(1612) Emma & Jacob

[White]

"My apologies Deputy, it is of course expected." Can you even be a Deputy without a Reeve? He would have asked for his title to also be used in formal settings, but, he didn't really feel as if he'd done anything to deserve his title; other than existing when no other Shadows had.

"Indeed," he smiled, "I arrived just after new years this year. Although I did travel for a few months in between then and now. A friend of my Sire wanted some help setting up a brewery of all things, good to have her owe me a favor. Had I heard you also took a leave of absence? If this counts as another time I would enjoy being regaled by that story of the past." He smiled playfully. "If not, then what do you do for work?" At least he hoped she worked, there seemed a bizarre amount of Kindred with strange benefactors funneling them money.

Emma was not the only one that struggled with small talk, Jacob's speech is directing and structured, in a permanent attempt to move conversation topics to something, anything, of what he would perceive as "greater substance".

Psychangel

[Emma French]

Emma gave Jacob a warm smile. "A brewery? That sounds fun and interesting. There is so much that goes into brewing beer. A small craft brewery I am assuming?" Emma enjoyed his playfulness.

"I went back east to help my Sire on a couple of projects. As for work, I am a social psychologist by trade. I work on various projects with the University and Government. Usually I do Cognitive archeology which is where I go to archeology digs and weave together a social story about how the people lived. Before I left the domain to go back east I was managing a funeral home." Emma liked this deeper conversation better than small talk. "Hmm. Story? Well, I did work on this awesome dig over near the capital building. It was where a boarding home was back during the gold rush. The boarding home was full of Chinese gentlemen. We found all kinds of interesting fragments of bowls and beads. It was a great project. I love working on these types of things because others do the digging during the day and I go at night to view the pieces found and work on researching the time period. Of course it is really easy when the time period was during my life or unlife." Emma chuckles softly.

"Ok, now tell me something about you. Do you work?"

[White]

"Truly! So few don't appreciate the complexity that goes into the creation of a good drink. It was four of us Kindred in total, the other three were Haunts. All masked, it was nice to have my Beast quiet down for a change. And yes, despite protests of a more mercantile ghoul it was just a small craft brewery." He smirked and rolled his eyes expressively at the memory, before returning to a soft smile as he listened. He had heard of cognitive archeology in passing, in a critical light. The name "coggie" rung a bell.

"Are we taking turns?" He grinned, "I do not at the moment, finishing up some school. I'm speaking with a few friends about making a startup, I have a few ideas." He shrugged, and genuine occult literature was bloody hard, and thus expensive, to find.

"My turn, what conclusions did you draw from the beads and bowls? I'm curious how it would compare to a dig in China from the same time period. What kind of cultural differences seemed to develop?" He would be a poor scientist if he allowed one clearly biased source colour his view of the discipline. Hearing an actual practitioner speak about their findings would be illuminating.

[Emma French]

His interest seemed genuine so Emma discussed it further, "Well for one thing, the Chinese community was much bigger than historians first thought. The Chinese were from the area of Canton. They were more than just laborors on the railroads and mines. They were actors, butchers, shopkeepers, and actually invested in all facets of life in the new territory. They could go to the Opera, hospital for medical care etc. But they were not allowed to vote. Discrimination didn't end there. The area most of them lived was a marshy area in rickety boarding homes. Mostly were men. It was fascinating looking at their lives back then. I'm not sure how it would compare to a dig in China."

Emma stopped talking abruptly for a moment because she could go on for days about the dig and social psychology in general. "So what are you studying at school? And what kind of startups are you thinking about?"

[White]

It was an answer that would be fairly typical of an archeologist in general. Which was good he supposed, the general knowledge would be needed in order to make any more in-depth conclusions. He couldn't help but smile, though. She was clearly passionate about the topic and that always tended to infect Jacob. The abrupt stop was familiar, he'd done it himself many times in fear of boring the listener. Mabye she won't mind a little extra exposition...

