2010-07-29 - Objects in Space

Johnny Domino was kidnapped by Rei Ayanami. He never saw it coming.

How long has it been since the girl walked into the medical ward and spirited him away? How long since Third Impact happened? How long has the young man been in a conscious coma? Johnny doesn't know, nor has he been in the proper state of mind to ask such questions to begin with.

Until now.

Johnny's blue eyes snap open. Wide and panicked, they dart to and fro, like the eyes of a wild animal that has been cornered. Where was he? Why was he? WHO was he?

The young man doesn't understand what he sees -- struggles to get a grip over what he thinks. And as his vision begins to slowly unblur, and his breathing begins to quicken, his brain starts receiving signals from the rest of his body.

He's moving. Or-- no, he isn't moving. Everything AROUND him is moving. He's inside something... a car? A mecha? His muscles are aching. Deep pangs of hunger rise from his stomach. His long hair is greasy and unwieldy. His mouth and throat are parched, dry to the point of cracking. He feels sick. So sick. His name was Johnny Domino. And he was sick.

Thus Domino, lucid for the very first time since Rei claimed him, writhes in whatever odd position Ayanami stuffed him inside her borrowed Zoid and begins retching in the general direction of the floor.

Johnny Domino is given ample time to retch because it takes a minute or two to land the Zoid on a friendly nearby asteroid and then ascertain that doing so will not result in being the cream filling of an asteroid moon pie.

Only then does Rei Ayanami turn around to watch Johnny. She's spent the past -- more than a week now as his silent traveling companion. She pilots them from place to place, hiding out in abandoned warehouses and ruined colony husks that have been left to rot as space debris. She's found food for them in meager amounts, most of which going to Johnny. She's running out of her pills by the day. And she still hasn't said a single word to him.

When her pilot's seat is turned around, Rei gets up -- there's just enough room in the cockpit for a small girl like her to maneuver around and for a normal-sized person like Johnny Domino to lay on the floor somewhat comfortably. "Johnny," Rei says, as flat and cold as the arctic plain. "Johnny, are you all right."

She kneels next to the purple-haired victim of Lilith. Rei is wearing an A-LAWS flight suit. It looks a little too lived-in for military standards. It's also just a bit too big, but then, beggars can't be choosers. "Do you need water, Johnny."

When the loud hacking and coughing fit subsides, all that remains is the poor form of Johnny Domino, shivering like a leaf in the wind. His palms are pressed against the floor, fingers curling, a feeble attempt to claw at the hard surface and gain traction.

The young man's breathing come in and out, irregular and hoarse.

"Water," he mumbles, as Ayanami's words reach him. He doesn't look up, voice distant and rough.

"Water," he repeats. "Water... life..." It's as if he's recalling something from a time long gone.

"Life... one oxygen atom, two hydrogen atoms, H2O, density of 62.4 cubic feet, fresh water, salt water, specific gravity of 1-- n..no."

Johnny Domino moves his hands, leaning on his elbows and clutching at his head. "I don't-- no-- I don't--"

And then he finally looks up.

"Who are you?"

Rei reaches toward a container built into the cockpit and, with some fussing, gets it open. It shouldn't take that long. She does manage to retrieve a canteen of water -- warm and stale, tasting strongly of the metal it's stored in, but water nonetheless. Handing it toward Johnny, Rei meets his rambling and his question with a stare that indicates nearly no empathy.

It's an awful lot like the first time Rei met Johnny, way back when.

"I'm Rei," the girl says. She doesn't sound any stranger than she typically does when she announces this -- there's no surprise or confusion in her voice. Just a level, precise explanation.

Rei keeps the water held forward. "You're in the Leostriker Leo," she continues, uncharacteristically unprompted. "We're currently somewhere in Side 3." Pause. "Please drink the water. If you need assistance, I will help you."

For a time, Johnny has no idea what the fuck is going on. Rei? Leostriker Leo? Side 3? What the hell are those? Domino's expression contains no recognition or understanding, only confusion.

But at the very least, Domino knows who he is, and that will do for now. Especially when water is being offered. He can puzzle the precise details in a moment. First a drink. A quick drink.

A quick drink that becomes a very long chug, as the young man proceeds to all but snatch the canteen from Ayanami, rolling on to his side and sucking on it like a hungry babe.

Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp, the loud sounds of swallowing fill the Zoid's compartment.

Then Johnny chokes. There's an unpleasant sound as the young man's body jerks violently, and he rips the canteen away from his lips, very nearly throwing up in the process. He had too much to drink too fast.

He remains like that for a while longer, bowed down, forehead now resting against the floor, breaths heaving. Dizzy and nauseous, nauseous and dizzy. Rei Ayanami, Leostrikes Leo Stenbuck Leostriker, Ayanami, Leo.

"Oh," Domino manages as the details suddenly surface in his mind. "Rei. Oh... geez, Rei. I told... I told Leo, Stenbuck, Leo, to save you."

"He saved you. Thank heavens."

