762/Ferris and the Foibles

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Ferris and the Foibles
Date of Scene: 02 June 2017
Location: Unknown
Synopsis: Summary needed
Cast of Characters: Star Sapphire, Corusca




Star Sapphire has posed:
    Carol doesn't live in the nicest apartment in New York. For one thing, she's not that rich even before you consider her charitable donations. For another, screw the guy who owns the "nicest" apartments in New York. But the flat she does have is a corner penthouse, which is enough to keep up appearances for the stockholders, and it has a balcony, which is enough for her work as Star Sapphire. Good enough for her. It also has some security, so good luck getting past them to make a surprise visit.
    Carol's shades are drawn right now, because she's luxuriating on her couch in her Star Sapphire uniform. God, she misses the latex sometimes...

Corusca has posed:
Fire escapes. Mandatory features in most New York buildings that don't get exhorbitantly tall. Naturally, these only get you so high and the penthouse apartments pay for the privacy of a rooftop balcony. Yet somehow that doesn't stop someone from doing something incredibly silly. Carol knows the sound of a parachute crumpling. What might be most surprising to her is the fact that that sound is coming from her balcony. Given the hour, only the truly insane would parachute into the middle of Manhattan and only the truly gifted could manage to land on an unlit balcony with any degree of accuracy. Upon investigation, there is a lone figure currently bundling the massive amount of cloth. They're in a dark blue jumpsuit with a helmet with a distinctly feminine shape about them.

Star Sapphire has posed:
    What the HELL?
    No. Wonder later. Priorities now. Invisibility to begin with; bend the light away from yourself. Good, Carol. Keep your head; think. Can you find out what's out there? Not without giving yourself away. Okay. Banish your uniform, let your blouse and skirt come back. Go to the bedroom, get your aluminum baseball bat from under the bed. Take off the ring, but don't put it away. You don't have time to put it back on your necklace, and you want it palmed anyway in case you need to pump a little bit of violet power into your arms for a bat swing. Just hold it pressed against's the bat's handle. That's good. You're as ready as you'll be.
    Check the curtain. Use your left hand. Keep the bat out of reach if anyone tries to break through.
    "Miranda? Oh my god!"

Corusca has posed:
    With the parachute tamed, Miranda pulls off the helmet with a flip and flourish of wavy golden blonde hair. It is indeed Miranda. "Hi there." She offers grinningly. She unclips a pouch from her stomach where the emergency chute should be and sets it down. "I brought dim sum." Instead of a spare parachute. Riiight. That's when she pauses and looks to Carol warily.

    "I.. sorry was this too much?" Miranda points up at the sky. "You're a pilot so I thought you might appreciate an aerial uhhh knocking.." Hmm. Awkward. She grins thusly. "If this is a bad time, I can umm.. call a car." Now she glances at the chute like.. well.. this is going to be a pain.

Star Sapphire has posed:
    "I just--I was imagining Die Hard, or something. Terrorists and kidnappers." Yeah, 'or something!' No one in Die Hard has a parachute! Jeeze, get with the times, Carol. "Just...give me a second to go to my bedroom and collect myself. If you brought fried turnip cakes, then you're automatically forgiven for scaring me." Her bat arm is trembling as she opens the sliding glass door to the balcony, and then she heads to the bedroom to collect herself...and to put her ring back on its necklace.

Corusca has posed:
    Phew. Miranda exhales then gives a look around before unclipping the harness and stepping out of it. She unzips the jumpsuit about six inches to give herself a little breathing room then picks up the bag. There's another look up. Hmm. Parachuting kidnappers. She'll have to make some plans for that. Still, she walks up to the glass door and steps inside. Her eyes follow Carol to the bedroom but she walks to the couch and proceeds to empty the contents of the pouch onto the coffee table with an orderly precision. There's about six containers all told with Chinese characters penned on the tops. "Do you have anything to drink? I'll be honest, I thought bringing beer on the jump would be a supremely bad idea." As opposed to jumping at night into downtown.

