5358/Slayerscira

Slayerscira
Date of Scene:	12 September 2018
Location:	Upper East Side, New York City
Synopsis:	Diana seeks out Buffy Summers for advice and info on Vampires. She also seeks to aide the young Slayer/protector with some Amazonian weaponry to keep the young warrior safer.
Cast of Characters:	Wonder Woman, Buffy Summers

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Wonder Woman has posed:
3:45 on a Wednesday. Upper East Side Manhattan.

The Themysciran Embassy in New York is a multi story building that was once the home of a former New York mayor many years ago. Its old world styled and very fancy in both its exterior design and interior upkeep. Dark hardwood floors line the rooms inside with white painted walls and lots of art crafted by talented artists from all over the world who've embraced the Themysciran people since they became a public place in the rest of the world several years ago.

Diana, Ambassador to her people, had placed a series of events into motion weeks ago that had lead to this schedule meeting today. Buffy Summers had been given all the information she needed to get to the Embassy and meet with the Princess of the Amazons and she'd have been told it was all related to the Vampire cause that Buffy had been handling for several years now (?).

So when she arrives, she'll be escorted through the fancy house back to Diana's office, where the Princess is seated behind her desk beneath two large windows, her eyes on her laptop's screen until she sees her assistant escorting the guest back and then Diana moves to rise up to her tall full height. "Please, do come in." Diana says in her smokey voice, accented with a thick Greek flavor to every word.

Buffy Summers has posed:
A day trip to the Big Apple is really reason enough to be excited. Moreso when it's something she doesn't have to pay for. The Watcher's Council was good enough to pay Buffy's way, since keeping on good terms with royalty is...well, a good idea. One short jaunt to NYC later and only a small bit of rubbernecking around sees Buffy to the Embassy. Once she arrives and is escorted in, she gives a smile. It would be nice to be able to act all non-plussed, but honestly? No. It's a princess. Buffy is plussed as all get-out.

"Your Highness." She even consulted with Giles on how one addresses royalty. British stuffiness is good at that. So the Slayer gives this not-very-graceful move that's sort of somewhere between a bow and a curtsey, and tries to ignore how /TALL/ Diana is. "Thank you for the invitation."

Wonder Woman has posed:
Diana comes around her desk now and she moves to step up to Buffy. The office is longer than it is wide, and its lined with dark wood bookshelves filled with enough volumes of 'texts' that would make Giles like stammer with delight. There is however a seating area and a small kitchenette next to a second set of double doors that lead into another area of the Embassy.

The Princess is dressed i na sleeveless white dress that goes down to just below her knees and her shoes are a matching white with small heels that make her even taller. Her black hair is tied back into a braided ponytail.

"It is an honor to meet you... Buffy, right?" She asks then, showing a smile across her deep red hued lips and her blue eyes sparkling with amusement. "I absolutely love that name, I must say. It... sounds just 'fun'. And forgive me if that is rude."

Diana then motions to the seating area with one of her hands. "Can I get you something to drink? I know that you have come quite a bit out of your way. Water, tea... I believe we have lemonade in here as well even." She steps to the counter where the cups and a small drink cupboard is. "I trust the trip went well? I know this may sound like something that could have possibly been dealt with over the phone, but I was eager to meet you admittedly."

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy is dressed...well, as professionally as she gets. Which in this case is some nice slacks, a white blouse, and heels. It's a step up from her normal casual attire, but even in her heels she's quite a bit shorter than Diana. "I realize it's not a very...well...okay, it's a very California name."

She moves over towards the seating area. "Some water would be great, honestly. And the trip was fine...I'm really glad that you did! I mean, this isn't the kind of trip most people can get to make."

Wonder Woman has posed:
The Princess goes about to prepare them both a glass of water with a few spheres of ice in them before she's turning around and walking back to Buffy near the sofa and chairs. She offers the glass to the younger one and smiles at her again. "We plan to setup a Justice League branch in California very soon. We are looking at several locations for it in fact, Monterey is my personal favorite." She whispers that last part and then adds. "Do not tell anyone though." She's teasing of course though and the grin she now shows would likely indicate that.

Diana moves to seat herself them on the edge of a chair, she takes a sip of the water and then sets its aside on the table beside her chair. "I do not know how much you have been informed of what it is I came to the Watcher's Council with regard too... but I am more than happy to explain things from the beginning if that would help you?"

Buffy Summers has posed:
The Slayer looks over "I've been given some information, but I'd much rather hear it from you." She sits in the chair, and crosses her legs. Sure, the Watcher's Council told her, but then, the Watcher's Council has not always been the most honest source of information for her.

