driftfleet | And We Danced (Masquerade Overflow!)

[Asuka's lip purses in a pout. Maybe she's overdefensive. Definitely she's overdefensive. But this isn't really the time, the place, or the outfit to let a little bit more irrational, embarrassed tempestuousness show. This isn't a long-belated junior high dance, as much as it feels like it should be.]

He's in one, too. Shinji Ikari. Do you know him? [And then, rapid-fire--] What are you doing here, anyway? You're not the type for this either.

[there's two questions there, but he only hones in on one. that first one. the second one doesn't even get heard.

his surprise increases and he forms the gesture for 'here?' followed by pointing insistently at the ground, just in case the meaning is unclear.

she not only has a friend, but they're in the fleet, and at the dance? these three facts together are apparently a shock for him.]

Yes, here! What, did you think I didn't know anyone? [He wouldn't be too far off, honestly, but it still sort of stings. He just looks so incredibly incredulous. If anything, she thought she'd kept her rages to a fair minimum onboard... apart from the punching bag, at least. But that was what it was for, right? Venting frustrations?]

I don't spend all my time in my room, idiot.

[silly him, thinking that a brat with a monster-eye might not have any friends. especially with how many similarities he sees between the two of them--real or imagined--he automatically assumes that she's just about as liked as he is.

he huffs voicelessly over that, and signs 'fine.' absolutely not pointed at all.]

[Asuka furrows her eyebrows. It almost mirrors his own expression, though hers is laced with petulance. He can't be acting like this because he's that surprised, can he? She's not that inept with people. Sure, there aren't many she's had more than civil conversations with, but he can't find her such a total outcast that...]

[Wait. Asuka pushes a stray hair out of her face, blinking once. Twice.]

You're jealous.

[he can't help but shoot the word back at her, signing 'jealous?' with as much incredulity as he can muster. him? jealous? what a stupid thought.

and forgetting (or ignoring) that she doesn't know much beyond fingerspelling, he goes ahead and signs anyway, asking what is there to be jealous of?]

[She doesn't understand those other signs, but she gets the picture well enough from how he signs back that last word.] Oh, come on! He's-- he's just a stu--

[And then, damningly, she cuts herself off, pink tinging her ears.]

Whatever. We-- it's-- complicated, okay?

[yep, that's a pretty telling reaction there, girl. and maybe her embarrassment is somehow contagious, because he's starting to join in on looking awkward.

he nods, adding in a pretty self-explanatory sign for 'I bet,' and tries to shrug the whole thing off. he can feel his neck begin to heat up, though.]

[Great. Asuka's blown this out of the water like some stupid middle schooler. "It's not what you think" fights with "forget it" on her tongue, and there's a horrific moment where she doesn't get a word out at all. God. For a second, it's hard for even her to believe she's much more than an embarrassed conglomerate of hormones.]

[But then she recovers herself, if only vaguely, lips making a stiff line across her face as she motions vaguely with her hand. Like hell is she going to be stuck out here in public as her face and neck match and then surpass the shade of her yukata. Better to at least be away from the entrance.]

Look. If you want to talk, let's get out of here first.

[it's only his pride that keeps him standing there, suffering what is feeling more and more like actual, stupid embarrassment while she flounders. because turning and walking away would be far worse, especially without the ability to leave some parting word that would smoothly shirk the whole thing. it would make it seem like he cares way more about this than he really does, and that would be a disaster.

so, he doesn't actually think about it much when she offers a way out. he only lifts his chin in stiff acknowledgement--agreeing and ready to follow her somewhere. he doesn't know where they would go or what they would even talk about once there, but he would also very much like to get out of there.]

[Asuka doesn't know if they'll have a proper conversation, either, or if the bulk of their discussion began and ended when she admitted to having anot-- a friend. She just knows she wants out of this particular part of the venue. She comes close to grabbing him by the arm and yanking him off, but thankfully stops herself from that amount of personal space invasion. For all that she's confided a handful of things to Coil, mainly her eye, she doesn't really know him well enough to risk dragging him whereever she wants to go.]

[The balcony's not too far off, and it's way out of the way of the jumble of people, though they have to cut through the performance hall to get there. Asuka's steps are relatively quick through the maze of people, though she keeps glancing to make sure he's still following her (if he isn't, she supposes he's not obligated to) and by the time she's found it the flush has died down on her face. She takes an unnecessary breath and tries to face him.]

So. You never answered me, you know.

[Coil is a pro at ghosting through crowds, like the creep he is, so he has no trouble keeping up with her as she clips her way across the busy space. as grating as the crowds are, he's glad that they have to spend some time winding around before reaching the balcony. it's nice to have that time to smooth over his own awkwardness before trying this whole socializing thing over again.

he's feeling much better by the time they reach the liberating air of the balcony... but that does nothing to fix the fact that he still hadn't been listening to her question before.

so, he blinks a bit at the statement, and gestures for her to repeat herself. he has no idea what she's talking about.]

[It had been a bit, so Asuka doesn't scold him for not remembering, just offers up a shrug.] I asked why you were here.

[Not that he doesn't have a right to be anywhere he wants, she supposes; it's just that skulking around the ship and making himself scarce suits him better, same as her. Definitely no one invited him specifically; that's for sure, so he has to be wanting something. It's probably not the fancy cheeses.]

