[LOG] Oh dear god what is this thing
WHO: Mint Blancmanche, Molly, Nia, Rei Ayanami, and Shinji Ikari
WHEN: Like a week ago! I'm so behind!
WHERE: The Black Sheep hangar.
WHAT: People run into each other! A mysterious box! Paperwork! And the mystery of Mint's ears solved at last.
Shinji Ikari, man about town.
Well, no, Shinji is the opposite of a man about town, but he is avoiding home, where guilt-inspiring glares from his three roommates await, and school, where Toji is still punching him in the arm every other second to reinforce that he should man up and apologize. He wants to apologize...doesn't he?
But what does he have to be sorry for? They're the ones who kept this from him.
Shaking his head, Shinji sits in the 'Sheep hangar, doing some...gasp...paperwork. Rank has its privelages, see.
Molly is now allergic to paperwork. Thanks, Misato.
With a toolbelt slung low around her hips, she comes into the hangar with a can of cold soda and a snack, intent on maybe just chilling out in the cockpit of her Arrow and listening to some music. For once she has decided to be considerate and is wearing headphones. Apparently someone gifted her with some and maybe, just maybe, she got the hint.
No she didn't. She's singing along. "And everything went from wrong to right, and the stars came out and lit up the sky..." o/' She does not immediately notice Shinji because she is not looking in his direction.
Nia has no rank, or paperwork.
It's good to be Unofficial Princess.
Still, that wouldn't explain what exactly she's doing here, in a flower-printed work uniform, washing off one of the ordinary military VTs. She might go unrecognized, if not for having entirely too much curly-cloud hair to tuck under a hat, and eyes that make the other maintenance crewmembers stare. Plus, flower-printed work uniform?
She hums gently as she washes off the cockpit window of a Veritech, glancing over her shoulder. "Hello, Shinji, Miss Molly is it...?"
For Mint Blancmanche, the past couple of weeks could best be described as a continuous blur of logic-defying insanity. The Angel Brigade (those members unlucky enough to be in the Transbaal Empire at the time, at least) had been placed on red alert due to a sudden rash of Lost Technology discoveries threatening to destabilize the very foundation of reality. As this coincided with the rise of a malevolent organization bent on destroying the Transbaal Empire, this became an epic race to find these all-powerful relics before the other side could.
So thus, Mint risked life and limb to acquire such items as the Souffle To End All Souffles, the Can-Opener of Destiny, and the Inappropriately-Impulsive Screwdriver! And at the last minute, the Angel Brigade accidentally activated the Non-Euclidian Blender, leading to the fiery destruction of every planet in the universe and the bloody demise of every organic species known to mankind. On the plus side, those milkshakes turned out to be really, really tasty.
... but that's pretty typical for life in the Transbaal Empire, so everything went back to normal in a few hours. Just as Molly enters the hangar, Mint Blancmanche pops her head out of the cockpit of her parked Emblem Frame, hefting a box.
It has airholes, and it is squeaking quite loudly. Never a good combination.
Shinji Ikari likes paperwork. Paperwork doesn't change on him. It doesn't decide to be pissed at him for things it does /all the time/. It doesn't /lie about being related to you/. Though...
"Paperwork," Shinji says, "You'll never abandon me-wait." Shinji's eyes widen as the letters and numbers wiggle, wobble, and literarly pop off the page, yippieing about finally being free and how boring Shinji is as they scamper out the door. "...even the paperwork is abandoning me!"
"Hecuvla is the most treacherous font!" Shinji exclaims, popping out of his brief fantasy with a blink and cough. He looks up at Molly, and as she seems to be in her own little world, spares her the pain of talking to him. He waves a little at Nia, blinking at the uniform but otherwise seeming friendly.
He blinks twice at Mint, unsure of how to react, and decides...not to. She hasn't talked to him since that time Dr. Hell gave her his berserker rage, so Shinji figures nature has simply taken its course.
Huh... there's someone waving at her. Someone... cloudy. Molly looks up, tugging the headphones down to rest around her neck, and waves back. "Hi! Um... nice to meet you." Who are you? And who're you waving at behind her? She turns around and spies... a Shinji! "Oh hey, I didn't see you there," she grins at him, pressing one of the teeth on the CD player at her waist. And suddenly, Mint! With a box!
"The hangar's a lot more busy than I first thought. It's nice to see people again though." And meet a new one. Molly waves up to Nia. "Who are you, anyway? Sorry, I didn't catch your name..." Her plan for chillaxing currently forgotten, she simply pops the top on her soda can and drinks from it.
Someone walks into the hangar.
Rei is wearing dark sunglasses due to her eyes still not being quite fully recovered, but she is otherwise recognizable. She does not call out to anyone as she enters the cavernous room; instead, she makes towards the storage lockers, holding a black NERV-logo duffle bag in one hand that seems about one-third full. Perhaps she's having to move her OWN laundry around for once.
