Welcome to Gaia! ::

Seren stalked down the dorm hallway, and to the stairwell that led to the basement, an expression of determination and concern on her face. She hadn't seen Rhys in several days, and given how often fate had thrown the two of them into the same place since she'd arrived, she was rather concerned. Had the water Golems injured him? Or was something bugging him? She didn't know. In the back of her mind was the concern she'd somehow pissed her new friend off and wasn't THAT a thought she didn't want to address at all.

She ran down the stairs, and hunted the hall until she found B32. She stared at the door, a determined expression on her face, then knocked, while biting her lip.

Seren was beginning to consider a second knock, in concern, when he opened the door. His slow reaction, and low energy response, made her want to hug him. She restrained herself on that level, having a strong feeling that sudden hugs would be entirely unwelcome, assuming hugs at all were. Instead, she put her hands on her hips and spoke.

"That would be accurate, and I was worried about you. Are you ok?" She scuffled her feet on the floor of the hallway, and leaned against his doorframe, looking worriedly at her friend. "You seem more... low energy then I've seen you, for the most part..."

Her brows were drawn tight together as she watched him. He seemed to be half gone, in her eyes, like his brain was on vacation. Still, when he clearly invited her in, she straightened and walked in, shutting the door behind her out of habit. She moved to settle across from him, sitting with care so as to keep her skirt covering everything it needed to cover, then tilted her head at him, studying him.

She finally said "I'm well, Rhys... But you're super quiet right now. You sure you're ok? I'm more used to 'Wanting something to do' Rhys, honestly. Where did all that energy go...?"

Her brows rose at those words, before moving back to their knitted position, not sure how to respond to that. It didn't really exactly ring true to her but she couldn't out right accuse him of lying. For one thing, for all she knew, he was just not feeling well and was better at hiding it then her.

But something still felt off, like he was not talking about the entire truth here.

His question, however, caused her to blush and wave her hand around for a moment. "Like I said. I was worried to you. I might have asked around, and made it sound like I had something of yours that I wanted to return, without actually saying I did, until some one who knew, for whatever reason, told me. Maybe they have a room on this floor? I dunno. Didn't even catch their name, just said thanks and headed off to find you." She rubbed her head, and looked more embarrassed. "Probably sounds stupid, but once a worry gets into my head, it's hard to dislodge."

She wanted to press him, she really did, but she also didn't want to risk upsetting or driving away the person that, much to her surprise, she'd gotten to know the best in her time here. Somehow, of all the people she would expect to get to know well, Rhys was not some one she had expected it of. He came across as very private, hiding his problems beneath a mask of chill, so what he HAD opened up about to her sort of amazed her. Still, she was glad to know he would give that much of an opening. She brushed her hair out of eyes, a constant challenge, even with her hair tied back, and sighed softly for a moment.

"Ahhhh no, it wasn't Joy. I'd have known Joy if I saw her. She was the person there when I Woke Up." She emphasized it to be sure what she was referencing was definitely obvious. "Some dude. I don't know. Maybe they're in whatever division keeps track of room assignments. I have no clue, really, who they were or how they knew. Some one did, that was all I cared about." She leaned her head back on the wall she was using as a back support, and shrugged. "Glad to know. You're welcome to visit too. I'm in 143." She smiled a little, and added "You, Joy... M'door is open to you both whenever. Anyways, since I'm here and I've been thinking about it... You know weight training at all? I want to get some more muscle on me. Diwata can be... heavy, and difficult, to manage sometimes." She winced at a sudden, shrill voice in her head as Di complained about being called heavy. "ACK no Di, I don't mean you're fat!" She was clearly not yet used to mental conversations.

She could see the relaxing, to some degree, and was glad talking to him helped, even if it was only a little bit. Maybe some time in the future he'd feel up to telling her, maybe he wouldn't, that was up to him entirely. In the meantime, though, she was going to do what she could to make as much of his day brighter as she could. His reaction to weight training, though, had her sitting up a bit. Clearly that was a HIT, and she was seriously grateful to find a topic that got his attention AND was of use to her.

His last question made her wince a little again, embarrassed, and of course now Di was lecturing her about SILENTLY conversing with her unless otherwise needed. She sighed and thudded the back of her head on the wall, perhaps a little harder then necessary. "Yes, indeed, talking in my head. I've been at this for what, a month at most?" She paused, realizing she had sort of lost track and wasn't actually totally sure. "Something like that, at least. Meh. Point is I'm still getting used to it, and I wish she wouldn't get on me about it." She sighed deeply, and then said "ANYWAYS yeah." She grinned at him, and added "I had a feeling. You come across as pretty fit, so I thought you might have some ideas on how this works. My main goal is upper body and arm strength. I'm not too worried about stamina, I've been jogging hard since I was 15... Only way I could be sure I can avoid the assholes when I got off work late was to be fast... So I've built up my stamina pretty well. But I never did gym-stuff, it was way outta my wallet's reach, so I don't really know a lot about building muscle."

She was glad that he understood where she was coming from on the issue, and shot Diwata a thought of 'SHUT UP PLEASE. This is to help us both!' Which actually worked. She had a brief relieved expression when silence descended in her mind.

She focused on him, hard, noticing the muscles, the confidence that he had when focused on this topic. It was a fascinating change, the energy he was displaying, and she liked seeing her friend like this. It made her feel better, knowing something got him going. Then he asked a question she didn't know how to answer, and her face fell a little. "I... probably got the arms from waiting tables, and all the stuff I carried... But I don't know what 'core' means, in this case. Obviously it has nothing to do with Earth Sciences, which is where my brain associates that term. Please... explain it to me?" She clearly felt embarrassed by her lack of knowledge, and her eyes dipped a little, which is when they fell to the tattoo on his arm, and neck.

She hadn't seen it before, what with his usual outfit covering it, and her eyes widened in fascination. She found herself studying it, and made a mental note to ask about it, LATER, once they were off the stuff that mattered to her actually getting fit, and she refocused on his face.

Her expression was one of serious focus, because honestly this was mostly new to her. She knew SOME, but it was mostly what had been taught in basic PE up to sophomore year, and that, unfortunately, had been limited. Her school had still tended to have PE teachers who tended to focus on the boys for this sort of stuff, and sent the girls off to do the 'easy' things. She frowned a little at his words, and sighed. "Haven't done sit ups in like... 2 years. Didn't really have time to fit it in, with work. I don't know if I can still do them ok. Back at school, yeah I rarely had trouble with them, but since I know you lose that s**t over time, I'm probably starting all over"

She didn't look confused, just frustrated at the universe. "I'd test it out now, but I'm uh..." She looked down at her skirt for a moment, then back at him, with a quirked brow. "Not really dressed for exercise. But still. I know how to test for that." She nodded slowly, pondering when to do this, and smiled a little. "Gotta start somewhere I suppose. If I can still do 'em ok, which I am doubting because when has the universe ever been that generous, what would you recommend from there?" She paused, then laughed a little. "Man you shoulda done personal training. I bet you'd have been paid real well, given you know what the ******** you're doing."