4851/The Pride of Antiquity

The Pride of Antiquity
Date of Scene:	24 January 2021
Location:	Themysciran Embassy
Synopsis:	Terry takes Evan to have a consultation with the Amazons.
Cast of Characters:	Terry O'Neil, Evan Demetrios, Donna Troy, Diana Prince

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Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry's return to the Embassy yesterday had been pretty uneventful. He had gone to help along with a children's charity event as Vorpal, stopped to pick up some food, and then dropped back to the Embassy, leaving a message for Donna and Diana that apparently the son of /Typhon/ the beast of chaos and murder wanted to request a meeting with the princesses to request their assistance. Exactly on what, Terry had forgotten to mention, and by the time the message had wound its way to its intended recipients, the young man had collapsed in bed and was out like a light alongside his erstwhile green companion.

He had had enough presence of mind to let them know that the Typhonite would be dropping by sometime in the afternoon. And now, it was the afternoon.

And Terry O'Neil is waiting in the Foyer, looking at his phone. He's in his human shape, and he has a look about him of /great/, great stress. But, whatever it may be that is bothering him, he isn't talking about it yet.

Evan Demetrios has posed:
Well this was the time Vorpal gave him. Evan comes jogging up to the front door of the embassy, and looks at the guards outside, giving a smile as best he can before he walks into the foyer. This place is a lot busier than he would have anticipated, though he's never really been in a diplomatic embassy before. He supposes he expected something more along the lines of stuff he's seen in movies.

Unsure of where to go at the moment he starts to head towards the front desk, but he wonders what he's going to say 'Hey there I'm here to meet Wonder Woman, I'm actually the son of a horrible monster from ancient times!' Yeah, that'd go over well he bets.

Donna Troy has posed:
    The embassy is busy today with an odd assortment of people pursuing an odd assortment of tasks. The Themysciran Arts Center is due to open soon, and as a result the Embassy is busier than it has ever been. The noisiest part of this is the group of specialist arts shippers who are moving a stream of crated artefacts into transport, the front doors opening and closing constantly as they carry things out.

    However there's a wide array of people on other business - journalists doing research, representatives of various organizations who want some greater or lesser involvement, a harrassed-looking Starbucks Rep who has been hanging around all day in the hopes that he can get someone to talk to him about opening a concession within the Arts Center for example (not going to happen). Today has also brought with it a particularly large crop of visitors of a kind that have been increasingly common here of late - individuals who have been inspired by the story of Themyscira since the big splash in the news caused by the arrival of three thousand Amazon warriors in Metropolis to drive away an alien invasion, just a few months ago. Most come looking for help, some to offer it. Each one is seen, eventually. Each one has their story listened to, and each one gently directed to some more practical source of help in the end.

    Staff at the embassy has been expanding recently to help cope with the increasing interest, but on busy days this is now one of those embassies where you end up taking a number.

    On the floor above, the Ambassador's office is crowded with people planning the opening , each one of whom has some vitally important issue to raise that needs to be prioritized over any other issues. All semblance of coherence and productivity have slipped away from the meeting over the hour or so it has been going, and the two princesses of Themyscira take the opportunity to slip away from the meeting. The debate is too furious for anyone to notice but Diana's aide Galatea, who flashes the departing sisters a look that's half glare and half I-don't-blame-you as her powerful voice attempts to install some semblance of order to the discussion.         
The two sisters retreat from the fray, something they'd never do if it was /proper/ combat, and take a few moments to relax in the relative peace of the upper corridor, leaning on the balcony that overlooks the lobby and watching the milling crowds below.

    "Sister," Donna says with a rueful smile. "There are days I feel like being lost inside a pocket universe within a black hole was a halcyon time. The people there may have all been insane, but perhaps the people here are more insane. I hope it will finally quiet down a bit when the opening has actually taken place."

