If you think I've gotten at any better with song lyrics for logs over the years you're wrong

[lastnerv]

WHO: Shinji Ikari and Kanaya Maryam
WHERE: A safehouse in the City
WHEN: Eaaarlyish in the event? This is subject to change
WHAT: The amazing depressed teenager duo but older and dystopian
WARNINGS: Blood definitely, arguing almost certainly

[If this wasn't the nearest place, he wouldn't be here.

That's what he tells himself as he slowly pries open the one vulnerable window to the abandoned dive bar's basement, wincing as burning pain shoots up from the gash on his arm. He tries focusing his mind on the task at hand (and a little on cursing her for making this place so damn hard to break into to begin with) but Shinji had always found it extremely difficult to distract yourself from things like knife wounds with a clear mind.

It was something he had a few chances to try and practice over the last few years.]

Come on, damn it!

[With a click the window frame finally gives. Shinji sets it off to the side and starts carefully making his way over a shelf under the window, trying to avoid taking it down to the floor with him. The place was empty, just like he had hoped, and that meant time that would have been wasted on explaining what had happened and other assorted conversations he really didn't want to have could instead be spent on patching his wound and pretending this miserable little foray into underworld information gathering never happened.]

Where would it be-

[The lanky young man starts to search through drawers and boxes, looking for a first aid kit, bandages, literally anything to help, all while gritting his teeth every time his arm moves the wrong way.

If this wasn't the nearest place...]

Comments

[rainbowbright]

[ It's been a long few days. With the Porter active again, she's had to remain on active in intercepting new arrivals from the government, but it hasn't been easy now that they've set up a blockade around Stark Tower. It doesn't show any signs of stopping soon, so her best bet is to take advantage of lulls.

She needs a shower. It'll cut into the two hours of sleep she might get before being needed back in the fray, but when she can smell the fatigue on herself, there's not much option.

As she steps through the portal, she's greeted with something she didn't expect. Sounds of rummaging. She's been compromised. If it's a cop or a security agent, one will lead to more. She'll have to abandon the site, but she can't leave anything for them to find. Anything but the body, of course, and desiccated, if she can spare the time. It's been too long since she's had a proper meal.

She pauses at the top of the stairs, reaching under her shirt to curl a hand over around the handle of the pistol she keeps strapped to her stomach, and reaches out to feel the Space of the room. Once she recognizes the thread, her fear and resolve melt into annoyance. ]

The fuck are you doing here?

[ She calls out as she stomps her way down the stairs, her hands back in the pockets of her hoodie. She gives Shinji a look up and down, but her gaze ends up fixed on his wound, her pupils narrowing into thirsty pin pricks. ]

[lastnerv]

[Shinji freezes, coming to a stop mid-rummage. Something in the drawer falls over.

Well, shit.

He slowly stands straight and turns to face her, holding up his hand.] Okay, look- [Then he registers exactly what that particular gaze means and shifts his stance, hiding his injury from her sight. His hand comes up to cover it for good measure.] I just came by to grab something and leave. That's it. Give me a second and I'll be out of your hair and then we can both forget this happened.

[A pause. He nods his head towards his point of entry.]

Window's loose, by the way.

[rainbowbright]

[ She catches herself as he covers the wound. She's being too obvious. She rips her eyes away from him, focusing on the window instead. She walks over to test the locks. Might be better just to seal it entirely. ]

Well, when you break in through it, of course it's going to be loose! [ She closes and opens it, just to get a feel for the problem. ]

What's the something you're here for, anyway?

[lastnerv]

If it wasn't already a little loose I wouldn't have been able to-

[He stops himself. This is the trap he wants to avoid. Arguing with her. Talking with her. Interacting any longer than necessary. He knows how this goes by now.]

-Right. Okay, not the point. I just need some things out of your first aid kit. Or just some bandages. A needle and thread. Whatever. Anything to help with- [He nods again, this time towards his arm.] -this until I can get back home.

[rainbowbright]

You of all people should know this is the last place to come looking for needle and thread.

[ She moves past him, opening the cupboard under the sink. She unhooks a first aid kit from the door and hands it back to him, still pointedly looking away. ]

[lastnerv]

[The sink cupboard. That makes sense and he really should have started from there, but logical deducations aren't very high on his priority list when the number on entry is "maybe cutting my arm off would hurt less than this wound".]

Right. Yeah, sorry. It was a joke. [Mostly. Maybe there was some small hope that-

Nevermind. It's not worth thinking about.

He sits at a chair, opening the kit.]

I'll let you know when you can turn back around.

[And now they just need to sit here in perfect silence not saying anything please don't say anything-]

[rainbowbright]

[ She tries to keep quiet and not engage, but the sight isn't what's bothering her anymore. It's the smell. Looking away is just an attempt at politeness, or to find something else to focus on, but there's no escaping that smell.

She props herself against the counter, letting her head hang. ]

Can you at least rip the sleeve off and give it here? Call it a toll fee.

[lastnerv]

[Damnit.

Shinji winces as he presses a wet bandage to his cut. A wince that just so happens to be perfectly timed to her question. Yeah. Let's go with that.]

Are you serious?

[Of course she is. Stupid question. She'd never ask him that if she wasn't. He shifts around in the chair, suddenly much more aware of how uncomfortable this situation is. It's none of his business anymore, but he's curious.]

How long has it been since you last fed? I've never seen you this bad. [An emphasis that implies "I've seen you bad a lot though!"]

[rainbowbright]

You have. You've seen me much worse. And it's none of your business. [Like an echo of his own internal monologue.

