2023-01-04: Salvage/Wreckage

• Log: 2022-01-04: Salvage/Wreckage
• Cast: Asuka Shikinami Langley, Sayla Mass
• Where: Sugamo Shopping Center, Tsutsujidai
• OOC - IC Date: 3 January 0097
• Summary: Some adults don't know when to dig up.

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<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.

Evangelion Unit-02 steps down a ruined street, where Taurus units decimated the block. There's few people present, just a few people foraging, or looting - but it's careful not to step upon them. The Eva's head suddenly snaps down to look at a place in particular that still has a light on inside then... gently, kneels down.

With an enormous hand, it takes a giant piece of rubble, and moves it. Then another, which it stacks in the alley beside it. It continues this ponderously, but with the ease of someone rooting through garbage.

It keeps going until the storefront is relatively clear. There's then a call on the Evangelion's Loudspeakers as it pivots subtly on its knees towards the hospital. "<Hey! Need a team from rationing and logistics down at Sugamo Shopping Center - Family Cosmos Mart.>"

The Entry plug then unscrews out form the back of the giant's neck, Asuka leaves the Eva powered on, as she climbs out, hair soaking, and plug suit still dripping with something that smells like blood. Hopping down from its thigh joint, she heads in - ignoring the shelves for now.

She heads straight for the employee only area and...

... walks right up to it with the only object she brought from inside her entry plug, a crowbar, which she uses to pop open the hatch, as the cold air suddenly wafts out, she knows she's hit the...

"Jackpot."

... as the door opens to a freezer full of Karaage, hotdogs, fries, and more. It's all perishable, but it'll ease the burden for at least a little while. And combine it with the non perishables that survived the collapse...

Idly Asuka muses how much money it normally costs NERV to keep an Evangelion running and she just mutters, "World's most expensive snack run." She closes the freezer door for now, no sense speeding up the process of the food perishing until they can get there.

Otherwise she then moves to the shelves of the dusty ruined convenience store, picking through the non perishables to see what's still intact and relatively uncrushed.

<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.

        The Yumi Foundation offered their aid to the Tsutsujidai Rescue Team, and Sayla meant it. Even if it meant Sayla had to acquire a truck and transport her herself. Still the location- with the Evangelion towering over it- it's obvious. She's sent Calibur off to run messages, but he'll be back soon enough.

        She parks the truck as close as she can to the entrance to the store, checks the area is clear- again, Evangelion right there makes sure of that- and jumps out to open the back. She's wearing a t-shirt and jeans, before calling out to the store.

        "Sayla Mass, Yumi Foundation! I'm your fill in driver tonight." Which unit was the red one? 02? She moves towards the door- hand in range of her pistol in case she needs it. There's no point doing a concealed carry at the moment- if she's running supply it's better to be seen to be armed. BioNet might pick a slightly easier target.

        She is... a touch surprised to see who she sees in the store. "Miss Langley?" The girl who had been so worried about Ouka under Bujack's spell. The one who gave her the information on the School.

<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.

When the truck pulls up, she's picking off non-perishable items, Japanese brands of chips and tossing them into a pile. Sorting them out from the ones that are burst open and ruined.

Asuka's hair is still damp despite the summer heat having worked its magic in short order, there's still LCL dripping off of her. Even through the scene to debris dust, there's still that iron-like scent of blood. When she looks up at the woman in the T-Shirt and Jeans, there's momentary surprise in her blue eyes.

"Doctor Mass." Asuka doesn't meet her gaze, "Of the Yumi Foundation. Right." She looked her up after all that was over. To her surprise she was a famous OYW Veteran. She knew her exploits in abstract from her schooling - just what White Base is and what it did.

There was little point in memorizing all the names though.

Now that she knows who she is, she could at least respect her accomplishments, but she also knows the Yumi Foundation is exactly the sort of organization that NERV wouldn't want her going near.

Not that NERV could monitor her right now.

"You're not gonna need that." The gun. "This is just for popping locks." Asuka says as she waves the crowbar, "Got a whole freezer full of goods, for some reason the power was still running, lucky find. Figure the hospital has enough cold storage for it all?"

