<@Grysar> [December 8th, 2003. Katie's life proceeds. Her classes have largely been going well and the bigger question is not what her grades will be like, but what to take next term. However, she's hit one bump. She's in a four person group project in her biology class and the classmate that had specifically asked if he could do his part primarily up front has just withdrawn from the class.] <@Grysar> [Her two remaining classmates are both fretting at the just received news (via text message, classy guy). Hotaru has been pushing to focus the project more on animal health while Moeta is more interested in advanced biological research. They're both fairly bright, but have been doing a bad job compromising.] <@Grysar> [They've been trading text messages since the news came out and while Katie was busy with her literature class. Now that the three of you are finally together, they're both looking to her for her opinion.] <@Grysar> [Start!] <@Grysar> * Moeta had suggested that they just meet in seating area by the small cafe closest to the bio building. It's fairly unoccupied in the evening, although perhaps not that private. * Hotaru suggested the basement floor of the main library, which has study rooms available that aren't that hard to reserve even last minute. 06* Katie walks out of her literature class and glances at her phone, only to see that it's been lighting up, and weaves through the mass of students while checking the messages. Jinsei bailing on them wasn't really a surprise to her; the dude wasn't exactly the most reliable when it came to attending class, and he was always a little distracted. Still... <@Grysar> * Moeta and Hotaru are now very clear on his character now, in that they are sarcastically trashing it. However, they do seem to have been caught off guard. 06* Katie skims the messages some more. Seriously? They can't even agree on where to meet? She lets out a small sigh, then ducks into an alcove a little away from the stream of students and types out a message with her two thumbs: ok out of class. just got msg. prob best to get this sorted in person asap, yes? <@Grysar> Agreed. Which are you closest to? <@Grysar> [Katie is, in reality, closest to the library, but can get to either quickly enough.] 01 library + less busy atm. meet there? <@Grysar> k. <@Grysar> [You all manage to gather quickly enough. It takes Hotaru a few minutes to get the room arranged and by then Moeta has joined you. Katie, you taking your bearings once you're all together?] <@Grysar> [The room itself has a small table, four low chairs, and a white board. The door and wall both have broad gridded windows, presumably to prevent crime and/or make out sessions. <@Grysar> * Hotaru pages through her phone and then writes some of the ideas that have been discussed on the whiteboard, roughly in order of suggestion. Moeta is flipping through some of the more contemporary printed class materials, trying to come up with some interesting compromise proposal. 06* Katie is there, her satchel open and on the table while she organizes its contents, also on the table: novel and notes for literature to one side and what she already had for the project immediately before her. While she does this, she steals glances at Hotaru and Moeta, trying to get a bead on the situation. <@Grysar> [Based on the class time and their frenzied exchanges, these two are fairly easy to handle. Moeta wants to feel like he's doing intellectually cutting edge work and Hotaru wants desperately to be a veterinarian which apparently is a more competitive path than medicine on people.] <@Grysar> [Alternately, Hotaru's interested in social welfare arguments and Moeta is susceptible susceptible to flattery, if you want to just bulldozer their preferences entirely.] <@Grysar> * Katie had once overheard Hotaru talking with another girl in class that had a pregnancy scare. The talk was actually in a side room, with the door closed, but you know how these things are. Hotaru was skilled enough to provide some direct medical care discretely and had connections to procedures that weren't necessarily allowed under Japanese law. More important to Katie, Hotaru actually keeps a close watch on her belongings and seems capable of keeping secrets and not asking too many questions. A notable contrast to Katie's default medical service provider. <@Grysar> * Moetu, by contrast, seems to have the department entirely figured out. He tends to name drop relevant professors when considering research topics and is on the fast track to a lab assistant position and could probably network Katie into one too if she impressed him. <@Grysar> * Moetu is easy. He's switching over to using his palm-pilot on which he seems to have both personal notes and work stuff. He has to retype his password all the time and within the first five minutes Katie's memorized it. <@Grysar> * Hotaru is a harder nut to crack. Just as she can keep other's secrets she capable of hiding her own. That said, she tries to take care of her fellow students and Katie has overheard her making a show of openness when someone else reveals something of themselves. She's not necessarily the best judge of human character though, so Katie could well reveal counterfeit secrets in exchange for the real deal. 06* Katie skims her own notes, speaking up when Hotaru (probably accidentally) puts one of her own suggestions above Moeta's on the whiteboard. <@Grysar> * Hotaru stops what she's doing to listen to Katie. 