Intermission 1: Discussions
Dr. Hoshi sat at her desk shuffling through papers. She paused for a moment to take a quick glance at the door before returning her attention to the ever important papers that laid in front of her.
One particular folder was opened. This simple green folder was labeled 'First Child: Rei Ayanami' and next to that was a picture clipped of said child. The doctor reached over after neatly placing her other files in her draw and picked up this file and began to read.
"First Child: Rei Ayanami, past: confidential; mental status: unstable–like the rest of the Children..." Dr. Hoshi sighed and looked at the door again. Her face scrunched up in frustration. "Where the hell is that girl?"
There was a knock at the door right after Dr. Hoshi spoke and she looked back towards it. "Come in."
The door slide open and in walked the First Child. She stopped for a moment to survey the room then rested her eyes on Dr. Hoshi.
"You wanted to see me, Dr. Hoshi?"
"Hello to you to Rei." Dr. Hoshi reply. When Rei just stood there blinking at her she decided to get to the point. "Rei, I've called you in to ask you a couple of questions. Don't worry it'll be brief. I also have to talk to the other Children as well."
An uncomfortable silence passed between the two. Rei stood there, standing, waiting. Dr. Hoshi sat there, staring, waiting. Finally Dr. Hoshi began.
"First, I want you to take a seat." she gestured lazily at the seat across from her. Rei did as she was instructed. Dr. Hoshi searched through her draw and withdrew a recorder. "Okay, let's begin."
*********
"Okay!" Kaji announced, "Let's begin!"
"Are you sure this is a good idea, Kaji?" Misato asked. "I mean what kind of way is this to decide who gets stuck with the Children today?"
Kaji grinned at the object of his affection, "Why, my dear Misato, it's a great idea."
Misato rolled her eyes. "Its just...well...do you think the Commanders will actually come ?"
Before Kaji could answer her question, the door to the conveniently empty room opened and in skated the two Commanders. Yes, they were skating, for they are wearing roller blades.
I guess I should start from the beginning. You see the nice group of mature adults at NERV could not decide who should take the Children today, so good ol' Kaji came up with the idea of having a roller blade contest between the remaining candidates for the job. So now in this conveniently empty room was now set up like a roller blade arena and ready to be used.
I suppose your also wondering how Kaji manage to convince the commanders to such an idea.
{Flash: Commander Ikari's office}
Kaji and Misato enter the office.
"You wanted to see us, Commander Ikari?" Misato reported.
"Yes. Someone has to spend the day with the Children. Since Dr. Akagi has already taken her turn, it is now between the four of us." his eyes rolled in the direction of Fuyutsuki to show that he was not referring to himself in the 'we' sense.
"Okay." Kaji replied. "So whose going?"
"My foot hurts." Misato suddenly announced. "I can't do it."
Kaji looked at her and then held his back. "I slipped on the floor, I hurt my back."
Commander Ikari's eyes narrowed at the two. "Yes, I'm sure your problems are very severe, but I do not care. One of you will go today."
"Well, that's not very fair." Misato muttered. "Your in this just as much as we are."
"I will go when the time comes." Ikari said.
It was quiet for a while before Kaji said:
"Say why don't we hold a contest? It'll be fair that way."
Ikari glared. "No, you will just do it because I'm making you."
Misato thought quickly and blurted out. "I'm going on strike! This is unfair servitude!"
Fuyutsuki looked at Ikari. "We better do it before her mood swing kicks in. We don't want what happen yesterday to happen today."
Gendou sighed and nodded reluctantly. "Fine, I will agree to this contest."
Kaji grinned.
{Flash; back to the conveniently empty room}
The four candidates for torture were standing in a line behind a line. In front of them was Ritsuko who held a gun in one hand.
'I could kill them all right now and take over NERV.'
"Ritsu..." Misato started, "the bullets are blank."
Ritsuko stared at her friend in complete shock. "How did you...?"
"Oh, come on," Kaji added, in a tone saying that it should have been obvious. "You really think we can trust each other with each other lives in here."
"I suppose not."
Gendou cleared his throat. "Can we get this over with?"
"Oh, yes, of course." Misato and Kaji chorused.
Ritsuko held the gun over her head. "Ready....set....GO!" she shot the gun and they were off.