It'd be easy to just say 'Leaving it to you' then jumping into her Eva and taking off. She's uncomfortable, uncomfortable that she shared classified information above Misato's pay grade while she was in that state. Things Asuka herself wasn't supposed to know.

She did take care of Ouka though...

"Figured you'd be at the hospital, caring for kids on some ward rather than hauling goods around." Asuka comments, before she walks towards the freezer, and dropping the crowbar for now, "I'll help you load up, so you can get back to that."

She still hasn't looked at her, not even once, beyond that initial glance.

<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.

        Asuka goes straight to business. Not unexpected, after everything. The tang of blood- or something bloodlike- is never a pleasant smell, but Sayla is well and truly inured to it by now.

        "Good to hear." Sayla responds, relaxing a little. "I've got a runner out checking, but if not we should be able to split it between the Hospital and the high school." Sayla nods. "Good find. If we can slip some comfort food into the ration packs, it'll be good for morale."

        Sayla follows after Asuka, fully intending to help. "Strictly a reserve, there. The hospital has enough staff at the moment, so I'm more useful treating minor problems off site and being on call if someone needs a cover." Sayla's remaining calm, and casual. "The help is appreciated nonetheless."

        Sayla moves for a box, once they're both in the cold room. Somewhere were no one could be listening. "We could talk, if you want." Sayla's voice is low, her tone careful. This is not a casual offer for Asuka, she expects, and she's going to treat it as such. It might be what gets her to say yes.

<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.

"Unlikely there's enough to do it for more than one round, but, it's something." There's no way it's even enough for one round, but there's ways to divide it down further.

"Yeah?" Asuka says to her saying she's strictly a reserve. "Guess that makes you an honorary firefighter too."

One might wonder if she's implying that Sayla's working as a first responder, but instead it's a small joke... if she's taking care of minor problems off site, then she's putting out fires.

Asuka's stacking three boxes up, when Sayla makes her offer. There's a glance out of the corner of her eye again, "What? Because I ran off when Akane messed with my head you think I'll become one of your Yumi kids now? It wasn't some cry for help, she tricked me. Never would have left NERV under normal circumstances - I don't need saving, Doctor Mass."

Despite stopping to talk, she's still got the three boxes stacked up, holding them without even a sign of any strain, "If I were in any other state? I wouldn't have told you the things I did. That was Akane and you-" She says pointedly, apparently annoyed a little, "-taking advantage of me while I was like that."

She could have handled the Ouka situation on her own, her and Renais had Akane let them in her eyes, but she didn't. Thus she's grateful to Sayla anyway for taking care of Ouka, which is perhaps why she's still talking to her, despite the hit to her pride.

"So what's that leave us to talk about? Akane digging herself a deeper hole? The fact that so many morons are banking on the idea of her just finally waking up and accepting kindness?" Asuka snorts lightly, in derision, "Fat chance. Like I told GGG's Captain, if that's the plan, then we have no plan."

There's a momentary pause and... "So dunno what you're hoping to chat about, really?" She is at least talking to her though, not just, blowing her off, or fleeing... so that's something. She must feel a great deal of gratitude towards her to balance out the intense hit Sayla gave her to her pride.

<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.

        "Maybe, but with what the other teams pull up, we might be able to spread it further." It takes her a moment to follow the thinking of Asuka's joke, but she gives a small chuckle.

        "Not in the slightest, if you even had the option." Sayla remains calm- she's met this sort of aggression before. There's a barb there, nonetheless. Asuka's strength is much more than her frame implies. Coordinator of some form, almost certainly.

        Sayla doesn't feel the need to show off by holding up a box. It wouldn't do anything but give her a sore back. "That doesn't surprise me either. You don't strike me as a woman who trusts easily. But for better or worse, I suspect you had a sense of safety." She doesn't bother to argue the point of taking advantage. As far as Sayla's concerned, she did no such thing. But a pointless argument is a pointless argument.

