Pao
It wasn't his favorite post but the privacy was nice once you could get past the murky view on the other side. It was endless, too, and shapes moved every now and again. The shapes were big and always caught his attention, even while he was totally absorbed in his book, so he found it annoying and distracting and freaky.

But at least it was quiet here. Save for the occasional beep of a machine, anyway. Occasionally he did look up to properly do the "observing" part of this assignment, but mostly he was focused on his book. Also he was waiting for his partner to show up, though again since he never read the full assignment notice he had no idea who it was supposed to be.

Aria
Seren had no idea what this post was going to be like. She'd never been to it before, and it was going to be interesting. Especially since she was going to be spending some hours in duty with Rhys. First time in awhile they'd been assigned duty together. She had considered the situation, and finally packed a bag with her book, a couple bottles of water, and a bag of gingersnaps. She then headed for the portal she'd been instructed to go to, and through.

She was about to say something when she saw he was reading his book. A soft smile crossed her face and she tried not to interrupt him as she want to settle in the other chair.

Pao
It was only when the machine beeped again and he looked up to see what it was going on about that he noticed someone else had arrived, and when he realized it was Seren he couldn't help the smile. "Hey you," he said as he slipped in his bookmark and closed the book, then rolled his chair over to her side to greet her with a proper kiss.

Once he'd rolled back to his place he noted the stuff that she'd brought with her with a curious eye. "Lunch or snacks?" He paused and lifted his gaze back to her. "Or both?" He honestly hoped it was both.

Aria
She laughed a little when he realized she was there, but felt quite happy to know he was enjoying the book that much. "Hey, handsome." She leaned over, returning the kiss happily, then settled back in the chair. It wasn't the best chair but at least it wasn't so bad she thought her butt would fall asleep.

"Cookies, water and my book. I didn't want anything heavier in case of a lack of..." She paused, considered her word options, then finally went with "facilities, in the end. I haven't been in this odd little post before."

Pao
"Good plan," he said with a little nod, then gestured to the little pill-shaped container they were in. "Well, since this is your first time here and I'm technically your senior lemme kinda do my job here." He spent a few minutes hashing out what the equipment did before pointing over at the bookshelf, and then at the giant window.

"We're just watching and waiting, kinda like at the Lighthouse excpt underwater. If this thing goes off we port outta here and tell someone so it can get taken care of. I've only been down here a few times but it's pretty uneventful." And then he lifted up the book he was still working through. "Got my book so it's been better."

Aria
She settled in her seat, leaning so she could listen to him, and watch what he was explaining. Though she was listening, she was also watching him with a soft expression, her chin on one of her hands.

"Yeah. At least down here I don't feel as useless. They wouldn't want me to try to battle anything coming at us, for fear of the equipment. Assuming Di would even fit in here." At the way he lifted his book, she just smiled more, and asked "How are you liking Harry Dresden, then?"

Pao
"Right?" He chuckled and wheeled his chair a little bit closer to her, though there was a respectable distance. Work and all so the goal was not a whole lot of PDA, but that didn't mean he couldn't stay close. "Also yeah, don't summon your sword. I'd rather not have to fill out a report to explain how we broke the post."

The brunette flashed her a grin before turning back to his book, considering. "Pretty good, so far. I'm about three-quarters of the way through. Harry's a badass so it's never boring." Glancing over at her, he nodded at the bag again. "You bring that alamanac you got last time or somethin' else?"

Aria
She snorted a little at the image and shook her head. "Promise I won't break the post. I have no desire to risk drowning for one thing, nor do I want to put either of us through that kind of stress. Di stays away. Ongoing fact of my life in Outpost duty... Di can't do much." Which led to a furrowed brow, and her eyes going inwards, as she spent a minute calming her upset and offended weapon.

She managed to catch what he had to say about his book, though, and gave him a pleased smile, very glad he was enjoying it. "I'm glad. I did say he was." A light teasing tone, there, but it was also full of affection and pleasure in his enjoyment of the book. His question earned him a roll of her eyes, and a chuckle. "Goof. And no, it's a different 'almanac,' as I finished that one." She just smiled sweetly at him as she tugged it out. It had a really nice photo of the Horsehead nebula on the front.

Pao
He watched her with relative amusement as she went silent for a moment for what he assumed might be because she just might have offended Di--he was sure he had screaming matches with Zeph with a similar expression on his face. He waited out the moment, idly flipping the book open again while he did.

The book she eventually pulled out looked about as thick as the first one had been and he grimaced. "More to learn from the thicker ones, but s**t." He lifted up his book and gave it a little shake. "Think I'll stick to these for now. Taking me forever to just get through this first one."

