Μάταιόν εστι παρά θεών αιτείσθαι ά τις εαυτώ χορηγήσαι ικανός εστι (It is futile to pray to the gods for that which one has the power to obtain by himself) – Epicurus
"Erm, sorry. What was that?" Asked the Third Child from the other end of the phone call.
Asuka's face set into a scowl at the familiar word, the contempt she regularly felt for her fellow pilot's meek nature once again rising to replace the initial panic she had felt at unexpectedly hearing his voice. Stop apologizing to me all the time! You never mean it! Memories came, unbidden, of Shinji insincerely acting contrite in all manner of situations, but she focused her attention on the task at hand. Whatever. I can deal with him later.
"Get Misato on the phone. This is important."
"S-sorry, but–she's busy? Maybe you could call back later?" Asuka suppressed a snarl, instead balling her free hand into a fist and rhythmically pounding on her bed which she was situated on.
"Listen. Whatever it is she's doing right now is not nearly as important as what I have to say to her. So go find her, knock the beer out of her hand, and give her the phone. Understand?" She intoned as calmly as she could–which is to say, she half-growled it out from behind clenched teeth.
"Umm," Shinji hesitated, taking a few seconds to consider her instructions. "Ok. Just a minute, sorry," he said, and she heard the muffled sound of him walking, barely eclipsing the sound of her blood pressure rising. After a few steps, she began hearing a faint conversation, as if he had covered the receiver to talk to Misato. She couldn't make out much of what they were saying, but she did hear a few words: rude, European, and angry.
Yeah, I already knew you prefer meek and submissive girls like your doll Ayanami, tell Misato all about how much you hate–her train of thought was interrupted by the angry, clipped voice of Misato coming through the phone. "This had better be as important as you say it is, whoever you are."
Asuka took a half-second to compose herself before replying; as much as she was used to relying on her anger in a fight, this conversation was, as Kaji had insisted, going to be subtle, not a sparring match. "Captain Katsuragi, it's Pilot Soryu. I wanted to–" Again she was interrupted by Misato.
"Asuka! It's great to hear from you!" The anger had vanished from her voice, replaced by what Asuka thought to be genuine surprise. "Did you watch Shin-chan's fight against the Angel? Oh, of course you did, what am I saying. Calling to congratulate him?" Here her voice picked up a sly edge. "You're going to have to congratulate him pretty hard, he was the nice boy you talked to earlier and whatever you said to him has got him moping now. Were you being mean to him? That's no way to get close to your fellow pilot, Asuka."
First Kaji and now the sot, is that all these adults think about? We're not even on the same continent and they're all convinced I'm some schoolgirl who's lovesick over the Invincible Shinji just because he managed not to die against one Angel! An Angel I could have killed in my sleep! "Captain–"
"Nope, none of that!" Misato once again interrupted cheerily. "No formalities between us. Not when we're off the clock, at least." Asuka could hear the implied alcohol fueled off the clock times, no doubt filled with teasing and innuendo, and was already very much over this conversation.
"Misato, this is important," she insisted. She heard the older woman sigh quietly.
"Ok then, Asuka, what do you have for me?"
"Well, I did watch Unit 01's sortie," she started.
"And?" Misato asked, her voice leading.
"And, I know you must have had some thoughts about how it went," Asuka replied. Agh, this is so frustrating!
"You mean like how well Shin-chan did? Ooh, did you hear what his synch rate was? I was sure he wouldn't even be able to activate Unit 01, but he was good to go almost as soon as he got into the entry plug!"
What good did your precious Shin-chan's synch rate do for him when he fell face first after taking one step? He lost to that Angel! I know I'm not the only one who can see that! "Misato," she said, forcing her voice to remain even with great effort, "I don't care what the Third Child's synch rate was," that Idiot and his infuriating luck in synching with the test type doesn't matter right now, "that fight was a catastrophe. I'm sure you noticed that he was unconscious when the Angel was defeated?"
Another sigh from Misato. "We're still puzzling that one out, actually," she muttered.
"Right," Asuka said. "So, you've got one untrained pilot, and one pilot of dubious ability who, for some reason that my clearance won't allow me to find out, is unable to perform her duties. That doesn't sound like a winning strategy for when the next Angel comes."
