Chapter 25: Stillness, Relative
I get to sleep in a room with my wife, alone, and not have to worry about giant robots, alien monsters, or the end of the world. At least for the moment.
It feels… strange, now, to just be still. To look up at an unfamiliar ceiling and have only my thoughts and Asuka's on where we are be the most pressing things on my mind. I don't even know what we're doing tomorrow. And it feels almost… liberating.
- From the personal journal of Shinji Ikari-Soryu
Village-3, March 22nd, 2028
Toji, Kensuke, and Bunzaemon leaned on the table, intently looking at Daniel as the three of them took a sip of their sake. Shinji sat next to Daniel, listening closely as the man laid out who he was, who the other Children were, where they came from, and why they were here.
"So," Bunzaemon said with a quiet sigh, "this world got even more complicated than it had any right to be."
"I wish it weren't so," Daniel replied. "You all deserve a far better world than the one you've been given. It's a beautiful home you've all made in spite of that."
Toji looked over at Kensuke. "Gotta say, compared to what the other version of me is, being a doctor sounds a lot simpler in comparison." he grinned as he nudged Kensuke. "But hey, at least you know that you could be a real lady's man now, Ken."
Daniel and Kensuke both chuckled, one more awkwardly than the other. "Yeah, I think I've missed the boat on that one," Kensuke said as he scratched the back of his head. "But that's fine. I've already got Asuka, Shikinami, that is, to take care of. I don't think adding dating to the mix would help out right now."
Daniel shrugged. "You have it in you, kid. That's all I'm saying."
Kensuke shrugged, then looked over at a clock that read 11:23. "Well," he said as he stood, "I've got to get going. I'm sure I'm going to be busy tomorrow, what with helping iron out the wiring problem at the distribution center's processing wing."
Kensuke looked over at Shinji, somewhat folded into himself. "Are you good staying here, or would you rather stay with me? I know there's a lot of people around. Maybe at my place, you'll be able to get some alone time to decompress. Asuka notwithstanding."
Shinji considered it silently for a moment. It felt… strange, now, to be able to be alone. But even with Asuka around… it was tempting.
He looked over at Daniel, who smiled slightly. "If you need the alone time, take it. Don't let me stop you. Besides, you know where I am if you need anything."
Shinji nodded slowly and rose to his feet. "Alright. I just hope Asuka doesn't knock me out for invading her privacy. We didn't exactly get along the last time we were in a house together."
"Times change, Shinji." Toji said. "I haven't seen her around often, but Ken tells me she's mellowed out a lot from before Near-Third Impact."
Kensuke nodded as he turned to the doorway and began to walk out. "At the very least, she'll listen to me if I tell her to lay off you."
Shinji nodded in turn and followed after, pausing to look back at Daniel, Toji, and Bunzaemon. "Good night. It was nice to meet you, Mr. Horaki."
Bunzaemon nodded, a slight smile on his face. "And it was nice to meet you, young man."
"Good night, Shinji." Toji and Daniel both said, and Shinji followed Kensuke into the night. It took a moment for him to get adjusted to the night walk, the few lights left on in the village scattered about as they walked away.
Soon enough, however, he looked up and saw a clear sky full of stars framed by the mountains around them, the moon above taking up a massive portion of the sky. It was silent between them for a time as they walked.
"Well, Shinji," Kensuke finally said, "I hope that you realized something tonight."
"What's that?"
"That Near-Third Impact didn't just make bad things happen. You saw how much Toji and Hikari cared for each other. How cute their little girl is. That probably wouldn't have happened if they hadn't come together after that day. I mean, you remember how much they fought, right?"
"Vaguely." The word was quiet, almost bashful.
"Yeah, that's alright." Kensuke's reply was equally quiet. "It's been a long time. And you weren't the most social of us. But that's okay. It's the past, after all. No need to worry about a lot of it now."
They were silent again as they exited the village, walking across rice paddies where the water shimmered under the moonlight. They made their way up a hill, the paddies behind them as they got to the top, a simple house with a mess of solar panels on its roof greeting them. In the space surrounding them, several different pieces of heavy machinery were parked in a rough resemblance of order, the arms of backhoes hanging over tractors and trucks. "It's not much, and it's a little messy," Kensuke admitted, "but it's out of the way, and you probably won't run into anyone besides Asuka unless I lead someone back here."
Shinji nodded as they paused at the door. "Make yourself at home," Kensuke continued. "I'm going to get some fuel for the generator. Bathroom's in the back to the left, though it is connected to the shower, so be careful if Asuka's using it."
Shinji nodded, opening the door as Kensuke walked off… somewhere, and stepped into a rather constrained space, an open kitchen area and dining room to Shinji's left and a small living area with a futon and worn, clearly used television sitting on an obviously handmade wooden entertainment center, along with a few consoles and a computer tower. Stretching ahead of him was a central hallway, a curtain to the right that probably went to where Kensuke slept close to him, and another curtain just beyond it was probably Asuka's room, across from what Kensuke said was the bathroom.
Asuka did indeed emerge from behind the far curtain, dressed in a canvas army jacket, a tight shirt, and leggings. Her hair was still wet from what was likely a fresh shower. She glanced over at Shinji, pausing. "Oh," she said quietly. "What're you doing here? I thought you and Daniel were joined at the hip."
"I… wanted some time to be alone. And it's easier with you and Kensuke than it is with Daniel and everyone else."
