Pao
He took her hand gladly and got himself up off the couch. It was too tempting to just pull her back into his arms, but had had a feeling that would just lead to more and more and more delays, so he forced himself to take his hand back and shove it into his pockets. "See you in a bit, gorgeous," he said with a little smile as he stalked off to his room.

Once he was all bundled up he headed out of the room, went and got the keys from the lockbox, then headed out. It was still freezing outside, as he expected; it bit straight through his clothing, but was more manageable now than it had been during his run because he had more layers on. It took him a while to find the snow mobile, which was locked inside a shed nearby. Sure enough it was big enough for two, and after getting it started he did a few rounds in the area to make sure he could handle it.

Aria
She blushed as he called her that, and went to the kitchen to prep the soup. She didn't find anything spicy, which disappointed her, but she managed a decent garlic-herb broth, and popped sliced chicken, carrots, cabbage, and onions in, with chopped potatoes to add when it went on the stove, so that they didn't dissolve. She pops it all into the fridge, then darts to her room to change.

She headed outside once she was bundled up, mumbling to herself that she hoped there was no fighting to be done... She felt like the layers restricted her movements some, but she didn't want to freeze either. She looked around, then spotted him, and waved, a smile on her face, even if he couldn't see it behind her scarf.

Pao
It wasn't long before he saw her emerge from the outpost, waving over at him. He smiled from behind his scarf and waved back, then motored over so she didn't have to walk so far. "Got the thing working. Seems ancient but it works just fine. Gassed up, too. Guessing we'll have to do that before we leave here." He set a reminder on his phone to check the gas on a daily basis so he could drive to the nearest gas station rather than walk.

"I checked the map, the lake's not really that far. Still a drive but not as bad as I thought." He gave the spot behind him a little pat. "C'mon, the earlier we get this done the better. This would suck a lot harder at night."

Aria
She nodded, listening to everything he said. "All right. Sounds good." She eyed the spot, and slowly, kind of awkwardly, managed to get on behind him. She looked around, trying to figure out what to do once she was on the mobile. "Um. Are there... Belts or something to hold onto?" She really had no idea what to do.

Pao
When she climbed on he checked all of the gauges to make sure everything was okay before taking hold of the handles. At her question he couldn't help but grin and look over his shoulder. "Nah, there's just me. Make sure you hold tight."

Aria
She blinked, startled, and then wrapped her arms around Rhys' waist. It took her a minute to get into a position where she felt stable enough, which involved her being pretty much right against him, because she was nervous about this, her chin against his shoulder. "Mmm I hope this is ok...? If so, I'm as ready as I can be."

Pao
He chuckled as she wrapped her arms around him, revving the engine a little. "Should be fine," he said as he started moving them right along. They picked up pace when they were in more of a clearing, and he glanced over his shoulder again.

"You good?"

Aria
She held on, maybe a little too tightly at first, but as they got further along the path they were on, she slowly relaxed, getting comfortable with how this worked. It felt strange, and the vehicle's vibration was a little unnerving because it was a lot more violent than any car she'd been in, but it began to be relaxing. And the feeling of the wind on her face was kind of nice too.

"Yes. I think... It's kind of fun?"

Pao
"Right?"

He was clearly enjoying himself, and while it was tempting to try going off some little jumps he could see along the sides of the trail they were on, he knew better than to push her too far, too soon. "I really wanna know what it feels like driving down the coast, though. Add to our list?"

Aria
"Yeah..."

She settled in a little more, feeling safer because he was there then she would have if it had been someone else. She believed in his ability to keep them both safe. His comment, though, made her hum thoughtfully. "What coast, though, babe? I assume you mean in the US? So West or East?"

Pao
"I was actually thinking some place more exotic," came his reply after a moment. He would have kept going, too, but they had to cut through a bit of forest, so his focus shifted mostly to driving.

"Maybe...the Italian coast? Or Greece?"

Aria
She made a soft, thoughtful sound when he said more exotic. She hoped to do a Highway 1 run someday... She'd heard that it was incredibly beautiful... But this sounded awesome too. "Yeah... That'd be amazing, actually." She snuggled against his back, trying to share warmth with him.

After all, the worst of the wind was hitting him.

Pao
His face was pretty frozen by the time he parked, an interesting feeling but not too terrible. He slipped his goggles up and looked around, frowning. It didn't look like anyone or anything had been out here in a long time, but since they were given the mission there had to be...something.

