Story: Asuka WP

Unfortunately I don't feel like getting much writing done this weekend. Not particularly feeling great right now. Too cold and sleepy.

But I did write this, so I hope you enjoy it.


 It all seemed to be quite the blur of action once he’d woken up after the battle. To begin with, he’d stared at the ceiling for a brief moment until a doctor entered the room.

“Ah, you’re awake,” he said. “Do you feel like you can walk?” Shinji nodded. “Good. Then you can leave at your leisure. There’s nothing physically wrong with you. Then again, it is my understanding that you will be moving in with Misato Katsuragi, so that may not remain the case.”

Moving in with Misato Katsuragi? Seemed like he’d hit the jackpot. He rolled out of bed, said his thanks, and left the room with a slight spring in his step. So to take stock: Today he had piloted a giant robot and used it to slaughter an eldritch abomination that threatened the entirety of Tokyo-3, and perhaps even the world. Balance that against the fact that after the battle, he was given a thorough medical checkup to make certain he was unharmed, then told he would be moving in with the single hottest piece of ass he’d laid eyes on perhaps ever.

Next time he saw his father, he was giving him a great big hug. It would probably make him feel tremendously uncomfortable, which would be a pretty big bonus.

“Really now,” said a sultry voice that sent a shiver down Shinji’s spine. “A handsome young man like you becomes even more handsome in a nurse’s uniform. Do you think it would look good on me as well?”

Mental note to self: Purchase sexy nurse outfit for Misato. As soon as whatever funds come through to him for saving the goddamn day are available, purchase the outfit as top priority. But enough daydreaming. Shinji strode forward and coughed into his hand to get Misato’s attention, dragging her away from flirting with the obviously lovestruck male nurse. Hard to blame the guy, really. Woman like that would make just about any guy putty in her hands. Any guy but Shinji, at least.

“You’re awake!” Misato exclaimed, and Shinji felt that resolve buckle a little when she pulled him facefirst into her cleavage. Very nice place to visit. He’d have to book a return trip at some point. “Oh, I’m so glad you’re okay. You’re too cute to die so easily, you know?”

“I know,” he said, somehow managing to pull himself away from that pillowy goodness. He feigned a blush, even as his hand “accidentally” brushed against her butt. “I could hardly let everyone down while they were relying on me. Right?”

“That’s the spirit!” she cheered, tousling his hair with one hand and taking his in the other. “Come on. You’re moving in with me. I’ve already arranged for all of your stuff to be at the apartment.”

Oh boy. Oh boy oh boy oh boy! Here we go! Stay calm now, Shinji. You’ve seduced plenty of women in the past. Women that believed he was just an innocent, shy young man, women that underestimated him, women that some might have said were above his league. And yet! And yet not a one of them had a figure like that, not a single one of them could move her body like that.

None of them were nearly as bad at driving as her either. By the time Misato cheerily said, “We’re here!” Shinji wasn’t so much stepping out of the car as pouring out of it. The building itself wasn’t much to look at. Just an ordinary apartment building for the area, not really any different from any other building. Except - casting a slightly more critical eye over the area - he could see a few tiny telltale signs here and there. It seemed a little strange to him that two essential personnel for such an important organisation would be put into such a low-security building, but then again Shinji knew better than anyone that appearances were deceptive. It was meant to look low key, low security, so that anyone looking for them wouldn’t know exactly where their targets were. There were probably security measures all over the place, keeping track of anyone that even tried to infiltrate the building…

So up they went toward the door. Misato unlocked it and made a sweeping motion with her arms, gesturing for Shinji to enter. Which he did. There wasn’t much to the place, but hell, who needed there to be? There was a couch and a television, a kitchen with a table and chairs, a couple of rooms down the hall… Not much else to it. So in Shinji went, thinking only of the first move he’d make now that he was alone with -

“Hic!”

