Meetings
Shinji was dreaming of an endless beach. White sand meeting blue water for as far as the eye could see. Cool breeze, hot sand. A ringing sound echoed across the landscape from time to time, but he ignored it.
That was the house phone. Misato, trying to ask him if he'd like to meet Asuka, who was finally conscious.
Though the best way to describe the Second Child's state might have been "livid".
-
It was astonishing from a medical standpoint. Considering the intravenous nutrition she had been getting for while unconscious, the Second Child shouldn't have had the calories stand. Or throw things. Or scream at the top of her lungs in a language none of the attending staff could understand.Giving her a uniform and some privacy was the only thing they could do to calm her down.
The hospital disgorged Asuka just as Misato was jogging up to the building. The girl was still drawn and pale, and she moved a little slower then she might have. But she was determined.
"Wo ist mein Evangelion?" the Second Child asked after Lt. Katsuragi had identified herself.
Where is my Evangelion?
-
It had also been the most difficult part of the Eva project, and everyone associated with it knew that. After the prototype and test type had been created in Arkham shelter, the satellite NERV installations around the globe had begun the long process of assembling Production Type models. Germany had completed theirs some time ago, and for a long time sat around and wondered how exactly they were going to get it to NERV HQ. After listening to two months of unfeasible solutions, Ikari had told them to walk it over. He hadn't said it all that loudly, but it ended the discussion.
So Unit Two had submerged in the Atlantic, and spent three weeks running as well as it could along the ocean floor. Several of Unit Two's major organs had been removed to accommodate food and LCL stores for the pilot. Ritsuko had described it as being "a pretty gruesome hack," then gone into a startlingly vivid description of a variety of complicated and exhausting tortures she would like to put the German Technical Director through. Since it fell to her department to repair the mangled thing to phenotype-spec.
The most stupefying thing was that it had worked.
-
Thirty minutes later the Lieutenant and Second Child were below Central Dogma, standing in Unit Two's hangar. The Evangelion was suspended by a complex apparatus that hooked into the recess in its armor at the shoulders, where the utility harness usually went. The chest plating had been removed or cut away to reveal the dark purple core beneath. A walkway extended into the bloodless wound, ending with a good view of the ruptured S2 organ, which approximated the Eva's heart.
Asuka made small moaning sounds as they entered the chamber. Seemed to be whispering reassurances to her Eva in German. The Second Child insisted that they walk into the chest cavity, where various technicians under the supervision of Maya Ibuki were debating whether to grow a new organ or try to salvage what they had. As they entered, Asuka caressed the hard muscle of the Eva's abdominal wall, and then ran a hand across the smooth lining of its stomach sac. The sight made Misato's own stomach turn uncomfortably.
After surveying the S2 organ, which had been smashed when the Eva impacted aboveground, Asuka started asking the engineers questions through Misato. The Second Child had questions about the status of at least thirty different components. The engineers were at first bemused, then flustered. Most made vague excuses and fled before the Second Child's focused technical inquiry.
Maya Ibuki, young protégée to Dr. Akagi, was the only one that managed to stand her ground. Only after Asuka seemed satisfied that her Eva was in capable hands did she let Misato lead her to the Commander's office.
-
Located in the uppermost levels of the management building, the Commander's office was huge in a way that shocked many visiting officials into stunned silence. In a world of cramped hallways and coffin-like housing, the entire Geo-Front was a bit breathtaking, but the Commander's office seemed to defy economy for the fun of it.
Some people thought Gendou Ikari was the most powerful man on Earth. There was little doubt in Misato's mind that his office figured largely into that belief.
Light filtered in through the windows that lined the perimeter of the massive chamber. The only other light source was a small lamp on Ikari's desk.
Asuka looked around the room with more wonder then she had spared the Middle Sector. After the long walk from entryway to desk, crafted to intimidate, Asuka saluted and recited her report to the Commander and his second, an eldery man named Kozo Fuyutsuki.
Naturally, neither of them knew German.
