Though sometimes he looked at Asuka in ways he should not
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| Not in Valinor, Kaworu thought. But Elves seem more naturally chaste than humans. He didn’t understand why and wished his mother was alive for him to ask her about it. She might know.
If things continued, he might see her soon. He thought about other women and wanted to do things with Olga which were not licit. He could tell she wanted it too but was nervous about it. Which was good, as it avoided trouble. He had just wanted a love like his parents, where you met and knew the other was the one on sight. As love should be. But instead, it was a complicated mess. “Anyway, umm… as long as you don’t go kissing other people, I wouldn’t worry about it,” Shinji said hesitantly. “Why do humans have to be like this?” Kaworu asked, though he hadn’t meant to. He stared at Shinji’s closet, full of slacks and white shirts, though you could see other things partly, hidden by the door. “Well, the humans who didn’t want sex all died out for lack of kids, I think,” Shinji said hesitantly. Kaworu blinked at him. “If you fathered a child every time you had the impulse…” “Well, most of the time you can’t act on it, and it’s better at our age to avoid anything to cause pregnancy, and I swore an oath…” Shinji now put a hand over his mouth, making noises into it. “Oath?” Kaworu asked, confused. “You should ask Asuka, I don’t know much psychology but basically, people who didn’t want sex much would have many fewer kids and die out,” Shinji said hesitantly. “So we’re all descended from people who wanted it all the time. Unlike horses and cows and so on, which go into heat.” He became more confident on the last sentence. “Humans have too much brains for a mating season, I think.” He didn’t know if he could ask Asuka without dying of embarrassment, or without giving away too much. “I… you love Olga, right? Just be good to her and don’t mess around and it’ll be fine,” Shinji said. “I hope that helps, no one ever comes to me for advice.” He studied his wall poster as he spoke. Kaworu didn’t understand his feelings for Olga; he liked her and enjoyed her company and kissing her felt wonderful and he wanted her to be happy but it didn’t feel like the thing his parents had. He’d been the same way with Laicahen. Who he hoped wasn’t pining for him. **************** Laicahen focused her mind to control her body, which let her treat the injured without getting sick. Strange creatures with spiked shells had crawled out of the sea and attacked the camp; they’d been slaughtered, but many were injured with hideous wounds and some would not survive. Silacalar worked with her, pushing down and chanting to ensure the man’s blood didn’t flow out of the wound she was cleaning. She smiled at him and he smiled back; his presence comforted her in the midst of injury and death. To have him by her side helped her to go on. She sneezed right onto her patient to her horror. “I am so sorry!” she said and wiped the man off and then resumed cleaning his wounds, while Silacalar continued to sing. There was no marriage in time of war, but she felt sure he had to be the one. Alassanyere must have been a strange passing fancy. Surely this is fate, Laicahen thought. ***************** Rei scribbled notes on paper as various members of Angels Attack riffed on various themes around her; she felt a certain electricity in the air; this song wanted to be born. Her mother sat nearby, listening, eyes closed and her senses extended into the world of spirit. They were all in the Akagi living room and Rei wondered if this was destiny. It felt like destiny; she normally could not compose music freely like this. But it came to her as pieces of music stirred her soul. “You must sing this, mother,” Rei proclaimed. “I can’t sing well,” her mother said ruefully. “You are the most scientific of us all,” Rei told her. “And you are Nolwecuruni as well. A foot in each world. It must be you.” “I’ll sing with you,” Aoba said. “No one wants to find a cure for bullshit more than me,” he said hotly and Hyuuga laughed. They continued to work on the music as the night went on. ***************** Shinji tried to figure out if he was imagining things; he had this feeling like there was music elsewhere calling to him. He felt like some of the pieces he needed for this song were out there, calling. But he couldn’t wander off and with Kaworu offering some advice, the song was starting to come together. He’d insisted to repay Shinji and his violin filled a missing niche in the work. Shinji could see why string quartets mixed the instruments they did; they worked together so well; playing with a violinist was fun and it made the music richer. Lars was an okay