The Third VI: Dance Dance Reivolution
[X] Break the news to Gendo
You made a promise. Besides, there's a very good chance Gendo already knows what you did. Time to bite the bullet. You knock on Gendo's door. Very gently. Maybe he won't hear you and you can just say oh well you tried—
Enter, Gendo's voice issues from a loudspeaker hidden somewhere nearby. You nearly jump out of your skin. You begin thinking this is a very bad idea and your brain cycles through a few flimsy excuses to get out of this, but none of them work. Okay, Misato, let's be brave. You faced down the First Angel all by yourself. And almost died, but…irrelevant. This is only a man.
You enter the room, where you find Gendo and Fuyutsuki in their usual spots. Rei is absent this time, which erodes your confidence. You think her presence would lend some credence to your arguments. I mean, you can see that she looks healthier now.
Ah, Captain Katsuragi, you have something you'd like to tell Gendo?
You gulp and tell Gendo that you've taken Rei into your home. You found her apartment in an unacceptable condition for a young girl—a valuable asset like an Evangelion pilot to live in. You actually end up using very similar arguments to the ones you used to convince Rei to leave. Rei is more similar to Gendo than you realized. You finish by bringing up Rei's sync ratio, which has increased eight points since moving into your home.
Gendo does not say a single word the entire time you talk. It's like trying to convince an oncoming boulder to not crush you. When you finish, Gendo leans slightly forward at his desk. The little light in the office catches his glasses so you can no longer see his eyes.
Do you know what it's called when you take a child into your custody without permission, Captain? It's called kidnapping. The blood drains from your face. Thankfully for you, Gendo is deigning to give you permission to keep Rei in your apartment. For now. The results of Rei's sync scores speak for themselves. Fuyutsuki chimes in that he had long thought Rei should be moved elsewhere, to Gendo's clear annoyance.
Gendo continues. The instant there is a problem, this arrangement will stop. Considering the living conditions you described at Apartment 402, the degree of which Gendo claims ignorance, she obviously cannot move back there, so rest assured she'll be put elsewhere. If it comes to that. Gendo trusts that it will not. Gendo also informs you that if you even dreamed you would succeed keeping Rei's whereabouts from him, you would be sorely mistaken. He knew about her move within seconds of you leaving her apartment with boxes of her possessions. Of course, you would not withhold such important information from him, certainly not for a week next time, right, Captain?
Moreover, you have bigger issues to worry about. Shinji will not pilot Evangelion Unit-01. Gendo of course would have put the boy on a high speed train out of the city as soon as possible, but the train is not currently running, thanks to your stunt with the N2 mine. You take some personal satisfaction in seeing Gendo's annoyance here. Moreover, Fuyutsuki thinks the boy can be persuaded. By you, ideally. If he can before train service is restored to Tokyo-3, he can stay, provided he behaves himself.
Also, you're dismissed. Take good care of Rei. Gendo will be watching you.
[X] Do not tell Rei
You agonize over the decision, but you eventually decide that Rei might not be ready for this information right now. She should focus on adjusting to her new living situation and growing stronger as an Evangelion pilot. She can process her fucked-up situation later. You hope.
[X] Ask Rei when her birthday is
Rei doesn't know. She's only vaguely familiar with the concept of a "birthday" and a "birthday party". She's pretty sure she's supposed to be fourteen. You're taken aback by this, but Rei just goes back to her reading as if admitting she's not sure of her age and date of birth is no big deal.
[X] Arcade (kids like that sort of thing, right?)
[X] Friendship. Rei needs a friend that isn't you. You know, if she considers you a friend. You're not sure about that.
Okay, okay, let's finally get these kids acquainted. You drag Rei downtown to an arcade, where Shinji is waiting outside with a frown. He looks tired. The arcade, in spite of recent events, is noisy and crowded-looking. You guide Rei over to him and prod her into introducing herself. Shinji's frown disappears, and he looks warily at her as she introduces herself as the pilot of Evangelion Unit-00 (and 01, for now). You quickly add that this is Rei. Rei sticks out her hand stiffly. This is what people do when they meet. Rei saw it on TV.
Shinji mutters something under his breath and shakes her hand, blushing slightly. Shinji introduces himself as "nobody important". You give him a Look and he adds that his name is Shinji Ikari. Rei stares at him. Shinji stares back. Rei pulls out a crumpled piece of paper from her uniform pocket and hands it wordlessly to Shinji. It's a picture of Pen2. Shinji looks at it with confusion but pockets it. Rei seems happy about this.
