Coffee talk, with Estelle de Havilland

[MarkK]

It was not a day of meetings, of speeches, of social events, of patrols, of training sessions or even just an idle walk through a park. No, he had been putting it off long enough for today to be a looming, inescapable marathon of paperwork. There were letters to be answered, reports to be filed, proposals and petitions seeking his support to read through, and even a few questionnaires sent by his own people from their more curious souls, seeking particular bits of information about the outside world.

The Emissary, staring out at his desk, idly pondered the probability of hiding under a blanket while everything magically sorted itself out actually working. The odds seemed fairly low.

And so it was with an exasperated huff, he set himself to resolving the far less glamourous side of his responsibilities.

[Heritage]

There is a gentle knock on the door frame, delivered not my a hand but a small golden 'fist' of hair, which is soon followed by the rest of Gossamer's golden tresses, and then the beautiful heroine herself, looking somewhat sheepish as she peeks in the Emissary's office. She nervously waves a tendril as she wrings her hands.

"Oh I'm so sorry, Emissary, I seem to have come at a bad time; I wanted to surprise you and say 'hello', thereby proving to myself that I can be fun and spontaneous, but now it appears I was merely being selfish." She strokes her elegant lip in thought. "Perhaps I should stick to being stodgy and patrician; it's what my family's always been good at, and there's something to be said for maintaining these quaint traditions."

[MarkK]

The brief flash of relief in his expression likely contributed to the sincerity of his cheery smile to see her.

"That you gift me with an escape from what was promising to be an unbelievably dreary day removes the possibility of selfishness, I think. Your suprise is entirely a pleasant one. Please come in and have a seat?"

He glanced out of the corner of his eye at the files and datapads he was now shifting to the side of his desk.

"Really. Please."

[Heritage]

The brief flash of relief in his expression likely contributed to the sincerity of his cheery smile to see her.

"That you gift me with an escape from what was promising to be an unbelievably dreary day removes the possibility of selfishness, I think. Your suprise is entirely a pleasant one. Please come in and have a seat?"

He glanced out of the corner of his eye at the files and datapads he was now shifting to the side of his desk.

"Really. Please."

Gossamer frowns as she looks at the work the Emissary is so eager to set aside. "Hmm. So it appears I'm to be your enabler in playing hooky." She enters the room and takes a seat, propping her chin on her fist. "You know, I should be delivering one of my father's lectures on the necessity of doing important work, no matter how dull or onerous." Then she winks. "But considering you do more to improve the lives of our species in a day than he did in two decades, I suppose I can let your truancy slide for now."

She laughs easily and crosses her long shapely legs. "To be honest, I was hoping you could join me in a bit of a celebration. You wouldn't happen to have any wine, would you?" She snaps her fingers. "Wait a minute, I forgot - I brought my own." From inside the depths of her locks she produces a 1982 Chateau Ausone, which she offers with dramatic flourish. "It's a lovely right bank Bordeaux; after about twenty years, you get these delightful hints of currant, raspberry and black cherry with a bit of spice. Also quite a bit of kick, to tell you the truth. Do you have any glasses?"

[MarkK]

He blinked at the flurry of her conversation, for a moment the flow of her hair giving her a brief semblance combined as some sort of overwhelming tide, sweeping him away. It was all he could do to manage the slight little start that was his tell of signifying he was otherwise blushing from her initial praise, before she was seated and moving well past now into wine.

"Ahm.. yes, I have glasses, certainly."

He rose up to his feet at that, moving to a side cabinet.

"I have not especially seen use out of them, but those responsible for this building's renovation felt the inclusion of such things would be traditional, and expected. Which is probably some sort of commentary on something or other, but I could not tell you what."

He returns, providing one for each of them.

"Oh! Admittedly yes, I am somewhat avoiding some bureaucratic work, but probably I will just get to it in a smaller hour of the evening or morning.. And also I am sure that your father contributed in various ways to those around him. If nothing else, without he and your mother, the city would lack for your own heroism, which I think would be a shame, personally."

