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Advice and Trust [NGE]

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Comedy Omake #50 - Matt R's "Inheritance: Part I -- To Heir Is Lilin"
  • Apocrypha
    • In the meantime, here's Part I of an A&T Side Story Omake:

    Inheritance: Part I -- To Heir is Lilin​

    It was the last day of the spring school term in July of 2016, the weather was beautiful, and Rei Ayanami was smiling.

    This was no longer a rare occurrence by any means, but she had especially good reason to smile on that day. Her friends and loved ones were prospering, her relationship with Kaworu was wonderful, her grades for the semester were superb, Gendo Ikari was in government custody, the gargantuan alien attacks had ceased for good, her soul was entirely where it was supposed to be, the souls of everyone of importance from SEELE were sealed away and bound in eternal mutually-inflicted torment, and a universally-agreeable permanent solution to that pesky Adam problem was only a launch window and a Hohmann transfer orbit away from becoming a reality.

    In short, life was good. Quite possibly better than it had ever been, in fact, for any Rei Ayanami.

    Which might have explained her minor degree of distraction when a man in a dark suit and sunglasses approached her outside the school, where she was waiting for Kaworu to join her before meeting the rest of her friends.

    "Excuse me, young miss; is your name really Ayanami?"

    Rei was surprised. Few who knew of her at all would not know her appearance. As such, she was instantly suspicious. Her eyes narrowed. Clearly, this was not a Section 2 agent, as she had initially thought. While all the major figures of SEELE were dead to the world, there was the remote chance that some minor players in the organization might be seeking revenge. This man could be an assassin...

    "Oh, where are my manners! I'm Sho Katagawa, from the Furushita law firm."

    ... or worse. Unlike an assassin, a dead lawyer might be missed. Rei reluctantly answered.

    "...It is. Why?"

    The man laughed. "I shouldn't have doubted; you're almost her spitting image, after all, aside from the hair. I didn't realize they let schoolchildren color their hair like that these days. Oh, how times have changed!"

    "The spitting image of whom?"

    "Of your mother, of course -- Izumi Ayanami?"

    Rei blinked hard, tilted her head, and stared at the man as if he had grown a third eyeball in the middle of his forehead. "...Who?"

    "Oh, of course! You wouldn't remember her, being so young when it must have happened. You must have had a very rough time of it, being orphaned at the height of the post-Impact chaos. I'm glad you found someone caring to take you in. And I'm just as glad I found you after all this time; it makes my job so much easier. Here; this is yours."

    Rei took the object -- a small hanko seal. "What is this, and why is it mine?"

    "Stamp here, please." He held out a clipboard with a vaguely-worded document.

    "I do not recognize any of this..." she muttered, looking at the document and limply holding the stamp.

    "I'm sure it's all quite a shock. Here, let me help." Katagawa-san took her hand, pressing the seal into place and leaving an insignia on the paper.

    "Congratulations on your inheritance, young miss! You'll find all the details on your new holdings in here," he said, pressing a fat envelope into her hands before departing. "Good day to you!"

    Thank the Gods that fifteen-year snipe hunt is over, he thought. It's your problem now, girl. Best of luck.

    Kaworu finally returned from the restroom at this time. "Rei, is everything all right? What just happened?"

    "I have no idea," a bewildered Rei replied, staring after the lawyer's departing car.

    __________________________

    Rei and Kaworu soon met with the rest of their circle in the woods behind the school.

    "Rei, what happened?" Asuka asked, seeing the look on her face.

    "I was ambushed."

    "Someone from SEELE? An assassin?"

    "Worse. Lawyer. Albeit thankfully not from SEELE."

    Shinji's eyes widened in disbelief. "What would a lawyer want with you, Rei?"

    "I believe it had something to do with family inheritance; the document he ...had me sign ...was somewhat vague. He claimed to be familiar with my mother, which as you know, is impossible. Apparently there are details on what I inherited within this envelope. Though I am reluctant to lay claim to something which seems not to be rightfully mine."

    "After what you've been through in your life, Rei, I think you've earned a little windfall. Besides, if there were anyone else who did have a legitimate claim to... whatever it is, I doubt they would have gone to the trouble of tracking you down."