**********
"So, Rei, how does this make you feel?"
Rei continued to stare at the woman. "It makes me feel nothing."
"Okay. So how does being an Eva pilot make you feel? Do you feel like your better than other people?"
"No."
"Oh, how about special?"
"No."
"Do you have lots of friends?"
"No."
"How do your parents feel about this?"
"Dr. Hoshi, you know I do not have parents."
"Right...right, I forget that sometimes. Well, anyways, let's continue."
"Okay."
"Are you lonely?"
"Yes."
Dr. Hoshi blinked and looked at Rei for a moment. "You're lonely Rei?"
Rei looked off to the side. "No I am not, Dr. Hoshi."
"Oh, I thought you said yes for a moment. Anyways, let's discuss what happen yesterday."
"I simply took care of that creature because he had information he should have not possessed." Rei explained.
Dr. Hoshi stared at Rei at length. Then she looked off to the side, then back at Rei utterly confused. "What are you talking about? I want to know how the trip to the fair was."
"Then please disregard everything I just said."
"Ugh...right. So did you have fun?"
"No."
Rolling her eyes, Dr. Hoshi thought. 'Here we go with the 'no' again?' "So Rei, what didn't you like about the Fair?"
Rei looked down in thought. "It was....it was...."
"It was...?" Dr. Hoshi urged.
"It was...."
"Yes...."
"Too crowded."
Dr. Hoshi shook her head with a small smile on her face. "Fairs are like that, Rei."
"And not enjoyable in the least."
"Oh, really? Well, why do you think you didn't have fun?"
"I do not know how to have fun."
'Right, of course, sheltered childhood.' Dr. Hoshi replied in her mind.
"It also had the other Children behaving strangely."
'You kids are always behaving strangely.' "Rei, let's not get into the others, okay?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"So we're gonna have to end this so I can talk to the others, so I just have one more question: How was Dr. Akagi during the trip?"
Rei frowned and Dr. Hoshi noticed.
"Was she mean?"
"No." Rei answered.
"Oh, then what happened?"
There was a silence before Rei answered.
"Dr. Akagi has cats. I am allergic to cats."
***********
Misato bent over the unconscious Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki. Just behind her Commander Ikari was calmly and at length telling Kaji that if the old man was dead, he was gonna get it.
"Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki?" Misato called, she reached out and poked him in the side.
When the race started Kaji and Misato took off and both were neck and neck the whole race. Ikari didn't try so much, so he just went at a moderate pace. Now Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki's problem was that he didn't know how to roller blade and so he was all over the place. (Incase you were wondering Gendou helped Fuyutsuki to the arena.) So Fuyutsuki was lagging behind trying to keep himself balanced. He was thus far doing pretty well in keeping his balance till a suddenly happy Misato and Kaji, who were reliving childhood memories, zoomed by, grabbed the old man and dragged him with them. During one of the more sharper turns they both let go and sent Fuyutsuki on his way.
Now Gendou was minding his own business, hands behind his back as he skated on his way. That was till Fuyutsuki came zooming by screaming for his life. After contemplating whether he should save the old man or not Gendou made his decision, but in waiting it was too late and Fuyutsuki flipped over a rail and crashed to the ground. Not only did he probably hurt himself, but lost by default for stepping...or in his case flipping out of the assigned track area.
So we bring you back to the now, where Misato was leaning over the Sub-commander hoping she'd still have a job in the morning.
The old man's eyes open. Misato smiled. "Oh, great your alive!"
******
Dr. Hoshi stared at the annoyed Asuka and started the questioning.
"So Asuka, how does this make you feel?"
"This is annoying!" Asuka answered, glaring at the woman.
"Okay. How about being an Eva pilot. How does that make you feel? Do you feel better than other people."
"Yes." Asuka replied, grinning.
Dr. Hoshi was a little take back, but continued.
"Do you feel special?"
"If you mean in the good sense then yeah."
"Do you have a lot of friends?"
"I'm the most popular girl in school."
"How do your parents feel about this?"
Asuka shrugged. "The hell if I know."
"Then with friends I suppose you're not lonely."
"OF course not!"
Dr. Hoshi nodded and continued. "So let's talk about yesterday."
"He shouldn't have tried to hit on me!"
