mk.03 (text, action)

[paraclete]

Who: Kaworu Nagisa (a hippie from the moon), y...ou?!
Broadcast: fleetwide
Action: The Vanquish, cargo bay
When: 4/2, early to mid morning

[Kaworu's of the belief that there is beauty to be found pretty much anywhere, but the moon is still pretty sad. It's too reminiscent of "home", and the gloom it causes is thick and uneasy. So... his solution is to focus on what loveliness is already known. Therefore: ]

Hey. What's the prettiest thing you've ever seen? :)


—


[Now that Kaworu's spending more time aboard his home ship, he figures he ought to explore it. Sleeping is out of the question anyway — he doesn't sleep unless he's visiting the Heron — and although part of him really wants to eat breakfast, that just makes him not want to eat breakfast. He shouldn't use protein as an emotional crutch... (Yikes.) So, poking around the ship he's meant to care for just makes sense.

He's ended up in the cargo bay. He's been here before, of course, and he's seen everything... But it's different to actually take the time to consider what's going on in here. In particular, the piece of machinery in front of him makes him wonder so much that wants to examine it further. So, after a little more wondering at its design, he does what he's meant to do, as far as he can tell: he steps onto it.

It's the ship's treadmill. Kaworu's never seen one before encountering the one on the Vanquish, and he's peering at its console with great interest. It clicks on. He hasn't pressed any buttons, but it clicks on, and starts whirring. Kaworu gives the slightest of flinches, almost startled by the sound of the machine, and blinks — it turns back off.

...

It's on again. This time, Kaworu leaves it going long enough for its track to start moving. He doesn't expect that, and ends up stumbling a bit, finally reaching one of his hands out, to steady himself. Caught up in his surprise, Kaworu is suddenly hovering. He's only about three or four inches in the air, but there's now a glow about his head, something soft and white and circular... It's a halo. With big eyes, Kaworu looks down at his feet, deliberating, before slowly lowering himself back onto the treadmill's track. He's finally figured it out: he starts walking. He's walking! On the treadmill! So this is what it's meant for... The halo is gone, but now Kaworu looks extremely pleased, and even proud of himself.] This is wonderful, [he says aloud. At least he's acclimating himself.]

Comments

[paraclete]

I see.

Your trip from Germany, was it by airplane?

[interstices]

Yeah. But I didn't think the airplane was very pretty.

[paraclete]

I think airplanes are amazing. Well, I have been on an airplane... I thought that looking out through the window was quite beautiful. It wasn't the same for you?

[interstices]

I didn't see anything worth looking at.

[And then, reluctantly, hesitantly--]

I was more interested in the destination.

[paraclete]

What do you think is worth looking at?

[Maybe he shouldn't have asked her that. Maybe he shouldn't ask her anything. He always ends up crash-landing in their conversations.]

[interstices]

[Asuka lets the message hang for five minutes before tapping out a reluctant answer.]

I'll tell you if you tell me.

[paraclete]

That's a fair trade. [And because it is, Kaworu can't rightfully say, I'm always telling you too much, already.]

I think anything is worth at least a glance. There will always be things I haven't seen. I don't want to miss any opportunities.

[interstices]

You won't be specific?

I always thought 02 was pretty. And... there were nature documentaries I saw with the rainforest and places like that. I liked them.

[paraclete]

To be specific, I think the future is worth looking at. [Except that's... not specific at all........]

I thought she was pretty, too.

I saw a little bit of that sort of thing. [When he saw videos about the forest, the old men were trying to show him how fucked up mankind's hand in deforestation was.] Places like that had a lot of color.

[interstices]

[Still vague. She would have pressured him hard, once. Meanly demanding an answer she already knows. It never satisfied her, but she never stopped doing it until now. His revelations ought not to soften her up-- she insists they haven't, but...]

Yeah.

Have you been on the moon yet?

[paraclete]

I have visited it... It's an interested place, but, I think you might understand the sort of sadness it inspires, too.

Have you been?

[interstices]

No. Not yet. But I want to get off the ship.

[paraclete]

[...

Is she...

Would it be overstepping his boundaries to...]

They do have some nice things. I've seen them. [...] There are some things that are fun to see by yourself, and some things that are probably even more fun to see with someone else.

[interstices]

[He took the hint. He actually took the hint. Nagisa's a little more aware than she's given him credit for. Asuka relaxes slightly.]

Yeah. I think so.

You don't need a mask, do you?

[paraclete]

I'm fine without one.

[interstices]

I figured you would be.

Look. When will you be free?

[paraclete]

I'm on my ship right now. [Instead of the Heron.] And I haven't really been doing anything lately. You could say I'm free right now and maybe for a while.

[interstices]

So am I. There's not much to do on this ship.

[Being on the moon would be more neutral territory than aboard the Vanquish like before. Asuka's wrestling with herself-- he said, while drunk, that he'd like to talk to her. Worse, she'd been the one to make the offer-- while sober.]

Have you found anything to do on the moon?

[paraclete]

[Across however many lifetimes, Kaworu's hoped for a lot of things; but right now he hopes that she could just forget all that. A promise made for them to talk is dangerous, but not so bad... It's just that it comes hand in hand with the embarrassment of him having projected his childhood yearnings onto her. He's a stupid idiot and deserves to be ejected out of the airlock, left with none but the stars to watch him ruminate on his messy mistakes forever.

...]

They like to play lots of games.

[interstices]

[She can't forget all that, can't stymie her curiosity and an odd something that's on the border of queasiness and dissatisfaction. She keeps simultaneously wanting and not wanting so many answers. Anyway, Shinji wants them to be on good terms. And that brings up its own point...]

Anything you're good at? ... Forget it, you're probably good at everything.

[Lots of practice.]

[paraclete]

Oh, now, that's not true. There was a dice game I tried playing, but I was bad at it. Things like that don't suit me. Cards, too. Actually, a lot of those games... I never was adept at chess when they taught me as a child...

[interstices]

I get too pissed off during chess. It's okay.

[This has to be the least enticing offer he's ever gotten.]

We could get coffee.

[paraclete]

Coffee, and we'll look around for something that isn't chess?

[Trying to stomach his own feelings of awkwardness, he pushes past his hesitation and adds: ]

:)

[interstices]

Yeah. Okay.

I can pay.

[It's not a smilie, but it is a concession. A concession to an event Asuka can hardly believe she's willingly going for. She rubs her good eye, tries to relax.]

Half an hour.

[paraclete]

Half an hour. I'll see you soon, Shikinami-san.

[Thirty minutes is just enough time for him to talk himself out of going, and then talk himself back into it. He's already backing away from too much, he thinks. And he's tired of letting people down. He's a constant disappointment to Shinji, but maybe he can practice being acceptable with Asuka.

So he gets dressed. Having visited the moon previously, he'd been sure to make some purchases; clothing was on the top of his list, even if it's an extraneous luxury. It's just really nice to have a choice in clothing. A comfort, maybe. Kaworu has no right to allow himself comforts when he screwed up so badly, but he also knows that if he doesn't try to put himself at least partially at ease, this meeting with Asuka won't stand a chance at being anything better than a disaster. So, clothes. In what is probably an unwitting stroke of fortune for Asuka's sake, Kaworu picks an outfit that's pretty unassuming: he wears slim trousers in navy, a maroon and cream button-up shirt, and a grey light jacket. He could pass for any too-pale teenager — but that's before he steps foot onto the moon without a mask and smiles like it's nothing.

With his hands in his pockets and his heart high-strung, he loiters next to a light pole near where the shuttles dock. He projects the ease of someone who's waiting for a friend, but this situation is much more fragile than that.]