Psych Partners

[Anjali Kedar]

Late.  Always late! Anjali poured the tea into her to go mug before throwing her long, heavy winter coat on.  She needed a new one, this one getting a little ragged and worn, but it was the perfect warm coat coming all the way down to her knees and hugging her body just right.  It was less about style and more about function and it functioned perfectly.  Her bag was slung over her shoulder and she ran towards the door, only to realize she'd forgotten her tea.  Penelope was meeting her in eight, no, seven minutes and she still had to get to her car and drive.  Luckily the library wasn't far from where she lived.  She turned to go back into the room to grab her tea when she tripped on the yoga mat she'd left out.  Hadn't she put that away? She supposed she hadn't.. Either way she went stumbling forward, knocking the tea onto the floor.  "Dammit.." She grumbled looking at the clock.  Six minutes..  The tea was spilling out of the little hole in the mugs lip and she quickly turned it upright, half the contents still remaining, and grabbed the closest thing she could to clean the mess; some sweat pants.  "I'll wash you later." She promised softly, as if the pants had feelings or cared about being used to clean a puddle of chai tea.  It also wouldn't care when she inevitably broke that promise and procrastinated doing her laundry until the weekend. 

Four minutes to go and she was out the door, fumbling with the lock before racing down the hallway.  By the time she got in her car she had one minute until she was supposed to meet Penelope.  She'd be late, but not severely! Two minutes late.  Four.. the girl glared at the red light as if it were its fault she was running so behind schedule.  Six.  Eight.  By nine minutes she had parked the car and was running towards the library.  Empty handed.  With a groan she turned around and raced back to the car to get her bag and as soon as she locked up again she realized her tea was still inside.  One of these days she'd learn some real time management.  Unfortunately, today wasn't that day.  

Racing into the building Anjali spotted her Psychology partner and offered the most kind, apologetic smile she could muster.  "I'm so sorry." She offered, her breath a little ragged from running back and forth.  She felt bad that Penelope had gotten stuck with her, and decided maybe the next time they met up she would offer up her place so she wouldn't unintentionally waste anymore of the girls time.  She didn't really know Penelope all the well.  Or, really at all, but Anjali was under the impression she was pretty no nonsense.  Then again maybe she was wrong.  What did she know?  She ran a hand through her windblown hair and took a deep breath.  "I hit a little traffic." She lied, not wanting to come off as too flaky on the first day of working together.  Hopefully the project wouldn't take more than a few sessions so Penelope wouldn't have to put up with her for long.  "Umm.. you ready to start?"

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Late. Penelope Blaise was not an easily impressed person. More so when it involved either tardiness or academics. In this case, it was both. What made it worse was that she was partnered up. Partners meant socialization, and according to their psychology professor, it was supposedly a good thing. The Brit was ready to argue that.

Eleven minutes late and Penelope was about to leave, already writing the beginnings of an angry email to her professor in her mind, but just as she started to each for her bag, the girl showed up apologizing.

"Strange, the roads seemed clear fifteen minutes ago." Penelope replied, accented voice cutting through the air. Still, she settled back, crossing her legs at the table.

And now that her passive aggressive comment was out, she was ready for business. "Yes; I already have several prompts to consider." Penelope opened up a color coded notebook, flipping to the correct page. She considered asking if the girl had anything prepared, but opted not to based on her tardiness. "Take a look."

[Anjali Kedar]

Anjali used her better judgement and ignored the snide comment about the roads being clear.  There was no sense arguing because it had been a lie.  There was no sense arguing even if it had been true, because it wouldn't have gotten them anywhere and like it or not they had to work together and Anjali wasn't a huge fan of confrontation.  She liked things simple and laid back.  Drama wasn't something she got herself wrapped up in often, and the last thing she wanted was drama with her rigid Psychology partner.

She took the book that was offered to her with some prompts written on it, staying silent about some of the ideas she'd come up with herself.  She didn't write it down like Penelope, not being that prepared, but she'd thought about it plenty knowing she shouldn't come to their meeting completely empty handed even though she was technically empty handed.  

"These all look good." She offered after a quick glimpse.  She battled with herself about whether she should mention her own ideas or not.  After a quick though, she decided against it.  "I have a few ideas, but these would all definitely work."  Her lips pursed, running down the list.  "Maybe, uhh.. this one? Prejudices.  There's plenty of prejudices we could work on, I mean.. being a minority I'm all about that."  She gave a smile that said she was being silly but she got the feeling that Penelope wasn't entirely amused.  "Um, what do you think about maybe focusing on something concerning sexism?  There's still a lot of discrimination towards women and there's this new wave of feminism with our generation.  Loads of celebrities are getting involved and even the definition of feminism is changing.  Maybe we could go that route?" It had been one of her ideas but she didn't really want to say that, liking the idea of Penelope sort of leading since she seemed the type.  "I mean, if that was something you were interested in.  We could totally go in another direction.."

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Penelope kept quiet as the girl looked over her notes. There were a variety of subjects that the Brit had written down. For such an open ended assignment, there really was no other choice but to offer a range of options. Especially considering Penelope was wondering if the assignment itself was the point of it all; the professor seemed more interested in partnering people up than anything. Leave it to some hippy-looking professor to make an experiment out of her students.

