2023-10-10: Unfamiliar Ceiling (Arranged)
- Log: 2023-10-10 Unfamiliar Ceiling (Arranged)
- Cast: Eight York, Neon Genesis Junior High Students, Shinji Ikari
- Where: The Ra Mari II, Magallanica
- OOC - IC Date: October 10, UC 0097 (2023)
- Summary: Shinji, with nowhere else to go, comes to the Ra Mari II, courtesy of Eight and Calibur.
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
The Ra Mari II at the moment is largely between Magallanica and Orb, as needed; those two ports are where it rests between patrols of the area. Right now, it's closer to Magallanica, docked at the Colony Builder... and its own hangars are bustling.
The hangars of the RMII are zero or low gravity in space, full of mobile suits and enginers and parts and people doing the work to keep it all busy. There's crewmen who can handle the arrival of various shuttles or ships or mobile suits, and the whole thing is very organized.
The starboard hangar is where Eight is today, because she knows someone's coming--technically, she's in a small room just off the hangar, seated because she's not going to be standing up waiting in her condition. She has a tablet where she's looking over a few matters.
The hangar is waiting!
<Pose Tracker> Neon Genesis Junior High Students has posed.
"C--captain York is a good woman."
Samurai Calibur has been quiet for much of his journey with Shinji, choosing to speak rarely, except in response to the young man. As their shuttle approaches the massive shape of Magallanica at last, the Hyper Agent speaks up.
"W--we have fought by her side on several occasions. A--and, she is not afraid to go against the powers that be in order to do the right thing."
This commentary is offered, free of visible or audible emotion. Just a fun fact, perhaps, for Shinji's sake. As ever, Calibur is dressed in an immaculate suit -- unwrinkled and pristine despite his terrible posture. Three swords are sheathed against his back. Oddly, no one in any of the spaceports they visited seemed to have an issue with the weaponry.
Approaching Shinji (despite the warning lights instructing passengers to stay seated), Calibur places a backpack in the young man's lap.
"O--open that when you're settled. I--it's a gift." Calibur looks out the window. The Ra Mari II is beautiful against the darkness of space in its vibrant red paint job.
Falling silent again, the Samurai stands close to Shinji as they disembark. There's a protectiveness in the gesture, perhaps familiar to the way Calibur and his comrades used to gather around Gridman's human form. The crowd easily parts around the Hyper Agent, making the path from disembarking to meeting Eight a short one.
Just before they reach the Captain, Calibur places a hand on Shinji's shoulder. Serious blue eyes search the young man's, looking for something Calibur can't verbalize.
"S--shinji. T--the path to healing is long. I--it is easier with people by your side." The Hyper Agent murmurs. "Y--you don't need to tell them everything. J--just let your heart stay open."
With that, Calibur gives Shinji a blink-and-you'll-miss-it smile, and begins to move toward Eight again.
"C--captain York. Y--you look well." Calibur inclines his head slightly. "T--thank you for meeting us like this. T--this young man is Shinji."
Shinji's last name, while certainly known to Eight, will be Shinji's choice to reveal.
Calibur's gaze, again, wanders. "H--he is very important to my companions and I. T--there is no one else I would trust more than you and your crew to serve as his companions."
<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.
It's been nearly two weeks since Shinji departed Tokyo-3. He left with a duffel bag of clothes, essentials, and a few sentimental items. That included his passport--but not his phone, or his once-iconic SDAT player. The phone he left with Misato at her place. The SDAT player, he left in the garbage. If someone else picked it up later, that's on them.
Accordingly, it's been almost two weeks since he's showered or bathed. While he has changes of clothing with him, he's had no way to launder them. He's out of clean socks and underwear; his main outfit is the same as the one he left Tokyo-3 in: plain T-shirt, jeans, sneakers, and a black-and-white fleece-lined hoodie, the front white with black letters LIGHT SIDE, the back black with white letters DARK SIDE, and a moon emblem on the upper right of each. The main difference from then is that he's also now wearing a baseball cap under his hood so he can better pull down the brim to hide his face as needed.