"I am Nia. Hello." This time, the Spiral Princess turns to face the others completely, setting a sponge back in a bucket and climbing back down the steplatter. Without offering explanation as to her presence, she walks up to the table, smiling. "It is a pleasure to see you all again, even if you are dealing with deceptive and dishonorable fonts which are to be typed to the curb." Rei, too, gets a nod; she should send the poor recovering girl some cake sometime.
Mint hasn't really spoken to Shinji mostly because she hasn't had much time to spend outside of the Transbaal Empire- and what she DID have to spend was taken up by paperwork. It's her duty as a proud member of the Angel Brigade, after all. At least, that's what she keeps telling herself.
Regardless, most of Mint's attention is taken up by trying to manhandle a struggling box almost half her size, though her ears are squeak-twitching sporadically. It's a miracle how she manages to hear anything over the squeaking of her own ears, but she makes do. "Ah, Molly! And Shinji." Mint nods politely-- it's really the best she can manage as she makes her way down the ladder on the side of her Trick Master, one hand on the rungs and one hand keeping the box on her shoulder. "It's a pleaAAAIIIEEE--"
Mint's hand slips, sending her sliding down the ladder-- but instead of flapping her ears and flying back up, she grabs onto the box with both hands, hugs it to her stomach, and lashes out at the ladder with her legs, catching herself before she can fall. "--pleasure to meet you, Nia," Mint finishes, dangling upside-down. Somehow, her voice remains calm. Strained, but calm.
Rei. Outside. In sunglasses. ...doing her laundry?!
Part of Shinji wants to help. The other part wants to throw a chair at something. He compromises by doing neither, saying, "Hello Molly." in a faint, three shades from dead tone of voice.
Shinji ponders...and realizes he literarly has no idea what to say to Rei. I mean. ...what do you say to something like that? Does she even realize what those papers mean? Does she even care? How does she keep her colors from fading when she does the whole load at once? Some kind of witchcraft?!
Then Mint takes her fall and Shinji sighs, his nebbish senses unable to hold back from this too. Not posessing the energy to keep his usual demeanor up, Mint may recgonize the icy look of control on Shinji's face as he stands up. "Let me take it." Shinji offers monotonously, holding his hands out for the mysterious squeaking box.
"Hi, Nia." Molly tries to look like she isn't trying to get a closer look at the cloudy-haired girl. She's got pretty (funny) eyes... she kinda looks like... no way. "Are you by any chance related to Nono? I mean, I know she's a robot, but you sort of resemble her." Molly points to her own eyes as if that makes it obvious. "Oh, excuse me just a sec. Hey, Rei! Rei!" She waves. Geez, it's really busy this evening! That's cool, she'd rather hang out with friends than chill by herself anyway.
And Mint falls. Molly jogs over to the Trick Shot and reaches up for Mint's hands, assuming Gloomy Shinji gains control of The Box. "Want a hand getting down?" She glances sideways at Shinji for a second. Is it just her, or does he look a little more glum than usual? If he was, could she tell?!
"Oh, I have no known relation to Nono," Nia admits, "although we do get along well." This shocking news made clear, and turns to poor Mint with a gasp of mild concern.
"Oh, are you alright?" She offers a hand to poor Mint, not being terribly tall, but...taller than that, at least. The box is less of a concern, because it won't be hurt if it falls! She is at least quite sure. "And Rei, those are nice sunglasses."
Where she's from, people wear shades indoors all the time.
Rei looks over towards Nia for a moment, or at least in that general direction. They ARE kind of fashion frames; she may have gotten them in the hub. She nods to Nia, once, and then her head turns very slightly, towards Shinji...
... she says nothing. She reaches the locker and opens it, tugging out the plugsuit stored in there with some effort. She tosses it to the floor, for lack of something else to do, and puts a wrapped-up, neater-packed, and probably cleaner model of similar design into the same spot.
As the blood starts rushing into her head, the upside-down Mint ponders just how to get herself down without sacrificing either her dignity or her box of somethings. Naturally, she doesn't even think of relying on the others for help- "Ah?" - which is why she's pleasantly surprised when she gets three pairs of helping hands. "Oh my... thank you- it's much appreciated." Mint smiles, looking up at Shinji--
Mint's still an expert at masking emotion, but her calm smile becomes a bit more... /polite/... as she quickly hides her sudden trepidation. She'd guessed that this would be an awkward moment, but she hadn't thought that it would be compounded by a bout of 'Something Terribly Wrong'. The telepath wordlessly passes the box to Shinji, glancing to Molly and Nia (and then to Rei, looking a bit curious). "I should be alright from here... thank you for your concern."
As Mint helps herself down... well, given their close proximity, Molly, Nia, or Shinji might notice that the sporadic twitching of Mint's ears is completely synchronized with the squeaky noises emanating from the box.
