+++++ NERV. (Sunday, August 29th, +8, Last Quarter 3/4)

Watching Kyoko carefully probing Shinji's muscles and bones for damage on an enormous monitor in the Commander's office, Misato finished briefing Yui regarding what had been done to stop Shinji from leaving. "In retrospect I should have done more to prevent Doctor Akagi from leaving with him in the first place."

Yui knew Misato was hiding things. "I would not have asked that violence be used to detain him, especially against your friend. That the good doctor has a key to your apartment speaks to your relationship well enough, and so long as she wasn't whisking him off to throw him in the ocean you did the correct thing in following along to NERV. You performed your duty, Captain. I have no doubt that what happened in her lab would have happened wherever he had been."

"Thank you, ma'am. I am grateful that his injuries were not more significant." The ice she was on was thin, and despite how pissed off she was at her friend at the moment, anger would not be useful in gaining the information she needed. "Will I be given a briefing regarding what happened, once the AAR is submitted?"

"It will be compartmentalized, but you will be given access." Taking her eyes off her son, she speared Misato with a glance. "Am I to assume that you…refrained from alleviating his condition?"

Misato's hand itched. "That question does not fall within appropriate workplace boundaries, ma'am."

"Hmm, noted." Letting her eyes drift back to her son's exam, she dismissed her subordinate, "I will make sure that your objection to any participation in repopulation programs is documented for Sub-Commander Zeppelin. You may take the rest of the day off, if you wish."

Strangling back an expletive, she tried a different approach, "That's not-"

"That will be all, Captain, thank you."

"Ma'am you can't just-"

"Yes, actually, I can." Turning her head slowly, her eyes filled with absolute confidence, she sat back in her chair. "What we are facing is going to require nothing short of absolute dedication from all of us. I can, and I will, ensure that my son is only exposed to women that are both appropriate and willing. There will be no one involved that is not fully dedicated, no matter how he may feel about them. According to Doctor Akagi's report, you were found in a rather intimate position on the floor. Your choice to omit that from this report would be worrying, if you were inclined to be of assistance with his unique difficulties. I provided you with a blank check, which would have quite adequately covered any decision to engage in consensual intimacy with him. Your abstention, paired with your stated desire to retain privacy, has made your position clear. Unless or until that position has been reconsidered, this conversation is over. Dismissed."

Saluting sharply, Misato performed a crisp about face and stalked as professionally as possible out of the room. She'd 'omitted' that part to not embarrass Shinji. The world around her was fucked, and growing worse every day. Now Shinji would have to deal with his mother playing matchmaker in an effort to attempt birthing a new generation of males. He's even more fucked, she thought angrily. And he's a good man who doesn't deserve it.

+++++ NERV. (Sunday, August 29th, +8, Last Quarter 3/4)

"Shinji, Shinji, Shinji," Kyoko sighed out, shaking her head as he blushed bright red. "Du machst nichts falsch! Sie sind reizende Damen."

Grateful that she'd taken the conversation to German, sparing him from having to immediately address the forthcoming elephant stampede, he replied, "Ja…aber Maya war…."

"Aber nichts. Sie wollen nur, dass du glücklich bist." Accepting that he was unlikely to be able to explain the situation in something remotely resembling a human lifetime, Kyoko faced Chie, Rise, and Yukiko. "You three seem like both reasonable and intelligent young women." Without looking, she lifted one hand and set her fingers on Shinji's lips. "Schh. Ich spreche." Her eyes rolled playfully to the trio. "He says that you have been made, broadly at least, aware of the difficulties he is going through. That he has been conditioned to react in certain ways, and that conditioning is both verified by myself and nearly impossible to break under the best of circumstances. He will need help, from time to time, dealing with those issues that arise from being a healthy young man surrounded by wunderschöne Blumen such as yourselves. He was, before being rudely whisked away, about to receive aid from the ladies I have summoned here. When they arrive, I only ask that you understand their position. It is my fervent belief that they have grown fond of him, just as you have."

