2010-03-13 - Involuntary Leave

The Exelion is a big place. Such a big place that it has train stations! It is at one of these train stations that Leo Stenbuck finds himself today, having been called to the Exelion to work out a few things before he's placed on (involuntary) leave. All those things have since been worked out; Leo is now merely awaiting the train that will take him to the Exelion's hangars, where he will then be shuttled to a destination of his choice.

It isn't the first time he's been on leave since he joined the military, but the 'involuntary' bit leaves a bad taste in his mouth. According to the brass, it's for his own benefit, at the personal suggestion of the Ruler of All Known Space. To Leo, it feels a lot more like a punishment. For what, he's not exactly sure.

The young man leans farther back on the bench he's seated on and sighs melodramatically, looking down at his clothes. Being off duty means he's out of uniform... not that it really matters, as at least for today, his 'out of uniform' clothing is exactly the same as his uniform clothing, except that the duster-laden uniform top has been replaced with a simple tanktop of the same color. The A-LAWS logo is even still present on the left breast.

He has no luggage, save for the Haro sitting in his lap attempting to cheer him up. "BE HAPPY, AMURO," it insists, flapping with concern. "BE HAPPY, AMURO!"

"Good advice," says a deep voice from behind Leo and the Haro, because there's someone totally standing behind the bench, not two feet away. The voice is, of course, a familiar one, belonging as it does to the man who's come to be known as Mister Bushido, the ace who threw away his name and his pride for strength, the man who wears a somewhat intimidating mask on his face to remind himself of the injuries he sustained in battle against Celestial Being, of the consequences of even momentary failure against a powerful enemy. Wearing, of course, his custom A-LAWS uniform, Mister Bushido stands with his arms folded across his chest and what appears to be a faint grimace on his face, though with the mask it's difficult to tell what's his actual expression, and what's simply an impression given by the look of the mask itself. His green eyes stare out intently, focused right on the back of Leo's head. "There is little point in succumbing to depression, Leo Stenbuck." Listen to him, he knows. He /knows/. Also, he's not alone...?!

A pink haired teenager stands at Mr. Bushido's side. Wearing what looks like a designer hoodie, pink microskirt, and fur topped moonboots, Lacus Clyne looks around with a sense of wonderment. She seems to be completely out of her element, staring at just about anything and everything. She kinda looks like an excited little kid as he looks at every piece of machinery as if she's never seen it before....Even though she grew up on PLANTS evidently.

The Heiress/pop star stands beside Mister Bushido, holding his arm like he's her dad or something. Maybe something more?! ...Probably not. "OH! You're the winner from the concert! Hiya! Nice to see you again!"

She flashes Leo a peace sigh, smiling at him as she steps around Mr. Bushido.

The Exelion is enormous, and has all sorts of weird stuff. Case in point:

Noriko Takaya emerges from one of the long hallways that empty out onto the train platform. She is not wearing an A-LAWS uniform; she personally still identifies as a Top, and enduring the eccentricities of Coach and his proteges is pretty much company policy at the Buster Machine Corporation. Instead, she has on her Top Squadron leotard and overshirt sweater...thing, combo, with a towel draped around her neck. She is, as she walks into view, tightening the knot on the blue headband she wears, which trails entirely too long behind her - when she walks, it picks up just enough momentum to pick itself up off the ground.

She blinks, and slows a little. She hasn't really met the A-LAWS personnel, yet, she thinks, and that's...Lacus Clyne? Noriko talked to Lacus, once, a while ago - on the radio, mostly, but still.

She steps closer, opening mouth to speak, but...blink, blink.

"......Amuro?" she asks, baffled, because Noriko Takaya didn't live through the One Year War but she /knows/ this guy ain't Amuro Ray.

Leo's head sags forwards when Mister Bushido offers his piece of advice; from behind, it probably just makes him look chastised, but in truth he's grinning despite himself. "I didn't think anyone'd be coming to see me off," he begins, looking back over his shoulder at the One Man Army. "Is this where they've-"

He stops mid-sentence when he sees that Mister Bushido is not only not alone, he's not alone because he's with /Lacus god damn Clyne/. For several heartbeats, the young man just stares, mouth hanging open.

