+++++ Ikari Manor. Saturday, +18.

Waking up, for Shinji, came as something of a surprise. He hadn't remembered finishing dinner or going to bed. He certainly felt exhausted enough to have forgotten, and waking up with Minaho in his arms eased many of his worries. If he had collapsed, they'd have had him under the watch of one of the more medically inclined people. Finding one of his hands had slid under the negligee Minaho had worn to bed, and had cupped her breast of its own volition, made it far too challenging for him to extract himself from the bed without waking her.

"Mmm, no moving," Minaho begged sleepily. "I'm comfy."

She smelled of strawberries, felt like a soft dream in his hands. "I was just going to remove my hand, before I…." He trailed off as she slid her posterior slowly along his burgeoning 'issue'. "That's not helping," he breathed out, his lust growing.

"Shh, shh, shh," she increased her affectionate touching, "no moving."

"That is asking an awful lot right now." The feeling of being wanted mixed with how deeply he cared for Minaho, pushing his mind towards ignoring her request and pinning her to the bed.

Arching her back enough to kiss him, her smoky eyes telling him that he was being such a good boy, she purred out, "Is it too much?"

He wasn't sure whether it was frustration or desire that he responded with, "Yes, it is." A few quick motions had her lace panties cast aside, and without disrupting her gyrations he unified them in purpose. Rolling her onto her front and taking the place of dominance, he worked through the fog of exhaustion as well as the frustration of the past few days. There wasn't anything else. No strange people showing up out of nowhere. No women being pushed into his life. No battles against both Angels and allies. There was the precious woman beneath him, and the need to become one with her. Her screams of pleasure filled his ears, her struggle to push more and more of herself against him filled his heart…the ringing of his phone filled his ears.

Before he could decide what to do, Minaho snatched it off the nightstand, glanced at the number, and declined the call. "Keep going," she encouraged, somehow managing to turn around so that she faced him without losing their shared point of contact. "You've needed this, I've needed this, it's not an Adamite so we don't need to stop."

There wasn't a need to further encourage him, and so he laid himself down atop her and enjoyed the act more fully. "I…I love you," he ventured, letting down some of the barriers he'd been building.

"Forever, Shinji," she cooed into his ear. "My heart is yours, forever."

Some small part of his mind began to wonder what she would look like pregnant. What their child might look like. What…fucking idiot was calling his damn phone?!

Minaho scooped up his phone again, tapped the answer button, and put on her best 'busy' voice, "Lieutenant Colonel Masaki." Her mood crashed hard when Shinji disengaged and moved away to pace angrily along the foot of the bed.

"Oh, I was given this number to contact Shinji Ikari. Is this not his number?"

"This is his number, who may I ask is calling?"

"Asuka Langley Soryu, his teammate. Why are you answering his phone?"

"Captain Ikari is currently engaged in his morning cardio. Since you have called twice in as many minutes, I was under the assumption that you had some emergent reason to bother him." She needed the conversation over, to try and recover the mood.

"A Lieutenant Colonel is answering a Captain's phone?"

"It is perfectly normal to have an UNO-5 answer the phone of an UNO-6, Miss Soryu. Was there something you needed, or shall I simply tell him you called once he's done?"

"Wait, what?!" Even Shinji could hear her squawk of disbelief. "He's a Naval Captain?!"

"Miss Soryu, I do have much better things to do than discuss his CV. Was there an emergency?"

Scoffing and sputtering, Asuka eventually managed to speak, "Well, tell him there's a floral exhibit he should take me to at nine."

"I will pass the message along, have a good day." Hanging up and tossing the phone aside, she flopped her arms between her legs and looked into the eyes of a man who was visibly sharing her frustration. "Please tell me you're not into her."

"She's my teammate," he shrugged, indifferently, "that's it. She's hard to get a read on, and she hasn't been treating Rei-chan with the most basic of respect. Is she pretty? Sure, I'll admit that. Would I want to deal with her bullshit for the rest of time? Not a fucking chance."

"Good." With a sigh and awareness that he was no longer 'saluting her', she rolled towards the side of the bed. "Mood's gone, isn't it?"