Aria
She sighed a little at Di, then leaned her head back to gaze at him. "I am glad for the weapon who chose me. Generally supportive, I seem to work well with her... But I accidentally offend all too easily. I wonder how often this is the case."

She chuckled softly, and reached over to give his hand a lightly caressing pat, nothing too much for duty, but intended in a supportive and comforting way. "I wouldn't ask you to try to read this, either. I don't think you'd be interested in them the way I am. As long as you enjoy what you're reading, I'm happy."

Pao
He wrinkled his nose but nodded. "Thanks for sparing me, babe. And I am enjoying it, but honestly," and he paused and glanced down at the book for a second. "I only thought about seriously 'cause of you."

The brunette smiled softly at her before turning his eyes to the machine that just beeped. His focused was pulled to work again and he leaned in to check the screen for anything new.

Aria
She smiled at him, still getting slightly pink when he called her babe. His comment about the reading, though, had her brows raised, and a happy smile crossing her face. "I'm glad... It's nice to be able to share somethin' I enjoy so much with you."

She turned her head to the beeping machine, wondering what it was saying. "It's not the battery right...?" She tried to make a half joke, but her expression was honestly concerned.

Pao
He noted the shade of pink and tucked away the cute mental picture before nodding. "I get to do workouts with you so I know how that feels."

He snorted at her little joke and shook his head. "Nah, it just beeps. Kinda like a sonar on a submarine? It beeps when it registers something, but if it isn't getting closer it's nothing to worry about."

Aria
She smiled a little at that, glad it was a similar feeling for him. "It's... a nice feeling, yes." She sighed, a happy sort of sigh, glad she'd asked him. Who knew where she'd be right now otherwise?

She blinked, then gave a relieved laugh. "Oh well then. Sounds like a plan, not worrying." She reached down and grabbed out the gingersnaps, and set them where they both could reach them. "I hope you like ginger... they've got a nice bit of a kick."

Pao
"Yeah..." He really had to wonder how he managed to get close to her so quickly. He was usually quick to brush people off but Seren...somehow got under his skin. In the best way possible, too, otherwise they probably wouldn't be...whatever...they were now.

He reached for one of the cookies and bit out quite a bit of a chunk, eyes widening just a bit when he felt that kick she was talking about. It wasn't bad, just noticeable. Though he would honestly eat everything this woman made for him, so maybe he was a little biased. "Good stuff, but you weren't kidding."

Aria
She cracked open her book, settling it on her lap. She smiled down at the really gorgeous picture on the inside, then teased him gently "Sure you don't want to try it? Look, it's practically a picture book." She winked, though, to make it clear she was being entirely silly.

She took one herself, nibbling it slowly, clearly enjoying that gingery kick the cookies had. "What can I say, I like things that bite back." She didn't even think about any potential implied second meaning, so the words were said in complete innocence.

Pao
It was a tiny morsel he could roll around in his head for a bit, amusement dancing in his eyes when he looked over at her. He was fairly certain it'd be a good thing to remember, so he tucked it away as well and finished up his cookie.

"I'm sure, thanks," he waved off the invite to the book in equally silly fashion before turning his eyes to his own book. He got maybe two paragraphs down before reaching for another cookie and taking that pause to glance over at her. It was a comfortable silence he wasn't too willing to break.

Aria
She settled into her book easily, slumping a bit in the chair as she got lost a bit in it. She was trying to be good... She didn't want to get so distracted that she missed an important signal... But she was clearly fascinated by the things she was reading.

She did look up after a bit to get another cookie, though, and sighed happily, glad to just be here in the moment.

Pao
Another beep caught his attention and he glanced at the machine again, squinting a bit before looking toward the glass at a massive shadow that felt maybe just a little too close. He took a breath and looked at the machine again, body a little more tense. It beeped once, twice, three times, each time just a bit sooner than the last, and then the beeping slowed down again and he visibly relaxed, slumping back in his chair.

Aria
She looked up, startled, and stared in appalled shock at the giant thing that was getting close. When the beeping stopped, she turned to him, eyes huge, and said "Sooooo I take it things like that are why we're out here." Her tone was incongruously casual, when compared to the shock and hint of fear that was on her face.

Pao
"Yeah, pretty much." He closed his book and set it down, scooting just a little bit closer to her to one of the other machine to go over some of the readouts. Truth be told he had no idea what most of it even meant, but he knew at least enough to interpret how far the thing potentially was. "Anything less than maybe 10 miles out is usually something we should note. If it doesn't get any closer we just mention that something got close and then went in the other direction."

He paused to jot something down before rolling back to his spot. "Anything closer than that and we gotta port outta here and report it. It's never happened to me, honestly kinda happy about that."

