test drive meme (#2)

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Test Drive Meme The Pan Pacific Defense Corps was usually offered any of a variety of local buildings to set up their testing centers. For reasons of access and availability, most testing clinics were set up in central areas for any given community. Those of the PPDC staff on hand vary in their personal intensity. Some of the men and women wearing Strike Group insignia seemed overly serious, to the point of frowning with intensity at some of the youngest checking in for this testing round. Those from the K-Science division are tight with nervous energy as they direct prospective cadets through various activities. Everything was meant to measure potential, looking for that spark that meant they had somebody who was Drift Compatible. The majority of people were turned away after the first series of seemingly random tests, officials looking in eyes, placing odd looking contraptions over heads, asking for people to play a series of short games, one even in a virtual reality set-up.
	( SCENARIO ONE ) If you are still here now, you've made it past the first cut. You'll be sat down in a room with the rest who have made it this far, then systematically led into smaller interview rooms as pairs. If you came with a partner, they're your first interview candidate. If you came on your own, all your interviews are random assignment. All who have been asked to stay are required to sit through and conduct a series of short peer to peer interviews. The questions are straightforward. What kind of pets would you like to own? What game do you gravitate toward first in an arcade? What does the fox say? Where do you squeeze your toothpaste tube to get toothpaste on your toothbrush? What do you believe the Drift is like? Peer to peer interviews last for half an hour to an hour, and each person is asked to participate in at least three peer-to-peer interviews. There is no punishment for going off script. There is a one-way mirror looking into each interview area, and one door leading into the room with a small panel of glass located on the door. There is a clock on the wall in each room. The time they report is odd when examined. These are not digital clocks, but timers, counting up time since the last Kaiju attack.
	( SCENARIO TWO ) You've been accepted into the Jaeger Academy. You've been assigned to your barracks, issued your uniform and necessities, shown the overall layout of the Shatterdome, and told the wake up call is at 0530. You're settling in to the Academy schedule, and for many, it may be brutal indeed. When you're brought into the indoor swimming pool, it's to an overwhelming stench of chlorine. Your swimsuits are all the same for the men, simple swim-trunks, one uniform blue. Women wear a blue and white racer style swimsuit, in the same cut across the board. Uniformity doesn't disappear for swimming lessons. Lessons start out basic, teaching each Cadet to rely on themselves and each other to keep them afloat. From there, maneuvers get more complicated. Learning safe diving techniques, practicing proper holds to keep an unconscious or panicked partner afloat. Speed, agility, and endurance: all will be in demand. Then you start hearing rumors about full uniform swims coming up the next session.
Please set up your own scenarios as you like. The above two scenarios are suggestions. Anything goes! If you want to stop by and see about doing some communal AU Worldbuilding, check out the new AU Worldbuilding Meme!

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Yosuke Hanamura || Persona 4

[junestunes]

((Just a heads up, his English isn't as good as he thinks it is!))

The swim lessons were easy so far. Not just easy, boring. Yosuke had been swimming for most of his life already, so the simple exercises they started out with he could do with his eyes closed. He was almost tempted to. The jetlag was really starting to hit him, and anyway he was still baffled over some of those interview questions.

He happened to know a fox personally, and the damn thing still hadn't cleared up that question...

[boomerangarrow]

Kate's been swimming for as long as she can remember. This is hardly anything difficult. But it did seem like these particle lessons were going to get a bit more difficult in the future. Full suit swims? Those are going to take a whole lot more strength to pull off.

She'll swim over to the new guy. "You look confused." Which is strange. This exercise is straightforward enough.

[junestunes]

A girl came over! She's talking to him! She's American. That's a first. For a second he just stares blankly at her, not able to properly form a response. And then, he beams. The kid's got a hundred watt customer service shit eating smile.

Okay, he can do this. He's totally been studying. The stewardesses let him practice on them on the flight over and everything. He straightens up, trying to float more gracefully. A little dignity goes a long way, right?

"Eh? Oh! I was thinking about a fox."

It's only after he's explained himself (in perfect English!) that he realizes it probably sounds kind of silly. So he laughs nervously and tries the smile again. A smile goes a long way too.

rory williams ( doctor who )

[expect]

SCENARIO THREE??

He supposes he shouldn't complain too much. So far as canteen food goes, Rory's had worse, and really, he's not sure he's a good enough cook to do much better, as far as eggs go. So maybe he's not being fair to whoever cooked these breakfast options. They probably worked really hard.

The tea though… Rory sits alone at the end of one of the cafeteria tables, staring at a mug ponderously (his eggs eaten and plate pushed aside). What would be better, exactly? If he takes the tea bag out now, it'll just taste like hot water. But if he leaves it in to steep, then it'll taste like awful tea. Can he drown out the taste with milk? But then won't it just be disappointing watery milk? He rests his chin in one hand, clearly deeply absorbed by this entire situation.

The things you wonder at seven in the morning.

[boomerangarrow]

There's an accent. But it's impressive he can manage to explain the strangeness of thinking about a fox make any kind of sense. She'll return the smile with a smaller slightly amused one.

"Huh, they changed the questions. I guess that makes sense." Gotta keep them on their toes, it seems. "Wasn't that a song?" One that took over the internet briefly and then disappeared. It's just what happens to internet fads.

[junestunes]

A song? Oh, crap. There are plenty of songs that involve foxes, but most of them are kind of traditional or dorky. What could she mean? What kind of fox songs would they have in Hollywood? He racks his brain for a minute, trying to get the joke and failing miserably. Damn it.

"Yeah." He finally agrees, falling back on an old standby. If someone cool says something you don't understand, pretend like you get it anyway. "In the song."

[boomerangarrow]

Ah well, it was a weird, and probably mostly American sensation. She does give him a look that says something along the lines of you're trying to hard.