-
When the great mahogany doors closed behind them, Misato wanted to curl into a small ball and die. She knew German, she knew Nipponese, but it was becoming very apparent to her that there was more to being a translator then just that knowledge. At least it hadn't been a very dynamic conversation. Dr. Fuyutsuki, Ikari's second, had made a few polite inquiries about Asuka's trip. Had she seen any of the sunken cities? and so forth, and was particularly interested if she had experienced any auditory hallucinations. The girl had looked troubled at that, but had replied, in a way Misato read as uncertain, that she hadn't.
The conversation had lasted for what seemed like hours. The stress of being a translator had never been this bad in the tactical simulations! Misato withdrew a small box from her pocket and slipped a pill from it under her tongue. Her head throbbed painfully.
Asuka had outpaced Lt. Katsuragi in exiting the office. The older woman found the Second Child in the lobby on the first floor. In a wheelchair. She must have found it in a service closet on the way down.
Misato hurried over to her, not sure what to make of this. The girl was limp, her skin clammy. She shrugged away at the Lieutenants touch, and muttered "Bitte konnten Sie mich drücken?" Would you push me, please?
Then the Second Child fainted.
-
Misato took Asuka outside the management office. Headed for the hospital.
All that time. All that effort. Staying strong until she knew her Eva was safe and had a chance to report in. It was unreal. Wasteful. Brave and stupid, all at the same time.
The Lieutenant called the hospital.
"Yes?!" came a yell on the other end.
"I've got the Second Child here, she's just fainted, what do I do?" Misato talked face to shoulder, steering the wheelchair at the same time.
From the other end of the line came the sounds of a party. Someone doing karaoke, badly. The voice on the other end was screaming at them to shut up. After a few seconds, the voice came back, much more professional this time.
"Do her pupils respond to light?"
"I don't have a penlight, I'm out in the source!"
"Well, just cup your hand over an eye, that should be enough."
Misato stopped and did just that. The girl's pupil dilated.
"They're responding," the Lieutenant reported.
"Oh, then she's fine." The other voice sounded confident. "She's just running on empty. You should get her to drink some soup. She hasn't had anything solid in almost a month." In the background, the sound of music and laughter seemed to hesitantly increase.
"I think she needs to go back to the hospital." Misato said. "Its like she's gone completely limp."
The voice had an edge on it this time. "Yes, that's what people do when they go to sleep. Her system is exhausted. You need to get some soup at the refactory, or make some from an l-ration."
Misato stopped, trying to figure where she was. Halfway between her apartment and the hospital. The nearest cafeteria was… dammit!
"I'm closer to you, I'm heading your way," she shouted into the phone.
She was about to snap it closed when "Oh no you won't!" screeched at her.
She almost crushed the phone against her ear and started talking in hushed tones. She identified her rank, and what she was going to do when she found out whom this miserable little shit was. The voice cut off and was replaced by another.
"Bring her by, we'll give you something."
-
One portable IV stand, bag, and incision later, the Second Child opened her eyes.
"Dieser verfluchte platz wieder," she murmured. This damn place again.
The doctors and nurses were not particularly happy to see Asuka or Misato. One of them took the Lieutenant aside and explained things.
"She threatened a nurse," the older man began.
"What?"
"When she woke up, for a while she was fine, but we couldn't understand what she was saying, so we called you. While you were en route, she pushed one of the nurses back and threatened her with an instrument tray…" the man said the last somewhat lamely.
"That's it? You've reported worse from her while she was unconscious."
"Well, we've been briefed on her situation, and we are sympathetic… to a certain point. But listen, I've got a mammographist who has had a headache for three days. That girl destroyed an instrument tray bludgeoning her with it. We need to perform a CAT scan on the injury she caused, but someone fucked up downstairs and we don't have an OS." Now he was getting mad.
"We understand the effects isolation can have on a mind, three weeks in one of those things must have been awful. We can also appreciate duty and dedication, but we have had it. WE need time to recuperate, the Second Child just needs some sugars."
-
In something of a daze, Misato left the hospital pushing Asuka. They had transferred her to a better wheelchair, which supported the IV drip without an additional stand. As she walked, the Lieutenant called Dr. Akagi. Aside from updating the status of the Second Child, she needed to vent.
