31_days fic: The return of Neon Enoch Evangelion
I certainly haven't abandoned this project: I've been gathering ideas for future chapters and roughing out a sort of outline (Operating word being "sort of": I've learned the hard way that I need to give my characters room to move around in, as long as they don't completely derail the story).
The facepalm icon will become apparent once you've read the fic... It came out funnier than I first expected, but post-EoE, one needs a good dose of funny...
Title: "Gathering the Flock"
Day/Theme: Oct 9. Wandering birds pass through the village
Series: Neon Genesis Evangelion (part of an on-going project)
Character/Pairing: Kozou Fuyutsuki, Shinji Ikari, Asuka Langley Sohryuu, OFC
Rating: PG-13
Author's Note: Follows immediately after "(Un)Welcome Torrent", toward the beginning of the second part of "Neon Enoch Evangelion", aka the ambitious NGE project. I'm probably borrowing heavily from several post-EoE fics I read a week ago, but the authors thereof can rest assured, it was done in a spirit of "imitation as the highest form of flattery" rather than thievery or plagiarism.
She looked at him, then looked down at herself, puzzled. "How did I...?" she faltered, then her pale cheeks turned pink with embarrassment and she folded her arms modestly over her breasts.
"For what it's worth, I was looking at your face from the moment I opened my eyes," he said. He slipped off his jacket and held it out to her. She stared at the garment for a moment, then reached out and took it from him, turning her back to him as she pulled it over her shoulders and slipped her arms into the sleeves. He stood to help her straighten it over her shoulders; a low jolt of electricity warned him off.
"I'm sorry, I'm trying to get my AT field under control," she said.
"You meant no harm," he replied. His jacket covered her nearly to her knees, but she glanced down at her feet a little self-consciously.
"I'm going to need some trousers," she said.
"There's a small resort town over the ridge; it's a walk of a kilometer and a half, but the road is still passable," he said, glancing up at the path leading to the shore, formerly a mountain road. "Be warned, it's colder away from the shore. It's like a war zone up there as well: the road is littered with broken glass and shrapnel."
A thoughtful look crossed her face, but she managed a smile of gratitude. "I think I can take a little cold air, and I can probably heal quickly if I step on anything sharp. I just... haven't tried to since I took this form."
"Another aspect of your true nature?" he asked. The analytical parts of his mind, perhaps in an effort to return to some semblance of normalcy, started to make notes on her physiology, even thinking of the title of a possible thesis based on this: A Precis of Grigori Biology -- The Physiology of the Adult Grigori. But he filed these thoughts away; they had to acquire the basic necessities and, if possible, encourage the two Children to join them there.
She nodded. "Beings such as I am... we're not completely indestructible, but we're impervious to a lot of things. I don't have to tell you that. But... this isn't Kharsag, our first home: I have to take the sensibilities of the Lilim -- the humans, I mean, into perspective."
"The Fruit of Life bowing to the Fruit of Knowledge," he observed. "But you're right: the needs of man have to be taken into consideration."
She smirked and he thought he saw the pupils of her eyes narrow. "Is that a polite way of telling me to hurry up and follow you?" she asked.
"You read me too well," he said, beckoning her to follow.
Almost as soon as they ascended the road, he realized something he had not noticed before: silence. Utter silence, broken only by the wind in their ears and the roll of the waves below. No birdsong, no traffic sounds, no voices, no radios, no constant drone of cicadas. The landscape around them lay desolate, the brown earth devoid of every scrap of vegetation, down to mosses on the rocks and blades of grass on the edges of the pavement. They passed by a small roadside shrine, a few wilted flower offerings flanking the small statue of Jizoh within remained to show that any green thing had ever grown.
"Someone's coming, a pair of someones, to be precise," Sabia said.
He paused to listen, but heard nothing over the wind and the waves below. "I don't hear anyone approaching," he said.
"It's hard to explain... but I can sense their souls or maybe their... life signatures," she replied.
Squabbling voices filtered up to them, like the chatter of birds, first Shinji's in-the-cracks alto. "But we don't know where the nearest town is, and everything could have gotten flattened in that blast."
Asuka's more shrill tone jabbed back at him. "There's got to be something close by, and I am *NOT* walking around in this plug suit. It's itching me in the wrong places and the life support went out in it, so I'm freezing to death. Plus we're going to need more bandages for my arm."
He felt Sabia's gaze on him; he turned to look her in the face. An oddly puzzled look passed through her eyes, quickly turning to recognition and then a mischievous smile before she burst out laughing with mingled relief and amusement. He could hardly keep back a low chuckle of his own.
"Well, it appears that they're doing better than I had feared, given the circumstances," he said.
"If Miss Asuka can bitch and moan, then she's in good form, no matter her injuries," Sabia replied.
