Fanfic / Taking Sights

Don't worry. I have a plan.

A fanfic by Lavanya Six, which proceeds to turn the entire Peggy Sue trope completely on it's head... by sending Gendo back in time, instead of the usual (i.e. Shinji). Available here

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Tropes:

• Belligerent Sexual Tension:
  • Subverted by Asuka and Shinji. They blow right past their mutual attraction and enter a state of mutual loathing.
  • Possibly played straight by Asuka and Toji.
• Berserk Button: A number of characters possess or develop a few triggers that are guaranteed to piss them off:
  • Derogatory remarks about Gendo are this for Rei, at least at first.
  • Gendo becomes one for Shinji after they have an epic falling out over the phone.
  • Any reminder of the collateral damage Asuka has caused in her solo battles, for Asuka.
  • Asuka's tendencies for excessive violence for Misato, and after she annihilates a hijacked Unit-00 in Terminal Dogma, for Ritsuko.
• Break the Haughty: Asuka's started earlier than in canon.
• Calling the Old Man Out - Fuyutsuki (ironically) and Shinji.
• Creepy Child - Rei, as Hideki Anno always intended.
• Dead Fic: No update since 2010.
• Dirty Old Woman - Yui and Lovecraftian!Asuka.
• Dysfunction Junction: Misato's household, even more than the canon version.
• Evil Detecting Penguin - Gendo: "I was not aware that penguins could growl"
• Gilligan Cut - Indulged in during the lighter moments.
  Fuyutsuki: Trust me, Shinji. If there's one thing the commander doesn't get, it's angry.
  Thirty Minutes Ago
  Gendo: I am going to murder that little shit.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners - Gendo and Fuyutsuki. Depending on if the balls touched while fulling Yui's birthday request of a threesome.
• Important Haircut:
  • Important Beard Trim.
  • And not just that—one flash forward to an EoE sequence sees Misato make a comment about Asuka's shorter hair.
• Love at First Punch - Possibly Touji.
• Manipulative Bastard - Gendo. Rarely actually works though.
• Mistaken for Gay - Shinji gets this by Gendo.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Anti-Hero: Gendo's attempts to improve his relationship with Rei and Shinji approach Epic Fail levels.
• Old Shame: To Lavanya Six, believe it or not.
• Peggy Sue - Subverted. It's the villain that goes back. And a slightly Lovecraftian, immortal version of Asuka, but not properly.
• Promotion to Parent: Hikari Horaki after her mother's death.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: In Chapter 4:
  Fuyutsuki: "THIS! ISN'T! FUNNY!"
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gendo delivers one hell of a speech of this kind to Shinji in Chapter 10 over the phone.
• Sarcastic Confession: You have to be real careful what you tell Rei because she CAN read between lines (despite her emotionless nature)...
  Asuka: Look, boy and girls...men and women too...have rituals.
  Rei: Rituals?
  Asuka: It's stupid crap girls gotta do if they wanna get their mack on with the dude they want to bone—like cooking them lunch first or being all fake demure—because if they don't do it then everyone else thinks she's a slut.
  Rei: Ah, so your behavior towards Mister Kaji is explained by your desire to "bone" him but to not appear promiscuous for wanting to do so.
  Asuka: ...
  Rei: Am I...in error?
• Schedule Slip: Was once updated on a somewhat regular basis, then slowed down and eventually stopped moving for a while in 2009. Got one more chapter in early 2010, and it's been dormant since then. The author has admitted that she's struggled with the direction the story had taken, and that it was making it difficult to write. She has, however, promised that she will eventually finish it, as she doesn't want to become "one of those authors."
• Set Right What Once Went Wrong - It doesn't work very well.
• So Proud of You - Gendo does this. It gets seen through.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: Done by Lovecraftian!Asuka in Shinji's dream.
  "That's how you know it, and how I, who am an illusion of your mind and definitely not a phantom from the Dark Era at the absolute end of the universe's entropic arc, know it too."
• Title Drop - "I'm glad we've had this chance to take sight of each other"
• Troubled, but Cute: Misato's exact words to describe Shinji in the third chapter.
• Villain Protagonist - Sort of. Most of Gendo's plans revolves around undoing his own schemes in the original series.
• Villains Out Shopping - Gendo and Fuyutsuki go to a strip club. And it's hilarious!
• "Well Done, Son" Guy - Deconstructed at both ends.
• Who Wants To Live For Ever - Original Asuka. She's literally lived to the end of the universe.

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