2011-05-18 - A Tale Of Red Menaces

After the mission at Langley base, the Sandra had dropped off Unit 02 at the Earth Cradle. Zeon was not in possession of a way to personally maintain an EVA, where-as the Earth Cradle was semi-regularly required to do maintenance of the rare EVA/G1 beastmachine units; a machine Asuka may have noticed during the struggle against her 'nemesis', Shinji. That machine now is in the hangar, whilst the heads of the Divine Crusaders try to find a proper scientist to deal with this machine. Soon enough, they'd have a way to support the EVA Unit 02. Probably though help of Dr. Hell.

As for the pilot of that specific EVA/G1? Well, he's standing outside of the infirmary, writing off on his own release forms. Every time he climbed into that thing, ever time that session ended, he'd end up tired. But he knew he was slowly growing stronger - better - his will more resilient. Every time, he recovered faster after climbing out of that soul sucking machine.

The somewhat bishonen blue-haired framerunner taps the pan against the pad after he finish drawing up his signature on the piece of paper and lets out a sigh, running his right hand through his hair, after which he sticks both hands into his pockets; "So, what happened to the pilot of that red EVA?" Ascian ends up inquiring to the nurse, who is standing before him.

Asuka Langley Sohryu was forced to retreat; there was nothing that she hated more than that. She'd rather be brought down on the battlefield than just give up. But her own circumstances left her no choice, and the redhead found herself running for the Sandra when she'd rather be running to bring down the rest of those goody-two shoes Alpha Numbers. Who did they think they were, anyway -- telling her that this unit wasn't hers?! The fact that her mother's soul was imbued into the unit made it more hers than anyone else's. They may have invested millions upon millions into the Evangelion project, but her mother had paid more than that.

When the redheaded pilot of Evangelion Unit-02 steps out of the door leading to the infirmary, she's still dressed in her red plug suit. Asuka, too, is a little worn down, though she wouldn't let it show on her face if she knew anyone was watching. And when she hears mention of 'the pilot of that red EVA', her ear twitches, and she turns to face the person who just happens to be inquiring.

"Well," she says, regarding Ascian with a single critical eye. "If you must know, I'm doing fine. Unit-02 and I can take a few measley hits like that without any trouble at all!"

She pushes her hair back over her shoulders, her lips, which had been tug into a frown until only a moment before, pulled into her trademark smug smile. "Asuka Langley Sohryu," she says, by way of greeting. "The pilot of Evangelion Unit-02."

The nurse stares at Ascian, and is about to answer when Asuka Langley steps out of the infirmary and announcers her own presence. "There you have your answer." The brown haired woman mutters, tapping the notepad and stares at it to confirm Ascian had signed properly. "Okay, we're done. G'night." It doesn't look like the nurse really wants to stick around this pair. You see, Ascian is a bit of a troublesome patient. He doesn't like sticking around in those wards, and it has gotten him a bit of a bad reputation.

However, it simply doesn't take away from the fact that, amongst the Divine Crusaders, he is actually one of those fairly nice guys. He continues to lean against the outside wall of the infirmary, and turns his head towards Asuka, and greets her with a smile. "O-hooo. Yes, I heard about you. The Unit-02 barely has a scratch on it what-so-ever." He doesn't sound like he is being sarcastic in the least. And he isn't. He'd seem much worse when it came to machines arriving back in tha hangar. Everything is relative.

"Glad to see you are doing fine though. Didn't doubt that you were however." Oh-ho, isn't he the smoothtalker? Well, it helps that he has someone like Seril to hang around normally. It's kind of helpful to learning how to approach other pilots. When she pulls that smug smile on him, that smile of him grows a bit... different though. One that almost seems to match that smug smile - challenging. "Lieutenant Ascian Luddite, BAHRAM Space Force. But just Ascian is fine." He doesn't /sound/ like he cares much about his rank.

As he introduces himself, he pushes himself off of the wall and offers her a hand. "Pleasure to meet you, miss Asuka." His own clothing is actually the suit he would wear if he'd be going out in the Amenthes. It's not extremely dissimilar from a plugsuit. It even has little sockets at the base of his spine. "I figured, you being new here, you'd be able to appreciate a tour of the base." He didn't have one, and this place was huge - it took him months to figure out the Earth Cradle.

And as Ascian introduces himself, Asuka surveys him with a single appraising eye. He isn't that bad looking, she supposes -- though he's definitely no Kaji. Then again, Asuka's yet to meet anyone who beat Kaji in the looks department; it seemed that every pilot out there was a pretty boy, and she preferred the rugged looks of an older man. Though judging from the look of him, Ascian probably /was/ older than her -- but a half decade at the very least. Not as old as Kaji, though.

But looks certainly aren't Ascian's only appeal; he knew how to talk to a woman -- or at least, he knows how to talk to Asuka. And that was no mean feat considering how prickly the redhead could be.

Asuka takes his hand in her own and shakes it; her grip around his hand is firm. "It's nice to meet you, too," she says, smug and proud as she always is. "And if you're not doing anything, I'd be glad to have you show me around. I've never been here; I never fought the wars the OTHER pilots fought. The only thing I /really/ fought was the Angels." Asuka is clearly proud of this. "Though I guess that's about to change." She says this all very casually; if she had any problems killing people instead of killing Angels, it doesn't register in her voice -- nor does it on her face.

Ascian's grip is fairly firm as well, but there is something... strange about it. As firm as it was, his bonestructure just seemed /not quite right/. If she'd ever shaken an Ender's hand before, she might recognize that there was indeed something different about it for that very reason. Still, the framerunner puts up a good effort, not trying to overwhelm her grip, but not giving in either. "It may change, it may not. It is up to you." Ascian replies, and then lets go of the handshake and returns the hand to his side, shifting his balance slightly away from his hand and looking a tad more relaxed.

"Here at the Divine Crusaders, we're not as... strict as they are at the EFA. And we actually take good care of our soldiers. You choose your own sorties most of the time. And since you are not part of any particular subfaction, nobody really has total control of you. Though, the commanders may pull on your strings at times to make you participate I guess. I won't lie to you. It's just... things are not that serious around here."

