14245/Paid in Exposure

Paid in Exposure
Date of Scene:	25 February 2023
Location:	Great Jones Day Spa
Synopsis:	Cassie treats Diana for once. Nevermind that she's being used for sponsorship clicks! Otherwise, a cute and totally innocent day at the spa. She swears.
Cast of Characters:	Cassie Sandsmark, Diana Prince

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Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
The idea of a ladies spa day isn't so radical in and of itself (certainly they're common enough at the Themysciran baths), although it is perhaps a little unusual for Cassie to be the one to organize such a luxurious outing rather than Diana lavishing it as some sort of treat or reward. And it's unusual for her to pay for it! Yet apparently she has.

Like many of her favored hangouts, the place is located near her school, making it convenient enough to arrange a meet up after the last of her classes, giving Diana time to finish up her day at the Embassy and make the trip downtown.

When she arrives, an attendant cheerily greets Diana. The place is known for having something of a celebrity clientel, evidently, so they're not -too- flustered by it, although Wonder Woman rates high as that kind of thing goes. Still, they manage! And this means discretion, ushering her to a changing room, from which she can access the common area which connects to their 'circuit' of different treatment rooms, which are arranged around the central 'water lounge' (a fancy pool with an indoor waterfall!)

Cassie is waiting in said pool, puttering around in a swimsuit. But the place seems empty otherwise. Do they have it all to themselves? That sounds EXTRA pricey. "Hey!" she calls from the water, once Diana catches up. "You made it. This place is crazy, huh?"

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana's Mercedes had pulled up to the spa only moments ago. The Staff of the Spa had clearly been waiting for her to arrive. All of this was very surprising, as honestly... Diana didn't know Cassie even had much money, let alone enough to splurge on something like this for the two of them. Her birthday was still a few weeks away too, so what was this...

But, Diana is a good sport.

When she is ushered in to the pool room, the Princess has her hair tied back in a tight braid, a white plush robe covering her form as she's taken two a lounge chair by one of the Spa attendeeds. The words called out by Cassie have Diana looking to her, smiling brightly at her sister in the water. "What are you doing?" She calls back, her voice filled with a jovial happiness that rings true on her facial expressions.

She thanks the attendee who steps off on their own again, whilst Diana starts to open up her robe, having a navy blue bathing suit on that she'd just purchased from the Spa itself. She folds her robe and sets some of her things aside like her phone, and sunglasses, then starts to move toward the pool.

"Are you spoiling yourself, and thought you would show me too?" She asks as she descends the steps in to the water.

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
As Diana comes in, Cassie swims to the edge of the pool. There's already anotherneatly folded pile of towels and robes there, and a dark rectangle sitting atop it. The ever-present phone. As she reaches the side, Cassie grabs it, holds it in selfie mode, framing herself hanging on the pool edge with the waterfall behind her. Click, click.

"Just waiting for you," she answers, still hanging on that edge. "The pool is fun but they've got a bunch of stuff around the sides. The uh, oh right, there's the 'chakra-light steam room,' and the 'river rock sauna...'" Why is she talking like that, and with the phone held up again? She lowers it. "I'm not actually sure what the difference is between those, exactly. There's a jacuzzi out here, too. Alternating hot and cold is supposed to get you, you know, circulating or whatever, before the spa treatments. Facial, massage, you know, the works."

As for the why of it all?

"Mmm, kinda. I, uh... worked out a sponsorship thing?" There's a pause, but she quickly starts explaining, in case Diana isn't 'hip' to the whole Istagram influencer economy: "Basically I post a lot of pictures of me here, and tag the company, and then all my followers see it, and it's like, good exposure for them, you know?"

She grins. "Even MORE with you here." Oh no, she's wrangled Diana into some scheme! "Means everything's comp'd for us, tho."

Diana Prince has posed:
The various features around them that Cassie indicates, Diana turns her attention to look in said direction, as she wades out in to the water a little more, the shallow end at least. She does sink down in to it up to her shoulders though to immerse herself in the warm waters before she moves in Cassie's direction with the girl grabbing at her phone like the life line that it is for basically everyone in the modern world now.

The last bit of what Cassie states though, starts to draw a larger, and larger smile upon Diana's red hued lips. When she arrives at Cassie's side she's just playfully staring at her, then over at the phone, then back at the young woman before her.

"I admire this much effort in trying a new avenue of income for yourself." She says. "It is better than some options that I have heard of online." Harley. Harley told her about OnlyFans, some time ago.

"I will gladly help, too, of course." She adds as she turns her back to the edge of the pool and looks around, kicking her feet out in front of her beneath the warm water's surface.

