9102/Monet at the Opera

Monet at the Opera
Date of Scene:	15 December 2021
Location:	The Met
Synopsis:	Monet and Power Girl discuss culture at the opera. Each is unmoved.
Cast of Characters:	Monet St. Croix, Karen Starr

---

Monet St. Croix has posed:
The Met doesn't have anything playing. It still makes for somewhere relaxing. Of course Monet St. Croix has season tickets. So even if nothing's being done it means that she can go about it. If one were asked she would say it was relaxing (not that she would answer such a question). So through one of the areas open to the public through it Monet is going along looking at faded posters of performances long past in the venue, of others.
    Stopping at some, looking at them a little more in depth. Monet is wearing something normal. A green blouse over and a set of matching pants. Someone isn't looking to standout, for whatever reason it was.

Karen Starr has posed:
    Neither Power Girl, nor Karen Starr, are particular patrons of the Met. She's not entirely a fan of the opera- and the opera isn't necessarily a big fan of the loudest and roudiest of the Metropolis capes, nor are they fond of the loudest and most annoying of tech moguls.

    Most of the time, that relationship is fine- but, today, is slightly different. Some moments ago, a chase ended just a scant block or two away from the opera house- and the person who brought that to a close was none other than Power Girl- who, at this point, has pushed her way into the quiet Met at the cost of a few bills, the denominations of which didn't necessarily matter to her.

    What mattered was the peace and quiet, for the time.

    Of course, this means that the quiet of the Met is momentarily broken, as the over six-foot-tall blonde makes her way into the seating room proper, and takes some time to set herself down. She is, of course, Power Girl. There is little about her that is fair, and nothing about her that isn't eye-catching.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
The sound of someone approaching gets Monet St. Croix's attention. Monet goes to shift her head fractionally and then as Power Girl would fully enter, then turn to face her. Monet's eyes looking up and down cautiously, before she would go to speak..
    "Power Girl, I presume?" She would incline her head over, taking her attention that had been focused on the displays to what was still trackable outside. Then turning to face the Kryptonian, inclining her head. "Greetings." Monet's accent tinted with French. Not stating the 'what are you doing here' nor were such a thing expressed in her body language. Not bothering to introduce herself either. Nor seeming to be phased.

Karen Starr has posed:
    Karen had, by that point, set herself down into an empty chair. Irreverent as always, she'd also kicked her legs up onto the seat in front of her, and set her hands behind her head- the idea was to relax for a hot minute until all the frantic activity had died down. She didn't necessarily want to fly away yet- there was always more to do, after all- so ducking into a somewhat private place for some peace and quiet was ideal.

    Then, there was Monet. "Oh, no, just a cosplayer. There's a convention down the road." That doesn't quite hold water, but it gets the point across. Power Girl is the roughest around the edges, and sometimes, getting along with her isn't the easiest. "Greetings to you, too. Figured this place was empty."

Monet St. Croix has posed:
    Monet St. Croix would inspect the other girl somewhat. "I see. I find it quite relaxing and quiet." Her glancing over at the feet put up. Inappropriate. Monet settling in and going to float an inch or two off the ground behind Power Girl as she would listen and find nothing of any particular disruption or chaos this far inside, and then speak up..
    "Well,you figured it wrong." In the vernacular. Was she attempting to make a joke? "It is normally relatively uninhabited beyond maintenance and caretakers when there is not preparation being made for a production."

Karen Starr has posed:
    Monet's floating doesn't exactly surprise her much. Power Girl socializes primarily with others that have powers so this really isn't anything new. Frankly, she'd be a little surprised if someone hanging out in the quiet of the Met didn't have something along those lines. It just makes sense.

    Leaning her head back to look at Monet, Karen raises a brow. "I imagine it would serve that purpose pretty well. Relaxing, quiet, empty. Typically. Shame I figured it wrong, but glad that it's typically empty unless there's a show going on. I'll have to make a note of it."

Monet St. Croix has posed:
    Monet's expression would go a little bit more of reactive than her normal passivity as she would evaluate. "Yes. In return, respect the facilities. This is a place of culture, of expression. Those whom perform here give their creativity, their focus, their souls. The crowd gets a display that will never again be seen or recreated."
    Very, very politely; please do put your feet down!

