2024-08-14: A Different Field of Hope
- Log: 2024-08-14 A Different Field of Hope
- Cast: Ranka Lee, Kaworu Nagisa
- Where: The PLANTs
- OOC - IC Date: August 14, UC 0099 (2024)
- Summary: Ranka and Kaworu talk about what her song is for--and what they'll sacrifice to protect the ones they love the most.
<Pose Tracker> Ranka Lee has posed.
It's said that when in Rome - do as the Romans do. Staying on the PLANTs, Ranka Lee has taken the time to refamiliarize herself with a certain extraordinarily influential musician's songs once again.
BGM: Fields of Hope - Rie Tanaka (No Megumi Nakajima version exists!) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POLjhgMkTw8
"Beneath a veil so cold,
"You deeply sleep, all alone
"The melody of prayer; on the lonely fields,
"A little light shined..."
"I watched as you dreamed
"You laughed like a child
"So dear, and yet so far -
"That is the promise of our future."
Sitting on a bench in an Aprilius 'Seaside' park, in a pair of red overalls cut short into shorts, over a sleeveless blouse, and blue floppy sandals. She's also wearing a cream colored light jacket, a straw hat, and a pair of sunglasses - currently with one of Osanshoo-san's arms in her ear.
"That one day, on a green morning,
"One day, we will make it there
"Because in this wintered sky
"We still believe,
"Fields of hope..."
"On the day we were born, we were embraced,
"And now we search for those gentle hands again,
"The melody of prayer; one vanishes,
"And all begins again; a powerless, painful continuation."
It is playing of course Lacus Clyne's Fields of Hope, as she sings along, quietly enough that she won't attract undue attention, but she does have an audience of one. Ai-kun is currently peering out of the bag on the bench beside her, in complete fascination. Despite Ranka's best efforts, what originally turned as quietly singing along has now grown in volume without her realizing it, because it's always hard for her not to get swept up in the music.
"One day, to that green morning,
"We'll cross through all these nights,
"Because that is the place each one of us searches for..."
"Now, within my own heart,
"I want to keep you warm
"So dear, and yet so far -
"In the name of peace
"Fields of hope..."
"So dear, and yet so far -
"The fields of promise
"Fields of hope...
"Fields of hope..."
Ranka has invited Kaworu here to talk about... things, after - and for now she believes she's ducked her security detail. She hasn't - really, there's at least one of them watching her at all times with his back to a tree, and arms crossed. Ranka has no idea he's there.
But it is her desire at least, for privacy, given what he said. Just as it's her desire right now to look on the bright side of it all. Alto told her she did well. Noone died in that raid. Not one civilian. Not one pilot. Sure - she doesn't like that song, and certainly Kaworu told her she should stop singing it but...
... if it saves lives, then shouldn't she sing it?
Either way, she's keeping her spirits up, by singing this song. Perhaps it's to distract herself in part, for the conversation ahead.
<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.
While Kaworu tends to prefer the Macross musicians, Lacus Clyne does have several beautiful songs. Fields of Hope is one such song, and it rings sweetly in Ranka's pure voice. He approaches in his school uniform--the one for the school he no longer attends--and while his (once Shinji's (once Gendo's)) SDAT is clipped onto his breast pocket, the earbuds are tucked away therein too so he can listen to Ranka sing live as he approaches.
As he does, he slides a certain bodyguard a friendly smile. He doesn't hail him, though, but only finishes walking up to Ranka. He did tell her to stop singing that twisted version of Aimo, and had Ranka not called out to him first, he would have called out to her... but this is a different circumstance. He comes to a close distance before he stops; then, hands still tucked in his pockets, he shuts his eyes and listens to her song.
He hums along a bit, too. But softly, softly.
"This sort of song suits you much better, Ranka," he comments once it's over.
<Pose Tracker> Ranka Lee has posed.
The bodyguard of course doesn't do more than look at him. He knows of course why Kaworu is here already despite Ranka's best efforts to keep anyone from knowing, so he lets him by without complaint.
For some reason, he doesn't consider Kaworu a threat in - other less direct ways, funny that?
Ranka's hair does flap up on both sides at first, as she looks at him in delight, "Kaworu!" She says, in delight, before adding a little more sheepishly, "I was trying to be quiet, but I guess I got carried away."
Ai-kun scampers up onto the edge of the bench, and makes an odd, sibilant chirrup of greeting/recognition upon spying him.
