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Aria -
Seren rushed into home to their dorm room, shaking a bit, trying not to let the tears she wanted to cry fall down her face. She was hoping Rhys had beat her home from his shift (At least they'd had matching times, approximately, tonight, even if not the same duty) because she desperately needed to be in her boyfriend's warm arms. She got to the door, and fumbled out her key, then, hand shaking, managed to get the door unlocked. It took more work than usual, but she did succeed.

Unfortunately, when she got inside, she found she was still alone. She shook, softly, and then shut the door, locking it out of habit behind her. She barely managed to control herself long enough to get her shoes off before she threw herself onto their bed, and curled up into a small ball of shaking, crying Seren.

Pao -
Rhys had gotten held back only because he stopped by the kitchen for a little while, knowing Seren would be home around the same time as him. He wanted to surprise her a little snack (silver dollar pancakes, syrup and all on the side) and hot tea just to help her wind down. Even if she passed on the pancakes, he knew she'd enjoy the tea, so he had quite the smile on his face as he made his way home. He was unlocking their door soon enough, and almost as soon as he walked in and saw Seren curled up and heard her crying he nearly dropped the tray and all it's goodies. Not that any of that mattered now anyway.

Thankfully he had the presence of mind not to do that so he didn't add on to the troubles. Quickly he locked the door behind him and set the tray down before making his way to the bed, anger and the desperate longing to just hold her and make the tears go away mixing in the oddest of ways.

"Baby, hey....baby, come here," he tried to coax her into his arms, expression relatively ambivalent for the moment. "Hey...c'mon, what happened,? Who's face am I ********' bashing in?"

Aria -
The sound of the door unlocking was missed by her sobbing, but his voice got her to turn to him immediately, and it did not take much coaxing, because she basically threw herself into his grasp. She did not notice the snack, the tea, any of it... All she noticed was he was here, Rhys had gotten back, and she needed her boyfriend like she had never needed him before, and that was saying a lot. She couldn't speak clearly initially, so what he might have heard was "Dai..." some sobbing, and shaking "Punched..." along with more sobbing, and even "Jeeeeeeeoju!" was wailed out once.

It was at least five minutes of this sort of thing before she managed to stop sobbing so much that she could not talk. By the time she had gotten calm enough to at least speak clearly, she was a mess, face red and nose runny, and her voice was thick with her distress. She pulled away, and hunted out some tissues, still crying but wanting, desperately, to blow her nose so that she could breath again.

Finally she tried again, rubbing at her face with the back of one hand like a little child. "Dai... They recruited Dai, Rhys! He woke up today, while I was on Pod Duty!" She looked up at him, and she was looking small, like she had after that movie on movie night. "Dai is here! He's... he's 17 now!" That last bit might have come out a bit shrill. "This means... I'm... I'm 22. I'm WAY older then I thought..." Clearly this added on top of Dai being here was a bit much... and then she kept going. "He freaked out on me, Rhys. He was SO furious..."

Pao -
He held her tight as soon as she was in his arms, as protective as it was a comforting gestures, and he stroked her hair and let her cry her heart out because he knew, now by experience than simply by theory, that it was the only thing that helped in these situations. He had to hold in his tongue when the first word he recognized was her brother's name though, because he had asked her a question. And he bristled at the word punch...and again at the word "jeoju" but he held it all in.

When she calmed down he loosened his hold on her as she grabbed those tissues, brows furrowed in quite a bit of confusion. "They got your brother?" he reached for her, as much love as there was concern in his eyes, hands cupping her cheeks as he wiped the rest of her tears away. " His anger had already subsided some considering this was her brother...though she said punched and was now saying he woke up furious...

"Did...did he hurt you?" he asked suddenly as he glanced down for signs of some kind of scuffle. "'Cause if he did..." he bristled again, anger flaring in his eyes. The age thing registered, too, but he could ask about that later.

Aria -
She nodded at the question about them getting Dai, tears still pouring down her cheeks, even if they were now silent tears, instead of sobs, and she wiped at them again, feeling raw and broken inside at the moment. She continued to cling to him, shivering some.

His reaction to the idea of Dai hurting her had her clutching him, though, her head tilted so she could gaze pleadingly up into his face, the tears getting faster at the mere idea of her boyfriend going after her brother. "He didn't hurt me. He... Yes he punched me, but Rhys, he'd JUST woken up! He didn't have his weapon yet, he couldn't hurt me... Remember, he was pod-sick, and thought I'd been dead..." Her head dropped, though he probably had time to see the heavy guilt that appeared in her expression.

