2022-09-16: It Was Just A Little Apocalypse
- Cast: C.C., Misato Katsuragi
- Where: Tokyo-3
- Date: U.C. 0096 09 16
- Summary: Familiar faces have a less than amicable reunion.
<Pose Tracker> C.C. has posed.
Late summer, that most liminal time of year.
The heat of the prior season still lingers, but the passions and events have passed. Things return like they are normal, with the changing of seasons around the corner, but the leaves haven't turned, the chill hasn't appeared. It's still hot, but the cicadas seem to have abandoned their post. The world is quiet, droning. Things happen as they happen, a confluence of exhaustion and preparation for the harvests to come.
It's therefore the time of year a certain green-haired specter emerges from her hidey holes and breathes the fresh air a bit more adventurously. Nobody cares what happens in public in September, and thus C.C. is free to make the rounds to her truest destination:
A cheap, fast-food pizza parlor.
On this obnoxiously warm-but-not-hot, slightly-but-barely cloudy day in Tokyo-3, the single, most solitary unusual sight amidst the tall, overshadowing buildings...is a strange green-haired girl, draped upside-down high atop a highway sign, blocking off the second character of a destination in a way that'd probably make an immaculately funny pun, just sorta perched there like some strange bat - occasionally reaching up to grab herself a slice of pizza from its similarly precariously perched position atop a thin light-bar. Cars pass by along the top of her vision - below her, the sky is a vast, imposing void one could fall into. Inverting perspectives is always a slap to the senses, even after all this time...
<Pose Tracker> Misato Katsuragi has posed.
Misato Kasturagi tends to bring the heat in more ways than one but she enjoys a nice soft drink and pizza as much as anyone. She had a nice steaming hot to go box of extra cheese MEAT LOVERS pizza that pretty much just dumps all the meat options onto the pizza and lets god sort them out. She has a bottle of beer in one hand that she guzzles down and an oozy slice of pizza on top of the cardboard box that she's using as an improvised plate. She lifts the pizza box up periodically so she can munch down on the pizza without having to make any use of her hands.
It's in this position, as she's heading toh er car, that she sees something strange.
A green haired girl is not strange. But a green haired girl hanging upside down on top of a highway sign and doing some hanging pullups in order to eat pizza.
She could shout and that wouldn't do anything at this distance so she pulls into the car, drives over the sign, and then pulls over off to the side of the road.
Leaving her pizza in the car, Misato steps out and says, "Hey that's--"
Now that she's getting a closer look at this girl.
"...Dangerous..."
Misato blinks slowly. Is she going insane, she wonders. She rubs at her eyes and--no, it's her.
That person she saw long ago. Did someone survive and have a kid? Maybe...but this girl's...
Identical.
"Hey." She says. "Who are you?"
Don't reach for it, Misato, not yet.
<Pose Tracker> C.C. has posed.
Oh, C.C. has a drink with her too. But she's truly chosen a heretical lifestyle - one incongruous with the world around her - by the sheer audacaity of her chosen pizza-pairing beverage:
water
She expects stares, and is apathetic to them for the most part as they go by. Sometimes she stares back, but in that baleful 'yeah I'm here yeah I know it, deal with it' way. But Misato does a loooot more than stare. She approaches. With intent. With recognition.
Some 30 feet above Misato, the inverted C.C. cranes her head ever so slightly - - -
Just as she did that fateful day, looking high above this crying girl-
It's not Misato's face C.C. recognizes - it's more of a...'fingerprint' of sorts. The distinct 'personhood'. As top level psycosophists will one day dub the formal term: the 'vibes'.
"You know, while the world is small enough that most of humanity's gone and run away from it, this is starting to get a little bit silly," C.C. muses, cupping a yawn behind her lips, followed by a long, protracted sigh. With a soft 'hup', the green-haired witch hoists herself upright, seated upon the steel girders pointing to a nearby exit. She's clad in a most simple, unassuming if somewhat irresponsibly de-buttoned blouse, and the tightest black stretchy jeans that have ever been made.