    "A valid consideration. I may ask Yui if she has any knowledge of family relatives named Ayanami. I must confess that I do not know why the Comm... why Gendo chose Ayanami as my family name; perhaps there is more truth to the lawyer's claim than I thought."

    ___________________________

    After school, Rei proceeded to Gendo Ikari's old residence, now thankfully devoid of the incarcerated Gendo Ikari. Instead, Yui Ikari was using it as her place of residence. She and Kozo Fuyutsuki were going through the disgraced former Commander of NERV's personal papers looking for evidence when Rei arrived and knocked at the door.

    "...Rei? This is an unexpected surprise. Do come in," Yui said when she answered.

    "Thank you."

    "Let me get you something to drink."

    The three sat down at the table.

    "To what do we owe this visit?" Yui asked.

    "Doctor Ikari, are you familiar with the name 'Izumi Ayanami?'"

    Yui's eyes widened in surprise. "Cousin Izumi? That's a name I haven't heard since not long after Second Impact. Survived the Second Impact tsunami only to be caught in Tokyo during the nuclear attack a week later, along with her husband... horrible. Needless to say, that was the last we heard of her. A shame, too; they were about to start a family of their own."

    "So she is related, then."

    "What brings her up?"

    Rei pulled out the hanko seal she had received. "I was approached at school by an attorney supposedly representing the family estate in some capacity. He claimed I was the spitting image of 'my mother,' presented me with this seal, and apparently declared me the family heir. He gave me an envelope detailing the 'family holdings,' which I have not yet opened, as I was unsure if it could be considered legitimately mine."

    Yui raised a curious eyebrow at Rei. "People did always say Cousin Izumi and I were dead ringers for one another. I never saw it myself, but apparently this lawyer of yours did. And that does look like Izumi's old seal -- it wasn't exactly a common family name, so they tended to pass a seal down rather than try to find one in a store. After fifteen years, though, I can't imagine there being anything left to inherit. I expect the State would have claimed everything just to help balance its own books, if there were no known heirs for so long." Yui suddenly frowned, remembering something. "Unless it's that damned house."

    "House?"

    Yui sighed and rolled her eyes. "Apparently some family uncle had been a big player in one of the zaibatsu back during the Second Sino-Japanese War, that produced a lot of war materiel for the Empire. When the war ended, he suddenly got paranoid and superstitious about the ghosts of those killed unrighteously in the war coming back to haunt him. He retired from public life to a village up in the mountains, where he had a Western-style manor, and started adding on to it. Random, nonsensical additions, like the Winchester mansion in America, or that one here in Japan that the former Prime Minister wound up owning."

    Fuyutsuki frowned. "The one that burned down after those people went missing?"

    Yui continued. "Anyway, when the uncle finally passed on without any children of his own, the house was left to the main Ayanami family line. It's been something of a white elephant ever since: too creepy to live in, too remote to be viable as a tourist trap, and while the land itself isn't worth enough to justify the cost of demolishing the mansion to build something else, the building is notionally valuable enough because of the construction to have fairly substantial taxes assessed against it. Needless to say, no one would want to buy it, either, since it would be just as useless for them, and even trying to burn it down for the insurance money would probably draw enough attention from suspicious inspectors that whoever tried it would be found out and charged with arson without receiving a single yen in payout. It's a cash cow for the government provided they don't repossess it themselves, and instead find some sucker to own it and pay the taxes."

    "And apparently I am that sucker. Wonderful," Rei groaned, opening the envelope. Sure enough, "Ayanami Manor, Gifu District, outskirts of Okinomiya... and fifteen years in back taxes owed?" Her eyes widened at the figure. "I do not have anything near this sum of money."

    "No, but you do -- or will -- have a substantial share in NERV, or whatever its name will be once it's privatized," Fuyutsuki said. "This could be a play by the government at acquiring a foothold in the new company, by seizing those shares as payment. There's no question they would covet the patents we hold."

    Rei groaned again. "Patents on technology that must be developed with the utmost care, if it is to preserve humanity instead of dooming it. We cannot allow control to fall to anyone else yet. Is there some legal recourse?"