He's run out of money since then, too. He didn't have much in the first place, and being dishonorably discharged from NERV, it's not like he got any severance pay. Beyond that, he's only sixteen and looks younger still. He doesn't have anywhere to go, or at least nowhere he's thought of that he could reach as he is. NERV's Section 2 goons are no doubt keeping him under surveillance, like Misato warned him, but he hasn't actually seen any so whatever. He doesn't want to even think about NERV, let alone talk enough about them to spill their secrets. As long as Section 2 doesn't bother him, he doesn't care.
He sure hadn't thought to come to the Ra Mari II. Why go where there would be more mobile suits--more battles? But when Calibur found him, and he insisted he wasn't going to Tsutsujidai--too many NERV connections, too many painful memories--Calibur insisted he take him somewhere. Of all the places he suggested, the Ra Mari II seemed the least offensive.
It's as much that he just didn't want to argue about it anymore as anything else, though.
At present, the brim of his cap hides his eyes, but not his sullen frown or the dirt on his clothes. The truth is, he knows Eight already and doesn't need to be reassured about her, but he never bothered to actually tell Calibur that. Given how even this trip has seen him dragging his feet, it's understandable that Calibur has assumed otherwise.
He says nothing when Calibur tells him Eight is willing to buck authority to do the right thing. He only lifts his head enough to give him a hard stare. He tenses when Calibur approaches, then stares down at the backpack placed on his lap. Then he looks away.
He doesn't refuse the gift, though. And when they disembark, he carries it on his other shoulder, opposite the one with his duffel bag. The lower gravity means he can do so comfortably, though comfort isn't really at the top of his mind right now.
He tenses at the hand on his shoulder, though he at least doesn't shake it off either. Once again, he glares at Calibur as he offers those words of advice and encouragement; the brief shooting-star smile comes and goes, and Shinji doesn't return it. He only pulls the straps of his bags tighter and lowers his gaze, the brim of his cap hiding his eyes. "..."
He doesn't greet Eight once they arrive. He lets Calibur say what he wants. But it's clearly the young man she knows, just as clearly as all trace of the hope and light he'd expressed only almost three weeks ago has been overwritten by a tight bitterness.
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
"Yes," Eight says to her tablet. "They're here." Pause. "...Yes. I agree. it's for the best."
She closes the communication window to the Acting Captain as Calibur and Shinji approach, turning her face towards them and smiling back at Calibur. "You're welcome," she says. Then she nods, and looks to Shinji. "It's good to see you again."
She has, of course, heard what happened...
"I appreciate that, Calibur. We won't let you down."
Then, Eight pushes up out of her seat to stand, coming around the table towards Shinji and Calibur. "Shinji," she says. "Welcome to the ship. You're welcome here for as long as you're willing to stay."
She pauses, then, and looks him over. He's had a rough time...
"We've arranged a room for you, and a meal plan for the week. There are cafeterias throughout the ship."
"...Speaking of," she says, "We have an opening for an assistant to the kitchen staff. It pays more than enough to earn your keep around here."
She then turns back to Calibur. "Thank you. We'll take care of things from here. If you need anything for your trip home, or if you'd like to stick around for a little while..."
They can arrange it.
"Walk with me, Shinji?"
<Pose Tracker> Neon Genesis Junior High Students has posed.
Shinji's reticence is accepted without concern. Calibur's used to this. Honestly, it's easier for him than having to come up with conversation.
Besides, Shinji has been through terrible, terrible trauma, for far longer than just Rei and Asuka's loss. Max instructed Calibur to ensure NERV did not harm any other children, and Shinji was Calibur's top priority in that regard.
"T--thank you, Captain." Calibur mumbles. Ah, so Eight and Shinji already knew each other? Well, if Shinji didn't want to talk to Calibur about that, he had his reasons. Calibur doesn't mind.
At Eight's invitation, the Hyper Agent takes a long look around the hangar. NERV has certainly tracked them this far, but are they bold enough to start trouble here? Blue eyes land on the various arrivals to the Ra Mari II. Calibur is quiet for long seconds, weighing his options.