It was silent again for a moment, and Shinji couldn't quite tell what Asuka was thinking behind that level expression before she shrugged. "Alright. You'll be sleeping on the couch, though. No need for Ken Ken to get any funny ideas about us." she paused for a moment. "You've rubbed off on me some, I guess."
Shinji's emotions began to become a jumble at the words, and he was simultaneously relieved and saddened by Asuka's seemingly nonchalant acceptance of the fact.
He walked over to the futon as Asuka grabbed a granola bar from the pantry, sitting down and taking his SDAT player out of his pocket, looking at it for a moment. The older Shinji had gotten it for him before he'd come down to Terminal Dogma. He didn't know whether to thank the man or curse him for the fact.
"When'd you get that?"
Shinji glanced over at Asuka, who looked at him as she munched on her bar. "From the older Shinji," he said quietly. "It's been a while since I've listened to it."
"Music on it any good?"
Was it? So much of it reminded him of his father. The music that he liked, the music that he'd made, wasn't anywhere to be found on this thing. "I… I guess."
Shikinami nodded. "Alright. Enjoy it, I guess. I'm not your therapist. I'll be talking with Bradley."
Shinji nodded as he put his headphones in, the world growing a little quieter as he heard Asuka beginning to talk. He clicked play, and a piece of classical music began to serenade him. And, for the moment, he was alone with his thoughts.
He considered, for a moment, the blood-red marble in his pocket, his hand gently pressing on it. Kaworu… it still hurt to talk to him for too long. The lies he told, the things he did were, in the grand scheme of things, so little and so small, but they still hurt so much.
His hand fell away from his pocket as he closed his eyes and simply let his mind drift. His thoughts would be his own. And he could finally grieve for what had been lost. For what he'd taken from the world, however accidentally.
. . .
Hikari Suzuhara looked down at her husband laying on the pad next to their daughter and wondered what he was going to dream about tonight. He looked… more anxious than he usually did when he settled into sleep. She'd been busy making sure Tsubame would be able to sleep quietly, so she'd missed much of what Mr. Theisman and the others had talked about.
But that version of Asuka, the one that had accompanied Mr. Theisman, had filled her in on some of the finer points. Not all, but enough. They made her deathly afraid and left her wondering about far too much. Her mother had died before Near-Third Impact, lying quietly in a hospital after rapid onset colon cancer. Toji's had died in a mountaineering accident. Were those really mere tragedies? Or had someone planned on perhaps needing them to pilot in the near future?
Toji stirred in his sleep, muttering softly for a moment before she could make out the words. "Chihiro. No… we just need food… she's not s'posed to be an Evangelion pilot… take me… please…"
Hikari grimaced as she laid a hand on Toji's cheek, then sighed quietly as he relaxed under her touch. "Good night, Toji," she said quietly, making the words almost an injunction against the shadows that lurked in both their minds.
"What is 'good night'?"
Hikari looked back at the source of the quiet voice and found Ms. Lookalike standing in the doorway, wrapped in the fluffy, dark red jacket that her father wasn't really using as often as his blue one. He liked his blue one. A gift from her mother…
She blinked as she came back to the question. "It's something you say to make sure that everyone sleeps at ease."
"I see. Is it related to 'sleep tight'?"
Hikari nodded slightly. "Yes. Where did you hear that?"
"From Rei Nagisa, when we slept in the hospital."
Hikari smiled. "I see. Good night, Ms. Lookalike. Sleep tight."
. . .
Asuka Shikinami-Langley was, for the moment at least, alone. Bradley, her sister (her sister!) had decided to go to sleep, and thus she had decided to retire to bed as well. Even still, with how tired she knew she was, her mind still kept her from slipping into sleep herself.
The night was reasonably warm, and so she slept on a decent pad and pillow, not even a blanket or her jacket against the chill. Her clothes were enough anyway, the tightness of them against her skin comforting now. Was that what simply wearing a Plugsuit constantly did? Or was it the lingering effects of Bardiel?
She didn't know. Just like she didn't know what Shinji was doing here.
The words they'd both said… hurt. Hurt in a way that she couldn't fully process. He was here, and yet he didn't want her around. And it wasn't like she gave off the impression that she wanted him there, either.
'Well, can you blame him for not wanting to talk?' she asked herself. 'After everything you tried, you had to try and stop him in the end anyways.'
A part of her had wanted to join him when he left, she realized. Small, but not unnoticed in trying to keep him from going. They had figured things out before, though Wondergirl — Rei — was involved as well. Maybe they could have figured this out as well, Chokers be damned. 'At the very least, he was… driven. I don't think I've ever really seen that before.'
A part of her wanted to talk to her doll about how strange it had been to see him like that. How strange it was to realize that, when it came down to it, he could be at least somewhat like her. But it was gone. Lost after her medical emergency and their flight from Tokyo-3 after Near-Third Impact. So far away, just like Shinji seemed to be with those headphones. He hadn't said a word after they'd spoken, simply closed his eyes and eventually slumped over to lie on the futon. Kensuke had put a thin blanket over him before they retired.
'He wants to be alone right now.' a part of her scoffed at the idea. How was being alone going to help him get through anything?
But, she realized, there were truths she hadn't told anyone. Not Shinji, not Daniel, not even her doll. She'd locked them away behind duty, behind a battle over her body and mind that needed every ounce of effort she could spare. Now, with nothing left to do…
'What am I, now that Bradley's back and I'm not the last? Who is Asuka Shikinami-Langley?'
