[Old Log] To Serve Mankind

[eighteenwindows]

WHO: Simon Parker, Misato Katsuragi, Shinji Ikari, Rei Ayanami, Asuka Langley (guest-starring Jay)
WHEN: Some time in April
WHERE: Simon's house, Symphonic Earth
WHAT: About a week before this scene, Shinji received a suspicious gift--a cookbook containing recipes for things like "Carribean Jerk Long Pork" and "Southern Fried Cherubim". Misato suspects this might be a 'gift' from Hell, and acts accordingly...
WATCH FOR: Misato's entrance, Asuka's joke and aftermath, and what Rei keeps in her meishi holder.

Shaker Heights is a fairly peaceful suburb on the East Side of Cleveland. Normally at this time of year, it would be quite picturesque--most of the homes here are old, expensive, and very well-maintained; the streets would be lined with trees just breaking into bloom, and flowers poking their heads up from the earth.

This was how it would look today if everything wasn't covered with several inches of snow. It shows no signs of relenting.

The address Simon gave Misato belongs to a townhouse just off one of the main roads. It looks normal enough from the outside--no pentagrams drawn in human blood on the walls, or sulfurous smoke emanating from within--though there's a figure in a heavy winter jacket attempting to shovel the front walk.

"#*!&ing stupid snow," Jay murmurs, under his breath. He sinks the blade of the shovel into the snow next to him, and leans heavily against it; he then glares into the nearest window. "I thought it was supposed to stop weeks ago."

Obviously, this is Jay's first tour of duty in this particular part of the Corporeal.

They asked Misato to drive. In snow.

And so, a blue car comes slipping and sliding through the packed white stuff, filling the muted air with crunching, rasping sounds rather than the more usual squeal of rubber on pavement. Faintly, someone might be able to hear Misato whooping and hollering with delight--winter doesn't seem to want to exist anymore in her home world, so this is definitely a new thing for her.

Eventually, the car comes nearly spinning around the corner and decisively sliding into a clear spot--clear of other cars, at least, much to the relief of anyone around--to park. There's a few thumps, and then the driver's side door opens up, to let out the driver. "That was great!" she yells, even as she secures her jacket around herself. "I have got to go to worlds where it still snow more often!"

"America." Shinji mutters to himself. "Fewer cowboys than Toji said." He looks, worriedly, out the window, wishing he had thought to bring a heavier jacket. Wasn't it supposed to be warm in April?

"Then again..." The Third Child groans, as he pulls his head out of the coushining that stands between the back seat and the trunk of the Renault with a cartoonish pop, causing Ikari to bounce off of the front seat's back a little. "...maybe we ran them all over..."

Managing to, somehow, fall out of the car in what can only be described as a skinny little lump, Shinji, being a concensious young man, makes certain to not get the book in the snow by holding it up in the air. The fact that this makes him the perfect set of human steps for anyone who doesn't want to get their feet wet is entierly lost on the boy.

Asuka Langley is wearing a cowboy hat, a red kerchief, and a large cowboy ha.t "Where are all the Indians?" Asuka asks grumpily. As predicted, she probably is just going along to complain about everything. In other words, all is as it should be.

Rei had bundled up. It means she looks more like a normal girl, thanks to the parka and the sweater beneath it. All this for temperatures in the forties? Yes; she is, after all, very valuable and does not exactly have a lot of delicious insulating bodyfat. None of them do.

She does not want to walk in slush, and so, she adopts a peculiar crablike crawling position to cross over the Second's lap on the way out, holding onto the little over-the-door handle to turn herself around and lower her legs out of the car. She takes care not to step on Shinji, which probably means he gets a moment of upskirt if he cares to take it.

After this she steps past him, and crouches down to pull him back up to his feet.

Shoveling snow is /hard/ when you've only got one Corporeal Force to your name. Jay is just about to toss away a shovelful of the white stuff when Misato's car comes skidding around the corner. He starts, and the shovel wobbles uneasily as the demonling nearly loses his balance. Jay takes a deep breath, chucks the snow off to the side, and turns around to see who nearly wrapped their car around a tree.

Huh, that's Misato's car. And Simon told him she was going to be coming over today.

