March 13, 2018:
Arthur brings word of an attack to Diana in the Themysciran Embassy in Manhattan.
Characters
NPCs: None.
Mentions:
Plot:
Mood Music: [*\# None.]
Fade In…
The Themysciran Embassy in Manhattan is a three story tall building on the upper east side and its served as a home to New York politicians for some time before being retrofitted into the sovereign land for the people of 'Paradise Island'.
Now, there's almost always 3 or 4 Amazonian women living in this building at any given time and there are hired staff members who help them run the day to day operations within the building itself.
It sees a lot of daily guests, of all variety, from business to civilian tours and lots and lots of charity work goes on here. As of today? Its kind of quiet. A rare and 'soft' afternoon in the Manhattan house of the foreign culture.
Diana Prince is in her office and when she receives word of Aquaman's arrival, he's escorted by one of the other Amazonian sisters who's living here currently, a tall redheaded woman named Adrastea. The redhead is quiet, not very talkative as she leads Aquaman through the building, but she's pleasant and holds a light smile.
Diana's office is through two double doors and its a long room lined with books, a seating area and her desk beneath two tall windows. The Princess is currently behind it wearing a white long sleeve top that clings to her lithe frame. Her black hair is tied back and her eyes are on the laptop on the right side of her desk.
*
Aquaman does not look as Diana likely remembers him from their old days founding the JLA. For starters, he's grown a beard, secondly, he wears a dull gray simple circlet around his brow now, a crown of sorts, denoting his station without subtlety or nuance, though the understated nature of the band makes it appear somehow functional. Hell, it's less flashy then her own tiara. The glint of golden scale armor crosses his chest and abdomen, but leaves one shoulder and arm bare to the elements, and both of his forearms are clad in bracers that are made of something that's somewhere between chiton and granite in it's appearance. The ever present Trident of Poseidon rests across his back, and the green scale leggings he once wore have been replaced with black. Oddly enough he's given up on boots entirely, and his bare feet make soft slapping noises against the hard floors as he follows his guide, something about all of it seems somehow to make him appear harder then he once was.
If the wardrobe weren't enough, his eyes would tell the tale. He was always older then Clark and Bruce and Hal, but he didn't show it, Atlantean DNA is good for that. But now the years weigh heavy on him. There's gray in the blond hair and lines around his mouth and eyes that weren't there before. He /was/ older then the others by a few years, but now he looks a decade older then any of them, as if he were nearing his mid forties or early fifties. Things have definatly changed for the King of the Seas.
"Diana." he says, his face splitting into a grin, which nice to say hasn't changed at all, it's broad and open and inviting with just a little bit of the crookedness that always made him appear so confident when he was younger and stupider. "It's been to long." he says coming to a stop across the desk from her.
*
Diana is already rising up to her feet before he has a chance to speak out to her and when he does she's showing him a soft smile. She'd noted all the differences in his outward appearance when he'd first shown in the office, but she wasn't about to bluntly point them all out.
With a smile on her red hued lips, the woman in white stepped around her desk wearing loose slacks of the same pure white as that slim fit top on her upper body. "It is so very good to see you again." She says to him, reaching her right hand out. Her bracers are on her wrists, over the material of her top, but thats the only sign of her personal Amazonian attire currently, she's such a public figure these days she doesn't wear her armor for MOST of that.
"Please, have a seat." She urges him, though her blue eyes take note of the trident on his back and she realizes that might cause some seating difficulties. "I am very eager to know how it is I can help, unless thi sis just a social call?" A dark eyebrow is lofted up curious over her right eye then.
*
Aquaman clasps forearms with her in a greeting style older then the more common handshake. Atlantis and Themyscira have long standing treaties, and while things have not always been entirely warm and fuzzy, in the time of Diana and Arthur they've been nothing but closest of allies. He swings the trident down from his back and sets the butt of it against the floor before taking the offered seat. The trident remains rigidly upright without any means of support, as if it were in a stand or stuck into her, "Actually, other way around." he says, checking gingerly to make sure the chair will hold him. He's heavier then he looks.
Once it's clear the chair won't collapse, he nods, "One day we'll meet up and it will be for nothing more then dinner and to catch up." he says, offering a wry smile before the expression fades and he grows more serious, "The Bana-Mighdall are under attack." Well. That's a helluva a thing to drop as a conversation starter.
*
A continued little smile shows on the Princess' red hued lips as she watches him remove the staff and set it aside so that he can sit himself, and rather than go back around her desk… she sits herself in the chair aside the one he's chosen. Its a more personal approach to conversation and he's a closer friend than most who come to meet her here in this office.
"Yes, the wonders of being ever busy with duties far greater than any one person should be presented with…" She replies to the subject of a meeting involving simply dinner and pleasant company / conversation.
When he drops the 'bomb' of the announcement of the attack, Diana sits up even straighter in her chair and her head comes back a bit out of shock, then her chin moves forward to enagage him further while her dark brows lower in confusion? "By whom?" She asks. "This is the very first I have heard of this." She tells him in that thickly accented English of hers.
