driftfleet | [text] your blue walls get in the way of these facts

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[text] your blue walls get in the way of these facts

Who: Asuka Shikinami Langley
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: Handholding planet, if you want it.
When: 7/27

[It's not like her to post much, and it's not like her to post with text at all, unless it's as a response to someone else. But if there's one thing Asuka's confident in, it's that people tend to own up to a hell of a lot more on the network than they ever do in person, especially when they're typing it up. Something about the distance. Even Katsuragi always sounded far more imposing over email than in person, except for the last couple years.]

[Plus, she's curious. All those pilgrimages that it seemed as if the whole Fleet had made had to have earned some useful tidbits. Asuka's poor at cloaking her motivations in the best of times, so she barely bothers.]

If we stay here much longer, I'm learning to swim.

What did you get from the tree? Even if it's something crappy like the promo stuff we get sometimes, I still want to know.

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[rhetorical or not, he shrugs at the first question--which is the short version of his various guesses. he could just as easily see her purposefully going to the tree without an escort, as he could see her rejecting someone's offer, or even having her own offer snubbed by someone else.

he wouldn't be all that surprised if she hadn't intended to go alone the first time. if he didn't know her, if he was some other innocent bystander in the Fleet, he absolutely would have refused to take her hand. as it is, he still unconsciously tucks his hands safely into his pockets as they descend.

and to answer her second question, he only forms the sign for "Z." he figures it's pretty obvious beyond that. he doesn't shadow many other people whose names start with that letter, after all.]

I thought so.

[She wonders if Zhas told him she'd thought at first he was his boyfriend from back home. Probably. Not that it matters. Zhas isn't half as much of an asshole as she'd first assumed, and Coil might be the only one on her ship she's ever... ever really talked to. Nobody else on the Red Fish has been privy to what's under her eyepatch.]

[It already feels like a familiar walk, anyway, though she'd only followed a group of tourists just once to the tree. Asuka doesn't have pockets on her dress, so her arms are swinging slightly as she walks-- looser body language than she usually has in public, but over the time spent on this planet, she's found it's a pretty good way to avoid any handholding with strangers.]

You read music?

[after all of the time cooped up and healing in the dungeon of his own medical bay, Coil has been enjoying the open space even more than usual. the frustration and fatigue of it all still has the space around his eyes looking dull and dark like bruises, but he doesn't carry himself with the same strain he had been for the past few weeks. getting out and spending extended time away from the ship--regardless of the handsy, irksome locals here--has been doing him some good.

the fact that he's also walking a familiar path helps as well. the tree and the trail toward it isn't scary to him anymore. he'd followed in Zhas' shadow up to and braved that mystery once all ready. he can pretend to know what he's doing here, mimicking Asuka's relaxed posture as they go. his shoulders aren't quite as hunched and vulturine as they usually are.

and he has to think for a moment, before nodding. reading music is one of those skills he'd gathered years ago and pointedly never puts to use.

'learned when I was small,' he signs.]

[Asuka nods. Even Coil looks less tense here, less like some weird shadow hovering over everything. It's kind of refreshing, and kind of startling, to see what some sun and atmosphere could do. She's sensed it in herself, but denied it at every turn. They probably still look like a couple of eyepatched creeps even to the generous, touchy-feely passerby.]

I can read music, but I can't play. [Hastily, she realizes that might sound like some kind of weird attempt at getting him to offer to teach her, and she adds--] I'd rather hear it anyway.

[But that's not the crux of what she's trying to ask. Finally, she comes out with it.]

Was that what you were expecting to get, or not?

[following up with the little disclaimer about the music was probably a good call, judging by the half-wary glance he slides her before she explains. he has no problem with volunteering lessons on various things when the mood strikes him, but music is not one of them. so, he is quietly grateful that she heads off that possibility before it gets awkward.

and dodging that bullet makes the next one a little easier to take.

her questions make a little more sense, now. he gets it. he'd wondered the same things before, so he understands wanting to know. and it's her and not some other lame person, so... he'll actually deign to answer.

his shoulders hunch back up into a more familiar shrug, and he shakes his head.]

Oh.

[Her expression stays mostly flat, but she's disappointed. Not that she'd been hoping to make the tree give her what she wanted (she doesn't know what she wants), but it would have been nice to know that it gave things that were anticipated. Help her get prepared. She doesn't care much for surprises, even from sentient plants.]

