[X] Talk to Rei about: Present
You talk to Rei about how things have been recently since she came out of her coma, as well as trying to see if she'll tell you anything else about the Angel attack. Rei says predictably that she's doing fine. She finds that the apartment was well taken care of in her absence.
She's feeling concerned about Asuka's well-being and her ability to perform under pressure. Rei does not fully understand the nature of her illness, so she is going to refrain from opining on it. Obviously, her continued hurt feelings for Kaji and your inappropriate relationship with him are illogical, but Rei figures that informing Asuka of this will not go over well, so she's decided not to say anything unless it begins to affect her personally. As it stands, Rei seems capable of relating to Asuka satisfactorily by following The Agreement. Still, it is unpleasant to see Asuka not acting like herself.
Rei's worried her continued health problems will alienate her from Shinji and Asuka. They obviously felt something was unnatural about her condition when she mentioned her problems with her fingers. Rei wonders if the two of them see her as lesser. Asuka certainly seemed to think it made her a less capable pilot, and Rei did not realize that Shinji was so aware of the amount of medication she needed to remain in good condition. She
is different from them, after all. Rei looks depressed at the thought.
You decide to change the subject. You ask how her art has been. Rei leads you to her bedroom and points at a bunch of paintings she's pinned to her bedroom wall. Most of them depict various Tokyo-3 landscapes covered in snow, mostly at night. They're executed with great skill, but they make you feel uncomfortable. None of the buildings depicted have any lights on, and most of the paintings have a desolate atmosphere to them. The only one with any sign of human presence is one of an empty, dark city street with two sets of footprints in the snow. The only light is that of the full moon.
You compliment them as best as you're able. Rei can tell you're not being totally sincere and frowns at you.
[X] Talk to Shinji about: Mood
Shinji's worried about the girls. Asuka's still on edge because of her injuries, though he thinks she might be starting to go back to normal? Which is good? Shinji thinks? Come to think of it, normal Asuka didn't exactly seem happy either, so maybe that's just exchanging one kind of bad for another. At least they can talk without her ripping his head off. He wonders what he can do to get her to open up to him more, but he's afraid to ruin his friendship with her. He's sort of impressed it's survived this long. But maybe that's just how Asuka is?
As for Rei, Shinji's mostly just worried that she's taking care of herself properly and whether she's recovered fully. She's been a little clingy since she returned home, but Shinji's alright with it. He missed her too.
He's also worried about the next Angel attack. They survived the last one, but both the girls got hurt last time they were sortied, and he's not strong enough to protect them yet. He needs more time to get stronger. He needs to get stronger.
[X] Talk to Asuka about: Home
Asuka intently stares at a glass of water on the table in front of her and tentatively stretches her arm towards it. The motion is jerky and Asuka screws up her face in concentration the entire time, before pulling her arm back after touching the glass. She exhales in frustration.
Asuka doesn't totally hate this place, she guesses. She's annoyed that Shinji's always checking up on her and condescendingly trying to do things for her. He thinks he's such a big man because he killed the last Angel. He's gotta protect weak little girls like her and Rei, big strong Shinji, Asuka snarls. Asuka can still fight just fine. She seizes the glass of water and proceeds to splash it in her own face, presumably unintentionally. Asuka swears in German and puts her head down on the table.
Maybe she is garbage after all.
You vehemently insist that's not true. She's made a ton of progress on her arm since she started physiotherapy and she managed to impress the foremost expert on metabiology with her intellect. That's not nothing. Asuka says she can't even drink a glass of water right. You argue that it's because she's hurt. Asuka says if she were better she wouldn't be hurt in the first place. You say if she wasn't any good, she'd probably be dead, along with everyone else on Earth. You know things are difficult now, but you think she does good work.
Asuka mutters something under her breath, but she looks up and mumbles something that sounds like a thank you. You ask her to speak up, but she refuses to repeat herself.
[X] Talk to Hikari about: General well-being
You meet up with Hikari after she arrives at the Geofront to check how she's doing. She looks frazzled. Hikari says she's so nervous her stomach hurts. You tell her it's natural to be nervous on her first real day on the job. Hikari says yeah, she guesses so. She's sorry about her big sister, by the way. Hikari told her not to do what she did so many times and she did it anyway—she's so impossible sometimes. Hikari gets that Kodama's just worried about her and trying to keep her safe, but she's being too difficult and causing problems for everyone.
