Grey stared at the monitors with empty fascination in his eyes. Old fingers scrolled on a keyboard with deep such deep-seeded habit that to not to was to disrupt the natural scheme. Old bones barely held up his ancient and drooping skin. His stomach was all but non-existant, his frame having all the depth of a skeleton. By standards in teh real world, he would have been dead, long dead at that. Though, in this world, that was impossible.

Dying did not happen in the internet world. Instead a more grueling and agonizing experience occured. If one was not faithful to an anime deity that would one day take him or her to that anime deity's heaven, then a terrible fate of slowly rotting and decomposition was in store. A hell, in Grey's opinion, worse than any simple god could conjure up.

For millinia, though, Grey had been working up a plan that could ultimately beat the "system" so to speak. Through his research and study, he had come upon relics of a world once connected to his own an infinite time ago. This world had been referred to only as "the real world," a name Grey suspected was more apt than any other. By itself, this world, even with its possibilities and opportunities, was little to warrant the attention of one as doomed to an agonizing and painful hell as Grey was, but there was one other detail he had come across. One precious little piece of calculation that had opened up a window of eternal hope and longing.

It seemed, because of the scrambling of electrons and protons within one's own atoms caused by the jump between dimensions and the entering in of limbo, one's metabolism would ultimately be reversed.

This reversal and the speed of it would ultimately depend on how old the jumper was. A child or sickly person would have their metabolism slow down enormousely, possibly down to nothingness, stopping it almost completely. This was seen by the ancients who had passed between worlds with relative ease millions upon millions of years ago as a curse, one which the anime deities had placed upon the jumping power. And, for all Grey knew, it very well might have been. But, if that were true, how delightful irony that the ones who had ultimately cursed him forever, would be the ones to save his existance, giving him another chance.

Ah, for another chance. He giggled at the possibilities, which sent his entire body quivering like a rattling mummy.

"Hmm," he mumbled, stopping his furious typing for a second to marvel at a new image on the screen. "A chat room? If there be answers to find, they be here." He moved passed the image, trying to gain more access, but suddenly, another screen, this one somewhat smaller, popped up. "Screen name?" Grey wondered. "Perhaps it is best to use an alias not of my usual standing." His old mind scanned through possibilities until he thought of one he liked.

Many years ago, when he was still a young man, Grey had the fortunate opportunity of being able to meet an anime figment, a representation of an anime character in this dimension that was revered as a god. Its name was Shingji. Shinji Ikari. In all his life, that was the only deity Grey was ever able to not hate.

And thus he chose. And typed. Shinji^Ikari.