    "I will have our legal team begin investigating. This entire affair seems suspicious, down to the manner in which you were approached. And it shouldn't have been possible to sign for an inheritance of property with just a mitsome-in. But I expect that, if this is some sort of plot, the government will cheerfully ignore its own rules if it serves their interest," Fuyutsuki replied.

    "There may be another option, at least in the short term," Yui mused. "From all I've heard of him, the old owner was eccentric enough that he may have hidden some sort of valuables on-site. There were aspects of the family fortune that were never entirely accounted for when he passed on. Izumi told me she went looking for treasure in the mansion once, but was too creeped-out to stay for long. But then, she didn't have the motivation you do. And you have plenty of friends who would probably be happy to help you search."

    "...I think I will try to avoid that option. Nonetheless, thank you for the information. And the tea." Rei rose. "It is getting late; I should probably return home."

    "Best of luck!"

    Fuyutsuki watched Rei leave, then turned to Yui. "Did you just try to send your not-exactly-daughter and her circle of friends on a test of courage in a totally-not-haunted-mansion?"

    "Young people should go out and enjoy life! That bunch especially; they've earned a fun diversion of an adventure, after saving the world and all."

    Fuyutsuki could only hang his head, resting his face in his hand with a deep sigh.

    ________________________

    Rei filled Shinji, Asuka, and Kaworu in on her conversation when she returned to the apartment complex.

    "So you're telling me that, thanks to Commander Asshat using Yui's dead cousin's family name as your surname, you've inherited a haunted mansion full of treasure? That's awesome! I almost feel like thanking him." Asuka summarized with a grin.

    Behind her, Shinji shrugged apologetically.

    Rei glared at Asuka. "That is not what I said."

    "Yeah, yeah. Absurd taxes, government plots, patent war, fate of the world. Still! Haunted mansion! Treasure!"

    "Asuka, I said the original owner was afraid of ghosts, not that there were any. Because there are not any, because ghosts do not exist. And the presence of anything of value in the mansion is nothing more than idle speculation."

    "Rei-chan, given that Metaphysical Biology has proven both the existence of the soul and that the soul lingers for some time after the death of the body, is it not possible that ghosts may, in fact, exist after all in some fashion?" Kaworu mused.

    Rei glowered at him. "You are not helping, fish."

    Asuka persisted. "Isn't it still worth investigating? It's something fun to do this summer!"

    "I already had plans for fun things to do this summer. Kaworu and I have made plans to visit the beach, visit several concerts, break Misato and Kaji's record-"

    A sputtering sound came from the kitchen, followed by the mild cries of pain one would expect from someone who had just accidentally filled her own sinuses with cheap beer.

    "- visit several museums, and hopefully take in a festival. It is already a full schedule without accounting for a futile treasure hunt! ...Asuka, where are you going?"

    "To pack, of course! And to call Hikari; she's gonna love this!"

    Rei hung her head in defeat. "Can anyone explain to me just when we became the SOS Brigade? And if we are, can they explain why, as the incognito not-quite-deity of the group, I am nonetheless not in charge?"

    Kaworu put his hand on her shoulder with a smile. "Visiting a haunted house together is a traditional activity of Japanese youthful romance, is it not? And I have heard that backwater regions can have quite interesting festivals. In addition, from Yui's description, the house itself sounds fascinating. I would not mind such a diversion."

    Rei pouted briefly, but then smiled back. "I suppose we could accommodate this." Her face turned stern after a moment. "But no making out in the haunted mansion! I have seen enough films to know it never ends well." At Kaworu's crestfallen expression, she smirked. "We shall save such activities for the hotel room."

    "As you wish," Kaworu replied. "Would you like me to search the Tokyo-3 classified advertisements to see if a Great Dane is available on short notice, or perhaps a van painted in psychedelic colors?" he added with a grin.

    "Do not press your luck, Trout."
     
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  • Apocrypha
    • Matt, be honest, did Rei just inherit a japanese version of the Spencer Mansion? Is Rei going to need like four different emblems and six combinable keys just to get in a bathroom?
     