Shinji Ikari doesn't return Rei's look.
"Mm." Shinji grunts, nodding faintly at Mint. It should be fairly obvious, even to Molly, that he's a little darker than usual today. Walking over to the table, Shinji almost roboticly places the box down on the table, picks up his paper work, and procedes to walk across the room, plopping down in a chair and getting back to work.
Oh, that's too bad. It would be cool to have two Buster Machines running around. Lark and Tycho's don't count, they don't wander around and smile and kick butt on their lonesome like Nono does. In fact, they don't seem to do much of anything without a pilot inside. Molly briefly wonders if she is turning into a fangirl. ...Nah.
She goes over to the table and peers at the box, trying to peek into one of the airholes. She isn't exactly sure what to say to Shinji in front of other people to cheer him up. Maybe she can just wait, and hope that he will want to talk again.
Alas, despite the eyes and hair, Nia is probably nothing more than an ordinary young woman.
She gives a sympathetic gaze over to Shinji, but does not say much else. "Well, I hope you are able to conquer that," she wishes him, alluding-one assumes-to the font and the paperwork. "I must be off for the moment. There is more washing to do. Good luck with your box, Mint!"
She takes a little bow, and walks off as ladylike and poised as ever, carrying a sud bucket.
Shinji Ikari has disconnected.
Rei feels - flat. Mint can probably tell the difference, even if it's more subtle than it was with Shinji. There is something turbulent there, but it's quiet and below the surface. Rei packs up the spare plugsuit, meanwhile, with rather mechanical motions, and doesn't call out.
"Ah... see you later, Nia," Mint calls out as the Spiral Princess goes off.
Turning back to glance at Shinji, Mint briefly toys with the possibility of trying to read his mind, but rejects it almost immediately. If there's something wrong with Shinji, then it'd be better for him to tell her of his own volition.
Besides, with how their attitude towards each other has cooled down considerably, Mint doubts that she'd be able to read his mind any better than Rei's-- wait, speaking of which. Mint quickly glances at Molly and the box, notes that they're doing just dandy, and pads over towards the blue-haired Eva pilot. "... would you happen to need any help with that?" The telepath asks quietly, her arms behind her back.
Molly will probably be able to see, through the airhole, a mass of little white fuzzy creatures. It's difficult to determine exactly WHAT they are- and even when one of the things pushes open the top with its head and squeaks at Molly, it's STILL hard to tell. It's like some kind of white-furred blob...
Booooox. What's in the booooooooox. Oooooh?! Suddenly Molly's attention (ALL of it) is captured by the mystery box's mysterious contents. It... no, THEY, have fluffy white fur. Could they be... bunnies?! :D :D
"Hello theeeeeeeere~" she smiles at them. Damn her weakness for rabbits.
Rei walks out without further incident, which is perhaps rather boring. Mint may not like the tone of all of this, but Rei isn't even worrying about Mint being in her head!
Or much of anything, really.
It's not often that the inside of someone's head is quite that... well, /blank/.
Admittedly, Mint would be marginally more worried if she wasn't already used to this kind of thing from Rei, AND she already has some difficulty deciphering... well, Rei being Rei.
Upon closer inspection, they're not bunnies. In fact, they don't seem to have any visible facial features or limbs. Imagine Mint's bunny-like ears, except pint-sized and moving about under their own power while squeaking. One furblob glances up at Molly. "*Piku*?"
Closer inspection reveals... that these are not rabbits. In fact... they are more like rabbit PARTS. And they're MOVING. Her 'cuteness' buzz suddenly tanks like the Hindenburg. "M-mint? What ARE these things?!" It doesn't stop her from reaching a hand inside the box and trying to pet one, however. Hey, you should see some of the critters on Oban.
Nia has disconnected.
Roy Fokker has disconnected.
"Hmm?" Mint blinks, turning towards Molly- and giggles. "Oh, those? Don't worry, they aren't at all dangerous," she says, oblivious to the fact that that's probably not what Molly's worried about. "They're simply a creature native to my home planet," Mint continues, as one of the friendlier furblobs nuzzles up against the other girl's hand, squeaking like a content guinea pig--
-- and as long as the furblob stays in contact with Molly's hand, she'll gain a sixth sense. "'Telepath Furs', to be precise."
At first Molly doesn't notice anything different at all. Just how soft and fuzzy and nice the little furry dudes are. "Telepath... so they read minds?" And then she looks up and makes the connection. "Wait a minute, these are just like your ears." Telepath furs. Mint is a telepath. Telepath Mint.
"Mint," Molly asks in a voice that is much too calm and happy because she is blissing out on mental contact with happy alien ear-creatures, "did you glue a pair of these to your head to be able to pick up on people's brainwaves?"
