Chapter Twenty-Three: "Clara Pacta, Boni Amici."
- Location
- https://discord.gg/z9tBvbh
Chapter Twenty-Three: "Clara Pacta, Boni Amici."
The showers of Nerv had unlimited hot water. Shinji had been halfway through deciding whether to try to adapt his body to an amphibious lifestyle when he finally decided to step out and get dressed.
He made a small detour to a nearby grocery store, and then to a butcher's shop. Along the way, he felt daggers stick to his back. He was pretty sure someone was following him, and was doing so in a way that was anything but carefully hidden -like the forty or so secret Section Two agents that were rummaging around the same road with nothing more to do than steal quick glances at him as he went by. Of course it was silly to think that the whole road was filled with secret agents, but he liked to imagine the middle-aged women chatting near the grocer would suddenly burst out into Section Two field agents complete with dark sunglasses and black suits, ready to arrest him on 'corruption of minor' charges.
"Chiiii~" the stare was accompanied by the tense narrowing of dark, hopeful eyes. Behind her, a slightly anxious woman was trying her hardest to steer the youngster on another track, and was also failing miserably at that.
"Come on, Naoko-chan," the woman said, "We should be going home to have dinner, not follow professor Ikari around town."
Naoko, most aptly, ignored the woman.
"She's so much like her mother," the woman groaned under her breath as the young girl decided to most firmly keep following her older brother through the street. "Which just makes her adorable, but-Sempai," she grumbled. "The things I do-"
Shinji resorted to stop midway, turn around with his grocery bags in his hands, and near Naoko's 'hidden' position. The girl was squirming behind a mailbox, using a baseball cap to cover most of her face and dark hair, whistling all the while as she seemed vividly interested in something written on the mailbox itself.
"Can I help you?" Shinji asked, a smile on his face. "Miss...Ibuki, right?" he asked next. He really should have familiarized himself with the surnames of everyone at Nerv, but there were simply so many people-getting everyone's name and surname wouldn't have been hard. It was just too much effort, especially if he wasn't going to talk to half of them, or if they were busy scurrying away from his surname.
"Yes!" Maya said with an awkward upbeat pitch, "That's me. Miss Ibuki Maya," she tried to smile without appearing nervous. She failed at that.
Shinji looked at her for a bit more, and then repeated his question. This time, the woman did answer. Well, more like, Naoko answered for her. "Do you want to eat dinner with us?" she had a truly hope-filled gaze, it made Shinji actually embarrassed that he had to say no to a prior engagement he couldn't really get away with. Then, on the other hand, he remembered what it meant like to be...well, in Naoko's shoes, since they were his too.
It was in that moment that a compromise dawned on him. No. Not a 'compromise'. A solution to make everyone happy.
As his psychologist would say 'a compromise solves only half the problem for both people, but it's better than nothing. A solution makes both people happy, even if it's not the one they're looking for, it's one they can enjoy all the same.'
"How about you have dinner with me?" Shinji replied. "And another friend of mine?"
Naoko's cheerful 'yes' could be heard from the other side of the street. Maya's eyes widened slightly. "But with such a short notice-"
"Well, we are family. I don't think you need to notify family when you're coming over to visit," Shinji replied with a chuckle. "I've got everything I need for a dinner, be it two, three or four, it's no problem at all."
"I'll have to ask Doctor Ikari about this," Maya said, turning to her cellphone and hoping that the doctor would pick up. She really hoped so, because the look that Naoko was giving her was precisely the same one that Ritsuko held whenever she was really determined to make things go her way. It was the look that some people in the labs led to believe that just by staring hard enough at a protein block, it would suddenly become whatever pleased its mistress.
The guys in the labs were really strange, to Maya's eyes.
On the other hand, a surprised redhead found herself quite welcoming of the idea of a dinner at Shinji's home. At least, she had utterly different things in mind, but when the door opened to a twelve year old, her expectations came crashing down faster than a space shuttle hitting an asteroid before entering a collision course with the heart of a neutron star, just about ready to be eagerly sucked inside a black hole.
"Well, I thought it would be only fair to return the favor by inviting you to dinner," Shinji said with a smile. "This is my sister, Naoko."
Asuka smiled. There were, in her mind, some little 'cracking' noises. Perhaps her jaws trying their hardest to relax were the source of it, perhaps the fact that maybe the space shuttle wasn't on a collision course with a black hole. Whatever the reason, it was a better alternative.
"Hello!" Naoko said. "Your hair is so pretty!"
