23:02]	Elise	Fourteen hours after Dharma Island dies, they extract you in a Quinjet. Both you and Elise sleep like rocks, snuggled against each other, and some kind soul (if you had to guess, Ren, bless her) saw to it that you weren't seperated when the group staggered into their respective rooms.
[23:02]	Elise	When you wake up, you are in Elise's arms as she spoons you from behind, the (slightly bigger) big spoon to your (slightly cuter) little spoon.
[23:02]	Elise	Hearing your breath change, she lets go of you with one hand and runs a hand through your hair. "Hey."
[23:04]	Akram	hums, turning into Elise so that he can see her as he opens his eyes.
[23:04]	Akram	"Hi. Are you feeling a little better?"
[23:05]	Elise	"Yeah." She's got a small, quiet smile on her, beautiful rather than cute, at peace with the world for the time being.
[23:07]	Akram	"It was, uhm...I, err..." Akram blushes. "...without them you feel even more amazing."
[23:08]	Elise	She smiles fondly at you, and you finally realize why she seems different. The 0x1dhunger0x1d in her eyes that's been there since christmas seems to be gone.
[23:08]	Elise	"Thank you, Akram. You... saved me from going to a very bad place."
[23:09]	=-=	Jane is now known as StrypeSleep
[23:09]	Akram	blinks. "I did? I thought...when you...you stopped yourself, reaching for the catch, I...thought I had already sent you there," he says, searching.
[23:10]	Elise	"No. Most of me wanted nothing more than to just take you right then and prove I wasn't a machine of hate and ice."
[23:11]	Elise	shugs you, donking her forehead softly against yours.
[23:11]	Elise	"But... there was that part of me that promised I would never be her, never be Marina, never do that to you."
[23:11]	Elise	"And... so I didn't. If you had... said no? I .... it would have been a nightmare for me. But .... I wouldn't have done that to you."
[23:11]	=-=	YOU are now known as IcePickLobotomy
[23:12]	Elise	"Begged, pleaded, spread myself over you like massage oil, all to cajole you into doing it with me, but never forced you."
[23:13]	Akram	"I...I do not think I could have refused you...when you gave me that look, I...I figured that the consequences would keep; in the moment, you needed me, and I was more than capable of meeting that need."
[23:14]	Akram	"And I think I would do it again. Though...your eyes are a little...different now."
[23:14]	Elise	"I saw. A bit ... blue-er." She shrugs. "The dangers of piloting."
[23:16]	Akram	"Well...not just that, the emotions behind them. There is...a lot you can find in someone's eyes when you know where to look, as I think you've exercised before...there was...something that picked up in Christmas. Like a...hunger. Gone."
[23:16]	Akram	"...You are not tired of me, are you?"
[23:17]	Elise	"... mmhm." She squeezes you in the hug. "Do you... remember the hotel?"
[23:17]	Elise	"What I said about my body screaming at me about making you go like a fountain?"
[23:18]	Akram	"Yes," he says, nuzzling against her as she hugs him.
[23:20]	Elise	"It wasn't ... just in the hotel, you know. Since Christmas, all the time. Every time I looked at you, the family-engineered part of me ... just wanted you to do that."
[23:20]	Elise	She's speakig slowly, haltingly, as if it were painfully uncomfortable and embarrassing for her.
[23:21]	Elise	"It's why I've been so... gods, how do I say this. Desperately randy?"
[23:22]	Akram	"I liked it," he says quietly, a little embarassed.
[23:23]	Elise	She donks her forehead against yours again. "'Course you did. And so did I. But..." She sighs. "It's nice to be able to just hold you like this without starting a fire in my stomach."
[23:24]	Akram	places his hand against her stomach. "...Do you think it will come back? I...I am not so optimistic as to think that the engineering will be defeated so easily."
[23:25]	Akram	He strokes it slowly, feeling out her well-defined musculature.
[23:25]	Elise	She shrugs. "Probably, yes."
[23:27]	Elise	She's content to just hold you, not responding with the little arches and gasps that you've grown accustomed to since christmas. "And... what about you? Dharma was not a good place."
[23:29]	Akram	"What should we do? Something like that again, dip into the supply of day-after pills? I asked Hansley about it; she said she had an uhm...a gel developed; if they inject it, I should be, ehm...defused."
