Repeat - EVA 0.00

A hollow silver of sun faintly danced on the precipice of what promised to be a stiffing and sun-kissed day in the place men called Tokyo-3. A city of modern convenience and ancient population, the breath of those gifted with the Seed of Knowledge condensed over an unfeeling window pane and sketched through with juvenile finger. The works of man, as they were, were rather droll and utilitarian. Built tall to conserve space, equipped with light diffracting windows to protect the comfort of the workers within, behemoth windowless elevators for ease of transport. It was one of those cases where the old adage, 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' was cited as law, though to be fair none could have honestly expected the sort breaking that would be coming the way of these rail-thin edifices.

Or rather, those that could have were themselves unsure of the time-frame for the coming of God's messengers, as it were. Beneath layers of bedrock, old buildings and bones buried away from the history-bleaching scourges of erosion, an expansive cavern sat in hiding from the infantile explorations of men as they came to prominence as the supposed rulers of Earth's ecosystem, little legs scampering many-a-time over the innocent expansive fields which hid Eden herself from the beings she'd spawned. At last discovered by the brushes and shovels of the Lilin, excavated, re-purposed. A facsimile of the surface was created from cold earth and dust, with the marvels of artificial lighting and terraforming. A pyramid, an callback to ancient designs of power and glory, was constructed. And here in this pyramid, those ever so vulnerable and strange souls milled about in full force.

The facility was fairly expansive and the vast majority of it hidden, somewhat redundantly, underground, an iceberg of sorts. In one of these deeply buried facilities machines hummed and whirled, spat out data for a team of white-coated men and women who shouted out all manner of abstract figures and quotes, empty words and numbers sans the context given to them by the others present. Fortunately, communication, if not fluid, was similarly not strained. There was a professional ease to the proceedings, they'd all done this a million times before, could probably have done it in their sleep. Some people definitely didn't want to be there. But paychecks were at stake, and something far more nebulous than that.

Beyond a vast reinforced glass screen, thick enough to shrug off a point-blank mortar shell, three pseudo-humanoid torsos extended from a wall, cold steel and titanium plating instead of flesh. They would have towered over any of the individuals observing them, easily comparable to fair-sized office buildings in scale. Incomplete, eyeless heads lolled to sides, a cheeky display that was a consequence of lacking the budget for aesthetic considerations. Certain things simply had to be let go under the conditions the workers of NERV slaved in.

"Language compilers for all test units confirmed active and functional."

"Pilot vitals continue to look stable, monitoring for unusual fluctuations."

"Beyond the usual compliment of random blood pressure spikes and flow speed increases for some of them, you mean?"

"Hey man, they can't help it. The boys are at that age where suddenly everything is oh so tempting, ya know?

"You two do realize that the pilots can hear us, right?" Director Jacqueline Lechance had a habit of passively leaving the communication links on between the control room and the pilots in their test Eva units, in what she assumed was a comforting intrusion of human noise into the womb-like silence of the entry plug. She was smiling slightly, small and almost babyish mouth holding back the bemused chuckle with some difficulty. "You guys doing alright in there?"

She was listening for the response, of course, even while most of the staff in the room tuned out the voices of the younglings whose welfare they had been assigned. Even as she did that her hawkish green eyes scanned the control room. Synch tests were labor intensive due to the relative lack of automatic control systems for the pseudo-Evas that had been commandeered to provide for a safe testing environment. So a good chunk of NERVs active staff was present in some regard, even if in as minute a role as security, in the one in a million case that something went horribly wrong. She made eye contact with quite a few as was her norm, a tiny gesture that was habit for her, trying to reach out to others and keep existing bonds strong and flexible.

"As you will, Mrs. MacNamara ." Jacqueline was one of the only people in the facility who could unfailingly pronounce the tactical directors last name correctly, for whatever reason. It was in Shona's hands to begin the test following feedback from the pilots.

edited 24th Aug '14 12:02:09 PM by Bassetete

A sing song voice sounded. "I kinda like it in here. Nice and private." It was Loke Kinipela. "So...Now what?" Loke looked around in the darkness, whistling a happy tune, Look at me now Mother. She almost said, but she just smiled, tracing one of the scars leading from the side of her mouth almost to her ear with her index and middle fingers, waiting for something to happen. She looked around, breathing liquid felt strange, but she could get used toit.

edited 24th Aug '14 7:49:39 PM by TroyandHawk

Yuto was trembling. This was all still so new for him. He hadn't quite gotten used to all of the testing, or his plug suit, or the smell of the liquid that surrounded him. And now, they were asking him how he felt. He wanted to puke. But the worst part for him, was coming up with something to say.

