15268/~Saturday in the Park..~ (it was Tuesday)

~Saturday in the Park..~ (it was Tuesday)
Date of Scene:	27 June 2023
Location:	Trillium Park, Central Heights
Synopsis:	Willow meets Billy out in the park. It's what you would expect when two nerds meet.
Cast of Characters:	Willow Rosenberg, Blue Ranger

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Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Willow didn't know what to do with herself. She wasn't scheduled until the weekend of the Watchtower. The Magic Box had full staff today. Tuesdays were generally one of her days off at X-Corp. And the semester was over until late August, at which she would pick up her TA schedule for the fall semester.

Willow was not used to having a whole day off. Half days were something she was beginning to get used to. But a whole day off?!?

Unheard of.

Thankfully she had tons of stuff she could look up! And in deference to her day off, she plucked herself at a local park, under a shady tree. (It's Willow. She would burn otherwise!) According to her battery she had approximately 4 hours left.

Blue Ranger has posed:
Billy is pretty far from home, but he's been visiting colleges outside of Starling to help put together a cross-university engineering organization. So, this week finds the young man in Gotham! After a long visit with some of the Gotham University science professors, he finds himself trying to find something ot occupy himself while he waits for a response. He's nervous about a rejection, and due to it he's trying to distract himself. He's really bad at distracting himself.

The handsome nerd makes his way through the park, his brow a bit furrowed as he stares down at his phone, firing off texts to some people back home in Angel Grove. He adjusts his glasses as he wanders from the actual pathway, making his way into the soft, green grass.

Sadly, this puts him in a direct path with the redhead, and he doesn't even know it! Distracted, he ends up walking right into where she's seated, crying out in surprise and tumbling over her, landing in the grass on the other side of her.

"Oh! Oh, man! I'm sorry!" He scrambles to his knees, his glasses missing and in the grass. He blinks at his blurry vision, and pats the grass for them. "I'm sorry! Are you okay?," the blonde repeats, not seeing who he tripped over yet.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Of course, Willow was so engrossed in what she was doing on the laptop, she didn't get out of the way, or even call out to the young man. So when he stumbled over her, she dropped her laptop, lost her entire history as the laptop began to hard reboot (of course).

So there she was. Sitting on the bench, eyes widened, blinking at Billy and her laptop.

"I think I .. oh drats.. I lost it. Oh no!" For a minute she doesn't pay attention to him as she scrambles to get her laptop back, and off of the ground. "It's alright. I'm sure I can recreate what I was looking for. It probably was my fault."

"Are /you/ okay? Am I on your bench?" Yes, Willow was the kind of person who believes in a bench being saved. Admittedly, Billy was kind of young to have a bench saved for him, but it could be. And seeing as she had never been to /this/ park before what does she know? "Here, let me help you! I'm Willow, by the way. Willow like the tree, willow."

She doesn't explain the magical sense of willow. Especially since she was certain that her parents didn't know of that meaning when they had picked it for her as a baby. Just as well, they might have had a fit.

Blue Ranger has posed:
He pats the grass in a circle around him until he finds his glasses. "Your bench? Oh, no. Not at all! I'm not even from around here!," he says quickly. He stands, then, and slips his glasses back on, blinking. This is when he sees the redhead for the first time, and his eyes widen, and his cheeks flush a bit.

"Oh! Well, hi, Willow. It's really nice to meet you. I'm sorry about your laptop, really. Your project could be stuck in the hard settings? Can I see? Computers are...well...my thing. NOT that you don't know what you're talking about," he adds hastily. "Not, like...mansplaining or anything..."

Billy trails off, his gaze dipping briefly over Willow before he clears his throat andf glances skyward. Anywhere but the pretty, nerdy redhead.

"Billy. I'm just...Billy."

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Willow giggles. "Considering that Computer Science is half my Master's program?" Her . head shakes. "I think I'm aware of most of the things you could do. And before you ask me, the secondary studies are in Mathematics. Theories. And no, I don't find them boring. And I would be happier in a business college learning to be a secretary."

She rolls her eyes. Apparently she has heard that one from well meaning adults before.

"I love mathematics and computer sciences. I couldn't make up my mind, so I took them both." Which isn't as weird when you learn that Willow had three majors, and two minors in her undergraduate studies. Of course, the University didn't officially count her courses beyond the two majors - but she knew!

"Billy? That's a solid name. My parents would approve." They would have approved regardless because he was a boy, and he looked to be studious. As far as they were concerned, studying was tantamount to doing well in this life.