Leo glances back and forth between the masked man and the princess of pop several times before his mouth snaps shut and he rises suddenly to his feet, the Haro tumbling onto his lap; it lands on the ground and rolls away, occasionally flapping in silent distress.

"Miss Clyne," Leo stammers, "What... what're you doing here? How- oh, I mean-" He's doing his best to hide it, but he's obviously terribly excited because HOLY SHIT IT'S LACUS CLYNE OH MY GOD!

"Y-you probably don't remember me," Leo explains, crossing his arms tightly over his chest - it does an impressive job of making the muscle stand out. "But we talked once, when you were, uh... on the Archangel...? You asked for tea, and we talked a little bit?"

When Noriko says 'Amuro', Leo... totally fails to turn his head, which is unfortunate because it would make his headband do awesome things, and then presumably he and Noriko would get into some sort of headband fight. But the platform isn't entirely empty, and besides, Amuro isn't an uncommon name, especially not after the One Year War.

The Haro, however, who has since changed direction to roll towards Noriko, immediately begins bleating, "AMURO, AMURO! AMURO, AMURO!" This /does/ earn a glance from Leo, even if it's only to make sure that the Haro isn't trying to attack a blonde man or something.

That was embarrassing enough the first time.

Of course, Mister Bushido endures the presence of 'Lacus Clyne' hanging off of his arm with a sort of limitless Zen patience, rather than any sort of excitement or star-struck behaviour. Pop music isn't really his thing, which is probably incredibly shocking to anyone who knows him, and his actual knowledge of the pink-haired pop icon is secondary at best; Darryl Dodge, surprisingly? A big fan of pop idols. Rest in peace, Darryl. Regardless, he was assigned to the role of bodyguard and guide to 'Lacus' while she was aboard the Exelion, at least partially because of his experiences escorting Shine Hausen around before the formation of the A-LAWS task force. Also, it's at least partially because of his general lack of interest in anything that isn't 'getting stronger' and 'defeating Gundams/Celestial Being/more recently the Divine Crusaders'; if there's anyone who could be counted on even more than Bushido to not do anything untoward with Meer Campbell, it's one of the combat Innovades, but their Ken Doll status isn't really widely known, now is it? Either way, he finds Leo's behaviour towards 'Lacus' to be completely bewildering. "Hmm," says Mister Bushido, gravely - he's always grave - as he looks from Meer to Leo. "I heard you were leaving, so I decided to show Miss Clyne this section of the ship." Of course, he doesn't bother explaining why he's with her in the first place.

Lacus giggles at Leo's reaction. It was nice to see a fan even in a place like this. She does wish he'd calm down before he hurts himself. The pop star smiles at Leo, waiting for him to take a deep breath before answering. "Actually I was visiting some of the people in the sick bay between shows and Mr. Bushido said he wanted to show me this part of the ship. It's so nice to see you again."

Lacus smiles despite Leo's claim they met before the concert. Oh dear, that was a loose end that Gilbert didn't foresee enough to tell this Lacus about. She doesn't let her thoughts go past an awkward giggle. She considers saying she forgot all about that, seeing it as the easier way out of this....However, look at that boy's expression. He really felt something about this moment. Me...Lacus couldn't let Leo down. Lacus had to make all of her fans happy, no matter the cost.

"Well my memory of that incident is a little hazy but I do remember you were very nice to me. I want you to understand I appreciate that. It's so nice to see you again..."

Lacus looks over at the Haro, kneeling down to pick it up. Hopefully it reverts to 'Lacus' settings if it is held in her bountiful bosom. This seemed to work for all things.

Noriko hums, gripping an end of the towel around her neck and using it to dry at her forehead a little. "Uhm, am I interrupting something....?" she wonders.

She blinks at the little Haro, squatting down to look at the thing. "No, no," she says with a little 'talking to a silly child' grin. "That's not Amuro at all, little guy, that's..." Glance up at Leo. ... ... ... "...someone" HELPFUL!!