Naturally, Jay takes this as an excuse to avoid his chores--the shovel is tossed aside as he trudges down the unshoveled portion of the walkway to the street. He pulls his hood back and waves to the group. "Hi, guys!" As Jay approaches the group, he holds out a hand to help Shinji get back on his feet--though he can't help but shoot The Book a suspicious glance as he does so. And then he notices Asuka's outfit, which gets an weird look of its own. "The door's unlocked, just don't track snow in everywhere."

Pausing a moment to turn around and look at her charges, Misato frowns slightly upon seeing Shinji embedded in the snow. "Be careful, Shinji, we don't want you to get sick here." She begins to move back to help him up, but Rei seems to be taking care of it. With a slight shake of the head, she turns forward again to approach the house.

Ah, luck would have it, there's already someone out here to greet them. "Hi, Jay! You look like you're working hard." She smiles at the boy as he assists Rei in getting Shinji back upright. "Thanks. I guess we'll just head on in, then...."

Thus she leads her bunch up to the door and opens it, careful to scrape the snow off her shoes before entering. "Hello, Simon! We're here."

Shinji Ikari resists the urge to say about the first...four things that pop into his head. Shinji also gentlemanly closes his eyes when Ayanami passes by, wanting to avoid the inevitable "Pervert!" accusations and also, y'know, generaly being a polite, respectful young man when fate isn't getting in the way.

At least that's what he tells himself. Still uneasy about Jay, Shinji manages to murmur a, "Thanks." anyway, taking both offers of help so he can also keep the book under his arm. Quickly up on his feet...you get that way when you fall down as much as Shinji does.

"I'm fine, really." Shinji insists Misato wards...like he'd ever admit to being sick anyway. He also blinks, once. "...I, um, think you mean Native Americans, Asuka." Another pause. "...unless you ment Hindu-speaking people." The foolishness of a plan to make Shinji Ikari a loyal soldier of Hell may start to become apparent around now.

Rei looks towards Jay for a moment, her expression a little unreadable. "Thank you," she says, before brushing off some snow from Shinji's back with a gloved hand. After this, she steps up the shovelled pathway and towards the house, imitating Misato's snow-scraping ways and, once inside, immediately looking for a place to take her shoes off.

Asuka hates these people. She's only here to keep Shinji from killing himself. That's why she says, "Shutup Shinji," because it seems like he's trying to.

Guess she's in a poor mood. "Any Injuns here, govnah." She comments to Jay, tipping her hat.

The inside of the townhouse is nicely-furnished. There is a mat beside the door, which opens onto the living room; a couch and several chairs are sitting in front of an entertainment center consisting of a TV, DVD player, and at least two game consoles.

Simon is sitting on the couch, having turned off the TV when Misato announced her presence. He's wearing a red t-shirt and jeans, and several ugly-looking bruises are visible on his face and arms. When he turns to answer her, the movement is somewhat labored.

"Katsuragi," he says. He sounds friendly enough. "Welcome. Sorry about the short notice, but this might be something serious."

Jay looks up, and... bows, reflexively, at the hat-tipping. Stupid ingrained gestures of fake politeness. "No," he says. "Do you want something to drink?" That question is meant for the party in general, not just the crazy girl in the cowboy getup.

Somewhere in the back of Misato's mind, she recalls vaguely that Western households often have people leave their shoes on inside the house...but seeing Simon looking rather beat up sort of quiets that down. Her eyes go wide. "What happened to you?" she asks, sounding concerned.

Now on autopilot, she takes off her shoes anyway and scoots them over to the side of the entryway and walks in a little closer, peering at the man's injuries. "Looks serious enough," she mutters, shaking her head. "Well, uh...I'll have some cola, Jay, thanks," she answers the boy, before turning back to Simon. "So, uh...fill us in?"

"She'll have a sassperilla." Shinji deadpans, because the least Asuka could do is tell him to shut up /creativly/. Just 'shut up'-that's lazy! Shinji worries, briefly, that Asuka has found some other young milksop to torment, and then realizes that he has finally broken the anxiety barrier and become some sort of Japanese Boober Fragle.

"Um, thanks, Ayanami." Shinji murmurs, blushing a little at the snow-pushing. "You don't have to go to any...trouble..." That pause wasn't an awkward one so much as a wow, Mister Parker looks sort of beat up pause.

"Um, s-sure, Jay." Shinji squeeks, just sort of standing by Misato and trying not to look like the reason Simon Parker is probably beat up. Great, he even makes /demons/ lives worse...

