Advice and Trust [NGE]
But what about catching swordfish?
And fishing isn't about the loot, it's about the process, when you can be pretty much yourself.
Itsune
Eldritch horror, Ship's Cat, Emergency Gunner.
- Location
- Somewhere in King County Washington
We used the same RF modulator that came with the Atarii 2600, for our TV we had a 21" black & white Zenith, and a 23" color that we also used for the VCR Dad said somthing about not being able to read the text on a 13" tv.That sounds depressingly familiar. Did your family spring for a actual monitor or did you screw your Vic-20 into the antenna of an old 13 inch TV as well?
I watched Robotech (yes, i know better now,) on a B&W TV that must have been four feet across.
- Location
- National Capital Region, USA
Hey, don't knock Robotech. That (Voltron, and 'Battle of the Planets'/Gatchaman) are what got me started on anime, and led me here, writing you all Eva fic.
Writing ongoing. Ritsuko and Maya are having A Talk.
More preview!
++++
Only one person stared at him steadily and hard.
Nagisa didn't seem to notice Rei's stare, or gave no sign if he did. Rei eventually turned her head back forward, but it was a long time before her friends noticed her silent tension. They could be forgiven for missing it for as long as they did: Rei was a quiet person to begin with, and Hikari's return was more than sufficient distraction to keep them from spotting it for quite a while. But the stiff-backed tension pouring off Rei was too much to hide for too long. Shinji, a smile from Touji's last excited message still lingering on his face, raised his head and noticed Rei was staring hard at the front of the classroom when she wasn't darting looks back at the new student.
Shinji's smile dropped away. He and Asuka had gotten pretty good at reading the tiny signs that were Rei's full-blown emotional signals, and her body language was currently shouting 'something is wrong!' He tilted his head towards her and did his best to keep his voice below the level Nebukawa-sensei would notice. "Rei? Something wrong? You look… kind of upset."
Asuka blinked and looked up too. Her eyes narrowed as she took in Rei's stiff posture and miniscule frown.
"I… do not know. Nagisa-san is… he looks strange," Rei said quietly. "He is… something is not right."
- Location
- in the trash
"I must investigate him further. Approaches ... invite him to lunch, perhaps?"
Iuvenal
Desperanda tibi salua concordia socru
- Location
- Terrace IV
I told you all that Kaworu was basically David Bowie!
Arkalest
ELOP Stan In The Streets, Dromok Under The Sheets
Nah he's more of a techno-remix-of-the-ode-to-joy guy IMO.
Cae Lumis
Chief Director of Shinra Archaeology Department
- Location
- Southern New Jersey
So his AT Field is either singing:
or this....
either is plausible
Last edited:
JefLebowski
[Not Copaceptic]
- Location
- R'lyeh's Partner City
...Kaworu fucking Nagisa.
I am not fond of this chatacter.
Rei, punch him in the face for me.
I am not fond of this chatacter.
Rei, punch him in the face for me.
If he had any sense of humor at all, he'd make it sing the Saftey Dance.
- Location
- National Capital Region, USA
Not yet...
Chapter 9.1
- Location
- National Capital Region, USA
Muuuuh. Wanted more here, but I'm asleep on my feet, @LilithPrime approved it, and so on we go with the opening scenes of Chapter 9!
@Xavier Harper, @moonberserker, this is for you. And with that, I'm theoretically caught up on new arrivals. Next update will come as I can bash more than one scene together. Even just the next one scene alone is going to take careful crafting, since it will be Rei and Kaworu's first interaction, which is kinda important, as you might guess. This is not the Rei of canon talking to the Tabris of that world.
Oh, and here's a pic I meant to include with the 'music' scene a bit back, but forgot. Asuka, at age 12, playing her violin, before Tokyo-3 and the Third Child were ever in the picture.
And since 'Magical Girl Pilots' came up earlier, have a bonus pic:
Chapter 9
Everything I Do...
+++++
The reminder of her duties as Class Rep seemed to have knocked Hikari mostly back into her role. She steadfastly refused Asuka's attempts at eye contact and subtle gestures to look at her school laptop for the volley of chat messages Asuka began firing off. Next to her Shinji was fielding an excited barrage of messages from Touji, who had turned to his friend when Hikari only replied to his first few giddy messages with a gentle insistence that they pay attention in class and hold the rest of their reunion at lunchtime.
