1963-06-29 - Another Day At Columbia
Summary: At the end of Louis King's lecture, a scene unfolds as they exit to the Quad outside the lecture hall.
Related: None
Theme Song: None
louis cecilia jubilee darwin fury Chameleon tigra 


The lights come back up in the lecture hall, causing the various students to blink blearily as their eyes adjust to the glow of the light bulbs high above. Over at the side of the hall and stepping to each bank of windows, Professor King is drawing the blinds with both hands upon the drawstring, his eyes upon the students and his calm polite smile plastered on his face. "Alright, time to wake up."

A few chuckles are heard throughout the hall as the crowd of university students laugh faintly while a few stretch their arms and feign waking up.

"So if you managed to stay awake, someone give me an observation on the dig site?"

One eager young woman holds her hand up and is acknowledged by a lift of eyebrows from the professor. "Ellen?"

"The climate aided the preservation of the artifacts, despite England's inclimate weather."

"Indeed, indeed. The north can be a bit dry, but something else helped the preservation. Stan?"

The young man who is called upon answers, "The ruins were built up and over by the natives?"

"Indeed, in certain cases the artifacts were preserved because of the later structures built on the site." Louis looks around the room as he steps away from the blinds and towards the front of the room, between the many seats along the aisles and back towards the podium on its dais. Once there he leans forward, his tall slim frame bent over the podium with his weight partially on his forearms. "But there's something else… anyone?"

For a time there's silence, quiet about the room and it's then that Louis starts to lift a hand when a small alarm clock goes off on the desk beside the podium. He sighs and shakes his head, "Think about it over the evening, and get back to me."

With that said the students start to gather their belongings and begin to head on out the door, though a few are stopping to try and get in a few words with the Prof.

*

Cecilia knew the old building held the archaeology department. She had no business entering Schermerhorn hall, the stones holding up the building still younger than most of the books it contained. Empty halls echoed with the faint click of her heels as she held the sample collected from neighboring hall close to her chest like armor against inquiry, a secretarial duty assigned to her for the research project she was currently on.

The familiar voice drifting from open lecture hall door slowed her step, and while the lights were still down, she entered and found a seat at the back without drawing more notice than any other student. Attired in modest sundress, with glasses perched on the bridge of her nose, she followed the lecture with only a faint understanding though a small smile betrayed her sated curiosity.

Mr. King hadn't been lying. Cecilia still was unsure what it was about his smile that made this surprising.

*

Jubilee apparently got invited to a party the other night, by the student that Louis introduced to her. So, she finds herself on campus. But with the alcohol flowing, he gave… the wrong time. And she finds herself on campus mid-day, and definitely a bit surprised. On the way out she tries to take a shortcut, and finds herself in the back of a lecture hall.

*

As for Louis, he's up front at the hall, talking pleasantly with a few of the students. He leans over the shoulder of a frat brother and gestures to the paper that the young man is holding. He turns his head and murmurs quietly to the fellow. They share a small laugh and then that student starts to head out. A second student comes up and it takes him a few moments to handle them.

Once that's taken care of, Louis closes up his suitcase and then steps around from the desk. "If either of you need further help, my office hours are Tuesday and Thursday ten til one."

Then he pats the shoulder of one of the students and starts to make his way to the door, perhaps unmindful of Cecilia and Jubilee far in the back, though he is heading that way at the moment.

*

As the last of the students filed out, Cecilia stood with a fresh re-shouldering of the files in one arm. In the wake of one of the frat boys, she made an effort to depart before the professor spotted her and guessed her motivation for being there. She still wasn't entirely sure what that motivation was, and wasn't in the mood to come up with an excuse or defense for it.

Unfortunately, she hadn't seen the incoming toss of a football between students heading out into the quad. The pigskin collided with the manila folder in her arms and sent the papers within sprawling across the gleaming tiles of the entryway, leaving her with an apology shouted over one shoulder and a compliment on her legs.

"Well this is nice." She breathed, an attempt to mince words around the profanity that threatened to twist her tongue, collecting her temper before bending to begin recollecting the research documents.

*

Jubilee gets thrown off her attempt at a shortcut by the event breaking up. sos he ends up just trying to fit through the crowd. In this process she happens to see the lecturer, and stops, looking at him, trying to decide if she actually recognizes him or not.

*

Armando is often at Columbia University, spending time in their library due to Moira MacTaggert's association with the school he's been given special permission to haunt the stacks. He keeps to himself, for the most part, sitting in a far flung, quiet corner of the building and reading in solitude. Its almost like he isn't there at all.

Today, however, Armando is enjoying a cola on the lawn with a book he brought from home, just relaxing on the quad. Its not so far from main entrance. More people might stare if he wasn't such a fixture on campus- still, that doesn't stop everyone. With grey skin, over-long arms, and white, featureless eyes he was fairly easy to spot. Luckily, he wears nice clothing- tailored for his frame and generally well taken care of.