Rei shuffles out of her shoes, which are actually a bit inadequate for snow. Her socks are wet, she realizes with faint annoyance, but doesn't bring the topic up, instead saying "Water, please," when drinks are brought up.

She nods slightly to Shinji as he thanks her, and then steps onto the carpet, which is marginally warmer. At least the cold put a little color in her cheeks! And by color we mean red from cold.

Asuka doesn't insult Shinji, maybe she really is in a poor mood. Unsurprising, really, since that's more the standard state rather than anything else. She doesn't say anything to much of anybody.

"I'll have a...a what?" She looks to Shinji. "Sure I'll have that, whatever it is."

Still shaking her head a little bit, Misato steps into the living room. "I thought winter was over by now...this isn't normal, is it?" She briefly rubs her hands together, shaking off the last vestiges of the outdoor chill as she goes to sit down in an empty seat.

But smalltalk about the weather quickly runs out, and the more pressing matter at hand--but loses the moment as Simon moves to help with the drinks. The slight frown on her face is evident as she watches the injured man make his way into the kitchen to assist Jay. So she looks at the others and says, more quietly, "Did you hear about this? I mean...." She tilts her head toward Simon.

"It's probably my fault." Shinji says fatalisticly, curling in on himself a little. He can do it standing up because he's just that talented. "Sassperilla's some kind of drink the cowboys who weren't old enough to drink whiskey had, Asuka. Um, I think that was all they drank." Shinji adds in the same tone of voice, probably revealing more than he intended because his mind is elsewhere.

"...no one was really...suprised, when I got something like this, were they?" Ikari somehow manages to ask, looking away from his colleagues because he can't quite find the courage to find that 'No, not really.' answer he knows will be in their eyes.

Rei knows it's cold and her feet are chilly. She moves towards a couch so that she can hug her knees up to her chest; it may look vaguely autistic, but at least this time there's a motive to it that is rooted in real concerns.

She looks over to Shinji at his comment; she seems faintly confused. "Something like what?"

Simon dismisses the full weight of Misato's question with a wave of a hand. "Fokker wanted us to find some Zentraedi who snuck into the SDF-1 somehow," he explains. "/They/ didn't put up a fight, but someone wanted them for some sort of... weapons project, and turned one into some sort of technological monstrosity." The demon is, of course, making it sound like no big deal. "We dealt with it before it got loose."

To wit: Said battle involved a Zondar composed of a Micronized Zentraedi warrior, assorted Destroid parts, and a Lynn Minmay doll equipped with lasers and sonic weaponry. The physical injuries pale in comparison to the insult that is having 'My Boyfriend's a Pilot' stuck in one's head for the past day.

He pauses at Shinji's comment, and decides to play it safe. "Katsuragi told me you got a suspicious book in the mail, and contacted me because she thought it might be a present from one of your fans." He's frowning, slightly. "I take it that's it, right there?" He gestures at the book, just to bring it to everyone's attention.

Jay, meanwhile, is sorting through the drinks--he's already got Misato's Coke ready, and he's pouring Rei a glass of water. "Isn't sasparilla alcoholic?" he asks. "We have beer, but..."

"Don't even think about it," Simon mutters.

Asuka Langley says, "I'm not too young for whiskey!" loudly, "I'm just not in the mood for alcoholic beverages at all. That's all." She may be misinterpreting here.

The furrow in Misato's brow deepens slightly as Shinji takes the blame upon himself again. This is definitely the first she's heard of this. "Could you please explain in a little more detail?" she asks the boy in as patient a voice as she can manage. Whatever's going on, well.... But she straightens up as now Simon does answer her. "Oh...I heard about that incident, yes. I didn't know you were involved, though." She shakes her head. "You look like you should have stayed in the hospital a little longer or something. At least, you shouldn't be moving around so much."

Mention of the book makes her glance at said object, and she nods slowly. "Oh, yes. I thought it would be about this, I was just worried that...there was something else involved. Or was somehow tied to your current state of health," she adds dryly, then laughs. "Beer would be great, but I do have to drive back afterward. Thanks, though; you're a real sweetie, Jay." She grins at the boy and winks.

It could only improve her driving, Shinji half thinks, but finds himself devoid of humor. In a moment of self-loathing, he even voulinteers for one of Commander Fokker's infamous "ludicriously dangerous and my goverment will probably shoot at you when you're done." missions, in the subtle hope that the Zentraedi will finish what they started.

