driftfleet | Chocolate-flavored Dessert Cream on the House

Chocolate-flavored Dessert Cream on the House

[The bunks are filling up, but the new faces just keep appearing!

Are you a travel-weary passenger having trouble keeping your crew roster straight? Perhaps you are a fresh new recruit, finding themselves dumped into a new (and much less shiny) home. Or, maybe you've been around for a little bit and just haven't bothered meeting the other weirdos on this ship yet--what is their problem, anyway?

Well, this is the place for you!

All new passengers from the last few Shuffles, especially those who haven't met their crews yet, are welcome to post starter-comments here to invite those living on and visiting your ship to come and interact. Newbies could be just arriving on the ship, busying around where others can find them, or you can offering multiple options for interaction--however you'd like to set up your thread is fine. Just make sure to include the name of your ship in the header, so your crewmates can easily find you!

Everyone else-- go meet those newbies! Whether they are new to your own crew, or on ships you frequently visit, now is a great time to bump into them.]

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On another ship.

[Asuka's gaze is slow and disgusted. He's already acclimating enough to wear what they've set out for him-- and though that ought to only peeve her, it ends up pissing her off instead. It shouldn't, but it comes off as another layer of pretense instead of a matter of comfort.]

[I-know-what-you're-doing-here-and-you-know-what-I'm-doing-here be damned, it must be the fate that Asuka doesn't believe in that's made them meet up again. Asuka's carrying nothing, for all that she'd hoped to at least bring stupid Shinji a cookie or two, before remembering the blood drive's later on in the week. No offerings, just her own sour self, prepared to hover around Shinji as a self-appointed duty. And here's Nagisa, out to ruin that for her.]

Sleeping over? [The words are acidic and sharp. Even she hadn't planned to be that bold.]

[The pretense was even worse during his time with Nerv — he never pretended to be human, and they never pretended not to know, but it went unspoken — so Kaworu does manage to look pretty comfy in the jumpsuit. Besides, piloting means different things to Kaworu than it does for Shikinami and Shinji both. Eva is part of his fate (there it is again), but he was always meant to be more than a Child.

At first sight, Kaworu had supposed that this ship was just Shikinami's assignment. Well, things work out that way sometimes; never mind sentiments like "that's unfair". But with her words, he understands that, like him, she's just here for Shinji. Though empty-handed, she's doing this for Shinji.

Kaworu's expression warms noticeably, and he inclines his head to her respectfully. He could sing her praises for doing Shinji a kindness, but instead: ] Just bringing these for him. I want him to feel warm and soft.

[Warm and content...]

I'm sure he's got sheets.

[Asuka folds her arms-- the effect makes her look smaller and more adolescent than she already is, but no less fiercely annoyed. Some of it's irrational. He's dead, back home. Shinji's her charge now, except he isn't. For the foreseeable future, she's going to have to share him with Nagisa, who probably already has some inane, poorly-planned scheme cooked up now that he knows where Shinji is. Asuka wouldn't doubt it. It should be her responsibility to protect Shinji from him, but, well, knowing him, he'd accept Nagisa with open arms regardless of anything the Angel said or did.]

You didn't have to bring him anything like that.

[The approving smile ebbs. So, they have the same goal, or something close to it, but there's still a wall between them. Well, Kaworu can understand that. His observable sins have accumulated greatly.]

I thought it might be nice. [It's not quite said defensively, but he does hug the bedding a little more tightly, as though it can hear her and must be protected.

Honestly, he doesn't really mind "sharing" Shinji with her, as long as she's going to be good to him. Being good to him includes making him comfortable when he feels unwell. Is there some sort of miscommunication here? Obviously whatever he has and does is for Shinji's sake. He'll forgive Shikinami for not understanding, though.]

[The silence hangs like a noose in the air as Asuka tries to gain some meager satisfaction from the way that he's clutching the bedding. Nagisa's not invulnerable, physically or emotionally. That's good. That's really good.]