The young man glances the girl over. The plugsuit... accentuated her body. But he didn't give it a lesherous look or anything of the sort. This was a pilot who was used to people wearing similar equipment. He'd seem plenty of girls like her come and go wearing even more revealing things. The few Gundam Fighters on their side didn't help in this matter.

"But, let me say it again. Welcome to the Divine Crusaders. This way please." He nudges his head. "Let's immediately go to the most important part of this place." He pulls out a little datapad and starts typing away on it. It takes him only a few moments, but he's pulled up a map that is marking a specific room. "Well, important for you anyhow." He quickly adds. "After all, you already know where the infirmary is." He takes a few steps, then waits for her, making sure that she'll follow at his side. He's not going to walk 'ahead' of her, like some kind of commanding officer that expected his subordinates to do what he wanted. No, he's taking a much more... friend-like approach.

Asuka does notice it -- even through the thick latex of her suit's gloves; there's something queer about his hands, as if the bones had been broken but not set correctly. Still, his grip was pretty firm if that was the case.

The redhead would inquire about it -- if she was sure she wasn't mistaken; no human had hands that felt like that, but he didn't exactly look alien, either. Instead, she does something she doesn't do very often -- and listens. And she finds that she likes what she hears. No one in charge of her? Chosing her own sorties? If she had known that the Alpha Numbers would have tried to take her Unit-02 away from her anyway, she would have defected even sooner!

"Well, I'm glad to be here," she says, and she really means it. She'd been here only half a day and already she could tell that this was going to be better than rubbing shoulders with the elite of the Alpha Numbers.

She follows after him, keeping pace with the purple-haired man. "How long have you been working for the Divine Crusaders, anyway?" she asks, eye flickering down to the datapad as he pulls up a map. "And why do you work for them? I think my reasons are pretty obvious." Glemy had offered to provide backup so she could escape with her Unit-02; it was only fair that she offer her allegiance to those that had helped her.

"Hrrm? Me?" Ascian wasn't used to have others actually inquire about himself - he prefered to learn about other peoples' stories. "I'm with them because I am with BAHRAM." He pauses for a moment, looking at the redhead. The fact that one of her eyes was patched off kind of amused him, because not a month ago, he'd been wandering around with a bandage wrapped around his left eye - which was just a tad more pale blue than his other. "BAHRAM is a part of the Martian rebellion. It employs Orbital Frames. They've been fighting the EFA for control for.... well, ever since it was created."

When she looks down at that datapad, he actually offers it to her. "Just give it back when you are done looking at it, it has some personal things on it." It's easy to navigate. It's screen-touch sensitive. She could easily move through the map. There's a small keyboard where she could punch in searches. There's also some menu buttons - one in specific just claims 'memories'. An image folder. Another was 'mission logs'. And there was the basic 'browsing' and 'music' options.

"I can get you one of those if you want. They're a bit expensive, but I get paid well." Wait, is he already offering gifts to the girl? It doesn't seem like the Martian is thinking this is anything special however. "Anyhow. Basically, I am here because the Divine Crusaders help BAHRAM keep Mars safe. And it contains the least hypocrites. Sure, there's some people who you might think at first are... a bit odd in their methods and beliefs. But if you listen to them long enough, you may find some truth in their words. Of course - none of them are perfect."

They continue down the hallway, down a set of stairs, and finally into another hallway. "Here we are." He knocks against a door that states: "Asuka Langley Sohryu."

"Your room. Its password is empty, and it'll probably be somewhat bare. But you are welcome to renovate it and personalize it." He points at the door, and then at the keypad next to it. "Just tap in four zeroes to go in, and if it is open - putting in a new number will set the new pincode." It's fairly simple of a concept. "And yes. I think I know why you are here. You seem to have quite the kinship with your unit. It's... somewhat similar to me in that respect." He chuckles, smiling warmly.

When Ascian passes it on to her, her eye widens in surprise. "A Deus Mini?! This is the latest-generation Von Neumann computer!" Clearly, Asuka is smitten with the device; though an Evangelion pilot and college graduate at the age of fourteen she might be, Asuka's still a teenage girl at the heart of it all. And fancy gadgets like neoPhones and ePods were the envy of every girl her age.

It's not long before she's pressing buttons left and right. She pries into his music files first, eyebrow furrowing with the selection in front of her. Orchestral music? Heavy metal? One or the other would be perfectly normal for a pilot, she supposes, but the two in combination? That was really weird! Her interest in the music quickly wanes, and within moments she's digging through his photos. The photos of Mars she likes well enough -- she's always been partial to red after all. And pictures of a girl with a different surname, though labeled as sister. Adopted maybe? Asuka continues flipping through until she stops on a photo labeled Girlfriend (?) -- complete with question mark and all. She scrutinizes the image with a critical eye, decides that she's prettier, and then reopens the map application.

"Can you really?" Asuka's not one to look a gift horse in the mouth; she'll gladly accept /any/ gift a boy gives her without so much as a second thought. But that sends her down a different line of thinking. "How do I find how much I'm going to be paid, anyway?" She /probably/ should have asked Glemy about that when she asked for his help -- but Eva Unit-02 was at the forefront of her mind. It was far more important than calculating appropriate pay.

And by then, the duo are at the door to her room. Nodding at Ascian's words, she taps in four zeros and the door opens with a whiirrr. It's fairly empty. Sure, there'd a bed, but there isn't much more to it than that. It's still larger than the room she had at Misato's -- and this she can customize. She decides she'll paint it red, just like her Evangelion. And that's when Ascian brings up her unit -- which happens to be her second-favorite topic of discussion. After herself, of course.

"Eva pilots have to sync with their units; not just anyone can pilot one of them. Without some sort of connection, you'll never get the Eva to even move." She circles the room slowly, mentally painting the room in her own vision. "Of course, that means that if your unit gets injured, so do you. But it's really not that big of a deal for someone like me."

She suddenly stops, then looks at Ascian. "What about you? What do /you/ pilot?"

"Sure, I don't mind." Ascian chuckles at the rather entheusiastic girl. This was a refresher of interactions with Lethe Rusina - the much more robotic like woman. This girl behaved... normal. Like a teenager. No need to explain silly things to this one either. "I'll see if I can get you a Deus Mini by tomorrow. Maybe I'll get you the one with double the storage space. I don't know about you, but I just never have enough myself. Besides, that newer one has two days more battery time." Yes, just like Asuka, he knew his technology and gadgets.

