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

[interstices]

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.

Comments

[interstices]

You really think that's possible?

[It's so childish. Just the kind of thing they'd both want to hang onto. Maybe she's no better. She looks at the spear in silence for awhile, and then, quietly, she says--]

What did he get?

[astrobleme]

Asuka, I'm not ruling anything out at this point.

[Ayanami. It's a name that surfaces, unbidden, at the back of his mind. If there's one thing missing from this situation-- If there's one thing he wants most out of the chaos of the multiverse--

He's silent for a while, too.

Eventually:] Longinus. So we've got the matched set.

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I don't understand.

[Is is this world they're supposed to save? But they're traveling all around the galaxy, so that doesn't even make sense. Were they given the relics just to torment them? But her doll's not a torment. There's more questions than answers, as usual, and Asuka clutches her doll a little harder on reflex.]

Are we going back? Back home? Is that what it means? [Nagisa had told her, awfully, about the repeats. She wouldn't reveal it to a soul, but right now, it feels like sludge in the back of her throat.]

[astrobleme]

I don't know.

[I don't understand. And, I don't know. Such an admission never fails to rankle Shinji's nerves, no different than walking through a gauntlet of thorny bushes. The spears themselves represent a huge question mark that he can't even begin to answer...

He closes the door to the closet. He doesn't want to look at Cassius anymore.]

I've thought about throwing it away, but... I should probably hold on to it. I guess. What do you think?

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You wouldn't have gotten it if it didn't mean something.

[An artifact like that shouldn't be thrown away. No one's fighting over the spear and lance here, but that doesn't matter. They haven't lost their significance because of their travels through the galaxies.]

[But she isn't sure she wants to know what it does mean. If it's a sign they're leaving soon, or worse, that Shinji and Nagisa are leaving soon. She shoves the red hood of her doll's cape up over its head and doesn't say anything for a bit.]

I'm glad you showed me.

[astrobleme]

Mmm... So I'll hold on to it, then. Just in case. [Shinji doesn't sound particularly happy about that. A little morose. Resigned, maybe. He seems to have an intimate connection to Cassius--believe it or not--but he doesn't want to tell Asuka and have her freak out. The first time he picked up Cassius, his entire being surged with reckless energy; it was like an adrenaline rush through his soul. Very weird. But it really does belong to him.

With a soft sigh, he moves away from the closet, over to his bed. He sits down and then looks down at his sock-covered feet.

Haltingly:]

Want to sleep over?

[interstices]

Really?

[It's an awkward segue. Asuka's felt awkward this whole time, sure. Not going with him to the tree has sort of stuck in her side, even though it was out of no small amount of spite that she'd done it. Showing him her doll, being shown Cassius... it's a lot to take in.]

Yeah.

[astrobleme]

Really.

[To be perfectly honest, Shinji regrets how he didn't insist on accompanying Asuka to the tree. He wants to ask about the person she had to hold hands with--but he's afraid of the answer. It kind of makes him feel sick. And, maybe, he's feeling jealous. She shared her heart with somebody else...

He beckons her closer, then closer still. As soon as she's within range, he's uncharacteristically bold in reaching out and placing a hand on her hip. It isn't skin-on-skin contact, but it's better than separation. It's solid. Real.]

Hey, can I ask you something?

[interstices]

[Asuka looks just slightly startled when he puts his hand on her hip, but she doesn't pull away. It's not like Shinji at all. It's teetering towards-- maybe-- maybe-- possessiveness. She'd kind of like it if that's so. It's a bolster she needs after sharing her doll and being shown Cassius. It's a side to him she hasn't really seen.]

Yeah. Go ahead.