Welp, it's Saturday night, I got less done than I wanted, but here's two scenes and 2000 words of official update. Let's hope that getting past these two scenes will make the next ones flow faster. ....Not that the next couple are any easier.
Art? Oh yes.
Chapter 12.5
Götterdämmerung
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The faint, rhythmic sound of pumps circulating the LCL through the scanning tube and the now empty clone tank behind her filled the chilly chamber of Ritsuko's Terminal Dogma lab with a pseudo-organic sound disturbingly like the breathing of a large, inhuman beast. It was usually-ignored background noise to Rei, but at times like this she found it comforting, a white noise that had been the soundtrack to much of her past. It helped her think, in the quiet hours she floated in the tube. To be quite fair, she hadn't precisely done a lot of thinking in past years. More just drifted and let her mind be blank as Doctor Akagi's scanners and instruments monitored her. But of late she'd had more things occupying her mind.
'That stupid fish. His stupid smile. His stupid eyes. So different from Shinji's or Asuka's. But they distract and occupy me just as much. And I want to explore. At length. For much time.'
'Time…' Rei raised her head and looked at the only other occupant in the room. "Do you believe in the future now, Doctor Akagi?"
Ritsuko blinked distractedly, visibly pulling her thought process out of the AT-Field harmonics readouts she'd been intently staring at on the screen. "What?"
"You were invested, somewhat willingly, in Commander Ikari's intent to end humanity. In his belief that it was the best choice for the world in the face of SEELE's own plan. But now you appear to have hope in the future. I believe a good deal of this feeling is thanks to having someone who loves you. I wish to discuss this, as I believe I now hold…," Rei fidgeted, "similar feelings."
Ritsuko looked away. "It's… complicated. Part of it is a retroactive realization that I knew at least somewhat that he would never love me back, not the way I wanted. It was a willful delusion because that was less painful than the idea of being alone or unwanted. Now that my fears in that area are, mmm… more than removed? Yes, the future feels different. If we have one." She sighed. "This is not a conversation I ever expected to have."
Despite her more serious concerns, Rei could not restrain a tiny, Asuka-like voice whispering an idea in the back of her head. Nor could she contain the miniscule, impish smile that grew on her lips. "I think you'd still prefer this conversation to the other question I wanted to ask. This is, at least, less awkward."
Sensing a trap, but still curious, Ritsuko bit. "And what question would that be?"
"'What is sex like?' and variations on that theme."
Ritsuko stared blankly at her for a moment. "I'm sorry, Rei, I think my brain just hiccupped. And.. yes, let's go back to the first o-"
The phone on the control console rang. Ritsuko eyed it with something like relief, then picked it up. "Sir." There were very few people who might call this line, and half of them were here already.
"Doctor Akagi, come to my office immediately. There is serious news," Commander Ikari's baritone rumbled in the receiver.
Ritsuko's eyes darted to the LCL-filled cylinder in the middle of the lab. "Sir, the First Child is-"
"I am aware. Put whatever processes you can under MAGI monitoring and control, and come here. Place the First Child in automatic suspension. She will not be needed for this. This is urgent, Doctor."
'Once upon a time, I'd have thought nothing whatsoever about putting Rei "on pause" like she was a bad movie I wasn't really paying attention to. Now it feels wrong.' She silently shook her head. "Understood, sir. I am on my way."
The sound of the line disconnecting as he hung up was her only answer. She rolled her eyes at yet another display of the Commander's sterling manners and hung up the receiver. She straightened up and looked at the LCL tank. "Rei, the Commander wants me up in his office right away. He didn't say why, just that it was urgent. He also told me to put you to sleep while I was gone, but I think I should leave that up to you. Do you want a nap, or do you not mind being bored for an unknown amount of time? He didn't say how long this might take."
The First Child shook her head lightly. "I am sufficiently well rested, Doctor Akagi. I will enjoy having solitude to think, as well. I do not mind the time."
"Alright. I'll leave the systems running on high-definition collect, so we'll at least get some good data from this. Your AT-Field is still looking… quite peculiar. You've recovered from most of the damage Arael did, though."
Rei gave her a very faint smile and a nod. "That is good. Please return as soon as you can and inform me of what the Commander finds so urgent."
"I'll message Maya to come get you out if it looks like it will go long." Ritsuko tapped a few commands into the controls in front of her, then picked up her remote MAGI terminal as she headed for the lab door.
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Misato folded her arms across her chest again, shifting back to the posture she'd irritably changed out of just a minute before. The reason she'd changed her stance was immediately brought back to mind as the movement once again pressed the pistol in her shoulder holster against her armpit. The metal digging into her undershirt pointedly reminded her she was armed.
And that the second round in that magazine now had a particular, ruby-red tip.
Despite herself, her eyes once again darted to the Fifth Child, standing in front of her, his face almost pressed to the glass of the test chamber. He was staring calmly at Unit-03, a faint smile on his face. He hadn't paid her much attention after polite greetings after he'd arrived, but Misato was still unable to keep herself from constantly checking his presence.
'How can I not, now that I know what he really is?'
