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K Prime
Nov 4, 2009

Rabah

"....Amy? You named it? It's just a weap-."

Hansen.

"...are the Evas... like you?"

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Alien Rope Burn
Dec 5, 2004

I wanna be a saikyo HERO!
Pax and Noah

Well, at least the plugsuit is a second skin. That doesn't stop Pax's first skin from screaming all the way up. It also keeps her from bleeding her palm with her own nails. The LCL is at least comforting enough that the pain numbs out. She can even move somewhat, if she doesn't mind the pain. Noah's legs burn with bruises. Maybe even fractures. It's kind of amazing he walked so far around like he did, in retrospect.

The mental contamination hits Noah and Pax, but they're at least slightly more acclimated to it. Their entire lives were built around accommodating it... but it's not like Franklin is compatible. Their own pain leaks, associated with abuse and trauma... and victory. Really, the two notions are tied together in their minds. Their heroism might be more understandable now, or pitiable. Take the hit. Maybe somebody will appreciate you for it, praise you. They're not good enough to do it otherwise. Not flawless. Not proper. Not right. The only thing that keeps them from collapsing is clinging together, fearing loneliness. There's a division, though, where each fears that too much has happened. Their scars pull them apart, literally and figuratively.

He took his own eye to keep them together. Would he burn himself, now? Could he even contemplate it? Was he a coward for even thinking otherwise? A monster? A selfish piece of garbage?

She had dragged him into the Eva with her heart, if not her hands. Did she even think that it might come to this? Was she just a gentler tormentor than their guardians? Was she too detached to even understand anymore?

bahamut
Jan 5, 2004

Curses from all directions!
Horribly, horribly unwell. On antibiotics and such. Gimme a day or two. I'm very sorry guys.
Sorry about the wait. Uh, I guess lots of words to make up for it?

bahamut fucked around with this message at 12:05 on Apr 23, 2017

bahamut
Jan 5, 2004

Curses from all directions!
Hannah Asagiri

With the others well on their way, Hannah wasted no time exiting the EVA cages and returning to the upper reaches of the base. She strode quickly and with purpose.

Although she'd always had a certain understanding of things, of her place in the big picture, and having slowly and deliberately worked towards that future with a calm sureness, the idea that she might now continue to exist after the conclusion of her role was something that had never occurred to her. But the clone was committed now, she'd said she would do something, so she would do it. Her thoughts returned to the task at hand.

It was not difficult to find one of the many now-abandoned mobile transports that used to zip up and down the corridors of NERV-1st. "Golf carts" she'd heard the staff call them from time to time. She'd researched the matter, and had concluded that although they were similar, they were not quite the same. This worked out in her favor, as the little vehicle here would allow her to carry more belongings.

Her first stop was just outside of her own quarters, and upon entering she paused for a moment. It was strange to think that this would be the last time she would be in this room. It was a mess, it was a mess the day she moved in, but she'd never cared about that. It was just a room. She hadn't felt particularly attached to it before, but now there was this odd sense that she was going to be losing something. When did this happen? And why? Something to consider later. The loss was inevitable now.

In the corner were a few waterproof duffle bags that had sat their untouched since her arrival. She unceremoniously dumped their contents out, and began filling one with an assortment of clothing. Most of it heavier, all of it utilitarian. This would have to do for Pax and herself. Hauling the full bag out to her cart, she came back in to retrieve the other empty bags. There she saw her CAT shirt bunched up by the side of her bed. She shook her head, grabbing the bags and making her way to the door. She stopped again at the threshold, sighing and returning to get the shirt before making her exodus. Absurd.

Her next stop was the general barracks the others had been stationed at shortly before the base had been put on lockdown. Here she loaded up on things for Franklin and Noah. Their selection would not be as diverse, but she would just double up on things in the event the weather was cold. From there it was to the infirmary, where her selecting of things to take became much less discriminatory. Bandages, pills, sprays, vials and injectors. Much of this stuff might not be needed, but she would sort through it all later. A stop at the cafeteria followed, with bottles of water or juice joined her bag of medical supplies alongside an assortment of canned goods. After that she drove back to the elevator, and with considerable effort moved the now-weighty bags into it.

Down she went, returning to the dimly lit cages. By the time she had the bags transferred to her own entry plug, her muscles were burning. But there was one more stop to make.

In a lesser-used transit tunnel she was right where Hannah saw her last. In the moist environment the smell of death saturated the air. It made approaching the decaying likeness of herself all the more difficult, but after she threw up it seemed a little better, the dry heaves that followed were not as bad. The pilot remembered this woman seeming so tranquil at the time, in graceful repose. Remembered thinking that she would have handled things in the same way. Now the still-living clone could barely believe the woman then and now were one in the same. Hannah wondered now if she would choose to handle it the same. Hannah divested the decaying corpse of its rifle, radio, utilities and extra clips. Before leaving, in spite of the smell, she quietly apologized to the body before returning to Unit-06 for the last time.