Wonder Woman has posed:
Diana is quick to dip her chin in a nod to the young woman. "Yes, well." She draws in a breath then and her blue eyes glance around as she places her hands down upon her knees and crosses them in a similar way to that which Buffy just had as well. "About a year ago I stumbled across an assault in progress inside of a building that had the look of being... quite abandoned." Her eyes fall back onto Buffy's own and she leveles her gaze, a calm expression on her eleganted sculpted face. "I rushed inside to assist, believing that innocent lives may be at risk... What I found however, was a man attacking a... group of essentially homeless vagrants. Initially I assumed that -these- were in fact 'innocent lives' being threatened by the actions of this lone man, but once I put an end to his onslaught I was quick to realize there were more ahdes of 'grey' to what was going on there than I would have expected."

A short pause, Diana's dark eyebrows rise up some above her eyes. "Vampires." She says with a soft nod of her head. "This man was performing the job of... a Slayer, essentially, but he was not of your variety." How much she knows of the Slayers may be a mystery to Buffy as well, the Watcher's Council likely didn't elaborate on that.

"He was his own man, operating out of what appeared to be... hatred alone. I managed to chase him off and I was there-by left with four members of this Vampire group, unsure of what to do to them because they were not attacking me. They feared me. I am told they did not attack me because they were 'well fed' on others who came to them TO be fed upon... a cult, of sorts, who seek Vampires to partake in this... activity." The Princess seems wholely uncomfortable with all of this. "Ultimately, I have kept these four in a safe location and they have been feed non-human sources of blood to satiate their... ways. While I try to figure out what to do... with them."

Buffy Summers has posed:
"I may be the Chosen One, but I'm not the only hunter out there. As far as vampires...I don't know that I'm the best person in the world to ask about it, Princess. I mean, I can give you facts...there are different types of vampire, and I've had to learn about those differences."

She takes a deep breath. "If what you want is factual information, I can give that, no problem. But let's face it, my whole reason for being is pretty much "kill vampires". They're predators. And nothing that we can do can make them anything BUT predators, when it comes down to it."

Wonder Woman has posed:
Buffy's words don't exactly summon a great deal of comfort in that of Diana and its apparent on her face after she hears what the young hunter has to say on it all, not that she hadn't expected mostly those very words. "Right." Diana says at a near-whisper pitch of voice while her eyes glance away. "But they were turned against their will." She says, placing her eyes back upon the young blonde. "This is the root of the great deal of sorrow I feel for them. The man who... slayed his way into their building slaughtered the Vampires who turned them into this and now they are left with these urges that are propelling them to harm others and..."

Diana just softly shakes her head again. "Everywhere I look, every stone I turn over on the subject, leads to me being told that they have no fate but to be exterminated now. That they serve no purpose and that they have only earned--for lack of a better phrase--a stake through the heart." Diana then slouches a bit and her right hand comes up to rub at the side of her long neck, her fingertips going back behind it beneath her ponytail. "It is, disheartening for me, to believe that."

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy looks back. "A lot of it boils down to the strain of vampire." She doesn't want to be the one to tell the Princess that there's no hope. "Some are straight-up demonic. When they get turned, the soul moves on, and all that's left is demon. In those cases, you're not really sealing their fate; their fate was sealed when they were turned. All that's left in that case is...like a chicken after you cut off the head. It's still moving, but there's not any chance."

"But while that's a LOT of vampires, it isn't all. There are some strains where the person is a vampire, but on a...well, a soul-y level, they still have theirs. If it's one of those cases, then...well, I still don't know any real cure, but at least they might not have to be killed." Even if it's a better idea.

Wonder Woman has posed:
Diana's gaze is locked onto Buffy's, her ability to listen and be attentive to what another person says is quite skillful. She will softly nod her head here and there to what the young one tells her of it and she'll flutter her eyelashes as well here and there as the information is processed inside of her head. "I understand." Diana says then to Buffy and she draws in a deep breath before she gently releases it.

"Might I ask you something then?" She questions, but continues soon there after. "When you... continue to do what it is that you are being trained to do, can you keep all of this in mind? In that I mean, the concept and idea that not all of them need to be killed. That some... may simply need a place they can go where they can get the help they need, the care and guideance that they need to overcome this... that which now plagues them. I wish to help those who truly do deserve to be helped, suffering from this."

Diana gently shakes her head side to side. "And if that means I have to buy an island and build them their own paradise upon it, then so be it." She shows a faint smirk then at herself.

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy nods. "I try. Believe me, I don't want to have to be the one to pass judgement, Princess." She does, in fact, look unhappy at that. "But I don't have any special way to know whether a vampire is full of regret or just a murderous killer. And a lot of them are very good liars. I try to do what I can. But if it comes down to a vampire or their prey...I'll choose their prey every time. I sort of have to. It's who I am."

She can't help but smile a little. "If you do an island, though, make sure everybody knows not to go there."

Wonder Woman has posed:
Diana continues to gently nod her head then as she listens to response and then another smile spreads across her lips at the island part. "Yes, we would put up many signs." She jokes before she reaches out to touch Buffy's left forearm lightly. "Wait here, one moment." And then Diana raises up to that tall full height and she steps around her chair. "There is another reason I did not want this to simply be a phone call." She adds as she walks across her office toward her desk and she opens a pair of dark wood doors silently. She reaches inside of the cabinet and she pulls out a long wooden box that she lays down in her hands horizontally as she turns and walks back toward Buffy and the sofa-chair-area.

