After the C&C I recieved I went through and added some small changes to
the first two parts of Unfamiliar, but Welcome. Additionally, I adjusted
the plot for the next part. Thanks for the help.

		Fuyutsuki entered the commander�s office early that day, holding a
copy of the Marduk �report.� He walked across the long, dark room, and
faced the commander. His hands were white from squeezing the 
paper tightly for the whole elevator ride up to office, and his
breathing was a bit more rapid than usual. The commander noted these
things in the way a chemist noted the purity of his reactants, and
spoke.
	�I see you have received the newest copy of the Report.�
	�Yes,� Fuyutsuki said coldly, �and I am glad you didn�t feel the need
to tell me about the changes before you released it.�
	�I felt that you would�ve agreed with me,� the commander said,
tonelessly.
	�I would�ve had you consulted me. I wonder sometimes, if I am really
necessary here.�
	�Come now, Professor, it isn�t that important of an issue. I determined
that we need more pilots, immediately. So I picked from the pool
available the most qualified candidate.�
	�Even though Unit 03 is more than two month from completion?�
	�I have reason to believe one of the Evas could become available at any
time. I wish to have a spare that will be more, reliable than the
Third.�
	�I see,� Fuyutsuki said, thoughtful. �Has the boy been contacted?�
	�Yes. Mr. Suzihara will be undergoing his second synch test later
today. I have informed Dr. Akagi and Captain Katsuragi as well. It will
be up to them to inform the other Children.�
	�Of course,� the old man said, thinking: not that Ayanami will care.
	 �Would you have the revised disposition report and tactical guidelines
finished today?�
	�Of course.�
	�Thank you, Fuyutsuki.�
	�It is nothing.�
	The professor left the room, leaving Gendou to his musings. �Its all
going according to plan,� he muttered as he locked his hands across his
face. After he was certain that no one was around, he let out a 
loud chuckle at the ridiculous way his mantra sounded.


Unfamiliar, But Welcome.

A Needlessly Verbose Title Production

Special Effects By Close Your Eyes and Imagine, Damn It, Inc.

Catering by ARMARK (unfortunately)

Titles by Six In One Hand, Half A Dozen in the Other Enterprises

All text in [ ] is English.


Three Days Later, NERV hospital, Room 101

	He woke with a pounding headache. No pounding wasn�t the word, he
reflected. Splitting left something to be desired as well. Or perhaps
excruciating. It was safe to say that he hadn�t felt like this 
since�well maybe since high school. He reached up to his face, noting
the IV stuck in his arm. What had happened to me, he wondered idly? Then
he noticed his hands.
	[Wha-!] he yelped. 
	They were too dark, too small. He stared at his hands, looking for the
scars on his knuckle and across his palm. They weren�t there. His skin
was darker, his arms bulkier. He looked down at himself, 
noticed the hospital gown and his body. He was built stockier, more
solidly than he remembered. And he stroked his chin in thought, then
realized he had no beard. His glasses were gone, yet he could see fine.
	[If I didn�t know better,] he said wearily [I�d say I was in a new
body.] 
	He chuckled at his own joke and tried to get up. His muscles were sore,
as if he had been sleeping for a long time, and his coordination was
off. His legs were shorter than he remembered, the weight distributed
wrong. The subtle differences combined with exhaustion and confusion
managed to overwhelm him, and he tottered as he held onto the bed for
support.
	He glanced around the room, taking in as much as he could. It was a
hospital room like any other, with two beds side by side. There was no
one in the other bed, and no sounds coming from the hall. In fact 
there was no sound coming from anywhere. A large computer terminal was
built into the wall. He walked over to it, the IV cart trailing behind
him. 
	The screen was blanked out, and the smooth touch pads that served as
input devices were covered in Asian characters. He couldn�t make any of
them out, so he touched a random one. The screen flared to 
life, covered in words that he couldn�t quite place. It appeared to be a
patient�s chart, complete with a picture of a young Asian man took up
the top corner of the screen. The young man, actually boy, had dark 
black hair, brown eyes and an amused look on his face.
	Suzihara Touji, it said below the picture in English letters. He
studied the picture for a moment, only to be distracted by his own
reflection on the screen. He reached up with one hand to feel his face. 
Then he sat down on the floor and shook his head.
	[Its got to be a bad dream,] he thought. [I had a bad slice of pizza or
something.] He was perfectly 
aware of the fact that all the slices were bad, but decided to ignore
that fact for the time being. He looked around the room again, this time
out the window. The sky was gray, with no sign of the sun beside the 
diffused light that slipped past the blanket of the clouds. But he was
definitely not in Boston anymore.
	[Not unless Boston tripled in size and got retractable buildings] he
said as he stared at a skyscraper extending from the ground, a massive
phallic symbol reaching towards the heavens. [I�d hate to meet the
architect of that one] he said, situation forgotten for a moment. He
didn�t notice the tiny camera positioned 
in the far corner of his room. 