Aria
She watched him doing all of this, curiously, and also grateful that she didn't have to work out what the hell the measurements meant this time. "Good to know. And I'm glad too, that would be no ******** fun. Has one ever come in too close that you know of while you've been on island?"

Pao
He grabbed the book and sort of just held it, the beeping now getting most of his attention. The book seemed like it'd be more a prop than something to read and enjoy at this point, considering it seemed like there might be something lurking too close for any real sense of comfort.

"Not sure? No one really talks about it, or maybe nothing's come that close in a really long time."

Aria
Seren frowned at the beeping, and put her book away. She stood up and walked to the window, staring out at the giant shadow in the distance. There was almost something challenging about her posture, like she was daring it to make her good shift go badly.

"I see... I hope that this remains the case..." Her fingers were pressed against the glass as she stared out.

Pao
Rhys watched her from where he sat, not too comfortable with getting too close to the glass, himself. He set his book down again and nibbled through his cookies, his attention going between Seren and the machine between the beeps. "Same. Honestly even if there was something that got too close I'm not sure we'd even be able to handle it unless it could get on the shore."

Aria
She nodded, absently, staring into the dark depths they were assigned to watch. "Not unless someone's weapon was a ridiculously over sized harpoon, I suppose." She murmured, trying to guess what that big shape even could be. "Do we know what's down here even?"

Pao
"A little, I guess. I know rune diving is a thing, so we've got divers who've been down pretty deep, seen s**t." He shrugged. "But I don't think it's too far out there, definitely within the 10-mile limit. Just deep, and.." he paused to finish off his cookie. "In the water."

Aria
"That sounds like a lot of risk but if it helps keep the supplies of Rune stuff available, I guess it's important." She sounded lost in thought, her fingers running along the glass, or whatever it was, that made the barrier between them and the deep water. "Wonder what it's like down there. Might be interesting." She sounded almost like she was considering giving it a go at some point.

Pao
"Yeah," he said as he stood and walked over to where she was standing, standing just behind her and looking out into the depths as well. "Go rune diving? I plan on it as soon as the rain calms down. Been wanting to since I got back but I got busy with stuff...and you..."

Aria
She glanced back at him, and smiled slowly over her shoulder at him. "Yeah. Rune diving. We could go together, maybe?" She suggested thoughtfully, as her hand fell away from the glass. His comment about getting busy with her gained him another smile, slightly larger, and soft, distracting her a bit from her focus on the thing in the depths.

Pao
It was hard to resist hugging her right there, but he managed, instead just shoving his hands in his pockets and hovering very close behind her. "Could definitely give it a go, yeah." And he returned her smile with a small one of his own, allowing himself to just quickly lean down and give her a peck on the cheek.

"Might have to check the duty rosters to fiure out when, though, once the weather's cleared up."

Aria
She smiled up at him, at the kiss, her focus on him and his words entirely now. She nodded slowly. "I think that sounds like an awesome plan." She leaned against the wall, pondering all of this. "And yeah... the weather. I can't wait for that to clear up." She shrugged, and then leaned around him to grab another cookie, nibbling it while they talk.

Pao
He stayed silent for a little while, eyes again on the expanse of ocean right in front of him. After a little while it felt like it was staring back at him, and then he would blink and the feeling was gone...rinse and repeat a couple of times. And then eventually he sighed.

"Y'know, I can't remember ever learning how to swim. You?"

Aria
She blinked at him, then said "Yeah. My school had required swimming lessons at the pool." Her hand slid up and over her shoulder, to rub her back in a subconcious way. "It meant I had to get a customized swimsuit. Still have it. Amazingly it fits."

Pao
He saw the motion and almost on autopilot gently swatted her hand away and started to lightly massage where she was trying to get at. "Swimsuit, huh?" he said, a little smirk on his face. "My school was cheap as ******** so no pool. I'm a strong swimmer though so it's weird."

Aria
She sighed, grateful for his massaging hand, grateful she had some one she could trust to do that and not worry they'd learn something she didn't really want them to know. How had he become so important? She didn't know, didn't care, and put it aside as unimportant. He was. "Yeah... I mean I couldn't exactly go into the pool in jeans and a tshirt." She tilted her head as he spoke, and smiled a little. "I'm glad to hear that. I'm ok, but not amazing. Never would have made swim team, that's for sure. But I can handle myself in the water."

Pao
If she wasn't someone he considered important he definitely wouldn't have just started massaging her kind of at random. Whatever he might verbally admit to anyone, she did matter to him. A lot. And much like her he wasn't entirely sure when that started.

Once she tilted her head it wasn't long until he managed to find the knot and added a bit more pressure to work it out, his eyes focusing on the task at hand. "I got you, babe," he said, expression even only because he was a little preoccupied. "If anything happens. Always."

