[Fic] The Tenant of Room 404

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[Fic] The Tenant of Room 404

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Postby BobBQ » Fri Oct 27, 2006 4:52 pm

Read this first:

I was kind of hoping 404 would slide into merited oblivion on its own, but I've already gotten one nastygram from some outraged 4Chan denizen (O MaggotMaster, where are thou now?) and I don't need any more. So, here's what will hopefully be my final word on The Tenant of Room 404.

THIS STORY SUCKS.

It's old. It's huge. It's rife with pure shit on so many levels and will probably never stop haunting me. It was hammered out by an over-eager Aspie who had very little experience in writing, publishing or making use of criticism. Its only virtues are that it provided a place to make the mistakes that needed to be made, and that some bits of it were salvaged to create a much better story.

If you're coming here from /u/, don't waste your time on this story because it has almost no actual yuri and pretty much nothing else that is likely to appeal to you. Read The Pilot of Flight 403 or One Day in Paradise instead. If you want wham-bang excitement, read Tiger's Spring or The Historian of Brescia. Don't read this one, because nobody in their right mind should have to suffer though nearly four hundred thousand words of me trying to figure out what does and doesn't make a passable story.

Thank you for reading, and have a nice day.

(Older intro blurbs follow.)

The story posted in this topic has undergone considerable feature drift in the years since it began. Originally envisioned - on a random impulse and in a time of severe sleep deprivation - as a deconstruction of one of the most hated subgenres of fanfiction, it started on a whim, meandered for several chapters and then picked up something resembling a coherent plot. Along the way, it changed from the intended parody of the self-insertion trope into a serious attempt at building an entertaining story on said trope.

The final product, which now comprises more than a thousand pages of material, is rife with typographical errors and failed literary experiments. While the quality of writing probably improved with time, the early chapters are still an unedited mess. I leave them here mainly to spoil the nostalgic memories of the loyal readers of old.

If you're a previous reader just wandering by, you already know all this. If you're viewing this topic for the first time, the story does get better as it progresses - so don't be put off by the premise or the weak opening.

*EDIT 10/24* I'm going to start reposting the chapters in order to fix errors introduced during the last forum move. Please excuse our dust.

*EDIT AGAIN* Reposting is done. New readers, please report any remaining errors - quotation marks being rendered as Euro symbols and such - on the newest page of the topic.

*EDIT 7/6* Replaced the intro blurb, since the old one was pretty much useless. Old one below for posterity.

*EDIT 7/24/2010* Updated the header.

Old and busted intro wrote:Following up on a discussion with Reichu here, I have decided to take some time off from my usual creative writing in order to put together this charming mess.

It is, as should quickly become apparent, an NGE self-insert, though hopefully one that's a little different and won't end up all Gary Stu(?), because I hate those as much as most fans. It's been a very long time since I've done anything like this and my narrative writing is probably a bit rusty after years of hammering out screenplays. Try to bear with it; it'll probably get better as I go along.

Criticism is fine as long as it's constructive. If there's something you don't like, say how you think it could be done better. Simply posting "this sucks lol" will earn you a withering look of disapproval from me, and possibly worse.

And remember: feedback makes me want to write more. If I don't get feedback, I loose my writing energy.


(Stock disclaimer about NGE belonging to Gainax and not to yours truly.)

The Tenant of Room 404

Part 1: Einstein-Winowski Strong-Field Interaction Between Buckets of Blood in a Non-Pythonian Quasi-Linear Environment | HELLO WORLD

It began—rather, my part in it began—with a thunderstorm.

The storm was a large one and arrived with little warning, much to the collective irritation of myself, my brother, who couldn't go out and take photos as was his custom, and my fellow members of the university anime club. It was the last week of May 2008, and we were celebrating the end of spring finals by crashing at a student's house for the weekend. I was personally going along to celebrate my attaining a decent grade in second-level Japanese.

Two days and three nights of drinking—strictly non-alcoholic in my case—playing assorted card and board games and watching whatever anime could be found around the house or in the bags of we visitors... what fun.

At least, that was the plan... The plan which, for me, ended as I dashed towards the already crowded Toyota.

I was about halfway across the parking lot, the rainfall light but looking to get worse and the straps on my backpack painfully digging into my shoulders with each stride, when it happened. To this day, I'm not entirely sure what 'it' was or how 'it' occurred then and there.

What I do know is that there was a massive lightning strike nearby, close enough to momentarily blind me and leave a ringing in my ears. When the shock passed, I discovered that I was somehow standing in what I initially mistook for a circular pool of crude oil. Worse yet, I was rapidly sinking into said pool and my erstwhile compatriots were all looking in the wrong direction.

“Hoi! Somebody give me a hand here!”

No luck; they'd all started bouncing to the rhythm of some soundtrack or other. I had a nasty feeling it was that awful Sailor Moon theme song several of them had been karaoke'ing at the previous Saturday's club meeting.

To make a rather boring sequence short, I sank. The black slick wasn't oil; in fact, it didn't seem to be a fluid at all. Below the surface, I lost all sensation. It wasn't an absence of feeling so much as a realization that there simply wasn't anything there for me to feel. I still had some sense of motion, however: my inner ears insisted that I was still moving downwards.

A couple of seconds later by my estimate—my wristwatch, which never fit properly, was at the bottom of my pocket—the gentle sinking feeling abruptly morphed into a hard shove, up and sideways. I broke clear of the blackness before I quite had time to adjust and promptly found myself flying through air.

“Shiiiiiiiii—Owoof!”

The landing could have been worse. I don't really remember it, because at the time I was more concerned by the view before me.

The number of things wrong with what I saw stacked up in my mind rather quickly: I was in the middle of a good-sized city that bore no resemblance to either Sackville, where I had just been standing, or Moncton, my intended destination. There was no sign of the thunderstorm; in fact, there was hardly a cloud in the sky.

In the storm's place, there was a massive sphere hovering a little ways off. Below it, a circular black pool extended in every direction. As I realized that said pool was identical to that into which I had sunk, it began to ripple, undulating like the Bay of Fundy on a windy day. The floating sphere contracted; its surface, a curious pattern of black and white bands, turned a solid black color.

The utter familiarity of the scene was completely lost on me until the surface of the pool shattered like frozen neoprene, geysers of red spurting into the air. I hadn't recognized it at first because I expected it to be cel-shaded, as it was in my memory.

A phrase popped into my head: Shin Seiki Evangelion.

I vaguely recalled that ADV had finally gotten their capital together and—for better or worse—starting filming for the live-action Evangelion movie. For a few moments, I wondered if I'd somehow ended up on one of their sets, but the absurdity of that notion occurred to me quickly. Why would ADV be shooting a movie in northern New Brunswick?

As I watched, the floating sphere bulged, quivered and finally tore apart in another spray of red. A massive hand pushed out through the torn flank of the thing, followed by a very sinister head. From my vantage point, its bellowing sounded like a locomotive horn being played back at three-quarters speed. It wasn't a pretty thing to hear.

Evangelion Unit 01. The information came back to me automatically. Huge bio-mecha. Test type, constant engineering headache and potential keystone of the Human Instrumentality Project. Also really ugly and not in the least bit plausible.

A dull gray VTOL attack aircraft flew overhead, circling as the Eva pulled itself free and assumed a menacing posture. In the distance, I noticed two more mecha, one blue and one red, watching the scene from a safe distance. After a moment, Unit 00 moved. At first I thought it was looking at me, but then the head turned away and I realized that it was probably following the reconnaissance flight.

It occurred to me that—regardless of the actual situation—I would have problems explaining myself... particularly if what I could see was, somehow or other, exactly what it looked like and not just a projection or incredibly vivid hallucination.

The empty car a few feet away was real enough; a quick poke confirmed that. So was the building behind it. How very odd.

Another VTOL flyer passed over my head, reminding me that I should be making myself scarce. I stuck my hands in my pockets, turned around and walked away with my eyes fixed firmly on the ground.

***

Fifteen minutes of brisk walking brought me to a less developed though equally deserted part of town. It looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn't immediately place it. I did, however, manage to find an intact bench and promptly sat down.

Time to put two and two together and hope I could still get four. The contents of my bag had survived: a spare set of clothes, a toothbrush, a comb and a few things of that sort, a scientific calculator, a towel and several books. That was reassuring.

A battered street sign in mixed kanji and hiragana identified my surroundings as being part of Hakone. Thus having a rough idea of where I was, I pulled out my copy of National Geographic Traveler: Japan, second edition, and, turning to page 121, attempted to get my bearings.

The guidebook wasn't terribly helpful; it extolled at length the virtues of a number of historical and geographic sites of interest in and around Hakone, but didn't cover much else... Of course, if this was really the fortress city of Tokyo-3, as it appeared, a travel guide from a world in which this city didn't exist was unlikely to be of great use in the first place.

I shoved the book back into my bag, verified that my towel and copy of The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy were unharmed and set off towards the nearest abandoned building. It was early and none of the evacuated residents had returned.

Mount Fuji loomed in the distance, dimly visible in the dawn light. The city was placed in the center of a large depression, so I didn't have enough line-of-sight to locate Lake Ashi. Making a mental note to get out and see the sights once time permitted, I found myself a relatively clean patch of concrete at the bottom of a stairwell and stretched out with the goal of snoozing for a few hours, long enough for people to come back to the city. It wasn't comfortable, but I've made do with worse.

I did a lot of thinking before I fell asleep. If this was really the world of Evangelion, I had a power I'd never possessed before. I knew what was in store for the mecha I'd seen earlier and the people who piloted them, and I didn't like it.

