Welcome to Gaia! ::

Inside the main hall of the resort's convention center, Whorl stood on a podium shuffling through his speech cards, a few anxious looking staff members trying find the right distance to stand away from him without being obvious about trying to stay out of his immediate vicinity. More importantly, there were catering tables to the side, heavy with various hors devours and refreshing, non-alcoholic drinks.

Once all the tour groups finally shuffled in, Whorl's head whipped up, startling one staff member into dropping a cupcake onto their pristine uniform. The park owner gave them a stern frown but was smiling again as he turned to those gathered. He tapped the mic and cleared his throat, "Fourty years ago I had everything any man could want in this world, money, power, and the opportunity to gain more whenever I desired." He sighed, "I say this not to brag, but to explain, that despite a life of incredible privilege, or perhaps because of it, the world remained cold and empty to me. For a time I thought I might find what I sought within the world's various religions," he gave a small chagrined look and scratched his beard, "...alas, it was not to be. For I eventually found myself drawn not to faith, not to redemption, and definitely not to an eternal life in the after-life," Whorl smiled gently at his audience and continued, "...but miracles. Magic."

The smile grew wry, "Some of you have likely heard of my various efforts over the years, the constant seeking and debunking of that which could be considered magic or supernatural. That which could fill this world with more than just money and politics. It was a long, and often frustrating journey, but now I can finally tell you, there is magic in this world. In this park." Grinning he gestured to Cecil, "What our labs have done here, is harness a power that some of you are fairly familiar with. As writers and artists, there are those of you who well understand how the power of human imagination can yield tangible results, that imagination is capable of creating some truly wondrous things. Now just hold that thought and take it a bit further. What if your imagination could actually spawn new, literal life capable of bending and breaking whatever laws that science and physics has laid down?"

Practically beaming, Whorl spread his arms wide, "What you'd end up with is Wonder Park! You caught just the merest glimpse of what the island holds in-store for you! You'll have a chance to touch and interact with the fantastic creatures of myth and legend! No animatronics! No puppets! These are not creatures altered through surgeries or any other means! You'll see living dreams and the occasional nightmare within this park, and you'll find magic!"

Stepping down from the podium, Whorl grabbed Cecil's hand and shook it aggressively, "It's happening, by god, it's really happening." Giving the lab head a firm slap on the back, he moved into the audience to mingle and answer any questions.

While the old coot known as Whorl was going on about being rich and stuff about magic, Barry stood in the back only half listening to what he was saying. It was the standard "Hi I'm mega rich and now I've opened this park", he had more important things to worry about. His eyes scanned the crowd assembled, trying to pick out who he would be in his group. The handler also ignored the food, as he didn't trust his stomach this morning to hold anything substantial down.

As Rin approached him, Barry gave a friendly smile her way, her question answered with a nod of his head. "Every one of them has been fed, I've cleaned out the enclosures, I've checked them for any anger issues. Twice even. Though I wouldn't recommend letting anyone get close to the larger ones. I wouldn't doubt them trying to play up, and it's gonna be one pain in the a** to calm them down. And I don't just mean the dragons." He then looked at the list of names and the armband, his mind just realizing he had forgotten them both. He appeared only too relieved to receive them. "Thanks a bunch, Rin I believe?" He pointed to himself. "Barry Warren. Though you probably have my name down somewhere. Glad I've got you covering my back." It was always nice to have someone well organized. Not that he wasn't but, things slipped his mind.

Soon the speech was over, and he scanned the crowd once again. "Yup, lets put on a show for them without being sued." He stepped forward and shouted to the group, waving his arm around to get their attention. "Everyone in the phoenix group over here with me! All phoenix group members this way!"

Zane had taken a few steps towards the coffee dispenser at the reception table, but backtracked slowly as he remembered what his doctor told him about managing his caffeine intake.

The architect paid rather poor attention to the speech given by Mr. Whorl after a few words in; it sounded exactly like what his clients in Abu Dhabi would dramatically and unabashedly tell him. People with too much money tended to suffer from terrible fate of being privileged.