Unfortunate.
"The subtext goes UNDER the title!" Ritsu greeted her agreeably. "Break it down! SUB- below, under, beneath; TEXT-words of speech appearing in print. SUBTEXT! I don't even want to open this report, Misato, there have to be at least three errors on the coversheet alon" Misato snapped the phone shut.
God. Dammit.
The Second Child was supposed to get the option to live separately… but that just wasn't viable. As Misato backed Asuka into the apartment, all the negative scenarios this arrangement could produce flashed through her mind. For Shinji this was necessary, but… Misato wasn't sure the two Children should be under the same roof.
Asuka safely deposited in the bedroom adjacent to Misato's, the Lieutenant went to check up on Shinji. The boy's door was closed, and upon opening it the Third Child woke up.
Screaming.
"Sorry, sorry! Just checking up on you," she stammered out, squelching the automatic impulse to retreat. The boy looked at her blearily, then drilled back under the covers.
Sleeping seemed like a good idea. Misato was still running on empty after finishing that UN Report. She'd only managed a thirty minute nap after coming home with Shinji. Then the hospital had called and related their immediate need for someone who spoke German.
The Lieutenant was nearly to her room when the telephone rang. Dr. Akagi wanted to chat about that report some more.
As she trudged out of the apartment, Misato wondered if she should have mentioned Asuka to Shinji. A mental shrug. He'd probably still be asleep when she got back.
-
Dammit, he couldn't get back to sleep!
Shinji had heard Misato's phone chirrup, listened to her muffled voice, and then the swoosh of a closing door. He lay still for a few minutes, hoping that delicious weariness would wash over him again. It didn't.
Rolling onto his back, Shinji stared at the ceiling, listened to the hum of the air recirculator. Faint memories of a beach and ocean playing through his head. A real nightmare. Being above ground, not having anything solid overhead. A terrifying sense of infinity.
His stomach growled.
Shinji hadn't eaten since the hospital. Now he was ravenous.
-
Interesting, Shinji thought as he picked through Lt. Katsuragi's pantry. The Lieutenant had actual food in her house.
Just as well, Shinji had no idea where the nearest refactory was.
Very interesting… he started taking inventory.
-
Asuka Langley Sohryu, whose lunatic bitchery had inspired several pantomimes at a certain hospital karaoke party, awoke to the sound of humming, and the smell of something awful.
"…aoi kaze ga ima, mune no doa wo tataite mo, watashi dake wo tada…" came a soft, preoccupied voice. "mitsumete, hohoende'ru anata, sotto fureru mono…" and then humming again.
-
Since he didn't have any sake, Shinji used some liquor he had found on the top shelf of the pantry. Looked like celebratory whiskey. Shinji doubted Misato would miss a bit.
Humming to himself while he let the rice steam, Shinji stared out into the Middle Sector, and again felt hypnotized. The whole Geo-Front was amazing. The space, the resources, the living place they had created and somehow managed to maintain for nearly fifteen years… For a moment his experience in Unit One was forgotten, and he started believing what Misato had said. A world on the edge of rebirth? Not so hard to believe, in this place.
Almost happy, he hummed and sang a gentle tune. The egg timer went off, he uncovered the rice and added the liquor, the salt, the sugar. Maybe it wouldn't be that bad. He would have to do it one way or another, doing it willingly had to be less painful then resisting. Maybe he could even make some friends here.
There was a swish, and a door opened behind him.
"Oh Lieutenant, I thou…" oh. Not Lt. Katsuragi.
"Wo ist Katsuragi?" the Second Child asked.
"She's… um…," the girl had definitely said the Lieutenant's name. "I'm sorry? Why are you here?" Shinji was at something of a loss.
"Ich spreche Nihongo." The girl stalked the room parallel to Shinji. "You do speak Nipponese, yes?"
"Uh, yeah." The boy responded. Her accent was awful, but he could understand her. "Katsuragi… the Lieutenant is not here. I don't know where she is."
