twin moons

      "Who am I...?"

    The slender, blue-haired woman stared down at the rippling pool of LCL before her, the vibrant, blood-like fluid spreading itself out all around her as she stood firmly within the ominous sea, her feet having been submerged completely as the liquid rose up to around her ankles, only for it to come to a sudden stop. Standing still, she waited for the undulating waters to calm, it's now smooth surface slowly revealing her reflection as she gazed down at it in curiosity, unable to look away. Hardly taken aback by the dark, crimson pool that she found herself positioned in, an odd feeling of lament overcame her only as her visage steadily began to come into view, finding that the girl she found mirrored in the puddle glared back at her with red eyes. Eyes that were the same colour as the odd pond that was laid out along the base of her legs. A colour that she thoroughly hated.

     "Rei Ayanami." The seemingly stoic girl recited quietly to herself, as if she were recalling, or attempting to remind herself of her own name, answering her question from before. Though what she had said was in a sense true, the literal conclusion ultimately left her feeling unsatisfied with herself. Empty. As she continued to look down, almost aimlessly at the mirrored image of herself, she began to reflect internally as well, her mind swimming with a sea of thoughts almost as endless as the ocean that laid outstretched before her. Her own lonesome existence, even despite the existence of others who could just as justifiably be called Rei Ayanami, and her relationships with others. Shinji Ikari came to mind first, then other faces. Faces that took longer for her to recognize. Major Katsuragi. Doctor Akagi. Her classmates. The pilot of Evangelion Unit-02, who referred to her as nothing other than an emotionless doll. This thought lingered for a moment, longer than the others, as she contemplated this idea, finding it troubling. Finally, her mind shifted to Commander Ikari, the person who, despite their pragmatic connection to each other, she had once believed that she was closest to, but in actuality knew very little about. She again fixated on this idea, wondering how two people could be so close to each other, yet still so far away, her expression hardly shifting despite the concepts she contemplated, even as she began to feel a creeping sense of loneliness overwhelm her.

    "Is that what you feel?" A quaint, equally quiet, yet surprisingly husky voice echoed out from around her, disturbing the reflection as the LCL rippled as if responding to the sound. "That you're disposable?" It continued, drawing in Rei's attention as it spoke out her innermost thoughts. "And so that's why you're unable to connect with others?"

    The liquid around Rei grew warm, bubbling up as it was brought to a sudden, seemingly boiling-like state, seemingly springing forth from the point where her reflection had once rested. Rapidly, the water began to evaporate, causing the pilot to step back somewhat as a dark orange gas began to rise from the fluid that had engulfed her surroundings. As the LCL level began to drop, the cloud of vapor growing larger and larger, a strange figure began to take shape, it's dark silhouette highlighted by the misty cloud as it slowly rose up from the draining reservoir, along with further steam. Once it had fully emerged, Rei immediately recognized the being based on its shape alone. Whatever it was, it appeared to almost be a perfect, yet shadowy recreation of herself. As much of a reflection of her as the one she had seen in the LCL. Curiously, however, as the haze around it began to fade, the outline's form began to shift, surging outward as it expanded in size. Within moments, it had grown gigantic, it's features billowing outward until it's profile resembled something closer to a dark blob rather than Rei's small and lean physique. As the remaining fog began to clear, Rei could immediately tell why such a change had occurred. She was fat.

    In many respects, the Rei that had emerged was almost identical to the one that had come before her. They shared the same pale skin, light blue hair, and dark eyes, their ruby irises shimmering against themselves as they both stared into each other. However, this Rei was dressed in a dark, almost jet black plugsuit, it's seemingly tight expanse decorated green and red accents and contrasting greatly against the white, well-fitted outfit the other had worn. Most importantly, and noticeably, however, was the difference in size between. This Rei was enormous, her massive body practically demanding the attention of her alternative self as it, along with the rest of her engorged features oozed out in front of her. Though they were the exact same height, the obese Rei cast a shadow down upon the lithe one, her immensely wide figure being just that much more prolific in size and scale. Her gigantic stomach poured out in front of her, it's wobbling mass almost entirely filling the gap between both women as it spilled itself down her incredibly chunky legs, resting just above her bloated kneecaps. Somewhat in awe of her dumpy, oversized doppelganger, the original Rei couldn't help but ask:

    "Are you 'another' me?"