Aria
She let her head drop forwards, relaxing at the way he was massaging her. She wouldn't let it go to far, though, they were at work but for a moment, this was something she needed. "Mmmm...." She sighed out, softly, her eyes closing for a moment.

That always, though, caused her eyes to pop back open. She didn't jerk, or pull away, but there was a moment were her heart froze with shock, then sped up. That was... Quite the statement. She finally said "Same. You know that." In a quiet voice.

Pao
He smirked, working away at another smaller knot he found a little further down, around shoulder blade level. He had no immediate plans to go any lower than that, so the little freebie massage was almost done.

"I said it on dare night, didn't I? Through whatever shitstorms and all that." It was a fond, if awkward, little memory at this point. If he knew then that they'd wind up...in whatever this was...he probably would've found it a lot funnier at the time. "Meant it then, mean it more now."

Aria
Her eyes widened a little that he was referencing back to that, and she was silent for a moment, then gave him a strong smile, full of happiness at his words and the simple fact of that memory. "Yeah. So you did. And it meant a lot to me then. Still does. You're the first person to be so willing to have my back, and I don't think I'd trust anyone else there." Awkwardly phrased perhaps but meant, emphatically.

Pao
It didn't sound all that awkward to him; if anything it sounded pretty sweet, and when he finished up with the massage he wrapped his arms gently around her shoulders and pulled her in for a very brief hug--they were on duty, after all.

Aria
She leaned into the hug for a moment, then stretched up to give him a kiss on the cheek, before gently pulling away and going back to her seat. She smiled up at him from her chair, and said "Well at least the damn huge thing seems to be staying away, even if it's just in range to ping us." She sighed, comfortable and relaxed, and just watched him quietly, enjoying the view and the feelings that surged through her when she looked at him.

Pao
He let her slip away back to her chair and just turned, leaning back against the glass as he watched her curiously. That smile of hers always managed to brighten his day, even in such a dreary type of observation post, and it was a long moment before he shrugged at her comment.

"Yeah, no giant ********' sea monsters is always a good thing." He nodded toward the machines. "The thing I wrote down earlier, by the way, is on that list of readings there. Just mark the series of the readings that got your attention. Pretty simple."

Aria
She tilted her head at her... at him, wondering what was on his mind while he stood there watching herr in return. She never did quite have the courage to ask, but at least he seemed happy in her eyes.

"All right. I'll keep that in mind... If needed, I'll do the next set. Hopefully it's not needed." She pulled out a water bottle, and offered it to him first, as she fished out the other one she'd brought. "Pity we don't have some sort of like... way to call in instead of rushing back, but I assume the phones do not work down here."

Pao
"Hopefully not, yeah," Rhys replied as he pushed off of the glass wall. He reached for the bottle, opened it, and handed it back before taking the one she fished out and going back to leaning on the glass.

"I think porting out is the smarter thing. If this glass breaks we're basically fish food for whatever thing is too close." He paused and took a sip of water before tapping on the glass. "It's strong, but I dunno if I wanna be the one to figure out what it takes to break it."
Aria
She hadn't expected him to do that, but then every time he did something so gentlemanly it surprised her. She wasn't used to such slightly old fashioned courtesy. She did like it though... It made her feel good, knowing he went out of his way to do little things like that. She sipped fro the bottle he'd opened, her eyes still on him.

"Yeah no I just meant faster warning system. I do not want to be down here if one of those huge sons of bitches decide to make an attempt to get to us." She shrugged a little, picking up the pen off the desk and playing with it

Pao
The brunette took a longer drink from the bottle before pushing off the wall and going back to his seat, spinning in it a couple of times as he let his mind wander to the last time he felt this peaceful in any other situation. It was weird but nice and maybe occasionally confusing when he zoomed out a little beyond their little moments to the bigger picture.

Unfortunately that usually led to the bigger picture questions, which all needed attention that neither of them were willing to give. As soon as that came up he stopped spinning and let his eyes rest on her figure just an arm's reach away.

"So..."

Aria
"Yeah?" She asked in response, quietly, her head tilted. She had been watching him spin in amusement, finding it silly but quite cute. She wasn't one for spinning in the chairs, as she found it a little too dizzy-making for her.

She remembered her brother telling her about the Tea Cups at Disneyland. She wanted to ride them. She was glad she hadn't. It was awkward.

She refocused on Rhys, though, her eyes gently running along the hints of his muscles available through his layers of clothing, but still listening very well.

Pao
He blinked for a second, letting the minor bout of dizziness pass before reaching for his water again and taking a drink. There were topics of conversation that he didn't want to pick at so he wasn't sure exactly how to answer her question. He filtered through them all and something clicked, something that nearly had him choke (he didn't, but it amused Zephira that that made him nearly choke).