The door opened, and without hesitation Maya bolted over and tackled Shinji with a hug. "Oh my everything, I was so terrified when you disappeared! Are you ok?" She alternated between looking at his bruises and looking at Kyoko. "Is he ok?"

"One would hope that he was," Ritsuko entered at a more sedate pace, an amused tone hanging from her words, "considering you just made an attempt at breaking his ribs." Neither she, nor Maya, had seen the trio of his classmates sitting off to the side. So when she approached Shinji and gave him a soft kiss, it was done without any attempts at 'claiming' him. "You did worry us. I've read the extracts of the reporting on where you went. I already have a few ideas for how to help…but it's not going to be easy."

Kyoko was amused, but mostly grateful that her favored students were such good women. "If I can make a few introductions, before we go much further," she drew Maya and Ritsuko's attention to the younger women that were experiencing three very different reactions. "Starting from our right, you have the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Children. Ladies, to my left is Lieutenant Maya Ibuki, and to her left is Doctor Ritsuko Akagi."

"Hmm," Ritsuko was irritated at her teacher, but not enough to become visibly annoyed, "that would mean…Chie Satonaka, Yukiko Amagi, and Rise Kujikawa. The latter is fairly easily recognizable, her face was plastered on every flat surface a few years ago. Amagi-san was also fairly popular, though for potentially even more idiotic reasons. Sensationalist media parasites." Her emerald eyes landed on Chie, and her head tilted slightly. "You, however, are an unknown quantity outside of your profile. It's a shame Misato's spitting mad, you have similar taste in movies."

"Senpai, you're being rude," Maya chided. "It's a pleasure to meet you, all of you. Thank you for being kind to Shinji-kun, and for keeping him company today. After what happened with that dreadful woman, it's better for him to have people he trusts around."

Chie, who'd been analyzing her own emotions at the happiness Maya brought out in Shinji simply by proximity, struck first. "So…before Rise-chan loses control of her temper, I'm going to say that I'm also glad that Shinji-kun has the two of you here at his work. He cares for you a great deal…and I hope you care for him enough to understand that we're a part of his life too."

"That was almost diplomatic," Ritsuko approved with a golf clap. "You're breaking stereotype, I approve. Yes, we're well aware that he's going to be spread a little thin. We're also content with simply stepping aside and letting him live his life if he isn't interested in us. Maya-kun and I have each other, and while that is more than enough for us, we'd also like to have Shinji-kun as well. So long as you share, we'll share."

"Oh thank goodness," Yukiko blew out explosively. "We're having a hard enough time trying to get everyone to work together back at the Kirijo Manor! Competing with the two of you as well? It'd be a disaster!"

Shizuko chose that moment to appear on Shinji's shoulder. "It would not be a competition, so long as the Wildcard is allowed to voice his opinion." The angelic being rested against his head, fatigue hanging off her. "He wishes to give each of you whatever of himself you may desire. As he does for the healers present." The door opened, once again, admitting Andreja. "As he does for the Honorkeeper."

The enormous engineer looked around the room, confusion and uncertainty clinging to her. "I…was summoned, yes?" Cautiously moving over to Shinji, she gently probed the bruising on his torso and face. "Good morning, maličký anjelik."

"Good morning," Shizuko replied with a bright smile. "The Wildcard vanquished a demon earlier, but lost control of his own strength and injured himself badly. It's all right, though, The Chariot saved him from serious injury." She gestured towards Chie. "They're united in purpose now, which is good."

Andreja took note of who Shizuko indicated, giving a polite nod to Chie and setting her enormous hand on Shinji's back. "This is good, yes it is. May I ask…why am I here?"

"The room is growing rather crowded, sensei," Ritsuko arched an eyebrow at Kyoko, taking note of her 'aunt' and how she was smiling like a cat that found a cooler full of fish left unattended, "would you like to get on with whatever this is?"

"If it would make you happy," Kyoko declared with an amused giggle. "I thought I would spend a bit more time teasing poor Shinji-kun, but I guess you're just in a hurry to get back to your oh-so-engaging weapons research."

