Under Powered 5
Disclaimer: I hereby disclaim owning NGE or any other copyrighted stuff used.
The intense music of the pre-impact heavy metal group blaring from the speakers made it hard to hear the fairly loud German use the general greeting as she led her friends into the familiar yet not so entranceway where they all discarded their shoes until Asuka noticed a small sign.
Please note that although this is Japan, and that the custom is for shoes off in residences. Here it shall be different. Taking shoes off is purely optional, and no one will castigate you for it within this abode. A.D Hawklyn
Asuka grinned as the others took their shoes off and exclaimed, "Finally! I can wear shoes!"
Her exclamation brought confused stares That slowly turned to view the sign and slowly realization dawned upon them.
"So what Asuka-"
"Ah! I thought I heard some new voices out here." Came a voice, then a young man appeared, a soft pleased smile graced his features that further enticed them to feel at home in a metaphorical way. "You're just in time. Rei is currently sampling my large music collection-"
As he spoke, the sound level increased as Rammstein's "Reise Reise" temporarily drowned him out, and also managed to get Asuka to hum a few bars of the song, Causing Adley to smile as he noticed the redhead's enraptured state.
"Figured some German music wouldn't hurt… Anyways, Shinji, I guess your on kitchen duty, so I'll lead the rest of you to where the real fun is."
He turned as the rest of the group followed him…
…Into what could be described in what Kensuke termed an electronic heaven. On one wall, there was a huge HD plasma screen with shelving full of amplifiers, equalizers, and other strange things.
"Holy…." Asuka stared incredulously.
"…Kami…" Touji's jaw dropped on the floor.
"….sama." And Kensuka, well, he drooled.
All this was seen by Hawklyn who smirked at the facial reactions and simply offered the three a chance to sit. "Please, sit down, allow me first to introduce myself. I'm Adley Hawklyn, Pilot of Unit 05 and the seventh child… As for my wall of electronic gear, we shall be testing that out soon enough…"
The redhead cut Hawklyn off since the two stooges seemed to still be lacking speech, "Before these two get lost in this room Adley, let me introduce you to these two knuckleheads. The tall idiot is Touji and geekboy is Kensuke." The girl punched Touji in the arm, which helped immensely to jolt him out of his stupor.
"Ow! What was that for!" He glared at what he and Kensuke termed "the red menace" spitefully.
"To wake you up stooge!" Came the snide reply.
"So anyway…" Hawklyn's voice brought them all back to reality. "How familiar are you guys with computer or console games? Anyone up for Unreal 2010?"
Faces and bodies leaned forward eagerly, except of course, for Rei's. "Tell us more." was practically screamed from three of the five faces in the room.
Adley nodded slowly. "Ok, I can hook up things enough to where all of us could play… As for what type game, well, there's assault, onslaught, deathmatch—"
"Deathmatch!" Asuka grinned nearly maniacally at the thought of roasting these guys. Only thing wrong was there seemed to a smirk on Hawklyn's face.
"Wonderful choice Second… And to make things easier as far as future teams… Gals versus guys." Hawklyn finished as he started handing out controllers…
"Or," Asuka cut in after a second, "Pilots versus non pilots would be good."
Kensuke pushed his glasses up as he shook his head, "That would be still in your favor though. Rei here, you, Adley-san…"
"Assuming Rei wants to play," Asuka pointed out as Hawklyn tilted his head toward where Rei was seated. "Rei, what do you think?"
Ayanami remained silent for a moment, her face maintaining its usual expressionless mask while the others waited for her to answer. Asuka tried to simplify the concept for her a bit but Rei shook her head. "I understand the concept of a video game Pilot Sohryu. Aida-san has a good point however, we would have an unfair advantage."
At that Asuka frowned, her expression turning rather dour, growled at the bluehead's response even as she wasn't quite finished replying.
"I believe however, that the advantage may be nulled if we enlisted the major to help out."
Kensuke's brightened up at that, "Hey! Yeah, great idea Rei!"
"Misato, I wonder if you could help us out….."