"So," he started, putting the bottle down. This was, in all honestly, not something he ever told anybody on purpose. He couldn't remember the last time anyone called him by his birth name and it really didn't feel like it was his name at this point, but...this was Seren. She had an inkling, at the very least, of his past. Next to that, telling her about his real name was not a big deal.

"Didya know 'Rhys' isn't my real name?"

Aria
She arched a brow, watching him blink curiously as she sipped her own water. He seemed to be lost in thought for a minute, and was concerned when he looked about to choke. When he didn't, however, she relaxed, and waited to see what he might be doing.

She was taking another sip, and then he asked his other question. She did choke for a moment, though not so badly that she needed help... Just enough to cough and splutter a bit before gaining her control back, eyes huge. "W... It's not? No! I had no idea." She stared at Rhys in suprise and confusion. "... Can I... ask what your real name is?" She wasn't sure if she dared ask him why.

Pao
Amusement lit up his expression when she choked, though he scooted to the edge of his seat and straightened up, ready to help if she needed it. Thankfully she didn't, so he relaxed and considered her question for a second.

"You wanna know?" he asked, smiling playfully. "I'll give you a hint and three guesses. If you don't get it, I get a favor. Deal?"

Aria
She took another sip, this time to relax her throat after that unpleasant choking experience, though she arched a brow at him. "You take far too much pleasure in startling or shocking me, Rhys. Far too much." She was quite emphatic. "Someday you'll actually make me choke seriously or something if you keep at it."

She considered his offer, resting her chin on her hands with slightly narrowed eyes. She trusted him, implicetly, which was slightly scary to think about, so owing him a favor didn't exactly bother her... Frankly, she couldn't imagine him asking her to do something she'd deny him. But she was... so determined, she knew she'd get annoyed a bit if she lost. She tapped her lips with the fingers from one hand, then gave a slight shrug at her thoughts, and said "Deal."

Pao
"No worries, I know the Heimlich, and gonna throw CPR in there since I like kissin' you."

"Deal! I've got two names, by the way." There was a playful wink as he rolled a bit closer to her and grabbed the pen before tearing a bit off the edge of a reading printout (it looked like an old one left there for random notes) and scribbled down two letters--a "G" and an "S".

"Jackpot if you get both and I'll tell you where I got the name I use now from."

Aria
She arched a brow at him, and laughed, her eyes rolling a little at how incorrigible this man could be. "While I definitely wont say no to more kisses, I still prefer not to choke."

Her brows came together, and her eyes narrowed. "Hmmmm. Rhys... a very Welsh name... Going to guess your ancestors came from the British Isles, primarily, therefore." She tilted her head, eyes closing as she thought. "Names that start with a G... I'll start there I think, because there are many a name that start with S..."

She went silent, lost in thought, eyes unfocused as she considered her... friend's... potential names, occasional soft mutters escaping her. "No... that's... French I think..." and then "No, I really have trouble seeing you as that..." Finally she sat up, eyes narrowed as she focused on him. "Hmmm which seems to be... more likely...?" She murmured, before saying, curiously, "Gareth?"

Pao
He leaned on the table, cheek in his hand as he watched her try and guess in what he imagined was maybe on the cutest ways possible. It was a little surprising that she knew about name origins and the like, but he made the connection to her love of books and left it alone. There was probably plenty of books with all kinds of names and maybe she happened to get interested in one. Her first guess had him wrinkle his nose.

"Nope. By the way, it's three guese per name. I'm a fair kinda guy. Try again."

Aria
It was primarily the Welsh thing that had gotten her there... Her mother was second generation Welsh, after all, and they had kept lots of Welsh baby name books around when they had been expecting Dai, some of which talked about origins and such. She didn't think to hard about it, though, other then remembering what she had read, because she didn't want to think about how much trouble she had gotten in for handling them.

His denial of Gareth caused her eyes to narrow again, and she licked her lips thoughtfully. She had two other possibilities in mind, and was trying to decide between them. Finally, with a deep sigh, she said "Gerald...?"

Pao
He shook his head again, this time smiling. "One more."

Aria
Her right eyebrow arched, while the left stayed down as she considered him. She nibbled her lip, giving consideration to the last name she had in mind to guess. Her nails tapped on the chair, slowly but in a steady rhythm. Finally she said "Geoffrey." Her tone was even, no emotions slipped free.

Pao
His expression stayed even when she said his name, no drop in his smile or anything. Just...evenness as he processed what it sounded like. It was weird but it sounded a little sweet when she said it. Or maybe that was his bias.

"You got it, damn," he said, smile now widening just a bit. "Now name number two."

Aria
She got a bright, happy smile at having guessed THAT one. She was quite sure, however, that she wasn't going to get the middle name. Still, she wasn't going to just give up.