It had been just over an hour since Franklin, Noah, and Pax had evacuated. Hopefully they were patient and trusted in her. The rising LCL in her entry plug helped to get the smell of death out of her nostrils, but she would remember it for some time to come. Unit-06's eyes flared into a piercing white as Hannah activated the giant from deep within. The machine's giant hand clasped its signature spear, The Trumpet of the Jubile, drawing it close as she then activated the elevator. Rocketing skywards, she had a few moments to wonder why exactly she had grabbed it. After all, in a few short moments she'd have no use for it. Habit? No. It was purpose. There was one last little thing she needed to do.


bahamut fucked around with this message at 00:43 on Apr 24, 2017

The Deleter
May 22, 2010
Franklin Wilson

Franklin is not enjoying the shared pain of the twins in his head. It's making it very, very difficult to pilot the EVA. In return, the twins get Franklin's anxiety, his uncertainty over his place in the world, his simmering anger at never being told anything and being used. It combines with the fears and pain of the twins in a horrible cocktail of emotion, thicker than the LCL they breathe.

Unit-01's final steps are shaky. It staggers like a drunk, even though its still attached to the power cables, swaying down the highway as Franklin tries to guide it to the rendezvous point. He tries to keep the shaking and swaying down for the two other pilots as best as he can, but it's tricky to a tired boy who defaulted to "go loud" in life.

He never doubted Hannah, he realises. Not for a second. He'd doubted, perhaps, her explanations, or the reasons for what was going on, but he'd always seen her as dependable. It'd never crossed his mind that she could lie to him. Maybe it should have. But she wouldn't have launched them out if she intended to keep them here. She'd been the one person he'd totally trusted from day one, perhaps.

The twins get a load of these thoughts as vague fluffy whiteness, which probably isn't helpful.

As Hannah's EVA emerges from its own launchpad, Franklin silently looks back, waiting on her.

bahamut
Jan 5, 2004

Curses from all directions!
Hannah Asagiri

Topside, Hannah arrives. There is no longer any wildlife to scatter and announce her appearance. Somehow the brilliant blue of the sky only serves to amplify the desolation hinted at by the remains of the city. She had hoped that the further away from Boston they got, the more hospitable the terrain would be.

Looking up from the ruins, the nearly full moon hung in the sky, it's pale while in sharp contrast to the color of the sky, unblemished by any clouds. Conditions could not have been more perfect, almost as though it had been pre-ordained. Accounting for velocity, travel time, gravity, and other factors, the giant machine slowly wound up, ready to cast the twin-pronged weapon into space. Unit-06's grip tightened, the tines of the spear collapsed towards one another, spiraling together just as Hannah spurred her Evangelion into motion. In the span of four great and thunderous steps, all her power and momentum focused on expelling the great weapon from the atmosphere. The air rippled and shimmered with the force of the throw, the violent exodus shrouding where the EVA stood in a cloud of dust.

On the moon it would wait. Though for what she didn't know and didn't feel inclined to guess. The important thing was her job here was done. She sped off to join Franklin, Noah, and Pax.

There was little else she could do now.

grassy gnoll
Aug 27, 2006

The pawsting business is tough work.
Rabah

Up until this point, the text on the monitor has been pretty quick to respond to your questions and/or threaten you with untimely death. After your last question, the cursor just sits there for a while. Long enough for you to wonder if you broke something.

It does give you time to flip through Adams' documents again.

Once upon a time, there was a woman named Amy Asagiri. She was an odd girl growing up. One day, Amy met another girl named Milly. They would become, for a little while at least, the most important people in the world. If they'd known, they probably would have done things differently.

Amy and Milly were both very smart, and they loved each other very much. They met some other very smart people, who had some very strange ideas, and they all worked together. They all listened to the stars, and in their own ways, tried to speak in turn. This was how Amy and Milly were the first people to talk to God.

God and the women did not understand each other very well, so when God sent an Angel as its emissary, it caused a great accident, and many people died. The women and the Angel could no longer hear God. This made the Angel sick, and it tried its best to make itself better, and Amy and Milly tried to help. Milly was a very good doctor, and Amy was very good with machines. The Angel died anyway.

Soon after, Amy got sick. Milly tried everything she knew to save Amy - she worked tirelessly, making medicines, cutting, even changing Amy and making copies to make more parts that people need sometimes. Amy knew it was pointless, but she had a final gift for her true love. She made a machine that thought it was Milly, and was so good at it no one could tell the difference between the machine and the person. That way, when it was Milly's turn to die, something like her would live on, and get to talk to God again.

