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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Sorry for the slowness!

[unswervingly]

Sara lifted her eyes from the paper to watch him intently. Even upside down, Setsuna was still utterly Setsuna. It would have melted Sara's heart completely if she wasn't still more than a little upset with him. Maybe he was upset with her, too - she had lied to him, after all - but for now, at least, he wasn't showing it. That didn't surprise her, though. Setsuna was determined. He always had been. Of course he could focus on what he'd set out to do.

Well, Sara could focus too.

It was something she had always admired about Setsuna, even right now. The way he could seem so casual and so intent at the same time. That was something utterly unique to him, and Sara knew he had to know the effect it had on her. He had to know, because she'd told him right before she came here. But she didn't expect him to change anything; Setsuna could never be anyone but himself.

"I don't think they'd let any of us go in with the wrong person," she said. "Would they? Isn't the whole point of this to find out if we're compatible?" In the air, her legs kicked idly as she thought. "Who knows. It might even bring you closer together with someone."

Her face took on a worried cast. "But I guess you're right. There's a lot of potential for things to go wrong. You might find out something you don't want to know. So you have to be prepared for anything. Or you have to understand someone, and know them completely already, going in. It's kind of scary, in a way, but so is anything worth doing, isn't it?"

You're fine. No worries!

[saviorsoul]

[ Setsuna couldn't hide a nervous swallow as she spoke. Although he'd never think of Sara as especially sly, something about her words seemed to target his every weakness. "Bring you closer together with someone." "You might find out something you don't want to know... " Could she have said anything anymore obvious? He found himself glancing away without meaning to, unable to face the sincerity of those statements. The gentle concern in her voice—And damn it, why couldn't she just sit up!

He raked his hand through his hair, something he'd been doing a lot lately. ]

"Well yeah, the whole idea behind this thing is that you have to be willing to share everything since they're gonna see it anyway. So like, if you go in, thinking this isn't gonna work, you end up screwing yourself over. You have to be open, I guess."

[ Finally catching onto what his stupid hands were doing, he shoved the one in his pocket and leaned back against the chair, tilting it ever so slightly and redirecting his attention to the timer. It had nothing to do with anxiety about the Kaiju or the next possible attack and everything to do with needing to focus on something that wasn't Sara. ]

"I still don't get how these questions are s'pposed to help us figure out anything though. I can't remember the last time I even used a toolbox. Aren't these things usually like 'If you could have any superpower, what would it be?' or 'If you could be any animal, would would you be?' At least, those would reveal something about people."

[ He was talking fast again, anything to move the topic along, to get it out of this more dangerous territory. ]

:D

[unswervingly]

Sara watched him intently. He was turning away from her, and Sara wished he wouldn't, feeling a faint, stinging indignation when he refused to face her. She hated the idea that anything might serve as a barrier between them. She watched her twin sweep a hand through his hair, and she felt her heart thump. She wanted to do that for him, run her hands through it and feel its softness, and caress the handsome lines of his face, but she had more important things to think about.

"Don't be so nervous," she said, still gently, but there was a firmness lurking underneath it that Setsuna was sure to recognize. "We're going to be in this together, whether you want us to be or not, so you might as well get used to it. Like you said, I'm going to see it anyway. Or somebody will, at least. You can't hide forever, Setsuna."

She kicked a little, sending her skirt slipping down with the sudden movement. That made Sara squeak in embarrassment and she right herself with impressive speed, hair swinging wildly the sudden movement. Blushing, she pressed down on her skirt. She wondered if she'd made a bad impression on the people observing them. She really, really hoped not.

She followed Setsuna's eyeline to the timers, feeling a stab of anxiety as she watched the seconds tick by, but she didn't keep her vision there for long. Still embarrassed, she let her gaze drift downward to her skirt as her hands pressed down on the fabric, smoothing it out unnecessarily. "You're changing the subject," she said quietly. "Honestly, Setsuna, do you think I can't tell when you do that?"

[saviorsoul]

[ Setsuna was already turning, even before the frazzled squeak. He just couldn't avoid looking her in the eye when she was challenging him in her headstrong but still loving way. She said he was hiding. Well, he'd been doing that for a long time now. For a while, he'd thought that he might've actually gotten good at it. His words to her that last time they spoke had seemed to strike a nerve. But now he knew all his pathetic ruse had done was strengthen Sara's resolve. He should've guessed something like that would happen. People would never have suspected him of being the older one with the way she could so casually boss him around. And with all that had happened between them in the last month or so, Sara had become increasingly resistant to people telling her what to do.

But beyond his edginess around her, the warning reminded him of something he hadn't really been thinking about since he decided to try this crap. In the Drift, everything was revealed. How was he supposed to control the thoughts, the desires that haunted him every time he heard her name?