        "I'd say there is no plan regardless. We've got to get through the day to day of survival before we can make any other calls. Guy's a dealer in bravery and hope- and for lots of people they're a survival need as much as food. Take it from someone who's spent a lot of time in disasters like this. Not everyone does, though. Some people have their own drives."

        It's now she picks up a box, signalling that they could move on... if Asuka doesn't like the options presented. "Well. We could talk about story some likeminded friends told me, if that still interests you." Sayla's pretty straightforward. "Or... you could talk about what a certain kaiju did with a target that it failed to bring back." She starts to walk. "Or we could talk about hobbies. God knows I need one."

<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.

Asuka's aggression right now is, more subdued than usual as of late. It's not the white hot fire that jabbed into Sayla's skull that night Anti tore the sky open. It's present, it's there, but...

There's a raised eyebrow, and a challenge at Sayla's words nevertheless. "I don't." Trust easily. And she definitely feels like her trust has been violated.

She thought NERV was going to dispose of her when she got back, for that - for being susceptible to this in the first place. The only reason she didn't is...

... well she knows why.

Nevertheless, she listens, trying not to think of the card she has stuffed in her plugsuit when she invokes Guy.

Or how Guy said that he failed her, by leaving it all to Kaworu, because he didn't know how to deal with her. She's not certain how to assess that bravery and hope he can offer to her own situation.

Sayla lays out the options though, picking up a box, and Asuka keeps staring at her, all three options, while she holds the three boxes. Her arms still aren't showing signs of strain. "Gamer. Gymnast. Violinist." She answers when it comes to hobbies, its terse, but it's an answer.

"Feh." She makes a noise of frustration, and puts down the boxes, "It gets hot in that entry plug anyway." As if she were giving an excuse to stay in the freezers, "Sure. Why not story time? Sounds like you've got two there."

Leaning against a side a part of the racks in the freezer that sports nothing of consequence, she crosses her arms. Sayla at least has her curiosity... for now.

<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.

        Sayla's willing to get a feel for Asuka as she thinks. Or tries not to think of things. Sayla smirks. "Interesting mix. Meanwhile I can barely remember how to do the... flareball? Thing in Kanji Fighter." She's expecting that to be the cue to leave, but seeing Asuka put the boxes down, Sayla puts her down. They'll stay cold a while longer- and it does give Asuka the safety net of *Sayla* getting cold.

        "Sure. Let's start with the one my friends told me. They were chasing this guy through a warehouse district- they know the one he's hiding out. Turns out the place has been completely cleared out, and they thought they'd got there too late." Sayla is keeping the tone of a story. A little too bed time story, but better than an afterdinner speech.

        "Seems like a dead end, but these friends of mine are real stubborn types. Worked out they got to take their time leaving. Turns out someone working there had a favourite spot to smoke on the job- and they must have kept it a secret from their boss because no one cleaned up."

        It seems like such an anticlimactic story. "DNA databases are hit and miss. I have to rely on them far too often in my line of work. It's much easier to reunite family, for example, if someone's federation staff. And you would be amazed what a spender can do with that if they know what they're doing. And my friends have helped me find some very good spenders in the past. Professional necessity."

        Sayla doesn't lean against a wall, because she's in a t-shirt and not a plugsuit, so she simply looks to Asuka. "So, was that a story worth your time, or shall I move on to story number 2?"

        She's not eager for story number 2, but she has to rely on unusual sources.

<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.

Asuka glances out of her periphery as she talks about Kanji Fighter and the Flareball. She doesn't correct her on the attack name, "Read once that surgeons game to improve hand eye coordination."

It might sound like she's talking about some headline from some attention grabbing article but then she adds, "Peer review was conducted pretty well. You might have a winner there."

Is she actually suggesting that she should take up gaming as a hobby? Well why not.

Sayla talks about a warehouse, and Asuka hardly reacts. If Sayla's looking close, she might notice that some part of her is far away, in just the way her azure eyes tilt to the floor.