Ranka does look around for a moment, to make sure noone else is coming, before letting Ai-kun do as Ai-kun does.
(Not that she could stop him anyway.)
"Well I can't say I disagree - that song is not the kind of music I ever thought I'd be singing..." She smothers a sigh by instead switching to focus on him, "How are you doing? Did you make the trip over, alright? There wasn't any trouble with the port authorities or anything?"
Well first thing's first - even if she did invite him, but she does make a motion for him to take a seat if he wants.
<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.
Yes. Funny that.
"It's all right," he reassures her. "I always enjoy listening to your sound." He steps the rest of the way over to the bench, offering a hand to Ai-kun. Should Ai-kun reach out, Kaworu will offer him a slender digit to tickle his chin. Then, when Ranka motions to him, he'll seat himself next to Ranka and fold his legs. He hasn't grown much over the past few years, but his shoulders remain there for the perching if Ai-kuns should so decide.
"I'm well. The trip was uneventful, and the port authorities were cordial. I think they think I'm a Coordinator, too," he replies affably. It helped that he just helped out with a SAL mission in his Evangelion; even if he did urge Ranka to stop singing, he did help out with the mission. The fact that he's a NERV administrator probably helps less than it seems like it would on its face.
His smile fades a bit as he meets Ranka's eyes. "...You kept singing," he says quietly.
No need to explain himself--either to Ranka or to any other listening ears. She understands his meaning.
<Pose Tracker> Ranka Lee has posed.
She does smile at his comment, "I'm glad. It would just be counterproductive I guess if - anyone other than you heard." Not that she minds interacting with her fans, not at all.
Just a small crowd of people forming because 'celebrity' would cause problems for a private meeting.
Ai-kun does extend his neck, and when Kaworu tickles his chin, he closes his eyes and lets out a pleased hum... before he shifts, and perches himself on Kaworu, all of his spindly tentacle like legs extending to cling to his shirt.
"That makes sense." Ranka notes, though perhaps later she'll double take as she thinks on the conversation on 'think I'm a Coordinator too' "I had some who were a little... rude on my first trip, but now they're treating me well."
Kaworu then notes 'You kept singing' and Ranka's eyelashes flicker for a moment, like she's a little ashamed, "I... don't want you to think I don't trust you. I do. It's just - it was..."
Her shoulders heave, and now she does sigh, "It's just... it was also working. I thought, if I stopped - people might get hurt." Ranka looks sideways at him, "I thought you might get hurt."
Hurt, is an understatement perhaps - she knows full well the Vajra kill all humans they come across.
except her
"Can you tell me, why you thought I needed to stop?" She asks, searchingly, "I understand it's - not the kind of music I wanted to perform. And I don't... like the message of that song either, but..."
Pause.
"I get the impression that wasn't why you were asking me to."
<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.
Ai-kun settles onto Kaworu's shirt; even if he digs in a little, it's fine. And not because of that lavender undershirt.
"Oh? Would you be bothered if there were someone else besides me were listening?" Kaworu wonders. Still, he nods at her response. (Kaworu often says things so casually and matter-of-fact that it's easy to miss their deeper meaning at first blush. This is to say nothing of when he says things in the most impenetrable way possible, which fortunately he does less of these days... which is to say, less of the more time he spends around Lilim.) "That's good to hear. You're deserving of kindness."
But the topic moves on to something heavier... the topic that they're both here to discuss. Kaworu isn't upset with Ranka, or even disappointed in her. He hadn't even questioned her trust in him; he understands well--too well--that sometimes Lilim get so wrapped up in a goal that they don't listen. But at the same time, Ranka isn't Shinji. He would hear her specific, personal reasons.
"...I see. And you do hate seeing others get hurt," he muses. He meets her gaze as she asks her own question back. "...That song... It was a distortion of your sound. It was wrong. If you keep singing it, I fear its wrongness will spread to you." He reaches up a hand to Ai-kun to give him a little skritch. "Your voice is still pure... but that song is one of ill intent. It will do harm to the Vajra."
A curious thing to say. Isn't that the point?
<Pose Tracker> Ranka Lee has posed.
"It would make it hard for us to meet so privately if I attracted attention." Ranka smiles apologetically at him as she explains, "Grace is being really careful lately about my safety because... apparently Yuliana Kafim and Dawn of Fold put out a threat on my life."
It is true after all that Yuliana hates Ranka, she's said as much to Ranka's face, but the rest well - Ranka at least believes it.
