END OF ARC 1: DAY 169-170 DOWNTIME

[asgardmods]

[The first battle is over, but the second will begin any time. For two days, the enemy forces will remain on the other side of the battlefield, working on strategy and tending to their wounded. Both sides have taken heavy losses, and the Arena is full of the hurt and dying.

The battlefield itself has turned to a bloody, muddy mess. The elves will be asking the Army Engineers group and anyone else willing to help them lay timber and gravel out to make the ground easier to walk on for the next battle.

What will you do in your breathing space? Keep working, mourn your losses, or retreat from the horrors of war?]


[ooc note: This log takes place IC on Days 169-170/Nov 4-7. Please be sure you've read the plot post and the battle log's starting info thoroughly. Make absolutely sure that you include the day/rough time in the subject line of top-level comments, as well as if your thread is open or closed.

In addition to the battle log, there is a full-event log for those hiding out in Folkvang here. If you have any questions, please direct them to the mod post so everyone else can see them!]

Comments

[extradite]

With - ?

[ But then he looks at her. At the rather impossibly heavy door that'll need manual pulling. Pretty little girl. Big bad door. Pretty little girl. Big bad do - ]

Sorry, but... you're a little thin, aren't you? As pushers go. Not girls. I'm sure you're perfectly not thin, for a girl. Well - not too plump either! Just... right.

[rocketpunches]

It is all right. [ Alisa speaks up after he's done mumbling. She doesn't look offended. ] If my calculations are correct, I should be able to open it with enough force. May I?

[ After all, she doesn't want to stand here and watch him fall. Again. And again. ]

[extradite]

[ There is a moment of silence as the two are measured: little girl, big bad doo -

Deja vu.

He shrugs. ]

Watch your step, coming up. It's slippery.

[ As it happens, the ladder actually is: blood, oil, water and... various other fluids Shinji can't quite bear to think about. Possibly, his manly tears too. ]

[rocketpunches]

Understood!

[ If only she could analyze these substances right now... She climbs up without much difficulty. She doesn't seem to care whether the liquids get on her clothes or skin. ]

Do you know who built this machine, sir?

[extradite]

[ ...why is it other people always have an easier time of these things. The ledge before the hatch offers limited space, but he shifts to the left to let her climb. ]

I don't. I know whom I borrowed it from. And - Shinji. Ikari Shinji. 'Sir' isn't... 'Sir' would be someone like my father.

[rocketpunches]

[ Well, it's obvious whom it once belonged to. Alisa climbs up the ledge and offers him a smile. ]

Even strangers require respect. Those are the rules... Shinji. I am Alisa Bosconovitch.

[ She grabs the handle. ] Have you piloted a machine like this before? Its functionality is quite advanced for the technology it implements.

[extradite]

[ There's not quite a smile in return, but the mumbling is there again. ]

I'm not an adult, though. 'Sir' is for adults.

[ His hands join hers on the other end of the handle, preparing to tug. Slowly. Easily. ]

I haven't touched this one yet. But something... something like it. Something a little bigger. Do you know anything about these sort of things?

[mustwefight]

Negative. I have not seen anything like this. [ Well... ] It was not a machine one could pilot.

[ She pulls on the handle without warning. So she could have done it herself...! ]

[extradite]

[ Thankfully, it's not as if that's enough to jolt him back -

...yes. Yes, it is. He will possibly dedicate his entire life to denying the moment when a little girl single-handedly did the job he's fairly sure he couldn't have. ]

You talk like an officer.

[rocketpunches]

Is that so? [ Alisa blinks at him as if nothing ever happened. ] I try not to speak so impersonally. What must I do to achieve that, Shinji?

[ Using both her hands this time, she pulls the door all the way open. ]

[extradite]

You should...

[ He hesitates, for a moment, for a change not in honour of her profoundly ego-shattering strength. A hand picks out the layer dirt on the side of the door, checking for rust. ]

...I don't know. It doesn't bother me. It's - familiar. That's why it stood out.

[rocketpunches]

Although I am like this, [ a robot ] I still have a lot to learn. But I am glad it is not bothersome.

[ She turns her attention to whatever was behind that door she just opened. ]

It is a peculiar machine, isn't it? Please do your best.

[extradite]

[ A tunnel, really - a neon-lit, obnoxiously claustrophobic tunnel, leading to the cockpit. ]

Do your best to... what, exactly?

[rocketpunches]

To live.

I do not like war. It is not right. But I think it would be ideal if all of us are able to see the end of this battle.

[extradite]

[ He keeps intently quiet for a moment. ]

Did they ever say what they - we were fighting for?

[rocketpunches]

[ She pauses. ]

We our fighting to ensure the safety of our worlds and our survival. But even if this war does not coincide with my interests, I will fight to put an end to this violence.

That is the directive I have given myself.

[extradite]

You just... decide to, then you do it.

[ His face softens, a little kindlier. ]

That's an adult's way of being.

[rocketpunches]

I do not know about being an adult. I am only following my feelings.

[ She has always been a gentle girl. But feelings? Are those something a robot can have? Aren't they just code programmed inside her?

No, she doesn't believe that is the case. What she is experiencing is real, and it only makes sense to her to do what her "heart" tells her to do. ]

Whatever you choose to do, whether it is to follow through with your orders or accomplish your own mission, I hope I can see you again, Shinji.

Oh, but you must try piloting this first!

[extradite]

[ She is not, in part or in full, the strangest person he has ever met. But she is certainly a worthy candidate for the title.

He nods, wearily. ]

...thank you. For your help. If we survive, I'll thank you again, more politely.