[IC] Neon Exodus Evangelion Act 2 - Crossing

[Yours Truly]

Ahmed decided to helpfully (or annoyingly) chime in with "Well as the saying goes Sir Kay, 'practice makes perfect'," before he wiped off a little bit of the LCL from his plug suit and continued with, "And uhhh... what would happen if our synch rates go up too highly anyway? Would we just... die or something?,"

[Notus]

"The feedback you get from the EVA gets higher and higher. At one point it actually affect you physically; so, say someone stabs you in the eye in that state... you could lose your own eye. So when fighting in syncs above a hundred percent you better take care. It's pretty rare to get it that high anyway." She answered Ahmed. You could also turn into a puddle of LCL. She also thought to, herself - but not only that would not help calming them down, there was only one person she knew who could get his sync that high. It was very unlikely to happen to any of them, thankfully.

"No more training today, just do your thing and be ready at the command center tomorrow at 7AM."

[rustytengo]

"If that's the case then I'm heading to the showers to try and get this smell out of my hair. If I'm needed for anything I'll probably be there." Beverly said as she left the room. Once arriving at the showers Beverly (which assumedly is connected to or near the locker room) Beverly checked on her clothes and quickly got out of her plug suit. Once in the shower, she let the water run over her hair causing it to cling to her body. She moved her hands too were Kyou bruised her during their fight and grimaced. During the training, she had landed on that side during some of the falls she took. Luckily her sync ratio wasn't high enough for it to get any worse. 

 

Beverly leaned back and sighed "I need to do better and be more careful or I won't be any use to anyone if that gets worst...I'll need to pay Kyou back for it at someway too." She mused herself as she moved her head to the side and let the water run freely down on her hair hoping it will do something to get the smell of the LCL out of her hair.

[Chevaleresse]

Kyou nodded, but remained in place for a bit, still catching her breath. She had to keep reminding herself that she wasn't actually hurt, and that it was just a simulation. A very real-feeling and painful simulation, but still false. The idea of a shower was a good one, but she didn't particularly feel up to another public shower. This whole thing just continued to be overwhelming. The Evangelions, this training, the Angel attack. . . Her mother. . . She needed a moment. Or several. 

[Twinwolf]

Satomi walked into the shower, looking mostly at the floor and not really noticing Beverly's presence. Her mind was elsewhere as she went through the motions of getting her plugsuit off and getting the shower ready on autopilot as she muttered to herself in Japanese. She had done precisely jack shit to help in that fight. She had gotten a big head of what she could do after that initial engagement. She'd overestimated both her armor and mobility and been taken out before she could really do anything, and it had helped the opponent. She had underestimated her opponent, not been able to get a proper AT field going, her attempt to make plans had failed even if Asuka had praised that, just... she wasn't good enough, not good enough, not nearly enough and -

 

Beverly would hear Satomi make a sound that was almost like a growl, followed by a thump, followed by something unintelligble. Satomi had punched the wall and was now rubbing her (now rather sore) hand, trying to calm herself down. 

[rustytengo]

Beverly shot her head up when she heard a slam.  Looking over at Satomi who was now rubbing her hand and muttering something Beverly couldn't make out she shook her head. She knew what would cause her to rub her hand after a slam like that. Beverly had done that many of times until she learned it was better or at least turned out better for her to punch a pillow or to just verbally tear into someone (that one wasn't always the best bet).

 

Noticing that Satomi hasn't really noticed her in her muttering Beverly got a small grin on her face and slowly and quietly made her way to behind the other girl. Once she got close enough Beverly reached out her hands on opposite sides of Satomi' waist and pinched her right above the hips while saying "You know Princess. I don't think the wall has done anything to you but if it has I suggest doing something other then punching it. It doesn't usually turn out too well for us and our nice soft flesh and bones."

[Twinwolf]

Satomi wasn't really paying attention to her surroundings, given her focus on her own problems and the pain in her hand. Her muttered curses were interrupted by a sharp pair of pinches above her hips. "Aaaah!" was the first sound she made in response, practically jumping several feet in the air and turning to face her assaulter. "B-Beverly? I, um, I'm sorry, I didn't notice you here..." She probably didn't speak Japanese, so she wouldn't have understood what Satomi was saying to herself, but it wasn't hard to take a guess when she'd punched a wall. She was now mentally berating herself again - she'd let someone else see her in this state. She made a motion as if to adjust glasses she wasn't currently wearing, due to being in the shower. "...I thought I saw a bug." she said, a very poor attempt at saving some sort of face. 

[rustytengo]

Beverly giggled at Satomi's cute reaction."A bug you say?"  Beverley said with a knowing tone. She wasn't buying that excuse. "Is this same bug causing you to mutter to your self and have such a unusual look on your face?" She asked while crossing her arms and giving a hmm look to Satomi.

[Twinwolf]

Satomi pointedly did not look Beverly in the eye. "...Yes. I don't like bugs." she said. Yeah, great excuse. Bugs. In a clean room, and on an alien planet at that. And you decided to punch one. Granted some might have been aboard the ship during the trip, and it would be interesting to see how they'd mutated since - anyways. "...So yes. Not my greatest idea, I admit."