Uh. Maybe it wouldn't be that bad of a dinner.
"Hello to you too," Asuka replied with a definitely less awkward or strained smile. "Seems like crushing hope run in the family," she mumbled next.
She had even dressed for the kill. Well, not that one would notice at first glance, because that would be utterly indecorous. "So," she clicked her tongue against the back of her teeth, her back against the kitchen counter while Naoko seemed content enough drawing while watching television. "Too scared I'd jump on your bones and suck you dry that you had to call help in the form of a cute innocent girl?"
Shinji laughed awkwardly. "It's...actually not really a long story," Shinji remarked with a shrug, cutting the vegetables with finesse and precision. "Father remarried, had a child. Turns out he doesn't care about her just as much as he didn't care about me, so when she asked if she could come by for dinner...well, I could hardly say no. Also yes, she's a shield. I'm horrible, using a child as a shield."
"Calm down Freudsson," Asuka said with a light chuckle. "I get it. I'm not mad. It's more than what I get usually. After a one night stand there's the shame, the denial, the 'it was a one time thing darling, I bat for older girls' and so on. Getting a dinner date, even with a third wheel, isn't that bad."
"Son of Freud?" Shinji raised an eyebrow. He blinked next. "We didn't have a one night stand."
"Says who?" Asuka retorted, both hands to her chest. "You said you'd never forget it!" she playfully swatted at his arm. "Come on! I, the great Asuka, gave you the night of your life and you know it!"
Shinji blanched, and nearly proceeded to cut off his own knuckles. He didn't, because he was a chef, and chefs did not bleed on their food. It still did make him freeze for a bit, like a deer caught in the headlights.
Then he exhaled, and continued to prepare dinner.
"So you're a professor and you can cook," Asuka said after a short blissful moment of silence. "Is there something you can't do?"
"Understand what goes on in my father's head," he replied with a shrug. "Or why there aren't more Evangelions being fielded. I'm sure that a determinate Gendo Ikari wouldn't have trouble finding orphans, or even 'create' them."
"Well, maybe he's not such an arse," Asuka said.
"Hey!" Naoko piped in, "You said a bad word!" she pointed a colored crayon at her. "That means you've got to pay penance!"
"Oh?" Asuka replied dryly, both hands on her sides. "And what would that be, uh, chipmunk?"
Naoko stood up. Considering she was physically only two years younger than the fourteen years old body of Asuka, she really wasn't that small. "I'm not a chipmunk! And you're not that much older than me!"
"AH!" Asuka barked out. "That's because I regularly eat my vegetables and have a balanced diet followed by regular physical exercises! That's why my skin's smooth and I'm this youthful-but in truth, prepare to be amazed, I am twenty-six! Indeed! I am at least twice your age, you brat!"
Naoko furrowed her brows, and then turned to Shinji as if to receive confirmation. Shinji nodded, and so Naoko's eyes widened in surprise. "Does that mean you cover your face in mud every night like mother does?"
Asuka bristled. "No, I-"
"And use courgettes to cover your eyes, and drink tea and spend countless hours in the loo-"
"No," Asuka began to growl.
"Are you big brother's wife?" Naoko asked once more.
"No-" "Not yet."
Shinji blinked. "What."
"Give it a few decades, a couple of centuries if he's really hardheaded, and if there's still an humanity lingering about then he'll have no choice but to fall in my arms," Asuka said with a triumphant expression.
She then turned Shinji and her expression faltered slightly at the boy's surprised look.
"Uhm...cat's out of the bag this early, I guess," Asuka scratched the back of her head. "Still, it's not like you've got much of a choice. There's me and perhaps wonder-doll. I'm sure after a couple more centuries of pushing and trying I'd get what I want. Unless the angels kill us all, in which case...well, always wanted to punch my mother in the face on the other side." She shrugged, as if she hadn't said anything of importance.
"You're strange," Naoko said, her face lost trying to make sense of what Asuka was saying. "But...you like my big brother?"
"Yes," Asuka said with a smile.
"Why?"
"Because why wouldn't I?"
Naoko furrowed her brows even more. "Why would you?"
"Look here kid," Asuka said. "It's this simple. A square can only fit inside a squared hole. A triangle can't fit in a circular hole and viceversa. One day, it's going to happen that the circle, no matter how many loose square-shaped holes he goes through, will go through a circle hole that is just the right fit and finish his work there."
"Asuka...why..." Shinji grimaced with his face crimson and a hand to cover it. "Did you have to make a metaphor like that?"