Mint smiles warmly. "Actually, Telepath Furs are parasitical organisms that permanently attach themselves to peoples' heads once they reach maturity," she notes, managing to keep the mischevious note out of her voice thanks to long years of practice.
"!!!!!!" There aren't letters to describe the sound Molly she makes in reply to THAT. The mental equivalent of 'ASDFGHJKLabort abort' is pretty strong though, as Molly yanks her hand out of the box with a speed to rival Char Aznable. (It's THREE TIMES FASTER.) "Isn't that... kind of dangerous?" she manages to get out, peeking into the box now from a slightly 'safer' distance of arm's-length. "I mean, what if they're like to spiders that chase you down while screaming? And then when they catch you, they eat your face."
Mint quickly covers her mouth with a gloved hand to suppress an un-ladylike laugh, channeling it into a chuckle. "They're only able to attach themselves to people from my home planet," she adds. "It's a perfectly symbiotic relationship- and besides, they're strictly vegetarian in their juvenile forms!"
If it were physically possible, the abandoned Telepath Fur would be looking at Molly with big puppy dog eyes right about now.
Well... at least they don't eat faces. That's a plus. Molly creeps closer to the box and reaches in again, to pet the same one again. "Can I pick it up?" she asks, scritching the little thing gently along what she hopes is its back. "Do a lot of people from your planet end up with these on their heads? I mean, is it a normal thing there, or what?" Ooooh, she can 'hear' them being Happy again.
The Telepath Fur squeaks and wiggles with joy as Molly comes back for it, before purring as Molly scritches its back. "You're perfectly welcome to pick it up!" Mint seems content to watch, though she bustles around the box to make sure that the other Furs don't hop or fall out of the box. However, if Molly concentrates, she might be able to pick up one or two of Mint's thoughts, like a radio intercepting a signal- though in this case, the radio is rudimentary and the signal is government-encrypted. All that would be able to come through are 1) thoughts on what to have for dinner tonight, and 2) a very vague sense of worry.
At least it's clear to see that Mint isn't at all put off by Molly's questions. "It's a tradition, and one not very strictly enforced, but it is not exactly a matter of choice. Telepathy is just as much of a defense as it is an ability, you see..." Mint raises an eyebrow at Molly. "Can you imagine being the only non-telepath native to a culture where people read the minds of others on a habitual basis?"
Maybe not an entire culture... "I see what you mean," she nods thoughtfully, carefully scooping up the furry little ear. "I can't imagine the kind of paranoia that'd probably cause. No wonder people still do it."
This would be a fine time to segue into philosophical ramblings about the mature of competition and comparisons to global disarmament, Molly finds herself far too engrossed in the situation of being able to feel what the others are feeling to bother with it. A hint of Mint's mild amusement, the happy floating cloud of Nia somewhere not too far off, and the low buzz of Shinji's no good, very bad day.
"Soooo..." she starts after a moment's though. "Do you feel this kind of stuff all the time or can you turn it off when you want? I mean, if you don't mind telling me about it," she asks, settling the ear into her lap to receive oh so much petting.
Mint glances at Molly, her golden eyes drawn to the blissful ear nestled on the other girl's lap. She's silent for a moment, and her amusement fades into more of a contemplative mood. "All the time," she eventually replies, her voice a bit quieter than usual. "We can muffle our ability so as not to be constantly reading everyone's minds, and to avoid becoming overloaded in a crowd, but..." Mint shakes her head. "Still, it can get fairly tedious at times. And should something go wrong..." She trails off, trying not to let her thoughts travel down that particular trail.
Mint's smile returns. "But as you can see, people from my planet have a tendency to take our power for granted," she adds dryly.
"Hard not to, huh..." she murmurs, rolling the ear over to rub its 'belly'. What she assumes is its belly, anyway. "Come to think of it, you're a lot like Amuro." Mint seems to have a taste for more delicious candy and fewer simply ODD things. Like potato chip ramen. The jalapeno flavored kits were pretty good though, especially with sour cream and onion chips. "You both have this psychic thing, this power, but you both have ways of dealing with it."
Molly tries not to think about Jordan, who is still getting used to taking his powers for granted. It's his secret to keep, though if Mint finds out anyway Molly doesn't expect her to blab.
"Amuro, huh...." Mint's smile becomes an outright grin. Oh, the memories. "When I first joined the Black Sheep, he didn't even know that he had the power that he did," she comments dryly. "When he DID find out, well... Amuro and I had some truly interesting discussions about our respective abilities." Over tea, thankfully. The Newtype had changed quite a bit since those days-- given the constants like Amuro's rather frightening concepts of what's edible and what isn't, Mint hadn't really noticed too much.
Mint straightens back up, bringing the box back into her arms. "I'm afraid that I must take my leave here- I need to fill out the paperwork for the import of these Telepath Furs. Good evening, Molly." With a polite nod and a warm smile, she turns and pads off...
