Advice and Trust [NGE]
TheShiningSun
*Waits for Polyphemus Ch. 16*
- Location
- Practically the middle of Germany
- Location
- On a powder keg, next to a fire
A little bit of insanity and creativity, worry not. Have some popcorn and enjoy the fires while they burn ^^Good grief. What have I unleashed?
Dranndor
Clueless Idiot
- Location
- Cloudcuckooland
Oh god, that image, i remember now....
I'm sorry, I couldn't resist.
TheShiningSun
*Waits for Polyphemus Ch. 16*
- Location
- Practically the middle of Germany
- Location
- Canada
I will be sure to enjoy it then Boreas Anemos. Here is the next one. It is a bit longer than expected.
Eva Fortune R & K
In the shopping district of Tokyo 3, Rei and Kaworu approach the antique store their friends told them about. "Rei, are we really going to have our fortune read?" asked Kaworu. Rei responded "Considering how accurate he divined Shinji and Askua's fortune, I believe us doing the same can prove enlightening for us." With that they entered the store. After looking around a bit they called for the shop keeper. "Hello, is anybody here?" asked Kaworu. Shu then came out from the back. "Hello there. Can I help you?" Kaworu then answered "We heard from our friends that you do Tarot readings. Can you kindly read our fortune?" Shu replied "Sure thing. Just give me a minute to get set up."
As Shu got set up, Rei and Kaworu browsed around the store. Some of the tomes got Rei's attention. "I don't recognize these tomes, and yet for some reason I get the feeling I have seen them somewhere before." "I agree. They look like the sort of stuff Seele would keep in their private collections." "You don't think he is one of them. Do you?" "Not likely. He does not have the same feel as them." Shu then called "Okay I am ready." They then sat down at the table. "Do you want to do it individually or as a couple?" Shu asked. Rei answered, "We'll do it as a couple." "Very well. Let's begin." With that, Shu drew the first card.
"What represents both of you is The Fool. Represents the journey of life as well as detachment from reality and innocence. Both of you seem to only be learning how to live. Although this can apply to others." Both Rei and Kaworu had the same thought. "They were right, he does have an uncanny talent for drawing just the right cards."
Inverted
Representing your past is The Heirophant. Represents spirituality and the connection between Heaven and Earth. However, since it is upside down that would imply indoctrination and trying to usurp Heaven. This tells me that in both your pasts you have been brainwashed into a cult and had your world views corrupted." Both could only flinch at how apt that description is..
"Representing your present is Death. It represents great change. By that it means a phase of your lives will come to an irrevocable end and a new phase will begin. Seeing how it was drawn for present, it tells me both of you are in the process of breaking free of your brainwashing in order move on from the past and become true individuals." Both thought about how much they have changed from before they first met Shinji and Asuka. "Finally, let's see what represents your future." With that, Shu drew the fourth card.
"The world. Represents the end of the Spiritual journey as well as fulfillment and completion. What this tells me is that once both of you have discovered who you are, you will truly know what it means to live." Now that the reading is done, Rei finally decided to speak. "You are definitely not a normal person. Your manner of advice suggests great knowledge and a bit of precognition. Who are you?" Shu then answered "Very perceptive child of Lilith. As both of you have sensed, I am not normal. I am a dimensional drifter." "Dimensional drifter, why are you here?" asked Kaworu. "I have taken and interest in seeing how the events of this world play out. Keep in mind I can't directly intervene. I can only observe and give advice. Also, I can not truly predict what will happen. I can only make divinations based on what I draw."
"We won't tell anyone unless you say it's okay. Your fee is 1000 yen correct?" Said Rei. Shu replied, "That is correct and thank you for keeping my true nature secret." Kaworu then said, "We both know that some things are not meant to be widely known."
Eva Fortune R & K
In the shopping district of Tokyo 3, Rei and Kaworu approach the antique store their friends told them about. "Rei, are we really going to have our fortune read?" asked Kaworu. Rei responded "Considering how accurate he divined Shinji and Askua's fortune, I believe us doing the same can prove enlightening for us." With that they entered the store. After looking around a bit they called for the shop keeper. "Hello, is anybody here?" asked Kaworu. Shu then came out from the back. "Hello there. Can I help you?" Kaworu then answered "We heard from our friends that you do Tarot readings. Can you kindly read our fortune?" Shu replied "Sure thing. Just give me a minute to get set up."
As Shu got set up, Rei and Kaworu browsed around the store. Some of the tomes got Rei's attention. "I don't recognize these tomes, and yet for some reason I get the feeling I have seen them somewhere before." "I agree. They look like the sort of stuff Seele would keep in their private collections." "You don't think he is one of them. Do you?" "Not likely. He does not have the same feel as them." Shu then called "Okay I am ready." They then sat down at the table. "Do you want to do it individually or as a couple?" Shu asked. Rei answered, "We'll do it as a couple." "Very well. Let's begin." With that, Shu drew the first card.
"What represents both of you is The Fool. Represents the journey of life as well as detachment from reality and innocence. Both of you seem to only be learning how to live. Although this can apply to others." Both Rei and Kaworu had the same thought. "They were right, he does have an uncanny talent for drawing just the right cards."
Inverted
Representing your past is The Heirophant. Represents spirituality and the connection between Heaven and Earth. However, since it is upside down that would imply indoctrination and trying to usurp Heaven. This tells me that in both your pasts you have been brainwashed into a cult and had your world views corrupted." Both could only flinch at how apt that description is..
"Representing your present is Death. It represents great change. By that it means a phase of your lives will come to an irrevocable end and a new phase will begin. Seeing how it was drawn for present, it tells me both of you are in the process of breaking free of your brainwashing in order move on from the past and become true individuals." Both thought about how much they have changed from before they first met Shinji and Asuka. "Finally, let's see what represents your future." With that, Shu drew the fourth card.
"The world. Represents the end of the Spiritual journey as well as fulfillment and completion. What this tells me is that once both of you have discovered who you are, you will truly know what it means to live." Now that the reading is done, Rei finally decided to speak. "You are definitely not a normal person. Your manner of advice suggests great knowledge and a bit of precognition. Who are you?" Shu then answered "Very perceptive child of Lilith. As both of you have sensed, I am not normal. I am a dimensional drifter." "Dimensional drifter, why are you here?" asked Kaworu. "I have taken and interest in seeing how the events of this world play out. Keep in mind I can't directly intervene. I can only observe and give advice. Also, I can not truly predict what will happen. I can only make divinations based on what I draw."
"We won't tell anyone unless you say it's okay. Your fee is 1000 yen correct?" Said Rei. Shu replied, "That is correct and thank you for keeping my true nature secret." Kaworu then said, "We both know that some things are not meant to be widely known."
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Ranma-sensei
Sorcerer
- Location
- Citrix Receiver
- Pronouns
- Weatherdependent
Dranndor
Clueless Idiot
- Location
- Cloudcuckooland
HugglesTehRei taken to its logical conclusion.
Edit: @TheShiningSun In the immortal words of the God Emperor:
WHAT IN THE NAME OF TERRA ON FUCKING ROLLERSKATES IS THIS?
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- Location
- Online
I think i speak for everyone when i say Dafuqs wrong wit you?
Okay, that's enough from my end.
StorymasterQ
Chief of Weaponized Tropes First Division
- Location
- Denpasar, Bali
Good grief. What have I unleashed?
It's probably on par with the Author Slash Shipping I unleashed in the DIRTT thread. Thankfully that didn't get (too) far.
Evil M. Lurker
What Lurks at Midnight
- Location
- The City, USA
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a huggle.
Comedy Omake #93 - Evangelium Puellae Magae 2
BG_Character_592
The Fisherman
- Location
- Australia
Good grief. What have I unleashed?
Something magical
Speaking of something magical, time for a new instalment of The DVD Chronicles: Evangelium Puellae Magae! More comparisons to Faust, Kaworu explores time, and the pilots learn why they want to skin Kyubey alive!
A bag was thrown haphazardly onto the bed, its expensive cargo considered of little relative importance in comparison to the scratchpad he carried with him.
On went a lamp, as Kaji went to work.
Rummaging through his briefcase, and scattering various faxes, documents and forms to the metaphorical wind, he pulled out a little red book, contained was his sum knowledge on this language of SEELE.
So not much.
Still, it was an interesting development. Oversight has ample resources to translate such texts, and such information may encourage 02 to see him as less of an adversary and more of an ally. Thats what this whole charade was about anyway. Friendship is one thing, but being allies doesn't necessarily require one.
He still didn't entirely know where Kaworu found this specific morsel of information. 'A song', in Dirac Rift material like the Laserdiscs. Only the Gods knew how such sensitive information ended up in Rift material, but this universe was one of complete and arbitrary bullshit, so this was certainly possible.
And indeed it was possible, considering he has the words right there.
"Gods, this universe is headache inducing."
~
The river of time flowed round.
This astral plane was accessible only to those with such power and attenuation. As such, there were few occupants of this realm. The only ones at this station were himself, and the messengers of Lilith from other, less fortunate timelines. They did not disturb him.
Even he, with such power, did not hold a candle to other beings of other universes, who could ride the rivers of time.
From where he stood, he could see other, distant lands. Completely separate universes, separated by the insurmountable ocean; inaccessible to a simple broadcast like him, inaccessible to even the most powerful.
On one, a boy in green. He traversed the same road, a distant flute marking his journey.
Another, a winged unicorn, coat of midnight and mane of stars. The being could manifest and disappear at will, the purpose of their constant visitation he could not know.
Yet another.
The girl with purple eyes.
Similar to the green garbed boy, she walked a lonely road. The only road that she had ever known.
She stopped and stared across the ocean, seemingly at the ashen figure. A ghost under the light.
The light flickered.
He flickered back.
~
A girl woke with a start.
~
Ritsuko had her head down on a written letter, from R&D, essentially saying they're full up doing all the other stuff she had assigned to them.
"Tough break eh?" The Kohai wrapped arms around the Sempai.
"We've got them doing a lot of stuff, to be fair." She sighed. "Speaking of, how's Ultradisc going?"
"Umm," A quick excursion to her terminal. "Ultraviolet radiation levels are down to 95% of what they once were."
"They're still non zero though, are they?"
"Yeah."
A thud. "What of using the Ramiel substrate for storage?"
Typing. "Current estimates at conventional data compression rates, using the baseline decoding hardware, puts it at approximately 20 gigabytes."
The scientist recalled. "It's 1/3 of the foreign disc. But its infinitely better than CD or even DVD."
"Something to celebrate?"
"Maybe. What's the hardware like to actually read these discs?"
"You know those bog standard, borderline dumb terminals NEC sells us for 5000 Yen? 12 of those."
A thud. "The consumer is not going to buy a 70 thousand Yen product without immense support. Which we don't have."
"I'll be sure to inform them to reduce the cost." Maya found another item on the agenda. "This should bring some good news at least. The data from Rei's recent sync test with NT-Unit-00 is finally here, after several Unit-01 related delays."
A thud. "Damn it, I completely forgot about that."
A short giggle from Maya in reply. "Her sync with ELIZA is consistent, even more so than the OT-Unit-00. She reached a new max of 69.7%."
A smirk. "What of ELIZA?"
"Cognitive function has improved 40% from the last lot of tests we performed with her, though we believe she's starting to plateau when it comes to that. Language and social skills have also improved and plateaued in similar ways."
Thinking as Ritsuko was handed the terminal, to look over the data. "I think we're reaching the limits for the hardware. She should be fine though, she can already function excellently."
"Is that pride I hear, Ritsuko?" Maya bent down to lightly prod her, noticing she had also been using the female pronoun to refer to ELIZA.
Ritsuko meanwhile fell quiet, head settled on the desk. She turned to her Kohai. "...she... she calls me her mother, Maya." Muted emotion stemmed from her. "i... i..."
Maya looked at her for a few seconds, confusion giving way to a gentle, knowing smile as she gave her comfort. "She's been doing that for a while, has she?"
A few sniffles. "i... its been on my mind since that first sync test we did with her."
"...that was a fair bit ago, Sempai."
"i know. i know. but... it's just got me thinking..."
Maya thought, a quiet realisation. "...not ready to be a mother yet?"
Sniffles became sobs.
Maya continued holding her.
~
"So how much more grim and dark and grimdark will this show be today?" Asuka scorned.
"Normally I'd say you were cynical." The other candle equally intoned. "But considering we had some hindsight."
Asuka huffed like an angry bull. "It's always the shows involving us that end up being completely fucked."
"This is the third of those shows, Asuka." Rei was flat. "I would think you were used to it by now."
"Are any of us used to it?"
"No." Everyone replied to Shinji's foregone question.
"Surely it cannot get too much worse from the current situation." Kaworu tried being optimistic.
Key word tried. The trio simply give a look towards the fish.
~
On went a lamp, as Kaji went to work.
Rummaging through his briefcase, and scattering various faxes, documents and forms to the metaphorical wind, he pulled out a little red book, contained was his sum knowledge on this language of SEELE.
So not much.
Still, it was an interesting development. Oversight has ample resources to translate such texts, and such information may encourage 02 to see him as less of an adversary and more of an ally. Thats what this whole charade was about anyway. Friendship is one thing, but being allies doesn't necessarily require one.
He still didn't entirely know where Kaworu found this specific morsel of information. 'A song', in Dirac Rift material like the Laserdiscs. Only the Gods knew how such sensitive information ended up in Rift material, but this universe was one of complete and arbitrary bullshit, so this was certainly possible.
And indeed it was possible, considering he has the words right there.
"Gods, this universe is headache inducing."
~
The river of time flowed round.
This astral plane was accessible only to those with such power and attenuation. As such, there were few occupants of this realm. The only ones at this station were himself, and the messengers of Lilith from other, less fortunate timelines. They did not disturb him.
Even he, with such power, did not hold a candle to other beings of other universes, who could ride the rivers of time.
From where he stood, he could see other, distant lands. Completely separate universes, separated by the insurmountable ocean; inaccessible to a simple broadcast like him, inaccessible to even the most powerful.
On one, a boy in green. He traversed the same road, a distant flute marking his journey.
Another, a winged unicorn, coat of midnight and mane of stars. The being could manifest and disappear at will, the purpose of their constant visitation he could not know.
Yet another.
The girl with purple eyes.
Similar to the green garbed boy, she walked a lonely road. The only road that she had ever known.
She stopped and stared across the ocean, seemingly at the ashen figure. A ghost under the light.
The light flickered.
He flickered back.
~
A girl woke with a start.
~
Ritsuko had her head down on a written letter, from R&D, essentially saying they're full up doing all the other stuff she had assigned to them.
"Tough break eh?" The Kohai wrapped arms around the Sempai.
"We've got them doing a lot of stuff, to be fair." She sighed. "Speaking of, how's Ultradisc going?"
"Umm," A quick excursion to her terminal. "Ultraviolet radiation levels are down to 95% of what they once were."
"They're still non zero though, are they?"
"Yeah."
A thud. "What of using the Ramiel substrate for storage?"
Typing. "Current estimates at conventional data compression rates, using the baseline decoding hardware, puts it at approximately 20 gigabytes."
The scientist recalled. "It's 1/3 of the foreign disc. But its infinitely better than CD or even DVD."
"Something to celebrate?"
"Maybe. What's the hardware like to actually read these discs?"
"You know those bog standard, borderline dumb terminals NEC sells us for 5000 Yen? 12 of those."
A thud. "The consumer is not going to buy a 70 thousand Yen product without immense support. Which we don't have."
"I'll be sure to inform them to reduce the cost." Maya found another item on the agenda. "This should bring some good news at least. The data from Rei's recent sync test with NT-Unit-00 is finally here, after several Unit-01 related delays."
A thud. "Damn it, I completely forgot about that."
A short giggle from Maya in reply. "Her sync with ELIZA is consistent, even more so than the OT-Unit-00. She reached a new max of 69.7%."
A smirk. "What of ELIZA?"
"Cognitive function has improved 40% from the last lot of tests we performed with her, though we believe she's starting to plateau when it comes to that. Language and social skills have also improved and plateaued in similar ways."
Thinking as Ritsuko was handed the terminal, to look over the data. "I think we're reaching the limits for the hardware. She should be fine though, she can already function excellently."
"Is that pride I hear, Ritsuko?" Maya bent down to lightly prod her, noticing she had also been using the female pronoun to refer to ELIZA.
Ritsuko meanwhile fell quiet, head settled on the desk. She turned to her Kohai. "...she... she calls me her mother, Maya." Muted emotion stemmed from her. "i... i..."
Maya looked at her for a few seconds, confusion giving way to a gentle, knowing smile as she gave her comfort. "She's been doing that for a while, has she?"
A few sniffles. "i... its been on my mind since that first sync test we did with her."
"...that was a fair bit ago, Sempai."
"i know. i know. but... it's just got me thinking..."
Maya thought, a quiet realisation. "...not ready to be a mother yet?"
Sniffles became sobs.
Maya continued holding her.
~
"So how much more grim and dark and grimdark will this show be today?" Asuka scorned.
"Normally I'd say you were cynical." The other candle equally intoned. "But considering we had some hindsight."
Asuka huffed like an angry bull. "It's always the shows involving us that end up being completely fucked."
"This is the third of those shows, Asuka." Rei was flat. "I would think you were used to it by now."
"Are any of us used to it?"
"No." Everyone replied to Shinji's foregone question.
"Surely it cannot get too much worse from the current situation." Kaworu tried being optimistic.
Key word tried. The trio simply give a look towards the fish.
~
Key:
Shinji (Sh) Asuka (A)
Rei (R) Kaworu (Ka)
Kensuke (Ke) Sayaka (Sa) Kyoko (Ky)
Shinji (Sh) Asuka (A)
Rei (R) Kaworu (Ka)
Kensuke (Ke) Sayaka (Sa) Kyoko (Ky)
Contract
Sa: "I can say with full conviction that this was the biggest mistake I made in this show."
R: "It would've been a massive decision, wanting to do such thing."
Sh: "Especially since you already knew what being a magical girl entails."
Sa: "Which is what makes this decision even worse, cause I knew."
Ke: "You couldn't know of what being a magical girl was, at the time."
Ky: "Yeah, didn't we only find out, like, halfway through the series?"
Kaworu watched with growing concern, as Kyubey was paid his due. "He... that's the soul. What power he has to do such thing."
Rei looked on, her feelings confused. Anger, maybe? At how this being could so easily mess with a soul.
A: "You just made a deal with the damned devil, Miki."
Sa: "Don't I know it." She said flat.
School
Ky: "I thought it kinda odd that you seemed alright here, considering all the shit you just went through."
A: "Everyone knows one of the best ways to get on with life is to bury all your feelings so they don't break you!"
Ky: "...thats not-"
A: "Yes Sakura, that was not serious." Complete deadpan.
Sh: "At least Hitomi didn't seem that affected by the witch."
Ka: "Once its influence wore off, at least."
Ky: "Kinda odd she didn't take the day off, but knowing Hitomi, that's what she'd do."
Sa: "...it's obvious Madoka didn't share my optimism."
Wonderful
A: "You do sound quite a bit naive there, Miki."
Sa: "I'm sure you had a similar experience when you became an Evangelion pilot."
Asuka glared at the other bluenette. "For an hour."
Sayaka knew to shut up.
Sh: "...I'm kinda feeling for Madoka here. She probably thinks she's useless, like I thought of myself."
R: "...she has been dragged along a bit, hasn't she?"
Ka: "...she's in a world she has no power to fight against. I wouldn't be surprised if she thought that."
Ke: "At least a magical girl would have some power to fight and change things."
R: "...she's still blaming herself for Tomoe."
Miracle
Sa: "I wouldn't regret wishing to heal him."
Ka: "But what did you truly want? Him to be better, or him to love you?"
Sa: "...okay, how the hell are you guys so perspective about these things?"
A shrug. "Gotta be in our line of work."
R: "It doesn't help the both of us are naturally inclined to pick up on the more obfuscated feelings and details people could have."
Sh: "It's good to see he's sorry for how he acted, though."
Sa: "That's Kyosuke for you. Sweet boy but he gets frustrated easily. Though he tries not to take it out on us."
A: "It does seem he's opening up to you though. I'd say you'd win him." Flippant. "If not for the fact whoever directed this seemed to take a page out of our show director's book of 'shitting on the hopes and dreams of your characters'."
Laughter. "Pretty much sums it up." Spoke Kensuke.
A: "Though it is quite sweet you organised all that for him."
The melancholic sound welled. Sayaka gave a sad smile, shared by Asuka, a sense of joy for a fellow violin player.
Kyoko
A: "You sure eat a lot, Sakura."
Ky: "I was taught very early on the importance of not wasting food." She gave a knowing look to the other candle.
As if through magic, Asuka completely understood what she meant, and didn't pursue further.
Ka: "...Kyubey's talking about Akemi. I find it odd he doesn't know about her, if all magical girls formed a contract with him."
Rei shrugged. "It's possible there's other Kyubey. Whatever their species are."
A: "What about becoming a magical girl without Kyubey. Through sheer force of will."
Ky: "Out of all the people who could possibly will themselves into a magical girl, Homura is the polar opposite."
Sh: "This probably gets explained later anyway. I would hope at least."
A: "Though that does put her motivations into question."
Ke: "All will be answered in time."
Pragma
Ky: "If we take what Homura's talking about from a pragmatic perspective, you can kinda understand."
A: "To be fair, that kinda applies in the real world as well. Gotta know when to put things like kindness to the side."
Sh: "It's kinda easier with us though, cause we're facing the abominations in giant mechs. And teamwork is important to defeating the enemy."
Ka: "If becoming a magical girl is indeed like selling your soul, then Akemi would be right."
Sa: "That would not be what Madoka would want to hear though."
Ka: "Madoka would fall into the same traps Akemi described, if she became a magical girl. Like our world, their world is one of brutality and pain. You simply cannot be weak."
R: "Unfortunate, but true."
A: "...then becoming a magical girl is a truly Faustian deal."
Ka: "Everyone has something they would sell a soul for." He looked towards Shinji. "Your father would know this."
Patrol
Sh: "She so desperately wants to be of some use."
Sa: "...i hope our Madoka doesn't feel like this. I wouldn't have known."
Ka: "...it's likely, you realise. Your personalities appear similar to the show, at least parts."
R: "...hopefully she has the support she needs. Like how the you of the show supports her, Miki."
Sa: "...she definitely has that."
R: "That's good."
A: "We definitely needed that as well."
Ky: "And of course, Kyubey here had a plan."
Ka: "Madoka seems to factor into his plans a lot. Kinda similar to how all of us once factored into a master plan."
Ke: "Madoka wouldn't be able to comprehend such a plan."
Ka: "Oh God no, we couldn't comprehend our plan until the eleventh hour."
Familiar
Ka: "A wise decision, to start off with a weaker being."
A: "Though that just drains your magic with no reward."
Kensuke glared.
A: "Other than people not dying."
R: "Fighting a mere familiar would not drain as much power as a full blown Witch, I'd imagine."
Sa: "Despite all the shit I got, I look damn fine in that outfit."
Ky: "You know how to use a sword too."
Sayaka snorted. "I wish. Though out of all the weapons I could pick, a sword seems alright. Get me nice and close."
A: "Sounds like me, except with an axe."
Ke: "And we all know how you're like. You make it rain blood."
A chuckle. "I probably have a sweet nickname because of it, don't I?"
Ke: "One of the recent ones I heard was 'Frau Blutregen'."
She thought. And shrugged. "Eh, not that creative."
But it was me, Kyoko!
Kyoko chuckled. "Here we go."
Sa: "Funny thing was, we were kinda antagonistic as well."
Ky: "At first."
Sayaka giggled at that remark.
A: "Even though both of you are polar opposites, at least in the show."
Sa: "You know what they say about magnets."
Sh: "All of the weapons they use seem wildly impractical."
Ka: "Magic."
R: "Indeed. Though I'm sure you could explain the mechanics behind that world if you looked hard enough into it."
Sh: "Similar to our world then."
Kyoko advanced further.
A: "Sounds like you have similar thinking to me, Sakura."
Ky: "At first, at least. You can see how I would think that, Grief Seeds are important after all."
A: "Oh yeah. But people not dying is of importance as well."
Ka: "I can understand her point of view, though. She's pragmatic. Like Akemi."
R: "Maybe having such pragmatism is a requirement to survive for a long time as a magical girl."
Civil War
Sh: "Still though, if they could work together, that would prevent many of the issues."
A: "We'd know, eh Shinji?"
Sh: "Even when we weren't close, we could at least clench our teeth and work together in battle. Eventually."
R: "Obviously it's different in this other world."
Sa: "You try getting several teenage girls to work together without it turning to a catfight."
Ka: "Which is another issue with the magical girls. They have little discipline in battle, and they let emotion get to them."
Sh: "To be fair, we aren't entirely immune to that."
A: "We channel emotion into violence on the battlefield."
Ke: "...so thats why the Crucifix battle was like that."
Kyoko glared. "Of course Kyubey takes the opportunity to try turning her."
"At least Homura put a stop to that." Spoke Kaworu. "She has a very good reason for wanting to protect Madoka."
"You could say that again." Kensuke was flat.
"When we found out," Sayaka began, "we had to take a small break to collect ourselves."
"Yep, sounds like us too." Asuka had pursed lips. "I don't even remember how many times we had to stop watching our God damned show."
"Usually we would've watched two episodes a day, but sometimes that would go down to one episode." Shinji reminisced.
"...we didn't even catch the end of an episode, due to how... confronting it was for me."
"...damn guys." The geek was quiet.
"...if our show could trigger such emotion in us." Rei began.
"Yeah, I know Rei." Ken dejected. "I know."
The next episode started.
~
Sa: "I can say with full conviction that this was the biggest mistake I made in this show."
R: "It would've been a massive decision, wanting to do such thing."
Sh: "Especially since you already knew what being a magical girl entails."
Sa: "Which is what makes this decision even worse, cause I knew."
Ke: "You couldn't know of what being a magical girl was, at the time."
Ky: "Yeah, didn't we only find out, like, halfway through the series?"
Kaworu watched with growing concern, as Kyubey was paid his due. "He... that's the soul. What power he has to do such thing."
