Asuka: "On the one hand I was trained from a young age to kill Angels, but on the other hand not having to recharge my stuff ever again is nice
Mari: "Ugh, I just ruin everything!"
Rebuild!Mari: "Oh it's not that bad. Or maybe it is."
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[NGE] Provisional
- Thread starter Doctor Squared
- Start date
Asuka: "On the one hand I was trained from a young age to kill Angels, but on the other hand not having to recharge my stuff ever again is nice
Mari: "Ugh, I just ruin everything!"
Rebuild!Mari: "Oh it's not that bad. Or maybe it is."
- Location
- In front of my computer
Funny that that's all it took.
- Location
- supernatural
A possible ship between Shikinami and Aide perhaps?
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- Location
- National Capital Region, USA
Missing a " there.
Pieces in her...
Uh oh. Infection?
Uh... and you're not at all worried about there being an Angel in your head, Shikinami? I would be!
"I've seen some shit, man..."
.... I'm so sorry, Shinji. I knew you'd been abused all your life, but I had no idea it was this bad! O_O
!!
Thanks, Doctor Buzzkill!
The main thing here is that the Chibi Unit-02's Shinji fought earlier weren't Iruel's doing, Asuka was the one calling the shots there. She hasn't had much in the the way of self-determination in her life and suddenly she's given godlike power for an instant...which she uses to torment a boy she was arguing with and now she has infinite batteries for her game. Which totally outweighs having a swarm of alien nanomachines chattering away in your head in teenager logic.
- Location
- National Capital Region, USA
You are (not) dreaming
Shinji rested his head on an aggressively pink pillow in the darkness of the living room as he tried to sort out what had happened earlier. It's simple, a pretty girl kissed you came a voice from his subconscious. Subconscious Shinji was right of course but there were two caveats to that line of thought. First, why anybody would anybody want to kiss him, which had a lot to unpack in and of itself. The second part was that he thought Mari was pretty. A portion of his mind that had more in common with Touji scoffed and said that it was obvious and that they'd seen her in her plugsuit which made it abundantly clear from a physical perspective. It didn't help matters that her personality was every bit as perky and that she was friendly, kind, generally, everything that most people in Tokyo-3 weren't. It was just that she was scary, and not in the strange, almost alien way that Rei was when he first met her it was just this overwhelming wave of manic energy which made him tired just thinking about it.
That still didn't help that he was resting in a pink strawberry and LCL-scented prison of his own thoughts. Maybe he should talk to somebody about it? Rei was always good at listening, maybe she'd have some thoughts on the situation? Or maybe he could bring it up in therapy and just work through-
"Puppy?" came a soft voice accompanied by the whine of servos in the darkness. "About earlier, I'm sorry I didn't mean…well I did mean…well you know me and just doing stuff right?" The girl let out a sigh and started mumbling under her breath. "Great, that made no damn sense at all. Good job Mari."
Come on, you have to say something, anything. Shinji grumbled internally at the little voice inside his head and started to stammer. "I-it's okay, I just wasn't expecting it? I-it was nice?" Okay, that was something, are you happy?
"Oh. Well, that's good I was afraid you'd hate me forever or something because I just do these things without warning. You and Rei are really nice to me and you're really the first friends my age that I've ever had and…" there was that wave of energy again. He did have to admit that the little voice in the back of his mind that she was cute, especially with her sleep-tousled hair, Magical Sadboy Puppy-kun t-shirt, yeah…wait a minute he had to focus! Wait, she was smiling which was also cute ugh thanks hormones.
"So anyway, thanks for letting me get that off my chest. Night." She turned to leave.
"W-wait." She turned around.
"Hmm?"
"Uh…well." In one fluid motion, he stood up and wrapped his arms around her in a hug, resulting in a startled squeak. What are you doing?! The surprised tension from his companion soon relaxed, he felt her arms wrap around him as they stood there, he slowly looked up and placed a quick soft kiss on her lips, which made a large part of him want to recoil for fear of reprisal but all he got was a happy cooing sound from Mari who pulled him in again for another peck before fixing him with a smirk.
"Y'know we could have saved ourselves a lot of trouble if you'd done that earlier."
The back Shinji's mind was currently panicking trying to make sense of what was happening while the other half was turned to pudding. "Yeah…" His companion let out a happy sigh and rested her head on top of his, hugging him tighter.
"Silly, puppy. I'd love to just stay and cuddle you all night but Dr. Heck wouldn't like it. I'll just have to see you in the morning." With that Mari placed a gentle kiss on his forehead before letting him go and skipping back off to her room with the soft whine of the motors of her legs drifting off down the hall.
Later
The ambient lighting of the apartment slowly brightened to reflect morning sun topside. Shinji stretched lazily in his makeshift bed, rested and content with the world for a change. Yes, everything was right with the world especially the dream he'd had about kissing Mari in the middle of the night. As if on cue there was the increasingly familiar click-clack of metal slapping against the tile. Into the living room shambled a rumpled, groggy Mari holding a steaming mug of hot cocoa in one hand while adjusting her shirt with the other. She plopped herself down on the couch next to him with a soft thud and placed a kiss on his cheek.
"G' morning Puppy."
Oh. Oh no. He'd done it. He'd actually…
"Guess you're not much of a morning person either huh? Or did I keep you up last night?" With that, he started to turn bright red and felt like his heart was going to explode. Mari, who was sipping her coca started to laugh as she realized what she just said, sending the piping hot beverage out her nose. "Owww! That's not supposed to go in there!" Shinji blinked rapidly, trying to gain some level composure offered her a corner of his blanket for a napkin.
"Are you okay?"
She rubbed her nose "I'll be fine, just really stings, kinda like the time I wondered what bear repellant smelled like." Shinji just couldn't help but laugh at that image before realizing that it probably hurt and he was being insensitive and that was probably the reason why nobody liked him and why she was staring at him with this look on her face and…
"Y'know, you're really cute when you laugh. And it's totally was funny, I was five, rummaging around the cargo hold trying to find Christmas presents and I thought the cans of bear spray were cooking spray or something, got myself right in the face, classic Mari. But seriously, it's really nice to see you happy for a change rather than the sad, kicked puppy look." Shinji cocked his head. "Wait, is that why you call me Puppy?" The brunette giggled and pulled him into a deeper kiss than usual which didn't answer his question but was still warm, comforting, and when he got right down to it maybe not knowing the answers to everything wasn't so bad? His hormones certainly agreed and were it really so bad to indulge them? A clattering sound from the kitchen gave him an unwelcome answer.
"Good morning you two, breakfast will be ready shortly!" Dr. Heck's voice echoed from the kitchen, Mari's eyes quickly sprang open and she attempted to move to an adult-approved distance away from the target of her affection only for her exoskeleton to overcompensate and send her tumbling over the arm of the couch. Shinji scrambled to help her trying in vain to help her up, her eyes widened as she heard the doctor's footsteps coming towards them. She quickly sprung back to her feet and took off like a shot towards the bathroom just as he walked in.
Heck stared in the direction his daughter took off in, stroked his greying beard and turned to Shinji. "That's strange, normally I have to pry her out of bed with a crowbar. Perhaps having a young man around is a bit more motivating than pancakes, eh?" The boy started to stammer out a response. "Oh, don't worry yourself, my boy, I was young once and we're all human beings here. Just remember, if you harm her you'll soon find yourself wishing you hadn't." Visions of being vivisected like Mr. Bonejangles and turned into a cyborg monstrosity doomed to mop the floors of the Eva cages ran through Shinji's head, Heck noticed the horrified look on his face. "No, I won't physically harm you but people don't respond well to having their hearts broken, Mari knows that and unless I'm an extremely poor judge of character you can relate to that as well."
