Turing Decidable
𝕘𝕒𝕣𝕗
- Location
- Belgium
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Also sprach Zareithustra.
oh fuck I lowered myself to this shoot me in the back of the head
Neon Metathesis Evangelion [NGE]
oh fuck I lowered myself to this shoot me in the back of the head
- Location
- Volksstaat Hessen, Deutsches Reich
She already told Shinji he has no purpose and meant that in a positive way
What she needs, IMO, is actually a dose of... well, selfishness. Hence why I said even Atlas Shrugged would be an improvement. Right now, she accepts her role as being nothing more than a tool for the interests of others. She needs to question that and affirm her own interests. In a way "that self sacrifice for others is in her nature" is exactly the problem
Though of course, not really - choosing self-sacrifice like canon Rei did against Armisael is also okay. But that was her own choice, based on her own interests (her caring for Shinji). So, what would be a good influence on her is anti-authoritarian and straight up individualist fiction. To help her realize she is an own person and she is owed a certain respect.
Valik Surana
Urist MacPony
Wouldn't that be an unhealthily huge dose of selfishness? Like, "if you have thoughts about doing something altruistic, go kill yourself instead" level?
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- Location
- Volksstaat Hessen, Deutsches Reich
Well, yes. Rand of courses goes into deep psychopath territory. So does Nietzsche, for that matter. But both (Nietzsche with his rejecting of 'slave morality') could at least point into the right direction for Rei. Still, I don't seriously plan for Rei to read either
This was just to demonstrate that was Rei needs is in fact more selfishness, more self-worth, more of a view of herself as a person who is owed respect.had read
Yeah, the moments when you remember how something is called only for it to be in wrong language.
Thankfully I'm screened from the most of the weirdness in names and made up words by virtue of not being a native English speaker. Though I find "bluenette" somewhat irritating, probably because I expect the correct analogue to be "bluette".
Chapter 14 - Dancing Queens IV
- Location
- Volksstaat Hessen, Deutsches Reich
There was one thing to be said for Misato's main task this week: At least travel times to her place of work were excellent. She just needed to walk two apartments over. For a moment she considered ringing the bell. Who knew what Asuka and Rei were doing inside? She imagined Asuka trying to do Rei's hair. Asuka would fume at being caught in such a typical girl bonding moment. With a grin Misato opened the door with her key.
As usual, she found the two girls in the kitchen. Rei was already wearing her training gear; Asuka was still in a wide shirt and short trousers. Both were sitting at the table.
"Oh hey, thanks for announcing yourself, Misato, instead of trying to sneak up on us," Asuka greeted her.
Misato made a glum face. It was not like Asuka did not have a point, but the girl could be such a spoilsport. "I hope you two are well rested, there's still a lot of work in front of us."
" 'Us'?" Asuka questioned. "Your work is sitting at the table, running a silly commentary and drinking beer."
Misato groaned. "You two have made some progress, but admit it, Asuka: If you hadn't been supervised on Monday or Tuesday, you'd just have walked off to the city or something like that."
Asuka shrugged. "Maybe. But don't say 'we' have work to do if it's just us two. At least be honest."
Misato ground her teeth. "Alright. You two have a lot of work in front of you. I hope your little free time activity yesterday went well, because I don't think we can make time for one today." She paused and sat down at the table. "Seriously, how did it go?"
"Rei finally has a more or less complete wardrobe," Asuka announced with a certain smugness in her voice.
Misato grinned. "You dragged the poor girl through half the shops in the city, didn't you?" She turned to Rei: "Could you at least enjoy some parts of it?" Rei nodded. Unsatisfied with that non-answer, Misato asked: "Like what?"
"Soryu's genuine interest in my preferences," Rei stated calmly.
Asuka coughed and turned her head from the scene, looking everywhere but the other two people at the table. Misato was surprised. "Are we talking about the same girl?" she muttered.
"I am quite certain we are," Rei told her.
"Well, colour me surprised," Misato stated. "Good on you, Asuka."
"Somebody had to do it," Asuka proclaimed defiantly and crossed her arms. "You know Rei how long and didn't even notice she had no free time clothing?"
That actually was an uncomfortable question. Sure, she was only the Operations Director, but for nearly two years, Rei had been her only pilot. And yet, she had never even bothered to get to know the girl better. Rei's constant silence had made her back off from any such attempts.
So of course, Misato tried to overplay that and chuckled. "Well, I'm sure she has more than enough now. Literally 'more than enough'. Just too bad you had to spend all of your free time on it."
"We also went to the cinema," Rei said.
"Really now?" Misato inquired.
Rei nodded. "Soryu invited me to it and paid for the tickets."
Misato grinned mischievously. "She did? That sounds more like something Shinji might like to do." When Rei just tilted her head, she felt compelled to explain: "Going to the cinema with you." And leaning forwards, almost whispering, to put more emphasis on it: "Taking you to a date."
"A date?" Rei asked. "Does that mean Asuka has taken me to a date?"
Misato laughed. "Well, normally..." She looked over to Asuka. Her eyes slightly widened. The German girl had resumed her 'looking awkwardly around in the room' routine, her cheeks were slightly coloured, and below the table her hands were fidgeting.
Well, I'll be damned. Who would have thought Asuka would turn out to be into... hah. Yet, Misato was also quite certain that Asuka had a certain affection for Shinji. She felt a little bit sorry for her, for the storm of pubertal confusion that seemed sure to be oncoming for her. Nonetheless, she would milk it for all it was worth. Besides, 'pubertal confusion' beat her own mental state when she had been fourteen by lengths.
She turned to Asuka, rested her chin on her hand and grinned again. "Actually, I don't know. Have you taken a cute girl to a date?"
"Was denkst du eigentlich über mich?" Asuka exclaimed, thumping her hands onto the table.
"Nur das Beste, liebe Asuka, nur das Beste." Misato shot back [1], still grinning. She changed into Japanese and a more serious voice. "Well, you better go to your room and get dressed." She could not suppress her nature. "I'll make sure Rei stays here and doesn't get a peek."
Asuka's eyes shot murderous daggers at her. "I am dressed."
Oh for fuck's sake... "Are you seriously going to do that?" Misato asked.
Asuka crossed her arms again. "And why not? You had your fun at our expense. Enough with that."
"The purpose of these exercises is to get you two into synchronization," Misato managed, barely, to explain calmly. "To have you act alike. Think alike. Be alike."
Asuka scoffed. "So are you gonna repaint the Evangelions as well?" When Misato merely raised an eyebrow at that, Asuka continued: "That would be the equivalent. We'll fight in different looking Evangelions, we can just as well stay different looking in training."
Misato sighed. "Is the training gear that offensive to you?"
"I just don't see any point to it anymore," Asuka explained. "If I ever have."
"So you decide, on your own, to do away with it," Misato concluded.
"Yes, on my own," Asuka confirmed. "After all, it is also I who has to wear it."
Near desperation, Misato turned to Rei. "Rei, you're wearing the gear. Can't you say something to Asuka?"
"I do not think I would be able to convince Soryu, no," Rei told her.
"This is a movement coordination program," Asuka spoke up. "And that's what we're doing. Getting our movements coordinated. Pretty successfully so far. Which is what is needed against the enemy. Appearances... don't matter at all in this."
Misato looked at her glumly. "And what about my orders?"
Asuka grinned viciously. "What, are you gonna ground me? I thought we had so much work to do today?"
Misato sighed and rubbed her forehead.
"I wonder why we even bothered to make plans about making dinner at all," Asuka commented as she lay down on her futon. "Shinji is doing a stellar job at that."
"He is skilled," Rei confirmed, who was just changing into her nightgown.
"Yeah," Asuka agreed. She lay facing the wall and did her best not to turn around and watch Rei. "Well, at least he has some use then."