"I-I'm doing fine." He cursed himself for stuttering while lying.

A 2015 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 sedan in a Summit White finish with a TAPshift automatic transmission and for the first time, in RHD format, sported Tokyo-3 registration plates as it came roaring down a road used for NERV personnel towards the Geofront.

So far, Captain Ken Ohara (wearing civilian clothes) was on time after the planned meeting yesterday with NERV security personnel on ensuring planned tests would be secured from any interference. Never mind that he has to go through several papers that details security plans in securing the Geofront after intelligence received word that anti-NERV terrorists would try to strike the complex.

This won't be easy for me. Ken sighed as he showed his NERV ID card to a scanner to read the RFID code. After the scanner read the ID card, the barrier opened from the left side. This allowed Ken to drive the sedan inside to a car lift platform. When the sedan drove onto the platform, wheel locks secured the Camaro before the lift descended downwards to the Geofront.

This gave Ken the chance to put the Camaro in park mode and put up the handbrake. He plans to take the opportunity to catch a break until he arrives at his destination.

edited 26th Aug '14 12:20:24 AM by Ominae

Eikichi kept repeating himself mantras long ago learned.Do away with desire- nice miniskirt- no focus, Eikichi. This is not a game, it never was. He thought to himself as he had achieved a more or less acceptable trance state. Trance that was broken when the director had asked in that voice of hers how he was doing.

He raised an eyebrow. It was clear that the staff was as bored as they were, but they didn't have to feel the aftertaste of LCL after each breath. But hey, that was the price of glory, wasn't it. He wanted to facepalm so badly...

"Vitals are stable. Psyche is stable. Heartbeat decreased by 10%. Addendum: Meditation really works when in a plug. Although it would be impractical in a combat situation." He curtly added. But he always felt there was a ...sensation in the back of his mind each time he synchronized. It was hard to describe it, but, when he did it right, it felt right. And right now it was doing fine.

edited 24th Aug '14 11:51:11 PM by AtomicNut

"Zero point three... zero point five... we are looking good so far."

Lieutenant Gabriel Scott sat at his workstation watching the stream of data pour in on the monitor with a neutral expression on his face. Considering the prestige of his new position and contingent of people watching him do his job, Gabe wouldn't have blamed himself for being a little nervous inside, but he actually felt very much in his element. The system configuration here in Japan was almost exactly the same as it was back home in America. Same workstations, same specs, heck, even the same kinds of chairs. The only difference besides the obvious change in location was that instead of being a low level technician grunt, he was now dressed in a khaki officer's uniform working under the eye of the tactical director.

The change had certainly taken some getting used to of course. Gabe's ambition upon having graduated MIT and taking a job at NERV was to someday have the title of "doctor" appended to his name, not some military rank. Still, he wasn't about the complain about the rise in pay grade and the honor of working at NERV HQ under the eye of the director of NERV herself, who Gabe had been surprised to see was an admittedly cute young French woman who looked barely old enough to have been out of college herself. Still, he hadn't felt like he was in over his head so far.

Standing at parade rest beside one of the banks of consoles filling the control room, Shona Mac Namara listened to the pilots chiming in – one cheerful, one nervous, one clipped and stoic. They were a mixed bag, to be sure, but she hadn’t really expected much else when she’d learned her “soldiers” would be teenagers.

That still bothered her, even after a month at NERV. Christ, some of them are young enough to be my kids. That's messed up.

She shook her head slightly - Mind back on the job, Shona - and looked around the control room. Her presence here was a formality, mostly. Her approval was needed any time the organization wanted to stick one of the kids inside an Evangelion, and while the test rigs may be half-grown mock-ups, they were still technically evas. Maybe she could have handled this by phone from her office or the command center, but she’d found time to attend in person. She needed to get to know these kids if she was be ordering them around.

She turned to look back at Commander Lechance at the sound of her name, meeting her gaze and nodding with a small grin.

“Aye, ma’am.” She said, turning back to clap the dark-haired Lt. Scott sitting beside her on the shoulder. “Sounds like everyone's ready. May as well get the show on the road, Lieutenant.”

Test Plug Chamber

"Sounds good, guys." It was a casual address for the pilots, which Jacqueline assumed was appropriate considering the age gap. Sure they were piloting titanic monoliths capable of destroying cities by themselves, but at the end of the day they were still all young, with the tentative exception of Loke. Though at least one of them was trying to act above and beyond the call of his age, bless his heart. "Duly noted, Eikichi. I'll bear it in mind the next time I'm piloting an Eva myself." A bit cheeky there to be sure, though Jacqueline's tone remained casually friendly. She was probably just going for the facetious observation, versus actively trying to make a statement.

