2010-07-03 - The Ego

There are a lot of things Kaworu Nagisa could be doing right now, what with being an Eva pilot and a general asshole and all. It's exhausting work but it's important to take time out for the little things, those tiny pleasures that remind us of the joy that comes from the burden of humanity.

And that's why Kaworu Nagisa is sitting in an ice cream parlor, eating a sundae-for-one slowly but with the serene smile of someone who's enjoying every second of it. Every now and then, he sets the spoon down and hums the melody of a Beethoven piece, fingers dancing across the tabletop in a percussive impersonation of a pianist -- an accurate one, too.

Specks of red decorate the boy's knuckles, dried flecks of something as he plays his majestic tune. But then it's back to the ice cream.

What a nice weekend!

What a good time!

Good vibrations all around.

SOME TIME AGO

Johnny Domino is paying a visit to Noriko Takaya on the Exelion. They've been conversing in private about personal matters as they relate to Rei Ayanami, Gendo Ikari, and NERV.

"I could call you if I do figure something out, yes," says Domino. "But maybe it would be better if you actually helped me figure it out together. We can't march into NERV and force the answers out of them. But, you see..."

Johnny thinks about his next words carefully.

"There is someone. Someone who, I think, may share a lot more in common with Rei Ayanami than most people realize." Not only that, but after what happened the last time Domino encountered this person, the Agent feels it is better to have a companion around, should he ever have a second confrontation.

"His name... is Kaworu Nagisa."

NOW

It has been hard to pinpoint Kaworu Nagisa's exact location. Johnny was no longer welcome within NERV, and so simply walking into the GeoFront to hunt down Kaworu was out of the question. Similarly, NERV was exceedingly devoid of any personal details as they may partain to the young Nagisa. Where does he live? Does he go to school? Does he have any relatives? Where the hell did he come from and where is he going?

Such important questions, and more, were utterly missing from Kaworu's official dossier. Johnny Domino was without leads and without a clue.

Until one of his sources contacted him. And Johnny Domino, in turn, contacted Noriko Takaya.

An ice cream parlor - that is their destination. Johnny's steps are crisp and deliberate as he makes his approach, expression grim.

NORIKO TAKAYA has had a rough time of things, lately - sitting by, waiting for other people to do the work for her, has never sat well with her. Not to mention the...dreams, the halfway nonsensical visions that wake her up at night. She can't figure it out - it's all weird nonsense so surreal she passes it off as just her subconscious needing to vent.

She spends her time as she had before - workouts, training. Piloting practice. Gunbuster patrols to a full light year outside of the Solar System and back. Signs of battles, but...whatever the enemy may be, they seem to be pretty good at not being there when Gunbuster shows up.

Johnny Domino calls her in the middle of a vintage episode of Pretty Cure R Again. Half an hour later, the sparkling light of Buster Machine 1 starts burning through the atmosphere.

NOW

Noriko walks along - she's dressed down, mostly, skirt and a tee shirt, still just 18 in whatever part of her decides what fashion is good for her. She understands the weight of the situation, but still...

Still, she can't help but grin a little, glancing up at Johnny. "So taking me to an ice cream parlor, huh?" she says, hands folded up behind her. She is the muscle here, technically. But she's no idiot, either. Coming in guns blazing will just make Kaworu shut up, right? So they have to handle this at least a little carefully.

The plan may or may not be to get the drop on Kaworu.

That plan, if it exists, goes out the window whenever the two of them notice that Kaworu is cheerfully staring out the window at them, having picked a booth right near the front of the place, with a great view of the storefronts across the street and various parked cars.

Breaking into a broad, easy smile whenever he manages to snare eye contact with either Encyclopedia Brown or Sally Kimball, Kaworu lifts one hand and wags his wrist in a 'hey look pay attention' wave. Then he points at the booth he's in, raising his eyebrows as if to drive home his point:

He's inviting the pair to join him.

What a considerate interrogatee!

"Yes," says Domino, the epitome of seriousness in the face of Takaya's question. And then he blinks.

