004. video + action.

[astrobleme]

Who: Shinji Ikari and you?!
Broadcast: Fleetwide.
Action: Any ship in the Fleet, beginning with the Heron.
When: Throughout the week.

[network.]

[Shinji has felt like total crap for weeks and weeks now, after that unexpected attack on the Fleet's ships... but the curtain of despair suddenly lifts one morning, for no apparent reason at all. He's a little bewildered about feeling okay, if not good, if not great, and he spends the first day catching up on the laundry that he's been neglecting.

But then it kind of maybe spirals out of control. He's filled with determination to clean--not just his own clothes or his own room, but every unwashed pile of clothes and every messy room he comes across. He doesn't really notice his own hyperactivity; he just wants to clean and clean and clean until not a speck of dust or engine grease remains. He sweeps through the Heron, to begin with, and then he branches out...]

Hey, [he says, coming into view on the feed. He's a little blurry at first, with softly glowing lights all around him, which soon resolve into... fireflies?] Have you seen these things yet? They're called cleaning bugs! And they're freaking awesome. The Co'kal made them--they can deep-clean anything, no problem, and... [Shinji is practically ranting and raving about these inventions he found in his quest to clean everything.]

If there's something you need me to clean, let me know, okay? I'll take care of it right away. Or my new friends will.


[action, aboard various ships in the Fleet.]

[Needless to say, Shinji can be found pretty much anywhere in the Fleet, on any crew's ship or the Iskaulit, waging war against uncleanliness. Don't mind him if he decides your kitchen needs a good scrub down, or your bunks, or your bathrooms, or even the engine room. He's constantly accompanied by a halo of cleaning bugs that change colors depending on the amount of dirt nearby.

They may even decide to target a person that they've deemed a little too dirty...]

Comments

action

[interstices]

Shinji!

[It's not that Asuka's always a total mess of a person. For a pretty long time, her room on the Red Fish was bare. It's only over the last few months as she's been buying things (including a small vanity full of cosmetics) that her living quarters has gotten kind of... disorganized.]

[She's not the slob Katsuragi used to be, but she's not much better. Right now, as she watches, appalled, his firefly buddies have lifted out her laundry from its overstuffed bag and are cleaning it right in front of her and Shinji both.]

[They're paying especial attention to her bras and underwear, as she tries to shoo them off (and maybe, if she's lucky, swat one to death.]

Get rid of these damn things!

action

[astrobleme]

[The cleaning bugs are a little more adroit than they seem to be at first glance. Every time Asuka tries to smack them away, they quickly veer off to the side, or towards the floor, or circle around behind her. Clever as heck.]

Asuka. [Shinji sounds exasperated, sure, but in an undeniably good-natured way. He's smiling like he didn't just spend three weeks languishing in bed like a useless lump.] They're just trying to clean your stuff. I mean, if you did the laundry more often, they wouldn't be in here...

[interstices]

I did the laundry a week ago!

[That is most assuredly a lie. Her bag of laundry is about to burst at the seams, and what makes it worse is the fact that there aren't even too many jeans in there. Mostly dresses (many he'd made) and skirts and blouses. She had washed the outfit she'd worn on the invasion in the bathtub, but most everything else is...]

[She reaches for a pair of striped but otherwise nondescript boyshorts currently hovering in the air.]

They're in my underwear, idiot. That's gross!

[astrobleme]

That's weird, it doesn't look like you did it a week ago... [In fact, a few of the cleaning bugs are currently dragging out random orphaned socks from under Asuka's bunk. Shinji sighs loudly, his hands on his hips, as he watches Asuka do battle with the little machines that just want to help her out.]

Hey, if you let them do their thing, I'll give you something good.

[His smile doesn't offer any hints.]

[interstices]

Like what?

[Asuka's only vaguely mollified that they've managed to find some of the socks (all dirty and inside-out) that she'd been looking for from Shinji's present to her. Stockings in a stocking. If nothing else, they've given up on her bras and underwear, and she's clinging onto them as if they're something he hasn't seen fourteen years prior. And later on than that, too.]

