too tired. couldn't make it to bed. mind if i crash? thanks.

[stregadoro]

i just couldn't make it to bed meme

You must have been more tired than you realize, because one minute you're lounging around on that fabulous (or maybe it's hideously uncomfortable) couch of yours, and the next thing you know, you're knocked out. Too bad you're not really alone to catch up on that beauty sleep now. You just really hope that whoever finds you doesn't decide to make your face their next art piece... ▶ HOW THIS WORKS 1: Tag in with your character/canon/preferences and, optionally, a situation. They've just fallen asleep on a couch somewhere. Is it in their house? Another person's? You damn drunk, did you just pass out on the dirty couch outside? Tsk. 2: Other characters respond to your thread with how they would react to finding yours asleep! 3: ??? 4: Have fun.

Comments

ikari shinji | neon genesis evangelion

[extradite]

[ Because sometimes napping on unfortunate souls on the 5 a.m. train just happens. ]

my apologies

[speciocide]

[It doesn't just happen, Kaworu thinks. There's a perfectly logical reason for it. Given a rigorous schedule packed with school lessons and pilot-related activities, it's inevitable for exhaustion to creep in. Kaworu understands the consequences as an observer, not personally. Lilin need to eat. Lilin need to rest. Lilin do this and Lilin do that...

But what is he supposed to do in a situation like this?!]

Uhm.

[Play it cool, Kaworu. Just play it cool.]

You're going to miss your stop if you don't wake up soon.

[Nailed it.]

uh oh

[extradite]

[ It's just the thing to say -

...to rouse him violently out of his drowsiness spell, limbs and walkman withdrawn in haste. Person. Person and voice. Person and voice and inconvenience and - bad. Impolite. Terrible. ]

Sorry.

[ His eyes open late. ]

Sorry. My bad. It won't happen a - [ Wait. ] ...oh. You're the one who - sorry.

!

[speciocide]

I don't know why you're apologizing.

[A combination of Shinji's fatigue and Kaworu's clothing must have led to Shinji sitting down next to Kaworu of all creatures. The dark hooded sweatshirt that Kaworu is wearing covers up his hair and most of his skin, allowing him to blend in more easily.

It's all he can do to keep the wary eyes of SEELE's agents off of him. So bothersome.]

'I'm the one who' what?

[extradite]

[ Kaworu shifts too much. Talks too much. Exists too much. He's too overwhelmingly present not to take up the better part of Shinji's focus, but the rest of the world happily falls back into perspective. Dawn, train, movement, vroom vroom. All right - he's got some idea of where (what) this is.

His mouth's dry, the inside of it clammy. Slack. Disgusting. An unused human body is - disgusting. ]

...do you have the time?

[speciocide]

[Do I have the time? For what?

Lilin tend to take these expressions known as idioms for granted. Kaworu stares at Shinji, silently, for an uncomfortably long moment. His smile deteriorates as he tries to figure out the true meaning of the question via context clues. It's sort of stressful, all right?]

No, I don't.

[Conclusion: Shinji just woke up, so Shinji wants to know what time it is.]

I'm not wearing a watch.

[He displays both of his wrists to prove it. One wrist is marked by several faint lines of scars, but that's all.]

[extradite]

[ Kaworu's is a healthy wrist, for all it's thin and scratched and pale. It's healthy, because it's still moving.

And it's moving, because it belongs to someone who hasn't died.

And this person hasn't died, because Eva hasn't killed them.

And Eva hasn't killed them, because Shinji's not piloting.

And Shinji's not piloting, because Shinji is here.

And Shinji is here, because he hasn't been told to be elsewhere.

And Shinji hasn't been told to be elsewhere, because one or more people, including the boy right beside him, has found it convenient for Shinji to be here.

In other words, Shinji exists here (not moving elsewhere, not piloting Eva, not killing things) at someone else's convenience. At which point, he rather thinks he's owed the minimal courtesy of someone else carrying a time piece.

He does try to sound reasonable about it. ]

You should wear one. [ Sheepishly - ] That is... it helps. At school. At home. When you're waiting to enter the pilot bay. Or timing things. Counting down. That sort of thing... that's what a watch is good for. So you know.

[ So wear one next time. ]

[speciocide]

[Kaworu has heard that trying-to-be-reasonable tone from his various handlers already. This is a scolding--a gentle scolding, at least. Shinji is trying to scold him for not wearing a watch and not being able to tell him the time. What a self-absorbed guy.

