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Scarcely cloudy skies, somewhere between summer and autumn just before school starts, sometime in the afternoon probably. low humidity, warm temperatures-- would be a perfect day for a ride if there were less bugs out. And if Asuka Langley Soryu was in a better mood.
She huffs, standing on the pedals of her bike as she glides down the street. It's bumpier than it should be-- she really needs to stop procrastinating and replace her tires, maybe even get around to fixing the bike chain. And the brakes. Orrrr maybe just get a new bike. Maybe.
Whatever. She knows these streets and sidewalks like the back of her hand. It's not like she's never come home from the arcade before-- though it's usually a lot darker out, but... the arcade was closed for some reason, which means she biked all the way up here for nothing. Great. Oh well, there's always her NES.
Asuka was just fumbling around, changing gears to the lowest settings just for kicks when something crosses her path completely out of nowhere and just stands there.
"What the FUCK?!" Asuka barely registers that that something is even a person before she yanks her bike to the right instinctively to avoid it... and, consequentially, rams straight into a fence with a loud SMASH. Oh scheiße . Asuka lands on concrete, so you can bet she's having a great time.
The outdoors are such an unknown. It has been three weeks, since this experiment was free from the lab, dressed up as a person and declared as such. Three weeks and five days since she was placed into the home of Dr. Ritsuko Akagi, alongside Project Tabris. Two weeks and one day since Dr. Akagi threw a member of the press out of her apartment. One week and five days since it was decided that between the Doctor, her cats, Project Tabris, and herself, the apartment was far too cramped. Two days since the imitation family, the faux-familia relocated to this small countryside town. An hour and thirty minutes since Dr. Akagi ordered her to "get some fresh air."
Rei Ayanami cannot properly observe her surroundings; the bandage over her eye makes that impossible. She cannot take in all that there is; but she sees some things. She sees the insects flitting around her head, the few clouds in the sky, the things she hazards from descriptions in books are trees, fences, homes, all-new things bathed in the rays of the sun that Rei is still so, so unused to.
She turns her head, wishing for more things to observe, and is lucky.
A blur is approaching. Rei recognizes only one thing; red.
Red, barreling towards her. She does not know how far this blur is, but for the few moments she sees it she stands in place. What was the expression Dr. Akagi had used? 'Like a deer in the headlights'? Rei is often given to standing and observing, so she does.
The blur swerves, and Rei realizes how close it was. It smashes into a fence, and sprawls its rider on the stone. Only then does Rei Ayanami realize, with no small amount of horror, that that is a human person.
Asuka rolls onto her back and groans. She landed on her shoulder, the side of her leg got skinned in the fall, and something's... something's definitely wrong with her ankle because owww. " Scheiße , what the-- MY BIKE!"
She turns her body and scrambles to her feet faster than a human probably should, which would've been impressive if she didn't fall flat on her face immediately after. She scrambles back onto her hands and knees ( OW OW OW OW ) and frantically inspects her bicycle. Her front wheel's tire is definitely fucked up, and her frame might be bent a little but she can't tell for sure. Either way she's gonna have to fix it before school starts.
" Gottverdammt !" Asuka slams her palm against the pavement. Ouch, big mistake . She turns her head to glare at the stranger. "Hey you! Why don't you watch where you're going?!"
She regrets saying it immediately as soon as she actually looks at the person. Arm and eye all bandaged up, school uniform on, short blue hair, such a pretty red eye... WAIT, red eyes? What the fuck? The glare turns to a look of sheer bewilderment.
Rei freezes for a moment, then two. Taking in the stranger’s injuries. Taking in the blood. Taking in hair that burns like fire and eyes deeper blue than she’s ever seen.
She holds still another second, then rushes to the stranger and slams down to her knees. The pain from that will have to wait.
Bandages. Disinfectant. Brought with, in case of further injury. She pulls them out of her pocket, and attempts to say...something.
Anything.
Her mouth dries. Say something. Say something. Say something .
“You are hurt.” She holds up the bandages and disinfectant, to punctuate, maybe, or to offer.
"Yeah! No shit!" Eyes screwed shut in a wince, Asuka groans and rolls her shoulder. She turns to sit on the concrete with a loud grunt. Yeahhh, she definitely fucked something up. Probably nothing major, but it still hurts like hell.
Asuka finally blinks open one eye to actually see the silhouette of the stranger, the sling their arm is in, and...
Asuka's face heats up. out of embarrassment. Not because that voice is really, really, really soft, or because this kid, who looks to be around her age, is actually really pretty up close! It's just... she... she fell down! It's embarrassing!
"Wha-- I don't need-- " She makes a pathetic attempt to swat the bandages away as she speaks, but before she can even make contact she loses her balance and her hand retreats to the ground to support her weight instead. "Th-these are just scratches! They're nothing!"
