Notes from GobHobblin: Just a heads up: none of my fics are dead. I've just been INSANELY super-busy, and haven't had the time to write like I want to. I do, however, have a little time here and there so I do what I can. In the meantime, just something short to keep the gears greased.

April 10, 2027 - Internal Habitat, Nerv Evangelion Facility, Tokyo-3

"…and won't stop whining about it," Kei said, rolling her eyes and batting at her hair. Shinji giggled, his face filling the screen in front of her.

"But she's still doing it?"

"Every…day," Kei emphasized.

"That's awesome! I never thought Rei would be into martial arts."

"She's not, at all," Kei sighed. "She always comes down here all grumpy and sore and whiny. Did I mention she whines about it?"

"That's the fifth time."

"Because she does!" The girl groaned. "And you know Kimu, she won't leave her alone. Wants to learn everything Rei is learning."

"That would be a bad idea."

"The worst." The girl crossed her arms, and sniffed. "Anyway, that's Rei. The rest of us are doing fine, too: Tsukiko is learning to play piano, and she's getting very good at it. She wants to play violin, but…you know…." The girl waved her arms over her head, swirling the LCL.

"That sucks. I bet she'd be great at it," Shinji said.

"She's already pretty good at piano. She's only been playing for, like a month or two, and she can play songs. It's like she's always known and is just remembering." Kei rolled her eyes up in her head and sucked on her teeth in thought. "Um…Momo is still Momo, and she is crazy about otters."

"Otters?" Shinji squinted. "Where did that come from?"

"No clue, she's just all about otters now. Otters, otters, otters. She wants us to stop being called the Mermaids and wants us to be called the Otters. We outvoted her."

"Did she sulk?"

"For a bit. Then she forgot about it; you know her."

"And worry about her."

"As do we all," Kei said magnanimously. "Ooh! Mari and Aimi are, like, having this flower arranging contest, but it's really cool because they're making the flowers out of wax paper. So, they're not real flowers, but they look awesome! Mari's are cooler than Aimi's, though."

"I could see that. What about you?"

"Reading books, what else?" Kei said. "And manga. Sooo much manga. It gets really boring down here. Haru and Sakura are getting into manga, too, though, so we're keeping tabs on stuff for each other. They were all about anime for, like…forever. Now they like manga, too, so…that's cool."

"I have no idea what good manga is out right now," Shinji sighed, his expression becoming glum.

"I have, like, everything scanned. I can send it to you! There has to be something in my library you'd like."

"That'd be great!" Shinji said. "It'll be nice to read some stuff from home. I feel…I feel like I don't even belong there anymore."

"That's ridiculous," Kei scoffed. "This is exactly where you belong."

"Yeah, but if it's where I belong, why am I here?"

"…I don't know," Kei admitted. "You should be here."

"Do you think Mom and Dad will ever bring me home?"

"I hope so. I mean, they have to, right? You're their son. You're, like…their real kid."

"Don't say that!" Shinji said, sounding hurt. "You're their real kid, too!"

"Well, not really real. I mean, we are real, but not real like you're…I mean…you're the old-fashioned real kid, and we're the real kids that were born in a test-tube, but we're real, just not as real as—"

"Kei, I have no idea what you're talking about anymore."

"The point is, you were their kid because they…you know—"

"I know, that's good, moving on!" Shinji grumped.

"Don't be a prude," Kei sniffed. "Anyway, we're all clones of Mom. We don't have any of Dad in us."

"You're still his daughters," Shinji protested.

"Not like you're his son," Kei said. "It's okay, we're not worked up about it or anything."

"Yeah, but…okay, Dad is my dad, right?"

"Mm-hmm."

"And you're my sister because of Mom, right?"

"Yup."

"So, because Dad is my dad, and you and me and all the others are related by blood, that kind of makes Dad your dad in the same way."

"It does not even," Kei laughed.

"It totally does! It all works out!" Shinji said.

"That is ridiculous, but…it might just fly. I'll tell the rest of the Mermaids that and see what they think," she giggled. She perceived movement to the left, and turned to see a sleepy Aya drift through the computer room's entrance. "Oh, hey, you! Come here!" Slowly, she swam over. Kei hooked an arm around Aya's shoulder and gestured to the screen. "Look, it's Dorkface."

"Hi, Shinji," Aya said, happy.

"H'lo, Aya," Shinji said. "I thought you were sleeping."

"I was. Now, I'm not," Aya grumped.

"Bad dreams?"

"Mmmm," Aya grumped, shrugging. "I was in the television room and heard Kei talking. I wanted to see who she was talking to. I miss you."

"I miss you, too," Shinji said.

"You should come home," Aya added.

"We were talking about that earlier," Kei agreed.

"I want to, just don't know when, or how or…if." Shinji sighed.

"Stop sighing in there, you're depressing me!" someone off-screen yelled loudly.

"I'll sigh if I want to!" Shinji yelled back. "That's Hunter, Hunter says hi."

"Hi, Hunter!" Kei said loudly into the microphone.

"Which one was that?" the voice called.

"That's Kei, Aya's with her."

"Hi…creepy…clone girls!"

"He's a jerk," Kei huffed.

"Am I creepy?" Aya asked, mortified.

"In a cute way," Shinji teased.

"Adorably creepy," Kei added, mussing Aya's hair.

"I don't want to be creepy," Aya protested.

"Shinji, dude, you have cello in like half an hour, so think about wrapping up the conversation with the Midwich Cuckoos," Hunter could be heard saying, much closer than before. Shinji turned his laptop up and away, filling the screen with the image of Hunter standing over him. The man glanced at the screen, his expression like an animal frozen in the headlights of an oncoming car. "…Hi," he murmured, giving an awkward wave.

"Hi, Jerk," Kei sniffed.

"Hello," Aya said cautiously.

"…I really have nothing else to say and you guys are making me nervous," Hunter murmured, slowly drifting away from the camera.

"Be nice!" Shinji scolded.

"Look, twins freak me out, all right? There's like…so many of her. All looking at me with them big ol' red eyes. Especially you." Aya meeped when Hunter very clearly pointed at her. "You have very wide eyes. Why are your eyes so freaking wide!?"

"Talk to you later guys!" Shinji said frantically, disconnecting the link.

"They just stare—" Hunter could be heard, before the link disconnected. Kei sighed, and glanced at Aya. The girl was staring back at her with very, wide eyes.

"…you do have wide eyes," Kei noted.