She herself looked down the list; Pavlov's dog, positive and negative reinforcement, discrimination and prejudices within experimentation, morals of social experiments, parts of the brain, and several more written out in clear, neat handwriting. With a nod, she agreed silently. Of course they were all good ideas. Penelope wouldn't have written them down if otherwise, but her partner continued and scrutinizing eyes looked up at her with mild curiosity over her opinion.

Another nod. Still silent as Penelope considered the option given to her. It sounded as if leaning away from the science, fact based side of psychology and leaning into sociology if anything, but it was a start. The girl had an opinion, and that was more than Penelope originally gave her credit for. Even so, she hardly wanted to stray off topic completely, but it was always hard to deny feminism to the Brit. Although equality between genders wasn't Penelope's solution to a perfect world, there was still a balance that did not favor women in current existence, and that was the first step of the problem.

"Mmm." Another pause, the clockwork in her mind ticking away before she continued. "We could consider the positive reinforcement received through sexism, which teaches men that it is okay and encourages them to objectify women."

[Anjali Kedar]

A nod.  Silence.  Anjali watched the other girl and then shifted a little uneasily in her seat.  Boy, was she a quiet one.  The girl was quiet in class, but most people were quiet in class.  It was class after all.  She herself wasn't the most chatty person while the teacher was talking because that's how you missed stuff after all, but she did raise her hand with answers now and then.  Still, she was surprised at how quiet her partner was remaining.  Finally she gave a soft sound of thoughtfulness and then went silent again.  Anji felt her shoulders sink a little bit.  This was going to be a long project.

Finally she spoke up, offering more ideas on the topic.  "I like it." She chimed in, tugging her notebook out of her bag and the chewed up pen she always used.  Her hand scribbled into the notebook their topic and then the basic outline of what they intended to do.  "Do you have any ideas on how we could really study that here on campus?" She asked, looking up at the girl again.  She wondered briefly if she should be calling her Penelope or if she had a nickname.  What a long name.. Penelope.. She had pretty hair, too.

Anjali felt her cheeks heat up slightly, but fortunately blushing didn't work the same on her with her darker skin and she looked back down at her paper trying to forget the stupid thought.  

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Penelope was thankful her partner agreed with the subject; it was essentially what the other student wanted, just put in clearer terms. As she pulled out her own notebook, Penelope took back her own, clicking her pen once before flipping to a new page and writing everything out in the same, practically flawless handwriting.

A glance towards the girl, and she could see the tip of a chewed up pen, and the Brit immediately averted her gaze again. Lips pressed into a fine line as she forced herself not to speak of it. She was supposed to get along with girl and pointing out her bad habits was likely to put them off to an already shaky start.

"Observations." Penelope replied quickly; any other way wasn't a real option for the Brit. She had no interest in people as it was; watching was the furthest from interacting while still doing work. "Women are objectified everywhere. University campuses are one of the highest targets for women to be mistreated."

[Anjali Kedar]

Her partner's answer came a little too quickly, which told Anjali that she had either already thought about how they would do this, or she had no interest in doing more work than was necessary.  Her brows knit slightly at the other girl as she continued about universities being one of the highest targets, a theory Anjali didn't really agree with.  There were other places that she felt were worse for women being mistreated or treated unfairly, like the work place.  But they weren't at a workplace, they were on a college campus which made more sense for their project.  

Either way, Anjali wasn't sure observation was the best way to obtain the information they needed.  It would mean watching and waiting and the data could be skewed if they only observed certain areas.  Besides, it would take long hours of sitting and watching, something she simply didn't have the time or patience for.

"That's a good idea." She started gently, not wanting to put off the other girl.  "I was thinking maybe we could do, like, a questionnaire though? That way we could really get clear data from the students and teachers themselves.  Less guess work, less being in the right place at the right time and the information would be right there in plain text as proof of our observations."  The end of her pen found its way against her lips and she had to try not to chew on it, something she would fail at sooner or later.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

When it came down to most projects, few people honestly had the desire to argue with Penelope; not to say that this girl was arguing, per say, but she was giving an actual input, which was more than the Brit usually received. She was still unsure if she liked the change of pace or not. On one hand, there was a person who seemed invested in academics, and on the other there was somebody contrasting her beliefs.

Without looking up, she continued to write, penning down far more than she had yet to actually say. "Questionnaires lead to skewed data when it comes to potentially personal topics." She replied, "It would have to be anonymous - on paper. A mixture of the two would balance out results." It wasn't hard to find women being objectified if one just looked, but Penelope was working to find some sort of middle ground with this girl.

With added tension to her shoulders the Brit finally put her pen down, hands coming together as her thumb brushed over the small tattoo on her left hand, second finger from the left.

[Anjali Kedar]

Anjali was getting the impression that Penelope wasn't really interested in doing this project together. It seemed she had her own way of doing things and Anjali was getting in the way. Penelope didn't even look up when as she started talking, scrawling in her notebook instead. She herself was studious, but this just seemed sort of rude and off putting to the aerokinetic.