You usher the two of them into the arcade and immediately are overwhelmed with noise, humidity and people. It's also dark. They have those cool blacklights that make certain colors glow. Rei's hair glows bright purple. At the very least, you don't have to worry about losing her in here. Shinji mumbles that he likes Rei's hair. Rei cups her hand to her ear, clearly unable to hear him over the din. Shinji repeats himself louder, flushing. You smirk at him and he gives you a brief glare. This should be fun.
You drag them around the arcade and try to encourage them to try a few different games. It's a little awkward. They're hesitant at first, but you manage to get them to play a light gun game about shooting zombies together. Rei's a pretty good shot, and Shinji isn't terrible either. Nonetheless, they die pretty quickly. Rei seems disappointed and you let her keep playing until Shinji gets tired of it. Rei wants to keep trying until she wins, but you push them along to other games.
Shinji keeps bumping into other patrons and profusely apologizing. You're not sure he's having fun. Rei seems okay, though you can tell she's getting some sensory overload based on how frequently she looks around the room.
You find the DDR machine. They are going to dance for your personal amusement. You will make this happen. You cajole and tease Shinji into stepping up to the plate. Rei just goes with it. And holy shit, Rei is freakishly good at DDR. After some initial frustration with the machine, Rei suddenly enters a Zenlike state and begins nailing every beat. PERFECT after PERFECT lights up on the screen. Shinji, for his part, does just okay. Rei obviously smokes him. He seems pretty put out by this, so you swallow your pride and decide to take one for the team. You tell Shinji to step aside, you'll show Rei how it's done.
And proceed to get your ass handed to you. Again and again and again. It's what you expected, but you weren't aiming to win. You were aiming to make Shinji root for Rei against you. And it worked. Shinji finally seems to be having a good time. It takes some convincing to get Rei off the machine (she's still more than capable of continuing, she tells you), but you unveil a second phase of your plan. You promise to take over Rei's chores for a week if Shinji can beat you three times at this game. Rei lets you and Shinji battle it out while she watches and roots for Shinji against you. You and Shinji are more closely matched than you thought, and he beats you twice. He never manages the third time, but Rei occasionally volunteers some advice to him, and he does improve a little.
You manage to survive, and you decide to leave the two of them to their own devices and grab a beer at the bar. You'll easily be able to find Rei again if you need to.
Three beers later, you remember you should probably go and check on the kids. You survey the room, and…where's Rei? Oh no. Oh no no no. You just had a meeting with Gendo about taking care of her. You can't lose her. You wobble to your feet and wander the arcade, unable to find Rei's distinctive hair. Shit! You're about to despair when you spot Rei out of the corner of your eye outside the front entrance, standing next to Shinji.
Hello, Captain. Rei informs you she needed some air. Shinji agrees. The two of them seem to be making some conversation about one of Rei's hobbies. Mahjong. Shinji apparently plays sometimes too. Good to know. Anyway, you think today went well. Nobody died, the two kids seem to like each other, they had a conversation. Everything is good in Tokyo-3.
Everything is not good in Tokyo-3. The amount of damage caused by the N2 mines and Angel attack has the populace pretty spooked, and a mass exodus has begun as people realize they really would rather not be in the city giant alien monsters have at the top of their shitlist, nor one the military would readily blow up in the case of an emergency. The death toll settled at one hundred and thirty-eight civilians dead and thirty-one military personnel KIA. It's not exactly attractive to a homeowner.
The JSSDF is also disgruntled about the entire thing. It made them look bad. You need to reinspire some confidence to make sure your population doesn't hoof it to safer climes. They're a major pool of personnel and funding, and a valuable source of normalcy for NERV employees. Now it's your job to convince these people to stay in a potentially dangerous place to keep the air in the balloon hot. You cannot force them, much as you would like to.
What will you do?
[ ] Hold a demonstration of the Evangelion. Show people that they're safe with the tools NERV has to offer.
[ ] Center a propaganda campaign around the pilot(s). Let people feel like they know them and use them as a rallying point to appeal to people's sense of duty. They might not have loyalty to a sketchy government operation, but they could be convinced to be loyal to an individual.
[ ] Offer special benefits to the citizens. This will cut into NERV's budget, and likely only work on people in more precarious positions economically, but it's probably the most moral thing to do.
