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

[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.