2022-06-28: Courage and Regard

• Log: Courage and Regard
• Cast: Rei Ayanami, Guy Shishioh
• Where: Tokyo-3
• Date: June 29, 2022
• Summary: Guy comes to check on Rei after her apartment was trashed by Gill'yavvec. They discuss courage, enemies - and fault.

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<Pose Tracker> Rei Ayanami has posed.

https://youtu.be/cKKmwieN-6Q

The Manyoso Hotel and Onsen is a low-set hotel structure located in the outer defensive ring suburbs of the Tokyo-3 city center, more towards the Yugawara side of things. Two floors of guest rooms are primarily used for visiting technical or mid-ranking official personnel; the hotel itself is in fact a secured location, having been purchased by the Tokyo-3 municipal authority four years ago, commandeered during the preparation phases for Operation Yashima, and never... returned.

But it's still a hotel.

It's just that it has two layers of security fencing and only one point of access, as well as a rather swiftly-built electric tram spur going to the nearest station that feeds into Tokyo-3's legally-perfect train grid. You have to transfer and walk twenty yards, but it's sheltered.

Anyway:

Rei Ayanami is in the north wing of the hotel, which has been fully secured, although of the 14 affected rooms, she is at this point the only person who remains present. (There had been neighbors for a couple of days, but that's neither here nor there; fabrication crew leads and so forth.)

Access involves several layers of checkpoints...

... But a heart of courage can easily endure card swipes and data scans!!

The door (N202) is weighty, with a realistic wood veneer. There is a small bag of trash set just outside, probably for housekeeping to collect. The floor is a carpet. Like most mid-tier hotels, it feels oddly muffled.

<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.

"Chief, can you do a favor for me?"

It's not all that often ShouRyu calls for Guy's assistance - his two sister-Braves, NichiRyu and GetsuRyu, kept their eyes on him closely, and of course Porc-auto served as a mentor for the youngest of the Strongest Brave Robot Corps. Guy had been down in the Big Order Room checking on the status of PhantomGao and the GaoMachines after the damage inflicted by Gill'yavec (status: recently upgraded from YIKES to Golly). "Something wrong, ShouRyu?" he'd responded, looking over from his inspections.

"It's just, I was lookin' over the damaged areas in the attack, and one of the spots stuck out to me. You know we did some support work for NERV's main branch a little while back, right? Well..."

And that is why Guy Shishioh, Acting Chief-Slash-Mobile Division Captain-Slash-Only Member of the Gutsy Galaxy Guard, has stoically endured several data scans and at least one point he had to gently nudge a card reader with his cool machine control powers so it would hurry the heck up, in possession of one (1) Hallmark get-well-soon card, and one (1) care package Hana - as the current 3G member who most recently knows what it's like to be a 15 year old girl who isn't a weird experiment (oops) - helped him and ShouRyu put together.

He knocks twice. "Miss Ayanami?" he calls in. "It's Guy Shishioh. I have a little something for you from our Brave Robo team."

<Pose Tracker> Rei Ayanami has posed.

There is no answer from the door.

It is long enough that Guy might be about to think he should knock again or perhaps set the basket down when there is a rattle of a chain lock -
a click of a deadbolt -
another click of the handle -

And the door swings open a little.

It's dark inside, and the air that wafts outwards is cold and slightly damp.

Rei is there, gazing outside. Upwards. The door is still partly occluding her, but she seems to be focusing on the form of Guy as if she is slowly seeing something not thought generally possible.

"... Brave Robo team...?" Rei asks.

The door then swings further shut--

-- to unlatch the last chain and pull it open all the way.

... She doesn't have any of the lights on, but there it is! It's a skinny little hotel room hallway with Rei in the middle of it. This may be her way of saying 'you can come in.'

<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.

The difference between normal clothes and On Duty clothes for Guy is pretty slim - a sign, perhaps, of just how married to the job he is, that he wears the mostly-green 3G jumpsuit for both, and mostly marks his free time by putting on a gold vest instead of the long Chief's coat he wears on duty now.

He's got the gold one on, at the moment. Personal time. Such as it is.

He also has his usual handsome smile on, a warm and friendly thing.

Accepting the invite, he steps inside. "Yes. You remember ShouRyu? He turns into a jet. He told me he'd worked with you all on some of the earlier Angel incursions. He was worried, after your apartment was damaged in that attack recently." He chuckles. "He'd come by himself, but it's not always so easy for big guys like them to get around. Besides, I'm the one who's grounded for a bit."