*
Aquaman nods his head, "The city is surrounded and cut off from all communication to the outside world. An escape craft was sent, but did not survive the attempt, though one of the Bana onboard did. How she made it from the dessert to the water I will never know, but my patrols found her off of the shores of Quarac's far gulf. Currently she's recuperating in an Atlantean medical barge that happened to be in the hemisphere at the time. She told us what she could before her injuries took her under. She speaks of Valkyries beseiging the city." his expression grows grave, "If you like, I can have my people wake her and see if she can speak to you, but her injuries are severe. We almost lost her twice."
*
Diana's attention is quite sternly locked onto that of Arthur's face and she's listening with a clear concern on her own. "No." She quickly says with a shake of her head. "If she is that badly injured then her duty is to rest and recover, to heal and help us again another day." She exhales softly there as her blue eyes look away to her left over her desk and toward the windows of her office that the natural sunlight is shining in through.
"We shall have to go there ourselves." She says then, returning her eyes to Arthur's visage. "We will need to perform reconnaissance on the location and whatever it is that is effecting it… From there we can create a plan of approach and hopefully…" Diana just shakes her head side to side once. "End, whatever troubles have come down on them."
From there, the Princess rises up to her feet and is stepping around her desk once more. "Have you rallied anyone else to this cause yet, Arthur?" She asks of him then as her eyes are on the surface of her desk, scanning for who knows what upon it.
*
Aquaman pushes himself to his feet, "I can send in the Drift if you would like, my recon people are among the best, but as I remember it you were never one for delegation when you could go punch something yourself." there's a hint of the old grin at the corner of his lips again, "No one." he says simply, "We may differ on many things, but Atlantis, Wakanda, and Themyscira have long kept their secrets to themselves. This is not my secret to share."
*
Diana is moving things about on the top of her desk while she listens to Arthur's words, they momentarily make her smile for a brief second or two before she's lowering down to seat herself on the edge of her chair and then opening a drawer on her desk to pull a silver and black communication's device for the League out from within it.
"I would normally say that this is likely something I should deal with, for that very reason of the nature of our people… but the way you have described it makes me already believe that this might in fact be a problem that my fists alone…" Diana looks up to him after sending a message out to all League members with quick thumb taps. "Cannot solve."
Another light exhale leaves the Princess, she glances toward her right where there's a door that leads into her private restroom and then on into her quarters. After a second of thought she looks back to Arthur. "If your people are prepared to run the recon, I would very much like to join them and be there for the news they recover from the site."
*
Aquaman smiles slightly, "Somehow I thought you might say something like that. I left Tula in charge of a contingent of Drift set in far recon, awaiting orders. They can seen nothing beyond the maelstrom so far, which means a close recon." he chuckles a bit as he eyes her coms device, remembering his original one set on his nightstand table next to the bed. "Valkyries." he says, the thought bringing him back to a more serious expression, "Surely Asgard would not make a move on Olympus unprevoked. A war among the gods?" he shakes his head, "Poseidon would call Atlantis to his side, Zues and Hera the Amazons, they may even release Hercules for such a thing." he seems to let out a slow breath, "I don't like where this may lead us."
Diana is already preparing a few other things, such as a memo to her assistants to get her schedule cleared and rearranged for an indefinite amount of time… which is sadly all too common for the Diplomat of her people.
"The silly games that go on between the Gods often to lead to even more ridiculous conflicts…" She says barely above mutter-level in volume. "But whatever this is, our goal is to see its end before it flows any further."
Once she's completed with that, she turns to look at Arthur. "Thor, of Asgard, is a member of the League now. We will need to reach out to him immediately to find out what he knows… or what he may be able to discover for us."
*
Aquaman's membership to the league was retired years ago when SHIELD made a play for control of the League and infomed Arthur he would be under someone else's command. As if a King could ever answer to anyone but his people. While he maintains a Founder's access to the Hall and a comms device, he's not been a part of the more recent incarnations of the League and seen more as reclusive ally then true member anymore. Which, given his state, may be of some consern.
He reaches out a hand and plucks the magically still trident up from it's place resting up right on the floor, "You know," he says, watching her write out all her memos and notes, "this sort of thing used to be simpler. You didn't have to write interoffice memos everytime some would be alien conquerer hopped up and tried to take over the world, and I didn't have to call home to tell the wife I'd be running late when a Demon King tried to eat Hong Kong." he sighs heavily, "I think we might be growing respectable Princess." his tone hints at dismay, "That… can't be, can it?" he grins.
*
And when he said those words Diana's fingers stopped working on the messages she was sending out to all the people who were relying on her for 'this and that' and she just looks over at him again and then shows a bigger smile than she had since the news he'd dropped onto her here moments ago.
"Yes well…" She sighs and glances away again. "The price of being a public figure who is trying hard to be one that others can… look to, for help and hope. It comes with a lot of, weight, I would say."
Diana turned then and rose up from her chair again. "Thank you, Arthur. Having you come to me with this information is inspiring to know you still have our backs when we need it."
*
Aquaman shakes his head, "You can take the Atlantean out of the League, but you can't take the League out of the Atlantean." he grins, "We may not see eye to eye, but I cannot imagine a series of events that would lead to me turning my back on my friends. I mean, you were at my wedding Diana, if I even /tried/ to screw you over do you have any idea what Mera would do to me?" he asks curiously. "Because I do, and it keeps me up nights." he quips lightly with a grin. "Come on, I've been fighting Elder Gods and civil wars under the ocean for years now, honestly I could do with an old fashioned fight in the surface air. Let's go get the rest of your team."
END