Rei Ayanami and Kaworu Nagisa were both intended to fall in the Uncanny Valley: disturbingly human-like but off-putting because of it, that kind of wrongness that can freak people out more than a robot looking like a robot or an orc like an orc. Because of that, both of them were supposed to perhaps be oddly beautiful, in that stone statue way, but not actually attractive to anyone. Of course, the amount of Rei Ayanami in fanfic proves that didn't come across very well.
If anything, the fandom tends to find Kaworu the more disturbing of the two despite the fact we see a lot more disturbing stuff about Rei, perhaps because Rei doesn't try to act human at all: she's one of the codifiers for the emotionless girl. On the other hand, Kaworu has likes and dislikes, appreciates human music and human potential and tries to get Shinji to realize that he has worth and undo years of damage – all while the viewer is aware that given this series, this can't end well.
As well as looking human while not being human, Kaworu is also trying to act human – if anything, he's one of the nicest and most painfully straightforward characters on the show. Yet being the more human of the two pushes him further into the uncanny valley, makes us think that there must be a trick somewhere, even though what he's trying to do is make sure Shinji knows he deserves to live, as does humanity, and Kaworu isn't going to hold any grudges for Shinji killing him: it's necessary for Shinji to survive.
It's pretty clear that Al Saiduq was intended to be something of an expy of those characters, due to the Eva designer's involvement & how it's fairly obvious that he's not normal. For him to fit in with normal humans, he'd have to be pushed over to our side of the uncanny valley: the trouble is that would move him from the alien category to the exotic category, and humans tend to find the exotic attractive (as witness Rei and Kaworu) because we're fond of our children not dying in plagues and genetic diversity is our best defense against that after hand-washing and vaccination.
Al Saiduq was the easiest to find, since he was still hovering a few inches above the roof. The house was only one story tall over here, so it shouldn't be too hard to get up there, Hiro thought, looking for the right kind of tree. "Give me a boost," he told Yamato, when he found one. Good hand and footholds near the ground weren't as important as once you got higher up and actually had to worry about falling, and even though this looked like an easy climb, he had no idea if Yamato knew how to climb. Certainly not tree-climbing, but gyms had rockclimbing walls, didn't they?
"Why do you want to talk to Alcor?"
"Because I have a few plans, and this one's the easiest. I still want to verify that it will work, just to be sure, since it won't take too long and I don't want to find out that I'm bluffing. Once that's done, we can see what other options we have," Hiro said, deciding he'd do without the boost even if that set a bad example (he'd grown a lot more cautious about tree-climbing once Yuzu's kids started following him around) and bracing one foot on the wall of the house instead, pushing off and up a bit to grab a branch. Once both his feet and his right arm were securely in place, because Yamato might not be the tallest person in the world but he was pretty tough and that meant he wouldn't be light, he reached down to Yamato. "Come on."
Yamato took it, but the way he used the wall and kicked up as Hiro pulled to find a spot for his foot where a branch left the trunk proved that he knew what he was doing, so Hiro stopped trying to help him since that was actually more dangerous than both of them just concentrating on what they alone were doing. From that point it was easy to get onto the roof, though.
Saiduq wasn't where he was before: he must have seen them moving around the edge of the house instead of going in and wondered what they were doing. That was a good sign: at least he was paying attention to things instead of just wallowing. Or actively trying to avoid them. "Shining One?" he asked as Hiro landed on the roof, then moved out of Yamato's way.
Hiro wondered what to say, then settled on, "You do look like a Christmas tree ornament." A six-pointed star the same black as the cube, wrapped in silver tinsel. Actually, that black reminded him of the void, except, "Are those supposed to be stars?"
"Yes," Saiduq said. "This isn't how I would have manifested before. I intended to become the new world."
The new material universe, Hiro realized. "I wondered why you called me Shining One: Stars shine, don't they? So was that title treating me as an equal, just being respectful, or did you mean something else?" he asked as he sat down on the ridge of the roof, Saiduq about even with him since he hovered further down the slope between the ridge and the exterior wall.
Yamato remained standing, arms folded, despite the effort it took to maintain that position on an angled surface.