Neither one of them paid much attention to the grey-haired newcomer, who simply smiled, nodded, and headed for the empty seat at the back row of the class, two to the right of Touji. The overjoyed jock paid him no attention, too busy hammering out a steady stream of cheerful chat messages to Shinji and Kensuke to even look up. Some of the single girls in the class followed the pretty newcomer's passing with a curious eye, but even they were soon forced to turn their heads and at least pretend to pay attention to class, though a fevered speculation on his suitability as a dating target quickly grew on the instant message system.
Only one person stared at him steadily and hard.
Nagisa didn't seem to notice Rei's stare, or gave no sign if he did. Rei eventually turned her head back forward, but it was a long time before her friends noticed her silent tension. They could be forgiven for missing it for as long as they did: Rei was a quiet person to begin with, and Hikari's return was more than sufficient distraction to keep them from spotting it for quite a while. But the stiff-backed tension pouring off Rei was too much to hide for too long. Shinji, a smile from Touji's last excited message still lingering on his face, raised his head and noticed Rei was staring hard at the front of the classroom when she wasn't darting looks back at the new student.
Shinji's smile dropped away. He and Asuka had gotten pretty good at reading the tiny signs that were Rei's full-blown emotional signals, and her body language was currently shouting 'something is wrong!' He tilted his head towards her and did his best to keep his voice below the level Nebukawa-sensei would notice. "Rei? Something wrong? You look… kind of upset."
Asuka blinked and looked up too. Her eyes narrowed as she took in Rei's stiff posture and miniscule frown.
"I… do not know. Nagisa-san is… he looks strange," Rei said quietly. "He is… something is not right."
Asuka quickly shot a look back at the new boy. "The grey hair is a bit weird on a kid, yeah. And the red eyes. But that's kind of like yours, Rei, and I just think it makes you look ho-" Asuka coughed. "Exotic, I mean." She looked back again. "I wonder where he's from. His name is Japanese, but he… kind of looks foreign?"
"He looks friendly enough," Shinji commented.
"I don't like him," Rei said.
Shinji and Asuka looked at each other. They'd never seen Rei take an instant dislike to someone. Even her initial response to Asuka's brash greeting when they met had been merely reserved coolness, not this… tense hostility.
"Huh? Why?" Shinji asked.
Rei shook her head slightly. "I do not know. Something about him bothers me."
"What? What about him bothers you?" Asuka said, turning to look at Nagisa again, trying to see what had Rei's hackles up.
"I am not sure. Just... something."
Shinji looked too. "He hasn't done anything but introduce himself and say he's happy to be here." Shinji's ears perked up as a snatch of low conversation from the back of the class drifted up. "I think he just said something about the music club?"
Rei shook her head again. "I understand he has not done anything, Shinji. But… he just bothers me."
Kaworu's head turned in her direction, meeting her gaze for the first time. He smiled. Rei did not.
"Just bothers me…" Rei said again, very quietly. "He looks like a Rainbow Trout!" (this part is only a joke. : P )
+++
Maya Ibuki swallowed nervously as she walked down the empty corridor deep in the bowels of NERV HQ. It was rare she was down this deep near Terminal Dogma. She'd just arrived for the day to start her regular shift monitoring things from Central Dogma and debugging the MAGI when Doctor Akagi had called her. She had to admit, her heart had leapt when she'd heard her voice on the line. She'd worried all night after Doctor Akagi had all but forced her to go home by herself once they'd left the hospital. Doctor Akagi looked absolutely shocked by whatever the First Child had told her while Maya had been off getting her clothes back, and Maya really hadn't wanted to leave her alone looking like that. She'd had a terrible feeling her treasured sempai might do something bad, looking so depressed, shocked, and hollowed out.