"Rhys, I... He has a tattoo, Rhys. He'd have had to get it illegally, since he's 17... But it's of stars all up his arm." She was not stupid, she knew what that had to have been about. Dai had never been into stars like she was. He had been a tech kid, fond of computers. She always had figured he'd go Silicon Valley. "That... I know what that meant... Gods, I must have hurt him so badly..."

Pao -
He did his best to wipe at her tears, hoping they would stop soon. Just seeing her carry the weight of coming to find that her brother was here of all places was enough to cause his anger to ebb and fade quickly, but she even went so far as to almost plead with him to not do anything to hurt the kid. Even if he was tempted to now knowing that he'd actually punched his sister--whatever the reason.

"Alright, alright, shh..." he murmured, anger now faded complete to simple concern for his girlfriend as she sat there, fretting over the news.

"You made a choice, he had them didn't he?" he offered, not sure if that would help at all. "And you had you and you had to survive. You're his sister but there wasn't a whole lot else you could do, right?"

Aria -
"I... I don't know. I didn't get to talk to him much. Four years, Rhys. I don't know what happened in those four years." She sounded very heavily stressed by that, and pressed in close to him, clinging tight to the one person in the world she could always trust to help her, no matter what happened. "He had to have some reason to give up everything he had at home."

She brushed a lock of her hair back, and just rested her head on his chest, ignoring how damp his shirt was from all of her crying. "I can't see the Dai I knew just walking away from the life he was living without a good reason. Something must have changed, other then me 'dying,' since they would not have cared about that... What if..." She sounded distressed again. "What if my 'dying,' though, messed him up?"

She sighed and added "He... he did realize, once Nash rescued me and held him still long enough for him to calm down, make it very clear he realized what he had done was not ok. I did not really give him a chance to talk to me much other then that, after. Just... took him to the Cove, and fled back to duty, pretending to be ok. He... indicated he and I need to talk, so..." She paused, and then said "M... maybe you should be there, make sure things stay calm?"

Pao -
He reached a hand up, stroking her hair and occasionally turning his head to press a kiss to her temple or her forehead, hoping that it helped sooth her even a little bit. And he listened quietly, realizing he didn't have a whole lot of ground to stand on as far as siblings were concerned and whatever...feelings...were attached to that. But he did know that Seren loved her brother very much, he could tell that much from the way she talked about him and he vaguely recalled that memory he saw while they were in Wonderland...

"He'll calm down once his head's on straight again," he said finally, once she paused for the moment. "And sure, I'll be wherever you need me to be, love." He would have to remind himself to hold back in case the kid decided to go all punchy again, though, for Seren's sake.

"And four years is a long time, things are bound to change. He's...17, now? He's basically old enough to make his own choices too. And if he's anything like you he had to have a good enough reason for choosing this."

Aria -
She hugged him tight, a silent thank you for all the ways he supported her and, in this situation, comforted her during one of the more unhappy moments in her life. She sighed softly and then frowned, the wetness of his shirt suddenly obvious to her. "Sorry... did not mean to soak your shirt, baby..." She said, sounding embarrassed, and still rough.

"And yeah... I think so. I just... Gods. Of all the people they had to recruit... Why did it have to be Dai? I wanted him, at least, to have a normalish life." She shook more, and her fingers became fists in her hands. "I did not want him here, Rhys. I didn't! No matter how much I missed him, this was the one place I did not ever want to see him!" Her voice got shrill again, for a moment, in her stress, and then cracked in a way that sounded like it was probably painful.

Finally she nodded. "I can't... imagine him doing it without a good reason, no. I just worry what it was. But gods. 17. He's 17. I thought I was still 18!"

Pao -
"I can put on a new one later, baby," he said, smile soft as he noted she was calm enough to notice small, more trivial details. He hugged her tighter still, hopefully not to the point that it actually hurt her; he just wanted to show that he really didn't care about the his shirt right now, not when she needed him to be there for her, even if it was just in the capacity of someone to offer comfort and a listening ear.

"I'm sorry," he sighed, not knowing what else there was to say when their recruitment of him was something totally out of his hands. And the worry showed all the more on his face when her voice cracked, but it was bound to do that with all the crying she'd just done. "But since he's here now...I mean, you missed him, right? You guys can finally have a normal brother-sister relationship here, even if it's...here. Make the best of it?"