[ ] Something else (Write-in)
You made a promise. Besides, there's a very good chance Gendo already knows what you did. Time to bite the bullet. You knock on Gendo's door. Very gently. Maybe he won't hear you and you can just say oh well you tried—
Enter, Gendo's voice issues from a loudspeaker hidden somewhere nearby. You nearly jump out of your skin. You begin thinking this is a very bad idea and your brain cycles through a few flimsy excuses to get out of this, but none of them work. Okay, Misato, let's be brave. You faced down the First Angel all by yourself. And almost died, but…irrelevant. This is only a man.
You enter the room, where you find Gendo and Fuyutsuki in their usual spots. Rei is absent this time, which erodes your confidence. You think her presence would lend some credence to your arguments. I mean, you can see that she looks healthier now.
Ah, Captain Katsuragi, you have something you'd like to tell Gendo?
You gulp and tell Gendo that you've taken Rei into your home. You found her apartment in an unacceptable condition for a young girl—a valuable asset like an Evangelion pilot to live in. You actually end up using very similar arguments to the ones you used to convince Rei to leave. Rei is more similar to Gendo than you realized. You finish by bringing up Rei's sync ratio, which has increased eight points since moving into your home.
Gendo does not say a single word the entire time you talk. It's like trying to convince an oncoming boulder to not crush you. When you finish, Gendo leans slightly forward at his desk. The little light in the office catches his glasses so you can no longer see his eyes.
Do you know what it's called when you take a child into your custody without permission, Captain? It's called kidnapping. The blood drains from your face. Thankfully for you, Gendo is deigning to give you permission to keep Rei in your apartment. For now. The results of Rei's sync scores speak for themselves. Fuyutsuki chimes in that he had long thought Rei should be moved elsewhere, to Gendo's clear annoyance.
Gendo continues. The instant there is a problem, this arrangement will stop. Considering the living conditions you described at Apartment 402, the degree of which Gendo claims ignorance, she obviously cannot move back there, so rest assured she'll be put elsewhere. If it comes to that. Gendo trusts that it will not. Gendo also informs you that if you even dreamed you would succeed keeping Rei's whereabouts from him, you would be sorely mistaken. He knew about her move within seconds of you leaving her apartment with boxes of her possessions. Of course, you would not withhold such important information from him, certainly not for a week next time, right, Captain?
Moreover, you have bigger issues to worry about. Shinji will not pilot Evangelion Unit-01. Gendo of course would have put the boy on a high speed train out of the city as soon as possible, but the train is not currently running, thanks to your stunt with the N2 mine. You take some personal satisfaction in seeing Gendo's annoyance here. Moreover, Fuyutsuki thinks the boy can be persuaded. By you, ideally. If he can before train service is restored to Tokyo-3, he can stay, provided he behaves himself.
Also, you're dismissed. Take good care of Rei. Gendo will be watching you.
[X] Do not tell Rei
You agonize over the decision, but you eventually decide that Rei might not be ready for this information right now. She should focus on adjusting to her new living situation and growing stronger as an Evangelion pilot. She can process her fucked-up situation later. You hope.
[X] Ask Rei when her birthday is
Rei doesn't know. She's only vaguely familiar with the concept of a "birthday" and a "birthday party". She's pretty sure she's supposed to be fourteen. You're taken aback by this, but Rei just goes back to her reading as if admitting she's not sure of her age and date of birth is no big deal.
[X] Arcade (kids like that sort of thing, right?)
[X] Friendship. Rei needs a friend that isn't you. You know, if she considers you a friend. You're not sure about that.
Okay, okay, let's finally get these kids acquainted. You drag Rei downtown to an arcade, where Shinji is waiting outside with a frown. He looks tired. The arcade, in spite of recent events, is noisy and crowded-looking. You guide Rei over to him and prod her into introducing herself. Shinji's frown disappears, and he looks warily at her as she introduces herself as the pilot of Evangelion Unit-00 (and 01, for now). You quickly add that this is Rei. Rei sticks out her hand stiffly. This is what people do when they meet. Rei saw it on TV.
Shinji mutters something under his breath and shakes her hand, blushing slightly. Shinji introduces himself as "nobody important". You give him a Look and he adds that his name is Shinji Ikari. Rei stares at him. Shinji stares back. Rei pulls out a crumpled piece of paper from her uniform pocket and hands it wordlessly to Shinji. It's a picture of Pen2. Shinji looks at it with confusion but pockets it. Rei seems happy about this.
