first one to make that doctor who joke loses

[birdsbirdsbirds]

Who: Everyone! All of you!
Broadcast: Maybe!
Action: Definitely!
When: Anytime during the toxic moon event!

---

[boy oh boy, isn't everyone just so excited to explore this... charming... place...?

this is a game-wide mingle and the timeframe isn't super-important, so throw in with whatever you want! play war games, go shopping for gas masks, get lost in the wilderness, hide up in the Iskaulit and refuse to set foot on the moon, anything goes.

here's the main event info post for reference! have fun!]

Comments

[astrobleme]

[Shinji knows he should focus on what he has over what he doesn't. That would do a lot to temper his jealousy into a concern instead of a blade for filleting. He can't spend the rest of his stay here being gutted whenever he sees Asuka hanging out with someone else. That's pure insanity.

He's quiet for a little while. Then,]

If I fall asleep... [He shifts slightly, but not enough to dislodge her head or her hand.] I should warn you about... I have bad dreams, sometimes. I can sleep on the floor if you don't want to deal with that. [To his credit, Kaworu never seemed to mind when Shinji would wake up crying and in a cold sweat. Kaworu never made him feel any more ashamed than he did by default. But imposing himself on Asuka is a different issue.]

[interstices]

No.

[Unwilling to move much, she kicks a half-folded gray blanket from the edge of the bed up towards them, then grabs it, draping it artlessly over both of them. They'll still be sleeping on some covers, but that's all right. Asuka doesn't want to get into the bed properly, scared that's going to erect a barrier between them, that she'll lose the opportunity to get this close again.]

[She has bad dreams, too, most nights that she lets herself fall into something like sleep. Dreams that make her feel weak. Endless battles. Oversyncing with Eva. She won't begrudge what nightmares he has, securely coiling her arm around his waist again. Back when they were kids, Shinji never would have admitted something like that, and she never would have let it go. The whole apartment would've been ablaze with her mocking and his protests. Asuka closes her eye. Maybe they've both grown up after all.]

You stay right here with me.

[astrobleme]

[It did feel like a gamble on his part, admitting that, but Shinji didn't have a choice but to admit it. Asuka wouldn't have accepted him trying to squirm onto the floor. And if she did decide to mock him for having bad dreams, he'd have all the reason to walk out of here; nothing requires him to stay with her. They're former Eva pilots, and now they stand in defense of nothing but themselves. On some fucked up level, he mourns the fact they don't have Eva to bind them together. Ayanami was right when she said Eva created a connection to people...]

Okay, [he mumbles, tilting his head against hers.] Good night, Asuka. [He doesn't fall asleep right away. He doesn't really need to sleep, even though he's tired of being awake. He's warm and comfortable, at least. He isn't alone. Not for the first time, he wonders if he should request a transfer off of the Heron...

He sleeps soundly for a few hours. Then, out of nowhere, he jerks and struggles. He whimpers. He clenches his teeth, trying to curl in against himself.] Stop, [he says, in a eerily raspy voice.] Stop, stop, stop... stop... I don't... want... [He crushes a hand against his stinging eyes.] Get... out of... [He can't get away. He can't get away. He can't get away and it won't let go of him. It just won't let go of him--let go--please let go--it hurts--]

[interstices]

Shinji.

[She sits up abruptly in bed-- she hasn't been asleep, not at all. Those first struggles, she'd left him alone, but she can't now. His voice doesn't sound right. Rattly, strange, like he's been screaming. Her hand reaches blindly in the dark, finding his hair.]

Shinji, wake up. It's okay.

[astrobleme]

[Shinji hisses in fear. It's an entirely inhuman sound, somehow prehistoric, and it's cut off as soon as Asuka touches his hair. Just that kind of contact seems to tranquilize him in the way nothing else could begin to. He goes slack against the bunched-up bedding, his breathing uneven...]

... where...?

[He sounds more like himself, albeit sickened and disoriented.]

[interstices]

It's okay.

