2022-02-16: Breakfast Friends

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<Pose Tracker> Kamille Bidan has posed.

Shortly after the Angel fight, the 'recently returned to actual social life' Dr. Kamille Bidan sent Tetsuya a PM in the shared 'Primevals War Veterans Support Group' they're in together, the one Kamille mostly idles in but sometimes 'likes' posts for support. He wanted to meet up with the Great Mazinger pilot and catch up 'when they both had a chance.'

This amounted to a lot of schedule-juggling between a pilot and NERV agent dealing with Angel battle fallout and impending family issues and a CMO on a busy ship. The two were finally able to settle on breakfast at a local bakery and coffee shop in Tokyo-3, the sort of place that's maybe a little overpriced but they use local farm-raised eggs! And make amaranth pancakes!

Kamille arrives a little early to secure a table, checking his phone from time to time. He might be on call.

<Pose Tracker> Tetsuya Tsurugi has posed.

What even is an amaranth pancake? It's a pancake! That's purple! They might be mixing in some ube starch into the mix, but that just makes them extra tasty.

But culinary delights are not the only reason Tetsuya Tsurugi, famous pilot of Great Mazinger, has decided to visit this cafe today. He's come alone, but not for want of trying to organize a bigger get-together. Koji was busy with something at Fuji, and Jun had something planned with Sayaka, Shiro had training and Boss...

Well, Boss has a business to run, himself. Can't just take a day off from ramen making to visit an entirely different restaurant.

"Kamille," Tetsuya says as he sits himself down, tucking his shades away. They're not Quattro-approved, /or/ pince-nez, which is how you can tell he's trustworthy. "It's been a long time. How've you been?"

<Pose Tracker> Kamille Bidan has posed.

Kamille would be kind of embarrassed to admit it's a relief when Tetsuya takes the shades off. But...

"Better," he says truthfully, a bright smile as Tetsuya arrives. "Sorry Fa and I haven't been in contact a lot. Medical school is as time-consuming as you've heard. I'm just terrible about checking in with everyone." He certainly does look better than he did at the end of the Gryps war, the color back in his face, his gaze focused and intense instead of hazy and vacant.

"I know I sent a message and all but let me congratulate you formally in person. How is Jun? Everything going well?"

<Pose Tracker> Tetsuya Tsurugi has posed.

Everyone has their hangups! Especially people in this line of work.

You don't survive as long as these two have, through as many wars, without a few scars to show for it, after all.

"Hah, between you, Boss and Kouji, we're going to have a full set of gainfully employed veterans on our hands. All we need is someone to take up accounting and law, and we'll be all set till we're all old and grey," Tetsuya chuckles warmly, without nearly so many of the edges that he used to have, years ago. Time smoothes away all kinds of things, but decent relationships help too. "I'm glad to hear you and Fa are doing well. Are you planning to planning to pop the question one of these days, or are you two waiting to graduate to make things official?"

Something suggests that Jun is the one who /really/ wants to know, and probably put Tetsuya up to the job of needling his fellow survivor over ~relationship goals.~

"It's appreciated. Everything's normal so far," he says of Jun-- and of someone else as well. "It's strange; I haven't felt so nervous about anything since the Mycenae, but now it's like every other thought is abot the two of them. Hah, well, I guess that's good too."

"So," he says, meaningfully, "Have you heard the news from GGG yet?"

<Pose Tracker> Kamille Bidan has posed.

As Tetsuya asks the question about, well, The Question, Kamille flushes slightly and sighs. "We've talked about it, but nothing really concrete yet. I can't use school as an excuse anymore now that we've graduated, but..." But? This sort of hesitance might be a little familiar to Tetsuya after dealing with Koji and Sayaka.

"It's been sort of hard to think about the future," he admits, smile faltering just a little. "During the war I never really thought about anything but what might happen the next day, if there was a next day. And after I..." He waves his hand. "Started waking up again, it really was day-by-day. But I wouldn't be here at all without Fa. Wouldn't have survived. Though hearing you talk about your new family kind of puts that in perspective, you know? Like of course there's a future. There's children being born right into it."

He gives a glance to the menu, only to jerk his head up at the mention of GGG. "I've heard that Guy is back, and alive and well, and the rest are...not?"

<Pose Tracker> Tetsuya Tsurugi has posed.

Tetsuya nods gravely at Kamille's... kind of utter non-response!? It's fine, he's seen the same with Kouji and Sayaka, though at least with these two, it's a lot less... dire. "There are," he says, of children being born into... a world still at war. In spite of everything that they've all sacrificed. In spite of all the death and the carnage, the world still wages war. "Those pilots, the Evangelion pilots, they're all children too," Tetsuya explains, gazing into the invisible distance, "Forced to become soldiers. To become weapons. I can see why it can be so hard to think of the future, because the present is still so much like the past we lived in. But... that doesn't mean it has to be."

