Turing Decidable
𝕘𝕒𝕣𝕗
- Location
- Belgium
- Pronouns
- He/Him
For Asuka, at least it's much less of a stretch than having her be homosexual. For Rei... who knows.
Advice and Trust [NGE]
- Location
- Australia, mate
I can see Rei being bi/gay/curious/whatever simply because of her upbringing. No wait, that's probably the wrong word. Um... you know, how her life has been? The fact that she's not quite fully human, hasn't been raised like a normal child, so there might not be the same... ah screw it. I really can't work out how to say it properly.
Since when did that matter to ANY fandom?
Since I'm running this quest on SV, not QQ.
I'm hesitant to assume that upbringing plays any part in sexuality.
- Location
- Volksstaat Hessen, Deutsches Reich
I think what @MisterHalt means is that... well, Rei is the soul of Lilith in a human body. What gender that human body ended up with was completely arbitrary. It's just a shell for the Lilith soul, so hence Rei could be above such concerns as gender. However, I strongly think Rei != Lilith. Rei is in fact her own person, a person that was created with that body and grew up with it - same as any human.
- Location
- Canada
I believe Rei is the result of Gendo first trying to recreate Yui (thus the brain upload tech and using her genes for no real reason), but after a series of horrific failures (first a soulless Yui clone, then a Yui clone with potentially Lilith's soul that went insane), settled for creating someone who he could used to recover (and remember) Yui with.
Long story short, I don't have any objection to seeing others portray Rei and/or Asuka as bisexual but I probably won't do it in my works without a more concrete reason to assume it's true.
- Location
- Volksstaat Hessen, Deutsches Reich
Considering the vital role Rei plays in his Scenario, I strongly think the line of thinking went the other way round: Primarily, he searched for a vessel for Lilith's soul, and then he decided he might as well use Yui as genetic donor for it. Keep in mind he had his Scenario laid out already one week after Yui's Contact Experiment. Rei was always just a tool for him - his 3I detonator.
That's reasonable.
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Chapter 9.24
- Location
- National Capital Region, USA
Yeah, even I had to start from the emotional end, and work from there. Rei I can see as not being socially conditioned either way, and determining her attraction from emotions more than not, but for Asuka all we've got is that she's definitely attracted to Shinji and Kaji, with nothing to really go further. Here, Rei's sheer affection for them both put the idea in Asuka's head, and Rei being the only other person who'd ever told Asuka she was loved made an impression.
Anyhow... @Shaseyu, @M@rduk, @Ben Bladesman, @CalumTraveler, @NotYourParents, @Zeratoth, this is your trigger. It's update time! 3200 words. So much for short!
Art!
Chapter 9.24
Everything I Do...
+++
"This is the way to spend an afternoon, isn't it, Hikari?"
"Absolutely, Asuka." The Class Rep threw a look back over her shoulder. Touji gave her a weak smile, struggling along under the load of boxes he was carrying. Hikari grinned back at Asuka. "Any chance to be seen in public with our devoted boyfriends, ne?"
"Why did I volunteer for this?" Touji whined.
"Because you decided you wanted to show off how much tougher you were when Shinji said he was going to carry everything Asuka could get on this shopping trip?" Kensuke reminded him. "It was just going to be those two spending Asuka's birthday gift money and such. You're the one who decided he was going to be the 'big tough guy' and let Hikari go along with her friend."
"I don't mind the companyyyyyyyyYYY!! AAAH!" Shinji's cheerful reassurance to Touji dissolved into a panicked cry as his own unsteady load of packages toppled forward into a messy pile after an uneven bit of sidewalk caught his toe.
The girls stopped and looked back. Asuka's eyebrows went up. "What ha- are you alright, Shinji?" She hurried back to check on her boyfriend, who was still rubbing his toe.
"I'm fine, Asuka. I just tripped at little." He eyed the pile of boxes. "At least nothing broke and we hadn't gotten anything breakable."
"Just you, baka." Asuka gave him a quick kiss. "No breaking your foot or tripping into traffic or anything. I can get a new blouse or replace those shoes. I can't replace you."
He smiled at her. "Yes, dear."
Touji made a disgusted face. "The poor Shin-man, under the complete domination of the Red Dem-OW OW OW! Leggo! Leggo!"
