Shinji Ikari Raising Project

[Ace Dreamer]

Also. Who'dve thought finding work would kill my ability to write?

You could claim your brain's only got so much creative/innovative processing resource...
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

[Black Aeronaut]

Errr.... Gina only wears stuff like that when she's feeling particularly kinky. Otherwise.... She'd be wearing something with the same colors, and only vaugely resembling a plug suit... And it would definitely cover everything from the neck on down. There would be light-armor bits around the chest and abdominal area to protect vital organs, as well as on the outward portions of the legs and arms (most likely to be hit by a stray round or micrometeor). And for certain there would be that thin life support pack on the back.

The most important thing about it is that it has to look like she can get into a very cramped space while wearing it. After all, cockpits are, by their nature, a cramped space.

[Dartz]

I am mildly dissapointed....

But thats pretty much what I expected. It was just a a damn cool image.

Sequel to this might be 'Shinji Ikari's grand tour' with all the people out there to be seen and interacted with. And that Metaverse story where Jet actually gets the puppet needs to be done.
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--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

[Star Ranger4]

I will add that I was reasonably certain that the checksum was meant to be 'grown up Asuka' rather than the cheescake aspects of the image. :p
Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
That's every ship in Grayson's Navy taking up the cry-
NO QUARTER!!!
-- "No Quarter", by Echo's Children

[Terrace]

Idea for Shinji Ikari's grand tour: Marsbase Sara, home of the Mecha pilots. He's mildly startled (but not terribly surprised, given what he knows about NGE) that every Mecha pilot on the entire base treats him with a mixture of awe, respect, and outright fanboyism.

[Ace Dreamer]

Would he visit Earth, Japan? Just to totally convince himself that it isn't 'home'?
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

[Black Aeronaut]

I
will add that I was reasonably certain that the checksum was meant to
be 'grown up Asuka' rather than the cheescake aspects of the image. :p

Eh. 
Not surprised myself.  Sophia was a porn actress in Italy before she
hit the mainstream US movie biz.  Plenty of her NSFW pinups out there on
the Internet, as I recently discovered.

Would he visit Earth, Japan? Just to totally convince himself that it isn't 'home'?

.... That's honestly far too easy.  Especially once he sees the pictures.  Let's rattle off the differences.

1. Lower sea levels, so no flooded out cities on the skyline
   
2. Lots more people around, so no more cities with deserted ghost-town air.
   
3. No more threat of impending doom by giant horrors.
   
4. No more twenty-story tall robots.  Some of the fans might like it, but the government would be pissed.
   
5. JUST. PLAIN. DIFFERENT.
   

So yeah, there you have it.

[Dartz]

Funnily enough, aside from the obvious biggarse city that's now a golf-course, Hakone and Lake Ashino aren't that different..... The middle-school actually exists (Sengokigahara middle school, IIRC), as do many of the old Hakone locations. Shinji would recognise a lot of the world he finds himself in.

Shinji's travel itinerary, fit around stuff that's needed to be done, but nobody ever found the tim:

Departing Frigga aboard SS Dragon Wagon II-

-- Arrive 36 Atalante. Pick up Mackie and his racecraft.

--Arrive 2472 Memoria. (It's on the way)

--Marsbase Sara (For pilot's license. It's valid ID). Jet's selling Helicopters. Side trip to Grunthal.

-- out to Prometheus Forge... Shinji gets fixed. Shinji + Tachikomas

-- Passing Crystal Cities on venus. Daryl departs for local Militia Duties...

-- Anika joins. Mackie departs.

-- Back in to.... Kandor maybe. (Kotono has business here with qualifications and licensing)

-- Hakone, Japan, Earth. Shinji visits the 'lookout spot' and middle school. The views are a little different.

-- Arrive, Stellvia. Depart from cruise ship.
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[shaderic]