[Heritage]

"Oh! Admittedly yes, I am somewhat avoiding some bureaucratic work, but probably I will just get to it in a smaller hour of the evening or morning.. And also I am sure that your father contributed in various ways to those around him. If nothing else, without he and your mother, the city would lack for your own heroism, which I think would be a shame, personally."

Gossamer dimples and smooths down her hair like it's a dress.

"Well, that's certainly nice of you to say. The truth of the matter is I shouldn't speak ill of anyone today, since I'm finally getting back on my own feet financially."

She gingerly uses her hair to extract the cork from the bottle, not unlike a squid prying shellfish from their homes, and fills both glasses before depositing the bottle on the side cabinet some distance away.

"I received my first wire transfer from Development Concepts; apparently the Gossamer Glitter collection is selling even better than anticipated." The blond heroine grins wryly and raises her glass in a toast. "To selling out without selling your soul...hopefully."

[MarkK]

"I say such things because I mean them." A firm sincerity to his tone.

He then lifts his glass in turn with a tilt to his head.

"How have you.. ahm.. sold out.. at all? From the sound of things, it is simply merchandise. I am certain I have seen my own face on the ocassional t shirt."

[Heritage]

"How have you.. ahm.. sold out.. at all? From the sound of things, it is simply merchandise. I am certain I have seen my own face on the ocassional t shirt."

Gossamer shrugs. "Well, that might be a bit melodramatic on my part." She swirls the glass and raises it to her nose. "Mmm, very nice." She takes a small sip and nods in satisfaction. "The licensing deal is going to go a long way to helping me adapt to the special needs of my new lifestyle." And here her hair rises up en masse before lowering back down; it never quite touches the ground, but instead twitches just above it like the tails of twenty playful cats.

"When Father cut me off from my inheritance, it wasn't so bad at first; it reminded me of my years at Harvard. My tuition was covered, of course, but I had to agree to work a part-time job for any spending money; Father thought it would give me 'real world experience' and develop character."

She smiles as she rolls up the sleeve of her jumpsuit to show a large burn on on the underside of her right forearm. "I got that from the door of a pizza oven; I loved it there, despite all the sweat. Got good tips, too." Estelle flutters her eyelashes and laughs, but then it quickly fades. "Of course, back then it was voluntary; I wasn't being frozen out of my own family."

She sighs and has another sip of wine. "So, a little extra income to buy a few things; nothing more."

[MarkK]

A bit of a sigh.

"Money. It seems to cause people so many problems. I am, I must admit, ocassionally impatient for your society to outgrow the need for a system rooted throughout time ultimately in the unequal distributions of agricultural surplus, advanced now to the unequal distribution and valuing of pieces of paper representing and underwritten by a gold standard who's value is itself completely arbitrary. Then verging on moving past even /that/ to some electronic ur system that does not actually exist anywhere, yet casts some down into destitution while raising up others into sheer decadence for all that it is but wisps of light and shadow with seeming no one willing to acknowledge that.. I know that will take a great deal of time though. It took my people centuries and we had the benefit of a completely unbroken chain of history and culture stretching back thousands of years."

He frowns at the burn, a briefly concerned look.

"Still, I don't think you should admonish yourself for supporting yourself. You are making your way, that is all."

A pause, reflecting on her words.

"Your father cut you off? That seems... may I ask why he would do such a thing? You needn't answer, I would not wish to pry, it simply seems extreme, considering especially your caliber of spirit."

[Heritage]

"Your father cut you off? That seems... may I ask why he would do such a thing? You needn't answer, I would not wish to pry, it simply seems extreme, considering especially your caliber of spirit."