He squeezed her again before pulling back just enough to press a kiss to her forehead. "Honestly, babe, on the age thing...kinda glad we're the same." He kissed her once more before reaching up to start to wipe at her damp cheeks again. "Now, I got some tea for you. Maybe it'll help your throat a little? Can talk more after, I'm not goin' anywhere, alright?"

Aria -
She gave a weak chuckle at his words and leaned into the hug. It was a little tight, just slightly painful, but she did not show it or complain, because it was helpful in this moment... It helped ground her, helped her refocus on being here, with him, rather then freaked out and trapped in her reactions to the shock she had received today.

"I... I did miss him. I missed him a very great deal. I just... Yeah. You're right... I should do my best to make this a good thing, a chance to have a more healthy relationship. Dunno if it can ever be really a normal one, with everything... But at least we can make it as close to normal as possible. That... sounds like a good plan." She sighed softly and took some slow, deep breaths.

She smiled at the kisses, and his words too. "Yeah... I mean, I'm still... me. I just... Well. I was putting off that ********, and now it's come home to roost, hasn't it?" She sighed, but when he mentioned tea, she actually brightened up a bit, and pulled him into a grateful, if slightly damp, kiss, before saying "Thank you, baby."

Pao -
He was relieved to note that she was taking his advice in stride. Given her reaction to the ordeal he couldn't have imagined it to be even remotely easy, so he was glad to see her feeling at least a little better. She was even smiling, to which he of course softly smiled back.

"Shoot for as normal as you can get it," he encouraged, stroking her hair very lovingly. "And just take it easy? Would suggest going at the kid's pace since he's got two things to adjust to here. And it has, maybe, but...I mean, I guess I'm here to make it a little easier to deal with?" He squinted at that.

"Maybe?"

He didn't have long to wonder if he could have maybe phrased that a little better though, as she pulled him in for that kiss. Rhys smiled into it, however damp it was, and nodded. "Always, love." With that he detangled from her after one more kiss, then got up and quickly poured her a cup and brought it to her.

"Here, lemme change my shirt, though?"

Aria -
She was calming down, because she had his support, and because she did not have a lot of other options. What could she do about it, at this point? Dai was here, it had happened... She had to accept it, like she'd accepted every other horrible thing that had happened in her life. She sighed a little, though, still not fully ok with it.

His words made her smile more. "You definitely make it all easier to deal with, and I am grateful for you, as ever, because you're just... amazing and supportive, and I could not cope with this without you." Her fingers caressed his cheek lovingly. "And yeah. I... I mean, he said we need to talk but... Didn't specify when, so... we'll see."

She took the tea and smiled up at him, before sipping softly, then she said "Of course, babe..." She continued to sip the tea, watching him with red rimmed eyes, and a face that was a little raw from crying. It had been a few minutes at least before he had gotten home, so she had been crying for a good while, and her skin was not happy about it.

Pao -
He left her after gently cupping her cheeks, their eyes meeting for a moment so he saw the red in her eyes that really didn't belong. "If you still want me there by the time he gives you a time and place, just lemme know?" he said as he slipped out of his jacket first before pulling his shirt off. He quickly grabbed a new one and pulled it on before going to get the tray of snacks and setting it on the nightstand.

"And I'm glad I can help baby," he said as he toed off his shoes and took up the space just beside her. "Am always gonna be here, even if it's just to listen and give you a body pillow to cry on." He was obviously joking, hoping to lighten her mood a little bit more. He patted his shoulder then, just to let her know she could lean on him if she needed, or simply just wanted, to.

Aria -
"I always want you here..." She said honestly, as she sipped her tea, enjoying the gentle way he handled her to make her feel better, feel safe. He was just so amazing, and gentle. She did not know how the hellish life he had led before they met had produced such an amazing man, but she was extremely glad it had, and she had found him, every day, and even more in moments like these.

She chuckled at his joke, and shook her head in an amused way at him. "You are so much more than just those things to me, as you well know, lover mine." She blinked at the tray, for a moment, then gave him one of her sweet smiles. "Brought us home a snack? You're always so sweet to me, baby." She shifted in to settle against him, accepting the offer because she wanted to and felt she needed it too.

Pao -
He couldn't help but give her a soft and very loving smile at her words, happily accepting them in silence as he got more comfortable at her side. "I know, love. And I always wanna be here for you, just seems like it could be a private family thing, this time?"