Rei looked on, her feelings confused. Anger, maybe? At how this being could so easily mess with a soul.
A: "You just made a deal with the damned devil, Miki."
Sa: "Don't I know it." She said flat.
School
Ky: "I thought it kinda odd that you seemed alright here, considering all the shit you just went through."
A: "Everyone knows one of the best ways to get on with life is to bury all your feelings so they don't break you!"
Ky: "...thats not-"
A: "Yes Sakura, that was not serious." Complete deadpan.
Sh: "At least Hitomi didn't seem that affected by the witch."
Ka: "Once its influence wore off, at least."
Ky: "Kinda odd she didn't take the day off, but knowing Hitomi, that's what she'd do."
Sa: "...it's obvious Madoka didn't share my optimism."
Wonderful
A: "You do sound quite a bit naive there, Miki."
Sa: "I'm sure you had a similar experience when you became an Evangelion pilot."
Asuka glared at the other bluenette. "For an hour."
Sayaka knew to shut up.
Sh: "...I'm kinda feeling for Madoka here. She probably thinks she's useless, like I thought of myself."
R: "...she has been dragged along a bit, hasn't she?"
Ka: "...she's in a world she has no power to fight against. I wouldn't be surprised if she thought that."
Ke: "At least a magical girl would have some power to fight and change things."
R: "...she's still blaming herself for Tomoe."
Miracle
Sa: "I wouldn't regret wishing to heal him."
Ka: "But what did you truly want? Him to be better, or him to love you?"
Sa: "...okay, how the hell are you guys so perspective about these things?"
A shrug. "Gotta be in our line of work."
R: "It doesn't help the both of us are naturally inclined to pick up on the more obfuscated feelings and details people could have."
Sh: "It's good to see he's sorry for how he acted, though."
Sa: "That's Kyosuke for you. Sweet boy but he gets frustrated easily. Though he tries not to take it out on us."
A: "It does seem he's opening up to you though. I'd say you'd win him." Flippant. "If not for the fact whoever directed this seemed to take a page out of our show director's book of 'shitting on the hopes and dreams of your characters'."
Laughter. "Pretty much sums it up." Spoke Kensuke.
A: "Though it is quite sweet you organised all that for him."
The melancholic sound welled. Sayaka gave a sad smile, shared by Asuka, a sense of joy for a fellow violin player.
Kyoko
A: "You sure eat a lot, Sakura."
Ky: "I was taught very early on the importance of not wasting food." She gave a knowing look to the other candle.
As if through magic, Asuka completely understood what she meant, and didn't pursue further.
Ka: "...Kyubey's talking about Akemi. I find it odd he doesn't know about her, if all magical girls formed a contract with him."
Rei shrugged. "It's possible there's other Kyubey. Whatever their species are."
A: "What about becoming a magical girl without Kyubey. Through sheer force of will."
Ky: "Out of all the people who could possibly will themselves into a magical girl, Homura is the polar opposite."
Sh: "This probably gets explained later anyway. I would hope at least."
A: "Though that does put her motivations into question."
Ke: "All will be answered in time."
Pragma
Ky: "If we take what Homura's talking about from a pragmatic perspective, you can kinda understand."
A: "To be fair, that kinda applies in the real world as well. Gotta know when to put things like kindness to the side."
Sh: "It's kinda easier with us though, cause we're facing the abominations in giant mechs. And teamwork is important to defeating the enemy."
Ka: "If becoming a magical girl is indeed like selling your soul, then Akemi would be right."
Sa: "That would not be what Madoka would want to hear though."
Ka: "Madoka would fall into the same traps Akemi described, if she became a magical girl. Like our world, their world is one of brutality and pain. You simply cannot be weak."
R: "Unfortunate, but true."
A: "...then becoming a magical girl is a truly Faustian deal."
Ka: "Everyone has something they would sell a soul for." He looked towards Shinji. "Your father would know this."
Patrol
Sh: "She so desperately wants to be of some use."
Sa: "...i hope our Madoka doesn't feel like this. I wouldn't have known."
Ka: "...it's likely, you realise. Your personalities appear similar to the show, at least parts."
R: "...hopefully she has the support she needs. Like how the you of the show supports her, Miki."
Sa: "...she definitely has that."
R: "That's good."
A: "We definitely needed that as well."
Ky: "And of course, Kyubey here had a plan."
Ka: "Madoka seems to factor into his plans a lot. Kinda similar to how all of us once factored into a master plan."
Ke: "Madoka wouldn't be able to comprehend such a plan."
Ka: "Oh God no, we couldn't comprehend our plan until the eleventh hour."
Familiar
Ka: "A wise decision, to start off with a weaker being."
A: "Though that just drains your magic with no reward."
Kensuke glared.
A: "Other than people not dying."
R: "Fighting a mere familiar would not drain as much power as a full blown Witch, I'd imagine."
Sa: "Despite all the shit I got, I look damn fine in that outfit."
Ky: "You know how to use a sword too."
Sayaka snorted. "I wish. Though out of all the weapons I could pick, a sword seems alright. Get me nice and close."
A: "Sounds like me, except with an axe."
Ke: "And we all know how you're like. You make it rain blood."
A chuckle. "I probably have a sweet nickname because of it, don't I?"
Ke: "One of the recent ones I heard was 'Frau Blutregen'."
She thought. And shrugged. "Eh, not that creative."
But it was me, Kyoko!
Kyoko chuckled. "Here we go."
Sa: "Funny thing was, we were kinda antagonistic as well."
Ky: "At first."
Sayaka giggled at that remark.
A: "Even though both of you are polar opposites, at least in the show."
Sa: "You know what they say about magnets."
Sh: "All of the weapons they use seem wildly impractical."
Ka: "Magic."
R: "Indeed. Though I'm sure you could explain the mechanics behind that world if you looked hard enough into it."
Sh: "Similar to our world then."
Kyoko advanced further.
A: "Sounds like you have similar thinking to me, Sakura."
Ky: "At first, at least. You can see how I would think that, Grief Seeds are important after all."
A: "Oh yeah. But people not dying is of importance as well."
Ka: "I can understand her point of view, though. She's pragmatic. Like Akemi."
R: "Maybe having such pragmatism is a requirement to survive for a long time as a magical girl."
Civil War
Sh: "Still though, if they could work together, that would prevent many of the issues."
A: "We'd know, eh Shinji?"
Sh: "Even when we weren't close, we could at least clench our teeth and work together in battle. Eventually."
R: "Obviously it's different in this other world."
Sa: "You try getting several teenage girls to work together without it turning to a catfight."
Ka: "Which is another issue with the magical girls. They have little discipline in battle, and they let emotion get to them."
Sh: "To be fair, we aren't entirely immune to that."
A: "We channel emotion into violence on the battlefield."
Ke: "...so thats why the Crucifix battle was like that."
Kyoko glared. "Of course Kyubey takes the opportunity to try turning her."
"At least Homura put a stop to that." Spoke Kaworu. "She has a very good reason for wanting to protect Madoka."
"You could say that again." Kensuke was flat.
"When we found out," Sayaka began, "we had to take a small break to collect ourselves."
"Yep, sounds like us too." Asuka had pursed lips. "I don't even remember how many times we had to stop watching our God damned show."
"Usually we would've watched two episodes a day, but sometimes that would go down to one episode." Shinji reminisced.
"...we didn't even catch the end of an episode, due to how... confronting it was for me."
"...damn guys." The geek was quiet.
"...if our show could trigger such emotion in us." Rei began.
"Yeah, I know Rei." Ken dejected. "I know."
The next episode started.
~
Irregularity
Sa: "Good thing Homura stopped us, we would've torn each other to shreds."
A: "She's still brutally cold, in the show."
Ka: "That might as well be a thing for long surviving magical girls."
Ky: "Kill or be killed, as they say."
Sh: "At this rate, it would be for the best if Madoka took Akemi's advice. Probably run as far away from that city as she could as well."
R: "Except she won't. Because Kyubey will keep trying. For any other person, he would've stopped trying, but obviously there's something with Madoka he wants."
Ke: "And because she's the main character in this story."
R: "That too."
~
Renewal
Ka: "Certainly an interesting function of Kyubey."
R: "Its probable he can get energy from them. It would be an effective way of disposing them, at the very least."
A: "Could be how he fuels his magic."
Kyoko positioned her index and thumb close to each other. "You're this close."
Ka: "What I find odd, is how this vessel of the soul requires a fuel."
R: "Have they specified the Gem itself requires magic? The way Kyubey describes it, you only need to renew your magic if you use it."
Kaworu thought. "Well, if I were to use the closest analog we have to a Soul Gem is what the Angels had, but they're often used in conjunction with an S2 Organ." 'Course, Eva. Core. Function no S2.'
'Power required?'
'Not our world.' Kaworu continued his train of thought in the real world. "Of course, the whole point of being a magical girl is to... well, use magic. It's certainly possible that just keeping the Soul Gem active requires some latent magic energy."
Faust
A: "See, what concerns me about that, is if those rings or gems actually do hold their soul."
Ke: "I won't confirm or deny that."
A: "Well, if it is their soul, then a magical girl is a fucking lich, like Rasputin."
The pilots glanced up and looked at Asuka, Rei especially had a dangerous look in her eyes. "You don't think, right?"
A: "Oh I do think."
Rei reigned herself in. "I assume it's Bluth's take on Rasputin, not the actual Rasputin."
A: "Considering how long the Ruskies say it took him to die."
The trio was rather confused at this though. "What's a lich?"
Sh: "Have you guys seen Anastasia?"
Ky: "Ana-what now?"
A: "That's a no then." Flat. "They bind their existence to an object to obtain immortality."
Ka: "Of course, you have the consequence of their bodies decaying, due to them technically being dead."
The trio looked on in shock, once they realised what a lich was. How she so easily picked apart what was such a big reveal to them.
A: "Hopefully that's not actually a thing though." She dismissed flippantly. "I wouldn't want to wish that kind of existence on anyone."
R: "Not to mention how plain wrong that is."
Sh: "It'd be great if Kyubey could stop manipulating for once."
A: "See your father in him?" She prodded. "He would've been much less intimidating if he looked like a damned ferret."
The pilots laughed amongst themselves. The trio meanwhile continued looking on at them. Probably wondering how fucked in the head the Evangelion makes their pilots.
Dog Drug Reinforcement
Asuka snorted. "What an excellent ripoff."
Sh: "D'ya think Akemi and Sakura will get into a dance off?"
Asuka rolled eyes. "This isn't that kind of show."
Shinji went flat. "Considering our show, and our life had something like that."
Kensuke furrowed his brow. "Your show had something like that as well?"
Sh: "Not only that, we pretty much used a DDR machine to train for Israfel."
Ke: "You WHAT?"
The pilots burst out laughing, as Kensuke kept babbling.
R: "It's quite interesting what can count as training. In retrospect, a DDR machine was quite a genius idea to foster teamwork."
A: "Maybe if you just danced together, you would've actually been nice to each other! It worked in this Godforsaken world."
Sh: "Wasn't Walpurgisnacht a holiday in Germany?" He queried Asuka
A: "Not a state holiday, but it's still a feast day... What relevance does Walpurgisnacht have to this show?"
Ka: "Odds are, Walpurgisnacht is the name of the Witch. Consider Gertrud and Kirsten were German as well."
She groaned. "Whats with these mind bending anime and German?"
Voice of Reason
Sh: "Sometimes it feels like Madoka is the only voice of reason in this show."
Sayaka chuckled. "Much like this world then. Though once you get to that stage, there's not really much 'reason' could do in such a situation."
Ky: "True that. Of course, the thing to do is to avoid ending up hating someone so much you end up in a deathmatch."
Sa: "We definitely don't have that problem."
Ke: "The bedroom is practically a battle royale between the two of you anyway."
A snort. "We do share, Ken."
Ka: "Ah love. What a beautiful sound."
A: "Putting aside the pillow talk, I'm starting to become a bit concerned about your mental health, Miki."
Sayaka sucked in some air. "Yeah, not my finest hour. Probably could've been a bit more sensitive." She shrugged. "Not like I could do much though. Sucks observing, doesn't it?"
Pilots: "Tell us about it."
Welcome Home
A: "I would hope her mother was responsible enough to not feed Madoka alcohol."
Sa: "Madoka probably wouldn't touch the stuff anyway."
Ka: "At the very least, she's talking about events with someone she could trust." A glance to Sayaka. "Considering she feels alienated from you."
A sigh, shaking of the head. "One of the hardest parts of watching this was seeing how I did things. So many mistakes..."
A: "We can relate, Miki." The pointer went up. "We pinpointed one event we screwed up in the show, which ultimately lead to our downfall."
Ke: "...Mind if we know?"
A: "My first kiss with Shinji."
Silence.
Ky: "The world ended because of an awkward kiss." Flat as a pancake, incredulous at the absurdity.
A: "Yep. Everything now is apparently because we got together."
More silence as they tried to process.
A: "You're welcome."
Sh: "Her mother has some decent advice, at least. Sometimes that's just life."
Ka: "'Do something wrong', though?"
R: "Sometimes such a thing is the best choice, you realise. If Shinji and Asuka didn't hijack Unit-03, I would've been pounded into nothing by Zeruel."
Ke: "They WHAT?"
A: "Is this foreshadowing then? Cause if she's been encouraged to do something wrong."
Ky: "As she says though, making mistakes is easier when you're young."
Sh: "Unless you're an Evangelion pilot." Snark.
R: "Drinking to relieve the burden of adulthood. She really is Misato."
Chuckles.
Rehabilitation
A: "Seems you were rather smitten with him, I can see why you and Hitomi fell out."
Sayaka scratched the back of her head. "Yeah, it was kinda like that. Though if I stayed with him, I would've never found out how much I love Kyoko."
Ky: "Funny how the world works like that, eh Sayaka?" A hand messed Sayaka's hair. "You definitely dealt with it better in our world."
Sa: "Anything short of breaking the law is better than how I dealt with it."
R: "That relationship trouble occurred in the show too?"
Ky: "Not yet, but- oh, whoops that's a spoiler." She quickly tried to gloss it over.
Shrugs in reply. "We probably have a few things clued in on anyway."
Antagonism
Ka: "I suspect a fight is imminent."
A: "Oh how could you tell? Could it be the two girls who fought to the death before are getting back at each other's throats?"
Ka: "Yes." He retorted, equal in sarcastic intent.
Sh: "That's a... very brutal way of forcing someone to be reliant on you. I swear I saw that in a horror film."
Ky: "Yeah, I think every single one of us had a slight morality fart in this show."
A: "Breaking arms and legs to force someone to stay with you is slight?"
Ky: "Okay, a bit more than slight."
Ke: "'Bout the only person in this who's pretty much morally straight is Madoka herself."
Sa: "Yeah, even I didn't entirely stay on the straight and narrow."
Homework
Ke: "I wish I had a keyboard like that."
A: "Even though it'd probably be completely useless."
Ka: "I doubt she'll be using it for too much longer either way."
Kyubey appeared.
Ka: "And what do you know."
Sh: "Lemme guess. He's gonna try pushing for her to become a magical girl."
Ky: "As he's been doing for the whole show. Great surprise there."
A: "You would know, you've already seen this."
R: "Will this be where she makes her mistake, I wonder."
Ka: "'If a gun is shown hanging on a mantle in the first act, it must be fired in the second'. I would believe so."
Sh: "What could she do though, she isn't a magical girl."
A: "Becoming a magical girl in and of itself would be a mistake."
Thinking between the pilots. "That could work."
The trio looked among themselves, for the pilots did not know.
Throwaway
A: "Well, this is gonna be fun."
Madoka ran in. Homura appeared behind Kyoko.
Sh: "Especially with three magical girls."
Sayaka simply facepalmed as Madoka made a slight error.
Ka: "...well shit."
Sh: "That bad?"
The show Sayaka fell catatonic.
Or more accurately, dead. Kyubey dropped a neutron bombshell.
Asuka shuddered in shock, shared by the rest of the pilots. "...Jesus fuck I was right. They really are liches!"
Kyoko scooted closer to Sayaka, as Madoka's desperate cries filled the room.
Kaworu stared daggers at the visage of Kyubey. "...so this is what it means to become a magical girl."
Rei's face fell to a serious flat, hands clenching into fists. Kaworu felt this from his wisp, and for but a moment he knew why the Angels feared Lilith.
This anger only increased as Kyubey explained his thinking. "...why are humans so touchy with where he places their SOULS?!" Her volume also increased.
She got up. "I require a break. Or I will throw the computer through the wall."
Kensuke was flat. "That was our reaction as well. Take your time."
She grabbed Kaworu by his scruff and dragged him out.
"...so thats why you violently hate Kyubey."
"One of the reasons." Sayaka was flippant. "I'm sure you hate him now too."
~
Kaworu knew better than anyone when it was time to fold his cards. Especially when it involved a very angry Rei.
"Do you know of any place where I could let off some steam?"
He thought, as he was being dragged. Honestly, being dragged by the scruff of his neck wasn't that bad, and it was the fact it wasn't that bad that concerned him. He could only hold out hope Rei didn't look down at him. "There's always that park on the outskirts. If you're looking for something destructible and private."
"That works." She gave him a glance. And a double take, glaring at him. "...really?"
He held his hands up. "You know I can't help it."
More glaring. "Don't get too excited, dumb fish." He yelped as she ran faster.
~
Splinters flew.
Kaworu sat to the side, carving fallen wood into a trinket, putting it to some use while also keeping... subtle.
"Its because of the soul, isn't it?"
A tree fell. "You think? How could that... thing just desecrate the soul like that?!" She kept going at a trunk with her AT-Field. "What he did, is a complete violation against every instinct, every damn nerve in my body." More splinters. "SEELE did vile things with the soul, but even they did not turn their quarry into a damned corpse doll."
"They would think that as abominable as you would, Rei. Perhaps even more so." He finished carving the figure. "Catch."
It was thrown.
She caught it, and immediately glared daggers at it, as she realised it was a near perfect, to scale model of Kyubey. "I can make more if you want, if you want something to release your anger on." A gentle smile. "Might as well use all that wood."
The anger started to drain, as she further inspected this fine craft. "...it's really good actually." Quiet. "I didn't know you could do woodwork."
"It's... difficult for me to craft like this. It relies a lot on creativity I can't muster. But I can always replicate what I see."
"...but even making this from scratch indicates you have some sort of creativity, Kaworu. It may be Kyubey, but you were able to make it from a log." Her hands grabbed his. "You created something, Kaworu."
He thought, his face gradually shifting to one of shock as he glanced down at the wooden figure. "I... created?"
He continued looking down at the figure.
He smiled. "I... I guess I did create this." A chuckle, or maybe a sob, escaped him. "Maybe you're rubbing off on me, Rei."
Her hand drifted over his chest. "A part of me, maybe."
Her anger now completely gone, she settled into him, panting from exertion.
"It's a shame it had to be Kyubey of all things."
There was silence for a few seconds, before Rei burst out laughing. "And to think I wanted to try setting it on fire."
"...you can do that?"
"Nope. But I wanted to see if I could try." She gave him a grin.
~
"Y'know? If I wasn't trying to be polite around people I consider friends... well, most I consider friends, I would been making out with Shinji."
"What do you think we'd be doing, Soryu?" Kyoko suggested to a fellow redhead.
The two Nephilim made their way back into the room, Rei munching on a protein bar.
"Feelin better?"
"Much." She spoke with her mouth full. "I still want to murder Kyubey, but I can hold off on my destructive tendencies now I have calmed down."
The next episode started as soon as Kensuke started up his computer again, because it started to overheat.
~
Sa: "Good thing Homura stopped us, we would've torn each other to shreds."
A: "She's still brutally cold, in the show."
Ka: "That might as well be a thing for long surviving magical girls."
Ky: "Kill or be killed, as they say."
Sh: "At this rate, it would be for the best if Madoka took Akemi's advice. Probably run as far away from that city as she could as well."
R: "Except she won't. Because Kyubey will keep trying. For any other person, he would've stopped trying, but obviously there's something with Madoka he wants."
Ke: "And because she's the main character in this story."
R: "That too."
~
Renewal
Ka: "Certainly an interesting function of Kyubey."
R: "Its probable he can get energy from them. It would be an effective way of disposing them, at the very least."
A: "Could be how he fuels his magic."
Kyoko positioned her index and thumb close to each other. "You're this close."
Ka: "What I find odd, is how this vessel of the soul requires a fuel."
R: "Have they specified the Gem itself requires magic? The way Kyubey describes it, you only need to renew your magic if you use it."
Kaworu thought. "Well, if I were to use the closest analog we have to a Soul Gem is what the Angels had, but they're often used in conjunction with an S2 Organ." 'Course, Eva. Core. Function no S2.'
'Power required?'
'Not our world.' Kaworu continued his train of thought in the real world. "Of course, the whole point of being a magical girl is to... well, use magic. It's certainly possible that just keeping the Soul Gem active requires some latent magic energy."
Faust
A: "See, what concerns me about that, is if those rings or gems actually do hold their soul."
Ke: "I won't confirm or deny that."
A: "Well, if it is their soul, then a magical girl is a fucking lich, like Rasputin."
The pilots glanced up and looked at Asuka, Rei especially had a dangerous look in her eyes. "You don't think, right?"
A: "Oh I do think."
Rei reigned herself in. "I assume it's Bluth's take on Rasputin, not the actual Rasputin."
A: "Considering how long the Ruskies say it took him to die."
The trio was rather confused at this though. "What's a lich?"
Sh: "Have you guys seen Anastasia?"
Ky: "Ana-what now?"
A: "That's a no then." Flat. "They bind their existence to an object to obtain immortality."
Ka: "Of course, you have the consequence of their bodies decaying, due to them technically being dead."
The trio looked on in shock, once they realised what a lich was. How she so easily picked apart what was such a big reveal to them.
A: "Hopefully that's not actually a thing though." She dismissed flippantly. "I wouldn't want to wish that kind of existence on anyone."
R: "Not to mention how plain wrong that is."
Sh: "It'd be great if Kyubey could stop manipulating for once."
A: "See your father in him?" She prodded. "He would've been much less intimidating if he looked like a damned ferret."
The pilots laughed amongst themselves. The trio meanwhile continued looking on at them. Probably wondering how fucked in the head the Evangelion makes their pilots.
Dog Drug Reinforcement
Asuka snorted. "What an excellent ripoff."
Sh: "D'ya think Akemi and Sakura will get into a dance off?"
Asuka rolled eyes. "This isn't that kind of show."
Shinji went flat. "Considering our show, and our life had something like that."
Kensuke furrowed his brow. "Your show had something like that as well?"
Sh: "Not only that, we pretty much used a DDR machine to train for Israfel."
Ke: "You WHAT?"
The pilots burst out laughing, as Kensuke kept babbling.
R: "It's quite interesting what can count as training. In retrospect, a DDR machine was quite a genius idea to foster teamwork."
A: "Maybe if you just danced together, you would've actually been nice to each other! It worked in this Godforsaken world."
Sh: "Wasn't Walpurgisnacht a holiday in Germany?" He queried Asuka
A: "Not a state holiday, but it's still a feast day... What relevance does Walpurgisnacht have to this show?"
Ka: "Odds are, Walpurgisnacht is the name of the Witch. Consider Gertrud and Kirsten were German as well."
She groaned. "Whats with these mind bending anime and German?"
Voice of Reason
Sh: "Sometimes it feels like Madoka is the only voice of reason in this show."
Sayaka chuckled. "Much like this world then. Though once you get to that stage, there's not really much 'reason' could do in such a situation."
Ky: "True that. Of course, the thing to do is to avoid ending up hating someone so much you end up in a deathmatch."
Sa: "We definitely don't have that problem."
Ke: "The bedroom is practically a battle royale between the two of you anyway."
A snort. "We do share, Ken."
Ka: "Ah love. What a beautiful sound."
A: "Putting aside the pillow talk, I'm starting to become a bit concerned about your mental health, Miki."
Sayaka sucked in some air. "Yeah, not my finest hour. Probably could've been a bit more sensitive." She shrugged. "Not like I could do much though. Sucks observing, doesn't it?"
Pilots: "Tell us about it."
Welcome Home
A: "I would hope her mother was responsible enough to not feed Madoka alcohol."
Sa: "Madoka probably wouldn't touch the stuff anyway."
Ka: "At the very least, she's talking about events with someone she could trust." A glance to Sayaka. "Considering she feels alienated from you."
A sigh, shaking of the head. "One of the hardest parts of watching this was seeing how I did things. So many mistakes..."
A: "We can relate, Miki." The pointer went up. "We pinpointed one event we screwed up in the show, which ultimately lead to our downfall."
Ke: "...Mind if we know?"
A: "My first kiss with Shinji."
Silence.
Ky: "The world ended because of an awkward kiss." Flat as a pancake, incredulous at the absurdity.
A: "Yep. Everything now is apparently because we got together."
More silence as they tried to process.
A: "You're welcome."
Sh: "Her mother has some decent advice, at least. Sometimes that's just life."
Ka: "'Do something wrong', though?"
R: "Sometimes such a thing is the best choice, you realise. If Shinji and Asuka didn't hijack Unit-03, I would've been pounded into nothing by Zeruel."
Ke: "They WHAT?"
A: "Is this foreshadowing then? Cause if she's been encouraged to do something wrong."
Ky: "As she says though, making mistakes is easier when you're young."
Sh: "Unless you're an Evangelion pilot." Snark.
R: "Drinking to relieve the burden of adulthood. She really is Misato."
Chuckles.
Rehabilitation
A: "Seems you were rather smitten with him, I can see why you and Hitomi fell out."
Sayaka scratched the back of her head. "Yeah, it was kinda like that. Though if I stayed with him, I would've never found out how much I love Kyoko."
Ky: "Funny how the world works like that, eh Sayaka?" A hand messed Sayaka's hair. "You definitely dealt with it better in our world."
Sa: "Anything short of breaking the law is better than how I dealt with it."
R: "That relationship trouble occurred in the show too?"
Ky: "Not yet, but- oh, whoops that's a spoiler." She quickly tried to gloss it over.
Shrugs in reply. "We probably have a few things clued in on anyway."
Antagonism
Ka: "I suspect a fight is imminent."