[23:30]	Akram	"Sorry...I am rambling," he says, ducking his head a little.
[23:32]	Elise	"I will learn to deal with it, Akram." She shrugs. "Self-control is a virtue, I think. And I need to do some goddamn soul searching anywys. Scrape the ice off."
[23:33]	Akram	"And...that...why did...they hurt you a great deal, then? Would you share it with me?"
[23:34]	Elise	"My brother, he is... a machine. Of ice, and duty, and ... think of Malak, except without the wisdom of age and instead the fanatic zeal of youth."
[23:34]	Elise	"My pain was... acceptable collateral for completing the mission."
[23:36]	Akram	leans forward, and cups his hands around Elise's face, leaning in to Kiss her and leaving himself there.
[23:36]	Elise	is happy to just kiss Akram slowly, gently, all the frantic intensity left on Dharma.
[23:38]	Akram	Slowly, he pulls his lips away from her, though a hand stays behind to stroke her face gently. "Is he willing to apologize for hurting you?"
[23:39]	Elise	"When he realizes that I do not share his opinion of... necessary sacrifices?" She shrugs. "Maybe."
[23:41]	Elise	"I do not have it in me to talk to him rihgt now, lest words are said that should go unsaid." Then she grins impishly. "I had other things in me, after all."
[23:44]	Akram	"I can put it back in, if you like~" he says. "I remember it...before the worry, it was...a good feeling, when all you needed to know was that I was me, and you could take action.
[23:45]	Akram	That I am something all of myself to you."
[23:46]	Elise	sighs. "And... that's the terrible thing."
[23:46]	Elise	"I asked because... with you, I... could moderate myself.2
[23:47]	Elise	"I would have taken anyone. Anyone up there with me. 0x1dAnyone0x1d. Azar? Joseph? Both of them at the same time? Jane or Abby, or both? 0x1dAnyone0x1d, just to stop feeling like... a machine."
[23:47]	Elise	"But you?" She smiles sadly, "I recognized the taste of that kiss that re-started my engines. So I asked. And... you brought me back from an awful, awufl place."
[23:48]	Akram	curls against her, trying to offer some comfort.
[23:49]	Akram	"That was hard to say," he says quietly, continuing to stroke her face.
[23:50]	Elise	"Yes."
[23:50]	Akram	"And...we were...in a hard place. A dark place."
[23:50]	Elise	Elise shivers.
[23:52]	Akram	"I do not know what I would have done, to...to try and escape it, I...I think it is good that we exhausted ourselves, or else...I think...I think I would see it in my dreams," he says, the thought sinuous and unpleasant.
[23:53]	=-=	YOU are now known as IcePickSlumbers
[23:54]	Akram	"I just...I saw; perhaps it is really my only skill, but...you are a person, Elise, and I see people. And I saw you, and...I was a bit worried, that diving in would be a selfish mistake, but...
[23:54]	Akram	We have been over that part already."
[23:55]	Elise	Elise shivers again. "It's good that... you're there. And I'm there. And... we can.... keep each other from nightmares."
[23:57]	Akram	"...Should we try Duchamp, do you think? Go in together, perhaps see if a professional cannot vanquish at least some of the monsters?"
[00:00]	Elise	"Yes." She hugs you again.
[00:04]	=-=	ckk1857 is now known as Jo
[00:08]	Elise	After a minute of holding you, she starts to cry.
[00:35]	=-=	Elise is now known as deadthaum
[02:01]	=-=	Jo is now known as ckk1857
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[06:44]	=-=	StrypeSleep is now known as Strypgia
[07:30]	=-=	Strypgia is now known as Jane
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[07:32]	=-=	Mode #AdEva3IC +qo Arkalest Arkalest by ChanServ
[07:33]	Arkalest	Jane: Dumont leads the team down, and down and down into Boston's labyrinthine network of tunnels, the Piloting group sitting not so comfortably inside heavy-plated IFVS.
[07:34]	Jane	spends most of her time holding Irune's hand and staring at her mother with a flat, unreadable expression.
[07:34]	Arkalest	Eventualyl the convoy stops at a subterrean warehouse of sort and the escort tanks form a defensive perimter around all the transports. Dumont sends you a PM on your PDA telling you to come to the command vehicle-
[07:35]	Arkalest	Ya Ching didn't answer you- Mostly because she had been gagged and had her head covered in a black hood- But she turned her head away.