That smile of her melted his heart on the spot and he gave a very happy sigh when she settled against him. "I did, thinkin' we could snack and do a movie or a few episodes of a TV show or something to wind down." He wrapped an arm around her and turned his head to give her forehead another kiss.

"Not sure you'd have much of an appetite after that, but glad the tea could help some. You feelin' a little better?"

Aria -
She sighed a little and just cuddled in more. "If Dai asks for a private conversation, I will accept it, but..." She was silent for a moment, trying to figure out how to say it, then finally said "He needs to accept you as family too. You're my boyfriend, and the man I want to spend the rest of my life with. If he can't accept you as family, there's gonna be a problem." Another pause, and then she added "And it won't be between you and me, to be very clear."

She was glad to have his arm around her, it was another comfort, because like always, it made her feel safe and protected. "Might be able to eat one or two, but yeah, my appetite is definitely not at it's best at the moment. At least pancakes are simple, gentle things, fairly easy to eat when one's been upset or had an upset stomach."

She took another sip of her tea, and leaned her head against his shoulder. "Yeah, I do. And a lot of that's you. The tea helps, but you help even more."

Pao -
He smiled, not quite sure how he felt about her prioritizing him above her own brother but all the same couldn't help the reaction, then turned for a little kiss. "Look, I love you, and if he loves you too, then me and him? We'll make it work, I can promise you that." And he couldn't imagine Dai not caring about his sister at this point given the way he reacted to seeing her when he woke up, so he was...more on the optimistic side of working things out between him and the kid.

He ran his hand up and down her arm, just a gentle and comforting gesture as she rested against him, the smile soft and ever stead at her words. "Good to hear, love."

Aria -
"I know you love me. You make it so clear, every day. I'd have to be blind, dead, and a fool not to realize that." Her voice was filled with the love she felt for him, and the gratitude that his support filled her with. "I hope he still loves me, that he doesn't feel bettered by what I did." She gave a sigh, because when it came to moments like this, her optimistic side was not the strong one. She leaned into him just a little more, grateful he was able to be optimistic about this.

She leaned and pressed a grateful kiss to his neck, before finishing the cup of tea.

Pao -
He chuckled, turning for another kiss to her forehead when she voiced a bit of her doubt. "I'm almost 100% sure he does still love you," he murmured, going on to murmur a few more quiet reassurances that she probably didn't need to worry so much.

His smile brightened when she kissed his neck, to which he reciprocated with a little kiss of his own. When he saw that she'd emptied her cup he offered to take it. "More or...?"

Aria -
"I hope so..." The idea of the one member of her immediate family who actually cared about her deciding to hate her was terrifying and terrible and she really did not want that to be what happened. She let his words too her ears, her heart, and her thoughts, then relaxed enough to force herself to focus on other things.

The kiss to the top of her head made her smile and she said "More, and maybe we should have some pancakes." She found her mind drifting, for a moment, to a day in the future where they'd have a kitchen of their own and she could make them, and even invite people over to relax with them.

Pao -
His expression brightened up when she mentioned pancakes, so he let her go to carefully grab the tray and set it on the bed. "Pancakes," he said cheerfully as he poured her another cup. He offered her the refill before pouring a cup for himself, then taking one of the small plates he put a single little pancake on it.

"So I've got butter and syrup here. I thought powdered sugar would get too messy. Which one didya want, babe?"

Aria -
"Yes, indeed, pancakes." She gave a soft chuckle at his response, and accepted the cup of tea, watching him with very loving eyes. This was the kind of small but not actually small thing he did that reminded her of how ******** lucky she was to have this man in her life, supporting her and caring for her and just generally being the kind of person anyone would be grateful to have love them.

"Mmm a bit of each, please? And yeah, let's not bring things in that get everywhere..."

Pao -
He didn't realize that doing these kinds of small things for her meant that much; he just knew that he loved doing even the little for her if she let him. So when she asked for a little of both he gave her exactly that before setting a fork on the plate and handing it to her with a bright smile.

"Yeah, imagine what kinda ants are actually roaming around here," he said before serving up a plate for himself. "Red ants, FEAR-infused and larger than life. Fuuuck."

Aria -
She gave him another bright smile, and accepted the plate, then watched him prep his as she took her first bite. She gave a soft mmm sound at the taste, then nodded slowly. "Yeah, or ******** that have been FEAR infused? Normal ones are disgusting as ********, I do not want to think of what a FEAR one would be like."