Like she's remembering something horrible. She's still listening, hanging onto every word, her brain can parallel process too efficiently for its own good sometimes.

"You know, Treize Khushrenada told me a story too about the same subject. Said actions speak louder than words, so to watch him." Asuka says idly, "Told him that anyone would have to be real stupid to take their eyes off him."

A beat, "Ninety thousand, three hundred and seventeen by the way. Number is probably way higher by now. You'd think a man who keeps track of his own kill count would keep his word. So far though?"

Asuka's eyes fasten to Sayla in this moment, "Just words."

There's a distinct pause, before she notes, "Let's hear number two."

<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.

        "I'm amazed they can find the time," Sayla says, with a tired little laugh. "I'll take it on board, if I can find anyone who can tolerate my skill level." Still, Asuka's story causes her to fall silent for a bit.

        "You're right, they would- unless he was the distraction." Sayla's mouth turns down in distaste. "Or unless they had someone to watch him on their behalf." Asuka's calm comment of Treize's kill count, however, elicits something else. A flare of anger.

        "I don't recall Colonel Khushrenada personally dropping any colonies. Who does he want to be, Dozle fucking Zabi?" She's about to slam the wall with her hand, but stops herself, instead bumping it gently with her fist. "I guess he wants to bear his people's sins for them. Is there anything more dangerous than a soldier with no personal responsibility?"

        Just words, huh. Sayla nods- the point being made is very clear. This story is just words too, until Sayla's 'friends' deliver. "Understood." Sayla breathes out, the air in front of her crystalizing. Here goes.

        "Story number two starts early October, with me waking up from a hell of a nightmare, going out for air, and then having Anti scare the shit out of me by jumping onto my balcony." It's a strong start. "He tells me about a Kaiju that was near my home, that he couldn't hurt but had chased off. We assume it's one of Akane's kaiju looking for him, and he comes back here. And then people start moving to Tsutsujidai. Renais, Miss Pommier, yourself. A month and a bit later, the Kaiju is killed, and everyone's back to normal- and I remember the nightmare exactly."

        She looks to Asuka, very certain. "And the kaiju is a dead ringer for the one Anti fought near my home. Doesn't feel like a leap."

<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.

Asuka considers the idea of her skill level, and taking it on board, "If you're concerned about morale, maybe take some cabinets out of an arcade, hook them up near the ration sites and set them not to need coin."

It is a suggestion... it's something to do at least, and it takes less energy when people are on rations.

Asuka's eyes just pass over Sayla at her emotional reaction to it. It's maybe not what she expected of a OYW Veteran, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Sayla's a person.

She's not expected to just take that kind of thing in stride, however she thinks herself, that Treize is failing in his duty as one of the elite.

"Says its just the deaths he directly orders and those that die from a result of that, that he reviews the lists of names anytime he thinks he's becoming too ruthless."

She answers that, "As for me, can't claim to understand how a commander is supposed to count what deaths they're personally responsible for. Me? I'm only at fourteen that I know of."

She has as many kills as she does lived years (Or at least so it would seem to an outsider), "And maybe one or two of those managed to eject in time. Can't say. The ejector mechanisms on GINNs aren't the most reliable."

Sayla marked her as a probably Coordinator earlier, and thus the implications are loud and clear in that regard.

Story number two starts and...

Asuka's eyes shoot back to her right away, narrowing, "The munchkin was staying with you?" There's something suspicious in her eyes there. Because the person she last handed off Anti to...

... was Chibodee Crocket.

That's not her primary focus though, as frustration enters her tone, "So what're you saying? That you 'resisted' it? Like I said, she cheated, tricked me. Stapled two memories together. Two people together. Told me we'd just killed the last Angel, and that was that. That my time as an Eva pilot was over."

It's not strictly a lie? There are omissions, but the basic gyst at least is the truth, "If you wanna brag that you outsmarted Akane at her own game, go right ahead... I won't stop you."

<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.

        Sayla pauses, and nods. "That's a good thought. I'll see if we can spare some people to look into it." She nods thoughtfully. "Thank you, Miss Langley."