'Take care of her, Lieutenant. She needs you,' Pilot Ayanami had said. What was she supposed to make of that? She… adored Doctor Akagi. She was brilliant, cool, analytical, always in control of herself, and so, so beautiful. She'd tried to be the best apprentice she could, to impress her, make her notice, show her that she was good enough to be around such a wonderful person… but she'd always been afraid to truly say it to her face how Doctor Ritsuko Akagi made her feel. What if she said 'no'? What if she was disgusted by Maya's crush? What if… Maya bit her lip again. It didn't matter. She couldn't help how she felt. She'd almost panicked when she had seen her knocked flat by the chunk of concrete ceiling in the battle with Zeruel. Watching her nearly be crushed by a berserk Unit-00 had been even worse. And both times she'd found herself practically compelled to sit with her overnight in the hospital, silently praying she'd wake up and be okay. Her heart soared every time those mesmerizing green eyes fluttered open.
Maya sighed. She was so stupid. She had no idea if Doctor Akagi even liked women, much less was interested in someone so small as her. Crushing on her sempai was stupid. And she'd looked like either a pervert or a dummy yesterday, running in waving her panties in the air and shouting. Although Doctor Akagi had been in such a hurry to get dressed she hadn't even shooed Maya out after she snatched her clothes out of her hands. Watching her sempai shimmy back into her underwear and skirt had been… um… very distracting. So much so that she'd probably been caught with the stunned stare still on her face when Doctor Akagi finished. The embarrassment still hadn't kept her from vividly picturing the sight again later. Repeatedly. Like right now. Um.
'Oh, stop it, Maya. Doctor Akagi did not ask you to come down to her private lab, immediately and quietly so she could seduce you and spend the whole day wrapped in passionate embraces. She's a serious scientist and not full of silly lusts and fantasies! She needs you for something important!' she reminded herself. A tiny part of her still protested that it would be really nice if she had done that.
She tapped hesitantly at the door to Doctor Akagi's private lab. She'd been down here before a few times, but this one was… different. Once she'd told Doctor Akagi yes, she was not in the middle of any vital task she couldn't put on hold, Doctor Akagi had told her to come to her private lab 'immediately and quietly.' That last part had been… she didn't know what to make of it. She waited a moment, then opened the lab door. "Akagi-sempai? Are you here? I came as soon as I could."
The blonde doctor was standing near some complicated looking machinery that had a strong resemblance to the healing tanks she'd seen the Pilots placed in after some of the injuries they'd suffered in battles with the Angels. This one was a bit bigger, sized for an adult, and had even more diagnostic gear surrounding the head. Doctor Akagi turned from adjusting something and nodded to Maya. "Maya? Good. I need your help for this."
"I'll do anything you need, Akagi-sempai! Anything to help you!" Maya tried not to flush at how eager she sounded, and how much that could be interpreted as a near come-on. It took an effort of will to force that line of thought away.
And then it came sailing right back when Doctor Akagi turned around and revealed she was wearing nothing but a swimsuit under her lab coat. Maya fought not to drool. She forced her eyes back up to Doctor Akagi's face after they got stuck in her cleavage for a moment.
.
.
She forced her eyes back up.
.
.
She forced her eyes... nope, eyes still winning. It took Doctor Akagi clearing her throat, causing Maya's head to snap up and her face to go red before she could break the lock.
Ritsuko looked at her with eyes that had dark rings under them. She didn't say anything about Maya's staring.
Maya blinked, looking closer in concern. "Akagi-sempai... are you alright? You look..." 'Exhausted. Near-dead. Drained.' "Um... worn?"
"'Hung over and sick' is the term you're looking for, Maya. I had a bit too much to drink last night. I probably shouldn't have, but... I did some thinking. Anyway... 'anything'? I..." She looked back down at the apparatus behind her. "Maya... do you know why I called you down here?"
"You... you said you needed me to help you with something. Something you couldn't do alone?" Maya ventured.
Ritsuko nodded slowly, turning back to her. "Yes. I... I don't trust anyone else to ask this of. But... Maya, I want you to help me do something Commander Ikari has specifically prohibited me to do. I... you can say no. I'm not going to make you do anythi-"
"It's ok!" Maya blurted. "I... I know you won't do anything bad, sempai! Commander Ikari must be wrong!"