Hikari let go of his ear. "Touji, I've told you not to be mean to her like that. She's my friend too, and being with Shinji makes her and him happy." She patted his arm reassuringly. "And after that birthday party, you can't even pretend to say they're not totally in love." She shot a 'I read way too much romance manga'-filled look at the Second and Third Child as they picked up the packages and more carefully piled them back in Shinji's arms.
Touji did have the grace to look chastised. "Yeah, I know, Hikari. It's hard to break old habits, y'know? I know Shin-man is totally gaga for her, and she likes him back just as much, as crazy as that still feels." He looked at the empty-armed Kensuke. "Just wait 'til its your turn to do this. Yer gonna have a double-load, mister 'I've got two girlfriends'."
Kensuke looked back at him, smug as a cat in a sunbeam. "I am unburdened! The girls said I should follow along, since they didn't want me to peep on the surprise they were working on for me."
"Still not fair," Touji grumbled. "You should have to carry as many boxes as me and Shinji combined. Two girlfriends..."
Hikari tickled him in the ribs, making him jump and squeal in a manner he'd loudly deny was cute. "You couldn't handle two of me, Touji," she declared. She leaned up on her toes to whisper something in his ear.
Touji promptly turned red and sputtered something incoherent in reply.
Asuka put the last box on top of Shinji's stack and looked at Hikari and Touji. "Hah. Brains and brawn, alright. Touji should know better than to try and say things like that around Hikari. She'll melt his little brain." She looked at the pile of new purchases in Shinji's arms. "Boy, I wish Rei could have come along. She's a lot more fun to shop and try on outfits with nowadays. And she looks great in some of the stuff I pick out for her."
"Like that blue satin and lace set?" Shinji muttered just loud enough for her to hear.
Asuka turned red and sputtered herself. "R-right! Um, let's get going, then!" She whirled back around and started leading the way to the next store again.
"Where is Rei, come to think of it?" Kensuke asked. "I haven't gotten to talk to her in a bit."
"She said she had to run some errands that would take her to a different shopping district than here, so she'd see us at dinner," Shinji said. "She said she wished she could come too. She likes shopping with Asuka a lot."
+++
Across the city, Rei sneezed.
Kaworu blinked. "Ah... can we even get colds?"
"I have never. In any case, continue explaining your visions. This is... interesting. And may help protect them."
+++
It gave Asuka a momentary flashback to see such a downbeat and closed expression on Shinji's face as the elevator's doors opened. His look brightened up considerably when he snapped out of his fugue and saw it was her the elevator had stopped to admit. "Asuka," he smiled.
"Third Child," she replied coolly, flicking her eyes at the ceiling. 'We're still in the heart of NERV, Liebling, play it cool!' she tried to broadcast with her look.
She leaned against the far wall of the elevator to stare at him, the rubbery material of her plugsuit squeaking a bit as she folded her arms across her chest, giving herself a little lift. "I scored a 76.5% Synch Rate today. A good three points up from my last baseline," she bragged, just like she would have done in the past. 'Leaving aside all the oops-nearly-hit-100-or-worse craziness that came from our first contact with our mothers, that's nearly my all-time best while solo. You and I versus Gaghiel still tops that.' "How about you, Third?"
"Hmm?" His eyes snapped up to her face, leaving off the thorough look at her figure he'd been enjoying. "Oh, ah… 71.9%" he admitted, a bit of his darker expression returning.
"71.9%? Shinji, that's two points down from your last baseline. That's your first decrease in… nearly six months, yes?" 'Since we kissed, in fact. Since we've been together.'
He nodded. "It's… hard. To open up that much, after everything that's happened recently."
Asuka concealed her wince. 'He's still wary of talking to his mother. As broken as she is, at least half of Mama is… mostly ok, and both halves want to talk to me. But Shinji's mother… was still part of SEELE.' "
I see," she said out loud. "Well, you better improve next time, Third. I won't have some wobbly, backsliding second-rate Pilot as my wingman!" She put all the arrogance and imperiousness into the instruction as she could. It was a lot harder than it used to be. Now she was torn between worried for him and wanting to cuddle him to bring out his smile, neither of which she could do while they were in the perpetually-watched corridors of NERV.
He shrugged, and a faint smile did start to work its way back onto his lips. "I'll figure something out. In the meantime, I know what definitely will improve my emotional state and therefore my Synch Rate."
"What?"
"Making out with my girlfriend. I mean, you look happy, so I guess talking to your mother went well?"
