Diplomacy [[Gina]]

[The Horned Frog]

The sun shone bright upon the island of New Masada, a typical day for its location in the South Pacific. Breezes from the sea fill the island campus of the University of New Masada up with fresh air and a sense of relaxation. The new glass and steel buildings provide a contemporary style alongside the Greco-Roman influenced plazas of marble and concrete, enticing student movement between the specialized buildings. In the middle of the campus, the Great Hall loomed like a temple of protection. A headquarters for the Great Alliance, the Tartalian braintrust, and the newly created Zion Corps. Heading towards the building was the ever busy, ever black-clad Horned Frog.

David was on his way to have another meeting with Gina, the alien princess that represented the Tartalians. Luckily, this was going to be a more casual meeting between the two. No hard-pressed strategies about how to fight the Imperium, no debates over matters of legal movement into the nations of Earth, and no facepalming over budgets or political pressure. These human matters were frustrating to both the Foreigner and the Tartalian head of state.

Ever since the Tartalians had arrived to Earth, it was all business. Revealing information there, sharing ideas here, and dealing with this looming threat to both species. Yet this time would be different. They would actually sit down, lounge for a while, and get to know each other on a personal level. No other members of the Alliance, no Tartalian Guard observing their actions, it's just a nice sit down with a good chat to talk about the little things. Not to mention that those leather chairs in the lounging area were comfy enough to fall asleep on.

Within a matter of minutes, he had found himself a seat in the Lounging area and leaned back upon the comfy black leather chair. The colors of the room were a calming sky blue with white marble floors, along with objects that would soothe a Tartalian's mind. He sighed out of content, even though he should have worn some civilian clothes. Just to give the impression that it was relaxed get together, an excuse to take a break and enjoy the luxuries that New Masada Island did possess. Since before the island became what it was today, it used to be a luxury resort for the rich and famous.

And then, came in the Tartalian Princess. Since coming to Earth, she had adopted a human appearance to her. Her dark hair had a blueish accent to her in one long braid down her back to hide her spinal spikes, while she had blue eyes and an angular face. Her skin is a slight peach flesh, an appearance very different from the one he was much more familiar with. David was more acquainted with the green scaled skin, pink hair, pointed ears, and yellow eyes. Also, Gina had an initially built Tartalian body but yielded to a more slimmed down, yet very athletic body. At this point she could easily fit into any major city or place with very little hassle.

Standing up once he saw her, the Horned Frog gave her a Japanese-esque bow and extended out his hand. His voice was very calm and soothing compared the usual business-like tone they had in prior meetings. "I'm happy to be able to spend some personal time with you, Princess," David said, offering a sincere smile and a happy demeanor. It wasn't everyday that any human would hold an audience with a member of an alien royal family. And in a way, he was happy to be in this position. Despite the circumstances, if the Tartalians didn't come with the grave news of an upcoming invasion from a hostile civilization...he wouldn't change his interaction with Gina at all.

[gina]

Gina regarded her surroundings with wide, speculative eyes as she made her way towards the Great Hall. Though she'd been sure to explore virtually everywhere within reasonable transportation means, Gina had long since realized that it was the people that made the place, not the other way around. Any given space was more interesting than the day before due only to the creatures that occupied it, and she found it thoroughly fascinating, though her pride dismissed it as observing the co-inhabitants. Being a princess and whatnot, it would be thoroughly unpatriotic of her to admit that she had more interest in an alien race - though she supposed in this case she was the alien - than her own at present.

What was more intriguing, even, was that she was about to meet up with one of them - not for a meeting or a debate or a negotiation, but to, well, hang out. That wasn't something she did often, even with members of her own species. Though she very much appreciated a good time and in fact loathed the hours and hours that had to be put in to her position, with such an unbridled threat looming about, she didn't have much time to go out and make nice-nice with the humans around her. It figured that the one she was about to spend the afternoon with was a political connection.