        Sayla pauses at the idea of a list. A list that long... "I'm not convinced. It's too neat, too clean. It's got all the earnestness of a two rank posthumous promotion." Still she pauses. "It's always been my understanding that a preferred trait of commanders is that they don't. Their distance from the battlefield is suppose to enable them to think clearly, or somesuch." Sayla shrugs.

        14 confirmed kills at her age. Against ZAFT so all in the last year or so. She shakes her head. "There's an official number in my service record, but we had so many battles we didn't have a chance to process. It's not the number that matters to me, personally. It's the reason."

        "After the Devil Gundam Incident, I was one of the first that took training from Dr Rain Mikamura so I could pass the treatment process down the foundation's chains. Last thing you need in a refugee camp is someone succumbing to DG Cell infection. There's very few people with that expertise and experience raising a humanoid Kaiju and Chibodee asked a favour. Even if I didn't owe him from some charity appearances, I would have obliged." She had that response... awfully ready to go.

        "...I didn't resist. Akane screwed up." Sayla shakes her head. "She came to me on the worst day of my life. Took the place of someone who I cared about more than anyone. Made me relive feeling what I thought was the death of someone I cared about immensely. She just misjudged and pressed on the wrong pressure point."

        Sayla taps. "The fact that she could piece together two memories, two people... That means she *could* have a lot of secrets." This is the information Sayla needed, from someone who wouldn't be hurt or upset on her behalf. This is why she couldn't ask Renais. "And maybe Alexis let her screw up. Maybe he's screwing up himself. But it might be better to assume he knows what we know from those dreams." She puts her finger to her lips, thinking.

        "Either way, there's nothing to brag about Miss Langley, and even if there were, I don't like to brag at people who are helping. Just certain close friends and people I despise. Thank you for enduring my stories."

<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.

There's just a nod, acting like it was no big thing to make such a suggestion. On Treize though?

She mulls over the discussion on what a Commander is supposed to be, and she's not certain. She just knows, to most Commanders? Their people are disposable. That's the way it should be.

"He acted like he cared about her, about Ouka. Because she was one of his."

Asuka hasn't yet showed any signs of the chill even if her breath is fogging, the plug suit must be pretty well insulated, "But I pointed out to him - he never once said that she shouldn't have been a part of this life. Where she came from? Didn't seem to matter at all."

The grip upon her arms subtly increases. It sucks. She was supposed to exist so these things don't happen to girls in wartorn countries, snatched off the streets and turned into weapons.

Why can't they just leave it all to monsters like her?

"The reason? They decided their Eva pilot candidate needed practical live combat experience." There's just, a shrug, at that, "And there was a war starting in their backyard. Simple as that."

It wasn't really an ideological fight for her, even though she hated ZAFT from the start. For people who are... enhanced, like her and others, it feels like a betrayal for them to go to war with normal people.

They're supposed to be better than that.

Asuka's eyes grow distant as she speaks of the Devil Gundam incident, it's just... words to her, it was resolved before they left her out of the Third Branch. Still she listens. It sounds right? A very neat explanation.

Maybe too neat.

"Funny that. Having experience raising a Kaiju with a human heart." She murmurs before looking away, "Yeah... funny."

She gives no hint as to what conclusion she's drawing. It just lines up too well, the idea of having all the experience she needs for this.

Akane screwed up? Her face scrunches up, as she lifts an eyebrow, now just staring at Sayla. There's a certain tension in her silence, as her breath seethes through her teeth.

It's not a good feeling being told that it was just the worst day of her life, took the place of someone she cared about.

Why didn't it screw up for her then? It was the worst day of HER life. She took the place of TWO people who cared about her.

It... bothers her...

... shouldn't that have screwed up? Triggered something for her?

Ultimately she shakes off such thoughts, and snorts, "And?"

Asuka says after a time, "If neither of them have any impetus to actually use that intel. Then what's it matter? If they wanted to screw us over, they would have done it before now. Tried to blackmail us all to keep us away. There's no way they want us all here though so they can use our secrets against us. It was obviously some freak accident."

