2023-07-12: Together Dinner

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Revision as of 02:34, 27 September 2023 by Ayu (talk | contribs) (Created page with "*'''Log: 2023-07-12 Together Dinner''' *'''Cast:''' Character :: Shinji Ikari, Character :: Kaworu Nagisa, Character :: Rei Ayanami, Character :: Asuka Shikinami...")
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<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.

        If there's one thing that can be called the best part of living with Misato "Horrific Slob" Katsuragi, it's that she always splurges for air conditioning in the muggy heat of Japanese summer. It is, after all, mankind's greatest treasure.
        
        This means that, even though it's as hot as it ever is during this season (and what a world it would be if it was this hot year-round), Shinji can cook even hot meals without dying of sweat. Tonight's meal is curry--he has Rei and Kaworu over to help cook--so there's actually two pots, both with a base of Indian tomato curry: one with tofu, one with chicken, both with assorted vegetables. Rei is a vegetarian, while Asuka insists on eating meat, so having them both over for dinner means having to make two different dinners.
        
        Kaworu at least will eat whatever is put in front of him, assuming he consents to eating anything at all. He's simultaneously the easiest and the hardest person to cook for. Still, Shinji knows that Kaworu has an interest in curry--he made it for that temple clean-up last year--so if there's any one person he knows who'd be best at helping him make two deviated pots at once, it's him.
        
        And hey: this means there'll be plenty of leftovers for tomorrow's lunches. Curry tastes better the day after, anyway. (This might be an overall fairly positive attitude for Shinji, but he finds it's coming easier and easier to him these days.)
        
        With a couple of small dishes and a ladle each, he taste-tests both pots, then nods with a slight smile, satisfied. "Okay... That's pretty good. We can just leave these to simmer until Misato-san gets home." Setting the ladles down, he covers both pots, then checks his phone. The era being what it is, it's naturally a smartphone. "Weird... She hasn't answered my texts. I hope she didn't forget to charge her phone."
        
        (It says a lot that Shinji doesn't assume that Misato's leaving him on read.)
        
        "...Again," he adds.
        
        (...a lot about how there are much likelier scenarios.)
        
        Looking over his shoulder at the kitchendining room table, where his roommategirlfriend might well be lounging like a princess waiting to be fed, Shinji wonders, "Asuka? Have you heard anything?"

<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.


        Kaworu, for his part, is washing knives. Cooking and cleaning exist hand in hand; as one cooks, one will use all mannery of cutlery and crockery. The tofu needed to be pressed; the meat needed to be cubed; the vegetables needed to be diced; the spices needed to be toasted. All of these tasks require tools, and all of those tools now need to be cleaned. Bringing various curry recipes for them all to mull over and decide upon, assisting with the prep work, and finally cleaning up after feels like the appropriate way to help out.
        
        He can cook curry--he's taken pains to learn how for exactly this scenario--but with three chefs in the kitchen, it's best to cede ground to those who actually need to eat.
        
        "She could be in a meeting or something similar presently," Kaworu suggests affably. "If it weren't for the fact that I've been assigned to pilot Unit-01 with you now, I'd probably be in the same situation."
        
        After all, the Tenth Angel is still at large and a threat. Considering there are only a handful of Evangelion pilots, it's frankly more important for the now-paired pilots of Unit-01 to stay together than it is to put Kaworu to more generalized work. A good thing, for a variety of reasons.
        
        His crimson eyes move to Rei then. He'd already been smiling (he usually is), but there is a subtle something in it that shows just for her. With the four of them together like this, it's easier--for a variety of reasons.

<Pose Tracker> Rei Ayanami has posed.


Air conditioning is just another stage in mankind's great dream: To finally destroy the Sun.

Rei contributed with the first fruits of her harvest. The vegetables were brought over in a plastic container, somewhat battered, which Shinji might recognize, for once upon a time it served to hold proofing dough inside of a refrigerator. in a place that was darker and danker than where she lives now.

Tomatoes. So many tomatoes. Most of them are not large - the breed seems to be somewhere between cherry and plum tomato sized, and they are all distinctly a clear orange, rather than the usual deep tomato red. They even have a meaningful difference in taste, with notably less acid than is usual. (So, more vegetable-ish.)

Rei herself dressed simply - a short-sleeved blouse and a navy-blue skirt/spats combination. Rei was glad enough to serve as assistant chopper, but has for the most part kept herself to the side, watching Shinji in his labors. She reserved a half dozen or so of the smaller tomatoes, and at this time there are three left. One of which comes up and which Rei is lifting to her mouth as she glances towards Kaworu.

The tomato is slid into her mouth, quietly disappearing. She does not bite, but crushes it quietly with her tongue.

After this her eyes turn towards the Second, perhaps because she may have news of her own.

<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.


Thanks to the Central Air, Asuka is in fact lounging at the dining room table. A small nod to the fact that she does not object to Shinji's company - all the time.

        (Asuka you're dating him.)

As such she's in a pink tank top and a white skirt, lounging with her Wonderswan as she raises rare African birds to take them through Mystery Dungeons.

Asuka does not question why one uses nuts to get the birds to do the deed. One simply understands it happens behind closed doors after hearts appear between the two of them.

The smell of curry permeates the area, and every so often she looks up from her game at Shinji, but otherwise indeed plays the part of the Princess doing zero work and expecting to be fed.

