8334/Rooftops and Rubys

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Rooftops and Rubys
Date of Scene: 20 October 2021
Location: Roof: Themysciran Embassy
Synopsis: Hello, Ruby, I am Diana! A tour of the Embassy is given to a drop-in visitor!
Cast of Characters: Diana Prince, Ruby Lasertrava




Diana Prince has posed:
The Invisible Jet had come to stop just above the Themysciran Embassy southern section. The Jet slowly faded in to view and becamse quite visible. A large cloud-like Jet with no hard edges, just smooth rounded lines that seem otherworldly... possibly due to the technology that fuels the ship truly being just so. From another planet.

From within the ship, Diana steps down toward the roof's top. She'd come from a bank robbery of all things, and in fully armored form the Princess of Themyscira stops near one of her sisters who is also armored and waiting for her on the roof of the large multi story mansion in the upper east side of Manhattan.

The two women are conversing with one another, Diana's long dark hair waving gently against her bare shoulders as they stand and speak to one another...

Ruby Lasertrava has posed:
IN THE AIR

It isn't... INCREDIBLY rare to see people in the skies in New York - not frequent exactly but it isn't going to cause massive traffic accidents to see someone with a little sparkle flitting over head once or twice. You've got better things to do anyway. Perhaps walking here! A popular choice.

So it is that Ruby Lasertrava, flying through the air at a relatively low velocity and carrying a shopping bag or two with her, spots -- something.

"Oh! That's unusual, isn't it?" Ruby observes.

<<Who can say? Earth is a strange planet,>> replies her ring.

"They look like they're heavily armored... and I haven't seen a lot of top level things. Do you think they might be criminals?"

<<You have decided what you will do in your heart, child of Glak'thir! You may wish to consider making friends of your clade.>>

"You never said that before," Ruby says in tones of faint accusation.

<<Query count has reached 255... something has to give, sister. You have done no ill! But I am an automaton. Find someone to accept your verbal love.>>

Ruby purses her lips.

Then she suddenly turns left.

Getting this close -- "Oh beverages," Ruby says to herself, "that's some kind of starcraft or I'm an oglop." Either way she is coming from the opposite direction of the parked invisible jet, coming up short and landing with a faint click of the heels.

Ruby raises a hand to wave. "Hello!" she calls. "Just passing through, but I saw your flitter-- This wouldn't be a private starport, would it? My apologies if I'm intruding!"

Diana Prince has posed:
It isn't common for something to land on the roof of the Embassy, but it is a practiced-for-threat-alert possibility. Of course, why sound any alerts when the Princess herself is 'right there' to watch the landing. And watch it she does.

Ruby touches down, and waves, causing both Diana, and her red haired sister, to look over at the figure that just softly touched down. Both Amazon women are quite tall, but Diana is over six feet with her wedge-heeled armored boots lifting her up over her normal natural height.

The red headed Amazon looks to her sister and then back to the new comer. "This is private property. You are tresspassing." The woman says in a accent not common to this part of Earth. Diana glances to her sister before toward Ruby.

"Yes, we do generally ask that people not touch down here without prior approval. But... it is always hard to determine these rules, if you are not from around here." Obviously the Princess can tell Ruby isn't... She turns toward the new arrival and starts to walk toward her, her pace casual and slow. "I am Princess Diana of the island of Themyscira. This is our home and Embassy to the people of the United States, and the rest of the world of Earth. Who..." She lowers her slim pointed chin then. "Might you be?"

Ruby Lasertrava has posed:
Ruby dips her head in some sort of approximation of a bow to the redhaired Amazon. "Oh, my apologies," she states, but then she is being addressed by the taller and more regal woman, and so she does not just jump off the roof and bounce.

Her hands fold behind her back, together with the shopping bags.

"Oh, you can tell?" Ruby asks. (What was the first clue. Ruby seems legitimately, if mildly, surprised.)

She straightens up visibly at the title in specific. "Your highness, please let me start by apologizing for my forward behavior, because it is exactly as you state: I am pretty recently arrived here, though I am not in any peril or confusion regarding the basics of life upon Earth--"

"My name is Ruby Lasertrava," which comes out closer to 'la Sertraffa' than the obvious energy reference. "I'm a invested counselor originally from the planet called Glak'thir. However, my home planet has a number of Earth human residents, some of whom are my family."

Her ring twinkles violet once, which may panic Red over there, but seems to come to nothing. Ruby glances at it, then back up. "I represent the Star Sapphire Corps of Zamaron," she adds more formally yet: "And I want to assure you that I am *only* here in order to get in touch with my family heritage and encourage the cultivation of love on this planet before I return to my assigned duty sector."

