Shopping Trip

[redheadcarrier]

Date & Time: Afternoon on January 08, 2013
Location: The Market
Characters: Asuka; OPEN
Summary: Doing some shopping in the new year. And morbid thoughts because, hey, it's Evangelion.
Warnings: Asuka's a brat and suffers from severe psychological issues. That's about it.

Asuka thought she was going to go nuts if she had to deal with rain for more day. Of course, given that it was always raining here, there wasn't much to do but grin and bear it. With a shiver, she wrapped her coat a bit tighter around her and peered out into the sodden street, watching as refugees and transports (mostly refugees; transports tended to stand out) mill past. Maybe this was what parts of Earth had looked like after Third Impact - ragged communities trying to hold themselves together and endure hunger and hard times.

Not that she was very hungry. The Initiative kept her fed and she could buy food, but she also got special treatment. She was supposed to help them save the world. Or something. She honestly still didn't know what she was supposed to do, but at least the vague objective gave her something to hold onto. She was adjusting, anyway. Life had developed an odd rhythm, where she woke up every morning and went down to the training hall. Then she usually tried to find people to poke over their fake internet. That was entertaining. Usually.

It wasn't much of a life, but it was a life.

Or had been until Shinji had showed up out of nowhere. Why had those idiots had to bring him here? And the Fifth, to boot? She would've been just fine without them to remind her of everything she'd left behind (even if she still kind of wanted Shinji to pay attention to her). Whatever. She dismissed the thoughts with a snort and stepped out into the flow of humanity, elbowing her way through the crowd to a stall selling soap. It wasn't exactly top-of-the-line stuff (really, it was handmade), but Asuka liked being clean. She hunched her shoulders against the steady downpour and toyed with one of the bars. Probably made out of animal fat or something. Eck.

Asuka pulled a face and then fished for her card. Better than being filthy most of the time. Now if only she could find some hair product. Well, maybe she could ask someone. She turned away from the booth, looking for someone who didn't like quite as downtrodden as the rest of them.

Comments

[speakveryclearly]

"I know. It's so fortunate they have payday right after Christmas. My finances were becoming dire."

With this she began walking in that direction, knowing Asuka would follow and keeping a normal pace. Agh. Rain. Maybe she would invest in a coat some time if she had more money later... "Wouldn't it be nice if we earned street names someday? That's what the missions do, you know, cause retroactive changes in the timeline."

[redheadcarrier]

"It'd be nice if we ever had sunshine..." Asuka muttered, "Why can't we change the weather or something? Or at least make this place less of a total dump?"

Asuka tends to complain. A lot. But she follows Kanaya, shivering against the chill.

[speakveryclearly]

"It would be nice. There was a post gathering a couple of transports to go on environmentally oriented missions. I'm not sure how successful they were. Um..." She tries to think back. "If I find it again, I'll link it to you later."

Around this time they turn the corner. It's two more blocks to their destination.

[redheadcarrier]

"That'd be nice. Anything for some damn sunlight at this point..." Asuka mutters and tugs her hood a bit lower over her eyes. Going from eternal summer to this mess was not an easy adjustment. She stay in stride with Kanaya, although she's more interested in watching the rather sodden street as they walk past.

"So, do we basically just wait for the Initiative to give us a call or something?"

[speakveryclearly]

"Yeah, that's about all that can be done with regards to missions," she says a little apologetic with a tiny shrug. "We're gathered with rather short notice. So on the bright side, you thereby never know whether today might be the day."

[redheadcarrier]

"That's the bright side? What if I'm in the shower or something?"

That's kind of a joke and kind of serious. It's not really a major objection, since she's used to being on call 24/7.

[speakveryclearly]

Heheh. She gets that, kind of. "Not that short, fortunately. About an hour."

They're pretty close to the place now.

[redheadcarrier]

Asuka rolls her eyes good-naturedly and glances down the street. There's still steady traffic, but it's slackening as they move away from the central market. No one gives them much of a second glance. Well, not right now anyway.

"Good. A girl needs to keep herself clean. Especially in a muck hole like this."

[speakveryclearly]

That makes Kanaya frown as she thinks about what a muck hole Exsilium kind of is. "I know. Is it just my limited experience, or is everything on this planet either filthy or nauseatingly sterile?" Extremes - that's Maryam's Earth.

[redheadcarrier]

"That's the post-apocalypse for you!" Asuka puts her hands behind her head with a shrug, "It was like that back home - outside the cities the U.N. rebuilt, things were pretty bad. So everything was either really modern or total crap."

She glances up at the store front as they approach, "This it...?"

[speakveryclearly]

"Yes," she says, as she opens the door. "...well, it is on the third floor, but this is the building. Refurbishment..." If only Earth had carpenter droids.

[redheadcarrier]

"Yeah," Asuka says dryly, "Talk about a real fixer-upper."

She pauses to kick at a crack in the wall - well, more like nudge it with a foot.

"I feel like half of these damn things are gonna fall in on me. Where are the stairs, anyway?"

[speakveryclearly]

"Over here," she says, leading Asuka to a door which leads to a stairwell. It is one of those rather awful ones where the walls are plaster and the stairs themselves are pretty much metal. But they go up.

[redheadcarrier]

Asuka grimaces, but starts clambering up the stairs. The exercise is good for her, right?

"At least shampoo isn't that heavy," she says dryly. Hey, she's trying to have a sense of humor about htis.

[speakveryclearly]

"Nope," Kanaya agrees, continuing to set an even pace. She's still... got her bag of goods with her, after all. "If it really were I would carry it for you if you wanted." Such weights don't really bother her at all as a glowpire, and she likes the idea of her condition being helpful instead of a source of confusion for her friends.

[redheadcarrier]

"No, I can carry my own bags," Asuka says, "I don't look like a total weakling, do I?"

Sheesh, she knows she's a bit scrawny, but she always thought she was an attractive young woman! As if to emphasize her point she doesn't bother pausing on the way up. They're just stairs! And she is in fairly good shape, so it's not like it's an issue.

[speakveryclearly]

"Not at all. It was just an offer."

She does trust in Asuka's athleticism from what she's seen of her. At least in theory... humans can be a toss-up with that trait. Silencing a little, she continues up the stairs.