"I'd…rather not do that when I'm angry."

Standing and stretching, she groaned loudly. "Yeah, I can understand that. Let's go clean up and get ready for the day."

+++++ Ikari Manor. Saturday, +18.

"He has very good control over his defenses," Hikari stated, sitting with the group of younger adults who now lived with Shinji as their Captain practiced his combat skills against Misaki Masaki Jurai. "He's making it very hard for Her Majesty to touch him."

Sakura agreed, idly braiding Rei's hair, "His problem remains offense. He still fears that he might harm his opponent, and is not certain of his ability to withdraw the strike once committed."

Maya Amano was bouncing with her typical good cheer, her confidence in their shared love unwavering. "He's getting there. Like with math, he just needs more practice for everything to click."

Rei's morning had been strange. She had been woken up at five by a loud knock on her door, then escorted by a group of very rough looking men to a car that brought her to where she now sat. She had been informed that her building was due to be demolished, and that it had been Shinji's idea for her to come and live with him so that she would be safe. By six, she had been fed, washed, and given clothing that was much different than her traditional school uniform. Sitting perfectly still while her hair was braided, she attempted to take part in an activity she had no experience in: socializing. "I…am concerned about Pilot Soryu's request."

"Hmm?" Hikari looked over for a second, then shook her head with a smile. "No need to worry, Rei-chan. Since he wants to try and build a good work relationship with her, it's only right that he brings some of the women he's with along. Introduce us, show that he's extremely unavailable, establish good boundaries."

"The four of us, an escort of bodyguards, it should serve to encourage a healthy distance between her and him." Sakura put the finishing touch on Rei's new braid. "There we are. Lovely."

Amano leaned forward, looking over the intricate braid that now adorned the front right of Rei's hair. "Oh, that's really cute on you, Rei-chan! Maybe we could lace some flowers in? Some buttercups?"

After a heart-to-heart, Hikari had come to a better understanding of why Maya Amano was the way she was. She wasn't sold entirely on her often lazy approach to schoolwork, but she could at least respect her attitude regarding other students. "That does sound like it would further accentuate her coloration." Bending down off the garden wall, she scooped up several that had grown wild along the base. "Here we go." She began handing them one by one to Amano, who carefully laced them through the braid.

"We must find you a floral crown," Sakura urged with quiet content. "It would contrast against your reserved facial expressions in an adorable way."

"Oh, excuse me," Verðandy apologized as she came upon the quartet. "Were you planning on asking him on an outing?"

"We are going to a horticultural exhibit," Rei stated in her typical monotone. "Pilot Soryu is forcing her presence on him, Class Representative Horaki has decided that a show of force would be appropriate."

Verðandy blinked, then tilted her head quizzically to look at Hikari. "How odd, I was actually going to ask if he would mind accompanying me to see a floral exhibit in town. I found one of the flyers while grocery shopping, and thought he might enjoy expanding his knowledge of his own culture."

"Lovely, a five-to-one ratio should make things even more clear." Sakura motioned for Verðandy to join them. "No reason we can't all enjoy one another's company as much as we'll enjoy seeing Shinji learn."

"Dibs on teaming up with Verðandy!" Amano scooted around to where she could sit by the blue-blonde Norn. "She and I can work together to keep things happy."

The way in which the young woman at her side genuinely desired to see others feel their best spoke to Verðandy's general worldview. "I will happily walk with you. We will have an uneven number, though."

"I'll be pushing Sakura, Rei will be walking at Shinji's side," Hikari declared. "That way they're building a team, while we're there to keep Shinji from being bullied into anything."

A roar brought everyone's eyes to Shinji, who had snuck under one of Misaki's swings to plant his shoulder in her midsection before driving her into the ground hard, then climbing atop her in a mounted position with his blade held over her throat. Breathing heavily, he was looking hard into her eyes with a violent determination. "You," he panted, "me, tonight. We haven't been able to connect, and I'm tired of being distracted by everything and its fifty-second cousin. I've shown you how serious I am today…it's your turn."