At no point during their hasty trip to Earth did the Agent consider the implication of 'boy takes girl to ice cream parlor'. But when Noriko suddenly puts it like THAT...

Johnny glances at the girl, eyes narrowed. "Just so we're clear, though," he utters. "You're paying for your own ice cream."

SO THERE!

There's the lightest tinge of humor when Johnny says this to Noriko. A light tinge that is all too quickly erased. Instead, the grimness is back. "But, you know, before we go in there..."

The Agent hesitates. "If something were to, I don't know. Happen to me. Or if somehow... I don't behave-- or, no." Johnny Domino shakes his head. Abandoning that particular train of thought, the young man settles on a more general comment: "Just be careful around him. Don't let him play with you."

Having said that, Johnny turns his head to look at the ice cream parlor up ahead. The two of them have approached the building enough for the Agent to begin making out the various people seen through the parlor's window. And when his eyes lock with Kaworu's, Johnny Domino's heart skips a beat.

The Angel residue inside of Johnny quivers. The Agent's face flushes. Any tension that has been residing in his body melts away.

"There he is," the young man whispers, smiling broadly.

Without so much as a 'by your leave', Johnny suddenly moves to grab hold of Noriko's hand, meaning to excitedly run with her the rest of the way and claim their spot in Kaworu's booth.

What the fuck?

Noriko snorts. "I figured that much," she says, grinning. Johnny is... weird. He's always been weird. That's what's cute about him, really, even now that he carries himself like the weight of the whole universe rests on his shoulders, he's a weird, cute guy. "Fine, fine~ I'll feed myself, then."

And then Johnny is talking to her with that grim edge again, and this time she senses he's not just forcing it on for appearances. She frowns at him. "What? You don't behave--" Tiiip. "Uh, sure. O...kaaaay, sure. I'm not easy to mess with, you know." She grins a bit, but..there's something--

Noriko is about as empathic as a brick. She doesn't notice Kaworu until Johnny...stops, and Noriko looks at him, looks around, doesn't know what Kaworu looks like off hand so says, "What, what, is he, wait, you're /smiling/?" What the devil!?

And then Johnny grips her hand and DRAGS her into the parlor, toward Kaworu's booth, and Noriko begins to entertain the possibility that Kaworu ate Johnny's soul.

Sloppy thirds, actually.

And besides, right now Kaworu is more busy eating ice cream. "Johnny! Noriko!" the silver-haired boy says, happily. He sucks his spoon clean and then jabs it into the sundae, letting it sit like that. "Sit, sit, sit!"

Kaworu has never met Noriko before. How would he know her name? Is she that famous?

One thing is certain, though. As soon as Johnny sits down, Kaworu focuses almost entirely on him. Noriko got greeted and that's about it. "If I'd known you were coming, I'd have bought a milkshake or something," Kaworu says, thrusting a hand forward to shake Johnny's. His fingers are indeed dotted with dried flakes of dark red, nearly brown. "You know, something you can just stick another straw into when company comes."

Kaworu smiles again, a relaxed look that really does help disguise how similar he seems to Rei. Those blood-red eyes -- the pale skin. But his hair is silver and he's a he and although Rei could be pretty when she wanted to be Kaworu is like something out of one of Noriko's ancient anime videos. But he's real, he's flesh and blood, and good god is he good-looking.

"What brings you two out here? On a date, hmm?"

Johnny Domino settles into the seat opposite of Kaworu, releasing Noriko as soon as Nagisa offers his hand. Honestly, if Johnny was holding onto Noriko's entire body at that moment, the Agent would have mindlessly dropped her to the floor without a second thought, as if it were a cartoon. He is /that/ much entranced by Kaworu Nagisa.

Shaking the Evangelion pilot's hand, Johnny doesn't seem to pay the slightest bit of attention to the flakes of reddish brown. His attention is focused entirely on Kaworu's face. The smile is still there, and the handshake lasts a little bit longer than a normal handshake should last.