*

Indeed, Louis King is that fellow that was at the club a week ago, she perhaps might have even recognized some of the other faculty who had been there as well. But for now, Louis is making his way along the aisle… and then Cecilia drops her papers.

Recognition lights upon the Professor's features as he bends knee in front of the med student, his smile broadening slightly. "Cecilia." He helps her with the papers, lifting them up and gathering them as he can, tapping them together lightly and then extending them towards her. "Kind of you to stop by,"

As he begins to speak with Cecilia, Louis continues through the door, holding it open for her and for anyone else that seeks to come out with him. It's clear his footsteps are leading towards the large hall double doors that lead out onto the quad. A few moment pass and then they're out into the sunlight of the day.

*

Nick Fury is there, in the quad of Columbia, looking rather out of place, what with the anti-war protests beginning to bloom and his own appearance being a little more in line with military. Add to that the color of his skin and students are giving him and a the woman he's talking to something of a wide berth. Some may recognize a professor from the Sociology Department, Mrs Kunz. In hand, there's a file,

"I'm tellin' you, you're wrong. Look it up. Look at those numbers again." Nick's hand is out, gesturing in the air with small 'chops'. "This," Nick raises his hand with the manila now, "is crap. I need you to take it back and figure out what is really going on." With that, he hands it to the woman and looks ready to stalk off.

*

It was inevitable, of course. She was doomed to being a clutz in front of this person, thereby forcing them to converse. If she believed in fate, perhaps she would curse it at the moment, but Cecilia was much too practical for that. She paused in collecting the papers, allowing Louis to snap the ones he had reclaimed into alignment and accepting it with a clearing of her throat.

"I found it impossible to rest until I truly understood how those artifacts remained preserved throughout the years." She quipped, tucking a strand of black hair behind one of her ears as she let the sunlight swallow her up with a few steps through the door he held open. She ignored the suggestion of propriety to thank him for helping her collect her papers, still internally blaming him for recognizing her.

*

Jubilee actually does slip out when Louis holds the door open, and sort of follows. She wants to hear him speak before she's sure it's him. And when she does hear him speak, she comes around to look at him, facing him, but she doesn't speak, so she won't interrupt his conversation.

*

Armando continues his read in quiet- although he does look up towards Nick- who isn't so far away as he says something is wrong- handing a folder back to a professor he recognizes. He closes his book, and stands quietly. "Professor Kunz, I hope everything is well?" Armando asks as he approaches, smiling rather gently. "Armando Munoz." The obvious mutant offers towards Nick, with a hand extended. A name that Nick might recognize- Armando is under surveillance by the government due to the nature of his mutation. He's not considered dangerous, however- more a person of interest with intent to recruit. An agent with his abilities would be exceedingly valuable, after all.

*

Once they're out in the bright light of day, Louis smiles sidelong towards Cecilia. "Oh indeed, terribly compelling information. To deny oneself the bliss of such knowledge is a terrible disservice to their psyche." He seems inclined to go along at length about such a thing…

But then he realizes that there's Jubilee right in front of him. His brow furrows as a haze of confusion touches his features and he says, "Yes?" As he perhaps doesn't entirely place her at first, but then it dawns on him as his lips part. "Ah, the young woman at the club. Jube, I believe. I didn't know you were a student here." But then he looks past her as he espies Mrs. Kunz speaking with Fury.

He pauses there, eyes distancing as more and more students file past them, the transition of classes happening with that casual ebb and flow of college students of the time. Though indeed a few are giving Fury the stink eye for whatever reason.

*

Professor Kunz looks as if she's about to stand her ground, even if it means going toe to toe with Nick. "There is absolutely no correlation, there's nothing there, Mr. Fury. And asking me to find something that isn't there is… well, it's a waste of time." She's not taking that folder, nope.

"I'm saying there is. I've got people, Professor, and the people I have behind me says to look harder." Shaking his head, Nick exhales in a chuff of breath, his jaw tensing. "There's a reason why you're on this project, Professor. You're smart." Right now, that doesn't sound like a compliment, "I just think you're not looking in the right places." The file, then, is officially pushed over, and finally, he turns around, dark eye scanning the campus. For all the 'stink eyes' he's getting, he doesn't seem overly worried.

Munoz? Was that a name… shit. There goes dinner.

*

Cecilia distracts to the raised voices within the quad, offering up a noncommittal hum of agreement as the conspiratory tone of her companion. It was easy to enjoy his company, a luxury she was still unsure why she had indulged. Excusing it as a moment of personal weakness, she was preparing to excuse herself with some pressing matter that would insinuate she was too important to socialize when the young Asian-American woman practically appeared in front of them.