Dr. Hoshi found herself yet again confused. "What?"
Asuka smiled sheepishly. "Nothing."
"Oh, okay. Let's go on then."
"Fine...fine.."
"Did you have fun?"
Asuka thought about it. "Not really."
"Oh, what wasn't fun about it?"
"Umm...maybe because it sucked."
"I suppose that's a good enough reason." Dr. Hoshi smiled and looked at her watch. "Great, one more question and your free to go."
"Thank God." Asuka sighed. "This was getting annoying."
"Right. So how was Dr. Akagi during the trip?"
Asuka sat there and thought. After a minute of thinking she replied. "How the hell should I know!? She wasn't with us! She went off after saying some really corny things and I didn't see her till the angel alarms went off a little after four o'clock."
Dr. Hoshi shook her head. Asuka crossed her arms over her chest and grunted.
"Can I leave NOW!?"
******
Fuyutsuki was not a happy sub-commander. He was in fact not a happy man either. He almost felt like someone was plotting against him. Well, someone other than the people he knew were plotting against him.
"I don't see the logic in that rule." He growled. "I was technically forced out of the legal boundaries by two of my opponents, but yet I still get disqualified."
"Well..." Kaji began, a smirk making its way across his face. "There were never really any rules establish saying that your opponent COULDN'T force you out of the legal boundaries."
"But at the same time rules saying that the opponent COULD force you out were not established." The old man counter.
"Why establish rules for what you can do?" Misato asked. "Usually people say the 'can'ts' and leave out the 'cans'."
Fuyutsuki found himself getting angrier as the minutes past.
"And either way you'd be doing this." Kaji pointed out. "Might as get it over with and laugh at us when we have to do more ridicules things to decide who goes next."
Fuyutsuki thought on his logic and came to the conclusion that Kaji was right. He also came to relies that he could now tape the stupid things they did and have blackmail on them for later events.
'Ahh...I'm so smart I amaze myself sometimes.' Fuyutsuki thought with a small smile. "Okay, fine, just get them to cage nine by eleven." With that the now happy Sub-Commander set off to cage nine to wait for his job for the day to show up.
********
"How are you today, Shinji?" Dr. Hoshi asked.
Shinji fidgeted around in the leather chair for a minute before replying. "Oh, I'm fine, Dr. Hoshi."
Nodding, Dr. Hoshi continued. "That's good to hear. Well, I'm just gonna ask you a few questions. Nothing too hard, so don't worry."
Shinji took a nice deep breath and calmed down just a tad. 'Wow, I'm glad this will be easy.'
"Shinji, how does this make you feel?"
"How does what make me feel?"
"This, the situation."
"Oh. Well, I'm a little nervous."
"That's a bit normal I suppose. So how does being an Eva pilot make you feel? Do you feel better than other people?"
"Being an Eva pilot makes me feel like a tool and other people are better than me because they aren't me."
Dr. Hoshi raised an eyebrow and then looked down, jolted down some notes and continued.
"Do you feel special?"
Shinji sighed. "Yeah, but not in a good way. This special makes me feel out of the loop of the world."
'Wow, he seems to be willing to share today. Not like the other days where he's all quiet and sweating bullets.' "Okay, Shinji, do you have a lot of friends?"
Thinking hard on the question Shinji replied. "Well, there's Touji, Kensuke, Class Rep, some of the people at NERV, Misato, Kaji, Asuka, Rei. So I guess I have a lot of friends."
Dr. Hoshi nodded at his reply. "How do your parents feel about this?"
"Well, my father's obviously okay with it and my mom's soul is stuck in my Eva so I guess she's fine with it too."
Writing down something on her notepad that said -Believe's his dead mother is stuck in his Eva.-.
"So, Shinji, are you lonely?"
"Umm....no?"
Dr. Hoshi gave him a quizzical look. "You sound unsure of your answer."
Taking a deep breath Shinji answered. "No, I'm not lonely." 'Lying right through my teeth.'
"Right, so Shinji I'm going to ask some questions about yesterday, if that's okay with you."
"I wasn't the one that threw the stuff animals and got that NERV guy beat up, I swear!"
Dr. Hoshi stared impassively at him. "Should I ask or just write it off as a lapse in sanity?"
Shinji flushed in embarrassment and bowed his head. "Never mind, its nothing."
