2023-07-13: Pregnancy Parfait
- Log: 2023-07-13 Pregnancy Parfait
- Cast: Shinji Ikari, Kaworu Nagisa, Eight York
- Where: Ra Mari II, Orb Union
- OOC - IC Date: July 13, UC 0097 (2023)
- Summary: After hearing from Ruri that Eight is pregnant, Shinji and Kaworu decide to pay her a visit and give her a little gift.
<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.
Shinji and Kaworu have already checked in on Ruri after the Chaos Jirak incident earlier this month--but Ruri mentioned that Eight is pregnant, and Shinji wanted to congratulate her. They don't know each other very well, but Kaworu's pretty well acquainted with her, and... as long as they're here, it would be good to say hello.
And health is a big concern when someone's pregnant, right? Eating right, and eating for two, and all that. It'd be nice to bring a present... Maybe he could prepare a snack for her? Nothing too big, in case she has any dietary restrictions. Kaworu's happy to assist too, so after getting permission, they head to the kitchen.
From there, Shinji and Kaworu start the hunt for Eight herself. Their first stop is the mess hall--which, well, it's right next to the kitchen, so. From there, it's the lounge, and if she's not there either, they'll get directions to her personal quarters.
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
Shinji and Kaworu have good timing--she was just coming into the mess hall whose kitchen they were using! It's close to the residential block, and accordingly one of her favorite places; simple tables and chairs recall the fact that the 3SA had to get a lot of furniture very quickly to handle the various facilities of the ship, and there are a few people here already.
She's in red and white, rather than being in uniform--she avoid the uniform these days so as not to give the wrong idea, since she is on leave. She has a datapad in one hand, and walks through the sliding door to see--
"Kaworu," she notices immediately, "And..." She thinks. SHe's seen the reports, and heard his voice, so, "Mr. Ikari?"
<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.
As they walk out of the kitchen, Shinji carrying a small tray and cloche, Kaworu spots Eight coming in from another entrance, her attention on her datapad. He greets her with a smile.
"Captain Eight," he replies. "Just who we were looking for."
"Oh! Hi!" Shinji utters, stopping in his tracks to blink at her. "Y-yes, that's me!" He considers saying just Shinji is fine like Misato and Kaworu did with him so easily, but... it still feels too informal.
"I heard from Hoshino-san that you're having a baby," he says instead, offering a smile. "We thought, since we were here, we'd offer you congratulations... and I made you a pregnancy snack, if you don't mind."
He holds up the cloche, careful not to tip the tray. Some quick research on his phone gave him an idea of something simple and refreshing to make, but he still doesn't actually know what Eight likes to eat.
"Hopefully that's okay," he adds.
If it is okay, Shinji will serve Eight a greek yogurt parfait with lots of berries (no strawberries; that's a common allergy), crushed walnuts, and granola: all foods it's apparently good to eat while pregnant. It's not too big, at least.
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
He blinks!! Eight smiles at him hoping to be reassuring, but she doesn't pre-empt him. He can decide how he wants to be addressed. Besides, he has something to say to her. "Oh!" Eight answers and her smile widens. It's obvious by now, of course--well into her second trimester, Eight is very visibly pregnant at this point. "Did you?" she asks. "That's really considerate."
Eight gestures to a small table, that they can sit at, but first she watches Shinji show off what he's made, and...
"Oh!" She looks surprised; she is surprised. "This looks wonderful," she says. "And you just happened to decide to? That's really nice of you."
She moves towards that table after all, "I'll definitely try it. And since you were nice enough to make me something, I'll tell you a secret!"
She sits down, and leans a little over the table once they all have, "I'm actually having twins."
"So are you friends with Ruri too, then?"
<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.
"It's really no big deal. Kaworu-kun and I have to be heading back to Japan soon, and I don't know when we'd be out this way again, so making a little snack felt like the best thing we could do," Shinji says, holding back a little smile.