There was a pause in the conversation. Asuka could hear Rei's tiny steps to the light switch. The room went dark, and Rei laid down.
It took a while until the bluehaired girl replied: "You do not have faith in Ikari that he will be able to pilot again?"
"Not in time for the battle, that's for damn sure!" Asuka declared. That was a safe bet. It was Friday now – the battle would be in two days.
"I can pilot EVA-01 in battle," Rei declared. "My own unit is damaged anyway. At this time, Ikari does not need to pilot."
"A fact I'm sure he enjoys," Asuka commented. It sounded more dismissive than she had intended.
Rei made an agreeing sound. "He only pilots because he has to. He agreed to it when he witnessed my medical state before the attack of the Third Angel."
"Your medical state?" Asuka questioned.
"I was incapacitated from an earlier failed activation test with EVA-00," Rei explained. "I was hardly able to move at all. Ikari had at first refused to pilot EVA-01, so they brought me in on my stretcher to pilot despite my condition. Only then did he agree."
"I... see," Asuka merely replied. It was not difficult for her to imagine the situation. On a stretcher? It would have been impossible for her to pilot at all then. There can only have been one reason... Despite the secrecy shrouding it, she had never experienced NERV Germany, with its overall rather relaxed manners, as something sinister. NERV HQ seemed to be a very different beast.
"I think..." Asuka noticed how Rei hesitated. That was very unusual indeed. "I think it would be better for Ikari if he could stop piloting. He was never prepared for such a life. And every engagement he has been in has been painful for him."
Asuka furrowed her brows, not that Rei could see it. "But he is an Evangelion pilot. Those things... come with the job." Rei did not reply. The room was silent for a long time. Finally, Asuka asked: "What about you? Have you been prepared for that job?"
"All my life," Rei answered. "It is something I can do. Something that allows me to be part of humanity."
"Yeah, that doesn't sound strange at all," Asuka declared ironically. "Still, I think I know what you mean. It... it gives one a purpose. A chance to make a difference... as cliché as that may sound."
When Rei again remained silent, Asuka assumed this would be it for the evening conversation. In fact, they already had talked more than on any other evening before. It seemed they were after all getting more used to each other. Today, they had managed to master most routines. Rei seemed almost completely changed – more lively on the mat, more proactive, more... more like Asuka. The German girl, meanwhile, still tried, and mostly managed, to reach Rei's level of precision in everything. As much as Asuka hated to admit it, even only mentally, maybe Kaji's crazy 'synchronization' plan had some sense to it.
The only little trouble had been Asuka's insistence to not wear the training gear. Ultimately there was nothing Misato had been able to do about it. She needed Asuka as pilot, and she needed her to train. And the subsequent successes on the dancing mats had vindicated the German girl.
Grinning about her victory, Asuka closed her eyes and tried to drift off, but was surprised when Rei spoke up: "Was there a time before you were an Evangelion pilot?"
"Yeah," Asuka answered flatly. "I was chosen at age six. I hardly remember anything before it." That was of course not completely true, but saying so was the best way to avoid talking about that subject.
"Did you have... a normal life?" Rei inquired further.
That question surprised Asuka even more. "Normal, what's that supposed to mean?" Then she considered. "I suppose... at one time... before... before everything..." She sat up straight and looked over to Rei. "Look, don't go snooping around in my past. Yes, I had a normal life once. It doesn't matter anymore now. I'm an EVA pilot now." She let herself fall onto the futon again. She was still annoyed at Rei's question. Maybe that was what prompted her to ask: "What about you? Did you ever have a 'normal life'?"
"No," Rei answered. "I was never given the chance."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Asuka asked.
There was a silence. Finally: "Good night, Soryu."
"Big day tomorrow," Soryu stated. She was already on her futon, watching the wall. It was a peculiarly regular behaviour with her.
Rei put on her night gown. "We will succeed."
Soryu scoffed. "You make it sound like I'm a little child who needs to be comforted."
Rei walked over to the light switch and turned it off. "I was merely stating facts," she said as she walked back to her futon. "We are forewarned now, and our training program has proceeded far better than I had expected."
"That's true," Soryu agreed. "Who would have thought after the first two days or so... we really rocked the exercises, didn't we?"
Rei would not have quite put it like that, but... "...Yes." Normally, she would have left it at that. She did not know where the urge to speak came from. Maybe she wanted to keep pace with Soryu; maybe that was an effect of the synchronization program. "Maybe your new training clothing was productive."
Soryu laughed. It sounded surprised. "Just goes to show what 'appearances' are worth. I noticed you still wear the training gear Misato has given us."
"She ordered us to wear it," Rei explained. "I saw no reason to defy that order."
Soryu scoffed again, but this time tinted it with a note of humour. "You should aim to misbehave. Good night, Rei."
Aim to misbehave... That was not something Rei could do, unfortunately. It was not even just a question of personality and character. That, as well – Rei did not have the attitude to rebel. But what was more, the whole concept just... was not part of her. She was a tool, with a fixed purpose. Without that, she would not even exist at all. It was just coincidental that she happened to have feelings and personality. In truth, she existed as a tool to preserve Lilithian life in some way and form. And seeing how important that plan was, she did not resent the fact.
She fell asleep. That was actually more difficult than at her regular apartment. There, she went to bed at 22:00, and woke up at 6:00. Always, with exact precision. Here, times had shifted from 24:00 to 7:00, but they were not as exact anymore. Soryu sometimes went to bed earlier, sometimes later, and today and yesterday she had even talked when the lights were already off. And without that mechanic precision, Rei had to actually wait for a while these days until sleep came.
That sleep was interrupted when she heard the room door being opened. As she oriented herself, she heard noises from the bathroom. Soryu had apparently used it. Rei had already closed her eyes again, when she heard a loud thump sound right next to her. She opened her eyes again to see that Soryu apparently had stumbled onto the wrong futon. The redhead lay right in front of her, faces only centimetres apart. For a moment, Rei considered what to do now.
Soryu was not taking up much space sleeping. Rei had noticed that before: For a girl so boisterous when awake, it was curious how Soryu nearly always stuck to one end of her futon and barely moved at all during sleep. Given that habit, the futon was large enough for two, and Soryu's presence did not bother Rei. Both would need to be well rested for the battle tomorrow.
Rei had just closed her eyes again, when she heard a whimper. She opened them again, to look at Soryu's full lips trembling.
"Mama..."
Rei did not know how to react to that. She had no idea about Soryu's mother or why her daughter would whimper for her.
"Mama..."
It sounded more desperate. There were tears in Soryu's eyes.
Rei hesitated. Finally, she was about to grab Soryu at the arm, in order to wake her up now. It seemed the redhead's sensory experiences were not very pleasant. She stopped mid-movement, though, her hand hovering above Soryu's arm. She let it come down gently. Letting it rest on Soryu's arm, she hesitated again, again not knowing what to do. In her uncertainty, she slowly moved the hand up and down.
Soryu whimpered again, but this time the sound ended in a nuzzled breathing. Is she calming down? Whatever it is was the pilot was experiencing, it did not all seem pleasant. Rei realized that Soryu would never let herself be seen like that awake. So if it were dreams the German girl was having, as Rei suspected, then they had to be serious.
She decided to not just yet return to sleep, but to keep a watch on Soryu. Leaving her hand on the arm, moving it gently now and then, looking at the fellow pilot for any sign of trouble. Soryu sniffled, but seemed to calm down.
Then she rearranged her posture. Inching a bit forward, she nestled her face against Rei's neck.
Rei's hand was now at Soryu's back, so that she enclosed the German girls to all sides. After some more minutes it seemed Soryu had passed through whatever had troubled her. Content with the result, Rei allowed sleep to claim her again, in the position she was in.
Soryu was... warm.