He sets the small package on the first horizontal surface he sees, looking around. Dark, he thinks. But some people like that. Entouji comes to mind. "Besides...after what happened the other day with Kaworu, it's not a bad idea to check in with each other from time to time."

<Pose Tracker> Rei Ayanami has posed.

Rei blinks several times.

A distant memory - the second-wave attack on Sachiel - the pain at the time was... But, Rei thinks, blinking, it must be.

"Yes," Rei says, about the Super-AI's size. She then turns to step further into the--

-- it's literally a hotel room that was meant to have two twin beds in it, one of which has been removed for what is obviously a school desk which currently has two boxes and zero school work on it. The lights remain steadfastly off, even though the sun is leaking in through the curtains.

"... Grounded?" Rei asks, arms folding before herself as she ends up standing near the bed, facing still towards Guy. (First horizontal surface is the cabinet that also holds the TV. Presumably. Rei has not opened the part with the TV in it.)

"..." Her head tilts forwards. "The Administrator," Rei says, noticeably more quietly.

"Have you heard, about the Administrator?" Rei sort-of-asks afterwards.

<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.

Can't think too much about the decor of a shelter, Guy supposes. Good they got her a... ....better desk may not be the word for it, but still. Kids need a place to work.

"Yeah," Guy says. She's quiet, he thinks. Well, at least she's not as prickly as Ikumi used to be. "I was out there fighting it. The blue and black machine, GaoFighGar. 'fraid I got knocked around a bit, so they're having to repair PhantomGao and some of the combination linkages. Not much for me to do but desk work in the meanwhile." He chuckles, scratching the back of his head, though there's a seriousness to it. "We tried, though. That thing was...strange. We're still investigating what was up with it. It's definitely not something that should've been able to sneak up on us."

It was, after all, the size of a mountain.

The Administrator, Rei says, with noticeable feeling to it. "Yeah," Guy says, gently. "I got there as fast as I could. Sorry, we just couldn't catch the shooter." He offers a conciliatory smile after, adding, "It sounds like he's going to be OK, though. I don't have a whole lot, myself. Seems like they're keeping the details within NERV's main organization for now. But I'd know by now if things were looking bad, at least. That Administrator of yours is young, but I sensed a lot of strength in him. I think he'll pull through."

<Pose Tracker> Rei Ayanami has posed.

It's a pretty comfortable shelter. Not a BIG one, but the bed is a hotel bed. The bathroom is a hotel bathroom. Presumably they feed her periodically (that may be the garbage). Ultimately, it's a pretty good gig.

Rei blinks several times.

-- "Yes," Rei says, about the creature. How could something like that sneak up on them, one might well wonder.

She sees the smile.

Something in her face softens. Her eyes - almost - crinkle a little. She takes a sharp breath inwards.

"It sounds like he's going to be OK, though."
The words of a legend.
Yes. I trust his words.

* Rei Ayanami will now die for Guy Shishioh.

"... Guy Shishioh," Rei then says, as if feeling out the name. She says it like a title.

"I know something, about the great monster. I -" She stops, mouth slightly open, and then closes it. Her head tilts down but this time it is concentration.

"It's -"

"- I - Complicated..."

<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.

Guy has his theories about the nature of Gill'yavec - but he's also talking to a girl outside the context of the investigation, and she's probably more than a bit distressed. Best not to fire his speculation into the air in this environment. Especially about the hands of the Devil.

Guy's a tall guy, especially for a Japanese man, and standing in the dark space, with his auburn hair and his bright gold vest, he brings a kind of light into it. That's the kind of man he is. And he can tell he's done it again, at the release of Rei's tension. Distressed is right, he judges. But it looks like a little good news and positive spirit is helping her unwind from it. That's the goal, right?

I know something, she says. His face turns more serious - not harsh or demanding, just showing that this is a serious issue and he takes it so. "I'm sure it is," he says, gently. "I'll listen. Take all the time you need."
Rei Ayanami tosses a coin: Heads

<Pose Tracker> Rei Ayanami has posed.

Rei breathes in.

Breathes out.

In - out.

The silence is long enough to be awkward. Rei's shoulders hunch less after about ten seconds. She turns to step towards the minibar (?) and opens it - it has clearly been repurposed, because it has bottled water and some kind of blue gel in it.

Rei picks up one of the blue gel packs and closes the refrigerator. She stays crouched for a moment. Then she stands up - she goes and she sits on the bed. She opens the pack and slurps some of the goop out of it.