Diana Prince has posed:
No matter how busy it gets, no matter how hectic it appears to be, inside the Embassy or within the sphere of Amazons in the mortal world... none of it ever seems to get to Diana. She never appears overwhelmed, whether it's just a show for the people around her, or if she's just that resilient that it truly doesn't get to her.

Either way, when she and Donna step out in to the hallway that leads to the landing and the grand staircase down to the lobby, the elder Princess looks to Donna to offer her a knowing smile. "Even straight forward, arguably simplistic, insanity can be easier to process and deal with than sanity wrapped in intricately complicated responsibilities." She smirks at this response, glances down to the main foyer, then back to Donna.

"Take the rest of the afternoon off, if needs be. Find your friends, drag Cassie out of her room, go and enjoy the city some. It will be fine here, I promise." Diana turns toward the steps then and with one hand on the banister she starts to walk down toward the main floor.

"I will call you should things require you to come back, or have Gala do so." She looks back to her sister to smile, offering her an 'out' on all of this! At least for the day.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Evan!" Terry finally spots his guest and manages to navigate through the crowded lobby. He smiles at the receptionist and says "It's ok, I've got him!" before grabbing the young man by the arm and pulling him along, towards the stairs. "I'm staying here for the moment," he explains, "otherwise I wouldn't be coming up here, but temporar perks..."

The redhead explains, "I left a message for Diana, but gods know if she ever got it with the insanity of the center opening soon, so we're going to see if we can catch... wait. I've got an idea."

Still by the stairs, Terry takes out his T-comm and taps into it. "Hey Troia, this is V. Are you at the Embassy today?"

Why yes, Terry. Right above you.

Evan Demetrios has posed:
Well once Terry finally spots him, Evan blinks and quickly heads over towards him, only to be snatched up and lead to the stairs, "This place is really busy!" He says, surprised by the number of folks running around, "Where do you stay at normally?" He wonders, "This place doesn't seem to be your type of hangout.."

Donna Troy has posed:
    "That's not necessary, Diana!" Donna assures her. It's most unlike her to refuse an out for administrative work. Maybe she's growing up.

    Or maybe it's an excuse to get away from Titans administrative work for a change. Wrangling a large super-team full of disparate crazies is not the kind of wrangling you can really do with your lasso. Not normally, anyway. Raven has assured Donna of this fact several times. With a smile Donna pushes away from the balcony and steps after her sister, to join her descent into the maelstrom below. At the top of the stairs Donna's T-Com pings, and she quickly checks the message before putting it away again and scanning the crowd below.

    "Terry!" she calls out. The Amazon's voice, trained as it is to be heard over the din of battle, and tempered in the fires of a hundred Titans engagements where she is accustomed to barking out deployments in the field, cuts through the hubbub in the lobby below."

    She rests a hand lightly on Diana's arm. "That's right. Terry said he wanted to bring someone along to ask advice. Something about Typhon. He sent me a message about it the other day, asking if the serpent was really buried under Etna rather than being cast into Tartarus. As if Zeus would ever not chose to imprison a foe into Tartarus."

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana had not gotten the message from Terry, because it was written on a note and put on her desk and she hadn't been at her desk since it'd been set there by one of her assistants.

However, as she descends the stairs, she does over hear the conversation going on down below, and can dual-hear the exchange on the T-Com which has her holding back a smile while she descends the half-way point on the staircase. Her eyes go over the railing to where Terry and his Guest are, then go back to Donna.

"I see." The Princess notes. "Well then..."

At the base of the stairs, Diana's hand leaves the banister and moves to reach out to offer it to said guest, Evan. "Welcome to the Themysciran Embassy." The Princess says to him, a glance going to Terry who gets a soft smile. "As it so happens, Terry is 'hanging out' here quite often." She states with a happy smile shared between them.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"As it happens, it's a kind of long and complicated story, you see, it started with dop-" Terry's story is interrupted by Donna's voice ringing above the crowd, and he looks up. "Oh... geez. I'm going to get a lecture for not doing proper recon now, I can tell," he says with a smile, and as Diana comes down to meet them, Terry grins.

