6101/(Don't) Act Your Age

(Don't) Act Your Age
Date of Scene:	01 May 2021
Location:	Diana's Bedroom: Themysciran Embassy
Synopsis:	Cassie and Diana get ready for a night out before finals week, exchanging fashion and life advice, respectively.
Cast of Characters:	Diana Prince, Cassie Sandsmark

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Diana Prince has posed:
Diana had a busy morning, but it had calmed down some since then. The afternoon was a nice relaxing affair where some friends from out of town came to the Embassy to get a guided tour of it from Wonder Woman herself. They were friends that Diana had had since the 80s, though thtey were much younger back then, naturally.

One thing about 'coming out' as who she is, Diana hasn't had to skirt around the 'Why aren't you aging?! questions,. Beofre, Diana had had to move away from where she'd been living, and take a job somewhere else to meet new people and not ... confronted with such interrogations.

Now? She didn't have to worry about that and could own up to it.

So she'd enjoyed reconnecting with old friends.

Here and now? Diana is in her fancy bedroom, having been texting with Cassie she'd promised to go out with the young woman and enjoy a night ont he town. It was nice weather out now, and Diana as wearing a sleeveless white top with some red leather pants that hug her form nicely. She's got a matching red jacket and some heeled black shoes to wearon her feetsies.

Diana's hair is tied back in to a pony tail, she's sitting at her makeup table and applying some eye makeup while some music is playing on the sterior in the corner of her room.

The patio doors are open and the sheer white drapes are blowing gently in the warm breezes coming in from outside over the courtyard of the Embassy.

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
"Knock knock!"

Rather than actually physically knocking, Cassie performs this traditional part of the social contract verbally, her characteristically chipper and energetic voice only slightly muffled by the door to Diana's suite. She's just come down the hall from her own room, one that is used rather infrequently given her messy schedule of splitting time among school and superheroing. Yet it's very convenient that she has one on evenings like these, whether she's getting ready for a Fancy Dress party as part of the business of the Embassy, or on the less frequent occasion of finding time to get a night out with Diana. It means she's got space to keep clothes, makeup, toiletries, and other such things on hand so she doesn't have to haul it all around in her backpack for the day before swinging by.

... that said, she brought some things over anyway!

As usual, Cassie came by after the end of her classes, which are now in their final week, give or take a couple days. So a free spot in Diana's always hectic schedule before her own inevitably gets totally bogged down with finals on top of her hero stuff is a chance too good to pass up! After exchanging a few texts and making her way uptown, she left Diana with instructions to get ready for a night out dancing and then vanished to her own quarters to prepare.

Now, after waiting a brief moment after announcing herself, she promptly barges on in to check on Di's progress.

"OK, good start but... hmmm." This is her evaluation, said with a stern, analytical stare, one hand on her chin and the other on her hip.

...a mini-skirt clad hip, as it turns out. Cassie is evidently very serious about the level of said partying, because Diana has possibly never seen her looking quite like this. Dressed up for fancy functions, yes! But not like this, in her sequin, cowl-necked backless halter top, the afforementioned skirt, heels, and all the rest. Her hair matches Diana's, perhaps to actually play up the idea of taking her out for a 'big sis' night.

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana's eyes are on herself in the mirror when she sees the door to her bedroom open and Cassie stride in looking all fancy and clubby. This gets a big smile from the Princess to the mirror which will be visible to Cassie as she strides in and starts to instantly judge the older woman.

The judging just gets a 'Whaaaat?" in response in Diana's smoky voice. She glances down at herslef, and then turns in her seat to look back at the young college student.

Diana's eyes go up and down Cassie and then she flashes her a grin. "What would Helena say of this?" She chides her young friend.

The Princess then stands up from her chair, her heeled shoes making her stand over 6 feet now, and she looks down at herself, up on tip-toes on ehr left shoe then adjust to look down the other side of herself. "I look hot!" She says, slapping her hips with her hands playfully as she looks over at the other.

"Maybe not..." She motions toward Cassie "That hot, but I have a reputation to uphold." She says withanother playfull expression.

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
"Gee, I dunno, hopefully nothing cuz you're not going to narc on me," Cassie answers with a roll of her eyes. Yeah Di, BE COOL.

"And you know how my mom is," she goes on, ambling across the room, although at this point not directly toward Diana. "Don't you think it's kind of silly for her to be worrying about that kind of stuff when I've led armies and fought alien spaceships around Jupiter?" Nevermind that the latter one wasn't exactly a win. STILL, she has an argument for a breadth of life experience that exceeds most people her age.

