IWATDP/Incarna: Broken Reflection

[Rieverre]

Because it should have its own thread.

---
I felt my bowels clench as I looked on the "person" strolling nonchalantly through the almost abandoned corridors. The gray hair and pale skin left no doubt in my mind as to whom it was.
I frowned, making myself look even more like my sister. "He's early," I murmured to myself. Bardiel wasn't due for at least as long as it took to repair Unit Three after the battle with Leliel, and Tabris was already in Tokyo-3.
Well, as an actual presence and not just in my dreams-slash-nightmares. I winced. 'You just had to think slash in the same idea as Kaworu, didn't you? Bad Logan/Emi/Gabriel!'
I sighed. My sense of identity was fracturing badly after the last few Angel battles. Of course, the Butterfly Effect was now in full swing, as none of the battles since Matariel had gone exactly as I rememberd them. True, they had all initially appeared as they were supposed to, and, until now, in the correct order, but the events had definitely played out differently.
With the Angelic abilities I had earned, I could tell he was futzing around with his AT Field, but I couldn't tell why.
I smirked and sent ::Hello, Tabris.:: Then, knowing his flair for the dramatic, I placed my hand against one of the steel bulkheads and vibrated it with my AT Field at a miniscule amount of power.
As Holst's Mars, Bringer of War began sounding from the walls, I stepped into the hall way in front of him.
I tilted my head, and said in my best Joan Rivers impression, "Can we talk?"
***
::Hello, Tabris::
I pulled the Field back, imagining an ethereal fist wrapping around my mind and thoughts ... startled was a word you could apply to this situation, yes, but it was like saying an EVA was indeed larger than a breadbox. Serious understatement.
In part, it was because of who stood before me. Color me surprised. Actually, color me anything other than this annoyingly pasty white. If I were a Goth, I'd be ecstatic - sadly, I'm not one.
I hadn't expected to run into Ayanami this soon ... actually, I'd have gone out of my way to avoid this situation altogether, given the choice.
What I had expected even less was to run into a slightly smirking Rei, with something of a flair for the dramatic ...
'Nice control,' I thought as music filled the corridor for a moment. A familiar tune, though I'd be hard pressed to name the composer. Where names were concerned, my memory was Swiss cheese. That, and the fact that I wasn't into Classical music all that much.
... and wearing something other than a school uniform or plugsuit.
Her follow up question increased the surrealism of the situation, throwing me firmly into the state of confusion.
Emotionally-disadvantaged Rei this was not. Ergo, EVA canon this was not. Ergo, things were about to get odd.
Can we talk, huh?
"This is not the Messenger you are looking for," I said in my best - meaning, not very good - Sir Alec Guinness voice, doing the appropriate hand motion.
When in doubt, confuse the hell out of them. If nothing else, it'll buy time.
***
---

Okay, let's see where this takes us.
-Griever
(Edit: Changed thread title. -- Bob)
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[Foxboy]

I blinked at the Obi-Wan Kenobi impression. Looks not withstanding, this was definitely not Tabris. Ol' Number Seventeen would've said something about the music. However, my "Angel Radar" was pinging like crazy, and not just because Lilith was nearby. Plus, his confusion at my appearance indicated . . .
I groaned and facepalmed. I lowered my hand and took a nonthreatening stance. 'No way. It couldn't be.' I took a deep breath and "looked" at him. He'd pulled his AT Field into a compact defensive mode that was rather efficient considering that the power level was muted enough that the MAGI weren't blaring their warning klaxons. Instead of a flat hexagonal plane, he had formed it into a . . . fist?
I returned to normal vision and took another look at the Angel. His hair was relatively close-cropped and he seemed to be avoiding the bishonen look that was inherent in his form. By this point, he seemed to be getting impatient.
I nervously brushed some of my hair back from my eyes and smiled sheepishly as I adjusted my baseball jersey. "Um, does the date September Eleventh mean anything to you?"
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[Rieverre]