Looking at Kyoko, meaning each word sincerely, Shinji pointed to himself, "I was being teased?"

Ritsuko laughed when Kyoko seemed to deflate slightly. "Serves you right!"

"You are surrounded by women who care for you," Maya took Shinji's other flank, leaving Andreja to support him from where she was. "Doctor Zeppelin was under the belief that you were squirming because of that, and not because your ribs are killing you."

"Oh," Shinji said with a shrug, followed by a wince. "Y-yeah. I probably shouldn't have…n-not that I regret," his eyes shot to Chie, one hand warding off what he thought would be an offensive thought.

Chie blushed slightly, shaking her head. "I know you don't regret that, but I probably shouldn't have let you be so…active. Rib injuries are no joke."

Andreja's voice held a hint of hesitation paired with a spike of emotional flotsam that failed to resolve into anything intelligible for Shinji's senses, "Is, is the mladá dáma your new love?"

The variety of replies to the question increased the amount of confusion in the room.

Shizuko said, "Not yet."

Rise snapped out, "We haven't talked about it yet."

Yukiko mused, "I guess we all are."

Chie simply looked down with a comfortable smile.

What Shinji felt of Chie's emotions at that moment put a similar smile on his lips and sent his eyes down to his lap, "She and I are…very close."

With the answer now as clear as the coffee she preferred, Andreja took a second before stating, "I would appreciate it if you would not bring pain to Shinji's life. If you find yourself no longer interested in his company, please be gentle, ok?"

"Oh that won't be a concern," Shizuko corrected, stroking Shinji's cheek. "Their souls are bonded together irrevocably. She is as much a part of him as his heart, or brain. She feels his emotions, sees his thoughts."

Rise's head snapped over to face Chie, "You what?"

"That may not be a positive," Ritsuko hedged.

The former idol stood up, throwing her hands up in exasperation. "You think?!"

Shinji knew the young woman who'd sat in his lap, who'd helped him when he'd lost himself, was truly only thinking of his welfare. The jealousy she was navigating was not the precipitating factor in this explosion. "Rise-"

"She chose this without talking to you! She did this without us all learning the costs to everyone! You want me to let this go, but I can't think of anything more…gross than knowing every minute of every day exactly what you're thinking and feeling whenever-"

Kyoko restored control over the room by the expedient of an airhorn that she apparently kept in her desk. Once she felt that the others might have regained control over their hearing, she set the canister of air down and resumed her typical jovial smile. "We are going to be taking a field trip now to the Evangelion hanger. Andreja-chan, please take Satonaka-chan and Shinji-kun to the lockers near Unit-01 so he can put on his plugsuit. Maya-chan, please find a swimsuit for Satonaka-chan to reduce interference. Ritsuko-chan, if the suit fails again I am authorizing blood sacrifice in an amount no less than thirty liters so that we make our displeasure clear to the fabrication team. Amagi-chan, Kujikawa-chan, if you would be so kind as to follow me. Shizuko-chan," she reached over and stroked the angel's hair with a single finger, "I am going to need you to not be inside Unit-01. We do not know how it will respond to your biology, and I do not want to find out with Shinji-kun inside."

Gripping Kyoko's finger and pulling herself up, Shizuko walked across her arm and sat down on her shoulder instead. "I understand. I would not want to be within the Eldestborn, to be honest. I doubt he would welcome me."

+++++ NERV. (Sunday, August 29th, +8, Last Quarter 3/4)

"It's ok," Shinji declared confidently when Andreja made to block Chie from entering the lockers with him, "she's already seen me without any clothes. There aren't any other guys to come into the lockers to see her, and as long as she doesn't mind me seeing her we'll be able to get this done faster."

"…He's right," Chie blushed with the memory of Shinji's form, "we've already seen each other's bodies."

Andreja blew out her cheeks. "This is not ok, yes? You are to be married before you do such things, ok?" Scratching the side of her face, she shook her head with a worried expression. "I wish I could speak to a priest for guidance…to be bound in one soul without sanctification of the union is troubling, it is."

