Summary:Open mic night at the cafe turns into an unknown heroes meeting. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
Related LogsTheme SongNone |
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Life is full of little social obligations. Every person is the center of a web that forms a network of people. Love and hate, promises and obligations, each person is connected to others, even if they don't quite know how.
For example, Jean can't actually remember how it is she got backed into promising to attend the open mic afternoon here at the cafe. A friend from her world lit class is supposed to be performing, but they're three hours and fifteen performers in and she hasn't actually seen the girl yet. Also, she's not entirely sure she did make that promise, but how are you supposed to tell that to someone who's that excited about the song she wrote about the Odyssey?
In the meantime, Jean has managed to claim herself a table that's not quite in the corner but blessedly not up front by the performers either. It's given her a chance to spend a little more time writing one of her last research papers - there's a laptop in front of her and several books spread out around her that have kept the table free. She keeps sipping coffee, keeping the store owners off her back.
While this is the kind of place that's probably accepting of valkyries in general, Dani did have enough sense to at least dress down a bit before coming in. Since she figured this is a good way to catch up on five years of culture, she came dressed rather fashionably, wearing a blue denim blouse and a pair of jeans, looking far more like she's from Colorado than Asgard. Looking around curiously, she tilts her head, then makes her way towards Jean's table, blinking innocently at the redhead, "Hello, is this seat taken?" Her lips curl in a friendly smile, as anyone reading her surface thoughts might get a bit confused by where she's from exactly.
Some were here to enjoy the coffee. Some for the open mic. And some, for extra credit. All her teacher had said was that performing in public would be worth a hefty chunk of extra credit, and though Kate didn't really *need* it, getting it meant that if she had to run off on a moments notice to help out in her … other budding career… then she wouldn't fall behind either.
Which is precisely why when the person currently crooning about their latest heartbreak steps off stage, Kate Bishop steps onto it. The click of her heels heralds her approach toward the microphone where the stage lights fall on her. In one hand she carries a portable stereo that looks straight out of the early 90's onto the stage by her feet. The other? Though it's large, she carries her cello with ease by the neck, carefully balancing it on single spiked rest that comes from the bottom to avoid dropping it. When she stands again her head snaps back to let the length of her dark hair swing out of her face.
"Something a little different for you fine folks."
Weight shifting to one foot she lifts the other to toe-tap the top of the stereo turning it on. It only takes a moment before the CD player kicks out the sounds of piano to accompany her. Bow in hand, it's slid across the strings of the cello with a slow, deft precision. The music that fills the cafe is warm and rich and … is that a Linkin Park song?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_F-usoOU5E&list=RDEI8RQw5u9EA&index=4
Jean glances up from one of the books when Dani approaches, flashing a distracted smile. "No, sure, grab a seat," she waves, leaning over to pull a few things toward her lap to make a little more room for another person. "Sorry, didn't mean to hog the table," she adds, sheepish. A change in the performer gets an upward glance, but…nope, not world lit girl. But hey, cellos are nice. First one of those this afternoon.
She rubs a hand over her eyes, stacking a couple of books, and looks as though she's about to say something to Dani when the music starts. It gives her pause, brows rising and head tilting as she listens. "Huh. Well. That's a pleasant surprise."
Dani grins at Jean, "No problem, didn't expect it to be so crowded either. I'm Dani." She sits down and is about to say something else, but that's when Kate starts playing on the cello. Dani's eyes go a bit wide, and she whistles very softly under her breath, "Wow. That's… amazing." She fixes her eyes on Kate, watching her perform as if trying to memorize the details of the music playing. Absently she sips her coffee, not really saying much other than, "Oh yeah… definitely a surprise."
Kate Bishop has her eyes only half shut as she continues to perform with apparent gusto once she reaches toward the end of the song… and then it fades off into the last note which is left drawn out only to fade and die naturally as the strings grow still again. There's no bow, or explaination as to this peice being dedicated to something inane like a good few of the performers. She merely casts the room a grin, flips up her bow in a salute, then turns to head off to put her cello away once again. The CD player is ticked right back off with a nudge of her foot before she descends into the audience area where she'd stashed her cello case against the wall.
"Twenty points," Kate mutters to herself as she starts to mentally compute how many classes that would allow her to skip without her GPA dropping. Hm. Maybe another go later, just in case. Turning her attention away she starts for the door. She doesn't get that far. Her path leads her to start past the table Dani and Jean sit at only to pause as something moving outside catches her attention. "Oh my god is that a horse!?"
Jean nods quiet agreement with Dani, pausing to actually listen to the performance. The shop itself even gets quieter as more people turn to listen to the music. Amazing how much sounding good and not pushing a message will do for your stage presence. Once Kate finishes up, Jean turns back to Dani, offering over a hand. "Jean. Nice to meet you, Dani. Hey, that was really-"
She starts to try to catch Kate's attention to give her a compliment, but then she's talking about horses outside. "I doubt it, unless one of the central park carriages got seriously lost," she starts to say, turning toward the window for a glance herself. "Then again, it's New York."