She does smile at his comment about being deserving of kindness, before adding, "You too."
Kaworu however explains, 'distortion of her sound' she thinks she understands, but 'wrongness will spread to you' gets a confused look-
Still pure...
She almost says something but...
'... that song is one of ill intent. It will do harm to the Vajra.'
Ranka's red eyes go wide, and she becomes a shade paler, "What?" She murmurs, "But - you were there to fight the Vajra too?"
A beat.
"Weren't you?"
It's... difficult to parse how she feels for a moment, before she looks down at her hands, away from Ai-kun and him.
"Do you, know something I don't, about them?"
Ranka asks softly, thinking perhaps - being a part of NERV, he's probably an alien expert.
"I've only heard - seen them kill everyone they come across... you're the first person I've talked to who's ever... been worried about them?"
She does trust Kaworu here - but, how do you lead into a conversation about - what happened on that Vajra ship? For now at least, she tries to figure out more about his own feelings.
<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.
"Oh, I see," Kaworu utters, red eyes widening slightly in mild surprise. He hadn't known that Yuliana Kafim and Dawn of Fold had threatened Ranka's life. Still, it does sound like something Yuliana would do, even if it does seem odd that she'd involve so many of her allies in it, so he doesn't question it very much. He may ask Yuliana about it later, though. But... in that case, then that presence behind the tree is probably all right...
For now, their conversation progresses, and Kaworu explains his reasoning in that broad, vague way he does. "I was," he confirms. "But what you were doing... the distortion of that song... it isn't the same as fighting their bodies."
She asks, though, if he knows something she doesn't. Asks--implicitly--why he's worried about them. He turns his head--and if his gaze seems to rest on Ai-kun along the way, surely that's just because he's in the way--and regards the tree at their backs steadily.
This is not a topic for mixed company, after all.
<Pose Tracker> Ranka Lee has posed.
Ranka only registers Kaworu's surprise faintly, and she decides to explain further, "I don't even understand so much, why she hates me. She has ever since, before I even debuted, back when she was an... ace pilot with the REA. Everyone I've talked to thinks it's because I'm... probably a Newtype?"
Is at least how Ranka explains it...
... but more she focuses on, "A distortion? Well... I agree." She nervously runs her fingers through her hair, "I can't exactly say, I'm the biggest fan of this version of... Aimo - the Bird Human arrangement at least felt - right?"
She also has trouble saying she hates it, because she doesn't want to offend Grace.
"I was told that the League wanted me to sing that version though, that they believed it would have the most effect on the Vajra?"
Kaworu turns to look at the tree, then catches just the slightest hint of green hair peeking out before it vanishes.
Surprised, she murmurs to Kaworu, "Brera? I thought he didn't realize I was here-"
Well, that was presumptuous of her, she realizes. "Brera... doesn't mean me any harm. Ever, but - I understand if you can't say everything in front of him."
Ranka looks out over the sea, and... weighs the issue, and finally decides she's not gonna press Kaworu to talk, but... there's something she can talk about to him, "I keep worrying... that people will think I'm crazy... so I haven't ever talked about it before." She says, haltingly, "But when I was taken by the Vajra once, I saw... things."
She rubs her opposite arm, "I was terrified with that... Queen, and all the eggs... like I was going to be eaten any second... but I'd swear someone was... trying to comfort me."
She takes some time to gather her thoughts, she's talked about her experiences before on her livestreams to her fans during quarantine but - not this part.
"I don't know. I was afraid if I told anyone about it - the Doctors would just - want to run more tests, and keep me longer... because obviously they'd think I was hallucinating, right?"
<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.
"Hmm. Yuliana is well-known for disliking those connected to more than this layer of reality," Kaworu muses. "She's let go of that some by now, but I don't think she's ever truly opened her heart to them."
Them, rather than us, because he managed to win her over himself.
"Yes. The Bird Human arrangement was in consonance with your Aimo. The version you sang the other day... It is very much the essence of the most unforgiving of Lilimkind." If she sang that because of what the League thought, though... Kaworu nods gravely. "I see. It's just as I said."
There is a peek of lime blond hair before it vanishes; Ranka is surprised, but explains that it's only Brera. Kaworu looks back at her as she begins to explain her own side of things. Of her experience when she was taken by the Vajra... how someone was trying to comfort her...