Looking up just in time at the question, she catches Rei sliding a small tomato down her throat, squinting at her as their eyes meet, "Don't ask me. I haven't heard a thing." She replies as she tap taps the keys after the act of love between two birds goes unwitnessed but implied. "Hey PenPen, she leave her itinerary with you?"

The bird, with towel slung over his shoulder has his taloned hand upon the door handle of the bathroom, he turns it just enough to react to the stimulus of Asuka asking a question.

There is perhaps a standoff, an awkward air as a girl playing a game about breeding large birds asks a question of the bird. And then, without an answer, the door handle is turned, and he waddles inside, shutting the door.

"Yeah s'what I thought." Asuka grumbles, and goes back to trying to breed a bird that she regards as more useful than him.

<Pose Tracker> Mari Makinami Illustrious has posed.

Where IS Misato Katsuragi?

Did she forget to power her phone? Is she busy gossiping with Ritsuko and leaving Shinji on read?? Did Kaji seduce her away with the promise of watermelon dates?!

Is she currently on the run from the law after accidentally manslaughtering Kaji--?!

All these and more are likely possibilities. Also, she could just be in a meeting.

The sky's the limit. The unknown is a sea of endless possibilities that cannot be quantified --

Until a simple knock on the door starts to slowly whittle down the infinite quantum uncertainty into something more concrete.

It's a short knock. It's jaunty. It sounds like it could be the way Misato would knock on the door. And, indeed, outside waits a woman wearing a flimsy tank top and denim cutoffs. It's a perfect match! Except --

--why would Misato knock on her own door?

(when it's debatably too early for her to be drunk enough to do such a thing--)

The answer will come if anyone is brave or curious enough to answer the door. For there braced about five feet out from the door waiting for for them is a young woman, wearing a winning, devil-may-care grin, denim cutoffs, a camo tanktop

        -- CAMO tanktop--?

and red-rimmed... glasses...

Said glasses glint menacingly in the throbbing electric light. And WHOEVER answers the door --

"Ufu."

Gets to deal with five feet and eight inches of, not Misato Katsuragi, but Mari Makinami Illustrious --

"AMBUSH~!"

--pouncing on them in a full body tackle.

This, of course, just raises further questions, the most immediate of which being:

Who is her victim?!

(because she honestly wasn't paying attention to who)

<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.

        The Sun was born, so it shall die...
        
        Normally plasticware isn't something that Shinji would recognize on sight. In the context of Rei Ayanami, though, he does recognize the dinks and dents in the container she brings over. He smiles upon seeing it. The reminder of how much better things are specifically for Rei now is reason enough for it.
        
        He tastes one of the tomatoes with Rei's permission, and is surprised to experience a difference not just in color but in taste. He thinks he likes the less-tart version.
        
        After that taste test and the initial prep work, though, Shinji's content to let Rei mostly just watch. He's used to it. His clothes aren't anything special--just a white T-shirt and brown cargo pants, which would be shorts if they didn't fall just below his knees. Despite having turned sixteen years old last month, he isn't significantly taller than he was when he first arrived at Tokyo-3, something that privately worries him.
        
        (Kaworu meanwhile wears a red-and-white striped shirt with a black jacket with sleeves rolled up to the elbows and belted black slacks. It's a very French look. With or without air conditioning, the layers don't bother him, either.)
        
        Unfortunately, Asuka doesn't have any more idea than he does, and neither does Pen-Pen. Shinji watches their other roommate waddle into his private refridgerator, a troubled frown stealing over his lips. To keep from spiraling, he goes to the cupboards and starts setting the table. "Well, dinner's only almost ready, so it's okay if she's a little late--"
        
        *knock knock knock-knock knock~*
        
        "--Huh?" Shinji blinks over at the front door, in the middle of setting down a plate. He looks over at Kaworu, who returns his gaze, and is still washing dishes; he looks over at Rei, who is having a small tomato snack; he looks down at himself, in the middle of an important dinner-related chore; and he looks over at Asuka, who is playing video games. He and Kaworu are busy; Rei and Asuka are not. Shinji would just get it himself, but maybe Rei would like to have something to do, and he knows better than to ask Asuka to do things.
        
        So: "Ayanami, could you get that, please? I don't think it's Misato-san, but maybe she lost her keys or something." He gives her an encouraging smile and adds, "I'll finish up here."
        
        And so Shinji Ikari consigns Rei Ayanami to death........... 

<Pose Tracker> Rei Ayanami has posed.


Rei reaches for a second tomato as Shinji indicates the door to her. "Yes," Rei says, and she turns towards it and approaches, holding that tomato in her fingers. The smoothness of the fruit's peel is pleasurable to touch, and her thumb tip runs over it as she opens the door.

In comes the sultry air of the Japanese summertime, mingling with the cooled, controlled environment within

And with it comes--

                                MARI IMPACT

Rei Ayanami, all 4'10" of her, is suddenly impacted by a larger body. That of Mari Makinami Illustrious. How could she strike such a cruel blow against a co-resident - perhaps even a friend?

How indeed! Rei does not have context for this. Rei simply falls backwards as she is struck by this powerful body, and in the course of the tackle she is driven backwards, falling with some grace back onto the floor. There is a thump as she ends up there, and thanks to Shinji's industrious work there is no hazard for her to be wounded upon. However, Rei's legs do end up flipping upwards from sheer inertia as she transitions from standing upright to sprawling prone.