Her dad didn't take it well either. He got mad at first, but now he just seems depressed. Hikari was hoping he'd be a little proud of her, but she thinks he's too worried she'll end up like her mom…Hikari explains that her mom died in an accident while working for NERV when she was very little. They lived in Tokyo-2 back then. Kodama's always resented NERV because of that. Nozomi is basically the only person happy for her, but she's been…well, she's been sort of annoying, to be honest. She's always quizzing her about stuff she doesn't know the answers to or stuff she's not allowed to talk about. You don't happen to know how these work, do you? Hikari holds out the A10 connector clips pilots wear in the Entry Plug. You shake your head. That's entirely Ritsuko's department. Hikari sighs. She figured.
Also, is there any word on moving Sakura to NERV's hospital? Suzuhara's been bugging her about it and she's pretty sure you'll be getting a visit from him if it doesn't happen soon. He's pretty mad about it. She's been able to talk him out of it for now, but she did do this for him…and NERV should honor its commitments. It's the fair and just thing to do. Please help her fix this.
You apologize for the delay and say that you've been working through as much of her onboarding process as you can, but as she can probably tell, things are kind of a mess right now. Hikari says she understands. Sorry for causing so much trouble.
At the very least, Hikari is glad she can make a difference. Seeing what Rei and the others go through while she just sits on the sidelines…she felt so powerless. Now she can help.
Before you can bring Hikari in for training, you need to inform your pilots, and to do that, you need permission to do so. The process is kind of infuriating. You can't get a good reason as to why the Fourth Child's identity needs to remain a secret to all but the most important personnel, but NERV Intelligence and your superiors take their sweet time approving the move. In the meantime, you chase after various technicians to see about getting Hikari a plugsuit that fits. If she's going to train, she should be using her combat equipment, not some prototype from God knows when that doesn't even fit her properly.
After expending all that effort, you finally have a black plugsuit with the number 3 printed on the back and collar, with some red highlights around the collarbone. Around the same time, the Commander finally tips his hand and gives you permission to inform the pilots of their new coworker. Shaking your head, you arrange for all the pilots to meet up in a park inside the Geofront, and have Hikari change into her plugsuit. Thankfully, it fits much better than the prototype, though Hikari still finds it embarrassing to wear around. Personally, you think she looks cute, but Hikari's always struck you as a little old-fashioned.
The pilots' reaction to the news covers a broad spectrum of emotions. Shinji is unsurprisingly, the most outwardly affected by the news, and is shocked and upset. He knew a new pilot was coming, but he didn't expect it to be one of his friends, and certainly not a gentle girl like Hikari. Asuka asks what
that's supposed to mean, and Rei side-eyes him with a blank expression. Shinji rubs the back of his head in consternation and frowns. Hikari seems disheartened by his negative reaction.
Asuka, for one, is a mixture of relieved that her pilot is another girl instead of another stupid boy, and (surprise, surprise) annoyed. She gives Hikari a look up and down similar to the one she gave her when they first met back on the Pacific Fleet. She's not impressed. Look, Hikari's a nice girl, and Asuka considers her a friend, but…Asuka's really not sure she's up to this. Hikari slumps her shoulders. You tell Asuka that it's everyone's job here to make sure she
is up to the task. No complaining. You inform them that Hikari
volunteered to be here, so they better respect her courage and support her. She's their teammate now, so they better start treating her like one. Asuka groans and says fine.
Shinji puts his hand up briefly and asks uh…why did she volunteer to be here? Being an Evangelion pilot kind of sucks. You let Hikari explain her circumstances. She fidgets and turns the same color as Asuka's plugsuit as she explains. Oh, um, congratulations? Shinji says. Asuka makes a gagging sound and says she has no idea what she sees in that ape, but she'll do her best to support Hikari's relationship with Suzuhara as her friend. And if he breaks her heart, she'll punch him in the mouth. Rei merely closes her eyes and tilts her head upward, perhaps trying to find inner strength. Hikari bashfully thanks them for their support.