Glance up, and she finally spots: "Whoa, Lacus Clyne!" she says, with all the subtlety and courtesy of a lemon. She rises, hand rising to wave. "I'd heard she..." She tips her head, curious. Didn't Coach say she'd gone AWOL or something? Maybe that was someone else. Either way: "It's good to see you, Miss Lacus. I guess we never met face to face, huh?"

Noriko is fairly at ease around celebrities, what with her father's connections, and then Coach's, and then Master's, and then the Commander's, and then /hers/... "Oh, uh, I'm Noriko," she adds, tipping her head. "Noriko Takaya." Thus establishing her relevance to the universe, /right/?

While Lacus giggles and ponders how to perpetuate her /devil lie/, Leo turns his gaze back to Mister Bushido, content that his Haro is not committing a felony. "Well... thanks, dude," he says simply, his nervous energy boiling over into the otherwise plain statement. "I appreciate it."

And then Lacus confirms that she remembers him, and Leo's face splits into an ear-to-ear grin. It isn't hard to tell that being remembered by Lacus Clyne has basically made his day.

"T-thanks!" the young man responds to Lacus as she leans down; the Haro - still bleating, "AMURO! AMURO!" - reverses direction to roll eagerly into her arms. As soon as it's there, it miraculously shuts up. Leo's gaze swing down to the Haro, and stay there for about a third of a second before his focus shifts the tiny amount needed to be looking at her breasts instead of the Haro.

"I'm glad to see you too," Leo continues to Lacus's chest. "I tried to say hi at the concert, but- well, it doesn't matter. You... look great," the young man summarizes lamely, finally tearing his eyes back to the Princess of Pop's face. He hesitates briefly, and then begins, "And don't worry, they don't look-"

And here comes Noriko Takaya. Leo stops mid-sentence, puffing his cheeks out in irritation. He's content to seethe in silence, apparently attempting to will Noriko to burst into flames, until she introduces himself, at which point he blurts out, "/You're/ the Gunbuster girl?"

His surprise and disbelief are exceedingly obvious.

Lacus looks over at Noriko and nods. "Nice to meet you, Noriko." She notes the girl's reaction being slightly more calm than Leo's. Perhaps she wasn't a fan? Well you couldn't get them all. A fact which makes Lacus kinda smile sadly at Noriko.

Lacus continues to hold the Haro, obvious to Leo's stare at her assets. She thought all men stared there. It was just something guys did. She cradles the Haro, smiling down at it. "It's such a nice Haro, Mr. Stenbuck...And what do you mean they don't look...what don't look?" She cranes her head to the side, blinking. She honestly has no idea. If you look into her eyes, you can see where knowledge goes to die in the abyss that was her mind.

Lacus looks over to Mr. Bushido as if he can explain this to her. As he is a man of honor, he probably knew what Leo was talking about.

ELSEWHERE

THE MINERVA

Rei Ayanami's quarters continue the trend of 'undecorated' that she's managed to keep up her entire life. It's not like there's any room for luxury, anyway -- but all the same, the only things that she keeps out are some well-thumbed books and a variety of pill containers. Her connection to Paptimus Scirocco did get her one of the more enviable rooms, though -- one with its own shower. Rei has just emerged from this, dried off, and is now unselfconsciously walking around in her underwear. She opens her closet door. Plugsuit. School uniform. A-LAWS uniform, A-LAWS uniform, A-LAWS uniform...

And then there are a few outfits in boxes, delivered just today. Different colors, apparently. Tan for desert operations. Brown for woodland work. Just in case the soldiers are called upon to do something outside of their cockpits for once, Heaven forbid. Rei takes the woodland box and sets it on her bed, opening it up to have a look at the contents.

She finds it vaguely surprising that when she removes the first article, it's a choker with an A-LAWS logo on it.

Rei examines the rest of the contents. A microskirt. A modified greatcoat that leaves some modesty to be desired. Et cetera, all following a general 'unprofessional' theme.

Rei looks at the invoice that came in the box. Under 'COLOR / MODEL,' someone clearly /meant/ to check off 'Brown - Woodland.'

But they missed and hit 'Browning.'