01 Just so we can keep them in order. You guys did a lot of work while I was listening to the professor talk about Jippensha Ikku. <@Grysar> * Hotaru nods and switches them. She seems a little put off but is mostly chagrinned. As for Moeta, give me a manipulate NPC roll. <@Grysar> * Moeta gives Katie a small smile but also seems a bit more engaged in the process and at ease. 06* Katie finishes organizing her stuff and finds the assignment prompt to look at while waiting for Hotaru, and then once that happens, she says, "Okay, so Jinsei's gone. That's not too bad. If he was going to drop, I don't think that his being here would change how much work we'd have to put into the project." <@Grysar> * Moeta nods. "He'd probably just slow us down." That seems a bit harsh. But given that he didn't deliver anything before leaving I'm afraid you're right Moeta-san. <@Grysar> Well, this isn't called a weed out class because of the unit on pesticides. <@Grysar> Still easier than memorizing facts about random people. I couldn't tell you who Jippensha Ikku was for the life... ::she snaps her fingers:: or was he the one with all the charming stories that was secretly a jerk. Or was that... Ah, doesn't matter. 06* Katie laughs. "Yeah." She adjusts the decorative scarf she'd grabbed earlier that day. It's a flimsy little thing, but it does hide the scarring and she just hasn't felt like dealing with unasked questions lately. "I'm not really into literature, either. My advisor said it'd help me become a more 'well-rounded individual'." The air quotes are implied, not actually in the air. <@Grysar> * Moeta laughs. "I don't know about you two, but I came to college to get sharper." 06* Katie looks at Moeta curiously. "Sharper?" <@Grysar> I've got things I'm good at, but I want to be better. There's some exciting research at this university and I can talk to people that I previously could only encounter in journal articles. It's a chance to become great at the things I'm good at. <@Grysar> It is that. But most any job is more than just one or two skills. To be a good veterinarian, I need to also be able to deal with people. They don't actually teach us to talk to our patients so about half of our information comes second hand. <@Grysar> * Moeta shakes his head. "Well sure, to be a veterinarian. But most researchers barely even half to deal with students." He sounds both a bit annoyed and jealous as he says that. 01 I don't know... if you're at a university, you're going to be stuck teaching classes while you do research. At least graduate ones. And if you're not, you're still going to have to talk to other scientists. 06* Katie looks at Hotaru. "Maybe you could take a class out of discipline, like social work or counseling?" <@Grysar> True. It just may not be your priority. <@Grysar> * Hotaru nods. "I've been thinking about it, but I don't know enough about the fields to know what's useful and what's b.s." <@Grysar> Try talking to the students. Particularly the grad students. Most of them are happy to dish about the professors and it isn't too hard to tell who is looking for easy A's and who is looking to learn. <@Grysar> Thanks Moeta-san and Katie-san. That sounds like good advice. ::She then looks to Katie:: So what are you in here for? This isn't the intro to biology class that your advisor would casually put you in. 06* Katie blinks at Hotaru in surprise, then looks down at her notes. She smooths her prompt with one hand. "Biology's interesting, and I've always liked birds. I might want to go into ornithology, but I don't know." <@Grysar> * Hotaru smiles. "Birds are fascinating." She frowns. "Although developed landscapes can be so dangerous to them in so many different ways. What part of ornithology? Uh... if you don't mind me asking." <@Grysar> * Moeta seems vaguely curious at the conversation, but doesn't spout any facts or opinions on birds. 06* Katie smiles at Hotaru. "I don't. A lot of veterinarians don't even treat birds." She starts spinning her pencil on the table while she talks. "I'm most interested in behavior, then..." Katie takes a moment to think about it. "Speciation, probably." <@Grysar> * Hotaru sounds a bit wistful in her reply. "Ah behavior, that does sound fun." Moeta just nods. "Speciation is probably going to come more into its own as birds have to adapt to everything we're doing the planet. That and I just love the idea of sitting around with other academics thinking of clever names for plurals of things. That's the living." 