The pressure also pops the tomato in her hand. A smear of turgid orange fluid splatters on the floor with a distinct 'splat'.

Rei blinks several times, and then swings her legs downwards to push upwards. "You aren't the Colonel," Rei says, with a subtle air of accusation, even as she looks at her hand to discover the unfortunate demise of the tomato. The sight seems to stick with her for a moment or two.

Hopefully Mari gets up further, because Rei may actually be unable to push her off.

<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.


Shinji is indeed wise, to not ask Asuka to do anything while she's trying for her glorious new breed of bird. Or to do things at all.

This is the basis of a lot of the reason as to why they get along now.

Asuka doesn't even look up as he asks Rei to get the door. Instead however-

'Ufu.'

Asuka DOES look up now, eyes suddenly locked upon the hallway like some small meerkat having sensed the presence of a predator.

Or some smaller predator having sensed the presence of a larger one.

'AMBUSH~!'

'splat'

Asuka stays stock still for a moment, then realizes that for once she is not in fact, the victim.

'You aren't the Colonel.'

Asuka hits pause on her game, stands up, and one ponderous footstep after another, she pads into the hallway.

Her eyes look down upon the pile of Mari and Rei, a hand on her hip, as she gives Rei a long look that amounts to 'better you than me'.

"Don't you get enough of this kind of roughhousing at home?" Living together she just imagines their home is rife with daily Mari ambushes from all sorts of weird and random places, "Why you gotta bring it here?"

A beat, as her eyes catch the sight of a squished mess in Rei's hand, "... That a tomato?"

Her real question might be 'Why the hell did you answer the door with a tomato?' However, she will almost certainly go wanting for an answer.

<Pose Tracker> Mari Makinami Illustrious has posed.

And so Rei Ayanami perished, burst like a fragile orange tomato by the dread arrival of Mari Makinami Illustrious, as was written in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Or she just ends up getting toppled over and pinned by an overly-enthusiastic Mari; it's unclear if this is also written in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The end result is still the same, really: Rei gets bodied, she and Mari go falling, at least a LITERALLY tomato bursts, and Mari ends up landing somehow luxuriously atop the fallen Rei with a jubilant "WAHO~!"

In the aftermath, Rei's taller roommate (and GREAT friend, if one were to ask her), plants her hands on the floor mats of the Katsuragi domicile, raising herself just enough to get a good look at the victim of her vast affection. A bit of thick, orange fluid decorates her cheek like morbid back-spatter; her tongue sneaks out, taking a side-lick sampler of tomato gore that's only -mildly- haunting.

You aren't the Colonel.

"Nyoro~n."

She is not the Colonel; that is not an answer.

Both these things are true!

Ultimately, Mari eases her way back into a sitting position atop Rei, which while giving Rei more free-dom- does not actually -free- her; funny how that works! Effervescent is the bespectacled girl's grin as she stretches arms over head and continues, conversationally,

"Bzzzt! Wrong, Vanilla Bean!" how could that possibly be wrong-- "Misato" how can she so casually call her superior by her first name with no honorifics?! "is working late today so she asked me to pass on the message!"

And here, Mari flashes a v-sign and a wink.

"So today, I am your substitute Colonel~."

technically misato never mentioned any of this and just said to tell them to eat without her but that's neither here nor there--

What's definitely MORE relevant is the fact that Mari looks extremely comfy right now and has no intention of getting up off her fine Rei furnishings -- at least, until a familiar shadow casts over them both. Mari blinks, looking uuuup -- and as she sees Asuka, giving the look, judging their tomato-gore, quietly thanking her lucky stars--

"Awww. Is her highness is struck with the royal sentiment of jealousy?"

She inadvertently saves Rei by giving Mari the incentive she needs to quietly and comfortably hop back up onto her feet.

"Alas, as your substitute commanding officer I must follow a certain decorum tonight!" --didn't she literally just tackle rei--

"But if you lodge a formal request and fill the proper paperwork for a hug I might just consider it-- hm?"

And just in the middle of teasing Asuka, Mari blinks. She sniffs the air. And her gaze inexorably, terrifyingly, fixates upon the kitchen.

"Oho?" Snff, snff. "This smells like... Puppy Boy's signature style~."

Run, Shinji. Your doom approaches.

<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.

        It's a good question whether one can actually ask Rei to do things either, for entirely different reasons from Asuka, but Shinji doesn't think of those. He simply goes back to setting the table until there is a lilting shout of 'AMBUSH~!' and then a loud THUMP. He jumps, nearly dropping the last of the plates, and rushes over to see--
        
        "Ayanami!! And... M-Makinami-san?" Shinji is pretty sure Mari would rather be addressed in some much, much more intimate way than 'Makinami-san,' but he frankly barely has the audacity to do more than privately acknowledge this is the case. Asuka joins him, and he instinctively steps to one side to make room for her as he continues to stare.
        
        "Uhhhhh," Shinji utters. He decides that he has no idea how to handle this--though in fairness this is a general fact of life with him and Mari--so as Asuka complains, he kneels down next to Rei and offers her a hand up. "Are you all right, Ayanami? I'm sorry," he says with genuine contrition, as if he could have possibly anticipated that this would be the result of his request.
        