Zhas said something about a song.

[he has her on his seeing side, so it's easier to glance her way to check her expression. one mention of his partner has him shooting her such a glance--not because she brings up the song, but because she has apparently actually talked to Zhas. it maybe shouldn't be such a surprise, being that they're all on the same ship, but considering their respective personalities, (and the inexplicably defensive prickle of nerves that crawl up the back of his neck,) it is. and the fact that he has to sign everything is the only thing that keeps him from blurting out a question about that.

it's a close call. but, he ultimately sticks to the actual topic at hand, and nods.

'At the tree. You hear an old song.' and he taps the side of his head to clarify that it's not something you exactly hear out loud.]

It's not bad, is it? [Whatever. She can traipse through hearing an old song in her head as easily as anything, but he'd said to be careful. Coil seems taken aback, kind of, and she's not sure whether to press it or not as they keep walking, her face dropping back into its usual frown. For awhile, she's quiet, the only sound her shoes scuffing against the ground, but then she can't stand it anymore, blurting--]

What?

[he sighs, but it's not the kind meant to make a point. just a bigger intake and release of breath as he has no choice but to think more about that song more than he particularly wants to. and it's a bigger thought, with more signs strung together, than he prefers to use.

'The people who sang mine died years ago.']

Oh.

[Asuka doesn't say anything else for what at least feels like a long while after that, but is probably only a couple of minutes. She doesn't ask him to elaborate. Is he going to hear that song again once they go to the tree together, or was that just for the first time? Not to mention the question of what she'll hear. One of Mari's pop songs, or something worse?]

[She readjusts her pigtails, tying them tighter on either side of her head, before she clears her throat.]

It was worth it, though. Wasn't it?

[ah, and there is the question--the important one. it's the only reason he hasn't rolled his eye or ignored or scoffed at the mention of the tree since he'd first gone. it's the only reason he'd volunteered to accompany her to it without much prompting.

he looks over at her with more than just a short glance, for once. it's one of those wordless little cues meant to add more weight to what he wants to say, making up for where a voice really would have come in handy.

short and definite, he nods.]

Okay.

[Then it'll be worth it for her. Even if she is still afraid of getting something stupid, if he says it's worth it, she's prepared to believe him. Coil's not a liar.]

[Asuka doesn't exactly stop at any point, but her gaze keeps traveling away from him and towards the surrounding trees-- real trees, huge, overgrown, heavy enough to make it dim. After this long here, she'll never get accustomed to them any more than the blue ocean.]

Thanks.

[Coil honestly doesn't mind silences, and the wake following being thanked seems like a pretty good time to shut up for a while. it's just one of those things that he'll never quite get used to, no matter how small or off-handed it is. so, he shrugs a shoulder to brush it off and lets things settle quietly for a little bit.

it's a long walk, after all. the trek isn't nearly as long as it would be from the coastal villages, but it's still a good hike. he's never been one to find much interest or comfort in the trees or the wilderness, but the open space itself is still very therapeutic. there is room out here for his head to decompress and his thoughts to spread out, so he lets his mind wander as they go.

eventually, it wanders into something he'd been meaning to ask for a while. the idea had first formed back when he'd seen what she'd done to the Red Fish's poor punching bag, and recent events had solidified it.

lifting a hand in her direction to catch her attention before he starts signing again, he asks 'Do you fight?' and, to clarify, he follows it up by spelling out 'S-P-A-R']

[It takes her a second, lost in thought as she's managed to get, but then she nods.] Sort of.

[To be honest, she hasn't really trained in years outside an Evangelion, unless that punching bag on the ship counts, but her contamination's left her plenty strong. Physically, she's at a peak that scares the hell out of her, if she lets it. She hasn't been human in years, but it's a reminder of how much less so she's gotten. She kicks a rock, scuffing her shoe on purpose.]

Eva isn't like hand-to-hand, but I'm capable. [Her mouth twitches.] You'd like to see what I can do?

[he nods a little, because he does want to see firsthand what she's capable of--both for reasons of fascination and caution--but this goes beyond that. so, he's quick to elaborate.

'I feel better now. Need to start practicing again.'

and who better to train for battle against super-strong beings with than her? especially since his last over-powered sparring partner went crazy and punched a hole in his chest.]

Good.

[Being around him makes her more terse than usual. Probably because she can't really ask about too many different things at once, or make him elaborate much, although she doubts he would even if he could speak. She nods.]