Not that it was any of my business. This was a work of fiction brought to life, and if it ended a certain way, well, that was because it was written to end that way, wasn't it? I spent the next half hour trying to decide whether the existence of a universe in which fantasy had become reality qualified as proof of the validity of Witten's M-theory.

Somehow, I found myself again wondering whether to get my hands dirty or just sit things out and hope I could find a way home before everything ended. After all, if things were screwed up, it wasn't my fault. This wasn't my world and these weren't my problems. I neither wanted nor needed to be a hero.

Then I remembered something I'd said after a classical mythology lecture two years before: a real hero isn't some good-looking guy who beats all the baddies and gets all the girls. A real hero is somebody who gets up and does what needs to be done when nobody else will do it.

The hell these weren't my problems. Why did I become interested in Evangelion in the first place, if not because I identified with the characters?

As I finally drifted off, a plan began to form. Like most of my plans, it was kludgey and roundabout in the extreme, but it was worth a shot.

I desperately hoped it was, anyway.
Last edited by BobBQ on Sat Jul 24, 2010 6:26 pm, edited 4 times in total.

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Postby BobBQ » Tue Oct 31, 2006 10:35 pm

I honestly can't tell if anyone's reading this or not, but I'll carry on for the time being.

I tried to proofread this, but I've probably missed something. I'll fix it up as I progress. I have a nagging feeling that there's something basically wrong with it, but I'm not sure what.

Part 2: Acclimating to the Adversity of Present Circumstances | NEVER BURN MONEY

I was suddenly roused from sleep when somebody stepped on my hand.

“Ouch! Watch where the hell you—oh...”

Blue hair and red eyes. Minimal expression. Girl's school uniform and bag. No mistaking who it was.

Not the first person I would have wanted to see in the morning, but better than an irate property owner or team of security agents. At the same time, I now knew why the building had looked familiar when I arrived earlier; my failure to make the proper connection must have come about because I was used to seeing it depicted from well above ground level. In the distance, I could hear the sound of construction equipment.

“Who are you?”

“My name is Smith. I'm an academic and aspiring writer, on leave and mostly harmless. You live here?”

She looked me over before replying. “...Yes.”

I picked myself up off the floor and began brushing away the dust on my clothes. “Your employers' budget must be pretty small.”

“I don't understand.”

“You're the First Children, aren't you? For someone who pilots a huge robot and fights to protect the whole planet, they don't do much to provide for you.”

“It is... adequate.”

I had no idea that the person in front of me could ever be so talkative... to complete strangers, anyway.

“Bunch of cheapskates... Anyway, sorry for the intrusion. I needed a place to crash and didn't want to risk getting rained on.”

“Why are you here?”

I had started to put together a cover story earlier, though I didn't entertain high hopes for its chances of fooling anyone.

“I came to Tokyo-3 to apply for a job, but yesterday's Angel seems to have swallowed the premises. Quite a mess it made, too... I suppose I'll have to look for another one now, and a place to rent while I'm at it.”

“Where?”

I shrugged. “No idea... Come to think of it, I don't even have a map of the city.”

She watched, expressionless, as I retrieved my backpack and pushed the door open. “It's time I was going. Nice talking to you.”

Harsh sunlight assailed my eyes as I swung the door open. “Gah..!”

Wincing, I dug my glasses case out of my pocket and removed the snap-on sunglasses attachment. Having put the shades in place, I stepped out onto the sidewalk and paused to get my bearings.

“I'll head back into town and see what I can find. Goodbye, and apologies for the disturbance.”

My glasses promptly slid towards the end of my nose. They're all right most of the time, but the extra weight of the shades part tends to drag them down. I quickly pushed them back up and set off again.

“If you do not find employment...”

She had more to say? That was unexpected.

“If I don't, then what?”

“There is an opening in the code 707 junior high school's maintenance staff.”

“Really?” I recalled that 707 was the school where the Children—and potential Children—spent their off days, listening to boring propaganda lectures and the like. “Thank you; I'll look into that.”

I walked one way, she walked the other. I kept an ear and an eye out, but saw no sign that I was being followed. So far, so good.

A little odd that she wore her school uniform even though she wasn't going to school today, I thought.

***

My search for jobs took me across at least a quarter of the city and was entirely fruitless. Few establishments seemed to be hiring, on account of the Angel attacks, and those who were always required either a reference or didn't hire gaijin.

By early afternoon, I was both tired and sore, and I still hadn't found any potential employment. I had, however, managed to acquire a heavily censored—in as much as it failed to show any entrances to the Geofront below my feet—map of the city.

Scanning said map, I noticed my wanderings had brought me close to the school. Might as well check it out, I thought, and set off in that direction.

***

The school's grounds-keeping staff consisted in its entirety of a slim and weathered sexagenarian named Fujinami, who spent his spare time at a desk in the corner of a large equipment shed. The job was being offered on account of his approaching retirement. He was friendly and outgoing and didn't seem to be particularly put off by my story, which boosted my energy greatly.

“Rotten luck,” he chuckled. “Seems like we have that in spades here.”

“Way the world works, I guess.”

“Feels that way sometimes, doesn't it... By the way, young Sumisu—“ he tried to approximate my name using Nihongo syllables “—do you have any recommendations?”

I opted to stay the course and be honest. “I don't, sorry.”

“At least you're honest about it.” He leaned back with a sigh. “Had a kid come in earlier, down from Tokyo-2. Pretended he had a member of the city council vouching for him.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Why'd he bother?“

“No idea, none at all... How about past experience? You got much of that?”

“I'm no expert on botany, but I can dig a hole and plant a tree... pull nails, replace roofing and paint shingles, too. My parents were big on building houses, so I've racked up a few years' worth of that work.”

“All right.” I noticed a twinkle in his eye. “You see that lawn over there?”

He pointed out the window, towards a large and somewhat unkempt patch of green outside a row of classrooms. “I haven't been able to mow that lately, on account of my back... Now, if you were going to trim it, what mower would you use?”

“The non-motorized push-mower,” I replied immediately. “So as not to disturb the students.”

“Oh, you think a push-mower's enough? All right, let's see you try it.”

“Now?”

“A good chance to prove your worth, son. Think of it as an aptitude test.”

I shrugged my backpack off and dropped it beside the door, then paced my glasses on the desk. “You're on.”

***

Mowing, as it turned out, was easy in spite of my prior hike across Tokyo-3. The mower was sharp and far less prone to seizing than the one I had used back at home. The grass wasn't particularly long, either. Sweeping back and forth was a process that could be largely automated, so I allowed myself to think of other matters as I worked.

I had been dumped into this world with nothing but the clothes on my back—white button-up shirt, loose and faded jeans, scuffed black Velcro-top sneakers and a worn leather belt—the assorted items in my pockets—wallet, keys, 4-in-1 pen and mechanical pencil, wristwatch, Leatherman Wave multitool and glasses case—and my backpack and its contents. Not much to work with there.

The twelfth Angel had just been destroyed. If I recalled correctly, the thirteenth would attack within the next few days. Before that, however, there was supposed to be an accident at the NERV branch in Nevada. Once Unit 04 was out of the picture, the Massachusetts branch would ship Unit 03 out here... with Bardiel hitching a ride.

I doubted I could do much about Unit 04; my chances of getting anyone at NERV HQ to take me seriously were minimal at best, and I had no idea as to what was wrong with the Eva in question. Unit 03, on the other hand...

“Yo!”

Speak of the devil.

I turned to find Suzuhara Toji, Fourth Children to be, watching from the edge of the lawn. Classes, apparently, were done for the day. Replaying what I remembered of the appropriate episode, I realized that the stack of papers in his hand was intended for Ayanami, who, it seemed, had indeed failed to attend school.

I finished the last strip of grass and brought the mower to a halt. “Yo, yourself. You need something?”

He shrugged. “Just wonderin' who ya are. New fixer-upper guy, huh?”

“Trying out for it, at any rate.” I looked over my shoulder and spotted Fujinami watching from the shed. “Love to chat, but I'd better get back and see if I made the cut.”

“Okay, sure. See ya tomorrow, hey?”

I disengaged the mower's blade array as another familiar figure walked up.

“Say... You're Ikari Shinji, right?”

He looked a little spooked. Can't say I blamed him, with everything he was expected to put up with.

“Ye-Yes.”

“I saw you tear that Angel apart this morning.”

“Oh. Er, really?”

“Nice piece of work you did... I wanted to say thanks for protecting our backsides once again.”

“Uh... You're welcome.” He looked extremely embarrassed; I wasn't entirely sure why. Did he think I was going to hit him like Toji had, or what?

“Not at all. See you around.”

I started pushing the mower back towards Fujinami, hoping I'd made a decent initial impression on the Third Children. If my plan—still totally half-baked and uncertain—got off the ground without the cabal of mooks known as Section 2 shooting it full of holes, I'd be spending quite a bit of time around Shinji and his friends.

“Well? How's it look?”

“It looks good,” the old man replied. “I got a little worried when you started talking, but you don't seem the kind to run off at the mouth.”

“I try not to... So, do I qualify?”

Fujinami looked me up and down, much as Rei had earlier. “I'll give you a shot.”

I bowed. “I thank you profusely.”

***

Fujinami had left soon afterwards, promising that he would show me the ropes if I continued to perform well. I followed suit, wandering back into the less shiny part of Tokyo-3 in search of a place to stay. The good news was that I had a job and a better sense of how things worked. The bad news was that I was still effectively homeless.

My musings were interrupted as I collided with someone of significantly lighter build while trying to read a signpost in mid-step. Said person promptly fell down.

“Whoa, sorry! Didn't see you... Miss Ayanami?”

I quickly stuck out a hand. Rei looked at the hand and said nothing. “You're supposed to grab it,” I said by way of explanation.