Domino's fingers caress Nagisa's hand, brushing against the skin as if feeling up a piece of cloth with a wonderful texture. Then the grip loosens, and Domino slides his flesh across Nagisa's own, pulling back and resting his palm on the table.

"Nah," Johnny easily denies Kaworu's guess -- a little too easily. "We're not on a date. Not with each other, anyway."

There's a twinkle in Domino's eyes when he says that last line, as if he's sharing some personal joke only he and Kaworu can understand.

"Please," the Agent next implores with great affection. "Don't let us interrupt you. You can keep eating. We'll simply watch." And Johnny proceeds to put his elbow on the table, chin resting in his hand, content to simply drink in the sight of Kaworu Nagisa.

No, seriously, what the fuck?

Noriko is incredibly befuddled. For one thing she doesn't really recall actually meeting this guy before. For another she clearly recalls him being kind of a dick.

For a third SINCE WHEN DOES JOHNNY DOMINO ACT LIKE A LOVESTRUCK SCHOOLGIRL

... ...

Revised question: WITH A GUY???

"Ah, hello," Noriko says, with a little nervous laugh. "Uhm, we were just..." in the area LIE, wanting to ask some questions TOO HONEST, on a date GOD NO, going to kidnap you and lock you in a cellar PROBABLY ALSO TOO HONEST, "Ah, it's ok," she says, surprised by the complete ease with which Johnny just drops her hand like it were nothing. It's fine, though; she was going to pry it loose anyway, lest he use it as leverage to use his alien symbiote to devouer her organs, "I...prefer to have my own anyway."

This is incredibly surreal, and Johnny's bizarre behavior has her enough off-center that she's just not sure what to do. He was the guy with the plan. Now he is, what, a groupie? She starts trying to reassemble the situation with this new twist, but it's taking too long and everything is weird.

Also weird: Kaworu has that achingly beautiful quality that Noriko used to think didn't exist in reality. "Uh, no, we're not...on a date," she adds, suddenly, trying to speak just to get words in the air. But she still doesn't have a convincing followup. But that's OKAY, because Johnny says something that is complete lunacy, and Noriko ends up just kind of staring at him like he had just grown thirty seven heads, all of them singing a round of the Song That Never Ends.

When Johnny stops just short of reciting marriage vows, Kaworu laughs. It's a sweet, affable chuckle, the kind that you see on television from the friendly next-door neighbor stock character when the lead is being silly. "It's okay, Johnny. I think I'm full anyway. Here. Dig in, if you want."

Kaworu pushes the sundae dish over toward Johnny and grins. Kaworu's leftover ice cream, Kaworu's spoon. Johnny's now. "Actually, wait. Let me be just a little greedy."

Kaworu leans forward, plucks something out of the dish, and then after throwing it into his mouth, lets his teeth break Johnny's cherry.

Then Kaworu's Rei-hued eyes turn toward Noriko and it's like Tuxedo Mask just turned to her and smiled and casually mentioned his magic unicorn is all gassed up in the parking lot if she wants to go for a ride. All that, with just a little bend of his lips -- if nothing else, this mysterious figure has mastered the art of smiling.

"I'm feeling pretty good today, so I'm not even going to ask you guys to make up an excuse as to why you're here. That'd just insult both of us." Kaworu scratches his temple and gives a boyish shrug. "What did you want to see me about?"

There goes Johnny's cherry, and Johnny doesn't even care.

Still smiling, still adoring, and still acting like SOMEBODY WHO ISN'T JOHNNY DOMINO, the Agent reaches out. Claiming the dish, he pulls the sundae even closer. Grabbing hold of the spoon, Domino pulls it out of the ice cream and inserts it into his mouth.

"Mmm," the young man moans as he sucks on the utensil. He can taste the ice cream, but even more than that, he can taste Kaworu. The /Angel residue/ inside of him can taste Kaworu. The Evangelion pilot can be felt in every drop of ice cream, every square inch of the spoon.