"Hmmmm..." She murmured, her eyes going back into that unfocused state... And the old 'focused/thoughtful' look she sometimes had, with the tip of her tongue sticking out, reappeared as she just gave soft humming sounds, trying to think of a name.

She spent a good several minutes on this one. At least five, but definitely not ten. Finally she said "All right... is it Samuel?"

Pao
When she slowly pulled that look on Rhys quietly took out his phone, pretending to look through it when in fact he was trying to sneak a little snapshot of his ... her. Carefully he muted everything first, then aimed and took the shot. After a quick review to make sure it wasn't out of focus or anything, he assigned it as her contact picture and put his phone away just in time for her guess.

"Nope. Try again."

Aria
She made a HMMM sound, her head falling back some so that she stared at the ceiling, eyes narrowed as she tried to think of other options. She was nibbling her lip a little, before she finally said "... Simon?"

Pao
He closed his eyes this time as he shook his head. "One more guess..."

Aria
She made a sharp hissing noise of frustration, and closed her eyes for a long moment. Her nails were drumming on the edge of the chair in a rapid pace, before she finally said, in a voice that said she doubted it, asked "Skye...?"

Pao
He tried extra hard not to hint at the fact that she got so ridiculously close, but she cut it off too soon and he smiled wide and straightened out. "Nope! Game over, you got one outta two, that's pretty good with just those hints."

The trainee rolle back to his side of the table, grinning like he'd just won a game show or something, and spun his chair once. "Well, let's make this a little more fair I guess. Since you got one, I'll let you ask me for a favor sometime, too. Long as I can do it, I mean."

Aria
She swore a little, softly, at her failure. "Mmmmm. Damn. Now I'm burnin' with curiousity. But at least I guessed one of them." She eyed him thoughtfully, looking him up and down for a moment. "Yeah, no, I wouldn't pick you for Geoffrey. It doesn't exactly suit you."

His offer to make it fair earned him one of her sweet smiles, and she nodded. "Wouldn't ask you to do something you can't. Seems a waste of both of our times, in the long run, handsome." She gave a slight shrug, and leaned back.

Pao
Admittedly he kind of liked her eyes on him, even if it was sort of in a judging capacity that ended with her not liking how his name fit him. "Right?" he seconded her idea and sighed softly, distant memories bubbling up to the surface briefly. "Not sure where in the hell it came from or what my pops was thinkin', but it's just a legal name. Doesn't have a lot of weight here so no big deal."

He sip from his water, the last memory he had of his dad in that alley now are the forefront of his mind and calming him down a good bit. "I got my second name in memory of my mom, though. She was Skye, my second name's Skyler."

Aria
She smiled a little. "Whatever you prefer is more important to me. If you consider yourself Rhys, then you are. If you wanted to be Geoffrey, then that's what I'd call you. Maybe I'd have seen it otherwise if I knew of you as Geoffrey first but..." She shook her head. "In the end, though, you're you, whatever name you choose to wear."

Her brows rose as she found out how close she'd come to his real middle name. "Damn. So ******** close. Wow." Her head fell back, hanging over the back of her chair as a "Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck me..." Slid out of her lips.

Pao
If he wasn't even marginally distracted her use of the phrase might have gotten more of a reaction out of him, but as things were he only managed an amused little huff. "I know, s'why I've used Rhys ever since I was six or seven. And yep, so close but you didn't get it so I win round two."

Reminding himself of that little victory though was amusing enough to lift his mood some, and he emptied his bottle before shoving his memories back to where he kept them, in the very, very far back of his mind. "I'm gonna cash in that favor later, though, or whenever our schedules match up to make it workable."

He crushed the bottle and tossed it in the trash can, casually throwing out the question, "Think you can stay with me tonight?"

Aria
She sighed and laughed, acknowledging his statement. "Doesn't mean I can't be like 'REALLY' at my luck, though, man." She shrugged, and nodded. "Rhys does suit you well, though." She straightened her neck and smiled a little.

She lifted her brows, listening to him curiously. "Now I'm fascinated. I look forwards to seeing what on earth you come up with to have me do." She gave a slow shrug, and stretched her back out some, before picking up her water bottle, to drink from hit.

His casualness with his question had it take a moment to fully process what he'd asked, then she blushed a little, but gave him a warm smile. "Yeah... I think that is workable."

Pao
He spun his chair to turn back to her, smile small but warming when she replied. "How workable, d'you think?"

Aria
"Mmm very." She tilted her head at him, her eyes soft with the happiness she felt at the idea of spending a night sleeping in his arms.

Pao
That smile of his widened just a little bit more as he eased back into his chair. Sleep had been evasive as of late, and he hoped her being around would help. Honestly there was a small part of him that wanted to ask her to stay with him as often as their schedules would let them, but that seemed a bit much considering the fact that he wasn't even sure what they were, exactly.