He watches her go through his files, but doesn't mind. In fact, he just pretends like he didn't see anything. He figured that'd be easier. It wasn't like there was anything in there he hid. "As for pay. You get paid some level of commission by the Divine Crusaders if you help them on a mission. But in general, you get paid about as much as is needed. I'd want to say, someone in your position, about $4300 a month for personal use - after all the deductions of regular repairs to your unit and what-not. If you do missions and come out unscathed, you might have even more disposable." Wow... that was... quite a bit of money.

"Also, know that includes the money that goes into paying for the area we are about to visit next." He points at the area further down the hall. "Or do you wanna stay and check out your room more?" He doesn't intrude into the room without the girl's position, knowing very well that women valued their own personal space. Boys usually were not welcome.

"Ah, you mean it has feedback. Seril pilots something similar to that." But then, she is synchronized to a gosh-darn /sun god/. Which, in many ways, is probably very similar to an angel. "As for me, I pilot an Orbital Frame as well. If you check the datapad, open the 'Amenthes' file. That'll show her to you." Yes, 'her', he refers to it as a female. "My unit is actually sentient - as if the Artificial Intelligence that supports me in combat. I can show it to you later." His unit... is red. And looks like a phoenix.

This is already loads better than the antiquiated devices they used at Tokyo-01 Junior High; who still used flip-top laptops anyway? When Ascian mentions space, she realizes she'd only fill the thing up with music anyway. She never really took photos for fun until her short-lived stint at the junior high school -- and most of those images had been lost along with Misato's apartment during one of the last few angel attacks. She had woken from her coma to discover everything was just gone.

Including her Unit-02 -- stolen by Mari. And she wasn't about to let it be stolen again.

"That's more than what I was making before!" It's clear from the tone of her voice that she's greviously offended. Were other pilots being paid more than she was when she was part of the elite few selected to fight off the Angels that threatened to destroy all of humnaity?! How dare they take advantage of her like that!

"Seril?" Asuka repeats, remembering the name among one of the photos she had sifted through a moment before. She knew who Seril was from that caption, but she wasn't about to admit to nosing through the files on his Deus Mini.

...which she continues to do, once she's certain he's not looking. She mutes the device -- better to be safe than sorry -- then selects the 'memories' icon.

"Heh. Yes. The EFA rarely pays their pilots very well. It's outragious. They don't even get danger pay added to their commissions, last I heard." Ascian mutters, shaking his head and turning away from Asuka. She's still standing in her room, so he'll just stand around the corner. No cramping girls' style and all that. "Yeah, Seril. She's my little sister. She pilots a machine that has a living god in it - from La Gias." The framerunner proceeds to explain.

He puts his foot against the wall, and nods his head as a few female Divine Crusaders walk past, giving him those kind of 'looks' that girls tend to give to guys that are... popular. And no, it actually isn't his looks as much as the way he treats people. There are a lot of men amongst the Divine Crusaders who are just basically assholes. Ascian however, is a really nice guy - much like Axel Almer.

As Asuka then continues to go through the memory file, she'll find multiple video files. There's one of him and his sister sitting in a lab - quite a bit younger - being asked why they didn't shoot the trigger at eachother. Of course, with Asuka having muted the sound, it just looks like two cute kids sitting together, crying as they are getting yelled at by the doctor.

Another file is a birthday between him and his sister. They're in a small looking room, and the birthdaycake is actually just a badly baked muffin. The girl blows out the candle and smiles extremely happy, after which suddenly the door opens, and a man stabs in, grabbing them both by the arms - the camera cuts out again.

There's much more recent files too. One of Ascian in the cockpit of the Amenthes - a view from at the bottom of his feet, giving what could be concidered a 'fanservice' shot for the girls - as he is going through the startup sequence for the Amenthes, and announces the fact that he was launching from a ship called the Ark Hammer.

There's also one of a city... or what WAS a city. Now, a gigantic crater. The horizon runs the wrong way around though, making it seem surreal. This was inside of La Gias. It's marked 'Serril's town' along with a calender notation of when he was planning on telling her about this.

"You finding the image of Amenthes alright?" Ascian inquires from the outside after a while.

Others might have felt guilty, snooping through someone else's private things like that -- but Asuka doesn't feel the slightest twinge of guilt.

But then, like a child caught with their hand in a cookie jar, Asuka suddenly jumps a little at Ascian's inquiry.

"Oh, yeah!" she says, fingers moving furiously over the screen to bring up the picture in question. "Ooh, it's red!" Asuka does really like red. "Wait a second," she says, squinting down at the image. "I think I recognize this unit... you were at the battle, weren't you?"

She walks up to Ascian, passing the datapad back to him as she passes through the doorway, the door whiirring closed behind her. She turns to the pad on her wall and programs in a passcode, and continues speaking without missing a beat.

"I suppose I should thank you for helping me back there." What? Asuka thanking someone? This was definitely a first! "As much as I hate to admit it, I wouldn't have been able to make off with Unit-02 without /some/ sort of help."

"I've never been to La Gias," she says, looking up as her four-digit code is inputted and saved. "I prefer to stay on Earth. All the stories I've heard about La Gias have been even weirder than /any/ of the stories I've heard about Earth." Asuka chooses reality over fantasy any day.

"Nah, you must be misremembering. I was in The Beast at the time." Ascian mutters, standing near the keypad - but looking away as she puts it in. "It's actually a unit based on the EVA technology. Dr. Hell created a conglomeration between EVA, Gunmen and Machine Beast. It's the smaller looking EVA basically - that was at the battle." Pause. Beat. "It was black." He adds. "I was fighting the large super robot that wasn't the Mazinger." Although he really ought to one of these days, start fighting that thing.

The Amenthes was a machine that Asuka perhaps had never seen. Or if she had, it was while she'd climbed out of the Unit 02. It kind of stood out after all. Especially in those occassions where it would pick up technicians if they were trying to work on her chest, and she'd get uncomfortable. This was a rare occurrence.