Dismissing her blade, accepting defeat, Misaki smiled happily up towards a source of pride and joy. "It shall be an evening to remember." When he too dismissed his sword, sitting back on his heels and starting to laugh, she sat up and hugged him close. "You did it!"

The five women watching felt a pleasurable chill soar up their spine as Shinji thrust his fists into the air and echoed her statement, "I did it!"

+++++ Hakone Central Economic District. Saturday, +18.

Following a heated, but extremely friendly, debate regarding what Shinji should wear to the outing, the troupe had made their way to the CED well before Asuka. With his hands in his pockets, the marvel of sunglasses protecting his eyes from the bright morning sun, he was surprised at how comfortable he felt in the clothes that had been chosen for him. His slacks were light enough to breathe, but heavy enough that he didn't feel his anxiety threatening him. His shirt was long-sleeved, but the sleeves had been rolled up to his biceps. When he'd questioned why he should show his scars, it was universally agreed upon that his scars were a part of him and were not a source of shame. The neck was open, without a collar or crest, allowing him to breathe without feeling as if he was being choked. The coloration, a blueish grey, set the tone for the bevy of beauty he was surrounded by.

Verðandy wore a light brown peasant dress that flattered her curvature just enough to accentuate it without making it the focus of her charms. Sakura had chosen a sedate green open shoulder blouse to pair with a simple gray dress that covered her to her ankles. Maya Amano was wearing a light crème circle skirt and a dark purple sleeveless blouse, paired with heart-shaped rose-colored sunglasses. Hikari was wearing an effortless pink cotton sundress that had a just-shy-of-daring neckline and a hem that brought it to a halt at the beginning of her thighs. Rei had, after she mentioned what Shinji had told her about a dream he'd had, been quickly dressed in a thin buttercup-yellow chemise-style tank top paired with a knee-length denim lace A-frame skirt. It was a bedlam of different colorations all tied into the central focus of everyone's affections. A declaration of possession without words.

For Shinji, it was a form of torture. Each and every one of the women with him alone would have caused his heart to race. Listening to them all chatting with one another was like trying to watch a bumblebee in flight, he had to keep his head moving or he'd stare too long at one and become embarrassed for not recognizing the beauty of the other four.

Incoming. Nanako's voice caressed his mind, her presence as the spotter for the contingent of bodyguards that were spread throughout the area a comforting gain. Gonna be honest with you, Cap'n, I don't know that I'd try as hard as you are to bond with this one.

He couldn't respond, so he simply shrugged his shoulders and thought about how important teamwork was.

"Habe dich gefunden," Asuka declared as she caught sight of him, frowning at the proximity of the others to him. Taking his arm and leaning in, she whispered, "Classmates of yours?"

Gathering that she hadn't seen Rei, due to Hikari and Amano being taller and flanking her, Shinji rocked his head side to side. "Three are, yeah." Not able to find a way of removing his arm without ripping it free, he tilted his head towards Hikari, the default spokeswoman of the younger adults waiting with a hint of a demonic grin on her lips. "Soryu-san, that's Hikari Horaki, my Class Representative. Hikari-chan, please meet Asuka Soryu, my fellow pilot."

"Charmed, I'm sure," Hikari murmured with a slight bow, primed as if she was greeting her husband's work friend and nothing else. "Would you mind if I handled the introductions, Shinji-kun?"

"Please," he happily deferred to her greater wisdom. "Let me just step over here," he took advantage of the expectation of introductions to politely move a pace to the side.

Hikari brought Rei forward, unbalancing Asuka off the top. "I'm sure you recognize your fellow pilot, Rei Ayanami."

With a polite bow, Rei unknowingly played her part. "Good morning." She was not one to look for such features, nor was she one to pay much mind to her own, but with a larger bust than Asuka her bow became a declaration of superiority. When she stood upright again, she too moved over and stood by Shinji. Her intention had been to seek safety in his shadow, but her product was to declare that Asuka was late to any game she might be trying.

"Our other classmate, Maya Amano," Hikari continued, inwardly thrilled at how Rei had set the tone.

