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[PRP] (jeregretriens + Asahi Kumoru )
Nathaniel sat at his usual table at the Leaf and Lion, nestled away in the corner of the place where he generally did most of his reading. He slouched, one knee raised and resting against the edge of the table as he leafed through the newspaper, spread across his lap. Curls of steam rose from the spout of a small teapot on the table, matching the white wisps of smoke from the man's cigar, which rested, ignored for the moment, on an ashtray.
After he finished the article he had been working on reading, he folded the paper and sat up straight, then poured his tea. A few leaves escaped into his teacup in spite of the wire strainer in the pot, and Nathaniel watched them swirl in circles. He read a paper recently about how some people fancied that they could predict the future in the patterns of tea leaves left in the bottoms of teacups - something Nathaniel himself had never really put too much stock in. He was a man of logic and mathematics; the only way to make predictions is to gather information, know the equations, and figure from there. And he had never done maths with tea leaves. Smiling faintly, the professor dipped his spoon into his tea and half-stirred it, half-attempted to fish the black tea out. Awakened from his reading for the moment, Nathaniel added a bit of cream to his tea and surveyed the other patrons of the coffee and tea shop - mostly students, due to the place's proximity to campus, but there were a few other professors who frequented the Leaf and Lion for time away from their offices. If nothing else, nestled in the back table, Nathaniel did not have to watch it raining outside like he did through his second-story office window. |
Normally, Elizabeθ went directly to the dorm after her classes, figuring that the less time she spent in public, the less time she spent under the possibility of being humiliated by the press and an out of context photograph being misrepresented. She was tired today, though, and was looking forward to a chance to have a cup of tea and relax for a while before she launched herself into her studies. Life was difficult enough already without having to deal with the mess that came with being...well. Who she was.
She slipped into the tea house as discreetly as someone forced to walk with a cane could, and settled at a table near the back. She didn't want to be too close to the windows, as being spotted within could wind up with her trapped inside with tabloid reporters outside. They'd been dogging her steps worse than ever since she'd come to the university. Without her father to shield her, they were just -waiting- for her to slip and give them something juicy to work with. She asked for tea when the waitress came, then sighed and stared down at the table. She hadn't brought anything to read, and was already starting to berate herself for indulging in a stupid idea. But she was growing bored of only ever sitting in her classrooms or her dorm room, and she thought she was a little bit pathetic for not having made any friends yet. She didn't mind the rumours that painted her as a stand-offish elitist, she didn't even care when they were repeated in the tabloids. But she -did- care that she was lonely. Maybe fate would be kind to her and give her someone to talk to. |
The professor was pondering his tea when another one of the students took a seat at the next table up from him. Nathaniel smiled weakly for a moment and nodded to her in greeting, then scooted his chair closer to his own table and sat up straighter. Folding the paper, he set it on the table and focused for the moment on his tea.
... Should he take his medication now, and risk ruining the taste of the whole pot? Or save it for the last cup and have the taste linger all afternoon. Nathaniel pondered for a moment as he spooned one of the stray tea leaves out and left it neatly on his napkin, then sighed and took out the small packet of medication he carried with him, and added some to his tea. He followed it immediately with a heaping spoonful of sugar and stirred to dissolve it all, then shut his eyes and drained the cup as quickly as possible. And then did his best not to make faces at the taste, remembering in time that there was someone ... well, if not watching, at least in a position to watch. He flashed her another small smile and gestured to her with his cup before refilling it from the teapot. |
Elizabeθ had taken off her tophat and settled it on the table, waiting quietly for the tea to be brought to her. She smiled politely to the professor, but at first she really had nothing -to- say. He didn't teach any of the classes she was taking, and if he had realistically it would have been improper to try and speak to him outside of class and office hours. But that was neither here nor there.