06* Katie laughs. "Right? That's the really good part about being the one to discover something. You get to come up with terms." <@Grysar> * Moeta grins and nods. "I spent way too much time as a kid thinking of what I'd name things. Once I got further along I realized that trick was not cool names, but getting the opportunity to do it at all." 01 Really? I don't think I'll ever discover anything, but if I do, at least now I know who I'll call when I'm stuck for new terms. <@Grysar> * Moeta nods with confidence. "I will be there for you." * Hotaru laughs and doesn't contest the position. 06* Katie is clearly trying not to laugh herself. <@Grysar> [And you've narrowed it down to two possibilities that both of them seem okay with. Moeta announces that he's in need of caffeine. He stands up, leaving his equipment behind, and asks if anyone wishes to come with him or if he can pick up something for either of you. Hotaru seems torn about whether to go. It's a good five minutes each way to the closest coffee place as the library doesn't strictly ban it on this floor but doesn't make it easy either.] 06* Katie glances at Moeta's things, then moves her gaze to her own and Hotaru's. "Someone's got to watch our stuff," she tells the other girl. "If you don't want to go, we can pick something up for you?" <@Grysar> Oh... thanks! I like a... ::she blushes slightly:: Uh, my order is way too complicated. ::she gets out a notebook:: If you want something simple, I can just grab it for you, if you don't mind watching the stuff. <@Grysar> * Hotaru says this, but she also keeps her bag with her as she stands up with her little notepad. 01 Sure. Get me a mocha, okay? 06* Katie finishes standing, if only to stretch her legs, and digs out enough money to pay for her drink and then some. She hands it to Hotaru. <@Grysar> [She writes that down, just to be safe, and notes the amount of money Katie gave her. And they're totally out of earshot. So take advantage of the opportunity or hold steady.] <@Grysar> * Moeta had started slightly at Katie's comment but then seemed to have the mental process of, "oh, Katie's watching it, no worries." <@Grysar> [Moeta was asking about Hotaru's drink. She starts to explain it. It's pretty elaborate.] 06* Katie paces, stretching her legs - it wasn't a lie - while she listens to them leave for a minute or two. She walks by Moeta's things and looks down, her fingers lightly brushing the edge of his PDA. <@Grysar> [Oh it hadn't even locked yet. It wakes up and shows that he's downloaded both class notes and his email to the device. It doesn't have live wifi, but there's lots of stuff there. But, Katie doesn't have to check it out.] 06* Katie pulls her hand back as it lights up. She remains there, practically rooted to the spot, and reads what's readily visible on the screen. <@Grysar> [Top email is actually from a name Katie recognizes. The section TA. Email subject: “Want to do coffee again?” There's also some notes on this meeting, but they're a bit haphazard, looks like he's trusting Hotaru's and Katie's work.] 06* Katie blinks at the subject. Her hand hovers over the PDA as she seriously considers opening the e-mail, then she jerks it back quickly, stumbling backwards and actually hitting the wall. She whirls to stare at it wide-eyed for a moment, then hurriedly walks to the other side of the room, picking up the article she was looking at earlier and trying to read it. <@Grysar> [And mercifully the PDA sleeps again soon thereafter. In about the expected amount of time her classmates are return, though they're actually speaking in slightly hushed tones, as if this time they don't want to be overheard.] <@Grysar> [That said, Katie has no difficulty overhearing them, much the opposite, it'd take active effort not to.] 06* Katie glances at the door. She's since composed herself pretty well and has reclaimed her old seat. Katie goes back to reading, but interest and paranoia are piqued, and she's listening in as best she can. So much for being good. <@Grysar> * Moeta chuckles quietly. "Of course I've heard of the academy. Man, I wish I'd made it in." <@Grysar> You say that now. But man, that school both gave me practice with medicine and meant I never wanted to deal with people as patients again. Really? C'mon dish... <@Grysar> * Hotaru doesn't reply immediately but you think you hear her shake her head. "Good talk, but I've said too much already." There's a brief moment of silence. "Don't give me that look... Fine. Celebrity kids genuinely are different in ways I still don't understand, but that's all you’re getting from me." <@Grysar> [And Hotaru pointedly switches conversation topic to work stuff and raises her voice to conversational volume.] 06* Katie makes a mental note to look up this academy. It sounds interesting. When the others arrive, she gladly takes the proffered caffeine and then starts talking about the research materials they'd grabbed and how they're much better suited to the second topic they've been discussing than the first. <@Grysar> [And that decides the topic! Looking at what cutting edge treatments can be economically and practically applied to animals. Meeting success! Session wrap.]