Alarmed by this thought, which is darker than he'd had in a while, Shinji just wordlessly hands the book to Simon. If his hunch is right, the man's reaction will explain it to Misato better than he can.

"They shot the unarmed," Rei says, her voice quiet. She may be speaking of the Zentraedi, although the news of a Zondarification process makes her look slightly more awake. Once her water arrives, she nods to Jay and cups it in both hands, and sips at it while her eyes go over towards the enigmatic tome of curious and forgotten lore.

The elder demon shakes his head again, completely dismissing the whole 'hospital' thing. "The Zondar did this," he says, "But I've dealt with worse, believe me." Such as having his vessel brutally killed instead of merely beaten up, then cradling his Heart for a week until the agony of the resulting spiritual Trauma faded.

...And then Simon looks at Misato, then to each of the Children--and realizes that the latter look... unhurt. He remembers when he was actually living with Ava, and living out the 'childhood' of his Role; something about her having a nasty temper, and having to explain to his classmates that he got beat up after school.

Jay perks, slightly. "Thank you," he says. And this time, he sounds like he really means it. Then, to Asuka: "Sure, sure. What else would you like? We've got coffee, tea, Coke, Mountain Dew..."

And then Shinji presents the book to Simon. He takes it in both hands, turning it over so he can inspect the cover--and as soon as he sees the title, he frowns. Cautiously, he cracks it open, and starts turning pages. And as soon as he sees the table of contents, he scowls. "This is a Cookbook," he states. You can practically hear the proper noun there. "A Glutton's Cookbook." The Balseraph snaps the cover closed, and turns to Misato. "Fan-mail, probably, given the fact that..."

"Sir?" Jay says, tentatively. "Y-you m-might want to break it to them a l-little more..."

Simon sighs.

Misato resolves to go back over this specific debriefing in more depth when she goes back to the office on Monday. She'd only been able to give the report a cursory readthrough, what with the testing that NERV was running at the time which she had to oversee. Shooting the unarmed? That brings a grimace to her face. She never likes hearing about that sort of thing.

That is quickly discarded, though; she straightens slightly in her seat to focus on Simon, even as she takes her drink from Jay with an appreciative nod. She sips her soda, watching the man carefully as he examines the book. "A...Cookbook," she repeats, evidently sensing the capital letter in the word. She seems to relax slightly as it's described as fanmail; that's one of the possible conclusions that was drawn when the item first arrived, after all.

But that quickly goes away as she tenses once more. "Break...what to us," she says, her voice sounding just a bit suspicious now.

Asuka Langley doesn't care so hard, that they almost form visible ways. Though she does relent and mumble, "Mountain Dew is cool." grumpily. She almost beat Super EVA Wars and is pretty upset about being pulled away from that. Angels, Demons. Ugh. Always think their business is so special.

"Are you going to kidnap us?" Asuka asks vaguely as she looks for a nice place sit.

"Gluttons." Shinji repeats tonelessly. He's read the book...well, Shinji has a habit of fixating on things. Usualy guilt related things, but in his own quiet way, he can be stubborn. Like, say, if there's a particularly bad stain on the carpet. Or if someone thinks he'd be a good cannibal.

"There's recepies in there for eating people." Shinji says, "That's what I meant earlier. I thought it was just, um, a bad joke, because of what happened in Russia..." Shinji trails off, remembering what happened in Russia.

His hand squeezes softly, relentlessly, in and out of a fist.

Rei nestles back into the couch cushions.

"They will not hold us captive," she answers Asuka, although she does not clarify on why. She holds the half-drunk glass of water, her socks doubtless damaging the upholstry faintly with their wetness. She looks towards Shinji at the news that there is a recipe for people in there.

She doesn't say anything in reply. Perhaps that's for the best.

"N-no!" is Jay's immediate response to Asuka's accusation. "Those were the /Angel-jerks/." Once he's got that on the table, he starts pouring Asuka her Mountain Dew, and offers it to her once he's finished. "I--I..." And then, when Shinji mentions what happened in Russia, he trails off completely. The demonling's face is slowly turning red from an emotion that might be classified as 'shame'.

"I think it might be a bad joke," Simon says. "But whomever sent it was undoubtedly a demon working for Gluttony."