She gave a slightly dramatic shudder, then suddenly, in a horrified voice, said "I wonder if there are cockroach monsters in Halloween, given how many people are scared of them."
Pao -
He made a face at the idea of a cockroach monster and pictured a life-sized roach with its feelers all... He nearly dry-heaved, and instead opted for a sip of his coffee to calm himself down. "There's a fire-flinging cat student there," he said as he got himself under control enough to start cutting up his first bite.

"Would not be totally surprised if there really is a roach-student, or really any insect type student, there."

Aria -
She blinked at what seemed like a non sequitur to her about the cat student, her expression redolent of her confusion as to what that had to do with the topic at hand, beyond 'This is a thing of Halloween.', but she listened to him, and was glad he did not lose his gut. "Sorry, babe, did not mean to trigger you like that..."

She sighed and nodded. "And a lot of other horrors too, I'm sure. I mean, I think squids and octopuses and things are neat and all, but I know some people are horrified by them."

Pao -
"It's alright," he said as he took a bite of his pancakes, chewing and swallowing as he nodded along. "Lots of crazy s**t there, I'm sure. It's still weird to think that the one we run into are technically 'teenagers' though. If they weren't jumping at me and doing kinda hostile things, I wouldn't be too into beating the s**t out of 'em."

He recalled the few he'd run into at the Haunted House with a little bit of a frown. "Horsemen, though, I don't have any problems with fighting."

Aria -
She continued to eat, and gently pats his thigh in a loving manner. "And yeah, I get you. I feel better about the fact that we're not harrassed into fighting the teenagers who don't, like Toki." Her tone was fond, and it was clear she would be very upset if she was ever pressured into having to do anything that might involve her, negatively.

"I have not yet met the Horsemen, but..." She frowned as well, and nodded. "I will do what I must regarding them."

Pao -
He happily worked on his pancakes, smiling when she patted him. "Oh, yeah. Hell no, wouldn't lift a hand against Toki. She's as harmless as a stick of butter." He paused and gave that some thought before adding, "Not counting what a stick of butter could do to a heart patient." And he polished off his plate before refilling with another shortstack.

"Horsemen are little shits," he muttered, lip curling in distaste as he paused what he was doing to show her the scar on his hand. "I beat one and out of spite the little b*****d gave me this before disappearing. My shield was gone, too, so it scarred. And I ran into one that had what looked like a hunter's weapon, runes and all. Not sure what the hell that was about..."

Aria -
She laughed at his comment about Toki and butter, and heart patients too. "Exactly my point. She's such a sweet... young being. She makes me think she's very young, but... who knows how old she actually is?" SHe finished off her pancakes, and set the plate aside.

She looked at the scar on his hand, a big frown on her face, as she listened. After a moment, she took his free hand, and kissed the scarred spot, lovingly, and said "Mmmm I wish I had been there to help you, baby..." With a soft sigh. The weapon comment, though, had her eyes going wide. "That sounds bad. You reported it to your leads right?"

Pao -
He smiled lovingly at her when she kissed his hand, gently cupping her chin for a moment before he pulled his hand back so he could get started on his second plate. "I made it back to you, which is the most I could ask for when going out on any mission."

Rhys gave a nod to her question, chewing and swallowing the bite he'd taken before answering, "Yep. Put it in my report. No one's contacted me about it for specifics so either they already know about 'em or they haven't gotten around to reading my report."

Aria -
His first words had her closing her eyes tight for a moment, as she often did when he mentioned something that brought up the possibility of him not making it back to her, but then nodded. Her eyes opened again and she gave him a soft smile as she got her worries back under her control. "Yes. That is true enough." Was all she said, though.

She stood and begins to change for bed, as she was full now, listening as he spoke. "Mmmm... That is... Concerning, either way. That whole 'this place has too many secrets' thing again, if you ask me." She dropped her dirties in the hamper, except her shirt, which had gotten quite damp from her earlier crying. That she hung on the edge of the desk to let it dry off before it went into the wash pile, to avoid the risk of mildew.

Pao -
The short reply he got was met with a soft, rather knowing smile. It was their reality, much to his chagrin, that not coming back was a possibility whenever they left the island for work. Hell, even the island wasn't the friendliest of places, given what they did and all. But he left it there and kept working through his plate as he watched her get up and start to get changed.

