test drive meme

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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 is your least favorite color? Which tool in a standard toolbox is most useful to you? What time of day do you accomplish the most? Do you have children? 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 ) Congratulations! You have been judged Drift Compatible, and sent home to pack after giving a definite yes to the Pan Pacific Defense Corps. The next thing you face down is the flight into Santiago, Chile, and the subsequent drive in to Valparaíso's Shatterdome. You and the rest of the crowd of soon to be PPDC Ranger Cadets have been gathered together to wait for the old bus scheduled to take you to the Shatterdome. While waiting in the open air, those from any Northern Hemisphere countries may find the summer weather strange. Today's high is going to be in the upper 80's, and there's not a cloud to be seen that's not clinging to the distant mountains. Welcome to Chile. When the bus arrives, it's another hour ride out toward the coastline to get to the Shatterdome. Even better? The bus Air Conditioner is broken. Safe travels, Cadets!
Please set up your own scenarios as you like. The above two scenarios are suggestions. Anything goes!

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Comments

[bushidork]

Sugane tried not to think too hard about just what it was he was picking up and carefully lifted the blobs one by one and put them on the scanner. Up close, the smell was a little bit too much. The combination of ammonia and Kaiju bits well past their expiration date was going to be burned into his nostrils for the rest of the day, possibly longer, and he wasted no time retreating from the scanner and the tank once his task was finished.

"Anything else, sir?" He wasn't going to call him "Ten-chan" and he wasn't going to be giving his opinion on science at the moment. It was pretty exciting, actually, getting to handle pieces of a Kaiju, but the excitement was overridden right now by the smell. Maybe if he could retreat a bit and watch what Tenpou was going to do with the sample, he might find it all a little more enjoyable.

[secondtry]

"Have a good day." He gave her a nod and polite wave. There were, as far as he knew, more interviews, and that meant he'd stay planted right where he was until the next person came in. But he was grateful he'd had the chance to really talk to someone who knew. It put at least part of his unease to rest.

[oversight]

[Funny enough, he wouldn't mind a cardboard box as long as it had his name on it and people had to knock. The trip in, the mess up with admin, all of it has added up to one very tired recruit.

He chuckles quietly, wondering how many times he'll have to answer the same question in the next couple of weeks.]

Stateside. Gotham City.

[On the east coast of the United States, they're spared the Kaiju, but that doesn't mean Blake doesn't have something to invest in fighting back.]

You're Anchorage, right?

[europeanunion]

"So you're a doting brother, then." Anyone, even someone with no experience with siblings, can see that. Leila stifles another laughter, glancing briefly at the glass window. Right then. Moving on ...

It takes her several minutes to come up with an answer to the next inquiry. It isn't because the question is overly complication; it's not. It's simply asking for the time of the day after all. But given her usual timetable at home (and her innate ability to think through things too hard), she has various tasks depending on the time of the day and the weight of one task isn't often the same as another. She'll go with the safest answer however.

"Late at night. It's much easier for me to concentrate when everyone's already asleep."

[karearea]

Ngaio's face lit up with excitement at his knowledge of the divide. So many people she'd met weren't aware.

"Jumphawks," she said gleefully. "See, that's what I reckon too, but everyone's like, 'oh my god, giant robots'. Why aren't the chopper pilots just as famous? They're up there with even less metal between them and the giant aliens."

Yancy Backet | Pacific Rim | I'll roll with anything

[inurhead]

III.

Oof. It's gotta be mid-morning by now, but Yancy is still yawning a little and hugging the corner with the coffee machine closely in between posing for photographs and signing autographs. A week in Chile and he still feels jet lagged. There's a strong urge to curl up on one of the benches lining the room that he has to fight. It's probably fortuitous that they look seriously uncomfortable.

He grunts a quiet thanks at the starry eyed new cadet who's just fetched him some murky sludge that might have started out as coffee around sunrise, but had since morphed into a type of milky syrup.

Close enough. He takes a sip and gags on it a little, but swallows it anyway. "Wow. That'll wake you up."

[righthemisphere]

"It better." Raleigh laughs and grabs his brother in the ribs from behind - a small mounted sneak attack - before quickly dodging to the side and coming to stand in front of him. Sure, he's a little tired, but in comparison he looks bright eyed and bushy tailed.

And why shouldn't he be? It hadn't quite hit until people were starting to arrive, but he's never been more exited. And sure leaving home isn't perfect, and he's pretty sure the humidity might kill him, but Yancy, we're stationed with Striker. This is going to be awesome. Plus, the newest complex and Academy gets the newest tech and being able to play with that is almost good enough on it's own.