"Found it!" Maya popped out of the nearby ladies locker room with a small bundle of cloth in her hand. "You're a bit bigger in the bust than I am, but since this is a two-piece it should fit well enough for what we're trying."

"W-wait," Chie looked between the fabric, Maya, and her own chest, "I'm…bigger than someone?"

Being who and what he was, Shinji commented on the situation in his 'matter of fact' manner, "You're both shaped as you should be, and neither of you have anything to be ashamed of."

Seeing Chie's cheeks bloom red as her eyes radiated glee, Maya began to understand what it was that had been shared within the bond. The comment was, of course, wonderful to hear and was an absolute boost to their self-esteem, but it didn't quite warrant the depth of the younger woman's joy. "Thank you, Shinji-kun, I'm glad to know you appreciate beauty in all its forms. Let's try your plugsuit while Chie-san tries on my two-piece."

The stoic nod he gave was undercut by the way that Chie went from squirming ever-so-slightly with giddiness to worry and anxiety. "It's ok," he recognized the cause of her distress, having been its impetus, "it…could be worse."

Moving into the male lockers, Maya let Andreja help Shinji get into his suit while she scanned the baggy cloth for anything concerning. She glanced occasionally over to where Chie was undressing, trying to gather data on how Shinji was doing by how the energetic young woman projected her emotions. The glimpses she caught of Chie's form did surprise her, in that she knew Shinji wasn't prone to lying…but she couldn't quite see the attraction he stated he felt. Flat ass, breasts are all muscle, fairly plain face, a bad bowl cut. Abs are nice, legs are well-formed, but on the whole she's a five or six on a good day. The critical analysis helped her understand why he was also attracted to her, considering she saw every imperfection she carried in the mirror every morning. If he could feel so strongly about Chie, then he clearly wasn't hyper-fixated on 'traditional' physical attributes.

"Ok," Shinji breathed out calmly, "here goes." Pressing the 'Big Blue Bitterness Button', he felt fortunate that he'd braced himself for the pain that followed. Unlike the last time he'd tried to use the suit, it activated. Unlike the first time he'd tried to use the suit, it constricted around his throat. Breathing was very quickly rendered impossible, as was appropriate blood flow. Toppling over at a wave of nauseous dizziness, he was caught by Andreja, who jammed the button to try and release the suit.

"Kurva matky," Andreja swore. The big woman gave up on the button after two quick tries failed to produce results. Pulling out her boot knife, she pushed Shinji's hands away from his throat. "Still, môj milovaný, stay still, ok?" Working the blade with an ease born of thousands of hours of use, she managed to limit the damage to his flesh to a small nick that let out only a drop of blood. Fileting the skin-tight suit from him, she was rewarded by him sucking in a huge breath of air. "Easy…easy now. Slow breaths, yes? Slow." Her eyes moved to Maya, who was analyzing the suit with a critical glare. "Very good, we are safe now."

"Whoever made this isn't," Maya growled with a darkness few knew she was capable of. "Sergeant, make him a pair of shorts from one of the scrubs in the closet there, then get him to Unit-01 and come find me. I'm going to find Doctor Akagi and then the three of us are going to find answers. They hurt him, again, and that will not continue." Stuffing the plugsuit into the bin where wet towels would have gone, she yanked the bag out of the bin and stormed out of the room.

Chie had come over, kneeling on the floor next to where Shinji lay and picking up his hand in both of hers. "What do I need to promise you to get you to stop hurting yourself like this?" Trying to make a joke to push through her fear, she gave him a weak grin. "I'll study extra hard for the next math exam?" When Andreja's hand gently alighted on her shoulder, she looked over to the caring giant expectantly.

"What you can promise him is that you will be there to pick him up, ok?" She had reservations about all of this, but she also had a duty to guide those souls who'd strayed from the proper road back to the path good people walked through life. "This life, it is full of pain, yes? That pain must be endured where necessary, so that the evils do not go unopposed. He is one who opposes them whenever he sees them, and that means that it falls to us to make certain he does not oppose them alone. You see?"