"N--no. I--I must return to the Earth." Calibur says, at last. Yuta, Tsutsujidai... And one final NERV child, all need his protection. "T--thank you once more, Captain York. I--if you need anything at all, please call on me."
Turning once more to Shinji, Calibur looks at him with his sedate, even expression. "S--shinji. I--if this place is not what you need, or want, call on me." A pause, another decision made. "R--remember. Y--you are a being of connection. L--let it be your strength, now that you need it most."
One final nod to Captain York, and Calibur makes his way back to the shuttle. It will be a few hours until it returns to the Earth, but he doesn't mind waiting. He has quite a lot to think about.
That sensation in their last battle against the corrupted Evangelions... A glimmer of Light. Calibur, settled in the empty shuttle, looks to Shinji once more. Are these children akin to Hyper Agents, changed through the horrifying machines they pilot?
"Mmm." Calibur grunts to himself.
What else could explain the Light he sensed?
<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.
It's good to see you again, Eight says, and Shinji's frown pulls down harder. Still, he doesn't speak. He may or may not have lashed out at Calibur earlier, but it's harder to lash out at a pregnant woman who's never been anything but nice to him.
...but it is hard. It's hard to just--be brought somewhere, and be told that everything is fine and he's welcome to stay, when nothing is fine and he hasn't been welcome anywhere for the past week and a half. (Of course, Shinji didn't try to find a place where he'd be welcome, either. But he isn't thinking like that right now.)
His shadowed glower ticks over to Calibur. "mmph," he mumbles, looking away. He hasn't bothered to tell Calibur he no longer has a phone, but it's not like he couldn't hear directly from Eight about anything. (And never mind that Calibur literally JUST told him to encourage him if he wants to leave.) Perhaps Shinji will roam back around before Calibur's shuttle takes off, but... right now, he's not planning it.
As for Section 2, they still won't interfere with either Shinji or Calibur. There's no reason to approach directly, and anyway, at this point, it'd be difficult even for them to have an actual physical presence on a non-Federation area.
Shinji shoots Eight a surprised stare when she tells him there's a room, a meal plan, and even an offer of a job. A wretched grimace twists his mouth, and he hangs his head, cap brim hiding his eyes. "..."
At last, Eight encourages Shinji to walk with her. He hitches up the straps of his bags and does so without a word.
It's only after they're well into said walk that he finally mumbles, "Why're you going out of your way for me? You could get in trouble if you let me stay here."
Clearly he didn't believe what Calibur said earlier. But maybe he just needs to hear it from her directly.
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
Eight isn't expecting much response; from what she's heard, things are pretty bad for Shinji right now. She can tell it's hard; she doesn't have to be psychic to know that much. And when that glower tricks over to Calibur, Eight nods to him again. "The Earth has a lot of needs," Eight says. "But you're welcome. Call on me again if there's something else I can help with."
A being of connection... Hmm.
Enba Rezza is handling the matter of Section 2 at the moment, should they inquire anything as regards the ship. the Acting Captain has that authority.
His surprise doesn't faze her.
"It's the right thing to do," Eight says simply. "Besides, I'm not afraid of a little Federation trouble. ...But if you want the truth, it's a little more than that. It's a little more than just that you're a nice acquiantance and I'd like to do something for a friend of Kaworu's, who is a friend of mine."
"I'll explain. When I was younger than you, i was fighting for Axis Zeon. I was part of an experimental project to create Newtypes, in order to win the war. They thought it was vital, vital enough to do away with ethics in pursuit of victory."
"...I've never liked sending people as young as you against things like the Angels. Now that I hear that they're just discarding you? That's worse."
"Finding a place for pilots who have been chewed up by the world's wars... This is one of our hopes, in the Alliance. So I'm just acting according to my principles."
She continues down the way; by this point they're close enough that they're almost at the internal tram.
"This way. Would you rather get something to eat, or go get yourself a shower first? I'll take you either to the nearest cafeteria or to your quarters. We'll ahve time to talk on the way."
<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.