"If nothing else," he finishes, resolutely, "What I want most is to see those kids to the end of this conflict, and leave them with a better future than what we had to deal with. But I'm getting poetic, and we're talking about you and Fa." Tetsuya shrugs, leaning away from the table-- and the menu. Apparently, he's decided on what he wants. "You two are basically married already, from my perspective. But it's... a promise, you know? A promise that says 'I want you in my future, forever.' It can be scary, but if you already can't imagine life without her, then why not go for it?"

>TETSUYA TSURUGI, SHIP MASTER!?

"...Yeah, basically, that's the short of it," as the topic shifts to GGG, he folds his hands together and sighs. "We're up against... Well, you should know. The likes of Kotaro and J are not to be underestimated. But I think you should take the time to visit Guy as well. He... could use the reassurance, that his old friends are all standing with him."

<Pose Tracker> Kamille Bidan has posed.

"We did find out we qualify for common-law marriage at this point, but I can tell Fa's not really enthusiastic about just going with that." Kamille grins lopsidedly. "Neither am I, honestly. My parents' marriage was a nightmare and a half, though, so I guess we're still sorting it out. Seeing how happy and healthy you seem even with everything going on kind of helps. Like oh, a model for a good marriage. They do exist!"

The (former) adult mentors in Kamille's life aside from Tetsuya: Amuro, Quattro 'Walking Disaster of Human Relationships' Bajeena, Bright 'Sees His Wife Once a Month Maybe' Noah. Hmm.

He grows more somber as Tetsuya brings up Guy. "It's strange to think of him as someone who might need that. I think when I was younger I just saw him as this bright beam of sunshine, so positive I couldn't always understand him, but God did I wish I was him sometimes. But that's a terrible way to think now. He's a person, of course he's a person, and having everyone around you turn against you..." He shudders.

"You grow up and realize all the adults are /people./ How does that happen? Still, I know what it's like to...to be left behind. I'll get in touch."

<Pose Tracker> Tetsuya Tsurugi has posed.

Yeah it's almost like growing up with basically the worst possible role-models is kind of a gateway to a bad time.

Though maybe if Amuro hadn't... Well, no, he was pretty hopeless too. Just, not nearly as bad as some of the others.

"It's an anchor in the storm," Tetsuya says, wistfully. "The times are always turbulent, but having someone you can go back to-- a home you can return to-- is a source of tremendous strength. We are all... humans, as you say. We can't be weapons all the time, even those of us who were forged into living swords."

Hence, perhaps, why Tetsuya was given the name 'Tsurugi.' Or maybe he's always had that name and he's just waxing poetic again.

"...Indeed," Tetsuya sighs slowly. "He and I were closer in age, so we... talked a lot. Even when he was the invincible hero, humanity's strongest cyborg-- it wasn't easy, you know? He is a man of tremendous courage, but you don't get to have courage if there aren't things that you fear. Anxieties, worries, regrets these kinds of things weigh on us all. For one who has to wear the mantle of <<The King of Braves>>-- for someone who has to be a hero that inspires everyone around him to find the courage they need to seize victory from the jaws of extinction-- they can weigh even more heavily."

"...Especially since he's lost /his/ home now, too."

"Ah, but here I am lecturing a Newtype on emotions. Didn't we come here for coffee and pancakes?"

<Pose Tracker> Kamille Bidan has posed.

"...Ah, yeah." Kamille doesn't have Tetsuya's way with words, and regrets it for a moment. What a way to respond to such a heavy statement there, Doctor.

He shakes his head. "Compared to lectures I've gotten, this is nothing, trust me. Just because I feel everything too intensely and can sense emotions doesn't mean I understand them. Thanks for giving me the heads up about Guy." He frowns at the menu. "Do they have anything here besides black coffee that isn't loaded with sugar?"

(They do not.)

"Also, I've been meaning to ask you. You work with the EVA pilots, right? That thing we were all fighting, are they all like that? The Angels?"

<Pose Tracker> Tetsuya Tsurugi has posed.

In his defense, when Kamille was convalescing, he didn't have the presence of mind to fit the 'poet' part of 'warrior poet' into his title. On the other hand, Tetsuya is some kind of weird but surprisingly chill super robot pilot samurai, and he couldn't spend /all/ his free time resting his head on Jun's lap.

"I mean, you could just ask for black coffee and add cream and sugar yourself," Tetsuya chuckles, "But no, I'm afraid you booked us a table at one of the ah..."

Beat.

A gaggle of high school girls flocks to and from the order-out counter.

"'Trendier' places in town?"

"Anyway, it's hard to say," he says of the Angel. "Yes, they're all bizarre, alien monsters with annoyingly difficult to penetrate barriers and vast amounts of firepower. But each one is different, no two are exactly alike." Tetsuya considers for a moment, then asks: "...Did you sense anything from it? Did it... try to make contact with you?"

<Pose Tracker> Kamille Bidan has posed.

