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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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Of course I've thought about it!" Sugane stood up and glared, arms held tightly at his sides. "I've thought about it, but I have nothing to compare it to, so how can I form an opinion on it? When I've done it myself, I'll know and that's all I need to know."

It wasn't that Sugane was being evasive or not making an effort to give a proper answer, it was more that he wasn't the most creative or abstract of thinkers. Serious-minded to a fault, he was the sort of person who needed to have something concrete in front of him before he could understand it. He expected his answer to be laughed at or scoffed at, but he hadn't expected to be called a liar, considering nothing could be further from the truth.

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.

But he wasn't embarrassing himself! If he was making a scene or being unreasonable, then he would be out of line but it would be more of an embarrassment to sit back and let someone call him a liar without standing up for himself. Still, he sat back down so as not to cause more of a scene now that he'd made his point.

"That was my answer. It's your turn."

...Hmm. He'd backed himself into a bit of a corner here, hadn't he? His scripted bullshit would sound especially fake after he had already broken character. He rifled through a few more possible answers, tapping his finger on the table, but nothing suitable came to mind and time was ticking. He would have to go with honesty and hope for the best.

"I think it sounds unpleasant. It's an invasion of privacy and the emotional aspects of it add uncertainty, which is precisely what you don't want in a life or death situation, and I imagine having another person's memories floating around in your head is a significant distraction. Fortunately none of us are here to enjoy an easy career path. Like all the challenges of the Academy, I believe that the rewards of mastering the Drift are well worth the trouble.

And he was the one being scolded for giving a flippant answer? By rights, they could just call an end to the interview and be done with it now that they'd both answered all the questions, but Sugane found that he needed to ask another.

"What rewards are you talking about?" He certainly wasn't in it for any sort of reward. He wanted to join the program as a way to protect people and nothing more. Yes, there was a certain amount of celebrity that was inevitably going to be involved if he was successful, but that wasn't in any way his motivation.

This earns Tachibana an incredulous stare. The answer was so obvious that it almost seemed like a trick question.

"Preventing loss of life?"

No, that wouldn't do. This was too important to be indecisive. He drew himself up to his full height and fixed Tachibana in a stare that was almost defiant.

"We have the chance to serve in what may be the most successful military endeavor of all time. Without the PPDC, efforts against the Kaiju would be fragmented and ineffective. The Jaeger program has saved countless lives and given mankind a chance at a future. It's united countries that may never have been allies. It protects the cities that our forefathers built. If we succeed, we can contribute to all of that. If you don't find that rewarding..." He shrugged and spread his palms. "I'm not sure what to tell you, really."

Sugane was kind of baffled by the response. It was definitely a different definition of "reward" than he was considering and he still wasn't sure that "reward" was the right word for it. Yaichirou was very serious about it, though, so maybe it was something he should think over himself.

"I see. I never thought about it that way." Now probably wasn't the best time to think about it, though, since they should be focused on ending the interview and moving on to their next round instead of arguing.

"Are we finished?"

"I think so." He stood and gave a polite smile. "Thank you Tachibana. Best of luck to you."

It was a stark contrast to the self righteous arrogance of his speech. He was back on autopilot, just acting out the appropriate formalities. His opinion of Tachibana wasn't part of the script.

test drive meme

HE'LL ENDURE

GOOD MAN.

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