Shinji Ikari Raising Project

[Dartz]

And more story

Nerv gave the kid a giant robot..... a motorcycle is nothing.

Kotono watched Shinji leave, instructing those exocomps to follow. He watched the boy on the monitor tease a motorcycle that looked far too large for him out the door.

There was no way in hell the exocomps could keep up with him when he opened the throttle and rushed off into the distance.

It was obvious he did it on purpose.

“Well, at least he’s found something that’s fun.”

-----

An obsidian black piano sat in the centre of the training gym on the wooden floor.

“Will this do?” Jet asked.

The man from Steinway looked around.

“It’s a little.... unusual.” he said, taking a moment to pick his words.The oversized ballisword hung on the far wall kept drawing his eyes. “It’s not perfect but it’s probably the best place for it.”

“If you need anything...”

“A cup of tea would be nice.”

------

Shinji came to a decision.

He liked driving. He liked riding. He liked vehicles and going fast. He loved that moment when he gripped that throttle, the turbine whooshed and the motors wined, kicking him in the backside and throwing the whole motorcycle forward.

He bathed in the glow of a starship-enterprise instrument panel that might’ve confused even NERV’s interface designers. It was a wall of information displayed haphazardly on a bunch of LCD screens.

The only thing he understood was that his speed was a steady 70kph, something called an ‘auto-balancer’ was active and the headlights were on full beam. His navigator was pinned between the speedometer and the windscreen because he couldn’t figure out how to get the bike’s own working.

It might’ve been a good idea to read the manual beyond ‘turn it on’.

Still, it was an electric thrill to watch the speedometer tick over to three digits. The rock walls rushed by on either side, illuminated momentarily by the bike’s headlight before passing behind into a dull red gloom behind.

The helmet was loose on his head and the armoured jacket was being tugged off his shoulders by the cold air rushing past.

But for a fourteen year old boy, it was liberating.

All his stresses just drifted away off his back with the wind.

Squeeze the throttle and it punched forward with a surge from the batteries before the turbine spooled up. Ease off again and the motors began to whine, recharging the batteries again. He was laughing as he did it....

These people had to be crazy on some level if they gave a fourteen year old child a motorcycle and set him free.

It was... nice.

-----

To “Shinjislist
From: jet@survivalshot.fen
Subj: It’s a new day...

Anika spoke with him this morning. She told him the truth about where he came from. He was calmer, maybe it was catharsis, and he listened to her. He doesn’t want this to be real.

We encouraged him to spend time with Anika later on, he’s on his way to her now.

He could’ve walked but he asked for a vehicle. Shinji specifically went down to Ford and asked for something to drive or ride. Daryl let him drive the Warthog yesterday, I guess he enjoyed it. Ford gave him the Judy prototype we have and some riding gear.

I met him again myself in Ford’s workshop and asked him about Anika, and what she told him. He broke down crying again, and admitted that he doesn’t want this to be real because it means all the people he cared about aren’t real.

I hope that’s a good sign. At least his mind is in the real world now. But he’s not happy about it.

Loneliness. Well.... we knew that was going to happen. We’re trying to be his friends. That’s the one thing we got right. Anika’s succeeding. That’s kind of appropriate really.

We’re trying to let him find and do things he enjoys doing aswell. He’s already turning into a gearhead. The Piano is installed in the gym, and Anika is waiting.

Trying not to make it worse.
-Jet

Why do I work so late/early?

Hopefully I'm not screwing this up, or interrupting things other people want to add.
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--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?