"C'mon, eyes open, you look like a zombie."

[inurhead]

Yancy makes a noise of protest as some of the coffee sludge sloshes over the side of the cup onto his shirt, but it's the sort of long suffering protest noise that isn't really one at all.

The coffee gets shaken away and swiped at and then dismissed as unimportant while Yancy takes another swallow of the foul stuff, pulling a face. "How many of these have you had, kid? 'M not sure it's even edible."

He stifles a small belch of protest from his stomach, put off by the whole morning cup of acidic sludge deal. One more quick, brutal chug of it and Yancy pours it out into the nearest trash can. Okay, that plan didn't pan out. It's gonna be a long morning. (Afternoon?)

[righthemisphere]

Afternoon.

Raleigh eyes the coffee with a look of distaste and reaches into his pocket, drawing out a brightly colored boiled sweet wrapped in cellophane. He pulls it from either end with practiced motion and pops it in his mouth, crumpling the plastic with two fingers. He knows the crinkling is annoying.

He doesn't even have to answer, Yancy knows he doesn't drink caffeine.

"I don't know what you were expecting, there isn't a Starbucks on campus."

Note to self, get a coffee machine for their barracks. If only to shut Yancy up.

[righthemisphere]

They hadn't spent much time in Tokyo and even if they had, Raleigh was young and wouldn't have been interested in important families. Your secret, for now, is safe.

Still, he laughs - something open and genuine - and rubs one hand across the back of his neck.

"I should hope so." And then a pause. "So. What division are you trying for?"

[inurhead]

That gets another grunt of protest, whether it's addressed to the crinkling paper or the smart remark is unclear. Though Yancy does take the opportunity to look around, secretly hoping for a vending machine or something, and catches sight of all the fresh-faced, queasy looking kids pouring in out of the bus.

Man. The Academy crowds just get younger every year. They're mostly teenagers. Jeez. He shakes his head a little and smiles. Looking at them, he's just glad he didn't ride in on a cramped, miserable bus this morning.

"Mmf. Think you're ready to be a roll model?"

[righthemisphere]

Raleigh shorts and follows his brother's gaze, thumbs tucked up over his belt buckle. The journey here wasn't exactly a picnic for them and they hadn't been crammed into a bus for hours, he imagines they're all feeling a little green around the gills. Especially as they're all so young. What was the minimum recruiting age these days? Not old enough to drink but old enough to die for your country. Not that it's ever been otherwise.

But, that's part of why they're there, right? The welcome wagon? To do their job and do it well and just happen to be visible to the cadets as a constant reminder of what they're all working towards. What this is all about.

He turns back and offer up his right forearm for a bump. They've got this.

"Hell yeah, we're rock stars." Cocky? Yes. But true? Absolutely. And then,

"Shame the Hansens aren't here yet. Would have been nice to divide and conquer a little bit. Split the load."

[inurhead]

It's Yancy's turn to snort at that. He shakes his head, but offers his arm to Raleigh in return for the bump back. The attitude on that kid is really something sometimes.

With one last yawn and shake, Yancy turns and squares his shoulders. "Even better, kid. Let's go sell it to the guys who're gonna be us in ten years."

[suicidemission]

[ Absolutely. Chuck's young, he's got that fresh face - he's not quite legal, either, so that makes it that much worse. There's blog sites dedicated to him, fangirls sighing and posting raunchy things to the internet just wait until he's legal. It'd be a lie to say Chuck didn't know about it (seriously, inflate his ego some more) but truth be told - he didn't indulge much, if ever. All of that was too much of a distraction away from his ultimate goals. ]

Been stationed in Sydney with Striker, but I was at Kodiak Island.

[ He nods, tucks his helmet further up onder his arm, fingers absently curling protectively around the metal. ]

Right then. Better get 'em to get me outta this thing, yeah? Starts chafing after a while.

[spareheir]

What division indeed. Kou hadn't even thought that far in advance. He'd just wanted the ticket that took him far away from home and everything there. The ticket that he was sure would lead to something big and important. A way to make pay his parents back for taking him in all those years, when it turned out they didn't need him after all. Something they could point out proudly to anyone who asked what Kou-sama (ugh) was up to these days.

"Hmm, do they let pilots keep playing risky sports? Maybe I'd better try for support staff just in case?"