[07:36]	Arkalest	Now Dumont herself is standing next to you, clad in her ususal outfit- Outside the black and red IFV that houses Ya Ching. "Miss Tsai? There is..Something I have to ask of you."
[07:36]	Arkalest	"Your..Mother has proven herself to be once again full of surprises."
[07:37]	Jane	"She... does that a lot. Ask." Jane is emotionless.
[07:38]	Arkalest	"We are aware that Ya Ching worked on the Units for..Reasons I am not willing to disclose yet. She might have withold the existence  some..Modifications she had done to them from us."
[07:38]	Arkalest	The old woman gestures at the door. "And I am not willing to resort to torture. "
[07:38]	Jane	"Thank you."
[07:39]	Arkalest	"...You don't need to." She looks away, the IFV door opening. "There..:Are some lines that shouldn't be crossed.
[07:40]	Arkalest	Ya Ching is restrained inside some sort of spider-like metallic contraption- Holding her arms behind her back with metallic shackles. More shackles cover her ankles, and there seems to be a thick metallic collar around her neck.
[07:41]	Jane	"Ma'am, with all due respect, I'm... learning not to assume /anything/ about NERV, or the people around it."
[07:41]	Arkalest	She looks away as you enter, her face slightly bruised.
[07:41]	Arkalest	Dumont nods slowly, and lets you access the IFV.
[07:42]	Jane	Jane climbs inside carefully. "Mother." Oddly, Jane sounds... almost resigned, no great sign of tension vibrating in her voice.
[07:44]	Arkalest	"Jane."
[07:44]	Arkalest	"You..Can call me "Mom" or "Ya Ching", you know?"
[07:44]	Arkalest	She lowers her head, swallowing.
[07:46]	Jane	"Sixteen years of pretending to be a stereotypical strict Chinese mother at me makes that difficult, Mother. Even more so now, as..." Jane waves at the chains. "Things are as they are. Informality seems odd, and calling you 'Ya-Ching' feels... too much like a concession that I'm talking to a stranger, not my mother. And no matter what else, you are and always will be my mother."
[07:46]	Jane	"I'm sorry..."
[07:48]	Jane	"I wanted to show Irune Boston. Introduce her to you, and the family. I...wanted to show her my life. But then I found out it was all lies. You're not 'Jane's strict, traditionalist mom', you're Doctor Ya-Ching Tsai, head of TsaIncorporated and NERV Boston's resident mad scientist."
[07:51]	Arkalest	Ya Ching Tsai looks at you, eyes half--lidded and downcast. She licks her parched lips, sighing softly. "So."
[07:51]	Arkalest	"What next?"
[07:54]	Jane	Jane sighs. "Dumont wants me to ask you about modifications you made to the Evas. And I... wanted more time to talk. This... might be the last chance for it to be you and I by ourselves for... a long time."
[07:57]	Arkalest	"I have enhanced their myomer fiber with compounds copied from the Thalassan Units. The armor has been redesigned to subtly vent excessive heat, using systems we took from the Hyperion Units. Russia uwnittingly provided us with better motor control and supermaterials."
[07:57]	Arkalest	"Australia was the one we looked at for synchronization tech...."
[07:57]	Jane	Jane takes careful notes on her PDA.
[07:59]	Arkalest	"But the energy systems? The weapons? The navigation AI? We made those in-house. And we rebuilt the plugs from the ground up...Plus all the buological materal I pilfered for-"
[08:00]	Arkalest	She stops mid-sentence and coughs.
[08:00]	Arkalest	"....Aw, fuck it."
[08:00]	Arkalest	"I made my own Unit."
[08:00]	Jane	Jane sighs again. "Of course you did. I'm not even surprised anymore."
[08:01]	Jane	Jane can't stop herself. "Is it good? I mean, I expect cutting-edge and more, here..."
[08:01]	Arkalest	"And I templated its reptilian hidnbrain and parts of the aiming AI after you"
[08:01]	Arkalest	There is pride in her voice. "ON top of that, I managed to give it a  soul."
[08:02]	Jane	Jane goes still. "........who's?"
[08:02]	Arkalest	"No one's."