She smiled again, a bit more cheerily this time, when he acknowledged her with his cup. It was obvious that whatever packet he'd emptied into his cup had been something particularly foul-tasting--medicine no doubt. Elizabeθ was grateful she didn't have to take medications to manage her life. As awful as her injury had been, there was something to be said for coming away with it needing only a stick to support herself with. "Good afternoon, sir." She decided to be friendly. It cost nothing, and perhaps it would be the beginning of the end of her anti-social tendencies. |
"Good afternoon," he replied after another sip of tea. Nathaniel thought it would be inappropriate to offer the student a seat, especially when, once doffing the top-hat, the professor realized "he" was in fact a young lady. The numbers of them in university had grown from none to a few in recent years, which hardly bothered Nathaniel (it seemed few women took much interest in celestial mechanics anyway),b ut it was still something he had to be aware of. He had heard stories of other young professors getting themselves into all sorts of trouble with lady students.
But the place was still quiet enough that he could converse with her between their two small tables, and there were enough hanging curtains that their conversation at such a distance would not disturb anyone else. He removed his square-framed reading glasses and brushing his green hair back over his shoulder, then took another drink from his cup. "May I ask how your semester is going so far?" he inquired. |
She smiled kindly even as she wedged her cane between the table and one of the other chairs. She seemed to be quite used to walking with it, as though it had been many years since she stood on her own. She knew that women in the university were rare, almost exclusively they were ergaleomancers, the only ones allowed to stand toe to toe with men. So to have a simple conversation with a man was at once quite exciting and also something she wondered if she ought to let herself be impressed by.
This was the first time she was speaking casually to a man that wasn't an ergaleomancer, and it was a bit of a nervous moment for her. But if she was going to get by on her own in the world, she certainly couldn't fail here. "Ah, so far...the semester is going well, if a bit quietly. My classmates are content to ignore me, though I seem to be falling prey to loneliness myself. Is this...a popular meeting place for the students?" She chuckled softly and shook her head. "But...that would be me getting ahead of myself. My name is Elizabeθ Buckley, from the Ergaleomancy program. And you, sir?" |
Nathaniel of course noticed her cane, but did not pay it much mind - all people had their flaws, physical or otherwise, and he preferred his own left alone and so extended the same treatment in return. To him, the fact that she was a lady stood out much more anyway.
"I am Doctor Nathaniel Wrenne," he told her with a smile and a polite bow from where he sat. "Associate professor in the Celestial Mechanics department. A pleasure to meet you." He set his teacup down and rested his hands on the table, studying the backs of them for a moment as he laughed softly. "And I guess I am obligated to suggest that, if you find a free period in your busy program of studies some semester, do take at least an introductory course in celestial mechanics." A younger man, as far as professors went, Nathaniel still had a certain relaxed weariness upon his features that made him appear somewhere between serene and tired; perhaps more the latter in the lower light of the cafe. Other than that, he looked neat but average, clean-shaven, and dressed in a brown vest over his white shirt to match his brown trousers. In lieu of a cravat, he had a length of green ribbon under the collar of his shirt and tied in a neat bow at his throat. He flexed his fingers slightly as he studied them for another moment, then picked up his teacup again and glanced up at the young lady at the other table. "Was it still raining when you came in?" he inquired. |
She, too, made an approximation of a bow from her seat when he introduced himself. Though it was perhaps worth noting that it was a man's bow she tried to copy rather than a woman's curtsey she tried to mimic. The more she moved, the odder she might perhaps seem. Even a female Ergaleomancer was still a subject of her early childhood and the teachings to become a lady that would have been instilled in her prior to the display of her gift. Elizabeθ, however, seemed entirely void of any feminine mannerisms. She moved and acted as though she had been -raised- as a boy.
The tabloids were terribly fond of publishing theories about that, down to suggesting that she was a hermaphrodite that had not displayed 'female' traits until she hit puberty. But that was just one of many hair brained theories about her. The young Miss Buckley was a favourite of the tabloids for mocking and publishing stories in questionable taste about. Certainly, it was enough to make her a bit shy of it, and she was somewhat waiting for the professor to ask her something about one of the articles that had been run. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Doctor Wrenne." She considered him for a moment, taking in his appearance but certainly not saying anything about it. Her own appearance was certainly beyond strange--there were few female ergaleomancers comfortable enough in men's clothing to wear trousers; most only added men's caps and traded in women's fine blouses for men's more practical shirts. But Elizabeθ was dressed entirely in menswear, with only a heavy leather reinforced corset wrapped around her middle and her chin length hair to mark her as female. "I...can't say I know much at all about Celestial Mechanics, but for the upcoming semester I do have one block free for an elective course. Is there an introductory level for whetting the appetite of prospective students?" She looked up when the waitress arrived with her tea, smiling for her and taking it gratefully. She poured herself a cup, adding just a hint of sugar to sweeten it. "The rain? Mm, it's still drizzling, I think it may wind up rather misty tonight." |
Though he often spent time with his nose in a newspaper, Nathaniel tended to avoid tabloids, and, when he did read them, he placed little stock in their writing. As he studied the young lady in her mens' clothing at the other table, and pondered her name, he realized why she had seemed vaguely familiar somehow, but even if he had read the wild theories about Elizabeθ's sex, the quiet professor would have been loathe to ask about something so personal.