"Nice to meet you, thanks for helping Shinji-kun." Recognizing Asuka's Western mannerisms, Maya Amano extended a hand in greeting. "Where are you from?"

"Deutschland." Warily accepting the handshake, Asuka demonstrated a distinct lack of enthusiasm.

While normally prone to optimism in all things, Amano could easily see through the thin veneer of civility to the 'Alpha Bitch' beneath. "Wirklich? Das ist ziemlich toll." Moving over to Shinji, she slid herself under his arm and hugged him close. "Muss eine lange Reise gewesen sein."

"Oh, I love German," Verðandy added. "It's such a versatile language." Stepping forward, she too offered her hand. "My name is Verðandy, it's a pleasure to meet a fellow European. Ich komme aus Norwegen."

Faced with the near physical perfection of Verðandy, Asuka's remaining self-control fled. "There is no way you're a high school student."

"Ðandy is my Executive Assistant," Shinji stepped in, sensing the hostility growing in Asuka and unwilling to allow her to demonstrate it to someone so precious to him. "She was assigned to me because of how far behind I am in class."

Successfully baited, she snapped her attention to Shinji. "And is there a reason she's here on our date?"

"What date?" Having not been a part of the planning phase, nor aware that often a young woman asking a young man on an outing would traditionally be considered a potential courtship ritual, his reaction was genuine in its confusion. "I came here to spend time with you, like we talked about. Build up communication, tear down walls?"

"And you just happened to run into your little pom-pom squad here? If you didn't want to come here with me, you could have just said so you ass!"

"Pom-pom squad," he murmured, trying to understand the word. "Soryu-san, I think you're confused about-"

"Oh, I'm confused? Do your backup dancers here know you kissed me? Which of them aren't you dating behind the other's backs?"

"We are all committed to our relationship, Miss Soryu," Sakura asserted in her typical unflappable manner. "Though I highly doubt that Shinji would have lied to us about you kissing him. You were, as he saw it, making up for the two times now you have slapped him for no reason other than your petty vanity." The mild frown of distaste on her lips made her opinion clear, even if her words had not. "He came here today in an earnest attempt to find common ground with you, he brought us, as is only proper, to not set tongues wagging regarding his loyalty. Now I begin to fear that he has perhaps been keeping things from us, such as how challenging it must be to share such a terrible duty with a child."

Asuka's venom found a new target, "Oh? Well it's obvious he couldn't share it with you gimpy."

Behind you!

Already stepping forward to interpose himself between Asuka and Sakura, Shinji was off-balance as he spun around to slap a thrown, badly rusted, khopesh safely away from everyone with one of his Light Hawk Wings. Rolling backwards and regaining his footing, he saw what was the most unexpected sight to date: an entire platoon of dark-skinned men with their heads instead the heads of wading birds charging at him. He had less than five seconds before they'd reach everyone, and that meant prioritizing the defenseless. "Ðandy, get them out of here!" Jumping up on the half-wall he'd been standing near, he ran along the top towards the attackers to see if the threat was directed at him or not.

The flock of bird-headed men did, indeed, change their direction of travel. Before he could be overwhelmed by contact with over one hundred alien creatures, he was joined by Sig, Yasuji Suzuhara, and several other members of the Juraian Defense Forces crushing in on the group from all sides. Even with the sudden assistance, Shinji was still forced to deal with more of the oddities than he felt comfortable with. Using one Wing as a shield, he summoned the blade he was familiar with to his right hand. There was little he could do offensively, having to deflect spears, arrows, maces, axes, and the oddly shaped khopesh they carried into battle.

Two shots rang out, two of the closer bird-men falling to the ground lifeless. Keep on defense, Shinji. We're in position to provide fire support. Nanako's thought bolstered his resolve, setting a new plan in motion. If he didn't have to kill, he would serve as the distraction he was needed to be.