END INTERLUDE

At Leo's thanks, Mister Bushido simply rolls his shoulders in a faint shrug. "It seemed the thing to do," he informs the younger pilot, proving that he does still have some vague conception of social norms despite his seemingly overwhelming crazy, a condition which only ever seems to get worse, not better. His arms still folded, the One Man Army looks baleful and intimidating, but he always does, these days. His green eyes glance between the younger trio that seems to be gathering, and he remains standing beside 'Lacus' to better operate in his 'bodyguard' capacity, which might be why he's trying a bit harder to emphasise his unapproachable demeanor. It makes for kind of a weird contrast, standing by the pink princess as he does. "So, Leo Stenbuck," Bushido says, suddenly. "Will you be taking advantage of your leave to spend some more 'quality time' with your girlfriend?" He's actually not sure WHO Leo's girlfriend is anymore, being unable to keep up with the younger ace's love life even if he could be bothered to, but he assumes Leo must have one somewhere. Also, he's salting Leo's game semi-intentionally.

Noriko, having hung around Jung for a /long time/, restrains the urge to whap Leo upside the head at his prolonged preoccupation with Lacus' boobs, but instead her hands stay where they are, seemingly oblivious to how minimal her outfit is compared to everyone else; it's a Top's attire! It's only right.

"What's up with the Haro?" she asks, as if oblivious to having SHUT LEO DOWN in mid-possibly-stupid thing. She seems puzzled by Lacus' sorrow, unwitting that her ease has damaged the poor girl's heart. Truth be told, Noriko's more into old anime music, but Lacus isn't so bad. She'd probably be stunned more if she hadn't spent most of her life around amazing people, really.

And then Leo retaliates with /visible shock/, and she puffs up with pride. "That's right! Noriko Takaya, Top Squadron, primary pilot of Gunbuster! Well, I guess it's Fraternity, now. Same idea, though." Blink. "...you look kind of stunned. I promise, Master didn't teach me how to chop you in half or anything."

Leo just gives Noriko a skeptical look. He had heard that the pilot of Gunbuster was a hot blunette... and Noriko Takaya certainly isn't that. He takes a moment to look Noriko up and down appraisingly, but does not deign to respond to her immediately. Instead, he spends his time wishing that Lacus was dressed like Noriko, and Noriko was dressed like...

Well, okay, Noriko can stay dressed like Noriko, too.

At Mister Bushido's question, Leo's shoulders stiffen... and then suddenly sag. So he buys NERV's whole song and dance, huh? Part of Leo wants to correct him, but... he's so, so tired of going over the story again and again and again. And it's not like he'd believe him anyways... and, besides, he's already being sent on leave for 'psychological reasons'. The last thing he needs is to make people think he's a nutjob.

So Leo settles for simply, "We broke up." He sounds positively wretched; the wind Lacus's presence cast into his sails has basically vanished. He swings his gaze back to Noriko, and finally explains, just as wretchedly, "Haros call me Amuro. It's some bug in the firmware."

"Oh wow. You broke up with that cute girl from the concert. I'm so sorry. You two looked like such a cute couple." Meer is obvious to the stares and intregue that surround Leo and Rei's relationship. She just smiles pretty for the people around her, remaining outside of this drama between soldiers. "Well I'm sure you're meet someone just as good if not better. Just take some time and you'll see, Mr. Stenbuck."

Meer looks over at Noriko again and smiles. "I think the Haro is just being funny. These little guys have a pretty cute sense of humor sometimes." Awww, she thinks Haros are people.

"Well met," Mister Bushido directs at Noriko, adding in a serious nod. He doesn't seem particularly affected by the Top's attire one way or the other, but it provides another interesting contrast in that he barely has any skin showing, anywhere, at all, and is in fact wearing /at least/ three visible layers. Plus a /mask/. He does notice, at least, that he's caused Leo some distress, which causes a brief look of consternation to appear on the One Man Army's scarred face, though behind the mask it's hard to see; this is part of the advantage of being a Masked Ace, you know. "Hmn. I'm sorry to hear that," Bushido says to Leo, and he sounds like he means it. Contrary to what one might think, the blond man actually understands actual emotional heartbreak involving actual human beings; the last serious relationship /he/ had ended when he shot his prospective father in law in the back during a live fire exercise. And the last time he /almost/ had any sort of a relationship, it was shot in the foot by him going crazy. But don't worry, he's rationalised that and compartmentalised that in weird ways, and he's much better now. "And Miss Clyne is correct, Leo Stenbuck. I'm also certain you will find someone, given time." Possibly multiple someones, given the rumours he's heard. "Perhaps you will meet someone interesting, during your leave."