Dani takes the hand, shaking Jean's firmly as she then smiles over at Kate, "Oh yeah, Brightwind's with me. Cheaper than taking an Uber, and faster too. But you were amazing, really." She smiles widely at Kate, offering her a hand, "I'm Dani, and if you ever wanted to take a ride on him, I could be persuaded to give you a lift."
Kate Bishop shakes her head a single time. Yes she was seeing correctly. It only takes moment for her gaze to refocus on Dani and Jean at the table. The pair are offered a smile, and she shifts her weight to rest the cello case against her hip lightly. "Good to know I'm not going totally nuts. I mean I do sometimes get hit in the head," she mutters with a self-depreciating laugh. "Thank you. I've been practicing for years. I don't really perform much though. I'm Kate, it's nice to meet you." The horse outside, Brightstar, gets another sidelong look though. "Huh. I've done crazier things," she concedes with a shrug.
"Wait, seriously, there really is a horse?" Jean actually stands up a little bit to get a look, then nods to herself. "Huh. All right then. Must be…Tuesday." At a certain point, the strangeness of life really does stop hitting you quite so hard.
She settles back into her seat, doing a quick sweep to get books and laptop alike cleaned up and shoved into a backpack out of the way, flashing a quick smile in Kate's direction. "Nice to meet you too, Kate. I'm Jean," she waves, tugging that zipper closed. "And you were great, by the way."
Of course, then it's back to Dani, squinting a bit. "Can I ask why you have a horse in the city?"
Dani looks back at Jean, and grins, "Because it's the easiest way for me to get around. He doesn't like it when I get too far away, and frankly, I'm the same." She glances over at Kate, and gives her a smile, "And you should perform more, Kate, though I'm guessing that isn't your main calling."
As Jean and Kate glance out the window, Brightwind actually seems to pose a bit, as if knowing they're looking. And he rustles his wings to show off a bit. Wait, wings?!?
Kate Bishop opens her mouth to say something more, but that flutter of wings was impossible to miss. Blue eyes narrowing they sweep back towared Dani to regard her a long moment. Then, without saying anything, she steps in to sink down into another chair at the table with the two women. "I get the feeling that horse doesn't meet any sort of thoroughbred requirements in place on Earth." Yep. Pretty sure. Bemused, and amused, she tips her head in a nod again. "No, I usually play with a different type of bow. I'm good with both though."
"Sure, I can see where the winged horse with separation anxiety could do some damage," Jean agrees, lips twitching toward an amused smile. Leaning back in her chair, she pulls her coffee closer to herself, thinking for a moment. "Oh, right. It's…Dani Moonstar, isn't it? You just enrolled at the Xavier Institute not too long ago, yeah?" Because the winged horse thing is definitely the sort of thing that makes the gossip rounds and sticks in your mind.
Dani grins, "Guilty, Jean." She glances over towards Kate, "Yeah, I spent the last five years living in Asgard. Saved Brightwind, so I became a Valkyrie." She smiles, "But now I'm back on Earth, learning about everything I missed. Still can't get over that they actually made /three/ Hobbit movies. Didn't they actually read the book?!?"
"They did, but they mostly read the box office earnings report from the Lord of the Rings trilogy and were attempting to drag it out as long as they can. It's not as if Tolkien will be writing any more material for them to profit from." Kate relaxes just a bit in her chair as she listens to the pair converse, eyes darting between them. "Oh, Asgard. Totally makes sense. Valkyrie. Yep." Even though she seems skeptical her grin just broadens more taking in the information about both the horse and it's rider. And about the school, too, which earns a glance back to Jean. "I guess it could be worse? It could be a jealous winged horse with seperation anxiety."
"Don't watch them. It'll only make you sad." Jean takes a sip of her coffee, grinning at Kate. "True. And it could have fangs." But then she pauses, looking outside and then back at Dani. "I mean. It doesn't have fangs, right? You know, it's funny I should run into you, because I have got some serious questions about Asgard after a recent…"
Clearing her throat, she pauses and looks to Kate. "Yeah, I feel like if I finish that sentence you're going to think I'm a crazy person, and I promise that's not the actual reason I have all these psych books."
Dani chuckles softly, "Well, no fangs, but he does eat a fair amount of burgers on occasion. The protein needs of a flying horse are a bit higher, I guess." She glances over at Kate, catching the wordplay of the bow, and then her smile grows, "Wait, you're an archer? I've used a bow quite a lot too."
Then she turns back to Jean as she mentions a recent whatever with, "Asgard? You met an Asgardian? I haven't seen that many since coming here… actually I haven't met many outside of the Valkyries themselves. We… ah, tend to keep to ourselves there." It's not like they have creepy Death Auras that tend to freak out the regular Asgardians or anything.