    Dealer said:
    Matt, be honest, did Rei just inherit a japanese version of the Spencer Mansion? Is Rei going to need like four different emblems and six combinable keys just to get in a bathroom?
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    Actually more like the Winchester Mystery House...

    Did anyone catch where the mansion's located?:D

    Dragontrapper said:
    You Win - now please write more.
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    It's coming; it may be a few days since I've got a lot on my plate at the moment...
     
    Strypgia said:
    I think I died right about here.... XD
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    My favorite bit was three paragraphs before that:
    Matt R said:
    Rei hung her head in defeat. "Can anyone explain to me just when we became the SOS Brigade? And if we are, can they explain why, as the incognito not-quite-deity of the group, I am nonetheless not in charge?"
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    Matt R said:
    Did anyone catch where the mansion's located?:D
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    Except Okinomiya doesn't seem to be in Gifu Prefecture...
     
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    Someone write a bit where Kaworu explains that the SOS Brigade is a rip-off of their dynamic and that Rei is Yuki. I can't, I'm at work.
     
    MisterHalt said:
    Why is there no 'groan in pain at bad pun' rating for posts?
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    It really would be needed at times.
    BadRoad said:
    I just use "Funny".
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    I generally reserve funny for things I find funny, not things that makes me want to smash a wall with a head (either the punster or my own)

    Matt R said:
    In the meantime, here's Part I of an A&T Side Story Omake:

    Inheritance: Part I -- To Heir is Lilin​

    It was the last day of the spring school term in July of 2016, the weather was beautiful, and Rei Ayanami was smiling.

    This was no longer a rare occurrence by any means, but she had especially good reason to smile on that day. Her friends and loved ones were prospering, her relationship with Kaworu was wonderful, her grades for the semester were superb, Gendo Ikari was in government custody, the gargantuan alien attacks had ceased for good, her soul was entirely where it was supposed to be, the souls of everyone of importance from SEELE were sealed away and bound in eternal mutually-inflicted torment, and a universally-agreeable permanent solution to that pesky Adam problem was only a launch window and a Hohmann transfer orbit away from becoming a reality.

    In short, life was good. Quite possibly better than it had ever been, in fact, for any Rei Ayanami.

    Which might have explained her minor degree of distraction when a man in a dark suit and sunglasses approached her outside the school, where she was waiting for Kaworu to join her before meeting the rest of her friends.

    "Excuse me, young miss; is your name really Ayanami?"

    Rei was surprised. Few who knew of her at all would not know her appearance. As such, she was instantly suspicious. Her eyes narrowed. Clearly, this was not a Section 2 agent, as she had initially thought. While all the major figures of SEELE were dead to the world, there was the remote chance that some minor players in the organization might be seeking revenge. This man could be an assassin...

    "Oh, where are my manners! I'm Sho Katagawa, from the Furushita law firm."

    ... or worse. Unlike an assassin, a dead lawyer might be missed. Rei reluctantly answered.

    "...It is. Why?"

    The man laughed. "I shouldn't have doubted; you're almost her spitting image, after all, aside from the hair. I didn't realize they let schoolchildren color their hair like that these days. Oh, how times have changed!"

    "The spitting image of whom?"

    "Of your mother, of course -- Izumi Ayanami?"

    Rei blinked hard, tilted her head, and stared at the man as if he had grown a third eyeball in the middle of his forehead. "...Who?"

    "Oh, of course! You wouldn't remember her, being so young when it must have happened. You must have had a very rough time of it, being orphaned at the height of the post-Impact chaos. I'm glad you found someone caring to take you in. And I'm just as glad I found you after all this time; it makes my job so much easier. Here; this is yours."

    Rei took the object -- a small hanko seal. "What is this, and why is it mine?"

    "Stamp here, please." He held out a clipboard with a vaguely-worded document.

    "I do not recognize any of this..." she muttered, looking at the document and limply holding the stamp.

    "I'm sure it's all quite a shock. Here, let me help." Katagawa-san took her hand, pressing the seal into place and leaving an insignia on the paper.

    "Congratulations on your inheritance, young miss! You'll find all the details on your new holdings in here," he said, pressing a fat envelope into her hands before departing. "Good day to you!"