She balls up her fists. That's all she should have to say, there's no need to take the bait. There's no need to actually carry on a conversation with him. The problem is, impulse control has never really been her strong suit, much as she always used to pretend it was.

She bangs her fist on the counter, just out of frustration out of having lost, and turns around, folding her arms across her chest stubbornly. Her eyes are closed, just for his benefit. ]

Besides, I can't just pop off and grab a random cop whenever I'm feeling hungry. They notice that shit, and are very motivated to prevent it from happening. I can't drag out a body from a fight before it's ended, either, and this one isn't going to stop.

You've heard about what's going on at Stark Tower, right? She woke up.

[lastnerv]

[He stays silent, out of both focusing on cleaning his wound and letting her get her anger out before he could possibly open his mouth and make it any worse. This was the nightmare scenario: both of them in a room together and both upset. Again. He quickly starts to work on wrapping his arm.]

Yeah. I went over there to see but they had the area on lockdown already, and there's only so long you can go around asking questions before you get pushed away, press pass or not. No idea who's come through or how many.

[He grunts as he finishes, experimentally moving his arm a bit to make sure the bandages are tight enough.] So we're probably about to have a lot of angry, stupid newbies running around. It's going to be messy.

[rainbowbright]

[ She opens her eyes finally, shooting him a look. ] Not angry, stupid newbies. When they pop out of that thing with guns and jammers in theirs faces, they'll get the idea pretty quick. But it's definitely messy. We're dealing with fresh batches of either prisoners, recruits, or corpses.

Angry's good, they have every right to be angry. If they're stupid about it, that's on us for not pointing them in the right direction.

[ She pauses a moment, lip curling almost into a sneer as she ponders something. ]

That how you got injured? Poking your head in and hoping the press pass would give you an out?

[lastnerv]

[Shinji bites the inside of his lip for a second. It's so very extremely tempting to give a flippant remark, or just go right into telling her to fuck off, but he decides the truth will get him through this conversation with the least amount of pain.]

A now formerly reliable source told me that he had some local gangster who wanted to join the underground's supply chain. I got there, talked long enough that I could tell it was bullshit, and then when I tried to walk away the knives came out. Literally.

[He closes the kit.]

I'll spare you the "you should see the other guy" cliche. [An offensively-used AT Field didn't leave fingerprints, thankfully.]

[rainbowbright]

[ It probably didn't leave fingers, either. A darker part of her mind thinks "better him than me", because of how big a risk that exact situation tends to be to her whole life, but she tamps it down.

Instead, she sighs, and has trouble meeting his eyes. ] That sounds shitty. Sorry they took advantage of you like that.

[lastnerv]

[Shinji's fingers linger on the first aid kit, not yet pulling away. He searches her remark for any indication of sarcasm or condescension, and when he finds none he finds himself looking out the window instead of her.]

It was my own fault for not going into it prepared. If I had been ready, I could have at least deflected the knife before it even came close. [He shrugs. His voice is cold and clinical, like it was someone else who got stabbed and not him. If he was aware of how it must sound to someone else, then the tone would remind him of his father.] But no point dwelling on it, right? [He says, knowing both of them are notorious dwellers.]

[rainbowbright]

Like you said, he was reliable. When you start thinking of someone like that, you let your guard slip. It's natural.

Going into every interaction expecting to be betrayed may be a great way to not die, but it's a shitty way to live.

[ She's looking at the ground now, not just responding to what he's saying, but reflecting on herself. This is definitely something they've argued about, something she'd even started doing to him. It's not an apology, but it's getting somewhere in that territory.

Which makes it even more uncomfortable, and a great reason to change the subject. ] So, you gonna give me that sleeve, or what? I've got other shirts around here you could use.

[lastnerv]

[The similarities aren't lost on him, and he might have even commented on it if it wasn't for the topic change.

He is silently very grateful for the topic change.]

Oh, yeah. Give me a second. I'll just- [Shinji starts to pull at the sleeve, tugging, trying to rip it off and goddamnit it just does not budge who made this shirt why did they do such a good job]

You know what? You can have the whole shirt.

[rainbowbright]

Cool.

[ While she waits for him to take it off, she pulls a box out of the bottom of the closet and starts rifling through it. ]

What size are you wearing these days?

[lastnerv]

Still a small. [He probably will be for the rest of his life. His father's height is also one of the things he didn't inherit from him.]

I feel like I need to pay you back again somehow if I'm taking a shirt. Next time I'll be sure to bring the knife too. [The words are slightly muffled as he starts to pull it off, but it comes out to clearly be a joke without any kind of passive-aggressive jabs attached. Which is...a change.]

[rainbowbright]

Fuck that, you know I don't take payment.

[ She pulls up the first shirt in the right size she can find, but it's decorated with a big ol' anarchist A. That's one of her work shirts, no good for loaning. she stuffs it back in the box and keeps searching. ]

You want to pay me back, you keep supporting the Underground network. That's how this whole thing works.

[ Eventually, she finds one to toss his way, blank and speckled grey. It's probably going to be long on him, which is telling for a shirt that size. ]

[lastnerv]

[A small, wry small peeks out from the edge of Shinji's mouth, interrupted by a wince as he shifts around to face her.]

Hey, it's not like I have anything else to do, so I might as well stick with that.

[That's not really true. He could break off, completely abandon the network and everyone else and spend the rest of his life focusing on his career. The problem there is that he doesn't actually care about his job. Or much else. It's all a front for the one thing that makes him feel useful. They both know that.]

And besides- [He catches the shirt, unfurling it in front of him to get a look before he puts it on.] -maybe the embarrassment of me having to walk home looking like a kid who got into his parents' closet will make us even, anyway.