Sayla might feel a building anger, though it's not directed at her. Asuka shakes out her hair, which in the freezer is starting to have some crystals of frost form on some points of it, "Yeah? You don't? Well you should. I mean look at you! You avoided all that mess. You don't have to deal with people thinking you're the charity case because of it - don't have to sort out where your head's at regarding her."

As she thinks on how her purpose was for a time, learning to love Akane. Her posture closes off subtly, as she says in a low tone, "Good for you."

<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.

        "Ah." That explains a lot- Asuka's resentment, her disinclination to trust. "I've not met the man, your read on hi, is more accurate than mine. But it sounds like his actions- or lack thereof- speak for him." She pauses, briefly. "It's not uncommon for facilities like this to scrub all traces of who their victims were before... not just records, either." She shivers in the cold- she's not as sturdy as Asuka. "It's easy then to say there was no one before Ouka the 'soldier'. Or 'weapon', perhaps." There is disdain in Sayla's voice- and a touch of guilt.

        The feelings coming off Asuka are rough. "And you had no say in it." She breathes out, but the cloud in the ice shows how forceful it is. "The federation doesn't change, does it? Have a ship full of civilians and injured, you don't restaff the ship, you make a bunch of unprepared teenagers take those civilians and injured alone into a warzone with not enough supplies under threat of imprisonment. At least I wanted to fight Zeon." She looks to Asuka. "I imagine they're less merciful now."

        Sayla is very carefully silent on Asuka's assessment. She can't. "...Akane might not, but Kerib hurts people for the sake of hurting people. If we get out of this, do you think he wouldn't take the opportunity to hurt the targets of that Kaiju just because he can?" It says something telling about what Sayla thinks of their odds.

        Sayla doesn't back down from Asuka's rage, looking into her eyes. "You really want to bring up 'charity cases' to me?" There's something *hard* in Sayla's voice. The immovable object. "You really don't think I have to sort my head out about how I feel about her? Or is it just the perception that matters to you, how you're seen?" Her eyes narrow. "The only reason my Foundation isn't investigating NERV for child abuse is constant interference from Britannian officials. You're a child soldier shoved in a weapon that makes you feel it's pain. A 'charity case' is anyone who needs charity- help, assistance, relief, kindness. And that's about three quarters of the fucking Earthsphere. That's the colonies being starved. That's the countries being burned and churning through child soldiers. You don't want help, you can't accept it, that's on you. But don't act like you're above being offered it."

        Sayla is the one to stand up this time. "Ouka is a 'charity case', because she needs medical help and deprogramming. I've had 'charity cases' that were child soldiers with their limbs lost in battle and left for dead. Some that were traumatized beyond belief. Some that were medically fine but had nowhere to go. Some with parents who beat them or abandoned them. It's a broad category- and none of them were lesser for needing it."

        She turns to look at Asuka, her face stonelike. "And if you think everything with Ouka was pointless, you should know something: One of her fellows came requesting help. I was able to give it. She trusted us enough, perhaps for how we treated her sister. That includes your charity, guilt driven or not." Her hand is clenched into a fist. "I'm pretty sure I can find another dozen in the pilots here alone. No one here is remotely okay."

        She crosses her arms, now presenting a wall. "That includes you. So maybe think about what you're saying when you throw that out there. The reason Akane could get you is pretty simple some part of you desperately needed and wanted what she offered, and you had no other way of getting it. It's a great way of getting child soldiers on brand, even if she doesn't realize it." She looks at Asuka. "So what's incorrect about you being a charity case here?"

<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.

The anger that Sayla feels from Asuka is extreme the moment she notes it's easy for them to say there was noone before Ouka the soldier, or the weapon, perhaps.

There's no Newtype flash of warning however, because the hostility isn't directed at her. Asuka suddenly turns and punches the side of the metal freezer hard enough that it warps from her fist.

She doesn't even need to say anything for Sayla to hear it from her. She's not a Newtype, but her anger is just so extreme that it can only say one thing.

