[video] we'll turn the moon to blood

[interstices]

Who: Asuka Shikinami Langley
Broadcast: Video, Fleetwide
Action: SS Red Fish
When: 3/8

[Asuka is sitting on her bed, with a bright red notebook and pen in hand and a slight frown crossing her face. She's still wearing the same form-fitting red-and-purple combat plugsuit she's been in since her arrival. For once, she doesn't look so much annoyed as she does wary, though honestly, with her, it's hard to tell.]

This is Asuka Shikinami Langley. [No wave. She scribbles something on a notebook page that's probably just a line and not any kind of script.] I have a few questions for everyone. The more people that answer, the more accurate the survey, so I suggest you tell me.

[All business. Asuka would applaud herself for her own professionalism if there was any point. There's no telling how long it'll last.]

First, I want to know your nationalities. Second, I want to know what your occupation was before the Fleet. I'm trying to figure out if there's a pattern to the kidnappings or any groups that get targeted more than others.

[Which is what the notebook is for. She really doesn't trust the network not to bungle everything at Atroma's whim. There's a brief, reluctant pause, and then--]

Before you ask, I was born in Germany. I was a pilot before, too. That's all.

Comments

[percolates]

The only one from my world, as far as I know.

[It's not the first time. A little lonely, but things could be worse.]

Any and all sorts that threaten humans. Drowners, wraiths, griffins, ghouls...

[interstices]

[Asuka marks a hastily-scribbled column in the margin.] That might not last.

I've heard of the others. But I don't know what drowners are. Are they like mermaids?

[percolates]

No. They've got legs. They look... [she frowns] vaguely like human corpses, but with scales and gills. People like to think they're the remains of those who have died in water. Criminals, young children.

[interstices]

[Her brow furrows briefly as she tries to make a mental image. Her art skills haven't improved with time, and her ability to visualize... has degraded. But she's surprised, and a little appalled, at the next thing she says.]

Suicides?

[percolates]

Perhaps. It's all tales and old beliefs. They were never human, but people will believe what they will.

[interstices]

So, do they lure people into the water, or just grab them while they're there?

[percolates]

They're opportunistic. You can often find them outside of villages, waiting for someone to wander too closely or too loudly near the water. If you're lucky, they'll be hungry and eat you then and there. If you're not, you might be rotting under the water for some time until they decide to feed.

[She was taught this at a young age.]

You're rather interested.

[interstices]

[This segue isn't really relevant to her survey, but it is intriguing. She shrugs.] I haven't had a chance to study anything in a long time.

[percolates]

Studying monsters gets horrendously boring after a few hours. [She may be in her twenties, but she huffs like a child, hair fluttering out of her eyes.] I'd have to sit for what felt like years memorizing and reciting things about these creatures. Only then could I go outside.

[interstices]

But it had its benefits, didn't it? [Asuka's never ended up using her bachelor's degree, for all she'd been proud of it. All that studying hadn't made her an automatically superior Eva pilot.] Were you taught at home?

[percolates]

I just needed to learn how to kill them. [But knowing the enemy intimately makes you a better killer, doesn't it?] I was taught at home, yes. Mostly by my uncle Vesemir. He knew just about everything.