It took Saiduq a moment to respond. "The will of humanity had to be united for Polaris to reorder or restore the world as anyone desired. When you registered for Nicaea, your energy readings were not only of unusual magnitude, but frequencies very similar to the base human frequencies. Since humanity is not united the way we septentriones were before I became separate, humans would have many different desires. Yet you were clearly the best representative of humanity as a whole, and other humans would likely follow you. Not because of the light, but because the light indicates that your nature is such that it would be so."
"So I had the best odds of changing Polaris' will."
"That as well. By uniting the will of humanity, you made it possible for me to restore this world to an intact state without creating conflicts between how people were and how they became." Or without having to fight the will of humanity.
And he'd changed Al Saiduq's will before that, Hiro knew. He had other things to think about now, though. "You know how you gave Yamato's family the knowledge and ability to control the dragon stream?"
"Of course I kept those memories, Shining One." Saiduq sounded a little surprised: Hiro didn't think that he would carelessly forget something that had affected Yamato's life and those of his clan.
"Can you take that power away?"
Yamato realized what Hiro's first plan had been. Of course. If he lost the power to control the dragon stream, he was of no further use to them. Well, that was untrue: powerful sorcerers had many uses, and he was a genius as well, but he would no longer be vital to Japan's defense.
"…I am not sure. I no longer am able to interfere with humanity."
"Except," Hiro corrected him, "In the way everyone does. We all change each others' minds, and our own, every time we interact with anyone. My life changed because I met you, and I don't regret that. Don't think that if you do anything you'll take away our freedom. You're a person too."
"Without the Akashic Records, I would not be able to edit the dragon stream." Saiduq hovered, considering. Hiro wondered if he was changing the subject by returning to the original subject, but first he'd deal with Yamato. "However, the dragon stream obeyed your will. If Yamato Hotsuin no longer wishes it to obey him, and you wished the same, it would heed your will, Shining One."
"That would just make Hiro the one they need," Yamato told Alcor.
"But I have big brothers," Hiro pointed out. "It's not perfect. It would be better if we could just say, 'Whoops, the dragon stream control system worked because of the Akashic Record, and now that's gone.'" That way no one would be in trouble for sabotaging a defense system like that. "And not be lying," he corrected himself, looking at Yamato. "You can get caught if you're lying."
"I know that." When buried in documentation in triplicate, never tell any story you couldn't keep straight: that he knew.
"So: would it obey my brothers, or just me?" Hiro asked Al Saiduq.
"Naoya, yes. Abel… If Yamato Hotsuin agrees that it should. It was also used to defend against demons, and he has a great deal of demonic power."
"So we can definitely use Naoya to play bad cop… I should probably ask him what he thinks before I make any more plans, or he'll make a fuss about me plotting without him." From the smile there were stories behind that, but Hiro glanced back at Yamato next. "So we've got a backup plan, at least." Hmm. "Yamato, would you mind staying here for a bit?"
Yamato asked, "Why?" Although he presumed Hiro had a reason.
"Saiduq is my friend too, and he's been up here all morning." While Yamato had only found out he had a real problem a few minutes ago. "Consider it a case study."
"If you say so." And if it wasn't Hiro saying so, it was clear, Yamato would never consider it. He still looked to the side and wiped imaginary dust off the sleeve of his uniform.
"First, you're not the only person who did something showy last night. Aya told Gin about Naoya casting a lot of spells in clear view of the coast when that's violating his parole. He's still a Japanese citizen, but they don't have to allow him in the country, and right now people are worried and it's not a good time to start making points like that." Hiro rolled his eyes just a little, like he was looking at some higher power. "And there were other demons on the island last night too, and no one panicked. Besides, I have it on good authority that a bachelor party is the perfect time to do embarrassing stuff: you're practically supposed to."
"This form doesn't seem to be bothering anyone. That's very unusual, for humans." Alcor had usually at least taken on a humanoid form, even to speak to the Hotsuin.
"Half the people here are used to demons and the other half are taking their cues from them. Society defines what's normal," according to Naoya. "So: why are you staying like this, up here, alone?"Hiro asked. And no avoiding the question.
"At first, I wanted to see the stars without bothering anyone." The ships had pinged him: he'd belatedly realized that he might be scaring people and come down, settling here. "Even if none of them are alive."
Oh. "You miss your family, don't you," Hiro realized.