"Y-yeah…"
"That being said, we're going to need to talk about a few things." There was the sound of coughing, and the pair turned to see a horrified Mari staring at them, toothbrush in hand.
"Doc no! You'll scar poor Puppy for life and he'll never be the same again!"
Heck chuckled. "Well now I know it's serious, she's nicknamed you." There was annoyed sputtering from the girl who just turned and headed back the way she came.
…
Ikari-kun was sitting at his desk smiling, which was unusual. Ikari-kun never smiled, it was why he was Ikari-kun. The older Ikari never smiled, this make Ikari-kun's assigned nomenclature inaccurate, which annoyed something primal within her. Mari-chan was also rather quiet, sitting at her desk, light novel in hand sneaking glances every now and then at Ikari-kun as if he was going to dissolve into nothingness at any given moment. At least the Second Child was acting within accepted normal parameters, busing herself with her games, which was good, something at least remained consistent. She turned to look out the window, as she always did around this time of day. She was a creature of habit, or at least she preferred to be one simply letting existence flow past her as entropy slowly consumed-
"Hey Rei?" Mari-chan's voice broke her train of existential thought, she turned and faced the girl.
"Yes?"
"Would you go to the bathroom with me?" The brunette wrung her hands awkwardly. Rei tilted her head at the statement. "You are incapable of doing so unattended?" Mari puffed out her cheeks in annoyance for a second. "N-no, I just want to…can you just please come with me? C'mon teenage girls are supposed to do it all the time, please?"
"Very well." She got up and walked with her counterpart down the halls to the rather spartan washroom. Mari reached into her school bag and pulled out a shoebox-sized device with a reel of cable emblazoned with the Langley Defense Systems logo and plugged one end into a port at her hip and the other end to the wall causing the fluorescent lighting to dim for a split second until a row of red lights lit up on the box. Mari let out a sigh and slumped against the wall.
"I forgot to recharge last night, the last thing I want is to be walking home and having my legs lock up on me…which is sort of why I wanted to talk to you."
"You and Ikari-kun were intimate within the last twelve hours?" Mari turned beet red and started sputtering incoherently.
"R-Rei! You can't just say things like that!
The blue-haired girl's head tilted slightly as if she didn't understand the response. "It seemed like a logical explanation for why both of you were acting uncharacteristically."
"Ugh, this is like breakfast all over again."
"It is my understanding that you should not eat for at least half an hour before." The girl's eye twitched. Rei was confused at the annoyance, she thought that it was commonly accepted advice.
"That's swimming, Rei. We didn't…we just kissed and I kinda wanted to tell you since we're friends and well…"
Mari continued to ramble on in terms related to human relationships which weren't something Rei considered herself to be particularly well versed in. The only exposure to the sort of affair being outlined was between the elder Ikari and Dr. Akagi. "I should be jealous?"
"What? No! I mean you can be, I had no…I mean I could always just lea…wait was that a question?"
Rei nodded. "Yes, It seems to be a common flaw. Would that be acceptable?"
"I mean you can be if you wanted to?"
"I would rather not. But thank you for clarifying the situation."
There was a quick chirp from the charger and the lights turned blue causing Mari to sink to the ground with a whine of freshly-charged motors. "No problem Rei what are friends for?"
"That is a rather open-ended question."
"I guess so, you're a good friend Rei. I mean, I just keep babbling on and you're always there to listen so thanks."
Rei smiled, people were supposed to in these situations she thought. "You are welcome, do we hug now?"
Mari laughed, "I thought that I weirded you out with the last one, guess not."
"You are soft and warm. It was not unpleasant"
"T-Thanks Rei."
"You are welcome."
That still didn't help that he was resting in a pink strawberry and LCL-scented prison of his own thoughts. Maybe he should talk to somebody about it? Rei was always good at listening, maybe she'd have some thoughts on the situation? Or maybe he could bring it up in therapy and just work through-
"Puppy?" came a soft voice accompanied by the whine of servos in the darkness. "About earlier, I'm sorry I didn't mean…well I did mean…well you know me and just doing stuff right?" The girl let out a sigh and started mumbling under her breath. "Great, that made no damn sense at all. Good job Mari."
Come on, you have to say something, anything. Shinji grumbled internally at the little voice inside his head and started to stammer. "I-it's okay, I just wasn't expecting it? I-it was nice?" Okay, that was something, are you happy?
"Oh. Well, that's good I was afraid you'd hate me forever or something because I just do these things without warning. You and Rei are really nice to me and you're really the first friends my age that I've ever had and…" there was that wave of energy again. He did have to admit that the little voice in the back of his mind that she was cute, especially with her sleep-tousled hair, Magical Sadboy Puppy-kun t-shirt, yeah…wait a minute he had to focus! Wait, she was smiling which was also cute ugh thanks hormones.
"So anyway, thanks for letting me get that off my chest. Night." She turned to leave.
"W-wait." She turned around.
"Hmm?"
"Uh…well." In one fluid motion, he stood up and wrapped his arms around her in a hug, resulting in a startled squeak. What are you doing?! The surprised tension from his companion soon relaxed, he felt her arms wrap around him as they stood there, he slowly looked up and placed a quick soft kiss on her lips, which made a large part of him want to recoil for fear of reprisal but all he got was a happy cooing sound from Mari who pulled him in again for another peck before fixing him with a smirk.
"Y'know we could have saved ourselves a lot of trouble if you'd done that earlier."
The back Shinji's mind was currently panicking trying to make sense of what was happening while the other half was turned to pudding. "Yeah…" His companion let out a happy sigh and rested her head on top of his, hugging him tighter.
"Silly, puppy. I'd love to just stay and cuddle you all night but Dr. Heck wouldn't like it. I'll just have to see you in the morning." With that Mari placed a gentle kiss on his forehead before letting him go and skipping back off to her room with the soft whine of the motors of her legs drifting off down the hall.
Later
The ambient lighting of the apartment slowly brightened to reflect morning sun topside. Shinji stretched lazily in his makeshift bed, rested and content with the world for a change. Yes, everything was right with the world especially the dream he'd had about kissing Mari in the middle of the night. As if on cue there was the increasingly familiar click-clack of metal slapping against the tile. Into the living room shambled a rumpled, groggy Mari holding a steaming mug of hot cocoa in one hand while adjusting her shirt with the other. She plopped herself down on the couch next to him with a soft thud and placed a kiss on his cheek.
"G' morning Puppy."
Oh. Oh no. He'd done it. He'd actually…
"Guess you're not much of a morning person either huh? Or did I keep you up last night?" With that, he started to turn bright red and felt like his heart was going to explode. Mari, who was sipping her coca started to laugh as she realized what she just said, sending the piping hot beverage out her nose. "Owww! That's not supposed to go in there!" Shinji blinked rapidly, trying to gain some level composure offered her a corner of his blanket for a napkin.
"Are you okay?"