        Thankfully, Asuka's presence means that Mari actually gets up, so Rei can get up. This comes with an explanation for her presence-slash-Misato's absence, too. "Oh... That makes sense. With that Angel on the loose, of course she'd be working late again," he says, tone more resigned than disappointed. Regardless: "I'll have to pack her extra for tomorrow. I don't know if she'll have enough for tonight..." He pauses. "...so why did she send you to tell us when she could've just texted--"
        
        And then--Mari sniffs the air. Like a cougar on the hunt.
        
        "U-um," he squeaks. Unfortunately, he has opted for the deer's method of freezing up.
        
        But Shinji's not alone. During the commotion, Kaworu had switched to drying, including his hands; tucked those hands into his pockets; and now strolls over, coming up behind Shinji, to join his fellow Children.
        
        "Ah, Mary. You're just in time for dinner," he says conversationally, as if she were not on the floor with Rei, as if her licking tomato gore off her cheek were nothing special. "Since the Colonel won't be here tonight, would you care to join us?"
        
        It might be a sign that this is just a regular occurrence in the Ayanami-Makinami-Nagisa household, if this weren't just how Kaworu is. 

<Pose Tracker> Rei Ayanami has posed.


Rei is asked a direct question and her eyes turn towards the Second from beneath her new, permanent condition in life, that of being crushed underneath Mari Makinami Illustrious. "It was," Rei tells Asuka.

Now, of course, it's tomato sauce.

Then a miracle happens and Mari raises herself upwards. Mari has doubtless been able to taste these tomatoes, especially if she snuck a bite of the ripening crop here and there, and she would know that the tomato vines - which have grown to lustrous dark-green prominence, at this point, over their frames in the living room - will bear more in their time.

But this is the tomato before her now.

Mari then shifts her fate, removing weight from part of Rei without actually freeing her. Rei pushes herself up on one elbow and looks out towards the others with a look that could, perhaps, be compared to a mournful dog's. Shinji gets the greatest benefit of this. Rei reaches up with her hand that is not currently clad in the gore of tomato, grasping him.

"Yes," Rei tells Shinji. "The floor is softer here. I think it emboldened her." And indeed it must be, or at least, Rei is presumably used to hard and unyielding floors. By comparison this carpet must seem lush and plush. Tatami, too, would have its springiness.

As she's pulled loose, Rei works her legs. Fortunately, the Uniqlo-grade skirt/spats combo endures the challenge of being dragged out from under Mari, whose thigh is used as a push point for regaining her feet. Was that on purpose? It is hard to say. Having gotten upwards, she smooths the black frills and says, "There is meat as well," to Mari.

Her attention turns back to Kaworu, who receives a faint narrowing of the eyes -- the amusement is growing clearer each time these things happens (though Kaworu, of course, has an advantage).

<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.


"Why though?" Asuka follows up on Rei's response about it being a tomato with a spike of annoyance. In her eyes Rei should have just caught that implication of hers naturally.

"Jealousy?" A theatrical roll of her eyes, "In what world would I be?" She is a little, but she'd never admit it.

'Decorum?' She actually questions under her breath, as if implying that she knows nothing about that, even as she gets up, recovering from the tomato gore.

"I'd sooner put in a request that you attend all functions with that stupid riding crop of yours."

Does Asuka have any idea what the hell she's even accidentally implying by that statement? No. No she does not.

Shinji shows up in the hallway, fortunately probably distracting Mari as he helps Rei up, "Tck, well whatever. She can just eat instant again, with this crowd we're not likely to have leftovers." Her eyes then look sideways at Rei on her comment about the softer floor, "What you think she actually would hold back for a reason like that?

Shinji freezes up, will she come to his rescue?

Of course not!

Indeed, Asuka simply expects people to deal with Mari's shenanigans when she's in the area.

She'd actually probably be pretty annoyed if someone refused to?

Kaworu's behavior sorta soft confirms that this is a regular thing, something which she DOES feel a tiny spike of jealousy about.

And thus she simply walks past him back into the kitchen, dropping into her chair as she goes back to raising giant birds for mystery Dungeons.

"Be a problem if there wasn't." Asuka mutters quietly, as Rei brings up the meat option.

BBSYS: Post 1071, 'I'll Be The Villain' has been published to Cutscenes & Logs by Orpheus Zevon.

<Pose Tracker> Mari Makinami Illustrious has posed.

I'd sooner put in a request that you attend all functions with that stupid riding crop of yours.

Asuka does not realize what she's implying.

"Gasp!"

Mari, having a defiled and degenerate heart--

<3 "How bold! That her highness could be so debauched...!" <3

                        ~absolutely does~.

Of course, Mari doesn't actually -explain-; she just gasps, holds her hands up to cover the lower half of her face as if to hide a blush (ha ha ha) and refuses to elaborate further; a second later she's just as nonchalant as before, flashing Asuka a cheeky grin, sing-songing, "I treat my Vanilla Bean with the most delicate touch to ensure she develops a strong and natural flavor all her own~," and breezing her way past the Second Child--

--towards the Third--!!

--and then past him?!

Yes. Mari moves -right- on past the frozen Shinji with a chipper skip to her step as she makes her way through the living room and to the kitchen to appreciate Shinji's Great Works. She leans in, doing a little taste test of both pots: she's in the middle of cooling down one ladle-ful of curry when she pauses to glance over her shoulder Kaworu-wards.

"Of course," she agrees amiably. "I wouldn't make much of a Katsuragi understudy if I didn't stick around for a good meal! Speaking of which, I should try to immerse myself fully in the role, shouldn't I? Hmmm..."