Blue Ranger has posed:
He chuckles and rubs the back of his head. "Oh, wow. Cool. Yeah, sorry. I mean, that's cool. Those are some really interesting studies you're going for!"

Billy clears his throat and stuffs his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "I'm going to the University of Starling right now. Master's in Engineering...minors in Computer Science. Actually, I'm in Gotham to try and setup an inter-collegiate science group. Like...so that science students and faculty across the country can work together for beigger, better things!"

He blinks when his name is compliment. "...Do you approve?," he asks, curiously.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
She sits down on one end of the bench to leave him room if he wants to sit. "I'm at Colombia now. I was really lucky! I applied too late, and they still let me come." That still doesn't sound right. Especially with the scholarship. "Maybe they didn't have enough applications for this year?"

Doubtful, but if Willow wants to believe it?

"Starling, huh? It's nice there! My friend lives out there. And wow! See? I wish I could have thought about that. Have you gotten anywhere on it yet?"

His question, she turns around, "Are /you/ happy with Billy? Who cares what I think, or more accurately my parents think." She looks at him, and nods with approval. "Billy is good. Of course many of my friends have weird names. Like Buffy. And I once dated an Oz."

Blue Ranger has posed:
He sinks down into the offered spot on the bench, turning to face the redhead as they talk. "Wow, Columbia is a really great school! That's amazing! I wanted to go out-of-state for school, but...I had to stay in Angel Grove for family reasons." Well, and also to remain with the other Rangers, but that's hardly something he can tell her, regardless of how much he is ALREADY crushing on the woman.

"A bit! I got some folks interested at Harvard, NYU, and Berkeley so far! The local professors seemed a bit...I don't know...less trustworthy over the whole idea? I don't know. Gotham U is...different. Well, all of Gotham is different, I guess."

"Buffy? Oz? Wow. Yeah, my friends all have -the- most generic names. Tommy. Billy. Kim. Stuff like that." He grins lopsidedly and adjusts his glasses. "I like Billy just fine, honestly. Well, William, but yeah. So...you dated an Oz?," he asks curiously.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
"Gotham U was where I did undergraduate schooling. My friend was going there, and I .. it's a long story. Besides, this way I didn't have to pick over the others!" All the places that offered her scholarships. With her SAT scores she could have her pick of any university, including Oxford in England. Instead she followed Buffy to keep the Scoobies together.

"Have you tried Colombia?" She grins. "Gotham U takes a lot of getting used to. Gotham does. It's.. really.. well, you have to develop a taste for it." And how! Considering she came from Sunnydale and still does banish monsters there.. regularly.. it's saying a lot.

Willow smiles at his list of names. "I wish! And yes, I dated an Oz. You might know him if you like his kind of music?" She describes his band, and music. He's on tour now. It wasn't the right time for us."

Blue Ranger has posed:
"Oh, wow! Well, that's cool," Billy responds to her comment about her undergraduate studies. He shakes his head, then. "Columbia is on my list, for sure. I'm only one man, though." He chuckles softly. "I could just send e-mails, but as awkward as I am, I figured in-person meetings would be better..."

He trails off and watches her curiously as they chat. "Oh, music! He's in a band?" Sounds like a cool guy! Hard for someone like him to follow-up, he figures. "I listen to music, sure! ...Mabye I know of him?"

He ventures, then, his heart racing a bit nervously. "So, who're you dating now?"

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
"Ewww? In person?" Willow gives a shudder. "I mean I can do it, but I prefer text based communications if possible. I'm now really the socially put forward girl. Now, Buffy is!" Her brow furrows. "Correction, it's easy to put myself forward on other people's behalf? Sort of?" She shrugs half-heartedly."I could poke around to help you?"

"Oz is the lead guitarist for The Dingoes Ate My Baby. Which is a strange name for a U.S. band. But there you have it. They aren't too bad. Though they seem to be singing at small venues, like The Bronze. Which is sad, I guess." For a moment she is quiet. Thinking.

"Huh?" Willow is brought back to reality. "Me? Dating? Uh.. Not anyone in particular. My dating life has been a miss and miss sorta thing. I've had a few dates that never went very far, since, geez, since highschool. I mean, there was one - Pietro - and I thought we were doing ok, and we just drifted apart. The rest have been one date. Which is funny, considering I am bi - you would think I would have extra dates, given that I can choose both boys and girls? For a while I swore off dating men, because I had such terrible luck with them. That didn't last too long!"

Willow giggles, and then she stops.

"Ooooo.. you weren't asking me to hold a conversation, were you?" A brilliant pink washes over her face.