"You were on TV," Jay squeaks. His voice has gone from 'jittery' to 'tiny', as though he's suddenly become afraid of being dogpiled by Shinji and Friends. "Hell-wide TV."

Simon sighs again. "The most logical explanation is that someone saw that show and decided to send the Cookbook to you as a 'present'."

The incident in...oh. Misato grimaces slightly. That was something best left forgotten, really, but such is life. Things come back up when you don't expect it. And don't want them to return. "I see," she says, a little sourly. What is wrong with some people? She glances over at Shinji, sighing at his demeanor and reaching out to pat his arm--the one tensing from clenching a fist--as comfortingly as she can manage.

She'll hug him later; it's not appropriate right at this moment.

She sighs, looking suddenly weary. "Yeah, some mightily messed up people out there." The matter of Children being kidnapped, she lets the others take care of. "So, in your estimation...will there be any followups, do you think, or can we...let the matter rest here?" By burning that disgusting book afterward or something, anyway.

Shinji Ikari looks over to Jay, slowly.

Another Rokubungi trait that Shinji's inherited, though it's softened by Yui's features most of the time, is happening to look a lot like a stray dog. Something about the way his face is constructed, how his short hair somehow manages to be juuust long enough to be scruffy, the thin, expressive lips, the drooping eyes, the sharp, angry nose.

"/Everyone/ saw me?" The fact that his lips are curled back, giving the illusion that, were he some sort of animal, Shinji would be bearing his teeth right now, isn't helping any. "That's...that's the real reason the attack happened. They were treating it like a game show."

The Third Child takes a step forward. "Is that why the Eva Pilots are so popular in the mail room all of a sudden, Jay? Entertainment?"

Rei looks down to her glass of water, and does not stand to support Shinji. This might be a cruel prank; she has heard vague rumors that sometimes, someone sends her a marriage proposal and that Section 2 disposes of them, or contacts local authorities.

She doesn't worry about it, usually. The idea of being entertainment, however - that does make her look up, although not quite to the point of lifting her head. This means her eyes are partially hidden.

The demonling puts his hands up, shrinking back as Shinji's gaze becomes that much more intense. The look of shame in his eyes is slowly changing to panic. /He/ saw Shinji, and perhaps this is why he's afraid. For a moment, Jay looks like he's about to say something, but all that comes out is a vague, wordless stammering noise.

Simon rests a hand on the Gremlin's shoulder. It might be actual sympathy, or maybe just pity, but the gesture is there. "It was a game show," Simon says. He sounds tired. "We were on station from keeping its idiot creator from sparking a war. As for follow-up, that depends on who sent you the book in the first place--if it's some rank-and-file Glutton, we can deal with the problem easily. If it's someone more determined than your average fan, it might take some doing." If Simon is unnerved by Shinji's looks, he doesn't show it. "Do you know who sent it?"

Asuka says, "Oh okay. It was the ANGELS then. Most pathetic Angels I've ever run to, to be honest, y'know, though I guess there were Angels that helped us out too. They're just metaphorical Angels that we smash, y'know. They aren't really Angelic. I mean, have you -seen- an Angel? They don't usually have wings or anything." She huffs and crosses her arms, but is quiet for a few moments before adding, "So uh. Hell-TV. How is Hell? Nice place? I saw a comic about that."

Misato's grimace deepens. Of course Shinji wouldn't take this well. "Easy, Shinji," she murmurs, keeping her hand on his arm, now giving it a gentle squeeze, a reminder of 'hey, I'm here,' to him. Nevertheless, she does turn a rather cool look to Jay. "It would have been nice to know about this a little earlier, perhaps. We have some experience in controling media reactions, and when it comes to these Children...that's an important base to cover."

She subsides quickly, perhaps also taking some amount of pity on Jay, now quietly gibbering, and nods to Simon. "I'll make sure that we have some things going on our end to make sure nothing else happens. With cooperation from your people, of course...."

Nevertheless, she still looks rather worried, and glances again at the Children, trying to gauge their continuing reactions to all of this. Asuka trying to brush it off, as usual. Rei seeming a little more interested than usual. And Shinji.... Well.

Rei remains quiet as the people speak, and looks towards the second when she speaks. "Sometimes they fly," she says, as she looks back to Simon and Jay. Jay in particular gets looked at; she's looked UP enough that her hair isn't in her eyes any more.

She finishes her water, then, and straightens up. Her socks are at least partly dry, and not nearly as cold.