After a moment, she leans her head forwards. "Is Themyscria in this system's asteroid belt? I didn't see any orbital islands on my way in."

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana stands there now about halfway to the Visitor and halfway from her sister. She keeps her leather wrapped hands at her sides and just listens to Ruby. By the time she finishes explaining and asks that question of her, Diana shows a friendly smile over to her. She starts walking toward her again and extends her right leather-clad hand to the woman. "I am familar with the Star Sapphire's." Diana says. "Welcome to Earth." She states then before shaking her head gently.

"Themyscira is an island in the more... traditional sense of a body of water surrounding a smaller mass of land than the main continents of this planet." She says with the hints of a grin before she notes the bags that the woman has with her.

"Are you returning from a shopping trip?" The Princess then asks. "How did you come to be on Earth? Traveled by yourself?" She then asks further, clearly having a number of questions for the visitor!

Ruby Lasertrava has posed:
Ruby extends her own right hands to clasp Diana's once it is near enough to do so. She beams upwards towards the taller woman.

Themyscria is clarified to be a traditional-type, homestyle island, like Sharra and K'ythri used to make. Ruby blinks several times, visibly glancing at both the parked aircraft and down at the ground while mentally revising estimates of several complex factors.

"Yes," Ruby says, holding up the bags. One is from Duane Reade, the other is from D'agostino's. "I have a personal residence in the Bushwick sector of the Brooklyn borough, but it's cheaper to get things up here and go home the other way. I usually wait until nightfall, but the last time someone kept shining lights on me."

A pause. "Oh, well, that's easy enough: I flew here with my power ring," Ruby says, holding it upwards. "I want to let you know, incidentally, that I haven't really explained a lot of this to many of the local people of Earth, but that's just to avoid causing hassle for everyone. I've heard a lot of stories about this planet from my grandmother and from other people, and I have to say that it's living up to everything."

"Although," Ruby says, "I think I was, what's your word, hazed? a little about how to land safely. I went to what was supposed to be an industrial center and took the groundcoach to New York. I could have skipped the entire experience, *although* it was very enlightening to be able to look out the windows!"

Diana Prince has posed:
Two more Amazon warriors emerge from the indoor location ontop of the roof. The too are armored and have javelin weapons that they hold in non threatening positions as they take up positions on either sides of the redhead behind Diana's location several paces. They can see that the situation is in order within the hands of their Princess as she shakes Ruby's hand.

Diana gives a momentary glance skyward before looking back down to Ruby. She lets her hand drop back to her side again and shows an even smile toward the young woman before her. "Earth is very new to travelers from space being so open with their arrivals here, let alone living amongst us so casually as to visit some of our stores." She says, a grin showing for a second or two. She nods her head once though...

"I would like to take measures to change that soon. To make it easier for new arrivals to Earth feel more welcomed upon arriving. But... that is going to take a little more time, I suspect."

The Princess looks back over her left shoulder to her sisters and then back to Ruby again. "Well, I would offer you a tour of our home here, but I do not know if you need to be somewhere soon. Bushwick is a good place, a lot of good people trying hard to live their best lives. So you have chosen a fine place to settle for the time being. Hopefully the hazing has subsided some... otherwise, send them to me on your behalf?" Her grin returns then for the other woman.

Ruby Lasertrava has posed:
More people show up. Ruby glances towards them for a moment, but-- no, no; they're just up here. Maybe they were coming anyway, Ruby reasons, as she looks back up to Diana for a moment. "Oh, goodness," she says, "So I have heard. All of the people on Glak'thir from here mostly arrived under covert circumstances, recently or long ago."

She puts a hand on her hip. "And it's awful what D'Ken was doing to you people. I'm so glad it was finally the end of his business, because I have to tell you that he was an awful majestor all things considered, and I'm really hoping that in four or five local years, the new majestrix will have sorted everything out."

A moment passes. "Do you mean some sort of a public port? I mean it would be handier; I don't even know what I would have done if I was on a ship. I mean I would have had to leave the ship somewhere! And I would be *honored*, your highness, if you would like to do just that, because I am *so* curious and this isn't a place I've ever heard of! It's not... English, is it?"

She laughs at the offer of subtle penalty for hazers.

"I mostly know locations from seeing an old map and some stuff about the War," Ruby says. "Was Themyscria involved? I understand it's all past and nobody really holds any big grudges about it any more. I assume."