Rei reached out and locked on. I pulled her to her feet, noting that she was incredibly light.

“Are you all right?”

“Yes.”

“Sorry I walked into you like that... I get so absent-minded sometimes. Thank you again, by the way.”

“Why?”

“That job you told me about, I applied for it.” I smiled. “Thanks to you, I won't starve.”

“You are welcome.”

I blinked. This from someone who never said so much as 'thank you' to Shinji, to whom she was closer than almost anyone else? A thought suddenly struck me.

“Is there something wrong with my glasses?”

“They are off center. And...”

“And?”

“They are... familiar. That is all.”

Was she being so outgoing because I had glasses that happened to look like the pair Ikari Gendo wore? It seemed more than a little weird, but with Rei there wasn't much I couldn't rule out.

“Is that so? Hm... Well, I ought to be going. You should, too; Ikari and Suzuhara are over at your place.”

She blinked.

“I saw them leave school with some handouts for you, that's all.”

“I see.”

“Great. I'll be on my way now; still got to find a place to stay and all... Uh, by the way...”

“What?”

“If I can't find anything, would you mind if I slept under the stairs again?”

She considered the question for a moment. “No.”

“That's a relief.”

Rei started walking again.

“Goodbye.”

A very strange girl to be sure, but I didn't feel like looking a gift horse in the mouth. “'Bye!”

***

I ended up sleeping under the stairs in Rei's building after all. Nobody, and I mean nobody, was offering any sort of apartment for rent at a rate I could afford.

Tomorrow, I realized, I would have to take the initiative on Unit 03.
Last edited by BobBQ on Wed Oct 24, 2007 6:09 am, edited 3 times in total.

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Re: The Tenant of Room 404

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Postby Reichu » Tue Oct 31, 2006 11:57 pm

BobBQ wrote:And remember: feedback makes me want to write more. If I don't get feedback, I loose my writing energy.

Are random comments okay? ...Good. Expect some of them to be braindead, though.

Part 1: Einstein-Winowski Strong-Field Interaction Between Buckets of Blood in a Non-Pythonian Quasi-Linear Environment | HELLO WORLD

It's Zugzwang! He's returned from the Land of the Damned! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!

It began—rather, my part in it began—with a thunderstorm.

Any reason why a thunderstorm?

Evangelion Unit 01. The information came back to me automatically. Huge bio-mecha. Test type, constant engineering headache and potential keystone of the Human Instrumentality Project. Also really ugly and not in the least bit plausible.

:gasp: What hast thou against Yui-sama?!?

Thus having a rough idea of where I was, I pulled out my copy of National Geographic Traveler: Japan, second edition, and, turning to page 121, attempted to get my bearings.

You just happened to have that with you? ;)

The city was placed in the center of a large depression, so I didn't have enough line-of-sight to locate Lake Ashino.

It's level with Ashinoko, isn't it?

If this was really the world of Evangelion, I had a power I'd never possessed before.

No possible victimization by random fluctuations in the Space-Time Continuum? "How did I get here? I was swallowed by a Plot Hole!"

Errrr, nevermind. Why does Gary Stu suddenly decide that his presence in the NGE world is by his own power, rather than also considering alternate possibilities?

After all, if things were screwed up, it wasn't my fault. This wasn't my world and these weren't my problems.

"They're not my problems until the day they kill me!"

Then I remembered something I'd said after a classical mythology lecture two years before: a real hero isn't some good-looking guy who beats all the baddies and gets all the girls. A real hero is somebody who gets up and does what needs to be done when nobody else will do it.

I remember that from Off-Topic Discussion...

The hell these weren't my problems. Why did I become interested in Evangelion in the first place, if not because I identified with the characters?

Boo-yah!

BobBQ wrote:I honestly can't tell if anyone's reading this or not

I only just realized it was here.

I have a nagging feeling that there's something basically wrong with it, but I'm not sure what.

If you don't actively think about it, you'll probably figure it out.

Part 2: Acclimating to the Adversity of Present Circumstances | NEVER BURN MONEY

I have the strange feeling that there are References that I'm not getting.

“My name is Smith. I'm an academic and aspiring writer, on leave and mostly harmless. You live here?”

Not "harmless". "MOSTLY harmless". ;)

"Smith"? Is that the BEST you can do, Gary?

Wincing, I dug my glasses case out of my pocket and removed the snap-on sunglasses attachment. Having put the shades in place, I stepped out onto the sidewalk and paused to get my bearings.

Man. I hate my clip-ons. Gotta push down the nose part before attaching the eyes or else it will pop out, and, GAH, so annoying!

“If you do not find employment...”

"...then you can be my giggolo."

“There is an opening in the code 707 junior high school's maintenance staff.”

Would Rei refer to the school by its code number to some Random Joe? It has a colloquial appellation, I b'lieve, but I don't feel like looking it up right now.

I walked one way, she walked the other. I kept an ear and an eye out, but saw no sign that I was being followed. So far, so good.

You're on the MIBs' blacklist already. You just don't know it!

A little odd that she wore her school uniform even though she wasn't going to school today, I thought.

That's cuz she don't have any other clothes. Tsumannai shoujo ne...
さらば、全てのEvaGeeks。
「滅びの運命は新生の喜びでもある」
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Postby Reichu » Wed Nov 01, 2006 12:26 am

BobBQ wrote:My search for jobs took me across at least a quarter of the city and was entirely fruitless. Few establishments seemed to <insert "be"> hiring

Typo.

Scanning said map, I noticed my wanderings had brought me close to the school. Might as well check it out, I thought, and set off in that direction.

Have any sense of Tokyo-3 geography, out of curiosity?

“Feels that way sometimes, doesn't it... By the way, young Sumittsu—“ he tried to approximate my name using Nihongo syllables “—do you have any recommendations?"

It would be SUMISU. (たとえ、エージェント・スミスをみてね!) SUMITTSU is "Smits" (like "Jimmy Smits").

Is Fujinami the name of a WWII naval vessel? I don't think I've had the guts to make up an NGE character who didn't have a surname from one (even though there are NGE characters who don't).

“At least you're honest about it.” He leaned back with a sigh. “Had a kid come in earlier, down from Tokyo-2. Pretended he had a member of the city council vouching for him.”

Matsushiro isn't very close to Hakone. I don't think any kids would travel that far for a job like that. ;) I've got some maps in the supplemental images part of my page -- check 'em out, if you're curious.

I turned to find Suzuhara Toji

You doing Japanese name order, then?

He shrugged. “Just wonderin' who ya are. New fixer-upper guy, huh?”

No "gaijin!" comments? ;)

“Trying out for it, at any rate.”

Don't you mean, "Spoken like a true Osakan -- considering my limited training, I couldn't understand a word he said." :lol:

I looked over my shoulder and spotted Fujinami watching from the shed. “Love to chat, but I'd better get back and see if I made the cut.”

Hah hah, get it? "Cut"? CUT? He's... MOWING? Image

“I saw you tear that Angel apart this morning.”

“Oh. Er, really?”

"O RLY? Me, you say? Hah, hah... hah. Why were you in the city in the first place?"

I bowed. “I thank you profusely.”

"ど…どうもありがとうございますぅぅ!!!"
"...What was your permanent address, again?"
"Oh, shi--"

BTW, why don't you just squat in one of the other apartments in Rei's complex? Nobody else is using them.
さらば、全てのEvaGeeks。
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Re: The Tenant of Room 404

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Postby BobBQ » Wed Nov 01, 2006 12:46 am

Reichu wrote:Are random comments okay? ...Good. Expect some of them to be braindead, though.

Fine, fine.

[/Cleese]

It's Zugzwang! He's returned from the Land of the Damned! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!

The thought occurred to me, but no. This is what Gordon Freeman's graduate thesis would have looked like if he'd been writing about Monty Python instead of the Observation of Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Entanglement on Supraquantum Structures by Induction Through Nonlinear Transuranic Crystal of Extremely Long Wavelength (ELW) Pulse from Mode-Locked Source Array.

Any reason why a thunderstorm?

We had a huge one here a couple of weeks ago, plus it provides a way for YT to fall into the Eva world without any of the neighbors watching.

:gasp: What hast thou against Yui-sama?!?

Nothing against Yui-sama herself, really. The Eva just aren't on my list of favorite mecha.

You just happened to have that with you?

It's on my desk right now. Thirty bucks at Borders B&M; written by Nicholas Bornoff and published by the National Geographic Society. (c) 2005, ISBN: 0-7922-3894-X.

And no, it doesn't say much about Hakone.

It's level with Ashinoko, isn't it?

Not sure, come to think of it. Either way, there would be too many buildings blocking the view.

No possible victimization by random fluctuations in the Space-Time Continuum? "How did I get here? I was swallowed by a Plot Hole!"

Power as in knowledge: "I know what makes you tick. Your silly poses will not work on me, Gendo!"

Errrr, nevermind. Why does Gary Stu suddenly decide that his presence in the NGE world is by his own power, rather than also considering alternate possibilities?

See above. He doesn't know why he's there, but he understands that he can have a huge effect if he puts some effort into it.

"They're not my problems until the day they kill me!"

Tru7h.

I remember that from Off-Topic Discussion...

The classical mythology class in question happens to be about the use and forms of the hero's quest in Greek and Roman legend.

Boo-yah!

An attitude I wish far more people had.

I only just realized it was here.

Oh, well. At least I didn't spam up the board with ads for it, ne?

If you don't actively think about it, you'll probably figure it out.

My brother keeps saying the same thing, but he's a loon and his advice doesn't come with a warranty.

I have the strange feeling that there are References that I'm not getting.

First part is a fancy way of summarizing what happens in this chapter. Second part is a Marathon reference.

