savetheearth | 006 — text/action.

( TEXTED )

A while ago, I got back a laser sword.

[ PICTURED: A LASER SWORD. Steely-white hilt, pink blade. Robot not included (for now). ]

I've only used it twice since the echo, three times if you count taking that picture. But it's not as intense as it was when it first appeared. It might have to recharge, but I don't know how, or what it's even made of. It left some scorch marks on stone, but I think that it's really meant for cutting into ~~other robots~~ ~~cockpits~~ metals.

...I need to know what to do with it before it goes out for good.

[ DON'T SUGGEST AN APPLE STORE ]

I'll be out all day, so if anyone has the time to take a look at it, I can come to you.

( ACTION, OPEN )

OPTION A: LCU

[ School, boooo. He has precisely one morning class on Thursdays, and at 11am when he trudges out into the cold morning sun thrown about LCU's grounds, he looks a little... rough. Like in dire need of coffee or breakfast or the peace of mind a good night's sleep brings type rough. In truth, he needs the lowdown on this laser sword business ASAP, so he's brought it along in the bag slung over his shoulder. Just having it on his person when there were still police officers sniffing around makes him a touch nervous, however.

He looks at his watch. Stick around and brave the gauntlet, get breakfast, slug back home in the cold? ]

OPTION B: PUBLIC LIBRARY

[ Work, slightly less boooo. He's only offered to come in and help for an hour to two. Increase in traffic, increase in people actually looking stuff up in books. So he's on the second floor, perched on a ladder while he shuffles nonfiction titles into order.

Every now and again, one will slip past him as he works, clattering to the floor in a whip of pages. ]

OPTION C: PARK

[ Obligations met for the day, zero boos! So Banagher has decided to take it to the park for a few hours. There's a crisp bite the air, but there's still plenty of people milling about, enjoying the sidewalks sprawled throughout the park. And if not, there's still the park's center, crowned in a gaudy white fountain and decked out with festive strings of little gold lights. Local vendors are already set up to sell hot chocolate and the like.

Banagher, meanwhile, has parked himself at one of the basketball courts to shoot hoops for a little while. He wasn't quite comfortable enough to go at a punching bag in the dojo without Regina yet, so it was the next best thing to blow off a little steam. Plus, he hasn't done this in forever.

Haro sits on the bench with his coat and bookbag, also enjoying something that wasn't the inside of his room. Every so often he chimes in with a cheeky, "Missed! Missed!" when Banagher botches a shot. ]

I could throw you next, you know.

OPTION D: DOWNTOWN

[ On his way back home, he's drawn in by a crowd milling around a square drenched in outdoor spotlights. It's gotten darker earlier, but the time of year meant that establishments were open later, and the people followed suit by staying out later, too. Approaching, he realizes it's not the square itself that's got everyone's attention — it's the ice rink!

And he'd forgotten completely about it. Was it done already? ]

(ooc. open post! pick a place and a time and go wild! mix and match or make up your own, i'm not picky. ♥)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Anyone would, I think. It easy when you're the only one trying to bear something. But when it's someone you love getting dragged in, it's not so easy anymore.

[ Which is honestly sounding fairly rhetorical rather than him preaching something he knows she knows already. So he looks away too, back up at the rows of books. ]

Or that's just how it seems to me.

...Yeah.

[Rei decides to park herself down next to his ladder and start flipping through the book he handed her. If they're going to talk she may as well not stand there.]

But he's happier now than ever.

It's ironic.

[ Banagher doesn't have any remarks for her decision to join him, so he just climbs down carefully for another handful of books. If he kept working, it's not like the conversation had the room to get weird.

Though that does get him to pause, around the metallic thud of book edges. ]

Happier how?

He has friends now.

And without the network, he wouldn't have met his S-O.

I don't think I could wish all of that away if I had the opportunity.

[ A second passes where he mulls that over. ]

Even if you wouldn't, do you still wish you had the opportunity anyway?

[ Which is sort of a roundabout way of asking if she was jealous. ]

I don't need friends. [She says it very sincerely, but her voice soon becomes very low.]

I'm not that kind of person.

For me...I don't really care. I'm glad that Shinji is happy. If he's happy, I'm happy. [But she is a little jealous. As much as she talks about how she doesn't need or want friends, Shinji is different. And the more friends Shinji gets, the more she notices how codependent she is.]

I'm just trying to keep my brother and myself alive.

[ On the one hand, her apparent selflessness was impressive. Really impressive. On the other, he has to wonder if she could really stay happy like that forever. Maybe it went unvoiced, but the concern i there, somewhere. To his credit, he's trying not to latch onto it. ]

If there's one good thing that came from the network, I think, it's the people I met.

[ Banagher descends again, picks up a stack, and returns. There's a cadence to the motion that suggests he's trying to focus on it. ]

So it hard for me to understand what that's like. Are you worried, still?

About what, dying?

[She snaps the book shut again.]

What do you think?

All I know is I would feel safer if I actually had my own robot.

No, about your brother drifting away.

[ The sound of the book's pages cracking together jolts him. ]

It's probably easy to start a fight. [ Giant robot or no. ] Easier than it is to deal with being lonely, anyway.

[Oh.

That's.

A much harder question.]

Are you implying I'm lonely? That I'm afraid of being lonely?

[Her fingers grip tightly around the cover of the book.]</small? Why are you trying to talk to me about this?

[ There's a spike in the tension that makes him both simultaneously want to leap forward at the answer and retreat like he'd been struck. What a weird feeling. ]

No, I'm not! [ Hanging onto the ladder with one hand, he motions an arm out, palm upturned. It's a completely open gesture. ] But are you sure you're not just going to sabotage yourself little by little like that?

[Rei looks incredibly unamused. Who does this guy think he is? The only thing Rei has more trouble with than talking to people is talking about her feelings.]

...Tell me Banagher, how exactly am I sabotaging myself?

[ It's a look that's pretty much done as much as a punch to the throat would. So he averts his gaze, thinking that this was an incredibly stupid way to take this conversation. So why couldn't he help it? ]

You didn't answer me! If you would wish it away.

[ Draw that fine line in the sand between happiness and safety. ]

...I wouldn't.

[She'll close her eyes and fold her arms behind her head.]

Go ahead with your analysis.

It's not an analysis. ...Sorry. For assuming.

[ It's sincere, at least, if not rattled. But he keeps his tone even. ]

I've never heard of anyone staking their happiness completely on one person, so... I was curious. But like I said, I don't know what it's like to have a sibling.

I'm a freak who only cares about her twin brother, that's what you want to say. That's what everyone thinks.

You're wrong about that too.

Don't give me that. I know I'm a weirdo. I don't care. So drop it.

[ He exhales, willing his nerves to simmer down. ]

You're not allowed to put words in my mouth.

I didn't give you permission for any of this either, so we're even.

[Her eyes perform the scowl that her lips and eyebrows don't. Of course being friends with someone was kind of a stupid thing to imagine. Rei Ikari doesn't make friends. Talking ruins everything.]

Okay. We're even.

[ Though they hadn't really argued, facing off with someone he didn't even dislike wears him down. Yet for some reason, he doesn't regret it, exactly. How else was he supposed to go about it?

Finally deeming it safe enough to come back down the ladder, he unlocks and wheels and moves to stow it in an alcove between shelves. ]

I have to head to fiction.

006 — text/action.

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