Diana Prince has posed:
The question of a starport has Diana nodding softly once at such a option. "It is one of the considerations on the table, yes. We would like to more openly welcome outsiders on their way to Earth. It's time to start to be a ... well ... out in the dark, I would like Earth to turn a light on to welcome pepole looking for a place to find rest. We are still in the old ways of not looking to the stars enough, at least that is my stance on the matter." She smiles again before turning to motion to her sisters standing together in the shade of the hovering jet above.

"These are my sisters, Adrastea, Galatea and Diobe." She introduces the three from left to right. "My people is a culture of warrior women, we have been largely isolated for the bulk of our history on this planet... but those times are slowly changing as well. We have been in a growing number of conflicts in recent times too, hoping to provide our martial skills to the people of Earth to help defend it against outside threats..."

Diana then motions a hand to the Jet above. "This is a transport vehicle that we utilize. It was gifted to me by a young Princess from an other world society known as the Lansinarians... yet another example of a non-Earth species that could have used a more welcoming place to land upon arrival..." She softly smirks a quick moment.

Ruby Lasertrava has posed:
"A light station! It makes perfect sense to me, your highness," says Ruby, and her tone indicates quite clearly that she concurs. "This planet can't hide in the dark forever, though I understand it's done really incredibly well for a fringe planet with almost no trade. That's actually--"

But then there's an introduction. "Good evening! Hello, Adrastea, Galatea, Diobe," Ruby continues, indicating each of the women and, perhaps, committing them to memory. "You know, I can empathize with that a lot, because that's almost the story of the planet of my own matrons." Ruby raises her hands now, lacing fingers through her hair and letting the shopping dangle.

"But be that as it may... ooh! Well, it's beautiful," Ruby says, craning her head. "I hardly noticed it coming in. I thought it was just one of the air cooling mechanisms being balky, but sure enough, here it is... It must be very hard to spot even with the local radar sensors and so on. I'm not sure I've heard of that people, but..."

To Adrastea, Galatea and Diobe, Ruby asks, "Could I give you a flyer for my counselling?" She is already producing some of them - slips of purple paper, cheaply printed. This declaims it to be VIO-LYTE COUNSELLING - ANYONE WELCOME, and there is the Star Sapphire logo upon it along with an old clip-art picture of a woman. This was not done with budget.

But there is a phone number, if no address.

"Are your people a member of, SHIELD?" Ruby says, a moment later. "I've been told about that group but people don't tell me much *about* it."

Diana Prince has posed:
"Yes, the Jet has some rather advanced sensors and stealth technology... but that is largely in-part due to the nature of how it... exists. It is a manifestation of my will. I most commonly will it in to this form, as it is the most beneficial to my people and our endeavors." Diana explains a bit further about the famous plane.

As she does this, Adra (the red head) reaches out for one of the offered fliers and looks down at it as Ruby explains a bit about it. She shows it to Galatea who is looking over her shoulder as well. Adra smiles to Ruby and nods once to her before Diana's grin catches the redhead who lowers the flier down to her side and starts to roll it up in her hand.

The Princess looks back to Ruby then. "We are not a direct part of SHIELD, though we do work with members of their agency from time to time. They are a protection and investigation Agency here on Earth. They have... well, quite a lot of trouble on their hands, so I have heard." Diana states while motioning to a set of stairs that lead down to the balcony level one floor down, still a whole floor up from the central courtyard though that is visible below, filled with greenery and Greek-themed statues and decor.

"So you came to Earth because of stories you grew up hearing about this world?" The Princess then asks.

Ruby Lasertrava has posed:
"In large part, yes," Ruby says as she moves towards the stairs, putting a hand on her hip and smiling at Adra and the others just as much as she herself gets smiled at - *if not more*.

"I guess I should explain a little more. My grandmother, like I said, was from Earth, and Glak'thir has been recruiting people from disasters and such off and on for a while, because humans and Thiresque-- anyway," a wave of her hand, "so the point is that I have a family connection to this planet."

"AND," Ruby continues, "I grew up in the Shi'ar Imperium's space, and that means that I'm entirely aware of just what a rough spot this planet must have gone through recently with all of THAT. Now that that's passed, it's sort of killing two targets with one shot, you know? I can help improve things with my skills and abilities *and* I imagine the Imperium isn't going to come nosing around here very often."

Ruby adds, with a sort of diffidence as if touching on a secret, "The Corps and the Shi'ar weren't on super extra *especially* great terms. I nearly got drafted-- by the old government, I'd like to add, and frankly if I hadn't had prior obligations I might have accepted. Ah well! I'm just meandering, mentally."