A: "Oh how could you tell? Could it be the two girls who fought to the death before are getting back at each other's throats?"
Ka: "Yes." He retorted, equal in sarcastic intent.
Sh: "That's a... very brutal way of forcing someone to be reliant on you. I swear I saw that in a horror film."
Ky: "Yeah, I think every single one of us had a slight morality fart in this show."
A: "Breaking arms and legs to force someone to stay with you is slight?"
Ky: "Okay, a bit more than slight."
Ke: "'Bout the only person in this who's pretty much morally straight is Madoka herself."
Sa: "Yeah, even I didn't entirely stay on the straight and narrow."
Homework
Ke: "I wish I had a keyboard like that."
A: "Even though it'd probably be completely useless."
Ka: "I doubt she'll be using it for too much longer either way."
Kyubey appeared.
Ka: "And what do you know."
Sh: "Lemme guess. He's gonna try pushing for her to become a magical girl."
Ky: "As he's been doing for the whole show. Great surprise there."
A: "You would know, you've already seen this."
R: "Will this be where she makes her mistake, I wonder."
Ka: "'If a gun is shown hanging on a mantle in the first act, it must be fired in the second'. I would believe so."
Sh: "What could she do though, she isn't a magical girl."
A: "Becoming a magical girl in and of itself would be a mistake."
Thinking between the pilots. "That could work."
The trio looked among themselves, for the pilots did not know.
Throwaway
A: "Well, this is gonna be fun."
Madoka ran in. Homura appeared behind Kyoko.
Sh: "Especially with three magical girls."
Sayaka simply facepalmed as Madoka made a slight error.
Ka: "...well shit."
Sh: "That bad?"
The show Sayaka fell catatonic.
Or more accurately, dead. Kyubey dropped a neutron bombshell.
Asuka shuddered in shock, shared by the rest of the pilots. "...Jesus fuck I was right. They really are liches!"
Kyoko scooted closer to Sayaka, as Madoka's desperate cries filled the room.
Kaworu stared daggers at the visage of Kyubey. "...so this is what it means to become a magical girl."
Rei's face fell to a serious flat, hands clenching into fists. Kaworu felt this from his wisp, and for but a moment he knew why the Angels feared Lilith.
This anger only increased as Kyubey explained his thinking. "...why are humans so touchy with where he places their SOULS?!" Her volume also increased.
She got up. "I require a break. Or I will throw the computer through the wall."
Kensuke was flat. "That was our reaction as well. Take your time."
She grabbed Kaworu by his scruff and dragged him out.
"...so thats why you violently hate Kyubey."
"One of the reasons." Sayaka was flippant. "I'm sure you hate him now too."
~
Kaworu knew better than anyone when it was time to fold his cards. Especially when it involved a very angry Rei.
"Do you know of any place where I could let off some steam?"
He thought, as he was being dragged. Honestly, being dragged by the scruff of his neck wasn't that bad, and it was the fact it wasn't that bad that concerned him. He could only hold out hope Rei didn't look down at him. "There's always that park on the outskirts. If you're looking for something destructible and private."
"That works." She gave him a glance. And a double take, glaring at him. "...really?"
He held his hands up. "You know I can't help it."
More glaring. "Don't get too excited, dumb fish." He yelped as she ran faster.
~
Splinters flew.
Kaworu sat to the side, carving fallen wood into a trinket, putting it to some use while also keeping... subtle.
"Its because of the soul, isn't it?"
A tree fell. "You think? How could that... thing just desecrate the soul like that?!" She kept going at a trunk with her AT-Field. "What he did, is a complete violation against every instinct, every damn nerve in my body." More splinters. "SEELE did vile things with the soul, but even they did not turn their quarry into a damned corpse doll."
"They would think that as abominable as you would, Rei. Perhaps even more so." He finished carving the figure. "Catch."
It was thrown.
She caught it, and immediately glared daggers at it, as she realised it was a near perfect, to scale model of Kyubey. "I can make more if you want, if you want something to release your anger on." A gentle smile. "Might as well use all that wood."
The anger started to drain, as she further inspected this fine craft. "...it's really good actually." Quiet. "I didn't know you could do woodwork."
"It's... difficult for me to craft like this. It relies a lot on creativity I can't muster. But I can always replicate what I see."
"...but even making this from scratch indicates you have some sort of creativity, Kaworu. It may be Kyubey, but you were able to make it from a log." Her hands grabbed his. "You created something, Kaworu."
He thought, his face gradually shifting to one of shock as he glanced down at the wooden figure. "I... created?"
He continued looking down at the figure.
He smiled. "I... I guess I did create this." A chuckle, or maybe a sob, escaped him. "Maybe you're rubbing off on me, Rei."
Her hand drifted over his chest. "A part of me, maybe."
Her anger now completely gone, she settled into him, panting from exertion.
"It's a shame it had to be Kyubey of all things."
There was silence for a few seconds, before Rei burst out laughing. "And to think I wanted to try setting it on fire."
"...you can do that?"
"Nope. But I wanted to see if I could try." She gave him a grin.
~
"Y'know? If I wasn't trying to be polite around people I consider friends... well, most I consider friends, I would been making out with Shinji."
"What do you think we'd be doing, Soryu?" Kyoko suggested to a fellow redhead.
The two Nephilim made their way back into the room, Rei munching on a protein bar.
"Feelin better?"
"Much." She spoke with her mouth full. "I still want to murder Kyubey, but I can hold off on my destructive tendencies now I have calmed down."
The next episode started as soon as Kensuke started up his computer again, because it started to overheat.
~
Luna
Sa: "This was the start of my downfall."
Ka: "You just realised the truth Kyubey kept from you. You would feel mad, and somewhat regretful."
A: "Classic. He may tell no lies, but he can always omit truths."
Ke: "This is why you always read the terms of service."
R: "If you asked Kyubey to print off a full list of that, it would number in the thousands. Of volumes."
Sh: "And I'm sure many magical girls wouldn't like what Kyubey did to them."
Sa: "Oh hell no."
R: "Turning people into liches?"
Her anger only increased further as Kyubey made an example of Sayaka, the temperature dropping one or two degrees.
Ky: "Yeah, join the club Ayanami."
Sh: "I think what makes him even worse, is his face literally never changes. It's always that same damn " He pressed his cheeks together and opened his eyes wide, making an odd sound, much to the humour of everyone there, "face."
Tintinnabulation
A: "And despite all the shit, you still have to deal with school."
R: "This is Japan after all. Anything short of apocalypse won't get you out of it."
Kyoko pouted. "You guys get to skip all the time."
A: "For one, we're pilots and need to be on call at all times. Two, we still have to do the work, though it's not really that difficult nowadays."
Sh: "Still, Misato insists on those good grades."
A: "Well, it's more important you get good grades, Shinji. I already graduated from uni, so it's not really that bad."
Ke: "You WHAT?"
R: "That's the third time you used that same expression, Kensuke."
Sa: "...I definitely don't want to deal with school anymore."
Ka: "...It's understandable, though. You're going through an immense crisis."
R: "...as you would. Its abominable, removing the soul and placing it in a vessel like that."
Sa: "Sounds like it goes against one of your major beliefs, Ayanami."
She gave a thought. "You could say that."
A: "Kyubey wouldn't give a shit though. He'd just say 'oh but it helps you', he seems completely incapable of emotion."
Sh: "Like a sociopath. Pretty sure that's the right word to use."
A: "Like he's fucking Satan."
Depression
Ky: "...man, it's still hard seeing you like this."
Sa: "Sucks, doesn't it? Least you came to give me a pep talk."
Ky: "I mean, it didn't help you much in the long run."
A: "The feeling was there though. Although considering you two were damn near fighting to the death the last episode."
R: "Considering feelings changed pretty much instantly, once... Kyubey."
Sh: "...damn, you take wasting food pretty seriously, Sakura."
Kyoko was introspective. "...I... never really had that much of it, growing up. My dad, despite his flaws, would work himself to the bone after Second Impact, but even so..."
The pilots gave guilty glances between one another, as despite their many issues, they never had to go without something as basic as food. "...shit, Sakura. We didn't know that."
Ky: "It's fine." An exhale. "I survived. So, if you wanna know why I eat a lot. That's why."
Church
Ka: "...is your father a religious man?"
A nod. "Yeah. Even more so after Second Impact." She gave a wistful glance to Sayaka.
A: "That... explains a lot, actually."
Soft chuckling. "Its an odd little religion. Christianity. It seems much bigger in other places though."
Sh: "I mean, that's what Asuka follows, and I think whatever Kaworu follows is in the same family."
A: "At least in name. God shafted me pretty hard, and I'm still kinda angry at him."
Kyoko snorted.
Ka: "I wouldn't call it a belief in a single system like Christianity. I was taught belief in the God of Abraham, a figure shared by at least three major religious families, including Christianity."
Ky: "Yeah, I heard of him. He's one of the major figures my father would preach about."
Ka: "I would think a Christian preacher would focus more on the Gospel and the New Testament; considering Jesus of Nazareth taught kindness, acceptance and the forgiveness of God."
A shrug in reply. "Mind you, his congregation attracted some pretty conservative folk. Either way, I wouldn't wish for people to listen to him."
Sa: "Though your father in this show seemed to be more... open with his beliefs."
Ky: "It's a dumb wish either way."
R: "If he had found out about such a wish, or your status."
Kyoko gave a glance. "Take a guess at what happens, blue."
The show preempted any reply Rei could have.
A: "...God damn."
Sh: "So that world has karma?"
Ka: "For a sum of hope, you get an equal amount of despair. Such is the Faustian deal."
A: "At least you're trying to keep her from throwing herself off a cliff, Sakura. Not that it'd do much."
Ky: "Even though our perspectives on life are radically different at this point."
A: "Well yeah, considering all the shit you went through."
Brand New Day
Sh: "I'm sure you would've been happy to see him."
Sa: "...considering I think myself an abomination. A lich, as you call it. I wouldn't want him to find out."
A: "Which is a problem, cause you wished for him to get better because you loved him."
Sa: "Yep."
Ka: "And I recall Sakura saying Hitomi will try for him, as what seemed to happen in this world."
A sharp breath. "Yep."
Ke: "Despair is such an easy trap to fall into as a magical girl."
The pilots all collectively scrunched their faces as Hitomi revealed her crush. "Man that's tough."
Sa: "This was pretty much how it started in our world as well."
Ky: "It's kinda odd this show shared many similarities to our own lives. Except, y'know, the whole magical girl shit."
A: "I gotta say though, she's being a good sport about it. At least this Hitomi, dunno bout the real one."
Sa: "It's still an ultimatum though. And she wasn't this direct about it either."
Sh: "You're not going to confess to him, are you?" He sighed. "Poor communication is what got us into problems."
Sa: "Well, I sure know that now."
Breakdown
A: "Okay, I said before I was a bit concerned about your mental state."
Ky: "Where's the meter at now?"
A: "Somewhere between 'Go see a damned therapist' and 'Legitimately thinking of calling emergency services'."
Sayaka sighed. "That's pretty accurate."
R: "At the very least, Madoka is continuing to at least attempt comfort." She masked surface emotion, as the show Sayaka broke down. "No one deserves that."
Sa: "...yeah, losing your chance at someone you love is always tough."
R: "While that is something no one deserves, I was referring to your status as a lich. Or a zombie, as you called yourself."
Sa: "...you seem to know a bit about the soul, Ayanami. Are liches possible in our world?"
R: "No." Succinct. "A body with no soul will quickly decay into nothing. A soul with no body will instinctively seek out a new shell to call home. This is what drives rebirth, after all." Internally, she felt disgusted with herself, omitting truth like Kyubey did. But Evangelion was one of the many secrets she could not just divulge.
Ke: "...our world has souls?"
Ka: "Not only that, but we have scientific precedence for such a thing. The entire school of Metaphysical Biology is dedicated to such thing."
Ke: "...fuck this world is weird."
Elsa Maria
A: "At least you're not letting the emotion get to your head. Its important to keep a level head in a battle situation."
Sh: "Even though we do let emotion get to our heads sometimes."
A: "But we've learnt to channel that emotion into anger towards our enemies."
Ka: "I must say, I love the art style used in Elsa Maria."
Ky: "Oh yeah, the silhouettes? I thought that was pretty cool too."
A: "It would've been much cheaper to make, but whoever made this made it work."
R: "It seems you're channeling your emotion into anger towards the enemy as well, Miki."
A: "Yeah, the bloodshed can do that to you." An offhand remark. "Though who knows, maybe I'm just a violent psychopath." Sayaka continued tearing the Witch to shreds. "Okay, maybe you are letting emotion get to you."
Sa: "...it's still really weird seeing myself be that way. I know you lot can be... bloody, but I'm certainly not."
"Well, it's not like you pilot giant mechs against blood factories." Asuka was flat. "Though even if you didn't completely eviscerate the enemy, there would always be blood."
"...yeah, I don't think I'd be able to do blood." Sayaka was quiet. "I get queasy just thinking about it."
"Maybe you could get on the bridge crew then." Shinji suggested. "Gods know NERV is always in need of new hires."
"And considering NERV provides around 80% of the careers in the city, it seems like an obvious choice." Rei continued. "Pay could be better, though the benefits are great compared to most other jobs."
"Well, I'm sure there'd be other things to consider before working for NERV." Kensuke of all people suggested some caution, even though he definitely wouldn't mind, even in a non pilot role.
"Dental is free, you can get two prescription lenses for free every four years, and a part of your pay packet automatically goes into a superannuation."
"I'm sold."
The pilots chuckled. "That was easy."
The next episode flowed on from the previous.
~
Sa: "This was the start of my downfall."
Ka: "You just realised the truth Kyubey kept from you. You would feel mad, and somewhat regretful."
A: "Classic. He may tell no lies, but he can always omit truths."
Ke: "This is why you always read the terms of service."
R: "If you asked Kyubey to print off a full list of that, it would number in the thousands. Of volumes."
Sh: "And I'm sure many magical girls wouldn't like what Kyubey did to them."
Sa: "Oh hell no."
R: "Turning people into liches?"
Her anger only increased further as Kyubey made an example of Sayaka, the temperature dropping one or two degrees.
Ky: "Yeah, join the club Ayanami."
Sh: "I think what makes him even worse, is his face literally never changes. It's always that same damn " He pressed his cheeks together and opened his eyes wide, making an odd sound, much to the humour of everyone there, "face."
Tintinnabulation
A: "And despite all the shit, you still have to deal with school."
R: "This is Japan after all. Anything short of apocalypse won't get you out of it."
Kyoko pouted. "You guys get to skip all the time."
A: "For one, we're pilots and need to be on call at all times. Two, we still have to do the work, though it's not really that difficult nowadays."
Sh: "Still, Misato insists on those good grades."
A: "Well, it's more important you get good grades, Shinji. I already graduated from uni, so it's not really that bad."
Ke: "You WHAT?"
R: "That's the third time you used that same expression, Kensuke."
Sa: "...I definitely don't want to deal with school anymore."
Ka: "...It's understandable, though. You're going through an immense crisis."
R: "...as you would. Its abominable, removing the soul and placing it in a vessel like that."
Sa: "Sounds like it goes against one of your major beliefs, Ayanami."
She gave a thought. "You could say that."
A: "Kyubey wouldn't give a shit though. He'd just say 'oh but it helps you', he seems completely incapable of emotion."
Sh: "Like a sociopath. Pretty sure that's the right word to use."
A: "Like he's fucking Satan."
Depression
Ky: "...man, it's still hard seeing you like this."
Sa: "Sucks, doesn't it? Least you came to give me a pep talk."
Ky: "I mean, it didn't help you much in the long run."
A: "The feeling was there though. Although considering you two were damn near fighting to the death the last episode."
R: "Considering feelings changed pretty much instantly, once... Kyubey."
Sh: "...damn, you take wasting food pretty seriously, Sakura."
Kyoko was introspective. "...I... never really had that much of it, growing up. My dad, despite his flaws, would work himself to the bone after Second Impact, but even so..."
The pilots gave guilty glances between one another, as despite their many issues, they never had to go without something as basic as food. "...shit, Sakura. We didn't know that."
Ky: "It's fine." An exhale. "I survived. So, if you wanna know why I eat a lot. That's why."
Church
Ka: "...is your father a religious man?"
A nod. "Yeah. Even more so after Second Impact." She gave a wistful glance to Sayaka.
A: "That... explains a lot, actually."
Soft chuckling. "Its an odd little religion. Christianity. It seems much bigger in other places though."
Sh: "I mean, that's what Asuka follows, and I think whatever Kaworu follows is in the same family."
A: "At least in name. God shafted me pretty hard, and I'm still kinda angry at him."
Kyoko snorted.
Ka: "I wouldn't call it a belief in a single system like Christianity. I was taught belief in the God of Abraham, a figure shared by at least three major religious families, including Christianity."
Ky: "Yeah, I heard of him. He's one of the major figures my father would preach about."
Ka: "I would think a Christian preacher would focus more on the Gospel and the New Testament; considering Jesus of Nazareth taught kindness, acceptance and the forgiveness of God."
A shrug in reply. "Mind you, his congregation attracted some pretty conservative folk. Either way, I wouldn't wish for people to listen to him."
Sa: "Though your father in this show seemed to be more... open with his beliefs."
Ky: "It's a dumb wish either way."
R: "If he had found out about such a wish, or your status."
Kyoko gave a glance. "Take a guess at what happens, blue."
The show preempted any reply Rei could have.
A: "...God damn."
Sh: "So that world has karma?"
Ka: "For a sum of hope, you get an equal amount of despair. Such is the Faustian deal."
A: "At least you're trying to keep her from throwing herself off a cliff, Sakura. Not that it'd do much."
Ky: "Even though our perspectives on life are radically different at this point."
A: "Well yeah, considering all the shit you went through."
Brand New Day
Sh: "I'm sure you would've been happy to see him."
Sa: "...considering I think myself an abomination. A lich, as you call it. I wouldn't want him to find out."
A: "Which is a problem, cause you wished for him to get better because you loved him."
Sa: "Yep."
Ka: "And I recall Sakura saying Hitomi will try for him, as what seemed to happen in this world."
A sharp breath. "Yep."
Ke: "Despair is such an easy trap to fall into as a magical girl."
The pilots all collectively scrunched their faces as Hitomi revealed her crush. "Man that's tough."
Sa: "This was pretty much how it started in our world as well."
Ky: "It's kinda odd this show shared many similarities to our own lives. Except, y'know, the whole magical girl shit."
A: "I gotta say though, she's being a good sport about it. At least this Hitomi, dunno bout the real one."
Sa: "It's still an ultimatum though. And she wasn't this direct about it either."
Sh: "You're not going to confess to him, are you?" He sighed. "Poor communication is what got us into problems."
Sa: "Well, I sure know that now."
Breakdown
A: "Okay, I said before I was a bit concerned about your mental state."
Ky: "Where's the meter at now?"
A: "Somewhere between 'Go see a damned therapist' and 'Legitimately thinking of calling emergency services'."
Sayaka sighed. "That's pretty accurate."
R: "At the very least, Madoka is continuing to at least attempt comfort." She masked surface emotion, as the show Sayaka broke down. "No one deserves that."
Sa: "...yeah, losing your chance at someone you love is always tough."
R: "While that is something no one deserves, I was referring to your status as a lich. Or a zombie, as you called yourself."
Sa: "...you seem to know a bit about the soul, Ayanami. Are liches possible in our world?"
R: "No." Succinct. "A body with no soul will quickly decay into nothing. A soul with no body will instinctively seek out a new shell to call home. This is what drives rebirth, after all." Internally, she felt disgusted with herself, omitting truth like Kyubey did. But Evangelion was one of the many secrets she could not just divulge.
Ke: "...our world has souls?"
Ka: "Not only that, but we have scientific precedence for such a thing. The entire school of Metaphysical Biology is dedicated to such thing."
Ke: "...fuck this world is weird."
Elsa Maria
A: "At least you're not letting the emotion get to your head. Its important to keep a level head in a battle situation."
Sh: "Even though we do let emotion get to our heads sometimes."
A: "But we've learnt to channel that emotion into anger towards our enemies."
Ka: "I must say, I love the art style used in Elsa Maria."
Ky: "Oh yeah, the silhouettes? I thought that was pretty cool too."
A: "It would've been much cheaper to make, but whoever made this made it work."
R: "It seems you're channeling your emotion into anger towards the enemy as well, Miki."
A: "Yeah, the bloodshed can do that to you." An offhand remark. "Though who knows, maybe I'm just a violent psychopath." Sayaka continued tearing the Witch to shreds. "Okay, maybe you are letting emotion get to you."
Sa: "...it's still really weird seeing myself be that way. I know you lot can be... bloody, but I'm certainly not."
"Well, it's not like you pilot giant mechs against blood factories." Asuka was flat. "Though even if you didn't completely eviscerate the enemy, there would always be blood."
"...yeah, I don't think I'd be able to do blood." Sayaka was quiet. "I get queasy just thinking about it."
"Maybe you could get on the bridge crew then." Shinji suggested. "Gods know NERV is always in need of new hires."
"And considering NERV provides around 80% of the careers in the city, it seems like an obvious choice." Rei continued. "Pay could be better, though the benefits are great compared to most other jobs."
"Well, I'm sure there'd be other things to consider before working for NERV." Kensuke of all people suggested some caution, even though he definitely wouldn't mind, even in a non pilot role.
"Dental is free, you can get two prescription lenses for free every four years, and a part of your pay packet automatically goes into a superannuation."
"I'm sold."
The pilots chuckled. "That was easy."
The next episode flowed on from the previous.
~
Khorne
Sa: "I was kinda confused on why no one really tried stopping me, considering the witch is already pretty dead."
A: "Would you want to get in the way of a madwoman and her quarry?"
Sayaka thought. "Fuck no."
A: "Smart."
Ka: "And not even taking the Grief Seed for yourself."
R: "Considering how exhausted you are, I suspect that was not a wise decision."
Kyoko glared. "You could backtrack every major decision made in this show and argue they were not wise."
Sh: "Like our show."
Rain Come Down
Ky: "...poor Madoka didn't deserve any of this shit."
Sa: "None of us did. Being turned into a corpse like that."
R: "Needless to say, if Kyubey existed in this world, he wouldn't exist for long. And I would make sure of it."
Ke: "Man, that soul thing really struck a nerve, didn't it?"
She glared, and he backed down.
Ka: "I think Miki's sanity has gone plummeting past where it last was."
Sa: "An apt summary."
Akemi
A: "She has an even nicer apartment than Tomoe had."
Ka: "What do you even call that styling anyway? It looks very... flat."
Kensuke shrugged. "Looks sorta futuristic."
Sh: "We still don't know how Akemi knows about Walpurgisnacht."
R: "The way Sakura implied it, Walpurgisnacht is a common witch, or at least one that sprouts up occasionally."
A: "Of course, Miki might become a problem. That's what the black blob on your Soul Gem was, right? A curse?"
Sa: "Pretty sure it was." She sighed.
Ke: "Or depletion. As it seems a magical girl requires magic to exist."
Sh: "Well that's gonna be great. And knowing this show, the worst possible scenario is gonna happen."
R: "She dies? I would expect something like that, unfortunately."
The trio uncomfortably looked among themselves for yet another time.
Confession
Sa: "And here we see the last of my sanity fly out the window."
Sh: "That was pretty much my reaction to my downfall as well."
A: "That's pretty harsh though, seeing her with Kyosuke. Would've completely devastated you."
Sayaka shrugged. "In comparison to the shit you guys seemed to go through."
A: "It's still a burden though, isn't it? Plus, you can't really compare an Evangelion pilot to a regular civvy. Intense emotional burden is part and parcel of everyday life as pilots."
Ke: "Also gives you guys a warped sense of humour."
Ka: "Humour is one of the healthiest methods of dealing with such emotion."
Ky: "I would think a therapist would be pretty great as well."
The pilots gave a collective laugh. "You're getting it now, Sakura."
Ky: "...wait, do you guys seriously not have any therapists at NERV?"
R: "NERV and their pilots are privy to some of the most important secrets of this world, something that simply cannot be divulged."
A: "It's tough shit, I know. So instead, we do self therapy."
Ke: "Which consists of?"
Asuka gave a goggly eyed look to Shinji.
Ke: "Oh."
Corruption
Sa: "I can't believe sh- I was able to be this dense in the show."
Ka: "You already appear to be far gone, unfortunately. Whatever the consequence is of a corrupted Soul Gem, I fear that will happen to you."
A: "I must say, that's the first time I've seen Akemi appear shocked. You know things are getting bad when she's surprised."
Ky: "Obviously this wasn't supposed to happen."
Sh: "It still ties back into Madoka though. What's with her obsession?"
Ke: "All will-"
A: "-be revealed, yes we know."
Ka: "It's obvious she loves her, though. Similar to what you describe of this Akemi."
Sa: "Well, yeah. Madoka is her closest friend. Well, even closer now."
Sh: "Hang on, where'd she get a flashbang from?"
A: "Maybe she has a similar power to Tomoe, which is pretty fucking awesome."
Midnight Train
All the women and men present gave a glare to match Ramiel's beam at the screen, increasing the temperature of the computer by a couple degrees.
A: "See, this is why I threw all those boys into trash cans when I first moved here."
R: "I would probably give those dogs a few minutes or so in a bucket."
Ky: "Sounds similar to what Asuka would do."
R: "In a sense."
Ka: "I still find it odd how someone could think like that."
Kensuke gave a shrug. "What can I say? Humans are assholes. Many of them at least."
A: "Like the bastards who invaded NERV."
Iblis
Sh: "Kyubey has power to make magical girls, but not undo?"
R: "What incentive would he have to undo such a thing? It's obvious whatever his machinations are revolves around magical girls."
Sa: "Odds are he would never do such a thing anyway, even if he could."
A: "And of course, Satan continues to try forming a pact with Faust."
Ka: "As he has tried since the beginning. A less determined being would've given up by the third episode."
R: "His persistence indicates something special about Madoka, I would think."
Sa: "Power beyond what Kyubey considered possible? Of course he would be persistent."
A: "Madoka, out of all people?"