"Definitely," Chie agreed with a tight nod. "Thank you for saving him, ma'am."

With a voice that sounded of rotting leather dragged across gravel, Shinji used Chie's grip on his hand to pull himself upright. "Let's go…I want this over with." He was tired, in pain, hungry, and angry. He didn't want to spend the rest of the day getting slapped around by life.

+++++ NERV. (Sunday, August 29th, +8, Last Quarter 3/4)

"I believe I've made my position rather clear, Doctor," Kyoko had the head of the fabrication division on the speaker phone, and had spent the past ten minutes detailing the exact procedure to be followed, "you will find someone of similar size to Pilot Ikari among your staff and test seven different suit production models on them, recorded by the MAGI from all angles, and you will submit that recording to me by the beginning of the next hour. Failure to do so will result in the immediate enaction of clause seven fourteen, subsection C, paragraphs five through eight. You were given the position of leadership based on your track record while serving under your predecessor. This is now three distinct failures, three direct threats to Pilot Ikari's life. You should feel fortunate you were given the chance to fail a third time, and you should strive to convince me that you are as important as you seem to feel you are." She looked at the nearby clock. "Thirteen minutes, doctor…tick tock." Hanging up the phone, she looked over to where she'd set Yukiko and Rise. "Some professional advice, ladies: always read every contract you sign from beginning to end, three times, before signing it. If you can't abide by the terms, don't sign."

Yukiko had seen her mother handle disruptive employees with similar calm confidence, but was still very impressed by the half-Japanese scientist's steady demeanor. "What is in the contract, Doctor-san?"

"Oh, you can call me Kyoko, dear." She caught sight of Shinji walking across the catwalk with Chie beside him. "Paragraph five is the revocation of human rights, triggered only in the event of intentional misbehavior that results in irrevocable damage to Project-E. Six through eight simply allow me to choose from an array of punishments befitting the crime…I'd consider it more of a 'to-do' list in this case."

"They…they let you take away someone's human rights?" Rise was aghast.

Kyoko looked over with a gentle smile. "Yes."

The simplicity of the response sent chills down both ladies' spines. They were sitting in a room with someone who would, apparently, legally delete someone from existence. Someone who clearly was not bothered with that possibility. Someone who treated Shinji like a favored student.

Shinji's voice came through the nearby speakers, clearly unaware of the fact that the microphones were 'hot', "I don't know. She didn't say if we were both supposed to sit in at the same time, or if you were supposed to go after me."

"I would like you both inside at the same time," Kyoko responded through the local PA system. "She should fit rather comfortably on your lap, Shinji-kun. We won't be activating Unit-01 completely, so there's no need to worry about the launch system causing problems. I deactivated it myself, for safety."

"Oh, thank you!" Shinji's smile and wave was seen clearly on the large monitor. As was the vicious ring around his neck where his throat had been crushed. "We're going to be breathing in a semi-liquid, and it isn't going to be a lot of fun." He ducked into the entry plug and offered a hand to Chie. "The first time I was submerged in LCL wasn't the problem. Getting it out of my lungs afterwards, that was no fun. Felt like a chest cold."

Chie made a face. "Gross…but if they think this will help, I'll deal."

Watching as Shinji was both attentive and careful in how he acted while settling Chie in his lap, Kyoko clasped her hands under her chin and breathed out, "So bezaubernd!" She flipped a few switches after the hatch was sealed behind them, settling the entry plug in place inside Unit-01's neck. "Ok, meine kinder, what we are going to be doing is a low-level activation test. If your souls are intermingled, the Evangelion should register it. If this goes poorly, there are failsafes in place that will activate automatically. Relax. Cuddle if you'd like, but remain silent and focused on your breathing."

"Roger," Shinji responded as the LCL began flooding into the tube.

Much less sanguine about the liquid and the lack of exit, Chie took the doctor up on the offer to 'cuddle' with Shinji. Sitting sidesaddle, she brought her knees up and tucked her legs alongside his so that as much of her was touching him as possible. "Ok…calm mind, calm breaths."