Later…
"I can't believe you guys got me into this." Misato commented as she looked at the map of the current situation and directed her avatar to move accordingly. currently the score was tied up. this being the tiebreaker. Kensuke had been helping her to understand the game better, but still, she felt out of sync. Not used to a virtual battlefield as her avatar again got blown to pieces.
Half an hour later, the food was done and the meal commenced, with of course, the usual extra guests of Kaji and Akagi.
"So, Hawklyn, how do you like Japan?" Kaji asked before taking a bite of the excellent meal.
"Well, ask me later, like after a few weeks. Can't base opinion on just a day of experience after all, at least, in culture adaptation." Hawklyn replied in between bites of his food.
Muted sounds of agreement came from around the currently food focused table.
Marred by an occasional "This food's really good Shinji." compliment to the chef, or chefs.
"Thanks, that was fixed by Hikari-san though." Shinji deferred in honest modesty as he continued to eat his food, deliberately avoiding meeting anyone's face as he gazed at his plate in contemplation. Unmindful of the motions he went through for his autonomous food collection.
He sneaked a glance over at Asuka who was talking to Hikari about how she'd creamed his friends at a video game, yet from the way Kensuke rolled his eyes in frustration. Shinji suspected there was more to the actual story then his roommate let on.
While the German told Hikari what ocurred in the game, Touji and Kensuke detailed what they saw while they were playing with occasional comments from Hawklyn.
In essence, the deathmatch had been a tie since the Major had dropped out after the first few deathsz, not really understanding or completely grasping the game. Hawklyn praised the girls for their tenacity and forcefulness, which prompted a rather vicious response from Asuka.
However, throughout the discussion of the preceeding game, Shinji noticed that everyone had fun in the game, which he was happy for. As for his own mind…
…
He couldn't stop thinking of the weekend before, and the volcano incident. He remembered the pain of the lava as it burned the armor of his eva's skin, but that was secondary to his concern for Asuka. There was something about her that he just couldn't stand to lose. Her fiery sunset red hair with an equally volcanic temper, the will and determination she drove herself with. Those were traits he admired in her, and he had no compulsion to watch all of that which he admired be melted in a magmatic death, even with all the insults she piled onto his plate.
With all that, he still had fond feelings for the redhead, which he dare not reveal as to further incur her temperamental shell. At least, he assumed her vast temper was part of her shell, the view he'd been afforded of her inner person was priceless for him at least. He now knew that she also missed her mother and due to her random sleepwalking some nights, he'd come to conclude subconsciously that she was lonely and needed someone there for her. Then again, much of this thought didn't occur to Shinji on a conscious level.
…
At the same time, on the other side of the "buffer zone" of Misato and the Seventh at the other end of the table. Asuka was quietly turning things over in her mind about her roommate even though her conversation with Hikari was about the game she'd played against the stooges and the new pilot. Hoping on some insane level to impress the new pilot through her belittling of skills, which, if you ask anyone else present, didn't seem to make sense… Or was she actually trying to impress Shinji somehow? But he seemed to be off in Stoogeland, which only served to irritate the unit 2 pilot more as dinner came to a close.
…
As Hikari collected the empty plates, people sat back and relaxed, save for Rei.
Ayanami, the enigmatic first children. quiet yet purposeful in her means to whatever ends she pursues. However, tonight she was puzzled with all the various interactions going on around her. The usual rampant questions in her mind were along the lines of "How? What? Why?".
She was herself
She was Rei Ayanami II, Pilot of Evangelion 00. What was she beyond that though? What was her purpose beyond Eva? It was a disturbing notion in the back of her mind to see those around her with so much life and vibrance while she simply existed. That alone bothered her to some degree. but where it really grinded within her was the other day when she'd managed to see what Sohryu was doing on her laptop. She mentally snarled as the picture came to mind of the RoboRei Operating System Beta that Sohryu had had on her screen. That was really when the reality of the lack of her interpersonal skills began hitting her hard.
So hard in fact, her expressionless face had begun to show signs of stress tonight. Being seating by Sohryu and Hiraki was enlightening, but her fellow pilot made this tougher with her constant badgering of the bluehead. By the time dinner was finished, the normally statuesque albino was more then ready to kick Sohryu for her belittlements. Yet before, she scream out feeling against these injustices…
"Rei, its getting late, you should be getting home-"
"I'll walk her home Misato." Shinji quietly offered.