	Dr. Akagi stood before her lover, clipboard in hand, trying to feel
reassured in Ikari office. She had been called up here directly form an
inspection of Unit 01, Commander Ikari wanting answers to the 
problem of the Fourth child. 
	�He has woken up.� 
	�That was expected, the damage done was minimal. In fact I haven�t
determined the cause of the rejection yet.�
	�Listen to the recording made after he woke.� Gendou reached down and a
button on his desk. The speaker clicked on: [Its got to be a bad dream.
I had a bad slice of pizza or something.]
	�He�s talking in English.�
	�Rather observant Doctor,� Ikari  sounded somewhat irritated.
	�I am quite sure that the Fourth doesn�t speak English. His school
transcripts include notes to the effect that he had a good deal of
trouble learning the language.�
	�I believe the word used was atrocious,� Gendou said with rare humor.
�What happened.� It was not quite a question, more of a demand, but Dr.
Akagi replied evenly.
	�The mental contamination we detected apparently took hold. I don�t
know exactly where it came from, but I believe we should garner as much
data as we can on the phenomenon as possible. It should shed 
some light on the process of synchronization process.�
	�Will he be able to pilot.�
	�I don�t believe the new pattern could handle synch with the present
Eva system. However, I noticed something about his brain patterns during
the examination.�
	�And,� Ikari said, irritated by the delay.
	�They�re a perfect match for the projected requirements of Project Y.�
	�Interesting coincidence,� the commander said dubiously. �I�d hoped
that project would remain buried. But it could turn out to our
advantage,� he mused. �Begin taking the unit out of mothballs. And 
interview the child. I want to know as much as possible about him. As I
remember the Y project required some special� requirements from its
pilots.�
	�I�ll get right on it,� she said. In her mind she was already running
over the schematics for the Y project, preparing for its revival. �What
if he doesn�t want to pilot?�
	�We�ll convince him,� the commander said with cold certainty. �There is
more at stake here than the desires of children.�
	�Yes. Yes I guess there is.� Just what is at stake here? She asked
herself. Do I even know?

	The first thing they had him do was fill out a form. They had looked at
him rather funny when he started laughing at them. It took a bit of time
for him to understand what they wanted him to do since there 
was no one speaking plain English to him. 
	[Name:] he read [Jerico Mele] he wrote. He looked down at the form he
was filling out, ignoring the black  suited figure behind him. It was a
freshly printed copy of the SAT form. He let out another 
chuckle at the irony of it all. Hope I do better than a 550 on the math
this time, he thought.
	[Date of Birth:] he read. [5\18\80] he jotted down amazed at how easily
he was taking this. Filling out forms after waking up in a new body in
Japan. He had settled on Japan after picking up the couple of 
words he recognized. But there was no point in wondering about what had
happened to him. After all he had no data to work with what so ever. No
concept of how he had entered this body. No memories of leaving his last
one. He tossed the idea that this was indeed reality, not some strange
dream inspired by indigestion. It was too large a jump for him to make,
especially given the lack of data at his disposal.
	[Intended major?] he asked the room at large.