... leaving the solitary Telepath Fur purring on Molly's lap. o/`
WHEN: Like a week ago! I'm so behind!
WHERE: The Black Sheep hangar.
WHAT: People run into each other! A mysterious box! Paperwork! And the mystery of Mint's ears solved at last.
Shinji Ikari, man about town.
Well, no, Shinji is the opposite of a man about town, but he is avoiding home, where guilt-inspiring glares from his three roommates await, and school, where Toji is still punching him in the arm every other second to reinforce that he should man up and apologize. He wants to apologize...doesn't he?
But what does he have to be sorry for? They're the ones who kept this from him.
Shaking his head, Shinji sits in the 'Sheep hangar, doing some...gasp...paperwork. Rank has its privelages, see.
Molly is now allergic to paperwork. Thanks, Misato.
With a toolbelt slung low around her hips, she comes into the hangar with a can of cold soda and a snack, intent on maybe just chilling out in the cockpit of her Arrow and listening to some music. For once she has decided to be considerate and is wearing headphones. Apparently someone gifted her with some and maybe, just maybe, she got the hint.
No she didn't. She's singing along. "And everything went from wrong to right, and the stars came out and lit up the sky..." o/' She does not immediately notice Shinji because she is not looking in his direction.
Nia has no rank, or paperwork.
It's good to be Unofficial Princess.
Still, that wouldn't explain what exactly she's doing here, in a flower-printed work uniform, washing off one of the ordinary military VTs. She might go unrecognized, if not for having entirely too much curly-cloud hair to tuck under a hat, and eyes that make the other maintenance crewmembers stare. Plus, flower-printed work uniform?
She hums gently as she washes off the cockpit window of a Veritech, glancing over her shoulder. "Hello, Shinji, Miss Molly is it...?"
For Mint Blancmanche, the past couple of weeks could best be described as a continuous blur of logic-defying insanity. The Angel Brigade (those members unlucky enough to be in the Transbaal Empire at the time, at least) had been placed on red alert due to a sudden rash of Lost Technology discoveries threatening to destabilize the very foundation of reality. As this coincided with the rise of a malevolent organization bent on destroying the Transbaal Empire, this became an epic race to find these all-powerful relics before the other side could.
So thus, Mint risked life and limb to acquire such items as the Souffle To End All Souffles, the Can-Opener of Destiny, and the Inappropriately-Impulsive Screwdriver! And at the last minute, the Angel Brigade accidentally activated the Non-Euclidian Blender, leading to the fiery destruction of every planet in the universe and the bloody demise of every organic species known to mankind. On the plus side, those milkshakes turned out to be really, really tasty.
... but that's pretty typical for life in the Transbaal Empire, so everything went back to normal in a few hours. Just as Molly enters the hangar, Mint Blancmanche pops her head out of the cockpit of her parked Emblem Frame, hefting a box.
It has airholes, and it is squeaking quite loudly. Never a good combination.
Shinji Ikari likes paperwork. Paperwork doesn't change on him. It doesn't decide to be pissed at him for things it does /all the time/. It doesn't /lie about being related to you/. Though...
"Paperwork," Shinji says, "You'll never abandon me-wait." Shinji's eyes widen as the letters and numbers wiggle, wobble, and literarly pop off the page, yippieing about finally being free and how boring Shinji is as they scamper out the door. "...even the paperwork is abandoning me!"
"Hecuvla is the most treacherous font!" Shinji exclaims, popping out of his brief fantasy with a blink and cough. He looks up at Molly, and as she seems to be in her own little world, spares her the pain of talking to him. He waves a little at Nia, blinking at the uniform but otherwise seeming friendly.
He blinks twice at Mint, unsure of how to react, and decides...not to. She hasn't talked to him since that time Dr. Hell gave her his berserker rage, so Shinji figures nature has simply taken its course.
Huh... there's someone waving at her. Someone... cloudy. Molly looks up, tugging the headphones down to rest around her neck, and waves back. "Hi! Um... nice to meet you." Who are you? And who're you waving at behind her? She turns around and spies... a Shinji! "Oh hey, I didn't see you there," she grins at him, pressing one of the teeth on the CD player at her waist. And suddenly, Mint! With a box!
"The hangar's a lot more busy than I first thought. It's nice to see people again though." And meet a new one. Molly waves up to Nia. "Who are you, anyway? Sorry, I didn't catch your name..." Her plan for chillaxing currently forgotten, she simply pops the top on her soda can and drinks from it.
Someone walks into the hangar.
Rei is wearing dark sunglasses due to her eyes still not being quite fully recovered, but she is otherwise recognizable. She does not call out to anyone as she enters the cavernous room; instead, she makes towards the storage lockers, holding a black NERV-logo duffle bag in one hand that seems about one-third full. Perhaps she's having to move her OWN laundry around for once.