musician but music wasn’t his thing. But it was Kaworu’s thing. I should hang out with him more, Shinji thought. “Kaworu, do you like your women firey or demure?” Gregor asked him, looking up from where he was busy scribbling lyrics. “Firey. A woman should have passion,” Kaworu said. “It draws me like a moth to the flame.” “I should have thought of that,” Gregor said, tugging on his ear, then scribbling frantically. Kaworu ended up staying and helping the rest of the evening; Shinji found him to be a *huge* help. ***************** Louise woke up on top of her husband (which wasn’t uncommon) and on a couch (less common). Shigeru’s birthday party had been last night; he was thirty and she’d gotten hugely drunk and had vague memories of doing things she shouldn’t have done and she felt *incredibly good*. But she’d only done them with her husband, so that was fine, right? I shouldn’t carry on like a teenager but it feels so good, she thought. She always felt wonderful afterwards and slept so well and felt carefree. Until Lucy stumbled out in a nightrobe and shouted, “Wake up! I know most of you have work now!” Oh bloody hell! Now it was time to panic, as it was *Wednesday* and she was already a half hour late to work! **************** Melinda fretted until her mother finally replied to an earlier text at lunchtime. ##Slept over at Shigeru’s place, sorry to worry you, dear.## ##You should let us know!## She fired back. She didn’t know what to think; the bridge crew were very professional at work but totally irresponsible and dragging her mother into trouble out of work. Her mom did all sorts of things she’d get in trouble for and it wasn’t fair at all. ************** “A lot of parents are going kind of crazy,” Lars told her later, when she and Hikari and Kevin were studying together at Lars’ place. “Mom isn’t, thankfully. About the only thing different is she keeps falling asleep on the couch instead of going to bed.” “Father seems okay too,” Hikari said after a little thought, tapping her pencil on her notebook. “Anything he shouldn’t be doing, he’s always done, like having two girlfriends.” She sighed. “But he insists it is, in some way, ‘necessary’.” “I think it’s more or less because Misato has a harem,” Kevin said. Melinda buried her face in her hands. “Are all the adults insane?” “Well, watching the news and our school, everyone’s gradually losing it, which makes it all the more important that we don’t lose it,” Hikari told her. “As the world goes crazier, we have to be saner.” Lars nodded. “Melinda is always very sane and sensible.” Melinda smiled; she liked praise. But it was hard to stay sane when her parents were going crazy and her brother… well, he only did it with Hikari but it was getting harder to hold back the desires she wished would go away. Because they were wrong. And it was hard to be right when no one else was. **************** Ralph was always nervous about getting a soul scan, though he had no great sins to hide. “Are you looking for something?” “You’re probably the most powerful person after me in our department and I want to know why,” Dr. Eida told him. Dr. Akagi made a noise and they both glared at each other and Ralph and Maya sighed in unison, then looked at each other in surprise as the two Doctors studied them. “Do it again,” Dr. Akagi said. But they were unable to sigh in perfect unison when they *wanted* to. Ralph wasn’t even sure why. “Are you arou… oh,” Dr. Akagi said. She looked at Dr. Eida and Ralph could feel power in the air. “You are around Olga and Asuka a fair amount, correct? Off duty?” “They and Berthold hang out with Kaworu, who is the nephew of a friend of mine, Himeko Nagaki, who is a physical therapist,” Ralph said. “And that sometimes means we’re all in Himeko’s place together. They’re good kids.” Everyone else in the room gave each other a look. “Are you saying power is infectious?” Ralph said hesitantly. They looked at each other. “If I’m going to make people explode or something, I need to know,” Ralph said, worried. “You would not make any of them explode. I need a list of your usual associates,” Dr. Eida said. “We should do some testing.” Dr. Akagi had a sudden look on her face of tremendous revelation. She didn’t share it with Ralph, which made him fret as he made out the list. ************** “Luminous Nixem!” Nancy shouted, waving the wand and laughing. When the room plunged into darkness, she stopped laughing. “This is a joke, right?” she said weakly. “Luminous Creo,” Dr. Akagi said, gesturing with her wand and the light came back on, her wand glowing brightly. “No. We’re still studying how it works, but it is real and you must tell no one.” “Wow,” Terrel said, staring at the iron bar he was juggling in the air. “Does this work for