Asuka paled and she pushed off the wall, her arms dropping to her side. "Y-you idiot! What are you talking about?! You can't just-"
Shinji just smiled and continued right over her. "I learned something last night, something Misato-san told me. She was very sure about it, since she looked it up after that time she and Kaji got stuck in an elevator for hours during that power blackout." He looked up at the ceiling himself. "There are no cameras or audio pickups in the elevators in this part of the Geofront." He winked at her.
Relief flooded through her. "Damn it, Shinji! You nearly gave me a heart attACKMMPPhh!!" Her complaint rose to a startled cry, but ended in a happy moan as Shinji rushed forward to nearly tackle her into the wall of the elevator lips-first.
Wrapped in his arms, pressed against the wall by his surprisingly solid weight, his tongue busily fencing with hers, Asuka very quickly forgave her boyfriend's little shock to her system. The times when Shinji just unleashed his passion and grabbed her like this were far too rare and far between in her opinion, since she loved knowing she could make him lose control like this.
The click-click-click of the level-counter was the only sound in the elevator for a minute. She eventually broke the kiss, but compensated by pressing her back against the wall and bringing her legs up to wrap around his waist, locking her heels together behind his back. "You sneaky little baka… you did that on purpose," she purred into his left ear. She punctuated her accusation by nibbling on his earlobe.
His chuckle made his whole torso vibrate pleasantly against hers. "Well, I knew as soon as Misato-san told me that little fact that we'd put it to good use, and this seemed a fun way to tell you," he said back into her own ear, his warm breath making her shiver. "And this is making me feel better." He kissed her again.
"Me too, but we'd better stop before we get too happy about it. This may be a long elevator ride, but we don't have time for getting in and out of plugsuits and all the rest," Asuka bemoaned once that kiss ended. "You and I are absolutely going to do the rest once we get home, damn it. I'm already just a little wound up…"
"We've still got…" Shinji threw a look at the slowly clicking counter. "At least 5 minutes before this slow one gets us to the right level. "Bet you I can manage to help you with that a little before we arrive." He started to nibble on the bits of her neck he could reach above her plugsuit's collar.
She threw her head back to give him better access and closed her eyes in sensual bliss. "Prove it…"
+++
Misato glanced at her watch and frowned. Shinji and Asuka had finished their Synch Test more than 20 minutes ago. They had firmly insisted they wanted to watch Hikari's first Synch Test from the just repaired Pribnow Box with her, so where were they?
The door at the back of the Box finally slid open with a hiss and her two missing Pilots trotted in. Misato turned to loom as they ran in, her eyes narrowing. Shinji looked red-faced and apologetic as she glared at them. Asuka was also red-faced, but... not apologetic in the least. She was flushed, but smiling, looking relaxed despite her slightly mussed hair.
Misato's eyes narrowed further. She knew that hairstyle. 'JBF' was a term she'd had thrown at herself a few times in college. Asuka wasn't quite full-blown, but she had a suspiciously pleased look in her eye. Misato did her best to pin them both with a stare, especially Asuka.
Shinji looked a bit guilty and ducked his head slightly. "S-sorry, Misato-san! The elevators are really slow in this block."
"And I had to spend the entire ride cooped up with a Third Child who still can't beat my Synch Rate. Bleh!" Asuka complained.
Misato did not relent on her stare. Asuka's act might still be fooling some of the techs, but she had a pretty good guess at what exactly her two wards had been up to.
Asuka just smiled back at her, barely trying to pretend innocence. 'Kaaaaa-jiiii' she mouthed, and briefly stuck her tongue out.
Misato rolled her eyes and gave up. Trying to shame Asuka about anything she did with Shinji was a losing game much of the time these days, at least when Misato couldn't publicly say anything about them fooling around or even being a couple while they were anywhere the MAGI were able to monitor. She pointed her chin at the monitors, already lighting up. "You should have moved faster. Hikari-chan is already activating Unit-03."
"I'm still amazed they finally decided to let her get back in her Eva," Asuka said, looking out the window at the black and purple Unit. "I was sure they'd leave her benched forever."
"She's still not on the active list just yet, Asuka. The Commander just ordered her to get checked out in case anything happens to the Fifth Child," Ritsuko said over her shoulder. She didn't move from her position right behind Lieutenant Ibuki's chair, her hand on the younger woman's shoulder. "Since the incident at Matsushiro kept us from even getting her baseline Synch Rate established."