If I knew cleaning made you this happy, I would've had you do it earlier.

[astrobleme]

Mm, I don't know why, but I'm just having fun today...

[Cleaning in and of itself shouldn't make Shinji happy. He feels better in a clean, orderly environment, sure, but the physical act of cleaning can be annoying at the best of times. Still, there's no denying that he's in a very good mood right now.]

It's right here.

[He steps closer to Asuka and--kisses her. It's so sudden, almost like he didn't expect it himself, and he giggles afterward. Then he reaches into the pocket of his jacket to retrieve the actual gift: a plastic-wrapped bag of candy.]

I know I haven't been... all that available, lately. So. Here you go.

[interstices]

[Asuka hadn't expected him to be in nearly a good enough mood for a kiss. Ever since the invasion, he's had it rough. She knew it wouldn't last, knew it wouldn't, couldn't be like when they first arrived on the Marsiva, but the distance between them still felt awful, impenetrable. She makes a slight, surprised murmur, cheeks faintly pink, and before she's aware, she's letting go of her undergarments and grabbing the bag of candy instead. The bugs, of course, don't seem to mind.]

Stupid. You didn't need to get me anything.

[astrobleme]

It's not about needing to do it. Just like I didn't need to love you, but I'm doing it anyway. [... which might be one of the lamest things he's ever said, even though he can't stop smiling, really. He should probably leave the attempts at romance to Nagisa Kaworu. There's just something about today that makes Shinji want to proffer his heart.]

Oh, I wanted to show you something else...

[He points at his eyes, red as blood, with more of a knowing smile.]

Watch this.

[Within moments, they aren't red anymore. They're a shimmery blue, like the oceans before Second Impact; he has to concentrate very hard to make this happen. His weeks of seclusion and self-hatred for being an Angel helped him to make an amazing discovery.]

text.

[paraclete]

You were here, right? We must have missed each other. The corridors smell like you, and a lot of citrus.

[Kaworu had idled away from the Vanquish to get some other things done, and upon coming back...]

You know, everything sparkles when I'm with you, but now it seems that happens even if you left a while ago.

[astrobleme]

Check your room.

[Cryptic. But the meaning isn't more than a few steps away: Kaworu's room has received something of a makeover, with everything cleaned and arranged for symmetry, including his many collections. The collection of bouncy rubber balls, for example, has been sorted according to size and color...

There's also a gift on Kaworu's pillow: a plastic-wrapped bag of candy. It's an apology, a small one, for how much of a mess Shinji has been in recent memory.]

[paraclete]

[So, to be straightforward: the sight, by itself, of a pristine and organized room isn't as pleasing to Kaworu as it is to Shinji. Kaworu has no ingrained appreciation for an orderly space, if only because an orderly space was all he knew for a very long time. Innate to him, in fact, is more of a longing for a tumultuous spread of various enjoyable items...

However, this doesn't mean he's without an ingrained appreciation for Shinji's efforts—for Shinji's insight—for everything related to Ikari Shinji. His rubber balls are gathered together in such a way that the appearances of their sparkles or galactic decorations are given peak display. The most striking feature of all this cleanliness, though, might be the arrangement of his clothing. From black to bursting with color, Shinji has created a beautiful gradient. Of course, Kaworu cannot help but feel hot-faced when he imagines his own clothing being washed by Shinji's diligent hands.

Finally, the candy. The heat in Kaworu's cheeks doesn't leave, because he's turning a thought over and over within himself: Shinji pays attention to what he likes. The bag of candy is the exact type of fruity, sour, colorful thing which Kaworu most enjoys. He almost doesn't want to eat it for his gratitude. Then again, more than once has he wanted to chew a little on the colorful watch he still wears all the time. Shinji is always doing amazing things to Kaworu's teeth.]

You're good at this. I wouldn't have thought about all these things.

Should I save the candy for us to share? But I know I'll be thinking of you with my mouth full.