Ke: "She is the protagonist of this show, after all. I'm sure whoever was the protagonist of your show had events revolve around them."
Sh: "Yeah, that's fairly accurate. Although Asuka and Rei also had events revolve around them."
A: "Especially Rei."
Ka: "Although, much like Madoka, you ended up with immense power."
Sh: "That my mind was too broken to use effectively." He scorned. "And I expect that to be the same with Madoka, considering how this show's been like."
A: "This is exactly like Fau-"
Beretta
Kyubey had a bakers dozen bullets instantly driven through him.
Asuka was practically giddy with the violence of Kyubey's apparent demise. "Holy shit, Akemi."
Kyoko gave a wide, almost sinister smile. "Yeah, that was pretty satisfying."
R: "Quite satisfying indeed. If it wasn't obvious before that she's doing all this to prevent Madoka becoming a magical girl."
Ke: "Killing the being that does that whole thing would send quite a clear message, I imagine."
Ka: "...she appears quite desperate to prevent such a thing. Akemi has completely lost her regular cool."
R: "...she must love her. But they haven't met... wait a minute." Gears clicked in her head. "If she can control time. What are the chances she's an interloper?"
Kaworu's eyes widened. "It's certainly possible."
A: "Wait, Kyubey's a hive?" She cringed at how Kyubey ate itself.
R: "So it is time manipulation."
Sh: "Not only that, but full on timeline hopping."
Kaworu grew even more confused. "That would answer several questions in that world. But that just raises further questions for me."
Sa: "...oh yeah, you remember seeing Homura, do you?"
Ky: "Maybe our Homura skips timelines on the side."
R: "...incubator." She thought, internally collaborating with Kaworu.
Conturbatio
Sayaka scooted closer to Kensuke and Kyoko, and the pilots knew that this scene would be a tough one.
R: "...you're falling further into despair."
Ka: "...even in our world, too much despair, or Destrudo, will wreak havoc on the soul."
A: "...jeez, you're really far gone, Miki."
Sa: "...this will be the last you see of her. as her."
Her Soul Gem was revealed. Rei felt shock and concern at the sight of this poor unfortunate soul.
Kaworu shared this concern, even without feeling Rei. "...what happens when a Soul Gem gets completely corrupted?"
Quiet from the trio.
Slowly, with dread, he turned his head back to the screen.
I really was an idiot
Sayaka was no more. The realisation finally dawned on Rei, what Incubator really meant. "oh fuck."
That it came from Rei shocked the trio.
Ke: "...now you know, Nagisa."
Kaworu was shocked silent.
Sayaka leaned harder into Kyoko.
Kyubey dropped yet another neutron bomb from the tower.
A: "...Majo. Kyubey, you magnificent son of a bitch."
"...so a Witch is the final stage of a magical girl." Kaworu finally spoke, quiet.
"...he's evil." Shinji spat out.
"...truly a Faustian deal. You were right, Asuka." Rei, oddly calm, intoned, as she stood. "We will continue tomorrow, correct?"
Kensuke nodded, holding a distressed Sayaka to his side.
"We shall make our leave then."
They did just that.
Once they left, Sayaka broke down.
~
Sa: "I was kinda confused on why no one really tried stopping me, considering the witch is already pretty dead."
A: "Would you want to get in the way of a madwoman and her quarry?"
Sayaka thought. "Fuck no."
A: "Smart."
Ka: "And not even taking the Grief Seed for yourself."
R: "Considering how exhausted you are, I suspect that was not a wise decision."
Kyoko glared. "You could backtrack every major decision made in this show and argue they were not wise."
Sh: "Like our show."
Rain Come Down
Ky: "...poor Madoka didn't deserve any of this shit."
Sa: "None of us did. Being turned into a corpse like that."
R: "Needless to say, if Kyubey existed in this world, he wouldn't exist for long. And I would make sure of it."
Ke: "Man, that soul thing really struck a nerve, didn't it?"
She glared, and he backed down.
Ka: "I think Miki's sanity has gone plummeting past where it last was."
Sa: "An apt summary."
Akemi
A: "She has an even nicer apartment than Tomoe had."
Ka: "What do you even call that styling anyway? It looks very... flat."
Kensuke shrugged. "Looks sorta futuristic."
Sh: "We still don't know how Akemi knows about Walpurgisnacht."
R: "The way Sakura implied it, Walpurgisnacht is a common witch, or at least one that sprouts up occasionally."
A: "Of course, Miki might become a problem. That's what the black blob on your Soul Gem was, right? A curse?"
Sa: "Pretty sure it was." She sighed.
Ke: "Or depletion. As it seems a magical girl requires magic to exist."
Sh: "Well that's gonna be great. And knowing this show, the worst possible scenario is gonna happen."
R: "She dies? I would expect something like that, unfortunately."
The trio uncomfortably looked among themselves for yet another time.
Confession
Sa: "And here we see the last of my sanity fly out the window."
Sh: "That was pretty much my reaction to my downfall as well."
A: "That's pretty harsh though, seeing her with Kyosuke. Would've completely devastated you."
Sayaka shrugged. "In comparison to the shit you guys seemed to go through."
A: "It's still a burden though, isn't it? Plus, you can't really compare an Evangelion pilot to a regular civvy. Intense emotional burden is part and parcel of everyday life as pilots."
Ke: "Also gives you guys a warped sense of humour."
Ka: "Humour is one of the healthiest methods of dealing with such emotion."
Ky: "I would think a therapist would be pretty great as well."
The pilots gave a collective laugh. "You're getting it now, Sakura."
Ky: "...wait, do you guys seriously not have any therapists at NERV?"
R: "NERV and their pilots are privy to some of the most important secrets of this world, something that simply cannot be divulged."
A: "It's tough shit, I know. So instead, we do self therapy."
Ke: "Which consists of?"
Asuka gave a goggly eyed look to Shinji.
Ke: "Oh."
Corruption
Sa: "I can't believe sh- I was able to be this dense in the show."
Ka: "You already appear to be far gone, unfortunately. Whatever the consequence is of a corrupted Soul Gem, I fear that will happen to you."
A: "I must say, that's the first time I've seen Akemi appear shocked. You know things are getting bad when she's surprised."
Ky: "Obviously this wasn't supposed to happen."
Sh: "It still ties back into Madoka though. What's with her obsession?"
Ke: "All will-"
A: "-be revealed, yes we know."
Ka: "It's obvious she loves her, though. Similar to what you describe of this Akemi."
Sa: "Well, yeah. Madoka is her closest friend. Well, even closer now."
Sh: "Hang on, where'd she get a flashbang from?"
A: "Maybe she has a similar power to Tomoe, which is pretty fucking awesome."
Midnight Train
All the women and men present gave a glare to match Ramiel's beam at the screen, increasing the temperature of the computer by a couple degrees.
A: "See, this is why I threw all those boys into trash cans when I first moved here."
R: "I would probably give those dogs a few minutes or so in a bucket."
Ky: "Sounds similar to what Asuka would do."
R: "In a sense."
Ka: "I still find it odd how someone could think like that."
Kensuke gave a shrug. "What can I say? Humans are assholes. Many of them at least."
A: "Like the bastards who invaded NERV."
Iblis
Sh: "Kyubey has power to make magical girls, but not undo?"
R: "What incentive would he have to undo such a thing? It's obvious whatever his machinations are revolves around magical girls."
Sa: "Odds are he would never do such a thing anyway, even if he could."
A: "And of course, Satan continues to try forming a pact with Faust."
Ka: "As he has tried since the beginning. A less determined being would've given up by the third episode."
R: "His persistence indicates something special about Madoka, I would think."
Sa: "Power beyond what Kyubey considered possible? Of course he would be persistent."
A: "Madoka, out of all people?"
Ke: "She is the protagonist of this show, after all. I'm sure whoever was the protagonist of your show had events revolve around them."
Sh: "Yeah, that's fairly accurate. Although Asuka and Rei also had events revolve around them."
A: "Especially Rei."
Ka: "Although, much like Madoka, you ended up with immense power."
Sh: "That my mind was too broken to use effectively." He scorned. "And I expect that to be the same with Madoka, considering how this show's been like."
A: "This is exactly like Fau-"
Beretta
Kyubey had a bakers dozen bullets instantly driven through him.
Asuka was practically giddy with the violence of Kyubey's apparent demise. "Holy shit, Akemi."
Kyoko gave a wide, almost sinister smile. "Yeah, that was pretty satisfying."
R: "Quite satisfying indeed. If it wasn't obvious before that she's doing all this to prevent Madoka becoming a magical girl."
Ke: "Killing the being that does that whole thing would send quite a clear message, I imagine."
Ka: "...she appears quite desperate to prevent such a thing. Akemi has completely lost her regular cool."
R: "...she must love her. But they haven't met... wait a minute." Gears clicked in her head. "If she can control time. What are the chances she's an interloper?"
Kaworu's eyes widened. "It's certainly possible."
A: "Wait, Kyubey's a hive?" She cringed at how Kyubey ate itself.
R: "So it is time manipulation."
Sh: "Not only that, but full on timeline hopping."
Kaworu grew even more confused. "That would answer several questions in that world. But that just raises further questions for me."
Sa: "...oh yeah, you remember seeing Homura, do you?"
Ky: "Maybe our Homura skips timelines on the side."
R: "...incubator." She thought, internally collaborating with Kaworu.
Conturbatio
Sayaka scooted closer to Kensuke and Kyoko, and the pilots knew that this scene would be a tough one.
R: "...you're falling further into despair."
Ka: "...even in our world, too much despair, or Destrudo, will wreak havoc on the soul."
A: "...jeez, you're really far gone, Miki."
Sa: "...this will be the last you see of her. as her."
Her Soul Gem was revealed. Rei felt shock and concern at the sight of this poor unfortunate soul.
Kaworu shared this concern, even without feeling Rei. "...what happens when a Soul Gem gets completely corrupted?"
Quiet from the trio.
Slowly, with dread, he turned his head back to the screen.
I really was an idiot
Sayaka was no more. The realisation finally dawned on Rei, what Incubator really meant. "oh fuck."
That it came from Rei shocked the trio.
Ke: "...now you know, Nagisa."
Kaworu was shocked silent.
Sayaka leaned harder into Kyoko.
Kyubey dropped yet another neutron bomb from the tower.
A: "...Majo. Kyubey, you magnificent son of a bitch."
"...so a Witch is the final stage of a magical girl." Kaworu finally spoke, quiet.
"...he's evil." Shinji spat out.
"...truly a Faustian deal. You were right, Asuka." Rei, oddly calm, intoned, as she stood. "We will continue tomorrow, correct?"
Kensuke nodded, holding a distressed Sayaka to his side.
"We shall make our leave then."
They did just that.
Once they left, Sayaka broke down.
~
From outside the closed door, Rei was first to speak.
"I am going to skin Kyubey alive for the desecration he has done."
"Yeah, I knew that whole lich thing would make you react like that, Rei." Asuka completely understood. "Kyubey really is Satan, isn't he?"
"I'm pretty sure it was a regular demon in Faust. But the overall moral is still the same." Kaworu kept his cool, despite what happened. "It leads me to believe that this show is an interpretation of Faust."
"But who is Faust in that show? Cause each and every magical girl in existence would've had to have sold their soul to the devil known as Kyubey."
"That's your answer. Every magical girl is Faust."
~
"Wark!"
"From that cartoon? But he's a criminal!"
"Wa-wark wark!"
Misato rested her head on her hand. "Yes, Feathers McGraw is a genius mastermind, but that doesn't remove the fact he kidnapped Wallace to steal a diamond."
"Wa-kark."
"And you look up to him, great." She deadpanned, putting on her sarcasm. "You should cosplay as him sometime, if you like him so much."
The penguin thought, and returned to his fridge for a dozen seconds, emerging with what appeared to be a small rubber glove on his head.
She gave him a flat look, trying to stay serious but said facade was failing rapidly. "I'm not drunk enough for this shit."
"We aren't either." Asuka deadpanned, causing Misato to jump from her seat and make a sound similar to Pen-Pen. "Sounds like a very enlightening conversation."
"Wark." The penguin went for one of Asuka's beers and returned to his fridge, to a very exasperated Asuka.
"Soooo," A can thumped down on the table. "How was the show?"
"Lets just say, if you can get Rei angry, then you should probably reconsider your stance on things."
"Oh Jesus, what happened?" Now Misato was curious.
Shinji thought. "Lets just say, the price of becoming a magical girl is to become a... what's it called again, Asuka?"
"A lich."
"Yeah, that."
"Lich... remind me again what that kind of creature is?"
"Their soul gets placed into a physical vessel, but they can still control their body. It's a form of immortality, as long as the vessel isn't damaged."
Misato thought through various films. "Like in Anastasia, right?"
"Essentially, except their bodies weren't rotting."
A sharp exhale. "Gotta say, that's a different take on a magical girl than what I know. Fucking litches..." She took a swig of her beer.
"What about those same magical girls eventually becoming the Angel like enemy they fight?"
She choked on her beer, eventually composing herself after a coughing fit. "How does that even work?"
"As Kaworu would say, the mechanisms of that world would be different, even more so than even our Theatrical universe."
"Tell me about it." Shinji deadpanned, beginning work on dinner. "But its yet another world where people Miki and Sakura know and love get shafted."
"Good to know we aren't the only people God shits on." Misato finished off the beer. "Didja tell Miki and Sakura about Tomoe?"
There were a few seconds of silence, eventually broken by the thud of Asuka's head on the desk. "Fuck, I forgot to tell them."
~
A hand drifted over a chest. "Did ya project last night?"
"Yeah." A chuckle. "All the identifiers were there. The green boy. The nightmare."
"The purple eyed girl?"
"Yeah." Eyes closed. "I think she noticed me."
"...how so?"
"...I'd liken it to that apparition of you from the Laserdiscs. She flared. I flared back. She disappeared."
"...do you think that's the Akemi of that show?"
"...could be." Looking into other red eyes. "She follows the same path every time."
Thinking. "She's trying to change something, if that is indeed time."
"Something to do with Madoka."
"...Most likely." Settling in. "Its interesting what you see, Kaworu. Its like another realm."
A smile. "I could show you."
Hands clasped and merged. Kaworu opened his mind up and allowed himself to drift. "Open your mind, and hold on tight."
She did just that.
The sound of a singular drop of water impacting on a still lake signified a transition from the physical to the metaphysical. A transition Rei did not expect to be as calm.
Rei held onto Kaworu tight, as she bore witness to a star stuttered sky, aurora and nebula painting the canvas. In her awe, she likened it to a heaven.
She took in her surroundings, and expressed shock at the simulacrum of her that populated this strange place.
"Do not worry." His wisp. "They are natural phenomena. I suspect from other, less fortunate timelines."
"They harmful?"
"No. They will not disturb us."
With his free hand, he pointed out beyond their border, towards other, distant isles. They almost seemed to move closer as he focused. "The green boy. Every 72 seconds, he makes his journey. This journey is always marked with an almost melancholic tune."
She observed. She thought it curious, how he always followed the same pattern.
The next. "The nightmare. They don't have a pattern, but I suspect they use this realm for their own, unknown, purpose."
She observed. A seemingly regal figure, obviously of a high power quotent if they were able to occupy and use this realm for their own agenda.
The next. "The girl with purple eyes."
She observed. Black hair, purple eyes. Shield. Walking. A complete dead ringer of Homura Akemi, as depicted in the show.
She stopped, and looked.
Rei flared to this figure.
The figure stood still, before hastily moving on her way. The Nephilim could sense an air of apprehension.
"Odd."
"Indeed, but this realm is odd."
Craning her head, she looked further around. "How do you see into timelines?"
A smile. "I'll show you."
He bent down, to the ground, resting his free hand on the alien surface. One quick application of his AT-Field later, and they caught a glimpse of days gone by.
"We can certainly try, Commander." Shinji teased, as he picked up one of the fallen MP-Evangelion's weapons and lobbed it at another, dazing it.
Asuka roundhouse kicked the dazed MP-Eva and proceeded to dismember it, which kept it immobilised. They could regenerate, so Asuka usually only had a good half minute to remove the dummy plug and completely disable the MP-Eva. But she worked fast with that prog knife of hers.
She haphazardly threw the plug to Hikari like a fumbling relay runner, who set it down against a building for recovery.
"Asuka, can you please not completely tear this one to shreds? Major Ibuki's gonna be sick."
"I remember this. We weren't sortied that time, but I remember it."
"Indeed. It's relatively close to prime and time." His free hand pointed out. "The further out you go, the more energy it takes. But you can look further out. Including into other timelines. Unfortunately, even with the S2 Organ, I do not have enough power to look into other universes."
"Fascinating." Genuine awe, as the playback ended.
The distant song restarted, as an apparition of Rei was shooed away by Kaworu.
They wandered aimlessly for a few minutes more, Rei and Kaworu expressing extreme confusion at a phone box trailing the sky like a meteor, before Rei signalled to Kaworu: "I think I am ready to return."
"Lets. I believe I am draining energy faster than usual." Kaworu was able to hide his lethargy well enough.
Just as he was about to exit with Rei, something caught his eye.
Or, someone.
A girl. Of brown hair and ashen skin.
But just like a flash of lightning, she was gone as soon as he looked.
"What is it, Kaworu?"
"...I think I saw someone."
"...who?"
"I... don't know. But... they had our complexion."
Thinking. "Another person like us? In our general timeline?"
"...potentially." Shaking of the head. "I would say they won't be of any importance."
"Knowing this world though."
They chuckled as they returned to the physical world.
Rei noted Kaworu was breathing heavily. "Is everything alright, darling?"
Weary nodding in reply, with a smile. "I think bringing you along with me used more energy than I could naturally replenish. I'll survive though. Nothing a bit of rest won't fix." He quickly settled into Rei and fell asleep almost immediately.
A few quiet giggles from Rei. "You stupid trout, exhausting yourself for me..."
She drifted her hand over him until she, too, fell asleep.
~
"I am going to skin Kyubey alive for the desecration he has done."
"Yeah, I knew that whole lich thing would make you react like that, Rei." Asuka completely understood. "Kyubey really is Satan, isn't he?"
"I'm pretty sure it was a regular demon in Faust. But the overall moral is still the same." Kaworu kept his cool, despite what happened. "It leads me to believe that this show is an interpretation of Faust."
"But who is Faust in that show? Cause each and every magical girl in existence would've had to have sold their soul to the devil known as Kyubey."
"That's your answer. Every magical girl is Faust."
~
"Wark!"
"From that cartoon? But he's a criminal!"
"Wa-wark wark!"
Misato rested her head on her hand. "Yes, Feathers McGraw is a genius mastermind, but that doesn't remove the fact he kidnapped Wallace to steal a diamond."
"Wa-kark."
"And you look up to him, great." She deadpanned, putting on her sarcasm. "You should cosplay as him sometime, if you like him so much."
The penguin thought, and returned to his fridge for a dozen seconds, emerging with what appeared to be a small rubber glove on his head.
She gave him a flat look, trying to stay serious but said facade was failing rapidly. "I'm not drunk enough for this shit."
"We aren't either." Asuka deadpanned, causing Misato to jump from her seat and make a sound similar to Pen-Pen. "Sounds like a very enlightening conversation."
"Wark." The penguin went for one of Asuka's beers and returned to his fridge, to a very exasperated Asuka.
"Soooo," A can thumped down on the table. "How was the show?"
"Lets just say, if you can get Rei angry, then you should probably reconsider your stance on things."
"Oh Jesus, what happened?" Now Misato was curious.
Shinji thought. "Lets just say, the price of becoming a magical girl is to become a... what's it called again, Asuka?"
"A lich."
"Yeah, that."
"Lich... remind me again what that kind of creature is?"
"Their soul gets placed into a physical vessel, but they can still control their body. It's a form of immortality, as long as the vessel isn't damaged."
Misato thought through various films. "Like in Anastasia, right?"
"Essentially, except their bodies weren't rotting."
A sharp exhale. "Gotta say, that's a different take on a magical girl than what I know. Fucking litches..." She took a swig of her beer.
"What about those same magical girls eventually becoming the Angel like enemy they fight?"
She choked on her beer, eventually composing herself after a coughing fit. "How does that even work?"
"As Kaworu would say, the mechanisms of that world would be different, even more so than even our Theatrical universe."
"Tell me about it." Shinji deadpanned, beginning work on dinner. "But its yet another world where people Miki and Sakura know and love get shafted."
"Good to know we aren't the only people God shits on." Misato finished off the beer. "Didja tell Miki and Sakura about Tomoe?"
There were a few seconds of silence, eventually broken by the thud of Asuka's head on the desk. "Fuck, I forgot to tell them."
~
A hand drifted over a chest. "Did ya project last night?"
"Yeah." A chuckle. "All the identifiers were there. The green boy. The nightmare."
"The purple eyed girl?"
"Yeah." Eyes closed. "I think she noticed me."
"...how so?"
"...I'd liken it to that apparition of you from the Laserdiscs. She flared. I flared back. She disappeared."
"...do you think that's the Akemi of that show?"
"...could be." Looking into other red eyes. "She follows the same path every time."
Thinking. "She's trying to change something, if that is indeed time."
"Something to do with Madoka."
"...Most likely." Settling in. "Its interesting what you see, Kaworu. Its like another realm."
A smile. "I could show you."
Hands clasped and merged. Kaworu opened his mind up and allowed himself to drift. "Open your mind, and hold on tight."
She did just that.
The sound of a singular drop of water impacting on a still lake signified a transition from the physical to the metaphysical. A transition Rei did not expect to be as calm.
Rei held onto Kaworu tight, as she bore witness to a star stuttered sky, aurora and nebula painting the canvas. In her awe, she likened it to a heaven.
She took in her surroundings, and expressed shock at the simulacrum of her that populated this strange place.
"Do not worry." His wisp. "They are natural phenomena. I suspect from other, less fortunate timelines."
"They harmful?"
"No. They will not disturb us."
With his free hand, he pointed out beyond their border, towards other, distant isles. They almost seemed to move closer as he focused. "The green boy. Every 72 seconds, he makes his journey. This journey is always marked with an almost melancholic tune."
She observed. She thought it curious, how he always followed the same pattern.
The next. "The nightmare. They don't have a pattern, but I suspect they use this realm for their own, unknown, purpose."
She observed. A seemingly regal figure, obviously of a high power quotent if they were able to occupy and use this realm for their own agenda.
The next. "The girl with purple eyes."
She observed. Black hair, purple eyes. Shield. Walking. A complete dead ringer of Homura Akemi, as depicted in the show.
She stopped, and looked.
Rei flared to this figure.
The figure stood still, before hastily moving on her way. The Nephilim could sense an air of apprehension.
"Odd."
"Indeed, but this realm is odd."
Craning her head, she looked further around. "How do you see into timelines?"
A smile. "I'll show you."
He bent down, to the ground, resting his free hand on the alien surface. One quick application of his AT-Field later, and they caught a glimpse of days gone by.
"We can certainly try, Commander." Shinji teased, as he picked up one of the fallen MP-Evangelion's weapons and lobbed it at another, dazing it.
Asuka roundhouse kicked the dazed MP-Eva and proceeded to dismember it, which kept it immobilised. They could regenerate, so Asuka usually only had a good half minute to remove the dummy plug and completely disable the MP-Eva. But she worked fast with that prog knife of hers.
She haphazardly threw the plug to Hikari like a fumbling relay runner, who set it down against a building for recovery.
"Asuka, can you please not completely tear this one to shreds? Major Ibuki's gonna be sick."
"I remember this. We weren't sortied that time, but I remember it."
"Indeed. It's relatively close to prime and time." His free hand pointed out. "The further out you go, the more energy it takes. But you can look further out. Including into other timelines. Unfortunately, even with the S2 Organ, I do not have enough power to look into other universes."
"Fascinating." Genuine awe, as the playback ended.
The distant song restarted, as an apparition of Rei was shooed away by Kaworu.
They wandered aimlessly for a few minutes more, Rei and Kaworu expressing extreme confusion at a phone box trailing the sky like a meteor, before Rei signalled to Kaworu: "I think I am ready to return."
"Lets. I believe I am draining energy faster than usual." Kaworu was able to hide his lethargy well enough.
Just as he was about to exit with Rei, something caught his eye.
Or, someone.
A girl. Of brown hair and ashen skin.
But just like a flash of lightning, she was gone as soon as he looked.
"What is it, Kaworu?"
"...I think I saw someone."
"...who?"
"I... don't know. But... they had our complexion."
Thinking. "Another person like us? In our general timeline?"
"...potentially." Shaking of the head. "I would say they won't be of any importance."
"Knowing this world though."
They chuckled as they returned to the physical world.
Rei noted Kaworu was breathing heavily. "Is everything alright, darling?"
Weary nodding in reply, with a smile. "I think bringing you along with me used more energy than I could naturally replenish. I'll survive though. Nothing a bit of rest won't fix." He quickly settled into Rei and fell asleep almost immediately.
A few quiet giggles from Rei. "You stupid trout, exhausting yourself for me..."
She drifted her hand over him until she, too, fell asleep.
~
Right, A. Down, Right A. Down
Yet more big reveals from Kyubey. Though at least the Madokaverse is somewhat different from Evangelion, so many of the big reveals can't actually apply. Still doesn't change the fact Rei despises Kyubey for what he did.
I wonder if Oversight will be able to find out what that text is. They already have at least a copy of the original scrolls in their possession, so its certainly possible they'd be able to translate it. Now I just need to figure out what they say
I would liken this time plane to a mishmash of Sovngarde and the Lifestream, with hints of Farplane and other timey-wimey ball bullshit. While the plane Kaworu project himselfs into can be used for time related shenanigans, there may be other, yet unknown purposes as well. Hell, this plane is practically only known to Kaworu and (now) Rei. Possibly. And it makes sense peering into time itself would require immense power, such that an S2 enabled being like Kaworu would actually feel drained trying to carry Rei with him into this strange realm, though just carrying himself into such a realm doesn't drain his power to below the point of regeneration. You practically need to be a God to manipulate anything anyway, or even to traverse your physical self through the realm. The other figures Kaworu could see who appeared to do that would have had the help of whatever the God or Gods of that realm were. Or they could be Gods, who knows at this point. I mean, I should really know I guess
But oh well. SEELE are still doing their thing.
