2023-08-06: Primordial
- Log: 2023-08-06 Primordial
- Cast: Guy Shishioh, Gendo Ikari (NPC'ed by Shinji Ikari)
- Where: The Geofront, Tokyo-3
- OOC - IC Date: August 6, UC 0097 (2023)
- Summary: Guy finally asks Gendo what is up with the Angels. To his surprise, Gendo choose not just to tell, but to show.
<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
Guy Shishioh is down to Geofront fairly often, these days - it's the core of the NERV operation, and as much work as *can* be done remotely, there's a lot to be said for going down to rub shoulders in person...especially with an Angel on the loose and proven hostile. But he's not comparing xenobiology notes with Ritsuka Akagi nor making battle plans with Colonel Katsuragi, today...
He stands a pace or two back from the desk of Gendo Ikari. The glare from the windows is a bit much, to say nothing of the...tremendous sigils of the Tree of Life etched into the ceiling and ground, but it's not his office to judge. He's not at attention; neither organization is quite that type. He is in his full Acting Chief outfit, including the long sleeveless coat with the black and gold trim, with one hand on his hip, conversational but confident.
He concludes, "In short, I've already had a word with Sigma, and Shigeru had a talk with Lina. Gridman's been reflecting on all this too, I hear. They understand GGG will support the Duma suppression operation in full strength. We shouldn't have any more problems like this going forward."
<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.
It's definitely a bit much, considering that the Geofront is underground. The windows--what do they even look out at? But that's not really the point, for anyone present. Commander Gendo Ikari sits at his desk--the only piece of furniture in what is otherwise a vast and empty office, more ominous than functional--and Vice Commander Kozo Fuyutsuki stands next to it, hands folded behind his back. Both of them are grave and both in their own respective uniforms, though Gendo's hands are folded over his mouth, making his expression difficult at best to read.
"Very good," Fuyutsuki says. "The threat of the Angels is a grave one, as you already know. It wouldn't do to have members of NERV's branch organizations fail to understand how grave." Something shifts in his expression--a slight softening. "I can sympathize with those who see an alien lifeform that seems well-intentioned and feel hope in reaction..." The sternness returns. "But we can't trust an Angel's 'good intent,' any more than GGG of ten years ago could have the Zonders'."
Although it hasn't been directly discussed, Guy would already be aware that Col. Katsuragi decided on what was to be done about Gridman, and that was to effectively ban him from NERV HQ and any future Angel missions. It's not much of a punishment--but it's also a first-time offense for someone who's otherwise been a good ally.
Gendo, for his part, says nothing on the report itself, nor on what's been done about Sigma, Lina, or Gridman. There's a sharp look in his spectacled eyes, though, that indicate he's absorbed it. "You may leave, Acting Chief," he states.
And that would be that, except...
<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
Guy didn't get much Limpid Channel access in his transformation to an Evoluder. Well, he wouldn't want to be able to intrude into peoples' personal thoughts, anyway, even if the way Gendo lets nothing slip isn't the most neighborly thing in the world. He still nods to Fuyutsuki's assessment. "I feel the same. It's nice to dream of a chance to make friends out there, but we have to keep people safe, first."
As for Gridman's punishment...granted, the few times the GGG of ten years ago tried to block someone from the battlefield, they usually managed to get onto it anyway. Guess NERV will have worry about that if it comes up, he supposes.
He's excused...but he mostly just shifts his weight, his eyes gaining a searching cast. "Actually, they did bring up something I've been worried about, Commander. I know from the original reports on the Angels that their hypothetical goal is to destroy mankind. Most enemy xenoforms have a plan to achieve their end. The Zonders wanted to build a Zonder Metal Plant, the Sol Masters would've deflated the universe by siphoning off dark matter...but I don't have the truth on what the Angels are actually doing."
A slight tightening of his expression. It's a push, he knows. Still. "But they do all come to Tokyo 3. It's way past the kaiju clustering behaviors we know about. There's something here, isn't there?"
<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.
Gendo dismisses Guy--but Guy doesn't actually leave. It's fine, since technically Gendo said he may leave, not that he must leave... and he does have a valid concern and a strong point. And if his underlings brought it up, it's not just Guy who's been thinking it.
His and Fuyutsuki's poker faces are excellent, and for a moment, neither of them say anything. Fuyutsuki tilts his head just the slightest bit to let him glance Gendo's way--the Vice Commander deferring to the Commander.
"There is," the Commander ultimately confirms.
And that's all.
Just how much more is Guy willing to push?