"No, it doesn't," Misato begrudgingly admitted. "Ayanami's down with injuries–something went wrong with activating Unit 00. And to be honest, I don't even know much more about her than that. Ever since I got here earlier this week they've been pretty tight lipped about her status, which is crazy if you ask me." Asuka had not asked her, but she felt that this line of thinking played into her subtle tactics for this conversation.
"I mean, she's a pilot, and I'm the Operations director! If anyone would have a need-to-know on her status, it should be me! Oh, thank you, Shin-chan!" Asuka heard a kssshh from Misato's end of the conversation, followed by the sounds of swallowing. "He's such a thoughtful young man, refreshing my drink for me."
Ugh, what a slob, and he's such a kiss-ass, Asuka thought. No wonder you moved him into your apartment so quickly. At least he's housebroken enough to clean up after your mess and cater to your drunken whims. She shuddered at the particularly nasty implications of that last thought. Great, now I'm thinking of that stuff. You're such a great role model, Misato.
"So what happens when the next Angel shows up?" She pressed on, choosing to ignore the unpleasant associations that Misato's drunken whims combined with Shin-chan forced on her subconscious.
"We deploy to engage it; if that means just Shinji in Unit 01 then that's what has to happen. Hopefully we'll have more at our disposal by the time the next one appears." More sounds of drinking what Asuka could only assume to be her former (former-former?) guardian's particular brand of beer. "Hell, if I had my way, all you kids would have been right here in Tokyo-III from the start. We know they're coming here; it just makes sense to concentrate our forces."
Yes! She can take a hint! "Well, actually–"
"But it's a moot point," Misato continued, talking over Asuka. "Unit 02 is staying in Berlin until it's completed, and the only deployable Eva we have right now is Unit 01. Having an extra pilot would be nice, but I've been repeatedly assured that the First Child is fit to pilot in an emergency and will be back to regular duty soon anyway. I don't believe a word of it, I don't see how the poor girl could pilot in the state she's in, but apparently it's straight from the Commander's mouth."
I am not some extra pilot. Asuka's face set into a scowl at the off-hand dismissal of her skills. Steady. Calm down. Be subtle. "Well," she began, and took a moment to clear her throat and compose her voice–even that one word had had too much vitriol.
"Well," she began again, "It isn't just about having more pilots for Unit 01, right? I am an expert, after all. I've been training to be a pilot my whole life. I'm sure you can think of some way to utilize my expertise." Come on, I'm so close!
Misato hmmed over the phone, followed once again by the sounds of her drinking beer. "I can see where you're going with this, Asuka, but what about the Berlin branch? Don't they need you there?"
Gotcha! "Not for the last stages of production, no," Asuka replied, a confident smirk spreading on her face. "They've had their claws in me for years and have all the data they need to finish things up. Even the activation was done months ago–it's mostly just tweaks and armor calibrations they're doing now. All the tests they make me sit through here are just to reaffirm my baseline readings."
Misato once again hmmed and swallowed her beer.
"I mean they'd probably complain about me leaving, but they don't actually need me or anything!" Asuka hurriedly rushed on. "They're just proprietary. And Ops here only cares to keep me around to justify their own existence and increase their funding. Trust me, Misato, I can do way more to help you than I can do to help anyone here in Berlin."
Another hmm from the phone. "I am still swamped with paperwork from the Angel fight," Misato said slowly. "Having you here to train with the other pilots would mean more paperwork on my end."
Oh, come on! Stop waffling on this, Misato! "I wouldn't say train with, Misato," she replied haughtily. "I would be training your pilots to fight," or in the Idiot's case, walk, "starting with the basics for the Third Child. Walk before you run, and all that."
Misato snickered into the phone. "I suppose that would take a bit of a load off my shoulders," she conceded. Her voice turned serious now. "Tell you what: I'll talk to the Sub-Commander and see about transferring you here, sans Unit 02 for the time being, and in the meantime you write up a training plan. I want a day-by-day breakdown of what you intend to put your fellow pilots through. Make it a four-week plan, and we'll see where we go from there. I trust you to take into account that the Third Child has no history of any training like this, and I have no idea what kind of training the First Child has. You'll get it to me by 1700 tomorrow, my time, but the earlier the better. Understood?"
