The Creative Principle

[Iuvenal]

The new story logo on FFN looks great.

[Folk Devil]

Yeah, it's from an old WWI propaganda cartoon by Louis Raemaekers called "To your health, Civilization"

[Glor]

I find myself wondering if Asuka and Shinji will still be together at the end of all this. I know I said earlier that being Eva pilots forms a pretty deep bond, but that doesn't mean it has to be the only one the two of them can ever make with another person. What I've never seen a lot of in Eva fanfic is these two growing to be more self-reliant people that are happy with who they are and can respect themselves enough to seek what they want out of others, instead of just settling for eachother because trying is hard. It's easy to settle and say "this is as good as it's going to get" when you're unhappy.

Even if such a thing isn't on FD's agenda, at the very least TCP presents an opportunity for them to grow quite a bit. So if nothing else they may learn to be less dependent on one another for stability. (i.e. maybe we shouldn't have a suicide pact bro)

[FelipeFritschF]

I don't if I should write this here or at FFN, but, uh...

I f-ing loved this.

After I read Lighthouse, I really wondered if I'd ever find a good fic which focused on young adult Shinji and Asuka that weren't magically "cured" of everything they went through. Turns out, your story filled that niche perfectly. Considering the aforementioned Throne of Bayonets was way too cynical both about their relationship and the general state of the world and Scar Tissue was, sadly. for the most part "angst porn" as I like to call it, your impressed me with just how... balanced and actually realistic it felt, being feasible enough to actually feel like canon Eva was. Sure, they're still a wreck, but not so dysfunctional that they can't try having a normal life of sorts.

I found it really interesting how you've treated Asuka, particularly how she feels about her probable infertility. It feels just so... Asuka to be frustrated at not having the choice of doing something she doesn't want to... then again, it's not like it's a small matter, and how she might come to view children in the future is a matter which has already been discussed over here by people far more capable than I.

Anyway, your OCs. While I'm still not sure about what you want to do with Jack except for him to act as Seele's Terminator, Rene is quite interesting, not to mention he provides a lot of insight into the post-3I world. Who would have thought that Law & Order: Evangelion could be so interesting?

Also, it was quite refreshing to see you bring up the subject of post-3I cults. The only other fic I can remember doing that was Coming of The First Ones, and it was more of a horror story anyway... regardless, good luck in continuing your story, I'm sure you still have a lot of tricks up your sleeve.

[Folk Devil]

Yeah it's really difficult to avoid slipping into angst porn some times. My general rule is don't push my characters over an edge unless I have a compelling reason for doing so. There's something a bit perverse about wanting to watch these characters that we ostensibly like suffer. St. Augustine mentioned that sort of negative impulse in The Confessions, like 1600 years ago IIRC.

As for the cults, yeah First Ones was a huge influence in the idea of cults/NRMs to begin with. I would hold back on the distinction you drew there, though. Afterall, who's to say that this isn't a horror story?

After any sort of cataclysmic event, people will be looking for answers. One issue I notice in a lot of 3I fics that I find was under-addressed is what coming back really MEANS. An event that cataclysmic, where a good portion of the world is just gone and is slowly returning would have massive implications in literally every segment of society: economic, religious, family dynamics... Minor example; what happens to the 5 years or so you lost in between Third Impact and your return? If you were 25 then are you 30 now? And that's on the low end of the confusion. Why did youcome back but not, say, your spouse or your child or your parents or whatever? We know canonically that it's because it's a choice, but most people in my universe most people are unaware of that. So logically something else would fill the gap.

Hell, we even have Evangelion-based cults in real life. Search up "Church of NERV" on youtube. I'm not gonna get too deep in to a discussion of it since there's already a very old thread on those videos but they were a major inspiration.

[Iuvenal]

There's something a bit perverse about wanting to watch these characters that we ostensibly like suffer. St. Augustine mentioned that sort of negative impulse in The Confessions, like 1600 years ago IIRC.

Recall which book by chance?

[Folk Devil]

He was talking about Greek literature in general, but he specifically cited the Illiad.

[KingXanaduu]

I find myself wondering if Asuka and Shinji will still be together at the end of all this. I know I said earlier that being Eva pilots forms a pretty deep bond, but that doesn't mean it has to be the only one the two of them can ever make with another person. What I've never seen a lot of in Eva fanfic is these two growing to be more self-reliant people that are happy with who they are and can respect themselves enough to seek what they want out of others, instead of just settling for eachother because trying is hard. It's easy to settle and say "this is as good as it's going to get" when you're unhappy.