"I missed them before this. It was not pleasant to be separated from the others, but once I understood humanity, even a little, I couldn't go back to not understanding." That wouldn't be right. "Truth is not defined by the majority, even though I did wonder sometimes if there was something wrong with me." He had been infected, yes, but what was wrong with that? "They had to be stopped, Shining One. I hoped that humanity could change its fate. If they understood, I hope they would have agreed." Because to choose the extermination of billions of real people, even if they weren't one-of-many, even if they could be wrong about things? Even though their aloneness and the changeability of the world around them meant they simply couldn't be expected to harmonize as easily as the septentriones had?
"If they were like you, then I think they would have," Hiro told him. The thing was, if they were like Al Saiduq they would have tried to understand in the first place instead of ignoring him. So this was technically false comfort, and Yamato seemed to have picked up on that, from the look he gave Hiro, but it went right over Al Saiduq's head.
"Thank you, Shining One."
The little frown of slight contempt on Yamato's face was actually a good sign. Just like that JPs trooper who had screwed up and was so afraid of being punished, then surprised and relieved when Yamato hadn't bothered. Yamato wasn't going to hold Al Saiduq accountable for the side effects of giving the Hotsuin their power and knowledge in order to help protect humanity when Al Saiduq was clearly too naïve to have known what he was doing.
"Why don't you come down. You can stay in this form if you want, but people are worried about you, up here all alone." Hiro patted Al Saiduq casually on one of the arms of the star, as one might clap a friend on the shoulder or reassure a pet or child.
Al Saiduq changed back, but Hiro said, "Actually, wait until you're down on the ground to be human. You can learn how to climb trees later."
"I can still levitate like this, Shining One." It wasn't as though he actually was human.
"Alright, see you down there," Hiro said, standing up. "Let's go find Midori, she can tell us where Abel is."
One of the fun parts of visiting Naoya with Daichi was going by Shibuya and staring at all the weird people, playing 'how high did they have to be to wear that?' At least before Daichi had realized that as men, they weren't supposed to be paying attention to clothing, no matter how damn hilarious it was.
Loki could also be counted on for free candy, which made sense once Abel told Hiro about all of Loki's kids and Naoya told Hiro a legend about a couple whose child was in danger. They'd first called on Odin to help the child, then Thor, but neither of the Asgard cared about a mere child, who wasn't a warrior to fight for them in Ragnarok. It was Loki that came to help the little one, because while adults who were damn fools in their arrogance or assumptions of invulnerability were asking for it, Loki had always had a soft spot for children.
A floating cube or star was random, but Hiro and his family had seen weirder. Although it was kind of weird, in context, that Al Saiduq manifested in such sensical geometric shapes when Dubhe was a twisted ice cream cone, for example. Actually, Mizar's main body had been kind of cute in a very weird way. Or maybe it was the way it had desperately grabbed for the building when it found itself being eaten by a dragon. That week had given Hiro a lot of compassion for those struggling desperately to survive. Still, when Mizar had come to destroy what was left of humanity, break their fragile holds on survival, it had been rather cathartic to stamp on Mizer's fingers and watch the dragon stream swallow him up as he madly tried to slip out of its jaws. Not so much fun for the replicating septentrione when the boot was on the other foot, now was it?
Not that he was going to say that out loud about Al Saiduq's twin star.
What he did say aloud was, "I'm sure he and Fumi could write something and design the equipment so you could control the dragon stream remotely. There's Naoya, too. Actually, I'm sure they can do better than that. That way, you wouldn't have to spend any more time on it than you want to."
"You're finding different options for me?" Different plans Yamato could pursue?
"Right. I know you can come up with your own plans," although in this situation? When Yamato was so used to failure that his only plan for freedom and escaping control had been to destroy and reshape the world? "But I wanted to show you why Izuna thought the good news was that you had resources that could get you out of this."
"You," Yamato said, easily jumping down the rest of the way. That word was said firmly, but the next, "Friendship," still contained a little disbelief.
