Yue

 24th December

14:15 GMT -5

Jade looks at the embassy's dolmen gate with the sort of impassivity she usually shows when she's concerned that she might feel nervous and is pre-emptively clamping down on it.

"What does it feel like?"

M'gann shakes her head. "It doesn't really feel like anything. Like.. stepping through thin air."

M'gann is wearing her shape shifting clothing, this time having it assume the appearance of a formal chiton/himation combination. It's mostly blue in colour, presenting a contrast to her chalk white skin tone.

Kon nods. "The first time I went through one, it took me a moment to realise that I'd actually gone anywhere."

He on the other hand is wearing pink. Alright, the outer layer is purple but the tunic beneath is clearly a good deal lighter. Given how basic his actual taste in clothing is, I imagine that it's something that Diana picked out for him. He's also wearing the diadem Io made for him, and every so often he reaches up to check that it hasn't fallen off. Mister J'onzz was wearing something similar right up until he saw that Alan was wearing jeans and a shirt and Diana's in what I recognise as her 'party frock' chiton. Paula and Artemis are actually dressed more like Jade; I don't think that Themyscira has ever seen an Ao Dai before, and-.

Should I have warned Paula that she might get attention of a sort she might not be prepared for? A still-athletic older woman with two physically capable daughters would have been considered a good catch in the old city. Not sure how it.. works now. The sample size of foreign women who visit is just too small. I know I already warned Artemis… Oh, I'm sure that she can take care of herself.

I'm wearing my Orange Lantern Corps robes, because even if being a Themysciran citizen means that I've got to wear a dress then at least I don't have to wear a frilly thing. Sword of the Fallen and Ace of Winchesters, because I'm not an idiot…

Diana looks over the assembled party. "If everyone is prepared?"

I attach a filament to Jade to share my enhanced ambient light vision. Themyscira is eight hours ahead and the sun there has long since set. Even if it is effectively late second spring for them, and… Huh. Which means that the sun must be setting later for them than it is for everyone else at the same longitude. Some sort of… Lensing effect? Or do the Five just heat and light the island with magic and not bother with-.

Everyone's moving, and Jade grips my left hand with her right and gives me a small tug to make sure that I'm aware of the fact just as Diana walks through the gate. As described, there's no flash of light or other indication of arcane movement, just day changing into night a few hours ahead of schedule. After Diana goes Kon, arm in arm with M'gann. Then Mister J'onzz, as -I snigger inwardly- Kon's girlfriend's kyrios, and then the rest of us in the order of our physical closeness to the gate as this is one of the older ones and isn't big enough for more than two people to pass abreast.

24th December

22:15 GMT +3

Diana heads down the steps on the far side of the gate to greet Captain Philippus. There's a small honour guard, but I imagine that they're more here to herd the tourists than anything else.

Yes, Philippus gives the party a quick once-over and then turns away, walking side by side with Diana in the direction of the inner city. The escort fall back a little to allow the rest of us to follow them as a huddle rather than make us march in single file. Kon, M'gann and Mister J'onzz stick close to Diana while Paula and Alan take a moment to look around. I note that he's done what I did and extended a filament to Paula and Artemis.

I lean a little towards Jade as we reach the plaza. "First impressions?"

"They have hoplites on guard duty."

"Three thousand years of isolation will do that to a people. And I meant about-."

"The air. It smells… Fresh. Fresher than I'd have expected for a people who don't have a modern sewage system."

A guard-. Ah, reflective skin, it's Zosime. Zosime comes up alongside Jade on the opposite side to me. "It can get a bit high in the summer. I think that is why the city has gradually moved up hill over the centuries."

"Jade, this is Zosime." Jade frowns curiously as she takes in the metallic parts of Zosime's skin. "Zosime, this is Jade. I've mentioned-."

"Yes, the one whom you love so greatly that you can walk into a Themysciran bathhouse without your virtue being distracted."

"It was clearly marked as the male bath."

Jade turns her head my way, eyebrows raised in amusement. "You didn't tell them about the spider girl, then?"

Zosime grins. "Pavlos, have you seduced Arachne? Are your tastes so bestial that we poor mortal women hold no appeal?"

"She told me it was a spiracle! And thanks, Jade."

Zosime's eyes widen and her jaw drops a little. "You actually did seduce Arachne?"

"As I understand Greek law, as the head of her own household she didn't require permission from-."

"You did?!"

"It was a perfectly reasonable misunderstand-."

"Hahahaha!"

"Thanks, Jade."

"You should be grateful I took it so well."

"But did your Arachnehahaha!"

"We haven't really been back in contact since."

Zosime gets a good enough grip on herself to frown. "Oh, that is poor manners, Pavlos! I expected better! Even in the Old City, a man would remain in contact with the women he accompanied during the Dionysia! You may have sired a son upon her who will need your guidance once he is no longer fed from the teat."

"That-. No, look, she looks like-" I hold out my right hand and generate a construct of the Queen and myself. "-that, we're clearly too physically-"

Zosime's eyes widen and she clamps both hands over her mouth to muffle her guffaws. One of the other guards frowns at her, then gapes as she too catches sight of the construct.

"-dissimilar to…" Why do I even bother?

"I'm sorry, did you say 'son'?" Paula comes up on my right, looking as if she can't entirely credit what she just overheard but can't afford to disregard it either.

"Pavlos coupled with a giant crab-spider!" Zosime points at the why have I still got that. "Perhaps the children would be in the manner of centaurs, but with twice the number of legs? Or perhaps they would have a human lower-."

"Humans and Spider Guilders can't interbreed. And it was a misunderstanding."

Jade nods. "With both hands."

"Both hands?"

"You could see the size of-." No!

"Hahaha!"

Change the subject. Now.

"How's Elpis getting on?"

"She's-. Haha!" Zosime wipes her eyes. "She is trying to pretend that the last few months of a pregnancy are anything but a maddening toil with which women are cursed."

Paula frowns. "I.. thought that only women lived on Themyscira?"

"I-."

"We have no need for other men." Zosime points to me. "We have Pavlos. An entire generation of Themysciran girls are named for him!"

Aaaaaaaagh!