For some reason, Ritsuko winced and looked at her hands. "....right. I... Maya, you don't even..." She shook herself. She reached up to touch the ring of bandages still wrapped around her head. "You know how badly hurt I've been. You were there in the hospital both times. Th... thank you for that, by the way. But I... In any regular place I'd be on bed rest for at least a week or three with these injuries. But Commander Ikari needs me... to work. So... I've developed this LCL-boosted healing procedure. We've used it on the Pilots before. Shinji after he was burned by Ramiel, Rei after this last battle... but I'm the only one who knows it well enough to operate it, so Commander Ikari has declared it classified past the point of civilian use and prohibited me from attempting to use it on myself."
Maya looked from Doctor Akagi's bandages to the tank-bed behind her. "...A-and you want to do it anyway, and.. want me to help?"
Ritsuko nodded slowly. "I... you've been there when I was hurt and when I woke up. You know... how bad it is. How hurt I am. And... I'm asking you to disobey an order from NERV's Supreme Commander, I know, but-"
"I'll do it!" Maya interrupted her again. She covered her mouth with her hands. "I... I... um... I... couldn't stand to just sit and watch when you were hurt, Akagi-sempai. I... I wanted so much to help you. If... if this helps heal you, then... I can do it. I will do it. No matter what Commander Ikari says. I... just... am I qualified to do this? I'm not a doctor like you are, I'm just an assistant. I can barely do half the things you do with the MAGI, and not even a third the speed. This is... I..." Maya looked back at her senior. "I... I want to help you, but if you're the only one who knows how to do this..."
Doctor Akagi again looked like she wanted to run away. "I don't deserve..." she muttered. She looked Maya in the eyes again. "I've laid out the procedure on the computer linked to the tank. And I'll be conscious for 90% of it. I'll be guiding you through it. I... this should accelerate my healing by weeks. I'll be... a lot better off. Thank you for... being willing to do this, Maya. I..." Doctor Akagi turned away and began tapping at the controls of the tank. "I don't know how to thank you."
Maya closed the gap between them, walking right up behind her. She raised a hand to place it on Doctor Akagi's shoulder, but hesitated... then pulled the hand back. "Akagi-sempai, I... you are... I..."
"Thank you for saving me yesterday," Ritsuko said abruptly. "I... if you hadn't slapped me, I would have just... stood there. It was too much like a nightmare."
"It's nothing!" Maya said. This time her hand made contact with Doctor Akagi's shoulder. "I... couldn't let you be hurt! I... you... um..."
Maya almost jumped when Doctor Akagi's hand rose to cover hers for a moment. "Thank you, Maya. For everything."
Maya fought not to swallow nervously as Doctor Akagi turned around. She was so close...
"Why are you doing this?" Doctor Akagi asked.
Maya blinked again. "What?"
"I just told you this is against the specific orders of Commander Ikari. Why... why are you agreeing to do this?" Doctor Akagi's eyes searched hers intently.
Maya fought not to look away. She could feel the blush creeping its way up from her uniform's collar. "I... I... you need me to... to help you," Maya stuttered. "I... you... I had to! I... you're... my, my sempai!"
Doctor Akagi's searching look intensified. "Your sempai. Is that... the only reason?" she asked quietly.
Maya felt her pulse skyrocket. Her throat suddenly dried up and she couldn't meet the other woman's eyes. "I... I..."
"Maya, I'm neither blind nor stupid. I... I know." Ritsuko said softly. "And... I... am not who you think I am. I don't deserve someone like you. But... I'm glad you... you..." She coughed and looked away. "I'm glad you are here. I... I may never be... who you think I am, but... thank you for... believing I am. You don't even know how much I appreciate it. You've saved me twice already."
Maya gaped, trying to come up with a response. 'She...she knows?!' "A-A-Akagi-sempai, I..." She flailed her hands helplessly, unsure whether she should even try denying it, or admit it, or... anything.
Doctor Akagi just smiled sadly again and shook her head. "We'll talk afterwards. This will take a couple of hours at minimum. For now, sit down and let me walk you through the procedure on a dry run first." She waved Maya towards the computer station next to the tank, the screen already set.
Still burning red with embarrassment, Maya took a seat. But this time she didn't jump when Doctor Akagi put her hand on her shoulder.