"We were just out on a bus tour with Ruri-san and Omoikane," Kaworu adds. "Orb is a lovely country."
"Yeah! There were some great fruit stands near the docks, too. I picked up a bunch for souvenirs for our friends back home," Shinji says, a little more lively than before.
The three of them sit down together at a table. Shinji's smile is relieved; it was a big gamble to make something like this, and it paid off. He'd had to actually serve a pregnant woman something she hated...
He blinks widely when Eight tells him she's having twins, though. "Oh! Wow, really? That's incredible! I've never met twins before...!" He offers her a smile. "Congratulations!"
"Congratulations," Kaworu echoes, his smile wholly unsurprised.
"Me? ...I think I'd like to be," Shinji says, smile turning a little shy. "She and Kaworu-kun are good friends, and she reminds me of another friend of ours, so... We ran into each other a few times before, but I don't think we've ever just hung out and talked before. It was nice to get to know her a little better while we were out in the city."
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
Eight seems happy with it; as soon as she has a moment to do so, she picks up her utensil and takes a bite of it. It's hard to eat and talk at the same time, but it would be rude to delay too long... and also she came here becaues she was hungry in the first place. "Mm! The fruit really adds something to it..."
Then she considers that, "I see. Orb is lovely; I've spent a lot more time here than I ever had before. I'm considering taking some leave time here, it might be good for me to have some ground--artificial or otherwise--under my feet for a week or so."
It was a gamble! And souvenirs, "That's really nice."
But of course, Kaworu isn't surprised; he's rarely surprised in her experience. Shinji is fun for that though, "Thank you! You'll get your chance," she says. To meet twins, that is.
"Oh?" Reminds him of someone else... Hmm. "I think that 'wanting to be' is a good start on a friendship, personally. I'm sure the tour was fun. Was there anything in particular that stood out to you?"
nother friend... That piques Eight's curiousity, of course. It shows! But she doesn't pry.
<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.
"I used some of the fruit I bought earlier--there was plenty in the kitchen, but I thought it'd be good to use something fresh, too," Shinji replies. He looks happy, too, at the prospect of getting to meet Eight's twins in the future--but that look turns a little wistful soon enough.
"Are you happy about getting to be a mom?" he wonders. He shakes his head a little. "I mean--you must be, right? Sorry for the weird question."
Fortunately, she has a different topic for him to focus on. "Stood out? Hmm... There was a fountain we passed by that was really nice. It's a really modern city--it reminds me a little of Tokyo-3 if it were out on the water," Shinji replies.
"This nation truly is a testament to mankind's will to shape their surroundings to their liking," Kaworu replies. He's smiling still, so this is probably a compliment.
"The beaches seemed really pretty too. If we had time, it would've been nice to check them out, right, Kaworu-kun?" Shinji smiles at his companion--he is Kaworu of the Seashore, after all.
Kaworu's smile broadens as his eyes squint shut. "Yes. It's been some time since we were at the beach together, hasn't it? Not since last year."
"Yeah... That was a really nice time." Remembering that Eight is right there, Shinji adds quickly, "I used to not be able to swim at all! But Kaworu-kun and our other friend helped me learn to float, and now I can at least get by."
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
"Fresh is nice," Eight allows. "It shows. We can grow some of our own, now, but the quality isn't the same as you get in the sort of soil Orb has." Expensive soil. Eight is very familiar now with how expensive plants and their needs can be...
Wistfully, he looks, and Eight tilts her head. "It's not a strange question," Eight says. "I would't be the first woman to have a child by accident. ...But no; this was intentional. Faster than I expected, but very much intentional. I'm really looking forward to it; being a mother is a dream of mine I've had since I was allowed to have dreams of my own. ...I want to give my children all the things I didn't have, when I was really young. A family. I'm really happy to have the chance. With my background, it was possible I'd have been unable to have my own."
She doesn't want to overwhelm him--but it's a question that's important to her, so she tries to balance the right way to answer.