[Yours Truly]

On 7/27/2018 at 4:00 AM, Notus said:

"The feedback you get from the EVA gets higher and higher. At one point it actually affect you physically; so, say someone stabs you in the eye in that state... you could lose your own eye. So when fighting in syncs above a hundred percent you better take care. It's pretty rare to get it that high anyway." She answered Ahmed. You could also turn into a puddle of LCL. She also thought to, herself - but not only that would not help calming them down, there was only one person she knew who could get his sync that high. It was very unlikely to happen to any of them, thankfully.

"No more training today, just do your thing and be ready at the command center tomorrow at 7AM."

Ahmed nodded in response, and he took his time to say, "Well then, it seems that learning how to form that AT field thing you mentioned is a lot more important than I thought, I mean imagine what would have happened if I had a high enough synch rate to get affected physically in the last battle, but anyway I'll see all of you later," before he slowly limped off towards the showers to try and get himself cleaned up and inside of a more comfortable outfit.

[rustytengo]

"Fair. I don't like bugs that much myself either. Luckily I haven't seen any since we arrived on this planet......" Beverly paused and made a Hmm...sound like she thought of something "Hey, do you think that the bugs here would be tiny angels? After all, I haven't heard of anyone seeing any living things other then plants since we have arrived." Beverly asked.

[Twinwolf]

"I don't know... do they have Angels that small? In any case, I can't imagine they're the only inhabitants of the planet. It's a planet." Satomi said, thinking about the question a bit... then remembering the situation and hastily covering her chest with her arms again (having dropped them while considering the question). "So... are you intending to go take your shower, or...?"

[rustytengo]

"Yeah..."Beverly said not even realizing that she was looking at Satomi's chest until the girl covered it again. Once Satomi did so Beverly broke her stare and blushed a little in embarrassment she was usually a bit more subtle when she did that.  "Or what?" Beverly said looking back at Satomi with a bit a teasing/flirty look. "You want me to join you in the show and wash your back?"

[Twinwolf]

Satomi did her best not to blush. "O-Or nothing, it's just... that's just how that sentence structure goes... we can talk after if you really want to, but I kinda want to get clean..."

[Notus]

The Next Morning

 

The new sun was still not out when Alma took the children to the exploration caravan. It was a impressive sight: the five gigantic EVAs - protected from view with covers with their respective numbers on them - were laying down on their transports, massive wheeled structures that supported their feet, arms, torso and heads independently, but moved together as if they were just parts of one vehicle. 

 The transports where lined in a square formation with EVA 02 in the center, still being repaired. The group was taken there, meeting Dr. Hashimoto and Satomi on the way. 

 Upon arriving to the head transport for EVA 02, they realized that the thing also housed living quarters within it and were taken to their dorm - a spartan looking metal box with bunk beds and lockers for six, quite a change from Alma's cosy apartment in the Arch.  

 "Everyone, I'm sorry we don't have much confort to offer in the transports, but if you look at it like a camping trip it's not that bad, right?" 

Alma said with a chuckle.

"It's a campaign vehicle, Neummann. There are way more pressing matters then comfort at play here. Besides the beds and space are up to standards, so it's definitely comfortable enough."

Dr. Hashimoto answered in serious tone. 

"Jeez Daisuke, I was just joking. You need to relax a bit from time, you know?" the lady defended herself, frustration apparent in her voice. Then she turned to the kids. "Listen everyone, this room is for all of you - Satomi and Ahmed included. I'll be on the next one to the right, and Daisuke san will be on the top floor next to the control room and the Admiral's quarters. This transport is the main center of operations, and will be our house for as long as we need to gather fuel for the ship, so keep it tidy ok? There's showers and toilets in the end of the corridor, and meals are in the communitary messroom we passed by in the previous floor."

 

 Satomi's father didn't seem too happy with letting go of his daughter, but still didn't say anything regarding that.

 

"There's set times for the meals, so don't wake up too late or get distracted with unimportant things. We need you all in top shape at all times in case of an attack, as unlikely as it is with all the detection and camouflage systems we have. Asuka will be in charge of your physical training and weapon handling in the training room we have here, and simulator drills will be at the Command's discretion at any time in order to keep you sharp. Other than that you just need to stay in stand-by."

 

The adults soon were gone to take care of their respective jobs, and the children felt the transports start moving.

 Asuka threw her bag in one of the bunks and started unpacking - clothes, a pair of books and an old music player could be seen. 

 "So..." she started speaking hesitantly. "What did you all do with your time off yesterday? Are you all feeling well today?" 

 

 

 

[Chevaleresse]

Kyou shifted a bit at the question. She hadn't done much of anything yesterday, and she still felt a bit awkward about what had happened with the "training." She felt justified, in a way, but she probably shouldn't be making a habit of punching her teammates in the face. "I'm okay, I guess." She'd told her father about what was going on, and his reaction was. . . basically nothing. He'd just sort of sighed and mumbled about her being safe. They hugged, but there was something lacking. She supposed everything was just as fresh for him as it was for her. 