Shinji doesn't feel like a being of connection. But Mari said something like that too. No doubt Kaworu would if he hadn't been exiled to the Moon and beyond. Even if he can't accept it right now, he can at least not actively reject it. That's both the least and the best he can do.
Section 2 will no doubt send in an inquiry. They won't be friendly, but they'll at least not be rude. Once they have confirmation about Shinji's status, they'll leave it at that. The Ra Mari II is technically outside their jurisdiction, but as long as they know the situation, they can observe from afar--and it's not like they're going to clue the acting captain in that Shinji has knowledge on private intel.
Shinji himself listens to Eight. He didn't know this part of her past, and he actually looks up at her, something flickering in his eyes. An experimental project... He doesn't know that NERV went that far too, but he definitely knows his father's cold attitude towards both the Evas and their pilots--despite his obsession with Unit-01 in particular.
It's reassuring to know that Eight agrees with him, though. It's not enough to bring a smile to his face, and in fact he lowers his gaze, but... he does accept this answer.
"...I'd like to drop my stuff off first. If that's okay," he murmurs, the last bit reflexive. Obviously it's okay; Eight's going to a lot of trouble for him. "The rest... whatever's convenient for you. I guess."
His stomach growls then, as if to punctuate this statement. He clearly could use a shower too, but he'd also need to get his clothes washed, and that'd mean he'd have to wait that much longer to eat.
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
Rezza can handle that. They're negotiating with the Federation, so they won't stonewall them; if all they want to know is his status, they can have that. If they want more... They'll find Rezza to be pretty savvy.
As for Eight, she notices that 'something', and inclines her head in acknowledgement.
"That's fine," she says of dropping his stuff off. "Then, we'll get something to eat." Eight can handle Shinji being shower-overdue for the moment. She can tell he's hungry, anyway. So that's good enough for now.
"...For me," she says, continuing her story, "I was rescued. The Yorks took me away from the lab, and I got to grow up with an ordinary life, more or less. I had to hide a few things, but I still got to grow up."
"...And then I chose to join the military. But it was my choice. That made the difference."
She accompanies Shinji into the tram, and can't entirely hide the slight sigh at getting off her feet. Then she looks at him wryly. "Don't worry about me," she says. "The doc says getting out and around the ship is good for me. It's a little uncomfortable, but it's what the doctor ordered."
She directs, "Residential block A, please."
<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.
"Mm." Shinji's sure not going to disagree with going to get something to eat. He clutches his stomach, grimacing again. He feels gross, both physically and emotionally, but an empty stomach is hard to ignore.
It's not so loud that he can't listen to Eight, though. His lips thin as he looks away.
Tabby Cat, Vanilla Bean, the Princess... they all made their choices. Remember that. Respect that. So Mari had told him, warning him not to take on more burden than actually belongs to him. But at the same time, he still doesn't understand why all of them were so--maybe not eager for Rei and Kaworu, but willing to fight. Even Eight is saying she chose to join the military.
He looks up at her again. "...Why?" he thus asks. "After being put through so many awful things... why would you want to go back to that?"
He flinches a little at her little sigh, expressed in the twitch of his hand like he knows he ought to offer her something or do something for her but he doesn't know what. When she tells him not to worry, he looks away again, shame rising up like bile.
'They all made their choices...
"If you say so," he mumbles.
He falls silent when the tram moves to residential block A. He'll follow Eight to wherever his room is supposed to be, too, and drop off his duffel bag and backpack in the nearest corner inside. After that, he tucks his hands inside his hoodie's pockets. As smudged and stained as it is, it's clearly well-made--it looks, and is, incredibly soft and warm. He might be hungry and dirty, but at least he hasn't been cold.
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
Eight is not-so-mysteriously sympathetic to hunger these days.
She notices he looks away, but it's important to say it. The willingness--the difference that the choice makes.
Eight smiles, when he asks. "...I joined up for a girl," Eight admits. "Rena Lancaster, the head of our mobile suit wing. My other partner, besides Lavnadim." She pauses. "But after I was here, I found the structure was good for me, and I enjoyed the chance to do some good. ...And then, when I found I wasn't doing so much good after all, well. That's how my part of the Alliance happened."