"...you're asking me this question, of course, because you've recognized me, yes? I suppose there's a million ways I could weasel out of this-" (note: she's literally doing this even as she admits it) "-but I guess it wouldn't accomplish much, and you'd probably pursue me when I lack the high ground and lead to all sorts of trouble."
---Yes, on that fateful day that befell Antarctica, that event which consumed so many lives-
Past the fires which engulfed Misato's father was that strange green-haired girl.
Everyone she was with had perished most violently...
...but it's unmistakeably her.
<Pose Tracker> Misato Katsuragi has posed.
Misato looks up at C.C. There's a thousand ways C.C could play this off because the actual reality is stranger than whatever fiction she could conceivably concoct. But C.C isn't going to do that, is she? She even says that she lacks the high ground when she, quite clearly, is 30 feet above Misato Katsuragi's head. 'That was my mother'. She could've said that. 'I'm a clone' Even that'd work. But instead, the first thing C.C makes clear to Misato Katsuragi is that the woman she saw that day was, in fact, the same woman she sees before her now.
Misato raises her hand, having used her own body to block C.C's vision from seeing that she was drawing her weapon--and points it at C.C. Her hand doesn't so much as shake. This is someone well experienced in gunning down humans and kaiju alike.
"They said I was the only survivor." Misato says. "Guess I shouldn't be surprised that wasn't quite true. You want to come down here and answer some questions or do you want to do this the hard way?"
<Pose Tracker> C.C. has posed.
Not even the slightest flinch or change in C.C. when a gun's pointed in her direction - indeed, her only response is to grab herself another slice of double-deluxe mini-pepperoni-calzone-stuffed-crust pizza, holding it decadently - almost imperiously above her lips.
"Well - mmph mhmhg - you've put me in a teensy spot of trouble, haven't you...? Still, interesting how you phrase that, especially when we're talking perfectly fine while I'm up here." One leg crosses over the other in a motion that must surely be sending those tight pants screaming for a release from the tension, the witch leaning forward and propping up an elbow on her knee, feet occasionally tapping the steel girder of the sign.
"I'm happy to have you ask me questions-" (nothing said about actually answering them) "-but the 'hard way' is pretty self-imposed, hmm, Misato? You should probably be pretty used to the 'official story' always being some degree of coverup, especially in your line of work, really in your whole organization. NERV and the higher authorities lied to you about this mysterious catastrophe pie that their entire arm was plunged into, it seems? Woooow~ What a shocking twist." Her smile gets oh so flippantly catty and insufferable...
<Pose Tracker> Misato Katsuragi has posed.
"It'll be easier to shoot you down here!" Misato shouts back which is true, though there's the sense that the difference might not be as big as Misato is implying. The pistol has shifted slightly to account for minute--near impercetible changes in the wind. It's not the straight aim of an amateur.
A normal reasonable response would be to say 'HEY DON'T SHOOT' or some other kind of negotiation. Instead, the response is taunting. It doesn't quite pierce through to the heart because the fact that NERV LIES and NERV HIDES THE TRUTH AND KNOWS MORE THAN IT LETS ON--well, Misato's been well aware of that before she even joined NERV. But it's still annoying enough that she lets out a resigned exhale, tilts her hand impercetibly and fires a bullet hole through the megapizza slice she's holding causing a teeny tiny piece of crust and pizza and meat to impact against the billboard.
"Well the hard way's the option I had. If you're offering an easy way, I've got allll day. We can even have a sleepover party, talk about boys and girls we like, have some anniversery cake. Good times for all. You ever spin the bottle?"
<Pose Tracker> C.C. has posed.
She was just about to eat that slice.
C.C. was ready to enjoy yet more favored decadence right when that bullet carved a gaping hole in the center of that pizza, compromising the structural integrity and leading to a complete collapse in the pizza weight equilibrium, with a majority of what remains tumbling all the way down to the asphalt below.
"Well, isn't that quite literally the rudest thing you could've done to an old...hm. 'Friend' isn't really an apt term. I imagine your immediate apprehension and hostility is because you -know-."