Asuka felt... safe. Snug, comfortable, soft. Rested as well. She was half-awake, eyes closed, still shedding the last remnants of a dream she already had mostly forgotten, safe for images of yellow flower fields. She desperately tried to cling to this state of semi-consciousness. No thoughts, only feelings and faint images.
She murmured dismissively as the prongs of awakening tugged at her. It had been some time since she had slept so well. She felt surrounded by warmth and softness, as if she were in a proper bed... better, in fact. She felt...
...skin.
Abruptly, Asuka's eyes jerked open. She was looking right into the intense, red eyes of Rei. For a moment, neither of them said a word. Asuka was too frozen in shock to move.
"Have you slept well?" Rei asked. Asuka still did not move. She noticed Rei's arm around her body. She felt how warm Rei's body was. And how soft. When she gave no answer, Rei continued: "You seemed to have had nightmares."
As good at self-deception as Asuka usually was... this felt nice. It should not, but it did. And Rei sounded like she genuinely cared for her well-being. So that creeper crawled over to my... Asuka looked over her shoulder. No, she was on Rei's futon. Shit.
She jumped up and looked down on Rei, but was still unsure what to say. "You... you..."
"This incident never happened," Rei said firmly. Then, after a pause: "Unless you want it to."
What... That could work. Rei seemed very apt at making incidents not having happened. But that she... that anyone should show so much consideration for Asuka as to offer that... and the memory of being held by Rei...
...unable to cope with that, Asuka just scoffed roughly and stormed off to the kitchen.
When Rei arrived there, there was a cup of tea ready for her on the table.
Wordlessly, the bluenette sat down at that place and put the warm cup between her hands. Asuka sat opposite her, with a cup of her own. For a long time, both just sat there, occasionally sipping from their cups, not saying anything.
Asuka felt... awkward. She knew Rei did not deserve her just walking out on her. But there was no way she could apologize or even only tell her as much. And she was also very uncertain abut the night itself. A sound sleep like she had not had in a long time, a soft awakening... in Rei's arms. That was...
...that was unimportant for now. After all, in some hours they would be in battle. That was all that mattered right now.
"We..."
Asuka and Rei looked at each other. Both had spoken up at the same moment. Asuka grinned ironically; Rei's lips curled up insignificantly.
Asuka did not even need to think to know it was her turn to speak now: "We will win today."
Rei nodded. Both knew she had wanted to say the same thing. And maybe that was all the understanding the two needed.
The elevator was set to maximum. The Evangelion jolted twice its length into the air. The pilot did a salto. During the salto, she drew the prog-spear. She threw it. The spears landed right next to each other, immobilizing the Israfelim for a while.
She took the pallet gun from a supply store. She fired the grenade launcher. The Israfelim's advance was stopped for good, but now they began to fire. The pilot hopped backwards... she made a salto backwards, and another one, and another one. A retractable wall extended in front of the Evangelion, blocking the Israfelim's shots. She shot back on its left side. She shot back on its right side.
The Israfelim entered close combat... and Misato had them where she wanted them to be. Fire came raining down on them from all sides. It did not hurt them, but it allowed the pilot to go on the offensive. She kicked the Israfelim in front of her, she punched, she kicked again... and finally, the Israfelim were staggering back, and uniting again. Out of white and orange, there was green again.
The pilot jumped again... to pile right into the reformed Israfel. The angel staggered back... and back... and back... the pilot drove it all the way up a nearby mountain. Then she started hitting its core, again and again.
Then there was an explosion.
Evangelions were marvels of technology. An explosion that tore apart the entire top of a mountain merely shook them. Asuka felt like she had fallen down a staircase, but no worse than that. When the ash from the explosion had settled down again, she could even clearly see the surroundings... with the sky on the left side. Clearly, EVA-02 was not standing upright.
Right in front of her she saw purple. Lots of purple. Evangelion Unit 01... and as she paid more attention to her own unit, she could feel that something was on EVA-02's shoulders and back.
She had ended up in Rei's arms once again.
She opened a visual link to her. Rei looked at her blankly. Asuka stared at her, her face the very image of intimidation. She could not say anything, this would be picked up by Command, but she hoped that visual threat was enough.
Speaking of Command... somebody wanted to speak with her. Urgently. She opened up the comm channel.
"Asuka! Finally! Are you two alright?" Misato demanded to know.
Asuka thought the Operations Director sounded too hysterical. Of course she was alright, why would she not be? She had just achieved a major victory, after all!
"Yeah, yeah, of course," Asuka answered. "The bastard cheated with its explosion trick at the end, but we defeated him. That was quite a show, wasn't it?"
"Well, the end does not have many fans here," Misato said unsurely.
"What do you mean?" Asuka aggressively demanded to know.
Another voice cut in. Vice Commander Fuyutsuki. "The sight of the two Evangelions yet again in disarray will be welcome ammunition for our opponents." He sounded displeased.
That annoyed Asuka. Very much so. Who was that guy to question her success? According to him, she had just failed. That sort of thinking was unacceptable and hence had to be corrected – Vice Commander or not.
"Would you rather have had an aesthetically pleasing defeat, Sir?" she shouted.
The background chattering on the comm channels got quiet at once. Nobody replied. That only served to further fire up Asuka's anger.
"Whose stupid idea was it, anyway, to have us fight an active angel? A further N2 mine drop would have it enter its passive, regenerative mode again, but nooo, some people were too embarrassed to request that from the conventional forces. Nevermind how tactically sensible that would have been, but hey, can't 'lose face'! Rather send out the kids to fight! After all, you decision makers will all be safe and cushy in your command centre several dozens of metres beneath the Earth. And the risks to the pilots, well, that's worth not 'losing face', right? Better they be at life and death risk than you being maybe a tad embarrassed. Hah, Japanese nonsense. So interservice rivalry is more important than the safety of the city? Yes, surely it is better to let the angel come to a city with nearly a million inhabitants, rather than to make a tactically sound request to another agency. Who do you even think you are? If you think you can do piloting better, why don't you do it, gottverdammt noch einmal?"
There was further silence, while Asuka was angrily catching breath. After a while, Misato announced: "After the recovery of the Evangelions, you are ordered to report to Vice Commander Fuyutsuki's office, Asuka." Then the comm channel was shut down.
Asuka leaned back in her cockpit seat. Whatever. As far as she was concerned, they could all be angry at her. After all, what could they do? It was not like they could fire her. Even sending her to the brig for insubordination was a dicey prospect – after all, purely officially she was not part of a military hierarchy. Normally that irritated her; what with not even having an official rank. But right now she intended to play that card for all it was worth.
It was a bit weird to have a victory celebration without one of the two victors. Directly after the battle, Misato had sent Shinji home from NERV, and instructed him to organize a party – cooking a meal, inviting people, the whole deal. She had even specifically ordered him to invite Touji and Kensuke over, even though he felt uncomfortable inviting his own friends – after all, that was supposed to be Ayanami's and Asuka's party, while he had done nothing of note contributing to that victory. But he had complied with that order. And he supposed it made some sense: The only classmate Asuka had formed a friendship of some sort with was the Class Rep, Horaki, while Ayanami, well... So that way, there were at least four people present besides the pilots.
Misato also had informed him that she and Asuka would come later. She had not stated a reason, and since he had spent the whole battle in the entry-plug of a thankfully powered down EVA-00, just in case, he could not even guess at one: For hours, he had experienced nothing but LCL.
Shinji was in the midst of preparing the food when, about three and a half hours after the guests had come together in Ayanami's and Asuka's temporary apartment, Misato and Asuka arrived. Both looked grumpy.
"Finally!" Misato declared and glared angrily at Asuka.
"Sure, blame me for that Fuyu guy making trouble, why don't you!" Asuka complained. "I'm not the Vice Commander, I'm the easier target after all!"