Estelle chuckles mirthlessly as she takes a fairly substantial gulp of wine. "Mmm. I exposed my family to legal censure, and far worse, public scrutiny; the De Havillands are supposed to close ranks when the family is threatened, but instead I panicked, ignored years of training and conditioning, and sought professional help when I was exposed to illegally-procured Grue DNA at one of our labs." A tendril of hair spirals up to take her empty glass as she rubs her eyes. "And I'm the one who's done something unforgivable."

She sighs and leans her head back against her chair. "At least my sister Sunny still speaks to me, and Mother, when she's not too sick. Arthur and the twins won't have anything to do with me, but that's hardly new, at least for the twins; we've never really gotten along." A thin strand of gold stretches across the room to fetch the bottle and give her a refill. "I'm sorry, I've wandered into your house and seem determined to be drunk before noon; I'm a poor guest indeed."

[MarkK]

"I think I recall reading of this in my media research now.."

His frown deepened still all the same as he slid up to his feet and walked over to where a tendril of hair moved to fetch the bottle again, talking as he walked.

"I will say as preface. Generally I do not like sarcasm. I find it lazy, and try myself to avoid the habit. I do acknowledge that there are times however where it is the fastest way towards making a point when needs must be made quickly. With that in mind; Oh no, a devastatingly beautiful woman educated in this nation's finest institutions wishes to idle time away with me drinking expensive vintages of wine. Truly it must be said that this is an excruciating burden on my hospitality."

He very gently and deftly then eased the bottle out of the tendril of her hair with his fingers before she can pull it across the room, then returned to his seat.

"I will however impose upon you a single requirement while my guest. There will be no more apologizing by yourself, for yourself, whether for matters such as the rest of your family handling poorly a scandal that you handled reasonably, or for loving them deeply enough, and indeed, loving deeply enough that your response to such a thing is heartfelt sorrow, rather than a bitter cynicsm. It is better, at least to me, to acknowledge the sad parts of our hearts and that they will one day heal, rather than to try to just close them off from ourselves, which would be the unnatural thing. Visible signs of this overtaking a person in the interim are nothing I can mind or find issue with. They are as it should be. For my part I think it should be looked upon as a sign of trust in another person that someone would be willing to show such emotion in front of them, something to at least respect, given the walls people often build around themselves."

"Now with all that said, I would like you to consider the idea of my approaching your family on your behalf. I am something of a social and diplomatic presence of decent heft, and no child should be estranged from her family over something like this. Please do not answer now, please just consider the idea. Bear in mind that as a social and diplomatic presence, I am in fact persistent and relentless. Some have managed to even find this terrifying."

A light, if warm smile.

[Heritage]

A smile slowly forms on Gossamer's lips, and when the Emissary is finished with his heartfelt 'pep talk', she nods; her golden strand politely retreats from the vicinity of the wine bottle without any comment from its owner.

"Fair enough. At the very least, you need to meet my sister Sunny, better known as Soliel de Havilland-King, wife of the US ambassador to Japan; I think you would get a kick out of each other, and she has a lot of leverage in the family."

The blonde heroine sighs and closes her eyes for but a moment, and the levels her earnest gaze at the Utopian ambassador.

"There was another reason I came here today, and that was to seek out your advice; this so-called hero business is somewhat baffling to me, and while I doubt you're the sort to bandy about that label, it does seem to rest confortably upon your shoulders."

She leans forward as she warms to the subject, carefully depositing her glass on the sideboard.

"How should I best spend my time? What is the most effective use of my powers? The charity event was a good start, and I enjoyed that and felt we did some tangable good, but I must admit I've felt a bit out of sorts since then. It's as though...nothing else seems as worth while as that. Should I spend my day swinging about the city, hoping something horrible happens? That seems grossly inefficient and entirely too reactive of a strategy."

Gossamer throws up her hands in frustration.

"Being a good person I understand, and it comes to me naturally, but this...this is very hard work, which I like, but I don't yet have the tools to figure it out on my own." She shrugs. "So, I turn to you for guidance in my hour of need."