"Right now mostly computer science, although I've studied a wide range of topics." His grin turned almost maniacal, "as for start-up that has everything to do with shifting manufacturing. The majority of coal plants in countries capable of advancing them technologically to any significant degree either barely or do not care about the impact on the environment. The result is very effective but very dirty plants. America, although to a lesser extent than other countries, has heavy restrictions. While unclear to what degree our president-elect will reduce those limitations it will be enough that many coal plants will open. And, that's where I come in." He winked, his smile relaxing to a more casual state. "For a while now a method of harnessing coal power called integrated gasification combined cycle plants have existed. In the purest form, they all but eliminate mercury and both sulfur and nitrogen dioxides, reduce water usage by fifty percent, and eliminate nine-tenths of carbon dioxide emissions." He ticked the items off his fingers. "The problem is they cost many times more than other plants to set up. It's currently economically unfeasible, however, I have found a way, theoretically, to vastly decrease the cost. The downside will be that it is less effective at reducing, to a degree I'm unsure of at this point, the harmful emissions. If I get enough research in to pitch my ideas to major manufacturers I, hopefully, will be able to sell the idea off." Hopefully for enough of a profit that I can fund some of my other ideas...

He took a breath, while they may not need to breathe for oxygen their vocal cords still needed air to be expelled in order to function. "What got you into the field? It's a very specific discipline, what attracted you to it?"

[Emma French]

Emma listened carefully to Jacob as he talked about his idea. She wracked her brain for what she had read about the process. "Isn't there an issue with the amount of CO2 released without pre-combustion capture in the integrated gasification cycle? And why would the manufacturers want to go backwards and have more harmful emissions?" Emma was genially curious how his thoughts would improve the process.

A movement caught Emma's eye. She watched the Prince move away from his conversation and Twist then moved. It seemed that perhaps a new arrival had them on the move. Emma looked at the woman, someone she didn't recognize. She would keep an eye on the situation incase she was needed. For now it looked fine.

Her attention returned to Jacob. "I love watching people and trying to figure out their relationships. So social psychology felt right. The job- I kinda fell into. I was doing a post-doc work at the college and was needed to work the dig." She shrugged casually.

[White]

"No actually, that's part of the beauty of the process. It, unlike almost every other form of coal plants, allows for pre-combustion capture. As for why the answer is they don't, but what they do want for it to cost less. As I can offer that I imagine they will be intrigued." In an ideal world, his method would reduce initial capital such that it would be highly competitive with crushed coal facilities; the reality is it would likely be appeasement.

His eyes flicked over at the newcomer, it was hard to completely ignore someone like her, considering her confidence she wasn't a ghoul and he had yet to see looks like those on a Haunt. His eyes were about to return to Emma when he noticed the Princes reaction, immediately breaking conversation to speak with the newcomer. Interesting, well Asa can decide whether to handle this one or not. His thoughts were confirmed by her speech. His eyes flicked back to Emma.

"Professional stalker?" He laughed, "I only joke, I confess to having no such clear direction. I find a degree of intellectual ADD characterizes my studies."
His thoughts couldn't help but drift back to the newcomer... Intelectually ADD indeed. "I don't suppose you recognize her? It's not every day our Prince personally greets newcomers." Emma had been in the domain for longer, and it would be shocking if the newcomer had not been in the domain before. It was worth a shot. If not, no matter, he was still thoroughly enjoying himself.

[Emma French]

Jacob had some pretty interesting ideas and wasn't stupid, this was all good and intrigue Emma. "Well, I hope you will be able to find investors who are interested in you ideas. They really sound interesting."

"I prefer to be know as a people watcher." Emma laughs lightly but the grin she has goes up to her green eyes. She looks again at the newcomer. "I don't recognize her. But it does seem she is known in the domain."

Emma's focus turns back to Jacob. "So, what are some of your non-work related interests?"

[White]

"I hope so too, and I'm glad I didn't bore you!" He laughs with her. "At least to some of the domain it would seem."

"I'm always up to talk about me" His playful smile returned, "before all this I boxed, but it's harder to do that one my own, and, it's hard to find a regular time that is late enough; I played and play chess; do a lot of reading; and, when all else fails video games fill the void. I'm considering some eastern martial arts as it's easier to find classes later, doing some research and narrowing down options. He paused.
"But, what about you? When your not getting your hands dirty at a dig or stalkin- people watching," he winked, "what do you get up to?"

[Emma French]

Jacob was so easy to talk to, Emma was enjoying their talk. "Well, I like to spar. I'm not great at boxing, but I do martial arts type of fighting. Chess is fun too but I haven't had a chess partner for a very long time."

Emma glanced to the Prince and Twist with the newcomer. Things looked fine so she continued with Jacob.

"I like to go for nightly runs in the woods. I love music, and games. I love board games. The face to face concept of board games thrills me more than video games. I'm kinda old fashion that way. Plus I love to read, everything." She leaned in and whispered, "A secret, I even read shampoo bottles." She straightened back up and giggled.