"See anything?" he asked, squinting a bit as he looked across the frozen over lake. "'Cause I sure as hell don't."

Aria
She slowly and carefully got up, because for all that had been fun, she was now a little stiff. She looked around, carefully, stretching as she did. The huge expanse of ice was a strange thing to her, and also fascinating. After a moment of silent contemplation, she responded with "No but... Maybe we should get a little closer on foot...?" She was hesitant, both because of her inexperience in the snow and because she wasn't sure she wanted to get to close to that huge ice expanse.

Pao
"Close would be better," he said, already halfway there before he paused and looked back at her. There wasn't a whole lot, but he felt a different kind of chill go up and down his spine; he already knew it wasn't the cold. "Huh..."

He took a few more steps, this time toward the tree close to the edge of the ice, eyes narrowed.

Aria
Seren followed, slowly and carefully moving through the snow. When the chill feeling occurred, she froze, for a moment, face going blank. Her fingers brushed against Diwata's totem form for a moment of comfort. She then moved to be at Rhys' back, ready to fight if needed but hoping she wouldn't.

"What is it...?"

Pao
Her presence just behind him was warmth and comfort that kept him grounded as he gently placed a hand on the tree trunk, a brow raised as he looked up into its bare branches. "Not sure..."

< Good all this sappy BS hasn't dumbed down your senses. >

The trainee huffed and started circling the tree, watching and waiting to see if something would happen. When nothing did he looked over at her. "Did you feel something earlier or was it just me?"
Aria
She watched him, staying close enough to guard as needed, but far enough that they both had room to move if they needed. Her eyes were darting around, nervous and suspicious. She had no idea what had caused that chill, but she did not like it at all.

"Mmmm chill down the spine, and not from the cold, Rhys." She was frowning deeply, not liking the feeling of being exposed that this place was suddenly giving her.

Pao
He nodded, not sure what to make of it. "Yeah, hm..." Rhys mused in silence, eyes on the tree again. "Guess that's why we got ca--"

Just then there was a little blue light that flickered in the branches. He nearly missed it because of the blue sky above and the blue shade all around because of the snow. "Son of a b***h..." he murmured, squinting up at it as it flickered again.

Then an echo of a giggle before it drifted down, slowly, toward the lake.

Aria
She was going to nod, when he interrupted himself. Her eyes widened, and she followed his gaze to the upper branches. "********..." She whispered, moving closer to him to watch the blue light moving. "That... is... What is that, Rhys...?" She stopped moving, once she was right at his side.

She wanted to flee back to the snow mobile. She wouldn't abandon him, or her duty for that matter, but she was scared. She was terrified, in fact, of a battle in the snow.

Pao
He felt a little bit better that she moved closer to despite knowing that she could handle herself in a fight. That desire to protect flared just a little bit and he stepped forward as the only evidence of that.

"Honestly have no idea," was his whispered response as he watched it drift down, down until it hovered just above the ice. "But I guess the monitoring equipment goes near this tree."

Aria
"So... show me how to set it up, then...?" She murmured, and leaned a little, watching the way he moved between her and the unknown, mildly amused, but also feeling very good about that, because it reminded her how rare it was to be protected in her life. It felt very good to know someone wanted to.

"Never done this, after all..." She wanted to grab his hand, for the comfort of it, but wouldn't, in case he needed it.

Pao
The light flickered and giggled just once more before disappearing completely, and when it did he visibly relaxed and stared at the spot where it last was. "Yeah, it's pretty simple," he said when he turned to her, then nodded back at the snow mobile. As he passed her to start moving toward it he briefly found her hand and gave it a squeeze.

"They're small sensors, usually customized for where they're gonna be used so it can camouflage with the area around. Just set them around a perimeter," he paused and started going through the attached bags and eventually pulling out a series of ganky looking frisbees. "Turn 'em on and let 'em work. They kinda work on a network type thing, should be able to connect to the monitors in the surveillance room back at the outpost."

Aria
She found herself relaxing when he did, because she figured he knew better than she did on when it was safe to do so. She gave him a grateful smile for the hand squeeze. Once again, reading her and helping her with what she needed in this situation. She really didn't know how she got so lucky, but she was grateful she had.