"That is Vice Commander Fuyutsuki to you, Fräulein!" Misato told her. Shinji blinked at her use of what he assumed was German. "I did not enjoy standing at attention while he lectured you for an hour, something you did provoke."
"Oh, you had to stand for an hour, boo-hoo," Asuka shot back as the two entered the kitchen. Neither of them paid much attention to the onlookers of their little squabble... a squabble Shinji suspected had gone on for a while. "I have to write a fucking essay on military discipline! And you suggested that!"
"Believe me, Asuka, what the Vice Commander had planned for you was worse," Misato pointed out drily. "I did you a favour!"
Asuka scoffed. "Such bullshit. I never had to do anything like that at NERV Germany. Should I be grateful to you because your superiors are even worse?"
Shinji, Horaki, Touji and Kensuke all watched the discussion awkwardly, all of them embarrassed by being witnesses. Ayanami also watched.
"You're right," Misato finally answered. It sounded surprisingly dark. "NERV Germany was different. Well, now you're deployed here. The angels are attacking Tokyo-3, not Berlin. And that is what the Evangelions have been designed for. That is what you are a pilot for."
"The best pilot!" Asuka reminded her defiantly. "Given how much depends on me, NERV sure ought to treat me better."
"I hope you'll write that essay," Misato stated. "Otherwise, Vice Commander Fuyutsuki will think of something."
"I am tempted to provoke that," Asuka told her. "We'll see. Maybe I'll do it."
Misato let that go, finally. Both of them took a seat at the table, Asuka with a defiant pose, Misato somewhat awkwardly.
By the time he had finished cooking, Asuka was regaling the guests with tales about the fight. It had only lasted about five minutes, as both Evangelions had run on internal battery power, but Asuka apparently could talk about it for hours.
To his surprise, unasked, Ayanami stood up and helped Shinji carry the food over to the table. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted some movement at the table. Touji had put a hand on Kensuke's shoulder, so the smaller boy could not get up.
With that work done, both sat down again, next to each other. With some ironic self-awareness, Shinji realized that was the quiet corner of the table. On the other side, Asuka had come to the point where she had, apparently, told Vice Commander Fuyutsuki off. Now she ranted how much, in her eyes, a buffoon the man was, while Misato loudly disagreed, Touji snickered and Kensuke tried to insert some pieces of trivia about military command structures.
"You seem stressed," Ayanami remarked at his side.
Shinji noticed he had winced. "Just... loud, that's all. I don't enjoy so much talking and shouting at once."
"You can't shut it out?" Ayanami asked.
"You can?" Shinji asked back. "That's enviable. I don't think I can. Turning attention away from loud voices..."
"You are doing just that right now," Ayanami pointed out.
"...huh. You're right," Shinji admitted. "Thanks to your help, it seems."
"My help?" Ayanami inquired.
"Well..." Shinji felt some warmth rising in his cheeks as he fixated his look at the table in front of him. "I can... focus on a... calmer voice. A more pleasant voice."
"Pleasant?" Ayanami asked.
"Idsayso," Shinji managed to get out.
Both of them remained quiet for a while after that. At the other side of the table, the argument about Asuka's... communication with Vice Commander Fuyutsuki had changed to her arguing why she should be given extra leeway: Because she was a pilot, one of just three on Earth, she was essential, and she was the best... and now she used all the details of the last fight in order to prove that claim.
Shinji realized Ayanami was not just looking over to that scene. In particular, she was watching Asuka intensely.
"She makes it sound like it was just her work," he remarked. "You did just as much. You should get as much praise."
Ayanami shook her head, but still kept looking at Asuka. Apparently quite interested in her antics. "No. It's alright."
[1] "What are you thinking of me?" - "Only the best, dear Asuka, only the best"
Okay, payback on the Rei huggle debts has begun Even though, technically, that was Rei choosing the [x]Huggle the Asuka option, but then, that is also always the correct option.
Very convenient for the short battle sequence that both pilots are female
And yes, Asuka is getting a bit rebellious. Hey, she is a 14 year old teenager!
Finally, yes, Touji is of course shipping R/S
As usual, she found the two girls in the kitchen. Rei was already wearing her training gear; Asuka was still in a wide shirt and short trousers. Both were sitting at the table.
"Oh hey, thanks for announcing yourself, Misato, instead of trying to sneak up on us," Asuka greeted her.
Misato made a glum face. It was not like Asuka did not have a point, but the girl could be such a spoilsport. "I hope you two are well rested, there's still a lot of work in front of us."
" 'Us'?" Asuka questioned. "Your work is sitting at the table, running a silly commentary and drinking beer."
Misato groaned. "You two have made some progress, but admit it, Asuka: If you hadn't been supervised on Monday or Tuesday, you'd just have walked off to the city or something like that."
Asuka shrugged. "Maybe. But don't say 'we' have work to do if it's just us two. At least be honest."
Misato ground her teeth. "Alright. You two have a lot of work in front of you. I hope your little free time activity yesterday went well, because I don't think we can make time for one today." She paused and sat down at the table. "Seriously, how did it go?"
"Rei finally has a more or less complete wardrobe," Asuka announced with a certain smugness in her voice.
Misato grinned. "You dragged the poor girl through half the shops in the city, didn't you?" She turned to Rei: "Could you at least enjoy some parts of it?" Rei nodded. Unsatisfied with that non-answer, Misato asked: "Like what?"
"Soryu's genuine interest in my preferences," Rei stated calmly.
Asuka coughed and turned her head from the scene, looking everywhere but the other two people at the table. Misato was surprised. "Are we talking about the same girl?" she muttered.
"I am quite certain we are," Rei told her.
"Well, colour me surprised," Misato stated. "Good on you, Asuka."
"Somebody had to do it," Asuka proclaimed defiantly and crossed her arms. "You know Rei how long and didn't even notice she had no free time clothing?"
That actually was an uncomfortable question. Sure, she was only the Operations Director, but for nearly two years, Rei had been her only pilot. And yet, she had never even bothered to get to know the girl better. Rei's constant silence had made her back off from any such attempts.
So of course, Misato tried to overplay that and chuckled. "Well, I'm sure she has more than enough now. Literally 'more than enough'. Just too bad you had to spend all of your free time on it."
"We also went to the cinema," Rei said.
"Really now?" Misato inquired.
Rei nodded. "Soryu invited me to it and paid for the tickets."
Misato grinned mischievously. "She did? That sounds more like something Shinji might like to do." When Rei just tilted her head, she felt compelled to explain: "Going to the cinema with you." And leaning forwards, almost whispering, to put more emphasis on it: "Taking you to a date."
"A date?" Rei asked. "Does that mean Asuka has taken me to a date?"
Misato laughed. "Well, normally..." She looked over to Asuka. Her eyes slightly widened. The German girl had resumed her 'looking awkwardly around in the room' routine, her cheeks were slightly coloured, and below the table her hands were fidgeting.
Well, I'll be damned. Who would have thought Asuka would turn out to be into... hah. Yet, Misato was also quite certain that Asuka had a certain affection for Shinji. She felt a little bit sorry for her, for the storm of pubertal confusion that seemed sure to be oncoming for her. Nonetheless, she would milk it for all it was worth. Besides, 'pubertal confusion' beat her own mental state when she had been fourteen by lengths.
She turned to Asuka, rested her chin on her hand and grinned again. "Actually, I don't know. Have you taken a cute girl to a date?"
"Was denkst du eigentlich über mich?" Asuka exclaimed, thumping her hands onto the table.
"Nur das Beste, liebe Asuka, nur das Beste." Misato shot back [1], still grinning. She changed into Japanese and a more serious voice. "Well, you better go to your room and get dressed." She could not suppress her nature. "I'll make sure Rei stays here and doesn't get a peek."
Asuka's eyes shot murderous daggers at her. "I am dressed."
Oh for fuck's sake... "Are you seriously going to do that?" Misato asked.