For a moment, the question threw me. It seemed oddly familiar, this date, and I wracked my mind, sifting through memories ... certainly, the first September that had come to mind had been the one of '33, when the first steps of the so called Liberation had been taken and the battle for Genaros was waged ...
But that wasn't it, I was certain, and not just because I remember us hijacking the shuttle on the 13th. Whatever memory I was being nagged by, it didn't have the feel I associated with something I'd processed through a machine mind ... the eleventh of September.
Eleventh, ninth ...
At the risk of sounding cliche - it hit me like a brick in the face, inducing massive blinkage as I called up memories from before I'd met Sylvie. Ones that sometimes seemed more unreal than even my current situation.
Wait, this was an EVA timeline. Didn't NYC get flooded as a result Second Impact?
So, unless there was some sort of freaky Destiny and Fate thing about the date ...
"New York City, two double-oh one," I said, slowly ... then blinked as I realized we'd been using English from the first word of this awkward conversation.
"Not exactly local history, is it?" I followed up, with appropriate emphasis.
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[Foxboy]

"Nah, but it means something to me." I replied. "If that hadn't worked, I'd have asked you about FLCL or The Phantom Menace. Since it did, can I assume that you're from a world where all of this is an anime?"
At his nod, I stepped forward and held out my hand. "How do you do? I'm called Emi Ayanami, ne Logan Goodhue, also known as the Archangel Gabriel," I said cheerfully. "Pleased to meet you."
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[Rieverre]

I let myself hesitate for a moment ...
A healthy dose of paranoia had been something that I'd not been without for quite a while. The spike I received at the offered handshake was, I realized, an instinctive reaction ... how sad was that?
... after which I took the hand and nodded, going over the introduction in my mind.
"Griever ..." I began, then paused. "That is to say, Lucas. Lucas Kocinski."
It took me another moment to realize I'd managed to zone out for a second. I shook my head.
"Sorry. Just realized how Godsdamned _long_ it's been since I used my actual name ..."
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[Foxboy]

I frowned a little at the near-blasphemy, but quickly dismissed the thought. Just because I'd had a religious experience didn't mean he had.
"Well, Lucas," I said, "let's see if we can get you set up somewhere they won't immediately kill you if they find you. I really don't want to expose you to the tender mercies of Doctor Akagi and Commander Rokubungi."
I paused a moment and oriented myself. I considered my options and began walking down the corridor.
"Come along. I think there's a usable security point right about here." I paused before a wall console and opened it. Placing my hand against the small MAGI terminal, I leaned in close and "whispered" what I wanted the tripartite megacomputers to do for me.
"What are you doing?" Lucas asked me, peering over my shoulder.
"It's like my music trick. I'm using my AT Field to emulate a high-baud cable modem. Hopefully, I can set up a temporary identity for you so you can get access to the lower-security parts of the Geofront." The terminal bleeped, and I smiled at the results.
"Aren't we already in the higher security part?"
"Yes, but Kaji and I had a temporary security blackout in place. I was paying my 'sisters' a visit, and I didn't want Rokubungi 'testing the efficiency' of the secondary Dummy Plug system again." I glanced at my watch. "We have about half an hour to get to the cafeteria on the second sublevel." I pulled the new security card from the slot and handed it to him. The kanji for "Guest Pass" stood large next to a NERV logo on the front.
"So," I asked, "how long have you been here?"
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[Rieverre]

Following Emi/Logan/Gabriel ...
And, judging by the middle name of that composition, I briefly considered offering up a short prayer to whoever was listening consisting mainly of the words 'better him than me'. The last one, however, was something of a puzzle. One I'd address once I was somewhere else.
... I flipped the card I'd been presented with, and gave it a once over. Huh. I was still a little puzzled by my comprehension of the written and spoken word, no matter the language. It's not as if I had the wetware to run translation algorithms. Maybe the body had been pre-processed somehow. Or was there another explanation?
"So, how long have you been here?" I heard her ask.
"Under a month ... I think. A few weeks longer, if you mean this timeline in particular."
There was a brief silence, during which I considered whether or not to leave it at that.
"Amusingly enough, end of the world notwithstanding, this place isn't as bad as the last one was." I allowed. The Ayanami lookalike paused briefly.
"You mean this isn't the first world you ended up in?"
"Yeah," I nodded in reply. "What say we compare notes after we get out of here? This place still gives me the creeps."
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[Foxboy]

"I know where you're coming from," I said, gesturing vaguely at the parts of Terminal Dogma we'd just left. "My memories of this place, even the ones I can call wholly mine, aren't exactly conducive to a warm and fuzzy feeling, y'know?" I smiled wryly.
I led him into the giant double helix elevator and started our ascent. We stood in silence for a while, until I thought of something.
"When we leave the elevator, we're not going to be able to talk about 'classified material' until we get somewhere with less recording devices." I crooked my fingers at the quotes. I 'knocked' politely at his mental shield and sent, ::Besides, telepathy tends to freak the mundanes and would make Rei suspicious when we run into her.:: "So, what story do you want to use? Are you going to use your real name or 'Something' Nagisa?"
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[Rieverre]