['people watching,' is his automatic response to that--and even if she doesn't recognize the first word, the second one is pretty self-explanatory. just here to observe. no big deal.

but he glances away, back toward the ballroom, after he answers. because of course that doesn't come close to being the actual, whole truth. that's just the response he'd prepared for the normal people that might try to talk to him while he's here. and she's admitted enough embarrassing things in even the last ten minutes to maybe earn more. on top of that, she's still talking to him, and that counts for a lot. so, after thinking about it for another minute, he shrugs a shoulder.

'f-a-m-i-l-i-a-r,' comes next, and he waves a dismissive hand over his shoulder, indicated something far behind him. the past is way back there somewhere.]

Familiar? [And a frown. He comes off as so scruffy, almost like a stray animal. Asuka's not sure what a guy like him would have ever done in a place like this before.]

You used to go to events like this? [As usual, she can tell she's on the verge of asking too many questions for him to sign responses to at once. In this case, though, it's half to distract herself from what she's already told him. She adjusts the flowers pinned around her patch.]

Don't tell me you know how to dance.

[she might be piling up the questions, but he might sort of answer them all with the way he recoils from the subject of dancing. it's a very knowing grimace, and he forms the (probably familiar by now) sign for 'don't-like'... which is not a no.

there are actually a great many skills he'd learned in his apparently-refined former life that he knows but does not particularly enjoy.

she should see what he can do with a harp.]

[Asuka's mouth curves upward just slightly. Her facial muscles over the last few months have gotten a workout as she's started to remember how to do things besides frown and shout. Yeah, he knows how to dance. He definitely knows.]

Me, too.

[That better not come as much of a surprise as her having a friend did. If it does, well, maybe she's not above teasing him for having a skill like that under his belt.] I was in the air force. Military. [That's a quick amend.] I only got to dance at one ball before now.

[yeah, he won't dare tease her for that one. he doesn't want that to come around to bite him back.

and he starts to explain himself with the sign for 'family,' before he remembers that she might not know that one, and it would kind of be a long-winded explanation anyway. so, he's quick to drop it for something else.

instead, he spells out 's-i-l-l-y,' which sums up his feelings on the whole subject pretty well.]

It's not silly. It's a sign of culture. [Something fellow weirdos generally don't have. Her mouth twitches, and on impulse, she hops right on up to sit on the balcony rail, legs dangling idly. It's not as if falling would be too dangerous.]

You let people underestimate you.

[a sign of culture--that's what his mother had said about it. he'd always thought the concept was ridiculous, especially in light of everything else she'd put her children through. who had time to think about culture while learning how to end and manipulate lives?

he doesn't openly scoff, though. he'll let her have this one.

and just about when he's idly wondering if the fabric of her outfit is slippery enough for her to accidentally fall, and running through the casual tally of what kind of damage a tumble from a balcony might do to someone if they fell just right, she surprises him with that statement.

he blinks for a moment... but then replies with a very slight nod. because, she's exactly right. why try to hide it at this point? so, he makes his little admission and joins her at the railing, propping his arms and peering down over the edge.]

[Asuka stays silent for a little bit, mulling herself, toying again with the flowers she's wearing in her pigtails. Soft things never suited her very well, not even when she really was a kid. She always looked a little too mean and a little too uncomfortable to be smoothed out by something as simple as a pretty dress. At least, that's how she's always felt, forever gawky and angular.]

Why? Does it make it easier? [Swing, swing. She knocks her heel on the rail at one point, but barely winces.] Or do you just not like people?

[Honestly, she couldn't blame him for either.]

[he could nod to either (or both) of those options, and it wouldn't be a lie. they're both true statements, but they're not the reason why. it started somewhere else, long before those other factors ever came into play.

summing it up into something he can fingerspell doesn't come easy, though. he watches her kick her feet like a child while he thinks about it. she really does remind him of someone, sometimes. a couple of someones.

finally, he spells 't-r-a-i-n-i-n-g.' because his little underestimation game is that intentional.]

Were you a spy?

[She'll have to nab those sign language books sometime for some further study. It's got to be tedious for him to literally spell everything out for her, even if Asuka doubts that learning more signs would make him be too much more talkative. Her short conversations with him feel more like exchanges of information, tradeoffs more than discussions. She's okay with that.]

[She takes a needless, maskless breath, shrugging her shoulders. It's an odd gesture for her, a little too relaxed to fit.]

To not like people, you enjoy paying attention to them.

[even carrying on this much discussion is a relatively recent development for him. when he'd lost his tongue, it was meant to be a forfeit of all rites to communication. that vow has obviously slipped over recent years, but he still wouldn't know how to have a real conversation to save his life.

not with words, anyway. he's much more well-versed in silent communication.

which is maybe one of the reasons he watches other people so much. he doesn't really answer her question, which is maybe a little incriminating in itself, and just watches her from the side instead. and as such, he does notice her uncommonly loose little mannerisms, but he doesn't think too hard about it before making a guess.

instead of responding to anything else she's saying, he points curiously (or suspiciously) at her cup.]

[Asuka blinks for a minute, not realizing what he's getting at, before it hits her. She snorts, holding out the half-full cup.]

I'm not drunk. Do you really think anyone would serve me alcohol? [They didn't. She had to steal this drink.]

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