Asuka crossed her arms again. "And why not? You had your fun at our expense. Enough with that."
"The purpose of these exercises is to get you two into synchronization," Misato managed, barely, to explain calmly. "To have you act alike. Think alike. Be alike."
Asuka scoffed. "So are you gonna repaint the Evangelions as well?" When Misato merely raised an eyebrow at that, Asuka continued: "That would be the equivalent. We'll fight in different looking Evangelions, we can just as well stay different looking in training."
Misato sighed. "Is the training gear that offensive to you?"
"I just don't see any point to it anymore," Asuka explained. "If I ever have."
"So you decide, on your own, to do away with it," Misato concluded.
"Yes, on my own," Asuka confirmed. "After all, it is also I who has to wear it."
Near desperation, Misato turned to Rei. "Rei, you're wearing the gear. Can't you say something to Asuka?"
"I do not think I would be able to convince Soryu, no," Rei told her.
"This is a movement coordination program," Asuka spoke up. "And that's what we're doing. Getting our movements coordinated. Pretty successfully so far. Which is what is needed against the enemy. Appearances... don't matter at all in this."
Misato looked at her glumly. "And what about my orders?"
Asuka grinned viciously. "What, are you gonna ground me? I thought we had so much work to do today?"
Misato sighed and rubbed her forehead.
"I wonder why we even bothered to make plans about making dinner at all," Asuka commented as she lay down on her futon. "Shinji is doing a stellar job at that."
"He is skilled," Rei confirmed, who was just changing into her nightgown.
"Yeah," Asuka agreed. She lay facing the wall and did her best not to turn around and watch Rei. "Well, at least he has some use then."
There was a pause in the conversation. Asuka could hear Rei's tiny steps to the light switch. The room went dark, and Rei laid down.
It took a while until the bluehaired girl replied: "You do not have faith in Ikari that he will be able to pilot again?"
"Not in time for the battle, that's for damn sure!" Asuka declared. That was a safe bet. It was Friday now – the battle would be in two days.
"I can pilot EVA-01 in battle," Rei declared. "My own unit is damaged anyway. At this time, Ikari does not need to pilot."
"A fact I'm sure he enjoys," Asuka commented. It sounded more dismissive than she had intended.
Rei made an agreeing sound. "He only pilots because he has to. He agreed to it when he witnessed my medical state before the attack of the Third Angel."
"Your medical state?" Asuka questioned.
"I was incapacitated from an earlier failed activation test with EVA-00," Rei explained. "I was hardly able to move at all. Ikari had at first refused to pilot EVA-01, so they brought me in on my stretcher to pilot despite my condition. Only then did he agree."
"I... see," Asuka merely replied. It was not difficult for her to imagine the situation. On a stretcher? It would have been impossible for her to pilot at all then. There can only have been one reason... Despite the secrecy shrouding it, she had never experienced NERV Germany, with its overall rather relaxed manners, as something sinister. NERV HQ seemed to be a very different beast.
"I think..." Asuka noticed how Rei hesitated. That was very unusual indeed. "I think it would be better for Ikari if he could stop piloting. He was never prepared for such a life. And every engagement he has been in has been painful for him."
Asuka furrowed her brows, not that Rei could see it. "But he is an Evangelion pilot. Those things... come with the job." Rei did not reply. The room was silent for a long time. Finally, Asuka asked: "What about you? Have you been prepared for that job?"
"All my life," Rei answered. "It is something I can do. Something that allows me to be part of humanity."
"Yeah, that doesn't sound strange at all," Asuka declared ironically. "Still, I think I know what you mean. It... it gives one a purpose. A chance to make a difference... as cliché as that may sound."
When Rei again remained silent, Asuka assumed this would be it for the evening conversation. In fact, they already had talked more than on any other evening before. It seemed they were after all getting more used to each other. Today, they had managed to master most routines. Rei seemed almost completely changed – more lively on the mat, more proactive, more... more like Asuka. The German girl, meanwhile, still tried, and mostly managed, to reach Rei's level of precision in everything. As much as Asuka hated to admit it, even only mentally, maybe Kaji's crazy 'synchronization' plan had some sense to it.
The only little trouble had been Asuka's insistence to not wear the training gear. Ultimately there was nothing Misato had been able to do about it. She needed Asuka as pilot, and she needed her to train. And the subsequent successes on the dancing mats had vindicated the German girl.
Grinning about her victory, Asuka closed her eyes and tried to drift off, but was surprised when Rei spoke up: "Was there a time before you were an Evangelion pilot?"
"Yeah," Asuka answered flatly. "I was chosen at age six. I hardly remember anything before it." That was of course not completely true, but saying so was the best way to avoid talking about that subject.
"Did you have... a normal life?" Rei inquired further.
That question surprised Asuka even more. "Normal, what's that supposed to mean?" Then she considered. "I suppose... at one time... before... before everything..." She sat up straight and looked over to Rei. "Look, don't go snooping around in my past. Yes, I had a normal life once. It doesn't matter anymore now. I'm an EVA pilot now." She let herself fall onto the futon again. She was still annoyed at Rei's question. Maybe that was what prompted her to ask: "What about you? Did you ever have a 'normal life'?"
"No," Rei answered. "I was never given the chance."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Asuka asked.
There was a silence. Finally: "Good night, Soryu."
"Big day tomorrow," Soryu stated. She was already on her futon, watching the wall. It was a peculiarly regular behaviour with her.
Rei put on her night gown. "We will succeed."
Soryu scoffed. "You make it sound like I'm a little child who needs to be comforted."
Rei walked over to the light switch and turned it off. "I was merely stating facts," she said as she walked back to her futon. "We are forewarned now, and our training program has proceeded far better than I had expected."
"That's true," Soryu agreed. "Who would have thought after the first two days or so... we really rocked the exercises, didn't we?"
Rei would not have quite put it like that, but... "...Yes." Normally, she would have left it at that. She did not know where the urge to speak came from. Maybe she wanted to keep pace with Soryu; maybe that was an effect of the synchronization program. "Maybe your new training clothing was productive."
Soryu laughed. It sounded surprised. "Just goes to show what 'appearances' are worth. I noticed you still wear the training gear Misato has given us."
"She ordered us to wear it," Rei explained. "I saw no reason to defy that order."
Soryu scoffed again, but this time tinted it with a note of humour. "You should aim to misbehave. Good night, Rei."
Aim to misbehave... That was not something Rei could do, unfortunately. It was not even just a question of personality and character. That, as well – Rei did not have the attitude to rebel. But what was more, the whole concept just... was not part of her. She was a tool, with a fixed purpose. Without that, she would not even exist at all. It was just coincidental that she happened to have feelings and personality. In truth, she existed as a tool to preserve Lilithian life in some way and form. And seeing how important that plan was, she did not resent the fact.
She fell asleep. That was actually more difficult than at her regular apartment. There, she went to bed at 22:00, and woke up at 6:00. Always, with exact precision. Here, times had shifted from 24:00 to 7:00, but they were not as exact anymore. Soryu sometimes went to bed earlier, sometimes later, and today and yesterday she had even talked when the lights were already off. And without that mechanic precision, Rei had to actually wait for a while these days until sleep came.
That sleep was interrupted when she heard the room door being opened. As she oriented herself, she heard noises from the bathroom. Soryu had apparently used it. Rei had already closed her eyes again, when she heard a loud thump sound right next to her. She opened her eyes again to see that Soryu apparently had stumbled onto the wrong futon. The redhead lay right in front of her, faces only centimetres apart. For a moment, Rei considered what to do now.
Soryu was not taking up much space sleeping. Rei had noticed that before: For a girl so boisterous when awake, it was curious how Soryu nearly always stuck to one end of her futon and barely moved at all during sleep. Given that habit, the futon was large enough for two, and Soryu's presence did not bother Rei. Both would need to be well rested for the battle tomorrow.