    Thank the Gods that fifteen-year snipe hunt is over, he thought. It's your problem now, girl. Best of luck.

    Kaworu finally returned from the restroom at this time. "Rei, is everything all right? What just happened?"

    "I have no idea," a bewildered Rei replied, staring after the lawyer's departing car.

    __________________________

    Rei and Kaworu soon met with the rest of their circle in the woods behind the school.

    "Rei, what happened?" Asuka asked, seeing the look on her face.

    "I was ambushed."

    "Someone from SEELE? An assassin?"

    "Worse. Lawyer. Albeit thankfully not from SEELE."

    Shinji's eyes widened in disbelief. "What would a lawyer want with you, Rei?"

    "I believe it had something to do with family inheritance; the document he ...had me sign ...was somewhat vague. He claimed to be familiar with my mother, which as you know, is impossible. Apparently there are details on what I inherited within this envelope. Though I am reluctant to lay claim to something which seems not to be rightfully mine."

    "After what you've been through in your life, Rei, I think you've earned a little windfall. Besides, if there were anyone else who did have a legitimate claim to... whatever it is, I doubt they would have gone to the trouble of tracking you down."

    "A valid consideration. I may ask Yui if she has any knowledge of family relatives named Ayanami. I must confess that I do not know why the Comm... why Gendo chose Ayanami as my family name; perhaps there is more truth to the lawyer's claim than I thought."

    ___________________________

    After school, Rei proceeded to Gendo Ikari's old residence, now thankfully devoid of the incarcerated Gendo Ikari. Instead, Yui Ikari was using it as her place of residence. She and Kozo Fuyutsuki were going through the disgraced former Commander of NERV's personal papers looking for evidence when Rei arrived and knocked at the door.

    "...Rei? This is an unexpected surprise. Do come in," Yui said when she answered.

    "Thank you."

    "Let me get you something to drink."

    The three sat down at the table.

    "To what do we owe this visit?" Yui asked.

    "Doctor Ikari, are you familiar with the name 'Izumi Ayanami?'"

    Yui's eyes widened in surprise. "Cousin Izumi? That's a name I haven't heard since not long after Second Impact. Survived the Second Impact tsunami only to be caught in Tokyo during the nuclear attack a week later, along with her husband... horrible. Needless to say, that was the last we heard of her. A shame, too; they were about to start a family of their own."

    "So she is related, then."

    "What brings her up?"

    Rei pulled out the hanko seal she had received. "I was approached at school by an attorney supposedly representing the family estate in some capacity. He claimed I was the spitting image of 'my mother,' presented me with this seal, and apparently declared me the family heir. He gave me an envelope detailing the 'family holdings,' which I have not yet opened, as I was unsure if it could be considered legitimately mine."

    Yui raised a curious eyebrow at Rei. "People did always say Cousin Izumi and I were dead ringers for one another. I never saw it myself, but apparently this lawyer of yours did. And that does look like Izumi's old seal -- it wasn't exactly a common family name, so they tended to pass a seal down rather than try to find one in a store. After fifteen years, though, I can't imagine there being anything left to inherit. I expect the State would have claimed everything just to help balance its own books, if there were no known heirs for so long." Yui suddenly frowned, remembering something. "Unless it's that damned house."

    "House?"

    Yui sighed and rolled her eyes. "Apparently some family uncle had been a big player in one of the zaibatsu back during the Second Sino-Japanese War, that produced a lot of war materiel for the Empire. When the war ended, he suddenly got paranoid and superstitious about the ghosts of those killed unrighteously in the war coming back to haunt him. He retired from public life to a village up in the mountains, where he had a Western-style manor, and started adding on to it. Random, nonsensical additions, like the Winchester mansion in America, or that one here in Japan that the former Prime Minister wound up owning."

    Fuyutsuki frowned. "The one that burned down after those people went missing?"

    Yui continued. "Anyway, when the uncle finally passed on without any children of his own, the house was left to the main Ayanami family line. It's been something of a white elephant ever since: too creepy to live in, too remote to be viable as a tourist trap, and while the land itself isn't worth enough to justify the cost of demolishing the mansion to build something else, the building is notionally valuable enough because of the construction to have fairly substantial taxes assessed against it. Needless to say, no one would want to buy it, either, since it would be just as useless for them, and even trying to burn it down for the insurance money would probably draw enough attention from suspicious inspectors that whoever tried it would be found out and charged with arson without receiving a single yen in payout. It's a cash cow for the government provided they don't repossess it themselves, and instead find some sucker to own it and pay the taxes."