"You're welcome. I think you'd done pretty well on your own though. But I am always glad to help comrades." He pushes himself off of the wall, and gives the girl an attractive smile. "Anyhow, we got more to look at. Come on." The youth nudges his head and wanders down the hallway - again, making sure to wait for the girl in the plugsuit to walk at his side. "As for La Gias. Well, I can't blame you there. I prefer to be on Earth, in space, or on Mars." Though admittedly, he did find some exotic differences in La Gias that attracted his fancy.

He quickly shows the datapad, showing The Beast, after she'd handed it back, and then pockets the little thing. "The next stop - the mess hall! Where we have more than just 'Hamburger'. And we have actual /food/ you'd expect at a restaurant. Sure, it's not top of the line. But it sure as heck is better than you will find at a fast food restaurant." Pause. "Unless you order the fries. Also, just so you know, tuesday is tater-tot day. Don't miss them, they're gone within minutes, and they are great. And they also have great Apfel Strudel on thursdays." German food.

Asuka looks at Ascian wide-eyed. "That thing was based off the Evas?" There's an irrational jealousy there -- that something akin to HER Eva is being used by ANYONE. But the feeling is short-lived, replaced by a feeling of superiority. There was no way some puny replica of NERV's Evangelions could best her Unit-02!

Asuka keeps pace with Ascian, matching her saunter to match his own. "I've never been to Mars, either," she says. "I was always on-call when the Angels were attacking; it didn't matter how long it had been since the last attack. They made me skip the school trip, too." Asuka's face contorts into a pout at the thought of it; she had been looking forward to hanging out with Hikari and all the others. "Maybe I'll finally be able to go into space sometime." There was no reason for her not to now that the Angels were defeated.

She looks down at the Beast when the datapad is shown to her, and she realizes she does remember it among the other faces on the battlefield. But soon, the topic is turned to food -- yet another important topic she forgot to discuss with Glemy when the two planned her defection. "I like that," she says, at the mention of the strudel. "It's been so long since I've been back to Germany," she moans. She misses it.

"They're cheap copies. Nowhere nearly as powerful as the originals." Ascian tries to put Asuka's mind at ease, not realizing that she had already convinced herself it was alright for that very reason. "As for Mars." He's glad the girl changed the subject though, since it was making him feel a bit uncomfortable. He knew that he'd probably have even more of an outburst, if someone ever made a half-Orbital Frame, half-something else. Oh, he'd be rightly pissed alright.

"Well, here, you can take whatever school trip you want. You can go to Zeon University if you want to finish your schooling. That'll immediately put you up there in space though. But you might find new friends." He shrugs his shoulders slightly. "Or you can stay here on earth for a while, get used to what it is like around here. I promise you I'll be around." he pats his pockets suddenly, and then takes out what looks like a business card. "Here." He offers her. It's his radio frequency, the number of his room at the Earth Cradle, and things like email. "I mean, if you ever need it. Just in case."

Whether she took it or not didn't matter, as they end up in the mess hall. It's huge. But not too full at the moment. A few men at the back right corner raise a hand and call out. "Hey, Luddite! Who's the hotty!" The guy calls out. Which actually sends a momentary blush to his cheeks, which he bashfully hides by turning his face away from Asuka. He closes his eyes for a moment, and tells Asuka; "If you want, I can take you there. The Amenthes can make the trip from here to Germany within an hour." Pause. Blush. "You'd be stuck with me in my cockpit though." He adds and quickly turns about, pointing over his shoulder at the counter trying to look cool - while at the same time hiding his slightly reddened face.

"They're good folk. But be careful, some can be a bit lecherous. They mean well though. Most folk here aren't too terrible. In fact, I think we have more female ace pilots than male ones. So there is more of a shortage of men than women. So they kind of... behave better, I guess?" He offers as a potential explaination. "Hrrm... I should show you the route to the hangar." Seems he doesn't wanna stay in the messhall at the moment. At least the blush is gone by the time he looks at Asuka again.

Where were all the suave, smooth-talking guys in the Alpha Numbers? She couldn't think of a single person in that group -- save for one Kaji Ryoji -- who was capable of speaking to a woman as she needed to be spoken to. Asuka decides in that moment that she likes Ascian. A lot better than any of the other men she had a misfortune of meeting during her tenure as a member of the Alpha Numbers.

"I've already graduated," she says, preening with pride. "At the age of fourteen." Bragging about herself is one of the few things Asuka loves best; she's definitely not humble by any stretch of the word. "I've thought about going back to get my doctorate, though." Another degree wouldn't help her much on the battlefield, but Asuka loved having yet another reason to justify why she was so much better than everyone else.

She watches with curiosity as Ascian pats down his pockets, then reaches in and offers her a business card. "A business card?" she repeats, looking down at the card she grips in her hand. Almost immediately, Asuka feels compelled to have some business cards of her own printed up. Red, with some sort of stylish design on it. Maybe an imprint of the face of her Unit-02?

If Ascian needed to get in touch with her, he thankfully didn't need a card; he at least, knew where her room was.

Asuka looks up from the card just in time to see the men who were calling out at Ascian. If Asuka was offended at all by their words, she doesn't show it; if anything, she grins pridefully, glad that there are others that recognize her for the beauty she is.

"I'll have to take you up on your offer," she says. "Once I've settled in."

And when he makes his way to the hangar, she follows.

"Wow, that's pretty darn amazing." Ascian is not one to deny another their pride. He knows exactly what that feels like, to be proud about something. Heck, he has Seril as his sister - who was so very proud about her newly learned ability to write. "A doctorate?" The young man blinks. "Dang, maybe I'll have to ask you to tutor me or something. I mean, not that I am in college or anything, but... you know." Wait, was he hinting that she should drop down at his room and they could 'study' together? He /is/ standing rather close to her as he says this, showing her a grin. In reality though, he has no such intentions. At least, not that he himself is aware of. The fact was, that he just wanted to praise Asuka's ability at learning and her magnificent brain. "Sure, hit me up for that offer any time." He then belatedly answers. But wait. Which one? Flying to Germany or...?

The young man turns his head about a bit, trying to catch Asuka's reaction when looking at the card, but ends up missing it as she instead grins at the guys who'd called out at her. He's glad that, soon after, she just follows him out though. "We're currently on the third floor." He explains. "If you follow this hallway." The one they were moving through... "You get to the hangar. There's some stairways that go down though, that come out at different levels of the hangar, or come out at different points. I prefer this hallway though, for one specific reason..."