"That's what this is called," Hiro told him. "All of the others would have died to protect me if they had to, because they knew I'd do my best to make sure they got revived, and that I'd do the same for them. But also because they thought I was worth dying for, because I'd make sure their goals were accomplished. That I wouldn't let their deaths be meaningless." Even thinking about them dying… "That I cared enough about them to try as hard as I could for their sakes, so they cared for me in return." Even Fumi and Keita, as focused on their goals as they were, because they knew he got them, and that was rare. "You protected us, Yamato, so all of us would do our best to protect you." Not so much Ronaldo, but Yamato hadn't protected him, so fair was fair. "And your dream of a world where things are fair, where no one has to bow down to anyone who doesn't deserve to have power over them." Who wasn't worthy of that trust.
It said something that Yamato had only been able to put it in terms of strength. It also said something that it hadn't occurred to him that strong people might abuse their underlings, might possess power without the sense to use it properly.
He could see Yamato struggling to hide his response to those words, that they'd reached him and that Yamato just didn't know how to deal with being cared for or feeling touched. To spare his pride, Hiro looked away, finding Saiduq. "Is Midori still in the bride's suite?"
"As far as I know. She hasn't left the building since she inspected the courtyard where they're holding the ceremony."
"Right." Hiro nodded. "Let's drop you off with her so she can find you something to wear for the wedding."
Or that was the plan, anyway, but after Midori finished quickly mending a tear in Himiko's dancer's costume that happened when a plant caught on it, both Saiduq and Hiro were dragged off to the piles of clothing as she complimented Yamato on his uniform. "Did you design it yourself?"
"One of my ancestors did." Although he did approve of how it made him look. Very martial, very powerful and in control. Very intimidating.
"But Hiro," she said to her honorary nephew, "You can't wear jeans and a white windbreaker to a wedding! And I should have taken care of you yesterday." She clicked her tongue at Saiduq. "Who dressed you?"
"Is there something wrong with what I'm wearing?" he asked.
"Yes," she said both bluntly and cheerfully, bringing a small smile to Yamato's lips. "Don't worry, big sis Midori'll fix you right up!" the cheerful glasses 'girl' assured him. "White is the color of death here and the bride's color in the West, red is the bride's color here and a color of blood and death in the West, green is bad luck at weddings in the West because it's the color of jealousy…" she said to herself as she dug through piles of costumes, tossing a few in their directions. Hiro was expecting that, and held out his arms, but the first one landed over Saiduq's head, and he'd just tugged it down when another followed it.
Yamato was beginning to wonder if she was doing this on purpose. Most likely not to torment the septentrione, but at least to cover over that eyesore he was wearing.
"If it's bad luck, why is Naoya wearing green?" Hiro asked her.
"Because after all they've been through, they don't need to worry about a little bad luck," Midori said with a bright little laugh. Silly Hiro. "And Naoya looks good in it," which was of course the most important thing. "As for you," she pointed at Saiduq, "Pink, now…" There were four colors that everyone looked good in, no matter what color their hair and skin were, including one particular shade of rose. "Bringing a little color to your cheeks would make you look much more human," she said, moving right up into his personal space to tilt his head from side to side. "If you didn't want to change back, we were going to put you up over the altar, by the way."
"What do you mean?" he asked her. "Because I was the administrator?" He hoped not.
"No, because you're a symbol of marriage." After the Lockdown Midori had studied a lot of mythology both for its own sake and the sake of new designs: even though most people didn't know what had happened or didn't remember, a renewed interest in it among the Japanese public had helped her now-professional cosplay & cosplay video blogging career flourish. "Not to mention health, good luck and clear-sightedness. We have the saying that someone who cannot see Alcor will die by the end of the year, while your name, Al Saidak, the test, comes from the Arabs using you to test how clearly someone could see. Although the Greek legend isn't as happy: they think that you're one of the Pleiades that got separated from her sisters." She patted him on his uncombed head. "I looked you up to find out what color you were, but we can't dress you in white, it's too close to your skin tone. You were wearing those colors because of that red dwarf that orbits you and because your star name comes from 'black horse,' right?" So he at least had some talent for symbolism if not for actual design or coloration.
"Well, really I'm named after Alioth and he …was named for a black horse." He was far from the most important of the septentriones: the Arabs also had another saying that he was the least significant star in the heavens.
