trans_9 | Bruised egos hurt the worst.

After a series of vicious ego-bruising arguments, Asuka had slipped away from the observation deck to go sulk. Well, she wouldn't call it sulking, but really, that's what it was. She already hated this place and, by extension, most of the people on board. No one cared about what she'd managed to accomplish. No one cared that she was a prodigy, that she was intelligent, that she was the best Eva pilot in the world. They just wanted her to be quiet. The fact that this was partly (if not mostly) her own fault seemed to not register to her (or if it did, she was ignoring it very effectively).

She found herself just... wandering. She didn't know this place and she hated it, anyway. She didn't have anywhere to go - all she knew was that she wasn't going back so she could just be humiliated again. She found a quiet corner, away from everyone (she hoped) and buried her head in her arms. She wasn't crying - she was never going to cry again - she was just thinking, away from everyone. That was all.

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"NERV headquarters?" he asks, unfamiliar with the term. "I'm not familiar with them, but I doubt they compare. Unless their headquarters happens to cover the majority of your planet."

Brainy's tempted to copy the facepalm. A lot of the time he feels the same way about having a counterpart here, particularly when he has to explain he's the second one, like he's less important simply by virtue of arriving after the other. "Yes, there's two of us. And I'm not going to lecture you."

He could point out that he doesn't have to lecture about how smart he is since she hadn't questioned that fact (and it is a fact), but it's becoming apparent that while there are some things he dislikes being compared to his counterpart over, being better at dealing with people isn't one of them.

"What did he say to you?" he asks instead.

"It's the size of a small city," she responds, "Just how big is this place?"

She taps her foot impatiently, arms once again folded across her chest. She hates this. Sheh ates having to ask everyone for information or for help.

"First he bumped into me, then he acted like he was better then me somehow! And talked about how he'd saved the universe and blah blah blah...!"

Asuka makes a "yak-yak" motion with one of her hands.

And the smug smile makes a comeback. "The ship appears to be roughly the size of a small moon. While much of it is still undiscovered, there is a city situated in the lower levels. So yes, I imagine it is larger than NERV headquarters."

The hand motion isn't unfamiliar, though it feels odd having it applied to a different version of himself. He doesn't know if he should be insulted or not. "I imagine that would make things difficult," he says, opting to remain neutral for the time being. But he can't resist adding, "not to mention he's hardly the only person on the ship to have saved the universe before."

"What? Really?" Asuka doesn't get much of a chance to hide her astonishment, "The size of a moon? That's... really big," she trails off lamely, at a loss for words for a brief moment.

She does bristle at the mention of other universe-savers, though. Great. More people to make her feel like she hasn't actually accomplished anything, "Oh, fantastic. That's just great."

"Yes," he says unhelpfully, "it is."

Her reaction to the idea of others who have done their fair share (or more) of universe-saving surprises him. "I'd have thought that would be good news. It does give us an advantage with whatever Stacy's decided to bring us here for. I for one would much rather prefer working with people I knew were capable in handling these types of problems than others."

"I guess." She's still pouting (sort of) and doesn't want to admit that she doesn't like being outshone by other people. That's a vulnerability, even if others cna probably read it from miles away.

"It bothers you that much?" he asks, raising an eyebrow. "Why?"

"It doesn't bother me! Why should I worry about what a bunch of people I don't even know have done!"

"I don't know," he answers, "you're the one who seems to have an issue with the situation, so why don't you tell me?"

He turns away from her, one arm folding behind him while the other is raised: what the Legion had come to call his 'lecture pose'. "And before you argue that you don't have an issue with it, I will point out that you were the one to bring up the subject in the first place and seem to have problems with the idea that others might have achieved such things."

Asuka fumes impotently for a moment, before she turns to stalk off. She's not going to sit around and listen to another green guy show off how smart he is, "Bye, broccoli boy."

Brainy wheels around sharply, smarter-than-you attitude wiped out by flustered shock. "Broccoli-?!" He gapes at her retreating back for a second before calling after her.

"And just so you know, insulting people isn't a very good way to get a point across!" He'd have added more, but she's nearly out of earshot. He tosses up chasing after her to comment on her immaturity (because clearly it's not immature if he does it), but decides against it in favour of stomping off to find the parts he needs and heading back to the lab.

Bruised egos hurt the worst.

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