"I am Nia. Hello." This time, the Spiral Princess turns to face the others completely, setting a sponge back in a bucket and climbing back down the steplatter. Without offering explanation as to her presence, she walks up to the table, smiling. "It is a pleasure to see you all again, even if you are dealing with deceptive and dishonorable fonts which are to be typed to the curb." Rei, too, gets a nod; she should send the poor recovering girl some cake sometime.
Mint hasn't really spoken to Shinji mostly because she hasn't had much time to spend outside of the Transbaal Empire- and what she DID have to spend was taken up by paperwork. It's her duty as a proud member of the Angel Brigade, after all. At least, that's what she keeps telling herself.
Regardless, most of Mint's attention is taken up by trying to manhandle a struggling box almost half her size, though her ears are squeak-twitching sporadically. It's a miracle how she manages to hear anything over the squeaking of her own ears, but she makes do. "Ah, Molly! And Shinji." Mint nods politely-- it's really the best she can manage as she makes her way down the ladder on the side of her Trick Master, one hand on the rungs and one hand keeping the box on her shoulder. "It's a pleaAAAIIIEEE--"
Mint's hand slips, sending her sliding down the ladder-- but instead of flapping her ears and flying back up, she grabs onto the box with both hands, hugs it to her stomach, and lashes out at the ladder with her legs, catching herself before she can fall. "--pleasure to meet you, Nia," Mint finishes, dangling upside-down. Somehow, her voice remains calm. Strained, but calm.
Rei. Outside. In sunglasses. ...doing her laundry?!
Part of Shinji wants to help. The other part wants to throw a chair at something. He compromises by doing neither, saying, "Hello Molly." in a faint, three shades from dead tone of voice.
Shinji ponders...and realizes he literarly has no idea what to say to Rei. I mean. ...what do you say to something like that? Does she even realize what those papers mean? Does she even care? How does she keep her colors from fading when she does the whole load at once? Some kind of witchcraft?!
Then Mint takes her fall and Shinji sighs, his nebbish senses unable to hold back from this too. Not posessing the energy to keep his usual demeanor up, Mint may recgonize the icy look of control on Shinji's face as he stands up. "Let me take it." Shinji offers monotonously, holding his hands out for the mysterious squeaking box.
"Hi, Nia." Molly tries to look like she isn't trying to get a closer look at the cloudy-haired girl. She's got pretty (funny) eyes... she kinda looks like... no way. "Are you by any chance related to Nono? I mean, I know she's a robot, but you sort of resemble her." Molly points to her own eyes as if that makes it obvious. "Oh, excuse me just a sec. Hey, Rei! Rei!" She waves. Geez, it's really busy this evening! That's cool, she'd rather hang out with friends than chill by herself anyway.
And Mint falls. Molly jogs over to the Trick Shot and reaches up for Mint's hands, assuming Gloomy Shinji gains control of The Box. "Want a hand getting down?" She glances sideways at Shinji for a second. Is it just her, or does he look a little more glum than usual? If he was, could she tell?!
"Oh, I have no known relation to Nono," Nia admits, "although we do get along well." This shocking news made clear, and turns to poor Mint with a gasp of mild concern.
"Oh, are you alright?" She offers a hand to poor Mint, not being terribly tall, but...taller than that, at least. The box is less of a concern, because it won't be hurt if it falls! She is at least quite sure. "And Rei, those are nice sunglasses."
Where she's from, people wear shades indoors all the time.
Rei looks over towards Nia for a moment, or at least in that general direction. They ARE kind of fashion frames; she may have gotten them in the hub. She nods to Nia, once, and then her head turns very slightly, towards Shinji...
... she says nothing. She reaches the locker and opens it, tugging out the plugsuit stored in there with some effort. She tosses it to the floor, for lack of something else to do, and puts a wrapped-up, neater-packed, and probably cleaner model of similar design into the same spot.
As the blood starts rushing into her head, the upside-down Mint ponders just how to get herself down without sacrificing either her dignity or her box of somethings. Naturally, she doesn't even think of relying on the others for help- "Ah?" - which is why she's pleasantly surprised when she gets three pairs of helping hands. "Oh my... thank you- it's much appreciated." Mint smiles, looking up at Shinji--
Mint's still an expert at masking emotion, but her calm smile becomes a bit more... /polite/... as she quickly hides her sudden trepidation. She'd guessed that this would be an awkward moment, but she hadn't thought that it would be compounded by a bout of 'Something Terribly Wrong'. The telepath wordlessly passes the box to Shinji, glancing to Molly and Nia (and then to Rei, looking a bit curious). "I should be alright from here... thank you for your concern."
As Mint helps herself down... well, given their close proximity, Molly, Nia, or Shinji might notice that the sporadic twitching of Mint's ears is completely synchronized with the squeaky noises emanating from the box.
Shinji Ikari doesn't return Rei's look.
