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]

[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.]

[interstices]

[Asuka's not in her plugsuit. She's in a pair of black leggings and a short-sleeved yellow blouse, courtesy her shopping trip on the Starlight. Sure, Shinji's gift card hadn't gone nearly far enough to account for all the outfits she'd bought, desperate for his approval, but she'd made up the difference with her own credits.]

[She's also added a small purse to her acquisitions. She hasn't carried a purse before in her life, and she keeps shifting it awkwardly, feeling stupid. This meeting was all on her own initiative. Shinji hadn't ever told her in so many words to be better to Nagisa. He hadn't really had to. But choosing to interact with him of her own free will... maybe it's not her brightest idea. Maybe she'll get irritated with him and storm off just like she'd done with Shinji a couple weeks back. But maybe she'll get some answers.]

[Defiantly maskless, she gets off the shuttle, catching sight of him quickly. Even in normal clothes, he stands out for his pallor and his lack of a mask. Asuka swaps her purse from one shoulder to the other, expression a thin line. Not congenial, but not threatening, just there.]

Hi. [Punctuating the greeting with his name seems way too friendly.] You're early. Did you find a place already?

[paraclete]

[Likewise, Kaworu's also not sure if this is the brightest idea. He hasn't been having many of those, lately — if ever — and as bad as he is at accounting for the unknown, he can see a lot of ways this could go wrong.

But things are always going wrong, and he doesn't want Asuka to think that her effort means nothing. It means a great deal, in fact. Even after the mess he made in front of her, she wants to talk to him. Well, it could be an excuse for her to ridicule him; but he'd deserve that anyway, so anticipating it doesn't push him away. And he'd rather be with someone and hurting than alone and feeling nothing.

Regardless of the pressure he feels inside his chest, Kaworu's very good at burying his anxieties under good nature and pleasantness. When she meets him, he accepts her as though the reality of her presence doesn't make him want to curl inward.]

Hi, Shikinami-san. [He'll compensate for whatever friendliness she doesn't want to show.] So, this area has a fair amount of places to get something to eat, since a lot of people seem to land here. Coming through before, I think I saw three places in particular that might suit our coffee needs. [He's smiling. He's speaking modestly. He feels lower than modest; he feels like she could break him if she decided to hit him. (What? No, don't think about that. You went too far with your thoughts last time.)] Do you want somewhere small, or something a little more lively?

[interstices]

Small is better.

[He'd wanted to repay her. For the life of her, Asuka'd like to pretend she didn't know why she'd picked a repayment as simple as just talking to him once he was sobered up. But she knows why. It's so uncomfortable not wanting to drive the nails into him and not wanting to hurt him that it's almost distasteful.]

[No. What's distasteful is her own sorry guts, her aptness to back out at any second. A harsh word in his direction would probably do it. But she doesn't want that, either.]

I've got a lot of credits, so you don't have to pick somewhere too cheap. [As if coffee's expensive, even galaxies away. Asuka shrugs her shoulders. It's hard to equate Nagisa in the flesh with the erratic texts messages about being scared of her, about wanting her to hit him. He just seems like he's about to have a friendly chat in the nearest coffeeshop. God.]

[Her eye starts its annoying warm glow again. It's been doing that lately at inopportune, inexplicable times, without anything she can pinpoint as the cause. Asuka readjusts her patch, deliberately surrounding it with her palm as she does, pushing just so so that the fabric's shoved directly against her eyeball. As far as she knows, the gleam can't go through skin. That accomplished, she clears her throat.] I didn't know if you were going to follow through.

[paraclete]

[A friendly chat in the nearest coffeeshop is, at least, the ideal. Kaworu doesn't feel good about this arrangement — actually, he's still not completely sure what, exactly, this arrangement is. Something perilous, no doubt. As confidently as he carries himself, he doesn't trust himself not to make a mess out of their time together. But it's his hope that they can sit down and talk about something innocuous. (He is, after all, always following after fruitless hopes.) Even as they walk, he's wracking his slow-motion mind for safe topics of conversation. He's at least astute enough to recognize that, unfortunately, most of what they have in common amounts to a minefield rather than a flowerbed...

A little more anxiety-inducing is the thought that Asuka might have something she intends to talk about with him. That's definitely possible; if she cares to request his presence, there's likely to be a specific reason behind it. She's certainly not after his company for its own sake. If she does already have something she wants to talk about, it's probably a topic Kaworu would rather avoid. Unfortunately, he owes her more than one small favor. She's been more tolerant of his deficiencies than what was ever required of her. So, while Kaworu has no use for honor when it comes to fulfilling his important goals... Well, outside of that, he'd like to try and be at least a little good.]

In general, I like to try and keep my word... Oh, let's try turning here. [As if this bend could take them anywhere, to unknown places. He holds out a hand in gesture, but slips it back into his pocket right away.] Anyway, I'm happy if we can spend time together pleasantly. [He doesn't exactly want to call attention to how he's repeatedly embarrassed himself in front of her, but he says,] You're well within your right to ask for some of my time. I'm not exactly spending it productively right now, at any rate.

[interstices]

[Asuka just shrugs, following him step by step, body language still as stiff as ever, wishing she had her old jacket back, just for the pockets to shove her hands into. They're comfortable, and they're a sign. They make him look more relaxed and her look even less like she wants to go near a single living creature.]

[Shinji in his infinite wisdom probably wants her to do more than be nicer to Nagisa. Probably wants her to be someone she hasn't been in fourteen years. He can't drag her into the past any more than she's dragged herself there, but maybe she can at least make progress. A new, more prosaic life ought to help her. Who knew.]

I'm not either. [As it turns out, she does have something to discuss, if she's got the willpower to do it. Asuka's mentally rehearsed a bit, tried to picture Nagisa as some WILLE member or maybe just a civilian, someone she could talk to like a professional instead of a raging bitch. She's feeling less disgust for him than she thought possible, and he hasn't made her angry lately, but she's not sure if that'll be enough to keep her mouth in check. Maybe.]

[She sees a cozy row of shops that seem juxtaposed against the wasteland of the surface. The contrast is so tacky it's almost charming, like trying to airbrush a platypus. Asuka shifts her purse again from one side to the other, and then, abruptly, awkwardly asks--]

Do you like to eat?