Her eyes met with the tactical director's for a brief moment, and she smiled back. The slightest hint of a flush had crept over Jacqueline's face even with the ease of her expression otherwise, but it probably hadn't even been noticeable. The moment was passed, Jacqueline idly folded her arms and began looking around again, this time looking at monitors and readouts to pass the time, even though she didn't have the technical training to understand anything that was being displayed.

In front and slightly askew from center was a person who hadn't actually spoken for the duration of the test, Suzume Miyahara, NERV's head scientist. Her uselessly youthful eyes were strictly trained onto the screen before her, where she was passively monitoring the feedback that all the others were individually handling at their terminals, all of it at once displayed in a spread of overlapping windows and pulsating colors and shapes. Whether she didn't trust the others to be doing a good job and was silently double checking their work, whether she was taking her own mental notes on the proceedings independent of the others involved in the test, whether she was simply bored and needed something to look at; it was up in the air, the head scientist's motivations. She certainly didn't go out of her way to explain herself.

In the eerily warm aquatic environments each Child had been dunked into, pulsations and ripples echoed through the LCL like heartbeats. Background noise they'd all be used to except for perhaps the newcomer Yuto, the vague whisperings of something forgotten yet familiar yet welcome. Perhaps soothing, perhaps terrifying.

Car Lift

The lift had one stop before it's final destination, a midway point that was connected to the subways that ran concentric rings around and through the city. The authorized clearance card that was necessary to open the automated turnstile in the specific subway station used was still poking out of the fist of the bland faced worker who stepped onto the lift as it continued it's angular descent into the Geofront. His haircut was one of the current trends, a pseudo mohawk in appearance. He could have been an office worker or the like in another time and place.

"Sup dude." Just casually thrown out there, nothing really meant.

Loke closed her eyes and began to sing quietly to herself, the loud heart beat like noises always soothed her, it added to her little fantasy that the thing she was in was alive like her. Despite every fiber of her being aching to go rip apart an Angel, she felt calm, relaxed. "Auhea wale `oe e `Ainamalu Ku`u home aloha ma ka lihi kai."

Eikichi rolled his eyes as he concentrated."I find that agreeable, ma'am. A trained, seasoned soldier would be much more effective in piloting an Eva...should it be able to synchronize with it in the first place." He said, in a neutral tone. Really, the director was joking? Perhaps she should leave the humor for outside the tests, like he did.

And then he closed his eyes, embracing the all familiar sensation. Loss, regret. Warmth. Motherly feelings. If only they knew what it felt like, they perhaps would stop patronizing the pilots. It was hard to pilot whimsical machines with a gut feeling psychic connection.

Ken stared at him carefully as he unfastened the seat belt while he made a phone call to the Tac Ops office with his smartphone and briefly left a message since no one was around to answer the call.

"This is Captain Ohara. Let me know if I have a meeting with the commander or the director before the end of the day."

The ex-commando then ended his call from his smartphone and waited for the lift to end its journey at the Geofront.

One can't be too careful these days.

If anything, he wouldn't need to draw out his backup sidearm as a precaution ever since he joined NERV.

edited 26th Aug '14 8:44:48 AM by Ominae

Gabe responded to the tactical director. "Yes ma'am. Entry plug depths are nominal. Beginning measurements."

With a cold efficiency, he tapped a few buttons on the keypad to start the testing application, then sat back in his chair and reached again for his mug of black coffee as the results came online. Things were running smoothly, and the kids (well, most of them) seemed to be taking it better than he could have hoped. So far, so good.

Yuto began too shake. It felt like he'd been in here forever. It didn't help that he had this odd, and alarming feeling, that made him feel as if their was something else inside the plug with him. He wanted to scream, or vomit, or something. He could feel something build up in his throat every few seconds, but he fought it back down. He had to do this. This was his purpose, even if he didn't like it. Just keep calm.

Shona stood back a little, arms folded in front of her, as the tests began. Her eyes flicked over to watch Le Chance as she caught the cheeky note in her voice, but she didn’t say anything. Even if the commander was being a bit more… familiar with the pilots than she would have been if she were in the top chair, she wasn’t about to undermine her authority or anything.

‘’Besides, they’re just kids. You’re too used to dealing with soldiers, Shona.’’