Star Sapphire has posed:
    "Uh, I think there's a bottle of something red in the fridge," Carol calls out, doubtfully. She should have more faith in her memory. There is indeed a bottle of red wine in the fridge, at least eighty percent full, which probably implies something about Carol. When she comes back out, she hasn't changed her clothes or freshened her makeup, which also probably implies something about her. "So. Light say at work, I take it?"

Corusca has posed:
    Miranda was in the fridge bending over to fetch the bottle. "Hmm?" She looks back, straightening. "No. Not really. No more or less than any other day. Which.. aside from keeping tabs on the stream really doesn't change how busy I am. I mean.. I /could/ spend every waking moment checking the markets.. but at this point it's all nickles and dimes comparitively so there's no great incentive." She's hunting cabinets until she gets out two glasses and then pads over to the couch. The jump boots got left out on the balcony to leave her barefoot. "You?"

Star Sapphire has posed:
    "Let's just say I wonder how you would have gotten down if this was one of the days I decided to work late," Carol says wryly. And it's true, her apartment doesn't look very lived in. There's no dust on anything, but also very little sense of personality in her decor. There are a couple of inoffensive art pieces on the walls that could serve as conversation pieces; shallow enough to be accessible and too shallow to provoke more than small talk. The furniture is low and arranged as if for company. There's no TV, no visible computer, no visible books. It looks more like a hotel suite than a home.

Corusca has posed:
    "Would it surprise you to know that I paid a PI to let me know that you'd not stayed late?" Miranda confesses with a shifty eye and a pour of the wine. "I mean.. it's not like I have time to stalk you and landing on an empty balcony would have been.." She looks to the balcony. "Disappointing to say the least." She laughs then looks back to Carol with a serious look on her face. "Sorry. I.. was aiming for surprise and.. a dash of daring.." Her eyebrows knit with a little concern. "Too much?"

Star Sapphire has posed:
    "No, I just wondered if you'd admit it," Carol says, coming around the island to pick a couple of dinner plates out of the cabinet above the sink. Her face is hidden but her voice is still wry. "My PIs have been following you too. They were about to report your death ray to the government before James Bond took them out for interfering in his work, so I guess I'll leave you to it." She sets the plates on the dining table, along with two wine glasses and two napkins, before realizing, "There are chopsticks in there, right?"

Corusca has posed:
    Miranda squints a little. "Alright, so skulduggery is out." She begins fishing into the bag and gets out a handful of sauce packets and.. ahah! Chopsticks. "I usually just use my hands." She confesses. "This is dim sum after all. It's not that messy." Miranda takes a moment to consider the food then consider Carol. "Sorry if the entrance was.. unexpected. I'll be honest that being a cloistered sort I sometimes miss when it comes to appropriate and not. And.. I still owe you an apology for killing the mood the other day." She opens up a container and sniffs at it. Then another. This one seems the flavor she's looking for and she plucks one of the little balls.. with chopsticks. Score one for civilized behavior in company.

Star Sapphire has posed:
    Carol takes her chopsticks and pulls out a fried turnip patty. Delightful. She uses the sticks like knives to cut them into bite-sized triangles as she says briskly, "No, Miranda, you don't owe me an apology. The mood is supposed to be about the person. If the mood is more important than the person, then I think something has gone wrong."
    She takes a bit of her turnip cake, no condiments. Yes. This turnip cake is good.

Corusca has posed:
    Miranda can't seem to find a flaw in that logic. She chews quietly on her pork dim sum ball. When she finally finishes it, she swallows and looks over at Carol. "You know.. for someone who's rich you seem remarkably well grounded." She smirks a little. "Sorry, that was supposed to be a compliment. I'll say.. wise beyond your years.. how's that?" She reaches out and places a hand on Carol's knee, giving it a little squeeze. "I've known people far older than you who didn't manage to figure that part out."

Star Sapphire has posed:
    Carol smiles at Miranda. "Thank you. But to be honest, I'm standing on the shoulders of the women who came before me. I've done a lot of reading into feminist theory and the dynamics of power in personal relationships, and there's a lot of stuff in there I instinctively grasped but never really knew on a conscious enough level to articulate, you know? I'm just glad I had the opportunity to learn those things."