When they come out of the hall, through a set of iris doors, they arrive in the hangar. There, a gigantic quantity of units sit. From the gigantic stone collosus, to Amenthes - which was staring straight at him - knowing at all times where he was. Her 'wings' flutter slightly in response. And a few robots to the right, there is Unit 02, next to the EVA/G1 that Ascian had pilotted the day before. It seems they are using some of its parts to do repairs on the red EVA. "I told them they could use some of the EVA parts on The Beast to repair your unit, until they found more proper replacement parts." Ascian explains, leaning over the railing of the catwalk they were now standing on.

Asuka looks at Ascian, her brow crinkled slightly. Was this guy flirting with her? For a moment, she deliberates, then decides that he must be -- then she decides that she doesn't mind it. He's not bad-looking, that's for sure. And he's certainly not bad at talking. And maybe he's not a college graduate at the age of fourteen, but who was, really? He still was better than the other specimens the Alpha Numbers had to offer.

She was just surprised he wasn't taken already. Or was he? That question mark after 'girlfriend' was certainly puzzling enough!

Asuka pads beside him, taking in all the sights as he continues his tour. A set of double doors take them through to the hangar, filled with any number of units. She hadn't taken much time to take in the sights when she first landed Unit-02, but now she could finally look out at all the other units she'd be working alongside.

"I'll have to make sure to not let Unit-02 get hit if they're going to have trouble coming up with parts," she says, leaning over the railing to gaze across at Eva Unit-02.

The Cradle's hanger is always a bustle of activity, with patrols departing, patrols arriving, and the myriad mainteinance personnel that keep everything running. In fact, this very instant, someone is coming back in from a training exercise out in the desert. There's a blast of hot wind when the machine arrives, perhaps blamed on the great Cradle doors opening. At least, until the Yatagarasu stalks into view. The edges of its armor are crimson with heat as it approaches its marked resting bay.

It seems the Cradle techs have made a place just for Yatagarasu. A place to park where the Godmachine *won't* burn holes in the floor. On the black floor of its personal space, the stone machine sinks down to its knees, then leans forward on its hands. The lights in its eyes fade out, followed by the back panels sliding apart. Out pops...A young girl?

Seril Vaskell, princess of the La Gian kingdom of Helena, descends the searing hull of Yatagarasu bare-handed as she always has done. While she'd started it wet, she's dry by the time she hits the floor, adjusting her jacket. The techs aren't getting anywhere near it, so she walks right up to them instead, "The radio overheated again, could you fix it?" Big fangy smile, "The alarm system is working great though!" Seems she hasn't noticed Ascian or his companion just yet. Then again, she JUST got back, too.

"Don't worry about it." Ascian mutters, and shifts his weight a bit more forwards, and turns his head to look at Asuka. This time he gives her a bit of a better look - since her face is a lot closer, and he can concentrate on the rest of her that is visible from this vantage point. But this look doesn't last too long, and he continues to finish his sentence. "They're not going to have too much trouble. Just, they didn't have any on such short notice. And, I figured you'd want it to be whole again as soon as possible."

Yep, definitely a nice guy. He may be on the 'bad guy' side of things - according to the EFA - but he certainly didn't seem like someone who'd be out there stomping on orphenages, now did he? The bluehaired young man stretches his arms upwards, and it almost looks like he is about to do one of those guy-maneuvers on Asuka, the one where an arm ends up 'not being able' to return to their side, so it ends up over the girl's shoulder? You know that one...

But he's interupted. His elbows go down as the flaming god suddenly comes in. "Ah!" A bigger smile appears on his face. "There's my little sister." He speaks warmly of her, like you would expect out of a true good big brother. He waits patiently for the elemental machine to set down, and the girl to climb out. And only when she's down on the ground, Ascian shouts out. "Hey! Seril!" He's on the third floor, so she'll have to climb the stairs if she wants to get to him.

At the sound of his 'Ah', Asuka's eye searches out what Ascian's gazing out at. A landing unit? She's just about to open her mouth to ask a question when he delivers the answer. His little sister here? She leans over the edge a little more, eye narrowing down on the girl as she descends from her unit. Judging from the photo she had seen earlier, she hadn't pegged his sister as a pilot.

"You guys don't look like siblings," she remarks. She's fishing for answers now, without divulging what she knows. She already knows that the two don't share the same name; if there's more to it, he'll deliver his answer. Otherwise, he'll just assume that she was mistaken -- the same way she was about his unit before.

A voice distracts Seril from discussing something with one of the only technicians brave enough to work on her machine. She looks up and around with a little "Nyu?" of confusion. Movement draws her attention up several levels. "Oh!" She thrusts a hand up, waving with enthusiasm at Ascian and his red-headed companion, "Hi, big brother!" She quickly returns her attention to the tech, clasping her hands, "You'll fix it quickly for me, right?" Big smile, "Thanks!" She turns away, adjusting her coat a bit before she starts to run, waving a second time to the pair up on the catwalk, "Stay right there, I'll be up in a second!" Seril is excited. She hasn't really had a chance to talk to Ascian since his trip to La Gias. The girl seems happy to learn that he might *not* be avoiding her intentionally. And so, she runs in the Walk-Don't-Run zone, long coat billowing behind her with every step. Once she hits stairs, she barely even slows down!

"Well, she's not my sister by blood. There's not even any forms. It's just that... when she came to the Divine Crusaders, she had no friends. And she was a bit lost, coming from La Gias. So I kind of... took her under my wing. So, she's my little sister now, and I'm her big brother. It may sound a bit weird... but..." He shifts his head a bit to the right. "A few months ago, I lost my big sister." There is a sense of sadness in his voice, but he's trying to be a man in front of Asuka and not show this weakness too much. "And I... kind of wanted to give back the things my sister once did for me." He finishes this line of conversation befoer Seril is even halfway up.

When the girl finally gets all the way up to where Ascian and Asuka are, both wearing their rather body-tight red suits, Ascian actually catches Seril in a hug to welcome her. "Hey, little sis, how are you?" The young man smiles. Yes, he'd actually been avoiding Seril. Asuka might have noticed the exact /reason/ why he'd been avoiding her. That picture of the absolutely destroyed town? The calendar notation?

