Part 13 - Rei Stands Up
[Insert Seinfeld theme song here.]
Rei Ayanami, in contrast to her usual haunts, was standing onstage at a small comedy club. She was wearing a black t-shirt with the phrase "Blue Humour" written in blue letters, a pair of jeans, light blue Converse sneakers, and a pair of dark blue wristbands. As soon as she took the mic, she began her routine, while also sporting, contrary to her usual swath of expressions, a smile on her face.
"There's a character type in fiction that I've got a soft spot for, and one that often gets shorted in science fiction. I'm talking about, of course, clones. Just look at the pop cultural landscape: Superman's got clones, Spider-Man's got clones, American Idol's got 'em, even Star Wars has a whole galaxy far, far away full of clones. And trust me, they do get shorted. A LOT. They're either soul-less puppets, evil twins, or just a new toy when the old one gets broken. You could say that in pop culture, because they usually fall under one of those cliches, clones can be a bit...superfluous."
*A few mild chuckles are heard among the audience.*
"Soap operas definitely have it worst, since every one you see on TV almost seems like it's a clone of another. I mean really, picture a couple of soap opera writers trying to avoid all the usual storylines, 'cause they've all been done before. Just imagine: [moves to one side of the mic stand] 'So whaddya think, dream sequence?' [shifts to the other side] 'Nah, too sleepy.' 'Okay, long-lost relative?' 'Nah, family tree gets too big.' 'All right...twin trouble?' 'No way, too redundant.'"
*A few small laughs erupt from the audience.*
"What I really want to see more of, personally? Clones doing nothing, living their own lives, having their own dreams. So what if they look exactly like their genetic donor, at least they have something else going on in their spare time. You know that Spider-Man clone I hinted at before? The guy actually did this. Dyed his hair, took off on the road, wound up getting a job in a coffeehouse. In other words, he went and became a hipster, before it was cool."
*A few more laughs erupt from the audience.*
"Now, don't even get me started on androids..."
END Part 13.
**Author's Note**
Finally came up with something decent as a 'middle' to this ongoing (for now) piece. NERV Gets Juiced took up a lot of my creativity, but I hopefully have something here that works. Tune in for the next series of drabbles to follow, starting with another one centering around the conversational minutiae of the Angels...