Karen Starr has posed:
    Power Girl gets that, but sadly, she's... Not the type to be told what to do. "Respect the facilities?" she asks, her look not particularly incredulous. She doesn't seem particularly fazed by the request- but she's also not taking her feet down.

    "Listen. I get it. The place should remain nice, but I'm not doing any damage, I'm not disrespecting an ongoing performance, and I'm not messing with anybody's view. Fact is, I'm not hurting anybody by taking a moment to relax, even with my legs up."

    A short pause, before she continues. "Question is, are you a representative of the Met?" Not quite so politely, but still not entirely rude: Let me be when I'm not hurting anyone or anything, unless you've got the authority to make the request.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
    Now is the point where the two egos shall seemingly clash. Monet has made her rather polite commentary, and it has been declined. Well.. The other woman is disrespecting -her- presence. Normally Monet would go to full on escalation mode here but given she's dealing with an irritated Kryptonian in the matter that would end badly. Finally Monet goes..
    "No, I am not." She does not have the power to make such a request.
    "So why here? Was it merely the first place available? Or there a greater reason to your flight?" Monet's tone goes flatter as she works to restrain her irritation and maintain her facade for the purposes of not escalating this belligerence.

Karen Starr has posed:
    The level to which it ends poorly depends entirely on how Monet escalates. Power Girl is kryptonian, and the exact extent of their strength and invulnerabilities is quite literally incalculable. Suffice to say, unless you feel confident getting hit with a building, it's not a great idea to enter into any sort of war of physical escalation with someone like her.

    Despite this, though: She's not getting physical herself, and isn't being outright argumentative. She just figures she's harmless, and doesn't like being told what to do if it isn't- as she sees, at least- any harm. "Thought so." she responds, letting out a small sigh.

    "Stopped a guy going nuts after he robbed a bank. Police are blocking off the street down the way, and I'm not needed anywhere right this /second/ so I figured I'd duck into a place that seemed quiet to take a moment to myself before going out to solve some other life, city, or world ending problem. You?"

Monet St. Croix has posed:
    Someone might go on about how they were appreciating what she did. Go over about how amazing she was, perhaps. Monet St. Croix was going to go on about none of those! Having found a center of herself and a method to go about things, the mutant would go to take a seat, drawing her legs up beneath her in a sort of yoga pose as she would bring her legs together.
    "I am here to explore. This is somewhere full of memories." She would allow after a moment. Perhaps of light vulnerability. Or perhaps some sort of game. "I was seeing if I could find some of those that might inspire me." Going to now move to verbally cut off the aggression in her tone of voice, even as her body language would be tranquil. "I find that while one does not always find memories, there is enough inspiration present to sometimes give one a taste of whimsy should they look hard enough." The Moroccan would reply after a few moments contemplatively.
    "Even if I do not find any, I find here soothing. The acoustics are perfect. The architecture does not have the classicism of older venues, but this country does not have the history or the age to have fully developed locales of the arts so one works with what they have."

Karen Starr has posed:
    Relaxed as she is, Karen listens to the other woman- not necessarily for any reason other than that's the only thing to do for the moment. "Well, feel free to explore memories, however it is that you do that." she offers, allowing the other woman to get as serene as needed. "I'm afraid I'm neither psychic, nor empathic. I hear and see the here and now. I've heard that that kind of ability can be really tough to grasp, so. Good on you. Probably a great place for reading the metaphorical bones, this."

    Karen shakes her head, at that: "That's wrong. Ignorant, too. This country is getting to the point where it's closer to three hundred years old than two hundred, and that's just counting the time that it's been independent." offering then, a small chuckle- "Beyond that, ever since a bit over a hundred years ago or so, this place has been a cultural mecca. It has more history and age in its few years than any other place on the planet. There has been more art made in New York alone than most countries in antiquity, and that alone could probably be accounted for in the unique perspectives on classics that, otherwise, wouldn't have happened outside of the walls of places like this, where a multiculutral perspective can allow permutations that would never have existed otherwise."