"Evan Demetrios, Princess Diana and Princess Troia of Themyscira. My guest Evan..." he looks around, "Maybe we could go somewhere quieter... and out in the open? It'll all make sense soon." He's being mysterious. It's never good when he's being mysterious.

Evan Demetrios has posed:
Evan does look a little bit starstruck when he meets Diana and Troia, he offers his hand to them in order to greet them properly, "It's a real honor to meet you, ma'am." He says, as he smiles as best he can. Terry might be able to explain the situation better than Evan can, even though Evan's sort of the one going through it, "Yeah I'd like to, well...Show you, I suppose. But not out in public."

Donna Troy has posed:
    "Ma'am. You hear that Di?" Donna whispers to her sister, grinning and giving her an elbow nudge. "You're a ma'am now. Respectable, isn't that nice?" She flashes Terry a quick wink, then suggests "The courtyard, then. Shouldn't be anyone in it right now, and it's the most open space we have."

    She returns Evan's shake with a smile. "Welcome to the embassy, Evan. It's not normally quite as busy as this, you've caught us at a... complicated time. Talking of which, let's get a move on before anyone notices Diana is here and tries to bypass the line." She nods her head in the direction of a side corridor before leading the way, holding the door open for the others to slip through, hopefully unnoticed, and take the group out into the open air.

    "So," she asks, looking curiously at Evan. "What is it we can help you with, what did you want to show, and what's it got to do with Typhon?"

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana is quick to offer a smile to both Terry and Evan, though her sister gets a smirk at her joke about the ma'am thing. "Yes, the Courtyard would be perfect." She tells them. "Show them the way." Not that Terry doesn't know it, he's out there prancing around all the time anyway!

"Give me just a moment--" The Princess steps off to the desk where the receptionist is to speak to her, but she's not far behind the others as they start toward said courtyard.

As everyone is gathering outside, Diana is as well, closing the double doors behind her and pulling a jacket on over her shoulders. "Well then, a friend of Terry's is a friend of all of ours here." She says, stepping toward them. "Please, seat if you'd like." There's a number of benches or even patio furniture gathered around outside in the lovely courtyard that is decorated with a lot of Amazonian culture art.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
In Terry's defense, he doesn't prance through the courtyard...

He tends to just... lounge. Or stroll.

Okay, maybe sometimes there is a little of prancing.

"Well... do you want to tell them?" He would have teased by saying 'do you wanna tell MA'AM about it?' but... that's really more like a Donna thing. Admittedly, Terry's skittishness and nervousness around Daiana seems to have diminished greatly after Wonder Woman punched him in the face.

Terry is weird like that.

He sits down on a bench to watch what is about to ensue. Evan has already seen him in his feline form, so he doesn't feel the need to transform. This is Evan's show.

Evan Demetrios has posed:
"Thank you." Evan replies, as he follows into the courtyard, finding a seat once it's offered, "So uh. Okay, how to start...I was adopted, I guess that's a good starting place. My parents adopted me a long time ago, and my father's sister, my aunt is an archeologist. I took an interest in it when I was young, and she started taking me on digs occasionally, nothing dangerous or the like."

He rubs his arm a bit, "But it was on a recent dig that I found this...I guess you could call it a coin. It had a weird face on it, but something about it just called to me. When I grabbed it, I heard this voice in my head telling me all this stuff about how I was his true son and how I would be his latest monster to unleash upon the world. And then I kinda transformed into, well...A monster."

He holds up his right hand and shows off the bracelet there, "My aunt, I dunno if she knew something about it or what, but she put this bracelet on me and it helps keep it under control. I've been practicing being able to change back and forth between forms, but I guess I'm just trying to find out more info. I just happened to run into Terry while I was looking for any artifacts similar to this bracelet at the museum in town."

Diana Prince has posed:
With their guest taking a seat, Diana finds a place across from them, adjusting her jacket over her shoulders as she does so. She then settles in to watching him as he tells parts of his story, which has her glancing in Donna's direction, as well as Terry's.