It was easier and much more comfortable to discuss his own craft anyway. "I believe my introductory lecture is nearly full right now, but there will no doubt be a few students who will drop it in the next week or so." Two ladies in the class, presently, out of about fifty; one of those details that always stood out to the green-haired man. "I am unfamiliar with the intimate details of ergaleomancy, but I suspect you know a thing or two about mathematics, so that prerequisite will not be a problem." He laughed softly. "If you are interested in peering at stars and measuring them nightly, looking for patterns and learning to recognize them. Not everyone's cup of tea." And he picked up his own again to drink the last of the tea, then brought his napkin to his lips to spit out the leaves that had gotten into his mouth as discreetly as possible. A wry smile tugged at his lips at the student's weather report, though, as he set the napkin aside. "Perhaps I will stay here for a second pot, then. Warm myself up a little more before I return to my office, then head home for the night. I hope your dormitory is not too far from here?" |
She was all too happy to throw herself into the information he was giving her, eating it up and relishing a chance at learning more about the world she lived in. Her heart would always be in following her father's footsteps as an ergaleomancer, and indeed to continue to live in the manner in which she was accustomed she would -have- to devote herself to the field. Nevertheless, Elizabeθ did welcome the invitation. Especially when he made the connection between ergaleomancy and mathematics, instead of assuming that being female made her useless.
The man had earned himself a lot of respect in her eyes, and she nodded eagerly. She honestly didn't -know- if it would be something she was interested in or not. But she didn't much -care- after he'd just treated her like that. She had been wary of picking her electives until after she'd had a chance to settle into her harder courses, lest her elective teachers think to talk down to her. But if he was going to treat her like a reasonable and intelligent person...it would be better to take a class from a reasonable professor than a class she was more interested in but had to put up with chauvinism in. "I don't mind meticulous tasks if they serve a greater purpose in further intellectual pursuits. Who knows, if I alternate between casting my eyes up at the stars and down at my gearworks, I may yet even spare myself the ergaleomancer's curse of becoming one day near-sighted." She laughed softly, finding herself clever. She smiled pleasantly when he said that he would be staying a bit longer. He was fun to talk to, and seemed to be young enough to take her seriously while still being old enough that he was a respectable professor. Actually. He didn't strike her as -that- much older than herself. "I am staying in the dormitory cottage on the far side of campus, actually. I...believe it is the furthest point away from the ergaleomancy building that is still located on campus?" She didn't think that was accidental--the dormitory cottage was where the women stayed, and Elizabeθ was all but certain it had been put so far from the ergaleomancy building as a deterrent, to make it awkward for the young women of the ergaleomancy program and discourage them from attending the university. It was doubly difficult on her for her disability, but Elizabeθ was not going to let the patriarchal university hold her back. Even if it meant wincing in pain put all but to tears by the time she got to her dorm after classes. |
Nathaniel was not precisely feminist, but his mindset was somewhat different than that of some of his other colleagues: there were smart women and foolish women just as there were smart and foolish men. There were just more of the foolish sort among women, but, he supposed, the only true way to cure that was through education. So any lady who came to university and found herself able to stay for more than a semester or two was, perhaps, a rare gem, but she had the correct idea. It was therefore not sexist at all for him to assume that a woman would be uninterested in his field of study; it was a logical assumption based on what he had observed.