Rei moves to a more practical position -- kneeling is all well and good but when you're feeling a little light-headed it's certainly not the best. Rei carefully lowers herself onto her butt, crossing her legs in what is, in the future, known as 'neo indian style.'

Watching Johnny drink, Rei seems tired. It's a subtle set of indicators, but Johnny Domino has been around Rei when she's sleepy, and if nothing else he's better equipped to figure it out on that basis alone. Her eyelids droop so minimally that most people wouldn't even notice it. Her shoulders are not held quite so tightly. When Johnny chokes, Rei is briefly galvanized -- she doesn't panic, but she goes from looking drowsy (inasmuch as Rei can look drowsy) to being suddenly ready for action. When Johnny settles, though, she simply takes the canteen and closes it, setting it down next to the dizzy young man.

That's about when he speaks to her, and even though she's drifted back into tired mode, Rei can't keep the smile off of her face. She certainly tries: the corners of her lips struggle against their buttons. "Yes," Rei replies. "Leo saved me."

Slowly, ever so slowly, with renewed vigor at the realization that Rei is alive, Domino raises his head once more. He surveys the girl, blue gaze traveling across her body all the way up to her face. And it is her face that his focus settles on, taking in the sight with critical eyes.

Silence.

An unwitting staring contest ensues.

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

By the time Domino looks away, his breathing has calmed down. "You're not my Rei," he mumbles. It's not a question. Somehow, Johnny Domino knows. "You're not mine. You're his."

The renewed vigor from before is gone. Domino's straining muscles succumb to his awkward position, and he grows lax, coming to lie completely flat against the floor. His cheek is presses against the hard surface, sharp gaze growing dim as the fire within grows mute.

"..where are we?"

During this staring contest, Rei never blinks -- it's a bit like challenging a formula-one car to a footrace. Johnny looks away, and Rei wins. Still, her smile is completely gone.

"I was never your Rei," the blue-haired girl points out, with all of the tact and empathy of a desk lamp. "You chose not to have me." Whether or not Rei means 'have' in any kind of Biblical sense is not only anyone's guess, but a mystery she opts to preserve, because she doesn't explain further.

Instead, having decided that all that needs to be said on that topic has been said, Rei moves onto the new focus of discussion. "We're in Side 3. I thought it best to hide in Divine Crusaders territory for a while."

Something in Domino freezes. Rei can't see the change that takes place on his face, as the young man no longer looks at her, but her words sting. They manage to hit all the right (or wrong) buttons inside Johnny, and as the meaning of Ayanami's response sinks in, the same parts in Domino that froze proceed to wither away and die.

She was never his. He chose not to have her. He pushed her away. He lost a friend. With his own two hands, he lost a friend.

Like a snail that has been poked in the eyestalks, Domino's mind flinches, receding away from the present. He can't handle it -- doesn't want to handle it. Everything is wrong, and sad. So sad.

When Johnny Domino next moves, he is no longer the one in control.

Lifting his arms, the young man begins pushing himself up to a sitting position. His motions aren't natural - his head flops stiffly, and his body seems to have acquired weird centers of gravity, moving around like a marionette, as if being pulled by strings. Or as if something was wearing him as a suit. A Johnny suit.

"You took him," Domino's voice is heard, so low it is almost a whisper. He stares at Ayanami, having finally sat down and balanced his head on his neck. His expression is dead. His eyes are dead. All that exists is his voice. "Why did you take him, Rei Ayanami?"

Rei is given pause by the sudden change in Johnny Domino's demeanor. To watch her face, one might think that absolutely nothing is wrong with this situation. Johnny's bizarre shift might not even register as a blip on her radar. Her breathing remains regular, and her lips don't even purse.

Rei thinks back to past research that may be relevant.

SOME TIME AGO

Rei Ayanami is listening to Leo tell a story while she cooks for him. It's taken her months of effort and trial and error, but she's finally managed to figure out how to make a decent soup. Less difficult was enduring Leo trying not to blatantly whine about how he'd rather be having chicken or something. Still, Rei stands at the stove, apron tied over her school uniform, occasionally looking over while Leo sits on her bed in her desolate little dingy room, ranting. Near him, a blue haro has rolled into a corner, lifeless and useless.

"--so this one jerk from Celestial Being, he tries to pull this stupid crap, like, one second he's trying to sound like he's this wussy little douchebag, which he probably really is, and then the next he's shouting and snarling like... like Yazan goddamn Gable or something! I mean, what kind of piloting is that, pretending you have multiple personalities or something? Are Celestial Being that big a bunch of babies that they need to fake being crazy to try and intimidate--"

NOW

Rei suddenly starts coughing. It's a violent hacking fit, wet sounds emerging from her throat arrhythmically. Her voice is tiny and not very powerful -- her coughs would be small by anyone else's standards, but on the spectrum of sounds she's capable of making, they're like deafening cannon shots.

Rei fumbles for the water herself and drinks some quickly. She manages to avoid choking, possibly due to practice.

Regaining her composure, Rei wipes her mouth on the glove of her flight suit, and returns her glazed gaze to Johnny Domino's eyes. "To whom am I speaking?"