"I have often been asked for similar endeavors... you know." She states, her eyes darting over to her sister on her right side now. "But, I feel it best if I maintain more traditional avenues. I feel it speaks closer to my heart, and what people might expect from me."

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
"Oh yeah, I'm sure just about anyone and everyone would love to plaster you on whatever they're selling. But it's kinda tacky for you to do too much of it, yeah? Or like, do these smaller promos?" Evidently, Cassie does not rate herself similarly 'above it.'

Also, Diana is playing catch up! Cassie she pulls herself up out to sit on the edge. Her swimsuit is, to say the least, NOT one sold here, but a more beachwear, show off-y bikini, bright floral patterns on as much of it as there is. Perched there, she takes another picture of herself, water streaming off her. Is she sponsored by the swimwear brand too?

"New?" Cassie thinks. "Mm, it's not exactly. I've been advertising your merch forever, but that's kinda part of my Embassy job. And I take a few others here and there. A lot of its stuff I use anyway, so it's not usually a big deal to work out something."

There may be some cause to wonder why she has to take so many pictures, or the various pouty expressions and poses she strikes for some of them!

Springing upward, she walks to one of the smaller pools around the big one, sticks a toe in from above. "This one's cold! Wanna come try? Then we can go steam. I'm supposed to get pictures of all the different areas." Here, she takes advantage of angles she can get that a normal photographer can't, stepping out and hovering over the water... and then holding her phone out to follow as she slowly sinks down into it.

"Brrrrrrr! Ohmygoddesses so cooooold." She's kinda hamming it up!

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana is just happily kicking her legs beneath the warm pool's water while she listens to Cassie talk about her money scheme like a pyramid project, almost. It's that similarity that has struck the Princess' mind, making her hold a happy look on her face as she withholds that comparison from the other, for now...

She's just pressed up near to the pool jet as she floats, happily.

When the other is on the move again, though, diana follows a few moments later, and by the time that Cassie is hamming it up over the chill of the other pool's water, Diana is already shedding water from her form and walking to join her.

"Cold plunges are growing ever more popular in health and fitness." She explains. "Though I doubt this is as cold as some of those can get...." She states with an experimental dipping of her toes in to the water. "Nope." She quietly yips before stepping down in to the pool, making sure that her entry in to the water is entirely on Cassie's camera, because hey... Wonder Woman in a fairly conservative navy blue bikini is still Wonder Woman in a bikini for whatever online platforms Cassie is to post this too.

Once submerged though, Diana just seems as happy as she was in the warmer pool water.

"So we have to try everything here, and you give your opinion on it all? That seems... simple enough. Does this include other things? Like... perhaps... ice cream stores?" She questions, her head tilting to the side ever so damn slightly, so coy, so not hiding it.

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
Diana's lack of reaction to the cold isn't much surprise. They fly around in space! But she still takes a nice photo...

"Oh, there's not that much of a review aspect to these kinda posts, they're usually just short things, but they wanna show off the rooms, you know?" Cassie explains. "Reviews are more a video format thing, I'll do a short one after but, really most of this stuff is just kinda... it's more just about the hype, you know? 'Oh, I saw it in a famous person's post, so I now associate it with fame and success, making it an aspirational product.'"

Peppy on camera, and yet already cynical about the pragmatic realities of late-stage capitalism behind it!

"So anyway, let's go see these fancy rocks." Still, she poses hugging herself like she's REALLY really cold once more, before zooming up out of the water, landing near enough to grab up a robe, tossing it on loosely.

Cut to the fancy rock room, with steaming underway!

It is, well, as described, although Cassie looks mildly disappointed. The walls are lined with irregular, smooth stones, and some loose ones are stacked in the containers with the heating elements beneath them. But it's otherwise really just a sauna room. The slatted wooden seating is typical, with wooden buckets and ladles available to add water for more steam.

"Relaxing, at least," she declares, sprawled over one of the seats.

Diana Prince has posed:
Much like the pool, Diana is just enjoying the water, waving her hands around within it, and happily happenin' on a couple more jets behind her back. She does listen intently upon what the young woman says before her, a grin lightly playing across her lips before she looks away for a second, only to return her gaze once more a second after that.

She doesn't say anything though, before they're on the move again. It is only then that, while on her way up the cold plunge stairs, is Diana merely adding 'I see..." In on this conversation.

Cut to the sauna and Diana is adding some more steam to the room before she walks over to the bench, takes her robe off again, and drapes it across a open space before she sits down, spins around, and nimbly raises her legs up upon the bench, one extended down it, the other with her knee up and one hand atop it.

"We did this backwards." She tells Cassie. "You are supposed to do 20 minutes of Sauna at around... mmm... 190 degrees, then you rush to the cold plunge, and do 3 or 4 minutes there." She grins. "All manner of benefits to be enjoyed... for the average person, I suppose. I suppose it does not really matter for you and I though. Mm, tsk... we are quite fortunate, you know?"

