The most awkward thing about meeting Brinn was that her flight arrived early, so I wasn't really paying attention to the people coming in. I was sitting chatting idly with Mira, expecting Brinn to arrive in fifteen minutes or so, so when I looked up and saw her standing there not entirely sure if we were in fact Fea and Mira, there was a brief mental disconnect before my mind processed that I
knew what she looked like, the girl in front of me matched the mental image, I knew where she went to school, the girl in front of me was wearing a hoodie from that school... wait, surely it must be Brinn even though it's not quite the right time!
Once it was settled that the Elmira airport's a bit wonky and we sort of realized that one of the deans of our school was standing next to us, and we managed to escape the airport and get marvelously lost in the hills of the Finger Lakes region of NY... It went quite well.
There wasn't really awkwardness with Formy because he's quite identifiable, his flight was exactly on time, and we knew each other rather better than Brinn and I did already. He asked how we should greet, and I said, "Informally." And that set a lovely tone for the rest of his trip.
Meeting Rikae the first time was a little awkward because it was a group of five BDers descending upon her house, but once we all had tea and I'd proven that I'm totally capable of holding babies, everybody loosened up and we became downright mischievous. Meeting Mac for realsies was easy because we'd already met Erika and logged Skype-hours with him. And the wedding was just plain fun.
Really, though? Everybody on here (or at least most people... I hate to say 'everybody' when there's always a chance I'm wrong) is great, and when in doubt, we do all have Tolkien in common, so it's not hard to find something to talk about even if you're not sure about anything else.
But yes: unless you have a prearranged plan to fling yourself at people, you might want to hold back and start with a nice normal greeting. Save the flinging for once you've known each other in person for at least a few minutes.