To start with, however, Diana is quick to look back to Evan. "When you say... monster--" She starts, her sculpted features showing a look of interested laced in confusion. "What exactly do you mean by this? There are many magical items in this world, long lost to the ages, do you have the coin with you now?" She adds, her eyes going to the bracelet that he holds up.

"What is your Aunt's name, as well?" She further asks, having a lot of contacts in the Archaeology community.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
It makes sense, Typhon being the father of many monsters in the ancient world, would want to ensure more would be unleashed in the world. Nevertheless, just because Typhon has a finger in the pie, it doesn't mean it predetermines anything.

He glances over at Evan and nods encouragingly. It's his story to tell.

Evan Demetrios has posed:
"Her name is Lydia Demetrios. She's based out of New York City, if that helps. She works for Empire State University." When Diana asks him about the kind of monster, he stands up, "I can show you, if you want."

Though he doesn't seem to wait for an answer, as the gem in the bracelet glows yellow. Fur rapidly spreads across Evan's body, thankfully not tearing his clothes up, though they look like they could stand to be a size or two bigger.

His face pushes out into a muzzle, and despite not having the golden pelt of the original, it's clear to see the general idea that Typhon had when he was making this new monster. A nemean lion for the 21st century.

Diana Prince has posed:
"Only if you are comforta--" Diana trails off her response to the young man as he rises and starts his transformation without waiting for her reply. She sees the shape he begins to take and she watches that glowing gemstone for a moment as well.

Her eyes center upon his and she takes a moment before she speaks further. "Evan." She begins. "You seem to have control of your actions while in this form, is this true?" She asks. "You are still... yourself?" Her slim pointed chin dips an inch or so after asking this, while one of her arching eyebrows raises up just a little.

"I ask because it is not the outward shapes we take that determine whether we are, or are not 'monsters'. It is the actions that we perform that decide that. Do you feel that you have... performed any negative actions that should warrant you being referred to as a true 'monster', while in this form, or otherwise?"

Evan Demetrios has posed:
"I am..Still me." He replies, "At least, for the most part.." He replies, as he lets out a slight growl, "There's a lot of instincts in my head that are trying to get me to go do stuff. But I have been holding them back, especially with the bracelet." He glances at Terry for a second, "Surprise."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry blinks, and then smiles. "Huh, you are a /big/ cat after all." Standing at over six feet tall, it certainly surpasses his feline form.

Which, apparently, he is reticent to show right now. "And you're afraid of what would happen if you were to listen to the... instincts, right? The bracelet seems to act as your tether... so perhaps finding out more about it would be helpful."

The redhead slides off the bench and walks over to the lion-man, looking up at him. "Also, you think being covered in fur is nice now. But just you wait until the summer gets here and you'll be changing your tune. I nearly fainted from heatstroke a couple of times."

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana's eyes go from the Lion to Terry, who gets a small smile from the Princess. A moment later and she's looking back to Evan in this form.

"You are lucky to have had your aunt, who clearly knew what to do in this case, when it was needed most." There's a small pause from the Princess then. "I believe that the longer you spend in this form, the more these instincts may push away your humanity. So it would be best not to linger in the form, at least for the time being, and instead use it... sparringly. It would be sad to lose your desire to be yourself, and give in to what this form seems to want you to become. You are still you, after all, and with that bracelet, you can continue to primarily be just so."

A nod is given toward Terry, and to Donna. "They can help you know what to do with what you've been presented with here, when best to utilize it, and when best not to. Terry, specifically, is a learned example of this, with ever deepening experiences." Diana gives Terry a slight grin then before she looks fully back to Evan.

"Your aunt, if she's willing, I would be interested in having all that she knows on the matter sent to me. Via e-mail, phone call, or a visit. Whatever is best for her. If you could ask her to do that, of course."