Monet St. Croix has posed:
    Was that the result that Monet expected to get from the other woman? Perhaps. Is that the discussion she wished to engender? Perhaps. But now at least there's something interesting being gone over into.
    "You make an interesting counterpoint. This city? As of seventeen eighty the census population was roughly ten thousand individuals." Roughly as opposed to exactly. She gives herself a reminder to look up the exact number later purely to avoid vagueness.
    "What then do you think differentiates it from somewhere like Rome? Paris? London? Beijing? Tokyo? If you had to give your impression of what made it so unique?" Baited words, perhaps. But her posture at least indicating interest in hearing. "I find places that have had habitation for longer lend themselves to greater traditions. There is nothing quite like seeing a performance of Shakespeare at the Globe Theatre and knowing that a play has gone on there in various forms for more than four hundred years, and that it inspires to this day and there are ever-more creative incarnations of it."

Karen Starr has posed:
    Karen sighs. She hadn't necessarily intended to get into much of a discussion, to be frank. Rolling her head to the side, she looks right at Monet for a moment or two. "Listen, I wasn't about to get into a discussion of the arts. My statement was to your ignorance, not the history of art in New York and the United States as a whole. You don't have very good conversation because I don't go to these things."

    She offers a shrug, then, "I don't have a finger on the pulse of it, but I'm not fond of tradition. Tradition is just the same thing over and over again, and definitely, that gets boring after a while. Tradition causes a whole lot of problems."

Monet St. Croix has posed:
    Monet would let out a very, very minor sigh, "I did not say that I did not consider it. I said I did not consider it in the same league and that my preference was for those that had a greater history to them. Do not imply -ignorance- upon me." Irritation building then fading down to normal.
    "One gets a distinct impression of the cultural landscape by seeing what is the most immediate response to something. What is in the vogue." As Power Girl would elaborate, there would be a light shrug.
    "Perhaps. But there is also a semblance of commonality and fluency in all things." She would hum four distinct chords. "The four chord progression, for example."

Karen Starr has posed:
    "I didn't imply ignorance on you, I stated it outright. You can be aware of, and acknowledge things about which you're ignorant. It only matters that you ignore it or give it scorn." Offering another shrug, Karen moves to stand herself up, to her full height. It is impressive, if one can be impressed by such things.

    "I'm afraid I don't care what's in vogue. Not my thing. The four chords you're using are tired, and played out. So much that some guys made a four-chord song /about/ how overused those four chords are. It's interesting, but it makes for boring music once you know. Anyways, I'm going to get out of here, I've got work to do." she notes, setting her hands on her hips, and waiting for Monet's response.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
    And Monet does uncurl from the position she had been sitting at. And she would go to rise up. Power Girl is taller than she is. There is fury in her form before it would be calmed. "Then you are wrong." She would speak, ever so calmly and self assuredly.
    Then she would go to hum the four chords in recognizable tunes. The first 'Rainbow Connection'. The second 'With or without you'. The third 'Can you feel the love tonight'. "If you would be dismissive of all those things purely as they are banal and tired, then I feel sorrow for you since you can clearly not appreciate.." She would silence herself. "That they have no meaning to you."

Karen Starr has posed:
    Power Girl takes a moment to adjust her gloves, feeling out the rims of them to make sure that they're not stuck to her- and there's a moment she unintentionally rubs in her height versus Monet's, in that she somewhat looks down on the other woman, as Monet rises.

    "Sure, you could call it that." she offers, seemingly impassively. "I'm dismissive of a lack in creativity. I can appreciate the music at the same time. Isn't it lovely that a complex opinion can be formed of something that way? That you can enjoy something for its musical appeal but also criticize how little effort it took to make a melody?" Starting to walk away, Power Girl gave Monet a wave over her shoulder.

    "Good luck on your memory search. Maybe don't insult a place by saying that you 'make do' with it when you're trying to get inspiration from it. Makes you sound pretentious."

Monet St. Croix has posed:
    Monet is probably thinking to herself 'barbarian' or something along those lines. Unappreciative, dismissive, uncultured. Fury might or might not be rising up. But instead she is calm, and deviates from her prematurely readied reply of 'you are allowed your opinion' in an 'it is wrong' voice.. And instead goes with a smile..
    "Then it is about what we appreciate and indulge in. Good day. And I would also presume not to insult somewhere by putting one's feet upon it, no matter the location. We are both guests here after all. No matter our particular tastes and opinions.. It is unworthy of an establishment dedicated in some shape or form over to -art-." Last word, given. As far as she is concerned.
    "I wish you a good day."