(There is another chair in here, at least. Modern steel furniture. No problem even if Guy has the Cyborg Heavies.)

"... I didn't want the Administrator to die," Rei says, then, looking at her knees. "Others. The battle against the great monster. I was on standby, in the Spiral Moon. I did. I didn't-"

Rei finishes off the gel more quietly.

... did she swing her legs a little?

"I think I know what Alexis Kerib wants to do," Rei then says, to her knees, but also to Guy Shishioh.

<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.

Guy fortunately experienced a miracle which means he is now a flesh and blood person! And also permanently fused at the cellular and possibly subatomic level with a G-Stone! For purposes of chairs this means he no longer is classified as a forklift.

He settles in opposite her only when she has already sat, hands folded. He listens intently but without quite spearing her with the full intensity of the King of Braves, eyes creased with concern. Rei seems to be having a bit of trouble getting her thought in order, which considering how dangerous it all was - and following right on the attack on Kaworu - he can hardly blame her for. He eventually says, "It takes a lot, to trust your team mates, doesn't it? Back when we were fighting the Zonders...we always knew any fight could be life or death. I was pushing the limits of my Cyborg body almost daily. Really, there weren't any promises we'd survive...but we did it. By trusting in each other."

Is that what she's worried about? Given Asuka, maybe talking about trust and love isn't even the right workplace advice, honestly. But it felt like the right thing to talk about, at least. He chuckles, adding, "And sometimes, running as fast as we could to save one another, too. That's trust, too. Knowing they'll do everything they can to find their way to your side."

And then, Rei corrects Guy's misconception. Ah, NERV *was* doing their own investigation, weren't they? No need to treat her like an uninvolved party, then. "That'd help a lot!" he says, with a smaller smile, more focused and serious while still pleased. "It's hard for me to guess what someone like that guy is thinking. What've you got?"

<Pose Tracker> Rei Ayanami has posed.

The chair does not protest Guy's ass.

Rei doesn't look up as Guy speaks to her. She looks at the empty plastic pack in her hands; she fiddles with it. "... Ikari and the Second were strong... 7-020 is as well. Nagisa. The Spiral Moon itself."

"In Tsutsujidai I fought the creature," Rei says, "and I prevented it from crushing a train station by unfolding the AT Field."

More toying with the plastic. (If Guy looked it up, he would have also found out that Rei suffered a severe injury in that fight and was out of action for a month or so.)

"Ikari interrogated Riika Sheder," Rei says, which is itself probably like two combination impacts, possibly a third (so to speak) "and determined that she worked with Alexis Kerib. Alexis Kerib had provided her with objects to call the kaiju. Small things." A beat. "False images. Dolls."

Rei looks up, finally, but tentatively. "Ikari said that Alexis Kerib was 'a devil,' and that he sought to destroy someone. I don't understand why Riika Sheder was involved. Politics," Rei says, in the same way someone might say 'acts of God' or 'so it goes.' "But, Riika Sheder is the one who calls the kaiju."

Rei looks back down. "The creature like that which attacked Tokyo-3... it fought Gridman, in Tsutsujidai. But it nearly crushed a school class. With its foot, to smash them. A thin tomato sauce, and victory." Is that a concrete analogy? Perhaps even imagery.

"I think Alexis Kerib wants to kill one of them," Rei concludes. "... I prevented it with Unit Zero. Unit Zero is known to operate from Tokyo-3."

She sounds done but then it sort of falls out of her mouth:

"It's my fault."

The gel pack slides out of her fingers.

<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.

Guy listens, as he promised. He was there, at that fight, but with the scale of the beast, he had been fixated on stopping it, and other than some after-battle work, had left the Evangelion pilots to handle themselves. Maybe...that was a mistake. He nods, quietly. "I remember," he says. "You did well, that day."

'Getting incredibly injured' does not preclude doing good, not to Guy. That means you put everything on the line to seize victory. That's what the power of courage is, in the end.

And then Rei drops a lot on him, and Guy finds himself slipping backward, weight against the back of his chair. He cups his chin, lips pressing together.

An outside agent was working with Alexis Kerib. Riika Sheder--the back of his hand emits a high keening noise as he channels his Evoluder abilities to remotely connect to the network, the icon of a G-Stone circuit appearing on his flesh in glowing green. Riika Sheder...ah, ZAFT pilot, huh. Kaiju summoned out of dolls? That's...they don't have a ton of intel on how BioNet-controlled kaiju come around, but if they manifest through some kind of summoning object that would explain a lot about how they get around...Going to have to talk to Ikari about that.

