(2014-04-30) Villa Tour in White
Villa Tour in White
Summary: As agreed, Emma accompanies Laurel to the moon to tour her Lunar Villa
Date: 2014-04-30
Related: Moon Maiden's School Tour, Another School Visit by Moonlight
NPCs: NA
Scene Runner: NA
Social/Plot: Social
Players:
white-queen..moon-maiden..

Imagine, if you will, a Roman Villa. A small town, essentially, built in the style of the Romans. On the Moon. A few hours ago, Laurel picked Emma up for their "date". The Moon Maiden carried the minsub up up up and away outside the atmosphere and to the moon. Drawing her through the force field that holds the air in the villa and then, Laurel knocks on the sub. "You can come out!" Laurel calls out. When Emma emerges, Laurel's beaming. Pleased to show off her home. Her villa on the moon. Gleaming and clean. An impossible place from an ancient age.

To be fair, Emma isn't really sure what to expect with all of this. She was able to secure a small submarine, and had the unit fitted with sufficient air tanks for a single person for 48 hours. She is reasonably sure that when she told the crew doing the final fitting work that she didn't have a seaborne destination for the vehicle, and wanted it to remain in clean dry dock on Long Island Sound, they thought she was crazy. So be it. They likely also thought she was a tad nuts for insisting on such comfortable amenities inside. But she's rich; why be uncomfortable when it isn't necessary?

Deciding on an outfit for this particular outing was a challenge, but one Emma was always up to tackling. As usualy with her, the end result is a combination of clothing, accessories, jewelry, hairstyle and makeup that is stunning to behold, the sort of vision of perfection usually reserved for classic movie moments. And she moves with similar grace and poise, even when climbing a small ladder to extricate herself from the sub once they have landed, white gloved hand in Laurel's as she then makes her way down the sub to the ground. "No photographs you could have brought back would have done this justice. A unique and beautiful treasure. Thank you for sharing it with me."

Laurel helps Emma down. Without powers for the moment. "Thank you for sharing it with me." She says. "The Villa is powered by the Alchemical Engine. One of the most powerful mystic devices ever constructed. It provides me with oxygen food, water, keeps the place clean… would you like refreshment? We can walk through the exedra or use the baths. The serving spirits can bring us something to drink in the tepidarium."

In truth, Emma doesn't often end up taking the hand of another woman to steady herself, but she takes it well and naturally. "Truly amazing." she murmurs, offering a tiny smile to Laurel. "Why don't we just take a tour, for the moment. Show this beautiful, quite magical place to me, as only someone intimately familiar with its wonders can, and let me soak it up. We can have something to eat a bit later, I am sure." She indulges herself in a brief, soft chuckle. "A walk by moonlight, no matter what time of the day or night."

In truth, Emma doesn't often end up taking the hand of another woman to steady herself, but she takes it well and naturally. "Truly amazing." she murmurs, offering a tiny smile to Laurel. "Why don't we just take a tour, for the moment. Show this beautiful, quite magical place to me, as only someone intimately familiar with its wonders can, and let me soak it up. We can have something to eat a bit later, I am sure." She indulges herself in a brief, soft chuckle. "A walk by moonlight, no matter what time of the day or night." <re>

"The lights are actually an alchemical substance." Laurel says, motioning towards the glowing panels in the roof of the cavern. "They glow and follow a natural cycle of night and day according to time in Rome." Of course. She leads the way up a set of stairs towards a columned building. "You could call this area the courtyard or the podium. The alchemical engine creates the water in the fountains by combining hydrogen and oxygen gathered from the lunar surface."

Emma chuckles softly and shakes her head. "All true, I am sure. But rather missing the poetry of it all, Laurel." Still, she follows along gladly ont eh tour, oohing and ahhing appropriately as she explains the wonder of the fountains and water systems in the villa. "Most impressive. Better, even, than the advanced technologies at the Mansion."

