[X] Talk to Shinji about: The present
[X] Talk to Asuka about: Mood
[X] Asuka: Go out/free time
[X] Shinji: Synchronization training
[X] All: Combat training
-[X] Ask Ritsuko about AI Evangelion teammates and Eva-to-Eva combat regime.
[X] Special Activity: Visit Rei in the hospital. Talking to coma patients is supposed to be good for them, right?
-[X] Allow Pilots to accompany, if they wish to do so

I'm talking about these:

You think it might be useful to potentially implement some kind of Eva-to-Eva combat training, but you'd have to ask Ritsuko for that and she's kind of busy. Maybe after she's done with Rei.
In the meantime, you float to Ritsuko the idea of creating AI teammates for pilots to train with when training alone, to make fights like Uriel or Ramiel not feel totally hopeless. Ritsuko says she's kind of got her hands full with the Dummy System, but she might be able to reuse Rei's personality data for such a purpose.
 
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This reminded me enough of some things I have gone through in my own life enough to be painful. Not in the romance department per say but in the empathizing with asukas ''I don't trust what your saying because your motivations sound like bullshit to me and all of this is a ruse'' stuff. I have been there with people who pretend to care and that's in my experience way way worse than just dealing with romantic pains.

I don't think Asuka is really dealing with that, but even the perception that such is going can really taint relationships and I hope through more actions it can demonstrated to her that not only is she valued but that she isn't valued just for being compliant.

That said thank you most dearly for writing it, feeling bad is better than feeling numb.
 
Liking Ralakesh's idea, just changing the talking options - I worry about pushing too hard, though that's probably unfounded.

[X] Talk to Shinji about: Mood
[X] Talk to Asuka about: NERV
[X] Asuka: Go out/free time
[X] Shinji: Synchronization training
[X] All: Combat training
-[X] Ask Ritsuko about AI Evangelion teammates and Eva-to-Eva combat regime.

[X] Special Activity: Visit Rei in the hospital. Talking to coma patients is supposed to be good for them, right?

Special activity is probably something Misato's doing anyway but I wanted to make sure.
 
That went about as well as it could've, given everyone involved. Including Kaji was good, it let us use his Diplo skill instead of ours at times :V .

For next turn, a couple things;
Mood discussion - we asked Shinji this last turn, so I wouldn't expect to get much out of it. And I think asking Asuka about Mood right now is at best oblivious, and at worst could be interpreted as rubbing salt in the wound.

Combat training - in the past, we've seen the pilots have a pretty bad time when they combat train while injured.
- I may be conflating this with physical training. Not sure.

Synchro training - Asuka's not been doing great with this even before the heartbreak, and I don't think the emotional turbulence would improve things.
 
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[X] Talk to Shinji about: Mood
[X] Talk to Asuka about: NERV
[X] Asuka: Go out/free time
[X] Shinji: Synchronization training
[X] All: Combat training
-[X] Ask Ritsuko about AI Evangelion teammates and Eva-to-Eva combat regime.

[X] Special Activity: Visit Rei in the hospital. Talking to coma patients is supposed to be good for them, right?
 
Right
Plan Code White

[X] Talk to Shinji about: The present
-[X] specifically about the Cooking club
If we let this fall through the cracks it will never happen, and he does need a hobby of some kind

[X] Talk to Asuka about: Mood
-[X] specifically tell her she did well with the last Angel
She got chewed out for her conduct last battle (deserving or not) but nothing she did well was complimented on, we ask a lot from Asuka and she never fails to deliver, I just think she needs to hear it herself from Misato.

[X] Asuka: Go out/free time
-[X] Spend some time with her at a place she would like to go.
It has been a rough week for her, getting chewed out by Gendo, her injury's and the most recent drama, don't want to leave her alone to fester in any negative thoughts.