Noriko's hair is more of a reddish brown, really. She still looks kind of like a teenager, though, because she..........is one. Which is weird, because she's also older than Leo, Lacus, and possibly Mister Bushido.

Welcome to the Rip Van Winkle Effect, suckers.

Noriko tips her head to one side, confused by Leo's stare. Eyebrow ticks slowly up, because even if she's not really embarrassed by attention anymore /keep your eyes on the face, bub/. She doesn't shoot him down over it, though, since he sounds pretty awful. Instead, she says, "Huh. That's weird...you'd think they'd fix it," with a frown. Alas, Noriko can only violence a haro, not fix the firmware. She turns attention to Lacus, smiling and tipping her head. "Yeah, that might be it," she supplies, not even questioning the comment on Harosentience, which would surely be the doom of al men. "They're pretty smart, sometimes!"

And a look at Bushido. Noriko is, perhaps surprisingly, not put deeply off by Bushido's presence. Noriko has spent a great deal of time around very intense men; she tightens up her posture a bit, subconsciously, in response to that intensity, but nods her head at him and says, "Sir," with some real formality to her tone, and leaves it at that.

She might have to look up his name. That is kind of a ridiculous mask, she thinks, but Jung wore one for a while, too, so... "Yeah!" she adds, chirping in where her voice doesn't belong: "I'm sure it'll go fine, just keep your chin up!" Grin!

Broke up with the...? -- oh, right. She thought 'Lacus' - that cosplayer - was his girlfriend. Leo briefly considers correcting her, at least /that/ much, but... if he can't tell her the truth, why bother telling her anything at all? "Yeah," the young man offers noncommittally, a general statement of apathetic acceptance towards the wellwishes of Lacus Clyne, Noriko Takaya, and Mister Bushido.

And why the hell is she with him, anyways? Maybe she's scoping out the Exelion for a concert or something, who knows. All Leo knows is that it's a crock of shit that he outs Anaheim as aiding and abetting terrorists, and gets involuntary leave, and Graham puts on a mask and a stupid vest thing and starts shouting about Gundams and gets Lacus Clyne given to him on a silver platter.

Leo grimaces, scuffs the toe of his boot against the ground, and shoots a glance over his shoulder at the train tracks. Where's that God damn train?

The problem here is, of course, that Mister Bushido just isn't the sort of guy you can sit down and have a heart to heart conversation with, otherwise probably he'd know exactly what was bothering Leo right about now. Instead, the blond man simply frowns slightly, his expression of concern turned into some sort of horrible death grimace by his kickin' rad mask. "Hmm," murmurs the One Man Army, his furrowed brow admirably concealed by his mask, and his unruly mop of blond hair. He might be a full on crazy person, but even Bushido can tell that things just got really awkward in here all of a sudden. He's been training his third eye, you see, and now he can quite acutely feel the oppressive atmosphere that's fallen over the place with Leo's changing mood. "Well," Mister Bushido says, except he doesn't really have anywhere to go with it. Nice going, /Leo/.

Lacus looks at Leo, still hugging the Haro. He looks so sad about his break up. He must've really loved that girl....The pink haired one who didn't explode into Speghetti-os in meat sauce. She sighs, trying to think of something she can do as she clutches the Haro. Nothing comes to mind at the moment. Finally she looks over her shoulder, spotting her publicist in the distance. She smiles softly, setting the Haro down. "Mr. Stenbuck. I'm sorry but I really need to be off. I need to go see Dr. Durandal before my next show. If you ever need to talk, please contact me. I don't like seeing my fans so down in the dumps. Can you smile for me?"

"Mr. Bushido, thank you for the tour. If there is ever anything I can do, please contact me as well." Lacus leans over and gives him a peck on the cheek....You know kissing the crazy person. Hopefully he doesn't mistake her for a Gundam.