[MarkK]

A thoughtful look.

"I hope nothing will be thrown at me if I point out that being a good person, in and of itself, should make certain that opportunities for heroism will come your way.."

"But.. and this may sound odd coming from someone who can be a bit verbose now and then, is there not an expression, go with what you know? Perhaps you are right now overcomplicating things? You are at the beginning of your heroic career, and I would note that if the word applies to me, it does to you as well, a place to build up from. Consider that maybe the way to do that is just to start from 'as a good person, what would I normally want to do as far as the people and city around me' . Then add to that, 'and how could my superpowers enhance so doing, or faciliate it?'"

[Heritage]

Gossamer squints her eyes and gives her host a playful 'Oh you clever rogue' look, then laughs. "I suppose you're right. One of the problems with having an advanced education is you can't turn it off; overthinking comes to me as naturally as breathing."

After a few moments, a thought strikes her. "You know, we should probably work together from time to time, patrolling and what not." She extends her a lock of hair so that it gently rests against the silver skin of the Emissary's cheek. "Complementary metallic shades are going to be huge this season; Donatella told me so herself."

Estelle grins, but the hair remains for a few seconds as the sensitive pseudo-nerves in each fiber thrill at the unusual texture of man's face; the blond heroine looks slightly mortified as the tendril is withdrawn. "I'm so- I mean..." She sighs and makes a fluttery wave of the hand. "Ah, what the hell. The wine is delightful and I find you very intriguing; no more apologies, right?"

Gossamer closes her eyes and sighs contentedly. "I also think we should do a charity concert; I can brush up on my guitarwork, make a few phone calls and see if we can get the Liberty Dome. I think that would be fun."

[MarkK]

He smiles brightly at her initial suggestion

"I would be delighted to join in with you on some shared patrols of the city, I-"

And trails off entirely at the lock of hair stroking and lingering over his cheek, the silvered metal of his erstaz skin suprisingly warm to the touch.

"I.. I ah.. I am blushing deeply right now. It just.. doesn't actually show. I never quite know if I should actually say that or not.."

He bites into his lip for a moment, then takes an extremely needless breath.

"Ah.. I like the idea of a charity concert, but I am a bit dubious at my prospects of entertaining through song. I know from the Freedom League's Christmas party that there are several others who are gifted in that area though.. it could be something to sponsor, help organize and lend name to, if nothing else."

[Heritage]

"I.. I ah.. I am blushing deeply right now. It just.. doesn't actually show. I never quite know if I should actually say that or not.."

Gossamer sits up and smirks. "In this case, I'm glad you chose to mention it; I won't press you, partly because I don't wish to make you uncomfortable, and partly because I'm not sure...how far such a relationship could go, for a wide variety of reasons."

"Ah.. I like the idea of a charity concert, but I am a bit dubious at my prospects of entertaining through song. I know from the Freedom League's Christmas party that there are several others who are gifted in that area though.. it could be something to sponsor, help organize and lend name to, if nothing else."

The blond heroine nods. "All in good time, we don't need to rush into anything; as I said, I need to work a bit more on my guitar. And I know people who know people; maybe we can some local or even national acts to sign on."

Gossamer stretches and shakes her head as though to rouse herself, sending ripples throughout her resplendent golden mane.

"So, patrolling; would you be up for trying that sometime this week? I'd hate to cut into your exciting paperwork schedule, but I'm free most nights."

[MarkK]

He blinked at that.

"How far..? I do not follow.."

A thoughtful sort of pause, where he seems to just be letting his mind run forward.

"I would suppose if you mean, I am constructed in a full synthetic approximation of life that is fully-"

And then he catches up with his thoughts and his expression shifts to resemble when he noted blushing.

"So, yes, patrols! Yes, that sounds like a good idea if you are seeking to develop a familiarity with doing them. I think something could be arranged this week."

Said only a bit quickly.