    "I am Rei Ayanami." The duplicate spoke calmly, her deeper voice, which likely a result of the bloated ring of fat that had engulfed her neck, her answer echoing a similar sentiment to the one her twin had contemplated earlier. "Rather, I am a derivative. A derivative born from what you, and I, could become." She amended, sounding confident as she worked to provide her explanation, her manner of speech somewhat slower and more methodical than the other her had been. "Even still, I am myself, and you are yourself." The obese Rei concluded, her flesh oozing slightly outward as she relaxed her taxed muscles, taking some small comfort in her conclusion. "We are... unique."

    "Are we truly unique?" Rei wondered aloud, looking over the other Rei's elephantine body. Though she bore no feelings of discomfort or disgust over having met someone so absolutely and positively large as one might have initially thought, she was unsure of how such superficial and surface-level differences could result in two beings truly being their own individuals. Outstretching her nimble hands forward, as if to reach out and grab ahold of these divergences for herself, she began to gently swipe her hands across the lowermost roll of her gargantuan belly, taking in the what little feeling she could obtain from the woman's much bigger form. The sensation she felt dance across her fingertips was both soft and firm, and she soon found a strange sense of comfort emerging as she fondled the yielding mass.

    "Although distinct, my identity is not defined by my weight alone." The second Rei replied, calmly, hardly reacting to the actions of her other self verbally, yet attempted to look down at the slender girl's innocently wandering hands, only to fail thanks to the surging slope of her great big stomach. "It is my actions that define me. Us." She affirmed, her double chin wobbling as she once again met her own wandering gaze. "The things we do are what shape us. Our selves, our bodies... everything depends on us."

    "Can such simple things really define who we are?" The original pondered, struggling to understand her own sense of individuality, and how she differed from the Rei that stood swollen before her, focusing in on her. Slowly, she began to realize how truly different this woman must be to have grown to the size that she had. She could not have just manifested such a colossal figure overnight. Such a feat could have taken months, or even years for her to achieve. She herself hardly ever indulged in anything on her own, or without being told while this Rei must have been regularly overindulging in a great many things just to maintain such a massive shape. Was it her own actions that led her down such a path? Her own choices? Rei couldn't help but look down, staring at her slim abdomen, narrow legs, and flat feet, then towards the obstructive heap of excess and indulgence that sat before her. She doubted that the other Rei could see past it and down at her own feet as she had. At that moment, she began to wonder a great many things, and couldn't help but feel as if she was in some sense unique. Though this brought her some small comfort when it came to the matter of her deep-seated existentialism, she now couldn't help but feel alienated from the second Rei, and alone.

    Picking up on the other's thoughts and belief that her gluttony alone was her defining feature, the overly plump Rei shook her head. "Just as you choose to connect through others by piloting the Eva..." She said in a hushed, tender whisper, joining her slender alternative self in staring down at her distended, heaving abdomen, only for her words to trail on as she let out a slight, yet gentle smile. "I've bonded with others through eating." The morbidly obese woman continued, giving the top of her stomach a loving and tender pat. "Through overindulgence, and meals spent with each other, we've grown closer." She explained happily, her giant, heaving sacks of upper arm flesh sagging down the sides of her enlarged body as she began to move them downward, wrapping her sausage-like fingers around the slim Rei's narrow digits as she took her by the hand.

    "I don't-"

    Pulling her closer with a silent hush, the two Rei's were brought into a tender embrace, a strange warm feeling filling the slender member of the pair's chest as her narrow stomach was buried deep into the expanse of the much larger woman's immensity. "I'll show you." The swollen pilot breathed, her voice seeming even huskier, and somewhat wheezier from up close. Just before her other self could say anything, the skinny girl felt her body grow even warmer, just before her vision was consumed in a sudden flash of equally hot, bright white light.