    "And apparently I am that sucker. Wonderful," Rei groaned, opening the envelope. Sure enough, "Ayanami Manor, Gifu District, outskirts of Okinomiya... and fifteen years in back taxes owed?" Her eyes widened at the figure. "I do not have anything near this sum of money."

    "No, but you do -- or will -- have a substantial share in NERV, or whatever its name will be once it's privatized," Fuyutsuki said. "This could be a play by the government at acquiring a foothold in the new company, by seizing those shares as payment. There's no question they would covet the patents we hold."

    Rei groaned again. "Patents on technology that must be developed with the utmost care, if it is to preserve humanity instead of dooming it. We cannot allow control to fall to anyone else yet. Is there some legal recourse?"

    "I will have our legal team begin investigating. This entire affair seems suspicious, down to the manner in which you were approached. And it shouldn't have been possible to sign for an inheritance of property with just a mitsome-in. But I expect that, if this is some sort of plot, the government will cheerfully ignore its own rules if it serves their interest," Fuyutsuki replied.

    "There may be another option, at least in the short term," Yui mused. "From all I've heard of him, the old owner was eccentric enough that he may have hidden some sort of valuables on-site. There were aspects of the family fortune that were never entirely accounted for when he passed on. Izumi told me she went looking for treasure in the mansion once, but was too creeped-out to stay for long. But then, she didn't have the motivation you do. And you have plenty of friends who would probably be happy to help you search."

    "...I think I will try to avoid that option. Nonetheless, thank you for the information. And the tea." Rei rose. "It is getting late; I should probably return home."

    "Best of luck!"

    Fuyutsuki watched Rei leave, then turned to Yui. "Did you just try to send your not-exactly-daughter and her circle of friends on a test of courage in a totally-not-haunted-mansion?"

    "Young people should go out and enjoy life! That bunch especially; they've earned a fun diversion of an adventure, after saving the world and all."

    Fuyutsuki could only hang his head, resting his face in his hand with a deep sigh.

    ________________________

    Rei filled Shinji, Asuka, and Kaworu in on her conversation when she returned to the apartment complex.

    "So you're telling me that, thanks to Commander Asshat using Yui's dead cousin's family name as your surname, you've inherited a haunted mansion full of treasure? That's awesome! I almost feel like thanking him." Asuka summarized with a grin. Behind her, Shinji shrugged apologetically.

    Rei glared at Asuka. "That is not what I said."

    "Yeah, yeah. Absurd taxes, government plots, patent war, fate of the world. Still! Haunted mansion! Treasure!"

    "Asuka, I said the original owner was afraid of ghosts, not that there were any. Because there are not any, because ghosts do not exist. And the presence of anything of value in the mansion is nothing more than idle speculation."

    "Rei-chan, given that Metaphysical Biology has proven both the existence of the soul and that the soul lingers for some time after the death of the body, is it not possible that ghosts may, in fact, exist after all in some fashion?" Kaworu mused.

    Rei glowered at him. "You are not helping, fish."

    Asuka persisted. "Isn't it still worth investigating? It's something fun to do this summer!"

    "I already had plans for fun things to do this summer. Kaworu and I have made plans to visit the beach, visit several concerts, break Misato and Kaji's record-"

    A sputtering sound came from the kitchen, followed by the mild cries of pain one would expect from someone who had just accidentally filled her own sinuses with cheap beer.

    "- visit several museums, and hopefully take in a festival. It is already a full schedule without accounting for a futile treasure hunt! ...Asuka, where are you going?"

    "To pack, of course! And to call Hikari; she's gonna love this!"

    Rei hung her head in defeat. "Can anyone explain to me just when we became the SOS Brigade? And if we are, can they explain why, as the incognito not-quite-deity of the group, I am nonetheless not in charge?"

