2023-09-29: Tranquillite (Girl Interrupted)

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The weather forecasts had predicted a bright sunny day, with a very light chance of rain. A stark contrast to the grey overcast that covered Tokyo-3 in a pall of gloom. "Shows what they know." Asuka muttered, but the weather suited her just fine.

Why'd Kaworu have to open his big mouth? Why'd he have to try and take this away from her? It feels like everything is tainted. She'd intended it to be a kind act for Rei, even if noone would know that for what it was.

And now...

Now she just fell bad about it.

An elbow was resting against the window, and a hand against her cheek, as Asuka had come straight from school early in the day to the convoy of NERV trucks that were heading to the experiment site, the one behind them carrying Unit-03's test entry plug. Misato had tried to say something encouraging but it died when Asuka hadn't even responded.

Her phone buzzed however, announcing she had one new message from an unfamiliar number on the push alert. Bringing it up to her ear, she stared out the window as a new message began, "New message. First new message. BEEP."

"Here you go Rei, you can talk now." Doctor Akagi perhaps? It sounds like her. She held the phone to her ear, nothing. The silence stretched on. Curiosity began to change into annoyance as she pulled the phone away from ear, glaring at it in frustration and annoyance when a faint...

"Thank you."

... was heard. Asuka's blue eyes widened in surprise. Then without even realizing it, a thin smile appeared upon her lips as the message playback ended. "Idiot. I just know that I'm here for piloting Eva." She asided to Misato. As she turned to lean back against the door frame, staring out the window, she stated to Misato softly.

"Hey... if I like Unit 03... have it painted red, alright?"

Misato smiled at her, for a while saying nothing, then- "We'll figure that out after the test. It's not a long ride to Nagano. If you wanna eat in the car, it's okay."

Asuka looked at the bento box Shinji made her in her bag, "Nah, there'll be some time while they set up right?" She didn't realize she was still smiling, "I swear, Baka Shinji should have realized I would have needed a more practical meal today. It's a real pain to use chopsticks on the move."

-=-=-

The Matsushiro Secondary Experiment Facility was typically a sleepy little place near the mountains of Nagano, ever since the Evangelions came into service, it had hardly seen use other than for various internal research projects by NERV. Today it was different, military helicopters abuzz as personnel from the main office were flown in, towering cranes still set up around the temporary cage that had been built. The inspection was well underway, and the main branch staff were already declaring it approved for testing.

Construction barriers had been set up on either side of the cage, but the segmented fluttering sheets could not fully conceal the towering Evangelion Unit-03 that knelt within. Several of the staff were already guiding in it's umbilical cable, which ratcheted in smoothly. While the near miss with Evangelion Unit-04 was on everyone's minds here, everything thus far was moving according to plan, perfectly on schedule.

Inside the test bunker, technical staff sat in cramped conditions, in parallel, tapping away at their computers, watching the monitors. The dim glow of lights and the hum of air conditioning in the vents overhead lending to a somber atmosphere. The only chatter going on over their headsets was strictly necessary, professional communication.

Which is why in this moment, the ringing of Misato Katsuragi's phone was dissonant, as she checked it. Surprising, a secure line from Asuka? It's not like her to call at all, especially so close to something official. Ascending the steps to outside the bunker, Misato looked up at the Evangelion's cage in the mountainside greenery, as she stepped out to the bridge she put the phone to her ear.

"What's up, Asuka? You usually don't call for a pep talk. Not still upset about how things went down right?"

Inside the lift, trailing towards the site, Asuka's worn school uniform was hung up on the wall. In front of a perfunctory mirror, various objects lay on a counter. A pink kit for toiletries, several jars and bottles of skin cream, a clunky test interface headset for her hair, and a stitched and restitched doll of Eastern European style dress, with Asuka's name roughly placed in the skirt. And an empty bento box, with it's hastily eaten contents, and a pair of chopsticks laying haphazardly inside of it.

"What? Nah. I'm not- I realize that was all his fault. It's not like Fifth String to mouth off to the Commander like that. I just felt like talking to someone all of a sudden? And STORAGE didn't have clearance for the test site, so that Karate Tryhard was out." Misato actually smiled at that, despite the implication that she's lower on the list, "Heh, sorry about that. I appreciate you doing this, putting up with all the restrictions."

BGM OST - Tranquillite - Shiro Sagisu - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpM6YT84a98

Inside, Asuka pressed a button on the wrist, causing the loose material of the test suit to suddenly become form fitting. "No need to thank me." Hitting a switch, the walls went from opaque, to transparent glass, revealing the cage as her lift moved past it, "It's the duty of the elite, really, and I was always the best candidate. Besides, Baka Shinji is right, I'm not one for dinner parties anyway? Ultra Girl finds playing house fun, so let her. But me? I wouldn't be able to stand sitting there. I can't pretend to enjoy something I just don't."