Where there had been one shield, one blade, he now controlled six defensively shaped Wings. He no longer had to retreat, no longer had to move on uncertain footing, the slightest motion from before him set one of the Wings on a course to deflect or block the danger. Six individual blades of light became a unified blur, a conical dome projected before him to keep whoever was behind him safe. Such hyper-fixation in combat, however, is often lethal. Whether as a matter of luck or timing, one of the mass of bird-men had thrown a spear that he had not seen until it was embedded in his left shoulder at the clavicle.

The pain of impact alone was nigh-impossible to focus through, the sizzling of his flesh as the spear necrotized everything it touched stopped him from doing more than setting the Wings to spinning as fast as possible while collapsing to his knees and clutching at the haft of the spear.

"I leave you alone for five minutes," a familiar voice tutted. Hild walked past him, the Wings flowing through her as if they were nothing, and into the remaining pack of adversaries. With a snap of her fingers, she froze the nearly three dozen remaining bird-men in place. Each wingless creature becoming a frost-encased statue, only to shatter apart when she stamped one high-heeled foot on the ground, setting her flesh jiggling alluringly.

Letting the Wings collapse in on themselves, Shinji slumped forward. The skin and muscle on his shoulder had become a sickly green, open wounds festering outwards rapidly. "Can't…move…hand…."

"Please get the children home, if you would," Hild instructed Sig and the elder Suzuhara. "I need to get him to Washu right now."

+++++ Washu's Laboratory. Saturday, +18.

"It is not a poison," Washu declared, confident in her assessment. "Poisons linger, they spread through the blood to infect new organs. The only damage on him is where the spear touched, including his hand. It might be a curse, it might be some odd form of acid, but it's responding rather well to treatment. He'll be up and about in a few hours, so long as he's not interrupted."

Hild scowled at the spear he'd been hit with, the strange weapon floating in a protective case made of pure energy. "Between this being bronze, and those Ibis-headed warriors, I'm running out of ways to convince myself that we're not somehow facing an Ancient Egyptian assault."

Funaho tapped her lips, thinking through what she'd learned. "Does the name Ma'at mean anything to you?"

"Yeah, consort of Thoth, purveyor of order…hangs around Ibis-headed servants." Hild raised an eyebrow, the question obvious.

"Helbon mentioned her, if you'll remember."

Spreading her hands and not bothering to hide how confounded she was, Hild asked the obvious, "Ok, so how does a goddess that might be lucky to count the number of followers she has using more than one finger come across enough unf to send a unit of warriors to Japan?"

"I'm afraid I know little of goddesses, beyond what we learn through our own religion. Washu?"

The redhaired scientist shook her head. "She isn't a major player in the intergalactic pantheon. Most local beings worth referring to as divine would have greeted me by now. There's really only two, and one of them is standing here next to me. If she's lacking followers, it's unlikely she's still active at all. She might be in hibernation, but it would be far more likely that she's simply ceased to exist."

Hild shrugged, looking to Washu. "If you promise to keep him safe, I'll go have a look around the Nile and see if I can feel anything worth mentioning."

"I think I can keep him out of trouble for a while," Washu chuckled.

Once the Greater Demon disappeared, Funaho moved over to watch as Shinji's unconscious body floated in a tank of cerulean liquid. "Did we detect anything on our sensors?"

"Still analyzing the data." With a gesture, Washu brought up a display with the calculations on various formula rolling past. "There are a number of variables that I need to nail down before I can be certain that I'm looking in the right places. There was no big flash or anything that would have been obvious, whoever is bringing these creatures in they're doing it without making enormous waves."

"Between this and those demons…." She blew out a low sigh. "Before the end of the day, I will be locking down this region entirely. Whoever is responsible for this nonsense has threatened my family, and that will not stand."

+++++ Ikari Manor. Saturday, +18.

It was, as Washu had planned, nearly three hours before Shinji was able to be brought out of the healing liquid. It was another half hour before he was allowed out of her lab, due to a series of 'extremely important examinations' that required her to become progressively less dressed. By the time he'd realized what she was asking him for, she was practically nude. The next hour was spent gaining awareness of the difference between a Norn and a Goddess as far as bedroom proclivities were concerned.