Truthfully, Sara's flailing was a welcome distraction from that train of thought, even if it happened just as he was turning back to her. After that... well, Sara wasn't the only one blushing. He almost missed when her questioning turned back to him. ]

"W-What?," his voice stuttered out, as he tried to remember what he was doing. "No, I'm not. I'm talking about the questions. We're allowed to make up our own, right? I dunno 'bout you, but I want to actually pilot one of those badasses. Anyway, don't you find it kinda creepy talking about personal shit while some psychoanalyst is watching?"

[saviorsoul]

[ That was probably a bit too defensive... He paused a moment before landing the front legs of his chair back on the floor, with an audible click. This time, he did attempt to meet her gaze. ]

"I want you to do well too, Sara. You came all the way here. We need to show these guys we know what we're doing."

[unswervingly]

Sara couldn't help it. She glanced over to the side at the psychoanalysts. One of them scribbled something down on a pad, making Sara's stomach tighten nervously. "Kind of," she admitted. "But if we can't handle talking about anything in front of these guys, how are we going to handle the Drift? Besides, I wanted to say something while I knew you weren't going to be able to run away from me again." This seemed like as good a place as any for that.

She perked up when he said he wanted her to do well, a new light finding its way into her eyes. "Really?" she asked. She bobbed her head up and down eagerly. "You're right. We can do this. I know we can." She reached out to take both of his hands in hers. "Together, we can do anything."

She took a deep breath. Setsuna had said they could make up their own questions, right? Sara's mouth quirked into a smile. "How do you handle unexpected situations?" she asked.

[saviorsoul]

[ Setsuna winced a bit at the reminder of how cowardly he'd been during that last meeting. He had actually ran too...

But that sheepish reaction was immediately overcome by quickened breath and an even faster heartbeat, as Sara took hold of his hands. Their warmth was all too familiar, as was the utter glee in her voice (his reward for bringing back that beautiful smile) and he couldn't stop his instinctive need to close his fingers over hers.

The touch wreaked havoc on any thought he might have had about dissuading her from believing in him. He was going to ruin everything. Why did he have to be so weak? But just that phrase ("Together, we can do anything"), it was enough to make him believe in the possibility, even if just for this moment.

Thankfully, he didn't have to flounder for a proper response, as she was already tossing a different question his way. One that he was wholly unprepared for. ]

"Unexpected... ?"

[ He blinked, wide-eyed, once or twice in confusion. This felt a lot riskier than it would have coming from anyone else... He attempted another shrug. ]

"You know me. I'm great at rolling with the punches. Unexpected crap keeps things interesting. Better than the same thing day after day."

[unswervingly]

Sara wouldn't have expected any other answer from Setsuna. Not her Oniichan. She wouldn't have expected any different answer from him, and staring down at the way his fingers interlaced with hers and rested over them, she couldn't help feeling a strong, warm, pleasant feeling. They could do this.

"I agree," she said. She wrinkled her nose, but the expression was still mostly directed down at her hands. She didn't want to separate them or direct her gaze anywhere else. "If you have to do the same thing all the time, you'll stagnate. Then you can't grow. Right?"

[saviorsoul]

[ Setsuna smirked a bit at the expression. So Sara. He squeezed lightly at the hands holding his. He hadn't really expected to have this luxury again for a very long time. And as frustrating and worrying as her presence was right now, he couldn't deny how much he wanted to just bathe in it. ]

"Yeah. Our pilots wouldn't be as awesome as they are now if they hadn't gone through a few growing pains. I'm ready for some new challenges!"

[ He glanced down, less to focus on their interlocked fingers and more so he could actually think of a question instead of getting lost in seeking out his sister's gaze. Maybe it would at least look less obvious. ]

"All right, my turn. What are you most looking forward to about piloting?"

[unswervingly]

There were a lot of possible answers to that. Sara ran through them all in her head, trying to consider which might leave the best impression on their observers. As a fundamentally honest person, Sara would never have outright lied, but she was shrewd enough to think about which true answer would put her in the best light. In the end, though, she realized she didn't know what they might be looking for, and pure impulse won out.

"I guess the chance to prove myself. To really show what I'm made of! And the chance to make my life mean something..." She took a deep breath. "What about you? Same question."

[saviorsoul]

[ Setsuna smiled awkwardly at Sara's response. It really did capture all facets of her from her determination to her need to reach others. ]

"You didn't need to come all this way for that, Sara."

[ Her life meant more to him than she would ever know...

He, on the other hand, couldn't claim anything even remotely altruistic surrounding his thoughts on the Jaegers. His reasons for entering the program were one thing, but his desire to drive one of those beasts of metal was entirely based on one thing. And he wasn't afraid to admit it to their observers. ]

"Me?"

[ He turned his head to the mirror and shot it, and the people behind it, a dark smile, as he answered. ]

"I want to personally make those ugly bastards things pay."