While Shinji was having a slight difficulty in relaxing, the blame was entirely upon having Chie, in a bikini, curled against his chest and into him. Hoping to help them both, he set his arms around her and held her close. "When it reaches your chin, take a deep breath. Once you're submerged, blow out all of the air in your lungs and take a deep breath of the LCL. You can breathe it, I promise."

"It will be no different than a loving kiss," Kyoko concurred while setting up the monitoring terminals. "The LCL shared between you, that is. What one breathes out, the other might breathe in. You will be close, and you will be fine."

Yukiko had been given responsibility for keeping Shizuko in her lap, and the sleeping angel kept her from asking loud enough for Shinji and Chie to hear. "When you called us the fourth, fifth, and sixth earlier…?"

Muting the microphones on the bridge, Kyoko glanced over briefly to establish that she was responding. "Each of you, the eight remaining students from your class, were considered candidates to pilot future Evangelions. Production delays, coupled with international disagreements, kept us from having more than the two Evas we have. Unit-00 is being mothballed, we simply don't see the value in risking any of you in an attempt at piloting a sub-par model. Without Evangelions to pilot, there was no reason to make you aware of the potential."

Rise held up three fingers. "Who were the first three?"

"A lovely young woman who has since passed following a terrible accident, Mitsuru Kirijo, and of course, our favorite gentleman." She gestured to where Shinji was helping Chie take her first few breaths of the semi-liquid. Where his breaths were calm and even, there was a hint of panic present in Chie's eyes. It was obvious that his presence was stabilizing her, and just as obvious that her own strength would have pulled her through after the insanity of the situation became 'normal'. Kyoko turned the microphone back on. "Wunderbar. I will give you a minute to relax once again, and then I will give a countdown to the active connection."

"Roger," Shinji repeated himself with calm confidence.

"Y-yeah," Chie added, less confidently, "will do."

Muting the microphones again, Kyoko hummed to herself as she worked. If this went poorly, she'd get to perform a live test of the emergency ejection module. If this went really poorly, she'd have a reason to push Yui to consider the cloning program in a new light. If it went off without a hitch, she'd at least have the chance to learn something before explaining to his mother that her son was already more than married without anyone having been present for the wedding. With everything as set as it was going to become, she set the microphones to 'on' once more. "OK. First layer in five, four, three, two, one."

With the flip of a switch, Kyoko Zeppelin discovered an entirely new branch of mathematics. With an ear-splitting roar, Unit-01 woke up. With a hoarse wail of agony, Shinji clapped one hand over his left eye.

+++++ Kirijo Manor. (Sunday, August 29th, +8, Last Quarter 3/4)

Pixie had spent several hours priming Ulala to be the trigger that she needed for her plan to function, and minutes before Unit-01 was activated she was wandering the Kirijo Manor while Shinji kept Chie calm. A part of her felt bad, all things considered. After all, Ulala wasn't a bad person…for a human. A human she was, however, and that meant she was expendable. The Great Will could not be trusted to acquiesce to the needs of the Fae, Creation might not be interested in helping prevent their extinction, and with Chaos recently having been restored to prominence they couldn't rely on twisting the strands of fate to suit their needs.

"I believe we were in the middle of a discussion."

Pausing with a grimace, Pixie turned to see Hua Po floating in a side corridor she'd just passed. "Yes, well, I can't help it if the man I'm connected to irritates Tartarus enough to force him inside. I go to whichever reality he goes to, after all." Crossing her arms, she glared at the red-skinned heathen. "What do you want me to say? I'm not going to encourage him to speak to your clan, and you can't force me to."

Her head tilted slightly to the left. "You say that with a certainty you should not be feeling. You forget, perhaps, where it is your 'Court' hails from…and where my clan originates."

Pixie's eyes narrowed. "If you harm me, you harm him."

