2010-05-19 - It Might Not Be Much, It Might Not Be Anything

Shinji's been placed under arrest by NERV. Misato's been absent--either because of it, or because of the last Angel. Asuka Sohryu Langley doesn't know, and she's not sure she cares anyway.

Right now Asuka is sprawled across the futon. She looks up, and for a long time, focuses her eye on a stain on the ceiling. Then slowly, she stretches her arm skyward, palm open, and covers that spot from view.

And suddenly squeezes her palm shut.

How was it that an idiot like Shinji could overtake her sync ratio?! He wasn't even in a REAL Eva! It wasn't like they were going to be able to depend on him now that he had gone and screwed everything up like the idiot he was! If he was so unhappy, he should have thought things through and figured out a way to act on it--not stomp on in Nerv Headquarters like a tantrum-throwing toddler!

Asuka lets out a snort, then rolls over; she grabs her laptop--the red laptop required of all Tokyo-03 High students--and snaps it open. Within seconds, neo-outlook is opened, and an e-mail is scribed:

TO: Johnny Domino FROM: Asuka Sohryu Langley SUBJECT: I'm bored!

"Why don't you come over to the apartment today? Shinji and Misato aren't here~! <3"

She hits send, then rolls back over onto the futon and waits for his reply.

Johnny Domino wasn't sure what to think of the email he received from Asuka. For a time he considered that perhaps she sent it to the wrong person. It simply... didn't seem right for her to send Domino something so... very... teasing.

But try as he might, the Agent couldn't IGNORE the email.

Which is why he eventually took off towards Tokyo-03. Compelled by curiosity and cautious worry, Johnny now stands at the front door to Misato's apartment. If Asuka really did send him this email, and if she really did mean what was written in it... either he is going to have to deal with a case very similar to the Rei Incident from before... or there is something very wrong with Asuka.

Johnny Domino rings the doorbell.

If there was anything wrong with Asuka, it was that she was lonely.

She hadn't gone to school--not since the incident that occured two Angels prior. Hikari had been trying to come around, but she didn't answer the door, or return her calls. Now that Misato and Shinji were gone, it made it all too easy to avoid others.

She hadn't even seen Kaji since he visited her in the hospital. Not that she had wanted to see him then, anyway. Not like THAT!

A ring at the door interrupts Asuka's thoughts, and she quickly scrambles to her feet from the futon; she stops in front of her mirror, brushes her hair behind her shoulder, attempts a smile, and then frowns at the resulting image. A second later, she's in front of the door, dressed in her favorite yellow sundress. The only thing different is her eyepatch, which manages to cover much of Leliel's burn, as well as the cavity where her eye had once been.

The door is opened, and Asuka smiles. "Johnny!" she exclaims with an uncharacteristic cheeriness. "I'm so glad you decided to come~!"

She spins on heel, leaving the door open for Johnny to step inside. "You can leave your shoes at the door," she says, making her way into the living room. "I don't know what you wanted to do today, but we can do /anything/ /you/ /want/!"

There's a small inward frown as Johnny catches sight of the eyepatch, but on the outside, the Agent remains calm. Keeping his feelings hidden from view -- a stark contrast to the usually impulsive and brash Domino -- the young man silently enters when Asuka leaves him to his own devices.

Leaving his shoes where the girl suggested, Johnny walks deeper into the apartment. He stops at the entrance to the living room. And as he stands there, tall, proud, and with an odd sense of confidence about him, Johnny Domino really does look very much like the adult that Kaji is.

When Asuka says they can do anything the Domino wants, the Agent blinks. "Really," he responds. This is so very generous of the girl. "Well, to be honest," he gives a small smile. "I thought you had some ideas of your own, since you invited me."

So the Agent goes about his work, treading carefully and leading the discussion in a direction where he can discover more details and find out Asuka's motives.

Asuka has no intentions of bringing up her eyepatch, or bringing up whatever happened the week prior. If anything, she just wanted to forget about all of that. She didn't want to remember any of it!

As Johnny walks into the room, Asuka spins around, her hands clasped girlishly behind her back. "I'm sure I can think of something!" she says, drawing closer to the former Chimera pilot; she slips a hand into the inside of his dark A-Laws vest suggestively.

Unfortunately for Johnny, Asuka's plans may not be exactly what he had in mind for a good time.

Johnny holds his breath when Asuka proceeds to invade his personal space in a manner most intimate. He can feel her palm against his skin.

Yeah, okay, that-- that is pretty much all the details Johnny needs.

Slowly, the Agent moves to gently grasp at Asuka's arm, trying to pull it back out from under his clothes. Prior to Bardiel, Domino would have balked at the idea of doing, well, anything of the sort with the girl. As cute as she was, her personality was atrocious.