@Xavier Harper, @moonberserker, this is for you. And with that, I'm theoretically caught up on new arrivals. Next update will come as I can bash more than one scene together. Even just the next one scene alone is going to take careful crafting, since it will be Rei and Kaworu's first interaction, which is kinda important, as you might guess. This is not the Rei of canon talking to the Tabris of that world.
Oh, and here's a pic I meant to include with the 'music' scene a bit back, but forgot. Asuka, at age 12, playing her violin, before Tokyo-3 and the Third Child were ever in the picture.
And since 'Magical Girl Pilots' came up earlier, have a bonus pic:
Chapter 9
Everything I Do...
+++++
The reminder of her duties as Class Rep seemed to have knocked Hikari mostly back into her role. She steadfastly refused Asuka's attempts at eye contact and subtle gestures to look at her school laptop for the volley of chat messages Asuka began firing off. Next to her Shinji was fielding an excited barrage of messages from Touji, who had turned to his friend when Hikari only replied to his first few giddy messages with a gentle insistence that they pay attention in class and hold the rest of their reunion at lunchtime.
Neither one of them paid much attention to the grey-haired newcomer, who simply smiled, nodded, and headed for the empty seat at the back row of the class, two to the right of Touji. The overjoyed jock paid him no attention, too busy hammering out a steady stream of cheerful chat messages to Shinji and Kensuke to even look up. Some of the single girls in the class followed the pretty newcomer's passing with a curious eye, but even they were soon forced to turn their heads and at least pretend to pay attention to class, though a fevered speculation on his suitability as a dating target quickly grew on the instant message system.
Only one person stared at him steadily and hard.
Nagisa didn't seem to notice Rei's stare, or gave no sign if he did. Rei eventually turned her head back forward, but it was a long time before her friends noticed her silent tension. They could be forgiven for missing it for as long as they did: Rei was a quiet person to begin with, and Hikari's return was more than sufficient distraction to keep them from spotting it for quite a while. But the stiff-backed tension pouring off Rei was too much to hide for too long. Shinji, a smile from Touji's last excited message still lingering on his face, raised his head and noticed Rei was staring hard at the front of the classroom when she wasn't darting looks back at the new student.
Shinji's smile dropped away. He and Asuka had gotten pretty good at reading the tiny signs that were Rei's full-blown emotional signals, and her body language was currently shouting 'something is wrong!' He tilted his head towards her and did his best to keep his voice below the level Nebukawa-sensei would notice. "Rei? Something wrong? You look… kind of upset."
Asuka blinked and looked up too. Her eyes narrowed as she took in Rei's stiff posture and miniscule frown.
"I… do not know. Nagisa-san is… he looks strange," Rei said quietly. "He is… something is not right."
Asuka quickly shot a look back at the new boy. "The grey hair is a bit weird on a kid, yeah. And the red eyes. But that's kind of like yours, Rei, and I just think it makes you look ho-" Asuka coughed. "Exotic, I mean." She looked back again. "I wonder where he's from. His name is Japanese, but he… kind of looks foreign?"
"He looks friendly enough," Shinji commented.
"I don't like him," Rei said.
Shinji and Asuka looked at each other. They'd never seen Rei take an instant dislike to someone. Even her initial response to Asuka's brash greeting when they met had been merely reserved coolness, not this… tense hostility.
"Huh? Why?" Shinji asked.
Rei shook her head slightly. "I do not know. Something about him bothers me."
"What? What about him bothers you?" Asuka said, turning to look at Nagisa again, trying to see what had Rei's hackles up.
"I am not sure. Just... something."
Shinji looked too. "He hasn't done anything but introduce himself and say he's happy to be here." Shinji's ears perked up as a snatch of low conversation from the back of the class drifted up. "I think he just said something about the music club?"
Rei shook her head again. "I understand he has not done anything, Shinji. But… he just bothers me."
Kaworu's head turned in her direction, meeting her gaze for the first time. He smiled. Rei did not.