<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
It's a flat, closed response. Yes. Well, it's data...is he willing to push?
"Well, good to know there," Guy says, conversationally. But then those eyes firm up again, flicking just briefly to catch Fuyutsuki's reaction before shifting back to Gendo. "...I'd like the details, Commander. We've got the White siblings back, hopefully soon we'll have Entouji too. To say nothing of Shigeru's team. We have experts in all sorts of unconventional fields and an Intelligence network built to detect problems anywhere in the Earth Sphere."
He straightens. "But it's becoming more and more obvious that just throwing data at the MAGI and waiting for a blue blood pattern analysis isn't sufficient. Confirmations are getting later and less confident, and it's led to near-misses we should be able to mitigate better." The colony dropping angel, with Shinji having to catch it alone, comes to his mind
He holds up a hand. "The more we understand about what's actually happening, the better I and my people can do our jobs and protect mankind with you."
<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.
Perhaps ironically, when Guy speaks of confirmations getting later and less confident, Gendo thinks he means Duma. The issue with Sahaquiel wasn't an inability to tell whether it was an Angel or not, it was its sheer size leading to too many variables to precisely pinpoint where its landing point would be. Knowing what's in Terminal Dogma wouldn't have changed that either way.
But Duma remains a wild card in many respects, from its methods to its motivations--the fact that it seems to have discernable motivations that it can more or less communicate to others. That it's been able to convince other non-humans to take its side is especially disturbing. And while learning more may or may not help in that regard, it's been made clear that more information will help Guy keep his people in line.
"Fuyutsuki," Gendo says.
"Sir?"
He stands up. "I'll be taking the Acting Chief down to Terminal Dogma. I leave matters here to you."
"Hmm. Very well," Fuyutsuki replies. He glances at Guy, but... no complaints.
Gendo strides around his desk, past Guy, to the door. As it opens, he looks over his shoulder at the Evoluder. "Come with me," he commands. Then he leaves, regardless of how Guy responds.
It takes some time after that--passing security checks, riding down private elevators, so on and so forth. Gendo is generally silent during the trip. Eventually the two of them reach the bottom level of Central Dogma--the so-called Terminal Dogma. Only one, massive, very locked door remains.
A swipe of the Commander's ID card, and the locks disengage, the doors open.
A massive white... creature, one can only call it--vaguely humanoid, wth a massive mask covering its head, easily the size of an Evangelion and legless, unless one counts the dozens of human-sized legs that jut out from its lumpy torso--hangs passively from a massive crucifix.
"The Second Angel," Gendo intones, gazing up at her. "We call her Lilith."
<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
Guy might struggle to give an overwhelming argument that he should be allowed in...but making him do so would be, itself, the kind of closed-offedness that can create a wedge. And if he now needs to argue against Angels, he'll need some ammo.
He nods, silently. There's no smug grin or heroic chuckle; he takes Gendo's seriousness in equal measure. He nods faintly to Fuyutsuki, acknowledging the Vice Commander before turning to follow Gendo down.
The path is long, circuitous, and secure. All expected. The very center...back at the Bay Tower, he imagines this chamber would be much like where they kept the single Zonder Metal sample they obtained. Or perhaps, in the early days, the first, primordial G-Stone.
...primordial is a word he thinks again, moments later.
Guy steps forward, unconsciously, eyes wide. "It's massive," is what comes out of his mouth first. The cruficifixion is....worrying. The state is bizarre. But what he says, most, is, "The Second," as his mind spins to put the giant in context with what he knows. "She's restrained. Is there a danger of awakening?"
He's not concerned for their immediate safety, so much as to dial in what, exactly, he even needs to be thinking about when looking at this thing that makes his Evoluder body feel something he doesn't understand.
<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.
Primordial is precisely the word for it--moreso than Guy could possibly realize in this moment.
"No," Gendo replies. "We've made sure of that." He walks slowly to the borderline of the secure chamber, but doesn't cross the threshold. The reason why is obvious; Lilith hangs over a sea of thick, ruddy orange liquid. In fact, that liquid seems to be... coming from her. She has no obvious wounds, but there's a layer of it leaking down the crucifix from her into a vast pool of it. There's no getting around it; it smells like blood.
"LCL," he says, looking down at it. "Strictly speaking, she isn't an Angel as the world currently understands them. She is, like the First, above them. A progenitor. But where the First Angel created the Angels, Lilith created all life on Earth." He looks over at Guy. "If one of the Angels reaches her, the contact will cause that life to reset. That is why the Geofront is set to self-destruct should it ever be breached."
