Welcome to Gaia! ::

Thomas was excited. The invite had maybe mentioned something about fantastical creatures. Ok, let's face it, he could have been reading that into the invite. Either way, he was really excited.

He was making notes about his excitement in his handy-dandy little notebook. What awaited them? He didn't know, but the anticipation was awesome.

Writing about how excited he was by the unknown was very absorbing. He was on that boat, but not really paying attention to what was going on around him.

Tooly was impressed. A fantasy writer and a photographer!

"Man, this is some opportunity, right? It's like going to some sort of blind date convention; you don't have any idea who's coming, but at least we've all got something in common!" she said, tapping the dragon-ish logo of the ID. "What have you written, Mr. Altamirano? Can I call you Tony? Fraid I don't get a lot of time to read, but I'm always down for a good story."

She smile slyly up at Cora. "You know him. Is he any good?"

Giving Daniel E. Whorl Sr her rapt attention, Ariana was wide-eyed, a grin breaking out on her face. She picked at her guest pass, flipping it over, which made her grin grow even wider, and she tugged on her friend's arm.

"Thomas! Thomas! We're in the dragon group! Doesn't that sound so neat? Do you think we'll actually get to see dragons?"

Her gaze became distant as she began to imagine all the fantastic whimsical creatures they might come across.
Oh, the stories she could write!

Steve looked up at the man & gave a little sigh "There will be no need to press any chargers sir." Leaning a little more into Bear. " Well at least for me there is no need but you may want to watch out for this young lady." He points to the lady that seems just as sick as he his. He gives a little laugh at comment about water being everywhere and turns to talk to his friend. He gave a sigh and rolled his eyes and whispered to Bear "Well I guess the at risk part counts us out then huh?" "and yes I took my pills, just not helping that much at the moment." He gives a look around at the other 2 people standing with them " Aww our group." Steve looked at the mans shiny loafers and gave a quite laugh as his toupee shifted slightly. He rummaged through his pockets for a few seconds and pulled out a rubber band, "Here Emilia right? this might help with the hair thing." He took a deep breath and gave a slight smile " at least help keep it out of your face when you vomit on Mr. lawyer mans shoes" he whispered. Out of nowhere came another young lady's voice, saying something about the best gnomes." I'll be okay hopefully in few Mira, no need to see a nurse but thank you for your concern." Sticking out his own hand to give hers a little shake.
"So we have a lawyer, a cartoonist, a bear and me, so what's your job Mira?"

He accepted her compliment! Without getting up and walking away from her!

This had never happened to her before. She'd never carried on a conversation with anyone for this long...especially not an attractive older gentlemen such as this one. Usually after she smelled them they got all weird like she had done something wrong. But it was perfectly natural, and normal. She never could figure out why so many didn't see it as such. And he smelled so goooood. Was this what men were supposed to smell like? Was it like that guy in the shower and with the tickets that turned into diamonds that was on a horse said? The man a man should smell like.

Sigh.

But no, this was not some online RPG forum where she would fall for the first man she laid near-sighted eyes on. She was a professional in her own right, even if she might not appear as such (for the record, she actually believed she looked totally professional).

"But certainly not the kind of magic that he believes in." She pressed, leaning towards Algie, her hands resting on her lap. Wait a minute, magic and mythology and fiction?? Woah woah woah, back the boat back up to shore! Lydia very hurriedly pushed herself back away from him again, and crinkled up her nose. "Daniel E. Whorl. Senior. That man over there." She pointed to him. Perhaps most would have called him Mr.Whorl, but not Lydia.

"And I." She continued on. "Am a cryptozoologist. I have seen things that most could only dream of, and magic had nothing to do with any of it." She insisted.

Nevermind the fact that she had only "seen" these things when she wasn't wearing her glasses. Which was always.

"You see these?" She held up her arm, displaying the bracelet that adorned her wrist. "Claws of the highly elusive Chupacabra. And this!" She pointed to the leather thong necklace around her neck, "The claw of a Thylacine! A LIVING THYLACINE."

“If they have what they say they do, I’ll sure appreciate it. Being one of the first to get some decent publishable photographs is going to be awesome. And while alligators aren’t exactly the scariest creatures I’ve had my fair share of close encounters. One took the lens right off my camera a few years back, I’m likely it wasn’t my head at the time. I have a few good scars on my side, from a buffalo, them are some mean creatures when they want to be. I just got a little too close. They are a little low to show in public though.” She glanced at her right side. “Worst, I lost a 3 thousand dollar Camera that day.”

She heard a moment of others talking about dragons and groups. "Hey you two we are dragons too. Come on over. I've got my camera out and ready." she waved over some more members of their assigned group.

She was brought out of her reverie when a voice called out to them, and she beamed at the women.
"Oh! Are you dragon mates too? Hello!"
Her eyes stayed glued on the camera, and she looked up, staring at the other women with eyes wide.
"Have you taken pictures? Have you seen anything yet?!"
Too eager to wait for Thomas to respond, she ended up... dragging him over too.
"Adventure ho!" she cried, pumping a fist.

“Oh no! Not yet, but I’m so ready. We’ve just been trading war stories over here. I’m Rebecca Rockheart.” She let her camera hang and stuck out her hand.