---

    "Mein gott! Just look at you!" Asuka cried, looking disgusted as her beady, blue eyes scanned across the enormous expanse of Rei and her massively overweight body, her expression crinkling and furrowing with each and every roll and fold she spotted and looked over. She could hardly contain herself, her loud mouth hung mostly agape as she struggled to take it all in, wondering how in the world her fellow pilot had managed to eat herself to the point of ballooning into such a big and shameful blob of flesh and flab in such a short amount of time. "You hardly even look like an EVA pilot in that plug suit of yours anymore!" She pointed out, sticking her finger into one of the blue-haired girl's seeping, shelf-like love handles with a sudden and intrusive flick, just before suddenly retracting with an even swiffer flick of her wrist, having been grossed out even further by how deep it had managed to sink into her flab with so little effort. "Yuck! I think you'd do better as some kind of big, round... snowball or something!" The vixen redhead exclaimed, clutching her digit with her other hand like it was some kind of small child.

    Rei remained relatively silent as she began to strip off her uniform, undoing the tight plastic suit's suction, then slowly peeling the oversized, tarp-like tactical outfit from her excess flesh, her sweat having caused the ensemble to uncomfortably stick to her skin. Well used to this situation, however, she hardly reacted to the inconvenience, diligently working at her attire until it was eventually free from her body. Likewise, she also ignored Asuka in a much similar manner, more than acquainted with her usual locker room pestering at this point. Though some days were worse than others, today was one of the more bearable occasions. Though much of the German's teasing could be harsh and cruel, Rei was more than aware that the girl's digs at her size were less so solely out of spite, and at least somewhat grounded in genuine concern. Letting her specially designed gear clatter to the ground, Rei let out a slight, wheezing sigh, somewhat exhausted even by such minor physical activity.

    'It's even worse than the Type-D equipment...' Unit-02's pilot muttered to herself, never failing to be amazed at how large Rei's suit appeared to be once it had been torn from her quivering flab. Watching out of a sick sense of curiosity as the First Child bent down to pick up the tent sized mess that laid lazily around her feet, she jumped up in fright as a sudden roar echoed throughout the dressing room.

    Grrrwwwwrrrrr...

    "Ack!" Asuka cried, practically recoiling in horror at the thought of some kind of Angel invasion inside NERV HQ, only for a sudden sulk to overwhelm her face as she quickly deduced that the grumbling was in fact not some kind of despicable monster, but was instead imitating from the depth of Rei's gargantuan gut. "D-don't scare me like that!" She screamed, receding back toward her locker as she looked past its metallic door and over towards Rei with a hateful glare. "And besides, didn't you just eat before we got dressed for the sync rate tests? Just how hungry can one girl actually be?!"

    Looking directly into her locker and ignoring her stomach, even as it's pale, nude breadth left fully exposed while hanging out in the open air, Rei's expression hardened somewhat. Reaching her arm downward, she tenderly and instinctively rubbed it's upper folds, grimacing slightly as she felt hunger pangs ring out from within. Noticing this pitiful sight from her perched position, Asuka couldn't help but feel somewhat conflicted. Her face twisted for a moment, not entirely sure how to react, just before she issued a deep, defeated sigh.

    "Welllll, if you're really so hungry, then I GUESS I could share some of my lunch with you I saved for after our testing." The finicky woman muttered, seeming somewhat flustered as she began to reach back into the depths of her locker. Producing a small box, she reached over towards Rei, blushing slightly as she presented it to her obese co-worker.

    "..."

    "Come on, take it already!" Asuka frowned, again already growing characteristically furious. "Before I change my mind!"

    "...Thank you..."