That question, and all the ones that would come with it, would be at the core of everything tonight, as she closed her eyes and tried to get some rest anyway.
. . .
Burbank, New Pacifica, March 21st
Toph Beifong, of all people, was a woman who was serious about her duties. It shocked her how much she enjoyed enforcing rules, in keeping an eye, figurative or literal, on people as they did what she told them.
As much as it had shocked even her after a while, it really was a lot more palatable when she was the one making the rules. It had taken hard experience to find the thin line between being good at keeping the rules straight and swerving from one extreme to another. That experience cut deep, even still.
Regardless of that, she still knew when to cut loose, have some fun, and maybe even keep saving the day in the process. The Wunder was almost ready to be deployed, and Aang was busy trying to keep his head above water while juggling a resupply and outfitting the Enchanted Shields of Virtue (what a ridiculous name that was for what amounted to a really fancy Eva-sized metal platter), and the rest of her familiar security team members were busy either helping guard something or playing cards with Shigeru. As much as she liked the games, they grew stale after a while. Especially when she couldn't cheat.
So, she pursued something a little more personal. It had been a few months since she'd just hung out and had a drink with Ymris. With everything that had happened recently, and how lonely Ymris seemed to be, it was well past time to get back to it anyways.
She stood in front of a bar named the Cliffhanger (a name that at least made her chuckle) and waited for Ymris to arrive. She seemed at once busy and hesitant, having taken the call while she was ministering to the last of the former Scions that was waiting for Eleanor to come around. The fact that they were being guarded at all still seemed rather ridiculous, even after the rather sobering rundown that Eleanor and Ymris had given her.
Then, in the late dinner crowd, she spotted Ymris walking on the sidewalk across from her, waving her over. She smiled slightly as she crossed the rather unbusy street to her, pausing for a moment as they stood before each other.
"Are you sure we're going to be left alone here, Toph?" Ymris asked as she looked up at the bar, a slight smile on her face. "This seems like, as Soren would say, a pretty happening place."
Toph nodded. "Sokka would say that. But I talked to the bar owner, and after he found out I was WILLE, he gave me a table to do whatever I wanted with."
Ymris rolled her eyes. "Any other person would call that a breach of conduct, I'd think."
Toph scoffed. "I enforce the rules around here. I think I can bend them just a little still."
Even as they shared a chuckle, Toph thought back to her daughters. She wondered how they were doing after she'd left, still. 'I did a pretty rough job raising them, but they still turned out alright.' she settled on, as they walked into the bar. It was a familiar answer to her wondering. 'They're doing fine.'
They walked into the bar, the lights dim and the bar itself on the left wall. Several tables in the center were surrounded by booths going along the walls, the corners little nooks with circular tables and benches set into them. Toph led her to the corner nook right by the bar in the far wall, the two ordering their drinks in short order.
"So," Toph began as they waited, "how are your former Scions doing?"
Ymris sighed quietly. "Most of them are alright. Some of them take their loss of faith harder than others, though."
Toph nodded. "How's that? I'm not exactly the spiritual type of girl myself, you know, so I don't exactly have a frame of reference."
Ymris nodded slightly. "It's like… losing your sight. Only being able to feel what's just around you, and no further. You're lost in that, after spending so long being sure you finally know where things are going. You're looking for something else to believe in."
Toph leaned back as their drinks arrived, taking a contemplative sip. It had been… decades since she'd felt like that. Truly blind. She'd been utterly afraid then. In the moments before she'd found her teachers. "I get it," she said quietly.
"I'm glad you do." Ymris leaned back as well, taking a drink. "You know, doing this reminds me of the Titanskeep. I miss that old ship."
Toph smiled as she nodded. "Yeah. I wonder where it's off at right now. There was something about just seeing both Evas at once that… I gotta admit, I kind of miss."
"It's somewhere off the coast of Albion right now, picking up a shipment before it takes it to South Africa."
Toph raised a brow at the nonchalance of Ymris' reply. "And how would you know that?"
"The first mate and I keep in touch," Ymris said with a smile. "Remember him?"
Toph's brow furrowed for a moment before she nodded. "Yeah. Jackson, right?"
As Ymris nodded and smiled, Toph began to grin. "Is where the ship is all that you're worried about?"
Ymris laughed easily. "Yes. There isn't anything going on between him and me, I promise." her smile shrank. "We've got a lot on our plates anyways."
Toph nodded. "How're the Evas?"
"Coming along. Unit-02 is nearly ready for whenever we get Jet Alone's cybernetics. Watching it slowly shrink back into something resembling a human has been… creepy."
Toph nodded in agreement as Ymris continued. "Not only that but it's been a real chore getting armor that'll fit the thing. We've started to use some of the unpainted, bare parts from the Enchanted Shields we aren't going to be using, but that's a chore to work with, too."
"I mean, at least it'll be ready by the time we go to Paris, right?"
Ymris rolled her eyes. "Whenever that is. Aang is trying to get everything straight with Misato's wild plan of welding some of the ESVs to the bottom of several ships, and even though the Wunder itself is just about ready, they still want to go with the fleet."
"I mean, based on what I've heard of and seen on how the Shields work, they're probably going to be really useful in a pinch."
Ymris shrugged. "Yeah, well 'in a pinch' is hopefully going to justify the sweat and tears it's taking to get one on."