"Magic." Laurel says proudly. "And science. Alchemy." She leads the way inside. "The portico. What you would call the front porch. The Hundred would have debates in the ancient Greek style out in the courtyard then retire here for refreshments." Indeed, there are exactly one hundred leaning couches in the ancient Roman style aligned along the long porch.

Pretty damned amazing, all told. Emma takes a moment to lay out on one of the couches, just so that she can say she did. It's all a part of making herself part of the whole experience of the place. "And is that how they taught you to debate? Lounging here after dinner?"

Laurel watches Emma. Surely, a woman who would have been home in the high society of ancient Rome. "No." She says, staying where she is, hands clasped. "The Hundred were dead long before I was created. I was… well, the best way to put it was I was a program. Set to go off the first time a human stepped into this structure. I was built right then and there."

Emma nods slightly. "And when you at ast returned here, years ago, to embrace the destiny of your creation? Did they teach you how to debate then?" Emma inquires. She finds Laurel's very existence fascinating, a curiosity like few others. The young woman is clearly a modern young woman, but steeped in ancient traditions and background, including the very mysteries of magic itself. It is quite a thing to ponder.

"There are lessons. Examples. Recordings of hours upon hours of debates. I've watched many of them." Laurel explains. She motions with her hand and ghostly servants appear. Clad in the simple shifts of ancient Roman slaves, they are transluscent and have no minds. No actual sentience. The alchemical equivalent of robots, it appears. They do carry real wine, however. "Conditura," Laurel explains as she accepts her glass, "Wine sweetened with honey and tempered with herbs. Don't worry, the goblets aren't made from lead. The Hundred knew it was dangerous."

"Ah. So their spirits do not accompany you, here, despite the magical nature of the place or the spirits seen operating. I stand - or is it recline - corrected." Emma offers, nodding her affirmation. "My apologies for an erroneous assumption." She sits up, and graciously accepts the conditura offered, sipping to sample its bounty. "I confess, though I have heard of it, I have not had an opportunity to partake before. Another in a collection of firsts for me, it would seem." She extends her glass, to clink with Laurel's, as she stands. "I assume a place of such high learning as this has some manner of library?"

"In the way a computer does." Laurel says. She sits down on one of the couches and reclines, resting on one elbow. Using the other to hold her goblet of wine. "The Hundred recorded their wisdom in the Alchemical Engine. I can replay it much like a video on a computer. It is projected as a holograph-like illusion. History. Philosophy. Alchemy. Natural sciences. Engineering…"

"But not so interactive as a spirit might - in theory - be. Thus being the difference in what I imagined, and what you have yourself experienced." Emma sips more of the adulerated wine, as they keep each other company. "I assume you knew you were different from a relatively early eage? Even before you were able to come here to learn about the depths of your origin?"

Laurel seems comfortable in a position most modern Westerners would find awkward. She has no problem leaning on one elbow, drinking her wine. "I was the star of the soccer team when I was eight. I was doing college level math by the age of ten. I absorbed latin, as you might imagine, like a sponge. I was always… gifted. But it wasn't until I turned sixteen that I discovered how different I was. What about you, Emma? Even without your telepathy you're… exceptional."

The white-clad blonde chuckles wryly. "I was perhaps not so exceptional as yourself when I was younger, before my powers fully awakened. I was certainly not a slouch in my educational pursuits, but my accomplishments previously pale in comparison to what I achieved after the awakening." She never mentions spending time in a psych ward. "I would say my awakening caused more than a bit of a stir. And none of that compares to what I was capable of afterwards, just several years ago." When the Spectre's curse was lifted.

Laurel considers that for a moment. "And now, you're guiding the next generation of metahumans. Those who will come after us. I know you've got Power Woman's cousin in your classes and I know Marvel Girl went to your school. That's quite the responsibility."

Emma nods. "Both true, of course, and more. It is quite a responsibility, and one I take quite seriously." Emma took the job specifically because of that responsibility, and what it meant to her. "I hope to see the next generation do better than we have."

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