[X] Asuka: Arts program
Nothing else that can really be done activity wise with her, synch training is most likely just going to show her score dropping lower, which will only hurt her more, physical and combat is out due to her injury's, and studying while in pain is just a waste of time.

[X] Shinji: Combat training
[X] Shinji: Physical training
With Asuka and Unit 2 down for the foreseeable future we are going to need to start a crash course with Shinji to get him up to snuff as quickly as possible to fill in as our front liner.

[X] Special Activity: Invite Hikari along with her sisters (if they want) to visit our injured pilots.
 
[X] Talk to Shinji about: Mood
[X] Talk to Asuka about: NERV
[X] Asuka: Go out/free time
[X] Shinji: Synchronization training
[X] All: Combat training
-[X] Ask Ritsuko about AI Evangelion teammates and Eva-to-Eva combat regime.

[X] Special Activity: Visit Rei in the hospital. Talking to coma patients is supposed to be good for them, right?
 
[X] Talk to Shinji about: The present
[X] Talk to Asuka about: Mood
[X] Asuka: Go out/free time
[X] Shinji: Synchronization training
[X] All: Combat training
-[X] Ask Ritsuko about AI Evangelion teammates and Eva-to-Eva combat regime.
[X] Special Activity: Visit Rei in the hospital. Talking to coma patients is supposed to be good for them, right?
 
X] Talk to Shinji about: Mood
[X] Talk to Asuka about: NERV
[X] Asuka: Go out/free time
[X] Shinji: Synchronization training
[X] All: Combat training
-[X] Ask Ritsuko about AI Evangelion teammates and Eva-to-Eva combat regime.

[X] Special Activity: Visit Rei in the hospital. Talking to coma patients is supposed to be good for them, right?
 
[X] Special Activity: do tests on how to apply the Evas' AT field in a more flexible manner. Angels can do pretty bullshit things with them, might as well see what we can do and maybe we can support our more vulnerable allies and team members in fights.
 
Mood discussion - we asked Shinji this last turn, so I wouldn't expect to get much out of it. And I think asking Asuka about Mood right now is at best oblivious, and at worst could be interpreted as rubbing salt in the wound.
Right.

[X] Talk to Shinji about: The present
[X] Talk to Asuka about: NERV
[X] Asuka: Go out/free time
[X] Shinji: Synchronization training
[X] All: Combat training
-[X] Ask Ritsuko about AI Evangelion teammates and Eva-to-Eva combat regime.

[X] Special Activity: Visit Rei in the hospital. Talking to coma patients is supposed to be good for them, right?
-[X] Allow Pilots to accompany, if they wish to do so
 
[X] Talk to Shinji about: The present
[X] Talk to Asuka about: NERV
[X] Asuka: Go out/free time
[X] Shinji: Synchronization training
[X] All: Combat training
-[X] Ask Ritsuko about AI Evangelion teammates and Eva-to-Eva combat regime.

[X] Special Activity: Visit Rei in the hospital. Talking to coma patients is supposed to be good for them, right?
-[X] Allow Pilots to accompany, if they wish to do so
 
[X] Talk to Shinji about: The present
[X] Talk to Asuka about: NERV
[X] Asuka: Go out/free time
[X] Shinji: Synchronization training
[X] All: Combat training
-[X] Ask Ritsuko about AI Evangelion teammates and Eva-to-Eva combat regime.

[X] Special Activity: Visit Rei in the hospital. Talking to coma patients is supposed to be good for them, right?
-[X] Allow Pilots to accompany, if they wish to do so
 
[X] Talk to Shinji about: The present
[X] Talk to Asuka about: NERV
[X] Asuka: Go out/free time
[X] Shinji: Synchronization training
[X] All: Combat training
-[X] Ask Ritsuko about AI Evangelion teammates and Eva-to-Eva combat regime.