Back in her seat now, Diana lays the box on her lap and then places her hands atop it. Her eyes are back on the blonde. "Once upon a time there was an Amazon Warrior who dedicated her life to ridding the world of the 'monsters in the dark'. She was so obsessed with this that she separated herself from our island and essentially banned herself to the rest of the world, to seek out the dangers that lurk in the shadows and to fight them." Diana shows a quick and soft smile.

"It became one of my favorite stories to have my mother tell me when I was a little girl, and when I grew up? I questioned whether or not any of it was true... and then, after I departed Themyscira and I became a lover of antiqueties... and an avid collector of them, I eventually ran across this."

The box lid is lifted up and inside of it is a fur-felt fitted case, with a golden Amazonian sword inside it. Ornate and beautiful. "It is 'Sunlight' and it was her weapon of choice. The stories had been true."

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy's used to making do with a whittled stick for the most part. She looks across to the box, and lets out a low whistle. "That's gorgeous. Of course, so is pretty much everything in here." she says, a little sheepishly. And everyONE, though she doesn't add that part.

Wonder Woman has posed:
Diana smiles quickly then and lets it fade just as fast once again. "The last Slayer of your kind I knew was a very long time ago. A woman here in New York by the name of Nikki Wood. I had met her once after she had saved a school from a vampire attack... back in 1975. I was very sad to learn of what happened to her..." And that is very evident on her face after she says it, the emotion quite clear within Diana.

The box is closed, its lid sealed again with a click of the latch and then she lifts it up and offers it over to Buffy. "I want you to have this." She tells the Slayer. "It is forged from the metals of my island, by the blacksmiths of my people. I want to offer it to you because of the burden you bare that you did not even ask for. I... want this to help protect you, to keep you safe so that you may be the protector of people for a very long time to come."

Diana shows another smile, though this one is soft if still sincere. "This is why I had to have you come all this way, rather than simply ring you on a phone."

Buffy Summers has posed:
    Buffy blinks, and stares. "You're kidding." Pause. "Wait, no, I mean, I'm not trying to say you're not...I..." She stops. "Not doing so well with the word parts here." She takes a deep breath. "THANK you. Thank you very, very, VERY much." She takes the box there, not having trouble with any weight of it. "It's really awesome to see you live up to the press, you know?" Okay, so there might be a liiiittle hero worship there.

Wonder Woman has posed:
Diana shows a big smile to this reaction, and she leans back after letting the other have the box with the weapon. "I want you to practice with it though..." She warns, her chin lowering some as she says this. "Listen to your Watcher and make sure that you become an expert with it and all that he has to teach you. I do not wish to lecture you of course... So..." Diana's voice drops to a bit more of a serious tone. "Listen to yourself, as well. Your heart. To what it tells you in moments where danger is all around you. Your spirit is your guide and it will help you overcome any dangerous odds you may find yourself in." And she glance to the sword case. "And hopefully that will become an extension of you, to also keep you--and others--safer."

Diana is quick to exhale then. "Now, with that out of the way. I will give you a way to contact me should you have any need of assistance, or any further information to give me on any of these matters. And..." Diana reaches for her glass of water and to sip from it again. "Since you came all this way you are more than welcome to stay here for dinner and then we can have a car take you home." She sips the cold liquid and then smiles softly to the younger one.

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy smiles, and can't help but quip "Don't guess that you'd be willing to help with the practice? I don't have a lot of people I can really train with who challenge me back home." But she does take the words to heart, and looks about.

Her eyes light up at the concept of continued contact, and the blonde beams. "That would be wonderful. Thank you so much!" Don't hug the princess. Someone will probably shoot you or something. She downs the rest of her glass in an excited gulp.

Wonder Woman has posed:
"Of course." Diana replies to this then. "I would be happy to make some time to come out to where you are and help train with you and likewise you are welcome here at the Embassy and at the Themysciran Arts Center. There are more Amazons there who conduct public training sessions with people of all skill level. It is a very popular thing, but we also hold more quiet training sessions with those who we know are much more up to... the challenge... of our ways?" She nods softly again then.

"I attend those as well as often as I am able to, but my sisters? They are ever vigilant trainers and educators in the way of the sword becoming an extension of our own body's reach. So your name will be added to the primary list of trainees, if that would be a fun exercise for you when you manage to make your way here to this chaotic city of ours."

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy is thrilled at the option. "That would be awesome. I train with some of my friends, but I have to hold back a lot." Superstrength + Scoobies = squished Scoobies. "And I'd be happy to train with anyone. So thank you so very, very much." She manages not to open the box and squee at the sword. Barely. But it's been an awesome day.