The crowd loved what was left of the Troas crew. Adored them even. They were the great saviors of the colony. And Roger felt like he didn't deserve a single second of the praise being put upon them. Yeah, he shot a few of the alien soldiers and managed to make it out of the whole situation alive (and in the case of Yeager) mostly intact, but in the big scheme of things it didn't feel like he contributed much of anything. Hell, as far as Rooney was concerned only Serah and Sigma deserved such honors, being the ones to stop Mist almost single-handedly. 

As it was, he was still here, so he tried to look good and smile for the crowd, but the muscles in his face refused to cooperate. After a couple of attempts it was clear that smiling was not going to work, so he settled on a neutral expression that hopefully wouldn't be read as snobbery or disdain. After finishing the ceremony, Roger quickly separated himself from the rest of the squad and the [i]very[/i] touchy public (he was pretty sure more than one hand touched his butt as he was escorted away from the event) in general to get some alone time. 

As he walked down the street smoking a cigarette he looked down to his hand. In it he held the Steel Heart Medal, he ran his thumb over the emblem, feeling the smooth metal surface over. He knew it should be a great honor to have such a prestigious accessory, but he didn't feel anything towards it. Still, his folks back home would probably love to have it around. Maybe they'd frame it above the mantle.  If nothing else, everyone back home would know he's doing well. At least they'd think he was doing well.

Stuffing the highly coveted award into his pocket, Roger made his way back over to base, specifically the VR training room. It almost wasn't even a conscious decision, he just spent so much time there that it was second nature to be there. To his surprise, he wasn't the only one there. Zim was strapped in, but with the helmet off, looking rather frustrated. 

"Not holdin' up so well either, are you?" He asked positioning himself in the pod across from his elder. "Come on, you're just gonna keep fucking up if you beat yourself up."