Even if such a thing isn't on FD's agenda, at the very least TCP presents an opportunity for them to grow quite a bit. So if nothing else they may learn to be less dependent on one another for stability. (i.e. maybe we shouldn't have a suicide pact bro)

Like you said before dude, they have a bond no one else on Earth has, being Eva Pilots and being at the center of Third Impact, and having very similar backgrounds: They're both the same coin, just both in opposite directions.

And sure, they can seek out friendships with others, just because they've endured trauma doesn't mean that people out their will learn to heal and love them, like Misato, Touji, Hikari, and others of their "family".

If anything, I think a set in the right direction for Shinji and Asuka at the end of the fic (just my own interpretation of their relationship), isn't that they stay together because of co-dependency or that there's no one else, but because they then look at each other and say: "We're the same, and I want to stay with you because....I like you, and I want to you stay."

[Ray]

Well said Xander.

On that note. Is this fic still alive?

[Folk Devil]

Yes, this fic is still alive and will always be alive. Right now I'm about midway through Chapter 7. Chapter 6.5 is being heavily reworked due to a lot of dissatisfaction with the end product (after being completely written) and will now become chapter 8. Makes more narrative sense that way.

[brer rabbit]

Hey Folk Devil sorry to rush you but will chapter 7 be out before the end of 2016.

[Folk Devil]

If it's not you have my personal permission to hunt me down and kill me.

[brer rabbit]

I may take you up on that offer but seriously I glad your still working on it.

[Glor]

Let the Great Hunt begin. All we need is beer and dank memes to lure him out.

[brer rabbit]

Hey Folk Devil you mind if i write a version of The Creative Principle, it's mostly the same as the original except:

Gendo has yet to come out of the sea, Misato and Ritsuko have but are in prison and Maya now hates Ritsuko.(for good reason)
Kensuke Aida is living in Canada and working as a host and executive producer of a television show about animals airing on the Animal Planet (the show is this world's version of The Jeff Corwin Experience ) he also visits Shinji and Asuka frequently and is their only friend.

Toji got his leg back but it's too damage for him to be a basketball player so he find's work as a boxer, he also wants nothing to do with Shinji and is done with him(he pissed that Shinji never visited in the hospital and basically forgot about him and for the reason Shinji killed the world but does not hate him,mostly because his sister and father came out with him at the same time)and Toji never got together Hikari.

Hikari now works as a repo man and she also hates Shinji as he destroyed her life as her father didn't come on of the sea until years later, her older sister had to sell her body to men in order to get food on the table (and sometimes Hikari herself) and her young sister has become a thief(pick pocketing, breaking and entering etc.)

Asuka is trying to rebuild the relationship between her father and stepmother, but doesn't really want do so with Misato.

[Folk Devil]

Hey Folk Devil you mind if i write a version of The Creative Principle...

From what you wrote there it doesn't really sound like a version of The Creative Principle. Feel free to do what you want, but to be honest I think you'd be better served being as original as possible.

[brer rabbit]

^ ok i'll try but it will still have a lot in common with your.

[brer rabbit]

^ everything you wrote about Shinji and Asuka will be the same in my fic, but ok i'll try to be as original as possible.

[y3k]

The thing about writing is that when it comes down to it, we all borrow from one another--there's no such thing as pure originality. Instead it's all sort of regurgitated and remixed into something new every single time. We all have our sources of inspiration, those bits of story that others write that make us go 'ooooh...' and either consciously or subconsciously we alter and integrate those elements into our own stories. Hell, in this very thread Folk Devil references the Lighthouse as one of his sources of inspiration for how Shinji and Asuka exist in this timeline. And no doubt, the Lighthouse works upon and borrows from older works, and so on and so forth. And I'll be the first to admit that my own works are pretty much just abhorrent (if well-welded) franken-beasts.

Considering how many variables your post introduced when you said it would be just like the Creative Principle 'except for such and such and such and such...', I'd say you're probably in the clear. Don't sweat the small stuff, just do your thing.

[brer rabbit]

Well the end of the year is almost here and it looks like me and Glor are going on a Devil hunt in 2017.