11549/Catching Up the Cat

Catching Up the Cat
Date of Scene:	11 June 2022
Location:	Courtyard and Arena
Synopsis:	Diana and Terry catchup with some nice back and forth banter in the Arts Center courtyard!
Cast of Characters:	Diana Prince, Terry O'Neil

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Diana Prince has posed:
It's a late evening setting here at the Themysciran Arts Center. The courtyard still has people walking this way, and that, though the front doors have been closed for about an hour now. There is a gathering expected tonight, though, as a author who is writing a book series about the Amazons is holding a get together here this evening inside at the theater. Diana plans to attend, but in the now, she's strolling through the courtyard in her armored form. She's got a red half-cloak on that drapes down one side of her frame, with her hair tied back in a loose pony that is a bit messy after some performance in the arena. Beside Diana is Greta, her assistant, prattling on about additional weekend plans that the Princess has shceduled, as a soft smile resides on Diana's visage. "Of course, of course..." She says softly back to the woman on her right, standing many inches taller than her. "It shall be a very grand time, of that I am quite certain."

A pair of little girls are across the courtyard, and leaving with their parents, and they wave eagerly to Diana, their voices echoing across the courtyard as they shout their goodbyes.

Diana grins to them, waving and blowing them both kisses as they depart.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
And coming up the road is Terry O'Neil. For one, he is in his human form- which explains why he is walking instead of making a direct trip via Rabbit Hole. His attire is pretty informal, a black T-shirt with white lettering that reads 'THEMYSCIRA OR BUST!', a pair of blue jeans and sneakers. He seems much more relaxed and laid back than his usual, energetic self, and there's almost a strange... serenity to him.

Once he adjusts his approach vector to be within sight, he gives Diana a wave and a smile (not a grin), to see if maybe she's busy with an important person and he should take a brief detour to the gift shop until she is free.

Diana Prince has posed:
Greta also waves to the little girls who are leaving with their parents, before Diana looks away and sees Terry approaching. When Greta regards the Princess who is rapidly detaching herself from her assistant, the young woman just sighs and looks down to her tablet computer before tapping away at it and continuing on down the main pathway that some mounted Amazons are riding their horses down.

Diana, on the other hand, comes to Terry and is quick to offer him a warm embrace. "Terry. It is good to see you here. I do not get to see enough of the Titans coming by here." The Princess offers to him before pulling back, and giving his shoulders a squeeze with her leather wrapped hands. "How are you? How are things at the Tower...?" She then asks with a slightly more glum tone etching the very edges of her voice.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry gladly returns the hug, and this time he grins, his face lighting up. "I know, I know, I plan to come here more often as soon as we've figured out what's wrong with Wonderland, and..." he pauses, and chooses his words carefully. "I think I know. I think I know what happened to Donna. And how to fix it... or at least, a wide idea. But I'm not ready to talk about it yet- I need to do /one/ last thing... and then I will tell you. But I think I've got it."

He looks up at her with a smile, "Do you trust me? I think you'll have your sis back before you know it!"

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana tilts her head to the side as she listens to him, her dark hair gently swaying beside her face in the evening breeze. She showed a soft smile at the last of what he says. "Of course I trust you, Terry." She tells him with a soothing tone to her voice, a sincere pitch to it.

"But I want you to be very careful too... only make bold moves, if you have nothing but confidence in what you are pushing for. The very last thing that we want, is to make this... somehow ... more complicated than it already is."

Diana falls in beside him then as she looks around the courtyard, then back to him. "And I shall not push you for answers either, let that be a display of my trust."

This has the Princess grinning at him for just a moment. "You did not come all the way here just to tell me you couldn't tell me anything, though, did you?" She inquires next.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry lets out a little sigh and looks at Di with that sheepish look of his, and then he breaks a little. "It's ... only so you don't have to worry about me. The thing I need to do before we can do this is... I need to help Rae get her powers back." Which is not unlike helping Stella Get Her Groove Back, but there are probably more nightmares involved. "After that, things should be fairly easy. Look- I'll give you the skinny, but I really just wanted to come and see you. With my powers gone," wait, what? "there's not a /lot/ I can do, so I thought I would come and visit the center. You know how much I love immersing myself in your culture..."