This is the closest the Angels have ever been to making contact with Adam ever since their inception during Second Impact. To the Angel presence inside of the Agent, Kaworu's taste is intoxicating.

For the moment, it seems Noriko is on her own. Johnny Domino is far too busy relishing his criminally delicious sundae.

Noriko feels uncomfortably like she just walked into a yaoi comic when she was expecting a Youtube of Neo 24.

Discovery: ACTUALLY IT'S A LITTLE CREEPY TO GET STUCK WATCHING IT FROM TWO FEET AWAY

They share a spoon, she thinks. Indirect kiss!? W-well maybe...I mean one's Johnny Domino and the other's part-evil space alien, maybe they just don't know that that's not something you just, just do, uhm...

Fidget. Fidget. She was supposed to be the muscle, not the brains.

Then, then Kaworu looks at her like that, and she finds herself just kind of staring back, poleaxed. He...is, pretty...pretty, pretty, god damn why don't they make more of 'em like him, jeeze. "Ah-ahahaha," she stammers, nervously, averting her eyes because OH MAN. "Th-that's," she stammers, again, because OHHHHHH MANNNNNNNNNN

"We uhm," and Noriko stops talking, staring blankly at the floor, because she has apparently forgotten what she was going to ask about. Rei? But, that's...getting a little too far for the first question, she thinks, trying to get her head back on straight enough to formulate a plan of attack.

Kaworu watches Noriko struggle. His smile fades, and eventually, when it becomes clear that she's lost track of what's going on, he pushes his frown to one side of his face in a thoughtful 'hmm' of disappointment. Then, he leans forward again, and taps the very distracted Agent on the arm.

"Your muscle's drawing a blank on what you came here for," the silver-haired youth says. He doesn't smile again -- obviously this is Serious Business and must be imparted to Johnny as such. "Help her out a bit."

Kaworu says that like he /knows/ what Johnny and Noriko are there about. And, well, maybe he does, maybe he doesn't. (He actually doesn't, but it's the illusion that's important.)

Settling back into his side of the booth, Kaworu lets his smile slowly return. It's the damnedest thing, though. When the smile dropped off his face, his expression, with those pale cheeks and those red eyes, it's like a face Rei would have made. An incredibly gorgeous Boy Rei, but still.

But then the smile's back and the Rei-ness is gone, or at least limited to how his stare seems to be capable of piercing neo titanium space alloy. "I mean, I'm sure you guys didn't just come down to cry on my shoulder or something."

"Mm?"

Domino is pulled out of his intimate moment with Kaworu's ice cream, looking up with large, lively eyes. A pink tongue slips out, passing across sticky lips, leaving them to glisten in the light coming in through the window.

Blue eyes focus on Kaworu, not once moving to look at Noriko. The only one capable of breaking the spell that the sundae has cast on Domino is Kaworu, after all. And Kaworu breaks the spell marvelously, weaving a new one in its stead.

"Isn't it obvious?" The Agent asks this with a bit of mischief. "I came here to see you!" Domino doesn't notice that he said 'I' instead of 'we'.

"I couldn't find your address anywhere, let alone a phone number, or an e-mail. So when I heard you were down here, I rushed over as fast as I could. It's not everyday I get the opportunity to spend time together."

"And, really," Domino's voice grows softer, and his head tilts gently to the side. "You shouldn't hide away like that. You're so pretty. Let the world know. Because you're so very... very pretty..."

Domino's eyes narrow. The Angel presence presses in on him from the inside. It got a taste of Kaworu through the ice cream, and it wants more. So much more.

"Tell me," the Agent begins on a new topic. His voice is no longer soft, but loud and clear. There's a layer of intensity underneath the question that follows, the Agent's breath coming out hot and sweet with each word. "If someone were to dissolve individuality, would we become one?"

Noriko is not smart. Not.../stupid/, and actually quite technically competent when it comes to piloting, these days. But she follows her heart always, which makes it difficult when her heart is mostly saying WHAT THE HELL

Domino's answer earns him another stare, as it finally sinks in on Noriko just how deep the rabbit hole goes. This is why he wanted back up. The Angel, she thinks, he said the Angel...did something, to him, is this a, a, reso, a, what's the word, a THING IS IT A THING, or...or what, what is this!? What the flying hell!?