Just a little fun fact there.
<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
Guy follows - stepping up as close as he dares, but following Gendo's lead on just how far that is.
He guesses before Gendo says it, and his lips curl down, processing. The man's a scientist, after all. "LCL, straight from the spiriitual mother. A liquid that serves as a pressure and temperature regulator, shock absorber, and oxygenation vector all in one." He scrubs a hand through his hair, some faint frustration building up in him. "The Neuronoids use Linker Gel, which has similar properties and is derived from a bacteria, but this just sounds like amniotic fluid, huh."
...spiritual mother. The concept bothers him, but he's been to the dawn of creation and been forsaken by its will. He can't ignore it. "Originator of all life...then, her energy would be the chemical precursors that started life in the so-called primordial soup of Earth's oceans. That'd have to be millions of years ago."
He watches her. He should be addressing this to Gendo, but he finds himself transfixed, his beyond-human nature buzzing at him to see an anchor of his existence. Is it some constant he's sensing in the Limpid Channel...?
"What took them so long to arrive, then," he murmurs. "And if they're so instinctually opposed to us, why isn't it mutual?"
He takes, possibly, longer than one might expect to react to the mention that the Geofront is set to blow, a slow breath winding its way out of him. "...I guess that's how you'd do it. Doubt Taiga would have any better ideas. But would killing her really do any less damage than this...reset reaction?"
<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.
"Correct. That is what we call First Impact. The LCL she emits is the basis for what is called the 'primordial soup,'" Gendo states. He's fine with waiting for Guy to process the information he's been given. Less for him to have to say for the moment it lasts.
It of course doesn't last. But Guy has some very sensible questions. "Because until recently, they weren't alive," he says bluntly. "The Angels were born of Adam, which was sealed in Antarctica until sixteen years ago."
Until Second Impact. The implications are obvious.
"When the Katsuragi Expedition uncovered it, it laid eggs and split apart. One by one, those eggs have been hatching. We've only been able to find one before it hatched--that was the Third Angel, which informed much of our research." (There was the egg in the volcano, but that wasn't Sandalphon's true body, only an infant offshoot of it, so in Gendo's mind, it doesn't count.) He glances at Guy. "Including the creation of the Evangelions."
More and more implications. And more and more left unsaid...
Why isn't it mutual, though? Gendo gives Guy a long stare. "It is." ...As far as he's concerned, anyway. But Gendo Ikari has an absolutist manner of speech. Surely that won't cause any misunderstandings.
As for killing Lilith: "Humanity has already been born. It can exist without her if needed. But that's why it's a last resort."
He starts to move away from the entrance. Once Guy does likewise, Gendo will swipe his card to re-seal the entrance. "There are a finite number of Angels. All humanity needs to do is outlast them. After that..."
He doesn't finish the thought. Surely because there's nothing else that needs saying.
<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
So much to infer that a few half-truths and omitted realities can easily slip by even a mind like Guy's. Fitting something like Lilith into his world is going to take some work and possibly a white board session with the Whites and Shigeru.
He grunts at Gendo's assertion that the hatred is in fact mutual. There's so many ways he can take that that he doesn't even figure out which one he likes least before things move on.
Gendo does make a conclusion that Guy had only just touched the edge of: There's an end to this.
Guy finds himself watching Lilith for several long seconds more. A spiritual connection, spreading from this core out to every person, no, every thing born of Earth. Like the G-Stone's unlimited connections.
Like Z-Master's mastery of every Zonder Metal, too.
...it takes him a good few seconds longer to turn away and follow Gendo. "You know, what little study we can do of the Limpid Channel calls the thoughts adrift on it 'waves of intention.' Thoughts in a sea." ... He speaks again, and he knows Gendo won't give him the courtesy of being more than a stone he can talk at. "A connection across any distance, tying together all life," he murmurs. "It's beautiful, in a way."
He turns wand watches the doors close, and mutters, "And terrifying, too."
<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.
It's all the truth, after all, delivered straight-faced and matter-of-fact. Dr. Akagi has always said there's so much about Angels that NERV still doesn't understand, too. If it's not all of the truth, then what can you do?
Gendo does at least let Guy finish staring before those weighty doors shut and lock again. As expected, he's silent as Guy speaks, connecting what he's just learned with what he already knows. But...
"Yes," he rumbles.
It's one word more than one might have otherwise expected from Gendo Ikari.
Perhaps the word itself is unexpected, too.