The next moment, the room is silent, sound for dry 'Ahem' of an old man's voice, crystal clear through the silencing field that's just sprung to life. He's stands tall and dignified, muscle still lingering in his firm arms despite his pure white hair, with the headdress of a timelord nestled atop his deep red robes.

She turns to face him, curious what's next. 

She tilts her head, and glances over obligingly. 

He has a podium, of course, for all that it wasn't there a few seconds ago. 

"We gather you here today, at the end of your stint at the Academy, to show you that there is still yet more to learn, even after all this time together. There are more things to discover, more things to see, more innovations to come. Behind this door, we've prepared a conference - a display of new ideas, new discoveries, and a number of chances for you to find things out on your own, with the exhibits within. We've taken the liberty to arrange for another class to come, as well, for collaboration, with people new and old, is vital for seeing things in a new light." 

He demures, for a moment. 

"And of course, it would hardly do for us to omit a chance for you to celebrate, as well. For all that it isn't your final frontier, you all know how much of a trial this was. There will be food, and drinks, and spaces to enjoy them, for those who wish to indulge." 

He flicks a control on the podium, A green light flickers on, and the door swings open, showing the cavernous space within, several levels of booths and displays and room to ill around done in the style of the halls, with exhibits in bright colors, a convention center bustling with light and lights even without them inside.

"I hope you enjoy your stay." 

In an instaneous flicker of a transmat beam, he's gone. 

Oooh! She turns to grin at her classmate, resists a brief urge to grab her hand and pull her along, and then scampers inside. Is there a map of exhibits and a schedule of panels? Can she find the other class?

There doesn't appear to be a map, though at a glance some of the exhibits have schedules for specific talks and interviews and the like. And no obvious other class, either - though the space is large enough that it'd probably take a while for them to meet up from the opposite end. 

She taps her hand against her forearm with a click of her tongue, sending off her own map of the exhibits. 

There's lots of little panels, a few restaurants tucked away in the wings covering a pretty broad swathe of cuisine, a bunch of different exhibits of sliced-apart technology - archaic and otherwise, time lord and otherwise - panels with experts on nearly every subject in the academy and a good number of little sim setups for more the more militarily inclined. They're mostly relatively small ones - meant for perhaps half a dozen people to cluster around and discuss rather then bigger affairs for bigger audiences. 

There's a few she's highlighted - one of temporal neuropsych, one on time rings and miniaturized time machines, some fun little exotic spatial phenomenon studies, that sort of thing. 

She highlights a few as well and sends it back: a panel on exotic outcomes of ripples in time, an exhibit of a particularly clever alien lockpick, a presentation on the most egregious time heists known to have been perpetrated (both solved and unsolved). And then she wanders off, looking for signs of the other class.

Thx~

There's a lot of little noises in the space - the hum of countless little devices emitting their own little fields, clicking buttons and the soft clicking of metal against metal and buzzing scanners and engineer's tools, even if the classmates haven't penetrated this deep yet. 

And... looks like across the room, there's a few people filtering in? 

By the scans she's got, looks like they're milling out just by one of the areas dedicated to timeship science - there's a cute little tardis console compare and contrast space with a part bay and some neat diagnostic excercises, a historical exhibit with some lovely stasis cube paintings, and a little bio lab for some of the interesting relationships between the biology of time lords and tardises and how they've developed together with a proper little panel for inquiries. 

(And there's a nice little pub a hundred meters to the west, if a meal strikes her fancy.) 

While Sabella admires the stasis cube paintings and listens to the feel of the people entering the conference space...

One such newcomer walks in and heads to the bio lab, eyes on all the time trainees milling about.

Hmm. The brunette by the paintings is cute, but no decisions just yet. 

Oh they're all so interesting, the paintings and the people both. She can see pieces of story in the backgrounds and around the edges of the paintings, hints of what threats they were guarding against, just fascinating.

But then there are the people. Something isn't quite normal. Now, no one is normal in the Academy, but something niggles at the back of her mind. Can't tell what it is, though. They're all so quiet about it. Tch, she'd figure it out later.

She meanders past the paintings to peruse the biology exhibit. The panel won't be for a little while, but she can peruse this for a bit and then grab something to drink at the pub across the way.

Interesting choice the brunette made. Maya strolls past various exhibits, especially paying attention to the various Time Lords and Ladies to be as she goes. She can learn a lot from which exhibits and panels they're focusing on. This one looks for technology. That one for weaponry. Another for advantage over the people he meets. Tourism, conquest, service, challenge, all pieces of what she wants to see but never quite the whole thing. Exploration, whimsy, battle, dominance, ease, adventure, mystery—

She finds herself passing by the brunette again.

Connection and story. 

This one is interesting.

There's so much amazing convergence between biology of timeships and and time lords! So much thought and care went into making them perfect for each other, but so many people treat their timeships as just appliances. How can they possibly miss this gorgeous harmony? Two different stories, twining together to sing a beautiful song; two complementary perspectives, dancing through history together. 

Even if nothing else interesting happens at this conference, it'll have been worth it just for this exhibit.

That's a lot. Is she ever going to find a timeship that wants to partner with her like that?

Nope. Not getting maudlin. This calls for fish and chips. To the pub.

Soon enough she's seated at a small table in a corner with a good view of the conference hall, sipping on one of her favorite drinks: a beverage whose flavor shifts around in one's memory, but always to flavors one likes — or at least finds interesting. After a few more minutes, a basket of crispy-battered fillets of mirellarephoram light-fish and fried strips of treskine-gabolee tubers arrives.

Mmmm. Fish and chips. Comfort food, for letting a realization of a story settle in.

This brunette... cares. And she cares differently than the others.

Maya finds herself wanting to know more.

She steps into the restaurant and sits down across from her.

"Hello," she says with a small smile.

Oh she's pretty.

"Hi there! What's your name? How're you liking the conference so far?"

"Call me Maya," she replies, leaning forward and resting her chin in her hand. "It's quite the event. There is such an enormous variety of exhibits and panels. There is truly something for everyone. And you? Name and favorite exhibit?"

"Sabella, and so far it's got to be the convergent biology one. The fact that we're so connected, so meant to connect, is amazing. Two people, one ship and one pilot, collaboratively telling a story across time! What could be more beautiful than two unique stories singing in harmony together?"

She gets progressively more excited with every word.

She gets it. Sabella sees what Maya's been looking for.

"That's exactly it, yes. That connection is such a gorgeous thing to picture."