Evan Demetrios has posed:
Evan nods his head a couple times in response to Diana, and with a bit of focus shifts himself back to his normal form, "Yeah it's a lot easier to control when I'm not changed. Though I can still kinda feel it in the back of my head."

When she mentions his aunt, he actually smiles, "She'll be more than happy to reach out to you I'm sure." His aunt is opposed to the superheroing that Evan has been thinking about doing with his newfound abilities, however if she finds out he's working with Diana, maybe that will help to alieviate some of those fears.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"And Evan, I have to ask you... what are you thinking of doing with your abilities? Keeping them hidden, or do you plan to use them for something?"

He grins, and looks at Diana, "I mean, he's too large to be a cat burglar. No way you can be stealthy like that."

He glances at Evan, "The princess is right, in that it's always a learning experience to control oneself. Like, she actually had to clock me one in the face a couple of weeks ago..." he waves a hand, "But that's another story to be told at another time."

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana is quick to offer a small smile to Evan, and of course to Terry's follow-up words to the Lion Man as well. She exchanges a look between both of them before adding on to what Terry says there.

"Emotions can be tricky to handle when in magical forms like that which you are granted with now. We are used to our emotions, generally speaking, by the time we reach the ages that you-- or Terry here --are at. But when you go in to a form, such as that one... your emotions will potentially become as heightened as say, your senses are. This... could lead to further issues, if you experience moments of great passion, anger, so on and so forth while in that form. So yes, your actions and intentions with your new found abilities will be up to you to decide what to do with, ultimately. But always be careful, always be aware, and always be your own most critical of judges. Self responsbility will be your greatest ally, through this, and beyond."

Evan Demetrios has posed:
"Well uh." Evan considers for a second, "I want to use these abilities to help people." He says, with a smile, "I mean...If Typhon wants me to be a monster, I want to be the opposite of that." He looks at Terry, "I mean I know you help people with your powers. And of course.." He looks back at Diana, "You're /Wonder Woman/. You're like one of the keystones of helping people with extraordinary abilities. I want to be like you." He pauses for a moment, "Besides, I guess the other option is getting trapped under a mountain."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Getting trapped under mountains is a pain in the ass. Just ask Sun Wukong. It leaves you with a crick in the neck and an aching back." The redhead smiles, "Tell you what... you want to find out more about that bracelet, which might help you know more about controlling your powers. We can go inside with the Princess' permission and ask the librarians to record the details of this," he taps the lion's bracelet with a finger, "maybe they can send inquiries back to Themyscira? It might take a while. After that..." he shrugs, "We can let the Princess return to her ambassadorial duties and we can go grab a bite and talk about what ideas you have for helping people."

He grins, "I have some experience in the field, you might say."

Diana Prince has posed:
All of what Evan says draws a larger smile upon that of Diana's red hued lips. She gathers the Typhon connection-- but really it was already there in her mind to begin with --and what he says she lowers her chin just a little again. "Remember though. Using your powers to help others, only comes when you are in as healthy a place internally as you can be. Help yourself, learn about this which you have been granted, discover its many intricacies, and then help others around you."

The Princess looks to-- and motions toward --Terry and Donna. "Associate yourself with others who are also experiencing similar situations, as your shared experiences will only yield positive results for all involved."

Diana moves to stand up then, adjusting that leather jacket she'd put on her shoulders. "And of course, Terry, utilize what you need to here to assist. I look forward to hearing from your aunt as well, Evan." A look is sent to Donna specifically then before another smile is offered to Terry and Evan. "I should get back, as there is much yet to do."

She gives a little wave, a wiggle of her fingers, and starts back toward the doors to the interior of the embassy.

Evan Demetrios has posed:
It takes a moment for Evan to realize what DIana is saying, "Yes, of course!" He replies, "I'll learn everything I can, I'm just really excited to find folks who I can talk to about this." A look back to Terry, "I'm sure you'll have a ton of insight for me too, then." He is looking a lot more relaxed and excited now that he's getting somewhere with this problem.