Amy died, as people do. Milly was very sad, and took her own life. Their friends, the very smart people, did not love God the way Amy and Milly did. They simply didn't have it in their hearts after the Angel died to trust God. So they made copies of the Milly machine, and copies of the copies of Ana, and changed them both, to use so that nothing like the Angel's fall could ever happen again.

It was very difficult to talk to God, but sometimes, it is just as difficult to talk to other people. Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned.


There are more photos in Adams' notes. They are mostly of installations that look like primitive versions of HQ. One is a woman wearing a primitive, bulky plug suit. She looks a little like Hannah, around the eyes, and her hair just just as dark. Another is a photo of a much younger Jagr, the blond woman and the woman who wore the plug suit. They're all dressed in lab coats and ratty clothes, wearing slightly manic smiles. The two women are holding a tablet between them, which has a wavy graph of some sort on it.

Another is a photo of your father, standing at ease behind Jagr as Jagr signs a document on a fancy-looking desk. There is a photo of you, just barely visible from this angle, and you are smiling. That's odd.

Frankie, Pax, Noah and Hannah

Nothing stops you.

Boston, as you lurch through it, seems deserted. You hope it is - there's no way you're getting further inland without destroying some real estate. The city thins out into the suburbs, mostly deserted these days - easier to defend and supply when you get all your humans grouped up inside one perimeter, like old-school castles. Still no one troubles you, and it's not like you can ever move stealthily in an Eva.

Unit-01 shuts down somewhere a little south of Concord, with Unit-06 dropping about a mile behind - that extra time and the last great task took it out of the poor machine.

You find yourselves in belts of empty forest and empty little houses, stretching off in any given direction as far as you could see from the top of the Evas.

What now?

K Prime
Nov 4, 2009

Rabah

"Milly... I guess you're Milly, then. Who names a kid Millicent these days?"

Rabah chuckles, sobs, chuckles. "Who names a kid Rabah? I don't... I don't remember this. I don't remember this smile. Why don't I remember this smile? I thought.. . I thought I remembered everything. I thought he told me everything! Wasn't that what all of that was for? What's the point if no one remembers? What's the point? What's the point of all that?"

She clutches her head in her hands. "Was it you who called down the planet-crackers? Was it... him? Is that why they targeted me? To forget? So I wouldn't ask?"

...

....

.....


"It would make sense, if that was."

K Prime fucked around with this message at 15:52 on Apr 25, 2017

grassy gnoll
Aug 27, 2006

The pawsting business is tough work.
Rabah

You guess enough time has passed for the two of you to collect yourselves. The text starts scrolling again.

pre:
DON'T FLATTER YOURSELF
THE ONLY THING THEY
CARE ABOUT
IS POSSESSING
THE EVA UNITS

I DON'T KNOW WHAT 
THEY DID
TO PISS OFF THE ANGELS 
SO MUCH
THEY BLANKED THAT
PART OF ME
BUT THEY DID 
REMAKE ME
TO FIGHT THEM

AND THE EVA UNITS
ARE THE ONLY THING
THAT WILL DO THE JOB
A couple of heartbeats pass.

pre:
REMIND YOU OF ANYONE

K Prime
Nov 4, 2009

Rabah

"I suppose that does explain Asa- oh. You meant me, didn't you?" Rabah laughs, then frowns. "So if you're so concerned about all that, then why are we waiting here to die? Shouldn't you be trying to move Ev-


Oh Fi-

Amy somewhere safe?"


Rabah looks down. "But you can't, can you? You can't talk to her. You can't touch her. You can't bear the thought of anyone else doing it either. So you're just waiting here to die first so you don't have to deal with what happens after."

Rabah slams her fist into the wall. "That's loving bullshit, ma'am."

.
..
...

"I've come to terms with what I am. Haven't I?"

....

.....

"I don't even get the headaches any more."

K Prime fucked around with this message at 23:56 on Apr 25, 2017

grassy gnoll
Aug 27, 2006

The pawsting business is tough work.
Rabah

There's another pause, but relatively short. You feel a slightly electric tingle in the air - maybe MAGI's pissed at you. A couple of the clone slugs shift in their tubes.

pre:
YOU'RE HALF RIGHT GIRL
The screen displays an image for the first time since you've looked at it. It's a live video feed.

In a sense, it reminds you of your Eva unit, in that it is an open display of the biological secrets of the Evangelions. While Hannah brutally and efficiently hacked your Eva to bits, however, this model looks like an exploded diagram, with layers of tissue and organs suspended from wires and hooks. You can make out black-suited clones, the older types, crawling around inside its components, massaging muscle fibers and rewiring nerves. A crew has peeled back the eyelids and is swabbing the giant eye, with its three pupils in a lovely green sea.

