[ Someone I care about. Asuka stiffens visibly at the words and she shoots him a suspicious look that sharpens into an almost angry glare. There's a mix of feelings leaking through their leak - surprise, anger, disbelief, suspicion, and somewhere in there, a faint hope that he might mean it, underneath all of the pushback and all of her walls. ]

Yeah. Sure. I've heard that one before.

[ Ikari had been supposed to help her and he'd failed, utterly and completely. Kaji had failed. Misato had failed (oh, and how). Everyone had failed.

Asuka had failed. So maybe she deserved to be abandoned. She wasn't good enough, right? ]

You just met me. Why would you give a crap? [ It's a probing question, but Asuka has always felt the need to make people prove themselves. To force them to get through her before she'll actually accept that someone might actually find her worthwhile. ]

Besides, like I said, I don't need you. Or anyone else.

[ It'd be easier to pull that lie off if she wasn't tied into a hive mind. ]