Checking her face in the mirror, she began to gather up her hair, continuing to just talk. "Like I thought about it, and it surprised me. Why am I putting in so much effort being someone I'm not? Who wants to sit around watching everyone else have fun? Small talk? Friends? Dating? Romance? That's their thing. I'd rather focus on my performance scores. Anything else? That's just not me."

"I don't think that's true at all." Misato said with a smile, unconvinced, "You and Shinji are pretty cute together."

Asuka finished affixing the clips to her gathered up hair, as she asked, "Cute?" Despite her best efforts, Asuka flushed a little red, fortunately she was somewhere that Misato couldn't see. "Hm. I don't know. It's so hard to... open up to him you know? There's, classified stuff, that feels like it gets between us. I'm still really not sure if us dating was a good idea. But I think I've decided to give it a go, to share more about me, and take that leap... and see how it turns out." Finishing up, she looked at a pager on the counter, "Maybe he takes it better than expected!"

"Huh." Misato said with a hint of surprise, "Well, if you want to run it by me first, I'll give you permission so noone in the brass can give you grief. Gotta say, I'm surprised. You've never been the type to want to talk about yourself like that." Asuka looked sideways as she hummed as she hooked the pager onto the right shoulder of her plugsuit casually, as if it were a part of her new routine for getting ready, "Mmmmm. Well... a certain someone convinced me it was worth it to try." "Makinami?" "She's so annoying! I swear, she made it like her one request before she left for Jupiter on her big assignment that I share how I feel, so I can't really turn her down."

Misato looked up towards the temporary cage, as if imagining the way Asuka looked, "Is that so?" Misato smiled, "I think you enjoy being annoyed by her." Asuka grumbled momentarily, "As if! You know, she's just got this way of getting things stuck in your head. You know about experiencing things and how it opens up your world."

"Well I can't say I disapprove. Honestly, she's got a good head on her shoulders. You won't really know if those things are for you or not until you give them a fair try, right? The world is full of surprises Asuka, so don't close yourself off to experiences like that."

"Now you're starting to sound just like her." Asuka looked out the window, and perhaps didn't realize the thin smile that crept onto her face again as she looked on Evangelion Unit-03, "Well... maybe it'll surprise me this time. Guess we'll see."

Misato chuckled, "That's my girl." Asuka eyed her phone for a moment as an image of her in the mirror crossed her vision, then laced her arm across her abdomen, "Hey, one more thing."

Asuka suddenly checked out her plug suit, which was discolored along the bust line as if it'd been out in the sun, orange along the torso and upper hips, lined with green sensors and more form fitting sections that seemed to draw attention to the butt. As she abruptly posed to check what she looked like from behind.

Image of Asuka in the plugsuit: https://i.imgur.com/3s5OjSY.jpeg

"What kind of pervert designed this test suit? Did they really have to make it so /revealing/?"

-=-=-

Inside the test plug for Unit-03, colors coruscated around Asuka in bright greens, vague shapes like that of a luminous nervous system surrounding her. The chatter of the technical team had faded into the background for her.

"Stage 1 - Excited State, holding steady." "Entry Plug sensor systems, all green. Diagnostic fluctuations, stable."

A prismatic wave of colors, that then shifted to the feel of being inside an artery, smooth muscle, and the feel of something traveling down it. Asuka relaxed as the entry plug walls changed to a panoramic view of Evangelion Unit-03's test cage.

"Roger, shift to Phase 2 start up operations. Initiate secondary connection."

And inside, Asuka felt wholly relaxed, bereft of tension. There was no anxiety whatsoever, and on her face again, a smile.

"Who knew? Maybe I can smile without forcing it after all."

It begins gradually, the front of the entry plug's panoramic view of the cage breaking away, to her world shifting into bright crimson, the edges tearing away at violet, a creeping infection. A mycosis that travels through the plug, consuming Asuka. The physical surrounds, as the plug seat vanished, leaving her suspended in liquid womb.

Trying to stay calm, trying to tell herself it was part of the test, that feeling died as violet crosses streamed by her as a swarm of birds. A feeling of MOMENTUM hitting her as twin wings of streaming particles appeared out of her shoulders. The titter of childlike laughter suddenly thrummed inside of her skull and the wings came less the feeling of flying, and more that of being SHOVED deeper.

If you ever feel like your life is in danger. If you ever feel like you just want to be far away from where you are. Call.

Unable to keep the fright off her face or the rising panic within, a hand moves over to her right shoulder in a moment of decision, pressing it as the 3G pager sprang to life with it's emergency call. With that done, she tried to tell herself that everything was going to be okay.

Just as red gave way to a blue nebula of what felt like numerous stars, making up a cross like representation of one, stitched with two rings, giving the vague feeling of an eye. A little girl, features warped and distorted flashed into Asuka's mind before fracturing and breaking apart into the dozens, then the hundreds. Bright blue reflecting the growing sense of absolute horror in her eyes.

In that moment she vanished, the world returning into view. An empty plug suit, two bulky interface headset clips, and last of all, the pager flashing as it floated in the LCL.

Chiming its plea, from a girl who was too proud to ever ask for help, for someone, anyone, to please come save her.

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