Rei, apart from the brief flicker of resignation on her face as Hikari spoke about her relationship with Suzuhara, does not show any emotion at all for most of this little coming-out party. She doesn't even seem surprised. You study her face, but there's nothing there. If anything, she looks a little bored. And then it hits you. She
knew. She
knew and
she didn't say a goddamn word to you. She probably knew about Suzuhara being the selected pilot before you did. It wouldn't even surprise you if she learned about the change of plans before you did. She could have helped you! You do your best to mask your anger, but it's hard to keep your eyes off her face. Rei notices you staring at her and asks if everything is alright, Major? In that usual monotone of hers. You reply evenly that everything is fine, Rei.
You decide it's best to end the meeting here and leave the pilots to make small talk while you walk off the bitterness of knowing that Rei still distrusts you. You need a drink.
[X] All: Physical training
You decide to keep on with putting the pilots through their physical paces, especially Rei, whom you feel has been lagging the other two pilots in terms of her physical abilities. Perhaps because you're still feeling a little upset at her, you make her exercises the most difficult. Petty, yes, and perhaps even a little hypocritical given you yourself sat on this for a week, but it's for her own good anyway. You work her until she's practically gasping for breath. Delicate constitution or not, she needs to stay in good physical shape to pilot. You don't care that she doesn't like to exercise. You let Shinji help her stretch and apply heat patches to sore muscles and things like that. Rei appreciates the extra attention from him, you think.
You don't go easy on Shinji either, though. He wants to get stronger? Well, you'll give him what he wants. You do have to pull up a little bit when Shinji begins pushing himself beyond what you'd consider to be safe, however. It's admirable, but he can't be hurting himself in training by working with weights or exercises he's not ready for yet.
Asuka works with her occupational therapist to practice basic tasks, such as, among other things, lifting a glass of water to her lips. She's not quite there yet, but she's at least stopped dropping it or flinging it in her face. Trying to move her arm fluidly remains a challenge, and there's still a clear delay between Asuka having formed the intention to move her arm and actually moving her arm. Still, it's better than nothing.
You spend your time with Hikari benchmarking her performance. It's…not great. It's not completely pathetic, but it's pretty obvious that Hikari doesn't live a terribly active lifestyle. You'd say her skills are slightly better than Shinji's before you started training him. You suppose it makes sense; she spends most of her time doing housework or class rep duties or studying. Still, you have your work cut out for you. You start putting her through your fitness plan with some exercises to build agility and stamina. Hikari takes well to it, and she's eager to impress you. You guess that's why she's the class rep.
[X] Rei and Hikari: Combat Training
You decide to pair Hikari off with Rei, as Rei is your most senior pilot and has been involved in every Angel attack, in some way or other, as well as the person you feel would be the least judgmental about Hikari's utter lack of experience in this field. Verbally, at least, anyway. While Asuka certainly has more training and a greater skillset, Asuka is a terrible teacher due to her lack of patience. You spend much of your time with Hikari simply teaching her how to aim and fire, a skill that Rei, for reasons still unknown to you, seems extremely well-trained on.
Rather than overwhelming Hikari with a combat situation before she's even sat in an Evangelion cockpit, you have her observe Rei fight some weaker simulation Angels while you and Rei (mostly you) explain Rei's combat decisions. Hikari absorbs this information readily and asks lots of questions, which is a nice change of pace compared to the taciturn Rei, anxious Shinji and know-it-all Asuka you usually have to deal with when you run simulations. To your dismay, you find you still have to correct Rei for getting too aggressive and putting herself in danger, which isn't the best example to set for Hikari, but you wonder if your other two pilots would be any less reckless.
Hikari is still nervous about combat, as she should be, but you feel this was productive, and you think she already trusts Rei to support her in combat, which is good.
[X] Shinji: Study
You give Shinji some time to study and catch up on schoolwork. He's been doing alright at school lately, but it's not like he's exceptional. Better than Rei at least. Shinji seems grateful for the time. Despite his conviction that school doesn't really matter due to his status as an Evangelion pilot, paradoxically, he's also the kind of person who cares about his grades. You suspect this is more due to a desire to preserve his reputation than anything else, but hey, whatever gets him to do his homework.
