I see your point about Gendo. So far he's been somewhat at the edge of scenes too as I'm not quite sure what he's doing here.
My main issue is that I'm not *quite* sure what Ritsuko's character arc is supposed to be in this story. Unless the reader gains some insight into her then all I'm writing it technobabble about fake!Shinji.
Just thinking out loud, but maybe the key is in the MAGI triumvirate somehow. The scientist/mother/woman thing that made up Naoko Akagi's personality. If Ritsuko is engineering Shinji, then it's something of a motherly role (if via Doctor Mengele rather than Doctor Seuss). "Ritsuko as a Mother" is the one aspect of the Akagi/MAGI profile that's not explored in canon. It's not done too often in fanfic, either. Off the top of my head I can only think of Eva-R as seriously exploring that territory.
And if this fanfic is acting as a kind of "secret backstory" for cannon Shinji then however Ritsuko views her littlest science fair project needs to fit how she (at least outwardly) reacts to him in canon. There might be some meat in how Ritsuko views the Shinji/Misato relationship, especially since Misato acts as a mother towards him.
Probably should fit more of the Ritsuko/Gendo lover stuff in too since she's sorta having his kid. In a lab. Except she's partially basing her kid on her lover's dead wife's DNA. Which is pretty goddamn twisted if you think about it.
Hmm.
Christ, why does every fanfic I start somehow end up turning into a hundred thousand word epic?
no subject
My main issue is that I'm not *quite* sure what Ritsuko's character arc is supposed to be in this story. Unless the reader gains some insight into her then all I'm writing it technobabble about fake!Shinji.
Just thinking out loud, but maybe the key is in the MAGI triumvirate somehow. The scientist/mother/woman thing that made up Naoko Akagi's personality. If Ritsuko is engineering Shinji, then it's something of a motherly role (if via Doctor Mengele rather than Doctor Seuss). "Ritsuko as a Mother" is the one aspect of the Akagi/MAGI profile that's not explored in canon. It's not done too often in fanfic, either. Off the top of my head I can only think of Eva-R as seriously exploring that territory.
And if this fanfic is acting as a kind of "secret backstory" for cannon Shinji then however Ritsuko views her littlest science fair project needs to fit how she (at least outwardly) reacts to him in canon. There might be some meat in how Ritsuko views the Shinji/Misato relationship, especially since Misato acts as a mother towards him.
Probably should fit more of the Ritsuko/Gendo lover stuff in too since she's sorta having his kid. In a lab. Except she's partially basing her kid on her lover's dead wife's DNA. Which is pretty goddamn twisted if you think about it.
Hmm.
Christ, why does every fanfic I start somehow end up turning into a hundred thousand word epic?
(nice xkcd reference, btw.)