Hey, Rhys. I don't know if you saw the announcement yet, but you're with me for the month.
I assume you're treating our stop in port as a vacation so I won't pester you. Let me know if you want some company or a last minute crack at the Admiral's bottomless line of credit before our shore leave's up, though.
So uh... you probably get this every last day of the month, but you seen the pairing post. Last guy up and disappeared a week after, so I'll try and not chase you off.
We ain't really talked yet. You wanna grab a drink?
[At first, just a still video (except for the natural slight wobble you get when a person is holding the camera) of a pair of blue wool socks laid out on Hange's bed. Visible for several seconds before she turns the camera off and follows up with a text.]
Rhys, you remember how you mentioned prosthetics to me before? How you could even make a prosthetic eye?
I don't want one now, I don't think, but I wonder if you can teach me about things like that? After this is all over, of course... it's probably a dangerous idea to get near most inanimate objects right now...
[Stan doesn't turn up the second the pairing announcement goes out. He waits for the file and gives the thing a good read before he does anything else. It's at least a couple hours before he send out a message.]
[ Truthfully, Angel isn't much for talking right now, so in her own head about the events that just transpired, what she witnessed of herself...most of her wants to crawl into a hole and never be seen or talked to again, spare others from having to bare with what she could become, but mostly spare herself from having to face it.
But the other part of her knows she can't avoid this completely, her need to make resolutions with those who have done right by her overriding the fear of her worst self. She has a lot of apologizing to do, but there is one person who she feels deserves it first. ]
Rhys...I would understand if I am not someone who you'd be interested in talking to right now but...I have a lot to explain, and to apologize for. If we could talk in person that would probably be best.
[It takes a little bit for Xigbar to actually track Rhys down - it's not something he's had to do a lot, since coming to the Barge. But it's not like the ship is all that big, and sooner or later, Rhys will find Xigbar sliding up next to him and throwing a casual arm around his shoulder.
Unless, of course, he's in a cabin or somewhere else that happens to have restricted access, in which case Xigbar knocks instead, but either way, there's no avoiding him forever.]
[This is a lead-in to her asking him if he's pulled anyone else into the plans they'd talked about after the Mirror Barge, but since she suspects that the answer may be "plans were derailed by everything going on with Betelgeuse", she's treading carefully.]
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