[X] Special Activity: Visit Rei in the hospital. Talking to coma patients is supposed to be good for them, right?
-[X] Allow Pilots to accompany, if they wish to do so
 
Just binged this and oh boy, this is some high-stakes gameplay. I'm actually sort of scared to vote. :tongue:

(Also, reading this after rereading 'Advice and Trust' is some serious mood whiplash; ow, my neck.)
 
Oblivion VII: Apologies to Filter Fans
[X] Talk to Shinji about: Mood

Shinji's doing okay, he guesses. He's still feeling guilty over injuring Asuka, but he's mostly worried about the girls. He's afraid Rei might not wake up. The apartment gets kind of lonely at night without her being there. Shinji realizes what he's said and flushes. Rei's just always been there in the evenings. While the two of them have their own solitary hobbies, Shinji with his cello and his listening to music and Rei with her art and her playing mahjong, they spend a lot of time in the same room together. It feels weird not having her help cook either. Shinji hopes she gets better soon.

He's also worried about Asuka, since she's clearly not adjusting well to the new, hopefully temporary, disability she's been saddled with, or her rejection. She's been even more temperamental than usual lately and has spent most of the time since your outing with Kaji shut up in her bedroom reading research papers or blasting her music. Shinji's trying his best to be patient with her, but it's difficult when she bites his head off about pretty much everything he says or does. Shinji says he's been trying to make her feel better, but it hasn't been working. He thinks she might be jealous of the attention Rei's been getting, but he's not going to stop visiting Rei in the hospital just because Asuka's unhappy about it. Rei saved Asuka's life, and Asuka doesn't even seem that grateful. It kind of annoys Shinji, to be honest.

He just doesn't know what she wants from him. It's frustrating.

[X] Talk to Asuka about: NERV

Trying to get Asuka to say more than a few words to you at a time proves a challenge all week. The ordinarily talkative Asuka has become moody and withdrawn, and she's clearly barely tolerating having to share a space with you and Shinji right now. While she hasn't snapped at you, she's been petulant and irritable with Shinji, relentlessly criticizing him for small or nonexistent infractions of etiquette or character. She's not in a good place right now.

The most you get out of her is that she's working on her homework for Fuyutsuki and that she's tired of dealing with Gendo and Ritsuko. Though she certainly didn't phrase her dislike of Ritsuko as politely as that.

[X] All: Combat training
-[X] Ask Ritsuko about AI Evangelion teammates and Eva-to-Eva combat regime.

You decide to take Gendo's criticism seriously and put your active pilots through combat training, though doing so is hampered by the damage to Unit-02. While Evangelions can be repaired via cellular regeneration, Unit-02 losing an entire arm is a complicated and difficult fix that will take time. It appears that there are limitations to the number of divisions a tissue culture can undergo, and an entire arm is well beyond that. The fix can be done, you're assured, but the repair process is apparently quite involved and requires several parts to essentially be grafted to each other. As it stands now, Unit-02 is going to have to make do with a bandaged stump for a right arm.

Asuka is not pleased.

Her poor mood is worsened further by Ritsuko informing her that her synchronization ratio has precipitously dropped since the last official measurement and now sits in the mid-50s, which is lower than Rei's. Asuka snarks that it's kind of hard to mentally synchronize with something missing large parts of its body, to which Ritsuko coolly remarks that it doesn't work like that and furthermore, Asuka's already halfway there with her shoulder problems anyway. Asuka explodes with rage and Ritsuko cuts off her microphone in response.

Ritsuko gives you an annoyed look. You know it's your responsibility to manage them, right? Ritsuko understands that being injured in battle can be frustrating, but Asuka's mental health has been steadily worsening for a while now, and it's affecting her performance. Moreover, according to NERV's medical staff, there's nothing physically wrong with Asuka's arm. It's all mental. Ritsuko is choosing to give Asuka the benefit of the doubt here and assumes that the cause is psychosomatic rather than malingering for attention.