---

    "Y-y'know, I'm really happy you decided to come over for dinner Ayanami!" Shinji smiled happily, bringing over the last in a large series of plates he had filled to the brim with delicious food for him and Rei to share together. "It's not every day that I get to cook for someone who isn't Misato or Asuka!" He elaborated, before feeling a small tinge of loneliness as he recalled their unusual absence from the table they so regularly shared together. "Um, so yeah, it's nice to see you here!" He continued, hoping to distract himself from the people he wouldn't be serving and instead focus on the girl who he had cooked such an enormous spread for.

    "Thank you for having me." Rei said plainly, seemingly generally unenthused despite her genuine happiness in being able to enjoy a meal alongside Shinji. Despite the comforting feeling such a quaint environment should have provided her, the setting felt somewhat odd, her unfamiliarity with such situations making her feel somewhat out of place. Perhaps, however, those feelings could be blamed on her immense size, her large body clearly not suited for such a small living arrangement. Having barely been able to even fit through the front door, things had hardly gotten easier for her once she had arrived inside. The chair she had been seated at felt far too small, her enormous bottom and it's overgrown cheeks overflowing from its sides and spilling down somewhat towards the ground, it's perpetual and ominous creaking from beneath her enormous weight helping matters little in the way of comforting her as well. Her stomach was piled up in front of her, and although her thighs were well used to supporting it’s massive heft, the heaving mound pressed painfully into the edge of the dinner table, squeezing in between her top and bottom stomach rolls, propping them up somewhat. Though she had attempted to make room for herself, there was little space in the apartment, and so she was stuck like this. Despite these difficulties, she enjoyed Shinji's company, his presence serving as a small solace despite the uncomfortable position she found herself in.

    "Sorry it took so long!" The young man said, somewhat flustered as he took his place across the table from Rei at his own seat. "I couldn't decide what to cook, and I didn't really know what you'd like, so I wound up cooking everything that I was thinking of making... hope that isn't a problem!" He laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck with the palm of his hand. "This is all just for us, so feel free to take whatever you like!" Shinji smiled again, gesturing towards the massive spread of food that he had laid out before them.

    "...Thank you..." Rei said happily, smiling softly as she began to reach towards her plate. Moving at a deceptively fast pace, she began to fill it, piling it with multiple of everything that had been set out for her as her hunger took over. Though she didn't recognize many of the items, much of it looked good, and she found herself strangely determined to try it all. She dug in quickly, rapidly stuffing her face in a fit of ravenous gluttony that seemed utterly unbefitting of such a reserved woman given her usual demeanor. From a distance, Shinji glanced over back towards Rei, just as he had finished preparing his own plate, almost dropping it to the floor as he noticed how much Rei had already eaten, and how much that she had set aside for herself was left.

    "Um..." Shinji murmured, somewhat unsettled and unsure how to react. "I'm... g-glad to see that you're enjoying yourself!" He stammered, forcing somewhat of a smile as he felt a strange sense of pride that somewhat was enjoying his cooking to such an incredible degree, even despite the odd way Rei had shown it.

    "Itsh... gulp... very good..." She grunted, in between a hearty gulp. Reaching over towards a glass of water that had been set aside for her and moving her head towards it, she paused suddenly, taken aback by the large, pudgy reflection she saw in the rippling water that was contained within. Suddenly, Rei felt a strange feeling wash over her, as if she had seen such a sight once before.

    'Is that... me...?' She thought to herself, just before her eyes jolted wide with a sudden realization.

 ---

Who am I?

Who am I?

Who am I?

---

    Waking suddenly from her brief daze, Rei once again found herself surrounded by a shallow sea of LCL, it's tide rippling and flowing as it washed over her plug suited feet. Curiously, she had remained in her alternative selves' embrace the entire time, though her hold had felt tighter than it had previously. Closer. The much larger woman's flesh continued to bore against hers, contorting around her narrow body and engulfing it somewhat, enhancing the feeling of tenderness the two now shared with each other following their conjoined experiences even further.