Despite the streak of rebellion she had shown a few days prior, she fell into demure quiet as Louis greeted the girl, smiling politely but not making any effort to intrude in their conversation.

Besides, the scene playing out on the lawn was proving interesting enough to hold the attention of her dark eyes.

*

Jubilee gives Louis a wave. "Professor. Oh no. The uh, the student you introduced me to the other night, invited me to a party. But either he got the time wrong or it got cancelled. I was just leaving campus when I saw you, so I got curious. Hi."

*

She's not a student, the woman entering the quad now. But she is considering becoming one. In her natural form, Greer Nelson stands out rather dramatically, and for that reason, the woman sometimes known as Tigra is in her human form, being a tall, well built woman with black hair, currently wearing a relatively modest blue dress. She's certainly older than most of the students filing in and out, but nothing about her screams professor. Even if it did, the way she looks about the campus with open curiosity would strongly sugest she wasn't a professor -here-. She does a double take at seeing an obvious mutant, and then tries to quickly look away without being obvious. Buuuut that brings her gaze to the confrontation between a large black man and a professor.

*

"Is everything okay?" Armando knows some of the professors here- and standing at 6'4" tall he does tend to have a bit of height on even the tallest of men. Luckily, he's used to being stared at- Greer's stare is taken like any other stare. "Things seem…tense." he says simply- not making any kind of aggressive move- simply standing near by to the professor to perhaps deflect some of the heat."

*

"Cecilia, this is Jubilee I believe." Turning to look at Cecilia he smiles to her easily, "Jubilee, this is Cecilia." Louis makes introductions rather easily as he then smiles that overly polite smile to them both. "If you'll both excuse me."

That having been said he steps off down the sidewalk towards the focal point that is indeed drawing some attention from the student body. For some it's probably enough to see a large black man supposedly 'menacing' one of the faculty. For others it could be just casual curiousity. For Louis his motivations aren't easily discernible.

Once he draws close enough he lifts his voice, "Professor Kunz," His voice is light, cheerful as he approaches and he looks between her, Fury, and Armando. No double take at the young man, nor the older. Instead he seems to cultivate that air of the clueless Englishman that later actors in the world would make so terribly popular. "If you have a moment…"

*

The introduction is politely received, a hand extending to the other woman in offer of a handshake as she nods knowingly to the sudden departure of Louis. She couldn't fault the man for approaching what looked like a xenophobes worst nightmare.

"An interesting name, Jubilee. Can I ask what inspired it?"

The conversation was polite, but distracted, some measure of her focus still dedicated to what was occurring down the steps.

*

Fury looks down at the hand extended before he looks up slightly with his one good eye. His jaw shifts again, and he brings his now free hand up to clasp. "Everything is just fine, Mr. Munoz." Grey. If it weren't for the fact that he's seen the files AND he's got a blue teleporting god damned demon that he considers his own flesh and blood living with him at the moment, he might stare. As it is, he's not entirely sure what to expect from the handshake. "Nick Fury." Twisting around, he looks to Professor Kunz before he glances back again. "I'm just about done here."

The approach of Louis brings Nick's attention around, and once he retrieves his hand, he moves to ignore the pair. Part one, complete.

Professor Kunz, for her part, looks rattled. Frazzled now that she's not doing a face-off with a rather unnerving one-eyed former soldier who probably should be off … somewhere else. She smiles tightly and exhales in a sigh, nodding quickly. "Yes, of course.."

*

Jubilee isn't distracted and isn't tipsy this time, so his use of 'Jubilee' makes her perk up, this time. "Uh, I'm sorry, It hink you misheard me the other night. My name is Jubilation. Similar, but different. And, it's basically a translation from Chinese."

*

"Interesting."

In her defense, Cecilia manages to sound truly interested. Her head tilts to one side as she refocuses on the assumed student, she clears her throat and smooths her skirts.

"I should be going, though it was a pleasure meeting you. If you're going to hang around here, apologize to Mr. King for my abrupt departure. I don't want to interrupt him as he looks quite busy."

With a final glance over her shoulder, she clicks down the steps and moves to continue through campus to her original destination. This time with no distracted wanderings into the Liberal Arts colleges.

*

Greer watches the confrontation resolve itself, more or less, and she starts to continue on her way, though not with any particular hurry. She continues to look around the quad, noting students studying or talking with each other. And glancing towards the group of people she stared at. Then looking at a tree, and then towards the group again.

*

"I'm glad to hear that. Professor Kunz is an expert in her field, you know. Her papers on social stratification are brilliant, and criminally underrated." Armando says, as he gives Fury's hand a shake. Armando's skin is surprisingly dry given the heat of summer- its as if he doesn't sweat at all. Unusually cool, completely dry. Those featureless white eyes are exceedingly difficult to read- its next to impossible to tell if he's staring at, or through someone- or not looking at them at all. He looks very much the alien creature on earth.