[astrobleme]

[Sifting through Kaworu's collection of clothes was probably the best part. Maybe it's a weird thing to think, but Kaworu's wardrobe is just tangible proof that he has an actual life in the Fleet. Kaworu doesn't have to stay constrained to a school uniform; he can express himself however he wants to, in every color imaginable.

Admittedly, Shinji got pretty warm face when he picked up a tiny pair of shorts that would obviously show off Kaworu's thighs. And there were a couple flowing garments, more like a dress than a shirt, that were really intriguing and embarrassing at the same time...]

You don't have to wait for me, Kaworu-kun. I want you to have it. But you should tell me how good it tastes and what you're thinking about.

[Being in a good mood makes it so much easier to be in love. It's crazy.]

[paraclete]

I can tell you what I'm thinking about, if I want to hear it. Just looking at the package, I already think of you. Waiting to open it up gives me the barest fraction of what I feel when I'm waiting to see you. And its colors are wonderful, they make me quite glad, but I'm more inclined to think about the colors of your eyes, and of your cheeks when you're happy or shy.

[astrobleme]

[Oh...]

I don't know what happened but I'm in a really good mood today. Like really, really good. I have to take care of some more cleaning but then I want to spend time with you. There's something I want to show you. It's a good something. Really good. Can you guess what it is?

[paraclete]

You're so dutiful. And when you're fastidious, it's the kind that makes me happy, not the kind that doesn't.

If you're showing it to me, I know it's really good. I wonder what it is. Did you paint your fingernails?

[The first thing to come into Kaworu's mind was a combination of color and anything attached to Shinji. Perhaps predictable.]

[astrobleme]

I didn't paint my fingernails, but you're kind of on the right track...

video;

[willynilly]

Ahhh, they're really pretty! And they clean, too!? Do you think they'd cooperate with the maintenance bots?

[She does so love her little cleaning robots, but there are some small spaces they don't reach well.]

video;

[astrobleme]

Yeah, they're great at cleaning things! I didn't really think they would be, at first, but they got started as soon as I let them go in my room. [Shinji is legit excited about these cleaning bugs.]

I'm not sure about the maintenance bots, but they do respond to verbal cues, so... [He points off-screen at something.] Like this: "Go pick up those socks." [Right on cue, the cleaning bugs spiral away and retrieve the socks for him. They're plain white and boring.] So if I told them to work with the bots, I bet they would.

video;

[willynilly]

Amazing... I'd be more worried about the bots not working with the bugs, though. They catch bugs and rats on the ship... maybe if you tell the bugs to avoid getting in the way?

[She'd hate for his new friends to get squished.]

[astrobleme]

I'm willing to try that... [He waves the cleaning bugs back over to him. They're twinkling curiously.] The bots only move around on the ground, right? So as long as the cleaning bugs don't hang out down there, it should be okay, I think?

[willynilly]

Oh, that's a good idea! Yeah, I think that would be fine. We should have a cleaning party!

[Cleaning isn't fun, but, uh. All things are better with company!? Or something.]

[astrobleme]

[Judging by Shinji's widening eyes, this so-called cleaning party is...]

That is the best idea ever. I could bring the cleaning bugs over to your ship?

[Later on, he'll probably be embarrassed to death for being so freaking dorky in front of a girl, but right now the glitches are glossing over his sensibilities.]

[willynilly]

[Meanwhile to her this seems like a perfectly reasonable reaction to have. A cleaning party is a cheap and efficient way to spend one's time without spending money! Who wouldn't love it!?]

Sounds wonderful! Are they good with cleaning up in the kitchen? I bet there's plenty of places for dirt to hide there.

[Action]

[stabsbothways]

[ What the Maker??

Suddenly she's being swarmed by things. What has she done to deserve this except never ever bathe??? She's swatting the things away as fast as she can, getting irritated fast. ]

[astrobleme]

[Oh wow. The cleaning bugs are going nuts with their newest target. Shinji hasn't seen anything as impressive as this disinfecting frenzy.]

It's okay! I promise! They're just trying to help--

[He's actually smiling, bright-eyed, on the verge of laughter. He looks almost nothing like the frightened child who cried over spilled blood more than a month ago.]