"Riiight..." came the reply. "So, did you have fun?"
"Yea, a little. Could have been a little bit better."
"Oh, yeah. That's nice at least someone had fun. So what could have been better?"
"Well..." Shinji started, looking thoughtfully at the roof. "I guess I just wish we had more time to do stuff, that angel alarm kind of cut off the remainder of the day–not that anyone wanted to go back or anything after that anyways."
"One more and you're outta here. Okay?"
"All right."
"How was Dr. Akagi during the trip?"
"Well at the beginning she really freaked me out, and then when we got to the fair she kinda vanished and we didn't see her till later when the alarms went off, so I really couldn't give you a good answer."
"I see...Well, Shinji you're free to go."
"Thanks Dr. Hoshi."
"No, thank you. Will you send in Touji on your way out?"
"No problem."
*******
Misato was making her way down the halls of NERV when suddenly Ritsuko stepped in her way from behind a door.
"Hey, Misato you remember when you started telling me that story about you and Rei's off day."
Misato's eyes shifted around the room before returning to Ritsuko. "Ugh...no."
"Oh, don't lie. I want you to finish it for me."
"NO!" Misato screamed. Holding her hands to her ears, she turned and ran back to the way she came with a eager Ritsuko following.
"Don't run, Major! I know my way around this whole place! I'll find you, I'll find you!
"But that's not nice!" Misato whined, hiding behind a door. "Your gonna laugh at me."
Ritsuko thought about assuring the distressed woman she wasn't going to laugh, but decided against it. She knew she was going to laugh.
"Oh, c'mon, Misato, you know deep down inside that it was a funny situation and when you look back on it, again, you'll laugh too."
"Dr. Akagi! I hate you!" Misato shouted. "And I'm gonna kill you too."
"You will not kill me! I'm your best friend!" Ritsuko countered.
"So...so I can kill my best friend!"
Ritsuko gave her a mock laugh. "I'd like to see...you...HEY!" ducking quickly, Ritsuko barely missed being hit by the bullets fired at her. "Watch where you aim. I'm out here."
Misato grinned, though Ritsuko could not see. "Oh, yea," she replied with sarcasm. "We wouldn't want to hit the great Dr. Akagi."
Ritsuko grumbled something and looked around for something. To her luck, she spotted the one thing that would have Misato talking in milliseconds.
"You'll be desperately wanting to tell me the rest of that story in a few seconds, Misato!" Ritsuko laughed and went after the object she so suddenly needed.
********
"HEY!" Touji exclaimed. "How ya doin', Dr. H?"
Sighing, Dr. Hoshi replied. "Touji, don't call me Dr. H."
"Oh, sorry."
"Its okay, just take a seat so we can get started."
Doing as he was told Touji sat down and grinned at her.
"Another private meeting." Touji suddenly said.
"Shut-up, Fourth."
"Okay."
"Now, answer the following questions honestly."
"Notta a problem."
"How does this situation make you feel?"
"I'm fine with it."
"How does being an Eva pilot make you feel? Does it make you feel better than others?"
Thinking hard, Touji replied. "Ugh...maybe a little, but I don't do much anyways."
"Do you feel special?"
Touji growled. "NO! I'm not special. I am not some stupid retard kid that goes 'duh' all the time, so don't call me that!"
Dr. Hoshi stared at Touji with wide eyes. "Ugh...okay...I never considered you such. I fine that you are very bright Touji."
"Oh...well, I don't glow either."
'Right, of course.' she thought.
"Do you have lots of friends?"
"I have enough." came the serious reply.
"How do your parents feel about you being an Eva pilot?"
"Well my dad's glad that its helpin' my lil sis, but my gramps is all flustered and gonna probably give himself a heart attack being worried all the darn time."
"Oh. Well, you're not lonely are you?"
"No. I've got the people closest to me, I'm all right."
"That's great to here, now let's talk about yesterday."
"Umm okay."
"Did you have fun?"
"Sort of."
"Oh, well, what could have made it funnier?"
"I just wish we would have rode on more rides, but I'm okay 'cause we did the Bumper cars."
"Last question, Touji. How was Dr. Akagi during the trip?"