"Ms. Takaya. It was nice meeting you as well." Lacus bows and starts for her publicist, bouncing with each bounding step. Leo must be watching her leave very closely.

The Exelion would be a pretty crazy concert venue, though Noriko's not sure offhand where you'd hold it. Gym? The giant robot gymnasium could work...maybe one of the ship hangars?

Noriko catches Leo's look. Being Japanese, she has an inherent ability to tell that, "The train'll be here in a minute or two," with a little grin. "There shouldn't be anyone aboard, about now."

She finds a bench and sits down, watching Lacus go with a vague tip of her head. "She's taller on TV," she muses, thoughtfully.

Leo manages a weak grin for Lacus, at her request; life may be miserable and terrible forever, but... shit. Lacus Clyne. Lacus Clyne!! The Haro, once back on the ground, flaps a few times and then rolls underneath the bench between Leo and the Princess of Pop, coming to a halt at the young Captain's feet. "Bye, Miss Clyne," he calls after Lacus, giving a half-hearted wave. "It was nice seeing you again!"

He does, in fact, intently watch her leave. Boing, boing, boing, boing...

"Huh?" he asks suddenly, coming out of his reverie when Noriko comments about Lacus's height. If he was paying attention to the comment on the train's arrival time, it'd be a God damn miracle.

Leo squints at Noriko for a second, and then just shrugs and turns his attention back to Graham. "Thanks for coming down to see me. You don't have to stick around 'til the train comes, though." As if to prove his point, he turns back around and takes a seat on the bench, next to Noriko.

When his cheek - or more properly, the cheek of his mask - is pecked by 'Lacus', Mister Bushido remains stoic and taciturn. He's probably the envy of a whole lot of people right now, but he doesn't pay attention to those sorts of things; besides, he didn't even feel it, what with the aforementioned mask, and all. "Hmm," murmurs the masked ace once again, turning to look over at Leo when the younger pilot speaks to him. He doesn't actually answer, verbally, but instead he walks around the bench, and seats himself down on the other side of Leo from where Noriko is sitting, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. "I think I will wait," the One Man Army says, looking straight forward. It's an expression of solidarity.

Noriko gets stuck between a pair of studly men in the prime of their virility, and just leans back against the wall, oblivious...but not oblivious to the weight of their souls. She has trained long and hard, after all; she is not the naive girl she once was. She glances up at Mister Bushido - stoicly showing the weight of his resolve and concern with merest silence. She takes a slow, deep breath, glancing over at Leo thoughtfully, taking stock of the... ...man? Boy? She's not even sure. She's sure she wouldn't want to be classed so simply, not anymore.

... ...

Awkward. She knows better than to kickstart a conversation in a mood like this; leans back, waiting. It'll be here soon.

When Mister Bushido sits down next to him, Leo sticks to his guns; he stares straight forwards, grimacing and feeling sorry for himself. After about ten seconds of silence, he glances over at the One Man Army, cracks a small smile, and says, quietly, "Thanks, Graham." And then he goes back to staring straight forward.

It's not much, but Mister Bushido's small gesture of solidarity has done a lot to improve Leo's mood, at least for the moment, and after about fifteen seconds he looks over at Noriko and offers her a similar smile... and then goes right back to waiting silently for the train.

After another few seconds, he suddenly looks back at Noriko and offers, "I like your headband." He flashes another weak smile, and reaches up to helpfully point out the white strip of cloth tied around his own head, in a similar fashion.

Noriko fails to notice that Mister Bushido seems to have transformed into a shoddy, stuffed replica.

Noriko blinks a little, startled out of meditation (subject: hell yeah, got a few hours on patrol out in the Cloud, I get to catch up on G Club!!), to look over at Leo and his headband. She smiles, though it's a sad little smile - no, sad's not quite the word. Melancholic? Her fingers find the trailing blue cloth automatically. "Thanks," she says, lacing it in her fingers. "It's...a memory."

She hums, holding it up, letting the cloth hang off her hand. It's...really, just unnecessarily long, isn't it? "My memory, I guess? --hah, but that's kinda personal, huh?"

The power to replace himself with a mannequin is Mister Bushido's greatest and most powerful great power.