"To fix a broken bone, one must cause pain by placing it back where it ought to have never left." Her head shifted then to the right. "Since you insist that he belongs to the one with the strongest claim, I believe that I now must…present my bona fides."

"He loves me," she bluffed, knowing that the love she spoke of was not the love that most would interpret her statement to intend.

There was a click, a button being pressed, and then Pixie heard her own voice, "It's really that simple! If you help me convince him to take a walk in the forest tonight, I'll help you convince him to let you go where he goes. Once he agrees to that, we can all visit Titania. She'll make sure that everyone gets what they deserve." Another click, and the recording stopped.

Pixie turned to see Chiaki standing behind her, an old-fashioned tape recorder in her hand. "…Give me that."

"Ah, ah, ah," Hua Po chided, floating slowly between Pixie and Chiaki. "You see, this one accepted a deal with my clan. We protect the Manor, she protects The Fortunate. 'Simple', as you put it. We each give, we each get, and we both prosper."

Attempting to flee, by vanishing into the realm between, Pixie found herself unable to move at all. She was stuck, stationary in mid-air as if someone had frozen the very ether around her.

"You attempted to harm someone within the Manor. The Manor that I protect." Hua Po walked across thin air to stand before Pixie with a look of contempt. "You have seen his past. You know what led to his present. You will not decide his future." Pulling out a nail of pure iron, she shook her head in disgust. "You had only to ask him, with an honest heart, and he would have moved Heaven and Earth for you. Instead, you chose to manipulate him through seduction and empty promises. Beg him to love you, never to receive love in kind. You use his humanity against him, strip him of his freedom, and seek to destroy honest women in the process." With a violent shove, she used the nail to pierce the fae's belly.

Chiaki, in her position as a resident of the home and nation, intoned the words she'd been coached to use, "When next you see Titania, inform her that the Seelie Court is no longer welcome within the lands of Yamato." Watching impassively as Pixie thrashed violently upon the shaft of the iron nail, only looking away when the winged fae vanished in a puff of magical energy, she closed her eyes and prayed that Shinji would understand.

+++++ NERV. (Sunday, August 29th, +8, Last Quarter 3/4)

The spike of pain had crested, finally, and was moving back down towards the 'normal' end of the discomfort scale. It felt, to Shinji, as if someone had ripped a chunk of his brain out through his eye. Unseen by him, blood was slowly dripping from the same eye he'd covered. He was still seeing the bridge through Unit-01's eyes, which disoriented him incredibly. He couldn't see, and could see, and his brain simply did not know how to render that information in an intelligible fashion. The scream he'd let loose had stopped him from being able to speak at all, each attempt managing little more than a wheeze.

"Hey, hey," Chie was now kneeling astride his lap, tugging on his hand, "let me see. What's…oh, ok, is that normal?" Twisting around enough to look at the viewscreen that was displaying several new people working with a purpose, she asked the question again, slightly louder, "Hey, he's bleeding out of his eye, is that normal?"

Tangled together, weaving around and through one another, the women on the bridge were speaking with terms that far exceeded Chie's understanding of the language. "Reduced psychograph." "Spontaneous G-seven." "Multiphase synchronization."

"Is…which button's the microphone?" Flipping back around so that she was lying flat against Shinji's legs, she looked at the buttons and dials on Unit-01's main console. All she could see were unrecognizable letters, numbers, or symbols. With a quiet curse directed at her own lack of attention in English classes, she twisted her body slightly to look back at Shinji. "Please tell me you know which button is the microphone."

While Shinji himself, were they in private, would not have minded if Chie remained laying as she was, he decided that with people watching the cameras the best thing right now was for Chie to sit still, even if in his lap. Gripping her arm, he pulled her against him and kept her steady by wrapping his own arms around her. The connection between him and the goliath monster they were sitting within felt colder than normal, more distant. He didn't realize that fact was fortunate, as that distance prevented Unit-01 from mimicking his motions and destroying the gantries.

"O-oh, yeah." Chie saw his intent clearly through their connection, and agreed that perhaps it was better to just remain still and let the professionals handle everything. "Sorry. I hate not doing."

