Rory didn't notice immediately, although he did catch a flash of color out of the corner of his eye. Well, that was interesting. Now he was really intrigued, and determined to find out more about her.

"So, your friend works here. Do you?"

"No," Lotus replied, still a bit flustered. She glanced at him again. "No, I'm just here on my day off."

"I see." Rory went back to watching the seals for a bit, still thinking things over.

"I'm Rory, by the way." He held out a hand to her.

"Lotus." She shook his hand briefly.

"Nice to meet you." Rory smiled at her. "If I had any sympathy, I'd go save your friend from Tristan. But I kind of want to see him get shot down spectacularly. And I'm having too much fun here." He grinned at her.

Lotus rolled her eyes.

"Like I said, she isn't looking for a relationship right now," she said.

"It should be very amusing to watch him get shot down, then," Rory said with a grin. "Probably repeatedly. We could get popcorn even, I bet."

"Some friend you are," Lotus retorted, raising an eyebrow slightly. She couldn't help but grin a bit, though.

"It's good for him to get turned down once in a while," Rory said with a grin. "Keeps his ego in check. Otherwise I have to try popping it myself, and that just ends badly all around."

Lotus couldn't help but snicker at that.

"She'll turn him down," she said. She was confident about that.

"Oh goodie. Want to go watch him make a fool of himself? It's really funny, I swear." Rory grinned at her. Because, yes, he liked Tristan, but it was really funny to watch him get shot down.

Lotus considered that for a moment.

"I'd like to go watch Elea shoot someone down again," she replied. "It tends to be amusing."

Rory grinned and nodded, leading the way back over to the other side of the exhibit to see how things panned out.

Elea had left the enclosure and gone over to the guest side of the glass, watching one of the sea lions and keeping a close eye on her. She was smaller than the other females, and Elea wanted to make sure she wasn't being bullied too much.

Tristan had taken up a spot near the front of the crowd, although off to the side a bit, as he watched the sea lions. Although, he would admit, watching the sea lions was a bit of a pretense, because he was also keeping an eye on their handler. Finally, the crowd began to disperse some.

"They look good," he commented once he was sure the girl was in range.

"Mostly," Elea agreed, though it was clear she wasn't giving him her full attention. She watched as the littlest female hauled herself up onto a sunny rock to rest, and one of the other older females flopped next to her. "Good. At least they get along."

"They're lovely," Tristan continued. He glanced at her. "Although I think I like seals a bit better. But I don't mind sea lions."

"Seals are over on the other side," Elea said helpfully, glancing at him. "Although we don't have as many of them. Sea lions are more popular." She looked at one of the females as she swam over to beg for food.

"Maybe in a bit," Tristan replied. He grinned a bit when the sea lion started begging. "Really, darling, that's disgraceful," he murmured to the sea lion, albeit affectionately.

"Oh, she's the worst of them. Almost all of them beg, except the male. Because clearly the world revolves around him and we should be glad that he deigns to take food from us." Elea rolled her eyes at the male and flicked her fingers at the female. The female sneezed at them before she dove back into the water, going to go cuddle up to the male.

"Of course," Tristan replied. "He's the male. As far as he's concerned, the world does revolve around him."

Elea nodded her agreement of that before deciding the sea lions were all good enough and sidling over to the seals. Her favorite seal, a little harbor seal female, immediately zoomed over towards the glass and barked at her. "Hey, sweets," she cooed, leaning over the glass a little. "I know, I'll get you your fish later. Just make sure the lump doesn't steal it this time."

Tristan could immediately tell the girl was more comfortable with the seals. That was very telling.

"You seem close with them," he commented.

"I've worked here for a while, and I spend a lot of time with them," Elea said with a shrug. "Seals are nicer than people."

"They seem to like you a lot," Tristan observed. "Isn't that unusual?" He kept prodding, trying to see if she would slip somewhere.

"Not a bit. They're social animals. They like all their keepers, much as any animal will adapt to its situation and bond with a human." Elea shrugged. She got questions like these all the time, so she didn't think it unusual.