Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed was a description that seemed tailor-made [i]not[/i] to fit Griselda Gilbert, but this was about as close as she would ever get. She felt awake and aware of her surroundings, her bag was packed and ready, and had taken a few minutes to comb and braid her hair. A testy, restless gaze prowled over the other passengers as she paced around the deck impatiently. For once she was looking forward to something that was not academic, although 'finally escaping this overpriced hulk' wasn't much of a goal. Griselda was seasick, and tired of being expected to exclaim gleefully over every Mantyke a happy tourist spotted with binoculars. Landfall would be an improvement.

Griselda didn't think much of her arrival into Saro. It was temporary, just like everything else. Symbolism wasn't her strong point, and she didn't bother thinking about what the 'new journey' that so many soon-to-be Trainers had sung the praises of through the years would mean to her. What she cared about was a laboratory and a place to stay and an eventual completed thesis. Nothing and no-one else mattered.

Crowds didn't appeal to her, so she avoided this one as much as she could, silently judging the behaviour she saw as she watched the horde go by. [i]Wherever we go, humans never change. Self-centered apes under a mask of sophistication is all we'll ever be.[/i] Her impatience eventually overcame her distaste, and she joined the throng reluctantly, letting herself shove and be shoved by the people passing by. [i]That was your fault, you peasants,[/i] she thought as she finally made it away from the ship with no desire to look back. Forwards was where she wanted to go, if she could just find out where forwards was in this case. [i]There'll be a professor here, somewhere. With luck he'll have made it easy for us.[/i] It was a sarcastic thought. Griselda had never trusted luck.

Drifting around in the slightly-more-open space, her impatient energy having completely evaporated, she finally saw her target. He [i]had[/i] made it easy for her. Who the hell wore a lab coat in public? Was her destination that close? Stopping her movement to watch, she saw that the apparent scientist was accompanied by twins and a young man with an amusing fashion sense. She chuckled abruptly and muttered to herself, but not very quietly. "A scientist and a homosexual walk onto a dock. There's a joke in there somewhere... Pity life has no punchline." Shaking her head and readjusting her beret, she stepped purposefully towards the unlikely pair. "Gilbert, Griselda. I understand someone was supposed to meet me here."