Yet more big reveals from Kyubey. Though at least the Madokaverse is somewhat different from Evangelion, so many of the big reveals can't actually apply. Still doesn't change the fact Rei despises Kyubey for what he did.
I wonder if Oversight will be able to find out what that text is. They already have at least a copy of the original scrolls in their possession, so its certainly possible they'd be able to translate it. Now I just need to figure out what they say
I would liken this time plane to a mishmash of Sovngarde and the Lifestream, with hints of Farplane and other timey-wimey ball bullshit. While the plane Kaworu project himselfs into can be used for time related shenanigans, there may be other, yet unknown purposes as well. Hell, this plane is practically only known to Kaworu and (now) Rei. Possibly. And it makes sense peering into time itself would require immense power, such that an S2 enabled being like Kaworu would actually feel drained trying to carry Rei with him into this strange realm, though just carrying himself into such a realm doesn't drain his power to below the point of regeneration. You practically need to be a God to manipulate anything anyway, or even to traverse your physical self through the realm. The other figures Kaworu could see who appeared to do that would have had the help of whatever the God or Gods of that realm were. Or they could be Gods, who knows at this point. I mean, I should really know I guess
But oh well. SEELE are still doing their thing.
Last edited:
- Location
- Australia, mate
It's an ocarina you uncultured- oh wait, it's Kaworu.
You're making me wish that one fic on SV that has Kaworu, Homura and Link would update. Can't even remember what it's called now.
Dranndor
Clueless Idiot
- Location
- Cloudcuckooland
Great omake, though i still can't comprehend or follow Madoka's plot lol.Something magical
Speaking of something magical, time for a new instalment of The DVD Chronicles: Evangelium Puellae Magae! More comparisons to Faust, Kaworu explores time, and the pilots learn why they want to skin Kyubey alive!
A bag was thrown haphazardly onto the bed, its expensive cargo considered of little relative importance in comparison to the scratchpad he carried with him.
On went a lamp, as Kaji went to work.
Rummaging through his briefcase, and scattering various faxes, documents and forms to the metaphorical wind, he pulled out a little red book, contained was his sum knowledge on this language of SEELE.
So not much.
Still, it was an interesting development. Oversight has ample resources to translate such texts, and such information may encourage 02 to see him as less of an adversary and more of an ally. Thats what this whole charade was about anyway. Friendship is one thing, but being allies doesn't necessarily require one.
He still didn't entirely know where Kaworu found this specific morsel of information. 'A song', in Dirac Rift material like the Laserdiscs. Only the Gods knew how such sensitive information ended up in Rift material, but this universe was one of complete and arbitrary bullshit, so this was certainly possible.
And indeed it was possible, considering he has the words right there.
"Gods, this universe is headache inducing."
~
The river of time flowed round.
This astral plane was accessible only to those with such power and attenuation. As such, there were few occupants of this realm. The only ones at this station were himself, and the messengers of Lilith from other, less fortunate timelines. They did not disturb him.
Even he, with such power, did not hold a candle to other beings of other universes, who could ride the rivers of time.
From where he stood, he could see other, distant lands. Completely separate universes, separated by the insurmountable ocean; inaccessible to a simple broadcast like him, inaccessible to even the most powerful.
On one, a boy in green. He traversed the same road, a distant flute marking his journey.
Another, a winged unicorn, coat of midnight and mane of stars. The being could manifest and disappear at will, the purpose of their constant visitation he could not know.
Yet another.
The girl with purple eyes.
Similar to the green garbed boy, she walked a lonely road. The only road that she had ever known.
She stopped and stared across the ocean, seemingly at the ashen figure. A ghost under the light.
The light flickered.
He flickered back.
~
A girl woke with a start.
~
Ritsuko had her head down on a written letter, from R&D, essentially saying they're full up doing all the other stuff she had assigned to them.
"Tough break eh?" The Kohai wrapped arms around the Sempai.
"We've got them doing a lot of stuff, to be fair." She sighed. "Speaking of, how's Ultradisc going?"
"Umm," A quick excursion to her terminal. "Ultraviolet radiation levels are down to 95% of what they once were."
"They're still non zero though, are they?"
"Yeah."
A thud. "What of using the Ramiel substrate for storage?"
Typing. "Current estimates at conventional data compression rates, using the baseline decoding hardware, puts it at approximately 20 gigabytes."
The scientist recalled. "It's 1/3 of the foreign disc. But its infinitely better than CD or even DVD."
"Something to celebrate?"
"Maybe. What's the hardware like to actually read these discs?"
"You know those bog standard, borderline dumb terminals NEC sells us for 5000 Yen? 12 of those."
A thud. "The consumer is not going to buy a 70 thousand Yen product without immense support. Which we don't have."
"I'll be sure to inform them to reduce the cost." Maya found another item on the agenda. "This should bring some good news at least. The data from Rei's recent sync test with NT-Unit-00 is finally here, after several Unit-01 related delays."
A thud. "Damn it, I completely forgot about that."
A short giggle from Maya in reply. "Her sync with ELIZA is consistent, even more so than the OT-Unit-00. She reached a new max of 69.7%."
A smirk. "What of ELIZA?"
"Cognitive function has improved 40% from the last lot of tests we performed with her, though we believe she's starting to plateau when it comes to that. Language and social skills have also improved and plateaued in similar ways."
Thinking as Ritsuko was handed the terminal, to look over the data. "I think we're reaching the limits for the hardware. She should be fine though, she can already function excellently."
"Is that pride I hear, Ritsuko?" Maya bent down to lightly prod her, noticing she had also been using the female pronoun to refer to ELIZA.
Ritsuko meanwhile fell quiet, head settled on the desk. She turned to her Kohai. "...she... she calls me her mother, Maya." Muted emotion stemmed from her. "i... i..."
Maya looked at her for a few seconds, confusion giving way to a gentle, knowing smile as she gave her comfort. "She's been doing that for a while, has she?"
A few sniffles. "i... its been on my mind since that first sync test we did with her."
"...that was a fair bit ago, Sempai."
"i know. i know. but... it's just got me thinking..."
Maya thought, a quiet realisation. "...not ready to be a mother yet?"
Sniffles became sobs.
Maya continued holding her.
~
"So how much more grim and dark and grimdark will this show be today?" Asuka scorned.
"Normally I'd say you were cynical." The other candle equally intoned. "But considering we had some hindsight."
Asuka huffed like an angry bull. "It's always the shows involving us that end up being completely fucked."
"This is the third of those shows, Asuka." Rei was flat. "I would think you were used to it by now."
"Are any of us used to it?"
"No." Everyone replied to Shinji's foregone question.
"Surely it cannot get too much worse from the current situation." Kaworu tried being optimistic.
Key word tried. The trio simply give a look towards the fish.
~Key:
Shinji (Sh) Asuka (A)
Rei (R) Kaworu (Ka)
Kensuke (Ke) Sayaka (Sa) Kyoko (Ky)
Contract
Sa: "I can say with full conviction that this was the biggest mistake I made in this show."
R: "It would've been a massive decision, wanting to do such thing."
Sh: "Especially since you already knew what being a magical girl entails."
Sa: "Which is what makes this decision even worse, cause I knew."
Ke: "You couldn't know of what being a magical girl was, at the time."
Ky: "Yeah, didn't we only find out, like, halfway through the series?"
Kaworu watched with growing concern, as Kyubey was paid his due. "He... that's the soul. What power he has to do such thing."
Rei looked on, her feelings confused. Anger, maybe? At how this being could so easily mess with a soul.
A: "You just made a deal with the damned devil, Miki."
Sa: "Don't I know it." She said flat.
School
Ky: "I thought it kinda odd that you seemed alright here, considering all the shit you just went through."
A: "Everyone knows one of the best ways to get on with life is to bury all your feelings so they don't break you!"
Ky: "...thats not-"
A: "Yes Sakura, that was not serious." Complete deadpan.
Sh: "At least Hitomi didn't seem that affected by the witch."
Ka: "Once its influence wore off, at least."
Ky: "Kinda odd she didn't take the day off, but knowing Hitomi, that's what she'd do."
Sa: "...it's obvious Madoka didn't share my optimism."
Wonderful
A: "You do sound quite a bit naive there, Miki."
Sa: "I'm sure you had a similar experience when you became an Evangelion pilot."
Asuka glared at the other bluenette. "For an hour."
Sayaka knew to shut up.
Sh: "...I'm kinda feeling for Madoka here. She probably thinks she's useless, like I thought of myself."
R: "...she has been dragged along a bit, hasn't she?"
Ka: "...she's in a world she has no power to fight against. I wouldn't be surprised if she thought that."
Ke: "At least a magical girl would have some power to fight and change things."
R: "...she's still blaming herself for Tomoe."
Miracle
Sa: "I wouldn't regret wishing to heal him."
Ka: "But what did you truly want? Him to be better, or him to love you?"
Sa: "...okay, how the hell are you guys so perspective about these things?"
A shrug. "Gotta be in our line of work."
R: "It doesn't help the both of us are naturally inclined to pick up on the more obfuscated feelings and details people could have."
Sh: "It's good to see he's sorry for how he acted, though."
Sa: "That's Kyosuke for you. Sweet boy but he gets frustrated easily. Though he tries not to take it out on us."
A: "It does seem he's opening up to you though. I'd say you'd win him." Flippant. "If not for the fact whoever directed this seemed to take a page out of our show director's book of 'shitting on the hopes and dreams of your characters'."
Laughter. "Pretty much sums it up." Spoke Kensuke.
A: "Though it is quite sweet you organised all that for him."
The melancholic sound welled. Sayaka gave a sad smile, shared by Asuka, a sense of joy for a fellow violin player.
Kyoko
A: "You sure eat a lot, Sakura."
Ky: "I was taught very early on the importance of not wasting food." She gave a knowing look to the other candle.
As if through magic, Asuka completely understood what she meant, and didn't pursue further.
Ka: "...Kyubey's talking about Akemi. I find it odd he doesn't know about her, if all magical girls formed a contract with him."
Rei shrugged. "It's possible there's other Kyubey. Whatever their species are."
A: "What about becoming a magical girl without Kyubey. Through sheer force of will."
Ky: "Out of all the people who could possibly will themselves into a magical girl, Homura is the polar opposite."
Sh: "This probably gets explained later anyway. I would hope at least."
A: "Though that does put her motivations into question."
Ke: "All will be answered in time."
Pragma
Ky: "If we take what Homura's talking about from a pragmatic perspective, you can kinda understand."
A: "To be fair, that kinda applies in the real world as well. Gotta know when to put things like kindness to the side."
Sh: "It's kinda easier with us though, cause we're facing the abominations in giant mechs. And teamwork is important to defeating the enemy."
Ka: "If becoming a magical girl is indeed like selling your soul, then Akemi would be right."
Sa: "That would not be what Madoka would want to hear though."
Ka: "Madoka would fall into the same traps Akemi described, if she became a magical girl. Like our world, their world is one of brutality and pain. You simply cannot be weak."
R: "Unfortunate, but true."
A: "...then becoming a magical girl is a truly Faustian deal."
Ka: "Everyone has something they would sell a soul for." He looked towards Shinji. "Your father would know this."
Patrol
Sh: "She so desperately wants to be of some use."
Sa: "...i hope our Madoka doesn't feel like this. I wouldn't have known."
Ka: "...it's likely, you realise. Your personalities appear similar to the show, at least parts."
R: "...hopefully she has the support she needs. Like how the you of the show supports her, Miki."
Sa: "...she definitely has that."
R: "That's good."
A: "We definitely needed that as well."
Ky: "And of course, Kyubey here had a plan."
Ka: "Madoka seems to factor into his plans a lot. Kinda similar to how all of us once factored into a master plan."
Ke: "Madoka wouldn't be able to comprehend such a plan."
Ka: "Oh God no, we couldn't comprehend our plan until the eleventh hour."
Familiar
Ka: "A wise decision, to start off with a weaker being."
A: "Though that just drains your magic with no reward."
Kensuke glared.
A: "Other than people not dying."
R: "Fighting a mere familiar would not drain as much power as a full blown Witch, I'd imagine."
Sa: "Despite all the shit I got, I look damn fine in that outfit."
Ky: "You know how to use a sword too."
Sayaka snorted. "I wish. Though out of all the weapons I could pick, a sword seems alright. Get me nice and close."
A: "Sounds like me, except with an axe."
Ke: "And we all know how you're like. You make it rain blood."
A chuckle. "I probably have a sweet nickname because of it, don't I?"
Ke: "One of the recent ones I heard was 'Frau Blutregen'."
She thought. And shrugged. "Eh, not that creative."
But it was me, Kyoko!
Kyoko chuckled. "Here we go."
Sa: "Funny thing was, we were kinda antagonistic as well."
Ky: "At first."
Sayaka giggled at that remark.
A: "Even though both of you are polar opposites, at least in the show."
Sa: "You know what they say about magnets."
Sh: "All of the weapons they use seem wildly impractical."
Ka: "Magic."
R: "Indeed. Though I'm sure you could explain the mechanics behind that world if you looked hard enough into it."
Sh: "Similar to our world then."
Kyoko advanced further.
A: "Sounds like you have similar thinking to me, Sakura."
Ky: "At first, at least. You can see how I would think that, Grief Seeds are important after all."
A: "Oh yeah. But people not dying is of importance as well."
Ka: "I can understand her point of view, though. She's pragmatic. Like Akemi."
R: "Maybe having such pragmatism is a requirement to survive for a long time as a magical girl."
Civil War
Sh: "Still though, if they could work together, that would prevent many of the issues."
A: "We'd know, eh Shinji?"
Sh: "Even when we weren't close, we could at least clench our teeth and work together in battle. Eventually."
R: "Obviously it's different in this other world."
Sa: "You try getting several teenage girls to work together without it turning to a catfight."
Ka: "Which is another issue with the magical girls. They have little discipline in battle, and they let emotion get to them."
Sh: "To be fair, we aren't entirely immune to that."
A: "We channel emotion into violence on the battlefield."
Ke: "...so thats why the Crucifix battle was like that."
Kyoko glared. "Of course Kyubey takes the opportunity to try turning her."
"At least Homura put a stop to that." Spoke Kaworu. "She has a very good reason for wanting to protect Madoka."
"You could say that again." Kensuke was flat.
"When we found out," Sayaka began, "we had to take a small break to collect ourselves."
"Yep, sounds like us too." Asuka had pursed lips. "I don't even remember how many times we had to stop watching our God damned show."
"Usually we would've watched two episodes a day, but sometimes that would go down to one episode." Shinji reminisced.
"...we didn't even catch the end of an episode, due to how... confronting it was for me."
"...damn guys." The geek was quiet.
"...if our show could trigger such emotion in us." Rei began.
"Yeah, I know Rei." Ken dejected. "I know."
The next episode started.
~Irregularity
Sa: "Good thing Homura stopped us, we would've torn each other to shreds."
A: "She's still brutally cold, in the show."
Ka: "That might as well be a thing for long surviving magical girls."
Ky: "Kill or be killed, as they say."
Sh: "At this rate, it would be for the best if Madoka took Akemi's advice. Probably run as far away from that city as she could as well."
R: "Except she won't. Because Kyubey will keep trying. For any other person, he would've stopped trying, but obviously there's something with Madoka he wants."
Ke: "And because she's the main character in this story."
R: "That too."
~
Renewal
Ka: "Certainly an interesting function of Kyubey."
R: "Its probable he can get energy from them. It would be an effective way of disposing them, at the very least."
A: "Could be how he fuels his magic."
Kyoko positioned her index and thumb close to each other. "You're this close."
Ka: "What I find odd, is how this vessel of the soul requires a fuel."
R: "Have they specified the Gem itself requires magic? The way Kyubey describes it, you only need to renew your magic if you use it."
Kaworu thought. "Well, if I were to use the closest analog we have to a Soul Gem is what the Angels had, but they're often used in conjunction with an S2 Organ." 'Course, Eva. Core. Function no S2.'
'Power required?'
'Not our world.' Kaworu continued his train of thought in the real world. "Of course, the whole point of being a magical girl is to... well, use magic. It's certainly possible that just keeping the Soul Gem active requires some latent magic energy."
Faust
A: "See, what concerns me about that, is if those rings or gems actually do hold their soul."
Ke: "I won't confirm or deny that."
A: "Well, if it is their soul, then a magical girl is a fucking lich, like Rasputin."
The pilots glanced up and looked at Asuka, Rei especially had a dangerous look in her eyes. "You don't think, right?"
A: "Oh I do think."
Rei reigned herself in. "I assume it's Bluth's take on Rasputin, not the actual Rasputin."
A: "Considering how long the Ruskies say it took him to die."
The trio was rather confused at this though. "What's a lich?"
Sh: "Have you guys seen Anastasia?"
Ky: "Ana-what now?"
A: "That's a no then." Flat. "They bind their existence to an object to obtain immortality."
Ka: "Of course, you have the consequence of their bodies decaying, due to them technically being dead."
The trio looked on in shock, once they realised what a lich was. How she so easily picked apart what was such a big reveal to them.
A: "Hopefully that's not actually a thing though." She dismissed flippantly. "I wouldn't want to wish that kind of existence on anyone."
R: "Not to mention how plain wrong that is."
Sh: "It'd be great if Kyubey could stop manipulating for once."
A: "See your father in him?" She prodded. "He would've been much less intimidating if he looked like a damned ferret."
The pilots laughed amongst themselves. The trio meanwhile continued looking on at them. Probably wondering how fucked in the head the Evangelion makes their pilots.
Dog Drug Reinforcement
Asuka snorted. "What an excellent ripoff."
Sh: "D'ya think Akemi and Sakura will get into a dance off?"
Asuka rolled eyes. "This isn't that kind of show."
Shinji went flat. "Considering our show, and our life had something like that."
Kensuke furrowed his brow. "Your show had something like that as well?"
Sh: "Not only that, we pretty much used a DDR machine to train for Israfel."
Ke: "You WHAT?"
The pilots burst out laughing, as Kensuke kept babbling.
R: "It's quite interesting what can count as training. In retrospect, a DDR machine was quite a genius idea to foster teamwork."
A: "Maybe if you just danced together, you would've actually been nice to each other! It worked in this Godforsaken world."
Sh: "Wasn't Walpurgisnacht a holiday in Germany?" He queried Asuka
A: "Not a state holiday, but it's still a feast day... What relevance does Walpurgisnacht have to this show?"
Ka: "Odds are, Walpurgisnacht is the name of the Witch. Consider Gertrud and Kirsten were German as well."
She groaned. "Whats with these mind bending anime and German?"
Voice of Reason
Sh: "Sometimes it feels like Madoka is the only voice of reason in this show."
Sayaka chuckled. "Much like this world then. Though once you get to that stage, there's not really much 'reason' could do in such a situation."
Ky: "True that. Of course, the thing to do is to avoid ending up hating someone so much you end up in a deathmatch."
Sa: "We definitely don't have that problem."
Ke: "The bedroom is practically a battle royale between the two of you anyway."
A snort. "We do share, Ken."
Ka: "Ah love. What a beautiful sound."
A: "Putting aside the pillow talk, I'm starting to become a bit concerned about your mental health, Miki."
Sayaka sucked in some air. "Yeah, not my finest hour. Probably could've been a bit more sensitive." She shrugged. "Not like I could do much though. Sucks observing, doesn't it?"
Pilots: "Tell us about it."
Welcome Home
A: "I would hope her mother was responsible enough to not feed Madoka alcohol."
Sa: "Madoka probably wouldn't touch the stuff anyway."
Ka: "At the very least, she's talking about events with someone she could trust." A glance to Sayaka. "Considering she feels alienated from you."
A sigh, shaking of the head. "One of the hardest parts of watching this was seeing how I did things. So many mistakes..."
A: "We can relate, Miki." The pointer went up. "We pinpointed one event we screwed up in the show, which ultimately lead to our downfall."
Ke: "...Mind if we know?"
A: "My first kiss with Shinji."
Silence.
Ky: "The world ended because of an awkward kiss." Flat as a pancake, incredulous at the absurdity.
A: "Yep. Everything now is apparently because we got together."
More silence as they tried to process.
A: "You're welcome."
Sh: "Her mother has some decent advice, at least. Sometimes that's just life."
Ka: "'Do something wrong', though?"
R: "Sometimes such a thing is the best choice, you realise. If Shinji and Asuka didn't hijack Unit-03, I would've been pounded into nothing by Zeruel."
Ke: "They WHAT?"
A: "Is this foreshadowing then? Cause if she's been encouraged to do something wrong."
Ky: "As she says though, making mistakes is easier when you're young."
Sh: "Unless you're an Evangelion pilot." Snark.
R: "Drinking to relieve the burden of adulthood. She really is Misato."
Chuckles.
Rehabilitation
A: "Seems you were rather smitten with him, I can see why you and Hitomi fell out."
Sayaka scratched the back of her head. "Yeah, it was kinda like that. Though if I stayed with him, I would've never found out how much I love Kyoko."
Ky: "Funny how the world works like that, eh Sayaka?" A hand messed Sayaka's hair. "You definitely dealt with it better in our world."
Sa: "Anything short of breaking the law is better than how I dealt with it."
R: "That relationship trouble occurred in the show too?"
Ky: "Not yet, but- oh, whoops that's a spoiler." She quickly tried to gloss it over.
Shrugs in reply. "We probably have a few things clued in on anyway."
Antagonism
Ka: "I suspect a fight is imminent."
A: "Oh how could you tell? Could it be the two girls who fought to the death before are getting back at each other's throats?"
Ka: "Yes." He retorted, equal in sarcastic intent.
Sh: "That's a... very brutal way of forcing someone to be reliant on you. I swear I saw that in a horror film."
Ky: "Yeah, I think every single one of us had a slight morality fart in this show."
A: "Breaking arms and legs to force someone to stay with you is slight?"
Ky: "Okay, a bit more than slight."
Ke: "'Bout the only person in this who's pretty much morally straight is Madoka herself."
Sa: "Yeah, even I didn't entirely stay on the straight and narrow."
Homework
Ke: "I wish I had a keyboard like that."
A: "Even though it'd probably be completely useless."
Ka: "I doubt she'll be using it for too much longer either way."
Kyubey appeared.
Ka: "And what do you know."
Sh: "Lemme guess. He's gonna try pushing for her to become a magical girl."
Ky: "As he's been doing for the whole show. Great surprise there."
A: "You would know, you've already seen this."
R: "Will this be where she makes her mistake, I wonder."
Ka: "'If a gun is shown hanging on a mantle in the first act, it must be fired in the second'. I would believe so."
Sh: "What could she do though, she isn't a magical girl."
A: "Becoming a magical girl in and of itself would be a mistake."
Thinking between the pilots. "That could work."
The trio looked among themselves, for the pilots did not know.
Throwaway
A: "Well, this is gonna be fun."
Madoka ran in. Homura appeared behind Kyoko.
Sh: "Especially with three magical girls."
Sayaka simply facepalmed as Madoka made a slight error.
Ka: "...well shit."
Sh: "That bad?"
The show Sayaka fell catatonic.
Or more accurately, dead. Kyubey dropped a neutron bombshell.
Asuka shuddered in shock, shared by the rest of the pilots. "...Jesus fuck I was right. They really are liches!"
Kyoko scooted closer to Sayaka, as Madoka's desperate cries filled the room.
Kaworu stared daggers at the visage of Kyubey. "...so this is what it means to become a magical girl."
Rei's face fell to a serious flat, hands clenching into fists. Kaworu felt this from his wisp, and for but a moment he knew why the Angels feared Lilith.
This anger only increased as Kyubey explained his thinking. "...why are humans so touchy with where he places their SOULS?!" Her volume also increased.
She got up. "I require a break. Or I will throw the computer through the wall."
Kensuke was flat. "That was our reaction as well. Take your time."
She grabbed Kaworu by his scruff and dragged him out.
"...so thats why you violently hate Kyubey."
"One of the reasons." Sayaka was flippant. "I'm sure you hate him now too."
~
Kaworu knew better than anyone when it was time to fold his cards. Especially when it involved a very angry Rei.
"Do you know of any place where I could let off some steam?"
He thought, as he was being dragged. Honestly, being dragged by the scruff of his neck wasn't that bad, and it was the fact it wasn't that bad that concerned him. He could only hold out hope Rei didn't look down at him. "There's always that park on the outskirts. If you're looking for something destructible and private."
"That works." She gave him a glance. And a double take, glaring at him. "...really?"
He held his hands up. "You know I can't help it."
More glaring. "Don't get too excited, dumb fish." He yelped as she ran faster.
~
Splinters flew.
Kaworu sat to the side, carving fallen wood into a trinket, putting it to some use while also keeping... subtle.
"Its because of the soul, isn't it?"
A tree fell. "You think? How could that... thing just desecrate the soul like that?!" She kept going at a trunk with her AT-Field. "What he did, is a complete violation against every instinct, every damn nerve in my body." More splinters. "SEELE did vile things with the soul, but even they did not turn their quarry into a damned corpse doll."
"They would think that as abominable as you would, Rei. Perhaps even more so." He finished carving the figure. "Catch."
It was thrown.
She caught it, and immediately glared daggers at it, as she realised it was a near perfect, to scale model of Kyubey. "I can make more if you want, if you want something to release your anger on." A gentle smile. "Might as well use all that wood."
The anger started to drain, as she further inspected this fine craft. "...it's really good actually." Quiet. "I didn't know you could do woodwork."
"It's... difficult for me to craft like this. It relies a lot on creativity I can't muster. But I can always replicate what I see."
"...but even making this from scratch indicates you have some sort of creativity, Kaworu. It may be Kyubey, but you were able to make it from a log." Her hands grabbed his. "You created something, Kaworu."
He thought, his face gradually shifting to one of shock as he glanced down at the wooden figure. "I... created?"
He continued looking down at the figure.
He smiled. "I... I guess I did create this." A chuckle, or maybe a sob, escaped him. "Maybe you're rubbing off on me, Rei."
Her hand drifted over his chest. "A part of me, maybe."
Her anger now completely gone, she settled into him, panting from exertion.