"Let's see," she said cheerfully, looking at Yamato's black and bronze as she casually pushed Saiduq's arms up and patted down his sides. "You are a star, so setting you in black would be appropriate, or maybe dark blue." But she only needed one outfit for him right now: someone could take him shopping and teach him to dress himself later. "Not that much red, but some, now…" The trick would be to add color to him instead of making him look like a ghost compared to some too-vibrant color. "Yes, start with those," she said, shooing him towards the walk-in-closet. The bathroom was serving as the other changing room. "That way I can see how you look in them." The shape of his face, the color of his skin and his overall body shape were all slightly off, and she would have wanted to confirm that the overall theory worked in this particular case with any body type or other feature she hadn't worked with before.
Dressing him for the wedding wouldn't be too tricky: traditional costumes involved more fabric, which was a good thing since it would help hide his oddness. The trouble would be finding him normal clothes. He could not get away with shorts, especially since if she managed to set his looks off well enough that they changed from weird and off-putting to exotic he would be checked out, and to a trained eye walking him walk in those pants gave away that there was something slightly off about the proportions of his legs and perhaps his knee joint. Even if there wasn't anything unnatural about it, he was definitely far, far too gangly. His arms and legs probably looked like rice noodles with knobs on. She hoped he could either shapeshift or put some meat on his bones the old-fashioned way, because while she could do her best to disguise that… Well, she'd ask Abel. "Where do you think you're sneaking off to?" she asked Hiro.
"I was helping Yamato with something, and this one looks fine," he said, holding up a Heian period costume in blue and white.
"Actually…" she said, starting to grin. Since the drape of traditional clothing would make Al Saiduq look less like a scarecrow, "Naoya's going as a court sorcerer," one taking extreme liberties with the uniform, but that was Naoya for you, and Abe no Seimei did it first, "And of course Abel's the emperor, sooooo…"
Biting back a demand to know what just happened when he knew, he'd been there for it, Yamato instead said, "I can see how she survived the Lockdown." Fluffy on the outside, a will that looked at the objections of both people and reality as obstacles to be batted aside on the charge towards her obsessions on the inside.
The door opened behind them. "And don't get them stained, or I'm taking it out of your hides!"
"I know, Midori!" Hiro called back, equally cheerful. He'd gotten to wear his favorite colors and he'd liked jackets and stuff since Abel let him play with Abel's official cape, the one that was always hot to the touch, and figured out a range of uses for it from just wearing it, feeling it follow along behind him like he was a dragon with a big long tail, to warming up snowforts. It was the attempt to roast marshmallows with it that made Abel stop bringing it with him when he came home, not because Hiro'd made it all sticky but because it had eaten the marshmallows and wrapped itself around the stick. Given Hiro's appetite for candy and messyness at that age, Abel hadn't wanted it to get the idea that little brother was on the menu.
Touching the hat Midori had put on his head and secured with various clips and pins when it became clear that no amount of detangler was going to fix hair that hadn't been brushed in the history of ever in time for the ceremony, Al Saiduq looked more than a little confused himself.
"Do you know how to manage the robe and sleeves?" Hiro asked him. He was pretty sure Yamato would have been taught, because his was an ancient family and they would have wanted him to think traditional duty and so on, but Saiduq?
"One of the Hotsuin insisted on teaching me, Shining One."
Yamato could guess why. "Of course. Otherwise you would have been an embarrassment to the clan." What kind of supernatural patron tripped over his robes?
"It's this I don't know how to use," Saiduq said, touching the quiver at this back. Midori would use the bow to mark where he was supposed to sit.
"I don't think anyone will expect you to," Hiro told him. "It's only an elective, or club activity." Depending on where one went to school. "Just be glad these are the simple versions. I've seen what she's done for historical productions." Midori did costuming for a lot of samurai shows, which was why she had so many leftovers close to their sizes.
"I can," Yamato said. "They had me trained in archery even though the Hotsuin abilities don't work that way." Meditation on the goal, though? Specifically on killing the target? It had been a worthwhile activity.
Well, at least they knew that Abel was around the other side of the house, working on the spring the garden's water came from with Naoya. That part of the garden was out of sight of the main house, thanks to a hedge meant to give it some privacy: they'd gone there to stay out of sight of-
"Hiro! Priestess Kuzuryu says it's almost time for the rehearsal," Airi called, running up behind them.
