A flash lit up the restaurant for a moment, as the head researcher snapped a pic of one of her team doing an absurd princess-like dress swirl.
Vacation time was always wild for her team this time of year, when another crew was sent there to get another perspective on the matter. So after handing in their research notes, findings, materials and what else, the head took out a map, and after a round of drinking in the super sciency boat, as the then drunken head named it, declared they would visit wherever the dart hits on the map. All three of his darts missed, the last one bouncing off harmlessly off the ceiling. In the end, she had to intervene, her dart landing squarely on New York.
So here she was, with the rest of her crew touring New York. By the looks of them one would never even think of them as researchers, as they acted more like high school dropouts when off duty. It was so strange for her, she even dreamed of Bill Nye, complete with intro, songs, and outro.
Not knowing what else was there in New York, they wandered around aimlessly after visiting, and getting banned from the Statue of Liberty, and soon entered a famous fast food outlet. And here Clarissa Jarlheim sat still, wondering how she was going to finish this huge burger and still ask for seconds without being called a glutton. Her team was good enough people, silly and never serious. Especially the head. He'd never wake up on time, leaves his room all in a mess, and always forgets to write up the day's findings. Honestly she didn't think he'd even make it without her.
By the next morning, after another dream of Bill Nye, she woke up in the one room they all shared in the hotel, where most of her team were still dead asleep or somewhere groaning about their hangover. Serves them right for drinking excessively. Clarissa has simply poured her drink into another of her colleague's glass, which none of them seemed to notice. She regretted doing that however; as soon as they stumbled back into their room, the woman whose glass was kept repeatedly full, grabbed her like a vise, and dropped dead asleep on the bed. Clarissa wasn't strong enough to force her way out, so she fell into uncomfortable sleep there dreaming of meaningless things, until the woman let go of her sometime during the night.
Yawning at the memory of last night, she got ready for a walk, putting on her favorite outfit with her favorite jacket. While the rest of her team were oblivious or too drunken to know where they wanted to go, she knows of a place to relax. Which was why she didn't tell her crew about it; someone would have called the police about some street gang operating there. Snorting the mere thought of the head in jail, she headed out of the hotel after leaving a note saying she wanted to go look around alone and took a cab to Central Park. It took her a while to actually get in there as she saw the Museum of Natural History. Pure curiosity took her in there, and the sheer amount of things to look at almost made her forgot why she came here in the first place. Tearing herself away from another interesting exhibit, she walked outside towards Central Park. Nighttime had already fallen, reminding her she may not have as much time left before her head researcher comes along calling her holding several bottles of booze with her equally inebriated crew members.
That reminded her, Bill Nye was talking about the environment last night in her dreams. He was extolling the advantages of having a large park in every city, when he suddenly suggested to her she should go to Central Park and see what he means. Like in all dreams, it didn't seem that strange to her, so she readily accepted.
So here she was now, and it was almost nine o'clock. It was certainly calming in here, away from the bustle of the city. The lake was beautiful, there were statues everywhere, and was that a hotdog stand still selling at this time? Deciding she'd stay here for a while, she ordered a few hotdogs from the stand and started on them. Eating here in the park with actual trees was a nice change from the rugged ice, snow and sea she had grown accustomed to over the last few months.