His eyes flickered back to the machines for a second when two successive beeps caught his attention. It was just two beeps and nothing more, so he heaved another sigh. "You wanna note that one?"

Aria
If he'd asked, she'd simply have agreed to staying with him whenever they both could. Or have him stay with her, whatever. She wasn't going to ask him to define whatever it was between them when she was scared of what might happen if they did. Her luck wasn't exactly the best with these things after all.

The beeps had her sitting up straight, and setting her bottle aside."Yeah...." She carefully noted down the data, checking her notations three times against the readout before settling back, satisfied.

Pao
He watched her still, eased back in his chair and just enjoying the fact that he was just so...comfortable. Seren had a calming effect on him, clearly, even if there were times that being around her did make him wonder about some of the harder questions. In the very back of his mind, though he might not have acknowledged it until this particularly quiet moment, he had a bit of doubt. Some worry about trusting someone with knowing who he was beyond just the surface. It'd never been something he saw himself doing, and that worry grew just a bit when he piled on the fact that ...whatever this was.... happened so fast.

"Nice work," he said, breaking from that thought, not wanting to let himself doubt. "So...tonight or?"

Aria
She settled back in her chair, unaware of the doubts he was feeling, still just comfortable because he was there. She mumbled a little in annoyance when a lock of her hair managed to escape the loose tail she wore it in and she tucked it back behind her ear.

His question earned him a puzzled, if happy, smile. "Tonight, yeah. I thought that's what you were asking about originally."

Pao
His expression brightened at her response and he rolled over to her, taking hold of the arm rests and rolling her close enough that he could trap her legs between his. "I was, just didn't know what your schedule was for tonight."

Aria
She was a little surprised by the action but she certainly didn't object to his gentle trap, internally amused. "Nothing in particular. I don't really make that many evening plans, when I'm not on duty, unless asked." She gave a slight shrug, not adding the fact that she always had an internal worry that she was imposing.

Pao
"Cool," he said with a little nod, though instead of letting her go he sort of just blinked at her for a moment and let some thoughts pass. They were thoughts he recently just kept rolling around in his head, wondering and questioning before ultimately just shelving for another day. He wondered if this was that day, but quickly ignored the "maybe" that popped up suddenly.

"If you've got free nights you can always text me, you know that right?"

Aria
She watched him, curious as to what was going on in that head of his, and as ever, not getting up the courage to ask. Ignorance was bliss, or so it was said, and she was willing to be blissfully unaware for now, if it meant things didn't get awkward. She liked the lack of that they'd been having.

His question earned him a surprised series of blinks, then a shy-ish smile. "I don't want to impose, but yeah. I'll remember that. Same for you, I hope you know."

Pao
The shyness was noted and had him lean in a little bit, eyes down as his hands found hers. He was debating exactly how much he wanted to say about that invitation, that he always had it on his mind to text her, imposing or not. In the end he didn't say anything about it and just held her hands for the time being.

"Oh, yeah. If my bed's too small we could always go to your room, too. If you want, I mean."

Aria
She watched him take her hands, gentle look in her eyes for him, despite the shyness she was feeling, which was a little strange. She still wasn't used to these moments when they came over her.

"Whichever is fine with me. Wherever you're most comfortable, Rhys. My door is always open to you, after all."

Pao
He was absently giving her hands a little massage as he sat there thinking. "Your place then?" he said with a brief glance up at her. "That way we don't need to deal with stairs for bathroom braks or something."

Aria
She mmmm'd softly, enjoying the feel of his massaging fingers again. He was so good at that, and for a moment her brain shut off. She just softly went "Ok...", Even if her brain wasn't really paying attention to what she was agreeing to.

Pao
It sounded like she was enjoying the massage so he kept on going, a little smirk on his lips when she just kind of agreed. There was a part of him that wanted to ask again but it wasn't like he was trying to trick her or anything--he just wanted her in his arms so he could sleep a little better--so he stayed quiet. Occasionally he would glance up either at her or at the beeping machine, but for the most part his eyes were down and focused on the massage.

Aria
It felt so nice, it was putting her in a trance, at least as heavy as when she read, but with her brain not taking anything in. She had no idea how long that went on, but eventually her brain went "Yo. You're on duty. Don't fall asleep or something." She gave a small shake of her head, trying to refocus. "Oh my gods, Rhys... You're ******** good at that and are this close to just having me go totally gone mode in how good that feels."

Pao
"Hm?" he asked, still fairly focused. A small smile crept into his expression as she said that, and he puffed a little proudly on the inside. It almost felt like he'd learned how to massage just to get to this point; it was a silly thought because he knew that wasn't the case but he let it linger for a moment anyway.