Speaking of the kids, two of them were taking the experience inside the pods quite well. Yuto, on the other hand, was visibly distressed. She tapped her lip a few times, then leaned in over Gabe’s shoulder, opening an intercom to new pilot’s cockpit. No point using the open channel and embarrassing him in front of the others.

“Easy, Yuto.” She said, voice calm and friendly. “It’s just a routine test. Trust me, they’ll have you bored to tears in no time.”

Damnit! Yuto had been hoping that no one had been paying attention as he started to freak out, but he knew on some level that it was just wishful thinking. He focused on steadying his breathing for a moment, trying to get over his anxiety. It started to work, so he replied. "S-sorry Ma'am."

Gabe exhaled as he continued to stare at the monitor. It felt so much like he was on display for the NERV brass to watch him do his job that it was easy to forget how those kids must feel. Probably like they were science experiments, or undergoing some kind of unpleasant medical procedure. It was a good thing Major MacNamara seemed more comfortable with putting them at ease.

edited 28th Aug '14 3:14:58 PM by CombatC122

Car Lift

The nameless worker casually stared back, watching the security personnel make a call. It seemed somewhat gratuitous to the untrained eye, a move just made to avoid conversation of even the most idle and meaningless sort. His face remained impassive, but there was definitely an eye roll being internalized somewhere in that mind. He turned around, just in time for the lift to open into the roadway that lead through the artificial knolls of the Geofront, towards the pyramid whose tip was visible in the distance.

"Looks like this is your stop, man." His tone remained casual, but it had cooled a fraction in temperature from the warm buddy-buddy words he had first been speaking with.

Synch Room

The humanoid monoliths began to faintly rumble, a careful eye could discern that they almost seemed to be rhythmically twisting about as if trying to move their nonexistent limbs somewhere. Data began to pour into all of the readouts and monitors that peppered every inch of the room, indicating good rates for all pilots involved. Yes, even the nervous one.

"The rates in acceptable range for all pilots for this plug depth." Suzume didn't look up from where her eyes were plastered over the flickering and blinking figures on her personal screen.

"Don't apologize, Yuto. Nervousness when in a new environment is natural for everybody. Even the people who look like they know what they're doing." A few eyes in the room notably diverted away from the director at that. She had been around just long enough to be privy to a couple of embarrassing moments for some of the more veteran staff there. Jacqueline held up a hand as she stretched up from her chair. "Keep gathering data for a minute, standard procedure. Beyond that, we're done here, folks." Fast and efficient, that was what NERV always strove for. Among other things.

The director took to strolling about, perhaps a bit restless. She was seemingly always looking for something to do, something to say... And she happened to find a minute diversion in a flicker of the eye to her side. Gabe would feel a light touch on his shoulder as Jacqueline's ghost of a voice resounded. "Relax. We're already done."

Gabe looked back at Director Lechance. He was acutely aware she was the boss of course, but with her youth and openness Gabe couldn't help but see her as a peer, at least a little bit. He allowed himself a hint of a smile.

"Please, ma'am. This might be my first time in the big leagues as it were, but I'm no novice to these sync tests." Besides, he thought to himself, it's not really me I'm nervous about.

Yuto finally brought himself back to a calm state, or at least as calm a state he could manage in his current position. The director's words, however, really helped in the end. At least he knew that they weren't expecting him to be as stoic, or as excited as the other two. Although...No, they chose me. Focus only on that fact. They wanted me. They needed me. I have a use.

Now their was nothing much more to do, but wait, and keep calm.

Ken parked his sedan to the designated parking lot and secured it before he locked it up. He then went through the automated barrier gate and used his ID card to let the scanner his RFID code on it. After it opened, Ken used one of the escalators going downward that led to the Tac Ops section.

He went inside the area's designated locker room and changed to his NERV uniform, complete with his tac vest and pistol holster.

Here goes.

Ken used a walkalator to take him to the test plug chambers. But before he got off, he made sure to wear his balaclava and his red beret before he entered.

"Captain Ohara reporting in!" He announced his presence to the Major in English with his West Canadian accent, snapping immediately to a salute.

edited 30th Aug '14 3:20:39 AM by Ominae

"Hey, can any other pilots hear me?" Loke asked, "And if you can, anyone know a scary story?" She added

"We do, Loke." Eikichi sighed. "And please refrain using the Eva communication channels for such frivolous comments."

"I can, um, here you too. But, I don't really know or like any scary stories."

Loke laughed, "Lighten up, there will be plenty of time for seriousness when we're fighting Kaiju!...And what's wrong with scary stories?" She asked the voices on the radio.

Yuto started to sink into the back of his seat. "I-I don't know, I just don't like being scared I guess."