798/Froot Steeend

Froot Steeend
Date of Scene:	27 March 2020
Location:	Upper East Side
Synopsis:	Jan Brady goes to get her favorite fruit from the fruit stand, only to bump into Marsha Brady who is arriving to get the SAME FRUIT. Let's see what happens next!
Cast of Characters:	Barbara-Ann Minerva, Diana Prince

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Barbara-Ann Minerva has posed:
Ah, New York! And it's the nice part, too! There's ample shopping, parks, and no homeless people! Barbara-Ann Minerva (DOCTOR Minerva to you, peasant) is finally back in her element. It's just past noon and Minerva has left her hotel to stroll along the sidewalk of a trendy neighborhood. She has a particular goal in mind: Mobola Plums!

Minerva developed a taste for the little gems while in southern Africa. On business. Perfectly legitimate and in no way illegal business. So, mind yours. As luck would have it, there is a fruit stand along this route that carries the Mobola plum. Likely one of the few places on the Eastern Seaboard that does.

Barbara-Ann's nostrils flare as she draws closer to her prize. Even when in her human form Barbara-Ann, alias the super-villainess 'Cheetah', has a highly acute sense of smell. Soon, she is standing before a cornucopia of the most delicious fruits one could imagine. One of the orange, mottled little beauties finds its way into her seeking hand. Minerva holds it to her nose and inhales deeply. Ahhh! That smells...wait...actually that smells like...Why does it suddenly smell like happiness, unicorns, and justice around here?

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana had been on her way home from an early meeting when she'd seen the fruit stand and she'd just have a conversation with someone visiting the Embassy yesterday about this very same stand. So, with a kind request to her driver, Diana's car pulls over and the Princess steps out of the vehicle. Wearing a light black leather jacket over a loose red top with a low scooped neckline, a pair of dark gray jeans and a heeled pair of leather shoes, the Princess steps over to the stand and...

Is suddenly directly beside Minerva, reaching out for the very same plums. Diana gathers one up too before she looks over to the DOCTOR and she conveys her mood by showing Barbara a big smile. "Why hello there." Diana says to her, raising on eof the plums up toward her own chin, lips and nose to smell it as well. Her eyelids slip shut and she lowers it a moment later only to exhale softly.

Her eyes open again and she looks to the woman beside her. "I absolutely love these. A friend told me they were in stock. I just /had/ to stop by." A big grin is shown then to the other woman.

Barbara-Ann Minerva has posed:
Minerva is doubly-shocked. Once at Diana's "sudden" arrival, and once at the cold blast of Mobola juice that subsequently squirts Barbara-Ann in the eye. Odd how that crushed plum spontaneously appeared in her suddenly clenched fist. She recovers quickly.

"Yes." Is Minerva's loquacious reply, though it's almost pleasant. She discreetly disposes of the destroyed plum. Then, under her breath, "Of course you did." She busies herself in tossing random fruits into a modest, brown paper bag to avoid making eye contact. The balance of her time is spent trying to look unhurried. Maybe Diana won't remember her? That grinning idiot probably meets hundreds of people a day. There's no way she could possibly remember everyone. Right?

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana winces when she sees the plum squirt into the woman's eye. "Oooh, I am sorry if I frightened you." She assumes she startled the woman. Diana reaches out for a plastic bag provided by the fruit stand vendor and she starts to put one of the plums after another into the bag while glancing over to Barbara. "This is a far more pleasant meeting than our last one, I would say, yes?" She asks in that smoky accented voice of hers, Themysciran accents being varied amongst their own culture even due to a variety of reasons.

Diana reaches for a napkin then from the vendor's counter and she turns to offer it to Minerva. "Here you go. It is... down your cheek." She motions to the woman's cheek where plum juice trickles.

"How are things? Your company is good, I hope?" Ever personable, Diana inquires into the woman's life, since they met previously on a BROKEN ELEVATOR OF DOOM.

Barbara-Ann Minerva has posed:
Well, of COURSE Diana would ASSUME she startled Minerva. That's just like her: so conceited!

Barbara-Ann's great fruit pillage stops cold. Because of course Diana remembers her. Ugh. Thoughts of an easy escape start to recede. Though every fiber -- nay, ever atom! -- in Minerva's body protests, she turns politely and does not snatch the napkin from the Princess' hand. "It's good for the skin." This was meant to cover her earlier clumsiness and, as such, is said in a serious manner that inadvertently adds to the 'joke'. What a sense of humor! Minerva is just *SO* likeable! Then the other sandal drops. The elevator. Nuts.

Some time ago -- long enough that any NORMAL person would have forgotten all about it -- Minerva and Diana got temporarily stuck in an elevator together. Minerva had been returning from a business meeting in which she had ripped a strip (figuratively) from the collective backs of the board of directors of a cosmetics company she holds a controlling interest in. At the time she may have, possibly, told Diana of her (fictitious) efforts to foster body positivity in young women. Maybe. Who even remembers?

"My company? Why yes." Barbara-Ann stares at Diana for a moment as if she doesn't recognize the woman who (inadvertently) ruined her life, "I'm sorry have we..." a pregnant pause followed by the sharp report of a finger snap, "Donna, right?" She points a 'finger gun' at Di's face for an instant "How have you been, dear?" She moves in for a faire la bise -- a kiss on both cheeks. Hey, look, Di's jugular is right there. Play nice, Barbara.