Recruiting for his own class was a matter of passion as much as vanity, really - as a newer professor, his superiors had relegated the introductory classes that they loathed teaching themselves to Nathaniel, but he had found this not wholly disagreeable. He taught celestial mechanics because he enjoyed it himself, and so reveled in opportunities to share that love with others. Each student who tolerated every one of his lectures, passed his tests, completed his assignments, was a small victory, at least. At her comment regarding vision, he laughed and picked up his glasses from the table. "I cannot promise this is the best thing for your eyes, either, but hopefully at least the change in scenery will help ease your vision," he replied, gesturing with the spectacles before chewing thoughtfully on one earpiece for a moment. The professor's gaze directed upward for a moment as he drew a map of the campus in his mind; the dormitory cottage was in a corner of the campus that he rarely found need to visit. Most of the celestial mechanics courses were taught in the lecture halls near the center of campus - the ones that could host classes in any one of the sciences. And then there was the planetarium, added recently to the top of one of the other science buildings by the good graces of a grant from an alumnus. "If you would like to stop by one of my classes, the next one will be in the Wolf Hall planetarium, which should be easy enough to find, since it is the only room on the sixth floor of that building." Then, setting his glasses down, Nathaniel poured another cup of tea. Then, he added some milk to it and studied intently the patterns it created. After a moment, he added as an afterthought, "Funny that they had enough money to build the room on top of that science building, then have the planetarium projector special-ordered from the capital, then have the huge heavy thing hauled up in a makeshift elevator shaft they installed up through a couple unused closets ... but they did not have the money to put the floors and ceilings back into those closets afterwords. It would have been pennies in comparison to the rest of the project, but no, the elevator is still there...." |
She chuckled softly when he displayed his glasses, running her fingers over the swinging levers on her own that controlled the magnifiers she needed for her own work. Perhaps there was little difference between squinting at gears and squinting at stars, but it still sounded interesting. Not to mention...perhaps she could, if she got to know enough about the subject, build a star measuring clockwork and free her time to think about the -meanings- of the measurements. Even if she didn't come up with anything memorable, perhaps it would still be a useful invention from the ergaleomancy side of it.
Her face started to fall when he mentioned that it was on the sixth floor. If it was one of her required classes, something she had to find a way of attending, she would have made sure she had an entire hour to devote to taking the stairs. It would be impossible to 'drop by' around her classes... An elevator? Her face lit up when he mentioned an elevator. That changed everything. She smiled cheerily and nodded along. "It sounds like an excellent idea for an expedition. Is that the room you are using for tomorrow, then?" If it would really be that easy to drop by, there was no harm in investigating it she supposed. She sipped at her tea as she considered her schedule. "I suppose I could be there some time after two o'clock...do you have classes then?" |
"The planetarium lecture is tomorrow, late afternoon," he told her. "Four until six, if that does not conflict with any classes you are already enrolled in. And, if you would like a copy of the reading for the lesson, I should be in my office all morning." Nathaniel had met few students who enjoyed extra work, but he figured he would offer anyway. "If my door is shut, just knock. It's room two-thirteen, also in Wolf Hall."
Nathaniel added a spoonful of sugar to his tea and stirred it; ordinarily he liked his tea with milk and no sugar, but the sweet would help get rid of the lingering salty taste in his mouth. It was something he was not sure he would ever get used to. About all he could hope for was that, within his lifetime, some other treatments would come about. But the young man also still wondered if what he had postulated to his parents as a boy was true - that medicine, by design, had to taste bad in order to be effective. And he was not really sure if there was anything else he needed to bring up with regards to his introductory lecture course for the young lady, but he was also still not ready to leave. And so he flipped the newspaper over on the table and scanned the headlines on the visible section of the folded page, but glanced up occasionally in case the student had further questions or topics of conversation. |
She nodded quietly, easily committing the information to memory. She didn't really have anything else to ask, and stayed quietly at her table drinking her tea for the better part of the evening. She bid the professor a quiet goodbye as she left, then headed out into the rain to make her way the rest of the way across the campus to the cottage the women were given.