Armando looks over as the handshake is completed, simply standing near by- he looks towards Jubilation and gives a quiet smile. "Hey there. I see you found the city. Did you visit Canal Street, yet? Amazing dumplings at…" What follows next is perfect Cantonese- «Mister Lu's Noodle and Dumpling»." He switches back to English, "Really, the best in all of China Town."

*

As Fury starts his departure, Louis turns to Professor Kunz and smiles to her openly. "Of course, I was just wondering if you wanted to perhaps continue our discussion on our debate regarding Nature versus Nurture. I'm very curious to ply your armor with a few of my inquiries that I've come up with in the time…"

And then once Fury is suitably out of earshot his tone shifts ever so subtly, "I trust you're quite all right, Professor?" He asks her even as he starts to move off with her as they walk down the quad sidewalk, moving away from the crowd of students.

*

From the small crowd a single young face watches blending in much as any other. She's a real plain Jane dressed in a simple black and white polka-dotted dress with a simple red shirt. Her own attention for the most part less on the gathering and more on the cute jock who'd been so focused on the goings on. She's trying to keep her face in her journal as things go on, clearly trying to stay hidden from the muscular man, yet for those who look closely enough there's a slight gloss on the back of the journal for a moment as a small shutter opens and closes on the front of the sticker laden journal.

*

Nick is ready to walk again, and looking back and over his shoulder as Louis and Dr. Kunz begin their stroll away, he returns his attention to the .. well, person. Armando. "Yeah, I know." Now that he's got his hand back, he gives the mutant a long, single-eyed look. "I'd like to hear more about your opinion on our Dr. Kunz. Say, later. There's this place on the Lower East Side. Makes great BBQ."

To hear the quick conversation between he and Jubilee, however, Nick gives a brief smile. "Maybe later. I'll catch up with you again, I'm sure."

*

Jubilee turns to look at Nick, since others are heading off. She looks him over, and nods "Hi, I don't think we've met. Probably since I'm not actually a student here."

*

"Oh, I suppose that's possible- although I'd be hard pressed as to see why you'd like to hear my opinion on Professor Kunz." Armando says, "I've seen her around, spoken to her a few times- she seems a nice enough lady. Most of my opinion on her is based on her work, though- its all available in the library, and I tend to read whatever interests me on any particular day." The grey-skinned man replies, with a nod of his head. "But, if you want my opinion on her work, I'll be glad to give my thoughts on it." he offers simply, reaching into a jacket pocket and pulling out a business card to offer to Nick. "Oh. Manners, of course. Jubilation- this is Mister Fury. Mister Fury, Jubilation Lee." he smiles, still- a friendly thing. "So- Chinatown." he says, with a smile to Jubilee. "Care to go get dumplings? You are, of course, invited Mister Fury." he offers to Nick.

Should Nick take the business card it would list a number, along with Armando's name- apparently he works at Worthington Industries and the number goes to the secretarial pool.

*

Well, this certainly looks the interesting college, Greer thinks to herself. Though it might also be -too- interesting. Oh, who's she kidding? No such thing. Nodding a little to herself, Greer picks up her pace, heading towards the lecture halls to try to sneak in and listen in on a lecture or two. Or three.

*

"Written word is one thing. How it's interpreted is something completely different. Now, what I would get out of her writing is something completely different than what you would, based upon our experiences." Beat. "Dig?"

Nick does take card, and with a practiced eye, memorizes the exchange before putting it into his pocket. "Miss Lee," he nods. "If the two of you will excuse me?" Time to get home and make sure he still has an apartment left.

*

Jubilee nods "Bye," before turning to face Armando now. "Good afternoon," she says. "Funny seeing you here."

*

The simply dressed woman on the nearby bench brushes a single hand along the side of her head as fury starts to leave tilting her head slightly off to one side while looking down at her book. Her own attention drifting down as she mutters something to herself. A slight moment of pause as she shifts on the bench running her hand back through her hair before setting it down at her side.

*

"Good to meet you, Mister Fury." Armando offers with a smile, nodding to Jubilee. "I'm often anywhere you can find a good library." he says with a chuckle, "Anyways, Moira works here- so, I often visited. I was just returning some books." he explains with a smile. "What about you? What brought you to Columbia?"

*

Jubilee looks to Armando, and smiles. "I was invited to a party that doesn't actually exist. I was about to go back home. You're free to join me."

*

"I've still got some packing to do. I'll take you all out though and show you some New York night life once I'm back at the school." Armando says with a smile, "Good seeing you, though." he says as he begins off. "See you around, Jubilation."

*

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