"It's a shame it had to be Kyubey of all things."
There was silence for a few seconds, before Rei burst out laughing. "And to think I wanted to try setting it on fire."
"...you can do that?"
"Nope. But I wanted to see if I could try." She gave him a grin.
~
"Y'know? If I wasn't trying to be polite around people I consider friends... well, most I consider friends, I would been making out with Shinji."
"What do you think we'd be doing, Soryu?" Kyoko suggested to a fellow redhead.
The two Nephilim made their way back into the room, Rei munching on a protein bar.
"Feelin better?"
"Much." She spoke with her mouth full. "I still want to murder Kyubey, but I can hold off on my destructive tendencies now I have calmed down."
The next episode started as soon as Kensuke started up his computer again, because it started to overheat.
~Luna
Sa: "This was the start of my downfall."
Ka: "You just realised the truth Kyubey kept from you. You would feel mad, and somewhat regretful."
A: "Classic. He may tell no lies, but he can always omit truths."
Ke: "This is why you always read the terms of service."
R: "If you asked Kyubey to print off a full list of that, it would number in the thousands. Of volumes."
Sh: "And I'm sure many magical girls wouldn't like what Kyubey did to them."
Sa: "Oh hell no."
R: "Turning people into liches?"
Her anger only increased further as Kyubey made an example of Sayaka, the temperature dropping one or two degrees.
Ky: "Yeah, join the club Ayanami."
Sh: "I think what makes him even worse, is his face literally never changes. It's always that same damn " He pressed his cheeks together and opened his eyes wide, making an odd sound, much to the humour of everyone there, "face."
Tintinnabulation
A: "And despite all the shit, you still have to deal with school."
R: "This is Japan after all. Anything short of apocalypse won't get you out of it."
Kyoko pouted. "You guys get to skip all the time."
A: "For one, we're pilots and need to be on call at all times. Two, we still have to do the work, though it's not really that difficult nowadays."
Sh: "Still, Misato insists on those good grades."
A: "Well, it's more important you get good grades, Shinji. I already graduated from uni, so it's not really that bad."
Ke: "You WHAT?"
R: "That's the third time you used that same expression, Kensuke."
Sa: "...I definitely don't want to deal with school anymore."
Ka: "...It's understandable, though. You're going through an immense crisis."
R: "...as you would. Its abominable, removing the soul and placing it in a vessel like that."
Sa: "Sounds like it goes against one of your major beliefs, Ayanami."
She gave a thought. "You could say that."
A: "Kyubey wouldn't give a shit though. He'd just say 'oh but it helps you', he seems completely incapable of emotion."
Sh: "Like a sociopath. Pretty sure that's the right word to use."
A: "Like he's fucking Satan."
Depression
Ky: "...man, it's still hard seeing you like this."
Sa: "Sucks, doesn't it? Least you came to give me a pep talk."
Ky: "I mean, it didn't help you much in the long run."
A: "The feeling was there though. Although considering you two were damn near fighting to the death the last episode."
R: "Considering feelings changed pretty much instantly, once... Kyubey."
Sh: "...damn, you take wasting food pretty seriously, Sakura."
Kyoko was introspective. "...I... never really had that much of it, growing up. My dad, despite his flaws, would work himself to the bone after Second Impact, but even so..."
The pilots gave guilty glances between one another, as despite their many issues, they never had to go without something as basic as food. "...shit, Sakura. We didn't know that."
Ky: "It's fine." An exhale. "I survived. So, if you wanna know why I eat a lot. That's why."
Church
Ka: "...is your father a religious man?"
A nod. "Yeah. Even more so after Second Impact." She gave a wistful glance to Sayaka.
A: "That... explains a lot, actually."
Soft chuckling. "Its an odd little religion. Christianity. It seems much bigger in other places though."
Sh: "I mean, that's what Asuka follows, and I think whatever Kaworu follows is in the same family."
A: "At least in name. God shafted me pretty hard, and I'm still kinda angry at him."
Kyoko snorted.
Ka: "I wouldn't call it a belief in a single system like Christianity. I was taught belief in the God of Abraham, a figure shared by at least three major religious families, including Christianity."
Ky: "Yeah, I heard of him. He's one of the major figures my father would preach about."
Ka: "I would think a Christian preacher would focus more on the Gospel and the New Testament; considering Jesus of Nazareth taught kindness, acceptance and the forgiveness of God."
A shrug in reply. "Mind you, his congregation attracted some pretty conservative folk. Either way, I wouldn't wish for people to listen to him."
Sa: "Though your father in this show seemed to be more... open with his beliefs."
Ky: "It's a dumb wish either way."
R: "If he had found out about such a wish, or your status."
Kyoko gave a glance. "Take a guess at what happens, blue."
The show preempted any reply Rei could have.
A: "...God damn."
Sh: "So that world has karma?"
Ka: "For a sum of hope, you get an equal amount of despair. Such is the Faustian deal."
A: "At least you're trying to keep her from throwing herself off a cliff, Sakura. Not that it'd do much."
Ky: "Even though our perspectives on life are radically different at this point."
A: "Well yeah, considering all the shit you went through."
Brand New Day
Sh: "I'm sure you would've been happy to see him."
Sa: "...considering I think myself an abomination. A lich, as you call it. I wouldn't want him to find out."
A: "Which is a problem, cause you wished for him to get better because you loved him."
Sa: "Yep."
Ka: "And I recall Sakura saying Hitomi will try for him, as what seemed to happen in this world."
A sharp breath. "Yep."
Ke: "Despair is such an easy trap to fall into as a magical girl."
The pilots all collectively scrunched their faces as Hitomi revealed her crush. "Man that's tough."
Sa: "This was pretty much how it started in our world as well."
Ky: "It's kinda odd this show shared many similarities to our own lives. Except, y'know, the whole magical girl shit."
A: "I gotta say though, she's being a good sport about it. At least this Hitomi, dunno bout the real one."
Sa: "It's still an ultimatum though. And she wasn't this direct about it either."
Sh: "You're not going to confess to him, are you?" He sighed. "Poor communication is what got us into problems."
Sa: "Well, I sure know that now."
Breakdown
A: "Okay, I said before I was a bit concerned about your mental state."
Ky: "Where's the meter at now?"
A: "Somewhere between 'Go see a damned therapist' and 'Legitimately thinking of calling emergency services'."
Sayaka sighed. "That's pretty accurate."
R: "At the very least, Madoka is continuing to at least attempt comfort." She masked surface emotion, as the show Sayaka broke down. "No one deserves that."
Sa: "...yeah, losing your chance at someone you love is always tough."
R: "While that is something no one deserves, I was referring to your status as a lich. Or a zombie, as you called yourself."
Sa: "...you seem to know a bit about the soul, Ayanami. Are liches possible in our world?"
R: "No." Succinct. "A body with no soul will quickly decay into nothing. A soul with no body will instinctively seek out a new shell to call home. This is what drives rebirth, after all." Internally, she felt disgusted with herself, omitting truth like Kyubey did. But Evangelion was one of the many secrets she could not just divulge.
Ke: "...our world has souls?"
Ka: "Not only that, but we have scientific precedence for such a thing. The entire school of Metaphysical Biology is dedicated to such thing."
Ke: "...fuck this world is weird."
Elsa Maria
A: "At least you're not letting the emotion get to your head. Its important to keep a level head in a battle situation."
Sh: "Even though we do let emotion get to our heads sometimes."
A: "But we've learnt to channel that emotion into anger towards our enemies."
Ka: "I must say, I love the art style used in Elsa Maria."
Ky: "Oh yeah, the silhouettes? I thought that was pretty cool too."
A: "It would've been much cheaper to make, but whoever made this made it work."
R: "It seems you're channeling your emotion into anger towards the enemy as well, Miki."
A: "Yeah, the bloodshed can do that to you." An offhand remark. "Though who knows, maybe I'm just a violent psychopath." Sakura continued tearing the Witch to shreds. "Okay, maybe you are letting emotion get to you."
Sa: "...it's still really weird seeing myself be that way. I know you lot can be... bloody, but I'm certainly not."
"Well, it's not like you pilot giant mechs against blood factories." Asuka was flat. "Though even if you didn't completely eviscerate the enemy, there would always be blood."
"...yeah, I don't think I'd be able to do blood." Sayaka was quiet. "I get queasy just thinking about it."
"Maybe you could get on the bridge crew then." Shinji suggested. "Gods know NERV is always in need of new hires."
"And considering NERV provides around 80% of the careers in the city, it seems like an obvious choice." Rei continued. "Pay could be better, though the benefits are great compared to most other jobs."
"Well, I'm sure there'd be other things to consider before working for NERV." Kensuke of all people suggested some caution, even though he definitely wouldn't mind, even in a non pilot role.
"Dental is free, you can get two prescription lenses for free every four years, and a part of your pay packet automatically goes into a superannuation."
"I'm sold."
The pilots chuckled. "That was easy."
The next episode flowed on from the previous.
~Khorne
Sa: "I was kinda confused on why no one really tried stopping me, considering the witch is already pretty dead."
A: "Would you want to get in the way of a madwoman and her quarry?"
Sayaka thought. "Fuck no."
A: "Smart."
Ka: "And not even taking the Grief Seed for yourself."
R: "Considering how exhausted you are, I suspect that was not a wise decision."
Kyoko glared. "You could backtrack every major decision made in this show and argue they were not wise."
Sh: "Like our show."
Rain Come Down
Ky: "...poor Madoka didn't deserve any of this shit."
Sa: "None of us did. Being turned into a corpse like that."
R: "Needless to say, if Kyubey existed in this world, he wouldn't exist for long. And I would make sure of it."
Ke: "Man, that soul thing really struck a nerve, didn't it?"
She glared, and he backed down.
Ka: "I think Miki's sanity has gone plummeting past where it last was."
Sa: "An apt summary."
Akemi
A: "She has an even nicer apartment than Tomoe had."
Ka: "What do you even call that styling anyway? It looks very... flat."
Kensuke shrugged. "Looks sorta futuristic."
Sh: "We still don't know how Akemi knows about Walpurgisnacht."
R: "The way Sakura implied it, Walpurgisnacht is a common witch, or at least one that sprouts up occasionally."
A: "Of course, Miki might become a problem. That's what the black blob on your Soul Gem was, right? A curse?"
Sa: "Pretty sure it was." She sighed.
Ke: "Or depletion. As it seems a magical girl requires magic to exist."
Sh: "Well that's gonna be great. And knowing this show, the worst possible scenario is gonna happen."
R: "She dies? I would expect something like that, unfortunately."
The trio uncomfortably looked among themselves for yet another time.
Confession
Sa: "And here we see the last of my sanity fly out the window."
Sh: "That was pretty much my reaction to my downfall as well."
A: "That's pretty harsh though, seeing her with Kyosuke. Would've completely devastated you."
Sayaka shrugged. "In comparison to the shit you guys seemed to go through."
A: "It's still a burden though, isn't it? Plus, you can't really compare an Evangelion pilot to a regular civvy. Intense emotional burden is part and parcel of everyday life as pilots."
Ke: "Also gives you guys a warped sense of humour."
Ka: "Humour is one of the healthiest methods of dealing with such emotion."
Ky: "I would think a therapist would be pretty great as well."
The pilots gave a collective laugh. "You're getting it now, Sakura."
Ky: "...wait, do you guys seriously not have any therapists at NERV?"
R: "NERV and their pilots are privy to some of the most important secrets of this world, something that simply cannot be divulged."
A: "It's tough shit, I know. So instead, we do self therapy."
Ke: "Which consists of?"
Asuka gave a goggly eyed look to Shinji.
Ke: "Oh."
Corruption
Sa: "I can't believe sh- I was able to be this dense in the show."
Ka: "You already appear to be far gone, unfortunately. Whatever the consequence is of a corrupted Soul Gem, I fear that will happen to you."
A: "I must say, that's the first time I've seen Akemi appear shocked. You know things are getting bad when she's surprised."
Ky: "Obviously this wasn't supposed to happen."
Sh: "It still ties back into Madoka though. What's with her obsession?"
Ke: "All will-"
A: "-be revealed, yes we know."
Ka: "It's obvious she loves her, though. Similar to what you describe of this Akemi."
Sa: "Well, yeah. Madoka is her closest friend. Well, even closer now."
Sh: "Hang on, where'd she get a flashbang from?"
A: "Maybe she has a similar power to Tomoe, which is pretty fucking awesome."
Midnight Train
All the women and men present gave a glare to match Ramiel's beam at the screen, increasing the temperature of the computer by a couple degrees.
A: "See, this is why I threw all those boys into trash cans when I first moved here."
R: "I would probably give those dogs a few minutes or so in a bucket."
Ky: "Sounds similar to what Asuka would do."
R: "In a sense."
Ka: "I still find it odd how someone could think like that."
Kensuke gave a shrug. "What can I say? Humans are assholes. Many of them at least."
A: "Like the bastards who invaded NERV."
Iblis
Sh: "Kyubey has power to make magical girls, but not undo?"
R: "What incentive would he have to undo such a thing? It's obvious whatever his machinations are revolves around magical girls."
Sa: "Odds are he would never do such a thing anyway, even if he could."
A: "And of course, Satan continues to try forming a pact with Faust."
Ka: "As he has tried since the beginning. A less determined being would've given up by the third episode."
R: "His persistence indicates something special about Madoka, I would think."
Sa: "Power beyond what Kyubey considered possible? Of course he would be persistent."
A: "Madoka, out of all people?"
Ke: "She is the protagonist of this show, after all. I'm sure whoever was the protagonist of your show had events revolve around them."
Sh: "Yeah, that's fairly accurate. Although Asuka and Rei also had events revolve around them."
A: "Especially Rei."
Ka: "Although, much like Madoka, you ended up with immense power."
Sh: "That my mind was too broken to use effectively." He scorned. "And I expect that to be the same with Madoka, considering how this show's been like."
A: "This is exactly like Fau-"
Beretta
Kyubey had a bakers dozen bullets instantly driven through him.
Asuka was practically giddy with the violence of Kyubey's apparent demise. "Holy shit, Akemi."
Kyoko gave a wide, almost sinister smile. "Yeah, that was pretty satisfying."
R: "Quite satisfying indeed. If it wasn't obvious before that she's doing all this to prevent Madoka becoming a magical girl."
Ke: "Killing the being that does that whole thing would send quite a clear message, I imagine."
Ka: "...she appears quite desperate to prevent such a thing. Akemi has completely lost her regular cool."
R: "...she must love her. But they haven't met... wait a minute." Gears clicked in her head. "If she can control time. What are the chances she's an interloper?"
Kaworu's eyes widened. "It's certainly possible."
A: "Wait, Kyubey's a hive?" She cringed at how Kyubey ate itself.
R: "So it is time manipulation."
Sh: "Not only that, but full on timeline hopping."
Kaworu grew even more confused. "That would answer several questions in that world. But that just raises further questions for me."
Sa: "...oh yeah, you remember seeing Homura, do you?"
Ky: "Maybe our Homura skips timelines on the side."
R: "...incubator." She thought, internally collaborating with Kaworu.
Conturbatio
Sayaka scooted closer to Kensuke and Kyoko, and the pilots knew that this scene would be a tough one.
R: "...you're falling further into despair."
Ka: "...even in our world, too much despair, or Destrudo, will wreak havoc on the soul."
A: "...jeez, you're really far gone, Miki."
Sa: "...this will be the last you see of her. as her."
Her Soul Gem was revealed. Rei felt shock and concern at the sight of this poor unfortunate soul.
Kaworu shared this concern, even without feeling Rei. "...what happens when a Soul Gem gets completely corrupted?"
Quiet from the trio.
Slowly, with dread, he turned his head back to the screen.
I really was an idiot
Sayaka was no more. The realisation finally dawned on Rei, what Incubator really meant. "oh fuck."
That it came from Rei shocked the trio.
Ke: "...now you know, Nagisa."
Kaworu was shocked silent.
Sayaka leaned harder into Kyoko.
Kyubey dropped yet another neutron bomb from the tower.
A: "...Majo. Kyubey, you magnificent son of a bitch."
"...so a Witch is the final stage of a magical girl." Kaworu finally spoke, quiet.
"...he's evil." Shinji spat out.
"...truly a Faustian deal. You were right, Asuka." Rei, oddly calm, intoned, as she stood. "We will continue tomorrow, correct?"
Kensuke nodded, holding a distressed Sayaka to his side.
"We shall make our leave then."
They did just that.
Once they left, Sayaka broke down.
~From outside the closed door, Rei was first to speak.
"I am going to skin Kyubey alive for the desecration he has done."
"Yeah, I knew that whole lich thing would make you react like that, Rei." Asuka completely understood. "Kyubey really is Satan, isn't he?"
"I'm pretty sure it was a regular demon in Faust. But the overall moral is still the same." Kaworu kept his cool, despite what happened. "It leads me to believe that this show is an interpretation of Faust."
"But who is Faust in that show? Cause each and every magical girl in existence would've had to have sold their soul to the devil known as Kyubey."
"That's your answer. Every magical girl is Faust."
~
"Wark!"
"From that cartoon? But he's a criminal!"
"Wa-wark wark!"
Misato rested her head on her hand. "Yes, Feathers McGraw is a genius mastermind, but that doesn't remove the fact he kidnapped Wallace to steal a diamond."
"Wa-kark."
"And you look up to him, great." She deadpanned, putting on her sarcasm. "You should cosplay as him sometime, if you like him so much."
The penguin thought, and returned to his fridge for a dozen seconds, emerging with what appeared to be a small rubber glove on his head.
She gave him a flat look, trying to stay serious but said facade was failing rapidly. "I'm not drunk enough for this shit."
"We aren't either." Asuka deadpanned, causing Misato to jump from her seat and make a sound similar to Pen-Pen. "Sounds like a very enlightening conversation."
"Wark." The penguin went for one of Asuka's beers and returned to his fridge, to a very exasperated Asuka.
"Soooo," A can thumped down on the table. "How was the show?"
"Lets just say, if you can get Rei angry, then you should probably reconsider your stance on things."
"Oh Jesus, what happened?" Now Misato was curious.
Shinji thought. "Lets just say, the price of becoming a magical girl is to become a... what's it called again, Asuka?"
"A lich."
"Yeah, that."
"Lich... remind me again what that kind of creature is?"
"Their soul gets placed into a physical vessel, but they can still control their body. It's a form of immortality, as long as the vessel isn't damaged."
Misato thought through various films. "Like in Anastasia, right?"
"Essentially, except their bodies weren't rotting."
A sharp exhale. "Gotta say, that's a different take on a magical girl than what I know. Fucking litches..." She took a swig of her beer.
"What about those same magical girls eventually becoming the Angel like enemy they fight?"
She choked on her beer, eventually composing herself after a coughing fit. "How does that even work?"
"As Kaworu would say, the mechanisms of that world would be different, even more so than even our Theatrical universe."
"Tell me about it." Shinji deadpanned, beginning work on dinner. "But its yet another world where people Miki and Sakura know and love get shafted."
"Good to know we aren't the only people God shits on." Misato finished off the beer. "Didja tell Miki and Sakura about Tomoe?"
There were a few seconds of silence, eventually broken by the thud of Asuka's head on the desk. "Fuck, I forgot to tell them."
~
A hand drifted over a chest. "Did ya project last night?"
"Yeah." A chuckle. "All the identifiers were there. The green boy. The nightmare."
"The purple eyed girl?"
"Yeah." Eyes closed. "I think she noticed me."
"...how so?"
"...I'd liken it to that apparition of you from the Laserdiscs. She flared. I flared back. She disappeared."
"...do you think that's the Akemi of that show?"
"...could be." Looking into other red eyes. "She follows the same path every time."
Thinking. "She's trying to change something, if that is indeed time."
"Something to do with Madoka."
"...Most likely." Settling in. "Its interesting what you see, Kaworu. Its like another realm."
A smile. "I could show you."
Hands clasped and merged. Kaworu opened his mind up and allowed himself to drift. "Open your mind, and hold on tight."
She did just that.
The sound of a singular drop of water impacting on a still lake signified a transition from the physical to the metaphysical. A transition Rei did not expect to be as calm.
Rei held onto Kaworu tight, as she bore witness to a star stuttered sky, aurora and nebula painting the canvas. In her awe, she likened it to a heaven.
She took in her surroundings, and expressed shock at the simulacrum of her that populated this strange place.
"Do not worry." His wisp. "They are natural phenomena. I suspect from other, less fortunate timelines."
"They harmful?"
"No. They will not disturb us."
With his free hand, he pointed out beyond their border, towards other, distant isles. They almost seemed to move closer as he focused. "The green boy. Every 72 seconds, he makes his journey. This journey is always marked with an almost melancholic tune."
She observed. She thought it curious, how he always followed the same pattern.
The next. "The nightmare. They don't have a pattern, but I suspect they use this realm for their own, unknown, purpose."
She observed. A seemingly regal figure, obviously of a high power quotent if they were able to occupy and use this realm for their own agenda.
The next. "The girl with purple eyes."
She observed. Black hair, purple eyes. Shield. Walking. A complete dead ringer of Homura Akemi, as depicted in the show.
She stopped, and looked.
Rei flared to this figure.
The figure stood still, before hastily moving on her way. The Nephilim could sense an air of apprehension.
"Odd."
"Indeed, but this realm is odd."
Craning her head, she looked further around. "How do you see into timelines?"
A smile. "I'll show you."
He bent down, to the ground, resting his free hand on the alien surface. One quick application of his AT-Field later, and they caught a glimpse of days gone by.
"We can certainly try, Commander." Shinji teased, as he picked up one of the fallen MP-Evangelion's weapons and lobbed it at another, dazing it.
Asuka roundhouse kicked the dazed MP-Eva and proceeded to dismember it, which kept it immobilised. They could regenerate, so Asuka usually only had a good half minute to remove the dummy plug and completely disable the MP-Eva. But she worked fast with that prog knife of hers.
She haphazardly threw the plug to Hikari like a fumbling relay runner, who set it down against a building for recovery.
"Asuka, can you please not completely tear this one to shreds? Major Ibuki's gonna be sick."
"I remember this. We weren't sortied that time, but I remember it."
"Indeed. It's relatively close to prime and time." His free hand pointed out. "The further out you go, the more energy it takes. But you can look further out. Including into other timelines. Unfortunately, even with the S2 Organ, I do not have enough power to look into other universes."
"Fascinating." Genuine awe, as the playback ended.
The distant song restarted, as an apparition of Rei was shooed away by Kaworu.
They wandered aimlessly for a few minutes more, Rei and Kaworu expressing extreme confusion at a phone box trailing the sky like a meteor, before Rei signalled to Kaworu: "I think I am ready to return."
"Lets. I believe I am draining energy faster than usual." Kaworu was able to hide his lethargy well enough.
Just as he was about to exit with Rei, something caught his eye.
Or, someone.
A girl. Of brown hair and ashen skin.
But just like a flash of lightning, she was gone as soon as he looked.
"What is it, Kaworu?"
"...I think I saw someone."
"...who?"
"I... don't know. But... they had our complexion."
Thinking. "Another person like us? In our general timeline?"
"...potentially." Shaking of the head. "I would say they won't be of any importance."
"Knowing this world though."
They chuckled as they returned to the physical world.
Rei noted Kaworu was breathing heavily. "Is everything alright, darling?"
Weary nodding in reply, with a smile. "I think bringing you along with me used more energy than I could naturally replenish. I'll survive though. Nothing a bit of rest won't fix." He quickly settled into Rei and fell asleep almost immediately.
A few quiet giggles from Rei. "You stupid trout, exhausting yourself for me..."
She drifted her hand over him until she, too, fell asleep.
~Right, A. Down, Right A. Down
Yet more big reveals from Kyubey. Though at least the Madokaverse is somewhat different from Evangelion, so many of the big reveals can't actually apply. Still doesn't change the fact Rei despises Kyubey for what he did.
I wonder if Oversight will be able to find out what that text is. They already have at least a copy of the original scrolls in their possession, so its certainly possible they'd be able to translate it. Now I just need to figure out what they say
I would liken this time plane to a mishmash of Sovngarde and the Lifestream, with hints of Farplane and other timey-wimey ball bullshit. While the plane Kaworu project himselfs into can be used for time related shenanigans, there may be other, yet unknown purposes as well. Hell, this plane is practically only known to Kaworu and (now) Rei. Possibly. And it makes sense peering into time itself would require immense power, such that an S2 enabled being like Kaworu would actually feel drained trying to carry Rei with him into this strange realm, though just carrying himself into such a realm doesn't drain his power to below the point of regeneration. You practically need to be a God to manipulate anything anyway, or even to traverse your physical self through the realm. The other figures Kaworu could see who appeared to do that would have had the help of whatever the God or Gods of that realm were. Or they could be Gods, who knows at this point. I mean, I should really know I guess
But oh well. SEELE are still doing their thing.
BG_Character_592
The Fisherman
- Location
- Australia
Or Gendo reactivated Unit-01, made sure that no one could stop it from tanging most of the live on earth, And then screwed with the memories of everyone who cares about him and made them think that's he DELIBERATELY CAUSED THE WHOLE MESS. Along with other things to make sure that Misato became essentially a bit expy of him aside from the SCORN AND HATEtm she feels for Shinji. (Whom in any other case she may have come to love as her own son)With the way Lilith looks in 3.33, it's entirely possible an Angel got down there and had its way with her. Of course, there's many possibilities and no answers as to what happens in the years following N3I (making it perfect fanfiction fodder
I have a feeling though that Gendo (or SEELE, or both) tried playing their hand during the interim however. The World did not look like that after N3I (at least the short scene of it). Their shenanigans could explain several aspects of the post 3I world of Rebuild:
Of course this is speculation (as is everything when one tries to explain just what the hell happened in 3.33), but that's all we have, and we've had plenty of time to theorise and speculate.
- The moon having an atmosphere and looking like it wants to pull a Majora's Mask? SEELE/NERV terraforming to accommodate the production of Mark.x units.
- Failures of Infinity? Side effect of a failed instrumentality event.
