They were everywhere.
Sure, interviews would be convenient to him, or rather to get his expedition financed, but if Derek had to attend to only one more, he'd certainly die right here.
Was this a fundraiser to help him raising money for another archaeological dig from just these people?
Yes.
Should he feel bad for avoiding to spend his time making nice with them in return?
Maybe.
Did he?
No.
Just to get this right: Being the center of attention was not the problem, being
him was.
Credit grantors didn't like it much when somebody was speaking bluntly, let alone with a sense of sarcasm. His only advantage was being brilliant. But the more preposterous questions he got asked, the more blunt and sarcastic his answers became. Derek loved to talk about his work and to educate those who were willing to learn something, but the difference with them was that they weren't willing to learn but instead only to satisfy their hopes to get more money back with this than they had spent. There was a word for that: barracuda.
So it probably was better for Derek to just be part of the event, at the lower end of attention.
With this plan in mind, Derek tried to keep his head down. No easy task when your height is six feet four. Luckily, almost every man around was dressed in a suit or at least their Sunday best.
Eventually, Derek had managed to fight his way towards the buffet, where the coast seemed to be clear.
"Oh wow, is that caviar? Someone didn't spare expenses, huh?", Derek said to a young woman, as he hectically grabbed at one of the little plates, while, nearby, another credit grantor just walked by.
"Haven't you heard 'If you cater it, they will come'?" she suddenly replied. "Free food tends to increase attendance, and in turn donations."
Addressing one of the people around had just been a way to give the impression that he was already talking to someone, but then the girl's quip was raising his interest in an actual conversation. Also, he hadn't realized himself that he'd been speaking English (a little quirk that sometimes happened when he was in a rush or nervous) before she answered in English as well, with a British accent, though.
Derek gave her a charming smile from the side. "Wise words.", he replied while loading some of the food onto his plate (the food he practically was the caterer of), or rather, picking it wisely like a real gourmet. Well, he certainly was - actually in every area of life. "You should try the Saganaki if you - uh - don't mind fried food. America's kitchen is nothing compared to them. But - psh - you didn't hear me say that. I wouldn't like to end up in court as a national traitor.", Derek added with his forefinger raised to his lips, and another charming smile on them.
"I will definitely try the Saganaki then, which I certainly did not hear about from you. Some of my suitemates convinced me to come to this shindig, so the free food is nice. Even though most people I've met here don't know a Doric column from a Dorito."
It was nice talking to someone with a sense of humor. He was so worn out from conversing with all those people who... yah, exactly as she put it. Derek had to chuckle at her little remark. "Nice one.", he said with a finger point in her direction, as if she was a guest in a gameshow who just had hit the jackpot. There was still a smile on his features when he, actually a potato chip in his hand and jokingly held up in front of him, added: "It's the geniuses though playing hide and seek behind the latter." Of course, she had said with no word that she used the buffet as a hideout too, so Derek was just guessing it, although pretty sure that they were both here to avoid a conversation at least. And yet they happened to find themselves in the middle of one with each other.
"Well, I wasn't trying to hide. At least, not entirely. And I didn't mean to sound arrogant. I was just hoping to find someone who was actually interested in archaeology here. I heard the expedition is being headed up by Dr. Schwartzman. I read about some of his work on the palace at Knossos."
At that, Derek's head turned to the side once more, at first with a little bit of surprise but then with a smile. "Ah, yes. A fantastic place with an even more fantastic history slash mythology behind it. Though the term palace complex is more accurate, I'd say. It never actually was the residence of a monarch, most of the structures, however, were designed to serve a civic, religious, and economic center." Derek suddenly stopped himself. Now it was him who probably sounded arrogant or at least smart-alecky. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to... Uh, it's just - the way you said
read about sounded like you did so on a voluntary basis." He let out another chuckle, this time more sarcastically, though. "I'm sure none of these potential sponsors has even read more than a blurb."
"Indeed, yes, it was voluntary.", she confirmed.
"Oh, thank goodness - we still exist!" Derek couldn't help but to enthusiastically interject - meaning people who actually had a thirst for knowledge not only for reasons of a degree but instead for the knowledge enrichment itself - before she would go on.
"I was always struck by the frescoes, the colors they managed to create. Well, that and the myth of the Minotaur at the center of the Labyrinth. I even had a goldfish named Ariadne."
Derek was still holding the half-loaded plate in his hands, seemingly forgotten about it while he was founding himself completely in his element. Instead of walking the tutor path again though, he was trying the joke route. "She probably would have made a great breeder fish. You know, Ariadne was also revered as a fertility goddess." And still, tutor mode.
"Well, sadly she only lived a couple of months. I'm a terrible fish parent,"
"Sorry to hear that." Derek apologized rather chuckling as it seemed she hadn't been too attached to it.
"Anyway, I'm so sorry to keep you. I'm sure there are other people here who won't bore you with talk of the Minoan civilization."
And yet again, he chuckled softly. "Actually - this is a welcome change after all the..."
Suddenly Derek stopped in the middle of his sentence. Damn it - one of the potential sponsors had locked eyes with him as his had been wandering past the girl for only a second. "I, uh - would you excuse me for a moment, please?" he said before he was going to take yet again a flight.
"Oh, of course."
But then, just as he wanted to quickly turn around to her one last time to make clear that he wasn't running from this conversation and actually had enjoyed it, someone bumped into him all of a sudden, while he was still holding a plate with food on it in his hands. Or so he had until then.
"Oh - I'm sorry!" the other girl apologized, although it obviously had been Derek's fault anyway. "I'm quite bad at using my eyes sometimes."
"Guess it was a wise decision not to put on my white suit.", Derek replied with a charming smile to her. He was no one getting furious about just a little dilemma like food on his clothes, especially not when someone cute was staring back at him in bashfulness. It had been his fault anyway.
"Oh no," the girl suddenly called out with her hands held up to her face. "Professor Schwartzman, it is you! Oh, gosh, I'm so sorry."
"Hey, it's alright, uh, Laura, isn't it?", Derek replied with a soft chuckle while trying to wipe his jacket clean with a napkin.
The girl seemed positively surprised that he remembered her name, but then again, Derek always had a good memory for names - especially from beautiful young ladies like her.
To be fair, he wasn't much older than some of his students, for he always had known his path and so had started his career very early. Anyways, he might have the reputation of being a little bit too flirty with his students sometimes, but never would he seriously hook up with one of them.
"Oh, is that Saganaki?" she exclaimed happily.
Suddenly, Derek remembered the girl he'd been talking to before, and that he was going to apologize for the abrupt way of closing their conversation.
But it seemed that she was gone already.
Just as the man he'd been going to escape from.
"There's nothing in the world better than these," Laura announced, drawing his attention back at her.
Shrugging the search for the other girl off, Derek allowed himself to get into a conversation with Laura instead.
It was a shame though he hadn't even had a chance to ask for her name.
Later, Derek still had to have some interviews, but after some chats with people who actually were interested in his work, it seemed less frustrating. He needed the money for his expedition, and so he knew he would just have to survive this one boring event until fun times slash his work.