anyone?” “It does not work reliably for most adults,” Dr. Akagi said. “We’re trying to understand how you three got this powerful. And if there is anyone else.” “What provides the energy? Something powers this,” Terrel said, frowning at his own work. “You can’t make energy from nothing.” “World Two but I am dubious it can simply provide infinite power, so we’re still trying to understand it,” Dr. Akagi said. “In part, it’s clearly linked to the strength of your soul; the stronger the soul, the bigger the effects.” “Me with a strong soul,” Nancy mumbled. “Himeko is going to boggle at this.” “We would like to check her and her nephew as well,” Dr. Akagi said. “If you can get them to come in for study. I’ve met them but don’t know them well.” “Okay,” Ralph said. At least I won’t have to hide all this any more from my friends and Nancy, he thought. ********************** Himeko was very nervous whether her identity would hold but greater access was worth the risk; at worst, she would be slain and her fea return to Valinor. She hoped she was not showing how nervous she was, though. This could end horribly but she hoped that since the Sons of Feanor had had *many* chances to notice her that she was, in fact hidden beyond any mortal man’s ability to tell as long as she did not choose to reveal herself. Though she had seen the new tattoos on her friend; they had no ability to hide power but it was clear NERV was fumbling towards that knowledge. Passing into NERV, the place struck her as incredibly metallic. There was metal and glass everywhere, and minimal to no decoration, which made it oppressive to her. She didn’t think even Dwarves would like this place. Yet she could feel spiritual power thick in the air. Everyone who worked here was touched by it, though some more than others. Olga had grown stronger and stronger since Himeko first met her; she and Asuka walked alongside her and Kaworu, eagerly explaining everything. Dr. Akagi’s lab was the same way, all metal and glass and crystal. It was disturbingly clean and sterile. Her own workplace had started out that way, but she’d gone to a lot of effort to make it warm and comforting and her clients appreciated it, but Dr. Akagi clearly didn’t need or want to comfort anyone with her workplace. As she studied the scanning machine, she wondered if hubris had overpowered her. If they got an accurate reading of her soul, everything would go to hell. She’d felt confident she could outwit a machine but she felt its power, felt Dr. Akagi’s power here in her sanctum. Could it pierce her veil? Or even just see there was a veil. The machine was basically a huge tube with Tengwar on the outside and panels of runed crystal on the inside. “Don’t worry, it is totally safe, we’re not going to do anything dangerous,” Dr. Akagi said, patting Himeko’s shoulder. She thinks I am afraid, Himeko thought. She was afraid. There was no backing out now but the fey mood which had led her here was gone. Varda, watch over me, she thought, and stepped into the machine. The worst part was listening to Asuka, Frau Ibuki and Dr. Akagi all trading words she couldn’t understand while Olga and Kaworu stood nearby watching; Kaworu was nervous, but Olga smiled brightly at her, clearly sure nothing was going wrong. It gave her strength. “Hmm, interesting,” Dr. Akagi said. “Look here, Asuka.” Asuka’s finger traced something on a monitor which Himeko could not see. “Hmm, Olga, Touji, Kevin, and Lars all have that.” “Have what?” Himeko asked. “A common aspect of your soul which we think is connected to drawing spiritual power for strength,” Asuka said. “Physical strength. You are unusually strong, correct?” “I am very unusually strong for a woman,” Himeko said. “Strong enough to spar with me,” Olga said. “It’s her knack, I think.” “Knack?” Himeko asked curiously. “Everyone seems better at some things than others,” Dr. Akagi told her. “We’ll talk more of it later.” Things went on and on with mentions of her friends, and people she didn’t know and a bunch of words whose meanings she tried to deduce. But clearly, her protection had held. “You have a powerful soul, unusual for someone your age,” Dr. Akagi said. “I would like to test some other things but they would require signing a non-disclosure agreement since you don’t work for NERV.” “I can do that,” she told them, though making a promise bound to be broken made her uncomfortable. But it was part of being a spy. The most disturbing part. She would pay in the end, she knew. Broken promises never ended well. But she had to know. And a part of her soul wanted to know just for curiosity’s sake; she’d always had a love to find out new things. Then it was time to test Kaworu. ****************** Kaworu was fairly relaxed as they