"Just bothers me…" Rei said again, very quietly. "He looks like a Rainbow Trout!" (this part is only a joke. : P )
+++
Maya Ibuki swallowed nervously as she walked down the empty corridor deep in the bowels of NERV HQ. It was rare she was down this deep near Terminal Dogma. She'd just arrived for the day to start her regular shift monitoring things from Central Dogma and debugging the MAGI when Doctor Akagi had called her. She had to admit, her heart had leapt when she'd heard her voice on the line. She'd worried all night after Doctor Akagi had all but forced her to go home by herself once they'd left the hospital. Doctor Akagi looked absolutely shocked by whatever the First Child had told her while Maya had been off getting her clothes back, and Maya really hadn't wanted to leave her alone looking like that. She'd had a terrible feeling her treasured sempai might do something bad, looking so depressed, shocked, and hollowed out.
'Take care of her, Lieutenant. She needs you,' Pilot Ayanami had said. What was she supposed to make of that? She… adored Doctor Akagi. She was brilliant, cool, analytical, always in control of herself, and so, so beautiful. She'd tried to be the best apprentice she could, to impress her, make her notice, show her that she was good enough to be around such a wonderful person… but she'd always been afraid to truly say it to her face how Doctor Ritsuko Akagi made her feel. What if she said 'no'? What if she was disgusted by Maya's crush? What if… Maya bit her lip again. It didn't matter. She couldn't help how she felt. She'd almost panicked when she had seen her knocked flat by the chunk of concrete ceiling in the battle with Zeruel. Watching her nearly be crushed by a berserk Unit-00 had been even worse. And both times she'd found herself practically compelled to sit with her overnight in the hospital, silently praying she'd wake up and be okay. Her heart soared every time those mesmerizing green eyes fluttered open.
Maya sighed. She was so stupid. She had no idea if Doctor Akagi even liked women, much less was interested in someone so small as her. Crushing on her sempai was stupid. And she'd looked like either a pervert or a dummy yesterday, running in waving her panties in the air and shouting. Although Doctor Akagi had been in such a hurry to get dressed she hadn't even shooed Maya out after she snatched her clothes out of her hands. Watching her sempai shimmy back into her underwear and skirt had been… um… very distracting. So much so that she'd probably been caught with the stunned stare still on her face when Doctor Akagi finished. The embarrassment still hadn't kept her from vividly picturing the sight again later. Repeatedly. Like right now. Um.
'Oh, stop it, Maya. Doctor Akagi did not ask you to come down to her private lab, immediately and quietly so she could seduce you and spend the whole day wrapped in passionate embraces. She's a serious scientist and not full of silly lusts and fantasies! She needs you for something important!' she reminded herself. A tiny part of her still protested that it would be really nice if she had done that.
She tapped hesitantly at the door to Doctor Akagi's private lab. She'd been down here before a few times, but this one was… different. Once she'd told Doctor Akagi yes, she was not in the middle of any vital task she couldn't put on hold, Doctor Akagi had told her to come to her private lab 'immediately and quietly.' That last part had been… she didn't know what to make of it. She waited a moment, then opened the lab door. "Akagi-sempai? Are you here? I came as soon as I could."
The blonde doctor was standing near some complicated looking machinery that had a strong resemblance to the healing tanks she'd seen the Pilots placed in after some of the injuries they'd suffered in battles with the Angels. This one was a bit bigger, sized for an adult, and had even more diagnostic gear surrounding the head. Doctor Akagi turned from adjusting something and nodded to Maya. "Maya? Good. I need your help for this."
"I'll do anything you need, Akagi-sempai! Anything to help you!" Maya tried not to flush at how eager she sounded, and how much that could be interpreted as a near come-on. It took an effort of will to force that line of thought away.
And then it came sailing right back when Doctor Akagi turned around and revealed she was wearing nothing but a swimsuit under her lab coat. Maya fought not to drool. She forced her eyes back up to Doctor Akagi's face after they got stuck in her cleavage for a moment.
.
.
She forced her eyes back up.
.
.
She forced her eyes... nope, eyes still winning. It took Doctor Akagi clearing her throat, causing Maya's head to snap up and her face to go red before she could break the lock.
Ritsuko looked at her with eyes that had dark rings under them. She didn't say anything about Maya's staring.
Maya blinked, looking closer in concern. "Akagi-sempai... are you alright? You look..." 'Exhausted. Near-dead. Drained.' "Um... worn?"