"You can always say you don't know," she won't judge him for something so completely ridiculous. It's pop culture and the only reason she knew about it was one of her friend's playing it far too often.

[secondtry]

"I have never seen somebody look more worried over tea," Mike said as he sat down, tray settled down before him. "I didn't even know we had tea."

Not much of an introduction, maybe, but it was at least words to maybe break this guy out of his tea-induced trance. Breakfast was one of those times where Mike took the chance to wind down from the morning's exercise while his hair finished drying from his shower. It was also one of the few times for actual socialisation amongst the cadets, and it wasn't that Mike was a social butterfly, but getting to know people was a good idea.

Hanji Zoe | Attack on Titan

[observationalhazard]

Scenario 1 (kind of)

Entrance day was exciting. Seeing the knots of candidates moving from one activity to the next, some nervously, some with excitement, always brought a smile to Hanji's face. Whether they eventually made it into the Academy or not, just knowing that there were so many people out there interested in beating the kaiju was reassuring. Hanji herself is dressed in a labcoat draped over a rather utilitarian and beat-up pair of jeans and a sweatshirt that simply reads "Cal" in flowing script. Her job is just to ask a few questions (at least for today) and then pass them off to the next person in the chain.

She settles her hands on her hips with a grin as the next group approaches her and gestures at the blank whiteboard she has set up behind her, "Alright - who here can tell me some of the basics of kaiju biology?"

A subject near and dear to her heart.

[expect]

"This is barely tea," Rory replies with a glance from mug to man, completely deadpan but not all that serious. While his accent immediately gives him away as English, he's aware of how ridiculous this all is, and willing to play it as a joke. But at the same time… it's just not morning without a good cuppa. And, well, here we are. "I don't think it properly counts."

[secondtry]

Mike gave him a good-humoured smile as he cut into his breakfast sausage. He wasn't a huge fan of grease for breakfast, but you ate what you got. "Seems like that's the consensus of all of the caffeinated drinks around here. The coffee is sludge, the tea is... Well, is it safe to say it's sex in a canoe?" He wouldn't know. He wasn't a tea person.

[expect]

"Sex in a canoe?" Rory raises an eyebrow incredulously. That is definitely not an expression he's ever heard before. He spends a second considering it, and then removes the bag from his tea, placing it on the edge of his plate and pouring a bit of milk from a cup into the mug before stirring.

[secondtry]

He stifled a laugh before answering, "Fucking close to water." Mike had a glass of likely-fake fruit juice for himself which he took a long drink of before really tucking in. Nothing like that fun run in the mornings to work up an appetite.

[expect]

"I feel like I might regret asking, but are you speaking from experience?" Rory asks, torn between incredulous and deeply uncertain. This isn't usually the vein his conversations with strangers go, and frankly, he's not sure how much further he'd like it to. On the other hand, it's a little ridiculous, and so he can't quite keep his mouth shut.

[secondtry]

Looking at the other man blankly, Mike suffered a few moments of surprise that the joke was completely missed. Explaining wasn't exactly his strong point; that was for people smarter than him, or at least with more patience, but he'd started it so he owed this guy at least a token effort. "It's... It's a saying. As in, the tea is practically water? Fucking close to water? I... Okay, y'know, nevermind. Hi, I'm Mike. What's your name?"

[junestunes]

"Right." He agrees again, a little helplessly. He's not impressing her at all. Damn it. "Our shrine have a fox."

Damn it where did that come from? No girl in the history of ever has found a guy who hangs out around the town shrine long enough to become familiar with the animal life there attractive.

[expect]

He takes a drink of his tea — really, Mike isn't wrong at all about the taste — and takes in the explanation and following rambling with a little bit of obvious confusion. But, you know, that works for him. He takes another sip of tea, then moves his mug from one hand to another to offer Mike is right over the table. "Rory. Nice to meet you."

[secondtry]

"Nice to meet you, too," he said and took the offered handshake. "What're you in for?" Everybody came for some reason or other. So far, he'd met people hoping to be jumphawk pilots, other people, like him, hoping to be jaeger pilots - but there were more than a few options within the PPDC.

[expect]

"Medical staff," he replies easily, settling back down on the bench. He abandons his mug for the time being. He's unselfconscious about it, but he knows that most people around here do have slightly higher aspirations than 'glorified school nurse,' and it causes him to add, "You know, making sure that everyone lives long enough to save the world."

[secondtry]

Mike's brows rose and he nodded. "Hey, awesome. We need people like that. Smarter brains than those of us who just come to punch things." Even if he was one of the people who punched things, he knew how much went into these operations that most people didn't think about.

[boomerangarrow]

Bah, impressive. She kind of hates people who try to impress her. There's far too much of that at home. The few friends she have are kind of ridiculous losers, but only kind of.

"What shrine?"

[expect]

His shoulders rise and back straightens, just a tiny bit, at the flattery, just as he nearly smiles. He shrugs. "I don't about smarter," he says modestly. For all that he's pleased by the small praise, it's still embarrassing to be complimented. "I think it's more that even you punching types can catch colds."

[secondtry]

With a laugh, Mike shook his head. "I doubt you'll get me in for a cold. More likely you'll get me in because I manage to make one stupid step and fall off something. Or I manage to piss somebody off and end up with a fist in my face and decide to return the favour."

[expect]

"You're really inspiring a lot of confidence," Rory says dryly, his eyebrows steadily creeping up towards his hairline. Sufficient time has passed that he feels ready to risk the tea again: he takes a sip, and grimaces as he remembers why he'd given up in the first place.

[secondtry]

He couldn't stifle his amusement the same way he'd stifled his laugh. "You might have to give it up, man. Being caffeinated around here seems impossible. At least the powdered eggs seem to reconstitute okay."