It was silent for a moment as they nodded, appreciating their drinks for a few sips. As they both set down their glasses, Ymris looked at Toph expectantly. "You look like you've got something else on your mind. What is it?"
Toph sighed quietly. "Are there… any groups of Scions here in California?"
Ymris was silent for a moment, then nodded. "There's a chapter here. They're the closest."
Toph nodded. "Are there any others on the continent?"
"There's a Herald Unit facility out in what used to be New Mexico. It's a ways away from here, but I'm sure that after whatever happened at Fourth Impact, they've started protecting themselves from it."
The two of them shared a slight shudder as they recalled seeing the footage Dr. Akagi had shown the command staff of the Wunder. Turning into LCL was not a pretty sight.
"How quickly do you think we can deal with them?"
"If they know I'm here?" Ymris shook her head. "It's a wonder Tavis hasn't told them to go after me and the others now for the security threat we pose."
Toph nodded. "I'll make sure you and yours are aware of the risk. Can you help us keep an eye out for them in case they do think about trying to sabotage things?"
"Of course."
They were silent again, then Toph polished off her drink and set the glass back down. "Now that that's out of the way, is there anyone here you might be seeing, now that we know Mr. Jackson isn't an item with you?"
. . .
The Black Moon
Kozo Fuyutsuki, far too old for this kind of nonsense, had to remind himself that while yes, the Black Moon was indeed in a lateral position, gravity still worked as it had when the Moon was horizontal. Even still, he was grateful that there were no windows or other openings around where he was. The sight would have made his head spin even more than it already did.
'I need to focus. Especially now.' he thought as he clenched his jaw against the slight nausea he felt, still looking around himself regardless. Even though he'd walked quite a ways away from Ikari, there had arisen from the man an aura of… danger. Knowing. Now more than ever, Fuyutsuki wondered if Ikari retained any of the things that had made him human, as much as he had said that he'd forsaken them all those years ago when he'd used the Key.
He shook his head, pulling out his phone. Worrying like that wouldn't get him anywhere quickly. He focused, still surprised at how easily the knowledge that Mr. Theisman had given him came as he began to input the commands that he needed to.
After a moment, he put the phone to his ear, waiting as the line rang. 'I hope she's at her device…'
The line clicked, and it was silent for the briefest of moments. "Uh… hello? Is this some sort of prank call?"
The voice, the memories that came with it, made Fuyutsuki sigh quietly in relief at the familiarity, a feeling so long a stranger to him. "Hello, Iscariot. It's good to finally speak with you again."
"Sensei?" Mari Makinami, the woman who so proudly, yet somehow so bashfully at the same time referred to herself as 'Illustrious', gasped. "Sensei! How did you manage this? Are you still in the HQ? Isn't dear old Gendo going to get ticked over this?"
"Slow down, Mari." Fuyutsuki chuckled, even in spite of his anxieties. "I am still in the Black Moon. But at the very least, I'm away from Ikari. And… what he won't know will lay him to rest, perhaps."
He could almost feel the hesitation on the other end of the line. "Sensei… I think that's the first time I've heard you refer to Gendo like that in… ages."
"Yes." Fuyutsuki replied wearily. "But it's true. Gendo is gone. Whatever's there isn't him anymore. I don't even know if what we're doing is going to bring Yui back to us or if it's for some other purpose entirely."
"I see." Mari was silent for a moment, mourning with him from across the world, wherever she might have been.
"So," she said, clearing her throat, "how did you manage to get to me like this? Technology this advanced wasn't your strong suit after all." The last words came out from behind a grin.
Fuyutsuki nodded, for all the good it did. "You have Mr. Theisman to thank for that. Did he manage to return to you safely?"
After another moment of hesitation, Fuyutsuki began to feel a knot of fear in his gut. "He isn't with us, if that's what you mean, Sensei. He's probably in Village-3 right now with Shinji, Asuka, and your escaped Ayanami unit."
Fuyutsuki frowned slightly. "Where's that?"
"Uh…" Mari exhaled, and Fuyutsuki could imagine the face she made as she did. "It's where Hadano was if I recall correctly."
"That close?" Fuyutsuki's brows rose. "It's a good thing Ikari doesn't seem to care about much beyond what immediately impacts his goals now. Otherwise, that village would be flattened."
"He's that bad now?" Mari was silent for a moment. "I know Yui was good at helping him dial it back a little, but that seems ridiculous."
"As I said, Gendo is, if not gone, then at least so changed as to be unrecognizable. His focus may be a product of something far beyond any of our comprehension."
"I don't know," Mari said, clearly skeptical. "I've seen some pretty crazy things myself, lately."
"Then it behooves me to warn you about something that you might not be aware of," Fuyutsuki said, glancing over his shoulder again. "Whenever you launch again, there's going to be an attack on your position. A mixed force of Mark.06Hs, Mark.04As, and a new prototype unit that the Magi has been testing as part of a new line."
"Duly noted," Mari said, her tone now one of concern. "Any idea of where it's coming from?"
"It's gathering around Hokkaido and is going to launch from there across the sea. You'll have a few hours to prepare, but it's going to be large. Very large."
"Got it. I'll make sure that Commander Kaji and the others know."
Fuyutsuki began to speak, then the name caused him to stutter for a moment. "Commander Kaji? That's impossible. He died preventing Third Impact from initiating an Instrumentality event."
"Well, it looks like the previous commander of WILLE had other ideas when he decided to pull him out of Terminal Dogma's lake to be his Deputy-Commander."
