Welcome to Gaia! ::

Tom slowed himself to a walk, his jog finally over. It was a nice 45 minutes and ever since their last mission into the swamp and him getting turned into an owl… he was really appreciating the fact that he had arms and legs, even if flying was pretty useful. Now he had gone back to exercising every day and so right now he was at the “slow-down” point to end his jog and could finally catch his breath and take a sip of water from the bottle that he had carried.

He had learned on the last mission that he really needed to get to know his fellow chosen a bit more. Sure, he could interact with them and talk to them during the missions, but he had always felt like an outsider and had resolved to get to know all of them more. Though nothing had come of it yet considering that he was still going back to San Francisco to apply for jobs or else in the Prytaneum researching what he could do there, not that he had come up with anything.

So at this point he still knew no one else of the chosen.

Looking around a bit as he walked, he noticed a woman in the grass who seemed to be on a yoga mat. She looked at him, waved and smiled and he waved back at her before slowly walking towards her. Getting closer, he remembered her as one of the Chosen who had helped him back to the camp when they were in the Bayou and he had owl-brain.

Once he finally got close enough he decided to introduce himself… again if she already knew him well enough, but he doubted it. “Hey, I’m Tom. Still want to thank you for helping me out in the Bayou.” He said, stopping in front of her and taking a seat on the grass. He would have felt awkward standing up the whole conversation.

Tom nodded his head in thanks and moved onto the yoga mat and sighed. He was still a bit weirded out from the experience. “You were fine, it I mean at least you didn’t give me a concussion or anything. And I doubt that anyone had any real answer as to the best way to make a chosen snap out of their new animal mind. I hope you were okay.” Not much had happened to him as an owl and all of the other times that he had turned into one. He was just more embarrassed about being naked than anything else. At least his clothes weren’t torn though like some of the others.

He really didn’t like what they had gone through. “I am glad that we are back home though, but when we’re out on those… missions, I just wish we could do more. Or at least I wish I could. I can still barely hold a bow.” He replied chuckling a bit. “And of course Michigan is a bit nicer than the swamp, especially this time of year.” Back in California he would still be wearing shorts and a t-shirt instead of the long-sleeves he was wearing now.

“Really though, this place is throwing all sorts of curveballs at us. I’m kind of worried about what the next mission will be. A hydra?” He said it jokingly, but really hoped that wouldn’t be the case.

Tom shrugged his shoulders. “Glad we made it, and I’m glad we’re out of there too. I much prefer Michigan weather to a swamp.” Of course he still wasn’t quite used to it. It was a bit colder here than in San Francisco and he was sure that the winters were worse. He would have to buy some heavy winter clothes soon.

“I usually exercise, but holding any sort of instrument that was designed to be a weapon has been new to me. But at least I can launch an arrow now. Hitting the target is going to be my next goal.” He replied, smiling a bit to her as he enjoyed the sunshine. He sighed again. He didn’t really like all of this fighting, even in video games he liked to be more of the supporting help than participating in any of the actual combat, but he had no choice here. “Kind of wish I didn’t have to fight though. Don’t really like hurting things all that much.”

He laughed at her panicked expression. “Oh it’s probably going to be something we couldn’t even think of. Honestly I was hoping that I would get to study around here and there would be less fighting but then again, heroes are important to the gods so I’m sure we can’t avoid it.” He said, making a face of distaste. He wouldn’t hesitate to fight if he had to but he felt like they never got a rest here.

Tom nodded in agreement. “It would be unbearable with the humidity. Makes me appreciate the cold at least.” He sighed. “I’m a healer not a fighter. I didn’t exactly go into medicine to go out and fight people.” He didn’t mention anything about people becoming animals. He didn’t want to hurt any of them but unfortunately they were being used as guards for Circe. He said a bit quietly, “I hope we can find the others who were effected by Circe’s magic.” He hadn’t wanted to capture her, though he could understand why they had to do so.

“Yeah, heroes for the Greeks weren’t exactly known for being pacifist and standing around. Seems nothing has changed since then.” Which was kind of annoying, you would think that something would change in the thousand’s of years since the ancients.

He readily agreed with her change of subject. “Oh, it’s more personal studying. I’m a doctor but I still like to read up and know about various medical problems, whether they’re finding ways to combat old ones or identifying new ones, there’s always something new to learn.” He looked at her. “What do you do if I may ask? I barely know what anyone does around here, though that’s probably from being cooped up all the time.”

“Well… that might not be a bad idea.” Tom murmured, thinking about it for a bit. Sure, he wanted to help people who might be cursed, but he was also still looking for a job to practice his skills. The longer he was out of work the harder it would be to get a job.

He shrugged a bit. “Nothing wrong if university doesn’t work out for you. There are plenty of jobs that don’t need it, though companies like to be ridiculous in their requirements if you haven’t.” He didn’t want to discourage her of course, but he really did get annoyed at how companies wanted to push people away so much so they didn’t have to hire for entry-level jobs.

He understood her. “Not really sure why I’m here either. Sure I’m a doctor, but Apollo wanted me to come even though he said I wasn’t what he would ‘normally’ choose.” He scowled a bit. Yeah, that sure instilled confidence, not. He thought.

Taking a glance at his watch, he realized he needed to get back to his building so that he could continue on his studies. “Well, it was very nice meeting you Beth. And I’m glad I got to know someone a bit more than just encountering them on the battlefield.” He said, smiling and standing up. “Unfortunately it seems I have to go. I have to keep studying even though I’m out of my residency so I have to get back now. But the talk was nice and I hope we can speak again soon.” He said, giving her some time to reply before jogging back to the dorm.