Not "harmless". "MOSTLY harmless".

"Smith"? Is that the BEST you can do, Gary?

The advice I will give to Shinji right before the JSSDF comes knocking? "Don't panic!"

And my name really is Smith... Well, [CENSORED]-Smith, actually, but I don't like that because it sounds long and pretentious. I might change it at some point.

And don't call me Gary. I won't solve everyone's problems, and there is plenty of space for things to go wrong.

Man. I hate my clip-ons. Gotta push down the nose part before attaching the eyes or else it will pop out, and, GAH, so annoying!

Mine are magnetic, and attach from the underside. They stay on pretty well, but damned if I'm not constantly pushing them back up. I can sympathize with Ikari-shirei on that point at least.

"...then you can be my giggolo."

Too short for my tastes.

Would Rei refer to the school by its code number to some Random Joe? It has a colloquial appellation, I b'lieve, but I don't feel like looking it up right now.

I thought it might have some other name, but I couldn't remember. In any case, referring to it by number seemed like something Rei would do. How much she actually knows and why she's so talkative will be addressed later.

You're on the MIBs' blacklist already. You just don't know it!

I considered throwing in a line on that subject in the last conversation with Rei ("By the way, do you have any idea why a scruffy man with a ponytail might be following me?"), but cut it to avoid making a mess.

I firmly believe that Section 2 is completely worthless, and will prove it by beating the crap out of them.

That's cuz she don't have any other clothes. Tsumannai shoujo ne...

Except for the swimsuit, anyway. I threw that in as a reminder that I occasionally overlook blindingly obvious things; it might come in handy later.

Typo.

Fixed; happens to me a lot.

Have any sense of Tokyo-3 geography, out of curiosity?

A vague one. I suspect that--like the Evas' height--it changes to suit the current plot.

It would be SUMISU. (たとえ、エージェント・スミスをみてね!) SUMITTSU is "Smits" (like "Jimmy Smits").

I should ask Oe-sensei about it, but I'll change it for now.

Is Fujinami the name of a WWII naval vessel? I don't think I've had the guts to make up an NGE character who didn't have a surname from one (even though there are NGE characters who don't).

No, it isn't, though I'll probably return to that tradition later.

Fujinami was the name of the extremely odd individual who ran the Tomobiki High supply store in Urusei Yatsura. His violently tomboyish daughter Ryuunosuke was my favorite character.

Matsushiro isn't very close to Hakone. I don't think any kids would travel that far for a job like that. ;) I've got some maps in the supplemental images part of my page -- check 'em out, if you're curious.

I was thinking more in terms of original residence than current residence.

You doing Japanese name order, then?

Yepperoni.

No "gaijin!" comments?

He's afraid I'd react like Asuka.

Don't you mean, "Spoken like a true Osakan -- considering my limited training, I couldn't understand a word he said." :lol:

I've heard Kansai-ben accents before; they're not that hard.

Hah hah, get it? "Cut"? CUT? He's... MOWING? Image

Pay cut. Because money can't be trimmed off hedges.

“I"O RLY? Me, you say? Hah, hah... hah. Why were you in the city in the first place?"

Shinji is too busy trying to figure out how he got out of there to be thinking about YT.

"ど…どうもありがとうございますぅぅ!!!"
"...What was your permanent address, again?"
"Oh, shi--"

Permanent address? I'd just give my the one of my apartment in Sackville and pray that he doesn't know whether Sackville is underwater.

BTW, why don't you just squat in one of the other apartments in Rei's complex? Nobody else is using them.

This fic is called The Tenant of Room 404 for a reason, but I didn't want to settle in too fast... Never know what might happen.

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Re: The Tenant of Room 404

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Postby Reichu » Wed Nov 01, 2006 2:23 am

BobBQ wrote:
It would be SUMISU. (たとえ、エージェント・スミスをみてね!) SUMITTSU is "Smits" (like "Jimmy Smits").

I should ask Oe-sensei about it, but I'll change it for now.

IF SHE DISAGREES SHE IS WRONG AND AGENT SMITH WILL HAVE HIS WAY WITH HER. Space Alc said so.

The "th" in "Smith" is most closely approximated by the consonant "s"; since it has an end position here, you use the syllable ス (SU). For any instance where "th" has a vowel after it, it just becomes "S + vowel". (That's why attempts to say "Thank you" often sound like "SANKYUU".)

The other "th" (father) is a different story; in the examples I can recall offhand, it becomes "z". (マザーとファザー ……… ザ・ワルド!!! リイィィィィィィーーー) Maybe you already knew that.

Out of curiosity, why did you initially choose the conversion "Sumittsu"?
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Re: The Tenant of Room 404

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Postby BobBQ » Wed Nov 01, 2006 5:09 am

Reichu wrote:IF SHE DISAGREES SHE IS WRONG AND AGENT SMITH WILL HAVE HIS WAY WITH HER. Space Alc said so.

(Image removed for the public safety.)

Agent Smith speaks all languages, but forgets to turn the safety off.

The "th" in "Smith" is most closely approximated by the consonant "s"; since it has an end position here, you use the syllable ス (SU). For any instance where "th" has a vowel after it, it just becomes "S + vowel". (That's why attempts to say "Thank you" often sound like "SANKYUU".)

The other "th" (father) is a different story; in the examples I can recall offhand, it becomes "z". (マザーとファザー ……… ザ・ワルド!!! リイィィィィィィーーー) Maybe you already knew that.

I knew some of it, but you've broadened my horizons again.

Out of curiosity, why did you initially choose the conversion "Sumittsu"?

I was trying to do it phoenetically, but my pronunciation may have been in error.
Last edited by BobBQ on Mon Nov 06, 2006 6:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Postby BobBQ » Mon Nov 06, 2006 8:02 am

Part 3: Much Ado About Something | Asuka STRIKES^2

“And what, may I ask, is so terribly fascinating about my lunch?”

Aida Kensuke rocked back on his heels as I cast an irritated glance in his direction. The moment my lunch break had begun, he had descended on me with the look of a person who expects to find something he has long been searching for. Shinji was following at a distance, as if afraid to cause offense.

My morning had gone largely as I hoped: I had woken up early, walked to the nearest public bath—the existence of such things was a major convenience, much the like the YMCAs back at home—and gotten thoroughly clean before making my way to school. Fujinami wasn't there, for some reason: all I found was a scribbled to-do list that took a good half-hour to translate. Cursive English is hard to read, but it's nothing compared to sloppy kanji.

I had spent the morning trimming a very nice hedgerow under the watchful eyes of several students with second-floor window seats. Come lunch break, I'd set up on a corner of the lawn, whereupon Kensuke appeared.

“Cooking cup ramen with a solar oven isn't something I see every day,” he said be way of explanation. “Listen, I had some questions for you.”

“Yes?”

Kensuke dropped to one knee and directed a piercing gaze towards me. “What do you know about the Second Branch?”

I raised an eyebrow. “What do you want to know, and why do you think I'd know it?”

“Simple,” he retorted. “First, you're an American. Second, you appeared out of thin air yesterday. Third, something happened at the Second Branch—“

“And you think I have something to do with it?” I raised an eyebrow. “Shinji, does he do this often?”

Shinji promptly turned red. “Yes—no! I mean...”

He faltered as Kensuke cast an angry look over his shoulder. “Back me up, Shinji! This is important for you, too!”

“I've never even been to Nevada... but I suppose I could humor you,” I sighed. “NERV's Second Branch is located at the Groom Lake test range in Lincoln County. The construction of Eva Unit 04 is the only interesting thing that's ever happened there... But you should know that already.”

“And the accident?”

It seemed a little rash for him to be trying to draw me out by openly bringing that up, but then Kensuke seemed to be a damn-the-torpedoes kind of boy to begin with. I, for my part, quickly get tired of beating around bushes.

“All I have is rumors.”

He drew closer. “Share.”

“The Second Branch and Unit 04 are gone, as is everything within an eighty-nine kilometer radius. The cause is unknown... That's all I can tell you. Satisfied?”

“Yeah.” He sat back, pushing his oversized glasses up. I reached up and caught my own as they tried to answer the call of gravity. “How'd you find out?”

I shrugged. “Thanks to the net, news travels fast.”

“Really.”

“If you thought I had some kind of special source, I'm afraid you're wasting your time.”

“I'm still not convinced... If you knew that much about what happened in Nevada, then you must also know something about Unit 03.”

I took a few moments to check my—now lukewarm—ramen before responding. “The US wants to get rid of it before those MIT tech boys at the First Branch blow up the whole eastern seaboard. Given the current political climate, it'll probably end up here.”

Kensuke nodded to Shinji. “See? It's just like I told you.” Back to me. “Why would they test it at Matsushiro instead of Tokyo-3?”

“Who knows? Maybe they're looking for a quick way to justify all the money they spent building a facility that hardly gets any use.”

“Yeah... Well, anyway, who's the pilot?”

“How should I know? I'm pretty sure the Americans don't have one, though, or they'd have sent Unit 04 out here earlier.” Time to drop a hint. “Hell, for all we know it could be you or, say, your friend Suzuhara.”

Kensuke burst out laughing. “That'd be funny! Toji as an Eva pilot? Oh, man...”

Shinji didn't smile. “He got called out of class the morning... What if it's true?”

“Well, that's easy enough,” I said. “Just go and ask him. Would he lie to you about it?”

“I don't think so...”

“There you have it, then.” I checked the ramen, which was finally starting to warm up nicely. “Unless you've got something else you want to talk about, I'll thank you to leave me in peace.”

Kensuke stood up. “I'll be back. Don't get any funny ideas.”