"Oh, boy, I wouldn't have a clue. She was all annoyed when we met up with her at the Fair and after that she kinda of vanished and I saw her later at NERV during the angel emergency."
Writing some stuff down, Dr. Hoshi smiled at the young man. "That's all Touji, you're free."
"Say, are you free? I'm not doing anything till whenever."
Dr. Hoshi stared at Touji impassively. "Fourth Child?"
Touji sighed defeated and stopped her next comment with one of his own. "I know, I know, I'm gone."
********
The First, Second, and Third Children were making there way down the halls of NERV towards the cafeteria for breakfast.
Well actually, Rei was heading in that particular direction Asuka and Shinji were following her because they thought she was going to do some top secret thing and they wanted to find out what it was.
Rei just let them believe that's exactly what she was going to do.
"So, First?" Asuka began. "This top secret thing you're up to does it involve me?"
"No."
Asuka glared. "Well, why not!?"
"......"
"I don't think this is a nice time to fight." Shinji said.
Two pairs of eyes shifted in his direction. One was glaring, the other were staring with indifference. Shinji decided to leave it at that and moved on to the next subject.
"Hey, Ayanami, does this top secret plan of yours involve my father?"
Rei was about to reply when suddenly Shinji was snatched from view and pulled into a side door. Blinking Rei turned to Asuka, who was looking at her.
"Ugh...what just happen, Wondergirl?"
"I do not know."
"AHHHHHHHH!" came Shinji scream. "It smells in here!"
"Calm down, Shinji!" came another voice.
Rei and Asuka exchange glances again.
"Isn't that...?" Asuka started.
"Dr. Akagi." Rei answered.
"Dr. Akagi!?" Shinji unknowingly confirmed for the girls. "What are you doing?"
The door open and Shinji stumbled out handcuffed and clothes disarrayed. He looked at Rei and Asuka for help and only found confusion.
"Ikari, what happened?" Rei asked.
"I think Dr. Akagi is trying to take advantage of me." he replied with fear evident in his voice.
Asuka finally lost her state of confusion and shook her head. "Such a little idiot."
Dr. Akagi finally emerged from the room looking down at something in her hand. "Okay, Shinji, I'm just gonna use you to get something out of Misato, so don't worry, it'll be quick."
"WHAT!?" Asuka and Shinji cried.
Dr. Akagi looked up not because of the cry but because Asuka was one of the people to scream. "Oh, hello, Asuka." she turned her head slightly and nodded. "Rei?"
"Dr. Akagi." came the cool reply.
"Listen, ladies, this isn't happening." she continued.
"Yes it is." Shinji growled. "I'm telling someone!"
Asuka grinned. "That's gonna cost you Doctor."
"HEY!" Shinji shouted, glaring at Asuka. "You can't let her do this."
"Oh, don't be such a baby, Shinji." Ritsuko added. "I'm not gonna hurt you. Just use you as bait to get a real funny story out of Misato. I bet you'd all like to hear about it. Though some of you know about it already." her gaze turned to Rei.
The other two children followed her gaze.
"You seem to always be involved in stuff, First." Asuka pointed out. "Now tell us what you know!?"
"Oh, no, Misato will share everything now that I have her precious Shinji."
Shinji hung his head low.
"Now, c'mon, let's go find Misato before you guys have to leave."
They were getting ready to follow when Asuka stopped. "Wait, Wondergirl here was going to go do some secret stuff and we wanted to see what it was."
"Oh, yeah..." Shinji remembered. "I wanna see some secret stuff too."
They all turned to Rei.
"I do not believe having breakfast is really considered a secret." she explained.
Asuka growled and brought her fist up for Rei to see. "Oh, you were just gonna let us follow you too, huh? You tricked us into believing you were gonna do secret stuff. I hate you you know that?"
"I am quite of aware of your feelings towards me."
Before Asuka could continue ranting, Ritsuko cut in. "HEY! Really funny story, Misato, remember? Let's go!"
"FINE! We'll finish arguing later on when we have the time."
'Only Asuka would reschedule an argument." Shinji thought absently.
********
"Kaworu?" Dr. Hoshi started. "You ready?"
Still grinning like he had been for a few minutes now, Kaworu nodded. "Yes, I am, Dr. Hoshi."
"Okay, now tell me how this situation is making you feel?"