Asuka grunted unhappily. "Still stupid. It's Hikari's Eva, she should get to be the Pilot, not some new kid from NERV-Berlin that didn't even show up while I was there."
"Even the Commander has to follow orders from the Committee," Ritsuko said, turning back to the console to type at the controls. "They want the Fifth Child to be the primary Pilot for Unit-03, then that's how it goes. But we can still prepare for the worst. Hence, this test to make sure the Fourth Child is ready if we need to substitute her back in."
"Bet she'll still be better than him," Asuka said, glancing at Shinji for a moment, who nodded.
"We'll find out," Ritsuko replied. "The Fifth Child is testing next after we finish with the Fourth."
"And Rei?" Shinji asked.
Ritsuko hesitated a second. "She's reactivating Unit-00 right after that."
"Absolute borderline passed. Unit-03 has successfully activated," Lieutenant Ibuki reported.
+++
The colors flashed across her eyes just like the last time. Hikari tried to clamp down on her racing pulse. The last time this had been easy... and then suddenly it had become a nightmare. Now... it was that and more.
'Am I really about to talk to my mother?'
She'd gotten a pretty good briefing on what to expect from Asuka, Shinji, and Rei last night after Major Katsuragi's party. How to open her mind to get the best Synch. How to Pilot the huge Unit, and the real briefing, how to deal with the wild rush of feeling and thoughts that would come from being able to truly speak to a mother that she had thought dead for years.
''I know it will be hard, Hikari, but you'll have to hold back. You'll feel this intense rush, just... so comforting to be able to talk to your mama, but... you have to throttle it back,' Asuka had told her. ''Shinji and I, they can explain away our Synch Rates' skyrocketing as something to do with our Evas or such, since they 'know' what our Rates should be. But if yours shoots up to nearly 100% like ours did when we talked to our mamas, they'll have to know something's up. So you have to keep it cool. I'm sorry about that. I bet you want to see her as bad as we did ours.''
'That wasn't a dream... I really did talk to my mother when I was pulled into the Core,' Hikari marveled. 'And now... here I go.'
"Begin when you're ready, Pilot," Doctor Akagi said over the intercom. "Just clear your mind."
"Roger. Beginning now." She closed her eyes and put her head back. Carefully, she reached out with her mind, as Asuka had taught her.
'Mother?'
There was a moment of tension, like a psychic held-breath...
Then the force of the joyful greeting nearly caused her to jump in her seat. 'HIKARI!'
+++
"Synch Rate spiking... 45.6... 50.1..." Lieutenant Ibuki said, her voice tense.
Ritsuko glared at the readouts. What the Hell? The readings were like the ones they'd gotten from Asuka's last test with her matching Production Type, but still...
"52.4.... 52.6... leveling off at 52.9%" Lieutenant Ibuki breathed a sigh of relief. She looked up at her supervisor. "No wild reactions like before, Akagi-sempai."
Ritsuko sighed too. "And if we can just get through this, the Fifth Child, and Unit-00's reactivation without any other madness, this day won't be a complete disaster."
+++
'I have to go, Mother. I love you!'
'I love you too, my darling girl. Hug your sisters and your father for me, and tell everyone I love them!'
Hikari bit her lip. 'I will when I can, Mother. Remember, don't talk to Nagisa-san. We're not sure we can trust him to know about you.'
'I will. Be saf-'
Hikari winced as the power died and the link to her mother abruptly snapped. She shook her head. Ikari-kun had been right, not pulling back before the cutoff caused a bad headache. But it was worth it. She couldn't wait to tell Touji.
+++
"49.9%, a very good result, Nagisa-kun."
"Thank you, Doctor Akagi. I am happy I was so successful in my first Synch Test in a real Evangelion Unit. It feels... quite comfortable in here."
Misato shared a nonplussed look with Shinji. How the heck was the Fifth Child getting such a good rate with Unit-03? From everything they knew, it should have been all but impossible for him to do so, lacking any bond to Mrs. Horaki's spirit. NERV-Berlin's prize Pilot was just an endless mystery.
"How's Rei-chan doing?" Misato asked her old friend.
Ritsuko walked over to the consoles repeating the results in Test Chamber #2. Shinji and Asuka had done their tests today in the Simulation plugs, but with the Fourth and Fifth Children getting their first real Tests, they'd moved Unit-03 into Test Chamber #1, right out the observation windows from them. Unit-00 was next door, though Ritsuko was running the test from here. After the last time, Misato was unsurprised Ritsuko was staying as far away as she could.