Rei tilts her head for a moment. perhaps ordinary humans are more resilient than she had presumed.
Or perhaps it is a lie.
Either way...
“You are bleeding. That could be deadly. I have bled before.” She looks down towards Asuka’s ankle and notes its angle. It appears...injured. Her uninjured eye flicks back to the stranger’s face. They are dotted with spots; perhaps these could be the freckles Rei has read of. They do indeed seem to dapple across this stranger’s face.
“I am...somewhat trained in bandaging.” It is not a lie, but it is an embellishment; she has no formal training, just self-experience, and observing Dr. Akagi’s own capabilities.
Asuka grimaces. Well... she can't really deny it, the pretty little weirdo has a point. Blood should usually stay inside the body. And little beads of blood are welling up on the scrapes on her leg, Asuka notices-- she won't have any first aid stuff available until... well, who knows? Next time she goes to the dollar store or something. Which she'd need to walk to because her bike's broken-- fuck. And god knows she can't afford getting an infection-- Asuka might be too stubborn for her own good, but she's not an idiot .
She stays silent for a moment, then glares off to the side. " Fine ," she huffs. "Whatever makes you feel better, I guess."
Rei nods, and begins swabbing the stranger's various injuries with disinfectant. The closeness is strange; Their presence is so warm, so real, so much... an ordinary human. presumably. Maybe one with a family, a true one. Maybe a real life, nonhypothetical friends, opinions and feelings, all that humans can have that will remain so foreign to Rei.
She notices the vehicle as well, and its thoroughly broken front wheel.
"I apologize. I will ask the Doct-- I will ask my guardian ," Rei corrects, "if she can pay for the repairs." She will become accustomed to the term in time, she knows, but it feels foreign on her tongue as of yet.
Asuka lets out a grunt of grudging approval, crossing her arms. sounds good to her, and it's not like she's got the money for it anyway. Her leg twitches with most touches, but can you blame her? Disinfectant stings . Doesn't matter how gently her wounds are being cleaned, or how hypnotizing the stranger's movements are, or how cute they are-- it doesn't change the fact that it stings... even though it's just a little bit. Asuka watches the work on her leg, shooting glares at passersby. she must look like a fuckin' kid . She sighs. "The hell were you doing just standing around anyway? If it weren't for my good reflexes I would've ran you right over!" Just ignore how Asuka's "good" reflexes landed her skidding across shitty, gravelly sidewalk and sent her bike right into a fence. "You gotta be more careful, especially when you're injured like that!" She gestures vaguely at Rei's arm.
Rei stows the disinfectant, tilts her head for a moment, begins to unravel the bandages and starts applying them to Asuka. She nods along with their admonishments. It is difficult to register her own injury. To acknowledge that she can no longer be destroyed and replaced. She is a singular unit. She is a self. In a sense.
"I do not know this place. I was...ordered to leave the home and become accustomed to the neighborhood." She pauses for a few moments, rolling a question around her mind until it becomes adequate enough to speak into reality. "...Are you also attending Shikinami High School?" She tears a bandage and wraps it around Asuka's knee. "Do you reside in the area?"
Asuka lifts her knee to help the stranger wrap the bandage around it. It's a little weird to just carry bandages everywhere without a bag, but Asuka's not complaining, especially not now. Her eyes light up in recognition at the school mentioned. "oh yeah, Shikinami High! i go there!" She pauses, shrugs. "Sooo i guess we'll be seeing each other around?" It ends up sounding uncertain like a question... Asuka hates that. She's so weirdly excited at the prospect of seeing more of this person that it flutters in her chest and tints her cheeks. Dammit, why'm I so weird today...? She shakes her head, tossing her hair out of her eyes. "Anyway! if you need a guide to town later, I'm right here!" She smiles, cranking up the charm, shuffles her balance around and extends a hand. "The name's Asuka-- Asuka Langley Soryu! Let's be friends!" Hopefully, if you even wanna be around me.
Rei freezes. The commonality registers, as does the unknown body language of the stranger— of Asuka Langley Soryu , she must remember that. Some part of the back of her mind teeters, as if she’s on the edge of a cliff, or the bead of a starting line in the athletics tests back in the laboratory. But...it feels much more consequential. I need to think carefully . Something plays back in her mind, something... something Dr. Akagi said. During the drive to this town.
”Who knows how long you two have? Try to live life, while your organs still work. Scuff your knees, get dirt under your nails, whatever kids do. Get sunburned. Make a friend.”
Make a friend. An order, one of the few still hanging over Rei Ayanami’s head. And here is one before her, ready-made, full of complexities Rei doubts her own ability to comprehend. And Asuka has offered . “Friends. Yes. I... accept.” Rei places the bandages in her pocket, reaches out to Asuka in turn, and grasps her hand. It is calloused, scarred, warm, and oh so new.