The following morning, after breakfast but before classes she headed for Wolf Hall. The students were staring and pointing at her more than usual today, and she wasn't quite sure why. No doubt there had been a tabloid expose on her in the morning's paper again. She hadn't stopped to check it--she wanted to see Doctor Wrenne and pick up the reading for the class she would be sitting in on that afternoon. Her guess would be the right one, however. At the front of the 'gossip' section of the paper were photographs of her short conversation with the professor. While their conversation had been perfectly innocent, seen from a great distance and photographed with a zoom lens it looked far more sordid. So this is how 'ladies' study, announced the papers. Miss Buckley Buying Her Degree shouted the headlines, with the articles inside the gossip section ranging from the disparaging against craftswomen in general, all the way up to blatant accusations of what sort of 'entertainment' Elizabeθ might possibly pursue and why it had looked like she'd been given an invitation of some sort. It would be impossible not to spot, and quite likely that a copy of the paper had been brought to the professor by some student or another. Oblivious to it all, she came to his door and knocked sharply, waiting to be invited in. |
Doctor Wrenne was not yet a tenured professor, and so his superiors in the department kept a closer eye on him than some of their other professors, and so while the tabloids were of little interest to Nathaniel himself, the fact that his picture was on the front of one had been of great interest to the department head. He had been by Nathaniel's office earlier to discuss the story with him - it was not obvious from the distant photograph that the man was, in fact, the young professor of celestial mechanics, but Nathaniel was known to frequent that particular coffee shop. And, of course, it was in the best interest of the university to preserve its own reputation.
And so the young man was not precisely in the mood to receive visitors when he heard the knock on his wooden door. There was the sound of chair legs scraping across hardwood floor as Nathaniel stood, then walked to the door to open it. A moment later, the door opened slightly; Nathaniel looked a bit more tired than he had the day before, and a tight smile appeared on his lips when he saw Elizabeθ. "I have your readings," he told her, stepping back. "Give me a minute to find them on my desk for you." |
The professor seemed a bit more tired today, seemed a bit more tense. Not that she knew him well enough to make sweeping judgements, but surely compared to yesterday it seemed a bit bad. But...yesterday had been the -end- of the day and now the day was barely beginning. ...This wasn't a good sign. She nodded quietly, but a soft frown settled on her lips. "Is...everything all right, Doctor Wrenne?"
Her eyes flicked over his desk, stopping to rest when she saw the tabloid still left settled on the edge of his desk. She couldn't help but flick her eyes over it with a somewhat morbid sense of curiosity. And then the pieces clicked into place. She pressed her eyes shut and sighed frustratedly, her shoulders slumping just a bit as the ramifications of it all hit home. "I'm sorry, professor...I...didn't realise the tabloids had come as far as the university..." |
"Well, aside from the speculations that someone who might be me is engaging in unsavory practices with one of his students, I am fine," he sighed, glaring down at teh tabloid momentarily before brushing a few other papers overtop to cover it. "The picture is too far away, and not in color, and a bit too dark to really identify the subject, but there are only so many professors who frequent that coffee house."
Nathaniel poked around through a few other papers and magazines on his desk - today's newspaper, and the previous day's underneath it; some astronomical journals; another journal of mathematics; one of medical articles - before he picked up a thin packet of papers held with a paper clip. He presented these to the young lady; the pages discussed the life and work of an ancient astronomer and mathematician, Aristarchus. "I just hope those photographers will not try to get better pictures of me. Their flashpans are not good for me." |
She hung her head when he spoke about the tabloids as indeed being the thing that was bothering him. Why did it have to be so difficult? She cringed a little bit, feeling absolutely awful for having been the one to all but destroy his reputation. "If...it would be better for you...I can avoid you. It's...only an elective class..."
Elizabeθ was used to the havoc the tabloids could play with her life, accepting the articles and the speculation with the tired but quiet grace of one who had given up hope of being left alone. But it was a bit of a shocking reminder just how much of a problem they -were- to see someone else reacting to them. She sighed softly, her free hand tightening into a fist. This was the first instructor who wasn't a part of the ergaleomancy program who hadn't been rude or demeaning to her, and he was getting in trouble simply by virtue of having been -seen- with her. "They...follow me about nigh on constantly. I'm...a bit of a tabloid celebrity..." |
"Hopefully the planetarium will be safe. No photos will show up there without flash, and anyone using flashes in there will get thrown out by the technicians who run the planetarium." Nathaniel sighed and shrugged a little, rubbing his eyes with one hand. "But if you feel it would be best to stay away, that is your decision."