"Like what?" Asuka blinked. She then blinked once more when it dawned on her. Finally, she yelped and flailed her hands wildly in front of her. "Don't repeat anything I've said! Don't think about it! Don't ask about it!"
"U-Uh?" Naoko, thankfully, didn't need more coaxing to forget the strange words of Asuka and have dinner -since Shinji hadn't stopped preparing food in the meantime. Even with one hand busy hiding his red face, and his eyes closed, he could still peel a potato through sheer strength of will and acrobatics best left to kitchen chefs.
"You're a pervert," Asuka mouthed Shinji.
Shinji actually looked scandalized. Scandalized that Asuka had the galls to call him a pervert.
"I'm the pervert?" he nearly shrieked back, but it came as a choke hiss. "Have you...have you ever thought about what I might want?"
"Yeah, duh, that's why I didn't say you had to fall head over heels in love with me immediately," Asuka replied, taking a bite of the potpourri and moaning in pleasant surprise. "But one day, inevitably, you will. I'll get what I want, you'll get what you want, everyone will be happy. Or...well, Angels come down, we all die. Considering how you fight, maybe we're just having our last dinner and don't know it yet."
"If that's the case," Shinji mumbled, "I hope you enjoy it."
"I'd enjoy something else too," she muttered under her breath. "But there's a minor present at the table, so I'll refrain." Shinji sighed as he filled her glass with wine, and did the same for his. Naoko had fruit juice. Shinji was pretty sure he'd end up facing a horrible cranked-up to hell simulation if the girl ended up 'corrupted' by the end of the night.
Naoko's slumped body was gently carried to sleep in the guest room -Shinji had been given the responsibility to ensure she'd get to school the next day, which in turn meant that Ritsuko could pull an all-nighter with Maya, working on a few modifications to the pallet rifles.
"Aw, if I fall asleep, will you princess carry me to bed just like I did with you?" Asuka asked, her back against the side of the open window to let the cool night air flow in. She had the wine bottle in her right hand, and took a deep swill out of it. "She's such a cute kid, isn't she?"
"About the 'not yet'..."
"Right, what about it?" Asuka drawled. "Don't tell me you haven't realized it yet. I, you, wonder-doll," she snorted at the last nickname, "We're the eternally youthful ones. Not them, not your sister, not your father, not the guy one floor below, and neither are the men you meet along the street regularly. We're unique," she flexed her free hand's index and middle finger, making air quotes. "We're special. We're going to be anyway, unless they burn us to ashes and leave nothing behind."
She sighed. "So I say, enjoy the moment." She lifted the bottle up and took a deeper set of heavy gulps, "Carpe diem!" she giggled. "Man. Think about it," she smiled wistfully. "They say time heals all wounds, and it's true. You just need to spend so much time doing other stuff that you end up forgetting the non-important ones. Bit by bit, you forget the face of the guy you smacked on your first day at university. You forget the name of the girl you shared a room with, no matter how snotty she was, her 'qualities' redeemed her." She giggled. "I'm a sad drunk, Shinji," she bawled. "Not really," she winked and shot her tongue out the next.
"Asuka," Shinji said quite calmly, "Maybe...maybe you've had enough," he neared her quite slowly, kneeling down in front of her with a small smile.
"Twenty-six," Asuka mumbled. "A normal twenty-six year old woman wouldn't be saying shitty stuff about eternal youth or...or similar stuff," she pressed her hand against her face, her eyes sharply closed. "I hate this."
She took a deep breath. "I really hate this." Her breathing evened out a few minutes later, and as she fell asleep, Shinji exhaled in relief.
He prepped his cello after putting the red-haired girl to bed too, and as he adjusted a few strings, he neared his fiddle to the instrument. The Cello Sonata in G minor, opus number sixty-five, soon occupied the air. Nobody woke up, and nobody interrupted.
The music simply echoed in the air, free to fly wherever it wished, and do as it pleased.
In the depths of the sea, eyes snapped open of pure pulsing crimson.
With a powerful thrust of its massive tail, the Angel jumped. It jumped, the monster that resembled an aquatic shark but was not, and as it did, its AT-Field shone from its sheer strength as it began to fly in the air, wailing the same sound the whales would emit before burrowing deep in the earth itself, crushing the dirt along its path and emerging shortly after, repeating the process.
Any who heard the angel's wail, unfortunately, would lose their lives.