At that moment, the two Children approached around the bend in the road, Asuka with her good arm folded over herself, clearly either trying to keep warm or to cover herself in an air of false modesty, Shinji trying to keep his eyes averted from her. He looked up, stopping in his tracks, staring at them,his eyes widening with surprise and relief mixed with hesitance.
Asuka turned to glare at him. "Well, don't just stand there, let's keep going!" she snapped, but she turned her good eye to follow the direction of Shinji's gaze. Her demeanor changed as if she had flipped a switch in her psyche. "Oh, hello, Fuyutsuki-sama! You came out of all that, too? At least there's someone here with sense. Who else is here besides you and Miss Valiant?"
"One question at a time, please, Miss Sohryuu," he cut in. "At this point, it appears that the four of us are the only survivors."
Asuka's eyes widened in horror. "What?! It's just the four of us?! Please tell me there's someone else besides the two of you and stupid Shinji." Ikari's son winced visibly at her words and his fists clenched; he couldn't blame the boy, but he had not expected someone usually so meek to respond that way.
"There are bound to be more emerging from that sea of death," Fuyutsuki said, taking charge of the situation. "It's only a matter of time and the decisions of those who have yet to awaken from it. Until then, we need to find shelter and food and adequate clothing." He noticed Shinji keeping his face turned away, but he thought he saw the young man darting a curious peek at Sabia.
"That's what we were looking for, too, so that Shinji stops looking at my figure," Asuka said. She quickly honed in on Shinji. "And don't you look at Miss Valiant like that, either! Haven't you any shred of decency?"
"What? Don't yell at me like that, I wasn't looking!" Shinji snapped back.
"You don't have to have to bite his head off: I'd be worried for him if he wasn't trying to take a peek," Sabia said. "He's a young man, and it's normal for him to pull that. As long as he doesn't touch me, but I don't think that will happen."
"I don't think he could unless you wanted him to," Fuyutsuki said, his eye on Sabia. How long before they figure out what she is...? he wondered.
"WASS? Then you *WERE* looking, you little pervert!" Asuka snapped, trying to take a swing at Shinji, who dodged her blow.
"It wasn't much of a peek, honest!" Shinji howled, mortified.
"Hey, hey, there's no need to start a fight," Sabia intervened.
"You're just encouraging him! Now I know what you're really like!" Asuka snapped back, pointing at her.
Fuyutsuki tried not to cover his eyes. Of all the people who had to emerge from Instrumentality and cross paths with us this soon, why did it have to be these darn kids...
The facepalm icon will become apparent once you've read the fic... It came out funnier than I first expected, but post-EoE, one needs a good dose of funny...
Title: "Gathering the Flock"
Day/Theme: Oct 9. Wandering birds pass through the village
Series: Neon Genesis Evangelion (part of an on-going project)
Character/Pairing: Kozou Fuyutsuki, Shinji Ikari, Asuka Langley Sohryuu, OFC
Rating: PG-13
Author's Note: Follows immediately after "(Un)Welcome Torrent", toward the beginning of the second part of "Neon Enoch Evangelion", aka the ambitious NGE project. I'm probably borrowing heavily from several post-EoE fics I read a week ago, but the authors thereof can rest assured, it was done in a spirit of "imitation as the highest form of flattery" rather than thievery or plagiarism.
She looked at him, then looked down at herself, puzzled. "How did I...?" she faltered, then her pale cheeks turned pink with embarrassment and she folded her arms modestly over her breasts.
"For what it's worth, I was looking at your face from the moment I opened my eyes," he said. He slipped off his jacket and held it out to her. She stared at the garment for a moment, then reached out and took it from him, turning her back to him as she pulled it over her shoulders and slipped her arms into the sleeves. He stood to help her straighten it over her shoulders; a low jolt of electricity warned him off.
"I'm sorry, I'm trying to get my AT field under control," she said.
"You meant no harm," he replied. His jacket covered her nearly to her knees, but she glanced down at her feet a little self-consciously.
"I'm going to need some trousers," she said.
"There's a small resort town over the ridge; it's a walk of a kilometer and a half, but the road is still passable," he said, glancing up at the path leading to the shore, formerly a mountain road. "Be warned, it's colder away from the shore. It's like a war zone up there as well: the road is littered with broken glass and shrapnel."
A thoughtful look crossed her face, but she managed a smile of gratitude. "I think I can take a little cold air, and I can probably heal quickly if I step on anything sharp. I just... haven't tried to since I took this form."
"Another aspect of your true nature?" he asked. The analytical parts of his mind, perhaps in an effort to return to some semblance of normalcy, started to make notes on her physiology, even thinking of the title of a possible thesis based on this: A Precis of Grigori Biology -- The Physiology of the Adult Grigori. But he filed these thoughts away; they had to acquire the basic necessities and, if possible, encourage the two Children to join them there.