"This place does have too many secrets," he said, finally setting his plate down and sipping at his tea, eyes admiring as he watched her move about the room. "Unless things really start messing with you or me, I'm trying not to stick my nose into things above my paygrade. Safer that way, right?"

Aria -
She pulled out her favorite of her own nightshirts, the first nightshirt he'd ever seen her in on the day he brought her the clips, and slipped into it. After she had it on, she began to take her hair down, and she put the clips he gave her in their box, then took the ones from Dai off. She held them in her hands, staring at them for a long moment, then put them in their usual place, before she turned back to face him.

"Mmmm yeah, I know. I just... that sounds like it should be something we should know about. Will they try to steal our weapons, now, and kill us in the process?" She sounded concerned, and then made an ugh sound. "Nope. No. Not going down that path right now, I have too much to deal with on my own, no matter how scary that thought is."

Pao -
He scooted over and set up his pillow to lean against the headboard before lounging and making himself comfortable, his gaze full of love and adoration for her. He sipped his tea before saying, "Yeah, not like the horseman I encountered that day would answer me when I asked about it. It was more curious about humans but got too in my face. I think I attacked first, can't remember."

"Let's just deal with what's directly in front of us for now, yeah? Your plate's pretty full as it is, adding that might tip you over the edge..." He bent one of his knees then, and sat up a bit to prop his head in his hands, suddenly smiling a lot brighter when she turned to face him. Maybe it was the lighting or that particular dress or the way her hair framed her face and her figure...he couldn't really decide, but he couldn't help but sigh in appreciation of what he had the privilege of seeing right that moment.

"Have I told you that you're beautiful yet today, love?" he asked, eyes finally meeting hers. "'Cause you are, and I am...seriously one hell of a lucky guy."

Aria -
"Mmmm well... As long as you made it back and safe, that is what I will focus on." She stood there for a long moment, admiring her handsome boyfriend, then began to slowly walk towards him, her hair rippling a little with each deliberate step she took towards him. The way he was gazing at her, the sigh, it all had made her feel so good, and it was helping her to not think about the stressful things going on in her life right now. So was the sight of him, there, waiting for her to rejoin him.

She got to the edge of the bed, and his words caught up to her. She blushed, quite red, and smiled brightly at him for his words. "You tell me it everyday, at least once a day... I do not know if you said it before, today, but..." She reached over and took his free hand, lifting it to kiss the back of it, softly. "You're gorgeous too, my love... and I'm crazy lucky to have you."

Pao -
His gaze was solely focused on her, talk of missions and horsemen and such already gone from his mind as he watched her make her way back to him. He looked something of a lovesick puppy, maybe, by the time she got to him, that blush only adding to her beauty in his eyes. A soft warmth spread from where her lips had touched his hand, and he gave her hand a little squeeze in response.

"Well, you're beautiful, baby," he chuckled as he gently tugged her toward him for a kiss. His cheeks flushed a little pink at her words, and he kissed her hand this time. "Guess we maybe both hit the jackpot?"

Aria -
His expression honestly just made her feel even better, and she let all the stresses of the day, and the world, slip away as she studied her love, and enjoyed seeing his cheeks turning pink. She more than happily let him pull her in for the kiss, and then, as he kissed her hand, she slipped onto the bed, and settled herself against his raised knee, her rump resting on his other leg. "Sounds like we did. Gorgeous, loving and wonderful... You're beyond a perfect 10, babe."

Her eyes were shining brightly with all the love she felt for him, and she was starting to lean in for a kiss when her phone started buzzing with the text tone. She glowered at it, and reached to snatch it up. Her expression went from glower to worried, again, in five seconds flat, because it was Dai, and she had been hoping to not think about that issue for the rest of the night.



Seren stared, and turned the phone so Rhys could see.

Pao -
"Beautiful, caring and considerate...you're pretty far beyond that perfect 10, too," he grinned as she made herself comfortable against him. His eyes reflected hers, full of his love for her as he started leaning forward as well, to meet her in the middle. When her text tone went off he couldn't help but laugh lightly, fighting down his own irritation. He'd been at this two years now...they always texted at the worst possible times, so he was a little more used to it than his girlfriend. So he kissed her cheek instead as she pulled her phone out to check it.

Watching her expression change as fast as it did had him furrow his brows out of worry though, and he was about to ask when she showed him the text that she just got. He read it a couple of times before sighing. "The sooner, the better?" he offered, lips turned down in a rather lopsided frown.