Eventually, her course ends up by Diana's stereo, which she pauses and fiddles with a little. "Tell me this isn't- oh good, I was worried you'd still be using CDs or vinyl or something." She changes it over to a playlist on the embassy's media server, which is a thing that exists for playing music at events and such. Only once this is done, does she about face and come back to Diana.

"Your reputation as what, a 1950's housewife?" Cassie wonders. "Modern feminism, Di! We look good for ourselves, not for others, and if someone judges you for that, then we trash talk them on twitter." At the same time, the song Cassie has swapped over to is coming on: 'Feeling 22', a rather intentional anthem for the evening, as the number lands right between their (apparent) ages, suggesting Cassie striving for maturity and Diana for youth.

"Anyway, I didn't mean to be mean. You look good! I like the pants. But are you sure about that top? You could like, you know- show em off a little more."

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana is walking over to her bed while Cassie speaks, smirking at some of what the young one is saying while she sits down on the edge of it. She lays her jacket down beside her and reaches for her phone in the pocket to check something from earlier as she listens.

She stares at her phone and replies about Helena. "Your mother is just dealing with the troubles of having her only daughter suddenly about to become a full fledged adult woman. Almost 21 and everything." The Princess says, her brown eyes glancing up to look at Cassie. "You'll know. When yo uhave a daughter of your own. You don't want them to 'fight things in space' or deal with the kinds of things we have dealt with. Really, she's been quite patient, if you think about it."

Diana then slips her phone back in to her jacket pocket where her lasso is visibly resting inside of a pouch sewn in to the back of the jacket and the Bracers of Submission equally tucked away in to the jacket's interior for easily accessible use if needs be (maybe Diana's learned to be a bit more cautious of late?)

"You have earned your adulthood and all the issues that are bound to come with it. You are a valiant hero, a well known celebrity figure amongst the hero community. Your mother is proud of you. I know that to be true."

With a soft sigh though, the Princess stands up and looks at herself in the mirror. "My shirt...?" She questions. Now she's walking toward her walk-in closet and looking at the other options she has.

Disappearing inside the Princess spends a few moments moving things about before she comes back with a low-scooped black top that would show off a bit more skin, and has shoulderless sleeves that open up in to bells around the elbows. "How is this?" She asks, holding it up against herself and glancing down at it. "Better?"

"Black and red... hmm. I dunno. I felt like breaking it up with a bit of white helped make me not look so... you know..." The Princess trails off as she turns back to the closet.

"I like this song." She says idly whilst hearing the music Cassie switched too.

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
Although there is no doubt that Diana's reply is full of wisdom and probably accurate on all counts, that doesn't quite seem to satisfy Cassie either. In fact, she groans a bit, looking somewhat annoyed. "OK, 'aunt Diana'," she answers back, stressing the particular term for obvious effect. Still standing a few steps off, she now has both hands on her hips, adding a bit of a challenging boldness to her stance, despite her rather diminutive silhouette, compared to Diana's towering one. Then her frustration turns toward confusion, a perplexed look, as if she's not quite clear how to get all this to stick.

"Seriously, you gotta cut that out. Whole point of this is we're supposed to be- you know, we're having a fun night, living it up like sisters. And that means not taking my mom's side!" Evidently, she's trying to teach Diana the rules for the 'big sis' position. Or just wishing it could be a bit more like the 'classic' relationship she's always seen on TV, unrealistic as it is.

"'Sides, you have a daughter around here I don't know about?" she wonders, after that, looking around conspicuously, even as Diana goes clothes hunting. It's a little comical, as she makes a show of checking under a table.

"I like that one!" she says, easily forgetting all her ornery teen angst once Diana comes back with another top, although the prbolem she raises does seem to catch Cassie's attention as well. "Hmm, yeah, it's a little, like... vamp-y?" Soon she's coming over to help look, crowding Di's space a little. "Yeah it's great!" Her and her basic white girl anthems!

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana exhales sharply and hangs the low scooped top up on the hooks by the exit to the closet. "Vampy." She quietly says. "Is that not a good thing?" She asks as she looks out at the other whose coming to join her for the search for the perfect top.

"It gives the allure of 'Maybe she bites?'" Diana then flashes Cassie a big grin before she starts to thumb through the seemingly endless amount of clothing options she has in this large closet.

"And no, I don't have a daughter, that I know of." She smirks. "I did, however, help raise a number of my friends' children over the years. Etta's daughter in particular was a near constant presence in my life, and her grandchildren still speak to me online nearly every day..."

More clothing is pushed around and Diana pulls out a dark silver top that has spaghetti straps. It shines silver in the light but looks black in the shadows as it moves. "How about this one?" She asks.