She then focused on what he was saying, and doing. The sensors received a very odd look, with how strange they were, but she carefully walked over to him, and took a few to help set them out. "How far apart should they be, babe?"

Pao
Rhys gave the area a quick once over and made a rough size comparison to what he saw in Mexico. "We got...eight...so enough for a decent perimeter around the tree." He looked back at her, focused enough on his work but still some softness in his eyes just for her. "Five, maybe six feet apart to start? We can always adjust if it's too small."

Along with the frisbees he pulled out a small laptop like device before heading to start setting them out. "Babe, make sure you don't set any on the ice. Might take the money to replace these things out of our paycheck." That was said with the bitterness of experience.

Aria
She nodded, and moved to a spot about five feet away from him, then scuffed up the snow. She inspected to be sure it wasn't ice, then settled the 'frisbee' in place. "Should I recover it, to make it less conspicuous?" She asked, considering the position, and the visibility of the weird thing.

After all, if locals came through, she didn't want them trying to take the device, nor did she want whatever it was they were monitoring to know exactly where they'd placed the damn things. But if the snow would damage them, or interfere, she wouldn't do it. "And I'm sorry. That sounds like it sucked, Rhys."

Pao
He was in the middle of covering up the first one he set in place when she asked, so he quickly said, "Yeah covering's a must. Lucky we got ice here, just make sure you don't pack it down. Might mess up the readings... In Mexico they had to get more creative. You didn't notice any while we were there, huh?" The brunette shot her a little smile before moving on to the next spot.

"And it sucked but whatever. I've got a pretty good savings now 'cause I don't really spend on anything, anyway." Though he had a feeling that would change when they went on leave, which was fine with him. It was just nice to have someone to spend money for. He set down the rest of his units before moving over to her and opening up the laptop.

"So...to turn 'em on," he started, then proceeded to explain how it was done using the laptop. The process was simple enough because there was nothing else really on the laptop except that and the monitoring software. "Once we get the initial boot we can check to see if the connection to the network is live..." A screen popped up showing a live line graph; it was showing mostly a flat line at the moment, which was expected. "Since we're just checking for the connection between these this is all we see. Cameras go up next, we'll probably have to stick 'em all over the tree since...well."

He gestured to the emptiness of the place.

Aria
She nodded, as she carefully recovered the device with the snow she'd moved, and smoothed it out to the best of her ability. "Mmm yeah you're right, I definitely didn't notice any while there... though I admit I also wasn't looking, as I kind of had other concerns, like not making a total idiot of myself on my first EM." She shrugged, a little bit insouciant, and moved carefully to set the next one up.

"Yeah... As long as it's not killed your ability to save for whatever you might want." She clearly didn't think about it as 'him spending on her,' because that still wasn't something she automatically connected to. "I hope Kai gets his shop up soon, though..." She sounded a little fretful. "I want to know how much I'm going to need." The sooner that tattoo was in place, the happier she would be. What if she was on a mission and her shirt got damaged?

She continued to place the devices as he explained the situation. When he got it on all the way, she came over to peer at the screen, then went back to setting them up. Finally she had them all down, and she eyed the trees. "Uh. Hmm. How high do they need to go, babe...?"

Pao
"Just high enough to give us a good vantage point, so around where the branches start? We'll need four, one for each direction, angled downward, and then two more right in the center pointing up so we get to see in the branches."

He nodded over at the snow mobile, then looked back to her. "Think you could grab 'em and set 'em up? I just gotta do some last-minute checks here."

Aria
She bit her lip for a second, then nodded, and went to get the cameras. "Yeah... Ok." She dug in the bags, pulled them out, and then eyed the tree. The branches were NOT at her easy reaching level, so she took a long, deep breath, carefully put the bag with the cameras over her shoulder, and started to climb, fingers gripping the wood tight.

When she got to the first level of branches, she clung on for a second, then shifted to sitting on the biggest one she could find. She began to carefully place the cameras. When she had them all attached, she looked down, froze, and then grabbed the tree trunk. "Ah... oh. ******** was a little busy with the laptop so he didn't hear her curse, but when he finished he moved over to get the cameras all set up, looked up and saw Seren sort of...stuck. He blinked, then smirked and snapped the laptop closed. "Aw, baby," he started, gently setting the device down before looking up at her again. "You should've told me if this wasn't okay with you. I could've done it."