:"> :Besides, telepathy tends to freak the mundanes and would make Rei suspicious when we run into her.::[/i]
I nodded at that. I wasn't exactly comfortable with mind to mind, having had a few issues with sharing space before. That aside, the only two people I'd have been even remotely inclined to let root around in there were a few steps to the side of this continuum. Even though just sending and receiving telepathic communication wouldn't put me at any real risk, I felt a little uneasy about it just the same.
"So," I heard the other half-angel hybrid in the elevator ask, "what story do you want to use? Are you going to use your real name, or 'Something' Nagisa?"
"Not Nagisa, too obvious. SEELE could have it flagged. It'd be awkward if and when Tabby-kun shows up," I said. Or grumbled. The faintly amused look that crossed 'Emi's' features said all too clearly she'd caught the slightly petulant tone of my voice and realized the unsaid reason.
What can I say, the poof had always annoyed me. I could do without being mistaken for his brother. So I took an old standby, changed it around a little, and added a family name that merely stated the obvious.
"Katsuhito Shiraga." I mulled over the result. "Grey hair being a family trait, hence the family name."
The elevator came to a halt, delaying the discussion of possible cover story angles until a later date.
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[Foxboy]

The doors dinged open. After leading the way to the cafeteria, I pointed to the visitor's guide next to the entrance.
"If you follow those signs, Shiraga-san," I said aloud, "you should be able to reach the Furinkan-cho station with no trouble." I then leaned forward and whispered, "I'll meet you there in about half an hour, I've got to speak with Kaji." With that, I spun on my heel in a sharp parade turn and walked away to the designated table.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[Rieverre]

Thankfully, I did not come across many people as I made my way out into the streets of Tokyo-3, and those I did pass in the hallways saw the guest pass and pretty much ignored me. I'd say I used my superior acting skills to put out many subtle signals, using body language to convey that yes, I did in fact belong here, except - that'd be lying.
I did find out that I'd managed to get the SEP Field effect down moderately well, though.
Tokyo-3, as a city, could be considered large. It had certainly been built to impress, even with the more recently created landmarks like the insult to geometry that lay sprawled, as much as something like that could sprawl amidst the cleaned up wreckage of a city blocks a mile off thataway.
Taking my eyes from the fallen form of the Angel formerly known as ... err ... his name had started with R, I think - Ramen, Rammstein, Rasin, Ritapon ... ah! Ramiel! That was it - I considered:
Point. I had met someone in a situation similar to the one I was in myself, if in a more taxing position.
Point. My admittedly spotty knowledge of events was only good as a foggy memory here, due to that someone's influence and who knows what other factors.
Point. I _still_ had to find some way of getting the hell out of Dodge, preferably without discorporating - as much as the body's general appearance weirded my out, it wasn't like a better opportunity was likely to come knocking anytime soon.
Point. That way would more than likely involve the EVAs ... I had an inkling of a theory, but I'd have to run the idea past someone who could actually say whether or not it was something that could be made doable.
Point. The people living here were living on borrowed time, and though I'd pretty much gotten rid of anything even remotely resembling a hero complex - I'd gotten the desire to save people out of my system back in good 'ol Mega-Tokyo - there were some faint pangs of guilt that were making themselves felt as time went on.
Point. Emi Ayanami, Logan Goodhue, Gabriel ... why, oh why, did the possible implications of him/her using the last name in that sequence whilst introducing him/herself make me uneasy? Also, did this mean ... wait ...
... I recalled Emi's jersey. 'Ayanami 03'? I begged off on speculating upon the matter there and then. Too many options and possbilities. I'd ask when we met again.
Point. Emi had mentioned visiting 'her' sisters. That was another throwaway reference that could be interpreted in a number of ways. Another thing to inquire about, then.
Point. Kaji. Emi was, apparently, working together with him. To what end, I didn't know.
That was a lot of freakin' points ...
Paranoia nagged at me as I wandered towards the Furinkan-cho station. What were Emi's motives, goals ... for that matter, how did that same question apply to all the other 'established' personages of the timeline. Well, those relevant to the situation I found myself in. I knew I'd be foolish in assuming anything about that.
I squashed the nagging voice, or at least attempted to do it, telling myself to go with the flow for now. Watch, examine, gather information.
I exhaled, cleared my mind, and shoved my suspicious side to standby, instead taking in the scenery as I continued on.
Yes, Tokyo-3 could be considered large. It was far from Mega-Tokyo large, though. Which, while a bit saddening - hard to believe I feel nostalgic about that urban monstrosity - wasn't all that bad a thing. There was a generally open feel to it, a sort of unencumberance that befell a person walking along the wide, neat streets ...
Truly saddening was the fact that, while large, it was still not as large as Tokyo had been. And these wide streets were, for the most part, not particularly busy at all.
I'd noticed before, yes, but never really paid any heed.
'How many people had Impact claimed?', I let myself wonder. And shuddered. Faintly. That much destructive potential was unsettling.
It seemed that depressing thoughts were the order of the day.
Shaking them off once again, much like a dog shakes itself free of water, I noticed I'd almost arrived at my destination.
The station itself was ... well, nothing special, really. There are really only so many ways to build one to be functional. It was also, save for a few people up on the platform, deserted.
I'd arrived with a few minutes left to spare.
Looking around once, I picked out a bench sitting against the wall in one corner of the waiting room, and planted myself there. I tended to sit with my back to the wall whenever I could, really. In addition, the position gave me a good overview of the street outside of the station, and the waiting room itself.
I settled in for the wait. Not a particularly long one, as it turned out.
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[Foxboy]