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana returns the faux-cheek kiss because it is something she is used to with other women who are very similar in style to this one, which is so very common place here in New York City to. So. Common. Place.

All the same, Diana returns the gesture and gives her a grin. "Maybe I will spray plum juice all over my face too then." She says in return before folding the napkin up and sliding it into the bag with the four plums she'd pulled from the pile. "And no, not Donna. Donna is the name of my sister though and we are twins, so I do not fault you for making that mistake. Though... I am surprised if you have met her." Donna isn't as nearly as public of a figure after all. A photographer of wild life and rarely seen in places like New York.

"Diana, Prince. Ambassador of the Themysciran people." She says again, she'll say it a million times if they keep running into each other like this, happily. Eventually she'll wonder if the woman has some kind of brain issues, if she doesn't retain it though..

A finger motion with the bag full of plums hanging from the same hand. "Our Embassy is just down there." She indicates down the block. A grin shows to the woman then. "I am still happy to work with you for your charity work you mentioned in that woeful elevator ride too, should you ever wish it."

Barbara-Ann Minerva has posed:
Minerva doesn't take a chunk out of Diana's neck; Barbara-Ann is wearing a nice top and bloodstains are /impossible/ to get out. Instead she powers through the fashionable ritual with aplomb. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" She makes a small show out of mock-smacking herself in the forehead, "Diana! Yes. Of course! I don't know where my head is today." Unlike everyone else's, it's not up Wonder Woman's bu--Charity? Crap!

The icky sensation of plum juice working its way down Barbara-Ann's cheek prompts her to run the back of her forearm against her face. Pfff! You couldn't offer her a napkin, you Amazonian cow? Minerva's sunny façade never cracks, "Are you sure?" She feigns barely contained excitement, "I'm sure you're very busy doing...whatever it is you do." Crosswords, Sudoku, ruining lives, etc.

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana has just a faint smile on her lips as she stands before the other woman while other fruit stand customers move around them. One of them stops to stare at the two women, specifically at Diana, until the Princess looks to her and the woman apologizes for interrupting them.

What follows is a display of fangasming over Wonder Woman being here, and now, and able to be approached, spoken to and interacted with! The young woman calls one of her friends over and what Minerva witnesses next is the three women posing for a selfie with Diana's face in the middle and all three saying 'Wonderful!' in unison with each other.

Eventually, the two part ways and Diana looks back over to Barbara. "I am so sorry about that." She states. "But yes, I am very busy. However... my younger sister Cassie would be more than delighted to stand-in for me, should I be unavailable. She is eager to help out with things such as what you mentioned doing. Very eager, in fact!" Wonder Woman, Wonder Girl, they both want to help you now, Barbara!

Barbara-Ann Minerva has posed:
Barbara-Ann maintains her Stepford Wife smile throughout the >interminable< fawning of Diana's young sycophants. Diana paid them to do that, obviously. Her blood red upper lip twitches almost imperceptibly. But she endures. Every. Little. Indignity.

Diana's hollow apology nearly sets off a bomb...until the words are duly processed, "Sorry? Sister? A younger sister?" Stepford Wife smile nearly cedes territory to Grinch-like leer. "How interesting." Young people can be so pliant in the right hands. Minerva lowers her voice conspiratorially, "I don't want to reveal too much but, my people and I are working on something as we speak that might be perfect for you. Or your sister." She digs around her purse, "I'm sure I have that business card you gave me somewhere." What. Like you can reasonably expect someone to keep track of a business card personally delivered by Wonder Woman. Cheetah gets lots of cards from lots of people, Diana!

Diana Prince has posed:
With a flip of her wrist behind her hip and a soft sound of card against denim, Diana suddenly produces another card right from behind her right buttock. "Here you go." She says to Barbara-Ann with a big smile still on her red lips. "A brand new one. No need to worry about where the other got off too."

The Princess then leans forward toward Minerva then and whispers in her best charming voice. "I lose them all the time as well." She leans back again and turns to offer the vendor some money for the plums, giving them twice the cost of the four she'd placed in the bag, eliciting a 'Thank you, Wonder Woman. You're the best!' from the aging man behind the counter.

Diana turns back to Babsy-Ann then and shoots her another grin. "Please do contact the Embassy, tell them who you are and let them know you would like to speak to myself or Cassie for whatever you think we could assist you with. It would be a delight."

The princess starts to turn toward her car which is still parked on the curb, another Amazonian woman behind the wheel, her strong arm visible on the window of the car and a lot of fiery red hair around her head.

Barbara-Ann Minerva has posed:
Minerva receives the card between her pinched thumb and forefinger. She has no idea where that right buttock has been. "That's...wonderful." It's strange how the cadence of her speech seems to change tempo at random.

'Someone' mutters under their breath as the idiot running this awful, terrible, no-good fruit stand compliments Wonder Woman. This same 'someone' manages a sunny smile as Diana invites her to contact the embassy, "Cassie you say? I'll be sure to do that." Babsy (ugh) watches the Amazon return to her car. She isn't surprised the embassy assigned a driver: that idiot probably couldn't get a license. She peers at the business card. "Cassie." Finely tuned gears start to roll over each other inside Minerva's mind, "It WILL be a delight." As Wonder Woman is driven away, Cheetah drops the bag of fruit on the ground and finishes off any survivors with her three-inch heels. She turns and starts stalking back toward her hotel looking every bit like the cat who got the canary.