, offering her a goblet of wine.

"Love to," Meg flashed him a fake smile, taking the goblet from him and pretending to take a sip before she placed it back to the table.

While she was sitting on his lap, feeling his damp hands all over her, she was uncomfortably aware of Hercules, Icarus and Cassandra watching at their every move. Luckily the man was so enthralled with her, he didn't notice anything.

Meg pretended to flirt with him and while doing that, she was able to snatch the object she was going for from his pocket: thanks to time she spent working for Hades, she had become pretty skilled in those kind of practices.

"I have to visit the backstage. You know, make sure that the next girl is ready for her performance," Meg lightly lied as she stood up, relieved to be free from the man's grip.

"I'm sure whoever comes after you, won't live up to your performance," Barak replied, still eyeing at her body hungrily.

"Hmm, you're too kind. I'll be back in a jiffy," Meg smiled briefly back at him as she started walking away. Then she caught Cassandra's eye, nodding her head ever so slightly towards the door before heading to offstage.

"Meg's got it. Let's go," Cassandra told her companions and together they head outside. They went to the stable, fetching Pegasus and anxiously hovering near the backdoor. After few moments, Meg came outside in her old chiton, still pulling her hair back into a ponytail.

"So you got it?" Cassandra anxiously made sure and Meg nodded.

"I've got it. Ugh, hopefully I've never got to do that again," Meg grimaced.

"You were natural!" Icarus offered and Meg laughed it off.

"Let's get going, before my previous companion decides to come looking for me," Meg replied, all four of them ready to leave.

-A/N: Yes, I'm very much aware what real hetairas were like and in my story, they will me more like certain type of hostesses. And I also know Greek taverns weren't cabarets like this one, but as Disney's Hercules quite freely used to interpret the Greek culture and system, I'm following the same path here. And yeah, had to use the version "Maybe This Time", performed by Susan Egan for this story; sorry, but not sorry!

Next week I'll be off for a small vacation and after that, I'll be super busy for my work for the rest of the Spring. But I'll try my best with regular updates! Hope your having amazing Spring so far!

Reviewer shout-outs: Disneylover12: Thank you for your constant support, hopefully my story will live up to your expectations!

Thank you BadJimmie, so happy to hear that! Hope you'll continue reading and enjoying my story!