Equipped with this knowledge, Kaworu goes back to smiling.]

You need a watch to do those things?

[Humanity's guidelines for timekeeping are irrelevant to him. He intrinsically knows when ten, twenty, thirty, and more so-called seconds have passed. He keeps track of every single second of every single day of his terrestrial existence. This is quite pleasing to him: he's one second older now than he was one second ago.]

I'll pass on it.

[extradite]

...oh.

[ Well. There goes Ikari Shinji's honest attempt to please-and-thank-you acquire competent (not-)hired help.

He should object, he expects. He should open his mouth, raise his voice, and defend, plain and relentless, You shouldn't think so little of watches. They're convenient.

Instead, he simply looks down, rubbing his own wrist as if to compensate for the absence there. Realization drags his head up. ]

Which... which way are we going?

[ Because it's suddenly occurred to him that the train may have looped mid-nap, and they could be going all the way back to NERV, which is completely unacceptable at this early point in one's morning and escalating paranoia. ]

[speciocide]

Although... [Looking contemplative, Kaworu sits back and returns his hands to the front pouch of his sweatshirt. He's been told to keep his hands to himself; preoccupied. He does it when he remembers to do it. With enough practice, it will become a habit.] I've seen a number of interesting watches thus far. Some of them tick. Others can glow in the dark, or function in liquids. I wouldn't mind owning one.

[For purely aesthetic reasons, of course. Not because he wants to follow Shinji around and give him the time whenever it's requested. That would be peculiar, even for him.]

Which way do you intend to go? [he asks, his smile angling higher.]

[extradite]

[ It's slow going, but he comes to his feet, the stiffness of his legs dispelling with a latent ache. Too cramped. Too claustrophobic. You can't sleep here. You can't breathe here.

One step, then another, and he can hold on to the straphanger. Much better. He looks over his shoulder, slightly confused, before remembering: ]

That's not how trains work.

[ A pause - heartbeat - untimed second. ]

That's not how trains work at all.

[ He shrugs, turns to the window. There's a bridge in the horizon - no, a crane. There're always bridges and cranes in the T-3 landscape. ]

That's not how choosing a watch works, either.

[speciocide]

If it's not going the way you want it to go, then wait until it is. You can't get lost on a train, can you?

[Then again, Kaworu may or may not be getting lost right now. He remembers boarding the train a while ago--more than an hour ago, to be more specific. Once he divides his seconds by sixty, it's definitely been more than an hour. Interesting.

Shinji looks outside at the landscape. Kaworu looks up at Shinji. Whenever Shinji is nearby, it's important to look at him. The old men tasked him with looking after this Child, but that's not the only reason he's looking.]

Just like you can't be the arbiter of watches.

[extradite]

[ Just like you can't be so contrary and not think - not expect -

Fingers clench in a white-knuckled grasp over the strap; he releases it gently, clings to the metal pole instead. ]

I know I can't be that. I'm a pilot.

[ And because rebellion comes in awkward shapes and sizes - ]

I'll... I'm getting off at the next stop.

[speciocide]

[The sudden creaking sound of clenched fabric is not lost to Kaworu's hearing. Is that a contentious issue? Is Shinji upset about that? Did Shinji once imagine becoming an arbiter of watches? Is that even a thing? Would that be enjoyable to do?

Instead of asking about that, Kaworu asks about this:] Even if it's not the stop you're waiting for?

[He just doesn't see why someone would want leave early (or late, depending on the perspective).]

[extradite]

[ They're lost. He's lost. No stop's the right stop, always too early, invariably late. White Rabbitting along and missing the hole. There's a story here somewhere.

He settles for sheepishness. ]

It's fine. I've decided I'm getting off here, so... it's the stop I'm waiting for now.

[ That's right: assertion and a take-charge attitude and d e t e r m i n a t i o n. That's the spirit!

...the spirit that's slowly being exorcised out of him now. ]

Mmmmmm. What are you doing on a train headed to no where, anyway? That's to say... not to pry...

[speciocide]

If you say so. [Weird. Shinji is weird. In any case, Kaworu has decided that he'll also be getting off at the next station. He spent enough time on the train to satisfactorily understand what it is and how it is used. Vroom vroom, you could say. He likes the sound, the sensation...]

Well, I wanted to see more of the city, [he explains, with a glance out the window.] It took more than one loop to see everything from here. [He turns back to Shinji eagerly.] What do you think of it?