And with that, she tastes, lets out an overly-luxurious "mmmmm!" and absconds to the fridge, fishing around.

"Ah! Here we go --" she announces as she grabs something up. Has Shinji been spared...??

He might -just- be starting to feel the first, tentative signs of relief when Mari's voice perks up again.

"She told me she thought about sending a text!" she informs Shinji. Her voice is a slightly distant thing. "But--"

And then it's -right next to Shinji-.

"--she said she wanted a more personal touch~."

Because suddenly there's Mari, standing -right behind him-, leaning in to whisper that -one line- -just so- -right into his ear- before--

                snfff

"Hmm," muses Mari, arms casually draping over his shoulders. "That immature puppydog scent is starting to age a bit. And it's taking on a few other notes, too...? Not too shabby, Puppy Boy."

Won't anyone save him from this fate?!

<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.

        The reminder that Mari once helped run a lecture on Angels with a riding crop--and especially how Mari teases Asuka for making that reminder--gets a little cough and a blush out of Shinji. "Th-there might be some," he stammers of leftovers, rather than focusing on that. "Kaworu-kun doesn't eat much usually, and with Makinami-san, there's as many people here as I was cooking for, anyway..."
        
        He looks back at Rei, who says the floor is softer here. Shinji opens his mouth, then shuts it. "Yeah, I guess it would be," he admits. The floor over at their place is concrete, after all--and Rei's previous apartments haven't been much better.
        
        He doesn't comment to Asuka on if Mari would hold back for harder floors. He genuinely doesn't know. He trusts Mari as a fellow pilot, but as a human being, he still doesn't know what to make of her, even after all this time.
        
        Shinji gives a hapless look to the crushed tomato as Rei takes his hand and stands. He'll need to clean that up--Rei will need to wash her hands, too. But at this point, the foyer is getting pretty crowded--oh, no, that's Asuka stalking off to return to her game, almost as soon as Kaworu shows up. Shinji watches her go, mouth pulling apart into a grimace.
        
        They still don't get along, huh... he thinks. A glance up shows him Kaworu's side-eyeing her as she goes, but he catches Shinji's look and smiles down at him, back to being as serene as ever. Shinji smiles back, but he's not sure if he means it.
        
        Well, as long as they can stand to be in the same room... which they have been for a while now, so it's fine. Probably.
        
        For Kaworu... he has to wonder if Asuka really is jealous of Rei. He keeps that thought to himself, though.
        
        But then Mari approaches--oh no--oh no!!--oh no? Shinji blinks and half-turns to watch her head into the kitchen, just past the foyer. He breathes a sigh of relief, clutching his chest; when he catches Kaworu smiling at him, he offers him a smile back again, this time with relief. Mari's thirst for chaos seems to be appeased for now, so he heads into the kitchen after her for a rag to clean up the tomato spill.
        
        Kaworu meets Rei's narrowed eyes, meanwhile, with a certain amusement in his smile. Given that they both live with Mari, they both know this is indeed her way. To Mari, he says, "While the two of you have your similarities, you shouldn't try to make yourself be someone else, even someone like Col. Katsuragi. You're too indomitably yourself, Mary."
        
        And while Misato is a physical person, she's not physical in quite the same way as Mari, as Kaworu and Rei well know. Probably the three of them more commonly engage in cuddle piles. Possibly cuddle piles in Mari's bedroom, while they all engage in that most debaucherous act of all: reading.
        
        But he certainly won't mention that where Asuka can hear.
        
        Shinji, meanwhile, is in the middle of offering Rei a second hand towel to dry herself off with, forcing him to pause before he heads back to the foyer, when Mari starts to respond. "Uh huh?" he says--
        
        and then
                mari
                                is RIGHT THERE
        
        With a probably very satisfying scream, Shinji nearly trips over himself and smashes face-first into the wall if not for Mari draping an arm around his shoulders and holding him in place. Shinji is not sure which is worse. "I'm sixteen now!!" he protests, because that's literally the only thing he can think of to say.
        
        Who will save him, though? Who else but Kaworu? He exchanges another glance with Rei, then strolls up next to Shinji and Mari. "You should show a little mercy to his nerves, Mary," he chides her gently. "It isn't good to make him feel as though he can't relax in his own home."
        
        ...of course, given that Shinji already lives with Asuka and Misato... 

<Pose Tracker> Rei Ayanami has posed.


"Because I chose to," Rei answers Asuka.

This isn't a very good answer, is it? Yet it is the truth, and sometimes the truth hurts. Or gets you hurt, as the case may be.

"No," Rei answers Asuka again. One more time and it's Golgotha all over again! She dips her head in silent -- thanks? Shinji has probably learned it's thanks.

The question of the riding crop passes Rei by. Rei has, perhaps, only the academic knowledge that riding horses can be done. Mari is approaching the food, though, and Rei steps forwards towards the sink to briefly turn it on and rinse tomato remnants from her hand. A one-handed squirt of soap leads to actual handwashing even as Mari takes her tribute.

She accepts the towel afterwards with another of those looks and a slight tilt to the side of her head. Rei dries them off then, and she does not seem either surprised nor alarmed when Mari approaches Shinji and attempts

to

                        HUFF

him.