He walked away, leaving Shinji standing in front of me with an apologetic expression. “I'm sorry about that, Sumisu-san.”

“Did you tell him to come and pester me?”

“Uh, no.”

“Then what are you sorry for?”

“I—I just—“

“Forget it... Is there something else?”

“Um... Ayanami told me you're sleeping under her stairs.”

“They are her stairs only insofar as she is the sole tenant in the building,” I replied, “but that's as may be. Why do you mention it?”

“Well... why don't you move into one of the other apartments? I don't think she'd mind.”

“I didn't want to be a bother... Besides, I'm not sure I want to risk inciting the wrath of NERV security.”

“Oh...”

“I'll ask her if she minds, though.”

He thought for a moment. “Are you...”

“What? An intelligence agent?”

He looked even more flustered. “Yes.”

“I'm not cut out for that kind of work... I just like to collect information, like to know what's going on, that's all. I heard about the accident in Nevada because I know where to pick up that kind of news, not because I'm some kind of James Bond wannabe.”

“Then why are you here?”

“It does seem a little weird, doesn't it? Truth be told, I seem to have fallen victim to a large piece of bad luck followed by several small pieces of good... I just hope the good streak continues. If you mean, why am I here working at this school which all the Children attend, that's a coincidence.”

“Hey, stupid Shinji!”

I froze. Of all the people in Tokyo-3, the one I least wanted to deal with was this one. I quickly pressed my back up against the low concrete barrier behind me and tried to look inconspicuous.

Soryu Asuka Langley, Second Children and pilot of Eva Unit 02, stomped into my field of vision from the right, evidently not noticing me as she came to a stop in front of Shinji.

“So where's this amazing American you couldn't stop blabbering about, huh? You said he'd be out here!”

“He's—“

I quickly held up a finger, signaling for silence.

“Well, Third?”

“Um...”

“Really, I'm surprised I even believed you! It's ridiculous! Why should an American suddenly appear out of thin air and start working as a grounds-keeper?”

“I—“

“And Hikari never saw him, either! How do you explain that?”

“You could ask Kensuke or—“ He was trying to distract her. Good boy.

“The stooges? Ach! Like I can rely on them for anything.”

“Or Fujinami-san?”

“But he's not here today!” She threw up her hands. “Oh, I shouldn't have even bothered! I'm going back inside.”

“But—“

“All right, Shinji, I'll give you one more chance.” She leaned in close, hands on hips. “Where can I find this stupid American of yours?”

“Ich weiß nicht. Wenn ich ein finde, erkläre ich Ihnen schnell.”

“Eep!”

I didn't think Asuka was the kind of person who eep'ed, but oh well. “Guter Nachmittag, Fraulein Soryu.”

She squinted at me suspiciously for a few moments, then wrinkled her nose. I noticed that she looked very Asian for someone with only quarter-Japanese ancestry. “Your German is terrible,” she said in heavily accented English.

Shinji looked confused, but I opted to respond in kind. “Yah, well... 's not like Ah got much time t' study, ya know. Shoulda start'd sooner.”

The expression of disgust grew. “Eeh! A redneck!”

“Well,” I continued, taking care to minimize my normal accent. “I'm sorry I happen to talk like a southerner in spite of never having lived south of New York state... But that's my problem and not yours. What can I do for the great Soryu Asuka Langley, who pilots her Eva with such skill and defends the rest of us from great flying monsters?”

“Humph. It's nice that somebody actually appreciates me.” Good, so a direct appeal to her ego was worth something. “What you can do for me is explain yourself.”

“Quite so, quite so... Hajimemashta and all the rest of that.” I briefly introduced myself, recycling the semi-truthful story about me being an academic come to Japan to find a job and improve my language skills in the off season. “So there you have it.”

“All right,” she replied, “but why are you living under Wondergirl's stairs like some kind of weirdo?”

“It's cheap and she doesn't bother me. How about you?”

“Awful. Between this wimp—“ she jabbed a finger in Shinji's direction “—and our boozy guardian, I'm going slowly insane.”

“I think I can sympathize; my college life was like that.”

“Really?” She actually seemed to be interested in what I was saying. Perhaps it was sheer boredom that motivated her, but I rather hoped she was finding common ground. If that were to happen, it would make things much easier for me later on.

“Yeah... So I hear you're already a university graduate?”

She puffed out her chest. “That's right!”

“Quite an achievement. What's your major?”

“Mathematics.”

“Ah...” Somehow I had imagined Asuka going for something a little higher, but math was probably a more realistic goal for someone her age. “My worst subject, I'm afraid.”

Much to my relief, she didn't look at me with utter contempt. “Then what are you majoring in?”

“I'm doing a triple minor, actually. Classics, computer science and philosophy. I figured that, since my education was unconventional enough already, I might as well go the whole nine yards.”

“Unconventional?” Asuka's voice took on a scornful tone. “How did you get an unconventional education in the Americans' worthless system?”

“By going outside it... Five years of grade school, which I hated, three years of home schooling, in which I learned a great many interesting things, two years of high school, which I don't remember very fondly, and four years of college with two more to go... The last two years were in Canada, by the way. Far better than the US system, in my own opinion.”

Shinji finally spoke up, in Japanese. “Um... Asuka, we have to get back to class.”

“Ach!” She threw up her hands in frustration again, likewise switching languages. “Just when I found someone worth talking to!”

I shrugged. “There's always next time, I'm sure... Anyway, it was nice to meet you, Fraulein Soryu. I'll see you both around.”

“Don't forget that you've earned the attention of the great Soryu Asuka Langley. You should be honored, you know.”

“Oh, I am.”

“Good.”

With that parting shot Asuka walked away, looking very pleased with herself. Shinji followed her lead, trying to maintain formation without getting too close. As I walked back towards the tool shed, I caught a glimpse of Kensuke watching me from one of the second-floor windows. Persistent little bastard, but he could come in handy later.

***

“All right,” Fujinami growled. “You did a good job, 'cept for one thing... Why didn't you fix those bad roofing sections like I asked?”

“Hammering the new ones into place would have made a terrific racket,” I explained. “Much as I may fear provoking your wrath, I fear the wrath of a distracted teacher more... No offense.”

The old man chuckled. “None taken... You planning to stay late and do it now that classes are over, or what?”

“Sure, if I can get it all done before it gets dark. If not, I'll have to patch the rest up and wait until tomorrow.”

“Just wait, then. In the morning I'll bring some cartridges for the nailgun; it ought to make your job a bit faster.”

“I'd appreciate that,” I remarked. “Anything else for today?”

“No, no... Oh,your pay, of course.” He opened a locked drawer in the bottom of his desk—hardly an ideal way to store one's funds, I observed—and sorted out an amount that, if budgeted properly, would cover all my current expenses for the next several days at least. “Right now you're registered as my assistant in training, so there's not much paperwork to bother with. I assume you're satisfied?”

“Yes, indeed. Thanks again,” I replied. “See you tomorrow.”

***

“Sumisu-san,” Rei intoned. “What is it?”

I stood at the door of Room 402, stiff and sore after an afternoon spent pulling weeds followed by the trek across town. I could have ridden the monorail for part of the trip, but I felt the money was better saved for other matters.

“Sorry to bother you, but I was wondering how I could contact whatever authority is responsible for this building.”

“You wish to move into one of the vacant apartments?”

“Yeah.”

“You may do so... The plumbing is not connected above this floor. The electrical circuits on the first and second floors are not functioning properly.”

“Any room on this floor or the one below is okay, though?”

“Yes.”

“I see.” I walked a little ways down the row and tried a door. Finding it unlocked, I swung it open and discovered an apartment that was identical to Rei's own, save that it was completely unfurnished. “This one looks all right. Any objections?”

“No.”

“Great.” I set my bag by the door. “You're very helpful, Ayanami-san.”

“I am?”

“Definitely.”

“Ikari-kun said... it was the right thing to do.”

“I'm not surprised. He seems to be a very nice person in his own way... I can see why he likes you.”

“Ikari-kun..?”

“That's the way it looks to me... I wish I could do something for you two, to return the favor.” I suddenly realized that this might be an opportunity in camouflage. “Actually, I might be able to. Can I speak to you about it in the morning?”

“Yes.”

“Okay... Tomorrow, then.”

She disappeared back into her apartment. I stood there a moment, looking out over Tokyo-3, then went inside my own space. The day after tomorrow the thirteenth Angel would strike, and so would I. There was still a lot of planning to finish before then.

And so I became, for a time at least, the tenant of Room 404.
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Postby Ornette » Mon Nov 06, 2006 11:42 am

BTW, that image wants to shove cookies into my browser, which I refused.

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Postby BobBQ » Mon Nov 06, 2006 2:03 pm

The one in my sig?

I suppose I should find another host, then.

*EDIT* Using another image for now. Fallout 2 FTW!

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Postby Ornette » Mon Nov 06, 2006 3:43 pm

BobBQ wrote:The one in my sig?

I suppose I should find another host, then.

*EDIT* Using another image for now. Fallout 2 FTW!

no no no, the one from whatisthematrix.warnerbros.com above.

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Postby BobBQ » Sun Nov 26, 2006 12:20 pm

No, it's not dead. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Part 4: Angel-Stretching Time | STUFF HAPPENS

“Hey, Smith!”

Asuka, of course; nobody else here could pronounce my name correctly. The redhead had tracked me down twice the previous day; apparently I was still far more interesting than Rei or Shinji and his friends. This time she had Horaki-inchou in tow and emitted a particularly aggressive aura.

It was now lunchtime on the fifth day since my arrival and, with Zero Hour almost come, I was falling behind schedule. I had hoped to pass something useful along to Toji before he was sent to Matsushiro, but I'd missed every chance I had and now he was gone. I didn't think I'd have any luck going directly to NERV, the people in charge there being who they were, so I only had one practical option left. The timing, however, was dicey at best.