[At first she hadn't quite believed that sound came from him. She's heard him scream before, way back, but that hiss is unnerving in a whole other way. She's never heard anything quite like it. It's worrisome enough that her hand leaves his hair to latch onto his shoulder, jerking him by it roughly to wake him up, as if he hasn't said just one normal word already.]

It was just a bad dream. [Asuka can't be soothing, can't be like Kaworu. The tension starting to leave Shinji's muscles isn't something she considers crediting herself with. Shinji's just a light sleeper. She's never done anything to calm him down.]

You're with me. Look, it's okay. It's nothing.

[astrobleme]

[Asuka's untimely yanking is enough to wake Shinji up the rest of the way. He blinks at the darkness, at the unfamiliar ceiling, wondering when she decided to turn out the light. Could've sworn he was only resting his eyes, and then...

And then it wouldn't let him go.]

Asuka...?

[He turns his head to look at her, owl-eyed and bleary and very apologetic. He just knew another nightmare was waiting for the chance to strike. He tried to warn her about it, but she wouldn't listen to him. Now he sighs shakily, and since it's already too late, he burrows in closer to her, seeking out warmth and something like security. At least this ship isn't as cold as the Heron tends to be.]

M'sorry, did I wake you up?

[interstices]

No.

[As he burrows against her, she pulls him tighter, attaching herself to him like a tick. He's spoiled her, in his way, with all this contact, but at the same time, she's punishingly aware of who she isn't, afraid she won't be any real comfort. She never was before.]

[Her hand strokes along his back, rubbing it a few times in small, cautious strokes. She isn't sure if she should ask or not, but curiosity gets the better of her in the end.]

What did you dream about?

[astrobleme]

[Like most bad dreams, this one is starting to disintegrate, slipping through the cracks in Shinji's mind. He squints at nothing as he tries to remember exactly what was going on. Half of him doesn't want to talk about it, while the other half is feeling warm and safe again. Asuka asked about it, anyway, so maybe she does want to hear it.]

I was... fighting an Angel. Me and Ayanami, we... had to fight, and... I think Kaworu-kun was there, too. Not sure. This Angel was like... like a snake, really long, and it got wrapped around the Eva... [And then it forced its way inside them somehow? Shinji closes his eyes, relaxing more and more. She's seriously not that far off from how Kaworu tends to him after a nightmare.

Faintly:] I wonder if I'll ever see her again...

[interstices]

I don't know. [Asuka's terseness doesn't match up with how she's still holding him close. Ayanami's remained a sore spot years after she should have stopped mattering. It's Ayanami more than Shinji who got her in this shape.]

[She doesn't put too much stock in dreams-- hers tend to be painfully literal. About battles, about herself. There's a recurring nightmare where her teeth fall out one by one, hair spilling onto her bed in ashen hunks as her contamination progresses, quarantined forever in a glyph-covered room. Far from the princess Mari used to call her, she's a monster outside the castle walls.]

You're done with that. [She shuts her eyes. As usual, she hasn't taken off the patch.] Eva piloting. The longer we're here, the less you'll dream about it.

[astrobleme]

[Shinji offers a sleepy little noise in response. He knows Asuka didn't like Ayanami, maybe even hated Ayanami, so he won't say anything stupid. But he's wondering if Atroma could be generous enough to bring Ayanami here. There are plenty of people who deserve to be rescued more than he does.

Now he isn't sure what he was so scared of. Just a stupid dream.]

God, it's been... months, since the last time... piloting... [And even longer than that for 01 specifically. It feels like yesterday and a century ago at the same time.] I can still taste the LCL sometimes... [He's fading away, no worse for his dreams, being coaxed back to sleep by Asuka's gentle hand.]

[interstices]

Yeah. Me, too.

[He's falling asleep again. Good. Asuka sort of smiles in the darkness, albeit sadly. She can't be as bitter as she used to. He had months piloting; she had years, but the difference doesn't matter when the end result was the same sort of wreckage. Holding him as close as she can, she tries to drift back off.]

Shhh.