	�He�s getting a little edgy,� Fuyutsuki said, glancing at the monitor. 
	�He�s been kept in the dark for the last three hours. No one�s told him
anything about what�s happened to him, where he is or what is going on,�
Misato said bitterly. �His opinion of us can�t be that 
great.�
	�We haven�t known anything, Misato,� Dr. Akagi said quietly to her
friend. �And we needed time to track his data entry down in the global
net. We�ll send you down to talk to him after this briefing.�
	�So what do we know about him?�
	�He�s an American. Jerico Mele, born on Nantucket in 1980.�
	�What? An old American is living in the body of the 4th Child?�
	�Not an old American. He died fifteen years ago.�
	�Excuse me?�
	Ritsuko held up the printout. �According to this death certificate he
died in early part of the year 2000.�
	�Second Impact?� the Captain asked.
	�Actually he died of head trauma.� Ritsuko seemed to be smirking.
Confused, Misato looked to the professor. He too had an amused
expression on his face. 
	�Caused by?� Misato ventured.
	�A piece of Sky lab.�
	�Sky lab?�
	�An old American space station that fell from orbit in the 1970�s.�
	�It hit him? I thought he died in the year 2000?� The captain was out
of her depth.
	�Pieces were falling for the next twenty years. Being hit by a chunk of
it was improbable in the extreme,� Fuyutsuki explained. 
	�It appears that our Mr. Mele has had a string of good and bad luck. I
figured out the method by which he came to inhabit Suzihara�s body.�
	�How,� Misato said, swinging from the Doctor to the Professor. 
	�The Fourth was in the midst of a synch test. During this time the
brain is being restructured from input coming from the Eva. There is a
strong random element to this input, but sometimes the pattern 
generated looks like a wave equation that represents the sum total of
states that a brain can exist in. Somehow the pattern that represented
our visitor got itself locked into the pilot�s brain.�
	�So he�s possessed?�
	�Not quite. The other wave pattern could still exist in the brain, but
there�s nothing we can do about it as of now.�
	�I see. I should go talk to him now. I hope my English is up to task.�
	The two watched her leave, and shared a glance.
	�Is it necessary to-�
	�Yes,� the old man cut her off. �We need another pilot. We�re one Eva
short and the 4th cannot use Y. We discussed this with the commander.�
	�And what of Suzihara?� she asked calmly.
	�The boy will be returned when his possessor is no longer needed.�
	�I see. I�m sorry Professor, I have to get to work.�

	Misato waited for the elevator impatiently. She wasn�t looking forward
to this conversation, especially since she hadn�t had a conversation in
English for almost a year. A Captain�s job is never done, she lamented
silently.
	The elevator door opened up and Misato hurriedly stepped inside. And
bumped right into one person she had hoped to dodge until later. 
	�Hello Shinji,� she said cautiously. �How did your test go today?�
	The young pilot took his eyes off the floor. Absently he brushed a hair
from his face and looked Misato in the eyes for a moment, before
glancing back to the floor. �All right, I guess.� He shuffled his feet 
uncomfortably, and Misato knew he was going to ask a question.
�M-Misato, um, is Touji alright? I heard his test, um�� Shinji faded off
and continued to shuffle as Misato pressed the button for the hospital
level.
	�I�m going to talk to him right now. Shinji, you have to understand
that there was some mental contamination.� She stopped, unsure of how to
explain it. �Touji thinks he�s someone else right now.� A lie, but not a
bad one. �We�ll try to straighten it all out.�
	�Oh, all right. Um, sorry for the trouble.� 
	�Don�t worry, Shinji. We�ll fix everything.�
	He stayed quiet until his stop, then muttered good bye. 
	�I�ll see you tonight, Shinji.�
	Then the doors closed and she was alone with her thoughts until the
hospital floor.