“Back again, Soryu-san?” I continued to speak Japanese out of consideration for Hikari.

“One of the Stooges is missing, one's moping and the last one acts like a cat on a fence. Wondergirl is as boring as always... Hikari and you are the only ones left to talk to!”

That made things easier for me; on the previous day I had offered to help Rei and Shinji by keeping Asuka off their backs. Shinji had—rather reluctantly, I thought—accepted, while Rei merely intoned that she would “consider the matter.”

I shifted my attention slightly. “You, I presume, are Hikari.”

She gave a little bow. “Yes... Class Representative Horaki Hikari. Pleased to meet you.”

“Likewise... I assume Asuka's told you all about me.”

“Yes.”

“I won't waste words on what's already been said, then... So what brings you two out here?”

Asuka adopted her standard hands-on-hips pose. “I hear you've moved in with Wondergirl.”

Hikari looked indignant. I made a mental note to avoid offending her high moral standards.

“Sounds like rumors mutate just as fast as they spread,” I replied. “I have not 'moved in' with Ayanami. There are laws against that kind of thing... Not to mention that your employers wouldn't like it.”

“Then where are you living?” Asuka demanded.

“Apartment four-oh-four, same building.”

“Why?”

“It's cheap and she doesn't complain.”

She wrinkled her nose. “You said that the day before yesterday.”

“It's true.”

Hikari's face adopted an expression of relief. “Well, that's better, isn't it? I mean, it's not like they're—“

“I know, I know,” Asuka huffed. “Who'd want to be with Wondergirl, anyway?”

I smiled. “You know what that reminds me of?”

Asuka looked down. “No, what?”

“This really annoying song I used to hear on the radio all the time.” I shifted my vocal pitch up a few registers. ”Wondaaah-girrrlll... What is the sec-ret of your pow-aaahhh...”

Asuka's confrontational attitude changed to one of amusement. Hikari just looked confused.

“Brilliant,” Asuka chuckled. “It suits her.”

“I'm glad you approve.” I fished my watch out of my pocket, hoping I could get away before the Second Children had another mood swing. “Break's almost over and I have rosebushes to prune, so if you girls would excuse me...”

***

“No, no, no,” I sighed, wondering how I'd managed to get dragged into this discussion. “The G36 is not a straight copy of the AR-18. For a start, it uses one guide rod and recoil spring instead of two, and the position of the charging handle is completely different.”

Kensuke adjusted his glasses. I stopped to prune a mangled branch.

“But you can't deny that the overall pattern of the G36 bolt group was borrowed from Stoner.”

“No, and I wasn't trying to... Heck, almost everything on the G36 is borrowed. The short-stroke gas system is very AK-ish. The folding stock? Totally FAL. The rotating bolt goes back at least as far as the Johnson M1941.” I snipped another branch. “Everyone borrows from everyone else. What important isn't whether the design is novel, Aida-kun. What's important is whether or not it works.”

I got an irritated look for my pains. “Can we get back to the original issue?”

“I've forgotten it.” I moved on to the next shrub, pausing to check the weather. It felt a little cooler today; there was a nice breeze. “Anyway, what's the point? Why are you following me around?”

“Toji's was acting weird yesterday. He didn't show up at all today.”

“And?”

“The Unit 03 activation test is today.”

“That's nice.”

He leaned closer. “You knew Toji was going to be the pilot. Spill the beans, man... Or do you want me to go straight to NERV?”

“If you think they're going to take you seriously based on mere paranoid speculation,” I growled, “you're even crazier than I thought. What is it that you want, Aida? I know you're determined to become a pilot, but I can't help you with that.”

“Aha!”

“...That was not a confession of any sort.”

“Damn!”

“Curb your enthusiasm; it'll make you live longer.” I tucked the clippers into my utility belt. “I'm done for the day. I suggest you find somebody else to torment.”

***

“Sumisu-san?”

“Yes, Shinji?”

He looked down at his feet. I mentally braced myself. “Is there something you want to talk about?”

He seemed to ponder the question for a few moments, then shook his head. “No. Never mind.”

“If it's about your friend Suzuhara...“ I put on what I thought was a reassuring expression, “...I'm sure he'll be fine.”

He nodded. “I should go... Um, sorry I bothered you.”

“It's no problem, honestly.”

He shuffled away. I returned my tools to the shed and was about to start packing when another visitor arrived.

“Good afternoon, Ayanami-san. What's up?”

“I wish to speak with you about Suzuhara-kun.”

“Seems like everyone does... You want me to keep Soryu off his back too?”

“No.”

“Ah. What, then?”

“How did you know he is the Fourth Children?”

I shrugged. “If you think NERV is watertight, you haven't taken a good look at its underside. It leaks. Things dribble out.”

“Is that so?”

“You want me to come out and say something like 'I am an agent of foreign country X'? If that's it, you're wasting time just like Aida-kun. That's not who I am and it's not what I'm going to say.”

“Then who are you?”

I suddenly wished I had a Jericho 941 to twirl around my finger. “I'm just a humble information hoarder, Ayanami... and as it so happens—”

At that moment, however, Rei's cellphone rang. Talk about timing.

I waited as she listened, uttered a brief word of acknowledgment and hung up.

“I must go.”

“That, I presume, was somebody at NERV headquarters calling to tell you there's been an explosion at the Matsushiro facility and that an unidentified object is now heading this way.”

She gave me a piercing look... piercing by her standards, anyway. “Tell me what you know.”

“The unidentified object is the thirteenth Angel, a parasite which has infected and taken control of Eva Unit zero-three. It is capable of moving at great speed and altering the physical parameters of its host body in ways that a normal Eva is incapable of. Because of that, as well as its ability to infect other Evas through physical contact, it is extremely dangerous at close ranges... The tactic I would recommend is to dismember it with firearms from an extended distance, then extract the entry plug and destroy the remaining body as quickly as possible. Since Commander Ikari isn't a particularly experienced battle commander, he'll probably let you take it on one at a time, but I'd recommend simultaneously attacking from multiple directions.”

“What else?” She deserved a commendation for her ability to stay focused, I decided.

“That's all I have. Pass it along to the other Children and use it as best you can.” I picked up my bag and slung it over my shoulder. “Oh yeah, and there's one other thing: under no circumstances should the Dummy Plug be employed.”

“Why?”

“It's not ready for real-world combat. If they use it now, it'll cause far too much collateral damage.”

I started walking towards the front gate, noting that the school was completely deserted already. “Remember thar you have to avoid short-range fighting under all circumstances. Goodbye for now... and good luck out there.”

I heard a car pull up at the school gates as I walked down the road, no doubt arriving to pick up Rei, but nothing out of the ordinary happened otherwise until the citywide alarm system activated some minutes later.

***

As it turned out, waiting at the apartment was the hard part. I could hear sporadic weapons fire in the distance a few times, then what sounded like a cross between a moose call and a foghorn. That, in my opinion, did not bode well.

Eventually the alarm ended; people began to return to the city as darkness fell. It was at about that point that there came a knock on my door.

“Sumisu-san,” Rei called from the other side, “are you there?”

I got up and walked to the entryway. “Yeah, I'm coming.”

Rei had company: a familiar face with a familiar gun, which was quickly aimed at the end of my nose.

I raised an eyebrow. “Perfect timing, Kaji.”
Last edited by BobBQ on Wed Oct 24, 2007 6:11 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Postby BobBQ » Fri Dec 15, 2006 1:20 am

I honestly don't know why I'm still working on this, so I took a break and worked on my other project. Then I felt guilty and finished another chapter.

Part 5: Polite Conversation is Wasted on the Deaf | HARDLINE LOST

“Back against the wall.”

I did so.

“Put your hands in the air.”

I did that, too.

“Start talking.”

“Nice weather today,” I said in a conversational tone. “Much cooler than the last few. How's work?”

Kaji didn't look at all amused. “Do you know what this is?”

I glanced down. “A SIG-Sauer P226... Nine by nineteen millimeter, American-style magazine release. Not a bad choice, if I may say so. Did you get it at the Third Branch or was it a present from, say, the JSDF?”

The spy's eyes narrowed. I smiled. “I'm curious, Kaji. Who are you working for at the moment?”

He glanced to the side. “Rei, you can go now.”

I leaned around him. “Just a moment—“

The P226 cut me off. “Rei, go.”

The First Children disappeared in the direction of the stairs. Kaji waved his free hand in the direction of my apartment.

“Inside.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I walked inside and sat down on the secondhand futon I'd managed to buy a day prior. “So... What brings Kaji Ryoji, super spy and master ladies' man, to my humble abode?”

“It's not yours, to begin with.” He was definitely irritated by something; I could remember him being like this at only a few points in the series.

“I would have consulted the landlord, but there doesn't seem to be one... If that's all this is about, why'd you come instead of the usual suspects? Don't tell me Section Two is doing real work for a change.”

He raised the gun again, his careless handling of which was really starting to annoy me.

“Why are you stalking the Children?”

I blinked. “Say again?”

“I received a complaint from a concerned student at their school—“

“Aida Kensuke?” I snorted. “He's been on my case ever since I got here.”

“He was very concerned. It seems you've managed to gain a lot of trust in just a few days.”

“I'm insulted, Kaji. Completely and utterly insulted... and that's not something that comes easily to me.”

“Are you trying to be funny?”

”I am not stalking the Children,” I snapped. “I am not stalking anybody. If all you've got is that idiot's paranoid accusations, I'll thank you to leave me in peace... In any case, I have more important things to worry about.”