BASTARDS

Sayla points out she had no say in it the war, and Asuka's fist is still embedded in the metal, she withdraws it slowly, as the anger recedes away - perhaps surprisingly.

"I didn't care enough to object to it, does it matter." Is her answer, "It only made sense for me to deploy that way."

It's true she had no choice, but if she wouldn't have even thought to object to the other choice, does it matter?

Asuka doesn't even massage her fist, it hangs at her side, like there's no pain whatsoever, and through her plugsuit it's difficult to see if there's no injury.

"Doubt it. Doesn't fit the profile. Oh I'm sure he hurts people for the giggles, don't get me wrong. He just doesn't go out of his way, because he doesn't care enough beyond taking pot shots at whoever's involving themselves in his project."

Case in point, Alexis Kerib hasn't even showed his face in front of her. He could have caused her untold harm at any time by telling the other people in her life what she is.

He hasn't. And she's sure after he's done here he'll go attach to some other stupid kid rather than blowing up all of their lives on the way out.

Sayla meets her eyes on charity cases, and there's suddenly the immovable object of Sayla, who runs a charity foundation in her path.

"No I think you have her head sorted out REAL well on where you stand on her given that she calls upon you to help and you immediately take advantage of her having her hooks in ME in that position! Who else did you manipulate in that state huh? You must think you're real clever 'investigating' all of us while we're not in our right minds."

Asuka is mostly turning back to her earlier position, and her fury is right back on her face, but despite it all, she doesn't harm her, just thrusts a finger her way, "Oh you're investigating child abuse? So your motives are pure? What a laugh. You're just as unethical and manipulative as Akane! Next you'll tell me that if you had a Bujack yourself you'd use it to force us all out of whatever situation you think we're in - yesterday! And that'd we all be better off for it! Because like her, you think you know what's BEST for ALL of us!"

So why is she still talking to her then? Because she then cites Ouka, and Asuka glowers at her like she just got slapped - even as it transitions to Seolla, "And in how many ways are you manipulating her right now in ways she doesn't even realize? Look me in the eye and tell me you're not. Not even a little."

Those blue eyes glare right into Sayla's eyes, "Go on. Tell me how willingly you bend that Hippocratic oath whenever it suits you Doctor Mass... for our own good."

She considers talking to her about Akane though, despite her anger, how she's wrong. How she thinks it was more about what Akane wanted, than anything Asuka needed.

Before the final accusation and question causes her to drop that thought and cluck her tongue at her, "Tck. What's incorrect? That one's easy." Asuka walks past her, only barely brushing Sayla's shoulder as she steps on by, "... What's incorrect is that when you look at me you see just another child soldier."

In her eyes, to be a child, she'd have to be human, and she isn't. It's why she can muster such indignation for Ouka and Seolla - and none at all for herself.

"Good talk Doctor Mass. I think you can take it from here. I'll call you if I find anything else worth hauling out there today."

<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.

        "Of course it does." Sayla's voice is cold. "If the only reason you have to fight is you're told to pull the trigger, you don't belong on the battlefield. Those are the soldiers who burn down towns and gas colonies."

        "You think so?" She shakes her head. "Him being an alien doesn't make him different than any other abuser. He strikes when he can do most hurt, inflict most pain- and feel powerful for doing so." She looks out. She *felt* what Alexis was made of, and he let her feel it. And it felt horrid.

        Asuka's words sting- if not with truth than something close enough to it. "...No. They aren't pure. I'm not some good person who makes every choice out of the goodness of my heart. There's plenty of guilt, plenty of screw ups, plenty of people I failed." She says this firmly, without sadness in her voice. "But you're all well below the deployment age of any bloc, deployed against Kaiju and whatever the hell those Angels are. But I pay enough attention to politics to know that anything Charles vi Britannia wants so badly to pour that much money and provide that much attention to is a menace. That's what put my eye on NERV." And as for Bujack... "No. If I had a Bujack my targets would be much more ruthless. I'm not so blind as to see a power I shouldn't have- or to not notice that twenty years ago Alexis could have been doing a lot of damage with me instead."

