Mercutio: Well, gang?

Hikaru: Interesting take on Ghatanathoa. I especially liked
Shinji�s knowledge of Churchward and that little underwater bit 
with the Elder Sign; it�s helping to expand the story in a more 
Mythos-oriented direction, although hopefully not by TOO much; 
Rod and John seem to be going for story that can be read and
enjoyed by Eva fans who have little or no Mythos knowledge, and
too many obscure references and things will ruin that.

Yep.

In my view, this is a crossover with Eva being the dominant
half of the equation.  If possible, we'll try to write it
so that non-mythos fans won't feel too left out when they
read it.

Part 10 or 11 will be like the halfway point of the anime, 
a big 'halftime' recap, but with explanations of exactly 
what they've been dealing with so and briefing non-mythos
folks on what they should know.

Yeah, this means we drag in SEELE.

About time, too, don't you think?

Maya: The character development is starting to radically diverge from
canonical Eva as well; Rei has that �edge� to her, which is getting 
more pronounced,

Hey, let's face it, even the original Rei was, at heart,
a wicked bitch. :)

Recall how she got along with Ritsuko's mom.

Gendo and Fuyutsuki have actual _lines_, and
Makoto and myself are getting more screen time.

Credit John for those, really.  I didn't think to involve them
at all, but John's tossed them in the mix nicely.

I don�t quite like
how they�ve eliminated Shigeru�s crush on me (not that I encouraged
the guys attention) without giving explanation for it. 

Hewha?

Shigeru had a crush on Maya?  Huh? O.o;;;

Also, they used
Aoba�s name the way it�s SUPPOSED to be spelled, rather than 
anglicizing the word order. I just hope they start doing it with the
rest of us.

What's the anglican version? O.o?  I've never seen it.

Mercutio: <nods> I like what Maya (story-Maya, not you) is doing
with Rei, as well; nudging her gradually in the direction of a 
relationship with Shinji.

For all you pro-Asuka+Shinji lovers out there, stick around,
you'll be getting some of that too...

Though Rod has repeatedly avowed that
it will not lead to �a WAFFy Rei-Shinji pairing� we can at least hope
for a dark, Bartram-esque Rei/Shinji pairing. Being a huge fan of
the couple, I personally can�t wait.

Hrm... psychotic girl lusting for her 'brother' of sorts, yeah
that sounds like a Bartram thing.

Hikaru: Say, does Gendo know of Rei�s �feelings� for Shinji yet?
He spoke of dealing with her �situation� but it strikes me that
if he knew his pet clone was interested in his estranged son, he�d be.... 
well,angrier that he was. Or at least really, REALLY annoyed.

Gendo has worse things to worry about...

Maya: Huh. Guess we�ll find out. And hey, am I the only one who�s 
noticed that so far, pretty much every part has ended with a 
Gendo/Kouzou scene, or at least something involving them?

Mercutio: No, I got that too. Nice recurring theme, there.

Again, credit John.  I agree, great framing device.

Mercutio: There are two ways to summon Hastur to Earth; the traditional
way, using the monoliths and the spells and Aldebaran and such, and the 
little-known�back-door� method; if The King in Yellow is preformed with a full 
cast, appropriatly costumed, Hastur gets called down somewhere near the end.
Now, Robert Chambers, who created TKY, established in his stories that 
mearly to read the play is to go mad, but later authors and the CoC rules 
damped down the madness-causing properties considerably, meaning that 
it�s technically possible for the Cthulhoid forces at work to slip it into a 
junior high schools theatre group.

Again, keep in mind that anything that Lovecraft didn't write,
I'm treating as optional.  If it means trampling on Chambers,
well, hey... but we'll see how it goes.

Btw, you notice your quotes are coming off as all ^R marks?
Curse that microsoft word of yours :P

Next part oughta be out in less than two weeks, depending on
when John settles into his new digs.  Yeah, the title is a bit
of a giveaway, but I promise we'll still have nasty surprises.

Heheh.

-rod m

p.s.  Shigeru had a crush on Maya? Really?  O.o