Observers: A study of the beings known as Children
Chapter One: A Boy and His Room
By Shinagami
17:38:20 Subject One (Third Child) alone in room.
It would seem from simply observing this specimen for the past seventeen hours that he is perfectly capable of handling vast amounts of time alone. I can see no instability of his emotions or adding unknown variables easily changes his general well being, however, that. Thus, cause and effect.
***
Shinji never really knew he was being abducted, as he was still sound asleep at such an early time in the morning. When he woke in the new surroundings his first thought was that he was somewhere unfamiliar, and that Nerv was probably behind it. So he sat for hours on end, taking the advantage of the peace and quiet to immerse himself in deep in thought. He stumbled upon a quite intriguing thought as he sat propped against the wall of his unfurnished cell.
-Nothing is ever my fault. - He pushed himself into a more upright position at this revelation. -I merely am acting on what others have done before me, making me do what I do. Father manipulates me and everyone at Nerv; he gives me such a small area to work with when considering options that he has a scenario planned out for every last possible occurrence! - He couldn't help but to smirk at what he had just figured out. His father had carefully done things ahead of time so that he would know exactly how each person of Nerv would react, and ultimately get him to where he wanted to be. The Third Child's head snapped up at the sound of a small clinking. There, in the very center of the room, a ballpoint pen had fallen and landed.
"Huh?" Shinji took a second to peek up at the ceiling, by chance that there may be an exit, but it was still the perfect light blue plane it had always been. Carefully the boy stood and walked over to the pen. He'd heard of people stuffing explosives into all sorts of odd things, and was in no hurry to have his hand blown off. Sifting through his possible options, from just picking the pen up, to nudging it with his foot, Shinji thought of what to do. Could this be one of those pre-planned things? The boy wasn't going to give his father the satisfaction of predicting the outcome if it was. That said the young Ikari fished a coin from his pocket and, retreating to the far end of the room, tossed it at the pen, where it hit and scooted the writing utensil to the far corner.
"Uh....That's good, I guess." It didn't blow up, which was at least a good premonition. Deciding to further investigate the pen Shinji Ikari walked to the opposing corner of his cell and picked it up. There were lettering on the side, an alphabet he recognized as English.
BIC
It said. With a shrug Shinji popped the cap off and shook it. Nothing. Then, with an almost involuntary twitch of his eye he noticed he had six planes of light blue walls.... paper....and a lovely new pen.
***
17:45:35 Third Child investigates unknown variable: begins to experiment.
From just watching the events unfold I know that the Third Child is a very unique, very complicated human being. He has the cautious curiosity that is seen in most genius' that invented the modern day conveniences. This will prove to be a most interesting seventy-two hours.
***
Without really thinking about it Shinji began drawing. Let it be known that he wasn't the best artist around, but he made some fairly decent sketches of Tokyo-3 and even the oceans he saw while on the Over the Rainbow. As his pen wandered so did his mind, taking him to the subconscious places only peaceful distractions can guide oneself. He began thinking of his life thus far, with little inhibitions such as bias or negativity. Just plain objective comparison of how he wanted life, and how life really was. Eventually the list became so long that the younger Ikari had to temporarily abandon his slightly skewed Mona Lisa to write it down. Once this task was completed Shinji was sure that he could make his dream become reality, all he had to do was employ the same tactics his father had, and he got whatever he wished for.
"But why does he wish for me to be in pain?" This was the main question Shinji wished he had the gall to just ask his father. He mulled over it for a while, until finally growling and scribbling it down. After he looked at the hastily written kanji for a good while he sighed in defeat.
"I could never answer that one on my own." He said, slumping to the floor. From his father his thoughts drifted to the blue-haired enigma that was known as Ayanami Rei. She had once said that she had no life, no purpose outside of Eva. He wanted to explain to her that her mere existence and the fact that she was around him to make him feel that little bit of hope, that small ounce of wonderment that kept him sane sometimes was a good enough reason to live. Yet she was adamant that she was useless outside of piloting her Eva. Her Eva: Unit 00, the prototype. It had one giant eye that seemed to appraise its enemies and give a deep thoughtful look at the same time. The first time he'd gone into combat with it was one of the scariest days of his life, not knowing if he had the strength to defeat the angel, or even knowing if Ayanami was still alive after that beam had hit her Eva dead on.
Blinking in surprise Shinji realized that he had a five foot tall Evangelion drawn on the floor, albeit with disproportional arms and a head just a tad too small, but it was there. The sight of that insectoid creature that was the prototype Evangelion somehow reminded Shinji of the grin Rei had given the boy at his request. Shinji had that one moment locked in his memory, never to forget it. A few minutes later the same image, down to the stray hairs on her head, was recreated next to the Eva. Eva....another one of his concerns was obsessed about Eva, this time it was a whole different personality, a whole new reason to clasp onto that nuisance that Eva was. Asuka Langley Sohryu; Second Children. She was one of the few people that Shinji could relate with, even if he or she didn't know it. Her red Evangelion matched her fiery spirit perfectly, he concluded. The more he thought about it the more he realized that Asuka was someone he'd like to get to know better, someone he would like to talk to and share his feelings with. With a few strokes of his pen the four-eyed beast came alive next to the calm calculating Unit 00. From his memories Shinji pulled his fondest image of Asuka, when she was smiling, carefree and uninhibited. It too took life next to Eva Unit 02's face.
In reality all that was left was for him to draw Unit 01 and a self image of himself, but Shinji didn't feel like bringing that monster to life inside his little world. All his Eva had brought him was pain, mystery, and a yearning to prove himself. He felt he had to prove himself to his father when he first agree to pilot the thing. Of course, saving the injured girl's life was the deciding factor, he told himself, but it was always there, that burning desire to show his father that he was worth something, not just a child to be abandoned. He had climbed into the beast and fought another monster building size for what? To save a few building called Tokyo-3, for which he'd been in for three hours at best? No, it was more than that. It was Shinji Ikari showing Gendo Ikari that his son could do whatever he told him to. And that was exactly what Gendo wanted. Shinji let his need for acceptance blind him to what his father was doing. In a moment of hastiness, Shinji ripped the top off the pen and drew the grinning demon face of the robot called Unit 01, and next to it the dark faced visage of the cold machine called Commander Gendo Ikari.
***
18:01:32 Third Child has created many images along the walls and floor associating himself with the organization Nerv and the Artificial Human Fighting Android Evangelion.
I can see just from the pictures the young Children had drawn that there are many unresolved issues he has yet to take care of, such as his feeling toward piloting his robot, his co-workers, and his own father, as proven by the drawing of each robot and its pilot, save for his own. In place of his own self there is a picture of his father, obviously a testament to him not coming to terms with him.
***
With his moment of introspective done, Shinji sat back and examined his world. He considered it his world because, after all, he did create most of it from nothing but ink. And since it was his world to govern that meant he would have to be the responsible leader and give it a name. 'Retrospectville' He decided. With a small sigh he took up his pen and, with the last remaining ink, drew a big banner with his world's name written neatly in the center of it. As he worked some small part of his brain noted he must be delirious with either loneliness or hunger; and was quickly silenced by the part wishing for quiet so it could draw the banner. Just to be sure he knew his denizens would recognize him, he needed a crown. With no coronet conveniently around he pulled the waist of his shorts down and with a few shifts and hopping around, pulled of his underwear. Snapping the elastic experimentally he shrugged and drew the boxers over his head in a rather hasty crown. Now, he could sleep.
Continued...