[08:03]	Arkalest	"And yet, everyone's. "
[08:03]	Arkalest	"We have...We have done it, Jane. We have isolated a part of the cause for 2IWS"
[08:04]	Jane	"You know, Mother, there's been times the last 9 months when a good grounding in MetBio and soul mechanics would have been good to have..." Jane blinks. "Wait, what? Explain."
[08:04]	Arkalest	"There is a part of the soul that start working against the others- Imagine a bit of malaware inside a computer."
[08:04]	Jane	Jane's eyes narrow. "I'm well aware. The Worm."
[08:05]	Arkalest	She turns her head up. "We don't know how or why, but this tiny..Subroutine..It abrades others in its struggle to do something."
[08:05]	Arkalest	"No, no." A headshake. "It's not the Worm."
[08:05]	Jane	"More?"
[08:05]	Arkalest	"It's another process- One which in some cases lead to biological changes."
[08:06]	Arkalest	"We managed to.." She licks her lips.
[08:06]	Arkalest	"Copy them using a MAGI."
[08:07]	Jane	".../copy/ a soul with the MAGI?"
[08:07]	Arkalest	"We hooked up the patients to a bunch of soul-scanners and had the MAGI partially simulate those routines- And no. We're still not that advanced..."
[08:07]	Arkalest	Ya Ching smiles a terrifying smile. "Yet."
[08:08]	Arkalest	"THe various bits can pass for an AT Field, more or less- We used it for the basis of the Unit."
[08:08]	Arkalest	"It lacks the more..:Outlandish skills of the other Units, but it's a literal projector."
[08:09]	Jane	"I will continue your work, Mother, but... not like you. Not without ethical sense. That's one of the many reasons I love Irune. She stops me." Jane rubs her eyes. "Let me guess... you built your own Eva half to just see if you could?"
[08:10]	Arkalest	"No, because I am seriously not trusting the Illuminati with handling god-machines."
[08:11]	Arkalest	"I mean, for fucks' sake- They had one of them patterned after medieval armor. /Medieval armor./ "
[08:12]	Jane	"That would be the other half, yes."
[08:12]	Arkalest	"Also, this is one step forward in curing 2IWS /AND/ no one died."
[08:12]	Arkalest	She leans forward. "Now you can't tell me that's not better than what Thalassa's doing!"
[08:14]	Jane	Jane suppresses a shiver. "I don't know all about what Thalassa is doing. I suspect much, but... yes, NERV Boston /actually/ /fulfilling/ its mandate is good to hear, instead of say, developing genocidal bioweapons or such."
[08:15]	Arkalest	"So you didn't knew about the hosts of veterans disappearing?"
[08:15]	Arkalest	"About the crippled people being sent there on paid leave by NERV and just flat out stopping existing? Off the grid?"
[08:17]	Jane	"No. Why should you be surprised that NERV Thalassa Command failed to tell its naive young Pilots they were up to unethical and inhumane experiments?" Jane says, a bite of sarcasm infiltrating her voice for the first time. "I /wonder/ why they'd lie to us."
[08:17]	Arkalest	"Whole shipments of animals and materials from various Branches being labeled off to their Science Branch, entire squads of scientists off the-- The....Uhm."
[08:18]	Arkalest	A deep sigh. "Yeah, lack of self-reflection is a flaw we all share."
[08:18]	Jane	Jane throws up her hands and starts to pace as much as she can in the tiny space. "Hell, I'm more surprised they /didn't/ tell me! I'm the great Ya-Ching Tsai's /daughter/! Of course I'd be fine with experiments like that!"
[08:18]	Jane	"Mad science is in my fucking blood!"
[08:19]	Jane	"Mad science /is/ my fucking blood!"
[08:19]	Arkalest	"Well technically I  did  say no to the nanomachine augs."
[08:19]	Jane	"Why? Considering how things turned out, I think I'd /enjoy/ being a bit more superhuman!"
[08:20]	Arkalest	"You'd be asked a lot of incovenient questions if you were- And I didn't want to jeopardize your safety"
[08:21]	Jane	Jane deflates. "....thank you, Mother. For lying to me. For my life, as it was. I mean it."
[08:22]	Jane	"I could have... been another one. Another mad Tsai, same as all the rest. But... because you lied to me my whole life, I'm not. I'm me. I don't feel bad looking in a mirror. I know you did it to give me that chance. So I truly do thank you..."