Hmmm... Speaking of normal people, this kind of makes me want to write a scene where Shinji meets someone who doesn't know who he is. Given the inter-connectedness of the setting, this is almost difficult. This brings us to the classic reason one might cut themselves off from humanity.
Closing deadlines for important presentations.
____
It had gone well.
It had been thrown together in the two days in between his daughter's orchestra concert and the due date, but it had gone well.
And now that the presentation was done with, he wanted nothing to do with college students eager to pick his brains about how the latest trends in Fen fashion were influenced by the neccesities of the environment around them while also being-
Gaaargh.
He was not thinking about this. He was burned the hell out on it, and although it had netted him a nice lump of cash, he was not eager to do it again so soon. Right now, all he wanted to do, was go home and see his daughter.
His eyes flicked up to the giant ship schedule being displayed displayed twenty feet above his head.
Mother pus bucket.
A small part of his mind quietly noted his own choice of rude saying and tried to examine when he started using the phrase more, while the rest of it was being angry about being delayed another two god-damn hours at the star port.
A breath. In, out, and in again deeper, before exhaling. Angry thoughts for whatever ... delightful person was responsible for him traveling on someone else's dime mandating that he use their pre-booked flights. Even if they were- another deep breath.
Temper thus managed, he ambled over to the concourse balcony.
_______________
And here, I'm stuck.
Also, this guy's Benjamin a few years into Legacy Project. I got the idea from writing the Crystal Tokyo expansion pieces, that he's studying the Fen's culture and writing stuff about it. While he's not well known, he's quietly respected in the small niche of academic circles he writes for.
After doing a guest presentation at Kandor university on fashion (what's popular on CT, why it's not on Mars, the meaning of colors among different factions, etc), and having his flight delayed, he just wants to unwind a bit.
So, he goes along, and makes small talk with a random young man while doing some people watching to kill some time. The thing I want to underscore here, is casual contact with a stranger. Two ships passing in the night, that sort of thing.
Of course, I have no idea what sort of character development Shinji will have had in between this conversation and the 'present', so I really don't know how it'll go. Or if Shinji will just sort of stare at the weirdo talking to him and shy away.

[Ace Dreamer]

Hmmm... Speaking of normal people, this kind of makes me want to write a scene where Shinji meets someone who doesn't know who he is. Given the inter-connectedness of the setting, this is almost difficult.

Could he meet someone who just says, "Sorry, I'm not familiar with your fandom"? [grin]
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

[Dartz]

Shinji is a rather normal person himself.

And when all is said and done, and Yayoi's gone home to Stellvia and Rei is back on Greenwood and the story's over, he's still going to be alive, and still have to figure out what to do with that life beyond 'live'. A session musician might be useful anywhere, as would a cook. He's still going to have nightmares on the nights he decides to sleep. He's still going to want to do what's expected of him to make people praise him, and he's going to be searching for a way to fulfill that or find someone that will impose expectations on him that he can fulfill.

He leaves Frigga at square two of his emotional development. He's accepted what he is, and that he's from a TV show and that he can do some cool things. There's still a lot of work and therapy to go. He's still going to have trouble not seeing Room 303 of the Cranial Nerve when he talks to Gina.

Shinji's naturally a decent person.... as opposed to a superhero, he's more a decent sort of hero. He's in a fight not out of a sense of justice, or right or wrong (or because it's a job), but because he just can't bear the idea of people being hurt when he could've done something to stop it. Even worse if it's someone he cares about.

And just testing some water.... Lou, Sylvie, Anri, Nam, Meg..... thoughts? Very few fen capable of building androids seem stop at one.... at least among named Fen. (By God! Now I know what it feels like to be God,) And because they're the first group of five that comes mind.
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[Terrace]

Perhaps Shinji could get involved in the Port Phobos Invitational? On the other hand, Great Justice could always use another Mech pilot, particularly one with prior experience...

[robkelk]

Shinji is a rather normal person himself.

And when all is said and done, and Yayoi's gone home to Stellvia and Rei is back on Greenwood and the story's over, he's still going to be alive, and still have to figure out what to do with that life beyond 'live'. A session musician might be useful anywhere, as would a cook. He's still going to have nightmares on the nights he decides to sleep. He's still going to want to do what's expected of him to make people praise him, and he's going to be searching for a way to fulfill that or find someone that will impose expectations on him that he can fulfill.

Well, I did mention earlier in the thread that there's always room for a decent cook and/or session musician at Meg's, on Stellvia. (And I mentioned in another thread that Yuu still doesn't have a boyfriend. )

Hmmmmm... Although, if he'd rather join a jazz band, there's always http://www.fenspace.net/index.php5?titl ... S238_Brass]Junior Fabulous and the PS238 Brass. Their first question won't be "Shinji, like the guy from Evangelion?"; it'll be "What do you play, and in what styles?"
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[robkelk]

On the other hand, Great Justice could always use another Mech pilot, particularly one with prior experience...

Four letters: PTSD.

Haruhi might "headhunt" him, but I can't see a competent sub-commander sending him into battle before he gets his head together.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Dartz]

Yuu and Shinji? Now that's almost too cute not to happen.