[spareheir]

Kou hums thoughtfully at that, a sort of 'I'm listening, I heard you' response even as his gaze is far away, still locked on the window across the room. He huffs a bit, blowing the hair out of his face. It falls right back in front of his eyes again anyway.

"Do you? Mm, I like sleep too much to stay up like that. I try to split tasks between after school and early morning. Never during lunch."

[nisemoron]

Yaichirou gets as far as a polite smile before he fully registers what Kou said. The smile petrifies on his face, clashing with his obvious horror.

"You mean to say that you're here against their will?"

It's unfathomable to him that Kou would not only disobey them but gleefully flaunt his disobedience. What about his obligations to the family? What about the Ichijo's business? The part of Yaichirou that was well-trained by years of formalities wrestled with the part of him that was floored by Kou's mind-blowing irresponsibility, but it didn't take long for the latter to win out. After all, it's obvious that the boy before him is not the sensible heir of the Ichijo family that he knew.

"Are you insane?"

[righthemisphere]

"I already feel sorry for the ones who turn into you."

He quips and smiles, taking the first steps towards the crowd with his usual saunter. Somewhere in the back of his head he can hear an epic theme song blasting. Yancy and Raleigh Becket, Professional bad-asses reporting for duty.

[secondtry]

"Good question," he allowed easily, stepping back to let her board first. "We're all out there wanting to do the same job. Main difference is that you'll probably end up in the field and I'll probably end up on the bench." But Mike was smiling anyway as he climbed up onto the bus - stifling as it was, it still wasn't that bad to a desert boy like him.

GOOD MAN.

[nisemoron]

Yaichirou remained unimpressed. As far as he was concerned, he had raised a perfectly reasonable objection and Tachibana just flew off the handle. If it were one of his previous interview partners he might not be so disappointed but he rather liked Tachibana. He sighed.

"I can't force you to answer, but you ought to sit down at least. We're still being observed." He nodded at the one way mirror. "If you embarrass yourself now, you'll never get the chance to Drift."

Never mind that he was the one who'd instigated.

[secondtry]

Mike was not the kind of guy to get starstruck. It just didn't happen. But during the reception, he did look at the pilot with a touch of interest and a little more envy. If he'd not taken those years off after the academy, there was a chance he could've been a pilot already, but no, he'd wandered off instead.

Not his brightest decision.

So he hadn't been among the crowd to get autographs or pictures. He didn't even have anything to take pictures with. There might've been a pen somewhere in his pockets, but damn if he knew where.

Better to find something to drink and give the pilot a respectful nod on the way. It was a hot day and the chance to get a cold drink as the reception ended? Worth it. He'd made small talk but right now, he just needed to settle in.

Weird, then, that when he looked around as people filtered into the building proper, trying to get his bearings in the hallways, he found the younger Becket not that far away. "...Okay," he said, "are you better at finding your way around in here than I am?"

[secondtry]

"...Whoever brewed this should be shot," Mike muttered in agreement as he took a sniff and then took to holding his own cup of coffee at arm's length. It was chance that he'd overheard anyone, and even then, it took him a moment to realise that was Yancy Becket.

"Or at least taken to medbay to see if they lost their sense of taste in the war or something."

He'd come in on the bus with the newest batch of cadets, but he was much more a contemporary of Yancy and Raleigh. There was just a break of a few years between when he'd finished classes and when he finally showed up to be assigned.

But now, after this bit of commiseration, he offered his free hand for a handshake. "Mike Traceur. Nice to meet you."

[inurhead]

"Yancy Becket." Yancy greeted automatically, shaking Mike's hand. He took another sip of the coffee and grimaced. It didn't get any better the second try, that's for sure.

Turning back to Mike, Yancy decided to make conversation in between attempting to tar his insides this morning (afternoon?) "What's your department?"

No need to offer his. Unless the guy didn't have access to a tv and never walked past a magazine rack, he probably knew. Especially working for the PPDC.

[inurhead]

"No kidding, they'll have to put up with the next generation of you." Comes Yancy's retort. Anyone casually listening to the men might assume they didn't get along well, but the opposite was the truth. They were close enough to affectionately give one another crap all of the time, that was all.

Show time.

[secondtry]

Mike answered him with a wry smile. "Pilot trainee. Might be marching out beside you eventually. Key word there being 'might.' They've got to figure out if there's anybody I might match in all this. I've decided not to put any money on it. You were lucky."

He raised his glass in Yancy's direction. "You got to come in with a drift partner ready-made."