"Previous commander? Who could-"
Then it struck him. The only other person who could have done it. "SEELE's boy. Kaworu Nagisa. He was the commander of WILLE?"
"That he was. Right under your noses, right up to the moment we killed him accidentally." Mari sucked on her teeth for a moment. "Yeah, not exactly our greatest moment, that one."
Fuyutsuki suppressed a shudder. He'd had a camera feed into Unit-13 for the brief moments before he was called away to help Ikari shut the old men down. The explosion… could the cheery, optimistic Colonel Katsuragi he'd been familiar with really have done something like that to young Shinji? It seemed so… beyond her. But, he had to remind himself, the years had been kind to none of them.
"Well, I can only hope that he rises to the occasion of being your commander," he said quietly. "He was… is, a decent man. A hard thing to come by in this day and age, it seems."
"Oh come on, Senpai." That grin was back on Mari's face, and he heard it. "You've been saying that since Second Impact. Surely there's got to be at least a few more decent people now than there were back then."
"I would certainly hope so." Fuyutsuki smiled slightly, a forlorn thing. "Did Unit-08 manage to leave the battlefield intact?"
"Yeah, for the most part." Mari's voice held a tinge of relief now. "Granted, I fell from the surface of the HQ and landed in a high-rise building, so not without a scratch. But she'll be fine."
"I'm sure she will be." Fuyutsuki knew who she was talking about. Why she'd gone on to do the Contact Experiment again, so soon after the man she loved left… he still wondered so much about Mari's mind and where it had been then.
"Well, I should let the others know about what you've told me," Mari said after a moment of silence. "I'll go ahead and jump off. I wish we could come and get you from there if it wasn't going to be a suicide mission."
"Don't worry about me, Mari." Fuyutsuki smiled slightly. "I think I'll be safer, and much more useful, here in the Black Moon. At least here, I can feed you information."
Mari sighed dramatically. "Alright. Well, take care, Sensei. Hopefully, we'll be able to get you out soon."
"Goodbye, Mari."
With that, the line went dead, and Fuyutsuki pocketed his phone with a quiet sigh. The silence was, at times, quite nice. But now, it was… smothering. An almost oppressive thing. At the very least, he had a sense of… purpose about him again. How long had it been since that had been the case?
. . .
Mari Makinami lost herself in a good book for the moment, and Rei Ayanami, to her great surprise, did much the same. She looked a lot more like just some teenager you'd be able to find on the street, with dark blue jeans and a black t-shirt accompanied by white sneakers. Mari was, if nothing else, proud of her work.
She wondered for a moment if catching her up to the Illustrious Book Reader's Society's latest book, The Three Body Problem, would be easy. She seemed to be a fairly quick reader, at the very least.
'Old Danny Boy is going to need to play catchup,' she thought with a slight smile. 'Seeing as he is the one who got the book to us in the first place. Speaking of…'
She looked up from her tablet at Rei, who sat across from her on the bunk reading from one out of Mari's physical collection. "Hey, Rei?"
Rei looked at her from over the top of her copy of Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey, an old favorite of hers. "Yes, Mari?"
"How would you feel about joining my little book club? If I knew you had such an interest in reading, I would have asked you a whole lot sooner."
Rei set a bookmark into her spot as she closed the book, a somewhat puzzled expression on her face. "I was under the impression that reading was a solitary endeavor."
"Yeah, usually," Mari said as she stood. "However," she continued as she pointed a finger up, "it can be a lot more fun when you get together with other people reading the same book. You can share ideas and theories, talk about what you liked or didn't, and just generally have fun."
"So," she concluded as she put her hands on her hips, "would you like to try it out?"
Rei was silent for a moment, then nodded slightly. "I will give this a chance."
Mari smiled as Rei stood, putting her book aside. "Awesome! I'll get the book to you, and you can come with me to our next meeting today. You're lucky we only got through the first and second chapters before everything kicked off. Think you can read to there that quickly?"
Rei nodded. "I believe so."
Mari's smile widened. "Excellent! Hopefully, Dan's at Village-3 right now. Though…" she put a finger to her chin. "We've got a considerable time difference from Japan now. I wonder what time it is there…"
A quick search had her wince slightly. "As patient as the old man is, I doubt he'd like us much if we got him up at 5:30 for a book club meeting."
"I was under the impression that he and the others were rather adept at rising early for their work."
"Yeah, maybe so. But this is probably the closest any of them have gotten to a right and proper vacation. I figure giving them their beauty sleep is the least a decent human could grant them."
Rei blinked, and it was silent for a moment. "I believe I understood the meaning of most of the words that you said. It is a marked progression from even a few months before."
Mari chuckled as Rei stood. "You'll get it, I'm sure. If Yui was smart enough, and you're basically Yui 2.0, then I believe in you."
Rei nodded uncertainly, and Mari was struck by how odd this all was. It was Yui, the woman whose face that Rei at least mostly shared, that had taught her to be so confident. 'I guess I'm paying you back, Yui.'
"Well, from what I can tell," Mari said after a moment, "we'd need to have our book club meet at about 10 at night in order to get Danny in on the conversation at a decent time. But I think the others will be able to make that work. Now, what say you to some lunch while I explain the verities of some of my word choices?"
Rei shrugged. "I think that would be most agreeable, especially if I find such words in my reading."