Also: "Cello, in the style of badly"

I can see Shinji being an instructor, however. Especially useful in the Battlech crossover, where he works as a training instructor piloting an Aile Strike Gundam as OpFor to represent an enemy 'mech'..... There's an attack, and Shinji decides he'd rather fight, than let anyone he cares about be hurt on his account. Then quietly goes back to training friendly forces.
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[Dartz]

Meanwhile,Gina

Hopefully this works. I've been wanting to do it ever since Anika have Shinji a little piece of advice. And Gina is clearly not Asuka, but has 14 years of adulthood and motherhood to provide a retrospective and mature.

Neither of them said a word to each other while waiting for the landing bay doors to open. Shinji didn’t really want to say anything. She clearly didn’t want to speak with him, edging away and obviously avoiding his gaze.

He tried hardest not to think about her. Part of him jeered that it was his fault she was so annoyed with him. It was something he’d done to start it. She knew everything about him.... she knew everything he’d done.

His body was suddenly paralysed with fear. If this was Asuka, then she’d know exactly what he’d done to her in that hospital room. Why else would she rush across space?

“Can we go?” he whimpered out.

Jet looked right down at him. “She’s just on the other side of the door.”

His mouth “She’s going to hate me!” he pleaded.”

“I doubt it,” Jet said, mildly.

“You don’t know her!”

“I’ve known her for years.”

Shinji blinked, his mouth goldfishing open, then closed again as he struggled to say something but didn’t know what to say. Another bitter rush of anger rose up inside him. He swallowed it hard, mentally visuallising it being compressed down into a little pellet which could be crushed in his fist.

Sharp nails bit into his palm.

The door began to open, warning lights. He braced himself for the oncoming storm,. Maybe his motorcycle could outrun an angry teenage girl.

Android, he corrected himself. A doppelganger.

Standing there, waiting for the door to close was a man so obviously American with a glowing grin that seemed to fill his face. He radiated raw, twitching energy, threatening to burst out of a flightsuit adorned with the same ‘Roughriders’ logo Shinji wore on his own borrowed t-shirt.

“Heya Jet!” he beamed, offering her a handshake with an oversized, overstlyed cybernetic arm “Showing off for the boy?”

It was an American drawl, completely unlike Ford’s come to think of it, but utterly, stereotypically American.

Jet just smirked. “Sometimes it’s just nice to feel sexy.” She inhaled deeply, adding clear emphasis.

The man snorted. It was obviously some sort of private joke between the pair.

“My power cells got so low on charge I could barely move.” Jet explained. “ I haven’t been awake this long since the war.” She feigned a yawn.

The newcomer pilot grin just broadened. Shinji swore his face was about to split. “Try morning feedings on for size.”

Jet shrugged. “That’s why I’m glad this is just a puppet.”

Shinji went rigid as the pilot turned to face him. “And you must be Shinji, huh?”

“Yessir,” he mumbled to his feet, the rest of him shrinking right down into his boots. The force of the grin was irresistable. It loomed monstrously over him, pressing him down into the ground.

“Benjamin Rhodes. Commander in Chief of the Roughriders, Husband, Father, epic space pilot and occasional mad scientist, at your service.”

“Ammm....” Shinji managed to say, stunned silent by raw force of person. That metal arm seemed to buldge and glow with power, feeding under the lights above. Reflections sparked across it’s surface.

It gripped down on his limp hand, giving it a vigorous shake. The boy half expected his arm to be ripped from its socket. His whole body shook like the dog being wagged by the tail.

“Gina’s just shutting down her Veritech, she’ll be out here in a second. I think you can guess which one his hers.”

The red one, obviously. The implication was that he should go to her, rather than the other way around.He stumbled forward, taking two steps past Benjamin before turning back, looking for any release from certain death.

Benjamin didn’t stop smiling. Jet folded her arms across her chest. No salvation from either of them. Ahead of him were two fighter-jets, each of which looked half-like an old Tom Cruise fighter, washed through an old space war animé Shinji couldn’t quite remember which one it was. Both were gleaming, shining setpieces, far to clean to be real, but radiating the scents of hot sulphur, oil and metal. It gave them both a depth of reality. He could feel the heat being emitted by the radiators, still glowing a dull cherry red.

One was polished to a lustrous silver hine. The other was a painted a deep brilliant red, with black, white and yellow trim. The number 02 on the tail made it certain.

He watched her dismount down from the cockpit with gymnastic grace, her flight suit moulded to her body. She had a figure that went beyond what he knew.... almost like how he’d imagined Asuka grown up, without the extra height. The red neural clips peeking through rust-coloured hair made it a certainty.