A look is given around the stone walled sauna, and then Diana returns her stare to Cassie. "So this is paying you well? Have you any other leads on such things? You are not still doing the video game thing online, are you?"

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
"Well, we could go plunge again... they say you can do it either way. And we have to try the other room. I'm not sure how it's different yet." For all her readiness to be a brand ambassador, to flaunt her luxurious lifestyle for the public, she's not exactly that USED to said luxuries. "Though, yeah, they'd probably have to pump it up to really get us sweating, huh? Hrm. That reminds me..."

Suddenly caught in thought, she grabs a damp towel, meant no doubt to be draped over one's face or some such, but instead takes it and... well, after spending a moment arranging herself in a rather splayed out, lounging pose on the wooden bench, holds it over herself and squeeeezes. Naturally this forces out some of the water, so that it drips down over her body, running down in little rivulets and droplets. Clearly, the -idea- here is to give herself an extra 'damp,' sweaty look. More posing, more pictures.

Some of this is a little dubious! Fortunately, she never asks Diana to do any posing, and only catches her in natural moments of her enjoying the place. "It really depends, pay-wise. Mostly it's not a lot, unless it's some big campaign or whatever, but it's also kinda... nothing work? I work them in all over. Training the Arts Center? Oh, snap one chugging my new organic kale-based sports drink."

More cuts! They get to try out the different rooms, which each have some gimmick or another, although nothing is all that out of the ordinary. It's a nice enough place. And even if it's not strong enough to shake their Wonder-systems, the back-and-forth can keep each experience newly refreshing.

Later, they have the actual treatments to enjoy, which is the more classic spa experience. Sitting in comfy recliners with stuff on their faces while their fingers and toes get the royal treatment! Cucumber slices! The whole works. Naturally, these are the tamest of the selfies!

Diana Prince has posed:
The bit with the squeezing out of water to simulate perspiration has Diana just tilting her head again, and lowering her chin ever so slightly to observe in the dubious nature of some of this. "Deception..." Diana says, though she's just grinning. She knows its along the lines of those plastic hamburgers used in McDonald's advertisements. It is 'mostly harmless', and it's not Cassie's fault she doesn't sweat as easily as the average Human either.

"I like this side of you." Diana tells her sister. "I mean... I would like it if you simply had a job at a Taco store too. But I know you wouldn't enjoy that very much. YOu're finding ways to earn money, and still in a field of activity that appeals to you, so I like that." She tells her, showing another light grin before she's just looking around the sauna once more. "I should look in to a place like this at the Embassy. Perhaps one of those colder plungers too, the kind that get just above freezing and you have to break up the ice before you get inside it.." She smiles at the thought before they're just settling in for a few more minutes.

Leading in to the later spoiling treatments, Diana is happy to express that this is her favorite part. "Janet Van Dyne is typically the one who gets me to come to this, though I certainly should come on my own more often. It is remarkable just how good it feels to be pampered like this... If only everyone could experience it, every day. So many deserve it, who never get to..." She states while leaning back in a lounger with someone having finished toying with her Wonder Toes just moments ago.

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
"Service workers are important and how under-paid they are is criminal," is Cassie's typically zoomer anti-capitalist take on the would be job at Taco Whiz. "But in my case, it... isn't probably an efficient use of my time. This stuff is good because it's fast, and on-the-go. I've made posts on missions." Pause. "Not HARD ones... I pay attention to those. But like, 'hey, this bank robber feels pretty uncomfortable right now, but I feel great in my UnderArmor athletic wear."

Oh dear.

"Mostly, it kinda feels like everyone is cashing in, so... silly not to, I guess," Cassie explains, going a musing on her newly-discovered entrepreneurial spirit. "And not ALL of it is so, well, cynical and materialistic. People do a lot of charity stuff too. Come up with a goofy meme or challenge or something, grab a bunch of eyes, but get them donating somewhere." She gives a very 'I dont make the rules' shrug.

And a mildly-guilty "Yeah..." at the inaccessibility of it. "Not sure how you fix that."

----

The FINAL stop of the grand tour, of course, is for their massages. There's another room for this, with the fancy tables with the face-hole thing and all that. Presumably you could get private rooms, but she's obviously booked them a double. It has a little changing area, although the privacy divider is minimalistic, and she slips aside to use it, her bikini top eventually slung over the divider before she emerges a few moments later with a robe on, sashaying to her table.

Was there another camera click before she came back out? Must have been Diana's imagination. Oh well!

Soonafter, she's laying on the table, settled into place, and soon the two are being ushered into heaven by experienced hands. "We definitely should get one of these...."