She rubbed her nose "I'll be fine, just really stings, kinda like the time I wondered what bear repellant smelled like." Shinji just couldn't help but laugh at that image before realizing that it probably hurt and he was being insensitive and that was probably the reason why nobody liked him and why she was staring at him with this look on her face and…
"Y'know, you're really cute when you laugh. And it's totally was funny, I was five, rummaging around the cargo hold trying to find Christmas presents and I thought the cans of bear spray were cooking spray or something, got myself right in the face, classic Mari. But seriously, it's really nice to see you happy for a change rather than the sad, kicked puppy look." Shinji cocked his head. "Wait, is that why you call me Puppy?" The brunette giggled and pulled him into a deeper kiss than usual which didn't answer his question but was still warm, comforting, and when he got right down to it maybe not knowing the answers to everything wasn't so bad? His hormones certainly agreed and were it really so bad to indulge them? A clattering sound from the kitchen gave him an unwelcome answer.
"Good morning you two, breakfast will be ready shortly!" Dr. Heck's voice echoed from the kitchen, Mari's eyes quickly sprang open and she attempted to move to an adult-approved distance away from the target of her affection only for her exoskeleton to overcompensate and send her tumbling over the arm of the couch. Shinji scrambled to help her trying in vain to help her up, her eyes widened as she heard the doctor's footsteps coming towards them. She quickly sprung back to her feet and took off like a shot towards the bathroom just as he walked in.
Heck stared in the direction his daughter took off in, stroked his greying beard and turned to Shinji. "That's strange, normally I have to pry her out of bed with a crowbar. Perhaps having a young man around is a bit more motivating than pancakes, eh?" The boy started to stammer out a response. "Oh, don't worry yourself, my boy, I was young once and we're all human beings here. Just remember, if you harm her you'll soon find yourself wishing you hadn't." Visions of being vivisected like Mr. Bonejangles and turned into a cyborg monstrosity doomed to mop the floors of the Eva cages ran through Shinji's head, Heck noticed the horrified look on his face. "No, I won't physically harm you but people don't respond well to having their hearts broken, Mari knows that and unless I'm an extremely poor judge of character you can relate to that as well."
"Y-yeah…"
"That being said, we're going to need to talk about a few things." There was the sound of coughing, and the pair turned to see a horrified Mari staring at them, toothbrush in hand.
"Doc no! You'll scar poor Puppy for life and he'll never be the same again!"
Heck chuckled. "Well now I know it's serious, she's nicknamed you." There was annoyed sputtering from the girl who just turned and headed back the way she came.
…
Ikari-kun was sitting at his desk smiling, which was unusual. Ikari-kun never smiled, it was why he was Ikari-kun. The older Ikari never smiled, this make Ikari-kun's assigned nomenclature inaccurate, which annoyed something primal within her. Mari-chan was also rather quiet, sitting at her desk, light novel in hand sneaking glances every now and then at Ikari-kun as if he was going to dissolve into nothingness at any given moment. At least the Second Child was acting within accepted normal parameters, busing herself with her games, which was good, something at least remained consistent. She turned to look out the window, as she always did around this time of day. She was a creature of habit, or at least she preferred to be one simply letting existence flow past her as entropy slowly consumed-
"Hey Rei?" Mari-chan's voice broke her train of existential thought, she turned and faced the girl.
"Yes?"
"Would you go to the bathroom with me?" The brunette wrung her hands awkwardly. Rei tilted her head at the statement. "You are incapable of doing so unattended?" Mari puffed out her cheeks in annoyance for a second. "N-no, I just want to…can you just please come with me? C'mon teenage girls are supposed to do it all the time, please?"
"Very well." She got up and walked with her counterpart down the halls to the rather spartan washroom. Mari reached into her school bag and pulled out a shoebox-sized device with a reel of cable emblazoned with the Langley Defense Systems logo and plugged one end into a port at her hip and the other end to the wall causing the fluorescent lighting to dim for a split second until a row of red lights lit up on the box. Mari let out a sigh and slumped against the wall.
"I forgot to recharge last night, the last thing I want is to be walking home and having my legs lock up on me…which is sort of why I wanted to talk to you."
"You and Ikari-kun were intimate within the last twelve hours?" Mari turned beet red and started sputtering incoherently.
"R-Rei! You can't just say things like that!
The blue-haired girl's head tilted slightly as if she didn't understand the response. "It seemed like a logical explanation for why both of you were acting uncharacteristically."
"Ugh, this is like breakfast all over again."
"It is my understanding that you should not eat for at least half an hour before." The girl's eye twitched. Rei was confused at the annoyance, she thought that it was commonly accepted advice.
"That's swimming, Rei. We didn't…we just kissed and I kinda wanted to tell you since we're friends and well…"
Mari continued to ramble on in terms related to human relationships which weren't something Rei considered herself to be particularly well versed in. The only exposure to the sort of affair being outlined was between the elder Ikari and Dr. Akagi. "I should be jealous?"
"What? No! I mean you can be, I had no…I mean I could always just lea…wait was that a question?"
Rei nodded. "Yes, It seems to be a common flaw. Would that be acceptable?"
"I mean you can be if you wanted to?"
"I would rather not. But thank you for clarifying the situation."
There was a quick chirp from the charger and the lights turned blue causing Mari to sink to the ground with a whine of freshly-charged motors. "No problem Rei what are friends for?"
"That is a rather open-ended question."
"I guess so, you're a good friend Rei. I mean, I just keep babbling on and you're always there to listen so thanks."
Rei smiled, people were supposed to in these situations she thought. "You are welcome, do we hug now?"
Mari laughed, "I thought that I weirded you out with the last one, guess not."
"You are soft and warm. It was not unpleasant"
"T-Thanks Rei."
"You are welcome."
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BG_Character_592
The Fisherman
- Location
- Australia
Well ain't that adorable
Can't wait to see more of their interactions with each other.
Can't wait to see more of their interactions with each other.
It's too late, teh Rei has been huggled and there's no putting that genie back in the bottle.
Mari: "So anyway I figure we should start seeing additional people."
Shinji: "B-but we just started our...wait did you say, additional people?"
Rei: "I was promised soup and hugs. Who is providing them is irrelevant."
Thanks, I really wanted to avoid the pitfall of having Mari just be a Manic Pixie Dream Girl that fixes all of Shinji's problems. Knowing that someone likes him does a lot for his self-esteem but at the same time he hasn't got any idea why Mari likes him or how he somehow has a girlfriend now...or what that means and hormones don't help considering that they've been suppressed by depression for so long.
The real horror is going to be what happens if Shinji ever gets the Episode 21 vision of his parents in the past.
Omake - Gift of the MAGI
Hi all, apologies for the slow update schedule. Changing jobs and moving to a new state has put a bit of a damper on writing. In the meantime, have a Christmas-themed Omake and regular service will resume after the new year.
Heck Residence
This was it, thought Shinji. Fighting extraterrestrial horrors in a horrific god-machine possessed of his mother's soul one would think that his mind would have shattered long ago leaving him a gibbering mess, but no this...this was much worse, Mari had rendered the living room into a mind boggling display of festiveness, Christmas lights, were carefully wrapped around the struts of her exoskeleton, the climate control had been turned down low enough that he could see his own breath, the tyranny of unfathomably ugly sweaters reigned and the marathon of sappy pre-Impact had been unyielding. While he was certain that he might go mad, at least it involved being curled up with his girlfriend.
"So do you guys want to watch another one?"
Rei, clad in an oversized, sparkly blue sweater cocked her head away from the screen. "I had thought they were all the same film?"
Mari gave a little laugh. "They're supposed to be similar, so it's familiar and comforting and that's what makes it festive!" With that she skipped off to the kitchen, the tiny bells on her sweater jingling. Once the coast was clear Shinji let out a sigh and turned to Rei.