For Gaghiel had come, and the rows of teeth endlessly gnawed upon the earth as it swam with unstoppable glee towards its destination.
The showers of Nerv had unlimited hot water. Shinji had been halfway through deciding whether to try to adapt his body to an amphibious lifestyle when he finally decided to step out and get dressed.
He made a small detour to a nearby grocery store, and then to a butcher's shop. Along the way, he felt daggers stick to his back. He was pretty sure someone was following him, and was doing so in a way that was anything but carefully hidden -like the forty or so secret Section Two agents that were rummaging around the same road with nothing more to do than steal quick glances at him as he went by. Of course it was silly to think that the whole road was filled with secret agents, but he liked to imagine the middle-aged women chatting near the grocer would suddenly burst out into Section Two field agents complete with dark sunglasses and black suits, ready to arrest him on 'corruption of minor' charges.
"Chiiii~" the stare was accompanied by the tense narrowing of dark, hopeful eyes. Behind her, a slightly anxious woman was trying her hardest to steer the youngster on another track, and was also failing miserably at that.
"Come on, Naoko-chan," the woman said, "We should be going home to have dinner, not follow professor Ikari around town."
Naoko, most aptly, ignored the woman.
"She's so much like her mother," the woman groaned under her breath as the young girl decided to most firmly keep following her older brother through the street. "Which just makes her adorable, but-Sempai," she grumbled. "The things I do-"
Shinji resorted to stop midway, turn around with his grocery bags in his hands, and near Naoko's 'hidden' position. The girl was squirming behind a mailbox, using a baseball cap to cover most of her face and dark hair, whistling all the while as she seemed vividly interested in something written on the mailbox itself.
"Can I help you?" Shinji asked, a smile on his face. "Miss...Ibuki, right?" he asked next. He really should have familiarized himself with the surnames of everyone at Nerv, but there were simply so many people-getting everyone's name and surname wouldn't have been hard. It was just too much effort, especially if he wasn't going to talk to half of them, or if they were busy scurrying away from his surname.
"Yes!" Maya said with an awkward upbeat pitch, "That's me. Miss Ibuki Maya," she tried to smile without appearing nervous. She failed at that.
Shinji looked at her for a bit more, and then repeated his question. This time, the woman did answer. Well, more like, Naoko answered for her. "Do you want to eat dinner with us?" she had a truly hope-filled gaze, it made Shinji actually embarrassed that he had to say no to a prior engagement he couldn't really get away with. Then, on the other hand, he remembered what it meant like to be...well, in Naoko's shoes, since they were his too.
It was in that moment that a compromise dawned on him. No. Not a 'compromise'. A solution to make everyone happy.
As his psychologist would say 'a compromise solves only half the problem for both people, but it's better than nothing. A solution makes both people happy, even if it's not the one they're looking for, it's one they can enjoy all the same.'
"How about you have dinner with me?" Shinji replied. "And another friend of mine?"
Naoko's cheerful 'yes' could be heard from the other side of the street. Maya's eyes widened slightly. "But with such a short notice-"
"Well, we are family. I don't think you need to notify family when you're coming over to visit," Shinji replied with a chuckle. "I've got everything I need for a dinner, be it two, three or four, it's no problem at all."
"I'll have to ask Doctor Ikari about this," Maya said, turning to her cellphone and hoping that the doctor would pick up. She really hoped so, because the look that Naoko was giving her was precisely the same one that Ritsuko held whenever she was really determined to make things go her way. It was the look that some people in the labs led to believe that just by staring hard enough at a protein block, it would suddenly become whatever pleased its mistress.
The guys in the labs were really strange, to Maya's eyes.
On the other hand, a surprised redhead found herself quite welcoming of the idea of a dinner at Shinji's home. At least, she had utterly different things in mind, but when the door opened to a twelve year old, her expectations came crashing down faster than a space shuttle hitting an asteroid before entering a collision course with the heart of a neutron star, just about ready to be eagerly sucked inside a black hole.
"Well, I thought it would be only fair to return the favor by inviting you to dinner," Shinji said with a smile. "This is my sister, Naoko."
Asuka smiled. There were, in her mind, some little 'cracking' noises. Perhaps her jaws trying their hardest to relax were the source of it, perhaps the fact that maybe the space shuttle wasn't on a collision course with a black hole. Whatever the reason, it was a better alternative.
"Hello!" Naoko said. "Your hair is so pretty!"
Uh. Maybe it wouldn't be that bad of a dinner.