"It's possible they would have thought that. The Lilim of this world have expanded in certain key ways, and in other key ways, they are still only small children. The science on which they stake their survival has supported them very well up until now, but... their understanding remains limited." Kaworu pauses. He raises a finger to stroke Ai-kun's chin again, almost absently. "What was it you saw, back then?"
<Pose Tracker> Ranka Lee has posed.
This layer of reality?
Ranka Lee looks at Kaworu in confusion and curiosity - she knows, Fold science at least is supposed to be connected to - something like that.
It's weird to think of herself as someone like that.
"Is that how she thinks of us?" For a moment, she looks frustrated - but it's easing off some, "I just know she started... bullying me in public, but I'm glad she's let... some of it go. I wish she'd just leave me alone." Ranka looks forward, murmuring, "I haven't even seen her in... years."
She does understand this is something most celebrities go through - being exposed to the public in this way tends to bring out people with the strongest feelings against you...
... but Yuliana feels different.
Ranka nods sorrowfully at Kaworu's words, "It's why I was refamiliarizing myself with Lacus Clyne actually, because... Fields of Hope, it couldn't feel more opposite than... that version of Aimo."
It's... comforting... "It's a war song about conquest, and we are fighting the Vajra, but..." One hand's fingernails slowly curl into the fabric of her shorts, "... it's not the kind of message I wanted to spread."
And part of her does worry, the song doesn't actually mention the Vajra? What happens if people take it out of context? What happens if it's used during one of humanity's wars?
Wouldn't she be responsible for spreading it?
Like small children...?
Ranka smiles at that, actually even chuckling softly, "If those Doctors heard you saying that - I just picture them being so indignant." Ranka gets this image of them with puffed cheeks, pouting...
... but maybe it's just her way of pouting, Alto brings it out of her.
But at the same time, is not their likely indignation proof that Kaworu is correct?
He asks the question, and she becomes pensive, abstracted and...
"Gallia IV... it's sky. It was always twilight there. Beautiful - I wish you could have seen it with me."
Ranka's silent for longer, because her mind is not equipped to remember the details of such things... they fall away like quicksilver, afraid of touching a hot stove on accident...
"A woman. In the sky. She told me that... she wanted to introduce me to..." Her brow furrows... "... to... my people I think?" One thing at least is easier to recall for her, "...and she sang Aimo to me. I remember being put at ease... until everyone came to rescue me, and I guess, I woke up... snapped out of it? Something."
What does it mean? To this day, Ranka doesn't know.
<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.
"Years?" Kaworu echoes. How curious. Threatening Ranka is something Yuliana would do--it's something she has done--but if it's been years... Ranka debuted ages ago; her rise to prominence is not recent, by human standards. Why would she be out to kill her now?
Then again, Ranka said 'apparently.' Perhaps it's a misunderstanding?
Either way, he lets it go for now, just like he only smiles at her confused look. Kaworu has no reason to suspect anything amiss. Of course, he tends not to suspect anything amiss even when he does have reason. Kaworu just isn't good at detecting the falsehoods of Lilim.
"I see," he says instead, of Lacus Clyne's Fields of Hope. He quite agrees with her; that song is far closer to Ranka's wishes than the song she sang the other day. He doesn't consider the ramifications of how it might be used in future human-on-human wars. It's simply... a terrible act of violence against the Vajra--against the vast soul that connects them all. "Then even if it may be effective, won't you consider refusing to sing it again?"
He chuckles with her, though. "It's not my intent to make them indignant... but I expect they would be."
Lilim scientists are often such proud creatures--so proud it drives them mad.
Ranka describes Gallia IV, and Kaworu falls silent. He did see a vision of it once, thanks to Sakura Akamatsu... but he doesn't mention that. It was not under happy circumstances. Instead, he listens to Ranka's vision. A woman in the sky, who sang Aimo and told her she'd introduce her to her people...
"And this was while you were with the Vajra and their Queen," he recaps. (Their Demi-Queen, technically. But still.)
<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.
"How do you feel about the Vajra?"
<Pose Tracker> Ranka Lee has posed.
"Well she did hate my music back then too." Ranka shrugs her shoulders, "But I was only singing a jingle for a toy store in the OCU at the time." She gives Kaworu this sheepish look.
'Apparently' because to this day Ranka hasn't even asked to look at the threat Grace told her exists. She just knows Yuliana hates her - that's enough.
Kaworu of course understands why the message of Fields of Hope is similar to the one Ranka wants to spread, even if the genre is different, but...