Finally, that last question gets Noriko to actually nudge Johnny's shoulder, though given Noriko's strength it's actually more like a body check. "/No/, Johnny," she says, with sudden force, glaring at him, reacquiring her center through meditative focus and sheer main strength of frustration, "That's not what we're here for."

Now, now she looks over at Kaworu again, and her eyes are clearer. He's beautiful in the most agonizingly brilliant way, she thinks, and he's done, done /something/ to Johnny, and they're here for ANSWERS but Johnny had all the QUESTIONS.

"We wanted to ask you some things," she says, then glances over at dazed Johnny Domino with some of that good will he'd built up decaying, muttering, "Well, I do, anyway."

A second. Two seconds. Get your head together. Be prepared for anything. He can be just as infuriatingly dismissive as he can be agonizingly endearing. She remembers. She won't be anyone's toy. "Do you--what, do you know about Rei Ayanami?"

Kaworu responds to Johnny's line of questioning with another laugh. It's not that he sounds like he's mocking Johnny -- it's that from Kaworu's reaction, Johnny might as well be telling hilarious jokes about leather pants salesmen, desolate farmhouses, and milking machines or something similarly outrageous. It's the sort of laugh where the one doing the laughing is only half sure they should be laughing, but in any event can't even help themselves.

Then, before Kaworu can even respond -- if he was going to -- Noriko takes over. Kaworu's eyes flick back toward her, even though he doesn't move the rest of his body, nor does he shed his sphinxlike smile.

"Rei Ayanami? Rei Ayanami..." Now Kaworu moves. He brings his hand up to his chin, and turns his eyes upward, face creasing in what is becoming increasingly strenuous thought. "Rei Ayanami..." he murmurs, shifting his hand so that his chin rests in his palm and his stained fingers scratch his cheek.

"Oh, right, her." Kaworu's tone is suddenly sharp, as if he were roused from slumber suddenly. It evens out quickly, going back to his smooth, almost slinky, playful tone. "Well, she piloted the Evangelion that they gave to Leo Stenbuck. A lot of people are really hung up about her. I guess she slept around or something. Anyway, she was a pilot, but then she couldn't hack it anymore, and went insane or something, so then she wasn't. And now that she's not..."

Kaworu runs his hand through his silver hair and grins as if sharing a private joke with Noriko. When he moves his hand through his hair it is literally amazing that sparkles do not cascade into the air around him.

"...who /cares/?"

Noriko 'nudges' Johnny Domino, and Johnny Domino emits a potent "OOF!"

His attention is ripped away from Kaworu, coming to land on Noriko at long last. Having been caught completely by surprise, the Agent is temporarily rendered speechless. Whether he isn't sure who Noriko is, or why she did what she did, or how she suddenly appeared there next to him is never dwelled upon. All Takaya gets is the most bewildered stare Johnny has ever given anyone.

Thank god Kaworu's voice helps pull Domino out of his confusion -- or rather, it pulls Domino out of his confusion only to drown him in something else. Smothered by the silky-smooth quality of Nagisa's voice, Johnny allows himself to be carried away.

Turning back to look at the younger boy, the Agent watches Kaworu with warmth in his eyes.

However, despite the fact that Johnny seems to be completely fubar'd in Kaworu's presence, he has not forgotten about Rei Ayanami. Following Nagisa's harsh question, and before Noriko does something decidedly muscle-y in nature, Johnny interjects.

"She's still alive," he says. Don't make any mistake, though. Domino is just as enraptured as before, even if he defends Rei Ayanami.

"As long as she is alive, people will care. But I think you already know that."

Noriko can be good at taking charge, when she's sufficiently put upon. Perhaps that has been the true nature of her strength all along? The power to rise to the occasion and sock people in the nose.