"Haagenti." Shinji clips off. Both of his hands are squeezed into fists, now. "He signed his name and all."

Shinji stops talking then, just sort of waiting to see how Simon reacts; Shinji is fairly sure that a low ranking demon wouldn't be so bold, but he can't be certain that his hunch is right until he sees Simon and Jay's reaction, after all. Then he'll decide if he'll tell them or not.

Jay goes deathly silent as Shinji says that name. His eyes are roughly the size of saucers, and he's shrinking back behind his superior. Now, at least, he seems more scared of the name Shinji dropped rather than Shinji himself.

"Haagenti," Simon repeats. He looks rather shocked, himself--that /can't/ be good, all things considered. "It... it could be a forgery," he says, "And we'll have to check and see if it is, if it's not Ineffable, but if it isn't..." There is a long pause. "Then a Demon Prince sent that book to you, and probably expects a 'thank you', at the least."

Asuka Langley says, "Great, now demons are messing with us too with demon books." She crosses her arms, blinks, and then looks to Shinji for a few moments. Must... not make a pun, be serious, be serious. Aargghh, she can't resist!

"I told you that book learning was nothing but trouble, Shinji." She elbows him in the ribs lightly.

Oh, grand.

Misato stares blankly at Simon. Glances at Jay, whose shellshocked reaction seems to confirm this. Back to Simon. "You're kidding," she says flatly. "A Prince of Demons. We have a--" She cuts herself off and sighs, rubbing her forehead slowly. This is not what she asked for. "So, let's hope it was a forgery, but in case it wasn't.... What sort of a 'thank you' would Demon Prince Haagenti be due for such a gift?"

Still, she can't help but smirk a little bit at Asuka's joke. "Thank you," she murmurs to the redhead. That did make things a tiny bit easier.

Rei feels a faint rumbling in her stomach. Perhaps the water triggered it, although she doesn't speak up at the moment.

"If it's freely given, we would have no obligation," she says, not very loudly.

Shinji Ikari's eyes contract. His hands shake. His teeth are actually bared, now. He looks like he wants to just break everything in the room-which might explain why the normally meek boy can do what he can do to entire units of hardened Zeon and Zentraedi veterans. He is going to at least, Shinji thinks, put a dent in this demon's stupid wall. He's a guy. He's allowed to actualy act like a guy once in a while, right? Right?! This isn't disturbing. This isn't out of character. It's puberty finally kicking in! And...

...and then Asuka had to go and ruin it, damn it. The Third Child blinks, owlishly, for a second, as if trying to entierly absorb the idea that the Second made a joke at a time like this.

So, Shinji laughs. It's not a deep, slightly unhinged belly laugh, like the time Gendo finally pushed him too far, but it's more expressive...more of a /laugh/...then anyone in the room has probably ever heard out of Shinji. "Oh...oh man..." he manages over the laughing, leaning awkwardly against the wall and holding his sides, "...m-man, ha!, how would you like it if I did that when, ha!, you get all crazy angry? I had a speech and everything..." The Third Child whipes his eyes, the strange, savage spell he was under seemingly broken.

Asuka Langley frowns at Shinji, as if to say 'how dare you not be tortured by my cruelty?!' but this is a bit of a put on which is obvious because soon Asuka starts laughing as well. It is the laugh of someone trying not to laugh but is anyway because laughter is contagious and it even affects Asuka despite her poor mood. She doesn't have to hold her sides but she does tear a little bit and has to wipe at her eyes and take several deep breaths, interspersed with chuckles, before continuing. Eventually she just plasters her hands at her side and declares, "You're welcome!"

The demonling continues to shrink back, almost doubling over in an unconscious attempt to get away from Shinji by ducking under the bar. Simon squeezes Jay's shoulder, and as the Third Child starts to... come unhinged, he wonders if he's going to have to repair yet another hole in the wall, or a broken end-table, or...

He snickers a little at Asuka's joke, though it's probably just the irony of the whole situation sinking in. His eyes widen a little bit in a wordless 'oh hell, I did not just do that' expression, and he starts thinking about damage control.

"It might be a fake," Jay squeaks. "And he's still a j-jerk b-b-but he's not that bad as long as he d-d-doesn't eat you, and a-a-and and and..."

Simon tightens his grip on the demonling, trying to shake him out of his fear. "I honestly don't know," the Balseraph says, to Misato. "I don't work for him, I don't know if he's trying to recruit you, or..."