"Thanks. I learned a little bit about this a little while ago, and," he glanced up before continuing, "you looked like you were in 'totally gone mode' already."

Aria
She blushed a little at his words, and half shrugged, half nodded. "Close enough certainly... But not so far I couldn't drag myself back." She sighed, a little wistfully, wishing she dared to let herself go all the way to full zone out. But they were on duty. "Luckily not quite. I'd hate to get us in trouble because something happened while I was zoned out. I would feel awful."

Pao
He finished up and let her hands go, the reminder of being on duty getting his head back on a little straighter. It was easy to get lost in certain situations with her, clearly.

"How zoned out can you get, exactly?" he asked while rolling back to his spot. His eyes caught the book he'd abandoned a while earlier and he reached for it, though he doubted he'd be able to get back to reading at the moment.

Aria
She shifted to settle back in the chair again, tucking her legs up and under her, so that she was sitting on her legs in the chair. Her head tilted thoughtfully at his question. "I don't actually know?" She finally said, with a slow shrug. "I've never had the issue come up. No one's given me a hand massage before."

She looked down at her hands, an abstract expression on them. "Back massages are great but they don't seem to shut my brain down the same way. Don't know why, either..."

Pao
There was a small sense of satisfaction in knowing that he'd been the first to give her a hand massage, and he let himself settle in that thought, idly flipping through the book as he watched her. Her expression was a little unreadable, so he raised a brow curiously.

"So...no more massages or...?"

Aria
Her head came up, startled. "Eh? Oh. No, just not on duty. It was... very nice, Rhys. I liked it alot. I just don't want to go brain inert when I'm supposed to be paying attention." She smiled at him, and shrugged. "Just was thinking how odd it was that my hands being massaged could have such an effect on my brain. I mean... they're hands..."

Pao
"Makes sense," he said with a little nod. His eyes fell to her hands as he thought about the last bit of what she said, ultimately shrugging. "Could just be one of those things? Don't know anyone that's reacted the same as you from any massage I've ever given, though."

The brunette sighed and set his book down again, eyes flicking to the clock on the wall by the portal to see how much longer they'd be stuck down here. "Still a lot of hours to go," he grumbled, a little irritably because he kind of already wanted to cuddle up with her on a bed. On top of these duty hours though, there was still the rest of the day to get through...

Aria
"Could be. Don't know. Could be partly cause it's you, and I feel I can let myself relax enough with you." She said absently, still a little lost in thought about it.

She blinked, and glanced at the clock herself. "Well, we still have our books, yeah?" She smiled a little at him. "And we can always go in and take care of food in the kitchen, bypass the Caf. Just think of what you want for dinner." She pulled her book out again, and settled back to read, only looking up to enjoy a cookie or make notes for the rest of the shift. She did, in the end, end up unintentionally shifting in her chair so much that it rolled closer to him, her head leaning towards him.

Pao
The "could be 'cause it's you" got a warm, if amused, little smile from him. And then he nodded and grabbed his book, content to spend the rest of the time mostly reading and only looking up to check on the machiens on occasion. Either that or steal glances at her. The closer she rolled the more comfortable he got, and by the end of the shift they were nearly shoulder to shoulder.

He'd gotten through another few chapters, and then he slipped the bookmark in and glanced at the clock again before straightening up and stretching a bit. "Finally!"

Aria
She looked up, startled, when he spoke, but she didn't jump in surprise the way she might if it was anyone else. She stared at him, and then her brain caught up, and she looked at the clock. "Sweet!" She said, standing up and snagging her bag. She packed up whatever cookies where left and her book, then moved to the portal. "Do we need to wait for some one to come relieve us?"

She would be very surprised if the answer was no. And also not, because this place was just ******** up enough that people might be that lacksadaisical about the rules.

Pao
Rhys got up and did a little more stretching before he grabbed his book and pocketed it. He left a little note about the rest of the shift being quiet before heading toward the portal. It was a small room so it took all of three steps.

"Nah, it's usually a slow shift so no one ever rushes here."

Aria
"Excellent." She stepped through the portal, and moved out of the way to wait for Rhys on the other side. She still considered it lacksadaisical but she was not about to argue with not having to wait on anyone before getting the hell out of that tiny space.

She wasn't claustrophobic, but she suspected most people would start wanting the room to move after several hours in a pod that tiny.

Pao
He followed her out and took a nice breath of fresh air once he was outside, resisting the urge to stretch even more now that he had even more space for it. He resisted for all of thirty seconds before stretching anyway, and at the tail end of the stretch he reached over her shoulder and pulled her in.

"Self control ********' sucks," he muttered, looking down at her, smirking. "I feel better now."