"I will be okay Ikari, Arigato."
…
Asuka glared at the First seething. Why must Shinji always walk Wondergirl home? She hadn't figured that out yet. In fact, it seemed to be one of those unexplainable things. She was tempted to go follow them, but with Hikari over, it was probably best that she give her friend some defense from the Stooges…
"HUH? HOW?" Not that it sounded like she needed much help from Touji's voice…
"So she beat you…"
Auska walked into the room as the Seventh finished his attempted placation.
"…Its not the end of the world." Adley looked up and greeted the redhead and offered her a controller, which she grabbed and took a seat beside Hikari.
"Danke Seventh." She looked at the large screen to ascertain the virtual situation…
By the time Shinji returned, Adley, Asuka and Hikari were tied at 50 kills apeice.
"Tiebreaker?" Adley quizzed the two girls and as he spotted an avator pass below him on his laptop screen, even as they nodded, he triggered his avatar's rocket launcher.
Asuka blinked as Hikari's health indicator was suddenly cut in half, watching as Hikari quickly moved her avatarial represenative out of sight and hopefully to safety.
"Auska, get this guy off me!"
"Gladly." The RedQueen moved to her friend's aid, finding and shooting the first thing that moved, which happened to be Class Domina, Hikari's avatar.
"Noooooo! Asuka! You killed me!" Hikari glared at Auska momentarily.
"Sorry Hikari, itchy trigger finger, thought you were the one I was- Ah!" The redhead moved her avatar into a doorway after she spotted Hawklyn's pawn and selected her minigun as she waited for the right time to strike.
A few seconds later….
"Dammit! you killed me…"
Asuka smirked at the darked haired new pilot. "Consider that repayment for your behavior this morning Seventh Child." She then stuck her nose in the air and finally noticed Shinji had returned out of the corner of her eye. Her expression shifted as she turned her head to study her roommate.
"So Shinji, wind up the doll's batteries?" This earned her a pained halfway embarrassed expression from the young man, who then turned and left with a simple "Goodnight."
The room was silent as Asuka gazed at the space where Shinji had been, her mind halfway stuck in between gears as she tried to process his departure.
"Hmmm, it is getting late, and we do have school tomorrow." Noted Adley, however, like the others, his eyes mostly gazed at Asuka.
"Grr, Alright, I'll go after him! See you atschool tomorrow Hikari."
The stooges and Hikari walked to the door where they slipped on their shoes, following Asuka partially except they were headed home.
000
Shinji stared up at his ceiling, listening to his usual music.
Why does she have to insinuate things regarding my actions toward Rei?
Maybe she's jealous?
Yeah right! As if! You've seen how she treats me, abuses me, insults me, teases me…
True.
And generally makes everything I do seem not enough for her. Yet there's times when she is truly sincere correct? Like when she truly smiles… Yes, her inner person. The reason I like her…
Love is the word I believe you'd rather use.
I-His internal conversation was broken by a loud slam of the front door followed by a second slam of the redhead's door. He sighed softly as he turned over in his bed. The thoughts on his mind centered on his exotic roommate.
"Asuka…"
000
The said female was simmering in her bedroom, laying face down on her bed as she fought a starting-to-be-all-too-familiar internal war with herself.
Stupid Shinji, just what does he see in that windup doll?
You say the pain in his eyes when you insulted the First. Its obvious-
Well, he shouldn't bend over backwards to help her! He should help me-
He DOES help you! But what do you repay him with? Insults and snide compliments.
B-but that's what he deserves! I don't need his wimpy attitude!
If that's true, then what was it you were feeling when you walked through the door?
That's none of your business!
Yes, it is my business, because I'm part of you. Admit it, he saved your life. You adore him for it. You like him.
No!She growled and turned out the light, settling into an uneasy sleep plagued by conflicting thoughts and ideas of Shinji.
(A/N: Yes, it did take me a while to write. Hope you enjoy. trying to smooth out the characters. Next is School for Hawklyn, can he get away with white turtleneck sweaters or not? How will his day at school go?)