"Activation successful... Rei's clocking in at... mm... 58.2%. And no instability or berserking reactions detected. Looks like she's overcome the trouble from last time." The Project E chairwoman's shoulders relaxed.
"Thanks to my presence, of course," Asuka's voice chimed in over the intercom. "Rei and Unit-00 wouldn't dare try anything while I'm here to keep things calm!"
Shinji did his best to smother a snicker. Misato smiled a bit too. She'd wondered why Asuka had left Shinji and her to stay watching Nagisa's test, while she went to watch Rei's directly. "Of course, that must be it, Asuka," Misato said back. "Isn't that right, Rei-chan?"
+++
'Of course, Major. I would never harm my love.' Rei kept her face blank, but quietly enjoyed picturing the looks that would appear on everyone's faces if she said that out loud. Especially the looks on Asuka and Shinji's faces.
"PIlot Soryu's presence in battle has always been of great assistance, Major. I see no reason why it should not be true in a test situation as well," she said.
"See? Rei agrees with me," Asuka said cheerfully. "Now, are we all done? I'd like to get showered and fed."
"We're all done, yes," Doctor Akagi reassured her. "It's been a long day, but at least it's over."
The alarm began to blare before she'd even picked up her lighter.
+++
"All personnel, go to first stage alert! Prepare for aerial assault!" Lieutenant Aoba's voice thundered over the Geofront's PA.
+++
Schpoonman
They call me the Bord of Lays
- Location
- United States
Oh, shit.
The Fourth Monado
S U B A R A S H I I
- Location
- Away
This won't be good for them.
- Location
- Volksstaat Hessen, Deutsches Reich
It comes...
Also, come on. Section 2 can't be that incompetent that they don't know Asuka and Shinji are a thing after they've made it public to the entire school. This secrecy seems a bit ill reasoned...
Also, come on. Section 2 can't be that incompetent that they don't know Asuka and Shinji are a thing after they've made it public to the entire school. This secrecy seems a bit ill reasoned...
M. H. Fuzzball
Aperture Science-certified Horrible Person
- Location
- Sector 2814
The same way one of your other characters got such horrible rates with a test plug? Wasn't it like 2.7812, √-1, repeat those, then 0?
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Dragontrapper
Homeless Draconis
- Location
- A Tower in the middle of nowhere
*Distressed Reader Noises*
M. H. Fuzzball
Aperture Science-certified Horrible Person
- Location
- Sector 2814
I'm guessing that Horaki-kaasan was neither part of a conspiracy to end the world, nor did she go crazy from having her soul ripped in half.
Schpoonman
They call me the Bord of Lays
- Location
- United States
Can't Kaworu canonically set his sync to whatever he damn well pleases?
- Location
- Volksstaat Hessen, Deutsches Reich
Hence probably 49.9%... as close to staying below 50 as possible. And yes, he can, but only with Adamite units (i.e., he couldn't do it with EVA-01).
- Location
- Canada
Turing Decidable
𝕘𝕒𝕣𝕗
- Location
- Belgium
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Haha, you little brat.
:lolGOD DAMN IT, RITSUKO!
CV12Hornet
Riter.
- Location
- Tacoma, Washington
...
Dammit, if I'm remembering correctly, this is the mind-rape one.
Fuck.
Dammit, if I'm remembering correctly, this is the mind-rape one.
Fuck.
samdamandias
Apprentice Plane Wizard
You think Rits would know by now not to tempt Murphy.
GODDAMMIT RITS
- Location
- Canada
Here we go!
If you would like, my submission for an alternate song:
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Probably. Which is why he undershot Hikari. Probably intentionally; SEELE can't call him out on sand-bagging, but he's still not as good a choice as the original pilot.
- Location
- Volksstaat Hessen, Deutsches Reich
Well, right now, Kaworu and Rei are already in their EVAs. I hence suspect they will be deployed quickest. The first ones to face Arael...
I still think Kaworu could Adam-hax Ariel, so I think it'll be Rei. Of course, regardless of who it is, if it's those two pilots on the surface, yeah, that'll have an impact on both...
I still think Kaworu could Adam-hax Ariel, so I think it'll be Rei. Of course, regardless of who it is, if it's those two pilots on the surface, yeah, that'll have an impact on both...