Kate Bishop holds up her hands palms out at Jean with a dip of her head. "No judgement here. I live a rather interesting life myself." An Asgardian and a woman from a school that has a strange reputation. It was certainly one that her father had looked at for finishing schools for her, but one which he'd been turned away from as she didn't meet the requirements. Plus he had buddies at this other school she hated so much. Ugh.
"I'm one of the best archers in the world, if not THE best," Kate responds to Dani as her hands drop back down to rest on her thighs. There was no elbow resting on the table here from her. "But school is school. I came here to get some extra credit in my arts and humanities classes."
"A couple. Roughly enough to know that gathering more information would be smart before I get in any deeper." Jean rolls her eyes at her own ability to get stuck in complicated things, though there's still a wry smule behind it. Kate's proclamation draws her attention again, smile settling a little deeper.
"Yeah? That's pretty cool. I used to do some at school too, though it was mostly a…extracurricular and focus thing for me. I never got much further than that. Are you going to school here in the city?"
Dani smiles over at Kate, "Well, I can relate to that. I enrolled in the Institute since… ah, yeah, I have a bit of catching up to do." She tilts her head towards Jean, then leans back in her chair, looking at Kate and waiting for the answer.
Kate Bishop shakes her head a little at the question. "No, I'm further upstate. It's a finishing school for young women." There's a particular note of distaste to that. It sounded like one of those old fuddy duddy schools for people with too much money, after all. She doesn't even bother to name it. Tilting her head to the side she looks between the pair again with a bemused smile. "I feel like I'm kind of getting in the way of your conversation here, though. I mean I did just sort of pop over uninvited, and you're both from the same school."
"Oh no, not in the middle of anything," Jean assures with a wave of her hand. "I'm actually going to ESU right now. Finishing my bachelor's in psych. Just alumni now," she smiles crookedly, lifting one shoulder in a shrug. "Maybe. I've been thinking about maybe going back as a counselor, but the whole thing is kind of complicated."
She leans forward, propping her chin up on one hand. "I don't suppose 'finishing school for young women' is code for 'top secret ninja school?" She's probably teasing, right?
Dani grins over at Kate, "Well, yeah, and I just enrolled, though I guess it's also a bit of 'finishing' for me too?" She hmms, "But if you ever need to get busted out of there for some fun, I can ride over on Brightwind and get you out." She smiles back, "You're definitely not getting in the way, Kate."
Kate Bishop gives a warm laugh in response to that, her eyes rolling upward. "I wish. Nothing as fun as that. That doesn't stop me from having a life outside of school though." There's a rather impish grin at this remark. "Thanks for the offer of a jailbreak but I usually don't stick around there much unless I have to anyway. It's just full of a bunch of old school money folks who are really boring if you think about it. No, I prefer going out and investigating things that I find interesting."
"I'm honestly not sure if I'm relieved or disappointed that there isn't a secret school of lady ninjas upstate," Jean muses. "I mean, on the one hand, you know they'd be bad guys. But on the other hand, lady ninja school." She winks, taking another sip of her coffee. "I guess I'll just have to find the next school of potential super-villains elsewhere. I'm guessing they don't have a course in forensics at the non-ninja ladies finishing school though, huh? I feel like that implies a certain aversion to lady investigators."
Dani looks over at Jean, "Maybe they're just a different school? Or that's a special advanced program." She hmmms, "I wonder if I could be a ninja and a valkyrie…" She gives Kate a wry look, "Well, that does sound like fun though, the investigating bit anyway."
"You'd think, right? Usually it is but there are times that things just drag on while waiting for something to pop up. And no, sadly," Kate admits to Jean with a shake of her head in regards to the classes at the school. "They're more interested in how to make nice fine, deep pocketed alumni to donate to them. If there were a secret ninja school I'm pretty sure I'd know."
Kate pauses, considering. "I hope I'd know because that *would* be super cool."
"I mean, I'm just saying that secret lady ninjas could probably end up with pretty deep pockets." Jean chuckles, leaning back once more and cradling her cup between her hands. "Seriously though, I mean, it beats public school. Probably. I actually wouldn't know?" Her smile slips crooked, rueful. "I went off to boarding school," she points a thumb at Dani, "When I was eleven, so. I kind of missed out on knowing what the difference is. But for what it's worth, it ends eventually."
Dani grins, "Went to public school in Colorado, then um… yeah, Valkyrie training in Asgard. So I'm pretty good in a fight, no so good if you're asking me what Avocado's number means or whatever." She chuckles and shrugs a bit, taking another sip of the coffee.
Kate Bishop gives a thoughtful hum as she considers what they say. "I'm not bad in a fight, I guess, so long as they're not a martial arts expert. Or have an uzi or something. I do better from a distance, but… I'm no ninja. Sadly. That would be pretty up my alley."