Then she does let them move on to another topic though. "I like the fountains, too. Snow is old hat for me, growing up in Winter Wonderland, but beaches and fountains... That's new, and different."
Mankind's will to shape their surroundings... "There is a lot of artificiality here, isn't there? It's amazing when we can make our own things that actually work."
It's... nice, to see them talking about the beach. Eight smiles. Then, "Oh, really?" he asks. "That's good, then. It sounds like it's a nice set of memories."
<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.
"Yeah? I only know a little about gardening--I did a little in Tsutsujidai back when--um, back a while ago--so I do know how much difference the soil can make. I bet it helps to have an amazing gardener like Lucine around," Shinji offers. Even if Lucine is technically a member of the Nadesico's crew. She's an ally, so close enough, right?
That smile drains away as Eight starts going into her background vis-a-vis having childre. "Allowed to..." he echoes, as the implications of that phrasing sink in. It's a really happy occasion for her, but there's so much in her past that's fraught, and he only has the barest idea of it... He looks down at her swelling belly.
She wants these children so much. Was his own mother like that...?
"U-um, I hope everything turns out fine, in that case," he offers, because he has no idea what else to say.
At least there's talk about the city, and the beaches, and past beach visits. Eight seems really nice--like Misato, but less of an utter slob--and she's easy to talk to, too. Shinji finds himself quickly taking a shine to her.
"I've never been to Winter Wonderland, myself," he admits. "Is it really what it says on the box? It's a little weird to think someone would give a place a name that's so on-the-nose." Shinji's smile peeks back in. "...It is a nice set of memories. It'd be nice if we could take another trip like that again."
"It would," Kaworu agrees. "Since we went to the beach last year, perhaps we could arrange a trip up into the mountains?"
Shinji perks a bit. "That sounds good. We could go stargazing!" He pauses, then looks at Eight. "Do you like stargazing? Or is that sort of... boring, for you?"
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
"Lucine actually helped us set up! And of course a number of others; it was a large effort." Close enough!
But Eight smiles. She makes no secret of her background--can't really, since it all came out, and still goes by a name like Eight--but doesn't explain exactly what she means, either. As he looks down, she glances down, too.
Then, "Thank you. I hope so, too! I have a lot of people looking out for me, at least."
Eight likes seeming nice, at least; she prefers to be, when she can. Of course, some situations require otherwise... But why would that need to be the case with Shinji and Kaworu?
"It's exactly what it says on the box," Eight says with a laugh. "It's a tourist trap. I know more ways to make hot chocolate than you can probably imagine, and I can wish people happy winter holidays in probably twelve languages."
Then she looks between the two of them. They really do get along well, don't they?
"You should," she agrees, and that's as nosy as she's going to be. But, "I do! Well, I guess it's fairer to say that I like the sort of togetherness you get when you go out stargazing with friends; the stars themselves sometimes I forget about, in the wake of that. But it's not boring; quite the opposite, we can see more of them up in the colonies."
<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.
"It really did help, then," Shinji concludes of Lucine. It figures; she loves plants so much. He wonders why... has he ever really asked her about it? Then again, sometimes people just like what they like.
"...That's good. Yeah, you've got an entire crew to look after you, and your babies when they come." Shinji looks down at his hands. "...They'll be really lucky when they're born. They're already so loved..."
Kaworu gazes at him levelly, a tinge of empathetic melancholy in his eyes. Still, he doesn't remark on that, and Shinji doesn't extrapolate any more than Eight does.
Right, this isn't how a conversation should go, right? Besides, they came here to congratulate Eight, not bog her down. Shinji forces his smile a bit as he looks back up at her, but it doesn't stay forced for long. "Really? If you've got any good recipes for hot chocolate, I'd love to have them. Probably not right this second, but--I could give you my contact info, if that's okay?"
Twelve languages' worth of Happy Holidays, though. That's kind of incredible...