Ritsuko informs you that the Magi have concluded that susceptibility to being affected by psychological attack is positively correlated with stress and mental illness. Ritsuko suspects that she herself was affected due to the amount of overwork she was doing to ensure the Dummy System was completed on schedule. You ask what she saw or experienced during the Angel attack. Ritsuko says she'd rather not talk about it if that's alright.

Either way, Asuka continuing to go on in this poor mental state makes her particularly susceptible to psychological attack. This goes for the other pilots as well, though Shinji is apparently experiencing stress within acceptable limits per psychometrics. It's not a guarantee of immunity, but it makes the likelihood of a future attack succeeding lower. Rei's psychographic measurements taken before she arrived at her present state continue to show signs of mental instability.

Ritsuko notably does not fill you in on the fact that Rei claims to be experiencing auditory hallucinations. You decide to hold your tongue, if only for Kaji's sake.

You ask about the possibility of an Eva-to-Eva combat scenario or the possibility of AI teammates in the event not all three (or soon to be four) pilots are available for training. Ritsuko says it's being worked on, and they should be ready within a week or so. The Magi are using Rei's personality data to create a program, so the AI Evas will be limited to a virtual Unit-00 piloted by a virtual Rei Ayanami, though the scans and surveys Ritsuko did on Rei aren't enough to construct a complete gestalt of Rei. It'd just be virtual Evangelions that behave theoretically similarly to how they would if Rei were piloting them, not a fully autonomous alter ego of Rei capable of speech or complex thought.

The training otherwise goes uneventfully, and Asuka starts to adjust to fighting with one arm. Work still needs to be done, however.

[X] Shinji: Synchronization training

It's been a hot minute since you put Shinji through his paces in synchronization training, and you discover that he's sitting at 85.2%, a new record for him. He's still a natural. Ritsuko notes that unlike the other two pilots, Shinji's actually more relaxed when in the plug. Rei's seen a slight increase in stress for reasons Ritsuko isn't sure of; as usual, much about Rei is a mystery. Meanwhile, it's pretty obvious Asuka is having trouble concentrating in her sync tests.

You praise Shinji for doing a good job. He says he's working hard to protect the girls. Shinji seems happy.

[X] Asuka: Go out/free time

You give Asuka some time off to destress, but to your dismay, she spends much of it moping around the house feeling sorry for herself. You're not sure what you expected here, but you were hoping she'd start to bounce back. No such luck; she's feeling vulnerable and unsure of her self-worth. One unpleasant habit she's picked up lately is attempting to guilt-trip you and Shinji whenever anyone does anything for her like cook or help her with her chores. She keeps semi-sarcastically putting herself down and sarcastically praising you. You and Shinji find it really tiring.

While her tone is ironic and exaggerated, you know from the conversation she and Kaji had that she's hurting inside. Her seemingly insincere self-denigration may not be terribly far from what she thinks of herself. You hate seeing her like this.

You get fed up after replay number one zillion of "Hey Man Nice Shot". You think it'd do her some good to leave the apartment anyway, so you tell her to go out and do something nice for herself. You figure she's probably feeling trapped with you and Shinji. Asuka doesn't initially take well to this, accusing you of kicking her out because you don't want her around. What, are you gonna invite Kaji over to neck and she's cramping your style or something?

You tell her no; you just don't think sulking and blasting her—you avoid saying "shitty"—music all hours of the day is going to improve her mood or help her relax. Asuka bickers with you and says that playing her music loud is the only way she's been able to focus on anything at all. You retort that it's certainly not helping you or Shinji focus. Oh, well, sorry she offended the beautiful and important Misato Katsuragi with her lowly freak music for deviants and weirdoes. Fine, you want her gone? She'll fucking go! She stomps over to the door and slams the button to open it, only to discover Hikari Horaki waiting outside with her finger hovering over the doorbell button.

Oh, um, is everything okay? Hikari asks.

Asuka sighs. The anger seems to leave her body as she does so. Yeah, brilliant. Just perfect. What does Hikari want?

