Welcome to Gaia! ::

Had Joy been aware of Aruna's prior knowledge, she might have been divided somewhere between smug pleasure at being known and vague annoyance at it being via the medium of Blarney, whom she found slightly exhausting at the best of times.

She arrived in all her usual questionably-earned glory, and certainly she had an air of self-possession that seemed to indicate a good head on her shoulders. Whether this was earned either was in truth also questionable, but she would have been pleased to prolong the opinion as long as she could.

It was probably assisted by a handshake that was both professional and friendly, and a smile that exposed both dimples and the kind of straight and white teeth that can only be bought with a great deal of financial investment. She looked like a queen and had the bearing of a competent professional, and then immediately opened her mouth and - as she often did - complicated the general impression.

"This ******** fake-out Autumn," she said cheerfully. "I hope it's cooler wherever we're going. I'm gonna buy stock in Unilever the way I'm burning through deodorant. Thanks for having me," she added.

Joy thought, not without a grim sort of wryness, of Aaru's Wonder and the conversation she'd had there.

"Doesn't bother me in the slightest," she said calmly, giving her a little thumbs up. "Got a couple of carcasses kicking around on the Garde, too," she added, and if that thought did make her sick, it had less to do with their being bodies and more to do with whose bodies they were. "And I've done both mass graves and underground lakes on Wonders before, so I feel," she said, sounding very cheerful, "very well prepared. Ready when you are."