"WOW! This is all GORGEOUS! It's like a coastal ruin but... not ruined!" Ruby enthuses once she sees the statuary and the greenery. "Are these Themyscrians, the statues?"

Diana Prince has posed:
The two further progress down the stairs toward the main ground level now, turning on the second floor to start down the next set of stairs toward the patio area that leads in to the courtyard. "Earth being a bit... fringe on the galaxy's edge does help in some regards, it seems, but it also seems to make us a haven for people wishing to escape galactic troubles. This is something else we need to be better prepared for.." Diana says quietly back to Ruby as she glances toward her with a smile.

Her eyes go out at the courtyard, and its contents, which draws a wider smile to her red hued lips. "Yes." She says of the decor being Themysciran. "Some of it is newer than other pieces. Some of it is recovered items that has either been donated back to us, by friends, or rediscovered by our own people, refurbished and put on display here to help ... immerse visitors in to our ... well little culture." She glances to Ruby and grins to her as they turn to walk down one of the pathways that will take them right through the heart of the courtyard, past many of the statues.

"My people are faithful to our old Goddesses. We honor them in every way we can, yet still today, thousands of years after our formation." Some of the statues are obviously of Goddess representation. "We owe them all that we have, after all."

"But yes, Earth is often under some threat of peril, and we have been slowly becoming a more unified global society... So we welcome you to our world... Perhaps someday there will be a Embassy from yoru people here." She says to the other with a slight grin as they walk.

Ruby Lasertrava has posed:
"Oh! That's so sweet of them!" Ruby exults as she walks downwards, turning her head round to take in the statues. It's a sort of sweeping thing -- there's a lot to take in. "So this is ultimately religious... Your goddesses, they help your people directly? Or is it more of an ultimate - I'm sorry," Ruby laughs, "just, hah!"

"That's very kind of you, your Highness, but my planet would never be allowed to send an independent embassy or anything like that," Ruby continues, matter-of-factly. "I'm sure that if they don't try to encompass you, the Shi'ar would surely send one here, though. You're clearly a first-rate planet here, even if I suppose you haven't really gotten too far off of it."

"Glak'thir's third-rate," Ruby says, a little sadly. Her head rolls to the side, then back up. "Though! I imagine if they could, a lot of people would *move* here. I understand immigration is a difficult topic so please excuse me if it's sensitive, I'm just thinking aloud. My gosh, I am just talking about myself left and right."

"May I ask who that is?" Ruby says, indicating a statue. By random chance it is Persephone. ("Is she holding a ball-bomb?" Ruby adds, more parenthetically.)

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana stops near the statue of Persephone and she smiles softly at it before shaking her head. "Persephone is not one of our Goddesses. She was a former Amazon, from a long time ago. She went out on her own, became a bit of a rogue." Diana then motions toward the central courtyard. "There are five Goddesses of Themysciran culture." She says as she leads them on toward those statues.

"Hestia, Athena, Aphrodite, Demeter and Athena." The Princess explains as she motions to each one, with Athena being at the center within the waterse of a reflection pool.

"Each of the Goddesses granted elements of themselves on to us, to help create a society of warriors in their own reflections. we devote ourselves to them yet still today, thousands of years later." She says quietly as they walk around the reflection pool. "And yes, we still are graced with face to face encounters with them from time to time, including... other Gods of the pantheon that they all reside within." She shows a light smile then. "So you will see quite a lot along these lines here, and other locations related to our people."

"As for immigration. Well... I for one would welcome a way to find a place for people from your world to have a home here, but yes, it is a complicated subject all its own... One that will likely become a bigger discussion in the years to come as well."

Ruby Lasertrava has posed:
"Ahhh-h," Ruby says, before regarding the statues. She clasps her hands before herself and bows her head, in a reverence.

"Pantheon?" Ruby asks, before pausing and raising her ring a little. There is a brief conversation with the Power Ring, whose silence seems willing to break. After this, she nods once, the concept internalized.

"It's a beautiful place, though. A lot of the beauty here in the city seems to be accidental, other than the parks; but you've made something profound here, I think. It's been an honor to meet you, your highness," and as they near the end - or at least, the end of a station - of the touring, Ruby clasps her hands again.

"If I can ever help you or your sisters, please let me know and I'll do everything that I can. It's the least I can do for trespassing."

Later, then, at the end, perhaps after a parting of ways and a momentary cup of tea or its equivalent in and among the Amazons:

"Oh," Ruby says to herself, "there was a door on the street. I should have realized they'd have them both ends."