(a.k.a. NGE Angelic Self-Imagery)
It's a two-fer this Monday. My usual Monday morning insomnia is in full gear when I really need it not to be and I think I may be coming down with a cold. I feel my joints aching, my body temperature rising, and my nose stuffing up to the point where I can't breathe except through my mouth which, if you'll remember, is something I've been really trying not to do. I feel a cold-induced sneezing fit is likely. Either way I've taken two Benadryl so I now have about an hour before they kick in and off to diphenhydramine hydrochloric dreamland I go. But first...
I had this idea. I'm sure anyone who's seen Neon Genesis Evangelion has speculated on it for at least a little bit. No spoiler alerts for a nearly twenty year old anime here. The "villain" of the series were the angels, all children of the progenitor lifeform Adam. Life on Earth, born of the progenitor lifeform Lilith, bore the Fruit of Knowledge. It forced its pinnacle being, humanity, to express its individuality in subtle ways. The children of Adam however, bore the Fruit of Life and could thus express their individuality more extremely.
It was based around the concept of an "A.T. Field", the A.T. standing for "absolute terror". The rumor for its origin is that it was based in psychiatric studies of autistics who become panicked when a person intrudes on their personal space. That dividing line was supposedly their absolute terror. However, there is no reference to this in any psychiatric journal. It's one of those oft-repeated rumors that has become fact by virtue of it having been repeated so often.
In the show, every lifeform possesses an A.T. Field but in humans it is very weak. For us it is the sacred space of our minds through which no other being may pass. It is the source of our individuality and thus our loneliness. We are many but because our minds are isolated from everyone else's, we suffer. For the children of Adam, the angels, their A.T. Fields were so strong that they could stop physical attacks and even become visible briefly if an attempt to cross the barrier was made intensely enough. Another effect of these ridiculously strong A.T. Fields is that the angel, though made of the same stuff and DNA as mankind (said to be 99.89% similar), could manifest its self-image through its A.T. Field. So whereas all life on Earth is constrained to appear as it had evolved forcing us to express our individuality through the way we dress or hobbies we develop, an angel could look however it wanted to and in the show they did take on some rather odd forms.
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| The Third Angel: Sachiel, more humanoid than most though lacking a conspicuous head. The white plate over the red orb are its faces: yes it has two. |
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| The Fourth Angel: Shamshel, insect-like in appearance (this is more apparent when viewed from above) |
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| The Fifth Angel: Ramiel, this is the first one we see with a truly alien appearance. It may look like a crystal, but it's alive and one of the most powerful angels of the series. |
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| The Tenth Angel: Sahaquiel, this is the largest of the angels. It appears in orbit. Once it figures out where it will crash land, it begins its descent. |
Anyways, I wondered what form I would take if my self-image could be actualized. It's an odd intellectual exercise because I really haven't given it too much thought. It also varies depending on the mood I'm in suggesting that my "true" self-image is that of a shape-shifter (I've always said I have a chameleon-like personality). However, in keeping with the spirit of the show, I wondered what grotesque form I might take; what parody of humanity would I be?
Another quality the angels seem to possess en masse is an overall lack of intelligence. They don't behave complicatedly. They are often single-minded in their goal to return to Adam and generally will only attack in an effort to defend themselves. Only Zeruel, which appears late in the series, appears to show any direct malice toward human beings. Otherwise they are quite content to do what they came to do.
Perhaps the best part of the exercise is that you also have to come up with how you would be killed by the Evangelion units since no angel ever actually won. Some did more damage than others, but they were all ultimately defeated. Do you go out by a show of force, via some heretofore unknown weapon, by cunning, by dumb luck? Does NERV defeat you? Are the UN forces capable of damaging you? Do you self-sacrifice? You have to pick something because you cannot be allowed to win otherwise the story would be over.
I'll admit having a drawing or even a sketch would help but drawing is not my forte so you'll have to bear with me and use your imagination which, in the end, could prove a more effective tool than anything my pencil could conjure up.
I picture myself floating in the air only. No walking of any sort. I get the appearance that in the direction I'm moving, I take on a crystalline appearance and in the trailing direction, I'm more liquidy and vaporous with the vapors obscuring the shape like fog would do. In the rear are four long, but thick, vaporous tendrils suggestive of hair that when relaxed, trail behind me. In front of me and prominently featured are two stubby arms (touch your elbows to your torso when imagining this) each terminating in a hand-like foot with hints of scales as though a bird's foot. Though bony in color, the "fingers" are very suggestive of human fingers complete with hints of fingernails (I'm thinking depressions in the shape of fingernails) and these fingers are arranged more like a bird's toes than a proper human hand with the thumb part facing my body. Between the two feet hands is a free-floating S2 organ with no protection around it. I picture my angelic form as rather arrogant and thus my Fruit of Life is located in a very vulnerable position because I am confident my A.T. Field will protect me from all harm. I see my front side as basically being all face, but without a mouth or nose. The upper torso/face is in a hunched-over position. I see four eye sockets. A pair in the center for binocular vision, though looking more-or-less straight down at the S2 organ and another eye socket on either side for that kind of vision leaving me with a slight blindspot as to what's right in front of me. There are no visible eyes within those sockets and each eye is capable of generating one of those blasts that result in cross-shaped explosions.
The idea behind my A.T. Field is like the shield surrounding the artifact in Thirdspace. Where attacked, the field will flow toward the attack both to neutralize the attack and to strengthen the field in the area of the attack. The compensation for this is that the A.T. Field directly opposite the attack weakens to compensate meaning that a sustained, powerful attack on my front would eventually open a hole in my A.T. Field behind me. I realized that it would be this weakness that would be my undoing.
When I stop moving, the crystalline areas become more fluid-like or plastic.The energy beams would be my primary means for entering the GeoFront in an effort to rejoin with Adam and I'm guessing had I made it that far that I would absorb my S2 organ and flow into the GeoFront, restoring my previous shape (or perhaps a new one entirely) upon encountering Adam. If attacked, the four tendrils behind me will twist like whirlwinds into four tight flagella and stab at whatever is attacking. The idea would be to impale the target with two or more tendrils and then rip it apart. The feet-hands can move, face fingertips forward and launch penetrating tendrils from where the fingernail would emerge on a human hand.
I picture my defeat resulting from a combined attack using all three EVAs and yes, even the UN Forces with Misato being the one who devised the strategy based on analyses from the first failed confrontation. I see a sustained frontal assault by the UN forces, EVA-00, and EVA-01 with EVA-02 waiting to attack me from the rear. The attack on my front side becomes so intense that a hole opens up at the rear. Asuka in unit 02 leaps from her hiding spot with the idea of shoving an N2 mine into my A.T. Field's gap and positioning the mine near my S2 unit. I see her approaching and fire several cross-shaped blasts which Asuka artfully dodges. I then tighten my flagella in an attempt to stop her. Two of these flagella manage to impale her EVA, one in each leg, but the remaining two she has grabbed with one arm and possibly her EVA's mouth (whatever looks cooler to you), holding the N2 mine in the remaining arm. The N2 mine is just out of reach but she manages to shove it in with one last determined push. It is during this moment that I finally make a sound suggesting panic with my downfacing eyes now glowing with red irides and yellow pupils in fear and in realization of what had just happened. The mine detonates and its explosion is briefly contained within my A.T. Field, but the field soon collapses when my S2 unit is destroyed and the explosion now moves outward swallowing the EVA units but they are undamaged as their own A.T. Fields have protected them.
The End
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