Johnny does nothing as Rei begins coughing and fumbling for the water. For a brief moment it seems as if the two have switched roles, with the girl appearing the most animated she has appeared since setting out on this wild adventure, and Domino appearing as apathetic and indifferent as the universe.

When Ayanami provides her response, Domino's dead eyes do not even blink.

The young man draws a breath, long and laborious. "There is a forty-four point nine percent chance you are Adam's spawn. There is a thirty-two percent probability you are Lilith's daughter." Johnny hesitates. "We will accept these odds."

"Rei Ayanami -- this is a message from the future. On this planet, you will die. We have seen it. We have seen you die many times. Rei Ayanami -- this is a message from the past. There is nothing. We have seen you rise up to command the destruction of everything... once. Rei Ayanami -- this is a message from the present. We are..."

Domino trails off there.

Or perhaps, this is the extent of his answer.

Johnny Domino -- or something wearing the skin of Johnny Domino like a live mask -- speaks, and Rei Ayanami listens. Her attention never wavers from his face, and if she feels any discomfort at the words he speaks, she hides it as ably as she hides anything. Her eyes are a little red from her coughing fit -- but then, it just means they match her irises now. Her face is a grim expression of concentration.

Her mind works at its own pace -- which is faster than the average bear, sure, but still set to its own unique rhythm -- in trying to tease out the meaning of Domino's words. She'll die -- on this planet? But they're on an asteroid. Is this some sort of recording? He's clearly referring to Third Impact, but... no, Rei concludes. Insufficient matieral to draw a conclusion.

The girl turns toward the compartment she opened once Johnny trails off. In it are some MREs -- ones branded with Zeonic markings, scavenged from a broken outpost. To say one thing for Zeon, they make their awful space food long-lasting. There's also a small battery of pill bottles. Rei doesn't even have to check the labels -- she seems to know which one she needs by divination or something, opening the bottle and removing two pills, which she swallows dry.

"Your calculations are incorrect," Rei notes as she closes the bottle. "I am Lilith's daughter, and I am Lilith also." Rei pauses two beats -- her usual signal for a topic being settled. "Are you hungry, Johnny? I've been feeding you applesauce."

Domino doesn't follow Rei around with his gaze when she moves. One moment he was staring in her general direction, and the next, Ayanami is no longer there, and it is as if Johnny was never staring at her at all.

Maybe he wasn't.

"You are not Lilith," he says, speaking as if it were fact. "Rei Ayanami -- there is no single Lilith to be had. Do not claim that which you do not understand. That is... advice."

The applesauce is ignored, much like everything else within Domino's immediate surroundings. It seems that whatever it is that speaks through Johnny in this moment does not care a feather or a fig about all that is happening. And yet, when he next speaks, Domino's tone undergoes the slightest of shifts.

"Rei Ayanami -- /why/ did you take him?" His voice comes out slowly, more breathed than it is vocalized. Something sinister lurks in the depths of that question. And indeed, in case Rei doesn't comprehend the subtext in the event that she fails to answer once more, Domino adds: "That... is a threat."

When her offer of food is ignored, Rei simply packs the stuff back up into the compartment. She hesitates before loading up the caffeine, but then decides to just pack it up all the same. With a sharp push, she jams the compartment shut, and then looks at Johnny again as he informs her that she's being threatened.

"I see," Rei replies after a pause. She seems like she may be on the verge of explaining herself -- there's a very slight movement of her lips, like they're about to part, but not quite.

And then Rei silently pushes up to her feet and climbs back into the control seat of the Zoid. Without saying another word to Johnny, she turns around to face the instruments and begins revivifying the living machine, to bring it back online and get it ready to leap off of the asteroid and into space.

Rei does not look back at the Johnny Domino who just threatened her.

Much like Ayanami, Domino offers no further words. At least, not right away.

The Zoid reawakens, guided by Rei's steady hand. Venturing back into space, seeking its next destination, the journey passes in silence within the cockpit. In fact, going by appearances, one would not be presumptuous by wagering that Johnny has sunk back into his stupor, and was no longer communicative.

It is only when Rei next directs the Zoid to make another landing -- whether minutes or hours later -- that Domino's voice carries once again.

"Is that so, Rei Ayanami. We have seen it -- you are not the one to help him. You will feel... regret."

"Wake up. This is not a dream."

A light thump heralds Domino's limp body falling over, unoccupied and as catatonic as before.

Hours. A lot of them. It's not clear who needs the rest -- Rei, or the Leostriker.

Then Johnny speaks to her, and Rei turns around, looking over her shoulder. She listens to Johnny's last words, then watches him slump over. Her eyes briefly close. She's very tired. Turning the chair around again, she arranges Johnny's body so that he won't break or overextend or wake up sore. This takes a few minutes and is not especially gentle, just by necessity.

Then Rei Ayanami lays down next to him on the floor of the cockpit area. She has to ball herself up and lay very close to him because there's not very much room. She wonders, for a very brief moment, where her life would have gone if--

And then she's asleep.