Corusca has posed:
    "I'll be honest. I haven't read any of that in a very long time." Miranda laments. "It's just not been much of a priority when faced with other things. And.. well.. when you're part of a dysfunctional family you don't think about it much beyond yourself and your own problems." She puts down her chopsticks. "That's not me trying to make excuses. It just.. is. I know I've got problems. And how do I have problems." She snorts a laugh. "One of them is that I've never had a relationship that's lasted. So.. I haven't had much incentive. If that follows?"

Star Sapphire has posed:
    "I'll take your warning to heart," Carol banters, half-smiling. She eats more turnip cake. God, it's good. "So what books have you been reading?"

Corusca has posed:
    "Well, aside from your thesis.. which I'll admit I'm no genius when it comes to engineering so a lot of it is over my head.. I recently reread Silent Spring and 1984. Both of which are not what I'd call uplifting." She laughs at that and reaches for another container, sniffing at it again. "I was half tempted to go buy a trashy romance novel. Just to break the mood." She finds the container she was hunting for and takes up another dumpling. This time, it's shrimp. "You?"

Star Sapphire has posed:
    "Well, I just finished the Rubaiyat. A translation, obviously, but it's still a beautiful bunch of poetry. Have you read it?" Carol inquires.

Corusca has posed:
    "The writings of Omar Khayam?" Miranda seems impressed as Carol mentions it. "I have. Some of the language the Persians use.. one truly gets the impression that they valued beauty." To which she laughs. "Which is funny because most of the European scholars of the day focused on ethics and philosphy and you really didn't see a resurgence of art for another few hundred years with Raphael and Michelangelo. Then, of course, the Christian monks referred to the Norsemen as devils and depicted them with horns on their helmets which wasn't true.. when in fact the Norse were the first real culture to include women in their governmental process under the Thing." She smiles then. "Sorry, I've.. done a lot of reading about diverse cultures and.. honestly? Everyone thinks they're the best. Humanity is.. how to put this.. classically narcissistic?"

Star Sapphire has posed:
    Carol nods. "Oh, sure. That's the problem with ego. We struggle for self-definition and necessarily must find it by comparison to others. When we allow that viewpoint to emphasize the differences, then tragedy occurs. Human nature for you."

Corusca has posed:
    "So how did you come to pick that one up?" Miranda inquires with a curiosity now. "I ask because.. well.. most people these days don't want to read anything outside of the Western viewpoint let alone works by an author who lived a thousand years ago." She scoots on the couch to sit sideways, facing Carol.

Star Sapphire has posed:
    Carol frowns in thought. "Hm, now how did I...? I think that's one my mother recommended to me. I'll be honest, I've had the thing for two years before I finally made time. But I don't see why it should be so troubling to want to read a book from the East. If you don't like the book, then you can put it down and pick up a new one. It's like how terrified so many people are to try new foods. If you don't like it, then you're allowed to stop eating it and make something else, you know?" She smiles at Miranda.

Corusca has posed:
    "Are you?" Miranda seems skeptical. "I know many people who live by the clean your plate or if you took it you eat it rule." She winks. "Honestly, if people knew more about the world around them? There'd be less fear in the world. There's personal experience and then there's assumption. Sure, if your experience has taught you that a particular type of person isn't one to be trusted? Used car salesmen, say, then don't associate with them. But if you're working on assumption that say.. all lawyers are evil? Well.. talk to a lawyer. They might surprise you as to why they took on the profession."

Star Sapphire has posed:
    "Of course you are," Carol says, taking the question seriously despite the wink. "People get too attached to consumerist ideas; that value is measured in dollars instead of in an experience, and that not sticking with an idea because you paid for it is somehow wasteful. But I agree, people get too attached to categories. This group bad, that group good."