clearly had *not* discovered Himeko’s secrets and if they couldn’t tell who she was, then he was safe too. “It’ll be fine,” Olga whispered to him. Then Commander Ikari entered; Kaworu had never seen him face to face, only pictures and not many of those. He radiated power, even more than Dr. Akagi, but also physical strength. His face was blank, hidden by beard and glasses, and he stepped in and went over to Dr. Akagi, talking to her mind-to-mind and her eyes widened and he stiffened. Had they been detected? But he stepped into the machine and Commander Ikari watched everything, while Olga smiled and shared her strength with him. He breathed hard, trying to relax as he got tenser and his body refused to obey orders to be calm. An endless stream of technical jargon flowed between Asuka, Dr. Akagi, and Frau Ibuki. “Relax, we’re not bombarding you with gamma rays; actually, you are bombarding the detector,” Asuka said to him, frowning. “You can see the family ties here,” Dr. Akagi said to Commander Ikari. “You can tell a person’s relationships with this?” Himeko asked curiously, sitting in a spinning chair now. “Parents put a small piece of their own soul into their child, though we’re unsure where the bulk of it comes from,” Dr. Akagi said. “Whether it develops from that seed or is drawn out of the sea of souls or some other method. Most of the time, you can’t go many generations, though. But I can see similarities between yours and Kaworu’s soul. You can come out of the machine, Kaworu.” Asuka let him out and patted his shoulder and brought him to see his soul; it seemed a human shaped pattern of gold and silver light to him but they clearly knew how to read it. “What does it mean?” “You’re not on a power level with, say, me, but you likely have enough strength for what we’d like to test with you,” Asuka said. “You don’t have Asuka’s raw, unfiltered humility, either,” Olga said, then laughed, her whole body shaking. “He is pretty… hey!” Asuka said to Olga, who laughed more. But then Asuka rubbed her forehead, laughing just a little. “There’s nothing wrong with pride, but you know what I meant.” “Yeah,” Olga said, ruffling her hair as Asuka feebly tried to stop her. “Likely being around Mr. Harmon strengthened all of your souls,” Dr. Akagi said to them. Kaworu successfully suppressed the urge to laugh. More the other way around, most likely. “Anyway, we would like to test some things with you but they would require signing a non-disclosure agreement since you’re not already under one as NERV employees or kin to such.” She began going over the agreement with them, but he signed it. He had to; they needed more information about NERV to pass on. A chance like this would not come again, and surely their secret was safe. But Commander Ikari’s silent presence bothered him. ‘Does he normally come for testing?’, he asked Olga after getting her attention so she contacted him. ‘No, but we’re getting a lot of pilot candidates coming soon, so… umm… I don’t know. Maybe he hopes you can pilot,’ Olga said. Even just finding out how it worked would be a huge boon. ‘I would love to fight by your side,’ he told her sincerely. Though he feared one day they’d have to fight each other. But maybe not and he prayed that was right, not the doom of battling his… was it love? He pushed the thought away; he had other worries. *************** Himeko found it easy to do things she’d figured out long before; so did Kaworu, though they learned some new tricks. “It’s so easy. Too easy,” she said, frowning. “I know,” Dr. Akagi said. “We’re going to run some tests with Asuka tomorrow, as we’re trying to understand how this can work, though it is limited by people’s soul strength. Many still can’t do it reliably. But you can.” Asuka touched the black and silver robes which Kaworu wore. “I can’t see you as an Owl.” “They’re the mystics,” Kaworu said. “They seek enlightenment even if some of them are rather dubious in their methods. I promise I won’t be getting high in my pursuit of wisdom.” “They were kind of the bad guys, though,” Olga said hesitantly. “Some went bad from every house,” Kaworu replied to her. “The quest for enlightenment can lead you down a path of self-delusion as it did Volospina in her quest for power.” He shook his head. “Her efforts to overcome death consumed her in the end.” Asuka made an odd noise and stared at the wand she was holding. Volospina had made Himeko wonder if the author of the Mary Cotter books had somehow dreamed of Sauron; her phylacteries had reminded Himeko of the One Ring and the Ten Fingers had reminded her of the Nine Nazgul. Especially since everyone had thought there were only nine until Mary turned out to be the tenth, created accidentally by her when she tried to slay Mary’s