And she certainly hoped to spend the whole afternoon with him. Not only because she was starving for social interaction of the non-interspecial-alliance kind or that the rest of her schedule was clear for the day, but because she might have potentially slipped out without permission to keep this arrangement. Gina, naughty little princess that she was, had recognized almost immediately that the Tartalian guard would not easily allow her to go anywhere on her own, even if it was to meet someone they were familiar with. It wasn't that they didn't trust David - although they didn't, just on the principal that they granted no one outside their own with the compliment called "trust" - but that they didn't trust her, which was more than fair, she mused. After all, she took every opportunity she had to slip off and do things she was not exactly permitted to. She wouldn't trust her, either.

But most of these thoughts, too, were to soothe her besotted pride, because the basic fact of the matter was that at least four members of her guard had seen her stealthily crawling behind him on the grass, but had smiled to themselves and pretended not to notice; and Gina, determined to be what humans referred to as a "ninja," had erased that part from her mind. She'd snuck out, and that was that.

She approached the Great Hall with due awe, tugging on her braid with one hand. It had become a bit of a habit, that, as she could never get used to the unceasingly long tendril of hair. She'd considered simply shortening it, but had found that she quite liked it - and she loved the dramatic snap! it made every time she huffily whipped her head to the side and stormed off. Not that she ever did that, of course, because she was a mature and stoic heir to the throne.

Before she'd even reached him, he stood up to greet her, and she gave a half-smile at the interesting formalities some humans exchanged while others greeted each other with a punch, a scene she'd witnessed only moments previous out on the steps. "Same to you, ambassador," she replied, offering her own quirky grin. It felt nice to be her own person again after so much time spent being her people's protector, a role that even she had to admit was not particularly suited for her. She was still clinging to the shreds of a normal Tartalian girl that were left over from her life before leaving her planet.

[The Horned Frog]

Ambassador is a name that David wasn't really used to. The Foreigner, the Horned Frog, and many other not so wonderful names that are worth repeating; those are the names that David was familiar with. Compared to the others, this was an honorable title. Through it all, he represented humanity. Whether he was showing the best of mankind or the worst of it, that assumption would be up to the Tartalians to make. For David, everything is going so far, so good. At least he wanted to think so. But for now, in an effort to feel out the Tartalian Princess in terms of personality, viewpoints, and opinions was the highest priority.

Seeing that his hand was set forth in a handshake position, he pulled it back. David had easily forgotten that Tartalians are very unfamiliar with the concept of the greeting. It took him back for that first meeting over one year ago, when this civilization came to Earth. The interaction between the alien princess and the Horned Frog were awkward to say the least. At first, him and the other human representatives for Earth were unable to find a reasonable way to communicate with the Princess. Speech was out of the question, as was any form of charades. Writing was the only option from there, but even that was useless to the Horned Frog. He had remembered Gina sharing worried looks with her confidants, as if these people from beyond the stars were giving up on humanity. As the other representatives of his party were thinking the same, his mind flashed to a very familiar Yggdrasilian.

That was it. Belldandy was the main source of information. So with the touch of the helmet and he had placed a call to the Morisato household, where he carefully described the squiggles and markings that Gina had created from her clawed fingertips in a sand like apparatus that the Tartalians employed to communicate in written form. Almost instantly, the goddess's voice lit up and the dialogue sparked into understanding. Taking that knowledge like a sponge of information, the dry erase board and pen moved in ways that were different than common human writing. But once he had showed the opposite group what he had written, the expression of the Princess turned from disappointment and worry into jubilation. From there, everything changed. And changed drastically.

Now...one year later, Gina was capable of speaking English and Japanese flawlessly and for David, the Tartalian language was among the tongues that he could speak. It was actually a fun party trick for the other Alliance members, but also useful when it came to extracting important intel from the religious leaders for history, government, and culture of the Tartalian race. And together, the two civilizations were preparing for the great threat: the Imperium. Despite everything that was going on, this is a rather quiet time for these two. A time to take it easy, before revving up the engines once again.

"So Princess, is there anything on the island that you want to do? Or should I show you around in one of Earth's more interesting settings?" he asked, returning the smile the Princess had given him. For once, he figured that they would have some fun while getting to know one another. Just a hop into the custom black Osprey variable airplane a short walk away and they could easily be anywhere in the world. Since he was sure that Gina hasn't seen either Tokyo or New York City in person before. Also, she had the form to easily walk around among the normal human populace. So if the Tartalian Princess was ready to go out and about, the Horned Frog would easily oblige.