Corusca has posed:
"Okay, miss well read." Miranda begins teasingly. "Hypothetical for you. You're faced with a mythological creature. Two of them in fact. One is a pixie. All sweetness and light with shimmering wings and a beautiful face. The other is.. oh.. a dragon. Shimmering scales, huge wings, firey breath.. but with a maw that could devour virgins and claws that could surely tear a Buick in half with little effort. You have a choice of two paths in the wood. One leads to the pixie. The other to the dragon. But only one path will take you from the woods. Which path would you take?"

Star Sapphire has posed:
    "I know this sounds like a cheat, but I really do think it answers the question when I say: the path you take through the woods should be determined by where you're trying to get, not by who's on the way," Carol says seriously. "You let your goal determine your path, and you deal with whoever's along the way as best you can."

Corusca has posed:
    "Hmm. Yeah.. that is a cheat." Miranda eyes Carol with a shrew sort of amusement. "You were given the goal, get out of the woods, and presented with the barest of information. The same very basic information that many use to form simple predjudices. I've asked that question of probably a hundred people.. and nobody's yet to choose the dragon."

Star Sapphire has posed:
    "Well, sure," Carol says wryly. "If you sell it in terms of presenting all the dangers of one of the two options, then people will go for the one that sounds less dangerous. Or that you can handle with a flyswatter instead of a Black Arrow."

Corusca has posed:
    "Yes but then people are failing to realize that dealing with a pixie is like being handed a live grenade with the pin pulled but dealing with a dragon is more like handling an assault rifle." Miranda counters. "You have no idea when that fuse is going to burn out but at least with the gun if you treat it with respect it's not likely to go off."

Star Sapphire has posed:
    "Then include that in the sales pitch," Carol suggests reasonably. "When the only two examples people have to go off of are Tinkerbell and Smaug, that kind of skews the results you're looking for."

Corusca has posed:
    Miranda sticks out her tongue at Carol. "People need to read more." Sniffing once, she goes fishing for dim sum.. shrimp again. "There are countless tales of faeries where their bargains cost people far more than their lives. Dragons.. well.. while universally dangerous.. don't tend to bother themselves with the affairs of men. They largely nap and occasionally go eat a cow or four. People aren't worth their notice unless you're trying to steal from them. Or kill them. Which.. has happened more often than not in these stories so you really can't blame them for being grumpy." She shrugs. "Anyway, I'm not trying to pick a fight." To wit, she frowns a little and leans into the couch. "So do you actually live here?" She asks, changing the subject with a gesture of chopsticks. "It's almost like you knew there was a PI and rented this place out just to test me."

Star Sapphire has posed:
    Carol lets the subject drop. "I live at the office. I sleep here," she explains. "When I start to accomplish more of my goals, then I suppose I'll put some actual thought into this place, but as it stands? This is really just a shower stall and a bed to me, with a certain financial expectation attached that I maintain the necessary level of opulence and show it off when necessary through parties."

Corusca has posed:
    Miranda ahhs. "Fair enough. I guess you don't get to be the CEO without working your rear off." She acknowledges that with a sort of bob of her head. "I sort of.. came into it through osmosis. Not that I don't know a lot about finance. I do. But I don't know that I had to work for it the way you did. I don't even have a fancy degree." She lifts her wine in toast to Carol. "So you're doing better than I am. Home schooled, no college, no friends outside of the filthy rich families that I wouldn't call friends.. I envy you really." She sips her glass. "So what was college like? I hear it's where everyone goes wild."

Star Sapphire has posed:
    "I think the girls stopped going wild before my time," Carol says wryly, but returns the toast, clinking glass against glass. "College was fine. I question how much practical use I'll get out of the knowledge I obtained from courses, but if nothing else, trying to maintain studies and sorority duties and keep up with my piloting training taught me the value of cultivating stamina and prioritizing my time. How is homeschooling?"

Corusca has posed:
    "That.. is a hard question to answer." Miranda offers after a moment of considering her wine. "I had certain criteria to meet. Tests, you know? My tutor was well paid and I spent a few hours every day with them. I imagine it was easier being the sole student than being in a room full of people demanding your time. I could be flexible.. pick topics.. so long as I had the bases covered. I guess.. the best description would be lonely but effective?"