Hic? That wasn’t just a hiccup. Shinji turned around, and saw Misato leaning against the now closed front door with a rather obviously inebriated (yet lustful) expression on her face. She swirled around a can of beer that had absolutely not been there before, took a swig and licked her lips.

All of a sudden, Shinji felt like he had gone from predator to prey. That look in her eyes as she slid off her jacket… He backed away on sheer instinct, unable to take his eyes away from her.

“Shinji,” she said in a singsong like voice. She took a few steps forward, tripped, and wound up lying on top of him while the two were sprawled on the ground. Misato drunkenly giggled. “I have to admit. I’m no good at chores,” she said. “But I’ll tell you wha~at! If you do all the chores, I’ll make a real man out of you.”

“Misato, you are clearly drunk,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to take advantage of you in this -”

“Take advantage of me?” Misato repeated, and suddenly her face was rather close to his and all he could see were her eyes. “You’re soooo cute and innocent! And I think you have it a little bit backwards.”

The next thing he knew, Shinji was being dragged off towards a particular door down the hall. “Shinji’s Lovely Suite”. It somehow seemed far, far too appropriate….

<hr>
She was staring at the ceiling. Not moving. Barely blinking or breathing. Technically she didn’t really need to do either. Technically. But it did make other people feel more at ease around her. Those in the know could pretend she was human, and those that didn’t would not be scared for reasons that they could not consciously explain. Adapting a human-like body language was difficult, but necessary.

Except that Rei Ayanami had a little bit of a peculiar psychological tick. She knew it was peculiar, but could do nothing about it. Nothing at all. The simple truth of it was, she would obey every order given to her. Without fail. Without question. Without hesitation. Even if it were impossible or self contradictory, she would do it. Somehow.

Rei felt very little. Even so. She still felt rather glad nobody had figured that out. Or at least so far as she could tell. It might have been a deliberate design decision, to ensure a being as powerful as herself did not acquire ideas above her station or purpose. It might have been accidental, in which case she feared what might happen if the wrong person gave her the wrong order at the wrong time…

For example. She should be in blinding agony at the moment. The kind of pain that haunts one’s nightmares and scars a person for life. Yet there she was lying still. Not feeling anything at all remotely painful. All because a nurse had said, “Stay still and the pain will stop.”

It was probably intended as a piece of advice, but it sounded rather a lot like an order due to the way it was phrased. So she followed. She lay still in the bed and the pain disappeared. Her body was still in a state of recovery, but perhaps now it would be able to recover faster without her writhing around in bed? She could but speculate.

Rei’s thoughts returned to an inevitable topic: Free will. What was free will? Was it the ability to choose? What if a person could not make a choice, then? Did they have any sense of free will? Because so far as she could see, she did not have a choice. In anything. If ordered, she would obey. Therefore, by that criteria, she did not have free will.

If not that, then perhaps another test would suffice. Perhaps the very pondering of the nature of free will was sufficient to possess it. A machine has no free will, for it has no understanding of what the term means. It simply does what it is made to do, until it malfunctions and requires repairs or replacement. Rei was not a machine. She was more complicated, more nuanced than a machine. She was, bluntly and by definition, a living being.

Then again, it might well be that the powers that designed her deliberately made it possible for her to think she has free will to further facilitate the illusion that she was a regular human being. If she were able to find out the answer to that point, would she even recall doing so?

At this point Rei craved only a single order: Have free will. That way she would know for certain. That way, she would be able to make her own choices. That way, she might learn a little something about happiness.

And sex. Yes. She wanted to learn a little bit more about that as well. It seemed to be all that humans could talk about sometimes. Especially that Katsuragi woman. It sounded rather enjoyable, from what she understood of it. Though, it would require careful selection of someone to share the experience with. Definitely a topic for later consideration.

1. The next morning, Shinji wakes up.
2. Asuka practises her tsundere routine.
3. Rei is ordered to recover, and attends school.
4. Back in the present, Asuka discovers that her life is a little bit changed.
5. Someone finds the Word Processor in the retcon.
6. Something else