His interest would peak at the mention of no animatronics, or puppets, or surgeries… but died down as soon as the word magic was uttered yet again. Yes, there is a certain charm and fantasy that theme parks offered, the magical experience was something the architect believed in. Mr. Whorl however, simply sounded deluded, or maybe he was still stuck at a 5 year old’s mentality. Zane would however, remind himself at that moment to stop judging his client. It was his job to fulfill Mr. Whorl’s fantasy and make the magic happen with the design of the theme park.

We could start off with a better narrative for it, really, he mused.

Having separated from his company after disembarking the ship, the trouble of searching for them again was soon eased with the group’s tour guide calling for their attention. Zane approached the pair and nodded as a greeting, flipping his nametag over to reveal the phoenix sticker on the back. No questions for now until they get to the theme park itself.

Cecil beamed up at the front of the room, eyeing all of the new arrivals with increasing glee. There were quite a few hotties, and he couldn't wait to see their expressions of glee and wonder at the sight of his creations.

Whorl was an alright guy, a little flighty at times in his opinion, and perhaps a bit overzealous about the things he wanted but Mr. Moore was always happy to provide him with what he wanted to the best of his abilities.

And now here they were. This was it. It almost brought tears to his big blue eyes, if he wasn't grinning so large.

He spotted a particularly lovely young blond taking notes, and immediately the little man casually sidled up to her and her companion, "Are you excited, Miss-" He glanced down to a brief glimpse of cleavage and a Guest Badge, "Fukui?" He liked that name. It insinuated naughty things in his mind.

"Doctor Cecil Moore," The little man took her hand to give her knuckle a gentle kiss, beaming up at her. "And I, my dear, am the most interesting person you'll meet here, I assure you." A wider grin that sent the scars that marred his otherwise youthful face dancing.

It was too good to be true in Tain's eyes that Magic was real, but here this man look to be the owner said it was true. But she wanted to touch with her own hands to see if what he was telling was truly real. But part of her was really excited a dream of her childhood to know if there was magic out there. But as she had gotten older she had learned to what she had learned what magic was to tell a great story in effects, props and costumes to make your views think magic was true.

If these creatures were really true then oh so much she could learn from studying them especially in how they moved, oh how much inspiration they could spark and how much she could make look more like a real living creature in her job. Tain did have to wonder when they were going but she sat down quietly waiting as she doodled and made a list of things to look for in the notebook she had been given smiling happily the whole time and wondered to what she would see first.

[ entering ]

Ah, finally. A little shade would be great.

"This way," she told her group over her shoulder as they walked in, pushing her glasses back up as sweat threatened to have them slide. It wasn't nerves, not at all. She was a woman reposed, in control, calm. On the outside.

She grabbed a cup of water from the table nevertheless, pointing it out to the members of her Mermaid group. "No alcohol," she warned sternly, just in case someone had ideas. "It's a good rule of thumb to keep hydrated, as the park is very large. there will be short breaks for snacks, but I suggest them in moderation personally; wouldn't want a cramp." While she let them listen to Whorl's speech about magic and wonder, both which had mostly become empty noises to her (a unicorn was still magical, but cleaning its pen was not), Kiera scanned the crowd for familiar faces.

Like Moore.

She actually wanted to be more ready for his approach this time, if the need arose.

[Entering]


Friendly faces were indeed arriving. The man raised a hand and grinned across the room at Keira as he lead the quartet of Unicorn group members into the convention center just in time to catch Whorl's speech on imagination and magic. "There are refreshments and snacks along the wall there," he announced softly, not wishing to interrupt the old man's presentation.

As it concluded, Les turned to the group with knowing smile. He knew first hand how very hard it was too accept Whorl's claims as fact, and he could admit to being excited to see the varying reactions from the guests when they finally lay eyes on what awaited within the park.

He'd resumed rocking on his heels, hands buried deep in his pockets. "Feel free to mingle while we wait, our I would be very happy to answer any questions you may have about the park or it's inhabitants."