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana laces her fingers together in front of her lap as they stand there on the smaller side pathway amongst the courtyard. She tilts her head again curiously at more of what he says, but then just nods softly to him and shows a quick smile for him. "I know." She says warmly then at his feelings toward Themyscira. "There is a lecture here in about an hour, inside the theater, you might wish to attend it. It could be a nice way to get your mind off of things for a little bit, if nothing else."

She draws in a breath then and motions for them to walk together, starting to step in her armored boots. She looks forward toward the fountains up ahead, but casts her eyes back to him.

"You and Rachel have both lost your powers?" She asks of him. "You know that I am here to help you, if ever I can, with problems like that. Rachel is an interesting ... person, but I value her immensely. I am here for her, just as I am for you, and all the others."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Not exactly ... lost it, so much as they are currently in Gar's custody." He takes out his phone and pulls up Gar's Instagram and shows her the string of pictures Gar posted of himself online, all over Metropolis, of himself as the Cheshire Cat. "It's a long story, but he turned into the Cheshire Cat to save my life in Wonderland, and because of how his... powers work, I guess, he really /did/ become the Cheshire Cat, and half of my soul just went to him. We've discovered we can swap it back and forth. He's... got it right now so he can get used to it." He glances at the princess as they walk, his sneakers moving noiselessly across the courtyard, "When the Cheshire is active, it's like... standing up to your hips in a stream full of chaos and impulses and temptations. I have learned how to resist some of it, but it's taken me two years to be less reckless and impulsive. Poor Gar is /just/ experiencing it for the first time and he's going nuts."

He chuckles, "It's a little weird thinking that half my soul is in him right now, but I guess that just makes the figurative literal. At least for now," he says, smirking a little at how corny it sounds.

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana reaches over to give Terry's elbow a comforting squeeze with regard to Gar's state of being. "He is doing it because he loves you." She reminds Terry too. "I am glad that you all have one another. We live dangerous lives, wild lives, with a seemingly unending cascade of challenges bombarding us at every turn." She looks back to him then. "It is key to have support, like the Titans, like each other, to overcome the hard times, to get back to what matters most... the good times, with each other."

She smiles quickly before dropping her hand away again, just as the Amazon soldiers clippity cloppity by on their horses. Each of the women holding a banner that whips in the winds of the evening, their ceremonial armor gleaming in the ambient light around them.

Diana watches them pass by before looking back to Terry, and showing him a bigger smile. "Mother has permitted even more Amazons to help here, and at the Starport. I think she is growing proud of what we are building beyond the borders of Themyscira. When Donna returns... I hope she is happy with it too."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Oh, I know she will be. What I could see was /amazing/. Imagine... a beacon to the stars, Earth becoming part of the galactic community instead of being an informal stop!" the redhead chuckles. He glance at the Amazons and lets out a little sigh. "When you go back to Themyscira, does it seem the time you spent there was too short? To me it seems I was barely a day there."

He glances at Diana, "I guess it's different if you grew up there all of your life. In my mind, I can't imagine leaving that place- but I am pretty sure that where /I/ grew up, which felt too small for me, must seem like an ideal place to others who didn't have what I had, however limited."

Diana Prince has posed:
When they reach the fountains that sprinkle water down within their pools, Diana draws to a halt and looks over to Terry. She smiles softly at him. "I miss Themyscira every time I have ever left it, the very minute that I do leave it." She admits to him, as her eyes go back to the fountain now, its pool reflecting the evening Manhattan sky back up toward it. "But that is the way that home works, I have come to realize. Obviously we all know that home is where our heart lies, but it may be a little different when you actively put your life on the line on a daily basis..." She quietly speaks, once more returning her stare to him. "Then you have a heavier sense of knowing that you may never return home again. That when your feet leave its shore, it could be for the last time."

"This is why I try to be thankful for every moment, every minute that I have of peace, of happiness. I try hard to cherish them. It is, after all, why we do the dangerous things we do... for the little moments, with those we care about most."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry makes a little noise with his throat as he smiles. Reflexive purring, without something to pur rwith. "That reminds me of a quote by Marcus Aurelius. Death may smile at us, and all we can do is smile back. The Stoics believed you should live life as if you were going to die at night, and wake up thankful that you got one more day. It is a good way to live... but it's so easy to lose perspective of that in our modern world..."

