engineering

@Rhydian E. sorrel bit his lip and tried to push down the giddy feeling in his chest at the way rhydian was being protective of him, and he scratched behind bastet's ears with a smile on his lips. "stand you up? i could /never/. especially not somebody like you, pretty boy." he flirted back with a cheeky grin on his lips before making his way out, purposely sticking close to bastet so nobody would try to give him the leering looks or the catcalls he had gotten on his way down.

@Sorrel N. A bright grin played across Rhydian's features when Sorrel agreed to meet him at the ramen stand when he was through. He didn't often have much to look forward to after the long days of work, certainly not pleasurable company, and he felt a giddy fluttering in his chest in anticipation of it. "Nah, nah. She's going to go with you. There's some nasty characters down here." He lowered his voice a bit, not wanting anyone to overhear his slanderous talk. Glancing at Bast, he tilted his head toward Sorrel to indicate for her to follow him. "She'll make her way back to me, don't worry. I gotta make sure you get topside safely. Otherwise I'll be a bit upset if you stand me up."

Rhydian mentally kicked himself for his choice of wording. It wasn't a date! Was it? Clearing his throat, he gave Bastet's back a scritch of his fingers as she padded by to follow after Sorrel and then gave them both a wave, watching them disappear out of the area. "... 'Stand me up'? Nice, Rhydian. Stupid..." He muttered under his breath and moved to climb back up the ladder to get back to work.

@Rhydian E. sorrel giggled as bastet walked away to settle down, shifting on his feet and staring up at rhydian with the stars in his pale green eyes - even with the mask on, his eyes never changed colour. he couldn't help the gasp when rhydian's hand squeezed his, and he nodded a few times as the other spoke about the ramen stand, straightening up. "i'll be there. believe me, i'll be there. make sure that you leave with bast, maybe she'll come with me instead."

he couldn't stop teasing, and it seemed the leopard thought it was amusing. he crouched to give her a few more scratches and another kiss on the nose before waving at rhydian with a smile on his lips, slipping out of the engineering bay just as quietly as he had slipped in.

@Sorrel N. Looking scandalized at the thought, Rhydian reached up to rest a hand over his heart. "You wouldn't leave me, would ya, girl?" He asked woefully and earned an annoyed chuff from the leopard who clearly wanted nothing to do with his shenanigans. She padded away from them both, laying down not too far off and watching them intently with eyes that seemed to hold the wisdom of galaxies. Sometimes Rhydian got the feeling she knew way too much and the only thing binding her to him was his useful opposable thumbs.

As his gaze drifted back to Sorrel, he thought he noticed the color in his cheeks, but it was hard to tell in the dismal lighting. It was hard to conceal his disappointment when the other mentioned having to go. "No, yeah. I get it. Wouldn't want you to get sick." Rhydian agreed a bit awkwardly, his hand reaching up to scratch at his jawline which still felt the ghost of the other's touch. It made him realize just how long it had been since he'd been close to another person.

The request to see him again caught him off guard about as much as the smaller male's hand reaching for his own and surprise played across Rhydian's features as something in his brain short circuited. Blinking dumbly for what seemed like an eternity but was only a few seconds as everything rebooted, a disbelieving chuckle finally shuddered out of him and he turned his hand to let his fingers curl around Sorrel's small hand. "Well, it seems like you have no trouble tracking me down. I'm sure you'd be able to do it again." Rhydian quipped with a fond smile and gave the other's hand a gentle squeeze, a beat passing between them before he let his own fall back to his side. "I'll finish up here by midday. Might be a bit hungry then. There's a pretty good ramen place on the way out that Bast and I like." He hinted with a wink before striding back over to the ladder and grabbing onto one of the rungs, waiting to hoist himself up.

@Rhydian E. "Watch out, I might just steal her from you." Sorrel teased softly as he scratched behind Bastet's ears again, unable to tear his gaze from the leopard. When she nudged Rhydian's hip, he giggled softly, his cheeks flaming a darker green (well, a bright red from the way his tech covered his real skin colour. He looked up at Rhydian and smiled softly, his hand still on the other male's cheek, and he let his fingertips trail down his bearded jawline before dropping his hand to the side.

"Well, I came to give you the wrench back. I'd love to stay longer down here with you, but it's—even with my air filtration, it's hard to breathe. Especially with the water shortage right now, I'm drying out." Sorrel explained softly, making sure nobody could hear him but Rhydian, and he reached out to place his small hand over his much larger one. "When can I see you again?"

@Sorrel N. "You know, she doesn't even let me do that a lot of the time." He pointed out after watching Sorrel smooch the Zerval's nose. Most people didn't even want to be close to Bastet when she passed, let along stick their face in biting range. It really touched Rhydian to see how much Bastet had warmed up to Sorrel in spite of just meeting up and that was perhaps why he himself didn't immediately dismiss the smaller male. "Your gift might be with animals rather than plants."