Nobody has been socked, in the nose or otherwise, but Noriko's reaching that point pretty quickly. Johnny's a useless lump who is positively hemorrhaging respect points, while Kaworu is...

... ...a dick, she decides, her attempt at a friendly question turned into, into /that/.

She doesn't respond for a few seconds, trying to put this into the situation as she understands it. She knows he's a jerk, she's been halfway tempted to stick her axe in him in mid-battle every so often just to shut him up - Evas are tough, they can take it.

A slow, inward breath. She's doing a good job of not stuffing that spoon up his nose. Good job! "Is that how you see it?" she asks, trying to keep her eye on the game, look at it from a different perspective, everything Kaworu says and does is something they can use! But Johnny's supposed to be the one who's good at that. It's hard. He's so dismissive, it's...really all along it's been like he wasn't actually /in/ the conversation, huh? Like he was just...entertaining it. Participating with the comedians, a call-and-response routine, or something.

Ughhhh this is hard, way too hard. But Johnny gives her some backup, even through his daze, and Noriko seizes on it: "He's right. I just wanted to know what you thought. You two are an awful lot alike." She wonders if that was an attack. She can't even tell.

"Are we?" is the only response Kaworu gives to Noriko, delivered in a tone that is somewhat evocative of Rei's in its complete boredom. But the thing is, when Rei sounded bored, it was just kind of a weird baseline -- Rei was (is) a creature whose default settings were definitely not shared by any other being on the planet, short of maybe defective Haros. Kaworu seems so much more... relatably human, which is why there always seems to be a faint air of contempt about him. Rei may or may not have been beyond contempt; if hate was ever in her heart, she kept it hidden away under so many layers of psychic stone that no one would have ever known.

Kaworu, meanwhile, simply draws a smile on it.

"Well, that's interesting." Kaworu sighs these words; he not only doesn't mean them, but he wants Noriko and Johnny to know he doesn't mean them. "Is that all? Asking about the end of individuality and the world's single dullest individual? Well, I suppose they're almost thematically connected." Kaworu lifts his eyebrows as a substitute for rolling his eyes.

Then the silver-haired Evangelion pilot stands up. "I think I'm going, then. You need to learn not to mix business with pleasure, Johnny. It throws you off your game." This cheerful swipe is covered in saccharine syrup like it was a compliment.

"And if you're not going to /tell/ Noriko anything before you try these little stunts, why not get one of your other friends to?" Kaworu smooths his slacks and stretches his arms out. He only has one more thing to say before he heads for the door.

"You know, like Amuro Ray."

It's a lazy stroll to the door, and unless he is interrupted, Kaworu will be... gone.

Johnny Domino giggles -- ACTUALLY GIGGLES -- when Kaworu produces the line 'That's interesting'.

"Liar," the Agent says, treating it as if Kaworu just did the most endearing thing in the world.

When Kaworu next stands up and imparts his advice, Johnny Domino sighs. It's a wistful sigh, and the young man's smile gains a somewhat sad quality to it. "It does throw me off my game, doesn't it." Johnny has absolutely no trouble admitting to it.

But then, how could Johnny separate business from pleasure? He can't, not when Kaworu is involved. Because when it comes to Kaworu, Domino's business /is/ his pleasure.

And then the comment about Amuro Ray.

"Oh, you silly," says Domino. "Amuro Ray isn't my friend. You're such a bright thing, Kaworu... you knew that all along, didn't you? Haha, wow. Just... just..."

The Agent removes his arms from the table surface, bringing them up in a half-shrug. Indicating at Kaworu with his open hands, palm-side up, Domino bites on his lower lip, appearing as if he's trying to find the proper words to convey his feelings. His arms remain in their position, looking as if Johnny could grab Kaworu at any moment and smother him in love.

In the end, words fail him, and Johnny Domino simply exhales, leaning back in his seat and letting his arms drop. Basking in the moment, the Agent shakes his head gently, watching Kaworu walk away.

