Children of an Elder God
Part 16
Gazing into the Abyss
woohoo. in conjunction with Alan Harnum's latest 'Mortal Engines'
release, the Abyss image/metaphor seems to favour of the month.
"Great heroism, eh? Don't I already qualify for
that?" he asked. "Y'know, with the Kingdom of Joy thing."
"Yes, you would," conceeded King Kuranes. "But you
would have to be knighted by the King of Joy, not I."
marvellous. Toji can be knighted by someone who bears a
striking resemblence to Shinji. ;)
Frau Himmelfarb asked me to ask you to give her
regards to Frau Akagi. Is she doing well? Health problems
often flare up this time of year; I have heard that her
mother used to have problems around this season.
if i recall correctly Deep One transformation syndrome has
more to do with the onset on age rather than the seasons...
but then again, it's elseworlds.
Maya considered calling Dr. Akagi's home, then
reconsidered. Would that be considered intruding into her
personal life? She didn't want to do that, no.
hoho. i beg to differ, methinks Maya would love to intrude into
Ritsuko's personal life.
Ritsuko took a few vials from one cabinet, then
opened a fingerprint-lock vault by her desk. From within,
she pulled out a large square container of opalescent
viridian liquid and placed it upon her work bench.
viridian - n. 1. a bluish-green chromium oxide pigment.
2. the colour of this. adj. 3. bluish-green. i have learnt a
new word today - one of those things about reading work in
the HPL style.
then again, opalescent - adj. showing changing colours like
an opal. hmmm... if it's changing colours, then it's also
bluish-green? or is bluish-green the base colour? don't mind
me, i'm just being pedantic.
"And how about Shinji?" asked Maya.
Whereas before Rei would sport a slight blush, this
time her crimson flush was very obvious. She even twitched
her fingers slightly in agitation.
"Shinji's fine," replied Rei, again softly, her
voice with an unmistakable shyness to it.
of course she would know, hanging outside his window at night
to check up on your love interest tends to give you that kind
of knowledge... but seriously, i always enjoy the passages on
Rei - especially the 'cute, shy girl exploring her emotions'
aspect though the tension with her murderous aspect is very
fruitful as well. more on that later.
Maya blinked. That was her sempai. Treading more
softly, she edged towards the door and peered in. Through
the narrow croack she could see a flash of white moving back
and forth - Ritsuko's white lab coat - as her sempai
continued to rant angrily.
sp. the narrow (crack) she could see a flash...
Asuka jumped and dropped her school bag, while
Shinji laughed louder. "We were just having a little fun."
Rei fell in along side Shinji to his right. "Doing
what?"
"Building rapport so I can steal your love interest later,"
replied Asuka.
"I like playing my violin and listening to music too,"
Rei said thoughtfully, glancing over at Shinji.
Asuka raised an eyebrow and looked at Rei curiously.
If she didn't know better, she'd swear that sounded like shy
flirting.
doesn't Asuka at least suspect, given the secret admirer
letters and poems that Shinji's been receiving?
and didn't Misato promise Shinji a handwriting sample from Rei?
i don't suppose Biles-sama and Rod-sama are going to drop it
all like a ton of bricks on Shinji? (you caused Rei to go mad
and kill a schoolmate! you killed your uncle and auntie! your
father *really* hates you! you're a monster! etc. etc.)
Rei knelt and pet the cat, which to Shinji and Asuka's
surprise, didn't shy away from her. "Hello, kitty," she said,
wai! Hello Kitty!
please tell me that was not a deliberate pun! ;)
It purred, and she petted it, trying to stand up
without it falling. Right as she got to her feet, the cat's
fur suddenly went up on end. It jumped off her shoulder
and ran out of sight. Rei looked a little disappointed.
i was going to make a sick joke about Rei gaining a
fondness for stroking cats but nawh. hey, i did sort
of make it anyway, didn't i? oops. my bad.
"We'll have to make you learn so we can have a
string quartet," Asuka said.
"That sounds kinky. You into that sorta thing,
Langley?"
"A string quartet is two violinists, a viola player,
and a cellist! Not some sort of perverted sex game!"
"Speaking as an expert on perverted sex games?"
BWAHAHAHAHAAA!!!
"Does that mean people who don't fight don't love
each other?" Rei asked Shinji. There was a hint of worry
in her voice.
ooh. this is priceless.
Rei and Shinji slowly drifted ahead of them as they
continued to argue, all the way to school. Well, whatever's
up with Rei, he thought, it doesn't seem to be a bad thing.
but it's not going to last! this didn't win the chickenball
for best darkfic for nothing u noe! AAAAAARGH!!!