Eyes narrowing, mouth pursing into a frown - C.C. dangles her leg over the quarter-mile-until-exit indicator - swinging it between the 1 and the 4 like the pendulum of a clock. "You're remembering me for when I was talking and walking with all the important people tampering with forces they didn't understand, and then they went and caused the kind of disaster that entails. ...Or I guess that's not really right. They assessed that disaster. Studied and made predictions on it. No, I guess 'causing' it isn't really 'their' fault in this equation, so you've just stumbled into however many years of someone to blame. Yep, I'm flooding aaaaall sorts of bad memories to you, and yep, it's 100% my fault."
A short pause, still and plain - before C.C. makes her counter-offensive, and tosses the pizza crust with shocking force right at Misato's face. "There. I've given as much of an answer as I can to all the questions you didn't ask yet. Are you planning on wasting any more food today?"
<Pose Tracker> Misato Katsuragi has posed.
"I can get ruder," Misato says. The gun is now aimed at C.C's temple. Her hand isn't shaking. "Seems like we've both chosen rudeness." Despite this she has the unsettling feeling that she's in over her head here which...really shouldn't be the situation. She has the gun. The other person has pizza. Pizza they cannot protect.
"So it was you..." Misato murmurs. "What were you doing there? More importantly, how do I--"
C.C throws a pizza crust and it smacks against Misato's forehead. It drops quietly to the ground.
"........" Misato takes in a deep breath.
She lets it out slowly.
She pulls the hammer back.
"Nah, I'm over it." Misato says. "I was one of the lucky ones. So you want me to ask the questions. Fine. How do I save those kids? Asuka, Shinji, Rei, Kaworu, Mari, Alouette. All of 'em."
"Or I've got another way to get answers." Misato adds. "Your call. Last call."
<Pose Tracker> C.C. has posed.
It always has to be the gun. Like C.C. knows they've been popular for a reason, and she knows she can deal with it, but it's not like it's -fun-.
A long and slow sigh of annoyance, lazily moving out of Misato's crosshairs for a second to rest sideways across her perch, hair tousling over the sign yet once more. "...save them? Truthfully, I only even recognize one name you said, and what he seems to be going through is fascinating in how it's beyond even my understanding. ...mm, I'll say here and now that if you're worrying about saving -Kaworu-, there's forces at play here we really should save our breath screaming at. Maybe one day I'll figure it out. It's a bit less likely that one day you'll figure it out."
She rolls upwards, staring at the slowly setting sun and the way, way too colorful shadows it casts on the meandering clouds overhead for a humdrum day like this. "...I'm just about the last one you should ask about saving people. A long, long time ago maybe I had delusions that I could save them all. The whole wide world. ...mm, maybe not -that- long ago. Sometimes I have delusions I can save a big group of people. Maybe even one right now. And on occasion, when I'm holding onto someone real real tight, I think - maybe I can save just this one person close to my heart. ...But y'know..."
Chin propped upon the ledge, C.C. stares balefully into Misato's eyes, sunlight shimmering on her golden irises. "...It's basically random. Some of the people you help will be fixed. Some will be worse off from all you do. Some will get better even without your intent at all. Some are just doomed to suffer. No matter how deep you dive into someone else's heart, things are arbitrary and unthinkable to untangle. Of course- given the kind of woman you turned out to be, I'm gonna take you as being stubborn, and like my words are gonna maybe echo for a few times in your terribly pretty head, and then you're gonna go right back to worrying about the lot of them. I completely understand. Seen it a million times."
For a short moment, C.C. glances off to Misato's side...and makes a lazy little gesture...at her car. "Oh, I really like that. Well kept for its age. Stylish and classy. You're pointing and pouring your heart out at me like a heroine of justice, but nobody can escape the little self-satisfactions that are really important. If I could get away with keeping up with a wonderful ride like that, I'd go for it in a heartbeat, but every nice car I've absconded with meets its fate in a smoldering heap. So if you ever wanna take me for a ride, I should probably take up the passenger seat." Smug catty smirk engaged.
<Pose Tracker> Misato Katsuragi has posed.
Misato grew up with a gun close at hand because of Second Impact. She's still not entirely sure that C.C isn't responsible for setting that off. She's accustomed to not knowing what's going on, but the searing mockery...