	He was getting tired of the forms. One after another, every detail
charted. He�d filled out the math and verbal sections, twice each, and
it was beginning to get irritating. There were only so many circles he
could fill out before they all look the same. The sterile hospitality
was grating on him, as were the confines of his room. Any attempt to
leave the room was turned down politely but firmly. 
	[This is pissing me off,] he muttered in an irritated tone of voice. [I
wonder when they�ll send someone to talk to me?] Jerico wondered as he
filled a circle at random. [Probably some old stodgy military guy.]
	Jerico turned his head to face the door as he heard an exchange from
outside the room. He couldn�t understand it, but the guard, sorry,
nurse, shook himself from the daze he�d been in for a couple of 
hours. He busied himself with something in the room as the door opened.
	Looks like the boss is here, Jerico thought. Maybe I�ll get to learn a
little about what�s going on. Yeah right.
	[I hope someone can help me out with what the hell is going on here,]
Jerico said, allowing a bit of his annoyance out. [Last I checked it was
illegal�] he drifted off as he glanced up at the person meeting 
him.
	She was gorgeous. No other word for it, not even beautiful. Gorgeous.
Jerico realized his mouth had dropped open and made an effort to shut
it. The woman before him was incredible. Tall, with purplish 
hair and an open, friendly face. A large cross hung from a pendant
around her neck, and she was dressed in a not quite uniform consisting
of a red jacket, short skirt and tight black shirt. Upon reflection,
Jerico decided the shirt wasn�t so tight, it just had a lot
of�containing to do.
	[Hello,] she began in English. [I am Captain Katsuragi of NERV, and you
are Jerico Mele of the United States of America. I need to ask you a few
questions before I can explain anything to you. Would 
you sign this?]
	Jerico glanced down at the sheet of paper she offered him, and the mass
of Japanese characters on them. Kanji, he remembered idly, drawing on
the vast store of knowledge that he had in his head that 
related to nothing pertinent. [I will if you tell me what it says,] he
said, slightly ashamed at his own ignorance. 
	[Oh, I�m sorry. I forgot that you can�t read�never mind. It says you
releases NERV of any responsibility in case of your injury or death, and
you waive your�] she broke off and muttered in 
Japanese for a moment �what�s the word here? Oh yes.�
	[You waive your constitutional rights and your status as an American
citizen,] she finished sweetly. 
	Jerico looked at her for a minute with a completely blank expression.
His eye twitched a couple of times and he spoke slowly, enunciating
every word as clearly as possible. [Why would I want to do that?]
	[Because we have two things to offer you. I�m sure you noticed your,
um, unusual situation?]
	[You mean �have I noticed I�m trapped in a Japanese boy�s body?]
	[We can offer treatment for this problem.]	
	Jerico marveled over the fact that in Japan body snatching was only a
problem. In America it would have been a cause for alarm at least. [So
you can return me to my original body?]
	Captain Katsuragi shuffled in her seat for a moment, obviously nervous.
[We can also offer you a job here at NERV, as we need you for a series
of experiments.]
	[Experiments? Job? Look I�m sorry if I sound a bit angry or annoyed,
but I don�t really need any of this. I need to get back to school and
figure out how the fuck I got to Japan in the first place. And what�s
the deal with those retractable buildings? They new?]
	[Look, Mr. Mele, we have a couple of things to discuss. Can I ask you
what�s the last thing you remember before waking up here?]
	[Um, I was walking back from lunch to my room in East, and I heard a
whistling noise. That�s about it. After that it was like I immediately
popped up here.]
	[All right, what year is it?]
	[1999, sorry, two thousand. Always forget for the first couple months.]
	[I see. Actually, Mr. Mele-]
	[Might as well call me Jerico. Or just Mele, I�m not particularly
formal.]
	[Jerico, there have been some things that have happened. First you
died.]
	Jerico looked at her with complete and utter confusion. He tried to
frame a word, a question anything, but couldn�t quite wrap his brain
around the concept. Misato handed him a copy of his death certificate,
and he started laughing. From a chuckle to a roaring laugh, Jerico
completely lost it.
	Misato hoped she had done the right thing. After a few moments, Jerico
calmed down, tears in his eyes from the length and intensity of his
outburst. [So this is what, heaven or something?] he asked 
sarcastically.
	[No. This is Tokyo 3, in the year 2015, at NERV headquarters.]
	[I guess I�ll take your word for it.]
	[No I can show you,] Misato said as she stood, flashing him a smile.
[As a prospective employee you do deserve a tour of your workplace.] I
can�t wait to show him the Eva�s, she thought wearily. This kid�s a
basket case.
	[So its 2015 then, huh?]
	[Yes.]
	[That makes me what? Thirty five?]
	[Yes, it does.]
	[This is really going to take some getting used to. Does this mean I
can drink?]
	[I�d expect so. Come along if you would. There�s a great deal to see.]


Next Time: (If there is one)

	The author decides if this is a joke or a real story. Shinji gets to
meet the �new Touji� as does the 
rest of NERV. Jerico remarks on the one thing all NERV females have in
common. Jerico also gets a 
serious case of culture shock.

C&C Appreciated, jmele@brandeis.edu
http://www.undergrad.brandeis.edu/~jmele