With a warm pulse of gratitude, Shinji tried to express the truth of his feelings. He appreciated what she was trying, and adored the feeling that she gave him. To her, he mattered. She could never touch him again, and he'd still think she was the greatest person alive.

"Psh," she scoffed. "There's going to be more touching, don't worry about that. I have to learn to let that part of me free, and you need to learn to love the both of us." When his good eye landed on her with a hint of reservation, she grinned impishly. "I'm as good as married, if they can't handle how blunt I am with you, that's their problem." Her eyes went wide. "Wait…do you think they have a bed big enough for both of us around here? I mean, if we're sleeping here tonight, I'm sleeping in the same bed as you."

Yui responded, having heard the entire one-sided conversation, "If accommodations are required, I assure you we will make certain to find suitable sleeping arrangements. I would urge a bit of caution, however, as the injuries he has experienced should be allowed to heal before you resume any enthusiastic activities." Allowing Chie to blush and Shinji to frown for a second, she pressed forward with the main point. "What you two have managed should be impossible. The math simply makes no sense, and we say that as a group of women with more years of training than you have of life combined. We can't explain the parasympathetic nervous system trauma, but it is quite possible that it was caused as a result of connecting with Unit-01 while recovering from combat. Regardless, thank you for allowing us to run this test. I apologize that it caused you harm; I assure you we will not waste a single byte of the data we have gained from this."

The apology was genuine, as was her enthusiasm. Shinji sighed, and wished he could put words to what it was that he thought at the moment.

"He's worried more about me, ma'am," Chie served as his voice.

"Thank you, Chie-chan." Yui recognized that the young woman on her son's lap was who he had chosen, and put forward the best foot she could to establish a relationship with who was, essentially, her daughter-in-law. "We're going to release both of you for now, with orders to get something to eat and rest. Please take care of…your husband, and let me know if you require anything towards that end."

Shinji thought Chie would spontaneously combust with the overwhelming joy that flooded her mind. He could feel her quivering in his lap as she replied with an eager, "I will, okaa-san! Thank you."

+++++ NERV. (Sunday, August 29th, +8, Last Quarter 3/4)

"I will, okaa-san!" A young woman with boundless energy and fierce loyalty, sitting in her son's lap and trying to keep him from hurting, had just managed to strike a direct blow against a part of Yui Ikari's humanity that she had thought long dead. "Thank you." Those words, spoken with complete sincerity, nearly brought her to tears where she stood. Her sub-commanders, several members of the bridge crew, and any subordinates down on the gantries be damned…she desperately wanted to allow herself to cry in joy at hearing something she'd thought impossible.

Taking her eyes off the camera as Chie helped Shinji move towards the exit of the entry plug, Yui looked over the seemingly impossible data to prevent herself from acting like some weak-willed commoner. A tiny hitch in her voice was the only evidence to be presented, and that hitch was only noticed by her two closest friends, "Please task someone from Section Two with finding a pair of suitable business suites for them. Shared common area, but two separate bedrooms, as well as…whatever forms of entertainment they would prefer."

"Already on it," Naoko announced. "I've also ordered an appropriate meal, as well as medications. They'll be taken care of while we figure out how they managed to further fracture what we thought was real."

Kyoko was seven pages deep and falling fast. "Proof of telepathy, honest transfer of thoughts from one person to another. Emotional cognizance to a degree that simply cannot exist within a human. These aren't 'vague impressions', she literally reacted directly to his mind in real-time! Synchronizing with each other should have been able to amplify their individual psychographs, sure, but instead she acted as a tether for him and stopped the bleed over from Unit-01! She…she…."

"She did what Gendo was meant to do," Yui agreed. She appreciated her friend's sudden realization of what she was about to just spout out, but there was little purpose in attempting to dance around the truth. "She bridged the two egos, creating a uniform whole out of fractally-expanding dissonance." Swallowing, quietly, she touched the waveform that belonged to her daughter-in-law. "Imagine what might be possible with more than one."