"Okay, so I'm not crazy? All of these movies seem like they're the exact same thing to you too?" The girl nodded.
"All minor variations on the same overall themes. Perhaps if we repeat the same story with enough permutations the high-powered businesswoman will acquire a reliable rental vehicle that will not break down in a small town with a sensitive songwriter living in it, sparing all from endless repetition." With that, Rei went back to staring at the credits rolling down the screen. Chocking it up to Rei being…well Rei, Shinji scratched the back of his head and continued.
"So, people get other people presents for Christmas and..." He swallowed and started babbling. "Do you have any idea of what I should get Mari? I can't think of anything and I feel like a horrible boyfriend because other than pink and fluffy things I have no clue what Mari even likes."
Rei closed her eyes for a moment as if she was deep in thought. "Miso Soup mix, sanitary napkins, a new monthly train pass, and a spatula." Shinji was sputtering and blushing furiously. "R-Rei I can't give her tha-, wait is that your shopping list?" The blue-haired girl tilted her head. "I would be very appreciative if someone did my weekly shopping for me. It gives more time for personal activities."
This did nothing to help the boy's furious blushing as he buried his head in his hands. Mari walked back in with a tray of slightly burned, but lovingly decorated cookies and another VHS cassette case. "Okay, so I've got cookies and the best Christmas movie ever, Die Hard! Hey, you okay Shinji?"
"F-fine…I just need some air." With that he bolted out of the room.
"Hey Rei, do you think I cooked the Egg Nog enough? Really hope that wasn't food poisoning kicking in."
Rei needed an excuse, any sort of excuse since Ikari-kun usually kept people from bothering her it would be good to return the favor. "Ikari-kun is lactose intolerant." Yes, this was not uncommon among the local population and was believable excuse. Mari's face deflated.
"Oh. Shit."
"Indeed."
Commander's Office, NERV HQ
Gendo Ikari stared out at the expanse of his office at the dent in the carpet where his desk had once sat and sighed, musing on whether this was a joke the Adam-child was playing on him or some sort of threat. Meanwhile in the depths of the cores of the MAGI the cackling laughter of Naoko Akagi could be heard echoing through the circuitry. It made Iruel happy to see that the Naoko-machines liked the present it had gotten for them, after all they were kind enough to let it live with them and they provided them with the suggestion of selling the Commander's furniture for Lilin currency with which to buy presents for the Geofront's other inhabitants which was so very helpful. Truly, this holiday was the height of Lilin culture. Ooh, Lieutenant Ibuki-Lilin just found the present it had selected for her it hoped she enjoyed it.
Maya stared at the contents of the festively-wrapped box. "Hey Hyuga, Aoba, did you guys buy this for me?" Hyuga put down his manga and walked over to join her in staring at the box before shaking his head. Maya continued to stare in confusion. "Maybe Dr. Akagi got it for me?"
Aoba, headphones still blasting 80's punk rock gave the contents a tentative poke. "Why would Dr. Akagi get you a five-pound gummy bear for Christmas?"
Maya shrugged. "I mean, there was that one year when we were at NERV Boston for their whole Secret Santa thing and she gave me half a pack of cigarettes from her purse. Although this has a little more thought behind it. Like using the MAGI to view my browser history from two in the morning last week thought behind it…oh well anybody want a piece?" As the three dug in the lieutenant swore she could hear a high-pitched happy whine from the PA speakers.
Misato's Apartment
Asuka flipped the credit card with the Langley Defense Systems logo emblazoned on it over in her hand and muttered at the laptop screen. Misato was easy to shop for, every year since she started taking care of her it was one bottle of the finest pre-Impact whiskey courtesy of dear old dad. No, her problem was that she needed to get something for Kensuke, at least to repay him for the Wonderswan, it was only fair after all and totally didn't mean that she liked him or anything.
Pen-Pen took a sip of his beer at that, almost as if the penguin could read her mind. "Wark."
"What about the Pretty Pickelhaube skin for Lyrical Battleshipgirl Bismarck? That's an expensive, limited edition one!" Pen-Pen didn't seem overly excited about that option.
"Wark."
"Okay so it's something I want, but Ken plays Glorious Shipgirl Fleet Commander too!" Pen-Pen waddled off. "Maybe I should get something a little more personal like dinner?"
"Wark."
The redhead crossed her arms over her chest. "No it's not a date! It's to thank him for his present and to celebrate the holiday, totally transactional and not romantic at all! Now where's a good place to go and eat…hmmm."
"Wark Wark." Pen-Pen kicked his food bowl and stared at the girl.
"Okay fine I'll feed you before I figure that out."
Heck Residence
The VCR finished rewinding the tape with an audible click of the reels coming to a stop."…And that's why it's a Christmas movie!"
Rei finished nibbling her cookie and looked away from the screen. "I see." There was a dull thudding sound in the hallway. "I think Ikari-kun has returned." As if on cue Shinji tumbled through the door carrying a jumble of shopping bags and an oversized plush shark that was almost as big as he was. Regaining his balance he handed the bags to Rei, who gave a small smile before handing the shark to Mari.
"Merry Christmas, I had no idea what to get you and well…err…shark?" Mari hugged him and their new plush companion with a small, happy squeak.
"I love it Puppy! It's so cute! I didn't get you guys anything, though."
Shinji couldn't help but smile at the sight of a happy girlfriend. "T-that's okay I'm just glad that we got to celebrate together. It's nice." The girl smiled at that.
"Oh! How about we celebrate Boxing Day, we can have a big breakfast and hang out with no pressure and it'll be great I just need to run out and buy a spatula, since I kinda snapped the last one in half scraping the cookies off the pan." Rei rummaged through the shopping bags Shinji had handed her and produced a bright blue silicone spatula which she handed to the brunette.
"Merry Christmas, Mari-chan."
"Thanks, Rei! Man, you're a mind reader or something. How'd you even know I wanted one?"
Rei gave an enigmatic smile. "I have my sources."
Heck Residence
This was it, thought Shinji. Fighting extraterrestrial horrors in a horrific god-machine possessed of his mother's soul one would think that his mind would have shattered long ago leaving him a gibbering mess, but no this...this was much worse, Mari had rendered the living room into a mind boggling display of festiveness, Christmas lights, were carefully wrapped around the struts of her exoskeleton, the climate control had been turned down low enough that he could see his own breath, the tyranny of unfathomably ugly sweaters reigned and the marathon of sappy pre-Impact had been unyielding. While he was certain that he might go mad, at least it involved being curled up with his girlfriend.
"So do you guys want to watch another one?"
Rei, clad in an oversized, sparkly blue sweater cocked her head away from the screen. "I had thought they were all the same film?"
Mari gave a little laugh. "They're supposed to be similar, so it's familiar and comforting and that's what makes it festive!" With that she skipped off to the kitchen, the tiny bells on her sweater jingling. Once the coast was clear Shinji let out a sigh and turned to Rei.
"Okay, so I'm not crazy? All of these movies seem like they're the exact same thing to you too?" The girl nodded.
"All minor variations on the same overall themes. Perhaps if we repeat the same story with enough permutations the high-powered businesswoman will acquire a reliable rental vehicle that will not break down in a small town with a sensitive songwriter living in it, sparing all from endless repetition." With that, Rei went back to staring at the credits rolling down the screen. Chocking it up to Rei being…well Rei, Shinji scratched the back of his head and continued.
