Owner	Pose
Mason	It's late afternoon, classes have gotten out. Mason? He's in the garden, and tossed Andrea a text asking her to join him there. Blue jeans and a UCLA sweatshirt. Here he is, sitting among the flowers that are starting to feel the pain as the cooler weather has started to set in. He sits on one of the benches, and is intently watching one of the windows.
Andrea	Heading out to the gardens is Andrea. Even though it's getting cooler, she refuses to accept it by wearing a sun dress and a pair of leggings to keep herself warm. She has a white open kimono on as well and a pair of dark black boots. She looks every inch the poster child for a Christian fashion outlet. "Hey, babe." She calls over as she slides down into the bench next to him, tucking herself in against him to place a kiss against his cheek. "I'm so glad to get out of that math class. I finally hit that point where my brain turned into oatmeal."
Mason	"Hey," Mason answers, absently putting his arm around her. He seems distracted. "Yeah, math sucks," he agrees, eyes still on the window as she plants the kiss on his cheek. "You been noticing Ms. Frost lately?" he asks, peeling his eyes off the window for just a moment to look at Andrea before shifting them back.
Andrea	"Uh .. no, I don't check out my teachers." Andrea says with an amused smirk to Mason as she curls her arms about his waist tightly. "Well, unless it's Professor Rasputin. He's cute. Got that sexy Russian accent." She gives him a grin, then glances up to the window. "Why? What's up?"
Mason	Mason grins, but only a little. "No, she's been weird, haven't you noticed? Like...she's acting happy. She always has this stone cold look, but the last few days she's acting like everything's good in life. She's going out to parties or something," he says. "And while everybody is having those weird nightmares? And there was the earthquake? Just seems like..." he shakes his head. "I dunno, like she'd be a little more sober-minded." He glances back over at Andrea. "I mean, /I/ would go to parties anyway, but doesn't seem like somethin' she would do."
Andrea	"Maybe she's dating someone and it's loosened her up. Or maybe she's finally letting her guard down a bit now that school is in session. I'm sure dealing with us all the time has to drive someone to drink now and then." Andrea says as she shrugs her shoulders upwards. "But yeah, the earthquake was really nuts. They ever figure out what caused it?" She taps a few fingers along his chest as she plants her head into his shoulder.
Mason	"I dunno," Mason says, still a little distracted. "Keep feeling like the whole place is gonna get swallowed by the earth any moment. Dunno why, maybe it's just the nightmares." He gives a shrug, petting her on the head. "Maybe we should follow her," he says. "If nothing else, maybe we could get some good dirt on her in case I get a bad grade." A very noble reason to creep on a teacher.
Andrea	"I don't think the place is gonna get swallowed up." Andrea says with a laugh as she looks up at him with a grin. "And I don't think following a telepath will work out too well. You will probably have loud thoughts about her shirt or something and she'll be on to us." She teases him with a poke in the side. "I think studying hard will eliminate the bad grade situation and impress your teachers even more. Do you want me to talk to her? One celebrity woman to another?"
Mason	"I've been hiding my thoughts from a telepath my whole life," Mason points out, tapping a temple with his free hand. "Besides, studying takes too much time. Life is short, you gotta have fun while you're still young. I don't have the bad grades yet, I'm preparing for the future. See how forward thinking I am?"
Andrea	"You've been hiding your thoughts from your mom. I think it's a lot different than someone of Miss Frost's level. I'm not a telepath and even I know when you're staring at my ass, or someone else's ass." Andrea says with a smirk. "And if you were preparing for your future, you would /study/." She pokes him in the belly playfully. "I'm going on tour next week, so I'll be doing homework on the road for a few days. Now that's gonna be painful. What about you? Any dates coming up where you'll be on stage? I wanna make sure to support you."
Mason	"Yeah maybe," Mason answers. "My manager's pissin' me off, trying to get me to be okay with the dynamic compression again." A standard operation applied to virtually every modern artist's songs for the sake of marketability. "Why can't they just leave it alone?" The purist in him thinks it robs the music of his intended tembre.
Andrea	"Geez, if only you knew someone who had a kick ass manager who lets her have full creative control over her albums and is totally okay with her being a mutant icon?" Andrea teases him a bit as she gives him a few more nudges. "You could always come to my label and do your thing. I bet they'd be thrilled to have /the/ Mason Steele on their walls. You even been putting together anything here in the studio though that I could listen to? Maybe I can give you some feedback and help out?"
Mason	Mason frowns. "They use dynamic compression on every one of your songs," Mason answers. "They take the volume levels and compress them to all be more equal, so they can create a louder sound to compete with all the other music out there." He curls his lip at the standard practice. "When I started I thought record companies knew something about music, but they all suck at it. They just want to brainwash our audiences and tell them what to like." He shakes his head. "It doesn't matter. I guess I'm too much an outsider to make a good celebrity. They'll probably forget about me in ten years anyway unless I can get into the classical realm of music."
Andrea	"Yeah, but my music doesn't suck, Mason. I write my own songs, I choose my beats. I know you want to be this rebel or whatever but I don't mind the dynamic compression too much. It's more important we get the lyrics out to the fans so they can hear our stories. I'm a pop artist, my music is supposed to be all doofy and bubbly. You're more rock and roll though. Sides', my studio doesn't /make/ me do dynamic compression. If you wanna go up there with a guitar and pour your guts out they'd let you. They'd help you out and give you some tips, but it's your music." Andrea says as she nuzzles into his neck. "It's music that you can be proud of, and I'm sure no one will forget about you. You'll always have your core, obsessed fans. Just don't get fat and bald and you should be okay." She grins. "Sides, you will always have me, your number one fan, right? That's kinda cool."
Mason	"They don't /make/ you because you don't fight it," Mason points out. "If you fought it they'd force it. I bet you can't name one artist who doesn't have their music compressed. You don't fight the record companies when their money making system is on the line. It's all just a machine. They let you do the mutant thing because they know it can be marketed and get them more money." He doesn't respond to the nuzzling much. "I dunno, maybe I'm just grumpy because I haven't gotten enough sleep."
Andrea	Leaning back from him, Andrea has a bit of a hurt expression on her face. "Thanks, Mason." She says with a sigh as she pushes herself upwards. "Anyways, if you want to get dinner or something, I'm free tonight. I can make time for you if you want it."
Mason	"Okay, maybe," Mason responds, looking down at the ground. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I'm just feeling cynical today I guess. I'll catch you in a bit for dinner."
Andrea	"It's okay. I get it." Andrea says as she watches him for a moment. "Maybe we can go into the city and get Chinese." She pauses, then says, "I love you."
Mason	"Sure," Mason says. "I wanna figure out what's going on with Ms. Frost, though, too. So if you see her do anything weird, let me know. Kinda makes me nervous to see her looking so happy."
Andrea	"Yeah, God forbid people are actually happy." Andrea says as she walks off, letting out a soft sigh from her lips as she slips her phone out from her small shoulder bag to tap away on it with her thumbs.