You usher the two of them into the arcade and immediately are overwhelmed with noise, humidity and people. It's also dark. They have those cool blacklights that make certain colors glow. Rei's hair glows bright purple. At the very least, you don't have to worry about losing her in here. Shinji mumbles that he likes Rei's hair. Rei cups her hand to her ear, clearly unable to hear him over the din. Shinji repeats himself louder, flushing. You smirk at him and he gives you a brief glare. This should be fun.
You drag them around the arcade and try to encourage them to try a few different games. It's a little awkward. They're hesitant at first, but you manage to get them to play a light gun game about shooting zombies together. Rei's a pretty good shot, and Shinji isn't terrible either. Nonetheless, they die pretty quickly. Rei seems disappointed and you let her keep playing until Shinji gets tired of it. Rei wants to keep trying until she wins, but you push them along to other games.
Shinji keeps bumping into other patrons and profusely apologizing. You're not sure he's having fun. Rei seems okay, though you can tell she's getting some sensory overload based on how frequently she looks around the room.
You find the DDR machine. They are going to dance for your personal amusement. You will make this happen. You cajole and tease Shinji into stepping up to the plate. Rei just goes with it. And holy shit, Rei is freakishly good at DDR. After some initial frustration with the machine, Rei suddenly enters a Zenlike state and begins nailing every beat. PERFECT after PERFECT lights up on the screen. Shinji, for his part, does just okay. Rei obviously smokes him. He seems pretty put out by this, so you swallow your pride and decide to take one for the team. You tell Shinji to step aside, you'll show Rei how it's done.
And proceed to get your ass handed to you. Again and again and again. It's what you expected, but you weren't aiming to win. You were aiming to make Shinji root for Rei against you. And it worked. Shinji finally seems to be having a good time. It takes some convincing to get Rei off the machine (she's still more than capable of continuing, she tells you), but you unveil a second phase of your plan. You promise to take over Rei's chores for a week if Shinji can beat you three times at this game. Rei lets you and Shinji battle it out while she watches and roots for Shinji against you. You and Shinji are more closely matched than you thought, and he beats you twice. He never manages the third time, but Rei occasionally volunteers some advice to him, and he does improve a little.
You manage to survive, and you decide to leave the two of them to their own devices and grab a beer at the bar. You'll easily be able to find Rei again if you need to.
Three beers later, you remember you should probably go and check on the kids. You survey the room, and…where's Rei? Oh no. Oh no no no. You just had a meeting with Gendo about taking care of her. You can't lose her. You wobble to your feet and wander the arcade, unable to find Rei's distinctive hair. Shit! You're about to despair when you spot Rei out of the corner of your eye outside the front entrance, standing next to Shinji.
Hello, Captain. Rei informs you she needed some air. Shinji agrees. The two of them seem to be making some conversation about one of Rei's hobbies. Mahjong. Shinji apparently plays sometimes too. Good to know. Anyway, you think today went well. Nobody died, the two kids seem to like each other, they had a conversation. Everything is good in Tokyo-3.
Random Event
Everything is not good in Tokyo-3. The amount of damage caused by the N2 mines and Angel attack has the populace pretty spooked, and a mass exodus has begun as people realize they really would rather not be in the city giant alien monsters have at the top of their shitlist, nor one the military would readily blow up in the case of an emergency. The death toll settled at one hundred and thirty-eight civilians dead and thirty-one military personnel KIA. It's not exactly attractive to a homeowner.
The JSSDF is also disgruntled about the entire thing. It made them look bad. You need to reinspire some confidence to make sure your population doesn't hoof it to safer climes. They're a major pool of personnel and funding, and a valuable source of normalcy for NERV employees. Now it's your job to convince these people to stay in a potentially dangerous place to keep the air in the balloon hot. You cannot force them, much as you would like to.
What will you do?
[ ] Hold a demonstration of the Evangelion. Show people that they're safe with the tools NERV has to offer.
[ ] Center a propaganda campaign around the pilot(s). Let people feel like they know them and use them as a rallying point to appeal to people's sense of duty. They might not have loyalty to a sketchy government operation, but they could be convinced to be loyal to an individual.
[ ] Offer special benefits to the citizens. This will cut into NERV's budget, and likely only work on people in more precarious positions economically, but it's probably the most moral thing to do.
[ ] Something else (Write-in)
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