The what and the who now?

Slowly blinking, Lakshmi did her damnest to pay attention. The man matched the name well, though she was temporarily distracted by the way he moved. Lord Cormack was fascinating, an air about him that without saying a word made his adventures and experience known. The way he carried himself was admirable, although something seemed just a bit off. Observing his movements for a moment, he reminded her of one of her recent patients. Was he afflicted as well? It was likely, though it would be rude to comment on it, so she tried to pay no mind to it and instead pay attention more to his words.

Or at least, she tried, but much of it flew over her head. It wasn't the unfamiliarity so much as genuinely having absolutely no idea what he spoke of. Maybe she should have done her homework on Cormack, but it was too late for that. The rest of the room seemed attentive, and she tried to keep up. What seemed to alarm her was that apparently the group had experience in these treks. Shoot, the most exciting expenditure she had ever gone through had to do with fact more than myth (hard to make climbing a mountain more mystical than it really was), and for a moment she was highly unsure. Now that she stopped to think about it, she suddenly felt very out of place.

Lakshmi figured she should say something. Questions were more than likely to be welcomed, right? Except Lord Cormack also mentioned teamwork. So if she [I]did[/I] say something, she was likely to make a bad first impression. Well, she was sure she would be fine with Lucian--the two have been acquainted for some time already--but everyone else was...Hm, she was overthinking this. Maybe. Probably. Or not? Teetering on indecision much longer than she would have liked, her lips were parted slightly, and eventually she ended up deciding that yes, she should speak.

Too bad she didn't know [I]what[/I] she was going to say. "Find--find what where?" The words had slipped out before she could stop herself. "The Congo is [I]massive[/I], isn't it? And we are to find something people only [I]think[/I] exist?"