Leo's headband, too, is ridiculously long; looking straight forward, the tattered ends rest on the small of his back. "I know what you mean," he assures Noriko, his voice grim despite the smile on his face, which shifts slightly to match the young woman's own melancholic expression.

With that, Leo turns his head to look back out into the middle distance, and for several seconds it seems like that might have been all he had to say. Then he continues, abruptly, "Let me guess... a boy, right?"

Noriko hums, then leans back on the bench, joining Leo in talking to the universe.

"Smith Toren," She says, quietly. "I met him on the...expedition. We were challenged to go to the hangar in the middle of Warp-curfew and tie..." She holds up her band. "Ribbons, to the RX-7s, as proof we'd gone." She laughs. "Coach found us and had us scrubbing the laser lenses for the rest of the trip."

Her face goes darker. "...or would've. We partnered up, for the battle at Leaf 64. I didn't even see what hit him. He just...went quiet."

At Noriko's mention of Smith's fate, Leo's shoulders tense, and he shifts his weight forward onto the balls of his feet.

SOME TIME AGO

Yazan's Strike E plunges its swords down down down -- all the way down, and they jam through the Evangelion's chest. Not into its heart, but worse, toward its plug, the cell keeping the whole thing moving, if only because that's where the pilot is. LCL and thick, clotted blood spurt up around the blades as they sink through armor, through necrotized flesh, through bionic structural enhancements, through whatever passes for bone in there. The blades strike home, and with a loud 'KA-CHUNK,' pierce the plug from either direction -- forming a crude 'X' as they come out the other side.

NOW

"You're lucky," the young man tells Noriko. His voice is surprisingly steady, but no less haunted for it. "It's not the kind of thing you want to see happen." He pauses, and adds, more quietly, "I'm sorry for your loss."

Noriko hums. "I know I'm lucky," she sighs, hearing the pain in his voice. "I'm very lucky. I didn't have to see it. And I've had...a couple years now, to come to terms and grow from it. I cried a lot. Hated myself. Doubted everything I was. Did some...really, stupid things. Let people control me that I should have known to doubt."

She holds that ribbon up again, letting it flow out of her fingers, slowly. "This is my promise to him," she says. "To everyone I've had to leave behind. I'm not going to cry anymore. I'll fight, for the Earth they loved."

A moment, and then she laughs, quietly. "And parts beyond, of course," she adds, letting the ribbon go.

"Nice save," Leo says, chuckling weakly. He pushes his weight off the balls of his feet and, too, leans against the back of the bench, reaching his arms up to fold them behind his head. Once again, he says nothing for several seconds, frowning thoughtfully as he stares off into space.

And then, just as abruptly as before, he speaks again. "That's a good promise," he says, as if he had just decided it after some contemplation. He pauses again, for an even longer stretch; every few seconds, he opens his mouth as if to say something, but he never gets anything out.

Eventually, he laughs bitterly again and shakes his head, dropping his arms back into his lap. "Sorry. I don't know what to say."

"It's fine," Noriko says, standing and stepping over toward the safety line, as if knowing the train will come in any second now. Fingers lace behind her back, and she stretches up, toward the ceiling. "I've had a couple years and a whole lot of fights to think this through. ...sorry, maybe I've burdened you a little?" She turns back, smiling with some of that burning core that formed in her soul after all that she's been through. She can be happy, even with all that she's been through - smiling with something like real ease to her stance and posture.

"Please feel better," she offers, tipping her head. "I know that's a lot to ask right now."

When Noriko stands up and steps up to the line, Leo swivels his head to watch her. When she turns back and smiles, he gives another weak chuckle and shakes his head, dropping his gaze away from the young woman's.

After a moment, he reaches over to clap Mister Bushido on the shoulder - despite the fact that he's used his mannequin transformation power, that son of a bitch - and then rises to his feet, stepping up to stand next to Noriko at the safety line. The Haro at his feet rolls obediently after him.

Leo stops with his toes on the line, looks over at Noriko, and flashes a smile. It isn't quite as bright as Noriko's, but he's at least trying to put up a strong front. "Maybe it is," he admits. "But I can never say 'no' to a pretty girl."