When he asks that, she blinks, then looks at him in confusion, "What? But - doesn't it being effective save lives?" It's not her refusing per se, just not understanding why he'd ask that?
"You're fighting the Vajra too now right? I don't want you to get killed out there...!" Ranka exclaims, because in the moment, someone on the battlefield being beside her.
All she can see is the terrible things that could happen to him.
They would be. Yet Ranka doesn't focus on that right now, instead listening to his comment, as she nods quietly, not knowing what it could mean.
Certainly the Queen attached some... tendril, to her 'prison' but she cannot consider that cause and effect. It violates too much of what she knows.
"... I'm scared of them." Ranka admits after some time, considering, her grip of her fingers upon the shorts subtly increasing, "Terrified even. They put my brother in the hospital once... and killed his best friend in front of me. And they - they hurt Sheryl so badly. She's in the hospital even now, recovering."
She frowns at that, "Alto's in danger, all the time fighting them - he's had to rescue me from them several times." She closes her eyes and just there's a certain distress that permeates her, "Sometimes..."
A flash, it's like she's running up against the wall of... something, just a glimpse, of a Vajra... curling over a ship.
"... sometimes I feel like it's all my fault."
She's not sure why, but even as a child she always felt guilty - guilty enough about the idea of singing, that she mostly sang the song from her memories alone in the park.
"I don't know - it's not like I hate them or anything-! I just- don't want people to get hurt!" There's something sorrowful in her voice, "They just won't stop. For so long I didn't want to think they could hear my music because if I can really do what they say... what does it mean that they're still attacking us!?"
Her eyes open and she looks towards Kaworu, upset, "I wanted to sing for everyone-! Everything! I thought - believed anything with a soul to feel could still be touched by my music!"
Where did she get such a belief anyway? Such a belief is hardly mainstream... "But - if I can't convey even so simple a message to someone my music touches..."
She seems beside herself, but in a sense, still looking to him for guidance, "... then doesn't it mean the only thing I can do is protect people from them? What else can I do?"
<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.
It's always so sweet to Kaworu when someone tells him they want him to be safe--that they don't want him to be killed. This isn't the first time Ranka's said it this conversation, but now she's even more emphatic about it, and his gaze softens with platonic affection. Yuliana's hatred for Ranka's music, the effectiveness of Aimo O.C. against the Vajra... Kaworu sets them both aside for the moment.
"Thank you, Ranka. You're a wonderful friend," he says with quiet but emphatic warmth.
And because she's a wonderful friend, she gives as sincere an answer as she possibly can to his question. Kaworu settles his hands on his lap, away from Ai-kun still on his shoulder, to listen. It's certainly true that the Vajra have injured and killed many Lilim. It's certainly true that Sheryl Nome is in the hospital because of them. But... is it true that it's Ranka's fault?
...Whether it's her fault or not, though, Kaworu's lashes droop. "Sometimes... sometimes, even when we can communicate, we can't come to an agreement. We can't convince each other of our own point of view, or the other's point of view is unacceptable to us. It's painful, but it can't be helped."
His gaze drops to the grass at their feet. "Yes... What else can you do?"
When two existences simply can't reconcile their differences, then it becomes a life-or-death battle for survival. He knows that well. Even with Duma, who seemed to be of an accord with him... he simply couldn't convince them.
"...Forgive me, Ranka. It's as you say. If you can't convince them, and they aim for the extinction of the ones you love, you're left with no other choice," Kaworu murmurs. He lifts his chin to turn a helpless smile her way. "I still don't like that song. But I have no right to tell you not to sing it."
Gently, he lifts Ai-kun from his shoulder to draw him into his arms and stroke his fur gently. "...What do you think, Ai-kun?"
<Pose Tracker> Ranka Lee has posed.
Ranka does flush with pleasure at Kaworu telling her that she's a good friend, but sighs, "I'm glad you think so. Lately it feels like - I can't give my friends nearly as much time as they deserve."
As much as Kaworu himself deserves. Of course it's her career - her dream - but still.
What Kaworu conveys though, it's... she knows it's true, she knows he's correct, but...
"But..."
Ranka says at first, and stops short, because 'there's no further understanding we can reach? That's really just it? That two conflicting points of view have to conflict...?'
"... that's horrible." Ranka finishes softly after changing her initial response, "Why does it have to be that way? Why can't it be that understanding each other just lets us stop hurting each other?"