You wonder if he can help motivate Rei to care even a little bit about her academics, but you're not counting on it.
[X] Asuka: Synchronization training
Asuka's so tired of this that she barely even complains about it anymore. She seems emotionally exhausted by the entire exercise and can only muster a token display of recalcitrance before dejectedly following you to the testing chambers, where Ritsuko awaits. Asuka walks past her without greeting her to the plug.
Her synchronization score improves by a measly 2%, putting her at 61.2%. Ritsuko attempts to press her, but Asuka asks her quietly to please, for the love of God, just shut up. She sounds so genuinely disgusted that Ritsuko relents and gives you a questioning look. Just let the poor girl focus, you grumble, folding your arms. Ritsuko shakes her head and watches the monitors closely, frustrated by Asuka's mediocre performance.
Asuka emerges from the plug caked in LCL with a dark expression on her face and heads to the showers, muttering to herself. You don't quite catch everything, as she's mixing German, English and Japanese, but it's mostly negative self-talk, from what you can gather. It's hard not to feel sorry for her.
Culture Shock
An unfortunate exchange unfolds while Hikari is working with Ritsuko to take some psychometric data. Hikari sits in a testing chamber with electrodes stuck on her head, while Ritsuko taps away at a laptop. Ritsuko says everything looks normal, and healthy, which is a nice change of pace compared to the usual subjects she deals with. Ritsuko says she's free to go and pulls out a cigarette. Hikari stiffens. Ritsuko pulls her lighter out of her pocket, and then Hikari tells Ritsuko that smoking is against NERV regulations.
Ritsuko eyes her with bemused contempt and lights the cigarette. Hikari points to a conspicuously posted No Smoking sign and repeats, more insistently, that Ritsuko shouldn't be smoking in here. Ritsuko makes eye contact with Hikari and puts the cigarette in her mouth. Hikari is asking her politely to stop. Ritsuko inhales sharply, blows out some smoke, and says, "No." Hikari glares at Ritsuko and says she'll have to report Ritsuko. Ritsuko says go ahead. Hikari frowns and narrows her eyes. Fine, she will.
And with that, leaves the room in a huff. You turn to Ritsuko and ask if she
must antagonize every one of your pilots. Ritsuko shrugs apathetically. She's not really sure where Hikari thinks she is, but Ritsuko isn't interested in this hall monitor crap. This is her space, and Ritsuko is going to do as she likes. You point out that smoking like this is going to lead her to an early grave, and is frankly, inconsiderate and gross. Ritsuko says she doesn't want to hear it from someone who can't get through a day with her BAC below the legal limit. A tense silence falls over the room. Ritsuko apologizes. Sorry, that was mean. You apologize too, but the tense atmosphere remains.
You soon discover that Ritsuko isn't the only person who's had a run-in with this side of Hikari. Perhaps in an over-eager bid to impress everyone, Hikari has memorized the voluminous set of rules and regulations that virtually everyone at NERV violates on a daily basis, and she's been lecturing anyone she catches in violation. Hyuga laments Hikari got mad at him for reading a comic book during some down time, Aoba got caught playing his guitar outside of the permitted spaces, Ibuki was found in violation of making a personal phone call on the clock. Even your pilots aren't immune. Shinji was found guilty of being too close to the girls' locker room while waiting for Rei to get changed, Asuka was running in the hallways, and…you're not sure what Rei did, but it was something, as Rei makes an annoyed expression when you ask her about it but refuses to answer your questions.
You feel like you should do something, lest she locate your illicit drink stash you keep in your office, but…
[ ] Don't bother. She's being a little annoying, but frankly you have more important things to think about. Besides, you technically
should be following workplace rules.
[ ] Tell her to knock it off. It's disruptive, and frankly, getting lectured by the new hire isn't going earn her any friends.
[ ] Tell her not to worry so much about this stuff. Most of these regulations aren't followed and aren't mission-critical anyway. She should just focus on her training.
That said, she's military, and that does come with certain minimum fitness requirements.