Aria -
His words on her earned him a bright grin, and an equally bright red to her cheeks. She wished they could have had their kiss, but she shifted into a better position, so that she could rest her back against his chest, her eyes closing for a moment as she dealt with her stress and worry. His half suggestion, half question, had her nodding slowly. She rested her head on his shoulder for a long moment, then nodded again.



She hit send and closed her eyes again, waiting to do, or say, anything until she got a response. The phone buzzed again, quite fast.



Pao -
He slipped an arm around her once she shifted and got herself settled again, his head leaning lightly against hers as he watched and waited alongside her. Only difference was he still had tea he could sip, which he was doing when the phone buzzed back. He peered down at the message and huffed, sounding rather amused.

"Snarky sounding dude," he murmured. "Should I be worried?"

Aria -
She sighed and sent an agreement to the time, then set her phone down on the bedside table, and picked up her tea, to finish it. She was lost in thought for a long moment, sipping softly, when his words trickled into her brain. "Hmmm?" She blinked and tilted herself so she could look at him.

"Ah... I do not know, to be honest... The last contact I had with him was 'sweet young kid Dai' so..."

Pao -
He waited silently for her to process everything, sipping his tea in silence in the meantime. When she finally did and gave him her answer, he huffed again, still obviously amused. "You've got, what, 5 years on him? He couldn't have been that young?" He leaned down a bit for a kiss, smiling. "Obviously can't speak to the 'sweet' part of that description, though."

He kissed her again before going back to his tea. "Either way, I'll be here to hopefully referee things a little bit. Keep you grounded if things get a little too much?"

Aria -
"Something like that, anyways. But... I mean, I didn't speak to him for the last two years I lived 'at home,' so the last time I talked to him he was eleven." She said but gave him a soft kiss. "Eleven felt like a young kid to me, honestly." She sighed again and then gave him a warm smile. "But we will see what he is now, together."

She kissed him back, then finished her tea. "Yeah... That sounds good. I had hopes for this evening." Her tone was significant for a moment. "But this has rather spoiled the mood..." She sounded frustrated at the universe.

Pao -
"Ah, yeah that is pretty young, then," he sort of frowned, not realizing that there'd been that lack of communication there. "Sorry. But yeah, together."

He rested his head against hers again, laughing lightly at the sound of her frustration, turning his head to catch a matching incredibly cute expression on her face as he kissed her cheek. "Maybe a little, but I bet we wouldn't have too many problems trying to steer the night back on course if we wanted to."

Aria -
"That was... the period between 16 and 18, where I was... locked out... I made sure he did not come too close, because of them. I did not want to risk they'd either come after me again, or do to him what they'd done to me..." She sighed, her mood deteriorating again as the discussion went further.

She blinked at his reaction, and gave him a long look for a moment, eyes loving but she shook her head. "I'm... really not in the mood, babe." She dropped her head, feeling bad, because clearly he was feeling frisky, and in hopes of something pleasant to help them sleep, but... they'd be lucky, tonight, if she didn't have nightmares.

Pao -
He finished up his tea before gently taking her mug from her and setting both back down on the nightstand, sighing a little as her mood went a little more south as she recalled a bit more about her past. "Gotta say this again, but those people are pretty shitty as far as human beings are concerned. What the ever living ******** as he was feeling, there was no way he'd ever force her so once he put the mugs aside he simply slipped his arms around her and gave her a little bit of a hug. "Hey, c'mon now. Don't worry about that," he said softly. "As long as you get to sleep tonight I'll be fine."

Aria -
"They were insane. I don't know how it happened, or why. What little I knew of my... his parents indicated they were wonderful, sweet and kind people. I... have no knowledge of her parents, to be honest. She never spoke of them, and to my knowledge, she had no contact with them." She sighed softly and turned to face him once he put the mugs down.

"I... I know. I just... I hate when I wanted to have a good night with you, and the universe decides to ******** it over." She cuddles in as close as she can against him, and sighs again. "Let's... let's see if we can get to sleep, yeah?"

Pao -
He listened quietly, happy to just hold her as she spoke. "Guess we don't all turn out sane even if our parents were good people," he sighed again as he glanced down at her, smile lopsided. "I do, too, baby," was all he could really think to say. The universe just...had its way sometimes, and they had to take it in stride or they'd probably go crazy, too.

At her suggestion he nodded and leaned down for a kiss. "Yeah, sounds good to me." And he nuzzled into her hair then, his favorite position to sleep in. "G'night, love."