"That's the spirit." Mari's smile widened. There was still some of Yui buried in there somewhere, wasn't there? And with that being so, it made her… comfortable. Something she hadn't been in ages, it seemed.
. . .
Daniel Theisman stretched as he slowly woke up, pushing himself to sit up before rubbing his eyes. The sound of the birds, and the breeze that they likely drifted on, made it even into this part of the house. The walls inside were relatively thin after all.
'Much to my dear kids' dismay, I'm sure.' he mused with a slow, sleepy grin as he pulled on a shirt and pants he could actually walk outside in. Someone must have had a window open, as the noises of nature and a waking village grew stronger. He looked to the side, and found Ayanami, still in her Plugsuit and the red jacket Hikari had loaned her, emerging from where Rei and Kaworu slept.
"Good morning, Ayanami," he said with a slight smile.
Ayanami tilted her head. "What is 'good morning'? You have said that to the others, yet I have not had occasion to ask."
Daniel nodded. "It's how you tell others you want them to have a good day ahead of them. They wish the same for you, more often than not."
He took a deep breath as the smell of something really good wafted back to the bedrooms, drawing the attention of the others as he glanced over to hear the others beginning to stir. "Let's get some breakfast, shall we?"
Ayanami nodded and followed him into the kitchen, where Hikari was indeed cooking what was sure to be a delicious meal. On her back, Tsubame rested in a cloth carrier, looking back at them a moment before Hikari did as well. "Ah. Good morning, you two," she said with a smile.
"Good morning, Hikari," Daniel replied. He glanced over at Ayanami, nodding encouragingly.
Ayanami blinked for a moment, then nodded slightly. "Good morning."
Hikari's smile widened, and Tsubame cooed as she chuckled. "Very good, Ms. Lookalike. You'll have it all down by the time the day is done learning like that."
Ayanami nodded as the others came up behind her, each in various states of wakefulness. "Whenever we receive a compliment, Ayanami, we say 'thank you' to show that we understand and are grateful for what we've heard."
Ayanami nodded again. "Thank you, Mrs. Suzuhara."
"You're welcome, Ayanami."
Daniel looked at the others, his smile growing wider as he saw them smiling in turn. "Now, let's not keep everyone from a good meal, Ayanami."
The tables were set up, and Hikari gave them all their meal, rice with miso soup and some okayu as a sugary kick for the child at the table and the children at heart.
"Man, Shinji," Asuka said as she gently elbowed him, "we should get you cooking with Hikari more often. You two would be a dream team."
Hikari looked up with no small amount of surprise as she fed a spoonful of okayu to Tsubame. "You cook? I never knew that."
Shinji nodded. "I did my best to, having grown up mostly on my own. It beats Misato's cooking every time though."
Asuka, Rei, and Kaworu all nodded gratefully. "Does she still leave everything she tries to cook in ruin, or did that cookbook that you composed for her manage to help her?" Kaworu asked.
"I believe so," Rei replied in Shinji's stead. "Do you remember her birthday dinner, a little after we got married?"
Kaworu nodded, and Shinji smiled. "She cooked a few of the dishes herself. The rice, the yakitori, the tempura. All while I was watching closely of course. She did a good job, actually."
Toji sat back in amazement. "Wow… I didn't know the Captain's cooking was that bad. Or that yours was apparently that good. Maybe you'd be willing to cook for us?"
Shinji smiled. "Certainly. Though," he continued with a slightly bowed head, "I'll defer to Hikari if necessary."
Laughter rippled through the room, the sound stumbling to a stop as Bunzaemon began to have a coughing fit. Hikari stood and went over to him, rubbing his back as the coughing began to subside. "Father, please… be careful," she said with a grimace.
"What's wrong?" Daniel asked, his brow furrowing in concern.
Bunzaemon sighed quietly. "Well, you can clearly see how old I am. And living through the end of the world twice, I was half expecting to punch my ticket far earlier than this."
It was silent for a moment before Kaworu asked the question. "What is it, then?"
"Lymphoma. I don't know if it's Hodgkins or not, but it's moved pretty far along in the last little while. I probably haven't got that long left now."
The breakfast became a silent, mournful thing. "Mr. Horaki…" Daniel began slowly. "You know about my powers. I can't heal you fully. But I can-"
"Spare it for someone who needs it more than me, is what you can do." Bunzaemon cut off any argument with a raised hand. "I've lived a good long life, gotten to see my daughters grow up to be people I'm proud of, and live with my darling granddaughter. It's more than many men can ask for in this day and age."
Daniel nodded slowly after a moment. "I see. You're stronger than most, to be able to make your peace with it like this."
Bunzaemon smiled slightly. "It makes me appreciate every day that I have. And I'll die knowing that I lived to the best of my abilities."
Daniel nodded again as Bunzaemon shook his head and scoffed. "Now, where's that Kaji boy? He should have been back here from the ACC Pillar plant for breakfast."
Hikari rolled her eyes even as she smiled. "Probably visiting Natsumi at Nozomi's house. He's got a thing for her, I think."
Daniel's brows, along with everyone else's, rose. "And who is Natsumi?" Rei asked.
"She's Kodama's daughter." Hikari's smile was tinged with sadness. "She was able to have her sent over here from Tokyo-2 when Near-Third Impact happened. However…"
Her smile disappeared entirely. "We haven't seen Kodama in years. Whether she's in one of the other villages dotted along Japan or dead… we just don't know."