He doesn't vocalize that one. Partly because Rei seems to be cruising in on some distress he thinks she needs to let out. The logic is simple: The beast seemed to be specifically targeting the students - that was Yang's analysis, after the fact, too. Unit Zero prevented that. And yes, Unit 0 was one of the defenders of Tokyo 3. So...

The gel pack hits the ground quietly. But Guy says, "No," firmly but gently. Now he does put some of the King of Braves' force into his eyes as he seeks eye contact with the younger pilot. "Men like that want you to think you're responsible for what they do. But you're not. We protect people proudly. If the bad guys want to take the fight home, we'll just show them how fiercely we can defend it."

Shiro...another kaiju focused on Shiro. Was that this, too? An attempt at punishing people for interfering? He finds himself thinking of all the times the Zonderians had attacked Mamoru. But Mamoru had had powers, had involved himself on purpose and with foreknowledge of the risks. This is more like if they'd attacked the Amami house directly. His blood boils.

But he breathes it out, long and slow. And then he smiles, that big, bold, brave look that saved the world 52 and change times. "You've been brave enough to go out there and fight Angels and Kaiju both. Don't ever let someone convince you that was the wrong thing to do. Victory goes to those with courage, Rei." It sounds like a platitude but he says it from the soul. "And someone like that? If he really attacked this place because of you? It's because he knows he can't possibly beat yours face-on."

<Pose Tracker> Rei Ayanami has posed.

Someone tells Rei 'no'.

Rei's eyes, not really focused on anything, suddenly shift - drawn in perhaps by the firmness of a voice. It is, frankly, a stare, and for a moment it might be disconcerting because Rei's expression moves between almost completely neutral - as if utterly slack or anesthetised - into something with a deep, intense *focus*.

It isn't my fault.
?
Were the actions meaningless?

It is like there is a moment of absolute blackness - a gulf somehow small yet incomprehensibly vast -

But something gleams. Rei's face softens.

She sits, just a little, straighter.

Rei's gaze breaks away from Guy's to look at her hands.

Courage?
Is this courage?
An empty object. Something gazed upon.
Shaped, until that day comes. If I die, I can be replaced.
Courage?
He is accurate. I have fought Angels. I have fought Kaiju.
Is the courage inside of Unit Zero?
Does she have courage?

Do objects have courage?
Do objects have courage?
Do objects have courage?
Super-AI.
The Super-AI, ShouRyu, thought of me.
A Super-AI can show 'Regard.'
If a Super-AI can show 'Regard,' then...

He is an expert of "courage."
I should not doubt him.

Rei looks up.

Her lips quirk up. Her eyes soften again. The cast of her features changes.

"If..."

...
... I don't know what to say.
This feeling -

Rei's face colors, faintly.

But she continues, with a different kind of faint color to her voice. "If you can determine which of them is Alexis Kerib's target... Section 2 can protect one person. There are others who can."

"Do you think the Administrator would protect that person?"

<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.

Guy is not privy to such thoughts. He simply regards Rei quietly, and lets her think. He remembers the looks Akane gave him, when he said similar things. Maybe it's hard to believe in such things, these days. He can understand why it would be so. But he does, to the core of his being. The Oath Sworn Through Courage that every one of them honors...he will help everyone he can reach, with that in his heart.

Do you think the Administrator would protect that person? A single target of Alexis Kerib's? Would Kaworu...

The truth is, he doesn't know Kaworu all that well. He remembers the horrible feeling in his gut at the sight of Kaworu's bleeding body, the sudden gut-level realization that he wasn't looking at the promising, composed youth he'd welcomed into his office, but a dying young man. But Kaworu had asked him to stay. Had told him things that could change the whole situation, bring disparate, vital threads together.

He smiles with total confidence. The look of a Brave, bold and proud. "I do," he says. "I think he'd do whatever he had to. I know I would."

<Pose Tracker> Rei Ayanami has posed.

"Then I will, as well," Rei says, before -

-

- saying, "Thank you," with a dip of her head, straightening up.

Rei looks upwards at the ceiling, and leans over to the side of the room. She finds a switch and clicks it on --

The ceiling light illuminates! It's actually pretty pleasant in here, now, if cluttered with... actually it's not very cluttered at all in absolute terms.

"I would make you an item to eat," Rei tells Guy Shishioh, "but I can't."