Rei had just closed her eyes again, when she heard a whimper. She opened them again, to look at Soryu's full lips trembling.
"Mama..."
Rei did not know how to react to that. She had no idea about Soryu's mother or why her daughter would whimper for her.
"Mama..."
It sounded more desperate. There were tears in Soryu's eyes.
Rei hesitated. Finally, she was about to grab Soryu at the arm, in order to wake her up now. It seemed the redhead's sensory experiences were not very pleasant. She stopped mid-movement, though, her hand hovering above Soryu's arm. She let it come down gently. Letting it rest on Soryu's arm, she hesitated again, again not knowing what to do. In her uncertainty, she slowly moved the hand up and down.
Soryu whimpered again, but this time the sound ended in a nuzzled breathing. Is she calming down? Whatever it is was the pilot was experiencing, it did not all seem pleasant. Rei realized that Soryu would never let herself be seen like that awake. So if it were dreams the German girl was having, as Rei suspected, then they had to be serious.
She decided to not just yet return to sleep, but to keep a watch on Soryu. Leaving her hand on the arm, moving it gently now and then, looking at the fellow pilot for any sign of trouble. Soryu sniffled, but seemed to calm down.
Then she rearranged her posture. Inching a bit forward, she nestled her face against Rei's neck.
Rei's hand was now at Soryu's back, so that she enclosed the German girls to all sides. After some more minutes it seemed Soryu had passed through whatever had troubled her. Content with the result, Rei allowed sleep to claim her again, in the position she was in.
Soryu was... warm.
Asuka felt... safe. Snug, comfortable, soft. Rested as well. She was half-awake, eyes closed, still shedding the last remnants of a dream she already had mostly forgotten, safe for images of yellow flower fields. She desperately tried to cling to this state of semi-consciousness. No thoughts, only feelings and faint images.
She murmured dismissively as the prongs of awakening tugged at her. It had been some time since she had slept so well. She felt surrounded by warmth and softness, as if she were in a proper bed... better, in fact. She felt...
...skin.
Abruptly, Asuka's eyes jerked open. She was looking right into the intense, red eyes of Rei. For a moment, neither of them said a word. Asuka was too frozen in shock to move.
"Have you slept well?" Rei asked. Asuka still did not move. She noticed Rei's arm around her body. She felt how warm Rei's body was. And how soft. When she gave no answer, Rei continued: "You seemed to have had nightmares."
As good at self-deception as Asuka usually was... this felt nice. It should not, but it did. And Rei sounded like she genuinely cared for her well-being. So that creeper crawled over to my... Asuka looked over her shoulder. No, she was on Rei's futon. Shit.
She jumped up and looked down on Rei, but was still unsure what to say. "You... you..."
"This incident never happened," Rei said firmly. Then, after a pause: "Unless you want it to."
What... That could work. Rei seemed very apt at making incidents not having happened. But that she... that anyone should show so much consideration for Asuka as to offer that... and the memory of being held by Rei...
...unable to cope with that, Asuka just scoffed roughly and stormed off to the kitchen.
When Rei arrived there, there was a cup of tea ready for her on the table.
Wordlessly, the bluenette sat down at that place and put the warm cup between her hands. Asuka sat opposite her, with a cup of her own. For a long time, both just sat there, occasionally sipping from their cups, not saying anything.
Asuka felt... awkward. She knew Rei did not deserve her just walking out on her. But there was no way she could apologize or even only tell her as much. And she was also very uncertain abut the night itself. A sound sleep like she had not had in a long time, a soft awakening... in Rei's arms. That was...
...that was unimportant for now. After all, in some hours they would be in battle. That was all that mattered right now.
"We..."
Asuka and Rei looked at each other. Both had spoken up at the same moment. Asuka grinned ironically; Rei's lips curled up insignificantly.
Asuka did not even need to think to know it was her turn to speak now: "We will win today."
Rei nodded. Both knew she had wanted to say the same thing. And maybe that was all the understanding the two needed.
The elevator was set to maximum. The Evangelion jolted twice its length into the air. The pilot did a salto. During the salto, she drew the prog-spear. She threw it. The spears landed right next to each other, immobilizing the Israfelim for a while.
She took the pallet gun from a supply store. She fired the grenade launcher. The Israfelim's advance was stopped for good, but now they began to fire. The pilot hopped backwards... she made a salto backwards, and another one, and another one. A retractable wall extended in front of the Evangelion, blocking the Israfelim's shots. She shot back on its left side. She shot back on its right side.
The Israfelim entered close combat... and Misato had them where she wanted them to be. Fire came raining down on them from all sides. It did not hurt them, but it allowed the pilot to go on the offensive. She kicked the Israfelim in front of her, she punched, she kicked again... and finally, the Israfelim were staggering back, and uniting again. Out of white and orange, there was green again.
The pilot jumped again... to pile right into the reformed Israfel. The angel staggered back... and back... and back... the pilot drove it all the way up a nearby mountain. Then she started hitting its core, again and again.
Then there was an explosion.
Evangelions were marvels of technology. An explosion that tore apart the entire top of a mountain merely shook them. Asuka felt like she had fallen down a staircase, but no worse than that. When the ash from the explosion had settled down again, she could even clearly see the surroundings... with the sky on the left side. Clearly, EVA-02 was not standing upright.
Right in front of her she saw purple. Lots of purple. Evangelion Unit 01... and as she paid more attention to her own unit, she could feel that something was on EVA-02's shoulders and back.
She had ended up in Rei's arms once again.
She opened a visual link to her. Rei looked at her blankly. Asuka stared at her, her face the very image of intimidation. She could not say anything, this would be picked up by Command, but she hoped that visual threat was enough.
Speaking of Command... somebody wanted to speak with her. Urgently. She opened up the comm channel.
"Asuka! Finally! Are you two alright?" Misato demanded to know.
Asuka thought the Operations Director sounded too hysterical. Of course she was alright, why would she not be? She had just achieved a major victory, after all!
"Yeah, yeah, of course," Asuka answered. "The bastard cheated with its explosion trick at the end, but we defeated him. That was quite a show, wasn't it?"
"Well, the end does not have many fans here," Misato said unsurely.
"What do you mean?" Asuka aggressively demanded to know.
Another voice cut in. Vice Commander Fuyutsuki. "The sight of the two Evangelions yet again in disarray will be welcome ammunition for our opponents." He sounded displeased.
That annoyed Asuka. Very much so. Who was that guy to question her success? According to him, she had just failed. That sort of thinking was unacceptable and hence had to be corrected – Vice Commander or not.
"Would you rather have had an aesthetically pleasing defeat, Sir?" she shouted.
The background chattering on the comm channels got quiet at once. Nobody replied. That only served to further fire up Asuka's anger.
"Whose stupid idea was it, anyway, to have us fight an active angel? A further N2 mine drop would have it enter its passive, regenerative mode again, but nooo, some people were too embarrassed to request that from the conventional forces. Nevermind how tactically sensible that would have been, but hey, can't 'lose face'! Rather send out the kids to fight! After all, you decision makers will all be safe and cushy in your command centre several dozens of metres beneath the Earth. And the risks to the pilots, well, that's worth not 'losing face', right? Better they be at life and death risk than you being maybe a tad embarrassed. Hah, Japanese nonsense. So interservice rivalry is more important than the safety of the city? Yes, surely it is better to let the angel come to a city with nearly a million inhabitants, rather than to make a tactically sound request to another agency. Who do you even think you are? If you think you can do piloting better, why don't you do it, gottverdammt noch einmal?"
There was further silence, while Asuka was angrily catching breath. After a while, Misato announced: "After the recovery of the Evangelions, you are ordered to report to Vice Commander Fuyutsuki's office, Asuka." Then the comm channel was shut down.