She then smiles at Cassie, "And do not worry, though this is a bit unusual for me I can certainly fit in to any party or place, if I need to, or want to." She shows a grin, almost like she said that in a way to make Cassie think otherwise. Like a good big sister should!

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
"Hahaha. Well, I mean, it's not BAD, but it's kind of a -vibe- you know?" Cassie explains, clearly working through how to exactly frame all these very specifically modern insights to someone who's seen (and possibly worn) every fashion trend since the Edwardian period. "Vampy is for sure sexy but it's also like, mm, it feels a little -older-, and we're going the opposite? Plus, like, if we wanted to do that we could find some place doing a goth night. But the crowd where we're going trends pretty mainstream, you know?"

Translation: save it for the HFC night!

"THAT YOU KNOW OF?" Cassie pauses to try and do the math on that one. "How would you even- well, I guess there's whacky clones and magical duplicates and alternate unive-" Oops Ahem! "I hadn't really thought about that," she does say, a little more quietly, contemplatively, as Diana speaks of the literal generations of kids of her old friend. "I'm sure you're about the coolest aunt any of them could event want, huh?"

But it seems a topic she's happy to change from, focusing on the clothes again, and giving a big enthusiastic 'oooh!' as Diana pulls out the silver one. "I like it. Try it on?" She backs up a step to give Diana the space to retreat from the closet, but also puts on a somewhat skeptical face at her boast. "I dunno, these places have changed a bit since the 80s." TEASING.

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana does that little playful laugh when she hears the 'goth night' phrase flung out there like that. "I would love that." She says. "I could dress up like... what was her name. Morticia Addams? That would be so much fun..." She distractedly says as she holds that new top up to herself and hears Cassie retreating from the closet.

"Yes, okay, I think this was a gift from a clothing designer friend from Los Angeles... She left me so many things a sumer ago, I never went through them all." All of this is said as the Princess changes tops inside the closet.

Cassie, stepping out of the closet now can see that there is a shelf beside it, severla in fact, loaded with photos of Diana's past, ranging from recent photos with he and Donna, to some with Etta herself, and yes, also one of the phtoos she has of Captain Trevor sits there in a silver and gold frame.

"There." Diana says a moment later, stepping back out of the closet with the new top on that hangs down loosely over her hips, but does show off a lot more skin of her upper chest and shoulders and arms. "I think I should let my hair down with this one though..." She adds, glancing down at herself again.

"And should I wear a belt?" She asks, seeing her leather pants cinched around her slim waistline.

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
"Well that's a little more like cosplay than actual goth but yeah I'm sure you could pull it off..." Simultaneously, Cassie is processing the fact that Diana has admitted to yet another strange, unexpected fandom. The logic by which she's picked out so many individual, random, and very specific bits of popular culture among all the many decades of her exposure shall never be clear to her young protege!

While hardly overly modest toward Diana changing (her retreat is just to provide the necessary elbow room), Cassie's attention eventually does end up on the shelf, so conveniently full of conversation-relevant photos and keepsakes. She browses these with some curiousity, although more for Etta and her family than the ETERNAL SHRINE TO STEVE. She's seen other photos of him around, down on her desk and so on. At the same time, she can't help but roll her eyes yet again: "Oh yes. I, too, often have fashion designers dump loads of spare merchandise and then forget to wear it."

They don't call her Cassandra /Sass/mark for nothing!

But Diana soon emerges, redressed, which provokes the younger Wonder to turn and give her an over-exaggerated thumbs up. "This one for sure." The little details have her thinking. "Well, your hair is *beautiful*, yeah, but up, it shows off your shoulders, you know? Those sexy little straps." Although they're usually not so scandalous as her current one, Cassie is something of a tanktop afficianado, in her normal, day-to-day style. "Belt's good with jeans though with leather you don't have to? Black leather for contrast if you wanna or, or like a gold chain works well with red but I'm not too sure with the silver top..." She could go on and on!

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana stands beside the shelves with the pictures on them, her closet door opens up beside them and has that full length mirror on it. "Mm, good point about the hair." She says. I'll leave it like this for now, maybe tie it up in a bun later if I get tired of it brushing my shoulders. Does she feel that way? Soemtimes apparently!"

She smirks over at Cassie's sass about the clothing designers. "I'd gbe happy to recommend they design things for you, if you would like?" She asks, grinning. "They love it if you give them 'shout outs' on social media. You have a lot of followers, you know. You act otherwise, but... I see through your act, Cassandra." Diana grins again before she walks toward her jacket and gahters it up in to her hands, folding it over her forearm.