"Is this the first thing you've gotten from Hell?" he asks, suspiciously.

Rei shifts her weight to the side, one hand going from the glass and into the pocket of her parka, as she hears Simon's question. She digs out the generic meishi-holder that many Japanese carry, opening it and looking around in it briefly. She tugs out a card, which looks like one of those glossy black ones you see sometimes in the edgy youth.

She slides the NERV-licensed holder back into her pocket, and stands up. She puts the water glass down on the coffee table - aiming for a coaster if there is one - and steps over towards Simon.

She holds the small card out towards him without saying anything.

Briefly, Misato's eyes widen in alarm as she notices Shinji tensing up even more, pause, and then start to laugh. But then relaxes as she notes the absence of an imbalanced element in the laugh. Which is not to say that she doesn't find this odd at all...he doesn't laugh like this normally. But it is, at least, the kind of laugh that does not seem to herald crazygonuts time.

She sits back in her chair, shaking her head ruefully. "It's all a matter of expert timing, Shinji," she says, smiling a little bit. "It'll be all right. I'll make sure of it." Back to Simon: "Well, see what you can find out from those who work for him. I don't know how your connections work, but I'm sure you can turn something up, right?"

As for Rei...Misato frowns slightly, looking over to her quizzically, but doesn't say anything yet.

"We're pretty sure Asuka came from Germany, despite the rumors..." Shinji, who's almost completly lost the giggles, but is certainly a little more relaxed, says. He even smiles at Asuka's pre-crackup frown.

The picture of Ayanami holding a card...who gave her a card? Deliquents?! What kind of a crowd is she hanging out with?!?!

"I think you've finally managed to be a bad influence on Ayanami." Shinji asides to Asuka, pointing at the HOOLIGAN looking card. "Man, before we know it, she's going to be hanging out on street corners, crossing her arms in intimidating ways, chewing gum..." Shinji looks to Asuka as if this were her fault and/or responsibility, somehow.

Jay pauses, and stares at the weird little pictures on the card. Appparently, he either can't read Katakana, or doesn't know enough to make out the name.

Simon does. This mean that his reaction gets /worse/ before he can fully process everything Misato's telling him. He swears, softly, in a discordantly lyrical language. "Lilith," he says. "/Lilith/ sent you that?"

Jay has overcome enough of his fear to look... well, vaguely jealous. His Prince barely knows of his existence, it seems, and these guys get the cool gifts. He looks over at Asuka, as if checking to see if she got something, too.

"I guess..." Simon murmurs, "We should explain who these people are?"

Asuka Langley didn't get anything. She shrugs at Jay. There probably aren't many demons interested in Asuka. If there is one, it's probably one of WAR or perhaps Nightmares, considering how many Asuka helps give Shinji. "That's good," She adds to Shinji in a deadpan, "I've worked so hard on it."

"She gave it to me," Rei explains to Simon; she does not seem particularly energized in any specific way. She then brings the card holder back out to put it away again, before looking over towards Shinji with puzzlement. Sometimes she chews gum, just not in public!

The look on Simon's face makes Misato wince again, though she manages to internalize it, mostly. What else have these kids gotten themselves into? Really. The opening of the Gates gave her a lot more to look forward to beyond endless Angel attacks and the impending end of their world. They also got a whole slew of new problems to deal with as well.

Oh well, gotta take the good with the bad, she thinks to herself. Out loud, she says, "That would be a good start, Simon. We'd appreciate it if you'd brought us up to speed with what you know of these people." People, demons...whatever they are.

"You shouldn't listen to Asuka, Ayanami." Shinji says in his mother hen sort of way, "She's a bad influence. And, um, maybe I'm kind of getting off track here..." The Third Child rubs the back of his head and, remembering his tantrum, shoots Jay an apologetic look.

"...wait, was that that lady we helped at the," Shinji remembers that Das Redhead doesn't want her Nerd On revealed to the public, and decides he's pushed the envelope enough today, "...um, mall, that one time?"

So he's not alone! This is small, cold comfort to Jay, but at least he looks less likely to turn and run.