While I had expected to meet Kaji, I felt my heart sink into my stomach when I saw who was at the table with him.
Misato was smiling; never a good sign. "So, Emi," she cooed, "who was that you were talking to?"
My cheeks burned. "It's not like that! I was just giving him directions out of here." I decided to try to turn things around on her. "So why are you here making goo-goo eyes at Ryouji, when you could be filling out your paperwork?"
Kaji gave a lopsided grin and put his arm around her shoulder. "Well, Emi, we've . . . reconciled our differences." Misato blushed, and I smiled gently at the resonance in their souls.
"I'm glad for you, then," I said. I set my school satchel on the table and pulled the memory card from the small digital camera I'd brought into Terminal Dogma. I handed it to Misato, causing Kaji to pout.
"You still don't trust me?" he asked. "I'm hurt."
"Says the former triple agent," I murmured, knowing that Kaji had a white noise generator going to disrupt recording devices. "I trust Misato. I trust Rei and Shinji with my life. If I could get Asuka to trust me again, I'd trust her."
"You'd tell her everything, then?" Misato asked.
I smiled ruefully. "She wouldn't believe some of it, but I'd at least tell her as much as I thought she'd believe." I turned back to Kaji. "Look, Ryouji, as long as Misato trusts you, she can do what she wants with what I give her. SEELE's scenario is screwed, anyway. It was flawed from the start, and the last three Angels are proof of that."
"And what about your 'special insight?'" Kaji asked.
"That's been getting less and less special since Yroel." They blinked in confusion. I sighed. "The 11th angel. Anyway, I've got to get home and do my homework." I stood, slinging my satchel over my shoulder. "Now don't do anything I wouldn't do," I teased gently and began my trek to Furinkan-cho.
'I hope she doesn't freak too much when she sees the photos of the 'Quariums,' I thought. Reaching the geofront's exit, I pulled on my Hanshin Tigers cap and whistled Williams' Duel of the Fates as I walked to the train station.
*****
Shutting down his holotank after SEELE's last conference, Cardinal Segel blinked in consternation. Kihl had recently become evasive when asked about the ultimate goal of Instrumentality, where before he would wax eloquent about the benefits to humanity. Perhaps the recent unexpected events in Tokyo-3 had more impact on the scenario than they'd expected.
After putting away his conference equipment, he pulled out the last communique from Agent Kaji. The audio disc contained over two hours of prophetic verse in Hebrew, Latin, Aramaic, Arabic, Japanese, English and four other languages that SEELE's linguists hadn't been able to identify. Apparently, the Fourth Child was a Sybil, spouting prophecy in her sleep. It was disturbing that her prophecies tracked the Dead Sea scrolls, but matched how things had actually turned out, rather than how SEELE had thought it would.
He sighed and turned to the German translations of the prophecies, idly flipping through it. And stopped suddenly when he realized something.
With shaky hands, he reread the passages in chronological order, skipping the Japanese and English. Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin, Arabic. All of the passages had a common theme: they started with scripture from the Old Testament, the Apocrypha, the Gospels, Saint Peter's Revelation, and the Koran. They also specifically quoted the Archangel Gabriel.
He carefully put the materials back in their hiding place and began to walk towards the Vatican's archives. He needed to do some research.
*****
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[Rieverre]