He glances at Diana and smiles, "And speaking with living every moment... how are you holding up? I know that between all of your duties and... Donna, you must be incredibly stressed out. Everybody comes to you for advice, but who do /you/ go to?"

Diana Prince has posed:
Terry's question has a quick grin grace Diana's lips before it is gone again. She sweeps herself around, and lowers down to sit beside the fountain's edge. She drapes her crimson half-cape across her lap and lays her hands down atop it. She takes a breath then as she looks around the courtyard, before looking once more on to him.

"I get my resolve, my inspiration, in watching others feel happier because of actions I was involved in. It really is what I seek the most. Like those little girls I was waving at when you arrived... Seeing their smiles after watching our presentation this evening, they have had a rough couple of years, and their parents wanted them to come here to see us in person... as it was a desire of theirs. Seeing it, watching them light up. It is what I strive for. Little moments like that. Making today a little better, for at least some people."

She shows him a small grin then. "That may not be the answer you wanted, though."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"No, but it's the answer I got," Terry says, returning the princess' grin. "You're always looking out for others, Di, but just promise me you /are/ taking care of yourself. You know that even a fool can provide a wise woman with something of value, even if it is in spite of himself." He then suddenly laughs. "Oh dear heavens will you listen to me? Me, whose first impulse is to try to take care of things by myself without trying to worry people or make a fuss..." a playful glance at Diana after looking at the fountain, "Only in my case, it often backfires horribly. I clearly do not have the blessings of the gods." He sticks his tongue out briefly, in a sign of mischief.

Diana Prince has posed:
Terry's last few words there garner a little laugh from Diana. It bubbles out of her, and she has her cheeks push upward displaying the jovial happiness that he manages to draw from her. She looks away for a moment before shooting her stare back on to him. "Terry O'Neil. I do not believe, that in my century, plus, of wandering the world, have I ever met a person who has the blessing of the Gods, more than you." She skips a beat then before adding playfully. "I am not sure /which/ Gods that these blessings are coming from, but I am sure /some/ of them are providing them to you."

She smiles at him, then softly nods her head. "I get by. I have gotten to experience so many great things in my travels. They keep me steady, they keep me happy. Though... I will be a lot happier, when I have my sister back, admittedly." Another pause then, and a smirk follows. "No pressure..."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Well, how about Loki? I'm sure that with my talent for getting into trouble, it might be Loki. Or maybe he's just low-key responsible." Awful. "Or I would ask him, if I weren't afraid he'd turn me into something unseemly. Not a good reputation, that one," He raises an eyebrow "Unlike Thor. Whom I haven't seen since I glittered him, his hair and his beard along with everyone at the time Bizarro tried to attack Metropolis." He pauses, "Do you think he holds it against me?"

"And yes, yes, don't worry- you'll get her back, and there's no need to bribe me with those delicious Themysicran honeyed pita-like things... but they'll certainly give me energy to embark on the quest," he winks, and glances up at the building. "What time did you say that lecture was?"

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana laughs again lightly once more as she pushes her hands against her knees to rise up. "Yes, I think it best that you and Loki do not go within fifty kilometers of one another." She teases Terry before moving toward the pathway again. She pauses and looks back to him. "I doubt Thor even remembers. He has shown interest in the starport recently. He stopped by the Embassy, to express interest in not just new arrivals from space being directed there, but also new arrivals from... other dimensions. That, of course, is very complicated, so I sent him to Doctor Strange. We will see how that turns out..."

Diana motions back to the south facing building of the Arts Center. "And that talk should be beginning here soon. Would you like to acompany me?" She offers her arm to him then.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Funny, people keep saying that," he says regarding Diana's comment about Loki, "I am going to start developing a complex." He gives her a wink to indicate he's not serious. He also takes a second to work out how many miles is fifty kilometers. "If you start getting travelers from other dimensions... you know, you could end up with Wonderlanders visiting!"

Oh dear.

Taking Diana's arm, the redhead flashes a broad grin, "Princess, I would be /delighted/ to accompany you. And just to show you what a good sport I am, I will /not/ insist that we skip and sing our way there. This is partially because I have /seen/ how high you can jump, my arm would arrive there five minutes before the rest of me!"