Now, however, Bardiel's residue gives Johnny the inner strength to handle this situation with a bit more maturity.

"Asuka," he starts, voice low. For a moment he wonders how to approach this. First of all, WHEN exactly did Asuka decide she had an interest in him? The last clear memory he has of the Eva pilot was making dip with her and eating chips together before getting thrown out of the apartment by the girl. And this memory was preceded by a number of friendly-fire incidents, to boot.

Were there ever any signs the Agent missed? Or is Asuka just... crazy?

"This might not be the most appropriate thing. Our ages..." he lets the sentence hang there, hoping the implications are clear without actually having to go into the finer details.

Asuka's eyes widen as Johnny grasps her arm, and pulls her hand away from his vest. "But w-why?!" she manages to get out, her arm still firm in her grasp. Before, Leo had been so willing to let her have a go at him; he didn't even resist at all! It didn't even take physical contact for him to succumb to her.

And when he finally gives his explanation, Asuka's expression shifts into one of distress. Her brows furrowed, her lips slightly agape, her eyes filled with something akin to worry. He's just making excuses, she thinks. He doesn't want me! Not like this!

She tugs her her arm away from him, and brings her hands to the top of her dress. "Can't you see that I'm already grown up enough?!" She rips her top down, exposing her cleavage and part of her bra. "I am a grown up! I pilot Eva, I even kill!"

Johnny remains calm. Unlike Asuka, the Agent manages to keep his own rising distress under wraps.

This isn't going well. Not going well at all. And Domino has only been here for less than five minutes. Once again the young man wonders just when the hell did this become so important to Asuka. As far as Johnny is concerned, this all came entirely out of left field.

This is followed by the rather serious inquiry of 'why on earth did I come here to begin with'. And while the previous question has no answer, this one does. The Agent is here because of the Angels.

Knowing what he does now after the experience with Bardiel, about where the Angels come from, where they are going, and what will happen if they succeed at their goal... Johnny finally has a clear understanding of why these monsters must be stopped. And while the young man may no longer be part of 3066, he can still make sure the pilots of the Evangelions are there to stand up to the Angels.

He has to make sure people can rely on Rei, Asuka and Shinji. And if something is wrong with Asuka...

As the girl reveals her chest, the Agent's eyes remain focused on her face. He doesn't blush, doesn't close his eyes, doesn't budge. He is as shameless as ever, but now he is also confident.

"Asuka," he makes another attempt. His voice is louder now, more authorative. "You are a soldier. We are both soldiers. That's not the point." He quickly continues, before the girl has a chance to cut him off: "You are an incredibly attractive young girl--" perhaps not the best choice of words, considering the eyepatch and Asuka's own opinion about it, but Domino can't know that, "--but... there is someone else."

It's a lie.

She's not attractive. Not anymore. Not since Leliel took her eye out. Because if she was, they wouldn't be having this conversation right now; they'd both be on the sofa, touching one another, exchanging bodily fluids. But they're not. He's standing here, completely devoid of any of its usual emotion, telling her what she is, telling her that he has someone!

Before she might have preened at having her attractiveness recognized--especially by a member of the opposite sex. But it isn't the case now. "Don't say that!" she shrieks. "You don't know anything!"

Asuka's spiel isn't over yet. "It's Rei, isn't it?! It's always Rei!"

Why does everyone love her?! Why is everyone friends with her?! Why is she always the center of everyone else's lives?! Johnny didn't even come to see her when she was in the hospital; he didn't even send her flowers! If it were Rei, things would have been different!

She didn't matter to anyone!

If she weren't a pilot, she wouldn't matter! Not to Nerv, not to Misato, not to Shinji, not to Johnny, not to anyone!

But that was the entire reason she piloted. All she wanted was for everyone else to look at her! But all they looked at was that little bitch, Rei!

When Asuka mentions Rei, Domino's calm facade cracks. It seems the girl has struck a nerve, one that the Agent was not prepared for. He promptly matches her outburst with one of his own:

"It is NOT Rei!"

A heated scowl hovers across Johnny's features now, his voice like steel. Memories from the night before flash in the Agent's mind -- memories of Rei in her new clothes, of Rei kissing him, of the two of them almost reaching the point of no return before Johnny broke away.

Rei is an important person, but she is not who Asuka thinks.

"Are you even listening to yourself?", the young man demands. "Aren't you the great Asuka Langley Sohryu?! Chosen as an Evangelion pilot at age 5, graduated college at age 13, possessing the highest synch-ratio among all three Children!"

That last part is... no longer true. But unfortunately Johnny is not up to date.