- Rei Q? Gendo doesn't give any shits about Rei with the apparent demise of Rei-2, and has used her as an expendable tool countless times over the years (if I remember my Japanese correctly, kyuu = 9, therefore 9th iteration. Or 17th, because Q is 17th in the alphabet)
And probably more time after 2020, because we're most likely to be given more questions and no answers. Because Anno
And the Rei might be referred to as Rei-Q (Kyuu/nine) because she pilots an Eva designated as Unit-09
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- Location
- Canada
I had the same problem until I just tried writing something out until I got to a point where it seemed like a good place to stop. Then I went back and fixed the parts of it I cocked up.You know, sometimes i envy you guys. You all could come up with all sort of funny or heartwarming or tearjerker stories, while i struggle to even finish one. I hope i can write something thats actually coherent like you guys someday
- Location
- Altamonte Springs, FL
I will always say that this reminds me of a passage in Cat's Cradle. It goes such:
"Borasisi, the sun, held Pabu, the moon, in his arms, and hoped Pabu would bear him a fiery child. But poor Pabu gave birth to children that were cold, that did not burn; and Borasisi threw them away in disgust. Those were the planets who circled their terrible father at a safe distance. Then poor Pabu herself was cast away, and she went to live with her favourite child, which was Earth. Earth was Pabu's favourite because it had people on it; and the people looked up to her and loved her and sympathised."
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TsukikoHime
CEO of yuri
- Location
- that one gay idol magical girl show
I think I'm missing this reference. Hints?
Awwwwwwwwwwww.
At least "shitting on hopes and dreams" isn't quite as true for Madoka as Eva. Madoka's more like "trial by fire of hopes and dreams".
...Does something go here before "That could work"? Or is that meant to be nothing?
Correction: *Sayaka continued...
Rei just did Ritsuko's job for her
Sure, hospitalization and tanging are close enough
Best moment in the show. I could be happy with it as my computer wallpaper
The kanji even work as well. "Magical girl" is "mahou shoujo", the kanji being "ma" "hou" "shou" "jo". Cut out the two middle kanji, and you get the kanji for "ma" "jo", aka Witch.
Or was that what was meant by the comment "majo"?
What's this reference? Don't recognize it off the bat.
Also, where is Endless Eight Yuki Nagato? She should be somewhere in there
Also- "Surgam Identidem", the song when Walpurgisnacht appears, is in Kajiuran (or at least it seems to be, from the one lyrics thing I've seen). Curious what kind of horrible misanthropic things that one says to Kaworu.
Konti amista areta
Misto idete aroro
Mar efi deso
Ita korito
Atari amista irmia
Idia mortita
Aria vi arma
Amia adia lidio
Iria fir asaro
Iria karda
Konti amista areta
Misto idete aroro
Mar efi deso
Ita korito
Misto idete aroro
Mar efi deso
Ita korito
Atari amista irmia
Idia mortita
Aria vi arma
Amia adia lidio
Iria fir asaro
Iria karda
Konti amista areta
Misto idete aroro
Mar efi deso
Ita korito
Keep up the good work!
- Location
- Online
You know these are not being thread-marked right?Something magical
Speaking of something magical, time for a new instalment of The DVD Chronicles: Evangelium Puellae Magae! More comparisons to Faust, Kaworu explores time, and the pilots learn why they want to skin Kyubey alive!
A bag was thrown haphazardly onto the bed, its expensive cargo considered of little relative importance in comparison to the scratchpad he carried with him.
On went a lamp, as Kaji went to work.
Rummaging through his briefcase, and scattering various faxes, documents and forms to the metaphorical wind, he pulled out a little red book, contained was his sum knowledge on this language of SEELE.
So not much.
Still, it was an interesting development. Oversight has ample resources to translate such texts, and such information may encourage 02 to see him as less of an adversary and more of an ally. Thats what this whole charade was about anyway. Friendship is one thing, but being allies doesn't necessarily require one.
He still didn't entirely know where Kaworu found this specific morsel of information. 'A song', in Dirac Rift material like the Laserdiscs. Only the Gods knew how such sensitive information ended up in Rift material, but this universe was one of complete and arbitrary bullshit, so this was certainly possible.
And indeed it was possible, considering he has the words right there.
"Gods, this universe is headache inducing."
~
The river of time flowed round.
This astral plane was accessible only to those with such power and attenuation. As such, there were few occupants of this realm. The only ones at this station were himself, and the messengers of Lilith from other, less fortunate timelines. They did not disturb him.
Even he, with such power, did not hold a candle to other beings of other universes, who could ride the rivers of time.
From where he stood, he could see other, distant lands. Completely separate universes, separated by the insurmountable ocean; inaccessible to a simple broadcast like him, inaccessible to even the most powerful.
On one, a boy in green. He traversed the same road, a distant flute marking his journey.
Another, a winged unicorn, coat of midnight and mane of stars. The being could manifest and disappear at will, the purpose of their constant visitation he could not know.
Yet another.
The girl with purple eyes.
Similar to the green garbed boy, she walked a lonely road. The only road that she had ever known.
She stopped and stared across the ocean, seemingly at the ashen figure. A ghost under the light.
The light flickered.
He flickered back.
~
A girl woke with a start.
~
Ritsuko had her head down on a written letter, from R&D, essentially saying they're full up doing all the other stuff she had assigned to them.
"Tough break eh?" The Kohai wrapped arms around the Sempai.
"We've got them doing a lot of stuff, to be fair." She sighed. "Speaking of, how's Ultradisc going?"
"Umm," A quick excursion to her terminal. "Ultraviolet radiation levels are down to 95% of what they once were."
"They're still non zero though, are they?"
"Yeah."
A thud. "What of using the Ramiel substrate for storage?"
Typing. "Current estimates at conventional data compression rates, using the baseline decoding hardware, puts it at approximately 20 gigabytes."
The scientist recalled. "It's 1/3 of the foreign disc. But its infinitely better than CD or even DVD."
"Something to celebrate?"
"Maybe. What's the hardware like to actually read these discs?"
"You know those bog standard, borderline dumb terminals NEC sells us for 5000 Yen? 12 of those."
A thud. "The consumer is not going to buy a 70 thousand Yen product without immense support. Which we don't have."
"I'll be sure to inform them to reduce the cost." Maya found another item on the agenda. "This should bring some good news at least. The data from Rei's recent sync test with NT-Unit-00 is finally here, after several Unit-01 related delays."
A thud. "Damn it, I completely forgot about that."
A short giggle from Maya in reply. "Her sync with ELIZA is consistent, even more so than the OT-Unit-00. She reached a new max of 69.7%."
A smirk. "What of ELIZA?"
"Cognitive function has improved 40% from the last lot of tests we performed with her, though we believe she's starting to plateau when it comes to that. Language and social skills have also improved and plateaued in similar ways."
Thinking as Ritsuko was handed the terminal, to look over the data. "I think we're reaching the limits for the hardware. She should be fine though, she can already function excellently."
"Is that pride I hear, Ritsuko?" Maya bent down to lightly prod her, noticing she had also been using the female pronoun to refer to ELIZA.
Ritsuko meanwhile fell quiet, head settled on the desk. She turned to her Kohai. "...she... she calls me her mother, Maya." Muted emotion stemmed from her. "i... i..."
Maya looked at her for a few seconds, confusion giving way to a gentle, knowing smile as she gave her comfort. "She's been doing that for a while, has she?"
A few sniffles. "i... its been on my mind since that first sync test we did with her."
"...that was a fair bit ago, Sempai."
"i know. i know. but... it's just got me thinking..."
Maya thought, a quiet realisation. "...not ready to be a mother yet?"
Sniffles became sobs.
Maya continued holding her.
~
"So how much more grim and dark and grimdark will this show be today?" Asuka scorned.
"Normally I'd say you were cynical." The other candle equally intoned. "But considering we had some hindsight."
Asuka huffed like an angry bull. "It's always the shows involving us that end up being completely fucked."
"This is the third of those shows, Asuka." Rei was flat. "I would think you were used to it by now."
"Are any of us used to it?"
"No." Everyone replied to Shinji's foregone question.
"Surely it cannot get too much worse from the current situation." Kaworu tried being optimistic.
Key word tried. The trio simply give a look towards the fish.
~Key:
Shinji (Sh) Asuka (A)
Rei (R) Kaworu (Ka)
Kensuke (Ke) Sayaka (Sa) Kyoko (Ky)
Contract
Sa: "I can say with full conviction that this was the biggest mistake I made in this show."
R: "It would've been a massive decision, wanting to do such thing."
Sh: "Especially since you already knew what being a magical girl entails."
Sa: "Which is what makes this decision even worse, cause I knew."
Ke: "You couldn't know of what being a magical girl was, at the time."
Ky: "Yeah, didn't we only find out, like, halfway through the series?"
Kaworu watched with growing concern, as Kyubey was paid his due. "He... that's the soul. What power he has to do such thing."
Rei looked on, her feelings confused. Anger, maybe? At how this being could so easily mess with a soul.
A: "You just made a deal with the damned devil, Miki."
Sa: "Don't I know it." She said flat.
School
Ky: "I thought it kinda odd that you seemed alright here, considering all the shit you just went through."
A: "Everyone knows one of the best ways to get on with life is to bury all your feelings so they don't break you!"
Ky: "...thats not-"
A: "Yes Sakura, that was not serious." Complete deadpan.
Sh: "At least Hitomi didn't seem that affected by the witch."
Ka: "Once its influence wore off, at least."
Ky: "Kinda odd she didn't take the day off, but knowing Hitomi, that's what she'd do."
Sa: "...it's obvious Madoka didn't share my optimism."
Wonderful
A: "You do sound quite a bit naive there, Miki."
Sa: "I'm sure you had a similar experience when you became an Evangelion pilot."
Asuka glared at the other bluenette. "For an hour."
Sayaka knew to shut up.
Sh: "...I'm kinda feeling for Madoka here. She probably thinks she's useless, like I thought of myself."
R: "...she has been dragged along a bit, hasn't she?"
Ka: "...she's in a world she has no power to fight against. I wouldn't be surprised if she thought that."
Ke: "At least a magical girl would have some power to fight and change things."
R: "...she's still blaming herself for Tomoe."
Miracle
Sa: "I wouldn't regret wishing to heal him."
Ka: "But what did you truly want? Him to be better, or him to love you?"
Sa: "...okay, how the hell are you guys so perspective about these things?"
A shrug. "Gotta be in our line of work."
R: "It doesn't help the both of us are naturally inclined to pick up on the more obfuscated feelings and details people could have."
Sh: "It's good to see he's sorry for how he acted, though."
Sa: "That's Kyosuke for you. Sweet boy but he gets frustrated easily. Though he tries not to take it out on us."
A: "It does seem he's opening up to you though. I'd say you'd win him." Flippant. "If not for the fact whoever directed this seemed to take a page out of our show director's book of 'shitting on the hopes and dreams of your characters'."
Laughter. "Pretty much sums it up." Spoke Kensuke.
A: "Though it is quite sweet you organised all that for him."
The melancholic sound welled. Sayaka gave a sad smile, shared by Asuka, a sense of joy for a fellow violin player.
Kyoko
A: "You sure eat a lot, Sakura."
Ky: "I was taught very early on the importance of not wasting food." She gave a knowing look to the other candle.
As if through magic, Asuka completely understood what she meant, and didn't pursue further.
Ka: "...Kyubey's talking about Akemi. I find it odd he doesn't know about her, if all magical girls formed a contract with him."
Rei shrugged. "It's possible there's other Kyubey. Whatever their species are."
A: "What about becoming a magical girl without Kyubey. Through sheer force of will."
Ky: "Out of all the people who could possibly will themselves into a magical girl, Homura is the polar opposite."
Sh: "This probably gets explained later anyway. I would hope at least."
A: "Though that does put her motivations into question."
Ke: "All will be answered in time."
Pragma
Ky: "If we take what Homura's talking about from a pragmatic perspective, you can kinda understand."
A: "To be fair, that kinda applies in the real world as well. Gotta know when to put things like kindness to the side."
Sh: "It's kinda easier with us though, cause we're facing the abominations in giant mechs. And teamwork is important to defeating the enemy."
Ka: "If becoming a magical girl is indeed like selling your soul, then Akemi would be right."
Sa: "That would not be what Madoka would want to hear though."
Ka: "Madoka would fall into the same traps Akemi described, if she became a magical girl. Like our world, their world is one of brutality and pain. You simply cannot be weak."
R: "Unfortunate, but true."
A: "...then becoming a magical girl is a truly Faustian deal."
Ka: "Everyone has something they would sell a soul for." He looked towards Shinji. "Your father would know this."
Patrol
Sh: "She so desperately wants to be of some use."
Sa: "...i hope our Madoka doesn't feel like this. I wouldn't have known."
Ka: "...it's likely, you realise. Your personalities appear similar to the show, at least parts."
R: "...hopefully she has the support she needs. Like how the you of the show supports her, Miki."
Sa: "...she definitely has that."
R: "That's good."
A: "We definitely needed that as well."
Ky: "And of course, Kyubey here had a plan."
Ka: "Madoka seems to factor into his plans a lot. Kinda similar to how all of us once factored into a master plan."
Ke: "Madoka wouldn't be able to comprehend such a plan."
Ka: "Oh God no, we couldn't comprehend our plan until the eleventh hour."
Familiar
Ka: "A wise decision, to start off with a weaker being."
A: "Though that just drains your magic with no reward."
Kensuke glared.
A: "Other than people not dying."
R: "Fighting a mere familiar would not drain as much power as a full blown Witch, I'd imagine."
Sa: "Despite all the shit I got, I look damn fine in that outfit."
Ky: "You know how to use a sword too."
Sayaka snorted. "I wish. Though out of all the weapons I could pick, a sword seems alright. Get me nice and close."
A: "Sounds like me, except with an axe."
Ke: "And we all know how you're like. You make it rain blood."
A chuckle. "I probably have a sweet nickname because of it, don't I?"
Ke: "One of the recent ones I heard was 'Frau Blutregen'."
She thought. And shrugged. "Eh, not that creative."
But it was me, Kyoko!
Kyoko chuckled. "Here we go."
Sa: "Funny thing was, we were kinda antagonistic as well."
Ky: "At first."
Sayaka giggled at that remark.
A: "Even though both of you are polar opposites, at least in the show."
Sa: "You know what they say about magnets."
Sh: "All of the weapons they use seem wildly impractical."
Ka: "Magic."
R: "Indeed. Though I'm sure you could explain the mechanics behind that world if you looked hard enough into it."
Sh: "Similar to our world then."
Kyoko advanced further.
A: "Sounds like you have similar thinking to me, Sakura."
Ky: "At first, at least. You can see how I would think that, Grief Seeds are important after all."
A: "Oh yeah. But people not dying is of importance as well."
Ka: "I can understand her point of view, though. She's pragmatic. Like Akemi."
R: "Maybe having such pragmatism is a requirement to survive for a long time as a magical girl."
Civil War
Sh: "Still though, if they could work together, that would prevent many of the issues."
A: "We'd know, eh Shinji?"
Sh: "Even when we weren't close, we could at least clench our teeth and work together in battle. Eventually."
R: "Obviously it's different in this other world."
Sa: "You try getting several teenage girls to work together without it turning to a catfight."
Ka: "Which is another issue with the magical girls. They have little discipline in battle, and they let emotion get to them."
Sh: "To be fair, we aren't entirely immune to that."
A: "We channel emotion into violence on the battlefield."
Ke: "...so thats why the Crucifix battle was like that."
Kyoko glared. "Of course Kyubey takes the opportunity to try turning her."
"At least Homura put a stop to that." Spoke Kaworu. "She has a very good reason for wanting to protect Madoka."
"You could say that again." Kensuke was flat.
"When we found out," Sayaka began, "we had to take a small break to collect ourselves."
"Yep, sounds like us too." Asuka had pursed lips. "I don't even remember how many times we had to stop watching our God damned show."
"Usually we would've watched two episodes a day, but sometimes that would go down to one episode." Shinji reminisced.
"...we didn't even catch the end of an episode, due to how... confronting it was for me."
"...damn guys." The geek was quiet.
"...if our show could trigger such emotion in us." Rei began.
"Yeah, I know Rei." Ken dejected. "I know."
The next episode started.
~Irregularity
Sa: "Good thing Homura stopped us, we would've torn each other to shreds."
A: "She's still brutally cold, in the show."
Ka: "That might as well be a thing for long surviving magical girls."
Ky: "Kill or be killed, as they say."
Sh: "At this rate, it would be for the best if Madoka took Akemi's advice. Probably run as far away from that city as she could as well."
R: "Except she won't. Because Kyubey will keep trying. For any other person, he would've stopped trying, but obviously there's something with Madoka he wants."
Ke: "And because she's the main character in this story."
R: "That too."
~
Renewal
Ka: "Certainly an interesting function of Kyubey."
R: "Its probable he can get energy from them. It would be an effective way of disposing them, at the very least."
A: "Could be how he fuels his magic."
Kyoko positioned her index and thumb close to each other. "You're this close."
Ka: "What I find odd, is how this vessel of the soul requires a fuel."
R: "Have they specified the Gem itself requires magic? The way Kyubey describes it, you only need to renew your magic if you use it."
Kaworu thought. "Well, if I were to use the closest analog we have to a Soul Gem is what the Angels had, but they're often used in conjunction with an S2 Organ." 'Course, Eva. Core. Function no S2.'
'Power required?'
'Not our world.' Kaworu continued his train of thought in the real world. "Of course, the whole point of being a magical girl is to... well, use magic. It's certainly possible that just keeping the Soul Gem active requires some latent magic energy."
Faust
A: "See, what concerns me about that, is if those rings or gems actually do hold their soul."
Ke: "I won't confirm or deny that."
A: "Well, if it is their soul, then a magical girl is a fucking lich, like Rasputin."
The pilots glanced up and looked at Asuka, Rei especially had a dangerous look in her eyes. "You don't think, right?"
A: "Oh I do think."
Rei reigned herself in. "I assume it's Bluth's take on Rasputin, not the actual Rasputin."
A: "Considering how long the Ruskies say it took him to die."
The trio was rather confused at this though. "What's a lich?"
Sh: "Have you guys seen Anastasia?"
Ky: "Ana-what now?"
A: "That's a no then." Flat. "They bind their existence to an object to obtain immortality."
Ka: "Of course, you have the consequence of their bodies decaying, due to them technically being dead."
The trio looked on in shock, once they realised what a lich was. How she so easily picked apart what was such a big reveal to them.
A: "Hopefully that's not actually a thing though." She dismissed flippantly. "I wouldn't want to wish that kind of existence on anyone."
R: "Not to mention how plain wrong that is."
Sh: "It'd be great if Kyubey could stop manipulating for once."
A: "See your father in him?" She prodded. "He would've been much less intimidating if he looked like a damned ferret."
The pilots laughed amongst themselves. The trio meanwhile continued looking on at them. Probably wondering how fucked in the head the Evangelion makes their pilots.
Dog Drug Reinforcement
Asuka snorted. "What an excellent ripoff."
Sh: "D'ya think Akemi and Sakura will get into a dance off?"
Asuka rolled eyes. "This isn't that kind of show."
Shinji went flat. "Considering our show, and our life had something like that."
Kensuke furrowed his brow. "Your show had something like that as well?"
Sh: "Not only that, we pretty much used a DDR machine to train for Israfel."
Ke: "You WHAT?"
The pilots burst out laughing, as Kensuke kept babbling.
R: "It's quite interesting what can count as training. In retrospect, a DDR machine was quite a genius idea to foster teamwork."
A: "Maybe if you just danced together, you would've actually been nice to each other! It worked in this Godforsaken world."
Sh: "Wasn't Walpurgisnacht a holiday in Germany?" He queried Asuka
A: "Not a state holiday, but it's still a feast day... What relevance does Walpurgisnacht have to this show?"
Ka: "Odds are, Walpurgisnacht is the name of the Witch. Consider Gertrud and Kirsten were German as well."
She groaned. "Whats with these mind bending anime and German?"
Voice of Reason
Sh: "Sometimes it feels like Madoka is the only voice of reason in this show."
Sayaka chuckled. "Much like this world then. Though once you get to that stage, there's not really much 'reason' could do in such a situation."
Ky: "True that. Of course, the thing to do is to avoid ending up hating someone so much you end up in a deathmatch."
Sa: "We definitely don't have that problem."
Ke: "The bedroom is practically a battle royale between the two of you anyway."
A snort. "We do share, Ken."
Ka: "Ah love. What a beautiful sound."
A: "Putting aside the pillow talk, I'm starting to become a bit concerned about your mental health, Miki."
Sayaka sucked in some air. "Yeah, not my finest hour. Probably could've been a bit more sensitive." She shrugged. "Not like I could do much though. Sucks observing, doesn't it?"
Pilots: "Tell us about it."
Welcome Home
A: "I would hope her mother was responsible enough to not feed Madoka alcohol."
Sa: "Madoka probably wouldn't touch the stuff anyway."
Ka: "At the very least, she's talking about events with someone she could trust." A glance to Sayaka. "Considering she feels alienated from you."
A sigh, shaking of the head. "One of the hardest parts of watching this was seeing how I did things. So many mistakes..."
A: "We can relate, Miki." The pointer went up. "We pinpointed one event we screwed up in the show, which ultimately lead to our downfall."
Ke: "...Mind if we know?"
A: "My first kiss with Shinji."
Silence.
Ky: "The world ended because of an awkward kiss." Flat as a pancake, incredulous at the absurdity.
A: "Yep. Everything now is apparently because we got together."
More silence as they tried to process.
A: "You're welcome."
Sh: "Her mother has some decent advice, at least. Sometimes that's just life."
Ka: "'Do something wrong', though?"
R: "Sometimes such a thing is the best choice, you realise. If Shinji and Asuka didn't hijack Unit-03, I would've been pounded into nothing by Zeruel."
Ke: "They WHAT?"
A: "Is this foreshadowing then? Cause if she's been encouraged to do something wrong."
Ky: "As she says though, making mistakes is easier when you're young."
Sh: "Unless you're an Evangelion pilot." Snark.
R: "Drinking to relieve the burden of adulthood. She really is Misato."
Chuckles.
Rehabilitation
A: "Seems you were rather smitten with him, I can see why you and Hitomi fell out."
Sayaka scratched the back of her head. "Yeah, it was kinda like that. Though if I stayed with him, I would've never found out how much I love Kyoko."
Ky: "Funny how the world works like that, eh Sayaka?" A hand messed Sayaka's hair. "You definitely dealt with it better in our world."
Sa: "Anything short of breaking the law is better than how I dealt with it."
R: "That relationship trouble occurred in the show too?"
Ky: "Not yet, but- oh, whoops that's a spoiler." She quickly tried to gloss it over.
Shrugs in reply. "We probably have a few things clued in on anyway."
Antagonism
Ka: "I suspect a fight is imminent."
A: "Oh how could you tell? Could it be the two girls who fought to the death before are getting back at each other's throats?"
Ka: "Yes." He retorted, equal in sarcastic intent.
Sh: "That's a... very brutal way of forcing someone to be reliant on you. I swear I saw that in a horror film."
Ky: "Yeah, I think every single one of us had a slight morality fart in this show."
A: "Breaking arms and legs to force someone to stay with you is slight?"
Ky: "Okay, a bit more than slight."
Ke: "'Bout the only person in this who's pretty much morally straight is Madoka herself."
Sa: "Yeah, even I didn't entirely stay on the straight and narrow."
Homework
Ke: "I wish I had a keyboard like that."
A: "Even though it'd probably be completely useless."
Ka: "I doubt she'll be using it for too much longer either way."
Kyubey appeared.
Ka: "And what do you know."
Sh: "Lemme guess. He's gonna try pushing for her to become a magical girl."
Ky: "As he's been doing for the whole show. Great surprise there."
A: "You would know, you've already seen this."
R: "Will this be where she makes her mistake, I wonder."
Ka: "'If a gun is shown hanging on a mantle in the first act, it must be fired in the second'. I would believe so."
Sh: "What could she do though, she isn't a magical girl."
A: "Becoming a magical girl in and of itself would be a mistake."
Thinking between the pilots. "That could work."
The trio looked among themselves, for the pilots did not know.
Throwaway
A: "Well, this is gonna be fun."
Madoka ran in. Homura appeared behind Kyoko.
Sh: "Especially with three magical girls."
Sayaka simply facepalmed as Madoka made a slight error.
Ka: "...well shit."
Sh: "That bad?"
The show Sayaka fell catatonic.
Or more accurately, dead. Kyubey dropped a neutron bombshell.
Asuka shuddered in shock, shared by the rest of the pilots. "...Jesus fuck I was right. They really are liches!"
Kyoko scooted closer to Sayaka, as Madoka's desperate cries filled the room.
Kaworu stared daggers at the visage of Kyubey. "...so this is what it means to become a magical girl."
Rei's face fell to a serious flat, hands clenching into fists. Kaworu felt this from his wisp, and for but a moment he knew why the Angels feared Lilith.
This anger only increased as Kyubey explained his thinking. "...why are humans so touchy with where he places their SOULS?!" Her volume also increased.
She got up. "I require a break. Or I will throw the computer through the wall."
Kensuke was flat. "That was our reaction as well. Take your time."
She grabbed Kaworu by his scruff and dragged him out.
"...so thats why you violently hate Kyubey."
"One of the reasons." Sayaka was flippant. "I'm sure you hate him now too."
~
Kaworu knew better than anyone when it was time to fold his cards. Especially when it involved a very angry Rei.
"Do you know of any place where I could let off some steam?"
He thought, as he was being dragged. Honestly, being dragged by the scruff of his neck wasn't that bad, and it was the fact it wasn't that bad that concerned him. He could only hold out hope Rei didn't look down at him. "There's always that park on the outskirts. If you're looking for something destructible and private."
"That works." She gave him a glance. And a double take, glaring at him. "...really?"
He held his hands up. "You know I can't help it."
More glaring. "Don't get too excited, dumb fish." He yelped as she ran faster.
~
Splinters flew.
Kaworu sat to the side, carving fallen wood into a trinket, putting it to some use while also keeping... subtle.
"Its because of the soul, isn't it?"