Yes! Finally, some good fucking news! "You'll have my training plan before you know it," Asuka boasted cheerfully. I knew she'd be easy to convince! "I'll start working on it right now. Can you call me back once you've secured my transfer?"
"I'll call you back when I get an answer, yes," Misato rectified. "And one more thing, Asuka."
Oh, what is it now, you lush? We both got what we wanted! "Yeah?"
"I really am glad you called. Not necessarily about this NERV business, it's just nice to hear from you. You know? We should have kept in touch."
Right. And where was this attitude when I was spiraling my way into laying in a bathtub waiting to die? Take your pity and shove it, Misato. Maybe your precious "Shin-chan" wants it, but I don't. "Yeah, we should have," she replied, making an effort at, and succeeding in, sounding sincere.
"Well, I need to get back to my paperwork, and you've got a training plan to write. I'll talk to you soon, ok?"
"Ok, Misato. Bye," she said, hanging up the phone and dropping it beside her onto the bed. She dropped herself down onto the bed next, letting out an exasperated sigh as she did. "I hate being subtle," she whispered. She'd begun to make a more conscious effort to cover her tracks about this time nonsense, since she knew, being a pilot, that she was under constant surveillance. But little slips like that could mean anything to anyone, and she needed the catharsis of voicing her ire aloud.
Asuka glanced at her clock on the vanity across from her bed, which displayed a bright red 1218 on its digital face. No time for self-pity. Get ahold of yourself. There's less than 22 hours until Misato's deadline, and you've got shit to do. She got up from her bed and stretched her arms above her head, working out the kinks in her spine. First order of business: you need a workout. The pool sounds like the perfect stress reliever right now.
As she pulled out a bag to carry her swimwear and a towel in, a thought occurred to her. The Idiot can't swim, I remember him sitting by the pool doing physics homework instead of wanting to have any fun with me. One more thing to include in my training plan.
Equipped with the necessary accoutrements for her upcoming workout in the pool, Asuka stepped out of her quarters and made her way to the gym facilities.
Ω
Aaaaannnndd done, Asuka thought, penning the last of her training plan on the notepad she had discarded before her conversation with Misato earlier that day. Nothing too difficult, but not so wimpy that they'll think I'm some sort of slouch! No coasting through the Great Asuka Langley Soryu's Eva Pilot Bootcamp! Her face scrunched up in introspection. Might have to workshop that name. She checked her clock, which helpfully informed her that it was 1827.
"Plenty of time to spare," she boasted. She flipped back through the notebook to come back to the first page, with her first week of training on it. It consisted mostly of cardio routines, with an emphasis on the pool, but had some bodyweight exercises included as well. Her initial instinct was to jump right into the intense schedule she was used to, but it was tempered by Misato's caution about Shinji being unaccustomed to rigorous exercise, as well as the First's injured state. If the Commander's pet will even be attending Soryu's Pilot School. No, that's better, but it's still not the right name.
She began to head out in search of an unattended workstation she could commandeer to type up her plan and send it to Misato. She would have preferred to do it all on her own laptop, but NERV's secure servers being what they were meant that any unauthorized connections to the network triggered all sorts of flags and alarms. She could get away with doing it and not having her laptop destroyed in the name of security, and had done so in the past, but it was a hassle she did not want to go through at the moment.
Asuka followed a familiar path to Kaji's office, since the man hardly used it himself. The Asuka Langley Soryu Center for Children Who Can't Pilot Well. No, that's terrible. Eva Academy? What, and have them call me "Professor Soryu?" Actually, that might not be so bad. I'll hold onto that one.
Her dithering brought her to the door to Kaji's office, which did not immediately open for her. That's strange, he never locks his office when he's gone. He doesn't even keep anything in there, not even files on his NERV issued computer. She glanced up and down the hallway, but it was empty of other passersby, likely due to the lateness of the day. With only the general level of Pilot surveillance and NERV security keeping eyes on her, she leaned in close to the door and pressed her ear to it.