"So, people get other people presents for Christmas and..." He swallowed and started babbling. "Do you have any idea of what I should get Mari? I can't think of anything and I feel like a horrible boyfriend because other than pink and fluffy things I have no clue what Mari even likes."
Rei closed her eyes for a moment as if she was deep in thought. "Miso Soup mix, sanitary napkins, a new monthly train pass, and a spatula." Shinji was sputtering and blushing furiously. "R-Rei I can't give her tha-, wait is that your shopping list?" The blue-haired girl tilted her head. "I would be very appreciative if someone did my weekly shopping for me. It gives more time for personal activities."
This did nothing to help the boy's furious blushing as he buried his head in his hands. Mari walked back in with a tray of slightly burned, but lovingly decorated cookies and another VHS cassette case. "Okay, so I've got cookies and the best Christmas movie ever, Die Hard! Hey, you okay Shinji?"
"F-fine…I just need some air." With that he bolted out of the room.
"Hey Rei, do you think I cooked the Egg Nog enough? Really hope that wasn't food poisoning kicking in."
Rei needed an excuse, any sort of excuse since Ikari-kun usually kept people from bothering her it would be good to return the favor. "Ikari-kun is lactose intolerant." Yes, this was not uncommon among the local population and was believable excuse. Mari's face deflated.
"Oh. Shit."
"Indeed."
Commander's Office, NERV HQ
Gendo Ikari stared out at the expanse of his office at the dent in the carpet where his desk had once sat and sighed, musing on whether this was a joke the Adam-child was playing on him or some sort of threat. Meanwhile in the depths of the cores of the MAGI the cackling laughter of Naoko Akagi could be heard echoing through the circuitry. It made Iruel happy to see that the Naoko-machines liked the present it had gotten for them, after all they were kind enough to let it live with them and they provided them with the suggestion of selling the Commander's furniture for Lilin currency with which to buy presents for the Geofront's other inhabitants which was so very helpful. Truly, this holiday was the height of Lilin culture. Ooh, Lieutenant Ibuki-Lilin just found the present it had selected for her it hoped she enjoyed it.
Maya stared at the contents of the festively-wrapped box. "Hey Hyuga, Aoba, did you guys buy this for me?" Hyuga put down his manga and walked over to join her in staring at the box before shaking his head. Maya continued to stare in confusion. "Maybe Dr. Akagi got it for me?"
Aoba, headphones still blasting 80's punk rock gave the contents a tentative poke. "Why would Dr. Akagi get you a five-pound gummy bear for Christmas?"
Maya shrugged. "I mean, there was that one year when we were at NERV Boston for their whole Secret Santa thing and she gave me half a pack of cigarettes from her purse. Although this has a little more thought behind it. Like using the MAGI to view my browser history from two in the morning last week thought behind it…oh well anybody want a piece?" As the three dug in the lieutenant swore she could hear a high-pitched happy whine from the PA speakers.
Misato's Apartment
Asuka flipped the credit card with the Langley Defense Systems logo emblazoned on it over in her hand and muttered at the laptop screen. Misato was easy to shop for, every year since she started taking care of her it was one bottle of the finest pre-Impact whiskey courtesy of dear old dad. No, her problem was that she needed to get something for Kensuke, at least to repay him for the Wonderswan, it was only fair after all and totally didn't mean that she liked him or anything.
Pen-Pen took a sip of his beer at that, almost as if the penguin could read her mind. "Wark."
"What about the Pretty Pickelhaube skin for Lyrical Battleshipgirl Bismarck? That's an expensive, limited edition one!" Pen-Pen didn't seem overly excited about that option.
"Wark."
"Okay so it's something I want, but Ken plays Glorious Shipgirl Fleet Commander too!" Pen-Pen waddled off. "Maybe I should get something a little more personal like dinner?"
"Wark."
The redhead crossed her arms over her chest. "No it's not a date! It's to thank him for his present and to celebrate the holiday, totally transactional and not romantic at all! Now where's a good place to go and eat…hmmm."
"Wark Wark." Pen-Pen kicked his food bowl and stared at the girl.
"Okay fine I'll feed you before I figure that out."
Heck Residence
The VCR finished rewinding the tape with an audible click of the reels coming to a stop."…And that's why it's a Christmas movie!"
Rei finished nibbling her cookie and looked away from the screen. "I see." There was a dull thudding sound in the hallway. "I think Ikari-kun has returned." As if on cue Shinji tumbled through the door carrying a jumble of shopping bags and an oversized plush shark that was almost as big as he was. Regaining his balance he handed the bags to Rei, who gave a small smile before handing the shark to Mari.
"Merry Christmas, I had no idea what to get you and well…err…shark?" Mari hugged him and their new plush companion with a small, happy squeak.
"I love it Puppy! It's so cute! I didn't get you guys anything, though."
Shinji couldn't help but smile at the sight of a happy girlfriend. "T-that's okay I'm just glad that we got to celebrate together. It's nice." The girl smiled at that.
"Oh! How about we celebrate Boxing Day, we can have a big breakfast and hang out with no pressure and it'll be great I just need to run out and buy a spatula, since I kinda snapped the last one in half scraping the cookies off the pan." Rei rummaged through the shopping bags Shinji had handed her and produced a bright blue silicone spatula which she handed to the brunette.
"Merry Christmas, Mari-chan."
"Thanks, Rei! Man, you're a mind reader or something. How'd you even know I wanted one?"
Rei gave an enigmatic smile. "I have my sources."
JennyDracos
Eccentric Hugging Lady
- Location
- Chicago
WELL PLAYED, REI. WELL PLAYED.
- Location
- Canada
Very very cute.
Nothing wrong with telling the same story as other people with slight variations... the variations give it flavor. sweats in fanfic writer
Nah, Kaworu is far too busy this time of year singing to shepherds to mess with Gendo.
Nah, Kaworu is far too busy this time of year singing to shepherds to mess with Gendo.
Be not afraid, fo I come with good..."
[Kaworu stares at smoldering crater where the shepherd once stood]
"Ramiel, I was going to do the talking because I speak Lilin instead of shouty doom laser."
[Geometric Apology Noises]
- Location
- National Capital Region, USA
You totally forgot, didn't you, Rits? Bad sempai! No biscuit!
Merry Christmas everyone, hope it's a good one!
Zero Hour
Happy new year folks, apologies for the delay. Have some fitting art:
Click, click, click
The sound of the elevator car descending floor by floor into the Geofront was starting to get on Asuka's nerves, admittedly most things did and the only thing separating her from finishing the last act of her visual novel was a sync test and before she could do that she was stuck in Japan's slowest elevator with the sad sack who was just standing there with his music playing with that stupid smile on his stupid face. The hell was he so happy about?
"Hey!" She waved her hands in front of the boy's face and snapped her fingers. "Hey! Moron! What's got you so chipper huh? Glasses Girl kiss you or something?" Wait. He was blushing, shit she was right. "Seriously? You and Glasses Girl. Damn, now I have to buy Hikari lunch since I'd have thought that the creepy doll was more your type." Shinji glared at her before turning back to his SDAT as the clicking continued. She scoffed if he wanted to be pissy about it then fine. It's not like she was interested in such petty things as gossip or anything. Nope, not at all.
Shinji pulled out one of his earbuds and sighted "If you're going to say something just say it."