Noriko watches as Kaworu starts to deny things - no, not deny things. She sees it. He's just...passing it off. It's not even...malicious, she thinks. She can't tell. Is it contempt, or just...boredom, from someone who thinks themselves greater? "You are," Noriko says, nodding. "I'd be suspicious, if I didn't know why." Tipping her hand, trying to get SOME reaction, but he just--won't have any of it.

Kaworu rebukes Johnny for failing to tell her that Kaworu turns him into a SIMPERING TEENAGER (Noriko is going to headbutt him into a wall for this same omission, later), and then just...passes them off like it's nothing. Amuro Ray. She'll remember, for when she interrogates /Johnny/ next. Now, her patience is lower. Now she's annoyed. Now he's leaving, now she's got to--

"Kaworu," she says, sharply and shoves out of the booth, rising up to her full height, one hand still on the table. "Fine. Let's talk about something more interesting."

"What's so special about Shinji Ikari?"

Kaworu's hand is on the door. The door is actually open a bit. All it would have taken was one or two more seconds for him to have vanished into the night. And in that slim little stretch of time, Noriko manages to say the one name that makes the boy stop in his tracks.

Kaworu stays there for a beat. His hand on the door, his gaze turned away, his body locked halfway through a step. Then he relaxes, and looks over his shoulder, letting go of the door. It quietly whumps shut as he turns the rest of his body to face Noriko. The young man's hands slide into his pockets.

"Shinji... oh, don't get Shinji all tied up in your little goose hunt, Noriko. Just because you're sore about Rei turning out to be crazy doesn't mean you should take it out on him." The hackles are raised -- though he maintains his portrait of calm and confidence, there's no denying the venom in Kaworu's tone, and almost subliminal signal of pure icy malice.

"Shinji's a friend of mine. No more... well, certainly at the very least no /less/." Kaworu's smirk stays put, and yet something about him, call it an aura or a vibe or whatever... he never seems insincere. Not telling the whole story, maybe, but not telling any lies.

Like Rei used to do.

"I relate to him a lot. And I think he relates to me. I'm sorry we're not secretly wizards poring over a cauldron. But if you're going to compare me to people, you'd be a lot more accurate to color me Shinji..." Kaworu's brow raises subtly, "...than Rei."

Meanwhile, Johnny Domino wraps his arms around his stomach, hugging himself contentedly. His body has become askew in its seat, and the Agent's head has spilled to the side, resting on his shoulder.

Watching Kaworu from his crooked point of view, Domino has very little to add to the exchange taking place between Noriko and Nagisa. All he does is allow his eyes to wander lazily across Kaworu's figure. Shamelessly looking at his face, the way his throat moves when he talks, the way he holds his body, the color of his skin...

It's there, with the Agent looking at Nagisa's hand, still oblivious to the flakes of red, that Johnny Domino speaks.

"Do you want to become one with Shinji?"

Noriko listens. Kaworu seems to have taken offense. A weakness in the armor. She feels a little satisfied. She doesn't really bear him ... .../much/ ill will, but it feels a little nice finally getting a little bit under his skin. Even if he is an Angel Demon Space God who can turn her into a newt.

He adopts a stance she recognizes as...it's so casual, but the way he speaks is more hostile. He explains the situation.

"That's not what I meant," Noriko says when he's done, shaking her head - her hands clasping behind her back, guileless. "If I thought you were the enemy, I wouldn't be asking you this way." She'd have headbutted Johnny Domino until he was either back to normal or unconscious, and then ...well she's not sure what she'd've done to Kaworu, but /leaving/ would not have been on his options list. Probably. Friggin' Angels.

"I just want to understand," she explains. "You. Him. This situation we're in." She smiles, but it's a thin, not entirely friendly thing. "I don't think Shinji's an enemy. I don't think you are, either, not really. It's good that you have someone you can relate to, I think." She smiles a little more honestly. That's not really a lie, but it's hard for her to give him a heartfelt one when he makes it impossible to talk to him in a way that isn't a fight. "More like Shinji than Rei, huh? That's neat..." She wants to ask what he means. She'll go over it with johnny once he WAKES UP. But she wants to ask something else, something more concrete that she's pretty sure they /can't/ infer later: "But, speaking of understanding, I want to understand something else, too."