[08:22]	Arkalest	"So...You don't think that it would have been...
[08:22]	Arkalest	She sighs. "I did one thing right."
[08:22]	Arkalest	"It was..Still an utterly fucked up thing, but at least one."
[08:22]	Jane	"I still love you.... mom. I always will."
[08:23]	Arkalest	Ya Ching closes her eyes and deflates into the shackles, sagging- Her shoulders utterly slumped.
[08:23]	Arkalest	After a while, you realize she's crying silently.
[08:25]	Jane	"I love her, mom. She's... everything I could have ever dreamed. Brilliant in fields I can't even scratch yet, fierce, dedicated, self-sacrificing, so sweet it hurts... And because you raised me that way, I'm someone /she/ can love. She hates you, for what you've done, and for what you did to me, but... I'm glad you did. Because you made me someone she can love, and she does."
[08:30]	Arkalest	ùShe just keeps on crying, looking at the floor.
[08:35]	Jane	"Yang Yi Ping is my good friend. I will fight the Yangs only as much as they are Command's Envoys and creatures. I will not pursue the vendetta. That war will stop. Love and peace, mom. You did /two/ things right."
[08:45]	=-=	deadthaum is now known as Elise
[09:16]	Arkalest	After a minute of silent choking, Ya Ching speaks up. "I..."
[09:16]	Arkalest	"Thanks."
[09:19]	Jane	"I wanted you to know that. I don't... hate you for how you raised me. Even the conditioning, since you also left me able to remove it. But it does make it hard to just...trust you anymore."
[09:22]	Arkalest	Your mother leans forward a bit, inhaling happily.
[09:26]	Jane	"Mmm?"
[09:30]	Arkalest	"Just..." She shakes her head. "So, so happy."
[09:30]	Arkalest	"So..Porud."
[09:32]	Jane	Jane looks... profoundly sad. "Thank you, Mo-...mom. I will... do my utmost to make the name Tsai something to be respected, not... frightening. I kill Angels. I can do other impossible things too."
[09:35]	Arkalest	Dumont opens the door and puts her head in. "Like synchronizing with Units that aren't yours?"
[09:35]	Arkalest	Ya Ching squeaks in surprise and quickly turns her head away, hiding the tears.
[09:49]	Jane	"Eh? I... suppose?"
[09:51]	Arkalest	"We are down three Units- External sabotage. The Pilots are getting recovered, but..."
[09:52]	Arkalest	She sighs. "We'll outfit you to sortie in one of the prototypes. It's pretty unstable, but it's not like we have anything more stable."
[09:52]	Arkalest	Ya Ching coughs.
[09:52]	Arkalest	Loudly.
[09:52]	Arkalest	"Auhm." She licks her lips.
[09:52]	Jane	Jane looks to her mother and back. "....And you need us... /me/ to... Pilot Mother's?"
[09:52]	Arkalest	Dumont looks at her. "Oh my god."
[09:52]	Arkalest	"You are shitting me."
[09:52]	Arkalest	"Wait what."Shock is etched on the woman's face.
[09:52]	Arkalest	"Your mother has an B% Unit."
[09:53]	Jane	"Yes?"
[09:53]	Arkalest	"..............Why this doesn't surprise me as much as it should."
[09:55]	Jane	"That's what /I/ said!"
[10:06]	Jane	"Alright... I've got more Angel /individual/ kills than all of NERV Boston's Pilots put together. I can handle this... Fuck."
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[10:40]	=-=	Jane is now known as Strypgia
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[12:39]	=-=	Elise is now known as Gregor
[12:43]	=-=	scya is now known as Shula
[12:44]	Gregor	---
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[12:49]	Gregor	Boston has wasted no time in quartering the pilots - not literally quartering, just providing them with a place to be. In this case, that means a containment unit, full quarantine, for the pilots that had been part of the EVA battle - Sam and Shula Nagisa-Tennit, Gregor Zollmayer and Yang Yi-Ping - and a regular hab container for the pilots thad hadn't (Akram Nagisa, Irune Mitxelena, Jane
[12:49]	Gregor	Tsai and Josephine Blisk), both encapsulated by a large, featureless dome the pilots have been instructed not to leave on peril of mortal peril.