It's really quite brazen, but you can become accustomed to almost everything. Shinji screams and turns and would have smashed into the wall if not rescued. "I think she has practiced these," Rei remarks to Kaworu quietly as he glances at her. After this, Rei moves to the table Shinji had just assembled plates upon -- picking them up?

Into the kitchen they go. Rei searches briefly before opening the rice cooker and preparing the plates. There is one, at least, that is receiving only chicken-forward curry; two others get half and half, divided in the middle with white rice; and two others receive only the tofu. Good news, Asuka: You'll get to eat this tomorrow, too.

<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.


The question might have been reiterated WHY THOUGH? at Rei, but Asuka simply gives up on probing the strangeness of Rei Ayanami at this point.

As far as Asuka can tell, Rei just does things.

Asuka then stares at Mari for a moment, a single red eyebrow sliding upwards, at her behavior. The hand over the face, she doesn't buy she's hiding a blush for a moment, "Debauched? What kind of perverse thoughts are you having right now?"

Asuka's going to look this up on the internet later. Shortly thereafter she will delete her search history and know shame.

"You? 'Delicate'?" She scoffs at the idea, but doesn't touch upon the idea of 'raising' her Vanilla Bean. Rei affirms that it's 'No' though on Mari holding back.

Her new bird has arrived, thus begins the level grind, which she's doing only with minimal attention.

"You're not drinking enough to be 'immersed' in the role." Asuka grumbles in contrast to Kaworu telling her she shouldn't be like her, "She'd be on her second beer by now."

Cuddle piles while reading!? The shamelessness of the other household knows no bounds.

Shinji though screams and nearly trips into a wall at Mari's hold and sniff. Asuka looks up at the exchange at his blurt, as Kaworu comes to his rescue.

Teeth subtly grind, "He can handle it." She tells him, though her motive for being annoyed might not be clear. Maybe she's just being contrarian to Kaworu's opinion here.

A glut of curry, but will Asuka overeat just to deny Misato leftovers? Stay tuned!

<Pose Tracker> Mari Makinami Illustrious has posed.

Which is worse? Smashing into a wall, or being caught by the lion? It's a silly question really, as Shinji should well know by now! He ought to realize--

Either way, he's trapped in the lion's den. <3

(this is not mari's den but she has made it so merely by dint of her presence; know and fear this as true)

She savors the scream, of course. It's a very Shinji scream. How could she not appreciate it, like a connoisseur of a fine niche product? In fact, his torment may have only continued -- if it weren't for the timely salvation of one Kaworu Nagisa. Behind red-rimmed glasses, Mari blinks once; she peers over Shinji's shoulder at Kaworu; and then, of course,

"Mercy?"

she pouts.

"Boo."

This does not mean immediate salvation for Shinji, of course; in fact the tall girl draping upon him now sort of dejectedly slumps against his back for a few torturous seconds in which she is both a) pressed even MORE uncomfortably close, and b) kind of sort of partially forcing Shinji to support some of her weight, like a limp cat.

"A heart knows it is truly at home when it can be terrorized and yet still feel at ease!" announces Mari, with all the airs she usually takes on when reciting a passage from one of her favorite books or philosophers, possibly while engaged in a Cuddle Pile with Rei and Kaworu.

She's not, though. In a cuddle pile. Or quoting anyone.

Still, this intensifying of Shinji's struggles sadly (??) lasts only a few precious seconds longer before Mari gradually eases her way off him. As she lifts, Shinji will feel a hand come down on his head, ruffling his hair into affectionate disrepair.

"You're doing great out there," she offers quietly, before she parts with the Third Child.

"Hum? How can I practice what comes nyaaturally?"

And then, of course, everything returns to business as usual.

This is announced as Mari slinks her way casually towards the dining table; it's then, with perfect timing to Asuka's commentary, that it becomes clear what she fished out of the fridge: a nice, chilly can of -- beer?!

"That's why I gotta play catch up!" she announces. Is she really going to--?!

"You see, Tabby Cat," she continues like someone giving a lecture as she bonelessly and luxuriously slumps into Misato's designated chair (how did she know?) and adopts a criss-cross-apple-sauced sitting position (how did she know?!), "It's not necessary to become someone else -- but it is one of the fine privileges of humanity to be able to be able to imitate someone else entirely. Of course, it can never be perfect, nothing is! But aaahhh, there's nothing more intimate than to imitate the shape of someone else's heart! Even the superficial strokes carry the heavy touch affection~~." or -- or creepiness

She'd wax on about this, but for once, she seems content to leave it at that. Maybe she thinks her point is made.

Or maybe she just feels content to quietly slide her gaze Asuka-wards and just watch as the Second Child irritably plays that -particular- game, a small but fond smile touching the tiny corners of her lips.

Who can say, really?

<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.

        Mari, you're going to make Shinji cry.
        
        Even with Kaworu coming to his aid!! Because Mari doesn't actually let him go, but actually slumps onto him more. Shinji slumps in turn, choking as he struggles to keep himself upright, because Mari is actually significantly taller than he is (which is only that much more unfair). "H-how does that even make sense?!" he protests.
        
        But Kaworu gives Mari a level look, and soon enough she eases off of Shinji--but not before ruffling his hair on her way out and giving him a few low words of encouragement.
        
        It's kind of weird that it doesn't feel bad. The entire experience, now that it's over, wasn't that bad, he realizes. He really doesn't know what to make of that (the Mari Experience (TM)).
        