    Kaworu put his hand on her shoulder with a smile. "Visiting a haunted house together is a traditional activity of Japanese youthful romance, is it not? And I have heard that backwater regions can have quite interesting festivals. In addition, from Yui's description, the house itself sounds fascinating. I would not mind such a diversion."

    Rei pouted briefly, but then smiled back. "I suppose we could accommodate this." Her face turned stern after a moment. "But no making out in the haunted mansion! I have seen enough films to know it never ends well." At Kaworu's crestfallen expression, she smirked. "We shall save such activities for the hotel room."

    "As you wish," Kaworu replied. "Would you like me to search the Tokyo-3 classified advertisements to see if a Great Dane is available on short notice, or perhaps a van painted in psychedelic colors?" he added with a grin.

    "Do not press your luck, Trout."
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    AWESOME! I don't know which part was the best, possibly the scooby referense (but what if they bring Hikari as well? I guess Toji would be a suitable stand in for scooby, but they'll be one too many still...). But anyway, bring me more, I needs it. (I can offer internet cookies?)
     
    "I would have gotten away with it, too, if it wasn't for those meddling EVA pilots and their penguin!"
     
    Matt R said:
    "No, but you do -- or will -- have a substantial share in NERV, or whatever its name will be once it's privatized," Fuyutsuki said. "This could be a play by the government at acquiring a foothold in the new company, by seizing those shares as payment. There's no question they would covet the patents we hold."
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    Am I correct in guessing that part of the joke here is that there's no actual play by the government -- but rather Katagawo was either trying to unload the lemon of a house on someone or is just really, really zealous at doing his job?

    Matt R said:
    "So you're telling me that, thanks to Commander Asshat using Yui's dead cousin's family name as your surname, you've inherited a haunted mansion full of treasure? That's awesome! I almost feel like thanking him." Asuka summarized with a grin. Behind her, Shinji shrugged apologetically.
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    I think this might work better as something:
    "So you're telling me that, thanks to Commander Asshat using Yui's dead cousin's family name as your surname, you've inherited a haunted mansion full of treasure?" Asuka summarized with a grin. "That's awesome! I almost feel like thanking him."

    Behind her, Shinji shrugged apologetically.
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    That adds a bit of a pause and gives the reader more time to parse the buildup before reaching the punchline. But that might just be me.

    Matt R said:
    Rei hung her head in defeat. "Can anyone explain to me just when we became the SOS Brigade? And if we are, can they explain why, as the incognito not-quite-deity of the group, I am nonetheless not in charge?"
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    You know, up until this point I'd been thinking more "Scooby-Doo" that "Haruhi Suzumiya." I feel there's probably some level of irony here.

    And I can't help but love Rei's growing exasperation with the situation.

    Matt R said:
    "As you wish," Kaworu replied. "Would you like me to search the Tokyo-3 classified advertisements to see if a Great Dane is available on short notice, or perhaps a van painted in psychedelic colors?" he added with a grin.
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    Concept: A+
    Execution: 10/10
     
    Quadhelix said:
    That adds a bit of a pause and gives the reader more time to parse the buildup before reaching the punchline. But that might just be me.
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    Fair point; I'll tweak it.

    Quadhelix said:
    You know, up until this point I'd been thinking more "Scooby-Doo" that "Haruhi Suzumiya." I feel there's probably some level of irony here.
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    Bits of all of the above. I'm drawing a little on Haruhi (presumed to be fictional in-universe here; in fact, in this universe, Yuki might be the source of the anime character archetype Rei popularized in the real world), Scooby, and Ghost Hunt (the light novel/manga/anime series, not the Sci-Fi Channel reality show of similar name) for inspiration here, although I'm not trying to cram the characters to fit any of those series' archetypes; I'm trying to keep them reasonably in character with their A&T portrayals, having an adventure that references those sorts of stories but in the EVA universe. And the aforementioned location is more for a source of local color than any sort of major plot ties.

    Quadhelix said:
    And I can't help but love Rei's growing exasperation with the situation.
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    Rei's always had the deadpan; the exasperation adds the snark.:D

    I figure, with Gendo out of the picture, Rei's free to emote a bit more. And has good reason to!:lol
     
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