[12:50]	Gregor	It's not even an hour after the battle of Boston, ten minutes after the fighting pilots are herded into quarantine and the non-fighting pilots are herded into their extremely utilitarian white-and-blue hazard-marked container when Shula and Akram Nagisa both receive a tersely worded mail from Gregor. "We must speak, you two and I, regarding your late father."
[12:51]	Gregor	A quick scan of the quarantine container reveals a meeting room, of sorts, divided in the center by EVA-grade armoured glass, with chairs for both those in quarantine and those from the outside on each side of the glass.
[12:51]	Gregor	Gregor adds a second message ten seconds later: "This is not optional. We need to talk, 0x1dnow0x1d."
[12:52]	Akram	'Already here,' Akram sends, sitting in a chair on his side of the glass.
[12:55]	Gregor	Gregor is wearing the featureless, drab green coveralls provided by NERV Boston after the Thalassan pilots were stripped of all equipment, weapons and clothes, fiddling with the replacement PDA they gave him, waving at Akram through the armored glass.
[12:55]	Shula	shivers and then enters the area wordless with downcast eyes and gloomy, her red eyes show what she did in the last time.
[12:56]	Gregor	pats Shula on the head and waits until the young woman has sat down.
[12:56]	Akram	Akram's bloodshot eyes go straight to Gregor's hairline, searching.
[12:57]	Gregor	then looks at Akram, trying to gauge how the Omani is feeling - but he can guess it. That makes it two for two sets of parents he's lost now.
[12:57]	Shula	falls down in the seat
[12:57]	Gregor	sees Akram's searching look - and yes, it's still there. The faintest hint of grey, along his temples.
[12:58]	Gregor	"First off, I wish that we were not under quarantine. That I could hug both of you." Gregor scoots over to Shula, and hugs her, because 0x1dshe0x1d at least is not barred from him.
[13:01]	Akram	exhales slowly. "I think the other shoe has dropped. I just...I think I need to fall from all this exhaustion."
[13:01]	Gregor	exhales slowly. "I..." He shakes his head. "Gods, I cannot think of a good way to say it. Not even a..." Gregor winces."I need to tell you this but... Akram? I must beg of you a dispensation for your edict of moderation. Bluntness alone remains for me."
[13:02]	Akram	"One way or another I will take it," he says; the look in his eyes simultaneously sharpens and hardens as he focuses on Gregor. Before it does, he spares a glance and a smile for Shula, but it is half-hearted.
[13:03]	Gregor	"The boss - Kaworu - your father, he... his time was running out."
[13:03]	Gregor	"He thought, after Parade Day, that he had ...y ears. Many years. He was wrong. The worm, in the other fragment, it ... had played it slow."
[13:04]	Gregor	"It had been testing the defenses. Forced the fragment to shave off more and more and more of himself. And all the time, it learned how to overcome the defenses of the fragments of Adam."
[13:04]	Gregor	"With Kaworu, it stopped holding back."
[13:05]	Gregor	"What...2 Gregor swallows, "What I'm trying to say, he knew he was going out. And ... he, he..."
[13:06]	Akram	Akram's lower lip quivers for a moment before his jaw sets, locking it in place.
[13:07]	Shula	shivers and nods.
[13:07]	Shula	"He ...fear."
[13:07]	Gregor	grits his teeth and hugs Shula closer. "He promised he would not let his children be taken by the Worm, through him." Gregor trembles, free hand balled into a fist. "Not you, Akram, not you, Shula, not Asuka, not the entire brood of Angels."
[13:08]	Akram	"No. Not fear, Shula. [Never be taken.]"
[13:08]	Gregor	"His legacy, you, 0x1dyou0x1d are that. You are the legacy of Kaworu Nagisa, enduring." Gregor takes another shudderingb reath.
[13:09]	Akram	"If you cannot win, walk away from the table. We hate losing."
[13:10]	Gregor	"Some things you can't walk away from. Sometimes, the only way to win is... sacrifice. And no good father would let his children die for him."
[13:11]	Gregor	"What... what I am... trying to say is that there..." Gregor shakes his head, trying to find words. "He asked me, he.. asked something terrible of me. And I agreed, because it was him who asked, and because it had to be done, and..."