        Rei's nod, by comparison, is significantly less mysterious. That is, Shinji is pretty sure it's thanks. It's as close as Rei gets, and it's okay with him.
        
        Kaworu meanwhile knows it's thanks. It's okay with him, too.
        
        "Hmm... You don't think it's spontaneous?" Kaworu murmurs back to Rei. "An interesting quandary. Do you think she would tell us the truth if we asked?"
        
        Whether Rei has an answer for this or not, he'll let her go dole out everyone's portions so he can stay by Shinji's side. Maybe Shinji can handle it and maybe he can't; when Asuka claims so with teeth grit, Kaworu casts her another side-eye, the edges of his lips shading to neutral. Why is she being contrarian? Who knows? The hearts of Asukas are spiky and impenetrable.
        
        It is true that if Mari were to really take on the role of Misato, she'd need to be drinking a lot more than she is noaaaand that's a beer in her hand.
        
        "Please don't actually drink Misato-san's beer," Shinji begs. It doesn't matter that Mari's underage; he absolutely assumes she'll do it. After all, being underage sure didn't stop her from bringing (non-alcoholic) beer to Rei's housewarming party.
        
        He does see Rei doling out everyone's food, though, and he gives her a frazzled but genuinely grateful smile. "Ayanami... thanks. Can you--" He shoots Mari a furtive glance, then leans in closer to Rei to whisper, "Can you say something to her too?"
        
        (She calls her Mari, Shinji recalls, and resolves to ask her about it. Maybe he'll understand Mari a little better if he can have Rei explain her to him.)
        
        Kaworu meanwhile listens to Mari's lecturing (?), hands still in his pockets as he watches her take on a most Misato-like stance (he knows how she knows). "Ah. Acting. I've heard of this."
        
        But he doesn't comment as he watches Mari send Asuka a tiny little heartfelt smile. Shinji, at least, is too focused on Rei at the moment to notice. 

<Pose Tracker> Rei Ayanami has posed.


Rei, it seems, has been raised quite well. Or at least, cultivated, given her spontaneous presentation of the meals. The plating is perhaps not as perfect and on point as Shinji himself might do -

("You must practice very much," Rei answers Kaworu, "before you can be spontaneous.")

- but hey: Nobody had to ask her. Rei brings the two mixed plates out first, setting them down, first, side by side. She then looks towards Shinji, who pleads for mercy. Rei looks down at the table, considers, and then moves one of them to sit

CATTY-CORNER

to the other. Whichever mixed-curry plate Mari may pick, she'll have limited access to Shinji in his despair and his suffering. Can she live without such contact...? Of course, at this point Mari sits in the seat of Misato Katsuragi, putting her butt on the carefully butt-sculpted cushioning. Rei moves one of the plates to be in front of her, and then adjusts the other, fulfilling Shinji's request to the letter but not perhaps the spirit as:

Rei tells Mari, quietly, "Stay there," and then goes to get the rest of the plates. Three of them, and so after a moment, Rei turns over one arm, places the chicken heavy plate on the inside of one forearm, and lifts up the others. It is not a long walk, at least, and after placing one veg plate down, the all-meat plate can be placed with ease, leaving her with one alone, and one empty seat. The plate is placed.

And yet: Rei gazes at the table, and realizes something is missing. "Are there drinks?" Rei asks Shinji, having as of yet not opened the refrigerator. Obviously, of course, there is YEBISU and to spare.

Given the shake out of the table, it looks something like...

Vegetarian meal | Vegetarian meal
                                        Queen's Seat
Shinji's lovely plate | Carnivore


                                unknown sphenisciform

<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.


Why is she being contrarian? Good question~ But perhaps it is more simple than one might think...

"Yeah? So does that mean you've never felt truly at home?" Asuka grumbles of Mari's assertion of the criterion for a heart knowing it's truly at home. It is perhaps one of those questions that asks more deeply of Mari than Asuka intended. She merely means to imply that Mari is never one to be terrorized.

The pun of 'nyaaturally' gets an eye roll, and a sigh, until Mari reveals the beer. Unlike Shinji who asks her not to drink Misato's beer, Asuka just eyes it. Long, and hard. Then at Mari as she takes on Misato's home behaviors so naturally.

Some might catch Asuka looking around the room, as if to check for hidden cameras. Because, what the hell? Misato doesn't act like that in public, and Mari's not been over to see her like that TO HER KNOWLEDGE.

By the time Mari's eyes slide over and she gives the heartfelt smile, she's BACK to playing that particular game. For a long moment, she weighs Mari's conversation, about the intimacy of imitating the shape of the human heart and-

"Minus five points." Asuka declares as she breaks the silent, "Misato just gets happy weird at the table, not-" She gestures her way, "-that waxing philosophical kinda weird."

Sorry not sorry Shinji. Zero. Backup.

As the Carnivore plate is put down, Asuka sets the console aside, picking up a fork, and taking a bite. Her other hand finishes grinding out a fight to some upbeat ditty the game is grinding out.

"Sure, plenty." As Asuka waves a hand towards Misato's beer fridge when Rei asks. Note, once again, undermining Shinji's earlier ask.

Then she takes another bite, and another bite. It's notable perhaps how little she's said to Shinji tonight, but then after a moment of watching him she remarks.

"Good work." Before she adds, "Getting better at your curry all the time."