"Stargazing with friends is indeed wonderful," Kaworu remarks, resting his chin on one hand as he smiles fondly at Shinji. "There's something about it that's special--different from stargazing alone. But perhaps the same could be said of anything done with someone dear to you."
This brings out a fully sincere smile from Shinji as he meets Kaworu's eyes. "We should definitely do that, then. Misato-san will probably be busy for a while, but... maybe we could get away with a weekend trip with Ayanami and the others?"
Honestly, it's a stretch to think that all five Evangelion pilots could be allowed to go on a trip with an Angel at large... but hope springs eternal. Kaworu doesn't countermand him.
"The view must be incredible from out in space," Shinji agrees, though, looking back at Eight. "I've been up a few times to Orbit Base and on a few different missions, but I'm always so caught up in what I'm doing that I've never really had a chance to just look."
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
It did!
"I do. I should introduce you to my fiance, too. I think you'd like him." He's particularly relevant in terms of people to look after her, of course. And Eight notices that melancholy in Kaworu... And the seeming wistfulness in Shinji. She knows that not every child gets the love she's hoping to give hers.
But they don't seem to want to talk about that, so she won't force them. Instead, "I can definitely get those for you. Sure; I'll take it. It would be nice to hear from you again."
Kaworu's remark is very Kaworu, Eight thinks. "I think you're right. It's special itself... but so are a lot of other things."
Shinji and Kaworu... Yes. Eight can see this. Though she wonders if Kaworu wouldn't rather the other pilots didn't come along necessarily..
"I hope you can!" Eight says and then nods. "of course, it depends on where your orbit is; some are more cluttered than others. But it really is something. Earth has its own benefits, but... being out in space is... Different." Good different, she thinks. "I hope you get a chance to just look, sometime. It's key to make the time--it's hard, but if you don't, other people will take up all of yours with their own business."
"...Ah, you didn't ask 'how', just said it would be nice to do it. I hope you can!"
<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.
"That'd be nice. We can't stay a ton longer--our transport's waiting on us--but if he's around, we could at least say hello," Shinji replies. "If not now, maybe whenever we next meet?"
Shinji's not big on meeting new people... but Eight seems so nice that if she thinks he'd like him, he thinks he probably will.
"If you call for him now, I'm sure we'd at least have a moment," Kaworu suggests. "Even if it had to be on the way out."
Shinji pulls out his phone. It'll only take a moment to trade contact info with Eight--and it strikes him as strange that he's able to do this so casually, even after almost two years of living with Misato--and he'll tuck it away afterwards. Hot chocolate isn't something he's ever had before, but he's heard of it, and he's looking forward to making it. He's done a lot of cooking, but not a lot of drink-making (tea and coffee doesn't count, in his mind). Even if it's the wrong season for it, it ought to be fun.
"Yes," Kaworu agrees. Whether he'd prefer if it were just him and Shinji or not, he doesn't remark. As for star-gazing in space: "Another key is to ensure you're in the shadow of a celestial body. If you're in view of the Sun, it will outshine the other stars, just as it does on Earth."
"Oh--really? That makes sense--I never thought of that. Maybe that's why I never noticed any other stars..." Shinji muses. He shakes his head a bit at Eight and adds, "No, no, I appreciate the tips! I like stargazing, so I really would love to see the view from space sometime."
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
"I was going to meet up with him soon with his shift ending," Eight reflects. "So I think there is time to at least say 'hello'!" It's easy to like Lavnadim, luckily. "I'll mention it while I've got my phone out." First, trade info with Shinji; then, fire off a message to her fiance.
She continues in on the delicious snack for now, and then continues, "That is important. And obviously you don't want to look too closely at the Su..."
He never noticed the stars because of the one big one in front of him? There's something to that, Eight thinks.
"Then sometime, for sure." A beat, "But thank you. I appreciate the congratulations, and it turns out that this is exactly what I was hungry for..."