[13:11]	Akram	Akram slams a fist into the wall.
[13:11]	Akram	"Speak."
[13:12]	Gregor	Tears start rolling down hsi face. "I cannot, I 0x1dcannot0x1d tell you what it is. He asked - pleaded, 0x1dpleaded0x1d, for god's sake - that I not tell you what it is, until the time is nigh. I cannot, in this world or any other, betray his last request."
[13:12]	Akram	It's not anger directed quite at Gregor, but--Gregor is a moving target, and Akram is hurting.
[13:12]	Akram	spits at the window, and turns to exit the room.
[13:13]	Gregor	"But his legacy endures in all the children fo Kaworu Nagisa. Whatever happens, please, i beg of you both, do not forget that."
[13:13]	Shula	"No I, I mean he fear something .."
[13:13]	Shula	"Brother..Wait.."
[13:13]	Shula	"It, Father did something else that. I. "
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[13:14]	Akram	stops, a few steps away; he folds his arms, but does not turn around; it is visible that he is taking in great, heaving breaths.
[13:14]	Gregor	gently strokes Shula's hair, because he too is hurting.
[13:20]	Shula	"It, I know that he once did something similar, and that He no did it because yhe no trust you, but because he no wanted to burden you with it , He love you Akram."
[13:21]	Gregor	nods empathically.
[13:23]	Akram	"Well? Is that it? 'He loved you'? That is all?"
[13:26]	Gregor	looks at Akram, the raw wound that is the Omani's soul painful to behold. He opens his motuh a if to speak but then bites what he wanted to say down.
[13:27]	Shula	"I,.Akram.. Look in my eyes."
[13:27]	Shula	shivers and looks at him. " Do you trust in him enough to know that sometimes he knew something that we do not need."
[13:28]	Akram	"What do you expect me to do with that? I loved Ya Ching, and then I stood in front of the city of Boston and promised them front row seats while the world destroyed her. I love my sister, and I am letting her go, because she is twelve years old and her childhood is over! I loved Kaworu, and now he is dead!"
[13:29]	Akram	whirls around, eyes blazing, vision blurred by tears. "And all you have left of him is one more secret!?"
[13:33]	Gregor	"Are you so quick to give up on his legacy, then?" Gregor sounds hut, more than anything. "So quick to ignore 0x1dwhy0x1d he did it? He loved you, and so he died for you, that you would not become a soulless sociopathic monster guiding humanity to its ascension under your iron fist."
[13:33]	Shula	"No, something that he did to protect us from beyond the grave."
[13:35]	Gregor	"He loved Shula so much that he died for her so that she would not end up a psychotic butcher. He loved Asuka enough to die for her so that she would not become even worse than you would have ended up. He loved humanity, all of us, his people in every way we are not Lilith's, and he died for us 0x1dbecause he was one of us0x1d."
[13:39]	Akram	snarls wordlessly, making a throwing motion; above him, you see the Athame bury itself into the floor, vibrating slightly from the force.
[13:40]	Akram	"Do not ever look at me and dare to say I am goddamn giving up! Do not ever look at my white hair, my contract, speak my name, and tell me that I am turning my back on my family!"
[13:44]	Akram	"You think I did not love him too? You think I cut my soul away because I liked the pain? You think I took his name because it sounded nice?"
[13:44]	Gregor	"Then why do you rage, Akram son of Kaworu, when you should raise your cup in his honor and sing a song of his valour?"
[13:45]	Akram	"Because he's fucking dead!"
[13:45]	Akram	"He's dead, and it hurts, and I feel it!"
[13:45]	Akram	"You want me to dance on my father's grave now?! You tell me I have no right to mourn!"
[13:46]	Gregor	"Mourn him, you fool, mourn him like all of us should and will! But don't spit on his sacrifice, on 0x1dhis choice0x1d ."
[13:47]	Akram	"You think--you think I am so angry that he took himself, instead of the alternative? You think I did not understand as soon as you told me what was occurring within him?"
[13:48]	Akram	"You think I am furious that he did what I would, what I would hate him for not doing?"
[13:48]	Gregor	The knuckles on Gregor's right hand pop as he grinds his teeth, the sinews in his neck bulging from almost inhuman effort at not exploding at Akram.
[13:48]	Gregor	His left keeps patting Shula on the head, like a calming mechanism.