It's perhaps the lightest sort of compliment for how much she takes his hard work around the home for granted, and yet...

<Pose Tracker> Mari Makinami Illustrious has posed.

What would happen to a Mari without a Shinji to torment...?

The world may never know.

As it stands, she seems fairly content in her sublime recreation of Misato Katsuragi's at home relaxation mode; the tank top isn't quite the type that Misato might wear, and Mari's energy has much more catlike sense of lazy ease, but -- it's like she said. It's not perfect. It can never be!

That's part of why it's so great.

Which doesn't stop Mari from sagging in dismay when Asuka critiques her performance as if the other Evangelion pilot had just shot her straight through the heart, of course. "It's so hard to please such a demanding audience!" she laments. She blinks. Perks.

"--Five points out of how many?"

She is obviously starting to see this as a win if she's only lost five points.

Mari Makinami Illustrious: she's composed entirely of silver linings!

But as Rei serves out the imperfect plating (which is, if Mari is being honest, even better for the imperfection!), Mari waits for the others to be served their particular options before she plucks up the remaining mixed plate with a warm, "Thanks for the meal, Bean~"

Afterwards? She's pleasantly calm and at her best behavior, of course. She offers a simple, "I can give you acting lessons if you'd like, Tabby Cat; it's my duty as council president, after all!" to Kaworu despite it not actually being her duty, and the fact that she isn't even in theater, and when was the last time she was even on time for a meeting??; but it's really, relatively, innocuous in the grand scheme of things. She's polite! Personable!

She even coos out a sweet, "awwwww!" as Asuka compliments Shinji's cooking!

"That's high praise from the princess," she asides to Shinji, offering him a wink.

Really; it's all fairly standard fare.

Except for the way she toys with that can of frosty YEBISU with a single index finger, rolling the base of it around and around with little nudges, occasionally edging towards the pop-tab before skirting away. Coming back to it and back to it every now and then, always verging closer and closer...

But it's really nothing. Idle play!




oh god her fingers are going for the tab--

<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.

        "Hmm," Kaworu murmurs thoughtfully, taking in Rei's statement. "Is this the wisdom of Lilith's kin...?"
        
        He does acknowledge the importance of practice, though. Few know better than Kaworu how many times one has to do something over and over again before one can do it right.
        
        Relief floods Shinji's eyes as he realizes what Rei is doing--not just plating the food (however inexpertly; he's hardly an expert himself, even if he's much better compared to when he started) but also setting the portions such that he's well away from Marisato. Well, a person's width away. That's probably enough, considering she has Asuka right next to her to pester.
        
        Come to think, the two of them are really close... They're always having that easy kind of back-and-forth. Maybe that's just how it is with same-sex friends; he knows conversation comes a lot easier for him with, say, Kaworu than with most girls he knows. Still... if he understood Mari better, he could learn how to be a better boyfriend to Asuka--or so he muses. Something to also keep in mind for later, maybe.
        
        Yet for all that he can overthink things, it doesn't occur to Shinji that Mari might have bugged the apartment. She came here for his birthday party last year, and while she might've been late, she was still around to have seen some of Misato's home mannerisms. It makes sense to him that Mari might still remember that, or that Mari might have otherwise hung out with Misato in private at some point.
        
        The fact that Mari's Misato impression is imperfect makes it easier to make those kind of hopeful assumptions, anyway.
        
        But where Rei doles out the food and Kaworu encourages Mari to be less aggressively herself, Asuka... simply judges Mari's Misato impression as lacking. "Asukaaa! If Misato-san gets mad about someone drinking her beer, she's gonna get mad at you too for not stopping it! At least I tried!" Shinji protests/whines. He chokes when Asuka suggests to Rei that she grab some beer too, then quickly adds, "Um! There's water and tea and coffee! I'm fine with any of those! Please don't drink the beer, Ayanami..."
        
        He'll grab glasses from the cupboards and set those out too--the earlier interruption happened before he had the chance. Ultimately, he'll have tea, while Kaworu accepts water. They might be on summer vacation right now, so staying up late isn't an issue, but still--Shinji would rather not be even more wired.
        
        At last, he'll sit down for his meal, over which he clasps his hand and murmurs a soft, "Itadakimasu." After they've all eaten at least one spoonful, Asuka tells him it's good--that he's getting better all the time. It might be the lightest sort of compliment, but given the rosy smile that blooms across his lips, he's clearly very happy about it.
        
        Asuka's not the kind of person who gives compliments lightly, after all--and coming from her, this much praise is actually a lot. Even Mari thinks so, and he blurts out, "I was just thinking that!"
        
        Shinji should probably learn to raise his standards, rather than lowering them to meet Asuka... Even so, he murmurs, "I'm really glad you like it, Asuka." His blush deepens in sudden embarrassment, and he looks at the others quickly. "H-how about you guys? Is it all right?"
        
        "It's very good," Kaworu says warmly, spoon in one hand. "You truly are improving all the time, and your care shines through as always. Cooking with you was very fun for me."
        
        "Me too," Shinji replies. In another universe, flowers might be blooming over his head. "We should make a different kind of curry together again sometime. Maybe--oh! Ayanami, maybe we could go to your place next and you could join us again--you could make dough and we could make curry buns?"
        
        ...It's that sort of lively conversation, and plans for the future, that will characterize the rest of the evening. Right now, Shinji Ikari really does have reason to smile.
        
        Right now.

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