After she told him she couldn't linger, despite very much wishing to, he reluctantly let her go and picked up his phone to see what damage might have been done to his relationship with Asuka. Being attacked by a flock of insane bird-men honestly seemed like far less of a concern, especially after he'd been told that they had people working on the issue. He wasn't going to be of help, unless they attacked again, and…he was pushing off the uncomfortable conversation.

The first thing he noticed on turning on his phone was that he had two text messages. The first was from Misato, asking if he would be interested in dinner tomorrow. A nice, calm, dinner sounded lovely. Replying with a promise that he'd check his schedule and get back to her, he then opened the dreaded text from Asuka.

Hey Shinji, I'm really sorry that I flaked out on meeting you. It wasn't intentional, I swear. I got called into a synch test at the last minute, and they made it take way longer than they said it would. I called you and was told that you were having some type of medical evaluation done. Hope that little dip in the volcano didn't break anything. Anyway, I'm going to go catch a movie. Wiedersehen!

"Someone tampered with her memory." The more he thought about people having the ability to do that, the more he disliked it. "…But would it be worse to have to try and keep people from panicking about bird-head-men-things? Could we keep Asuka from exposing everyone?" Blowing out a frustrated sigh, he slumped forward on his bed. "Why does this have to be so complicated?"

An unknown voice answered with an odd accent, "Largely because you are a singularly frustrating man."

Slowly lifting his head, he saw a pale-skinned woman with shoulder-length black hair that hung straight and loose beneath a diadem of bronze, red, and blue. Her clothing, what there was of it, seemed to be formed of two uncut pieces of cloth folded in such a way to provide for her modesty and little else. Were he not already surrounded by stunning women, he might have thought her the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. Instead, he saw her as a threat. "Who are you?"

The strange guest watched him stand up from the bed, slowly moving her eyes along his body to admire what his nude form showed her. "I am an emissary of Order, the true ruler of life everywhere."

"That's what you are, I asked for a name." Hild? Misaki? Ðandy? The lack of response did not bode well for him receiving any aid in what was unlikely to be a friendly encounter.

"It is rude to ask someone's name without offering your own, is it not?" The corners of her lips curled into an amused grin.

"If you didn't know who I was, then you wouldn't have any idea how frustrating I am." Loosening his limbs, he readied to fight. "Your name?"

After a short bark of a laugh, she took off her diadem and set it on his bed. "I will make you a deal, Shinji of Japan," her top quickly followed, exposing a well-toned physique. "If you tell me how you knew that my little gift to you was a trap," taking off the last piece of her garments, she met him nudity for nudity, "I'll give you my name."

"Gift?" His almost daily fights with Misaki were the only thing that saved him from taking an open palm strike to the jaw, his body naturally flowing away from the blow and gaining space again. Summoning his Light Hawk Wing and forming it into a sword, he didn't bite on the obvious feint that followed.

"Considering your love of women with red hair," the strange woman clapped her hands together, summoning a bronze spear from nothingness, "and your appreciation of warriors, I had thought her to be well-suited to you."

A few experimental jabs of her spear were easily knocked aside by Shinji as he put together what she was talking about. "You're…Ma…Ma'aaa…whatever, you're the one who sent Helbon here?" She was a trap…I really need to trust my friends more.

Clicking her tongue in disapproval, Ma'at continued to dance with Shinji around the spacious room. "I cursed her so that she was unable to tell you who sent her."

She's not as smart as she thinks she is. "Why are you attacking me? What did I do to you?" A seven-strike combination move put his foe on the defensive. Now that he knew who she was, and what she had done, he had no need to hold back.

"Because you are a thorn in the side of Order," caught off-guard by how adept her opponent was, Ma'at now fought for distance herself, "and because you are the weak link."

"Lady, I don't know how to stop the fucking chaos that surrounds me. I want order in my life, but idiotic shit keeps happening to me!" Tapping the tip of her spear down, he pushed her muscles into responding with an upward motion that he took advantage of by slapping the spear up and to his side. Lunging forward with his elbow he caught her in the center of her forehead, disarmed her of her spear and tackled her to the ground. He needed answers, and he doubted killing her would get them for him, so instead of beheading her he dismissed his own sword and pinned her wrists to the ground in a top mount. "Give me a reason not to kill you."

