[IC][WIP][Arc 1] How I Managed to Quit Worrying and Love The Grief Seed

[robkelk]

“...a possibility," said Rei at barely more than a whisper, her voice filled with awe.  "Something that could have been, but never was.”
Aside: That along with Hild-chan's part of the story makes me wonder if OA is in doublet with Hap, but I'm not sure I'm cruel enough inflict to The OA on y'all.  But your scene would have been one of the more normal things that happens on that show, seriously I haven't been so surprised by an octopus since Anthy's closet.

The OA?  You don't happen to mean Akio Ohtori, do you?

As for this scene seeming odd, well, that's the beauty of the new setup I came up with for the cosmology.  It's easy enough in this case to say that, somewhere, sometime, Benjamin was actually Hino Ichirou, older brother of Hino Rei* and Almighty Lord of "Your Shit Doesn't Smell Like Roses".

And now, one of my favorite bits from Jonathan Livingston Seagull comes to mind...

If our friendship depends on things like space and time, then when we finally overcome space and time, we've destroyed our own brotherhood! But overcome space, and all we have left is Here. Overcome time, and all we have left is Now. And in the middle of Here and Now, don't you think that we might see each other once or twice?

It's really very romantic to think about: a couple of lost bits of causality, finally meeting each other again between Here and Now.

* This could be a sign of how horrible Rei's father was - since in this continuity, he would have had a son already, Rei would have literally meant nothing to him, a zero, and thus, Rei.  Their mother made sure, though, that the kana on the birth certificate didn't have that implication.  Fodder, perhaps, for one of Ben's and Rei's little get-togethers.

A little something from Dragonflight, which he wrote for me before I had a chance to tell him Rei was already busy during the Halloween party... but maybe we can use this elsewhere later.

As she sipped the drink and grinned at something one of the boys said, she heard someone at the back call out, "Rei! Got a minute?"

Mars glanced over, and called out, "What's up?" right as another girl across the room also said, "What do you need?"

The two girls blinked and looked across the room at each other. Mars wasn't happy with what she saw. She'd seen the other girl for the last few hours, standing by the wall, and generally excluding herself from the party. Frowning, she stalked over to the other girl, who just watched her approach with the same casual indifference she apparently treated everything else.

"So, let me get this straight," Mars began. "Your name is Rei as well?"

"Yes," the other girl replied softly. "Although it is surprising to know another girl has the same name. I know why I was labeled 'Zero.'" She tilted her head to the side. "What's yours?"

Mars spluttered, eyes wide. "Z-zero? What!?" she glared impartially around at the whole room, and grabbed the other girl by the hand. Rei allowed the red and white-clad girl to haul her across the room to an adjoining room. "No girl is ever 'zero.' Anyone who tells you that is trying to keep you under their thumb." She glared back at the pale girl, who followed with a slightly wide-eyed look. "It's high time you learned to be more assertive. Stop being a doormat, for heaven's sake!"

She pushed Rei into a side room, and glared again at the room full of partygoers. "Trust me. I've taught assertiveness classes before. Before tonight's out, you'll learn to like yourself a hell of a lot more, and stand up for yourself!" She pushed the other girl into a chair as she reached back and closed the door, separating them from the party. Rei continued to look at the dark-haired girl with surprise and speculation. "Besides," she finished as she closed the door. "Any guy worth dating likes assertive women. So. first lesson..."

On the far side of the main room, Shinji and Asuka traded looks. Asuka had a smirk on her face as she watched events, while Shinji just had a poleaxed look on his face. "Okay," the redhead said as she casually threw an arm around the wimpiest Eva pilot and leaned close with a conspiratorial grin. "I can't wait to see what wonder girl is like tomorrow morning. You?"


I hadn't mentioned Rei Misaka, either...

and I love her more than anything else in all of existence.
Then why don't you marry her? … … Hey come back, I didn't mean right now!

PFFT!  I think I can work this in...

Unnoticed by either of them, Kuroko had been creeping closer and closer to eavesdrop on the very personal conversation.  So it was natural that the both of them nearly jumped out of their skin when she suddenly and loudly piped up,

"Well if you love her so much, why don't you -ULP!-"

Kuroko never got to finish that last bit as a glowing golden chain of heart-shaped links suddenly wrapped itself around her, covered her mouth, and then yanked her clear over to Rail Gun, who swiftly dispensed punishment.

You could almost actually see the sweat drops forming on the backs of Ben's and Rei's heads.

With a visible effort, Rei continued where she left off despite Kuroko getting read the riot act in the background.

"Railgun", not "Rail Gun". And, much for the same reasons as Ayeka or Tomoyo, Kuroko would not allow such a scene to take place in public - she'd teleport herself, Mikoto, and Minako elsewhere.