A tree fell. "You think? How could that... thing just desecrate the soul like that?!" She kept going at a trunk with her AT-Field. "What he did, is a complete violation against every instinct, every damn nerve in my body." More splinters. "SEELE did vile things with the soul, but even they did not turn their quarry into a damned corpse doll."
"They would think that as abominable as you would, Rei. Perhaps even more so." He finished carving the figure. "Catch."
It was thrown.
She caught it, and immediately glared daggers at it, as she realised it was a near perfect, to scale model of Kyubey. "I can make more if you want, if you want something to release your anger on." A gentle smile. "Might as well use all that wood."
The anger started to drain, as she further inspected this fine craft. "...it's really good actually." Quiet. "I didn't know you could do woodwork."
"It's... difficult for me to craft like this. It relies a lot on creativity I can't muster. But I can always replicate what I see."
"...but even making this from scratch indicates you have some sort of creativity, Kaworu. It may be Kyubey, but you were able to make it from a log." Her hands grabbed his. "You created something, Kaworu."
He thought, his face gradually shifting to one of shock as he glanced down at the wooden figure. "I... created?"
He continued looking down at the figure.
He smiled. "I... I guess I did create this." A chuckle, or maybe a sob, escaped him. "Maybe you're rubbing off on me, Rei."
Her hand drifted over his chest. "A part of me, maybe."
Her anger now completely gone, she settled into him, panting from exertion.
"It's a shame it had to be Kyubey of all things."
There was silence for a few seconds, before Rei burst out laughing. "And to think I wanted to try setting it on fire."
"...you can do that?"
"Nope. But I wanted to see if I could try." She gave him a grin.
~
"Y'know? If I wasn't trying to be polite around people I consider friends... well, most I consider friends, I would been making out with Shinji."
"What do you think we'd be doing, Soryu?" Kyoko suggested to a fellow redhead.
The two Nephilim made their way back into the room, Rei munching on a protein bar.
"Feelin better?"
"Much." She spoke with her mouth full. "I still want to murder Kyubey, but I can hold off on my destructive tendencies now I have calmed down."
The next episode started as soon as Kensuke started up his computer again, because it started to overheat.
~Luna
Sa: "This was the start of my downfall."
Ka: "You just realised the truth Kyubey kept from you. You would feel mad, and somewhat regretful."
A: "Classic. He may tell no lies, but he can always omit truths."
Ke: "This is why you always read the terms of service."
R: "If you asked Kyubey to print off a full list of that, it would number in the thousands. Of volumes."
Sh: "And I'm sure many magical girls wouldn't like what Kyubey did to them."
Sa: "Oh hell no."
R: "Turning people into liches?"
Her anger only increased further as Kyubey made an example of Sayaka, the temperature dropping one or two degrees.
Ky: "Yeah, join the club Ayanami."
Sh: "I think what makes him even worse, is his face literally never changes. It's always that same damn " He pressed his cheeks together and opened his eyes wide, making an odd sound, much to the humour of everyone there, "face."
Tintinnabulation
A: "And despite all the shit, you still have to deal with school."
R: "This is Japan after all. Anything short of apocalypse won't get you out of it."
Kyoko pouted. "You guys get to skip all the time."
A: "For one, we're pilots and need to be on call at all times. Two, we still have to do the work, though it's not really that difficult nowadays."
Sh: "Still, Misato insists on those good grades."
A: "Well, it's more important you get good grades, Shinji. I already graduated from uni, so it's not really that bad."
Ke: "You WHAT?"
R: "That's the third time you used that same expression, Kensuke."
Sa: "...I definitely don't want to deal with school anymore."
Ka: "...It's understandable, though. You're going through an immense crisis."
R: "...as you would. Its abominable, removing the soul and placing it in a vessel like that."
Sa: "Sounds like it goes against one of your major beliefs, Ayanami."
She gave a thought. "You could say that."
A: "Kyubey wouldn't give a shit though. He'd just say 'oh but it helps you', he seems completely incapable of emotion."
Sh: "Like a sociopath. Pretty sure that's the right word to use."
A: "Like he's fucking Satan."
Depression
Ky: "...man, it's still hard seeing you like this."
Sa: "Sucks, doesn't it? Least you came to give me a pep talk."
Ky: "I mean, it didn't help you much in the long run."
A: "The feeling was there though. Although considering you two were damn near fighting to the death the last episode."
R: "Considering feelings changed pretty much instantly, once... Kyubey."
Sh: "...damn, you take wasting food pretty seriously, Sakura."
Kyoko was introspective. "...I... never really had that much of it, growing up. My dad, despite his flaws, would work himself to the bone after Second Impact, but even so..."
The pilots gave guilty glances between one another, as despite their many issues, they never had to go without something as basic as food. "...shit, Sakura. We didn't know that."
Ky: "It's fine." An exhale. "I survived. So, if you wanna know why I eat a lot. That's why."
Church
Ka: "...is your father a religious man?"
A nod. "Yeah. Even more so after Second Impact." She gave a wistful glance to Sayaka.
A: "That... explains a lot, actually."
Soft chuckling. "Its an odd little religion. Christianity. It seems much bigger in other places though."
Sh: "I mean, that's what Asuka follows, and I think whatever Kaworu follows is in the same family."
A: "At least in name. God shafted me pretty hard, and I'm still kinda angry at him."
Kyoko snorted.
Ka: "I wouldn't call it a belief in a single system like Christianity. I was taught belief in the God of Abraham, a figure shared by at least three major religious families, including Christianity."
Ky: "Yeah, I heard of him. He's one of the major figures my father would preach about."
Ka: "I would think a Christian preacher would focus more on the Gospel and the New Testament; considering Jesus of Nazareth taught kindness, acceptance and the forgiveness of God."
A shrug in reply. "Mind you, his congregation attracted some pretty conservative folk. Either way, I wouldn't wish for people to listen to him."
Sa: "Though your father in this show seemed to be more... open with his beliefs."
Ky: "It's a dumb wish either way."
R: "If he had found out about such a wish, or your status."
Kyoko gave a glance. "Take a guess at what happens, blue."
The show preempted any reply Rei could have.
A: "...God damn."
Sh: "So that world has karma?"
Ka: "For a sum of hope, you get an equal amount of despair. Such is the Faustian deal."
A: "At least you're trying to keep her from throwing herself off a cliff, Sakura. Not that it'd do much."
Ky: "Even though our perspectives on life are radically different at this point."
A: "Well yeah, considering all the shit you went through."
Brand New Day
Sh: "I'm sure you would've been happy to see him."
Sa: "...considering I think myself an abomination. A lich, as you call it. I wouldn't want him to find out."
A: "Which is a problem, cause you wished for him to get better because you loved him."
Sa: "Yep."
Ka: "And I recall Sakura saying Hitomi will try for him, as what seemed to happen in this world."
A sharp breath. "Yep."
Ke: "Despair is such an easy trap to fall into as a magical girl."
The pilots all collectively scrunched their faces as Hitomi revealed her crush. "Man that's tough."
Sa: "This was pretty much how it started in our world as well."
Ky: "It's kinda odd this show shared many similarities to our own lives. Except, y'know, the whole magical girl shit."
A: "I gotta say though, she's being a good sport about it. At least this Hitomi, dunno bout the real one."
Sa: "It's still an ultimatum though. And she wasn't this direct about it either."
Sh: "You're not going to confess to him, are you?" He sighed. "Poor communication is what got us into problems."
Sa: "Well, I sure know that now."
Breakdown
A: "Okay, I said before I was a bit concerned about your mental state."
Ky: "Where's the meter at now?"
A: "Somewhere between 'Go see a damned therapist' and 'Legitimately thinking of calling emergency services'."
Sayaka sighed. "That's pretty accurate."
R: "At the very least, Madoka is continuing to at least attempt comfort." She masked surface emotion, as the show Sayaka broke down. "No one deserves that."
Sa: "...yeah, losing your chance at someone you love is always tough."
R: "While that is something no one deserves, I was referring to your status as a lich. Or a zombie, as you called yourself."
Sa: "...you seem to know a bit about the soul, Ayanami. Are liches possible in our world?"
R: "No." Succinct. "A body with no soul will quickly decay into nothing. A soul with no body will instinctively seek out a new shell to call home. This is what drives rebirth, after all." Internally, she felt disgusted with herself, omitting truth like Kyubey did. But Evangelion was one of the many secrets she could not just divulge.
Ke: "...our world has souls?"
Ka: "Not only that, but we have scientific precedence for such a thing. The entire school of Metaphysical Biology is dedicated to such thing."
Ke: "...fuck this world is weird."
Elsa Maria
A: "At least you're not letting the emotion get to your head. Its important to keep a level head in a battle situation."
Sh: "Even though we do let emotion get to our heads sometimes."
A: "But we've learnt to channel that emotion into anger towards our enemies."
Ka: "I must say, I love the art style used in Elsa Maria."
Ky: "Oh yeah, the silhouettes? I thought that was pretty cool too."
A: "It would've been much cheaper to make, but whoever made this made it work."
R: "It seems you're channeling your emotion into anger towards the enemy as well, Miki."
A: "Yeah, the bloodshed can do that to you." An offhand remark. "Though who knows, maybe I'm just a violent psychopath." Sakura continued tearing the Witch to shreds. "Okay, maybe you are letting emotion get to you."
Sa: "...it's still really weird seeing myself be that way. I know you lot can be... bloody, but I'm certainly not."
"Well, it's not like you pilot giant mechs against blood factories." Asuka was flat. "Though even if you didn't completely eviscerate the enemy, there would always be blood."
"...yeah, I don't think I'd be able to do blood." Sayaka was quiet. "I get queasy just thinking about it."
"Maybe you could get on the bridge crew then." Shinji suggested. "Gods know NERV is always in need of new hires."
"And considering NERV provides around 80% of the careers in the city, it seems like an obvious choice." Rei continued. "Pay could be better, though the benefits are great compared to most other jobs."
"Well, I'm sure there'd be other things to consider before working for NERV." Kensuke of all people suggested some caution, even though he definitely wouldn't mind, even in a non pilot role.
"Dental is free, you can get two prescription lenses for free every four years, and a part of your pay packet automatically goes into a superannuation."
"I'm sold."
The pilots chuckled. "That was easy."
The next episode flowed on from the previous.
~Khorne
Sa: "I was kinda confused on why no one really tried stopping me, considering the witch is already pretty dead."
A: "Would you want to get in the way of a madwoman and her quarry?"
Sayaka thought. "Fuck no."
A: "Smart."
Ka: "And not even taking the Grief Seed for yourself."
R: "Considering how exhausted you are, I suspect that was not a wise decision."
Kyoko glared. "You could backtrack every major decision made in this show and argue they were not wise."
Sh: "Like our show."
Rain Come Down
Ky: "...poor Madoka didn't deserve any of this shit."
Sa: "None of us did. Being turned into a corpse like that."
R: "Needless to say, if Kyubey existed in this world, he wouldn't exist for long. And I would make sure of it."
Ke: "Man, that soul thing really struck a nerve, didn't it?"
She glared, and he backed down.
Ka: "I think Miki's sanity has gone plummeting past where it last was."
Sa: "An apt summary."
Akemi
A: "She has an even nicer apartment than Tomoe had."
Ka: "What do you even call that styling anyway? It looks very... flat."
Kensuke shrugged. "Looks sorta futuristic."
Sh: "We still don't know how Akemi knows about Walpurgisnacht."
R: "The way Sakura implied it, Walpurgisnacht is a common witch, or at least one that sprouts up occasionally."
A: "Of course, Miki might become a problem. That's what the black blob on your Soul Gem was, right? A curse?"
Sa: "Pretty sure it was." She sighed.
Ke: "Or depletion. As it seems a magical girl requires magic to exist."
Sh: "Well that's gonna be great. And knowing this show, the worst possible scenario is gonna happen."
R: "She dies? I would expect something like that, unfortunately."
The trio uncomfortably looked among themselves for yet another time.
Confession
Sa: "And here we see the last of my sanity fly out the window."
Sh: "That was pretty much my reaction to my downfall as well."
A: "That's pretty harsh though, seeing her with Kyosuke. Would've completely devastated you."
Sayaka shrugged. "In comparison to the shit you guys seemed to go through."
A: "It's still a burden though, isn't it? Plus, you can't really compare an Evangelion pilot to a regular civvy. Intense emotional burden is part and parcel of everyday life as pilots."
Ke: "Also gives you guys a warped sense of humour."
Ka: "Humour is one of the healthiest methods of dealing with such emotion."
Ky: "I would think a therapist would be pretty great as well."
The pilots gave a collective laugh. "You're getting it now, Sakura."
Ky: "...wait, do you guys seriously not have any therapists at NERV?"
R: "NERV and their pilots are privy to some of the most important secrets of this world, something that simply cannot be divulged."
A: "It's tough shit, I know. So instead, we do self therapy."
Ke: "Which consists of?"
Asuka gave a goggly eyed look to Shinji.
Ke: "Oh."
Corruption
Sa: "I can't believe sh- I was able to be this dense in the show."
Ka: "You already appear to be far gone, unfortunately. Whatever the consequence is of a corrupted Soul Gem, I fear that will happen to you."
A: "I must say, that's the first time I've seen Akemi appear shocked. You know things are getting bad when she's surprised."
Ky: "Obviously this wasn't supposed to happen."
Sh: "It still ties back into Madoka though. What's with her obsession?"
Ke: "All will-"
A: "-be revealed, yes we know."
Ka: "It's obvious she loves her, though. Similar to what you describe of this Akemi."
Sa: "Well, yeah. Madoka is her closest friend. Well, even closer now."
Sh: "Hang on, where'd she get a flashbang from?"
A: "Maybe she has a similar power to Tomoe, which is pretty fucking awesome."
Midnight Train
All the women and men present gave a glare to match Ramiel's beam at the screen, increasing the temperature of the computer by a couple degrees.
A: "See, this is why I threw all those boys into trash cans when I first moved here."
R: "I would probably give those dogs a few minutes or so in a bucket."
Ky: "Sounds similar to what Asuka would do."
R: "In a sense."
Ka: "I still find it odd how someone could think like that."
Kensuke gave a shrug. "What can I say? Humans are assholes. Many of them at least."
A: "Like the bastards who invaded NERV."
Iblis
Sh: "Kyubey has power to make magical girls, but not undo?"
R: "What incentive would he have to undo such a thing? It's obvious whatever his machinations are revolves around magical girls."
Sa: "Odds are he would never do such a thing anyway, even if he could."
A: "And of course, Satan continues to try forming a pact with Faust."
Ka: "As he has tried since the beginning. A less determined being would've given up by the third episode."
R: "His persistence indicates something special about Madoka, I would think."
Sa: "Power beyond what Kyubey considered possible? Of course he would be persistent."
A: "Madoka, out of all people?"
Ke: "She is the protagonist of this show, after all. I'm sure whoever was the protagonist of your show had events revolve around them."
Sh: "Yeah, that's fairly accurate. Although Asuka and Rei also had events revolve around them."
A: "Especially Rei."
Ka: "Although, much like Madoka, you ended up with immense power."
Sh: "That my mind was too broken to use effectively." He scorned. "And I expect that to be the same with Madoka, considering how this show's been like."
A: "This is exactly like Fau-"
Beretta
Kyubey had a bakers dozen bullets instantly driven through him.
Asuka was practically giddy with the violence of Kyubey's apparent demise. "Holy shit, Akemi."
Kyoko gave a wide, almost sinister smile. "Yeah, that was pretty satisfying."
R: "Quite satisfying indeed. If it wasn't obvious before that she's doing all this to prevent Madoka becoming a magical girl."
Ke: "Killing the being that does that whole thing would send quite a clear message, I imagine."
Ka: "...she appears quite desperate to prevent such a thing. Akemi has completely lost her regular cool."
R: "...she must love her. But they haven't met... wait a minute." Gears clicked in her head. "If she can control time. What are the chances she's an interloper?"
Kaworu's eyes widened. "It's certainly possible."
A: "Wait, Kyubey's a hive?" She cringed at how Kyubey ate itself.
R: "So it is time manipulation."
Sh: "Not only that, but full on timeline hopping."
Kaworu grew even more confused. "That would answer several questions in that world. But that just raises further questions for me."
Sa: "...oh yeah, you remember seeing Homura, do you?"
Ky: "Maybe our Homura skips timelines on the side."
R: "...incubator." She thought, internally collaborating with Kaworu.
Conturbatio
Sayaka scooted closer to Kensuke and Kyoko, and the pilots knew that this scene would be a tough one.
R: "...you're falling further into despair."
Ka: "...even in our world, too much despair, or Destrudo, will wreak havoc on the soul."
A: "...jeez, you're really far gone, Miki."
Sa: "...this will be the last you see of her. as her."
Her Soul Gem was revealed. Rei felt shock and concern at the sight of this poor unfortunate soul.
Kaworu shared this concern, even without feeling Rei. "...what happens when a Soul Gem gets completely corrupted?"
Quiet from the trio.
Slowly, with dread, he turned his head back to the screen.
I really was an idiot
Sayaka was no more. The realisation finally dawned on Rei, what Incubator really meant. "oh fuck."
That it came from Rei shocked the trio.
Ke: "...now you know, Nagisa."
Kaworu was shocked silent.
Sayaka leaned harder into Kyoko.
Kyubey dropped yet another neutron bomb from the tower.
A: "...Majo. Kyubey, you magnificent son of a bitch."
"...so a Witch is the final stage of a magical girl." Kaworu finally spoke, quiet.
"...he's evil." Shinji spat out.
"...truly a Faustian deal. You were right, Asuka." Rei, oddly calm, intoned, as she stood. "We will continue tomorrow, correct?"
Kensuke nodded, holding a distressed Sayaka to his side.
"We shall make our leave then."
They did just that.
Once they left, Sayaka broke down.
~From outside the closed door, Rei was first to speak.
"I am going to skin Kyubey alive for the desecration he has done."
"Yeah, I knew that whole lich thing would make you react like that, Rei." Asuka completely understood. "Kyubey really is Satan, isn't he?"
"I'm pretty sure it was a regular demon in Faust. But the overall moral is still the same." Kaworu kept his cool, despite what happened. "It leads me to believe that this show is an interpretation of Faust."
"But who is Faust in that show? Cause each and every magical girl in existence would've had to have sold their soul to the devil known as Kyubey."
"That's your answer. Every magical girl is Faust."
~
"Wark!"
"From that cartoon? But he's a criminal!"
"Wa-wark wark!"
Misato rested her head on her hand. "Yes, Feathers McGraw is a genius mastermind, but that doesn't remove the fact he kidnapped Wallace to steal a diamond."
"Wa-kark."
"And you look up to him, great." She deadpanned, putting on her sarcasm. "You should cosplay as him sometime, if you like him so much."
The penguin thought, and returned to his fridge for a dozen seconds, emerging with what appeared to be a small rubber glove on his head.
She gave him a flat look, trying to stay serious but said facade was failing rapidly. "I'm not drunk enough for this shit."
"We aren't either." Asuka deadpanned, causing Misato to jump from her seat and make a sound similar to Pen-Pen. "Sounds like a very enlightening conversation."
"Wark." The penguin went for one of Asuka's beers and returned to his fridge, to a very exasperated Asuka.
"Soooo," A can thumped down on the table. "How was the show?"
"Lets just say, if you can get Rei angry, then you should probably reconsider your stance on things."
"Oh Jesus, what happened?" Now Misato was curious.
Shinji thought. "Lets just say, the price of becoming a magical girl is to become a... what's it called again, Asuka?"
"A lich."
"Yeah, that."
"Lich... remind me again what that kind of creature is?"
"Their soul gets placed into a physical vessel, but they can still control their body. It's a form of immortality, as long as the vessel isn't damaged."
Misato thought through various films. "Like in Anastasia, right?"
"Essentially, except their bodies weren't rotting."
A sharp exhale. "Gotta say, that's a different take on a magical girl than what I know. Fucking litches..." She took a swig of her beer.
"What about those same magical girls eventually becoming the Angel like enemy they fight?"
She choked on her beer, eventually composing herself after a coughing fit. "How does that even work?"
"As Kaworu would say, the mechanisms of that world would be different, even more so than even our Theatrical universe."
"Tell me about it." Shinji deadpanned, beginning work on dinner. "But its yet another world where people Miki and Sakura know and love get shafted."
"Good to know we aren't the only people God shits on." Misato finished off the beer. "Didja tell Miki and Sakura about Tomoe?"
There were a few seconds of silence, eventually broken by the thud of Asuka's head on the desk. "Fuck, I forgot to tell them."
~
A hand drifted over a chest. "Did ya project last night?"
"Yeah." A chuckle. "All the identifiers were there. The green boy. The nightmare."
"The purple eyed girl?"
"Yeah." Eyes closed. "I think she noticed me."
"...how so?"
"...I'd liken it to that apparition of you from the Laserdiscs. She flared. I flared back. She disappeared."
"...do you think that's the Akemi of that show?"
"...could be." Looking into other red eyes. "She follows the same path every time."
Thinking. "She's trying to change something, if that is indeed time."
"Something to do with Madoka."
"...Most likely." Settling in. "Its interesting what you see, Kaworu. Its like another realm."
A smile. "I could show you."
Hands clasped and merged. Kaworu opened his mind up and allowed himself to drift. "Open your mind, and hold on tight."
She did just that.
The sound of a singular drop of water impacting on a still lake signified a transition from the physical to the metaphysical. A transition Rei did not expect to be as calm.
Rei held onto Kaworu tight, as she bore witness to a star stuttered sky, aurora and nebula painting the canvas. In her awe, she likened it to a heaven.
She took in her surroundings, and expressed shock at the simulacrum of her that populated this strange place.
"Do not worry." His wisp. "They are natural phenomena. I suspect from other, less fortunate timelines."
"They harmful?"
"No. They will not disturb us."
With his free hand, he pointed out beyond their border, towards other, distant isles. They almost seemed to move closer as he focused. "The green boy. Every 72 seconds, he makes his journey. This journey is always marked with an almost melancholic tune."
She observed. She thought it curious, how he always followed the same pattern.
The next. "The nightmare. They don't have a pattern, but I suspect they use this realm for their own, unknown, purpose."
She observed. A seemingly regal figure, obviously of a high power quotent if they were able to occupy and use this realm for their own agenda.
The next. "The girl with purple eyes."
She observed. Black hair, purple eyes. Shield. Walking. A complete dead ringer of Homura Akemi, as depicted in the show.
She stopped, and looked.
Rei flared to this figure.
The figure stood still, before hastily moving on her way. The Nephilim could sense an air of apprehension.
"Odd."
"Indeed, but this realm is odd."
Craning her head, she looked further around. "How do you see into timelines?"
A smile. "I'll show you."
He bent down, to the ground, resting his free hand on the alien surface. One quick application of his AT-Field later, and they caught a glimpse of days gone by.
"We can certainly try, Commander." Shinji teased, as he picked up one of the fallen MP-Evangelion's weapons and lobbed it at another, dazing it.
Asuka roundhouse kicked the dazed MP-Eva and proceeded to dismember it, which kept it immobilised. They could regenerate, so Asuka usually only had a good half minute to remove the dummy plug and completely disable the MP-Eva. But she worked fast with that prog knife of hers.
She haphazardly threw the plug to Hikari like a fumbling relay runner, who set it down against a building for recovery.
"Asuka, can you please not completely tear this one to shreds? Major Ibuki's gonna be sick."
"I remember this. We weren't sortied that time, but I remember it."
"Indeed. It's relatively close to prime and time." His free hand pointed out. "The further out you go, the more energy it takes. But you can look further out. Including into other timelines. Unfortunately, even with the S2 Organ, I do not have enough power to look into other universes."
"Fascinating." Genuine awe, as the playback ended.
The distant song restarted, as an apparition of Rei was shooed away by Kaworu.
They wandered aimlessly for a few minutes more, Rei and Kaworu expressing extreme confusion at a phone box trailing the sky like a meteor, before Rei signalled to Kaworu: "I think I am ready to return."
"Lets. I believe I am draining energy faster than usual." Kaworu was able to hide his lethargy well enough.
Just as he was about to exit with Rei, something caught his eye.
Or, someone.
A girl. Of brown hair and ashen skin.
But just like a flash of lightning, she was gone as soon as he looked.
"What is it, Kaworu?"
"...I think I saw someone."
"...who?"
"I... don't know. But... they had our complexion."
Thinking. "Another person like us? In our general timeline?"
"...potentially." Shaking of the head. "I would say they won't be of any importance."
"Knowing this world though."
They chuckled as they returned to the physical world.
Rei noted Kaworu was breathing heavily. "Is everything alright, darling?"
Weary nodding in reply, with a smile. "I think bringing you along with me used more energy than I could naturally replenish. I'll survive though. Nothing a bit of rest won't fix." He quickly settled into Rei and fell asleep almost immediately.
A few quiet giggles from Rei. "You stupid trout, exhausting yourself for me..."
She drifted her hand over him until she, too, fell asleep.
~Right, A. Down, Right A. Down
Yet more big reveals from Kyubey. Though at least the Madokaverse is somewhat different from Evangelion, so many of the big reveals can't actually apply. Still doesn't change the fact Rei despises Kyubey for what he did.
I wonder if Oversight will be able to find out what that text is. They already have at least a copy of the original scrolls in their possession, so its certainly possible they'd be able to translate it. Now I just need to figure out what they say
I would liken this time plane to a mishmash of Sovngarde and the Lifestream, with hints of Farplane and other timey-wimey ball bullshit. While the plane Kaworu project himselfs into can be used for time related shenanigans, there may be other, yet unknown purposes as well. Hell, this plane is practically only known to Kaworu and (now) Rei. Possibly. And it makes sense peering into time itself would require immense power, such that an S2 enabled being like Kaworu would actually feel drained trying to carry Rei with him into this strange realm, though just carrying himself into such a realm doesn't drain his power to below the point of regeneration. You practically need to be a God to manipulate anything anyway, or even to traverse your physical self through the realm. The other figures Kaworu could see who appeared to do that would have had the help of whatever the God or Gods of that realm were. Or they could be Gods, who knows at this point. I mean, I should really know I guess
But oh well. SEELE are still doing their thing.
I see what you did there.