"Mm." Shinji grunts, nodding faintly at Mint. It should be fairly obvious, even to Molly, that he's a little darker than usual today. Walking over to the table, Shinji almost roboticly places the box down on the table, picks up his paper work, and procedes to walk across the room, plopping down in a chair and getting back to work.
Oh, that's too bad. It would be cool to have two Buster Machines running around. Lark and Tycho's don't count, they don't wander around and smile and kick butt on their lonesome like Nono does. In fact, they don't seem to do much of anything without a pilot inside. Molly briefly wonders if she is turning into a fangirl. ...Nah.
She goes over to the table and peers at the box, trying to peek into one of the airholes. She isn't exactly sure what to say to Shinji in front of other people to cheer him up. Maybe she can just wait, and hope that he will want to talk again.
Alas, despite the eyes and hair, Nia is probably nothing more than an ordinary young woman.
She gives a sympathetic gaze over to Shinji, but does not say much else. "Well, I hope you are able to conquer that," she wishes him, alluding-one assumes-to the font and the paperwork. "I must be off for the moment. There is more washing to do. Good luck with your box, Mint!"
She takes a little bow, and walks off as ladylike and poised as ever, carrying a sud bucket.
Shinji Ikari has disconnected.
Rei feels - flat. Mint can probably tell the difference, even if it's more subtle than it was with Shinji. There is something turbulent there, but it's quiet and below the surface. Rei packs up the spare plugsuit, meanwhile, with rather mechanical motions, and doesn't call out.
"Ah... see you later, Nia," Mint calls out as the Spiral Princess goes off.
Turning back to glance at Shinji, Mint briefly toys with the possibility of trying to read his mind, but rejects it almost immediately. If there's something wrong with Shinji, then it'd be better for him to tell her of his own volition.
Besides, with how their attitude towards each other has cooled down considerably, Mint doubts that she'd be able to read his mind any better than Rei's-- wait, speaking of which. Mint quickly glances at Molly and the box, notes that they're doing just dandy, and pads over towards the blue-haired Eva pilot. "... would you happen to need any help with that?" The telepath asks quietly, her arms behind her back.
Molly will probably be able to see, through the airhole, a mass of little white fuzzy creatures. It's difficult to determine exactly WHAT they are- and even when one of the things pushes open the top with its head and squeaks at Molly, it's STILL hard to tell. It's like some kind of white-furred blob...
Booooox. What's in the booooooooox. Oooooh?! Suddenly Molly's attention (ALL of it) is captured by the mystery box's mysterious contents. It... no, THEY, have fluffy white fur. Could they be... bunnies?! :D :D
"Hello theeeeeeeere~" she smiles at them. Damn her weakness for rabbits.
Rei walks out without further incident, which is perhaps rather boring. Mint may not like the tone of all of this, but Rei isn't even worrying about Mint being in her head!
Or much of anything, really.
It's not often that the inside of someone's head is quite that... well, /blank/.
Admittedly, Mint would be marginally more worried if she wasn't already used to this kind of thing from Rei, AND she already has some difficulty deciphering... well, Rei being Rei.
Upon closer inspection, they're not bunnies. In fact, they don't seem to have any visible facial features or limbs. Imagine Mint's bunny-like ears, except pint-sized and moving about under their own power while squeaking. One furblob glances up at Molly. "*Piku*?"
Closer inspection reveals... that these are not rabbits. In fact... they are more like rabbit PARTS. And they're MOVING. Her 'cuteness' buzz suddenly tanks like the Hindenburg. "M-mint? What ARE these things?!" It doesn't stop her from reaching a hand inside the box and trying to pet one, however. Hey, you should see some of the critters on Oban.
Nia has disconnected.
Roy Fokker has disconnected.
"Hmm?" Mint blinks, turning towards Molly- and giggles. "Oh, those? Don't worry, they aren't at all dangerous," she says, oblivious to the fact that that's probably not what Molly's worried about. "They're simply a creature native to my home planet," Mint continues, as one of the friendlier furblobs nuzzles up against the other girl's hand, squeaking like a content guinea pig--
-- and as long as the furblob stays in contact with Molly's hand, she'll gain a sixth sense. "'Telepath Furs', to be precise."
At first Molly doesn't notice anything different at all. Just how soft and fuzzy and nice the little furry dudes are. "Telepath... so they read minds?" And then she looks up and makes the connection. "Wait a minute, these are just like your ears." Telepath furs. Mint is a telepath. Telepath Mint.
"Mint," Molly asks in a voice that is much too calm and happy because she is blissing out on mental contact with happy alien ear-creatures, "did you glue a pair of these to your head to be able to pick up on people's brainwaves?"
Mint smiles warmly. "Actually, Telepath Furs are parasitical organisms that permanently attach themselves to peoples' heads once they reach maturity," she notes, managing to keep the mischevious note out of her voice thanks to long years of practice.