If Asuka weren't so heated up herself, she might be pleased that she managed to struck a nerve. But she's not. She's angry and lonely and desperate and she's finally coming to terms with the fact that Johnny may very well be as unavaliable to her as Kaji was. That she was right not to form lasting friendships. That the only person she could really rely on was herself!

"Shut up! I'm not a child! I can tell when people are lying to me! I don't need you to lie to me! I can handle it! I can handle the truth!"

The truth is, she probably can't handle it; she can barely stand being outdone by that no-brain Shinji in an Evangelion while he's weeping his eyes out! She definitely can't stand being outdone in romance by a stupid little doll like Rei!

"I'm an adult! I know the truth of this world! All anyone cares about is that I pilot! Well, why should I?! I'm not top tier anymore! I'm not their high-sync ratio child! They should just pull me out of Unit-02 and replace me with Rei Ayanami! After all, that's what everyone else is doing! I don't--"

Johnny Domino has made a mistake. He knows it as soon as Asuka says she isn't top tier anymore. And it only goes downhill from there.

Before, Johnny Domino would have kept yelling, becoming angrier and angrier with each passing exchange. Before, he would let his emotions take charge, dictating how to behave. And at the end, Johnny Domino would have retreated, running away from the confrontation, tired of banging his head against a figurative wall -- tired of dealing with Asuka.

But, as was noted, that was all before.

Now, after Bardiel, Johnny Domino reins in his emotions. He refrains from yelling, refrains from losing control. And he most certainly does not run away. Instead, he advances.

Asuka is losing it. She won't listen to him from this point on. Johnny knows he wouldn't have listened to her, either, if this were any other time. And as she mentions never piloting again... this is exactly the sort of thing Domino came here in order to prevent. Could it be that if he had not come here, this wouldn't have ever become an issue to begin with? God. He has to fix this. He has to make Asuka shut up. Shut up and hopefully /listen/.

He has to act.

And so he does. Stepping forward without so much as a warning, the Agent swiftly puts a thumb and forefinger to Asuka's chin, tipping her head upward. His lips come down atop hers, soft, warm, insistent.

And for one moment, Asuka's engulfed in the moment, her fears, her anger, her worries assuaged. And when they finally pull away, breathless, Asuka's eyes are wide with an emotion not often seen painted across the Eva pilot's face:

Confusion.

She doesn't say anything; she just gazes at Johnny wide-eyed, trying to find some way to process this sudden surge of emotions. Before he said he was unavaliable, but now...

Johnny Domino looks down at Asuka, his fingers still on her chin. Even after pulling back from the kiss, he does not step away. He remains close, doing his best to remain acutely aware of the girl's emotions. He got her attention, but if he isn't careful -- even more careful than before -- it would have been all for naught.

"Asuka," he breathes, voice airy and soft. "Please listen to me." He stares into her eyes as he speaks, not even daring to blink, lest the moment is ruined and he loses the girl. "I can't be who you want me to be. There are so many guys out there who would love being with you. If circumstances were different, then... perhaps /I/ would have loved being with you. But I can't. Please, stay strong. Stay the great Asuka Langley Sohryu you've been up until now. Find that someone who can give you what you want."

There's a moment's hesitation then, as the young man considers something. Rei told him she was lonely before kissing him. While the Agent doesn't know what is on Asuka's mind... perhaps she is as lonely as Ayanami.

"If you are lonely," he ventures, "then... it might sound silly. But your Evangelion -- it's alive. Like how my Chimera was alive. And just... there has to be something in there. Talk to it. Seek it out. I had my bio-unit before--before the Angel." It's something Johnny hasn't told anyone, how ever since his Chimera died, he has been feeling so very alone. A loneliness that people could not fill.

And while they said they would basically resurrect the bio-unit, who knows how long it would take, and if Chimera would be the same...

"You have your Evangelion. Not just for fighting. And one day you will have someone else besides. Someone who will give you a kiss ten times better than this one. So please."

Asuka stares up at Johnny as he speak. She has no idea what he's trying to say. Why is she suddenly so slow? A moment ago, she felt like she knew everything, but now, it feels nothing like that. It's as if he's speaking in some strange code she doesn't quite understand.

Is she lonely? No. She isn't, she decides. She doesn't need anyone. And Johnny's idea is stupid--an Evangelion's just a big marionette under her control. There's nothing more inside of it. It's just there for fighting, that's it!

But she can't bring herself to tell him he's stupid the same way she might have told Shinji. Or shout that she doesn't need his sympathy the way she might have told Rei.

She's Asuka Langley Sohryu, after all! And she's not about to be defeated by either of them. If she has to, she'll seize Johnny from Rei's grip by force!

She spins around, her hands balled in fists at her sides. She's trying to draw forth the courage to say something, anything, to acknowledge her appreciation for him.

But when she opens her mouth and turns around, he's already gone.