[It's not flatery if it's deserved. Giant robots are cool, okay? An piloting giant robots is as if cool were a proper noun.]

It sounds like a pain in the ass.

[Shepard grew up on the streets, no family, few real friends, almost no one she could trust. By the time she was Asuka's age, she was running drugs for the Reds. Joining the military had lent her a much-needed stability, but the loss of freedom had been stunning.]

Hard to have a life, like that. I joined up when I wasn't a lot older than you-- still, why start so early?