She turned on her heel, and fixed him with those same cold, ice-like eyes. They stared right through him from beneath the fringe, her lips set thin and narrow, her face a solid impenetrable mask the defied any of his attempts to understand what she was thinking.

“Asuka,” he breathed.

A flicker of anger rolled across her face. Her flight suit creaked as she shifted her weight..

“I’m.... S.... Sorry.” he stammered. His whole body started to quiver like jelly in a earthquake.

She cringed. He braced himself for He could remember how warm her neck had been under his hands, how soft it’d been as both his hands gripped tight.

And that same hard stare in her single eye, fixed on a point a thousand metres behind him. She opened her mouth...

‘How disgusting’'

“Shinji look,” she began in cool, measured tones. “I’m not that person. I’m not the Asuka you knew. I don’t even go by that name. I’m a different person.”

“I’ve.... after what I....”

He struggled to finished the sentence. It just wasn’t something that couldn’t be said out loud.

“Even after what happened in that hospital ward. Because I’ve had fourteen years of trying not to think about it, to think about it. Because you aren’t that person, Shinji, neither of us are.... you’ve nothing to be sorry to me for.”

“But I’m Shinji Ikari.”

“And I’m Gina Langley Rhodes. That’s who I chose to be.” She spoke with the same hard certainty he remembered from that time the power went out. “Your memories defined who you were in the first instant you woke up. After that you become a whole new person, free to move forward and define who you want to be from the ground up.”

Which naturally begged the the question, who did he want to be?

“Of course, if you want to be that idiot, that’s your choice too.”

He offered the merest smile in return. It didn’t matter what she said, she was the Asuka he wanted.

“And it’s good to see you,” she finished with a smile.

Shinji wanted to say something. He was hauled into a bearhug before his mouth could even respond. Her body was so warm and tight against his own, he felt himself lock rigid and tight, going stuff as a board as the pressure increased. Her hair tickled against the side of his face like a thousand ants running along his cheek. She smelled of warm vinyl, sweat and coconut shampoo, hot and real and human.

He could feel hismind slow down as his heart began to race up, pulsing through his whole body.

Exactly as it had been on that night when he’d been so terrified of her.

Recalling Anika’s advice, his arms slowly clasped around her back. His body started to dissolve into the embrace, allowing himself to relax completely into her arms.

She gently pushed him back a faint hint of sadness in her expression.

“If you’d done that the first time. Things might have turned out differently,”

“I’m sorry,” He mumbled to his feet,

“It’s okay, “ She place a light hand on his shoulder. “We aren’t those people anymore. Didn’t I tell you that?”

------

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--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

[Bob Schroeck]

Nice. Been waiting for this moment for a long time and it doesn't disappoint. However, you have an unfinished sentence (paragraph?) at the key moment:

His body started to dissolve into the embrace, allowing himself

-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Black Aeronaut]

Poor Shinji, catching Benjamin when he's just coming down from an espresso-high.

Ben will be apologizing for that after he's calmed down some...

... and Shinji still has yet to meet Mayonaka. That little lady is gonna rock his world because while she is, genetically speaking, a gender-flipped version of Ben (with wings), she's also had Gina for a mother, and that rubs off on a girl. *evil grin*

[Dartz]

Fixed it. My fault for flying backwards over the finish line in flames trying to get it done before I went to bed. Leaving it to the week would mean it never got done.


It's also why I nearly sent out a quotation this morning with an anti-skuld valve fitted.
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[robkelk]

And the secret Yayoi mentioned is now out...

A little something for later that day:

They finished playing, and Shinji rested his bow on the music stand. "You're much better than you were when we first played, Yayoi-san."

"You're getting better yourself, Shinji-kun. But I doubt either of us are good enough to get a recording contract yet." She smiled as she stood up and walked over to a chair facing her companion. "Are you feeling more relaxed now?"

He thought for a moment. "A bit, yes. ... I saw here earlier today." They both knew who he was talking about.

"Do you remember earlier that I told you there was another secret, but it wasn't mine to tell you?" When he nodded, she went on. "It's her secret. How much did she tell you?"

"She said she's not Asuka. But how couldn't she be?"

Yayoi nodded, but didn't say anything for a moment. "Let me tell you about Sora. She's my sister, in the same way that Anika-san is your sister."

"How common is that?"

"It's more common than most people realize. If you're curious, ask Nene-san about her brother sometime. But that isn't important right now. When Sora first woke up in this universe, she was a quiet, almost mousy girl, and she stayed that way for years because she thought that was all she could be."

"Why would she think that?"