parents. “Plus, Professor Snailhat led a reformation of the house in the final books to purge the Night Lords from it,” Kaworu continued. “The movies kind of bungled showing that,” Olga said, frowning. “I haven’t really read the books.” “You should, especially if you’re involved in this,” Kaworu told her. “Okay, let’s do some more tests,” Dr. Akagi said, putting them to work again. ***************** “I don’t think he is the Sword of Nienna, but he is worth training and may have a tie to some Maiar,” Ritsuko told Commander Ikari later in his office. Commander Ikari looked thoughtful. “I suspected bringing the pilot candidates here would help raise them in strength and this further confirms that. It is clear that being around the powerful makes you more powerful. As it did to the Elves in Valinor. And fate would recognize this, drawing in those meant to be part of our efforts and strengthening them for the task. This probably means the Sword of Nienna is already in the Geofront, or perhaps the boy will grow into the task.” He juggled a fritter in his hand. “Destiny does like revealing hidden princes.” “I’m going to run some tests with Asuka. Also, I’m working on a project to see if perhaps we can use broadcasts of live performances of music tuned to support scientific law to avoid reality breakdown. The problem is going to be putting enough power behind it to get it to work beyond the level of a laboratory,” Ritsuko said, studying the fritters suspiciously. “That would be good; the modern world is rife with radio capacity,” Commander Ikari said. “My project with the lens remnants should do something like that for all of the Geo-Front and surrounding area.” They now began discussing their ideas in detail. ****************** “And with Kaworu, we make a perfect circle,” Nancy said. “I’d almost think it fate.” She laughed. “If fate existed.” “Fate exists,” Olga said softly. “It’s real.” But she didn’t sound entirely happy about that, staring at her food. Nancy’s crew were having dinner at Himeko’s with Olga and Kaworu, Terrel’s special pork and potato pancakes dish. With the special broccoli too. Nancy loved his cheesy, spicy broccoli. “I guess if you can scan souls and things… can you scan fate too?” Nancy asked hesitantly. “Some of the Talents can,” Olga said to her. “I’m super strong and tough, on the other hand.” “Then it’s fate that we all get married,” Nancy joked. “Not you two, you’re too young.” Terrel’s eyes crossed. “Nancy, you shouldn’t joke like that.” Olga turned beet red and buried her face in her hands. Kaworu said hesitantly, “I can never tell when you’re serious, Nancy but I assume that is a joke.” “I just kind of want the four of us to be together forever,” Nancy said and then covered her mouth with her hands. I DID NOT MEAN TO SAY THAT, she thought. “The soul is eternal, so our friendship can go on forever,” Himeko said warmly to her. “You and Ralph getting married would not make it any less so.” Nancy tried to eat with a hand over her mouth, which was as abject a failure as one would expect. Ralph laughed until she glared at him, then he said, “Well, if Terrel and Himeko got married, then we could have a double wedding and share a place together.” He was still grinning. “I’m married,” Himeko said, rubbing her forehead. “To a dead man,” Ralph said, frowning. “It’s not healthy to never love again after someone dies, not after this long. But I was just joking around. You and Terrell would make a good couple, though.” Terrel stuffed his face with food, not saying anything but looking embarrassed. “So how about them Bears?” Olga said, then paused. “What? Bears? Why did I say something about bears?” Oh Olga, you have all the subtlety of a rock, Nancy thought. She finally moved her hand. “I would badger Himeko and Terrell about dating *someone*, but then they could bug me about getting married and I just… let’s talk about our COSMIC power instead,” she said. “No more marriage before I have to see if I can fly.” “Fly?” Kaworu asked, clearly confused. “Yes, we should practice together,” Himeko said. “A perfect circle is more powerful when they work as one.” Future wizardry, a topic Nancy would *never* have expected a few days ago, now took over the conversation before she could die of embarrassment. I can’t believe I said that, she thought. But it was true. She was very happy with the four of them, plus kid sidekick as her family here. The way they were, though she’d be more happy if Terrell and Himeko were a couple too, so she wouldn’t think things she shouldn’t. She suspected Terrell had a crush but he’d never start anything, given Himeko’s stance on how she was happy pining for a dead man forever. Download 215.22 Kb. 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