"It's completely different, when you go for your own choice. When you go in as a 'person', not as a tool. And I was lucky enough to have good commanders who taught me well."
But his flinch--he mumbles, and Eight smiles. "I do say so."
Eight leads the way to that room--it's not far from the tram, as it happens--and then towards the residential cafeteria. It'll take a minute or so to get there.
"...Here we are. I'll get us a table, if you don't mind getting me something, too. Whatever you're getting is fine. I'm not feeling picky today."
She's glad he has the warm hoodie, at least.
<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.
For a girl. The name sounds familiar, and Shinji doesn't have to think hard to remember where he's heard it. Where else? Eight's baby shower. Rena was that girl who gave her that macronizable plushie for the twins. The news that she's Eight's other partner gets more of a reaction, a startled, "Oh."
But that's it. Shinji's already used to the concept of polyamory thanks to Kaworu, Gridman, and Rei. If anything, his expression sets with a fresh layer of misery at the reminder.
"I still don't get it," he mumbles. "But it doesn't matter."
It's only after he's dropped off his things and followed Eight to the cafeteria that he connects a pair of dots, and he eyeballs her with faint suspicion. "...This is a ship that gets into fights. If I stay here, I'll get caught up in fighting again."
His delivery is flat, almost accusatory. He doesn't think Eight seems like that kind of person. She's a friend of Kaworu's, too, and Kaworu wouldn't befriend a bad person, he thinks. But she isn't just offering him a room. She's also offering him a job. A job on a battleship.
Mari kept calling his departure the beginning of a journey, but is this really the journey he wants?
Either way, he nods once at the talk of tables and food. Him getting them both food while she gets a table seems fair. "Same," he murmurs. "I'll just get whatever they have."
He'll do that, too--two trays of whatever's first on the menu. Balancing them both will be a little tricky, but he manages. Once he starts eating, he'll find it very difficult to stop--his hunger flaring up once satiation becomes possible.
Eventually, he'll be able to pause long enough to murmur, "Did you hear about Kaworu-kun?"
If she didn't... she's a friend of his. She deserves to know.
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
Eight could elaborate more on her relationship, but with that miserable expression, she decides to move on, instead. He says it doesn't matter, but, "It's fine if you don't get it. Maybe you will eventually. And maybe not."
But he connects the dots. That suspicion... that flat delivery.
"I didn't offer you a job as a pilot," Eight points out. "...But it's true that the ship goes into combat. When that happens, the civilians--and me, right now--we have to deal with waiting through the fight, trusting the crew to protect us. You'll have to do the same."
"...But if you're worried that this is a way of sneaking you onto my combat roster, it's not."
Eight sits at the table once they're there; the menu is good, but neither of them is paying much attention to it at the moment, so there's no need to worry about it.
"Kaworu?" she wonders. "What about him?" A little fear grips her, for a moment; he can probably see the brief tension in her expression.
"Is he all right?"
She knows that two other Eva pilots... aren't.
<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.
Probably not. But Shinji doesn't say so. It doesn't matter, after all. He's not going to ever fight again.
And Eight's reassurance that that's not her intention either... isn't unwelcome, but it does get a huff of a bitter, joyless laugh from him. "...yeah, of course not," he concedes. "I'm no good as a pilot, anyway. You wouldn't want me in a mobile suit unless you had absolutely no other choice."
Which is of course why he ever got in the Evangelion in the first place--and why he'll never get in one again.
For now, he eats, and she eats, and there is quiet. Eventually, he brings up Kaworu. Sure enough, Eight hasn't heard.
"I don't know. He talked back to--" his voice hitches before he can say my father; he instead says, "--Commander Ikari. So he sent him to the brig, and then to the Moon, and then to the Jupiter expedition with GGG to deal with the King of Ruin."
He pauses. There's a choked tightness when he eventually continues, "I don't know if any of them are ever coming back."