Simon tries not to imagine Rei as a walking, talking tangle of Geas-hooks as he starts with his explanation. "Lilith," he states, "Is only a Demon Princess in the loosest sense of the term. She's human, created by God as a sort of experimental subject--and after the Rebellion, she defected to our side. She /loves/ to see herself as the only neutral party in Hell, and also considers herself above the law. She is bound to the Word of Freedom, and while this is wholly acceptable, she thinks that /her/ freedom is the only freedom that matters."

While Simon is talking, Jay slinks off into the kitchen, and starts pouring himself a class of Mountain Dew. His hands are still shaking, which makes the proceedure trickier than it should be.

"She is, however, the only source for a certain... derivative of demon." Simon gives Rei a vaguely suspicious look, again remembering the geas-hook in his own soul. He now knows Rei's not the one responsible for it, but old habits die hard. "The Lilim. They have a way of finding out exactly what you need, and then giving it to you in exchange for a favor later down the line."

They're not like us, says a nagging little voice in the back of Simon's mind.

"Did she give you anything?" Simon asks. He's still trying to figure out how to phrase the whole capsule summary of Haagenti, since the parallels /there/ are a little creepy.

For now, Misato remains quiet, simply soaking in this description of Lilith. And Lilim. She frowns a tiny bit; there's something familiar about those names. She'll try searching for those in the NERV databases...maybe it's just coincidence, but you never know. She turns to look at Rei a little more closely. "If you receive anything from unknown parties, do be sure to let us know about it, all right?" This, of course, goes for the other Children as well. Like Shinji's cookbook and all.

"She gave me her card," Rei says, as she steps back over to settle back down on the table.

She then looks at Misato as she is addressed more formally, and nods, once. "I will do so."

Shinji Ikari waits.

And waits.

And waits.

"Um, Mister Parker? What about the, um, other guy?"

Asuka Langley makes a vague noise in the back of her throat. Perhaps she thinks that even the Lilim would be confounded by trying to figure out Shinji -or- Rei.

This from a girl who thinks a Japanese kid raised by atheists would figure out an Old Testiment reference cleverly hidden in a threat. Shinji might say. If he had any idea the whole Wall of Jericho thing was anything more than a threat. Which he doesn't.

Simon glances back over his shoulder to make sure that Jay hasn't spilled soda all over the kitchen floor. He then turns back and nods to Shinji. "Right," he says. He pulls one of the stools out from under the bar and sits down. He then remembers the vodka in the liquor cabinet under the bar, and briefly--and only briefly--considers pouring himself a shot or two. He shakes his head.

"Haagenti... is the first Hellborn Demon Prince--the first one who started out life as a Gremlin--" Here Simon glances in Jay's direction-- "Rather than being an officer in the Rebellion, and a founding member of Hell." Here Simon pauses. "He served the Demon Prince of Sloth, doing menial drudge-work while other demons took the credit."

Jay looks up from his glass of Mountain Dew. He glances out the window at the half-shoveled walk.

"After gaining power in the service of two notoriously unreliable Princes, he obtained the Word of Gluttony and a power base, stormed Sloth's Principality, and ate him alive. He was appointed Prince by Lucifer for his... audacity." It should be noted that Simon hasn't looked at Shinji once since he started his explanation. "When Mariel, Princess of Oblivion, voiced outrage over the incident, Gluttony ate her, too. No one has questioned his worthiness in public since."

Misato listens with interest to Simon's narration. She's had her share of political intrigue, but Hell's operations are another thing entirely. Especially the thing about eating one's opponents. She winces visibly at the description of such things. "He's come up a long way, huh," she mutters. "Or is that...come down?" Bad joke, she knows.

She sits up a little bit, looking to be lost in thought for a bit. "Well, then. If he's the embodiment of Gluttony...I guess he'd appreciate a particularly tasty morsel of, um...something." She shoots a worried look over at Simon. "What might be an appropriate bit of food to send to him as a thanks for the cookbook?"

Rei has a question, too. "What happens to demons when they're eaten?" She also hugs her knees up to her jacketed chest again; she never took the coat off. She looks then towards Misato for a moment, before her chin rests on her knees.

She looks over towards Shinji, then. Her face is rather expressionless as she does so; perhaps she is bored. Or judgmental. Or secretly irritated. Or concerned, caring, or worried. Or about to fall asleep.

Shinji Ikari can't help it.

Some tiny part of him wonders, just for a second, if it came down to it...

...what would happen if /he/ ate Haagenti?

The Third Child goes pale, for a moment, and finds himself sitting down with a fumph. "God..."