"Because she's like us - she was built to look and act like a person out of a story. And our father didn't help her realize that what she was isn't the same as what she is, so she stayed 'just Sora' for years. But then she met somebody who she thought she knew, and she didn't know that person at all."

"Like me and Asu- Gina."

"Something like that, yes. And that shook my sister to the core, but it also gave her the confidence to stop being 'just Sora' and make her own way in the world. And now she's the chief engineer on a spaceship that I can only dream of flying in, and she isn't a mousy little girl any more - she's a woman in love with a good man who loves her in return."

"Just like Gina is in love with Rhodes-san. I wonder if there's anyone out there who I could love."

Yayoi smiled, her motherly smile. "I'm sure there is, Shinji-kun. But whoever she is, she won't come to you - you have to go out and find her."

He thought for a moment, then grinned. "You're just trying to get me out of the house."

She grinned back. "Is it working?"

"Maybe. What are we going to play next?" He picked up his bow.

As Yayoi walked back to the piano, she asked, "How about some heavy metal?"

"You can't play metal on the cello."

"I have a recording of 'Thunderstruck' played on the bagpipes. You can play anything on anything, Shinji-kun!"

If there were any passers-by, they could have heard their laughter out in the hall.

(Please note: When talking about Sora, Yayoi is an unreliable narrator. The truth about why Sora left the Stellvians and joined the VVS will be revealed later; this is what Yayoi thinks happened. Oh, and Thunderstruck on bagpipes)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Dartz]

Well.... that's certainly odd. The bagpipes I mean.

Added to the document and saved for posterity. Then Jet/Mackie explain how they sorted out certain things..... and he has enough information to make his own decision about things. While the others quietly discuss whether somewhere as 'isolated' as Frigga is the best place for him to grow.

And gives me an excuse to use:

Kotono: “It’s a lot like democracy. Okay, so you’ve no idea who you want to vote for.... but I bet you know who you don’t want to vote for. So vote against that guy. With life.... so long as you know what you don’t want to do, try something other than that. If you like it, you win... if you don’t you’ve just found something else you know you don’t want to do, and you’re one-step closer to your goal.”

“It works for a lot of things in life. Food, restaraunts, jobs, love....”

Because the Sabers have their own opinions too. And advice to give.
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[Warringer]

Obviously Shinji never heard Apocalyptica. :p

[LynnInDenver]

"So few people really think of us as siblings," Nene said, as she pulled out a smartphone and plugged it into her ear socket. "I think it's partly because our physical forms are so different. But we have the same, well, father for lack of a better term, and we were incepted using the same batch of handwavium and somewhat related processor hardware." She rotated the phone around to show Shinji.
The picture displayed on it was of Nene, but she was leaning in a friendly manner on the chromed dome of what Shinji immediately recognized as an R2 unit, only instead of the well recognized blue and white scheme, the dome was highlighted with red panels, and the bits of body visible in the image were red with white highlights. Somehow, despite the fact that the R2 unit had no real way to show emotion, it was obvious the two of them were close.

 "We're about as different as we can be, not just our forms," Nene continued. "Geo's a lot more straightforward about things, rather more blunt and unsubtle... not that most people know it. Outside of some of the Warsies, only Jeph and I really understand him when he speaks. He's also a lot more at home with mechanical hardware and ship engines, where I'm more focused on computer and communications technology." She smiled fondly. "Not that we aren't close. We're a lot more comfortable with each other than one might expect for our differences and origins."

--

"You know how parents tell you everything's going to fine, but you know they're lying to make you feel better? Everything's going to be fine." - The Doctor

[Dartz]

Doc'd

Shinji's more than a little overwhelmed. Especially at being told that Gina used to be a laptop, and Mackie was a spaceship. With the implication that he really could be anything. That is an awesomely humbling feeling, and part of what it really means to live in Fenspace.

Also, Ami Shinohara might have something to chip in on that.
Dreamed of being a combat cyborg since at least 2012. Got a quote on a full conversion way back when and was quoted a figure that was pretty much 'how sure are you you want to go through with this'. A decade later she demonstrated exactly how sure she was. And is thus far, quite pleased with the results.
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[robkelk]

Obviously Shinji never heard Apocalyptica. :p

It's more of a running joke - note the grins and the laughter.

By this point, Yayoi has mentioned so many oddball combinations of music that Shinji's just wondering what she's going to come up with next. Yayoi has knowledge of two decades of "new music" that he doesn't, so she hasn't repeated herself yet ...

Although there is a subtle lesson in the subtext: What you have to work with only limits you if you think it does.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012