"I think a combination of anonymous questionnaires and observing would be a good idea too." Her dark eyes remained locked on the Brit. She had always found it important to keep eye contact with someone while you spoke with them, and if Penelope was going to refuse, well she was just going to stare at her and hope it made her uncomfortable when she noticed out of the corner of her eye.

"I don't mind coming up with the questions if you like. Or we can work on them together.. whatever." She offered, already having a handful of questions in her mind. "Maybe we could focus on certain groups on campus like clubs and sports teams. Those would be easiest to collect data from since we can reach out to the groups advisers, who could then pass out the questionnaires and collect them for us with ease. Then it's just a matter of processing the information." She suggested, hoping to have a real conversation with the girl.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

As Penelope wrote, she hadn't the slightest impression that she was offering any negativity towards her partner. Eye contact was personal, and although the Brit never went out of her way to actively avoid it, she never actively sought it out, either when it came to anyone who wasn't her ink manipulating counterpart.

"I don't mind contributing to questions." Penelope explained, offering the notion that she didn't think a questionnaire was a horrible idea if coupled with other forms of data collection. With a nod, she dropped her eyes back to the paper, reading over the notes she only just took. The same ones she'd copy for a second time later that night. "Okay." She offered a nod, lifting her pen again to add more information to the notebook.

"Students will be more likely to fill it out of someone they respect offer it to them." A way of agreeing with her idea - even calling it a good idea, in a round about way.

[Anjali Kedar]

She was glad her partner seemed alright with her ideas.  It was a start, really.  Maybe she'd been put with some crappy partners in the past and she was skeptical about putting her grade in someone else's hands.  She got appreciate that honestly, having been in that position before herself, so chances were she'd warm up a bit once the project went underway and she could see that Anjali wasn't such an idiot.

"Where do you think we should observe?" She asked, the tip of the pen slipping between her lips as her teeth dug into the hard plastic, a disgusting habit she had a hard time breaking.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Although her partner had been late - and that was not something easily forgiven - she seemed not entirely useless to this project. The girl had gone from vegetable state to somewhat competent in the Brit's mind; for only the time they've spent together, it was an amazing progress for someone like Penelope.

She looked up again, catching the pen her partner had between her teeth. Dark eyes lingered on it a moment too long before she took a short breath, trying to move past the idea of pointing out how wrong that was.

"The David Center." Always with an answer, Penelope straightened her back. "The fireplace lounge is in there, I'd imagine it'd offer immediate results." Foosball and billiards tables, people hung around there quite often.

[Anjali Kedar]

The way Penelope's eyes lingered a tick, Anjali wondered if she'd said something wrong.  Was she watching her.. the pen?  When Penelope looked away Anjali pulled the severely chewed pen from her lips and wondered if it may have bothered the other girl, but quickly forgot about it when the other girl continued.

She nodded at the suggestion, and part of her knew she should just keep her mouth shut.  Penelope was clearly smart and ambitious and would want a good great, so there was really no need to challenge anything she said, but in the end Anjali knew her grade was on the line as well, and if her input could potentially help better the project, it should be laid out on the table.  Penelope's feelings be damned.  

"It's a good start." She noted, scribbling the idea down in her book.  "But that's not a very diverse crowd and our results could be skewed one way or another.  Most of the kids who hang around there are guys because of the pool table.  Their views may be very different, especially in front of their friends if they're attempting to trash talk during a game." She tapped the pen in her notebook.  "Maybe we could have two or three locations? Just to make sure the information is varied."

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Trying to keep her gaze from the chewed up piece of plastic in the other student's mouth, Penelope kept her eyes fixed on the notebook in front of her, already rereading notes and only pausing when the girl spoke again. A good start. The Brit briefly wished to point out that it was a far better start than any other partner could offer the girl, but before she could get a word in edgewise, she lost the opportunity.

For a second time, Penelope held her tongue as she fought the urge to also point out that men around other men was exactly the kind of positive reinforcement that encouraged sexism. Rather, she held on to it as Penelope often did. It'd come up again, and when it did the Brit would be sure to use it to her advantage.

"Alright, three." She agreed instead, adding more notes to the page, rapidly filling up the remainder of it before turning to the next. The girl had a point, after all. A wider spectrum offered better data. "Where else would you like to look?" Really, anywhere would do, but she was curious as this girl's opinion. She seemed sure of herself, and the psychometrist was skeptical as always.

[Anjali Kedar]

Three.  Anjali had to think of at least two more places on the campus that would be good spots to observe students.  She pursed her lips to the side to consider it a moment.  "Hmm.."  There were loads of spots where students congregated, but where to collect the best data?

"Oh! What about the Diversity and Equity Lounge!"  It slammed into her like a ton of bricks.  "That would be perfect." They would collect much different data there since that's where the Women's Studies majors hung out, though she knew the stuff collected there would likely be a little skewed, too.  "We could try some sort of dining place, like Henderson's or Brennan's Pub?" She suggested, raising a brow.  She was always at Henderson's, it would be an easy place to collect data while also grabbing her morning chai latte.