"Quite serious, yes." She could make out Kaji's muffled voice through the door. There was a long pause while, presumably, the other participant in the conversation spoke. "Yeah, Rits, that's what she said." Another pause, and this time Kaji laughed. "Well, you know she's right about having no reason to be here. If you don't want her help then you can tell her yourself when she gets there."
Asuka clenched her jaw. That bottle-blonde doesn't want my help? As if she should be passing up the opportunity to work with the Great Asuka Langley Soryu! Fine. I'll be too busy with Asuka's Pilot Program to bother with her anyway. Hm, no, still not the right name.
"I'd call it spirited, there's no need to be nasty, Rits. Look, one way or another this is likely happening. What's one more set of hands for Project E? If I'm not mistaken, and I think we both know the odds of that, Katsuragi is already looking to transfer the Second Child–" Kaji stopped talking abruptly, as if he had been cut off.
"Everyone saw that fight; I'm just surprised she was the first one to suggest this whole thing. Though she's certainly not one to sit around when there's action to be part of. Like I said: spirited. Lively, even."
You're damn right! Asuka agreed, assuming that Kaji was talking about her. If this is how it went the first time, I should have started Soryu's Seasoning Services back then! Nope, definitely not that one. Makes it sound like some kind of culinary institution.
"Well, glad to have you on board, Rits, however reluctantly it may be," Kaji said, and Asuka could hear the smirk on his face as he said it. "I'll leave you to your work, since I know you won't be sleeping any time soon. Yup. Yeah. I know, and so does she. Bye, Rits," he finished.
Asuka quickly pulled away from the door and retreated several steps down the hallway, retracing her approach to the door slowly, trying to time her arrival with Kaji's exit. The door whooshed open when she was just a few steps away.
"Ah, Asuka, fancy seeing you around here," Kaji remarked upon seeing her. "Any exciting news?"
"Well," she said, smiling, "I talked to Misato, and tomorrow she's going to request my transfer. I just need to send her this training plan I wrote up for her."
"That is some exciting news. You see how being subtle can work out for you?" Kaji agreed, returning her smile. "You need to use my computer? Knock yourself out. Oh, and when you're done, swing by the breakroom down the hall, I'll be there getting some coffee. I have some news for you myself."
"I'll see you there!" Asuka replied brightly, but the emotion wasn't as forthcoming as it might once have been. More alone time with Kaji, and once again it does nothing for me. What is wrong with me? She stepped into Kaji's office as he made his way down to the breakroom, taking a seat at his desk and opening up the appropriate program to make a professional-looking calendar for her training plan. No need to half-ass this. Don't give anyone any reason to kick this back.
As she designed her calendar and began the mindless task of transposing her writing onto it she began to mull over more of her circumstances that she had been decidedly not thinking about these past few days. Ok, issue one: I was dead, and now I'm not. Weird, but on its own doesn't mean much. People have been declared dead and come back to life before. Conclusion: this is sort of reasonable.
Issue two: I have traveled through time and space from the end of December 2015 in Tokyo-III to 9 July 2015 in Berlin. Evidence in favor: I'm not dead. None of the injuries I remember sustaining are present on my body. This facility is, as far as I can tell, identical to NERV-Berlin. The staff here are, as far as I can tell, the same staff that were at NERV-Berlin. All of the clocks and calendars here, including the one I am making right now, show that it is currently July 2015, not December 2015 or January 2016. I have what I assume to be memories of the intervening months but cannot recall how I came to be in Berlin in July 2015. Other details remain the same: Misato's phone number, the Third Child being a spineless, incompetent idiot, the minutia of my life seems to be identical.
Evidence against: it seems unlikely that the first sortie against an Angel could have gone so poorly and not prompted some drastic actions, but this is not definite proof of anything. It is also impossible to travel through time, as far as I know. Conclusion: none. This is crazy. Or I'm crazy. Or I'm dead, which contradicts earlier assumptions. So, inconclusive.
She sighed as she finished typing up her plan. Issue three: I still need a name for this! She saved the document as Soryu_Pilot_Training_Program, which seemed professional enough for a file name, and attached it to an email she had ready to send to Misato. She tapped a finger against Kaji's desk as she thought of what to say.