"Hello to you too," Asuka replied with a definitely less awkward or strained smile. "Seems like crushing hope run in the family," she mumbled next.
She had even dressed for the kill. Well, not that one would notice at first glance, because that would be utterly indecorous. "So," she clicked her tongue against the back of her teeth, her back against the kitchen counter while Naoko seemed content enough drawing while watching television. "Too scared I'd jump on your bones and suck you dry that you had to call help in the form of a cute innocent girl?"
Shinji laughed awkwardly. "It's...actually not really a long story," Shinji remarked with a shrug, cutting the vegetables with finesse and precision. "Father remarried, had a child. Turns out he doesn't care about her just as much as he didn't care about me, so when she asked if she could come by for dinner...well, I could hardly say no. Also yes, she's a shield. I'm horrible, using a child as a shield."
"Calm down Freudsson," Asuka said with a light chuckle. "I get it. I'm not mad. It's more than what I get usually. After a one night stand there's the shame, the denial, the 'it was a one time thing darling, I bat for older girls' and so on. Getting a dinner date, even with a third wheel, isn't that bad."
"Son of Freud?" Shinji raised an eyebrow. He blinked next. "We didn't have a one night stand."
"Says who?" Asuka retorted, both hands to her chest. "You said you'd never forget it!" she playfully swatted at his arm. "Come on! I, the great Asuka, gave you the night of your life and you know it!"
Shinji blanched, and nearly proceeded to cut off his own knuckles. He didn't, because he was a chef, and chefs did not bleed on their food. It still did make him freeze for a bit, like a deer caught in the headlights.
Then he exhaled, and continued to prepare dinner.
"So you're a professor and you can cook," Asuka said after a short blissful moment of silence. "Is there something you can't do?"
"Understand what goes on in my father's head," he replied with a shrug. "Or why there aren't more Evangelions being fielded. I'm sure that a determinate Gendo Ikari wouldn't have trouble finding orphans, or even 'create' them."
"Well, maybe he's not such an arse," Asuka said.
"Hey!" Naoko piped in, "You said a bad word!" she pointed a colored crayon at her. "That means you've got to pay penance!"
"Oh?" Asuka replied dryly, both hands on her sides. "And what would that be, uh, chipmunk?"
Naoko stood up. Considering she was physically only two years younger than the fourteen years old body of Asuka, she really wasn't that small. "I'm not a chipmunk! And you're not that much older than me!"
"AH!" Asuka barked out. "That's because I regularly eat my vegetables and have a balanced diet followed by regular physical exercises! That's why my skin's smooth and I'm this youthful-but in truth, prepare to be amazed, I am twenty-six! Indeed! I am at least twice your age, you brat!"
Naoko furrowed her brows, and then turned to Shinji as if to receive confirmation. Shinji nodded, and so Naoko's eyes widened in surprise. "Does that mean you cover your face in mud every night like mother does?"
Asuka bristled. "No, I-"
"And use courgettes to cover your eyes, and drink tea and spend countless hours in the loo-"
"No," Asuka began to growl.
"Are you big brother's wife?" Naoko asked once more.
"No-" "Not yet."
Shinji blinked. "What."
"Give it a few decades, a couple of centuries if he's really hardheaded, and if there's still an humanity lingering about then he'll have no choice but to fall in my arms," Asuka said with a triumphant expression.
She then turned Shinji and her expression faltered slightly at the boy's surprised look.
"Uhm...cat's out of the bag this early, I guess," Asuka scratched the back of her head. "Still, it's not like you've got much of a choice. There's me and perhaps wonder-doll. I'm sure after a couple more centuries of pushing and trying I'd get what I want. Unless the angels kill us all, in which case...well, always wanted to punch my mother in the face on the other side." She shrugged, as if she hadn't said anything of importance.
"You're strange," Naoko said, her face lost trying to make sense of what Asuka was saying. "But...you like my big brother?"
"Yes," Asuka said with a smile.
"Why?"
"Because why wouldn't I?"
Naoko furrowed her brows even more. "Why would you?"
"Look here kid," Asuka said. "It's this simple. A square can only fit inside a squared hole. A triangle can't fit in a circular hole and viceversa. One day, it's going to happen that the circle, no matter how many loose square-shaped holes he goes through, will go through a circle hole that is just the right fit and finish his work there."
"Asuka...why..." Shinji grimaced with his face crimson and a hand to cover it. "Did you have to make a metaphor like that?"