"Ahh," Kamille says flatly. "Well, I know for sure the occasional french toast won't kill me." Along with all the burdens he carries, the Newtype is now cursed with the knowledge of what a glycemic index is.

"Ah, no, nonono," he adds, eyes wide. "I mean, it didn't reach out. I'm glad. I mean, I used to sense things from the Primevals, intentions, hunger, malevolence too impossible to comprehend, but those were-they were /emotions./ There was this vague buzzing in the back of my head around that thing, and I don't even know what it was. My mind recoiled from it like a hand against a hot stove. And the pilots there, they're younger than I was starting out, like Amuro was..."

He stops and shudders, then looks over (and up) at Tetsuya with a brief, but piercing intensity. "Please help them. Those EVA pilots. I know you will even if I don't ask this of you, but if they're facing that, they'll need someone sturdy and reliable like you. Someone who won't-who isn't..." He stops, gestures, then scowls. "Screw it, who isn't tied up in seventeen different plans of his own and won't get it in his head to drop a rock on the planet."

<Pose Tracker> Tetsuya Tsurugi has posed.

Truly, the more one knows about the world, the less joy it holds for them in. Glycemic indexes, blood pressure, the fact that giant robots cause massive collateral damage unless they come equipped with a handy anti-collateral-damage-field-deploying-screwdriver.

"...Mmn. Those creatures are truly alien," Tetsuya answers, thoughtfully. "And incredibly hostile. I don't know what it is about Tokyo-3 that draws them to it, but they are hell-bent on making it in. I doubt it's just that the Evangelions pose a threat, or they'd be going after /anything/ that could kill them."

But then, the topic turns to something more... dire. Something that sharpens Tetsuya's gaze, makes his eyes look all too much like they did so long ago. "Dont worry. I don't intend to leave them in the lurch. They've... been dragged into something truly, unfathomably awful. They are being made to become... weapons. Molded into something to be wielded to kill a threat. I can't keep them from fighting, or get them out of this mess, but at least I can try to make sure that they come out of it on the other end. They won't... ever be able to live 'normal' lives, but..."

"I can at least try to make sure they're able to live happy ones, at the end of all of it," says the other living weapon, now happily married.

<Pose Tracker> Kamille Bidan has posed.

Kamille looks at Tetsuya with that stare for a little while longer, and then seems to relent, sighing in quiet relief and looking down at his coffee.

"Thank you. I know I didn't necessarily have to ask, that you'd do it anyway, but I couldn't..." His voice catches. "It keeps /happening./ It's normal now. I'm sure someone will argue it's necessary. But that doesn't make it right. So I'm glad you're there for them, you and Guy. And I'll try too, if any of them are alright with a moody physician interfering from time to time."

He stirs his coffee (which is black, with nothing in it, meaning he's just fidgeting with his hands) and then manages to smile again. "Well, that's enough tragedy for one breakfast. You wanna tell me more about married life?"

He's ready to be sold on the idea, or terrified. Either or.

<Pose Tracker> Tetsuya Tsurugi has posed.

Ever have the Mazingers been protectors of children. This situation is just an extension of that mandate. "...It does," Tetsuya says with a grunt of not-so repressible discontent. "Children are malleable, and they're resilient. They can adapt to situations over time. More importantly, they often have no option to say 'no' to those who would hold power over them. In many ways, they are the perfect material to mold into weapons. Until the world changes... That will remain true."

"And so, we must change the world for the better. Endeavor to make sure that this 'normal' isn't allowed to remain so forever. Or at least, to be there for those who are walking in our footsteps."

Did the likes of Tetsuya, Kouji, Kamille, Amuro-- did their wars shape the world's acceptance of 'child weapons?' They were all products of circumstance, but the thought of people contriving to create more 'child heroes' is...

Disgusting. "Of course. In my opinion, the more people they can see who've 'made it out' so to speak, the better. I'm sure they'd be excited to hear from someone like you," he says of Kamille visiting. "Shinji's a sweet, sensitive kid, and Rei's quiet but her heart's in the right place. Ah, but just be careful of Asuka. She's... Got a temper."

That there is the understatement of the century.

But then.

/Married life./

"It's amazing," Tetsuya says, simply, confidently, with the resolve of someone who holds what he's saying to be absolute truth. "We still argue, it's not always rosy, but I've never been more proud of a decision in all my life. Putting aside all the obvious benefits and all the ones that I choose not to mention in public, being married means being able to spend time with one of the people you love most in the world and having every excuse to make time for them."

"It's," Tetsuya declares, his words an absolute axiom, "The best! As long as you're sure that they're the one you want to spend your life with. That's not to say things can't change in the future, who knows what the future holds? But being married to a person you love, and who loves you, means standing against that future-- together!"

Tetsuya Tsurugi... is married.

...But he is still a super robot pilot.

And thus, his volume control is... perhaps /not/ the best once he starts /burning with passion./

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