Her sempai was late again, and Maya wondered if she
would even show up for work. The conversation she'd
eavesdropped on yesterday nagged at her, along with a dozen
questions nagging her about her sempai.
a prominent one would probably be: "Does she tend towards...
my kind of thing?"
The student council stared at each other. The dance
was coming up in a few days, but none of them had gotten
asked out. Something HAD to be done. They'd explored the
idea of a date lottery, but everyone was afraid of ending up
having to date some stupid.
... some stupid ?. incomplete sentence?
"Ummm...Oh look, I'm going to be late for dinner!
Bye!" She ran off, resolving to herself that she would get
Touji to be romantic or die trying.
in the context of this fic, not the best thought.
might attract unwelcome attention...
The way Langley explained it, all people dream but
only a rare few can reach the Dreamlands. For him to see
two other people from his school in the Dreamlands was an
incredible coincidence. It was kind of against the odds,
the way Asuka told it.
i suppose in fanfics, there is no such thing as coincidence.
another aspect of this elseworlds that closely follows the
original anime, with potential EVA pilot candidates being kept
closley together.
He continued staring at the group of monks as they
walked away, part of him wanting to give chase to confirm
what he'd seen, part of him (the majority part) deciding
that was a bad idea and to just go about his business.
for someone who is usually thought of as not the brightest
bulb in the batch, Toji has got remarkably good intuition
and instincts.
The light blush told Ritsuko everything. Maya
must've found herself a man. Lucky girl.
(covers face with hand) for the Greatest Scientist alive
in this elseworlds, Ritsuko sure can be really unobservant.
then again, cognitive dissonance with respect to love seems
to be a characteristic common to most of the EVA cast.
And suddenly she found that resolve melting like ice
in Hell.
"S-sir?"
Commander Ikari looked up from his desk.
"Speak," he merely said. It was terribly unnerving.
and everyone wonders where Rei gets it from.
"Look at the selection!" she cried to Hikari, waving
a hand to point out the lunchtime crowd. "Not a one worth
asking."
Not one worth asking.
To her credit, Asuka managed to keep her cool.
"Shinji?" she said dismissively. "He'd probably have a
heart attack and die if I asked him."
"C'mon, you said it yourself, sometimes he can be...
what were the words? 'Like steel', I think? Hmmm?"
oh ho. 'Like steel'? and i thought a mighty oak was
compliment enough!
Had anyone peered into the room at that moment, they
would have seen as rare a sight as Rei humming and smiling.
She cried.
the transition from past continous tense to past seems to
disrupt the flow of the scene.
suggest: 'She was crying.'?
He drew for his sword, but the monster roared
angrily and knocked it out of his grasp.
'drew for his sword'? methinks probably 'drew his sword' or
'reached for his sword' but the latter doesn't make sense b/c
if he hasn't drawn it, how is it going to be knocked out of
his grasp?
Desperately, he
slugged the creature right between the eyes, which, to his
astonishment, actually worked.
another good call from Toji the master of improvisation.
The last thing he saw as his vision faded to black
were two baleful eyes attached to a nondescript head and a
long neck, writhing above him. The creature's shape
morphed, shrank, shriveled and twisted until attached to the
end of that serpantine neck was a crazed, vicious human
face.
sp. serpentine
and suggest 'once serpentine neck' because the way it's
currently structured implies that Rei's neck is still
serpentine even after her transformation back to human shape.
"We met off and on since then," continued Maya.
"But I was really surprised when I found out she was with
NERV, and my boss too! It's neat how life works out, don't
you think?"
this is a HPL-esque world. things don't often work out
nicely. then again, Dream Quest is probably one of HPL's
most optimistic works.
Makoto smirked. Shigeru, buddy, you never had a
chance with'er. Well, at least she's happy.
ya know, the first time i read this, i forgot that
Shigeru was dead. upon re-reading and thinking about
it further, these short three lines had that much
more meaning.
//"Ibuki Maya, please report to the Commander's
office at once."//
when i read this, i just couldn't help it but think
of Kagami's 'Gendou, You Bastard!' AAAARGH!!! PHIL! IT'S
ALL YOUR FAULT FOR WRITING SOMETHING SO DAMNED FUNNY!!!
"Have you noticed anything unusual about Rei's behavior of
late?" Gendo asked, his eyes boring into Maya's skull.
Maya feel dead onto the floor even before she was able to
scream.
"You really have to stop doing that, you know," noted
Fuyutsuki as Gendo's eyes returned to his sockets.
Gendo nodded as he put his glasses back on and assumed
the Position. "Yes, we are running out of qualified staff."
feelings." She smiled a little. "Love brings out the best
in us all."
For just a moment, Gendo smiled. "Yes, it can. But
it sometimes makes monsters of us as well."
well, that really applies sooo well to Gendo.
"She has lost her balance. I hoped that this would
be good for her, but it is happening too fast, and she lacks
the experience to deal with it. A normal person could not
handle being in her position; for her, it must be much
worse." He frowned. "But she cannot be replaced yet. The
latest report from DAGON was more an obituary than a
progress report. Only two successes, and one is worthless
as a pilot, while the other is on its way to becoming
worthless in general and a threat besides."
hmmm. where is the first success? can two Reis exist
simultaneously?
"Unless?"
"It might be possible to summon her mother."
"Who wouldn't want to help."
so i assume Naoko has completed her transformation
into a Deep One and now dwells below the waves?
"If she knew the truth?" Gendo asked.
"Some people can see beyond the flesh," he said.
"But they're rare and precious, and I fear Maya is
still too young and superficial. We cannot count on her to
do it. A pity the Monteleone formula didn't work."
as events show, it seems that Fuyutsuki is right.
any implications for Gendo's plans then?
"A member of the student council, Mika, she went
into a coma last night."
"Aw, man. Anyone know why?"
She shook her head. "Can you come with me to the
hospital later? I don't wanna visit her alone... I don't
like hospitals."
"Yeah, I know the feeling."
Toji would definitely recognise Mika but there doesn't seem
to be any mention of the hospital visit later.
Idly, he wondered where Ayanami was.
"Shinji."
Shinji was surprised. It wasn't the normal
jump-out-of-his-skin surprised that Rei sometimes inspired,
but something else, something different, something new.
There was a softness to her voice that he'd never
heard before.
He turned to his side and saw her, a slight blush on
her cheeks as she stared shyly at the ground.
"Ayanami?"
"Ikari-kun.... I..."
"Ikari Shinji, Ayanami Rei, we're with NERV
Security."
The two children turned to the front gate to see a
dozen menacing men in black suits, watching them
dispassionately.
"Er, is there a-"
"Ayanami Rei is to report to NERV immediately, by
Commander Ikari's orders."
Rei looked up at them with widened eyes. "But I..."
"Commander Ikari's words were to report to base
immediately," the head man in black stated simply.
Rei looked down again, defeated, and accompanied
them through the gates.
ouch. this passage just broke my heart.
raw. powerful. emotional. with the most sparse expression.
excellent example of how character history, buildup and
context give simple words a huge resonance.
dammit. (covers face with hands) and to paraphrase Anand
Rao's 'His Only Begotten Son' - "Why can't they love each
other - even just for a little while?"
//"S... s'okay,"// Ritsuko replied, her voice
strangely hoarse, with a slight... gurgle to it. //"Need...
need a favor."//
"I'll do anything!" she blurted out eagerly.
i betcha ya would. ;)
She looked down at the large cooler-on-wheels that
contained the chemicals that Ritsuko had requested and
wondered what they were for. Maya had taken a look at a few
of them and was familiar with some. A few were extracts
from the angels NERV had defeated, others were conventional
liquids. A few were serums used to keep Ayanami stabalized.
sp. stabilized.
Shinji changed the channel. A giant purple dinosaur
rotated on a spit as small children in masks and grass
skirts danced around him.
this end to Barney is fitting in the context of a Cthulhu
elseworlds though i suppose it also recalls Lord of the Flies.
'Must write a haiku
But I think haiku are junk,
Green grass dies screaming'.
BWAHAHAHAHAAA!!!
"Yes." She sighed. "I'm bored. I wish Hikari
wasn't busy tonight."
oooh. Kinky.
"Well, you wanna do something?" Shinji asked. "I'm
kinda bored too."
at this point, lemon fic writers tend to have a field day.
Asuka thought a second. "Let's go to the dance. No
reason to let Touji and Hikari have fun while we're watching
the paint peel, right?"
thought (for) a second.
Instead, Maya had become her hands and eyes, working
as Ritsuko ordered. Her sempai's orders came quickly and
sharply, and Ritsuko showed very little patience on this
night.
as usual, taken completely out of context. kiiinky.