"'Hung over and sick' is the term you're looking for, Maya. I had a bit too much to drink last night. I probably shouldn't have, but... I did some thinking. Anyway... 'anything'? I..." She looked back down at the apparatus behind her. "Maya... do you know why I called you down here?"
"You... you said you needed me to help you with something. Something you couldn't do alone?" Maya ventured.
Ritsuko nodded slowly, turning back to her. "Yes. I... I don't trust anyone else to ask this of. But... Maya, I want you to help me do something Commander Ikari has specifically prohibited me to do. I... you can say no. I'm not going to make you do anythi-"
"It's ok!" Maya blurted. "I... I know you won't do anything bad, sempai! Commander Ikari must be wrong!"
For some reason, Ritsuko winced and looked at her hands. "....right. I... Maya, you don't even..." She shook herself. She reached up to touch the ring of bandages still wrapped around her head. "You know how badly hurt I've been. You were there in the hospital both times. Th... thank you for that, by the way. But I... In any regular place I'd be on bed rest for at least a week or three with these injuries. But Commander Ikari needs me... to work. So... I've developed this LCL-boosted healing procedure. We've used it on the Pilots before. Shinji after he was burned by Ramiel, Rei after this last battle... but I'm the only one who knows it well enough to operate it, so Commander Ikari has declared it classified past the point of civilian use and prohibited me from attempting to use it on myself."
Maya looked from Doctor Akagi's bandages to the tank-bed behind her. "...A-and you want to do it anyway, and.. want me to help?"
Ritsuko nodded slowly. "I... you've been there when I was hurt and when I woke up. You know... how bad it is. How hurt I am. And... I'm asking you to disobey an order from NERV's Supreme Commander, I know, but-"
"I'll do it!" Maya interrupted her again. She covered her mouth with her hands. "I... I... um... I... couldn't stand to just sit and watch when you were hurt, Akagi-sempai. I... I wanted so much to help you. If... if this helps heal you, then... I can do it. I will do it. No matter what Commander Ikari says. I... just... am I qualified to do this? I'm not a doctor like you are, I'm just an assistant. I can barely do half the things you do with the MAGI, and not even a third the speed. This is... I..." Maya looked back at her senior. "I... I want to help you, but if you're the only one who knows how to do this..."
Doctor Akagi again looked like she wanted to run away. "I don't deserve..." she muttered. She looked Maya in the eyes again. "I've laid out the procedure on the computer linked to the tank. And I'll be conscious for 90% of it. I'll be guiding you through it. I... this should accelerate my healing by weeks. I'll be... a lot better off. Thank you for... being willing to do this, Maya. I..." Doctor Akagi turned away and began tapping at the controls of the tank. "I don't know how to thank you."
Maya closed the gap between them, walking right up behind her. She raised a hand to place it on Doctor Akagi's shoulder, but hesitated... then pulled the hand back. "Akagi-sempai, I... you are... I..."
"Thank you for saving me yesterday," Ritsuko said abruptly. "I... if you hadn't slapped me, I would have just... stood there. It was too much like a nightmare."
"It's nothing!" Maya said. This time her hand made contact with Doctor Akagi's shoulder. "I... couldn't let you be hurt! I... you... um..."
Maya almost jumped when Doctor Akagi's hand rose to cover hers for a moment. "Thank you, Maya. For everything."
Maya fought not to swallow nervously as Doctor Akagi turned around. She was so close...
"Why are you doing this?" Doctor Akagi asked.
Maya blinked again. "What?"
"I just told you this is against the specific orders of Commander Ikari. Why... why are you agreeing to do this?" Doctor Akagi's eyes searched hers intently.
Maya fought not to look away. She could feel the blush creeping its way up from her uniform's collar. "I... I... you need me to... to help you," Maya stuttered. "I... you... I had to! I... you're... my, my sempai!"
Doctor Akagi's searching look intensified. "Your sempai. Is that... the only reason?" she asked quietly.
Maya felt her pulse skyrocket. Her throat suddenly dried up and she couldn't meet the other woman's eyes. "I... I..."