    "Did you see it?" The other Rei asked, her cheeks bulging with subtle happiness as she looked lovingly towards her slender companion. "The bonds you held with the people around you..." She mused, looking away from Rei, over her boney shoulders, and out towards the endless ocean of LCL, recalling her own memories, and the fond meaning they held to her, before looking back towards the self she held tenderly within her hands. Her chins wobbled wildly from these sudden movements, sloshing from side to side like a swinging pendulum as they settled back into place. "And how they had changed just based on your implied actions alone?"

    A swarm of conflicting emotions danced within the original Rei's mind, leaving her speechless as she failed to comprehend and deduce any significant meaning from what she had just experienced. Though things were in fact different from her perspective, were they not the same, or at least similar actions and experiences that the other Rei had encountered throughout her life? If so, then were they truly any more or less unique than the ones that came before them, or the ones that would come afterward? Though she had indeed felt closer to the people surrounding her in the brief time she had spent in a similar body to that of her double, her existentialism had returned, and she struggled to reconcile with this fact. More than understanding her plight, her newfound confidant spoke up.

    "Though we are the same by nature, we are both derivatives." She spoke, invoking a new, and even stranger feeling from the depths of the scrawny Rei's stomach, causing the girl to nervously clasp her other's much plumper hands even tighter. "Both of each other, and of those who came before us." The immense Rei explained, looking on happily at her smaller self despite the increasing, squirming sense of discomfort she felt. Something seemed off, but she just couldn't manage to put her finger on it... "The choices and actions you take will make from this point on will make you a unique individual, different from those who have preceded us, and different from those who will come after." She concluded, issuing a motherly, somewhat reassuring smile as the individual before her looked back into her eyes, their own eyes narrowing as they noticed a subtle, yet significant and alarming detail.

    The obese Rei, a woman who had once seemed so fat, so utterly massive to her to the point of seeming imposing, was now getting smaller.

    Her face, originally rounded and saddled with enormous, jiggling cheeks, wobbling jowls, and a number of chins, was beginning to thin out, giving way to a much more angular, and natural shape. Immediately, her attention was drawn elsewhere, to the woman's massive, now receding belly, the colossal and overgrown corpulent blob of lard slowly shrinking and receding to the point where it no longer compressed around her own skinny figure. Much more pressing however, was her own abdomen, which now felt as if it had begun to somehow press into the other Rei's body instead. Looking down, she immediately realized why. While her second self was getting slimmer, she was getting bigger, and fast. Her once flat stomach had suddenly ballooned into a wobbling ball of newborn flesh and excess, eagerly expanding to larger and larger sizes while the mountain of adipose in front of it shrunk. Quickly, it began to lose its shape, becoming somewhat distended as its own, the increasingly substantial weight began to drag it downward. The original Rei stared one breathlessly while it quickly grew, both unsure of what to do, and somewhat transfixed by the odd sensation it swelling as such a rapid pace brought with it, her focus only broken by the sudden and echoing sound of familiar voices ringing out around her.

    "I don't think she's gotten that big... uh, she may have put on a little weight, but... umm... I think she's been looking h-healthier these days. Yeah, healthier!"

    "Oh please Shinji, what are you some kind of idiot! You don't have to bother sticking up for her when it's obvious to everyone that she's become a total fatass! I can't believe I used to call her something as stupid as 'Wonder Girl' when she's become so much more of a Wonder WHALE!"

    Looking around somewhat cautiously as the sound of people she knew, and in some cases cared about bellowed out around her, discussing in detail and in some case chastising her weight, she had little time to react as her body's expansion began to spread outward, moving on to other parts of her growing body as her stomach continued to balloon. Her legs bore the brunt of her growth almost immediately, both as they were forced to support the weight of her increasingly swollen form, and as they too began to become inundated with blubber. Immediately the two limbs began to feel somewhat clumsy as they were overcome with fat and subsequently morphed into rounded, pillar-like masses, forcing her to waddle awkwardly in place as her center of gravity continually shifted, causing her to struggle as she worked to at least maintain some semblance of balance. With more and more weight flooding into her body and fighting to fill whatever space that it possibly could, her thighs would grow inward as well, pressing themselves flesh as pushed up against one another. Tearing her eyes away from her elephantine hips, she looked back towards the other Rei, and realized to her shock that they were now around almost the same size. A perfect reflection of each other. Realizing that she was still growing, and they, remaining startlingly silent, were still shrinking, she knew her transformation was far from over.