Totally not interested. Nothing more to say about that, nope. Shinji shrugged and put his earbud back in as the silence punctuated by the endless clicking of the wall panel continued. Jesus, this was taking a long time, she should have brought her Wonderswan, something anything to stop this boredom. She kicked the elevator door in frustration. "Come on! The catapults can have me back up to the surface in ten seconds! I've got Lyrical Shipgirl Fubuki to finish!" She heard a sharp inhale and turned to notice her companion stifling a laugh. "Yeah, you heard me! I like shipgirl shit, it's goddamn adorable!" With that Shinji started to laugh uncontrollably which did nothing to improve her mood. "Like you don't have anything embarrassing that you like!"
"I-it's just that you're supposed to be 'Grr I'm Captain Shikinami and I'm better than you!' but you're just like everybody else."
"Well, maybe I didn't ask to be Captain Shikinami, or to have my face plastered all over cheap crap people buy or to be stuck in a giant four-eyed monstrosity with a creepy doll, little miss enthusiasm, and a whiny bitch like you! With that, she tore off one of her nerve clips and hurled it at Shinji's head with all the force she could muster…wait where was the impact? She looked up to see the hunk of red plastic and metal floating lazily in midair, slowly moving towards her target blissfully unaware that it should have smacked him in his stupid face by now. The boy, waiting for the smack opened his eyes and started to reach for the clip. She quickly slapped it away. "Don't touch it, moron!"
"Do you think it's some kind of Angel thing?"
"Oh no, stuff just hangs in midair for no reason all the time. Of course its an angel thing! This means we have to get out of here so we can go kick its ass and get back to important things!" With that, Asuka hit the door open button and watched in annoyance as they slid open at a glacial pace. Letting out an angry growl she lashed out with a high kick at the door, only to find her foot hanging in midair resulting in a shout of frustration. Shinji let out a sigh and decided to let the redhead sort things out herself and hit the play button on his SDAT only to get a slow, garbled mess through his earbuds as the tape struggled to unwind against whatever force the Angel was exerting he stared up at the ceiling and let out an aggravated sigh, hoping the others were doing better.
Topside
The Angel stood over the Geofront on three spindly legs with an equally spindly body counterweighted by its spherical core on one end and a pair of vaguely avian masks perched on the other end that ticked slightly sending the telltale ringing noise of its AT-field gently pulsing out with each passing second. A few dozen meters away from it was a wall of missiles, artillery shells, and assorted other ordinance that had decided that it had better things to do than impact the target. Beyond that lay the tank brigades provided by the JSSDF, and further back were the bright yellow and the newly vivid pink bulk of Unit-00 and Provisional Unit-05 backed up by the raw fury that was an exhausted Maya Ibuki who had been camped out in her worn Prius for three days attempting to coordinate Eva operations. True to his word, Langley had replaced Unit-05's severed limbs with lanky, spindly replacements from Jet Alone anchored to the atrophied stubs of the machine's arms and legs in addition to making a few other upgrades that its pilot quite enjoyed.
"Ooh, Smoky Earl Grey!" Mari tapped on the holographic teacup icon floating in front of her and after a small whirring was provided with another plastic bottle of piping hot tea from the entry plug's internal dispenser. Next to her was a pile of empty bottles crammed behind her seat. She leaned back in her seat and took a sip of her beverage. "Hey Rei, I think you'd like this one."
Rei looked up from her instruments. "You've mentioned that about the previous thirty-six flavors. Have you found an option for miso soup yet?"
"Nope, sorry."
"No problem." She checked her readings again. "Lieutenant Ibuki, target shells have moved three millimeters closer to the target, telemetry from the fuzes in the airburst shells are still registering the same values from the previous measurement." The disheveled face of Maya appeared in the corner of Rei's eye.
"Thanks, Rei, continue to hold position while we wait for the green light to engage." Mari let out an annoyed sigh. "We've been waiting for three days and the military's shot at it a bajillion times, they know they can't do anything to get through its AT-field no matter how hard we try, and I'm starting to run out of space for tea bottles in here."
"The JSSDF knows it is ineffective, but it has to maintain the idea that it is because its leadership insists that it is true. Captain Katsuragi says that it is a 'cultural thing'." The brunette puffed her cheeks in annoyance. Maya, clad in a rumpled t-shirt with bags under her eyes sipped day-old coffee out of a pale pink Sweet Neko travel mug and stared at the image of the girl on her laptop. "It'll be okay Mari, everybody's going to be fine, we just have to figure out what's-" A voice suddenly cut off the transmission.
"To all units in the AO, this is General Yamato. We have received authorization to launch an N2 strike on the Angel's position, move to a minimum safe distance and await further instructions."
JSSDF 3rd Tank Platoon, 5km from Angel's area of effect
Commander Saito closed the stowage bin with a grunt and looked out at the men breaking camp. Things were finally starting to look up, after months of being handed defeat after defeat at the hands of alien invaders and being shown up at every turn by NERV and their science experiments they finally had a chance to prove themselves, its why most of them had signed on for after the mess that Second Impact had made of the world. Off in the distance, she could hear a dull thudding staccato, it almost sounded like artillery but the shelling had stopped hours ago. The sound started to grow louder, drowning out the ever-present buzzing of the cicadas until it was too late. It was one of NERV's, clad in vibrant pink armor with what sounded like the shrieking of the damned ringing out over its loudspeakers. The others didn't even have a chance to react to the charging horror in front of them as they just evaporated like flies on a windshield in the face of its AT-Field and just like that it was gone leaving behind a trail of crumpled wreckage and shattered bodies in its wake, destroyed by a monster that mankind had built to defend itself.
None of this mattered to Mari who could barely hear the sound of the JSSDF's disarray or Maya's shouting over the sound of the blood pounding in her ears, her angry shout had died a few kilometers back after her throat had gone hoarse but that wasn't important either. Shinji and Dr. Heck were beneath the Angel and even if she couldn't do anything to break its AT Field being vaporized in a ball of light sounded a whole lot better than being alone again and there was just a little further to go to find out which way things would go. The loud crack of explosive bolts let her know that the umbilical had broken free and that she was running on borrowed time, she had to be close now the plug's sensors were setting off alarms about elevated blue pattern readings. Just five more minutes and- the clock suddenly stopped with four minutes and change to go and Mari felt a jolt as Unti-05's momentum slowed to a crawl and she felt like she was free-falling forwards until the blue pattern detector spiked again and the world started to catch up causing her head to bounce off of the instrument panel. Muttering a string of curses she turned her head to see the clock winding down at a breakneck pace as her shattered glasses floated by. Another dull thud of circuit breakers tripping let her know that it was the end of the road, she'd failed. After what seemed like an eternity of fighting back tears in the dull red glow of the plug's emergency there was a dull thunk and the soft whine of the Eva's systems spooling up once more, the cameras came back online and Mari was prevented with Unit-00 staring at her.
Rei's monotone came through the radio. "Are you unharmed?" Mari swallowed and croaked out an affirmative. "This is good. We were worried."
"R-really?"
"I was. You are my friend. I assume that Lieutenant Ibuki was also concerned since I had never heard her use profanity before." Mari blinked in confusion. "I am told that humor helps to diffuse tense situations. Is it working?"
"No, because they're going to freaking blow up Shinji and Dr. Heck along with everybody else for their macho bullshit death wish!"