Asuka had merely given her a grim nod when she'd seen Misato staring at her pistol, then carefully putting the anti-AT-Field round into the ejected magazine. At the same time, the Second Child had made her own gesture by taking her own red-tipped bullet and pointedly putting it in the back of her desk drawer in her room.
The fact Kaworu really did have good reason to be immediately on hand to watch while Hikari did her Synch Test in their shared Evangelion was driving her up the wall with hyper-alertness. That Misato likewise had no reason to tell him to go somewhere else on the mere grounds he was making her paranoid only made it worse. She tried to tell herself to calm down with the argument that she'd only be even
more paranoid if she couldn't keep an eye on him did little to help.
'God, I wish I could get completely hammered tonight. I'd like to not be giving myself an ulcer from sheer worry every time I try to sleep. And I hate hate hate that I can't get Kaji to sleep over every night without it being a bit too obvious,' she mentally grumbled.
'Then again, Commander Ikari already knows we're together, so why not? Fuck it, I'm telling my,' a small mental gulp
, 'my fiancé he's sleeping over again tonight.'
Her eyes finally stopped hopping between the Fifth Child and the monitors tracking the test when her phone beeped in her pocket. She dug it out of her jacket's pocket, almost grateful for the momentary distraction. A text message from Shinji? Unusual. Her brow furrowed as she read.
Her eyes narrowed further when she got to the 'unannounced exercise'. The same excuse they'd used before Sachiel. But this time without informing NERV. And if it had already been underway for a couple days… She chewed her lip. She had to tell Kaji about this, right away.
She quickly forwarded the message to her fiancé. He'd be able to confirm if her fears were accurate. She'd barely taken her finger off SEND when the phone rang from an incoming call. She suppressed a blink of shock that he'd called her back so quickly, but the caller ID was less welcome:
CDR IKARI
"Sir?"
"Major Katsuragi, come to my office immediately. There are urgent developments we need to discuss."
"I'm leaving the Pilots at a test, sir. Priority?"
"Correct, Major. This supersedes all other immediate activities. Doctor Akagi is already on her way. Come." Click.
She put her phone away with a frown. Now what? Or had Commander Ikari gotten the same news she just had through his own channels? She pursed her lips as she looked at Lieutenant Ibuki. "Lieutenant, I need to see the Commander right away. Keep running the test and call me immediately if there are any anomalies."
"Yes, ma'am."
Misato raised her voice a bit. "Asuka, I've got to go see the Commander. Lieutenant Ibuki will keep things under control here. You good?"
"Misato, this is the stupidest test we've done in weeks. I'm bored!"
"That's a 'I'm good', then. Got it. I'll be back as soon as I can."
"Bored! Bored bored bored!"
"Suck it up, Pilot. Later." She shot a look at the Fifth Child. "Nagisa-kun, you behave too."
Kaworu smiled calmly and said, "Of course, Major. What trouble would I get into in here?"
She rolled her eyes, but was out the door of the test observation chamber a moment later.
Kaworu returned to watching the constantly-shifting displays of the Second and Fourth Children's synch rates. He'd have to make sure he was below their levels. This would not be too difficult; the Second's rates were flirting with 80%, and the Fourth was slowly climbing towards 70%. He hoped they were enjoying their time communicating with their mothers. He spent a moment wondering what that would be like, to have a mother. It must be nice. He'd have to ask Rei if she recalled her mother back on their original world. His own memories of that age were still absent.
One of the techs tapped him on the shoulder. "Ah… Pilot Nagisa? You have a phone call." He was holding up the line from the console.
He raised his eyebrows in surprise. Who would be calling him? Ah. He did his best to keep his face clear as he took the proffered receiver from the instrument desk next to him. "This is Nagisa."
"Fifth Child. This is Ayanami. I need you to meet me on sublevel 30B in 15 minutes. It is important," Rei's cool, distinct voice said quietly. "You must proceed immediately. Speak to no one. Do not tell them where you are going."
His eyebrows rose even higher, despite the happy thrill that ran up his back on hearing her voice. Sublevel 30B was deep within the Geofront, and most importantly was the location of one of the access points to the elevators and shafts leading down to Terminal Dogma. Did Rei intend to lead him down to Lilith's chamber right now? Risky, but it might be a good time to make their approach. "I see. Of course. I am on my way."
There was no reply, only the click of her hanging up. Of course, she wouldn't say anything else, not here in the heart of NERV, where every line was monitored. No way of knowing who was standing near her, too. She was down in Doctor Akagi's lab, wasn't she? Still, good for her to be cautious.
"Lieutenant Ibuki? I have to go. I have been summoned."
Maya glanced up, distractedly nodding at him. "That's fine, Pilot Nagisa. We don't have anything for you here."
He smiled and made his way to the door, his plugsuit's padded soles making hardly any noise on the metal floors. He contained his smile until the observation room door had closed behind him. He was going to see Rei soon. That always made his day better.
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Technically any sexual act with Rei has no separate distinction from intercourse with the Great Mother. Skyrim's Alduin will be appearing shortly. These fans best go hide.
Rei would in fact complain about that, since memories or no, she considers
herself distinct from Lilith. By identity, at least. If you are attempting sex with her greater body in Terminal Dogma, you've got all sorts of other problems, as well.