Maybe it's better if they don't, a part of him thinks. Maybe it's for the best if the so-called Apostles of Ruin get rid of all life after all.
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
"Volunteers only here in any case. We may run like a military, but officially, we're not."
She's not going to touch whether he's a good pilot or not; arguing with a boy about his depression is a fool's errand. But she does eat, at least; the soda she has is probably the most notable part of the meal for her.
That, and the conversation.
"...I see." Eight frowns. To the brig, then the Moon, and...
She sees that choked tightness in his voice, and she doesn't reply immediately. Her expression softens. She thinks a moment. "I have people out there on that mission, too," Eight says. "...A couple of them came just before the Train left. They'd missed the shower, but wanted to see us anyway." She pauses. "We can never know what's going to happen in battle. Whether we'll come home alive... or whether the people we care about will."
"But I have faith in Chief Shishioh, and in his people. And if Kaworu is with them, then I believe he'll be of help. ...There's one thing that those of us who can't fight can do, though. And much as I hate it, I can't fight right now myself."
"...We can make sure there's somewhere, someone for the people we care about to come home to. We can do that much, even if nothing else. So don't give up, all right? Even if you can't believe."
<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.
As much as she hates it. Even with two lives growing inside her, on the verge of coming out, Eight all but says she wants to fight. It's not new information, but Shinji really doesn't understand it at all.
So he doesn't try. Even with food in him now, he's just too exhausted to make sense of it. It's enough that she won't make him fight instead.
He hadn't known that Eight has people on that mission, though, and Shinji lifts his head a bit, eyes shadowed but visible under the brim of his cap. "..."
Right. There's always a chance one might die in battle. He knew that intellectually from the very start. But it's never hit dead center before--not until Rei... until Asuka...
He ducks his head, gritting his teeth. Guy Shishioh didn't save Asuka or Rei--but that's not fair. That's his own fault. That's his father's fault. And Kaworu...
You're making a mistake, he'd said that fateful day.
I, too, made a mistake, he'd said later, when it was just the two of them.
Had he known...? How could he have possibly known? It's a question that's plagued Shinji ever since the Twelfth Angel appeared. He has no way of knowing the answer. All he can do is hope--pray--have faith--that Kaworu will return. Even though his heart is in no condition to do any of those things.
But he can think about him. Like he told Kaworu he would be. And Kaworu had told him in return--
I'll be thinking about you, too.
"...mm," Shinji mumbles when Eight urges him not to give up. "I made a promise, anyway. And Makinami-san promised me back." His sudden smile is pained; grieved; lonely. "...that Kaworu-kun won't be alone."
That smile fades. He bows his head. "...so I guess I have no choice."
At the very least, waiting for Kaworu to return will give him something to cling to.
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
Eight listens, and waits. She says what she believes, but she won't force it on him. She worries, though. Maybe it's the hormones in part, but she feels all the more protective of Shinji knowing that his father cast him out.
"A promise," Eight repeats. "...Good. It's important to keep your promises." She sees the smile, even though it's one of pain. Kaworu...
"...And that's a good one, I think."
Eight won't press him much more in conversation, for now. She considers what else she can do...
But maybe not much more, today. "That's something."
<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.
It's the promise that Mari made him, rather than the one he made Mari--but that's honestly all Shinji cares about right now. He doesn't really know if he can carry out his end of the bargain. But he'll at least try. Eventually.
Right now he's a little busy picking up the pieces of his broken life.
As for Eight, arguably she's done far more than might be reasonably expected of anyone. She's offered Shinji a place to stay, meals to eat, a job to do... As bleak as Shinji is right now, emotional recovery is a lot likelier for him now that he has attained a new stability, and a life far away from NERV and the Evangelions. He'll be able to reassess what matters to him and what he wants to do.
For now, though, he finishes his meal. He bows in silent gratitude to Eight. He gets a shower, gets his clothes laundered, possibly wanders around in borrowed clean clothes while they wash and talks to a certain someone, and eventually settles in on his new bed.
He stares bleakly up from atop that bed.
"Another unfamiliar ceiling," he mumbles to himself.