***
My musings, thematically of no real consequence, were interrupted by the faintly familiar sensation in the back of my mind. You know the sort - you only notice it was there when it's gone.
It was only when I noticed it seemed to be getting closer that I realized what it had to be, and stilled the harmonic response that had developed in my own AT Field as a response.
My assumption was proven correct when my gaze found and tracked an approaching blue haired, red eyed figure. Not a hard task, since pedestrian traffic was scarce.
A thought struck me a moment later, prompting a momentary frown to appear on my face. I hesitated, judged the possibility of being 'overheard' as slight to negligible, then reached out.
:o we have to worry about Section Two shadows?::
***
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[Foxboy]

:: Be aware of, yes, :: I thoughtcast. :: Worry about? Not so much. ::
I finally got close enough to my visitor to speak normally. "Hello, again, Shiraga-san." I sat down on the bench beside him at a friendly, but not intimate, distance as he returned my greeting.
"We're fortunate right now that the crew watching me is a little incompetent. My normal crew is being debriefed after losing track of me for a couple of days." I smirked at the memory. "I pranked them good: I dressed as Rei and followed her routine while she was doing a series of classified tests at the geofront."
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[Rieverre]

"You have interesting hobbies," I commented, giving the area a subtle once-over again, and noting the lack of black suits, both literal and figurative.
A mental sigh later I concluded that, no, subtlety was not one of my strong points. At least as far as conversation went. So I might as well see what I'm getting into straight off the bat, bite the bullet, so to speak.
"You are putting a great deal of good faith in my character, Ayanami," I hesitated, tasted the suffix briefly, and went on with: "-kun."
"And what, exactly, do you mean by that?" S/he gave me a look.
"Yes, I'm that paranoid," was my follow-up. "I'm not used to receiving quite this much trust at the get-go."
Admittedly, I mused, this could have something to do with the fact that I got used to people reacting to me - as in, a more than twelve foot tall war machine, rather than as a person.
"I find making the step in that direction to be conductive to the creation of a solid working relationship," Emi replied, her tone slightly guarded. "Is there something I should be worried about?"
Trust. Heh. Well, the first step had been taken. For a moment, I thought about backing out with a dismissive comment. Then I caught myself.
Counterproductive at best. Sometimes you have to be patient, take tidbits, play with them as if they were a jigsaw puzzle and try to make out the big picture.
And sometimes, rushing in is the best thing you can do.
Gut instinct. Mine had been wrong as often as it had been right, but right now I decided to listen to it.
"I lost quite a few things in the course of my last ... residency," I began. "Sanity, on a few occasions. Scruples. What I had left of my belief in the abstract absolute that some call 'good' ..."
Innocence, my mind supplied. A pragmatic, bitter-tinted sort of innocence, but innocence nonetheless.
"Okay, you're being honest," Emi commented. "Not exactly confidence inspiring, but honest. Though the fact that you're actually willing to talk about it sort of defeats the purpose of the angst. I'll admit to being curious, in a morbid sort of way, as to where you ended up last time."
"In the third decade of the twenty-first century," was my reply. Then I sighed. "Slavery, urban warfare, giant corporate entity called Genom, the works."
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[Foxboy]

"Genom?" I blinked. "Bubblegum Crisis?" At his nod, I paused. "Man, I feel for you. Two dystopias in a row?" I shook my head and began walking again.
I looked over my shoulder at "Katsu" and asked, "So how did you get along with the Knight Sabers?" A haunted look crossed his features. Well, either that, or he had gas.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[Rieverre]

"So how did you get along with the Knight Sabers?" I heard the question. I parsed it. I couldn't quite stop a grimace from forming.
How _did_ I get along with the Knight Sabers?
"Like a house on fire," I said, deciding to abandon subtlety for the moment. "Smoke, people screaming, the occasional big explosion ... Largo happened and unhappened, the explosions got bigger, there was a little war of sorts ..."
Emi was wearing the sort of expression one might see on someone watching a trainwreck.
"Did I mention that, at the time, I was a Battlemover with a neutron bomb wired to the self-destruct system on board?"
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[Foxboy]

Nothing to see here. Move along. Again
*ZOOOOMBIE THREAD!*
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll