Been a while, hasn't it?
-Rod & John
Yes, it has. But still... Woohoo! Another installment! ^_^
i'll just start with some nitpicking:
"Well, Shinji's okay to work with. Langely's a
bossy loudmouth, but I gotta admit she can fight pretty
well. And Rei is..." He frowned. "Don't want to talk
about Rei."
after a 'Langely' free CoaEG 17, the curse of 'Langely' strikes
again!
"I understand you've had some problems with Asuka
Langely."
and again!
"Shaddap, Langeley!" Touji barked. "It ain't
funny!"
and a variation of it!
"Two of us are following Langely, Captain."
even the MiBs at it! Hmm. And it seems that they've demoted
Misato too. also...
"The constant exposure to LCL has heightened the
speed of their development," Ritsuko replied. She shifted
uncomfortably; Gendo had the only comfortable chair in the
office, though that wasn't the only reason for her
discomfort. "If it wasn't the only way to enable them to
control the ships, I'd recommend immediately ceasing any
contact with it."
Hmmm. There seems have been a change of Gendou's chair
policy since the start of this fic, as evidenced by the
quoted passage below.
Maya said, "He thinks Akagi-sama betrayed us?"
Doesn't Maya usually address Ritsuko as 'Sempai' or 'Akagi-
sempai' rather than '-sama'?
>From CoaEG 1: 'The Stars are Right'
"Well, that was easy," Gendo's second-in-command
said. The old man was sitting in his usual comfortable
chair, wondering why Gendo had kept the uncomfortable chair
for himself and let visitors have the nice one.
Ok. Now to non-nitpicky stuff.
Elsewhere in Tokyo-3, red eyes looked up to the
night sky, as if searching the stars for a sign.
"Ia R'lyeh. Cthulhu fhtagn," Rei whispered.
She frowned.
And the First Child shall frown and when She frowns, it is
Not a Good Thing. For that is the Harbinger for calamity, for
horror beyond time and space. Or maybe because she's getting
pissed off at Shinji being sweet on Kaiser Langley.
idly with the sock she had removed from that foot. "This
little piggy went to market, this little piggy stayed home,"
she began.
He listened in amusement, wondering if she was
finally going to actually get it right.
"And this little piggy had roast beef...no, that's
not it." Her childish face creased in frustration, and then
she tugged at her ear. "Ow."
err. wasn't she on the right track?
This little piggy went to market,
this little piggy stayed at home,
this little piggy had roast beef (Beware BSE!),
this little piggy had none,
and this little piggy went whee-whee-whee,
all the way home. (i think)
"I'm very busy these days trying to prevent humanity
being destroyed," he said, his voice rising in volume and
Wanted: Cold hearted bastard to plan salvation of the world from
Great Old Ones and Outer Gods. Ability to provide own son as
pilot/guinea pig will be looked on favourably.
hardening. "Fuyutsuki wouldn't call me if it wasn't
important." He began dressing with his back to her.
'Maybe ole Fuyutsuki just likes to interrupt my fun,' thought
Gendou later.
Food came by automated delivery; she'd tried crawling into
it once, but she couldn't fit. Her soaps soothed her
disquietude when they were on, but right now, there was
nothing worth watching.
And thus, the horrible truth of how the so-called liberal
democracies maintain control over their unwashed masses is
revealed...
"Well, part of the question is whether they evolved
naturally and simply represent species present elsewhere in
the universe, or whether someone created them using advanced
science, then put them on Earth for some reason. I just had
a sort of strange dream one night where the Angels were on
Earth because they were someone's abandoned pets they had to
get rid of because they moved somewhere they couldn't have
pets." She shook her head. "I told you it was silly."
'Remember, a Great Old One is for eons, not just Christmas.'
SPCGOO
"Ignorance is bliss. It wouldn't help anyway," said
Ritsuko. "In addition to the LCL, the EVA units were also
developed using genetic material from the Angel and from
humans. Assuming my mother's secret files are accurate, the
Angel was named 'Adam', and the Old Ones used it as a source
of genetic material to create servitor life forms. My
experiments give me reason to believe that there is a
genetic relationship between Adam and most life forms on
Earth, although from the records I've been able to pry into,
life originated on Earth before the Old Ones arrived.
However, I can definitely say that humanity has a strong
relationship to Sector 13's main resident."
Ohmigawd. Ubbo-Sathla the Unbegotten Source right at the
heart of NERV. Probably an Elder Thing as a 'guest' as well.
If it wasn't for that latter reference, I would have thought
that, on the off chance, the entity might have been Abhoth.
So, is NERV due for a massive outbreak of Shoggoths in future
parts?
"I don't know. A lot of things aren't recorded
where I can find them. Only Commander Ikari and Commander
Fuyutsuki know for sure that I know of. And perhaps some
members of the Security Council know--NERV was created at
the Security Council's command, after all."
Probably after being scared shitless by pple in the know,
like Gendou and maybe SEELE. There's also this intriguing
little reference in the UN steering committee meeting about
the Scimitar about the committee member's predecessors...
Asuka sighed and went back to the search index. So
far, she'd found so many bogus web sites with the key words
she had been using that she could hardly believe it. How
could so many people know about these things, and yet not
really know what they're talking about? It doesn't make any
sense, she thought. All these rock bands named things like
'Black Goat of the Woods' or 'Blind Apes of Truth'
Well, in the previous century, entities like Cthulhu and
the King in Yellow reached out to poets and artists? Nowadays,
rock and heavy metal bands as their equivalents. Hmm. Though
given some of the modern art i've seen, lots of art folk do
seem to have walked the streets of R'lyeh in their dreams. ;)
She took a look at the subheadings. 'A spell for
bringing about the resurrection of the body', 'meditations
on ghouls', 'collecting moonsilver', 'the Scimitar of
Barzai', 'Gorgo and Mormo', 'how to turn gold into lead' and
finally, 'Commentary on the elder prophecy of the rise of
the new gods of Earth, as shown in various textes'. She
decided to check that one out first.
Where does a girl get a good love spell these days?
Watching them all from the command center was
Misato, as well as the bridge crew. Only Fuyutsuki and
Gendo weren't present. //"Alright guys, we're gonna exercise
using those powers you gained killing those Angels. Touji,
you'll have the lightest job, since you've only got one to
work with.
Only one that Misato knows about anyway... he's been touched
by Yog-Sothoth. No small beer, that.
"I...I had a dream about flying. With my own wings.
traditionally in Freudian psycho-analysis, dreams about flying
actually correspond to sexual desire. then again, given what
happens at the end of this part, this comment isn't really
that funny...
"Old habits die hard, and old men fret," Fuyutsuki
said wearily. "Some nights I dream that when we come to the
Day of Return, we'll discover that we were doing the work of
the Audient Void all along, that our very striving is the
writing on the wall of the Blind Ape of Truth. He has never
lost before, that we know of."
Fuyutsuki really sounds like a sage in this passage.
Usually he's a skeptical voice, a foil and an assistant to
Gendou but in the culmination of the plot in this part, he
really comes into his own. Well done.
"In the end, everyone loses some time. And I intend
to make this time his time. If even Suzuhara could turn his
masters against him, I will not fear him."
Touji has just got the most incredible luck sometimes.
"Yes," she replied. "But she's dead. She was
assimilated into Unit00 during a test. Maybe it was her old
room, and he can't bear to change it?"
Unit00 instead of Unit01. hmm. i wonder how this will affect
how things turn out.
//"It is possible that she has betrayed us."// His
voice was grim. //"If so, it may prove difficult to
impossible to regain control of MAGI. Only she fully
understands its secrets...if anyone living does."//
well, Naoko is still alive.
"Rei, subdue it," Fuyutsuki said. "Whatever it is.
Everyone else, hurry up the stairs!"
Rei as attack hound. Yeow. i wouldn't want to be on her
bad side.
Touji yelped in shock, scrambling away as Rei
approached, then they all looked down into the darkness.
>From a distance they could hear the sounds of a struggle,
metal bending and flesh pounding upon flesh.
extra quote marks in the original text there.
Her stomach turned as she realized what Gendo must
have been doing with the clone. But how did he get one
without us noticing she was missing?,
this brings back memories about all those fics with mail-
order Rei clones.
"Dave? What are you doing, Dave?" the MAGI kept
repeating in unison.
Sorry, didn't get that reference.
When the smoke cleared, only the creature and Makoto
remained. It moved towards him, then fell back. When he
saw it reach for a gun, he ran for his life, crying for
shame.
Mental note: Indent Elder Sign medallions for security personnel.
And flashlights.
"He's probably dead as well, unfortunately," Ritsuko ]
said. "Almost certainly."
extra ] character there.
"You sure you're okay? Asuka isn't in there with
you, is she?" she teased, knowing Asuka couldn't be in
there.
like Touji's response to Fuyutsuki's joke, you never know...
She saw her backpack strewn on the floor, its
contents spilled out sloppily.
i don't think you could have a backpack 'strewn' on the floor.
it's used for multiple things scattered or spread about over a
surface.
"Blood calls to blood, yours sings to mine."
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"
ohmigawd.
And then I have to decide what to do about Gendo,
Fuyutsuki thought. And how to explain it.
"You couldn't afford to. We have to stand together
or hang separately," Gendo observed. "Yes, I made a big
mistake. I admit it. Can we move on to dealing with the
business at hand?" He paused. "And...thank you for making
sure I didn't stay that way."
"You're welcome," Fuyutsuki said. "We don't just
have an Angel to worry about, however."
where was Gendou? and what happened to him? how did Fuyutsuki
rescue him?
will this be incorporated for revelation in later parts of
CoaEG?
General comments overall:
this is one of those elseworlds/alt universes where i do sincerely
feel sorry for Asuka. Kaji's demise was somewhat less summary and
more meaningful than Aoba's death.
as i mentioned earlier, the development of Fuyutsuki's character
stands out in this chapter for me. no longer merely 'Sideshow Kozo'.
Yui was really interesting as well - her innonence and petulance
leading to corruption and death later was also very sad.
curious to see how Anna will fit into the scheme of things and how
the other Children will react to her. will she be able to help
Asuka? and will Asuka ever be able to work with Rei again?
Three (or four) Angels left.
Shudde M'ell next.
?
(? Ubbo-Sathla)
Cthulhu
this chapter was very very good. hitherto, my favourite chapter
was 'Fear and Loathing in Oklahoma' - but i think that this is
even more excellent - great mix of action, mythos development,
horror and tragedy. continues the dark vein of the story and also
has a sense of things coming together or secrets finally being
revealed. well done.
regards
e.l.toh