Captain Katsuragi,
I have attached my proposed pilot training program, which I am informally calling Soryu's Basic Piloting Course (name subject to change). The program is focused on training the Third Child, as I am unsure on the status of the First Child. I believe her participation in any training I conduct will likely be at the Commander's discretion.
Asuka Langley Soryu
Second Child, Pilot, Evangelion Unit 02
NERV-Berlin
Asuka sent her email, still unsure on the name she had chosen but overall happy with the tone of the message. Now on to the next task, she thought, closing out of her active programs and getting up from Kaji's chair.
Ω
Asuka arrived the breakroom Kaji had wanted to meet her in to find her guardian standing entirely too close to one of Doctor Vogel's subordinates in Project E, the young woman trying and failing to hide a blush with some files she was holding in her hands in front of her face while Kaji leaned against a vending machine and sipped from a can of iced coffee.
She narrowed her eyes at the woman and said, "You wanted to talk to me, Kaji?" She didn't look away from the woman as she quickly made her retreat from the room, muttering apologies and excuses as she went.
"Sure did, kiddo," he said, his face set in his usual mask of a light-hearted smirk. He gestured to a table and some chairs next to him. "Let's have a seat. You want anything?" He cocked his head to the vending machine behind him, only sitting down when Asuka shook her head no in reply. Asuka joined him at the table.
"So, some news from me," he started. "I've been making the rounds–"
"Is that what you call it?" Asuka cut in bitterly. Disgusting adults. They're all perverts.
Kaji chuckled. "Yes, actually. That's part of the whole subtlety thing, though perhaps I could have been a bit more subtle with the lieutenant a few moments ago." Asuka scoffed at his reply, but he continued on. "Regardless, the rounds have been made, and will continue to be made, mind you, and the prospects look good.
"It turns out Doctor Vogel's staff agree that they've collected as much data as is useful from you in order to finish Unit 02's production, even if the man himself seems to think otherwise. And, more importantly, the esteemed Doctor Akagi, Head of Project E, has agreed that your arrival in advance of Unit 02 to Japan would facilitate their readiness to receive the production model." Kaji winked at the girl across from him at the table.
"Combined with your convincing of Katsuragi, I'd say this is in the bag for you."
Asuka smiled. "That's great, Kaji!"
He nodded and spoke again. "Isn't there someone else you'd want to talk to about this?"
Asuka raised an eyebrow at him. "Who? The director? I imagine he'll be getting a phone call or something in the next day or so, there's no need for me to meet with him. Subtlety, right?"
"No," Kaji said, shaking his head. "I meant your parents, Asuka."
She sneered at his statement. That woman is not my mother. And I can't even remember the last time Papa spoke to me. I don't need them, I don't want them, and I don't care about them. "Papa knows how to contact me if he wants to talk to me," she said cynically.
Kaji sighed, planting his elbows on the table and resting his chin in his hands. "I know you've had your differences with your father, but family is important, Asuka. You shouldn't just cut them off."
"Then maybe Papa shouldn't have cut me off first, Kaji. I don't think he's even called me in the past year. I don't have anything I want to say to him." Asuka set her jaw, the old indignation of being neglected by her father and tip-toed around by his new wife coming back to her.
"Ok Asuka," Kaji said, sighing again. "Just promise me that if he does call or try to contact you, you'll give him a chance to talk?" His face and tone were pleading, which she could not recall seeing or hearing from him before.
"Fine," she muttered.
"All right. I'll take what I can get," Kaji said, taking his chin out of his hands and standing up from the table. "It's getting kind of late. What do you say you and I go off-base somewhere and grab some dinner? My treat," he added. This was accompanied by a grin and a wink at Asuka.
He's just trying to make amends after pissing me off. What was he thinking? Fooling around with that floozy, then telling me I need to talk to Papa? As if. She frowned slightly as Kaji cocked his head towards the doorway, clearly signaling her to get up and accompany him to dinner. And once again I get to have alone time Kaji, and I don't even seem to care.
Standing up, she smiled at Kaji and grabbed one of his arms with both of hers, pressing herself tightly to him. I suppose I should keep up appearances. "That sounds great, Kaji. Somewhere expensive. This is a celebratory dinner, after all."
"Of course, Asuka. Only the best for the best pilot, right?"
If only I could have had something like this a few weeks ago.