The Eva is breathing.

pre:
SHE'S BEEN IN THERE 
THIS WHOLE TIME
NON-RESPONSIVE
BUT ALIVE

IT WAS THE ONLY THING
I COULD THINK OF
THE REAL ME
SHE'LL LIVE FOREVER
AFTER A FASHION
AS PART OF THE EVA
Wait a minute.

pre:
THE CLONES
THE BETA-TYPE EVAS
THOSE WERE SIMPLE
BUT THIS IS THE ORIGINAL
AND I NEVER GOT IT WORKING RIGHT
YOU KNOW
BEFORE I DIED
Something doesn't line up here.

pre:
I'D RATHER LET HER GO
THAN LET THEM TAKE HER
YOUR PEOPLE
OR THE OTHERS
Oh. Oh.

pre:
REST ASSURED
IF THAT HAD BEEN MY NUKE
WE WOULD NOT BE
HAVING THIS DISCUSSION
RIGHT NOW
They didn't tell her.

Hmm.

K Prime
Nov 4, 2009

Rabah

"Hansen..."

Rabah lays down the file. "Can you see this? It says... It says Amy is dead. She died before you... the original you... did. You killed yourself. Because you failed, probably, that's what I would do. There's nobody in Eva-05. Or maybe there's another clone."
.
..
...
"I think you knew that already, though. Didn't you?"













"So here we are, two failures who can't even die properly. What's it going to be, Hansen? Are we both going to rot down here, or are you going to give me a chance to do something? I mean, trying to interface with that will probably kill me anyway, so it's not like you really have anything to lose."

Rabah sits on the floor. This is probably going to be a long wait. "Or we can just die here. I swear I'll keep annoying you until I die. Thirst, probably, that's only 3 or so days at most. Probably less since I'm injured."

She tosses the gun away. "I wasted my last bullets on a screen. Hilarious. Like I said, can't even die properly. Good thing Daddy isn't here to see this."








"...I wonder if Jaime is alive. I wonder if they're worried."

bahamut
Jan 5, 2004

Curses from all directions!
Hannah Asagiri

Stopping a mile behind the others, Hannah took her three weighty bags of necessities, and her weapons, and kept going. She met up with the others in short order, looking almost eager to distribute her burden amongst their small collective.

"We should continue heading northwest," the clone declared, "the Great Engines are nearly done and the rules will soon change. It will be easier for you the more distant we are."

For Hannah the world had somehow grown nebulous and thin. Not that she had actually experienced much of the actual world per se; just that her certainty of how things would play out was soon to end. A paradigm shift, the one she'd been designed to anticipate, was imminent.

This was going to be The Way of Things. Even now, the sum of Logos, Pathos, and Ethos was being challenged by the Vessel of Rhetoric, precisely as intended.

"We should keep going until dusk," she continues, glancing back in the direction they'd traveled, "and take shelter in an abandoned home for the night. This sounds acceptable?"

Tomorrow would be a new day.

bahamut fucked around with this message at 18:03 on Apr 27, 2017

grassy gnoll
Aug 27, 2006

The pawsting business is tough work.
This seems like a good point to transition. If anyone has anything else they'd like to do in this scene, you've got until Monday.

After that, while I'm not a big enough idiot to *require* anything in our online game of pretend, I think it would be interesting if we had an epilogue, as long or as short as you like, set one year later. If you feel the totality of your character's story is told, or that adding more would diminish the rest, pay it no mind.

Alien Rope Burn
Dec 5, 2004

I wanna be a saikyo HERO!
Pax and Noah

Noah looks at Hannah, sighing, "You realize half the stuff you say makes no sense to us, right?" He shoulders Pax, who winces. "Backtalk to... Hannah? Look who's growing-" She sucks in air, the suit actually at least covering her constant misery as she pulls her words short.

"We need to find a working truck or car as soon as we can. Maybe we can find an intact car at a lot... or...", Noah starts, before Pax interrupts with, "I can... walk." He pinches the bridge of his nose.

Was she being selfish? Or was she trying to keep him on the move? Did it really matter as long as he could do something?

Noah took on as much of Pax's weight as he could, holding on to her good arm. "Anyway, we just need to find someplace safe. That's a plan... but remember-"

"Never maintain a fixed idea of the objective.", the woman in the black beret instructed. "Keep your eyes open for opportunity."

"-nevermind. Thanks for coming with us, you two. Thanks for everything."

The Deleter
May 22, 2010
Franklin Wilson

"No problem, man."

Franklin makes a mental note to find transport. Fuel would be hard to come by... Maybe something could be figured out.

