Participants:
| Scene Title | It's Still Ivy League |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Cat visits Columbia, looking for something. |
| Date | November 4, 2008 |
From Dorchester Towers she comes, on this Tuesday morning, with gloved hands tucked into the coat she wears and hair loose down her back. Cat's in jeans and a Yale sweatshirt under it, the coat open enough so the name of her alma mater can be seen to any and all she comes across. Her nearly always present guitar case and backpack are slung across opposite shoulders as her eyes are slowly scanning the campus and buildings.
She's on a mission, one which she believes requires university level resources and possibly people too.
Jennifer, for her part, is on campus on a Tuesday morning. She happens to be betwixt classes right now, so she's got her jacket and jeans on, backpack slung over her shoulder, as she heads from one class towards the next. She hasn't noticed Cat yet…but then, she's not really looking for anyone.
A familiar face is spotted while conducting this scan for buildings which look most like science courses are held in them, along with experimentation and research. The structures themselves might not tell her anything of their contents simply by how they look, but there could be signs which tell her which way to choose. This activity, however, is abandoned due to sighting Jennifer. Her feet begin carrying her to cross paths, and she speaks up to catch the student's attention. "Morning," she calls out.
Jennifer looks over at the voice, and then smiles. "Oh, Cat! Hey there! How's it going?"
"Not bad, Jennifer," Cat replies with her own smile. She catches up and matches her pace with the shorter brunette. But then again most females, whether blonde, brunette, or otherwise, are shorter. "You?" She lets her eyes wander around the campus again for a moment before settling on the student's face again.
Jennifer smiles. "Pretty good. Just in between classes. What's got you up here?" She seems surprised, since she knows Cat's not a student.
"Science," Cat replies with a mock conspiratorial tone to her voice. Or is she just faking being fake conspiratorial. "I wanted to do a little research on botany, look into plants that might be recently discovered. Brand new species, y'know? This is one of the best places in New York for it. Both finding professors to ask things and journals, research papers, from other locales."
She takes a pause after stating her purpose, breaking the silence with a bit of mild teasing. "It's not Yale, of course, but it's Ivy League and not Harvard, so it can't be all bad."
Jennifer seems surprised. "Botany? Not really my specialty, but I'm sure they've probably got more books than you'd ever want in the library. Why the sudden interest in plants?"
Interesting. Cat's head tilts to study the young student for a moment, as she tries to figure out if Jennifer is being deliberately non-disclosive or if she hasn't been told of the paintings yet. "It's something I recently became curious about, basically," she soon answers. "I saw a picture of a certain plant once, and I've been trying to find it again, learn more about it, but I've found nothing. So I'm hoping to look through new books and periodicals, to see if maybe it's a newly discovered species. Or something maybe created through GM experiments. That might mean talking with professors to see if they've got data not in general circulation." It's the truth, without exposing things Helena might not have spoken of or shown
The other girl seems to legitimately not know anything about paintings. Or plants. "I could try and show you to the right department? But honestly, that's about as far as I'm likely to be useful. I'm a drama student, not a botanist." An apologetic smile follows.
"Cool," Cat replies with a grin. "Thank you so much." She's ready to head wherever Jennifer leads. "Drama. You're an aspiring actress? I studied music, political science, and law at Yale. Music beats all others, though." She shakes her head a few times. "Parents and their plans, y'know?" And her smile widens, something coming into her eyes. "But there was this one who studied journalism. The best friend a girl could have and oh, so hot."
Jennifer nods, and she starts to lead the way off towards the life sciences building. "I can't even imagine a workload like that. I have my hands full just with drama. And yeah, that's sort of the plan. I don't know that I've got what it takes, but gotta have a dream and all, you know?"
"It helps," Cat shares in a quiet voice, "if you never forget anything." Just what that means she doesn't elaborate on. "Do you, or did you, dream of acting on Broadway? Hollywood films? Television?" Her longer legs threaten to take her ahead of the student guiding her path, so she slows the pace.
Jennifer smiles. "I love musicals. I did a bunch in high school. So getting into theater would be great. As far as Hollywood…" She indicates herself, amused. "I'm not the Hollywood type, I think."
"Musicals." Now Cat is even more interested in what Jennifer says while they're walking along. "So you're a singer. Do you dance too, are you the coveted triple threat?"
Jennifer laughs. "I would -probably- fall on my face if I tried to dance. But I'm planning to take some classes on it. But yeah, singer, soprano." She shrugs a little, with a faint blush. "Mostly just high school stuff so far."
"Soprano." Cat lets her eyes wander for a moment to see how close they are to other people, and adjusts the volume of her voice so what she does next won't draw too much attention, with a broadening smile. And she sings a snippet of the female part in Meatloaf's Paradise By The Dashboard Light. "I gotta know right now! Do you love me, will you love me forever? Will you take me away and make me your wife? I gotta know right now, will you looooove me forevvvvver?"
Jennifer grins at the singing. "You're good." She admits. "But then you're doing this professionally, you're supposed to be good."
"You'll get there," Cat assures. She turns her head and studies the student for a moment, but not in a way that a woman into other women might. Or does she? "You're an Ivy leaguer, for all I know you had parents who insisted you be well-rounded, a renaissance woman." Her eyes roll a bit. She has much familiarity with that kind of backstory.
Jennifer smiles. "No. My parents are very new-agey, very relaxed. They're great. Totally not the kind of people to get all demanding over my educational choices."
"You got lucky," Cat replies, "with such easygoing 'rents. Did they try to point you toward music and performing, though, at all? I hope they were supportive, encouraging to go whatever way you chose with confidence."
Jennifer smiles. "Oh, they encouraged me with it. They paid for the voice lessons, and came to see my performances. Mom and Dad kind of went with the whole "whatever makes you happy" kind of thing.
"Cool," the taller one enthuses as the pair get closer to the life sciences building. "Do you play instruments at all?" Cat, curious. Hopefully it won't kill her.
Jen shakes her head as she heads up to the building with Cat. "Just voice, I'm afraid. I tried learning piano, but I don't have the patience for it." She grins a bit.
"So sing a few bars," Cat suggests. "I want to hear your voice." Silence follows, to listen, while she also mulls over the plant from that artwork.
Jennifer blinks. She wasn't expecting to be called up with no notice. She clears her throat once, takes a few deep breaths, and then begins to sing "Popular" from Wicked.
In listening, Cat is appraising. A playful smile breaks out at the surprised blinking. She makes note of the pitch Jennifer's voice tends toward, whether it's airy or more projective, and rates the general quality.
Jennifer's definitely got a high pitch; she's a soprano verging to mezzo-soprano, but she's got good projection, and she's pretty good as a singer. She could do it professionally.
"You'll be rocking Broadway in a few years, Jennifer," she remarks. Cat's steps slow, as ahead of her there's the building she's here to find. "Amazing voice, yours." A broad smile of sincerity is shown, before she sets eyes on the door. "Ah. Here's my stop. See you!"
Jennifer blushes. "I hope so. But we'll have to see where it goes. And good luck finding what you're looking for!" She waves, and then turns, to start heading off.
She enters the life sciences building then, and conducts her business there, but finds not that which she seeks. Some time later Cat emerges and makes her way home, no more enlightened about that mystery plant than when she arrived. But the morning is perhaps not a total loss. There was talk of music, albeit brief; always a good thing in the Book of Cat.
 November 4th: One of Us, Two of Them |
 November 4th: The Many And The Few |