Ascian lets go of Seril again, and gets back up - having crouched a bit to welcome the girl into his arms. "Seril, this is Asuka Langley Sohryu." He does his best to make it sound German. And he does quite well at it too! He's been hanging around in Europe a lot lately. "Asuka, this is Seril Vaskell, my little sister. Seril, Asuka has just joined the Divine Crusaders, and I am giving her a show of the place." And he then proceeds to point over at the EVA unit 02. "That's her unit." He adds, then moves away from the railing. "Anyhow, time to show you more of this place. Follow me."

And down he goes into another hallway, again waiting up for the girls to catch up, before he will start going down a long stairway to the basement.

The redheaded girl rarely shows compassion of any sort; she's the sort of person who tells someone to buck up rather than offer them a few kind words of advice. But for one brief moment, a little tiny frown flickers across Asuka Langley Sohryu's face, then disappears as quickly as it appeared when Seril bounds up to greet them.

"It's nice to meet you!" With one fluid gesture, Asuka brushes her hair back over her shoulders. Head held high, shoulders held back, it's clear from just a glance that Asuka is the epitome of confidence -- or barring that, pride.

"What else is there to show?" Asuka says, moving after him. It seemed as though he'd shown her nearly all of the important things -- well, /almost/ anyway. He hadn't shown her the showers -- and that was especially important for Asuka, who enjoyed very her baths very much!

Seril doesn't slow down much, but when she hits the top of the stairs she does stoop over to catch her breath for a moment before she rushes over to give her big brother an equally big hug. "Bah!" It's a nonsense noise she makes when she pounces the young man, not an expression of displeasure, "I'm doing good! Yatagarasu wasn't even talking today, so I'm in a good mood." She blinks at Asuka, still clinging to Ascian as the woman is introduced. Hesitantly, she releases the framerunner and folds her hands primly in front of herself for a bow, "Um..It's nice to meet you. Ascian is really nice, I bet he's been helpful." She glances aside and up at the taller Martian, "I haven't seen you in a while, big brother. Is something wrong? You don't seem like there's anything wrong..."

"Well, I was going to show you the training hall." Ascian explains. "Although, I forget, you may not need it. Though the communal showers are there too." He shakes his head. "The pool is also there, along with the whirlpools. Though if you just want to take a shower, you could make use of your personal shower." P... personal shower!? "It's usually at the back of the room. It usually has a white door there, you might have missed it, as your bed was probably leaning upright against it. If you need help taking it down so you can sleep on it, I can help." He looks her over. "Though you look plenty strong to take it down. But... the offer is there."

The youth then turns back to Seril for a moment, ruffling her hair and smiling at her. "Sorry. I've just been a bit... busy." Well, that wasn't exactly a lie. He doesn't say that he has something to talk to her about however. That'll be for later.

They continue down the winding stairs, and indeed appear in the basement. It's a set of hallways, each nicely indicated. 'Pools', 'training center', 'Zero-G training', and other such things you'd not expect anywhere else. Such as 'Archery Range' and 'Dojo'. Quite the variety. "The communal showers are that away." He points at the direction of the training area. The scent of chloride in the pools wafts in slightly through the hallways. "They are gender seperated, of course."

"And when you go here..." He points at a hallway, that claims 'barracks', "... you can go right back to the barracks. Which... reminds me." He steps forwards towards Asuka and hands her the datapad. "Until I get you one, you can hang onto mine. This place can be a maze if you don't know the place. And I don't want you to get frustrated and lost." He's holding the datapad in a way that it's hard to accept it without touching his hand though. Oh noes! It's the inevitable romatic hand touch! Only... Ascian has no romantic thoughts on his mind at the moment. No, he's ridding of the evidence.

The rest of the tour goes by a lot quicker than the first half, now that Ascian's so-called sister is around. Was something up?

It's only in that moment that her eyes light up with sudden recognition. That's right! That date that was in his Deus Mini -- that was today, wasn't it?! Was he going to tell her today? /That/ was why he was acting so strangely!

And once she realizes that, she spends a lot of time looking from one half of the brother-sister pair to the other -- a process which continues until they finally stop at the hallway outside of the barracks.

"Oh," she says, looking down at the datapad. And she accepts it, not realizing Ascian's true intentions in the least. Really, she won't pass up the opportunity to do some snooping -- not when it's offered to her in a neat little electronic package like this! "I'll take it. Make sure you let me know when the new one comes in so I can drop this one off at your room."

Asuka glances across at the brother-sister pair -- up at Ascian, then down at Seril. "I'm going to go now," she says, eye turning to the door leading to the barracks. "I've got some things I need to get done before I go to bed."

A beat.

"I guess I'll see the two of you later, then," she says, and she walks off in the direction of the barracks.

Seril tags along, staying close to Ascian. It's almost like she's afraid he'll dissolve when she isn't looking. Like a ninja. Having recieved a similar tour herself, the La Gian girl has nothing to contribute herself except for one short comment. When the showers are mentioned, she quietly adds, "Water's too cold."

Well, of course it's gonna feel cold when your internal body temperature is close to boiling. At least exteriorly she just feels comfortably warm.

She stands by while the datapad is exchanged, adding, "I got one too! The map is really useful." And then, towards Ascian, "Is it all right to give her yours, though? What about your personal stuff?" pause. She goes a bit pale, grabbing on to Ascian's arm and tugging insistantly, repeating, "What about your personal stuff..!?"

But Asuka is already gone. Suddenly sheepish, Seril waves after the redhead, then turns big watery violet eyes up at Ascian.

Oh lord. She looks like she's about to cry.

When Asuka runs off, Ascian waves at her. "If you need anything, you know where my room is." And then he turns his attention towards his little sister... who is... saying something. It takes a moment for him to realize just what she is saying.

"Don't worry, Seril." Ascian finally catches on to what she may be thinking. "I didn't take a picture of that, nor did I write about that." He kneels down before her and puts the back of his hand against her cheek, trying to calm her. Although, honestly, the way he's looking at her, and the way that hand moves past her cheek. You would normally not attribute that to a brother and sister relationship.

"I don't put things in there that I really don't want people to find out. Don't worry..." Again he repeats those words.