"Yes. Which you've assisted them with." Out of the corner of her eye, the brunette saw the swathe she'd cut through the defensive line, all the crumpled metal and all that blood…Mari shook her head, now wasn't the time to be worrying about that. There was a dull thump, and plasma fire illuminated the sky before it stopped expanding outwards and just sat there floating over the Angel's head, the ticking motion of its head stopped for a moment and the core counterweighting its spindly body swung back slightly. Rei let out a weary sounding sigh. "It would appear that the N2 mine was ineffective."
Mari stared at the second sun "Y-yeah…did you know that was going to happen?"
"I did not."
"But what if it actually went off?"
"Then we would not have to worry about it anymore." Rei paused for a moment with that statement before bringing Unit-00 out of its low crouch and proceeded to walk back towards their rally point with the scuffed and slightly singed Unit-05 in tow.
Elevator
Smack!
The sound of Asuka's nerve clip flying into wall inches from Shinji's head and it's owner landing unceremoniously on the floor happened simultaneously as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened at all and both of them hadn't been floating there for the last half an hour. Shinji pulled out an earbud and let out a sigh of relief.
"Maybe they managed to stop the Angel?"
There was a slow click from the wall panel, which then slowly accelerated until it was impossible to tell them apart. The doors flew open and closed and the pair was battered by throngs of people filing in and out of the car in a blurs of beige uniform as if they weren't there, after a few minutes of living life in the fast lane there was a dull rumble that shook the car and the world froze once more leaving Lieutenant Aoba stuck mid-air guitar solo as he was walking out the door. Seizing on the opportunity the children walked out the door into the main lobby of NERV HQ, stuck in suspended silence. Asuka stared out at the scene and rubbed her temples in annoyance. "Yeah, I'm going with no."
They continued onward weaving in-between the various workers and officers heading in and out of the building with the shift change without any sign of panic, alarms going off or any of the usual signs of people rushing to battle stations or screaming for their deity or whatever else they assumed people in the Geofront did while they were busy getting to their Evas. Shinji, who'd wandered off on his own absentmindedly stared at the various people in the background as he fumbled with his tangled earbuds. He had no idea what was causing this, it probably had to do with metaphysical biology or something, usually, Dr. Heck or Dr. Akagi would shout these fancy words over the radio but it generally translated into him having to punch the angel until it stopped moving or he blacked out from biofeedback. Whatever it was, it was confusing and he hoped that Mari and Rei weren't stuck in the same situation. He continued to mumble to himself until he smacked into a warm, solid mass that sent him tumbling to the ground with a dull thud. He opened his eyes to see what he'd run into and saw that it was a boy, about his height with pale skin, grey hair, and red eyes…that were blinking. Oh.
"Gah!" He jumped up immediately to his feet and saw that he was-"
Asuka ran over to see what the commotion was about "Hey! What's wrong what, happened? Why is that guy naked?!"
Grey boy, seemingly unfazed by any of this gave a smug-looking, cryptic smile. "Perhaps the better question would be why both of you are clothed?" The redhead sputtered for a moment before delivering a retort in the form of a swift kick to the head. Shinji shot her an incredulous stare.
The redhead shrugged. "What?"
Click, click, click
The sound of the elevator car descending floor by floor into the Geofront was starting to get on Asuka's nerves, admittedly most things did and the only thing separating her from finishing the last act of her visual novel was a sync test and before she could do that she was stuck in Japan's slowest elevator with the sad sack who was just standing there with his music playing with that stupid smile on his stupid face. The hell was he so happy about?
"Hey!" She waved her hands in front of the boy's face and snapped her fingers. "Hey! Moron! What's got you so chipper huh? Glasses Girl kiss you or something?" Wait. He was blushing, shit she was right. "Seriously? You and Glasses Girl. Damn, now I have to buy Hikari lunch since I'd have thought that the creepy doll was more your type." Shinji glared at her before turning back to his SDAT as the clicking continued. She scoffed if he wanted to be pissy about it then fine. It's not like she was interested in such petty things as gossip or anything. Nope, not at all.
Shinji pulled out one of his earbuds and sighted "If you're going to say something just say it."
Totally not interested. Nothing more to say about that, nope. Shinji shrugged and put his earbud back in as the silence punctuated by the endless clicking of the wall panel continued. Jesus, this was taking a long time, she should have brought her Wonderswan, something anything to stop this boredom. She kicked the elevator door in frustration. "Come on! The catapults can have me back up to the surface in ten seconds! I've got Lyrical Shipgirl Fubuki to finish!" She heard a sharp inhale and turned to notice her companion stifling a laugh. "Yeah, you heard me! I like shipgirl shit, it's goddamn adorable!" With that Shinji started to laugh uncontrollably which did nothing to improve her mood. "Like you don't have anything embarrassing that you like!"
"I-it's just that you're supposed to be 'Grr I'm Captain Shikinami and I'm better than you!' but you're just like everybody else."
"Well, maybe I didn't ask to be Captain Shikinami, or to have my face plastered all over cheap crap people buy or to be stuck in a giant four-eyed monstrosity with a creepy doll, little miss enthusiasm, and a whiny bitch like you! With that, she tore off one of her nerve clips and hurled it at Shinji's head with all the force she could muster…wait where was the impact? She looked up to see the hunk of red plastic and metal floating lazily in midair, slowly moving towards her target blissfully unaware that it should have smacked him in his stupid face by now. The boy, waiting for the smack opened his eyes and started to reach for the clip. She quickly slapped it away. "Don't touch it, moron!"
"Do you think it's some kind of Angel thing?"
"Oh no, stuff just hangs in midair for no reason all the time. Of course its an angel thing! This means we have to get out of here so we can go kick its ass and get back to important things!" With that, Asuka hit the door open button and watched in annoyance as they slid open at a glacial pace. Letting out an angry growl she lashed out with a high kick at the door, only to find her foot hanging in midair resulting in a shout of frustration. Shinji let out a sigh and decided to let the redhead sort things out herself and hit the play button on his SDAT only to get a slow, garbled mess through his earbuds as the tape struggled to unwind against whatever force the Angel was exerting he stared up at the ceiling and let out an aggravated sigh, hoping the others were doing better.
Topside
The Angel stood over the Geofront on three spindly legs with an equally spindly body counterweighted by its spherical core on one end and a pair of vaguely avian masks perched on the other end that ticked slightly sending the telltale ringing noise of its AT-field gently pulsing out with each passing second. A few dozen meters away from it was a wall of missiles, artillery shells, and assorted other ordinance that had decided that it had better things to do than impact the target. Beyond that lay the tank brigades provided by the JSSDF, and further back were the bright yellow and the newly vivid pink bulk of Unit-00 and Provisional Unit-05 backed up by the raw fury that was an exhausted Maya Ibuki who had been camped out in her worn Prius for three days attempting to coordinate Eva operations. True to his word, Langley had replaced Unit-05's severed limbs with lanky, spindly replacements from Jet Alone anchored to the atrophied stubs of the machine's arms and legs in addition to making a few other upgrades that its pilot quite enjoyed.
"Ooh, Smoky Earl Grey!" Mari tapped on the holographic teacup icon floating in front of her and after a small whirring was provided with another plastic bottle of piping hot tea from the entry plug's internal dispenser. Next to her was a pile of empty bottles crammed behind her seat. She leaned back in her seat and took a sip of her beverage. "Hey Rei, I think you'd like this one."
Rei looked up from her instruments. "You've mentioned that about the previous thirty-six flavors. Have you found an option for miso soup yet?"
"Nope, sorry."
