academyooc | test drive meme

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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I.

Soujirou had brought no expectations with him to Valparaíso. He had only brought his goals, and those were good enough. He had almost eagerly allowed himself to be shuffled off into a partnership and only half listened to instructions. His best feature was that he was friendly, after all.

Soujirou made sure to give his interview partner a bright and unwavering smile. He didn't think at all that it might be too bright or too unwavering. That was because he didn't carry something like 'doubt' or '~~fear~~ social awkwardness' with him.

"Aha, do you mind if I start?" He didn't wait for a reply before launching the first question, "Which tool in a standard toolbox is most useful to you?"

II.

"Ahaha. . .well." The words escaped him before he had a chance to stop them. Not that they were necessarily a faux pas. He couldn't be the only one experiencing what most would call 'nervous laughter' (not that his was particularly nervous). With the high temperatures and no air conditioning surely others would also feel the need to fill the air with some kind of commentary.

"At least we'll have to get along." Then he just kept talking. Soujirou made sure to smile though. Smiles could be fairly disarming, he knew, and now was as good of a time as any to make friends.

What a mild-mannered guy. It was almost disarming, in this day and age, to meet someone so... easygoing. Let alone in their environment, and what just happened. Was he just making small talk?

Then again, considering how he presents himself - apparently successfully - he can't exactly throw stones. But if he's like himself, that only makes it more specific.

"Sounds like a plan," Guy replies easily... Smiling right back. "With this many people hyped up, the heat'll either calm things down or make things worse."

"That's right, isn't it? And if it comes to blows, surely we'll all resolve it." Perhaps that was coming on a little too strong. He didn't really mean blows. He really should have said something like 'tempers flaring' but what was said was said and there wasn't any need to take it back.

Soujirou's smile didn't change one bit.

"Overworking yourself when it's too hot doesn't do anyone any good."

It was only then that he focused on the person speaking to him. Just the slight turn in his body, like an antennae subtly being tuned.

Guy still isn't sure what to make of this person from that, even though he'd said something a little weird. He had to be impressed at how opaque he was, despite the oddity. Guy really hoped nobody got too hyped up to actually fight, though. . .

"Surely everyone will be on their best behavior, considering," he says, gesturing wide to the bus. "Even though it's hot." There may have been a few rock star personalities in the interview rooms, and the job was half rock star if you just watched the news... but PPDC seemed to care about things like discipline.

"I'm Guy Cecil, by the way. What's your name?"

He followed the other's gesture to the bus, and then let his gaze drift. Best behaviour. Everyone. He didn't really believe that. People were naturally easy to startle, naturally short tempered and selfish. On the other hand, goals did bring people together, and surely everyone else here was as devoted to the cause as he was.

"I'm sure you're right. After all, we're all here." If they weren't interested in behaving, at least for the sake of this goal, they wouldn't be here. That was his logic, anyway. "Soujirou. Seta Soujurou, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Soujirou? Nice to meet you too."

It's strange, actually having a reason to be curious about the people around him. It felt like he'd been forcing it for years, in contrast. But drift compatibility in this particular project meant they'd all be seeing a lot of each other.

A lot of each other, in some cases.

"Where are you from? I flew in from the California branch. America." He could guess in general, but it was pretty rude to assume.

"Maa. . . I'm sort of from all over." A beat. "I mean, I travel a lot. Or rather, I've traveled a lot." Despite the fragmentation of his sentences he wasn't nervous. It probably came off a little empty or airheaded, really. But that sort of thing didn't matter here, not to Soujirou anyway.

He did store the information away though. Guy Cecile. From the California branch in America. A nice enough person, so far, though not notable in any way, yet.

"A lot of travel, huh," Guy says - it's a little cheap to just repeat him, but he has to take the time to digest it. He wonders if that's going to be a common trait among them, but it can't be - most people don't really have the chance.

"Me too. Mostly when I was younger. Ever been to Chile before?" He certainly hadn't - it was going to take some getting used to, and a lot of scoping out. Mulling by himself in his room wasn't going to be a good option, as far as life-turning-around was concerned. "Sounds like we'll be pretty settled down here."

Chile, huh... Soujirou laughs a little and ducks his head. It's almost a bashful motion, really.

"No, I've never been. Have you? I imagine that some kinds of travel would be fairly limited.... " Despite the small implication there for himself, he breezed through the question.

"Nope, never have been," Guy says, with a cheery tone of his own. "And you're right, it got a lot harder than it already was in the first place." That was True, or so he heard. He had coincidentally lost all interest in travels around the same time they became difficult, for the same reasons.

"Guess we're in for all kinds of new experiences."

"New experiences and new people. I'm rather excited." There wasn't much excitement in his tone. He was still cheerful, still upbeat but there was a decided flatness to Soujirou's affect. He wasn't lying, of course, there was some amount of excitement but it generally paled in comparison to his Goals.

test drive meme

seta soujirou | rurouni kenshin

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