The redfaced girl dewey-eyes at Ascian for a while longer, though the reality of it sinks in after a moment and she lets out a sigh of relief. Using a sleeve, she wipes her eyes, "Ah.. I'm sorry, I should trust you more than that." Still, she unconsciously adjusts her coat, looking up at the taller man once more. At last she is soothed. "Ah, I was wondering.." oh dear, "You've been really busy since you took my letter!" Raising her hands, she clasps them together, "Did you meet my father? I bet mother had something to say about your clothes!" Bouncing a bit, she adds, "What did he say? What did he say!?"

"It's alright." Ascian excuses the girl for not trusting him more than that. He moves that hand up towards the edge of her eyes and rubs at them, to help her rub a single taer that her sleeves had not gotten rid of. "It's alright Seril. I would have been scared too." He leans his head in forwards, and what for a moment looks like it might become a kiss - including that dramatic temporary pause, and that uncomfortable distance between their faces - becomes a nose to nose touch. What else do you expect? They are brother and sister!

The young man then gets up, and is just about to pat Seril's head when she brings up the subject of the letter. "Ah, that. Seril, let's go to my room for that. That's a bit of a personal topic." Anything to pause that line of thought ofr a while. So get a momentary relieve of having to actually explain what happened. But also, so he can steel himself. "Come, let's go to my room." And he nudges against the back of Seril's back - potentially touching those hidden wings of hers, and then begins to lead the way off to his room.

A little forehead bump or nose touch is totally platonic! It's not like they're making out in the hallways like a couple of high school students. With a little sigh, she utters a quiet "I understand. I still feel bad about doubting you." However, the prospect of news from home keeps her relatively cheerful. She doesn't even seem particularly concerned about Ascian's request for privacy. She doesn't even flinch when he touches her back. Progress! It's rather easy to feel those little wings under there, too. Maybe she should get a heavier coat, the whole disguise is just so flimsy. She bows her head, then nods once and starts walking at a determined pace, "Alright. Let's go! I wanna hear everything, it'll be good to relax while you tell me." Once again, the coat. At least he hasn't raised any problems about her recent eyecolor change.

No, he had indeed not raised a problem about this. He'd noticed it, especially when he'd nuse-nudged her, but he'd figured that she'd noticed as well. "Guess Yata changed your eyes now too." He finally does whisper, trying to cerate a bridging topic. He was wary of the fact that she was cheerful though. "Seril. Just so you know... ahead of time. The news I bring isn't cheerful." The young man is quite aware that it sucks to be aware of a negative, and then have it sit, waiting for it to be brought up. But he didn't want her to get too happy.

The young man does rub her wings slightly through her clothing, smiling a little as he does so. "Your wings are still cute." He whispers to her, knowing that nobody is nearby, and wanting to distract her mind. Soon there-after, the arrive at his bunk room, and he opens the door. And when he steps inside, and waits for Seril to come in too - so he can close the door, he tells her; "Sit on the bed."

"Ah..Yeah," Seril admits this sheepishly, "I...think it's a good color, though. It's a pretty purple." She looks down when it comes across that he only has bad news, falling silent for the rest of the stroll. Even the compliment about her wings doesn't illicit much of a response, just a little bow of her head as if she'd been embarassed by it. Once inside, she waits for the door to close, then sheds her coat so she can stretch those tiny wings that've been cooped up all day. With a little frown, she sits on the bed's edge, hands resting lightly to either side. With concern written all over her face, she focuses on the framerunner, "What's.. What's wrong, big brother? Did something happen?" She wonders what it is. Is her father sick? Did they disown her..?!

"Purple is nice. It suits you well." Ascian had said somewhere during that little stroll. But now that they are actually at their room, and Ascian has locked the door, the young man lets out a deep sigh. He'd dreaded this day. He moves over to the girl and settles right next to the girl, wanting to be prepared for her holding him, or even punching him if she wanted to.

"Listen, Seril." He begins, settled next to her. "I went to Helena. And all..." Deep inhale. "... all I found was a big blast crater. Almost nothing was left of the place." There, he said it. "Your parents are dead." He didn't go into 'likely are dead', just 'are dead'. "As is everyone else there." He doesn't stop, pushing forwards. "And it looks like whatever did it, was a powerful magical creature of sorts. In fact, the day it happened, was the... was the exact day you came here, to earth." There he pauses, and looks carefully at Seril.

He had no idea how she would respond to this, but he was prepared for anything. Or so he believes.

The girl closes her eyes, fluttering her tiny wings. Ahh, a compliment! But when things start to get serious, she settles down, staring at the young man intently. As Ascian explains what he found, Seril's attentive expression starts to sour, turning slowly into one of slack-jawed horror, "A...a crater..?" With considerable effort, she wrenches her gaze away from him, staring down at her knees. Her hands start to tighten up, clutching the ruffles of her skirt, "Th...that's.." Those pretty purples clench shut, tears pattering lightly on her hands, "That can't be true..!" And yet, he's never told a lie to her before. It has to be true. Seril hunches forward in her seat, shaking, wings dangling limply down her back. "I..never even got to say goodbye.." she lets out in a choked sob. Her hands tighten, pulling her skirt taught between them. Eyes still squeezed shut, the girl bares her teeth. When next she speeks, it's a mixture of profound sadness and the same anger that builds within her while inside Yatagarasu, "Who...would ever attack Helena..!? We were peaceful..!" Lifting her face, she glares through the tears streaming down her cheeks, "..I'll kill them!"

Ascian's heart sinks as he watches Seril's expression shift further and further into terror and sadness. He catches every little change in her. Her hands tightening, tears falling down. Her wings - emotively as they were - shifting downwards. He doesn't say anything, until Seril demands to know who'd attacked Helena. That look in her face, that pure anger behind those words, it scares Ascian for a moment. His heart jumps, and he moves a tiny bit back with his upper body, before moving forwards again. He doesn't want Seril to think he's honestly scared of her. He doesn't want to give her more reasons to feel bad.