    Her balance worsening by the second, Rei began to wheeze loudly as she struggled to remain standing, the constantly shifting tide of her forcing her to reposition with each sudden burst of weight gained, the task becoming increasingly more arduous with every additional inch of billowing, pillowy fat. Her thighs ground against each other, slowing her readjustments with every wobbling step from side to side as the skin between them burned with heat and friction, causing her to grow increasingly uncomfortable with each hobbling trudge. As such, it didn't take much to send her tumbling to the ground, her now enormous ass cheeks pulling her backward as they underwent a sudden fit of growth, thankfully cushioning her fall despite the troubles they had caused for as she plummeted into the thin layer of LCL that surrounded her with a splash and a flop, only to be followed by the loud sound of exhaling breath as the once larger Rei was then brought down alongside her, crashing directly atop her duplicate self and smothering the poor girl.

    Now wheezing, the original Rei began to grapple with the newfound immensity of her still-growing body, her lung's capacity utterly and almost depleted as mound upon heaving mound of excess pudge weighed down atop it. Feeling somewhat anxious over such a sudden and startling change to her once slender body, her strained breathing only worsened, her panting seemingly picking up more and more each time her body noticeably swelled. Her stomach continued to grow ever outward, seemingly ignoring the difficulties she was experiencing as it began to split into rolls, deeps folds and crevices forming between each as more fat smooshed itself up against even more fat, competing for as much space as it could possibly take up. Her breasts too had begun to swell, growing into enormous, bulging orbs of pure flab, each forced down the slope of her outwardly expanding belly with each pound added to her blubbery gut. As it pushed ever and ever higher, her flesh began to push into the now slim Rei, the overwhelmingly large and startlingly obese Rei unable to feel or detect even a hint of extra poundage along the body of her other self, her own body having now utterly engulfed their figure in much the same way that they had initially pressed into hers.

    As the growth began to slowly die down, Rei struggled from the position she had been stuck in from upon the ground, no longer trapped beneath the fat of her other self, but now weighed down and stuck in place thanks to the weight of her own, gargantuan oversized body instead. She struggled in place, causing the entirety of her figure to slosh and wobble as she tried to get enough momentum to push off her doppelganger and stand up on her own, failing to do much of anything despite the intense effort. Left panting and utterly exhausted by her many attempts, she made one final push, somehow managing to push off the second Rei with a slow roll and freeing themselves from the substantial, yet the ultimately insignificant amount of mass they themselves persisted as while they rested atop her mountainous stomach. Her success was short-lived, however, as her subsequent attempt to stand soon failed, her exhausted legs and creaking knees hardly able to support themselves, much less her lard swaddled arms as she attempted to push herself upright. Forcibly turning over as she tumbled back down to the floor, she, incidentally, fell right on top of the woman beside her, accidentally smothering her in turn with a loud and crushing plop.

    Breathing heavily, unable to hear anything but her tired and defeated wheezes, she looked down at the Rei beneath her, paused for a moment, startled by the sudden realization that she was once again staring at an almost perfect reflection of her self. What she had once been. Could have been. Could be, if she so chose to. Quietly wheezing to herself. she took in the feeling of her colossal mass, and took in the sensation of now crushing her other-self. Though it was an odd experience, she couldn't help but feel... strangely content with herself. Breaking the silence between them both, the second Rei couldn't help but ask.

    "So tell me... who are you?"

    Her chubby cheeks lifting as they were lifted upward, brought into a brilliant smile, Rei replied:

    "...I am me."