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He hadn't even known this duty existed, and it actually pissed him off that he had been on island this long, and not been on this rotation yet. Was their anyone else in Deus that would appreciate it even a quarter as much as Zeke would? He doubted it.

Captivating, that was the only way he could really describe the large underwater dome of a room. It was gorgeous, and that was quite the compliment coming from Ezekiel Young. He considered shooting Ever a text, nagging at the other man for having never mentioned this particular outpost, but that would have required prying his gaze away from the wavering blue and literal millions of fish he saw swimming past him as he leaned his shoulder against one of the large glass walls.

Later, he could give Ever a hard time later. Right this moment he was going to enjoy this.

It completely slipped his mind that these sorts of duties were usually a two man job. So he wasn't thinking about who he might be paired with, or what they'd think of the place. If they'd be a pain in his a**, or have the common decency to sit quietly and let him ignore them completely...

Rude, but Zeke didn't care. Ocean.

The shriek was absolutely startling, and Zeke understandably jumped before broad shoulders came up in a cringe as the sound bounced around the elcosed space for a few solid seconds. "Jesus Christ." Of course. Of course he wouldn't get to enjoy the serenity of the open ocean on his own. Glowing, the Mist turned hazel eyes on the woman as she bounded past him and plastered herself against the plastic to stare out into the water.

This, of course, was somewhat peculiar behavior, and it had dark brows arching in irritable curiosity before the girl's attention rather suddenly turned from the boundless seas and onto him, bouncing back from the window and pointing. He offered a blink in answer, gaze trailing back towards the water briefly, then pulled in a deep breath as a small, lazy smile slid into being on tanned lips. "Yes." It was the coolest ******** thing. Finally, someone that seemed to share the same appreciation for marine life. Or, at the very least, the ocean.

"I don't think they'd let you live down here though, amazing as that might be." If they did, Zeke would have been first in line for the privileged, and willing to fight tooth and nail to earn it.

Now that she wasn't shrieking or bouncing around, Zeke gave her a proper look over, hazel eyes traveling from head to toe before he was taking a step forward to offer one large hand in greeting. "Ezekiel Young, Mist. Former student majoring in marine biology." The last was tacked on purely on a whim, and only because she seemed as excited as he did about the whole underwater post thing.

She was very pretty. Tall and slender, bright eyes and red hair. Objectively attractive, but what had Zeke so willing to play nice was what seemed a mutual interest in the vast deep that surrounded them.

"You are right." It was said with a smirk, though a brow did raise as she declared herself a biology student. There was a chance she'd already heard about the online courses available for those in the Life division, but in this instance she sort of doubted it. She seemed fresh from the pod. Even Ezekiel still held onto a little of that newness the trainees arrived with, but this girl sparkled with it. Given time that shine faded. It seemed to be a constant among the hunters that had been on the island the longest, with only a very few exceptions.

The compliment was met with an easy smile. "Not that I've seen, no," he laughed, crossing his arms again after the firm shake -- and she had a good handshake, firm and confident -- and leaning against the thick plastic again. "There are more women, I'm sure you'll run into some soon enough." A beat, and the smile brightened with a slight c**k of his head. "Casanova?"

As for their shared duty, Zeke gave a small jerk of his head towards the vast blue around them. "Watch for trouble, listen for warning sounds from those machines." It would have been incredibly boring if not for that fact they were underwater.

"You never know. I'm still a trainee too." And if the man was bothered by this, or the possibility Harley beating him in a fight, it certainly didn't show. Zeke didn't carry much in the way of false pride, it meant there wasn't a great deal that truly bothered him. It was cute though, the threatening act, and he gave her a grin for her troubles.

She was a quirky one, as evidenced by the slight ramble that listed the females of Deus Ex island as unicorns. A rare and elusive breed. Ezekiel tended to like the the quirkier ones, they were interesting, entertaining. It didn't hurt that she shared a similar passion. He watched her for a moment, as she pressed herself up flush against the thick plastic, and could help a soft chuckle and a shake of his head. Had he been that obviously enamored when he and Ever had gone to the aquarium in Denver? He rather hoped not.

Not that Ever didn't have his ******** number anyways. The blonde seemed to have figured out that wasn't going anywhere, and even if he didn't, there was an unapologetic abandon to the banter they exchanged.

He considered arguing against Harley's division of labor, but it was pretty pointless. Zeke could still see the windows from beside the councils, he was far sighted, it was fine. "Sure." So he took a seat in one of the more comfortable chairs near the monitors, sinking down into a easy slouch that encompassed crossed ankles and hands folded over his stomach. "Let me know if you see anything worth seeing that's not a threat."

He nodded, grinning. "Mmhmm. For now. I have been here a few months though, so the newness has sort of warn away by now." Not that there was a whole lot of that new penny shine of Ezekiel when he'd awoken. The Mist had taken everything in stride, accepting the strange, the unusual, the chaos(slight though he had experienced up to this point).

Her attention seemed to be all for the thick plastic and the sea life she could see through it, and that was fine with Zeke, he understood. His own attention drifted between her and the glimpses of shoals of fish he saw swimming past them, eventually lingering on the ocean rather than the girl.

Until she spoke again. "University of Florida, mostly, though I did complete a long semester down in the keys doing research." He missed the Keys. This wasn't too far off from that, but the water hadn't been more or less off limits due to unseen dangers. Mostly Zeke missed the water. "How about you?"

"Mmhmm," he couldn't help the smirk that came as she pulled her attention from the window and onto him. "I think you'd have liked it there. Big campus, big biology department."

He paused for a moment, thinking back to when he'd woken from his pod, trying to think back to when he'd gone into it. Neither mattered much in this context, really. "I was already gone by the time you'd have gotten there." It was still an interesting coincidence, something to think about it. "But if neither of us had signed up with the men in white coats, I probably would have been one of your TAs in a seminar class." One of the perks of being an upperclassman. Zeke laughed, sinking lower in his chair and folding his hands behind his head.

"So what specifically were you going into?" Marine biology was a broad field. "I was focusing on cephilopods, their range of intelligence, and the possibility of blue ring venom in medical advancements. "The later had been his target goal, and everything before was a lead up.

"Insects are a interesting field." One he might have gone into himself if the sea hadn't captured his attention so thoroughly. Arachnids, likely, would have been his focus. They were doing incredible things with the venom of spiders these days, and Ezekiel found it all incredibly fascinating. But it was cephalopods that had swum their way into his little black heart. He grinned at her assessment, in perfect agreement.

His head cocked to one side at her question, and the grin stretched into more of a smirk as he tipped his head back against the back of the chair, gaze lifting to the dark ceiling. "The same way spider, wasp, and snake venom are being used. By isolating various bits of the venom itself they can use it to fight diseases and ailments." It was a very generic sort of answer, but Zeke wasn't sure just how much Harley knew, if anything, about how anti-venom and related therapies worked. If she were curious he could always explain in more depth.

"And yes, that's what my tattoo is of." There was just a touch of self deprivation to his tone, an easy mockery. "It seemed fitting." Not just because of his major. Zeke had very few illusions about himself. He was selfish, manipulative, and took a great deal of amusement from pushing other people's buttons. Toxic.