Rick Spiff proudly presents,
A Minor Moment in the Epic of Parodies... or was it the Parody of Epics?
I can never remember.
ANY WAY...
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A Three Goons in Eva (A.K.A. Neon Genesis Goonvangelion) Vignette:
Episode 8.5:
The Dying Passion for Life
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It had a kind of reality to it, a kind of decisive firmness that the
body and mind expected, that Shinji wasn't prepared for.
He pulled his hand away from the sheer obsidian surface, and looked
up... and up... and _up_. The tower was several hundred meters tall, a
large black cylinder with a stairway spiraling around it, climbing to
it's summit.
With quiet wonder on his face, Shinji set one foot firmly on the first
step and began his climb.
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He had heard the stories of course. It was touted as the Fight of the
Week by many. He'd even lost a hundred yen on it... but he'd never seen
this part of the battlefield.
It was oddly fitting, now. They had been alive when the fight raged, of
course, but now they were brown and dying, dry leaves crumpled and
falling to the hard black floor. Some of the rose bushes were rent here
and there, ghastly marks of mortal combat long past. How long had it
been? Four weeks? Five? More? How long would this garden last, with this
abuse? How long had it endured already?
Kaji mounted the summit of the structure, watching Shinji watch him. "Hi
Shinji," he made a little wave. "Enjoying the view?"
"Hello Kaji." Shinji answered with a wave of his own. "I, uh... this
garden, it..."
"I see." Kaji smiled, then crouched too inspect one of the rosebushes
closely. "You know, there's quite a few more like it."
"Ah, there is?" Shinji didn't know why he came her. 'To see the place'
sounded like a dumb answer, and he was afraid Kaji would ask that
question.
Deflecting Shinji's inquiry, Kaji caressed one of the dry blossoms. "You
know, the rose is the flower of passion, of life, of love."
"R-really." Shinji said, surrounded by the blasted things. Love was the
last thing on his mind.
"If not tended to properly, it fades and dies, like this. But so
many..."
"Yes." Shinji noted. "There's so many, and they're all dying."
"It looks just like an approaching winter. Something that's been nicely
forgotten these days." Kaji said wistfully.
"What?"
"When the cold comes, the flowers all die out, but not forever. The
plant lives on, Shinji, and blooms in the spring. Life continues." He
waved his hand around to indicate the entire platform. "The passion dies
one day, but will rise again. It's one of those inevitable things nature
is so good at."
He shrugged.
Shinji looked at the flowers, then at the lighted top of the geosphere,
saying what he was sure Kaji was thinking. "This is humanity's winter."
"Hmm." Kaji agreed.
"And maybe they'll be another spring someday."
"Hmm." Affirmed Kaji.
Shinji smiled, smelled the dying roses, and said. "Thank you, Kaji."
Kaji threw him a jaunty wave as he set down the stairs. "No problem, kid."
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Author's Notes:
It was on a particularly "Utena" day that I was in a particularly
"Utena" mood, but bound and determined to write some TGE, that this
story was born (or, some would argue, spawned). The scene arose from two
things that struck me at once. Firstly, the possible uses of the prop in
episode 7 with the roses on top (as shown in this vignette at a later
point in time). Secondly, the fight scenes in episodes 8 and 9. It
wasn't any fight scene in particular, just noticing that we go from lots
of fight scenes to lots of fight scenes. Normally the jump from an Andy
episode to a Jared episode means going from fight scenes to inter-
personal relationship drama. Since episode 9 is slightly different than
my usual episode (see episodes 3 and 6 for reference), it seemed to lack
the tongue-in-check shojou manga parody bits that normally infest these
sub-standard parts of mine. I couldn't let that stand! Besides, Kaji's
severely lacking in screen time, despite being a Very Cool Character in
the early episodes.
So there it is. Love it, hate it, wonder what the F*** I was thinking
when I wrote it, but there it is. Meant to be read.
4/12/2005
Rick Spiff
(
geocities.com/rick_spiff)