The tunes of Blue Monday, one of the hottest teen
bands in mid-2010s Japan blared through the junior high
gymnasium while various teachers stuck playing chaperones
tried not to gag.
while (the) various teachers... would be better flow?
while Kanzaki-sensei, one of the gym coaches, stood watch
over the punch and snack table to keep any fool (or any
teacher) from spiking it.
ah yes. who could forget our paedophile from the King in Yellow?
A blast of cool air rushed in as the gym doors
opened, and many people turned and looked. The music
changed to "Can't Stop Missing You", by the upcoming singer
Hagesawa Hayao.
oh, the singer with the perfect voice/aging mutation?
"We got more training to do, first. And they gotta
find the next one. I keep wondering how many of them are,
and if there's some boss monster we'll have to fight in the
end."
Hikari laughed. "Life is not a video game."
then again, stranger things have happened.
"Yeah? Tell that to the NERV guys. All I been
doin' so far is VR stuff. The guy with the glasses set up a
scenario where I got to simulate fighting Kooshiel
another marvellous variation for the Angel of Patheticness.
Commander Ikari interrupted his question, speaking
as he pulled down his cowl to make it clear to Touji who he
was speaking with. "Pilot, you are to make no further
inquiry in regards to the... monster you had been pursuing.
This is an order."
with regards to...?
As his gaze met hers, he saw within her red eyes
something moving. He found his gaze drawn in, as if he'd
somehow gained the ability of zoom lense vision. As his
focus was drawn into her eyes, he could see something within
them moving, spinning, turning. First one circle, then
another, and yet another, each one a layer, and with each
layer an intricate series of strange symbols and drawings,
seemingly endless circles within circles within circles, all
within the surface of her eyes.
oh, something like the graphic on the CoaEG webpage.
She did as her sempai asked, entering the grove of
trees. Ritsuko had her back turned to her, wearing a simple
white t-shirt and jean shorts.
short jeans/denim shorts?
Unseen by the world, hidden amongst the grove of
trees on a lonely beach, two lips met, and two lonely souls
found shelter in the storm of their lives, if only for a
fleeting moment.
well, at least Maya has found the courage and had the chance
to express how she feels.
And from around the corner emerged Rei, no emotion
on her face, no words from her mouth, just an eerily silent
walk.
is this meant to parallel Rei II's death in the original series?
All three of them would say later they seemed drawn
in by those eyes, those terribe beautiful eyes.
sp. terrible
overall, this feels like a particularly important and good
installment of the series. several threads are made explicit -
like the nature of Ritsuko's illness. characters are given some
impetus - Shinji x Asuka, Maya's feelings. Cthuga is arriving
soon. how long can the seal contain Rei? will she still feel
the same way about Shinji? why Shinji?
good links. particularly liked how smoothly each scene
transitioned into the next.
all the character interactions have been just been such a
pleasure: Maya-Gendo, Ritsuko-Maya, Shinji-Asuka (esp. when
Shinji was imitating Rei and the 'lonely' talk), Makoto-Maya.
probably the only one set of interactions which i didn't get
as much of a buzz from were the Touji-Hikari scenes. they
don't seem to ring as true...
the letter between Asuka and Anna are an effective medium
for conveying information as were the previous Himmelfarb-
Asuka letters. i assume Commander Ikari will be playing
voyeur to these letters as well. i dunno, given the general
sense of dread that parts of this series has given me, i
can't help but feel that Anna is going to meet a very nasty
end - at Asuka's hands or the new Rei's. going to screw
things up for the cast either way.
more on the tragedy that is Ayanami Rei. the two strands of
her character (as described at the chickenball awards) have
provided much dramatic tension, humour and now tragedy.
methinks Elsa Bibat's essay on why authors do terrible things
to characters is probably the best recent statement on how
tragedy can contribute to good story telling and i will not
go further into that other than to say - i felt very sad for
Rei but it was written in a such a way that i didn't feel let
down. in my previous c&cing of CoaEG, i had always assumed
that it would be Shinji who let Rei slip out of his grasp, but
it seems the order should be reversed.
despite being a Reihead myself, i can't agree with Jon's
recent post on this part - partly saying that Biles-sama
and Rod-sama have written Asuka as too perfect a character.
she's got flaws still and is endearingly vulnerable. and
the characterisation change to Asuka is intended, explicit
and written with an even hand. it's an elseworlds afterall.
about elseworlds, i think that's a major avenue for NGE
fanfic to move forward and try new and interesting things
since the internal logic of the NGE universe is very strong,
fics tend to get stuck in a rut. an elseworlds, properly
managed as CoaEG has done superlatively, is the perfect
antidote to that.
that's my two cents
EeL