Chapter 11: "Dinner"; part 2 Commentary
I enjoy using Misato to tease Cirus whenever possible. After the dinner ends, everyone starts helping out, except the irrasible Asuka, and I use this to create one of my favorite scenes in Kenosis. This interaction between Rei and Cirus is one of the most important ones, and begins to shift their relationship from 'kindred spirits' to a more obviously romantic dynamic. Rei's fascination with her own blood shouldn't be confused with an appreciation for its 'beauty'. She hates the color red after all, specifically because it's blood's color. Rather, she's looking at it because she hates it, thinking about the meaning she's associated with it. A truly Ayanami moment. The core of the scenes that follow, Misato's 'interference' notwithstanding, really makes two points. Rei welcomes Cirus' presence in her life, and Cirus is extremely sensitive to her. Honestly, he's sensitive to any physical contact (got it from me), but especially Rei, whom he's terrified of hurting in any way. He does not feel worthy of coming closer than casual discussion would permit, and the hand-holding scenes are, as-described, powerful experiences for him. Rei is much more interested in why she has such an affect on him than the actual experience. The way her skin feels is something Cirus has to work to ignore. Again, the innocent intimacy comes up, and we see Cirus is more vulnerable in its confines than Ayanami-sama. Of course, backtracking a bit, Misato's little nudge in the right direction was written to be amusing, and I hope that effect is successfully established. Cirus is stuck, he knows it, and can't do anything about it. The big revelation, where Cirus actually says he finds Rei beautiful, is somewhat hurried over, because, at this point, Rei has little personal understanding of the idea. She has some idea, and that much astonishes her, but later she really begins to fathom what he means when he says it. There's something Rei's capacity to control Cirus with the gentlest manner that I find paritcularly endearing, on both sides. Obviously, it shows Rei's gentleness and kindness, but it also shows Cirus' nobility. His heart is swayed by purity. And, again, we see that the core shared meaning is 'human', and how each of them aspire to attain that feeling. Misato watching, with Shinji too curious not to join her, just seemed a natural exit-stratagy for the scene, and a way to lighten to the mood again. Conniving little Major... *chuckles*
The small section following the dinner sequence is little more than another chance to have Rei and Cirus speak together adorably, and then showing that Cirus is 'doing something', which is explained in the next section. Of course, his asking about a kitchen for her can be seen as foreshadowing for a much later event in Kenosis, but I think it fits the scene itself so well that it could just as easily be simple character interaction, and just that.
The repition of 'what?' using various tones amuses me too much, and it did when I wrote this scene originally. Visualizing an early-morning Misato talking around a can of bear is just one of life's inherently amusing images. Heh, the rest of the scene is quite self-explanatory. Excitement, and the leave to the next scene... With a poor, spinning Pen-Pen in the wake.
A great deal of small details make the end of this chapter enjoyable. Misato's shock and gratitude, Ritusko's light mood, and even Cirus' wry manner. Probably the cutest part of the scene is Misato's abrupt embrace of the young man. This also shows that Cirus is only so awkward with Rei, as Misato giving him a full grapple-squeeze does little more than make him raise his eyebrows before laughing it off. And I can't think of a better line to end a chapter on, given the contexts in question...
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