Hikari wanted to ask you something, as it turns out. Asuka seems irritated by this. You defuse the situation by telling Hikari that Asuka is about to go shopping, and that perhaps Hikari could tag along? Asuka's been feeling cooped up lately. Asuka begins to protest, but Hikari says sure, she'd love to, clearly picking up what you're putting down. Hikari says it's been a while since the two of them spent time together and that she's been feeling a bit cooped up lately herself. Asuka gives you a look like she's trying to kill you with her sheer willpower and says fine, she'll go.

A few hours later, Hikari and Asuka return to you with some new clothing purchases. Asuka doesn't seem completely back to normal, but she's obviously in a better mood, as she's currently having a mostly friendly, if slightly ranty, conversation with Hikari, who is listening to her complaining about some classmates patiently. It appears that some rumors of the scene she made in public leaked to the press, who are of course using her status as one of the de facto faces of NERV against her. Some of her male classmates haven't been terribly kind about it. Hikari's been helping keep a lid on things, which Asuka seems grateful for. Asuka's got some of her old energy back. She grunts at you in greeting and stalks back to her bedroom. You hope this has done some good.

You profusely thank Hikari for helping Asuka get out of the house and for looking out for her and bid her good night. Before you can close the door, Hikari shouts wait! You remember she needed something from you. Hikari looks at the ground and fidgets, her face pink.

Hikari says she's been considering confessing to Suzuhara. She's been spending a lot of time with him this week since Rei's not around and she's been cooking lunches for him for a little while now. She thinks it might be time to get it off her chest. She's liked him since elementary school. He's just…a really good guy.

Hikari tells you that you're basically the only adult she can talk to about this. Her mom's…not around anymore, and Kodama probably wouldn't approve, and her dad's kind of a dork and isn't home much. She blurts all this out quickly before trailing off. It's obvious she's hoping for some kind of advice on how to ask Suzuhara out.

You're caught off-guard that a middle school friend of one of your charges is actually seeking you for any kind of advice, let alone relationship advice. You're also reminded that the most likely pilot for the incoming Unit-03 is the object of her affections, Toji Suzuhara, putting you into a very awkward position indeed.

Do you have any advice for her? What is it?

[ ] Write-in
 
(For the record, Asuka's music taste is not that dissimilar to mine. Misato, who I always pictured as a citypop karaoke kinda gal, is the one that doesn't see the appeal of blasting Short Bus on loop for hours).
 
[X] Clear communication is key. People can sometimes be dense (willfully or otherwise), whether out of politeness, fear or for any number of other reasons. Toji's a good kid from what you've heard and you're sure he'll give an honest response, so long as she makes sure he understands how she feels and why. Miscommunication or ambiguity is often worse than even rejection itself.

Someone can suggest different wording, but I think Minato would agree to just not beat around the bush or be at all vague given she's agonized herself for years now with Kaji only to finally get back with him (I have to imagine if she could do it over she'd not have broken up with him at all).

Edit: Toji either likes her or doesn't anyways, so it's good to rip this band-aid off now rather than hypothetically during a time with him in our care.
 
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[X] Clear communication is key. People can sometimes be dense (willfully or otherwise), whether out of politeness, fear or for any number of other reasons. Toji's a good kid from what you've heard and you're sure he'll give an honest response, so long as she makes sure he understands how she feels and why. Miscommunication or ambiguity is often worse than even rejection itself.
 
I got nothing. I'm gonna let someone who's actually been in a relationship before handle this vote.
I wouldn't let that stop you, my advice is based on nothing but my fears that gals have essentially made passes at me but that I didn't notice or respond correctly. I have never been in a relationship, serious or otherwise. Consider thinking about things you've worried about, and how they could reasonably be addressed.

Actually that's another things she should keep in mind, since he could also panic because he doesn't want to ruin their current relationship. Obviously no means no, but giving them time to calm down and making sure isn't necessarily bad.
 