Corusca has posed:
    That.. seems to be a trick question. Miranda doesn't answer right away. In fact.. she stands up from the couch and takes a few steps towards the veranda, wrapping her arms around herself. "Trust?" She offers as if it's a confession. "Or lack of it."

    She turns around to face Carol and drops her arms. "It's a fact though. I don't trust.. people. Any people. I have minimal staff for that very reason. I'm largely self-sufficient and have no want for money so it's not as if I need people. Not to meet the necessities, anyway." Presumably food. "So." She shrugs with a lift and drop of her shoulders. "I get by on my own. It's not as if people have been good to me over the years." She adds the last bit defensively.

Corusca has posed:
    "Money. Right." Miranda cedes the point as if.. suddenly that's supposed to be the point of the argument. Her forehead knits then she unzips the jumpsuit and pulls it ooff of her shoulders, tying it at the waist. She's wearing a sports bra that's not the most sultry thing around so the gesture was more likely an effort to be freed than it was otherwise. She then plops back down on the couch and stares at the dim sum.

    She's like that for a few seconds before she turns her face quickly towards Carol, "So. Do you have any ideas? You seem to be the font of wisdom here. I'm grappling with deeply rooted trust issues and clearly like you enough to crash your place in a wild play for praise from an otherwise jet setting educated and intelligent individual." She smiles wanly. "How's that for self-analysis?"

Corusca has posed:
    Miranda leans back into the cushions of the couch and lifts her arms up to put her hands behind her head and squeeze her cheeks with her elbows. Her stomach tenses like she's doing a crunch. Then she relaxes and drops her arms to her stomach. "No. Not really. It's just me getting over a hurdle. Obsessing about it really. I.. do that." Her head rolls towards Carol and she tries to make sagacious eye contact. "I should probably warn you about that. I can get really.. protective? Guarded? I.. don't know that I'd call it jealousy. Maybe we're still talking trust issues. I want to trust you. It's very very tempting." She sits up again and shifts to face her on the couch. "As much as I listed all of the characteristics that I like.. that's not what's keeping me here. It's your patience. For that.. I want to say thank you."

Corusca has posed:
    Miranda watches Carol take her hand then looks up at Carol with a smile. The question seems to catch her off guard and she laughs. "I'm saying I don't trust easily. The fact that I'm in a room with you alone and trusting that I can talk to you sincerely is a huge plus. If you can think of another person that I might be able to trust enough not to rip their head off? Then.. who knows?"

    There's a beat as two and two are put together. "I.. take it you aren't?"

Corusca has posed:
    Miranda blinks twice. "Then you have me confused." She looks at Carol a minute then pushes her shoulder. "And that's easy to do so be nice." She sticks out her tongue. "Good grief, you had me on the ropes thinking I was about to become a part of your harem or something. I mean.." Now she's gesturing off in the air. "One or two others.. but I draw the line at three." Her attention returns to Carol in a saucey mien. "Okay? You heard that right? No orgies." She's teasing right?

Corusca has posed:
    Miranda squints then. "You're messing with me right?" There's a beat then she raises a hand. "No. Don't tell me. Honestly, I think we're putting the cart before the horse." The hand lowers to Carol's knee. "First we have to find out if we can stand each other. I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest a date. An actual date. Something.. anything.. you pick. After all, you saw my library. I want to see something you love."

Corusca has posed:
    "We have enough money between us to buy a small country and you came up with watch a movie?" Miranda is clearly amused. "Alright. Now was this going to be a movie out? Or a movie in?" It seems to make a difference. As.. private a person as she is.. it's not much of a surprise. "And.. call me sappy but if I'm going to call this a date movie.. no action horror suspense.. stuff."

Corusca has posed:
    "Ahh." Damnit. Miranda hmms. Thinks. Relents. "Alright. I'll bite. Though I can't say that I'm a huge popcorn or nachos, girl. I'm not big on empty carbs." Which likely explains her lean and muscular physique. "Though I suppose I'll relent and get a hot dog." She smirks a little there. "But here I go spoiling the surprise."