"Like what?" Asuka blinked. She then blinked once more when it dawned on her. Finally, she yelped and flailed her hands wildly in front of her. "Don't repeat anything I've said! Don't think about it! Don't ask about it!"
"U-Uh?" Naoko, thankfully, didn't need more coaxing to forget the strange words of Asuka and have dinner -since Shinji hadn't stopped preparing food in the meantime. Even with one hand busy hiding his red face, and his eyes closed, he could still peel a potato through sheer strength of will and acrobatics best left to kitchen chefs.
"You're a pervert," Asuka mouthed Shinji.
Shinji actually looked scandalized. Scandalized that Asuka had the galls to call him a pervert.
"I'm the pervert?" he nearly shrieked back, but it came as a choke hiss. "Have you...have you ever thought about what I might want?"
"Yeah, duh, that's why I didn't say you had to fall head over heels in love with me immediately," Asuka replied, taking a bite of the potpourri and moaning in pleasant surprise. "But one day, inevitably, you will. I'll get what I want, you'll get what you want, everyone will be happy. Or...well, Angels come down, we all die. Considering how you fight, maybe we're just having our last dinner and don't know it yet."
"If that's the case," Shinji mumbled, "I hope you enjoy it."
"I'd enjoy something else too," she muttered under her breath. "But there's a minor present at the table, so I'll refrain." Shinji sighed as he filled her glass with wine, and did the same for his. Naoko had fruit juice. Shinji was pretty sure he'd end up facing a horrible cranked-up to hell simulation if the girl ended up 'corrupted' by the end of the night.
Naoko's slumped body was gently carried to sleep in the guest room -Shinji had been given the responsibility to ensure she'd get to school the next day, which in turn meant that Ritsuko could pull an all-nighter with Maya, working on a few modifications to the pallet rifles.
"Aw, if I fall asleep, will you princess carry me to bed just like I did with you?" Asuka asked, her back against the side of the open window to let the cool night air flow in. She had the wine bottle in her right hand, and took a deep swill out of it. "She's such a cute kid, isn't she?"
"About the 'not yet'..."
"Right, what about it?" Asuka drawled. "Don't tell me you haven't realized it yet. I, you, wonder-doll," she snorted at the last nickname, "We're the eternally youthful ones. Not them, not your sister, not your father, not the guy one floor below, and neither are the men you meet along the street regularly. We're unique," she flexed her free hand's index and middle finger, making air quotes. "We're special. We're going to be anyway, unless they burn us to ashes and leave nothing behind."
She sighed. "So I say, enjoy the moment." She lifted the bottle up and took a deeper set of heavy gulps, "Carpe diem!" she giggled. "Man. Think about it," she smiled wistfully. "They say time heals all wounds, and it's true. You just need to spend so much time doing other stuff that you end up forgetting the non-important ones. Bit by bit, you forget the face of the guy you smacked on your first day at university. You forget the name of the girl you shared a room with, no matter how snotty she was, her 'qualities' redeemed her." She giggled. "I'm a sad drunk, Shinji," she bawled. "Not really," she winked and shot her tongue out the next.
"Asuka," Shinji said quite calmly, "Maybe...maybe you've had enough," he neared her quite slowly, kneeling down in front of her with a small smile.
"Twenty-six," Asuka mumbled. "A normal twenty-six year old woman wouldn't be saying shitty stuff about eternal youth or...or similar stuff," she pressed her hand against her face, her eyes sharply closed. "I hate this."
She took a deep breath. "I really hate this." Her breathing evened out a few minutes later, and as she fell asleep, Shinji exhaled in relief.
He prepped his cello after putting the red-haired girl to bed too, and as he adjusted a few strings, he neared his fiddle to the instrument. The Cello Sonata in G minor, opus number sixty-five, soon occupied the air. Nobody woke up, and nobody interrupted.
The music simply echoed in the air, free to fly wherever it wished, and do as it pleased.
In the depths of the sea, eyes snapped open of pure pulsing crimson.
With a powerful thrust of its massive tail, the Angel jumped. It jumped, the monster that resembled an aquatic shark but was not, and as it did, its AT-Field shone from its sheer strength as it began to fly in the air, wailing the same sound the whales would emit before burrowing deep in the earth itself, crushing the dirt along its path and emerging shortly after, repeating the process.
Any who heard the angel's wail, unfortunately, would lose their lives.
For Gaghiel had come, and the rows of teeth endlessly gnawed upon the earth as it swam with unstoppable glee towards its destination.
rofl:
