Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction ❯ Practice ❯ White Rabbits, White Room ( Chapter 21 )

Shinji and Motowa jogged down the corridor in their plug suits. They had made it with barely one minute to spare. They quickly reached the door to the control room and, breathing hard, they walked in.

Ritsuko looked behind her, where the two Pilots were walking up to her, and began to smirk. “Ohayo, sorry we're late... what's so funny?” Shinji asked.

“My guess is you missed the message I tried to leave you. We've postponed the synch test.” Ritsuko replied, turning around to face the two pilots.

“What? Why?” Motowa asked.

“We're doing Asuka's synch test before yours.”

Both Shinji and Motowa blinked. “But... I thought Motowa was piloting Eva Unit 02.” Shinji asked, confused.

“She is. We've learned that Asuka can synch properly with Unit 02, even in her state, but only the sense of touch registers for her.”

“That's... odd.”

“Yes, it is. But until we can find out why the other senses haven't responded as well, all we can do is check up on her every once in a while.”

Ritsuko turned to Maya. “Synch her.”

“Ryokai.” Maya responded crisply as she punched in a long-since memorized series of commands.

---

Asuka stared up at the sky from her position, lying on her back under the tree. She began to pick out shapes from the pinkish clouds in the air. One looked like a rabbit... the ears came a bit more into shape and the body rounded out more to become a truer rabbit shape. Another looked like a cat... the tail curled around the body and the ears became more pointed. Asuka's eyes widened as she realized what was happening.

And then gravity shifted.

She hadn't moved a muscle; but somehow, she wasn't in a lying position, she was in a standing one. she moved her arms, and affirmed that the ground was still below (behind?) her. Oh. Asuka thought. I'm synched with 02.

She began to tap. “Unsynch... wait ten seconds... resynch.”

Gravity lurched downward again and Asuka stood up. She waited ten more seconds before taking tentative steps forward, arms out, until she reached the far wall. Then she felt her way to the window. “Can you hear me?” She asked, tapping on what she thought was the glass.

“We read you loud and clear.” Came the reply through her palm.

“Good.”

“Why did you need to resynch?”

“I was lying on my back the first time.”

“Ah.”

“Have you found anything out?”

“No. We haven't seen any--”

Asuka had to interrupt. “Tap slower, I'm getting lost.”

“Sorry. We haven't seen any correlation between the world you're in and anything else in recorded history, save for an old 00's rock song and a piece of Sailor Moon fanfiction.”

The tech crew could see Asuka blinking even though the EVA she was synched with had no eyelids to mimic the movement. “You were that thorough?” the MAGI replied for Asuka, translating her tapping into kana which it displayed on a screen.

“The MAGI were overdue for a stress-test.” Ritsuko replied, and the MAGI sent the reply, both to the screen as kana, and to Asuka as physical pulses.

“Well, I've found something out. I have some control over the environment.”

It was the tech crew's turn to blink. “Control?”

“It's not conscious, at least not yet. Small things. I look at a cloud that reminds me of an animal, and it changes to better fit the object's shape. I've began humming a song, and the actual music would play from nowhere.”

“It sounds like a lucid dream to me.” Maya commented.

“Maybe.” Asuka replied. “I've never had one.”

“It's like a normal dream, but you kind of wake up halfway through it while still dreaming.”

“That kind of sounds right.”

“You have visitors, by the way. Shinji says hello.”

“Hello, Shinji-kun.” Asuka said.

There was a short pause. “How are you holding up?”

“I'm bored to tears. Nothing new, considering who I was living with.”

“Glad to hear you haven't changed.” Shinji replied, and Asuka was taken aback a little by his obvious sarcastic tone.

“What's that supposed to mean?”

“You're trapped... wherever you are, but you still find a way to take it out on me.”

“How dare you!”

“Asuka,” Ritsuko cut in, “keep it civil or I'll be forced to unsynch you.”

Asuka tapped out “Fine.” and crossed her arms.

“Just don't blame me.”

“I'm not blaming you, baka!”

“He isn't a baka.” It was obvious that someone else was speaking.

“Who said that?” Asuka tapped out, beginning to become confused.

“Shinji's girlfriend.” The same person replied.

“Who's your girlfriend? Finally decided to hook up with the doll?” The fact that he could get along with his life, apparently better than when she was healthy, angered her to no end.

“You should know. You teased me often enough about it when she and I met.”

“...Shimano?”

“That would be me.” Motowa replied.

Again, everyone in the control room could picture Asuka's expression -- sneering at Shinji. Which was odd, because the EVA happened to be looking directly at Shinji when it happened. “I wonder how far pity will get you.”

“It doesn't have to. Love gets him farther.”

“Hah! What do you possibly see in him?”

“Everything you don't like to admit you see in him.”

The stream of invectives that followed began to crack the glass to the control room. “Alright, Asuka, that's enough. I'm unsynching you.”

The synch was cut and the EVA fell silent. “I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that.” Motowa said.

“No, you shouldn't have, but you could have said worse things. Just try not to provoke Asuka, she's not going to be very secure about her position and she doesn't handle not being in control very well.”

Motowa nods. “I'll keep that in mind.”

“Thank you. We'll get Asuka extracted and you can be first for your test.”

---

Forgive this huge delay. I haven't had the time to get anything solid out, but I do have things planned out five or six scenes (possibly coming to you as the shorter style of chapters, like this one) ahead.

BUT. I do have a very OOC omake lemon scene, for all those interested. I need to clear up some backstory first.

On one IRC server (No, I'm not divulging which), I sometimes log on with a second client and RP as someone from Practice, usually Motowa (as WaterBeauty16). In this case, I ended up with three clients open -- one for Asuka (RedDevil), one for Motowa (WaterBeauty16), and one for Rei (Lily -- don't ask how I got to that). This whole thing emerged from the depths of chaos.

Note that I'm actually controlling all three characters. I think I kept in-character quite well. ^^;

http://ryn0r.corruptspace.com/PracticeOmake.rtf