Snorting in amusement, Rhydian had a hard time imagining someone like Sorrel stirring up much trouble. Then again, trouble had a way of finding everyone on Teccypso. Blue eyes watched in wonder as a flower sprouted from Sorrel's hand and he realized only a second later that he was giving it to him, bending down to make it easier for him to tuck it behind his ear. It stood out among his shoulder length, dirty blonde locks. "I wouldn't dream of it. We don't get a whole lot of beautiful things down here." He told him, his gaze lingering on Sorrel and he only realized it was a moment too long when Bastet headbutted his hip. "Erm. Yeah. It's nice, for a change."

@Rhydian E. "As she should." Sorrel hummed softly and placed a soft kiss to Bastet's nose, giggling at the way she pressed into his hands. He could feel the way she was purring under his hands and moved to scratch behind her ears, lighting up when he realised that he found a hotspot.

"Staying out of trouble is not really my style." Sorrel teased softly and moved to stand up, tilting his head up at Rhydian and giving him a small smile, showing the tiny silver piercing in his mouth. He grew a small sunflower in his hand before picking it out of his palm, reaching up on his toes to tuck it into Rhydian's hair carefully. "Better not lose that, yeah? Grown with care."

@Sorrel N. Rhydian chuckled when Sorrel called his bluff, watching him from above with an amused quirk to his lips. There was something about the other that really sparked his interest. Though all things would point to him being delicate and the first time they'd met he had been hiding, he knew he was more brave than that. Just the fact that he'd venture down here proved that. Watching as the other grew a flower from his palm to lift the wrench aloft, Rhydian reached out a large hand to wrap his fingers around the handle, turning the metal this way and that to examine the blossoms miraculously growing out of the metal. He supposed it made sense. Metal, plants... Even though they were vastly different, they all came from the same thing, didn't they? They had more in common than one might think, and it was the same for people.

Placing the wrench carefully on the top of his tool bag so the flowers wouldn't be crushed, Rhydian took off his gloves and moved to climb down the ladder to meet the two on the ground level. Bastet was nuzzling into Sorrel's touch, her low rumbling purrs just barely audible over the groan of machinery. He'd never seen her warm up to another person like that. "She keeps me out of trouble." He assured the small botanist and leaned against one of the ballasts supporting the strut, bringing one hand up to brush his long hair back from his face. "What about you? Are you staying out of trouble?" He asked with a quirked brow, alluding to their first meeting where the other had ducked into the dock he'd been working in to try to hide from someone.

@Rhydian E. sorrel giggled softly when he heard the noise coming from bastet, and he tilted his head up to see rhydian above him obviously working hard on his job. "you want me to call you pretty?" he asked with a cheeky grin, carefully looking around before pulling the wrench out of his jacket, giving rhydian a small pout. "well, /pretty boy/, i came back to return your wrench."

he hadn't pulled the flowers off of the wrench and bit his lip before growing a flower out of his hand to raise it up for rhydian to take, letting it rest by his feet before snapping it off at the stem from his palm. sorrel turned and threw the flower into an open boiler so nobody would know he had been down there, moving to crouch so he could best bastet with a smile. "pretty baby, have you been watching over rhydian well?"

@Sorrel N. Bastet was lounged out in the warm glow of one of the large work lights for a midday nap when her ears perked up at the sound of gentle footsteps. Not the clunky stomps of work boots that accompanied most of the mechanics. She lifted her head off her massive paws and prowled around to find the source. Seeing Sorrel there, the feline needed to contain her excitement to sneak up behind him, quiet like the natural predator she was. Yet instead of pounding, she nudged her big head into the back of the man's thighs before sitting on her put to blink up at him. She greeted him with a deep, bellowing 'roooowl' that echoed off the metal, alerting her companion above.

Rhydian pulled his hands out of the collection of pipes he'd been fitting some couplings onto and rose up with a soft groan, his knees aching from being crouched in the struts. He braced his grease smudged gloves against the railing and peered down at the two below. "Hey now. How come you don't call be, pretty?" He quipped loud enough to be heard over the machinery, a cheeky smile on his lips.

@Rhydian E. sorrel stood in front of the entrance into engineering with a nervous look on his face, already hating the smell of this place and feeling the flower on his cheek wilting. he made sure to turn the air filtration on his mask on before stepping into the area, looking around for rhydian or his sweet leopard bastet, gloved fingers curled tightly around a wrench that had a few flower now growing out of it. suddenly he felt something against the back of his thigh, and he turned around to see bastet looking at him with big eyes. "hey there pretty, i'm looking for rhydian."