Nice not to have to use the punching bag for everything. [He never has looked like much of a fighter, but if he and Zhas were monster hunters, then it had to be part of the bargain. Plus, he wouldn't have been in there in the first place, around to help her sew the bag back up, if it hadn't been something he used himself. Asuka nibbles the inside of her cheek.] Yeah, okay. But if you hold back, I'll be pissed off.

[she can have her doubts about how capable he may or may not be in a fight, but if she's ever wondered if his mind and spirit are into it, the way his expression changes might be a clue.

with a challenging statement like that, he just turns to her with the closest thing to a smile he ever gets--all of those blank and warmthless lines lighten up, especially around his eye. it could maybe even be called something like happy.

he nods brightly, and points at her. 'You too.']

[Wow. Is that Coil actually looking almost... happy? Asuka has to blink once, twice, before finding herself starting to almost-smile back.]

Hey, you look better like that. It's good.

[the promise of violence is maybe not the sort of thing that normal people look delighted over, but... yes, that definitely is Coil's mood brightening.

and it only lasts until she points it out. the expression fades to one of vague confusion as he unintentionally mirrors her blinking, until he finally realizes what she must be talking about.

he hadn't noticed that his expression had changed at all, really. it's not something he really thinks about. and with the fact that most people don't tend to give sudden comment on his face (at least not in any sort of positive way), it comes as a little bit of a shock.

so, he awkwardly puts his eyes forward again--focusing on the path and not the way that heat is beginning to rise to his cheeks.]

[If Asuka were a less hard-bitten person, she'd come close to saying Coil was acting cute. As it is, she's still thinking it. The blush on his face kind of makes her want to tease, just a little bit. It's just so weird to see him acting, well, normal, that...]

It's a compliment. ["Idiot" is right on the tip of her tongue, almost on automatic, but she swallows it. The minute anyone at all turns away from her, him included, she doubles her gaze on them, stepping up the pace in case he gets any big ideas about going faster than her.] Haven't you ever gotten one of those?

[it's fortunate for him that they aren't holding hands right then--he would be appalled to know what she's thinking. 'cute' is just not one of those things that exist in the lexicon of things said about him.

and he wishes a little bit that he'd put her on his blind side, as he sometimes does to people that he would like to ignore. it would make it easier to pretend that he doesn't feel the gaze pinned on him. it just keeps picking at him until he finally glances toward her again in annoyance.

he nods, but it's too defensive, and he waves a few short, irritated signs at her-- 'but not like that.']

[If he had put her on his blind side, he would've ended up on her blind side, too, thanks to their opposite bad eyes. So maybe it's just as well he hasn't. Asuka laughs-- really, it's a cross between a giggle and a cough, the slightly unpleasant sound of someone who hasn't found much funny in years.]

Sourpuss. [And then, on impulse, she starts to sign back at him for the first time-- 'What's the problem?']

[that kind of laugh is familiar, at the very least. every once in a great while, when something horrible strikes Zhas as funny, his laughter sounds something like that... if the sound was mixed with that of a rock tumbler, anyway.

and Coil had been set to really try and ignore her after that, but the signs catch him. he finds her deigning to use the language instead of only read it even more striking than the laugh.

so... again, he's baited into actually answering.

'Nothing. You're just strange.']

So? So're you. [She's too accustomed to speaking verbally to remember to sign those few words. It's funny, really, since she hadn't ever planned on making signs at all-- what was the point, when he could hear just fine? But her need to prove herself and impress hasn't been decimated with time, just buried until she's found someone worth impressing... or at least, surprising. Remembering her and Nagisa's short but borderline-relaxing conversation in German made her think of it. Signing's probably not his native language, but he probably feels more comfortable when both parties are using it.]

You want a break? I think we're close.

[he can't argue that point, and he doesn't want to go into how her brand of strange is different (it's that particular sort of strange that girls always seem to be, to him), so he drops it.

and it is true that he's more comfortable being signed at than talked at. he's used to it with Zhas, but never expects others to pick up the same habit... so it's always a gesture that he takes to heart when it happens. even though she goes right back to speaking out loud, it still counts for something.

'We can take a break at the tree.' it will give them both an excuse to stop and acclimate themselves before they go about getting Asuka a gift. in the meantime, he's ready to truck along toward their goal, despite the uncomfortable burn in his ribs.]

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