Struggling to free herself, Ma'at scowled up at him. "How have you learned so much, so quickly?"

"Good teachers." Clenching his hands tighter, he began to feel her bones give. "Still waiting on that reason."

"You say you want Order, yet you oppose her at every turn." Pushing with every ounce of strength she had, she found that she couldn't budge him at all. "You free people from their rightful bondage," she let her body go limp, saving what strength she had left, "you even begin to corrupt Yggdrasil itself!"

"Why are you…order is an idea, not a thing…person, it doesn't have a female body."

Ma'at blinked, her grimace fading and her gaze growing incredulous. "You…you do not know of Order?"

"Are we having a translation issue? I think of order and I think of plates properly stacked in a cupboard, of shoes being where they're supposed to be, of days going past without a constant stream of harassment from random people showing up to try and fucking kill me!"

"…You are not one, yet."

"Are you legitimately insane? Am I being attacked by a crazy person?"

Biting her lower lip, Ma'at's eyes began to saccade rapidly as she thought through something she couldn't have known in advance. "If you are not one," she hesitated, then made eye contact once again, "you need to make love to me. Join with me, prove your desire for Order by joining our lines."

"I…think killing you might actually be a mercy."

"Hey Shinji, why is…." Washu's entrance to the room, through a portal between her lab and his bedroom, made clear why he hadn't been able to call for help. "You're not lined up properly for anything carnal," she pointed off to the side, "that's a bronze spear like the one I just yanked out of your shoulder," her finger trailed to Ma'at's clothing, "and that looks like what I found in your historical records regarding Ancient Egyptian depictions of," her finger landed on Ma'at, "her."

"Washu, I'm holding down a crazy woman. I've been trying to get her to make sense, but…you know, crazy woman." Shinji glowered back at his teacher-goddess-lover. "Could I maybe get a hand here before you continue treating my room like a crime scene?"

Floating over, Washu set two fingers on Ma'at's head. "You have her well in hand, silly. I've been put in that mount by Misaki, and unless you're at least as close to as strong as your opponent, there's no getting out of it." Following a quick analysis, she shook her head and snapped her fingers.

Shinji found himself on the ground with no one beneath him, his opponent gone from sight. "Where…."

"Containment sphere." Holding up a tiny red orb, the scientist shrugged and tossed the item through a portal to places unknown. "It'll keep her out of trouble until Funaho and I can have a chat with her." Offering her hand, she helped him to his feet. "Now then, two choices as I see it."

"Ok?" Grateful that someone had come to his aid, he smiled down at the wonderful woman before him. "What are my options?"

"You get dressed and go out somewhere with some of our crew," she snapped her fingers again, dismissing her clothing, "or you and I take advantage of the fact that this room has been cursed to prevent any communication for a while and then you go out somewhere with some of our crew."

"Choices, choices," Shinji snickered out, picking up Washu and carrying her over to the bed.

Author's Notes:

volbia RE: Tenchi.

Yeah, I wanted to wait until I could make a story ridiculous enough to capture the overpowered hilarity that was Tenchi Muyo as a series. I'm fighting a bit of a motivation issue at the moment, but I promise that I'll do my best on this one.

Guest (You know who you are) RE: Mary Sues.

Too many terms get thrown around without regard to what they commonly mean, I agree. The excuse that 'language evolves over time' doesn't rise to meet the fact that without sufficient illumination regarding what the 'critic' is saying I have no idea what they mean when they use 'Mary Sue'. Language as a form of communication has become so...clogged with incoherent and inconsistent ideological posturing (that is not a critique of any specific ideology, because they're all doing it now) that it's impossible to tell what's a potentially valid criticism and what's a demented magpie mindlessly repeating a word they stole from the internet. It's entirely possible that whoever that was had a perfectly necessary criticism of my prose, but what they meant by 'Mary Sue' is beyond me.