The girl shuffled over to the table and sat.
"So, she took me home? I'm not a pet." The girl seemed to be speaking to herself.
"I know how you feel, I don't really want to be here myself." Shinji replied, not yet sure if he wanted this conversation or not.
"What, are you her boyfriend or something?"
Shinji took the rice off the stove, started mashing it. "Uh… no."
"Oh… brother?"
He set the white paste down, started arraying the kelp. "No… she says I have to stay here because I don't know my way around. I… dislike it."
This wasn't going to work, dammit. No sutare, and kelp was a poor substitute for nori. Shinji started going through the foodstuffs again.
"I think this is temporary," the girl was saying. "I'm too valuable for them to stuff in like just another sardine."
Shinji glanced at her. "What's wrong with being a sardine, exactly?" Was she being sarcastic or arrogant?
"I pilot Eva," the girl said confidently. "I deserve better."
A nervous tic appeared on Shinji's face.
"Oh, I hear it isn't that hard," he responded casually. Where did her entitlement come from? Was piloting really that awful?
"Not hard?!" the clatter of a chair on the floor, Shinji didn't dare turn. "You know nothing! It takes years of training!"
That had an unpleasant ring of truth to it.
"Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to make you angry," he took his head out of the pantry. Dammit, kelp it was. "Just something I heard someone say."
Rice was done. He started spreading out the kelp again.
"What are you doing, anyway?" came the voice behind him. "Smells acrid."
"Sushi." The boy responded. "I can't really make it here, but decided to try."
"…can I have some?" Shinji knew that voice. The young children back at his old shelter had gathered at the entrance of the refactory between meals had used that same tone. No, we really don't want what you have, but we're hungry!
"Sure… just be a minute."
-
Horseradish instead of wasabi, kelp instead of nori seaweed, white vinegar instead of wine, whiskey instead of sake… the sushi should have been terrible. Meat and fish paste from a k-ration were not the choice ingredients of a discerning sushi chef. Shinji served his bastardized product anyway. A glass of water, a cigarette tray with some old soy sauce in it, and the Second Child was set.
Shinji retired to a distance he hoped was safe.
Asuka ate. Wolfishly. Shinji had given them both four futomaki each, and was halfway through his first when she asked for more.
"I can't. I used up all the rice." He started chewing the sushi. Interesting...
"Well, then give me yours."
Shinji swallowed, popped another sushi into his mouth; opted for a diversionary tactic. "What's it like piloting Eva?" he asked.
"I want more of what you are eating."
He gave her one of his two remaining futomaki.
"What do you think it's like? There's really no way to describe it," the girl said as she ate. "It's… why are you here again? Are you the Lieutenants live-in cook or does she just like little boys?"
"What? No! It's not l" And then he saw it. The hint of a grin at one corner of her mouth.
She was toying with him. How long had it taken her to figure it out?
They made eye contact briefly.
"That bottle, bring it over here," Asuka said, her voice now… different. She was talking about the whiskey he had left on the countertop.
"No… let me make you something else." A slight grin. This wasn't… so bad. "What would you like?"
-
Misato had now gone twenty-five hours without sleep. In addition to being totally exhausted after finishing the first draft of that evil fucking report, arguing with Shinji, and then acting as the Second Child's personal assistant, she now wanted to kill Ritsuko Akagi, her best friend. With a baseball bat. Or a recoiless hammer. The Lieutenant wasn't feeling picky.
That woman. Was. Impossible! Three hundred and seventy corrections in a forty-two page paper. And then fifty-three corrections to the draft after that! No one in the UN paid much attention to the official report anyway, goddammit!
And on the way out, dear Ritsu had added "And feed my cats."
The claw marks on Misato's right hand throbbed.
She stumbled through the apartment door. Saw Shinji out on the balcony, staring at the Middle Sector. Asuka was fiddling with a video game console Misato hadn't touched in nearly five years. That familiar organic breeze blew in from the balcony, rolled over the weary Lieutenant.
This was the new normal. These kids. Living with people. Sharing her life. It was scary.
It was very much like coming home.