Nothing to say. Perhaps this was all too big for words. if Franklin were of a more artistic bent, he might have something to say here to mark the occasion. Instead, he shrugged his shoulders.

"Welp, nowhere to go but onward, I guess. Come on, everyone. Shout if anyone needs a hand with anything."

Franklin Wilson sets off. he does not even glance back at his fallen EVA.

grassy gnoll
Aug 27, 2006

The pawsting business is tough work.
We have nearly reached the end of this alternative narrative, and everything is tumbling down, etc. It's taken us very nearly two years to get here, which is terrifying. Thank you all for playing, and sticking with this lurching disaster of a game this whole time.

As we step back to consider the terrifying amount of time we've spent playing anime pretend on the internet, let us consider what has happened a year later for our cast.


Later

If you look at the big picture, not much has changed. The world hasn't ended. There are still Angels, and they still pose an existential threat to humanity. There are still those who oppose the unknowable creatures that have invaded our home, and in that sense, there is still hope.

The details are all wrong. NERV is dead. The Evas have been disabled and dismantled by an international coalition, still fractious and unruly, who have made their own machines to fight back against the Angels. The US has pulled back to the Hudson Valley Line. They've surrendered the people and places of New England to whatever fate may strike them, as the military attempts to deal with the NSF uprising. UNCENSUS shows global birth rates on the decline and suicides on the rise, at levels unseen since Second Impact. The world may not have ended, but it's in its final act.

So, what have you been up to?

K Prime
Nov 4, 2009

Deep in the darkness of what was once NERV, Rabah sleeps.

The dismantlers never bothered digging this deep. Those who tried, disappeared. Eventually, it was decided that whatever was down there was not worth reaching. The Evas- all of them anyone cared about- were gone. The MAGI were silent. The pilots dead or missing. The entrance was sealed, and whatever still lurked in the pit left to die on its own.

But Angels don't have to obey those rules, do they...

In the entry plug, awkwardly inserted into a gaping wound that will never heal, Rabah sleeps. Eva-05, and whatever may or may not be left of Amy Asagiri and Millicent Hansen sleep with her. Their slumber is the eternal rest of the innocent and the damned. it is peace, and if Rabah was aware, it would be hell, but as it is, it is simply nothing.

Perhaps that is the best she could have asked for.


Meanwhile, on the surface...

Rabah Iowa- no, Cassie Iowa now, she thinks, runs her hand through her hair. She stands ready at the side of the great machine, Unspoken Dogma, her new weapon against the Angels. She doesn't remember how things ended- she remembers readying to stop the shafts from the sky... and then nothing.

A person is nothing but a collection of memories, no? And iteration is the key to progress. Her father knew this from the start. And perhaps, he knew what fate would have in store for his curious little girl, and some forgotten part of him wished to preserve her, or close enough, no matter the cost.

The answer to the ship of Theseus is that both can exist at the same time.

Perhaps she regrets what she said in ignorance to another? Who knows. They will likely never meet again.

Perhaps she would regret her final descent? Who knows. It will happen again, and Cassie will answer that for herself.

Perhaps she could change?

Well, that is a question for the philosophers, and the dead.


K Prime fucked around with this message at 17:37 on May 5, 2017

bahamut
Jan 5, 2004

Curses from all directions!
ARB, Deleter, would you like me to Hannahpost first? With the three of us, I've been hesitant to do so because I'm not sure how together you all would like things to be a year after the fact. I just don't want to make assumptions and/or gently caress up anyone else's grand plans.

The Deleter
May 22, 2010
Truth be told, I've not got much idea what would happen to them after a year!

I think we need to plan something, since all of their fates are kind of linked. Let me go revive the OOC thread so we don't clog this place up too much.

bahamut
Jan 5, 2004

Curses from all directions!
Hannah Asagiri

The moon was full.

From the front porch vantage point of her ranch house, Hannah sat in quiet appreciation of the mooncast landside. The blue-tinged grass, grown long that waved to and fro in the gentle night-time breeze, the inky blackness of the trees further away, and the bright snow-capped peaks on the horizon that bright, stark contrast to everything else. In spite of the moon's pale light, Orion was plainly visible. It was early fall, and there would be much to do if they were to make their stay here more comfortable than it had been last winter.

Franklin had fallen asleep an hour or so earlier, and he was almost certainly still sprawled on the couch right where she'd left him. It was understandable, she'd just wielded the chainsaw after all, all the lifting and stacking she'd entrusted to him. But she'd be lying if she said her arms still weren't a little sore from their day of hard work. There would be many more days of similar work ahead, not just to prepare wood for this winter, but also for other winters to come. While scavenging solar panels from an abandoned plant in Casper helped them to meet their day to day electrical use, the wood was absolutely necessary for wintertime heating.