He opened his arms wide, then, and gestured for her to come down. "C'mon, I'll catch you."

Aria
She shivered a little, biting her lip as she gazed nervously down at him. "I... didn't... know. Never climbed a tree before. Ladders, I mean they're kinda scary but... this is different." She closed her eyes, not to block out the sight of him, of course, but the sight of the distance between her and below. She shifted, slowly and carefully, until she could put both of her hands on the branch she sat on.

She gripped it, tight, and even more carefully inched forwards and then off the branch, so that she ended up hanging from it, before letting go, trusting him and his words.

Pao
The brunette moved a bit closer when he saw what she was doing, and then positioned himself right where she would fall. When she fell into his arms he couldn't help but laugh a little as he set her down, then pulled her close, both wanting to because she was already in his arms and assuming she probably needed it.

"Now we both know," he said, rubbing her back gently. "You okay?"

Aria
She clung to him a little once she was on the ground, her face pressing against his shoulder as she took a few, deep breaths. She slowly began to calm down, his presence, and the back rub, helping a lot. Finally, she let out one last, long breath and said "Yeah... Yeah, I'm ok now." She sighed and leaned back so she could see his face, her cheeks pink, because she felt embarrassed for getting stuck like a little kid.

"Well... at least I found out now instead of... when I'm on a mission where I have to hide in a tree or something."

Pao
He held her for as long as she needed, just quiet and happy that he could be there for her. When she pulled away at last he smiled softly, his hands cupping her pink cheeks. "That...is a really good point. Holy s**t." And he laughed softly before leaning in for a brief little kiss. "Back to work though, and then we can head back to the outpost."

So with that he let her go and leaned down to pick up the laptop again. Once he had it open he moved beside her again so he could show her what he was doing--really just a simple program startup and checking to see if the feed was live and gave them good enough vision around the area.

"Here," he then said as he handed her the laptop. "I'll walk around the tree, tell me if you don't see me on one of the cameras."

Aria
She sighed a little, glad that she could make the best of the embarrassing moment by using it as a learning point. The feeling of his hands on her cheeks helped her calm down further, and the kiss just soothed whatever nerves she was feeling still away completely. "Mmm all right, babe."

She sighed and followed him to the laptop, tired of how cold it was out here already. She hoped next time they'd get sent somewhere warmer... She hoped they'd get sent together, more often, more importantly. She shifted to lean and see what he was showing her. "Ahhh... That looks plenty simple."

She took it and leaned against a different tree, holding the laptop carefully and watched the screen. "All right, go ahead, babe."

Pao
Once she gave him the green light he wandered around, waving at the tree and maybe looking a bit like an idiot. But...work was work. It was hard to tell where the cameras were, so he was squinting and stopping and waving a lot, occasionally looking over at her for some kind of sign. He hoped it would all be fine, though. He was getting really sick of the cold and already craving some of that soup she prepped.

"Any problems?"

Aria
She was frowning at the screen, studying it to make sure there were no issues. When he got back to her, she beamed, however. "No! All of them that you can trigger are working, and since I don't think even the biggest idiot back home would expect you to fly to test those ones point upwards, I think... we're good to go back, yeah?"

She really hoped so. She wanted to get back and boil the soup. She wanted some tea. She wanted another hot bath... But that was a distraction.

Pao
Her answer got a big smile out of him. "Sweet. We're good here then. We'll have to come out again tomorrow, just to check on them, and then on our last day we gotta come out and get 'em again I'm guessing?" He started heading toward the snow mobile as he nodded at the bag. "Just put that thing away and we'll get going."

Aria
She grabbed the bag, and carefully stowed it, and the laptop, before getting on the snow mobile, more than ready to go. "Let's get out of here. Checking on them is fine, but I am beginning to feel like a human popsicle, and my toes object. I can't wait to get warm again."

When they finally got back, she carefully dismounted, feeling a little stiff from the unusual position she had to be in on the bike. "I'll go get the soup started, and some hot water for tea, or if we're lucky enough to have it, cocoa. See you once you got this thing put away." She would have kissed his cheek but with her scarf over her mouth, it would be awkward.

She darted inside, and got her outer layers off and hung up in the foyer space, kicked off her boots, then darted for the kitchen. Once she had the kettle and the soup going, she began to hunt to see what other options then coffee they had.