"I see," Asuka said quietly as Toji made his way over to his wife. "I'm sorry. Kodama's so nice…"
Hikari nodded, accepting a gentle side hug from Toji as she took a deep breath and stood. "Well, I'm sorry to burden you all with our family's troubles. Let me get your dishes."
"Please, Hikari," Shinji said as he stood in turn, "let me help."
Asuka nodded as she smiled. "I wondered when your cleaning instinct would kick in," she said with a chuckle as she passed her dishes over to her darling husband. "Maybe you should stick around and see if you can help Hikari make this place really shine."
The others chuckled, and soon, Shinji and Hikari were both heading toward the kitchen with the dishes. Daniel stood, stretching some as he regarded the Children. "I'm going on a walk today. I'm sure that Toji and Hikari will be able to find ways for you guys to make yourselves useful."
"Where are you going?" Kaworu asked, his head tilted slightly.
"I need to think about ways I can help young Shinji and Asuka. And for questions like that, my mind likes me to be in motion."
With that, he tidied himself up as best he could, letting his hair flow free today, and said his goodbyes for the day and made his way to the door, stepping out into the crisp, somewhat cool morning as he saw the sun rising over the hills. He picked a direction and began to walk.
He walked amongst a town that was starting to go to work in earnest, those who had not risen early walking out their doors and waving to their children and spouses as he made his way through the neighborhood of mostly metal houses. A few of the older ones had stone for their walls, and all had at least one solar panel on their roofs angled toward the path the sun would take. As he passed the people, he got his fair share of waves and salutes, taking each in stride as he gave a simple wave back.
How long had it been since he'd been at peace quite like this? No pressing duties to help save the world, no need to be somewhere absolutely right now. He could just… be. 'I wish Eleanor was able to be here to see it.' he thought with a smile. She would have loved it here. He wouldn't have been surprised in the slightest if she'd have wanted to just stay here after all this was over.
His smile faded somewhat as he reached the main concourse of the village, the rail hub passed over by workers making their way either to the farms that surrounded the town or to the growing line in front of the food distribution center. Some workers pushed the massive, likely empty rail cars to other lines that were likely for storage. He watched for a moment as a few streams of dogs and cats followed the workers, some pausing to take breaks and pet a few of them.
He walked across the yard, more waves, and more than a few curious stares, following him as he made his way toward the edge of town. There, the houses faded away behind him, giving way to rice paddies, small grazing fields, and coops for birds, goats and sheep, and chickens filling the air with sound as the farmers got to work.
He blinked as he saw Ayanami, dressed in her Plugsuit, pink fluffy sleeves, and a bonnet and scarf, out with three of the farmers, all of them women. That she was there wasn't out of the ordinary, as he'd expected that to happen. That Rei and Kaworu were with her as well, dressed in similar getups to the farmers, was quite a shock to him. He sharpened his hearing and tuned it to listen in on the group.
"I've got to say," one of the older women said, "those are some tight-fitting clothes for this sort of work, young lady."
Another older woman, standing next to Ayanami and the Nagisas, smiled. "This is Ms. Lookalike, her sister Rei, and her brother-in-law Kaworu. They're here to help us today thanks to the doctor's wife."
"Good morning," Ayanami said, the Nagisas echoing her words.
"You three almost look like family." the third woman said, her eyes slightly narrowed. "I don't think I've ever seen people like you before. Where do you come from?"
"It's…" Rei began. "Complicated." she finally settled on.
"Either way, they're all willing to work, as far as I can tell." the woman beside Ayanami said.
Ayanami tilted her head. "What is 'work'? If it is an order, then I will comply."
"No orders around here." the woman replied. "It's just plain, simple work."
"What is work, then?"
It was silent for a moment. "That's a good question." one woman said. "I've never really thought about it." another rejoined.
"It's the act of doing something that is necessary, for yourself or others," Rei said.
"Oh, I wouldn't be that pretentious," the third woman said. "It's… sweating over something together, I think."
"Sweating over something together…" Ayanami said quietly.
"Well, let's not waste time or sweat, then," Kaworu said with a smile, adjusting the wide-brimmed straw hat that he wore. "Where will we be working?"
Daniel tuned out of the conversation, his hearing returning to normal as he smiled, and watched as the six of them walked off toward one of the paddies. Then, at the edge of his hearing, he heard something off to the right. It was a repeated, sharp hammering sound, and it stoked old memories as he looked around for its source.
He found it in a squat building with several chimneys that rested a ways away from the paddies, up the hill, and situated on the stream that fed into the paddies. A water wheel dipped into the stream, turning gently as smoke billowed out of the chimneys.
As he saw it, he had an Idea. An Idea that was, while entirely unorthodox, perhaps the start that Shinji and Asuka needed to open up.
'A work of their own hands…' he shook his head. 'It sounds crazy, even to me. But maybe crazy's what we need here.'
Misato would have a laugh at that, he knew, as he made his way to what he knew was the blacksmith.
As he entered the blacksmith, the heat of the forges washed over him, and he saw three men working on several different projects. A fourth went from person to person, assisting them or giving helpful advice. 'You'd be the man to talk to, then.'
He walked over, waiting for a moment before the man, at least a head taller than him and a fair bit broader than him, sporting somewhat long hair tied back with a bandana, noticed and turned away from the young man hammering away at what looked like a bent crowbar. "Can I help you?"