Hannah leaned back in her chair, and took a sip from her canned iced tea. She'd bartered for a half dozen flats in a trip to Cheyenne nearly six months ago, having traded three ice-cream pails of wild asparagus shoots for them. Weights and measures seemed to get a lot more imprecise out this way, something she continued to struggle with. But she was happy with the exchange and that was what was most important, Franklin had told her on the trip back.

That spring trip to Cheyenne following her first winter at the ranch was where they'd parted ways with the Twins. The pair had certainly chafed at the idleness the winter forced, but if there had been any less than the four of them, they might not have survived. It had been a group effort that had commanded every bit as much discipline and coordination as piloting a group of colossal battlefield weapons did. They had promised to return at some point, but since Franklin & Hannah's return to the abandoned house at the edge of the Teton wilderness, she'd heard nothing from them since.

That first winter had been bitterly cold, far colder than anything the dark-haired woman had ever experienced. The snow had been a novelty at first, as well, but as the winter marched on it had grown deeper and deeper, which severely hampered their mobility. Burning whatever deadfall they could scavenge, near the end they'd been reduced to the last of their dried rations. But they'd made it through.

This upcoming winter would be different, even with just the two of them they would be much better prepared. Their journey westward had left them little time to prepare, but everyone had relatively agreed that being remote was more ideal than trying to winter in any sort of urban setting. More than once when passing through once-larger cities, they'd been forced into undesirable skirmishes with people ill-prepared for the proficiency the band of former pilots displayed. The further they moved inland, the more the effects of the Second Impact became more apparent. Out here, it was not as though the nation were in slow decline. It was almost as though it had ceased to exist entirely.

It was funny, Hannah reflected, how this place was very much like the place she'd remembered growing up in. The memory was a lie for sure, that time and place having never existed at all, but being here now, having experienced everything she'd done to make this place into something like a home, she could almost believe that's who she was. But then Hannah looked up to the moon, now host to that spear which she had been compelled to deposit there.

There were important Things to Come, she knew. But this particular Hannah at least, and all the Hannah's she'd previously been, had earned her reprieve. She wondered if perhaps this too, had been planned, to in the end actually experience all the happiness and hardships of a life she'd only had memories of. The night air had picked up a bit of a chill somewhere during her musings and reminiscences. It was later than she'd thought, and it would be an early day tomorrow.

Hannah finished the last of her drink and went inside.

The Deleter
May 22, 2010
Franklin Wilson

There were horses. They had found the animals hanging around in a field, the fences all busted down from weather and time. God knows why they hadn't left. Franklin regarded them with suspicion, but Hannah had forged some weird spirit bond with them or something, because they weren't scared of her at all. Neither of them really knew what to do with their newfound animal friends, and they had survived the winter against all odds. Franklin suspected, but dreaded, that horse meat might be on the menu if things got desperate again.

Everything had been difficult. Franklin had never been outside of a city in his teenage life until now. But somehow, despite not really knowing how to grow things, despite only having ever used his physical strength to pilot the Evangelion units, he somehow made it through everything. There were things he missed - the internet was gone, mobile signal was patchy thanks to government needs and inconsiderate Angels, and video games were a no go - but somehow this felt...

Better. More real.

Besides, it beat getting into the robot and fighting the Angels.

Sometimes Franklin could see a future. They could stay in this house a while, now they were getting set up. Electricity was still a thing, and they'd managed to figure out a system for storing water over the summer. He knew where there was the busted wreck of a car, not quite hollowed out by scavengers, and he planned to make a griddle for over the fireplace so they could cook things different, maybe? Traders came by from some camp a ways away, and Franklin had managed to barter for soap and a straight razor, so he didn't look like the yokel he was turning into.

Sometimes there wasn't a future. Humanity was going to die, probably. Gods still walked the earth. He was just a kid, still. They'd nearly frozen to death last winter. Sometimes he dreamt about everything and woke up in bed. Sometimes he couldn't get to sleep at all, and the days after were the worst but he couldn't stop because Hannah couldn't do everything on her own.

Thankfully, he had managed to sleep now, and was dreaming a jumbled up dream about Evangelions pulling ploughs behind them, with the Twins shouting orders from atop their shoulders. Hannah entering the house caused him to wake, though he didn't move from his sprawl on the couch.

"Hey."

bahamut
Jan 5, 2004

Curses from all directions!
Hannah Asagiri

Hannah's emptied can was halfway into the trash bin when Franklin spoke. She turned to face him, still unceremoniously draped all over the sofa, "I would apologize for waking you, except I was going to wake you anyhow. Doubtless if you had slept there for the night, you'd be waking up sore tomorrow. If we keep at the blocking and splitting into next week sometime, that should see us through the next two winters."