“So do I,” Kaji retorted. He leaned in and lowered his voice. “You act like you know me. Why?”

I'd had enough of acting innocent. “You want a laundry list? I'm sure Major Katsuragi would love it... especially after she caught you poking around in Terminal Dogma. I hope for your sake that she keeps that USP in double-action mode.”

He looked visibly surprised. “How did you—“

I got up. “You told her the body on the cross was Adam. Why?”

“Did she—“

There came a knock at the door. “Never mind.” I raised my voice. “Who is it this time?”

Rei answered from outside. “I wish to speak with Kaji-san.”

“Come in, Rei. It's not polite to talk through doors.”

She eased the door open and stepped inside, stopping to remove her shoes.

Kaji kept the gun firmly centered on myself. “What is it, Rei?”

“I received a call from headquarters. They informed me that your cellular phone is not switched on.”

“Huh?” Kaji fished an older-model Nokia out of his pocket. “Whoops.”

I sat down again and watched as he dialed a number. “Kaji here. You wanted me? ...Oh. Yeah, I'm still working on it. What?” He raised an eyebrow. “He's right here.”

He held out the phone. “They want to talk to you.”

I accepted the handset with a grunt of thanks. “Hello, Houston.”

“Is this Sumisu?” a nervous female voice inquired.

“The genuine article, Lieutenant Ibuki.”

There was a small gasp from the other end of the line. ”H-how—“

“It's a big building with patients,” I quipped. “That's not important right now. You need something?”

“The, ah, the Vice Commander would like to speak to you.”

I blinked. “Professor Fuyutsuki? Sure, put him on.”

There was a series of clicks and what sounded like an ultrasonic-frequency connection signal, followed by a new voice.

”Am I speaking to Sumisu?”

“That's right... Is Ikari there?”

”The Commander is occupied at the moment.”

“I see... Okay, then. What can I do for you?”

”I'll get to the point. Do you know when the next Angel will attack?”

“Tomorrow afternoon, at about one-thirty. You've got enough time to clean up and do some quick preparations, but that's probably all.”

”Do you know any of its characteristics? Anything we can use against it?”

“Yeah, but I don't think I should recite that over the phone.”

”May I speak to Kaji?”

“Sure can.”

I stood up, tossed the phone to Kaji and weaved past him to where Rei stood, looking at my copy of The Ultimate HHGttG. It was only then that I noticed she was holding her left arm at an awkward angle.

“Rei, are you okay?”

“Yes.”

“Did the plan work?”

“Commander Ikari did not make use of your suggestion.”

“What?”

“I said the Commander did not—“

“Rei, I need to know exactly what happened out there.”

“I have been ordered not to speak to you regarding—“

“Oh, all right,” I snapped. “Kaji, give me the phone again.”

He held up a hand. “The suspect wants to say something... Here.”

I grabbed the handset. “Fuyutsuki, where's Shinji?”

”Causing a scene, I'm afraid. Was that expected?”

“Unfortunately, yes... and it should have been prevented. Can I talk to him?”

”Make it short.”

More clicking and whining. It occurred to me that NERV's non-use of on-hold muzak was probably a blessing in disguise.

”Sumisu-san?”

“Hello, Shinji. Are you hurt?”

”N-no, but... Toji! Sumisu-san, Toji was—“

The line suddenly went silent, then a canned feminine tone came on: ”This line is being monitored. For security reasons, we have terminated your call. Thank you for your cooperation.”

“Oh, you gotta be kidding me!”

Kaji, who had been alternating between watching me and watching Rei, swung around. “What happened?”

“Section two seems to have cut me off,” I growled. A plasticky squeaking from the handset indicated that I was applying more force than it was designed to withstand.

I chucked it at him and picked up my shoes. “You got a car?”

“Huh?”

“I need a ride to the Geofront. Rei, you're coming with us.”

Kaji, of course, had to protest. “What do you think you're doing now?”

“It's called taking charge, and if you don't want Katsuragi to tear you a new one when she gets back from Matsushiro, you won't complain. I've had enough of incompetents stepping on my toes.”

“You think that's going to get you anywhere?” he muttered.

“Won't know until I try, right?”

“Fine, fine... but don't pull anything stupid.”

“In other words, do as you say and not as you do?”
Last edited by BobBQ on Wed Oct 24, 2007 6:12 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Postby jakewashere » Fri Dec 15, 2006 3:04 pm

I don't know why, but this fic seems to be working very well. I know I'd like to see what happens next.

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Postby Omegagouki » Sat Dec 16, 2006 9:51 pm

Suffice to say, I'm impressed. You're pulling this off quite well, IMO, definitely better than a lot of other people have attempted, then again, I really haven't read many attempts at Eva SI, heh... Oh well, this is good nonetheless.

.... Back to my lurking.
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Postby BobBQ » Tue Dec 26, 2006 11:54 pm

みんあさん、メリクリスマス!

Part 6: A Bad Case of NERVes | DUEL OF SHADES

The ride down to NERV HQ was mostly uneventful. Kaji sat in the driver seat of his car, a green Volvo sedan that had clearly seen better days, and alternated between driving, fingering his gun and casting dirty looks at myself. I merely rode shotgun and watched the scenery fly past. Rei sat in the rear and did the same.

The corridors of the complex itself were strangely deserted. Once in a while I caught a glimpse of someone as the three of us rode various elevators, escalators and moving walkways deeper and deeper into the Geofront, but none of them payed any attention to us.

Kaji finally broke the prolonged silence as we reached the final elevator. “You have a plan?”

“Of course,” I replied, looking up at the elevator's floor counter. Was there any way to stop that annoying click-click-click?

“And your plan is?”

I pulled out my glasses case—Kaji had been kind enough to let me bring that, at least—and fitted the shade attachment. Rei reacted very slightly, in a manner that cannot be easily described.

“Let me do the talking, Kaji. I need you to keep Section Two off my back... Rei?”

“Yes?”

“Once we find Shinji, I need you to stay with him and make sure he stays safe. Don't let anybody hurt him, abuse him or drag him off to a holding cell. Can you do that?”

“You wish for me to protect Ikari-kun?”

“Exactly. If you run into Pilot Soryu, tell her I want her to help you. She probably won't, but it's worth a shot.”

“What if the Commander or Vice Commander give orders that contradict yours?”

I pulled off my glasses and hooked them on my belt. “If they do, they'll get no more help from me.”

“Here we go,” Kaji said as the elevator lurched to a stop.

“You go first.”

“Why?”

“In case of snipers.” I gave him a gentle push as the doors opened. “Go on.”

He stepped out. I followed, hearing Rei's soft footfalls behind me.

The bridge looked pretty much as it should. The three operations lieutenants sat at their posts, facing away from us. Their posture suggested great stress, Ibuki's in particular.

I stepped forward. “Hyuga, where's the Third Children?”

Either he didn't notice who was speaking to him, or he was too burned out to care. “They cut him out of the entry plug about ten minutes ago. He's been taken to the medical section.”

“Is he still out?”

He fiddled with his console. “Yes.”

“So much for Plan A, then.”

He glanced over his shoulder, seeing me for the first time. “Who are you?”

“Nobody important... But I suppose it's a little rude of me to just walk in and start yapping.”

I advanced until I had enough clearance to see the bridge level above and behind me. Commander Ikari and Professor—I had trouble thinking of him as anything other than a misplaced academic—Fuyutsuki looked down from their perch. Gendo, of course, was doing his usual hands-before-nose thing and glaring at me over the top of his glasses.

After a moment, he spoke. “You are Sumisu?”

“Correct.”

“Why are you here?”

“To keep a bad situation from becoming a whole lot worse,” I replied. “Did you hear my conversation with Fuyutsuki earlier?”

“Yes.”

“Good. As I told him, you don't have a whole lot of time before the next Angel shows its ugly mug and you need all hands on deck.”

He ignored the warning. “How did you know about the thirteenth Angel?”

“I can't tell you that. Not yet, anyway.”

“Why?”

I raised my voice. “Everybody listen up; I'm only going to say this once!”

After a moment of silence, I went on. “Imagine, if you will, that you are standing in the middle of a large social event. A ball, a New Year's party, something like that. Now imagine you have discovered that somebody has set up Claymores and demolition charges all around the room you are in. When the guests begin to leave, they will almost certainly run into the tripwires and set off the charges, bringing the whole building down and killing everybody.”

I gave that a moment to sink in. “Furthermore, you realize that you cannot simply come out and tell everyone that the room is rigged with explosives. Many will not believe you. Others will most likely panic and blindly try to escape, again tripping the charges and killing everyone. Imagine that you have only one option: by carefully watching the guests as they prepare to leave, by dropping hints and giving harmless suggestions, you can guide them out of the building without hitting the tripwires. The looming catastrophe, then, can be prevented, but only if you tell your comrades in escape neither more nor less than they need to know. Only after everyone is safely outside can you reveal the whole truth to them.”

I heard a low whistle from someone behind me, probably either Hyuga or Aoba.

“That is the situation I find myself in at present. Any questions?”

Rei spoke up. “What is a claymore?”

“A Scottish two-handed sword, which I'm sure some of my ancestors had a merry time hacking each other to pieces with... Also the M18A1 Claymore Antipersonnel Mine, in use with a number of armed forces worldwide and famous for being marked 'Front Toward Enemy'. Any other questions?”

Commander Ikari stood up. “What do you want?”

“Not much, really. Can we talk in your office?”

***

“Now,” Ikari said, dug in behind his massive desk in the dark comfort of his equally massive office, “I will ask again: what do you want?”

I put on my glasses—the shades still attached—and knelt in front of the desk. After planting my elbows on its surface, I assumed a pose imitating his own. “That is the important question, is it?”