[13:51]	Gregor	Taking deep breaths, eyes close, face twitching from his effort to stay where he is rather than do something extremely ill-advised, Gregor tries to calm himself.
[13:52]	Akram	"You think I am not angry at this?! That I am shouting at you, over his last goddamn secret!? That he made you do it, because he knew you would hold it for him, knew that I would..."
[13:52]	Akram	"That I would...
[13:53]	Akram	" you see Akram slide down, curling around the spear embedded in the floor miserably; he was of average height when he arrived at Thalassa, and has grown a little in the meantime; he could even charitably be called a little tall.
[13:53]	Akram	But as you look at him, staring down at the floor, tears falling, he just looks so small.
[13:54]	Gregor	is just breathing heavily from the increasingly failing effort to maintain self-control.
[13:56]	Shula	shivers and then silently crys
[13:56]	Gregor	When his eyes crack open , to see you sit there, deflated and tired and hurt in so many ways, Gregor's much-abused self control finally snaps.
[13:59]	Gregor	He's fast, he's always been fast, but you haven't seen him in such incandescent fury before as Gregor drives his left fist into the glass wall seperating the quarantine and non-quarantine zone, covering the ground between his chair and the divider in the span of a heartbeat. An almost wordless shout of raw fury on his lips, the crack of breaking bones is nevertheless audible when Gregor
[13:59]	Gregor	punches the glass a second time, split knuckles trailing blood down the glassas he too just slides down.
[14:00]	Gregor	Both of you can hear Gregor mutter "Fuck you for making me do this to them" as Gregor cradles his broken arm.
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[14:06]	Gregor	"I'm sorry, Akram. Shula. I had to tell you. That. Something. Was still unfinsihed. Couldn't. Wouldn't. Ever. Just spring that on you. But. He asked. Not to tell you what. Just." Gregor grits his teeth as he stands up, his broken arm dangling at his side. He uses the pain of the flesh to banish the pain of the heart. "Remember that his legancy endures in all his children."
[14:07]	Akram	very slowly stands up, using the firmly-embedded spear as a crutch to lean on. His voice is the desert; dry cracked, and vastly alone, but honest. "My apologies for the outburst. I have had a long day, and I lost my patience. I hope you can forgive me," he says, before beginning to turn and trudge slowly out of the meeting room.
[14:07]	Akram	"Do you want me to call a doctor to have a look at your arm, Gregor?" he asks, stopping before the exit. His voice is not loud, but he knows how to project well, and it carries well enough.
[14:09]	Shula	slowly stand up and then takes gregors other hand.
[14:09]	Gregor	"AKram, if you hadn't vented now, of all times..." Gregor laughs, mirthlessly, "You were honest, and you were right. I asked him to tell you. But he was too afraid. Of what you would do. I am sorry I ... have to do this to you. For him. Nngh."
[14:10]	Gregor	squeezes Shula's hand.
[14:10]	Gregor	"And please do, Akram."
[14:11]	Gregor	"After all, I am a risk vector for Black Lilith infection. Can't have an outside-enabled PDA."
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[14:13]	Akram	"I am still angry that he made you. And the bastard, he got away before I could even give him a piece of my mind." He looks down, and types something into his PDA.
[14:14]	Akram	"Told them we had an argument, and that it got heated enough that you hit the wall as hard as you could."
[14:15]	Gregor	"... which is the truth." Gregor shrugs. "And besides, we are almost certainly under observation."
[14:16]	Akram	"Considering what I have said in rooms that should have been under observation, I honestly do not think that anyone actually reviews audio logs anymore."
[14:16]	Akram	He stares at the Athame as he says it, and it wiggles, apparently stuck in the floor.
[14:16]	Akram	He points at it, and it wiggles more vigorously.
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[14:17]	Akram	He goes over to it and grabs its shaft, tugging on it.
[14:18]	Akram	It remains stuck. Finally he kicks it, and leaves, closing the door behind him.
[14:18]	Gregor	"0x1dWhen0x1d we are out of here," Gregor squeezes Shula's hand, "we will hold him a wake. If you can tell Asuka, please?"
[14:18]	Akram	Gregor receives a message on his PDA, right as the Athame falls over and out of the hole before disappearing.
[14:18]	Akram	'Got it.'