"I think I am ready." She tells her, glancing to the time. "Is there anywhere else you want to go before the club?" She pauses and then looks to her little 'sister'. "Lets go get some drinks down in the kitchen first, mm? Then we are prepared for the fun when we get to it."

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
"Well if they make the kind of stuff I wear, yeah I guess," Cassie allows. Who wouldn't want to get in on that? And then she quickly concedes: "I mean, yeah, I do get offered to endorse things sometimes, but like... I am a little conscious of going too 'sell-out,' you know? At least when it's attached to the heroic stuff. Like it's one thing for girls hustlin' with their style posts or doing makeup, and it's cool that they can get a real company interested? But I think putting #fittea, #ad, #sponsored on the bottom of a snap of Mammoth on his ass kind of a strange ring to it, yeah?" She pronounces all those hashtags, of course. "I don't wanna sound like I'm fighting crime on someone's dime."

Other than Batman. He pays for everything.

Marketting ethics aside, it seems like they've got the outfits down, and Cassie grins as the evening starts to come together. "Yeah, good idea to hydrate ahead of time." Maybe it's not strictly as necessary when you're a pair of demigoddesses, but in Cassie's mind, it can't hurt. Plus her mortal party habits sort of die hard. "Mm. I didn't have any plans otehr than the place, though we don't wanna get there too early, you know? It's no fun until it packs up!" Which might actually be horribly contradictory with some people's sense of what would be fun and relaxing, but she's clearly in it for the full experience.

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana stands at the threshold to the hallway beyond her bedroom and looks back to Cassie to just smile at her and her commentary on, well, everything.

"I am rather certain I know quite a few designers who make the types of clothing you like, in fact." She tells her. "Some of them are even younger than you are, if you can imagine that..." She grins as the other joins her and Diana pulls the door to her bedroom shut closed, leaving the patio door open since it faces the middle of the property and the courtyard there-in.

Once out in the hallway, Diana fusses with her ponytail a bit as they walk and her eyes go over to the other. "You know part of my motivation tonight is to celebrate another school year down for you, yes? Are you ready for summer? And your first step in to your twenties, no less." That last part is a companied by a nice grin. "They say it is the best decade. Though I was rather fond of five hundred and twenty..." Diana glances to Cass and gives a quick playful grin again.

Cassie Sandsmark has posed:
"I can imagine it, though I'm not sure how I imagine you meeting these people!" Cassie declares, shaking her head. Diana always does manage to surprise with her worldliness and the pure breadth and reach of her fame, just how far and wide people love her. It is quite the thing to exist in the shadow of!

The question that follows just causes her to smirk. "Well I -kiiiiinda- figured it might be why you made sure to find some time off. 'Cause this time of the year does get pretty busy." In fact, just thinking about the upcoming exams makes her give off a bit of an 'ugh' of anti-anticipation. "The next two weeks are gonna suuuuuuuuuuuck." But that only reinforces the point, and causes the younger heroine to lean over and give her mentor give a quick, impulsive shoulder-bump. "So thanks for this, it's a good pep-up for the final stretch."

Beyond the looming exams, the thought of life beyond is a bit more exciting. "I'm totally ready to hit the beach!" Which may be a little bit silly to restrict in such a seasonal sense, when she was able to spend Spring Break in Themyscira doing plenty of it. Also she can fly, so in theory she could always just go to the beach in Australia in the middle of winter if she felt like it. But it's not really the point. There's a rhythm to things, to the seasons and the local traditions, and the big openings at Coney Island or along the Jersey shore are deifinitely seasonal landmarks.

All that said, the philosophical question about age is a little more difficult. And when she does, it's with honest confusion: "I dunno. It's weird now. But yeah, I guess I'm looking forward to being a little less of a 'kid' in people's eyes, even if I don't really feel that way myself, any more. Still a year off the REAL milestone, though."

Diana Prince has posed:
The shoulder bump is met with a smile and a glance to look at the other as she is listened closely to by Diana who strides along, holding her jacket over her left forearm.

Diana's eyes go forward there-after and they draw closer to the main hall that leads to the foyer grand staircase that splits in to two and fans around the main hallway beneath their feet currently.

"Well, do not wish for the year to go by fast, becasue they only go faster and faster each year." The Princess just leaves the advice there as she's sure Cassie has heard similar plenty of times.

Diana reaches an arm around Cassie's shoulders then as they walk together. "We will save the beach for after your year is complete, and yes... the beaches here are very different." Diana states, returning her stare to Cassie's own. "There are ... boys... on these beaches." She grins. "'Men'" she adds in a more 'hushy hush' tone of her voice, following the words with another silly happy smile.