        Sayla doesn't blink as she's glared at. She looks Asuka in the eye. There's every impression she could shamelessly and perfectly tell the lie Asuka asks her to. She doesn't. "Lies of omission, so she wouldn't run in the first place. Providing a secure environment to incline her to rest. Small comforts to incline her to stay until the drugs they put in her finish going through her system so she doesn't die of withdrawal symptoms before she can make a choice without it being under duress. But she needs to be able to *make* a choice first." She steps back, ceding space to Asuka- and preparing should she swing. She needs to be in position to *take* a hit, just in case. "'I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures that are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism.' Most Britannian medical schools still use some variant of the Dr Louis Lasagna version from the Dark Ages." She looks Asuka in the eye. "And I've yet to break it."

        As Asuka brushes past her, Sayla doesn't move, doesn't budge. Sayla shakes her head. "I did." She admits, for a moment like she's going to let Asuka walk off with the win. "And then we had this conversation. You don't even have a soldier's freedom, you act more like a tool, or a weapon." The words are sharp, because Sayla thinks they need to be. Pointed to try and puncture armour. Envenomed, to get into the bloodstream and break down what's there. "Like Renais was, under Triple Zero. Like Anti was, when he was created. They were both able to change with help." This is the one that makes her think she might get punched, as she turns to look at Asuka. "You're not worse than them... but you're sure as hell not better than them either. You might want to consider what they did differently."

<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.

Asuka is briefly on the back foot at Sayla's accusation, actually looking startled, but then from the sudden surge of anger Sayla might get the impression she might have made a mistake, by the sudden vehemence that comes off of her.

"Don't you dare! You think I'd commit war crimes because I was TOLD to!? GO TO HELL! You don't know a single thing about why I fight! Just because I didn't CARE enough to object to being deployed in a war doesn't mean there wasn't a GOOD REASON!"

She doesn't get it. Of course she wouldn't. She's a person. Humans spend their whole lives looking for purpose. Asuka knew knew hers from the first moments of conscious thought.

As she seethes at her, "And you're assuming too much! I don't even care that he's an alien! Abusers like him attach to people! They don't just drop their facade JUST BECAUSE! How do you think he manages to fool Akane for so long? It's because he has actual discretion! The kind of abuser you're describing-!"

Sayla may feel her trail off and... "... is... Not him." She concludes, and there's something strange going on in that moment as she actually breaks her gaze.

The kind Sayla Mass is describing is like her.

"Yeah? Would you believe it if I told you I hate Britannia too? You present yourself as if you suffered to learn all this humility, but you can't really swallow your pride for a single second, can you? Because if you actually gave half a damn about why we do what we do, then you could have had a front row seat at the briefing on what Angels are, and why we're necessary. But no, you kneejerk when we're facing an existential threat - which is why you're the one in the dark while half the people you probably count as old comrades could tell you why we're needed if you just ASKED THEM - because they were present!"

Despite it all, Asuka doesn't take that swing, not yet at least, instead she seems to scoff at the idea that her utilizing Bujack would be a thing of twenty years ago, and that oath besides, "Yeah? Sounds to me like you can justify just about anything in between those two extremes. Saying you know it's a power you shouldn't have - is different from being something you're willing to use. ... If Akane could be saved tomorrow from Kerib that way? I'm pretty sure you wouldn't even hesitate."

Perhaps she's going too far, but being lumped in with war criminals stung, and she intends to sting back as good as she got.

And then she says it, and Asuka stops walking looks out of her periphery, feeling those envenomed words. For a while one might wonder if she's really going to turn around and deck her then...

... that anger just deescalates right out of her.

"... Of course that's what you'd think. It's the duty of the elite to protect the ignorant masses, Dr. Mass."

Facing back forward, "If I had it my way? Renais would get the choice to go being a part of those masses tomorrow."

She then keeps walking, confident in the knowledge that Sayla Mass is wrong.

... Because Asuka has known for a long time she's worse than either of them.