So far, there was nothing to make it obvious that Nathaniel was the professor in the photograph, but he was still on edge, obviously. A shy man, himself, the professor was doign his best not to resent the young lady for her fame and apparent infamy, but the proximity to the spotlight, especially one with such a lurid glare, made him quite distinctly uncomfortable. He had weathered unsavory talk, himself, back during his own days as a student, for a vastly different reason, of course, but it was hardly something Nathaniel ever wanted to experience again. "For being a woman of ability in an interesting field, I gather. Is there ... any way that you can keep them away? If nothing else, what they are doing does not seem appropriate on private university property." |
As tired and frustrated as he seemed...it...sounded a bit like Doctor Wrenne could understand where she was coming from and could understand what it was she was going through. She nodded along. "Yes. I don't...know how much of my fame is real and how much is perceived, but...I was identified as a child prodigy quite young. I...never quite got out of the spotlight after."
While many people would have gloried in such a fame, Elizabeθ was quite tired of it. It was absolutely miserable to live dogged by the press and having to think of every possible outcome to even the most mundane of everyday actions. "I've...never quite figured out how to make them go away...father was even considering hiring me a body guard. But...if they really can be thrown out of the planetarium by campus security, then...you may be seeing a -lot- more of me..." She laughed softly, hoping the bit of a joke would smooth things over. She took the readings and flicked her eyes over them quickly. "Maybe campus security will be helpful with the tabloids, though..." Her heart just wasn't going to be in her studies until some measure of something had been sorted out. |
"They would certainly cause a disturbance in any classroom, especially if there were flashpans in the planetarium while the lights are down. I believe I would be justified in calling security on them there, or here in my office," he said slowly, brow furrowing as he thought about it. "However, places like the Leaf and Lion are more public, and we could not do much about them there."
He shrugged and picked up his glasses from his desk. "So, with any luck we will not experience future difficulties as long as we do not speak outside of this room or my classrooms." |
She nodded quietly, obediently listening to him and seeing the merit in his suggestion. That was a good idea, actually. If she spent a lot of time in the planetarium, she might actually get some peace and quiet. It was a done deal in her mind. She smiled cheerfully, though she shifted nervously on her feet. She didn't like standing for long periods. "Then...I shall do my best to avoid you save in our little sanctuaries here, sir. I...should go and work on these readings before class, though."
She did her best approximation of a bow, leaning heavily on her cane as she did so, then waited for him to agree to her excusing herself before she ducked out. |
Nathaniel nodded. "And I believe my department head has already notified security about the photographers, but there will not be much they can do until they overstep their bounds, unless we find out what they look like." He shrugged slightly. "I guess if you know any of them by appearance, you can notify the security officers and they can try to keep them off of campus, otherwise, we will all have to be careful."
The professor unfolded his glasses with one hand, and put them on, then picked up the tabloid paper and tossed it into the round rubbish bin beside his desk. "But yes, I will see you up on the sixth floor planetarium later this afternoon." His pupils, magnified slightly behind the lenses of his reading glasses, directed momentarily at the young lady's leg and cane before Nathaniel leaned down over the papers on his desk to find one more worth reading. "Oh, if you turn right after you leave, watch out for Professor Robertson's chairs. He still insists on leaving them out in the hallway, even when he is not expecting students lining up to see him." |
She shook her head quietly. "No, they're pretty good at blending in. That's...the problem." She nodded and turned to go, stopping to glance back over her shoulder when the warning about the chairs was given. "Oh...I'll be careful. Thank you." With that, she headed out.
She turned up in the planetarium a good fifteen minutes before the class was due to begin, having discovered that the elevator indeed made the walk quite a bit faster and easier. She slipped inside immediately, though, rather than waiting around outside. Not only would it have a seat for her to settle in--which she did--it would be shielded from the prying eyes of the tabloid photographers that so made her life hell. She looked around curiously, wondering if the professor would be there yet or if he was still in his office. |
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