“Do you find this amusing?”

“This situation? Not really,” I replied mildly. “It seems to me that a little humor can have a strong positive effect on morale... but I'll stop if it bothers you that much.”

I stood up and removed the shades from my glasses. “You want to defeat the Angels; so do I. I know how to do it, but I don't feel that I can trust you with all the details at once. What I'm proposing is this: you let me make suggestions and construct plans. I tell you what to do and when to do it, and thus we defeat the enemy.”

Fuyutsuki spoke up. “But how do you know these things?”

“An excellent question, Professor, and one that I'm afraid I can't answer. I'll give you a hint, though: the Dead Sea Scrolls are not the only prophecy concerning the Angels, nor the most accurate. It is fortunate for all of us that SEELE does not seem to know what I know. Let us hope things stay that way.”

I cleared my throat. “My priorities are twofold: first, the proper utilization of NERV's resources regarding the Angel threat. Second, the wellbeing of the Evangelion pilots, since it is they and not us who will ultimately be the keystones of the final act in this drama.”

Gendo arched an eyebrow slightly. “Why are you offering to do this?”

“Simple.” I leaned forward and placed my hands on the desk. “Because Yui-sama does not approve.”

Fuyutsuki looked a little surprised at this revelation. I made a mental note to profusely thank the Eva fan who came up with that phrase, assuming I ever made it back to the world I knew.

The Commander scowled. “What do you know about Yui?”

“That she was a very nice person, and that you were a much better man when she was here... I can relate to that, Ikari. I really don't have to work with you, but I'm willing to make the extra effort because I understand what drives you. However...” I stepped back. “If you want to have more than a snowball's chance in hell of seeing her again, you're going to have to change your ways.”

“Explain.”

“It's not that much, actually. All you have to do is be nicer to people... your son in particular.”

“Why?”

“Because he's important, both to her and to the grand scheme of things. I don't expect you to become the ideal father overnight, of course. Just... just take some interest in what happens to him. Hearing a few words of praise from you after the defeat of Sahaqiel meant a lot to the boy; if he does something well, say so. If there's a parent-teacher meeting at school, take a little time off and attend it, instead of delegating the job to Major Katsuragi... Oh, and then there's Rei. She needs to get out more and learn how to interact.”

He definitely wasn't thrilled by the idea. “Or think of it this way,” I continued. “A happy Eva pilot is a useful Eva pilot. If a little kindness is all it takes, is that such a heavy price to pay?”

“How does Rei matter?”

“She may be a tool to you, but she's only human. She has feelings and opinions of her own, and replacing her won't change that. If you don't treat her with respect, she'll abandon you when you need her most... as will just about anyone else who isn't already dead by that point. The predicted body count for this venture, assuming I don't do anything to alter its course, is quite large. I don't think you'd like the story's end, either.”

“And what ending is that?”

“Third Impact launched by SEELE, Instrumentality started and then aborted, the planet in ruins and everyone dead except the Second and Third Children, neither of whom will be remotely fit to survive... and no, you won't be reunited with Yui.”

He pushed his glasses up. I did the same. “What do you hope to gain from this?”

“Nothing, Commander; I have no use for power or riches. Obviously I'd like to avoid ending up dead or turned to orange goo, but beyond that I am motivated by little more than a misplaced sense of altruism... Or maybe I'm doing it because I'd like to be useful for once.”

“I find your... proposal difficult to believe. You could well be bluffing, or an agent of a hostile power.”

“Not SEELE, at any rate. I can't stand those old farts. As far as the rest of the world is concerned, I most likely do not exist.”

“Assuming you are telling the truth, what do you need from us?”

“An ID card, so that I can come and go as I require. It doesn't need top-level clearance and I don't care if it's tracked. I can do most of my work through Katsuragi and Akagi; I can also work through Fuyutsuki if you find my presence particularly obnoxious... I shouldn't need anything else as long as I manage to keep my day job.”

I stretched my arms. “Tell you what: for now, just think about the offer. I'll come back tomorrow morning and help you take down the fourteenth Angel. If my information turns out to be accurate, you should have no reason to reject my proposal... Oh, and there's one thing I need you to do in the meantime. When Shinji wakes up, he'll probably want to leave NERV. Don't let him, and don't threaten him with criminal charges, no matter how appropriate that may seem. You can't beat the next Angel with only two Evas, and Unit 01 won't accept Rei or the dummy plug anymore.”

“I will consider this,” Ikari replied coldly. “You may leave. Fuyutsuki, escort him to the bridge. Have Kaji take him home and monitor him until tomorrow.”

I nodded. “Fair enough. See you in the morning, then.”

As I walked back to the door, he added “And send Rei in.”

“Right.”

***

“I feel sorry for you,” I said to Fuyutsuki as we moved down the corridor. “Having all the administrative work dumped on your desk and such.”

“It gets tiring,” he admitted.

“You don't think I was totally unreasonable back there, do you?”

“Not really... but I still can't see why you'd do it, assuming your offer is genuine.”

“Put it this way,” I said as we came to the bridge. “I can't just stand by and watch this crisis unfold... and I really think the people here deserve better than what's in store for them.”

“Even Ikari?”

“Especially Ikari,” I sighed, thinking about the state of my plan, “...because he's the kind of person I could have grown up to be.”
Last edited by BobBQ on Wed Oct 24, 2007 6:13 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Postby CyborgZeta » Wed Dec 27, 2006 12:47 am

I really like where your story is heading, it looks like it could end up a more "relaxing" ending than EoE. I also like the way how you handle the characters in relation to Smith.

Keep it up.
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Postby Omegagouki » Wed Dec 27, 2006 2:29 am

Yes! Not bad, not bad at all. This latest chapter reminds me of part of one of my eva fic's events, in the case of the meeting with Gendo, except a lot different. And mine isn't an SI fic, funnily enough. Yeah, anyway... keep up the good work.
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Postby Sailor Star Dust » Wed Dec 27, 2006 12:28 pm

Wow. I haven't read a lot of SI fics, but this one is amazing. The way you handle the characters in regards to Sumisu (yes that IS how it's phonetically spelled & written, I didn't take 2 quarters of nihongo for nothing!) is wonderful, and everbody's IN CHARACTER. Is this story up on ff.net by any chance?

Oh and this...

Image
"Yo mama does not approve!" :wink:
gave me a chuckle. ^__^

I'm a little lost on how Smith knows all this (somehow sent from our world into the world of Eva?) but great job. It would be nice to see Gendo start gettting his act together with treating Shinji & Rei better, but I guess we'll see.
By the way, in the Japanese version, Asuka calls Rei "yuutosei", which translates (by ADV at least) as "Miss Perfect". "Wondergirl" is what dub Asuka calls Rei and I personally prefer the Japanese one.
Just wanted to point that out. And in terms of Rei refreeing to Asuka by name, the only thing I've heard was "nigoki no pilot" in 14 as well as Rei calling her "Asuka" in After the End (not canon because of various 4th Wall breakages, but still).

Make more of a reference to this next time? Please? *giggles*
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I shoved the book back into my bag, verified that my towel and copy of The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy were unharmed and set off towards the nearest abandoned building.

"Don't Panic" (in large friendly letters!)


Quote:
Then I remembered something I'd said after a classical mythology lecture two years before: a real hero isn't some good-looking guy who beats all the baddies and gets all the girls. A real hero is somebody who gets up and does what needs to be done when nobody else will do it.

I remember that from Off-Topic Discussion...


So does that mean Shinji is a hero because he rejected Instrumenality in the end since it's a step-backward? If Misato is too (as that famous confession letter states) then...
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Postby BobBQ » Wed Dec 27, 2006 7:49 pm

CyborgZeta wrote:I really like where your story is heading, it looks like it could end up a more "relaxing" ending than EoE.

I'm aiming for something a little less traumatic than EoE, but it wouldn't be Eva without some degree of SHTF.

Sailor Star Dust wrote:Is this story up on ff.net by any chance?

N'yet. I was planning to post it here, get feedback, fix it up and then spread it, but I might go ahead and post it there since the reception thus far has been very positive.

"Yo mama does not approve!" :wink:
gave me a chuckle. ^__^

Success!

I'm a little lost on how Smith knows all this (somehow sent from our world into the world of Eva?)

Smith is me. A couple of years older, thirty pounds lighter and fluent in conversational moonspeak, but close enough that you'd probably recognize me if I ever went to a convention. That's why it's called a self insert.

And yes, I really do own glasses like Gendo's.

By the way, in the Japanese version, Asuka calls Rei "yuutosei", which translates (by ADV at least) as "Miss Perfect". "Wondergirl" is what dub Asuka calls Rei and I personally prefer the Japanese one.

I despise the English dub, but I'll probably stick with "Wondergirl" so as to preserve the Tenacious D reference.

And in terms of Rei refreeing to Asuka by name, the only thing I've heard was "nigoki no pilot" in 14 as well as Rei calling her "Asuka" in After the End (not canon because of various 4th Wall breakages, but still).

Noted. (Debates whether to do an AtE spoof for story.)

Make more of a reference to [Tang] next time?

I was saving it for an actual Tangification scene.

Awful Sailor Moon themesong?! O_o If your talking about DIC's English crap, then yes, I agree 100%, but DON'T knock down Moonlight Densetsu or any of the other Japanese songs (espeically as Mitsuishi AND Ogata have a few songs from that...).

I actually had the live action version in mind, as somebody brought it to a club meeting a couple of months back. Dog, I hated it.

So does that mean Shinji is a hero because he rejected Instrumenality in the end since it's a step-backward?

I'd say that merely piloting Unit 01 in the first place probably qualifies Shinji. As for Misato, well...


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