Asuka leaned back in her cockpit seat. Whatever. As far as she was concerned, they could all be angry at her. After all, what could they do? It was not like they could fire her. Even sending her to the brig for insubordination was a dicey prospect – after all, purely officially she was not part of a military hierarchy. Normally that irritated her; what with not even having an official rank. But right now she intended to play that card for all it was worth.
It was a bit weird to have a victory celebration without one of the two victors. Directly after the battle, Misato had sent Shinji home from NERV, and instructed him to organize a party – cooking a meal, inviting people, the whole deal. She had even specifically ordered him to invite Touji and Kensuke over, even though he felt uncomfortable inviting his own friends – after all, that was supposed to be Ayanami's and Asuka's party, while he had done nothing of note contributing to that victory. But he had complied with that order. And he supposed it made some sense: The only classmate Asuka had formed a friendship of some sort with was the Class Rep, Horaki, while Ayanami, well... So that way, there were at least four people present besides the pilots.
Misato also had informed him that she and Asuka would come later. She had not stated a reason, and since he had spent the whole battle in the entry-plug of a thankfully powered down EVA-00, just in case, he could not even guess at one: For hours, he had experienced nothing but LCL.
Shinji was in the midst of preparing the food when, about three and a half hours after the guests had come together in Ayanami's and Asuka's temporary apartment, Misato and Asuka arrived. Both looked grumpy.
"Finally!" Misato declared and glared angrily at Asuka.
"Sure, blame me for that Fuyu guy making trouble, why don't you!" Asuka complained. "I'm not the Vice Commander, I'm the easier target after all!"
"That is Vice Commander Fuyutsuki to you, Fräulein!" Misato told her. Shinji blinked at her use of what he assumed was German. "I did not enjoy standing at attention while he lectured you for an hour, something you did provoke."
"Oh, you had to stand for an hour, boo-hoo," Asuka shot back as the two entered the kitchen. Neither of them paid much attention to the onlookers of their little squabble... a squabble Shinji suspected had gone on for a while. "I have to write a fucking essay on military discipline! And you suggested that!"
"Believe me, Asuka, what the Vice Commander had planned for you was worse," Misato pointed out drily. "I did you a favour!"
Asuka scoffed. "Such bullshit. I never had to do anything like that at NERV Germany. Should I be grateful to you because your superiors are even worse?"
Shinji, Horaki, Touji and Kensuke all watched the discussion awkwardly, all of them embarrassed by being witnesses. Ayanami also watched.
"You're right," Misato finally answered. It sounded surprisingly dark. "NERV Germany was different. Well, now you're deployed here. The angels are attacking Tokyo-3, not Berlin. And that is what the Evangelions have been designed for. That is what you are a pilot for."
"The best pilot!" Asuka reminded her defiantly. "Given how much depends on me, NERV sure ought to treat me better."
"I hope you'll write that essay," Misato stated. "Otherwise, Vice Commander Fuyutsuki will think of something."
"I am tempted to provoke that," Asuka told her. "We'll see. Maybe I'll do it."
Misato let that go, finally. Both of them took a seat at the table, Asuka with a defiant pose, Misato somewhat awkwardly.
By the time he had finished cooking, Asuka was regaling the guests with tales about the fight. It had only lasted about five minutes, as both Evangelions had run on internal battery power, but Asuka apparently could talk about it for hours.
To his surprise, unasked, Ayanami stood up and helped Shinji carry the food over to the table. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted some movement at the table. Touji had put a hand on Kensuke's shoulder, so the smaller boy could not get up.
With that work done, both sat down again, next to each other. With some ironic self-awareness, Shinji realized that was the quiet corner of the table. On the other side, Asuka had come to the point where she had, apparently, told Vice Commander Fuyutsuki off. Now she ranted how much, in her eyes, a buffoon the man was, while Misato loudly disagreed, Touji snickered and Kensuke tried to insert some pieces of trivia about military command structures.
"You seem stressed," Ayanami remarked at his side.
Shinji noticed he had winced. "Just... loud, that's all. I don't enjoy so much talking and shouting at once."
"You can't shut it out?" Ayanami asked.
"You can?" Shinji asked back. "That's enviable. I don't think I can. Turning attention away from loud voices..."
"You are doing just that right now," Ayanami pointed out.
"...huh. You're right," Shinji admitted. "Thanks to your help, it seems."
"My help?" Ayanami inquired.
"Well..." Shinji felt some warmth rising in his cheeks as he fixated his look at the table in front of him. "I can... focus on a... calmer voice. A more pleasant voice."
"Pleasant?" Ayanami asked.
"Idsayso," Shinji managed to get out.
Both of them remained quiet for a while after that. At the other side of the table, the argument about Asuka's... communication with Vice Commander Fuyutsuki had changed to her arguing why she should be given extra leeway: Because she was a pilot, one of just three on Earth, she was essential, and she was the best... and now she used all the details of the last fight in order to prove that claim.
Shinji realized Ayanami was not just looking over to that scene. In particular, she was watching Asuka intensely.
"She makes it sound like it was just her work," he remarked. "You did just as much. You should get as much praise."
Ayanami shook her head, but still kept looking at Asuka. Apparently quite interested in her antics. "No. It's alright."
[1] "What are you thinking of me?" - "Only the best, dear Asuka, only the best"
Okay, payback on the Rei huggle debts has begun
Even though, technically, that was Rei choosing the [x]Huggle the Asuka option, but then, that is also always the correct option.Very convenient for the short battle sequence that both pilots are female
And yes, Asuka is getting a bit rebellious. Hey, she is a 14 year old teenager!
Finally, yes, Touji is of course shipping R/S
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KishouTheBadger
Psychic Mech Pilot
Yay, fast update! I assumed the chapters would take longer after the delay between Chapter 12 and Chapter 13 (between 2-3 weeks).
I think Asuka is starting to turn Rei to the dark side. Or... would it be the chaotic side? She's always about Law and Order, and yet she's more interested in Asuka boasting than the fact that she's hogging all the credit. It's frankly adorable.
I think Asuka is starting to turn Rei to the dark side. Or... would it be the chaotic side? She's always about Law and Order, and yet she's more interested in Asuka boasting than the fact that she's hogging all the credit. It's frankly adorable.
- Location
- Volksstaat Hessen, Deutsches Reich
Well, Rei has already realized what she's feeling for Shinji. But she's in for some surprises.
So is Asuka, of course. ("I'm into... uh... welp.")
I'm not even sure what happened there... Anyway, I posted that early because I have another full chapter in reserve, so I have some buffer
She simply let her have the spotlight. Asuka wants it, so she lets her have it
- Location
- supernatural
I thought Asuka was four when chosen to be a pilot?
I very much liked the translation footnote. A shame there is no "hint" tag on SV.
blue-haired
Welp, after my previous post I looked up "brunette" in the dictionary and the "n" is from the root ("brun", meaning "brown") and not from the suffix. I saw it and now I can't unsee it.
Is this intended or a typo?
- Location
- Volksstaat Hessen, Deutsches Reich
Asuka was four when her mother's contact experiment happened. Now, apparently Kyoko's tombstone shown in the series says Kyoko also still died the same year (2005), but that seems a bit very quick - remember, Asuka's father had already remarried by the time of Kyoko's funeral. So I'm going with that Kyoko was a mental patient for two years before she killed herself. And she killed herself right when Asuka was chosen to be a pilot. So that would be at age six then.
Maybe it's because I've only just woken up, but... why would it be a typo? Won a victory... that makes sense, or doesn't it?
Shinr
Lurking since December '98
I think it should be "Did you at least enjoy some parts of it?".
Even with the accelerated defrosting, I think "I am quite certain we are" fits her better.
EDIT:
I found that English-speaking people don't like redundancies much, and if a sentence needs to have essentially a same word and/or name repeated a couple times, they go for synonyms and/or try refer to them without naming them.