"How much longer?" He was best man, he couldn't miss the rehearsal, but he couldn't just skip out on Yamato.
"Seventeen minutes," Airi said, checking her phone.
"Then I'll be there in fifteen," Hiro said, picking up his robes so he could run.
When they got there Naoya was alone, aerating the soil by repeatedly stabbing a pitchfork down into the grass. He looked at them somewhat curiously as Hiro stopped only three feet away from the man with the newly-sharpened trident.
"Where's Abel?" Hiro asked. Naoya still had mixed feelings about the fearlessness of little brothers. On the one hand, it was definitely preferable to his own kin being afraid of him, fearing the 'first murderer.' On the other, a little more respect would be appreciated sometimes.
"Finding me more rocks. Why?"
"Izuna said they're going to want Yamato back to keep the dragon stream shield up. Saiduq and I can make it not obey him anymore, but do you and Abel have any other ideas? Maybe a remote control so he doesn't have to be head of JPs?"
Yamato was slowly turning, taking in everything around him. The spring in the east, the hedge that was actually vines tumbling over a small outcropping of rock in the north, the… There was barely any power in it yet, the island just hadn't been here that long, but he could already see where the rain would be guided to soak down into the soil, the paths humans would just find themselves taking to the bench by the spring and the seemingly-natural (if it weren't for the smell of cut greenery) entrance to the jungle beyond. Real feng shui was rare. There had once been a clan that specialized in it in Japan, but an internal argument led to the majority of the clan being forced out of the country and wanting to smash everything protected by what remained of the clan, which unfortunately included quite a lot of important temples and seals. Then the remnants of the clan in Japan had died out.
Oh, the trade attracted the sensitive, but it also attracted charlatans. For things only tangentially related to it, like home decoration, it was easily possible for a civilian to hire three different 'experts' and get three different recommendations. But even without getting out a compass to chart magnetic north and determining where the sun rose and set at various points of the year, even when there wasn't enough energy yet to flow along the pathways Naoya was creating, he could still feel how comfortable it was here, everything set so that by doing as its nature bade it, it would ease everything else's way.
"I did the engineering for the Hanging Gardens," Naoya said with a smirk, noticing the widening of Yamato's eyes. Yes: he was just that damn good. "They were just going to have slaves carry up buckets of water," that was how most fountains worked back then, "but I managed to direct the city and the garden's energy to draw water up a series of pipes," not pushing water uphill, but drawing it to where it was needed. "Of course, the main problem was the levitation. In addition to garden beds and paths, some plants could draw the nutrients they needed from the smoke from all those cookfires." Of course, he hadn't been able to actually work on the structure, much less decree plant placement without the curse kicking in, and eventually a corrupt head gardener overtapped the central and cornerstone trees to sell the extra frankincense and pocket the money. The gardens had landed intact thanks to his design, but they weren't able to get them back up with Naoya incarnating hundreds or thousands of miles away before invaders smashed the entire thing."Right now, I'm just setting up optimal power flows so that some energy will have collected by the time I'm in the mood to do something exotic with it, but I'm glad someone understands and appreciates my work, Hiro." What happened to asking how Naoya was and how his project was coming along before starting with the demands?
"Sorry, but I have to be at the rehearsal soon and Yamato-"
"I'm happy to help someone who appreciates my work. Leave his patron here, I may have some questions for him," Naoya said, waving at Al Saiduq.
"Patron?" Al Saiduq asked.
"The supernatural being that gives his family knowledge, training and power: You're not a devil summoner cursed into the body of a black cat, but close enough." Naoya didn't quite have a soft spot for Gouto and other victims of so-called holy curses and punishments, but he generally didn't make things any more difficult for them if they extended him the same courtesy. Generally. Jezebel in Amane's body had killed the last summoner holding the title of Raidou Kuzunoha, protector of the capital when he came to protect the deva the Shomonkai intended to kill to break their seal protecting Tokyo, but at least Naoya hadn't helped them: that was all Belberith and Jezebel's power. Gouto obviously still wasn't happy with him, and had tried to obliquely threaten him by mentioning how crossing a black cat brought bad luck, but Naoya was far from worried.
The feng shui clan history is from a filler arc in the (first) Rurouni Kenshin anime.