Shinji's doing okay, he guesses.
He's been like that for some time, so noting new, unfortunately.
Shinji's trying his best to be patient with her, but it's difficult when she bites his head off about pretty much everything he says or does.
Typical reaction of Langley-Soryu species.
He thinks she might be jealous of the attention Rei's been getting, but he's not going to stop visiting Rei in the hospital just because Asuka's unhappy about it.
Good for Shinji to show spine, at least in some important aspects.
While Evangelions can be repaired via cellular regeneration, Unit-02 losing an entire arm is a complicated and difficult fix that will take time.
Asuka will not be happy.
Asuka is not pleased.
Yep, I knew it.
Ritsuko coolly remarks that it doesn't work like that and furthermore, Asuka's already halfway there with her shoulder problems anyway.
Rits, we all know that you were a snarky bitch in canon, but do you have to crank it up here?
Good retort though.
Ritsuko informs you that the Magi have concluded that susceptibility to being affected by psychological attack is positively correlated with stress and mental illness.
Because people who spend time to find creative ways of suicide are pinnacle of mental health.
Still, under Misato's care Rei greatly improved, so we can be happy.
Rei's psychographic measurements taken before she arrived at her present state continue to show signs of mental instability.
Now the question is how severe those are.
It'd just be virtual Evangelions that behave theoretically similarly to how they would if Rei were piloting them, not a fully autonomous alter ego of Rei capable of speech or complex thought.
So, we will get a virtual Rei who has got over the deep end?
She keeps semi-sarcastically putting herself down and sarcastically praising you. You and Shinji find it really tiring.
This time it's good that Rei is not here.
Small consolation though.
Oh, um, is everything okay? Hikari asks.
Ignorance is bliss.
Asuka gives you a look like she's trying to kill you with her sheer willpower and says fine, she'll go.
So, how those look differs from the others she's been giving Miasto lately?
Hikari tells you that you're basically the only adult she can talk to about this.
Hikari, and the only option to get advice about relations is Misato Katsuragi. Oh man, girl you're out of luck.

Small addition (and reformatting) to @JIMI94 idea, because for now I do not have better ideas.

[X] Clear communication is key. People can sometimes be dense (willfully or otherwise), whether out of politeness, fear or for any number of other reasons. Toji's a good kid from what you've heard and you're sure he'll give an honest response, so long as she makes sure he understands how she feels and why.
-[X] Miscommunication or ambiguity is often worse than even rejection itself.
-[X] Believe Misato, she knows it perfectly from experience, better than many people.
 
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[X] Clear communication is key. People can sometimes be dense (willfully or otherwise), whether out of politeness, fear or for any number of other reasons. Toji's a good kid from what you've heard and you're sure he'll give an honest response, so long as she makes sure he understands how she feels and why. Miscommunication or ambiguity is often worse than even rejection itself.

[X] Clear communication is key. People can sometimes be dense (willfully or otherwise), whether out of politeness, fear or for any number of other reasons. Toji's a good kid from what you've heard and you're sure he'll give an honest response, so long as she makes sure he understands how she feels and why.
-[X] Miscommunication or ambiguity is often worse than even rejection itself.
-[X] Believe Misato, she knows it perfectly from experience, better than many people.
 
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Asuka's already down to the mid-50's? That is catastrophic, and her disappointment with that performance might cause it to fall farther.

For reference, Shinji with a sync of 41% in the first episode was unable to take more than a few steps in Unit 01 before it tripped on its own foot and faceplanted. 55-ish is better than 41 for sure, but it's bad.

I am begging you guys, please give her some sync training next week. Whatever you think the second most important thing is, it's not as important as maintaining her ability to actually move the machine. If she can't adequately perform in combat, she'll fall apart, and she can't adequately perform in combat if she can't control her Eva. Frankly, this week really should have been sync instead of combat training.
 
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