"!!!!!!" There aren't letters to describe the sound Molly she makes in reply to THAT. The mental equivalent of 'ASDFGHJKLabort abort' is pretty strong though, as Molly yanks her hand out of the box with a speed to rival Char Aznable. (It's THREE TIMES FASTER.) "Isn't that... kind of dangerous?" she manages to get out, peeking into the box now from a slightly 'safer' distance of arm's-length. "I mean, what if they're like to spiders that chase you down while screaming? And then when they catch you, they eat your face."
Mint quickly covers her mouth with a gloved hand to suppress an un-ladylike laugh, channeling it into a chuckle. "They're only able to attach themselves to people from my home planet," she adds. "It's a perfectly symbiotic relationship- and besides, they're strictly vegetarian in their juvenile forms!"
If it were physically possible, the abandoned Telepath Fur would be looking at Molly with big puppy dog eyes right about now.
Well... at least they don't eat faces. That's a plus. Molly creeps closer to the box and reaches in again, to pet the same one again. "Can I pick it up?" she asks, scritching the little thing gently along what she hopes is its back. "Do a lot of people from your planet end up with these on their heads? I mean, is it a normal thing there, or what?" Ooooh, she can 'hear' them being Happy again.
The Telepath Fur squeaks and wiggles with joy as Molly comes back for it, before purring as Molly scritches its back. "You're perfectly welcome to pick it up!" Mint seems content to watch, though she bustles around the box to make sure that the other Furs don't hop or fall out of the box. However, if Molly concentrates, she might be able to pick up one or two of Mint's thoughts, like a radio intercepting a signal- though in this case, the radio is rudimentary and the signal is government-encrypted. All that would be able to come through are 1) thoughts on what to have for dinner tonight, and 2) a very vague sense of worry.
At least it's clear to see that Mint isn't at all put off by Molly's questions. "It's a tradition, and one not very strictly enforced, but it is not exactly a matter of choice. Telepathy is just as much of a defense as it is an ability, you see..." Mint raises an eyebrow at Molly. "Can you imagine being the only non-telepath native to a culture where people read the minds of others on a habitual basis?"
Maybe not an entire culture... "I see what you mean," she nods thoughtfully, carefully scooping up the furry little ear. "I can't imagine the kind of paranoia that'd probably cause. No wonder people still do it."
This would be a fine time to segue into philosophical ramblings about the mature of competition and comparisons to global disarmament, Molly finds herself far too engrossed in the situation of being able to feel what the others are feeling to bother with it. A hint of Mint's mild amusement, the happy floating cloud of Nia somewhere not too far off, and the low buzz of Shinji's no good, very bad day.
"Soooo..." she starts after a moment's though. "Do you feel this kind of stuff all the time or can you turn it off when you want? I mean, if you don't mind telling me about it," she asks, settling the ear into her lap to receive oh so much petting.
Mint glances at Molly, her golden eyes drawn to the blissful ear nestled on the other girl's lap. She's silent for a moment, and her amusement fades into more of a contemplative mood. "All the time," she eventually replies, her voice a bit quieter than usual. "We can muffle our ability so as not to be constantly reading everyone's minds, and to avoid becoming overloaded in a crowd, but..." Mint shakes her head. "Still, it can get fairly tedious at times. And should something go wrong..." She trails off, trying not to let her thoughts travel down that particular trail.
Mint's smile returns. "But as you can see, people from my planet have a tendency to take our power for granted," she adds dryly.
"Hard not to, huh..." she murmurs, rolling the ear over to rub its 'belly'. What she assumes is its belly, anyway. "Come to think of it, you're a lot like Amuro." Mint seems to have a taste for more delicious candy and fewer simply ODD things. Like potato chip ramen. The jalapeno flavored kits were pretty good though, especially with sour cream and onion chips. "You both have this psychic thing, this power, but you both have ways of dealing with it."
Molly tries not to think about Jordan, who is still getting used to taking his powers for granted. It's his secret to keep, though if Mint finds out anyway Molly doesn't expect her to blab.
"Amuro, huh...." Mint's smile becomes an outright grin. Oh, the memories. "When I first joined the Black Sheep, he didn't even know that he had the power that he did," she comments dryly. "When he DID find out, well... Amuro and I had some truly interesting discussions about our respective abilities." Over tea, thankfully. The Newtype had changed quite a bit since those days-- given the constants like Amuro's rather frightening concepts of what's edible and what isn't, Mint hadn't really noticed too much.
Mint straightens back up, bringing the box back into her arms. "I'm afraid that I must take my leave here- I need to fill out the paperwork for the import of these Telepath Furs. Good evening, Molly." With a polite nod and a warm smile, she turns and pads off...
... leaving the solitary Telepath Fur purring on Molly's lap. o/`