"Kaworu...?" Misato is confused. What is this person's connection with Kaworu? WHY would someone like this know Kaworu? C.C's answers--Misato knows on some level that they are technically correct answers, but the deeper truth of these answers elude her. The cosmic answer. Misato is not the kind of person to believe in that.
Like C.C says, she's a stubborn sort. That much is plain to see even for non-immortals.
But Misato is the kind of person when seeing an impossible knot--to cut through it. Metaphorically. She doesn't have a sword on her. She'd probably be just as happy with the sword.
'The universe is unfair and cruel and random' is not the answer Misato was looking for. She is a person who wants to put her foot firmly on the scale.
"Random huh...?" Misato murmurs.
She looks to her car and adds, "That so? Bad luck with cars? Well, I'll have you know I'm a very good driver. You'd be safe with me."
She exhales out another breath. "...Heh... being this kind of person, I bet they wouldn't really care for it. But my day job is killer for hire, all to protect one little household you don't seem to know anything about."
"But I do know you've got some kind of hand in what happened that day. Even if you just stood by and let it happen."
She twists her gun and fires two quick shots for C.C's chest. Always double tap. Maybe more if it's someone like Ouka. "Sorry, but I was looking for something a bit more practical. Hope being a cool girl was worth it for you."
Her instincts told her: This is someone who is dangerous to Kaworu and the others.
And that was enough. She has no idea.
<Pose Tracker> C.C. has posed.
"You trigger-happy piece of-! GK...GHYAA..." The world blossoms in red. Pain courses through her vision. Her body goes frustratingly weak.
No matter how little she makes it worth it to people - sometimes they just...they just...!
Crimson drips down onto the low traffic road. C.C. grimaces and gazes onto the coming horizon - she's going to have to buy time for a while.
A big show of coughing up blood.
"...kghgh...are you...satisfied...with yourself? ...is that the world...that's been made...after all this time...? Violence done on the cheap...like we've traded wisdom...for the smell of blood."
...a lot of blood coughed up, for real. It still wreaks some havoc for a while. Her blouse is -ruined-.
"...well...good luck finding answers this way. H...hh..." Grimacing deeply, struggling with the weight of her own body, C.C. tries to stand up - her balance wavering on this perch.
...and then, at long last, she falls down.
...right into the bed of a large truck she was waiting for, which rumbles on past unknowing, whizzing down the road for a block.
...the instant it makes a turn out of Misato's sight, C.C. quickly rebounds from her position, wiping her lips and kicking her way into the driver's cab, binding up the driver with her blood-soaked blouse (including a blindfold! wow! gross!) and putting some actual metal to the pedal to get distance between herself and Misato.
"...Tsk. I do so much for people, but it's like they're asking to be on my list. Honestly, it's not even remotely fulfilling to linger around this damned place after that, much as I still have things I want out of the Geofront...guess I'll just have to do without..."
<Pose Tracker> Misato Katsuragi has posed.
"Huh." Misato says, rubbing at her forehead with her own gun. That she just fired. That's how cavalier Misato is about her life though she does, at least, pull her finger away from the trigger first.
%"...To be honest," Misato says. "With how you were talking I was expecting it to bounce off." Did she...think C.C was some kind of Angel in human form? Someting else? She's not sure. But listening to her gut kept her alive through Second Impact and beyond. She wasn't about to stop listening to it now. "You were talkin' 'bout humanity like you weren't a part of it, but I guess you're a part of it just fine."
"And you know it pretty well." Misato adds, this part as morosely as anyone. She watches C.C. fall. Missing answers, well--
--well it's unfortunate. But--
--wait, she just fell for a truck. Is that...
"Shit...!" Misato says, running to her car, driving after the cab--
--but it's long gone by the time she turns a corner after her.
"..."
"I must be goin' crazy." Misato mutters, flopping back in her chair. But she does have a lead now.
"Kaworu...how the hell do you know this .... person?"
Just a hesitation before saying person. But no, she's human.
She has to be. She understands humanity too well not to be one.
"Well, stranger. If you somehow survived that I guess I owe you a pizza."