"I am sorry to be working you so hard," she said, taking a seat in the mismatched recliner in a corner, "but perhaps it is consolation that you are not alone in this trial."

bahamut fucked around with this message at 09:24 on May 12, 2017

Alien Rope Burn
Dec 5, 2004

I wanna be a saikyo HERO!
Pax and Noah

Pax pulled the drive from its port as Noah drew the wire across the doorway. He blinked, looking down to the grenade it was tied to as footsteps came close to the door. His eye widening in surprise, he realized he had seconds left as a boot slammed into it. Turning, he charged at Pax, not giving her much time to respond before shoving her out of the window, and the explosion went off right behind him. When he hit the ground and blacked out, he could only wonder if he'd wake up.

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Noah took a look at the piece of glass in Pax's neck. "It doesn't look like it hit any veins. I'm pulling it-" - and then he yanked as she hissed. "That's not funny anymore.", she said, before he washed out the wound.

Insects gathered around the nearby lantern, looking for heat. If the end of the world was coming, they didn't seem to care, at least. Finally, she spoke up again after the bandage was applied. "Mission was a success, though, the satellite blackout will mean they won't have an eye on us. We can just repaint the truck in the morning, should throw off their recognition."

He winced, feeling at where the shrapnel had gone right into his back. Lucky that time. And the time before that. And that. But next time would always be another story, and the odds reset. "Are they really missions if nobody's giving us orders?", he said simply, and she shrugged.

He continued. "Kind of worry. Something like that outage... they might not see an Angel coming."

She laid back on her sleeping bag in the back of the small pickup truck, saying, "They couldn't stop it anyway if it did, it'd take awhile to scramble an Eva here. Besides... maybe they'll go away after they're done with NERV."

"Maybe.", he said, not much confidence in his voice as he rolled over on his own bag to look away.

Pushing on his shoulder, she said, "Hey, cheer up, not much longer and we can finally see them. Just have to wait a bit, make sure we don't have a tail, and then..."

But all he could think about was losing her. Or her losing him. They were always pretty close to losing parts of themselves as it was. He didn't know what would happen when one of them inevitably didn't make it back.

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The pickup went down the dirt road. It was late, but its lights stayed off. Noah looked over her shoulder before Pax punched it. "Keep your eye on the road, I'll keep an eye out." The pickup slowed, crackling across the stones and dirt before it finally powered off.

The truck, of course, was orange now. Noah pretty much died inside from embarrassment when Pax has christened the new "Unit-02".

Pax got out, carefully. "Still say we should have tried to radio them.", she mumbled, and he followed after. "We don't take any risk that brings what we do on them. You know-"

"I know.", she said, exasperated, but they waited for a moment by the truck before approaching the house. "Hello?", he called out, before pulling his flashlight. "We're here!", he added, not wanting to shout too loud.

The Deleter
May 22, 2010
Franklin Wilson

"Nah, I'm cool with the work." Franklin rubbed the sleep from his eyes and stretched. "'s cool. 'r rather have firewood for all winter than repeat last time."

He was thinking of something to say when Noah's call found its way to him. His eyes widened and he almost tumbled off the couch in his haste to get to the door. He opened it up and gave the twins a smile.

"Hey, guys! How's it going - " He stopped to yawn. "Oh, jeez. Sorry. Been committing tree murder all day. Axe-murdering flora is hard work. Come in, I guess."

bahamut
Jan 5, 2004

Curses from all directions!
Hannah Asagiri

Hannah had just barely sat down when through the front window she'd seen the bouncing beams of light from a truck making it up the lane. Visitors were a rarity even during daylight hours around here. After dusk was a definite anomaly. While Franklin had headed to the door, Hannah had abandoned her seat and gotten her gun. But, when Franklin spoke, she knew who it was, and knew the rifle wouldn't be needed, gently setting it back in its resting place. The dark-haired woman came to stand next to Franklin in the frame of the door.

She was smiling. She was glad the pair seemed none the worse for wear. When they had elected to leave in the spring, she was not entirely sure she'd ever see Noah or Pax again.

"You are okay? Beds are upstairs now. Have you eaten? There is soup I can re-heat, and bread," Hannah stated, her voice possessing a warmness that it hadn't possessed a year ago. Then, almost as an afterthought, upon realizing she might have committed a slight social faux pas, she added, "welcome back."

bahamut fucked around with this message at 06:42 on May 15, 2017

Alien Rope Burn
Dec 5, 2004

I wanna be a saikyo HERO!
Pax and Noah

As they came into the light, Pax’s face was still pink and scarred from the burns, with bearing fresh bandages over cuts on top of that. Noah was less scarred, but still had a pale line through one of this eyebrows and a baby beard. Though it had never been hard to tell them apart, their scars made them more and more distinctive over time. Noah holds up a hand as if to stop Hannah, wincing, “That’s okay- ngh.” Pax quickly puts her arm around him, “He’d love that.”, she says to Hannah as she helps him to the couch where he sits down, slumping.