His voice was a deep rumble, yet it was clear to understand over the clamor of the smithy. Daniel glanced behind him, seeing an anvil near the back that wasn't in use, stationed right by what looked like hand-pumped bellows. Perfect. "My name's Daniel Theisman of WILLE. I'm from out of town, and I want to start a project with some newbies. Do you have a scrapyard with some soft and hard metals that I could use to make a billet or two?"
The man arched his brow. "You do seem the type to at least be able to forge something." he looked behind him. "I presume you saw that old anvil back there?"
Daniel nodded, and the man nodded in turn. "There's a scrapyard that me and mine use to put together our materials. It's a few minutes walk north from here, a little ways away from the village."
Daniel smiled as he raised a hand. "Thank you. I apologize for not letting you introduce yourself properly, Mr. …"
"Shinichi Kuroki." the man said as he shook the proffered hand once, firmly. "So, Mr. Theisman, what exactly are you planning to make with these newbies?"
"Something very memorable."
. . .
Mari Makinami settled into her seat at the circular table in the mess hall that the Illustrious Book Reader's Society had commandeered for their meetings, looking around at the slowly growing members. They'd gotten Maya, Midori, and Eleanor to join in the fun in recent days, and Rei had, true to her word, seemingly inhaled the required reading for being caught up at the table. Now, there was a rather thriving little group here.
"So," she began, "with the Society mostly in order, we're still waiting for one person."
She turned her gaze to Eleanor. "Is he able to get on with us?"
Eleanor nodded, setting a device that she had made in front of their very eyes on the table, pressing down on the glowing blue button until it clicked. It hummed as Eleanor lifted her finger away, tiny jets of water shooting into the air, swirling and coalescing into the rough shape of a head and shoulders, the rippling water smoothing out as it began to glow, and a luminous, extremely accurate image of Daniel Theisman's face appeared.
"Well, hello, everyone," Daniel smiled as he looked around. "I see the Society's gained a member since I left. How are you, Rei?"
"I am doing well, Daniel," Rei replied. "Are the others doing well?"
Daniel nodded. "As well as they can, having just gotten to Village-3 yesterday. It's… terribly peaceful. Been a while since I've had that."
"It sounds nice," Midori said. "I wish we could have that sort of thing before we go to Paris."
"Paris?" Daniel's brow arched. "I imagine that the Wunder is just about ready to lift off, then?"
"That it is." Sumire sighed quietly. "We'll be going to liberate a weapon's cache and get something so that Unit-02 can actually be used again."
"I'm sure Asuka Shikinami will appreciate that once you guys touch base with us." Daniel paused for a moment. "So, do I have to catch up on anything since I left, or have you guys been waiting for me?"
"We've been waiting, Danny, I promise." Mari smiled. "After all, getting everyone together to talk about these books is the spirit of the whole thing, isn't it?"
It was silent for a moment, and she saw Maya looking over at Sumire, Hideki, and Midori. "Let me guess… I'm about to hear something that I'm not really going to like."
Maya sighed quietly. "Well… myself and the other members of the first bridge watch are…"
"Going on strike?" Hideki said with an arched brow.
"Yeah. Something like that." Maya nodded. "We're going to have Eleanor take us to Village-3, where we'll stay until the Wunder swings by that way with a KREDIT shipment. Call it… making up for lost time and concern."
Mari's face fell, but she nodded nevertheless. "I get it. Wish I could come, but seeing as dear old Commander Ikari has other plans for us, I doubt Ryoji wants his only native Eva pilot out of commission as well."
The rest of the table nodded, and she saw Daniel smiling slightly. She'd wasted little time, and little whimsy, on informing the command staff of just what her dear old Sensei had told her. Now, with the ship lifting off tomorrow morning, they were ready. At least, as ready as they could be.
"And besides, Mari," Daniel said after a moment, "I'm in something of a crafting mood. I'll pop over to the Val to get my tools, and see what I can whip up to keep the meetings going."
"And," he continued as he looked back at Eleanor, "while I'm thinking about it, could you make a note to send Shinji's cello over as well? The poor boy's going to need something other than my project to keep him occupied."
Eleanor nodded. "Sure. I can make that work."
"What kind of project are you having Shinji work on?" Midori asked as she leaned forward, unable to seemingly constrain herself any further as she poked Daniel's forehead, her finger disappearing as the image rippled.
"A surprise that you might see when you get here." Daniel gave a cheeky grin, an expression that Mari hadn't seen before, yet somehow seemed completely natural on his face. "I think you'll actually like it a lot when you see it, Mari."
"I'll be the judge of that. And seeing as you're getting the rest of the book club over there with you, that judgment might be just slightly colored."
"Oh, dear," Daniel said in mock horror. "I'm terrified to see the day."
"Anyway," Mari said, "is there anything else we need to get out of the way? Any further bombshells that absolutely must be dropped?"
"Not that I can tell, Mari," Eleanor replied.
Mari took a dramatic deep breath. "Okay. All that business out of the way, let's talk about the book we're all here to read. Man, that Chinese Cultural Revolution. Right?"
More than a few people at the table suppressed a shudder. "If what the brief overview you've given us is any indication, that's going to be at once the least crazy and most sobering thing we read about," Maya said.
"It's been a while since I read this, so I'm fuzzy on the details," Mari admitted, "but it's going to get pretty crazy, you're entirely right."
"Crazier than our lives, even?" Hideki asked with an arched brow.
Mari was silent for a moment, her head and Rei's tilted slightly in thought. "That's up for debate."