Indeed, she’d already read a few articles and studies of this Tuckenstein. Just as she’d already read some of the references the speaker was recommending, but others were new. She took out her phone to take a picture of the references once the woman was done writing (it was easier and more reliable than copying them all by hand). "Thank you."

Another hand shot in the air, this one didn't participate until now. "Yes ?"
"I can't help noticing Carlson in the list. I believe he was frowned upon because of his racist views, wasn't he ?"
"He was, but I believe you're all smart enough to know how to extract only what's beneficial in his research. "
"I think you're overestimating a lot of us here, ma'am." He answered with a sarcastic sneaker.
"I can't help it, I have high expectations of all of you here. I expect more of you than I expect of my peers, in fact." She adds with a smile. "But don't tell them that, yes?"

Katja held back a chuckle at the back-and-forth between the speaker and the last one to have asked a question. It wasn’t exactly that racism disguised as science was funny (anything but), but there was something in the other two’s tone that somehow made the exchange amusing nonetheless. "Then we had better live up to those expectations." She would deal personally with those who didn’t, but that’s not something she would say openly in present company.

"Hear hear." adds another amused young woman. Anastasia was glad that some had enough humor to know how to navigate these pricky topics - because she's gonna be pricked so bad at the end of the conference, better make those chuckles worth it. "Now, I said it already, but this conference is only an introduction, we can't dive into more details. However, for those who are interested, Avenzoar hospital is hiring trainees and interns, if you want a more in-depth perspective on the field."

Between her research and her part-time job as a high school teacher, Katja wasn’t sure if she’d find time for interning… But maybe if she could fit it into her research to combine the two? It was worth taking note of, and so she did. Good thing she’d taken an empty notepad, because she was starting to have quite a few pages of notes.

She spent the next minutes advancing a bit more on the slide, since they were technically late according to the initial plan. "How shall people who are sleep deprived deal with it, then ? If sleeping pills aren't a safe option? "
"For now, we try to keep it as a last resort. Do check with a professional before taking any medication, though."
"I think this is blown out of proportion. Isn't there mutants who have superpowers to heal or something? Shouldn't they just deal with them ?"

The lecture went on and kept confirming Katja’s initial impression that this speaker knew her stuff far better than the last one she’d listened to (granted, that wasn’t hard). Things were going so well that she was unprepared for the utter moronity (yes, that was absolutely a word) of the question about superpowers. She facepalmed before she even knew she’d done it. "Yes, and why not let mutants solve global worming and world hunger, too", she muttered under her breath, too softly for anyone but her neighbours to hear.

"Mutations aren’t Hogwarts houses, you know: they don’t fit neatly into categories and each is unique." Aaaand there she went. With none of the calm poise of the lecturer. "If you try to build themed schools, academies or whatever, you’ll only cater to a fraction of the mutants and shut out many more. Plus, when the mutation manifests itself, most people don’t even know what its effects are exactly, let alone how they could apply them, for example to medicine. It can take years of trial and error, and sometimes along the way you stumble upon something that makes you say: ‘oh, that would be useful to do X’."

"But in specialised schools, the courses fit a predefined mould", Katja countered. "Whereas learning how to live with one’s mutation, how to cope with it and even use it, is a unique experience for everyone, so teachers need to be able to constantly adapt to new evolutions. A telepath won’t have the same needs as an empath, or a person whose mutation is entirely physical… And if you’re going to make themed schools, you risk only paying attention to the aspects of the mutation that fit the theme and blindside the students to other, yet to be discovered aspects that might make them to choose another field, or simply make their lives easier."

"I don’t think a module would be enough, but then I think that’s true for most topics." Which is why even people who’d been in a certain field for decades kept learning new things every day. "But I do agree that making medical school, or any specialised school, more inclusive of mutants and allowing mutants to hone their own skills next to the more ‘typical’ curriculum sounds like a better idea. Otherwise you’re creating two separate worlds, one focused on non-mutants and one on mutants, even though they're in the same field and can only benefit from exchange. I think history has plenty of examples that segregation is a recipe for disaster."

"Isn't that true."
"It think It would be nice to have a specialized academy too though. Because it would allow for better research and development teams."
The debate was still going strong ; one of the organizers chose this moment to attract Anastasia's attention, telling her that her time was up.
"Well, well, it's decided then. I think we should suggest this idea to the council board. I'd like to hear your input if you're interested by this project. For the meantime, I thank you for your active participation, i'm sure we've all learned a lot today."

Decided? What was decided? Katja wasn’t entirely sure that an improvised debate at a lecture only partly related to the topic debated was solid ground for a proposal… But if the woman believed so, Katja wouldn’t stop her from trying. As everyone was standing up and most were leaving the room, Katja gathered her things and walked up to the speaker in case she had time for a few more questions.

Not so future doctorant, since she had already started her research, right? Oh, well, she’d wonder about the subtleties of English later: for now, she’d just gotten an opportunity she would be a fool to turn down. "I’d love that, thank you." She did wonder about the ‘too many people know me’. Was the woman some kind of celebrity? Her name didn’t ring any bells for Katja. Speaking of which… "I’m Katja Faerber, by the way." If her sometimes slipping accent hadn’t hinted at her native language, her name (and the way she pronounced it) left no doubt about her German roots.

She did notice her slipping accent when she got worked up earlier. "Anastasia Delaroche, charmed." She adds a smile as she shook her hand delicately but firmly (not the right time to show strength).
As they were getting out of the amphitheater - the difference in temperature became palpable. It's hotter outside, but less stuffy. "You do have the air of a polyglot if you don't mind me saying that. Or am I wrong?"

That was probably the most creative and nicest way anyone had ever pointed out Katja’s accent. She chuckled in reply: "I don’t know, does being bilingual German-English with a few signs of ASL count?" She had once, long ago, learned some ASL to communicate with friends during classes without getting caught by the teacher, but she’d forgotten most of it by now.

The thought of speaking in morse seemed far more funny to Katja than it probably should have been and she had to force back a smile. "I never got the impression that language skills were particularly valued in the US, though." She was genuinely curious. Even her high school Spanish teacher had never seemed particularly convinced of her added value to their curriculum. Or maybe her class was just a lost cause. Still, the people who cared most about knowing multiple languages in Katja’s surroundings were her parents, who had been born and had lived most of their lives in Europe.

"Did you? Pshaw! Those people don't know the value of something until it gets stolen from them." She says with a smile, using a British accent for extra effect (although not expecting the reference to be understood).
She then notices the coffee machine not far away. "According to my observations, polyglot adapt faster to new situations. They have a wider perspective and an easier time switching between ideas. I do like working with them for this reason."

Nope, she didn’t get the reference. And she also had no idea that there was a significant difference between how polyglots reacted to new situations versus non-polyglots. Although she did vaguely remember her mother telling her that learning languages was good against Alzheimer’s and other degenerative diseases. "Which languages do you speak?"

"Oh my, it is more fun if you discover it yourself, since I do thrive to surprise." French, german, italian, spanish and spoken arabic. She ponctuates her snetence with a smile, before turning to the cofee machine - choosing an iced one. "What's your poison ?"

Apparently, she also liked teasing and Katja wouldn’t be surprised if she liked cliffhangers as well. "Alright, then. Keep your secrets." See, some references she did have. She threw a look at the coffee list: "Oh, they have Wiener melange!" But she too chose an iced one: she’d never been really on board with hot drinks to cool down.