Ranka wonders what the Vajra's point of view would even look like? Stop encroaching on our territory? Which, you've taken from us? And we're expanding too - so trying to take from you?
How do you communicate with a Wasp's Nest to tell them stop stinging you? Don't you just stay away?
She nods sullenly at Kaworu's sad point of view, but she knows he too is being sad, affected by this. "Kaworu it's... okay." Ranka says as she reaches out, putting a hand gently on his arm, "There's nothing to forgive. You're one of my first fans. You've done so much to support me - almost more than anyone else, with the beautiful music you've written for me."
Ranka smiles at him, but it's in contrast to the sorrow in her red eyes, "I've always wanted to sing songs you would enjoy hearing... it's just, in this case... even if I have a good reason for it... I still feel like I've failed you as one of my fans."
Even if their friendship is separate from simply being a fan to her. "I hope I can sing songs you'll enjoy more in the future. ... So please forgive me, that I have to continue singing this one. For the people I care about."
A beat.
"Including you."
It's perhaps an unusual thing to separate her care for his life ahead of her betrayal of her 'sound' but - it's a common enough thing in fandom when an idol 'sells out'.
And part of Ranka feels like she has, even if it's for the best of reasons.
Ai-kun has been quiet for a time, and it's difficult to understand what's going on in that tiny brain of his, disconnected from the collective. What of this conversation he even comprehends.
But he does know one thing.
When Kaworu asks him that, his eyes meet Kaworu's - unblinkingly, then suddenly his snaps around to look at Ranka, and without warning he suddenly clambers over behind Kaworu's neck, to the back of the bench, before bounding into Ranka's face.
"Ah!" She cries out in alarm, both of her hands reflexively flailing out to catch him, before Ai-kun starts licking her face with a long tongue that seemingly comes out of nowhere.
Ranka begins giggling immediately and sputtering as he forces her to lean back, kicking her legs in the air, "Ai-kun! Ai-kun come on!"
Ai-kun knows that Ranka feels sad, and while he cannot understand such lofty conversations perhaps by himself - he can do things to try and comfort Ranka or try to make that sadness go away for a while.
<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.
Kaworu only smiles sadly. "I wonder why...?" Deculture was able to bridge understanding between the warring humans and Zentraedi, but the Zentraedi could make themselves into small lifeforms. Music is the crowning achievement of Lilim culture, but miracles are the province of God.
Still, Ranka reassures him, telling him he was one of her first fans. That's surely not true on a cosmic level, but Kaworu accepts the reassurance, lifting his head to meet her gaze.
"There's nothing to forgive," he echoes back at her. "I understand. You aren't singing that song as Ranka Lee, the songstress, but Ranka Lee, the defender of Lilimkind."
Which might to Ranka just sound like a fancy way of calling her a sell-out. But at least Kaworu acknowledges that it's for a noble cause.
Also a noble cause: cheering Ranka up. Ai-kun engages in this to great effect as he bounds up over Kaworu, along the bench, and into Ranka's face. She giggles, and Kaworu giggles with her before his smile settles again into warmth--the warmth of understanding.
...So Ai-kun accepts it too. Then Kaworu can only do the same.
"Ranka," he thus says, "if this is what've decided of your own free will, I'll support you. I, too, have chosen to do what I must to protect those I love." He offers her a hand to hold. "Let's both do all we can."
<Pose Tracker> Ranka Lee has posed.
It may be a fancy way to call her a sell-out, but even if it were - she'd think she'd have earned it in this moment, but she is defending humanity in her own way.
She just wishes it didn't have to be like this.
It takes some Ai-kun wrangling for Ranka to get him to sit on her shoulder, but he's still tickling her every so often by her neck and ear.
And she's exceptionally ticklish, so it's an easy task.
Eventually though, she does smile at Kaworu, "Thank you, Kaworu. That means more to me than you can know. That we can understand each other at least."
In a sense - all the sad and complicated context about Kaworu for her? She doesn't even need to know any of it, to understand he's a boy protecting someone he loves.
And indeed, she reaches out, to put her hand in his, squeezing it. "All that we can. We'll keep them safe."
She vows, because it hasn't escaped her notice that with Shinji on the Ra Mari II...
... well, it means that the Vajra threaten him too. She has a lot of incentive to want to protect that battleship anyway, but for Kaworu to have a chance at that kind of happiness...
...she'd sell out again, and again.