“He blew himself up with his own grenade.”, she says conversationally.

“I thought saving your life might spare me the humiliation.”, he mumbles.

“Only when you’re not saving me from your own grenade.”, she says before ruffling his hair for a moment, and looks over to the two.

Looks like some things haven’t changed. “Could you… not do that?”, he says after Pax as she walks off towards the kitchen, before looking over to Franklin. He bites back a jibe about comparing murdering trees and people. Probably bad form. He settles on, “It’s alright. I’m sure the tree had it coming. It was a bad tree.”

bahamut
Jan 5, 2004

Curses from all directions!
Hannah Asagiri

"Will you be staying the winter," Hannah asked, entering last and closing the door behind her. She didn't touch upon the grenade thing, it seemed a sore spot, "there were no troublesome incidents while you've been away. No helicopters or airplanes. Of the satellites I've observed, only two changed orbit. Both to the south. So I do not believe we are being observed. Not in any realtime fashion."

"I'd acquired a horse about two weeks after you two had left," the former EVA pilot began as she moved behind the island counter, set out a couple bowls, some utensils, and began to see about getting them some sustenance, "extended the perimeter we'd established last fall considerably, and did some further exploration. We are quite remote."

"We'll probably need to head into town a couple more times before the end of next month," she adds, "but the important thing is that we will be eating much better this winter."

From the fridge, she moved a pot to the stove and cranked up a dial, "I know it is in your nature to not want to stay for so long in any particular place, but I suspect a break from the wider world would benefit your disposition and alertness considerably."

bahamut fucked around with this message at 21:14 on May 23, 2017

The Deleter
May 22, 2010
Franklin Wilson

Franklin shrugged. "Well, firewood don't make itself. Heh, I'm turning into a real redneck out here. All I need is a banjo."

He moved to the kitchen. The Twins feel kind of... intrusive, in a way. They're still out there, doing whatever it is they felt needed doing, and, well, he was glad they were doing it because he sure as poo poo couldn't. But they'd come back with new injuries every time, and they never stayed for long, and it felt like...

drat, this was stupid. All stupid. He tried to think of some conversation for them, and couldn't think of anything that wasn't extremely useless. How are you? Did you have a nice journey here? Who did you pop a cap into this time?

He kept his mouth shut and helped Hannah with the cooking, grabbing a few tins and some other bits and bobs from the cupboards.

The Deleter fucked around with this message at 10:10 on May 21, 2017

Alien Rope Burn
Dec 5, 2004

I wanna be a saikyo HERO!
Pax and Noah

"Ugh, satellites, don't get me started. We were a little delayed this year making sure we didn't have coverage on the way.", Pax says with a sigh as she sits down on the counter, her black sweater, jeans, and tactical vest standing as a counterpoint to the more casual wear of the others present.

"Well, probably wouldn't hurt to learn an instrument.", Noah says to Franklin, dressed similarly. "But we're probably just staying until I feel well enough."

Pax looks over, starting, "I don't know, I think we can stay longer...", before trailing off as the twins look at each other. Unfortunately, it wasn't like the plans of others halted for their convenience. Would there even be a future for the two here if they didn't act?

"You know we can't.", Noah concludes, rubbing his neck, before looking to Hannah. "I mean, do you even have enough supplies for four?"

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bahamut
Jan 5, 2004

Curses from all directions!
Hannah Asagiri

"We have considerably more supplies than we had last winter," Hannah replies, stirring the soup as vapors began to rise from the pot. She's quiet for a time, only continuing after some thought, "but if you feel you're better served out there, I do understand."

"However," she pointedly adds, hanging the spoon through a hole on the pot's handle and rejoining the others near the island counter, "whatever it is you feel compelled to do abroad, know that you'd be better served resting for as long as you can before resuming."

"Save yourselves for the time when you have to fight. Don't wear yourselves thin because you feel you have to fight," the dark-haired girl quietly counsels. This iteration of events was over, the procession of Angels had halted. There had been no great and terrible lights rising over the horizon, no flames washing over the surface of the world. Hannah picked up the stack of bowls Franklin had set on the counter and moved back towards the stove, "one day the Trumpet will sound, and the fight will begin anew. I am compelled to wait until that time. I think it is okay if you do the same."

bahamut fucked around with this message at 04:29 on May 29, 2017

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