[Twinwolf]

Satomi places her bag on her bed, and had begun to systematically unpack (first some fairly simple clothes, then a tablet, then a few physical books...), when the question came up. "I'm fine. I did some reading on the time off." Satomi said simply. And also some more mental berating of herself for screwing up. And for how she handled the whole thing in the showers. And a few other things while she was at it. But mostly reading. There had been some interesting things written by the crew during the trip to this planet.

[rustytengo]

Beverly looked even more annoyed then she usually did during the travel to the caravan and talk with the adults. It didn't improve either when it was said that Ahmed was going to be sharing the room with them as well. Once the adults left Beverly kicked her bag to the side of one of the bunks before jumping up to the top bunk and plopping down on it closing her eyes to try and fall back to sleep. Once Asuka spoke up Beverly rolled to her side to look at the others "Nothing really dealt with a few bugs and then did nothing and I'm tired so how do you think I feel." Beverly said giving a small grin at Satomi.

[Yours Truly]

Ahmed looked a bit uncomfortable for a moment when the doctor mentioned that they would all be sleeping in the same room, and he kept quiet for a bit as he busied himself with unpacking his belongings and tentatively claiming the bottom most bunk closest to the door he'll grow all too familiar with for the duration of this mission, as after all, he'd be left to stare at it everytime the others changed clothing. He slowly turned to face Miss. Asuka before he said "I brushed up on my swordfighting for most of the day, didn't have any motivation to do much else, especially since I had to take care of my mother as well, since she was feeling under the weather...also I know that you're not going to ask, but she said thank you by the way."

[Notus]

20 hours ago, Cronos5010 said:

 "I brushed up on my swordfighting for most of the day, didn't have any motivation to do much else, especially since I had to take care of my mother as well, since she was feeling under the weather...also I know that you're not going to ask, but she said thank you by the way."

"Thank me? For what?" Asuka answered, honestly curious

[Yours Truly]

"For promising to watch our backs and bring me back safely." He seemed a bit sheepish when he scratched the back of his head and said, "I uhh...I might have painted you as some sort of inspirational Arthurian heroine out to save humanity to reassure her. Although it still feels a bit wrong to just up and abandon her for something this dangerous so quickly after my father went missing..."

[Notus]

15 hours ago, Cronos5010 said:

"For promising to watch our backs and bring me back safely." He seemed a bit sheepish when he scratched the back of his head and said, "I uhh...I might have painted you as some sort of inspirational Arthurian heroine out to save humanity to reassure her. Although it still feels a bit wrong to just up and abandon her for something this dangerous so quickly after my father went missing..."

Asuka sighed before answering "Damn Ahmed, do you always exagerate stuff like that?" she started saying as if annoyed. "Guess now I'll have to live up to it." 

 

By then she had mostly finished unpacking, and faced all of the team. 

"For myself... I've done a lot of thinking yesterday, and cleared my head a bit. We are no heroes, really, just a bunch of kids who happen to be in the same unlucky boat. So I will watch your backs the best I can and also trust you to watch mine, otherwise we'll have no chance at this at all." She paused a bit to let what she said sink. "I want to show you guys something, but first..." 

 Asuka turned and walked straight up to Kyou... Then bowed, in the typical japanese apologizing motion. "Sorry for yesterday. It was inexcusable to go at you in that way and I can't call myself anything but a kid if I don't recognize it."

[rustytengo]

Beverly shook her head a bit for with a sigh "Well I'm more than happy to watch all of your's backs...well everyone except Lancelot's. He's not my type after all." Beverly said with a chuckle "Also just let me know when you start watching mine I will put on something cuter for ya." Beverly said with a wink to Asuka.

[Chevaleresse]

Kyou looked slightly startled at Asuka's apology; she'd figured that punching her in the face had probably been enough to settle whatever was between them. She bowed back at Asuka, not quite as deeply, but still acknowledging the sentiment. A pang of grief surged up - this sort of etiquette was something she'd learned from her mother - but she forced it down for the moment. "It's alright, I shouldn't have acted the way I did afterward." Even if a small part of her was satisfied in being able to lay her out. She straightened, and stayed awkwardly quiet for a moment before trying to break it. ". . .So, uh, what were you going to show us?"

[Yours Truly]

Ahmed was about to say something before Sir Kay uttered a few words in such a way that he couldn't help but quickly glance at Asuka and Beverly's direction, and compare their apparent ages as his mind wonders if that just happened. His mind eventually came to a certain conclusion before he snaps back to attention, politely coughs and says, "But we are heroes aren't we? I mean what else would you call a group of five relative strangers burdened with great power and an even greater responsibility to save the entire future of humanity itself?."

 

His tone wavers for a brief moment as he thinks on what he had already said and moves on to say, "Other than...fools and corpses I guess, bbut I don't think that's what we are! I know that we might be several years of proper training and a crash course in teamwork away from having a snowball's hope in hell of winning against something as powerful as you were right now, and we certainly weren't all that impressive in our debut against the angel, but we're not the same people then as we are now, we've learned, we've lost, we've grown, and we won't make the same mistakes next time, especially not with you teaching us Miss Asuka."