lol I love need more Rei and Michiru moments

There is a lot of really wonderful character work going on here, and I think the thing that most immediately strikes me about this story and makes it special is you're handling that in a lot of different ways.

There's the clever structure of the whole story, for one thing; you simultaneously build up and lead us in a graceful little circle, with the build up, act of, and aftermath of the Meditation used excellently as a central hook to anchor all the story around. We keep getting deeper and deeper into the dynamics at play here as we prepare for the meditation, with Rei's continuous internal narration and analysis of Michiru on the one hand, and Michiru's outward attempts to explain herself and her thoughts (itself a great touch, but I'll get to that in more detail later), working smoothly and organically to help us get a feel for both characters' voices and set out the basic ideas the story is trying to get across in elegant, unobtrusive fashion. And then you end it on a great, gentle note that brings the whole thing full circle, and shows that the meditation did, in fact, do its job; you can actually feel the little ways in which this experience has helped the two characters bond just a little bit more.

Indeed, I rather appreciate, and deeply respect, that you've chosen to start off with this pairing at all. It's rare indeed you see Michiru paired off in any fashion with characters other than Haruka, and rarer still that said character is Rei. It's not a coupling you'd expect, but you manage to make it feel entirely natural and obvious. I especially love how beautifully you contrast and compare the two, finding all the little parallels and differences between them. The core metaphor, with Michiru as a sort of bright flame despite her natural connection with water while Rei, normally seen as the "fiery" one, acts in a much more slow-burn fashion here, is particularly well done. It creates a compelling core that the characters get to work around and with, and it lends the story a wonderfully warm, interesting air that really pulls you in and puts you in this pleasant, relaxed, contemplative place.

It also helps that, unsurprisingly, you have a wonderful grasp of both characters' voices. Again, the slow-burn Rei and the more open, outgoing Michiru make for a delightful sounding board for each other, and both bounce off of each other in just the best way via your on-spot dialogue; you absolutely nail Michiru's easy-going, and sometimes overeager, sense of humor, and I love all the little touches of nuance and contemplation you give to Rei; it's an element of her character a lot of authors miss, so it tickles my fancy to see you do it such good use here.

If I have any one criticism, it would be that you could perhaps stand to dial back the descriptions a little bit. For the most part, your prose and dialogue both have a very nice pace and flow to them, creating a nice, natural air that fits the story's mood perfectly, but every now and then, you tell us something a bit too explicitly that we might have been better off having implied or left for us to infer; I'm thinking in particular of Michiru's reference to Haruka at the end.

Still, that's a minor overall complaint in the face of a short story that ultimately proves a pleasant little delight, and does a great job of establishing, exploring, and highlighting a relationship you don't see much of in this fandom, and then makes you wish you could see more of it. Love, love, love it.

-Gojira007

I really enjoyed this, though I have to admit I can't really see this particular scenario playing out. The outers generally just feel very tight knit and not likely to want to hang out with the inners to me. But it was definitely a really interesting peak into what a night out between these two would be like.

I like this. Two of the most stunning beauties in the Moonverse.