If you bring him sheets, he'll start carrying them around. [She doesn't think that's giving Shinji too little credit, honestly. The undertone's obvious-- I know him. You don't. But no matter how much she wants that to be true, no matter how much she wants to claim her position as Shinji's sole protector, she can't help but be afraid she's wrong.]

[They are alike, anyway, her and Shinji. Carrying talismans that don't offer protection. Pushing away. Yeah, they're alike, which might be why she never got much farther than helping Shinji feed himself so far. Asuka exhales half-unnecessarily.]

He's regressed enough already.

He likes to sleep in comfortable places. He hasn't been sleeping well since his time spent with your crew. I'd like for him to rest. So I brought sheets and blankets for his bed, in order to create a more comforting environment. [There's a marked drop in the temperature of his atmosphere — this is as far from pleasant as Kaworu gets. He hates his own voice right now: it reminds him of gloved hands and glass tanks. In a word, it's clinical. Not powerful enough to be acerbic, but practically smelling of rubbing alcohol.

He looks up and past Asuka, eyeing the ceiling, his version of a shrug. Dismissive, maybe.] If he wants to carry them around, he should carry them around. They're his now, so he can do what he wants with them. I would think you know that a step backwards isn't the bitter end. With time and guidance, he'll be able to take other steps, too.

[Asuka grits her molars so hard she could swear there were bits of bone cracking from the force. So he's going to blame her for his not sleeping? As if she'd been the one to latch that choker around his throat or scream at him not to pilot Eva. She's not faultless, but she's not the Colonel.]

I don't want him to come off as a liability to his crew. Got that? I don't want him to fail here. [She thinks she's being exceedingly reasonable. More reasonable than Nagisa ever could have deserved.] You know it'll kill him if he screws this one up. I'm trying to help him out.

His crew isn't what matters. [Kaworu says it with a wry quirk of the mouth, and it's a blunt, secret glimpse of the reality of his focus: whatever isn't Shinji isn't what matters. He's nearly amused by the very thought of anyone else having that much importance.

Regardless, the last of her words — you know it'll kill him — leaves him somber still. Kaworu may not care what anyone else thinks, but Shinji does. Shikinami is trying to be practical, Kaworu can admit that much.]

But you have a point. [He pauses, then faces her again, though he shuts his eyes.] I know you're trying to help him, [he says, making a point of being soft again. He does know that, and that's what makes her matter more than the inconsequential crew.] I just want him to have what he wants. He needs to find a way to feel peaceful.

Shinji's never felt peaceful.

[Maybe that's too encompassing a statement to make, but Asuka doesn't think so. Even back in those days in Colonel Katsuragi's apartment, he'd been rattled, and she'd been on edge. She hadn't known what real stress was.]

[Him conceding doesn't have much of an effect on her nerves. She's sure it's just another meaningless platitude, someone else that would really like to shove her out of the way but is too polite to come out and admit it. Asuka gazes at the sheets instead of his face.] Don't coddle him. He won't ever change that way.

[Still soft, enough to smother, Kaworu says,] I know. [He's seen Shinji's smile, but it hasn't been enough. Kaworu hasn't been enough, yet. He ducks his head to look down at the bedding, tucking his chin against the pillow pushed up against his chest. These things in his arms aren't enough, either. He knows that. But if he decides the endeavor is pointless, if he thinks, This is useless, everything is over.]

I'm not trying to coddle him. I'm trying to comfort him. Everyone needs to be comforted sometimes, Shikinami-san.

Most people don't get the opportunity.

[It's said with some rancor, but not enough. The temperature might have practically dropped earlier, but she still feels as if she's sweating.]

[Nagisa's ruining everything just by being here. Shinji's just going to keep falling backwards as long as Kaworu's there to lean on. He doesn't need the help of a ghost. He needs someone that's still substantial, still alive in whatever world's left outside of this ridiculous fleet of ships. Asuka steps backward, just a small step, and turns to the side as if giving him permission, glint of her teeth signalling the most reluctant draw.]

Go ahead. Give him the sheets.

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Chocolate-flavored Dessert Cream on the House

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