[The city, that is. Shinji has been here for longer.]

[extradite]

The... city?

[ Spoken quite possibly with the sort of incredulity one generally reserves for the sudden apparition of a three-headed goat. ]

The city is... the city... it's...

[ And to think physics is his lesser subject. He nods along emptily. ]

...sorry. Ummmm. It's - ...standing? Upright. It's standing. Upright.

[speciocide]

Yeah. Upright. [Kaworu is by no means disappointed with such a literal answer. It's simple and painless to comprehend, just the way he likes it.] I didn't know buildings could reach so high until I came here.

Isn't it interesting? When you can't change yourself that easily, you can opt to change your environment. Architecture...

[Now he's getting lost on a train of thought. His smile dwindles, yet doesn't lose its fondness. It's the smile of an admirer who doesn't quite understand what he's admiring.]

Wood. Stone. Steel, plastic, clay. Glass, but not always. In certain configurations, they'll create a skyscraper, a bridge, or even a dam.

I want to visit a dam, someday. [It sounds like an afterthought.]

[extradite]

You won't. We're banned from field trips.

[ Also an afterthought, or a calculated cruelty, or the private satisfaction of stabbing something that still moves. Or the weather.

The weather compels people to say the damnedest things. And it's getting cloudy outside, one stretch of nondescript grey trickling after the next, until he's flooded by an impulse of generosity. He hesitates. ]

Misato... Misato can show you skycrapers here, though. You can see them by you when you sortie with Eva, too.

[ Only because they serve as distractions for giant hostile, frequently tentacle-addled aliens - but they're by you, all the same. ]

You'll probably do that soon.

[speciocide]

Banned? Why would that stop me? [It's no longer an afterthought. Could it be that Kaworu Nagisa is planning to break the rules? If he is, it's likely he won't get very far with it. He doesn't know the the first thing about where he wants to go or how he'd even get there. He just wants to make something clear: these rules are stupid and don't apply to him.

Oh well. The mention of Misato and Eva provides more of a distraction. He can't imagine asking Misato for a favor like that; he's suspicious enough as it is.]

... the view would be different from inside my Eva, I think.

[Engaging in the ritualistic slaughter of his own species? Not quite conducive to sightseeing.]

[extradite]

[ It's just a moment - just one of Kaworu's precious seconds lost to sheer, scrupulous stupefaction.

The inside of his mouth's sore, delay and gritting teeth. ]

It's... Asuka's. Asuka's Eva. Eva-two.

[ Somehow, that matters. ]

She'll be back for it. So... so.

[ 'Sorry. You're not her.' 'Sorry. It's not yours.' 'Sorry. You can't replace her.' 'Sorry. Now go away.' ]

She'll be back for it.

[speciocide]

[Kaworu's tone is inappropriately light when he says,] It stopped being Asuka's Eva after Asuka decided to close her heart to it.

[He might as well be discussing the weather.

Outside, the sky is steadily overtaken in a more mundane invasion of grey-on-grey clouds. Is it going to rain? He wouldn't mind that at all, much like he wouldn't mind owning a neat watch. Assuming it does rain, he'll go for a walk outside until it stops. Maybe he'll discover the simple joy of splashing in puddles.]

I won't make the same stupid mistake.

[extradite]

[ The better man would punch his teeth out. The better man would land the blow and not ruin his fist. The better man...

...wouldn't be here. Here, like this, swaying gently with the train's movements, licking his lips as if it'll erase their dry splits. ]

It's Asuka's. [ Stubbornly. Vacantly. ] Eva... Eva doesn't betray people. Doesn't replace them. Whose else would Eva be? It's Asuka's.

[speciocide]

Didn't you hear what I said? [Kaworu is pretty sure he avoided using useless words like 'betray' or 'replace' in his explanation.

Not only is Shinji weird, he's also prone to selective, spontaneous bouts of deafness. It'd be a little endearing if it weren't so annoying.]

Repeating something several times doesn't make it true.

[All it does is waste your breath, Ikari Shinji.]

[extradite]

[ The train's coming to a stop. The train's coming to a stop. The train's -

...stop already. One of them needs to just - stop.

And the train's still crawling on. ]

Would you... take Eva from me too?

[ 'His' Eva, to the e tent that possession is intimacy, rather than ownership. It might well be time to frown. ]

Is that the sort of person you are?