Subject: [FFML] Evangelion: Neural Clips

From: "Rob Lauder" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2007 16:16:21 -0500

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Neural Clips
By Himonky2012
Disclaimer:  I don't own Evangelion, I just enjoy writing about it.

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Shinji rose early. He always had and always would, despite his recent onset 
of puberty. No sir, no sleeping till noon for him. Some people might enjoy 
that, but Shinji couldn’t stand wasting all the time that a new morning 
brought him. To him, the morning was the best part of the day.

He could accomplish so much before anyone else was even awake. Cook, clean 
and get all of his responsibilities done before anyone else even had a 
chance. The morning was a time of work for Shinji. He told everyone it was 
so he could relax the rest of the day.

But the truth was that he liked the morning because he worked during it. 
Being busy was enjoyable to him, as long as it wasn’t to the point of 
causing him anxiety. Washing plates and clothes put him in a happy place 
where he felt like he accomplished something. Like he was really worth 
something, despite the fact that he was rarely praised for it.

But this wasn’t the only reason he enjoyed the mornings. The lack of certain 
aspects of his daily life from the morning made him enjoy it.

It was before he had to go to NERV and see Eva. Before he had to get inside 
of the monster and train in it. Before he had to put up with Ritsuko and his 
father’s gaze.

It was before he had to put up with Misato, Asuka, Touji and Kensuke teasing 
him about a million and a half things. Before everyone else would question 
his actions and make him feel worthless. It was before everyone would make 
him feel weak and before he would question his own actions.

The morning was a time Shinji put aside for himself. He could feel good 
about his life during it. He could accomplish something. It was all his.

So when he exited his room at 5:30 AM, he was surprised and somewhat 
disappointed to find Asuka slumped over on the kitchen table, books and 
notes strewn everywhere. Disappointed, and a little frightened.

It was his time of the day. He was supposed to be in his happy place right 
now, not having to worry about why Asuka was asleep on the table.

“I told Misato letting her go back to college was a mistake,” he whispered 
to himself. She’d clearly been up all night studying for a test the next 
day.

Shit. There was no way he’d be able to cook breakfast without waking her up. 
Additionally, he wouldn’t be able to wash clothes or feed Pen Pen because 
Asuka was asleep on the table.

His whole world collapsed at what he thought was surely the ruining of his 
day. He gave a soft groan and sat down at the table.

‘She isn’t even awake and she’s thrown my whole day into chaos’ he thought 
with a soft smile.

He really tried not to look at her to closely. For the first few minutes he 
glanced idly around the room, wondering how early he could wake her up and 
how loudly she would shriek when she found that she’d been sleeping in the 
same room as him.

But eventually his eyes ran out of lines to follow or floor tiles to count. 
At first it was just a small glance, but his eyes soon returned to her 
again. She stirred slightly and Shinji managed to immediately avert his eyes 
and give a soft cough as an excuse, in case she would awaken.

But she just moved slightly, her hair blocking her face and quite a bit of 
her body from view.

Shinji blinked when he noticed that she was still wearing her neural clips. 
In fact, he realized that he’d only seen her without them when showering and 
going to bed. She wore them every day. The same pair, as far as he knew. 
‘She must’ve forgotten to take them out last night,’ he realized.

He wondered why she wore them all the time.

Was it to show off? She certainly didn’t need to wear the neural clips for 
that. Every kid in the school knew she was an Eva pilot and knew who she 
was. The guys for slightly less jealous reasons than the girls, though no 
more pure. And she always said that she didn’t need other people’s 
attention, that she was strong enough to live on her own.

Was it to connect her with Eva? People at NERV knew she was a pilot as well. 
She had to be, otherwise she’d never have been permitted to enter the base. 
Everyone knew that. And it wasn’t like Asuka went anywhere besides school or 
NERV very often, so it couldn’t be for outsiders. She most likely wouldn’t 
care to impress them anyway.

Was it just as an accessory? To keep her hair back and match her hair? No, 
Asuka would never wear the same thing everyday if they didn’t have another 
purpose. She’d have another reason besides this one, at the very least.

Leaning over, something besides Asuka and her hair caught Shinji’s eye. It 
was one of the books. It had a picture of a red haired female in a lab coat, 
standing next to a sign that said Gehirn in large block letters, followed by 
some smaller words that Shinji decided were in German. He couldn’t even 
guess the meaning.

The text title said the reading was about advanced biology and transferring 
mental signals over distances using small transmitters.

That was as far as Shinji got before he realized that the page was slightly 
damp. He blinked in surprise. ‘Why would the page be damp in certain spots?’

…

Nah, couldn’t be. Asuka must’ve spilled some water or something on it.

Shinji went back to the picture, examining the woman. He decided she looked 
vaguely like Asuka. He read the caption below the woman’s picture.

Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu: Credited with the major break through in brainwave 
transmission technology, Dr. Soryu created the first small scale mental wave 
transmission systems for the UN project Gehirn.

Shinji blinked in surprise. Asuka’s mother? She’d invented the neural clips?

No wonder she always wore them. Shinji realized that she wore them for a 
different reason then he’d ever expected. It was from homesickness. It was 
from missing something that was far away and that she might not be going 
back to for a long time.

Shinji felt a slight pang in his heart as he realized that Asuka really had 
been crying on the page. She’d been thinking of her mother, wondering when 
she’d ever get to see her again. Shinji found he could relate, despite the 
fact that his own mother was dead.

The absence in his life, much longer than he supposed Asuka’s must’ve been, 
still hurt him after the bulk of his life. He’d managed to become 
comfortably numb to it eventually, but Asuka had moved from Germany only a 
few months ago.

‘She must be homesick,’ he realized.

Then Asuka’s breathing changed slightly. Her mouth opened and she licked her 
lips, though her eyes stayed closed. One of her arms moved on the table, 
showing that she really was awake.

Shinji sounded a full retreat. Panicking slightly, he tried to exit the room 
as quickly as he could, staying quiet and not drawing attention to himself. 
Needless to say about the last part, he was rather good at it.

Asuka stretched her arms and yawned, then looked back at the book. Through 
half awake eyes, she felt a sudden urge to slam it closed and put it away. 
She didn’t want to start again this early. Shinji or Misato might be awake.

She got up and went to her room to sleep for the final hour and a half 
before she’d have to get up.

---------

Shinji heard Asuka open the door to her room and then close it.

He sat on the floor on his room and pondered whether or not he should get up 
and cook breakfast and take care of his chores. But, after a little 
thinking, he decided that he really wasn’t in the mood to wash clothes 
anymore.

He smiled. “She doesn’t even know it and she’s messing with my life.”

Then he got up to go start breakfast, knowing that his pleasant quiet 
morning was already partway over. Soon Misato and Asuka would wake up, this 
time for the whole day, and he’d have to deal with his tiny little 
insecurities.

But he didn’t see the morning as wasted. He was glad to have learnt 
something about Asuka. Even if it had messed up his morning.

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