Or in this case, a simple "She Won" is better than a "She Won a Victory" for many.
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Chargone
Invisable operator
- Location
- New Zealand
Ahhh, I believe I see the problem.
Watch as I utterly fail to explain it.
Basically, while you can "win a victory" (or win a great victory, or whatever.), there's nothing wrong with the phrase... but it's one of those awkward ones that only fits in certain places. And that's not one of them.
"She had just won a victory, after all!", in that context, with no poetic or rhetorical aspects involved, should be "She had just won a battle, after all!" or possibly "She had just defeated (an/the) angel, after all!".
The surrounding phrasing is too... Casual? Informal? When one speaks about "winning a victory", it's usually for dramatic effect in some manner.
... Basically English has too many damn words/phrases for very similar things and in a lot of cases which one you want is based not on dictionary definition, but on tone, meter, register, etc etc.
The styles it works in do not include the one Asuka/the narrator is using there.
Kind of like (the inverse of) suddenly throwing in the crudest word you can think of for something in the middle of an otherwise very formal and ceremonial speech... to present an unreasonably extreme example of a similar issue.
Sooo... yeah, wrong word/phrase, but it's a matter of consistent style and flow... certainly not a typographical error, at least.
Watch as i get ninjaed by someone with a much better explanation, or someone comes along and points out everything wrong with my attempt at explaining this <_<
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But if you note, Misato was in military discipline mode when Asuka pulled her rebellious 14 yr old act. Misato actually has quite the history in canon of chewing out her juniors when they screw up.
Further she's not as close to Asuka in this AU since they haven't lived together since whenever Misato left Germany. Which is worse than you'd think, since they hardly get along in canon anyway.
- Location
- Volksstaat Hessen, Deutsches Reich
She's also an annoying little shit to Misato - so, a teenager
I mean, in the first scene, she's giving shit to Misato as soon as the Captain enters. Besides, Misato can be just as, uh, lively and emotional as Asuka. At least, if she isn't in her "Captain/Major Mode". Quick to rise, but unlikely to hold longer lasting grudges. And she did give in on the 'work' thing and even the training clothing, after all, so basically she admitted that Asuka is correct (if maybe only because Asuka basically used her essential role as leverage, but Misato could have doubled down). And in the final scene - well, Asuka may have been correct in her rant against Fuyutsuki as well, but it still was insubordination against the Vice Commander that got both her and Misato into trouble. You'd have to complain at Fuyutsuki here In fact, when I wrote it I was unsure if I wasn't letting Asuka get away with too much. She outright wins a challenge of power over the training gear and gets away with publicly mouthing off at a superior officer, except for some extra homework.
I would rather say the issue is that Misato wasn't. Well, outside the line that Asuka has to report to Fuyutsuki's office, but that was calmly delivered. So Misato did not stay disciplined over the whole matter, but was all "private Misato" - giving back as good as she gets, impulsive (well, maybe sometimes fake-impulsive in canon, overplaying her true feelings), etc.
@Shinr , @Chargone : So, redundancy. Okay, I see. Thanks for clearing it up!
Normally this would be completely correct, but the screwup Nerv command made here was so gigantic that I don't think normal rules apply. Endangering two fourteen year olds, a city populated by millions, and the entire planet just to "win" in an interservice rivalry is so criminally irresponsible and stupid that I'm surprised Fuyutsuki still has a job, and everyone involved isn't getting court martialed.
Despite all of this Asuka grit her teeth and went along with it, risking her life. And after all this despite the fact that she succeeded in carrying out his stupid mission he had the gall to complain to her because she didn't look pretty enough doing it.
- Location
- Volksstaat Hessen, Deutsches Reich
And yet, that all is pretty much canon.
I mean, if 1) Shizuoka has been N2-bombed already anyway and 2) N2 mines provably force the Angel to enter a passive regeneration state, then it follows that N2 mines should have been employed in the lead-up to the second battle. The only in-universe reason I can think of why that hasn't been done is NERV's mad pride (see Fuyutsuki's growl of "We've been humiliated").
Moreover, in canon it's not just Fuyutsuki, either. After Asuka and Shinji win against Israfel, decisively, even managing to have it explode safely outside the city... EVA-01 and 02 end up in disarray after the explosion and Misato looks aghast, Ritsuko mutters "How pathetic" and Fuyutsuki comments "We've been humiliated again".
Which really makes me wonder what the fuck the NERV higher-ups expect! I mean, really, "pathetic"? The two just WON, in a life and death battle upon which the fate of humanity rested, Ritsuko!
It's also quite a narrative/atmospheric break. Only two angels before, Ramiel, this seriousness of the battles I mentioned was still stressed, what with the pain Shinji feels, him hesitating to return into his unit and Rei's meaningful promise to protect him. And yet, two battles later it's all played for laughs and NERV even gives B grades on style, as if the existential battle for life and death is not that important. What?
So apparently Fuyutsuki acted entirely within the window of social expectations, somehow, and given that won't have to fear consequences as you imply. It's just that Asuka ended up being the lone voice of reason. Mind, she pretty much would have complained anyway. If the angel had been N2 mined, she would have complained about having been robbed a fight that she of course would have won
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- Location
- Canada
Very good chapter I loved the Asuka and Rei bed scene it felt very real. I think you need to work on writing action scenes a bit they are clearly not your forte but are definitely necessary in a series with so much action. Also
Is there any canon evidence for this? I know it works for the purpose of the story but I never got the impression that German NERV was all compassionate and reasonable in comparison to the Japanese branch, If anything I always thought of them as worse since they were clearly okay with the idea of training a seven year old to be a child soldier. I think your patriotism is affecting the writing a smidgen. Otherwise excellent chapter I think A/R has some very real chemistry.
- Location
- Volksstaat Hessen, Deutsches Reich
Well, the short battle scene was intentionally stylized to give a sense of the synchronicity between the two pilots. And I mean, we all know how that fight would end, and it only got a rather brief treatment in canon as well, so there was no need to get more out of that scene. That being said, generally speaking, you're right. And an NGE fic can still be relatively easy on the action scenes. Writing ME fics with that "impairment", well...
In this case it isn't patriotism. In many ways NERV Germany is worse than NERV Japan, if only by the fact that NERV Germany seems to the branch deepest in SEELE's pocket. By all indications, it apppears Germany is SEELE's bastion. So much for patriotism
However, for one thing, I want to account for Asuka's nature. That she isn't Rei, that in many ways she doesn't behave like a child soldier, that she's constantly complaining and subtly (or in this fic not so subtly) needling against authority. So quite obviously they haven't exactly beaten that out of her. And second, it allows Asuka to be an excellent lampshade hanger about all the mind-boggling stuff NERV Japan is doing 
samdamandias
Apprentice Plane Wizard
Well, Little Brother probably didn't get written because of 2I, but the Uplift series probably got written, and Heinlein's juveniles aren't really anti-authoritarian, are really good. (Heinlein's other works vary in quality). And for some reason I really don't think she'd get much out of Edgar Rice Burroughs, whether it be from Barsoom, or Pellucidar: The Land That
- Location
- Canada
I get that, but the way it was written was a little boring to read, "this thing happens than this thing happens than this thing happens then its over" I also disagree with you about NGE fics and action scenes, NGE is primarily character focused but most of the character conflict comes from the Evas and the angel fights, if the angel fights are not shown as for the most part as the brutal painful mess they are the reader will be less sympathetic to Shinji's feelings.
For Asuka I imagined her childhood like a musical prodigy with an extremely controlling and domineering parent a endless cyle of discipline and rigorous training followed by positive reinforcement in the form of gifts and praise. Asuka would develop the mentality she has now with her entire identity tied to the Eva but also an extreme arrogance and confidence that comes with being told that your special and better than others for years.
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