"Maya, I'm neither blind nor stupid. I... I know." Ritsuko said softly. "And... I... am not who you think I am. I don't deserve someone like you. But... I'm glad you... you..." She coughed and looked away. "I'm glad you are here. I... I may never be... who you think I am, but... thank you for... believing I am. You don't even know how much I appreciate it. You've saved me twice already."
Maya gaped, trying to come up with a response. 'She...she knows?!' "A-A-Akagi-sempai, I..." She flailed her hands helplessly, unsure whether she should even try denying it, or admit it, or... anything.
Doctor Akagi just smiled sadly again and shook her head. "We'll talk afterwards. This will take a couple of hours at minimum. For now, sit down and let me walk you through the procedure on a dry run first." She waved Maya towards the computer station next to the tank, the screen already set.
Still burning red with embarrassment, Maya took a seat. But this time she didn't jump when Doctor Akagi put her hand on her shoulder.
Krazyfan1
Worrying for the future.
- Location
- Australia
Dawwww! Brilliant chapter as always
....Asuka...thats probably not the best outfit to be wearing when you go flying.....
- Location
- Out and About
Good update, but I caught a couple typos:
That should be "as."
"Had" and "lab," respectively.
That should be "as."
"Had" and "lab," respectively.
Always Late
Lacking in coffee, sleep, and brains
- Location
- Ohio
DAAAAAAAAW. Asuka's so cute, yet refined.Oh, and here's a pic I meant to include with the 'music' scene a bit back, but forgot. Asuka, at age 12, playing her violin, before Tokyo-3 and the Third Child were ever in the picture.
... Hot. Very Hot.
The corruption of Tabris has spread to the Second Child.
DEATH TO THE CORRUPT ALIEN!
So it was Maya.
1. Do? She's already done, time and again.
2. She almost did.
Well, depends on the fic...
rofl: Oh sweet naive Maya. Geez, and I thought Shinji was a horndog.
Understatement of the Century.
And there's tMaya's unconditional
... That's utterly stupid, but in-character.
Kiss her, 'hold' her, 'smother' her, bed her, the list goes on.
The confession is had...
and the two begin their new relationship.
Good chapter.
- Location
- National Capital Region, USA
Not quite. Ritsuko called Maya that morning after they'd both arrived at NERV, not at 0230. Maya has just left her usual post on the command deck at Central Dogma and gone straight down to Ritsuko's lab. After all, if Ritsuko had called her during the night, she'd already know why Ritsuko was hung over.
- Location
- United States
I dunno, Shinji approves.
Schpoonman
They call me the Bord of Lays
- Location
- United States
Stryp beat me to it. He's still not giving anything up in regards to who Ritsuko called. Tell us, you bastard!
Nah, just kidding. My money's still on Rei, or that Rei got involved some time during the night.
Nah, just kidding. My money's still on Rei, or that Rei got involved some time during the night.
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samdamandias
Apprentice Plane Wizard
Damn. At this point I'm convinced that Asuka is more interested in Rei than Shinji is.
Umm ... platonicly of course. Totaly platonic. If she keeps telling herslf that, she might just convince herself that she believes it.
Which is why she's getting somebody else to use it on her. Ah, the fine art of finding loopholes in orders, passed down from the first time one person with a pointy stick told another person with a pointy stick what to do.
khazit
Verified Skrull infiltrator
Shinji: *look up*And since 'Magical Girl Pilots' came up earlier, have a bonus pic:
*nosebleed*
SaltyWaffles
I am dissapoint, son
- Pronouns
- He/Him
This should be "A-A-Akagi-sempai"; you should do that for all stutters of capitalized words. Case in point: You don't write "akagi".
Ranma-sensei
Sorcerer
- Location
- Citrix Receiver
- Pronouns
- Weatherdependent
Do the Magi need debugging? They've been in the product phase for longer than Ritsuko works at Nerv.
That should be 'an'.
Pretty sure there's an 'at' missing, but knowing the English language, I wouldn't bet on it.
Regarding Ritz's 10% of unconsciousness: What are the chances of Maya accidentally tapping the wrong button, or getting curious?
Always Late
Lacking in coffee, sleep, and brains
- Location
- Ohio
The source code they're derived from was... malfunctioning.