"No problem." She checked her readings again. "Lieutenant Ibuki, target shells have moved three millimeters closer to the target, telemetry from the fuzes in the airburst shells are still registering the same values from the previous measurement." The disheveled face of Maya appeared in the corner of Rei's eye.
"Thanks, Rei, continue to hold position while we wait for the green light to engage." Mari let out an annoyed sigh. "We've been waiting for three days and the military's shot at it a bajillion times, they know they can't do anything to get through its AT-field no matter how hard we try, and I'm starting to run out of space for tea bottles in here."
"The JSSDF knows it is ineffective, but it has to maintain the idea that it is because its leadership insists that it is true. Captain Katsuragi says that it is a 'cultural thing'." The brunette puffed her cheeks in annoyance. Maya, clad in a rumpled t-shirt with bags under her eyes sipped day-old coffee out of a pale pink Sweet Neko travel mug and stared at the image of the girl on her laptop. "It'll be okay Mari, everybody's going to be fine, we just have to figure out what's-" A voice suddenly cut off the transmission.
"To all units in the AO, this is General Yamato. We have received authorization to launch an N2 strike on the Angel's position, move to a minimum safe distance and await further instructions."
JSSDF 3rd Tank Platoon, 5km from Angel's area of effect
Commander Saito closed the stowage bin with a grunt and looked out at the men breaking camp. Things were finally starting to look up, after months of being handed defeat after defeat at the hands of alien invaders and being shown up at every turn by NERV and their science experiments they finally had a chance to prove themselves, its why most of them had signed on for after the mess that Second Impact had made of the world. Off in the distance, she could hear a dull thudding staccato, it almost sounded like artillery but the shelling had stopped hours ago. The sound started to grow louder, drowning out the ever-present buzzing of the cicadas until it was too late. It was one of NERV's, clad in vibrant pink armor with what sounded like the shrieking of the damned ringing out over its loudspeakers. The others didn't even have a chance to react to the charging horror in front of them as they just evaporated like flies on a windshield in the face of its AT-Field and just like that it was gone leaving behind a trail of crumpled wreckage and shattered bodies in its wake, destroyed by a monster that mankind had built to defend itself.
None of this mattered to Mari who could barely hear the sound of the JSSDF's disarray or Maya's shouting over the sound of the blood pounding in her ears, her angry shout had died a few kilometers back after her throat had gone hoarse but that wasn't important either. Shinji and Dr. Heck were beneath the Angel and even if she couldn't do anything to break its AT Field being vaporized in a ball of light sounded a whole lot better than being alone again and there was just a little further to go to find out which way things would go. The loud crack of explosive bolts let her know that the umbilical had broken free and that she was running on borrowed time, she had to be close now the plug's sensors were setting off alarms about elevated blue pattern readings. Just five more minutes and- the clock suddenly stopped with four minutes and change to go and Mari felt a jolt as Unti-05's momentum slowed to a crawl and she felt like she was free-falling forwards until the blue pattern detector spiked again and the world started to catch up causing her head to bounce off of the instrument panel. Muttering a string of curses she turned her head to see the clock winding down at a breakneck pace as her shattered glasses floated by. Another dull thud of circuit breakers tripping let her know that it was the end of the road, she'd failed. After what seemed like an eternity of fighting back tears in the dull red glow of the plug's emergency there was a dull thunk and the soft whine of the Eva's systems spooling up once more, the cameras came back online and Mari was prevented with Unit-00 staring at her.
Rei's monotone came through the radio. "Are you unharmed?" Mari swallowed and croaked out an affirmative. "This is good. We were worried."
"R-really?"
"I was. You are my friend. I assume that Lieutenant Ibuki was also concerned since I had never heard her use profanity before." Mari blinked in confusion. "I am told that humor helps to diffuse tense situations. Is it working?"
"No, because they're going to freaking blow up Shinji and Dr. Heck along with everybody else for their macho bullshit death wish!"
"Yes. Which you've assisted them with." Out of the corner of her eye, the brunette saw the swathe she'd cut through the defensive line, all the crumpled metal and all that blood…Mari shook her head, now wasn't the time to be worrying about that. There was a dull thump, and plasma fire illuminated the sky before it stopped expanding outwards and just sat there floating over the Angel's head, the ticking motion of its head stopped for a moment and the core counterweighting its spindly body swung back slightly. Rei let out a weary sounding sigh. "It would appear that the N2 mine was ineffective."
Mari stared at the second sun "Y-yeah…did you know that was going to happen?"
"I did not."
"But what if it actually went off?"
"Then we would not have to worry about it anymore." Rei paused for a moment with that statement before bringing Unit-00 out of its low crouch and proceeded to walk back towards their rally point with the scuffed and slightly singed Unit-05 in tow.
Elevator
Smack!
The sound of Asuka's nerve clip flying into wall inches from Shinji's head and it's owner landing unceremoniously on the floor happened simultaneously as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened at all and both of them hadn't been floating there for the last half an hour. Shinji pulled out an earbud and let out a sigh of relief.
"Maybe they managed to stop the Angel?"
There was a slow click from the wall panel, which then slowly accelerated until it was impossible to tell them apart. The doors flew open and closed and the pair was battered by throngs of people filing in and out of the car in a blurs of beige uniform as if they weren't there, after a few minutes of living life in the fast lane there was a dull rumble that shook the car and the world froze once more leaving Lieutenant Aoba stuck mid-air guitar solo as he was walking out the door. Seizing on the opportunity the children walked out the door into the main lobby of NERV HQ, stuck in suspended silence. Asuka stared out at the scene and rubbed her temples in annoyance. "Yeah, I'm going with no."
They continued onward weaving in-between the various workers and officers heading in and out of the building with the shift change without any sign of panic, alarms going off or any of the usual signs of people rushing to battle stations or screaming for their deity or whatever else they assumed people in the Geofront did while they were busy getting to their Evas. Shinji, who'd wandered off on his own absentmindedly stared at the various people in the background as he fumbled with his tangled earbuds. He had no idea what was causing this, it probably had to do with metaphysical biology or something, usually, Dr. Heck or Dr. Akagi would shout these fancy words over the radio but it generally translated into him having to punch the angel until it stopped moving or he blacked out from biofeedback. Whatever it was, it was confusing and he hoped that Mari and Rei weren't stuck in the same situation. He continued to mumble to himself until he smacked into a warm, solid mass that sent him tumbling to the ground with a dull thud. He opened his eyes to see what he'd run into and saw that it was a boy, about his height with pale skin, grey hair, and red eyes…that were blinking. Oh.
"Gah!" He jumped up immediately to his feet and saw that he was-"
Asuka ran over to see what the commotion was about "Hey! What's wrong what, happened? Why is that guy naked?!"
Grey boy, seemingly unfazed by any of this gave a smug-looking, cryptic smile. "Perhaps the better question would be why both of you are clothed?" The redhead sputtered for a moment before delivering a retort in the form of a swift kick to the head. Shinji shot her an incredulous stare.
The redhead shrugged. "What?"
- Location
- Canada
Kaworu "It was either this or a spooky rabbit suit."
Good stuff with the temporal weirdness, its something I have wanted to do in one of my battles but have put off because I didn't think I had the skill to pull off. Oh and Mari and Rei continue to be super cute.
- Location
- National Capital Region, USA
I gotta back Asuka here. Seems like a perfectly reasonable reaction.
A&T!Asuka: "Really, Fisch? You literally just met us, and you're instantly trying to get us naked?"
A&T!Kaworu: "Hey, it's worked out in other universes!"
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