"OH, I'm quite all right with the situation."
"Right, so how about being an Eva Pilot? Does that make you feel that you are better than other people?"
"All people are the same when you truly look deep down. No one is really better."
'Little freak.' Dr. Hoshi thought, narrowing her eyes slightly. "Okay, so do you feel special?"
"I am very special, but not because I'm a pilot, but because I hold something dear to me and have to ability to use the light of my soul which only one person can do."
Blinking very rapidly, the doctor asked:
"The light of your soul? What's that? And who's this person you speak of?"
Kaworu, still grinning, answered. "All answers shall be revealed in due time. You shall see this person before you die and possibly like it."
'I doubt I'll like it.' Dr. Hoshi frowned. 'He's weird, I better end this before he gets me asking too many questions and making this meeting longer than necessary."
"So, Kaworu, do you have a lot of friends?"
"One cannot measure how many friends he has. A lot of friends to one person could mean only a few to others. I however consider that what I have is what I deserve and if this circle wants to get bigger then let it."
"I like that view on friends. Wish we could discuss it further, but we're running short on time. So how do your parents feel about you being an Eva pilot?"
"Well I do not truly know, for one I believe my father does not mine, but I haven't a clue with my mother for she was lost a while back."
"Ahh, I'm so sorry. None of you kids seem to have your mothers."
"Do not worry for she is in a safe place in my heart."
Smiling, she replied, "That's so sweet. Let's continue. Are you lonely?"
Kaworu's smile finally faded. "Everyone is alone. Many just don't acknowledge it and cover it with the relationship they have with people."
Choosing not to comment on that Dr. Hoshi moved on. "Okay let's talk about yesterday."
"Yesterday was most interesting." Kaworu explained, his grin returning.
"Oh, wow, that's great to hear. The others said they didn't have very much fun."
"Well, as far as the fair goes it wasn't much fun, but the events that transpire yesterday were interesting. I've learned that being the alpha male is something I shall strive to be now."
'Oh, great who influenced him. Probably the Fourth.'
"So Kaworu what could have made the Fair more fun?"
"Well, I've never been to a Fair, so I don't know all the things they have, I just wish we could have gotten on more rides."
"Oh all right. Last question. How was Dr. Akagi during the trip?"
"I really couldn't say. She wasn-
"Hanging around you guys?" she finished.
"Yes, exactly."
"Oh, well, thank you Kaworu, I really enjoyed talking to you."
Kaworu's grin widen. "The pleasure was all mine."
*******
"Misato I have your charges!" Ritsuko announce.
"Hey, now, you're not holding me against my will." Asuka pointed out.
"I figure the more I have the faster she'll come."
'I should have just continue on my way to the cafeteria.' Rei thought. 'I'm hungry.'
'I'm hungry!' Shinji whined in his head. 'I'm being used and abused, and no one is doing anything about it. This sucks.' Suddenly his eyes wandered over to Rei. 'I wondered...'
"Psst...hey Ayanami."
Rei's eyes looked in his direction. "Yes?"
"If you get me out of this, I'll pay you."
"I do not need your money."
"So? You can still have it."
"No."
"Okay...how about this then." He grinned evilly. "I'll tell them all your little secret."
Rei looked up in thought, when she returned her gaze to Shinji she asked. "Which one?"
Shinji face faulted. 'Geeze, does she have that many.' "How about the one where...ugh...yeah ya know that one about the tank and stuff."
"Shut-up!" Asuka cut in, glaring at the two of them. "Misato is hiding over there and if you two are talking all friendly like then she won't believe us to be in danger and I'll never hear this funny story Ritsuko is yapping about."
{Attention: Would all Eva pilots report to cage nine! Repeat: would all Eva pilots report to cage nine!}
"Shit!" Ritsuko cursed. She took off Shinji's handcuffs, "Go ahead, I forgot Sub-Commander was waiting for you."
"DAMN!" Asuka shouted. "We'll continue this.....yes...yes we will!"
And with that Ritsuko's chance of getting the story out of Misato was gone.
"You thought you had me!" Misato exclaimed, coming out of a room. "I just remember all I had to do was get rid of them! HA ha!"
Ritsuko's eyebrow twitch. "I hate her sometimes." she muttered.
-End Intermission One-