"I... I think it was Yatagarasu that did it." Ascian explains. "Nothing lives anymore there. It was scorched. There was even a volcano at the bottom of it." Though at the same time... wasn't Yatagarasu a god of the /sun/? Why would it need /Lava/? "Well, there is one spark of hope. The... the earth palace was mostly still in tact. So there is a /tiny/ chance the people that lived in it, are still alive." Perhaps it was a bad idea to give her that hope. "But I couldn't find them. And nobody lives there anymore."

Well. There have been instances where the Yatagarasu has used its sun powers to imitate volcanos. Seril's hands shake as she hears this out, almost completely unaware of Ascian's presence beside her. She just stares at the opposite wall as if willing it to explode, seething in a complicated mixture of rage and sadness that she struggles to understand. When it finally sinks in that he'd accused Yatagarasu, Seril at last turns her head to look at Ascian. She almost looks betrayed. "You..think I did it..?" Jerking her face away, she shakes her head violently, "No, no, that can't be it! I'd know it, wouldn't I?!" All the same, the girl sinks down, cradling her head in her hands as sobs shudder through her body, "I'd know... Some..something must have... It must've known that Yatagarasu was gone.." Squeezing her eyes shut again, "You're right.. I.. I destroyed my home by not being there.. Oh god, it's all my fault..!" Shaking her head, "Even..Even if mother and father lived..how could I face them again?!"

This wasn't the time to run away from the truth. Ascian knows this all too well. If she'd do this now, he'd never get her to come back from that state of mind. "No Seril." The framerunner mutters. "No. It was definitely Yatagarasu. You didn't destroy your home by /not/ being there. You destroyed your home by having gotten into that machine - unable to control it. You know that the god inside that machine has power over you. Who knows if you were even concious!" There's at least some kind of straw he is giving for the girl to grab hold of. Some kind of way to push the guilt away from her.

Her shaking her head, bending over like that, it makes it hard for him to comfort her. Still, he scoots closer, putting one hand lightly on the side opposite of him. "Seril..." He whispers, sounding sad when he says her name. "It is okay if you unwittingly did this in the Yatagarasu. Or rather, that the Yatagarasu did this." Pause. Beat. "It was out of your control. Out of your hands." He pauses again. "Please, Seril. Come and cry against your brother's shoulder. You're not alone."

"No..?" He really is placing the blame on her, then? It's a shocking statement, and in Seril's state it doesn't help much. She remains like that, hunched over her knees with her hands on either side of her head as she listens, lets those words sink in. It's painful, but that sting is a truth she finds herself unable to deny. It just...makes too much sense. In a quiet voice, she murmurs, "Yatagarasu's...revenge..." Her head tips down, biting back tears with a pained 'uu' sound, "So...it is my fault... If I hadn't, then..." The girl leans away from Ascian initially. After a pause, though, she completely breaks apart, collapsing against the framerunner and just letting the tears flow. It's undeniable: The incident in Helena was her fault. Even if Yatagarasu was in control, she gave it the opportunity. And now, she knows it. And so, Seril cries uncontrollably in Ascian's arms, occasionally sobbing out a weak, "It's all my fault.."

Ascian sweetly leans his head against Seril's head when she finally hugs against him and cries against his runnersuit wearing chest. He is quiet at first, putting an arm behind Seril's waist and pulls her closer against him whilst he moves further back onto the bed, so that he can give Seril more room to breathe, as well as lay. His other hand is at the back of her head, gently moving through the back of her hair.

"Don't blame yourself too much." Ascian whispers. "Yes, it is your fault, if you had not gotten into that machine, you'd not destroyed that city." Pause. "But you also wouldn't have met me?" He tries to offer up as a very weak argument as to why not everything was lost. "Listen to me, Seril." Ascian... actually feels the pain this girl is feeling. And Seril might notice a slight stagger in his voice - or the wet drops of tears falling against her neck.

"Listen. You are better now. You can control the Yatagarasu. Nothing like that will ever happen again." It was not much of a comfort, but he was trying to say anything that came to mind - that might seem remotely useable. "Please Seril." He rocks his body slightly back of forth, trying to entrance ease into Seril's body, as well as his own. "You are still my little sister. I don't hate you, even not with this. I still love you."

It's almost like she doesn't hear him at all. Those comforting words, the caring embrace, the gentle way he rocks her to try and calm her down. The sadness in her heart is just too deep to be soothed like that. But, in all honesty, how easy is it to soothe a girl who just discovered she'd killed not just her parents, but her entire homeland? Eventually, though, the noise she makes fades, and the girl just quivers against Ascian in silent sobs. -My Divine Flame.- She stops suddenly, eyes snapping wide with fear and shock. It's not possible, is it? She half-lids her eyes, silently leaning against Ascian. In a whisper, she murmurs, "..The Yatagarasu...is speaking to me now..." Her grip tightens, "...I'm scared... I don't know what to do... Big brother, I don't...I don't even know if I deserve to know you..."

"Stay here with me, Seril. I will protect you from the Yatagarasu. It cannot do anything without you. He cannot harm you, as long as you are with me, I promise." The young man continues to play with the girl's hair. Sure, it was a bit scary, that this girl had literally wiped out her whole homeland. Still, that was that odd certainty in his heart that he could help her. That he'd already helped her, and that he had to continue helping this girl. As if this was his destiny.

"Don't listen to him. Only listen to me, okay, Seril?" Ascian whispers, moving his other hand off of her back at to her cheek, gently stroking it and moving that hand to her neck - just so he can lightly try to get her to look up at him. "Seril, little sister, look at me." He asks. And whether or not she looks up at his sad, somewhat teary eyes, he speaks; "I am sad for you too. But you deserve to know me. You need me, and I need you. Stay here with me."

Seril lifts her wings a little, the first sign of uplifting since the news was first broken to her. She doesn't look up, but she shakes less in his arms, and she wraps her arms around him as well, clinging to the young man, "I'm here... I'm listening..." She's terrified now, though. If Yatagarasu can speak to her over distance, where could she go to get away from it? "I..." She takes a deep breath, letting it out in a shakey sigh. In a low voice, she recites what she's been told before, "It can't hurt me... It needs me, not the other way around.." And yet, why does what it tells her make so much sense? The girl shakes her head from side to side, at last looking up to Ascian with sad eyes overtear-streaked cheeks. She tries to smile, but it just winds up looking pitiful with those little wings trying to flutter up again, "I'm here."