A glance at Johnny. Yup, still useless.

"What'd you do to your hands, Kaworu?" Doesn't offer any followup questions. Kaworu has made this a confrontation, so she speaks confrontationally - only one question, no conversational loopholes.

"He beat up Asuka," Johnny suddenly says out of the blue. He's answering Noriko's question. "He kept beating her up, again, and again, until she lost consciousness. She's in a coma now."

The Agent's voice as he says this lacks the proper gravity. Indeed, in a sense, he is still as useless as Noriko deemed him to be. But then again, how the hell does he know the answer to Noriko's question? And why did he answer instead of Kaworu?

That's not creepy, that's not creepy at all.

Flash back a few seconds. 'Do you want to become one with Shinji?' was the question. "No," was Kaworu's bored answer, as if Johnny was stupid for asking.

Flash forward to now. Kaworu is looking at his hands when Noriko points them out, and then, suddenly, there's Agent Domino cutting in. Kaworu's head slowly lifts, and he gives Johnny a look of complete non-comprehension. It's not a look of guilt -- not remotely so. It's a look of 'are you brain-damaged?'

"I find that joke to be in rather poor taste, Johnny." Kaworu doesn't sound quite so amused anymore. "And I'm rather hurt that you made me the butt of it."

Kaworu frowns at Johnny with the precision and destructive potential of a laser-guided frown bomb.

The silver-haired boy starts to say something, and then sighs and rubs the bridge of his nose. "I'm sorry, that was just offensive. I don't really have anything to say to either of you now. Good night." With that, Kaworu turns, and opens the door again, once more seeking escape.

Liar, liar, liar, liar, liar, liar, liar, liar.

Johnny Domino's lazy half-smile widens. Kaworu Nagisa is so cute when he lies. About Shinji, about Asuka, about everything.

And in that instant, something inside Johnny Domino clicks into place: he wants to become one with Nagisa.

And that makes him laugh softly. Laugh as Kaworu makes to stalk out in a huff, seemingly offended. Laugh, despite his admission that Asuka has been beaten to a pulp. Laugh, despite the fact Johnny Domino has never had any interest in boys.

Noriko's eyes snap to Johnny volunteering information, eyes wide. The composure she had - based on trusting that Kaworu wasn't dangerous, merely a /dick/, begins to falter. Old habits kick in; breathing stabilizes, slowing to a controlled in, out, in, out, keep her heart steady. Her feet spread just faintly, balancing her. Eyes tick to Kaworu, and now the look on her face really is challenging.

And he brushes it off. Now the suspicion is her head. It's not possible for her to just let it go. "...bye," she finally says, fists still at her sides, just...letting him go, this time.

She turns a glare on Johnny, only narrowly resists punching him out, and then stalks out the door herself, heading back toward the spaceport without a word. She has a lot to think about.

But not nearly as much as she wanted.

Johnny watches Noriko stomp away. He doesn't chase her, doesn't call out to her. All the Agent does is hum something to himself, uncoiling one arm from around his stomach and reaching over to the ice cream.

The spoon is plucked out, the young man sucking on the half-melted sundae. He feels so warm on the inside. So happy. So... at peace.

An expression devoid of worry stares ahead, and it is only when Kaworu's presence starts sweeping out of the building like a large invisible sheet does Johnny begin regaining his senses. It starts with a few tiny wrinkles in his forehead, continues with the corners of his lips turning down, and then...

The Agent rips the spoon out of his mouth. The utensil clutters to the table as the ice cream dish is shoved aside in disgust. Domino's peaceful stare has evolved into a horrified glare. His attention jerks to the door.

He is alone. Kaworu left. Noriko left. And as he sits there, attempting to process all that has transpired, Domino finds only one word to describe his pathetic predicament.

"What."