She nodded. "Beings such as I am... we're not completely indestructible, but we're impervious to a lot of things. I don't have to tell you that. But... this isn't Kharsag, our first home: I have to take the sensibilities of the Lilim -- the humans, I mean, into perspective."
"The Fruit of Life bowing to the Fruit of Knowledge," he observed. "But you're right: the needs of man have to be taken into consideration."
She smirked and he thought he saw the pupils of her eyes narrow. "Is that a polite way of telling me to hurry up and follow you?" she asked.
"You read me too well," he said, beckoning her to follow.
Almost as soon as they ascended the road, he realized something he had not noticed before: silence. Utter silence, broken only by the wind in their ears and the roll of the waves below. No birdsong, no traffic sounds, no voices, no radios, no constant drone of cicadas. The landscape around them lay desolate, the brown earth devoid of every scrap of vegetation, down to mosses on the rocks and blades of grass on the edges of the pavement. They passed by a small roadside shrine, a few wilted flower offerings flanking the small statue of Jizoh within remained to show that any green thing had ever grown.
"Someone's coming, a pair of someones, to be precise," Sabia said.
He paused to listen, but heard nothing over the wind and the waves below. "I don't hear anyone approaching," he said.
"It's hard to explain... but I can sense their souls or maybe their... life signatures," she replied.
Squabbling voices filtered up to them, like the chatter of birds, first Shinji's in-the-cracks alto. "But we don't know where the nearest town is, and everything could have gotten flattened in that blast."
Asuka's more shrill tone jabbed back at him. "There's got to be something close by, and I am *NOT* walking around in this plug suit. It's itching me in the wrong places and the life support went out in it, so I'm freezing to death. Plus we're going to need more bandages for my arm."
He felt Sabia's gaze on him; he turned to look her in the face. An oddly puzzled look passed through her eyes, quickly turning to recognition and then a mischievous smile before she burst out laughing with mingled relief and amusement. He could hardly keep back a low chuckle of his own.
"Well, it appears that they're doing better than I had feared, given the circumstances," he said.
"If Miss Asuka can bitch and moan, then she's in good form, no matter her injuries," Sabia replied.
At that moment, the two Children approached around the bend in the road, Asuka with her good arm folded over herself, clearly either trying to keep warm or to cover herself in an air of false modesty, Shinji trying to keep his eyes averted from her. He looked up, stopping in his tracks, staring at them,his eyes widening with surprise and relief mixed with hesitance.
Asuka turned to glare at him. "Well, don't just stand there, let's keep going!" she snapped, but she turned her good eye to follow the direction of Shinji's gaze. Her demeanor changed as if she had flipped a switch in her psyche. "Oh, hello, Fuyutsuki-sama! You came out of all that, too? At least there's someone here with sense. Who else is here besides you and Miss Valiant?"
"One question at a time, please, Miss Sohryuu," he cut in. "At this point, it appears that the four of us are the only survivors."
Asuka's eyes widened in horror. "What?! It's just the four of us?! Please tell me there's someone else besides the two of you and stupid Shinji." Ikari's son winced visibly at her words and his fists clenched; he couldn't blame the boy, but he had not expected someone usually so meek to respond that way.
"There are bound to be more emerging from that sea of death," Fuyutsuki said, taking charge of the situation. "It's only a matter of time and the decisions of those who have yet to awaken from it. Until then, we need to find shelter and food and adequate clothing." He noticed Shinji keeping his face turned away, but he thought he saw the young man darting a curious peek at Sabia.
"That's what we were looking for, too, so that Shinji stops looking at my figure," Asuka said. She quickly honed in on Shinji. "And don't you look at Miss Valiant like that, either! Haven't you any shred of decency?"
"What? Don't yell at me like that, I wasn't looking!" Shinji snapped back.
"You don't have to have to bite his head off: I'd be worried for him if he wasn't trying to take a peek," Sabia said. "He's a young man, and it's normal for him to pull that. As long as he doesn't touch me, but I don't think that will happen."
"I don't think he could unless you wanted him to," Fuyutsuki said, his eye on Sabia. How long before they figure out what she is...? he wondered.
"WASS? Then you *WERE* looking, you little pervert!" Asuka snapped, trying to take a swing at Shinji, who dodged her blow.
"It wasn't much of a peek, honest!" Shinji howled, mortified.
"Hey, hey, there's no need to start a fight," Sabia intervened.
"You're just encouraging him! Now I know what you're really like!" Asuka snapped back, pointing at her.
Fuyutsuki tried not to cover his eyes. Of all the people who had to emerge from Instrumentality and cross paths with us this soon, why did it have to be these darn kids...