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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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[Annoying a senior candidate wasn't a bad guess, except, of course, it's not Luke's guess. He'd spent the last two years subject to hostile looks from total strangers pretty much any time he dared to set foot anywhere in Cali. The only thing surprising about Yuri's reaction is that the man tries to contain it and be civil.

There's an obvious pause while Luke looks guilty or uncertain. To just apologize now? But that never did him any real favors. No one wanted his apologies, he'd realized that by now. He guessed if this guy wanted to pretend he didn't hate his family's guts he would go along with that.

He takes a breath, changing what he was going to say, and tries to gather himself up from the defensive hunch he'd automatically fallen into when Yuri first glared at him.]

Nice to meet-- uh. Wait. I said that.

[A beat of pained silence, then he just continues on.]

Well, I mean, it's still nice. But... yeah.

[A sigh, there's no way he's going to come out of this looking cool or competent or like anyone who should be allowed within fifty feet of a giant robot.]

[Yuri's face goes through a transformation of expresses--angry, annoyed, more annoyed, aggravated, to simply aggrieved. He sighs.]

Just shut up.

[he wasn't in a diplomatic mood. The brief spike of pity the kid's fumbling elicited in him just made his anger snap back harder]

What the hell is a pampered rich kid like you doing here? Trying to cash out on some good PR? Bet it's already made one hell of a headline. "Spoiled Scion of a Mass Murderer Joins Fight Against the Kaiju".

[He has absolutely no poker face. He doesn't quite flinch at each word, mostly because he's pretty used to hearing some form of hate or another directed his way, but it's obvious the words find their mark.]

That's not it.

[But as for what 'it' is, he hesitates to elaborate.]

Anyway, so far all I've done is show up for drift testing... not exactly joining any fights yet.

[If Luke's answer doesn't annoy him, it obviously doesn't impress him much, either. He keeps his gaze locked on Luke's eyes, impassive, voice low and flat.]

And you won't, if I have to pull you out of the cockpit myself--and that's if you even get that far. You're going to have to actually break a sweat to make it here, something I doubt you've done before.

[He's actually broken lots of sweats, exercising, learning to fight, were pretty much the only disciplines he had any talent for. But he'd learned the hard way that he wouldn't do himself any favors by trying to assert his toughness.]

I'm sorry...

[That slipped out, and he winces, abruptly rushing forward to fill the gap before it turned into someone yelling at him about his apologies weren't going to bring back anyone.]

I know! Sorry, no one cares if I'm sorry. I just...

[His gaze slides away, tracking along the smooth face of the wall.]

I'm just want to do something.

[There it was again, like a knife in the ribs--a stab of sympathy, the more sensible part of himself reminding him that Luke was just a kid, not responsible for what his father had done.

Well, as the saying went. Ignorance was no excuse]

You're right. I don't care.

[he did care, however, about whatever shrink or CO or whatever was standing on the other side of the glass, watching the show. He hadn't looked at the clock when he came in, but he knew that they had at least another twenty minutes to burn]

Ask your questions and let's get this over with.

[Luke sighs, unable to stop himself, at once grateful for the change in subject but disheartened that it had come up at all. His shy eagerness was depleted and he looks at the question sheet he'd been given.

What was his least favorite color? Red, probably, is what he'd say... This was stupid. Before he'd been game, but the idea of going through all these stupid questions with a guy whose life his father had ruined made him feel a little sick.

Anyway... he'd probably already messed up. Might as well ask whatever he wanted.]

...Why are you here?

Why else?

[he makes a quick, expressive hand gesture, indicating the whole of the facility. his tone was a casual draw, letting the words carry their own weight]

Can't beat the perks. Hot food, running water, a clean place to sleep. That's not always easy to come by.

[that also wasn't remotely close to the truth, the truth wasn't an option. I killed your father and then I didn't know what to do with myself probably wouldn't go over well with the kid or anyone else, for that matter.

Which reminded him... he needed to keep it together better than this. If just chit-chatting with the kid wound him so tight, it didn't bode well for the future. What if he got partnered with this kid for Pons training? That'd be just his luck, and he couldn't afford to slip up.

He forced himself to relax, waiting for Luke's reply. He'd just treat it like training--master your mind, right?]

Oh...

[Perhaps unsurprisingly, Luke didn't have a lot to say to that, the idea of trying to get to a Shatterdome just because it would be a place to live. It did kind of line up with what he'd hear about 'the other half' since his father's corruption came out, but... Well. This Yuri guy didn't really look like someone who struggled to find food or shelter.

That was probably just his own ignorance again, though. What was he expecting? Him to wander in here in rags?]

I hope I didn't ruin your chances of getting in, then. Sorry... I don't even know what they want from us here, but this probably isn't it.

Careful, your concern is so heartfelt I might cry.

[As a matter of fact, Yuri had made sure to buy new clothes before heading home for the month he'd had to wait for Valparaiso to open. The old lady'd who raised him liked to see him looking well, else wise he wouldn't have bothered.

Luke's chronic unsureness was starting to pass from incensing to downright annoying, so Yuri decided to put him out of his misery]

They don't fail you out of the interviews unless you stab someone or something. It's just meet and greet.

[He blinks, but it's effective, he's obviously somewhat heartened by that.]

Really?

[But then he thinks about that, turning a dubious eye toward the one way glass]

Then why are they watching us?

[Pause...]

And how do you know? No one told me that...

You do know how Drifting works, right? It's their job to watch us. To see if we're compatible.

[He levies a look at Luke, checking for his comprehension. How naive was this guy going to get?]

And I know because this is the second time I've been through them. I transferred from the other academy.

[He seems to get it. Mostly. There's obviously still some confusion and doubt in there, but it's not as if he thinks Yuri is lying. ]

I know what drifting is!

[At least he seems a little offended at that. He'd seen movies. That had to at least get him close. ]

I guess I just didn't think they'd be able to tell if we're compatible from... Just this.

Well... I guess it's enough to show that we're not.

[He wasn't going to get paired with someone who hated him. ...he hadn't thought about that. That was going to be the hardest part. He sighs. Maybe this whole thing was hopeless after all.]

It's a process. Nobody's compatible just like that--not enough people, anyway.

[There were always rumors of miracle cases, but Yuri had never met anyone like that and frankly, as much as he rolled his eyes at all the forced social activities, he agreed with the idea behind them. He'd take the solidity of a partnership built on effort over the glamour and tempestuousness of an instant connection any time.

He was slightly irked to have to be the one explaining this, toying with the idea telling Luke to go re-read his pamphlet literature and handbook. But it took his mind off of things, so he rolled with it.]

That's right. They're not going to lump two people together who don't get along. It's a waste of time.

Edited 2014-01-29 01:32 (UTC)

[Luke hadn't forgotten his situation exactly, even as he felt more comfortable around Yuri. It was just that, as conversations with people who hated him went, this one was pretty easy. If Yuri wasn't going to do more than take the occasional shot at him, he wouldn't look for worse than that. ]

Have you ever tried it? Drifting?

Yeah.*

[He didn't elaborate, and he hoped Luke had the caught on not to probe, though he was making a small bet with himself as to the likelihood of that. He seemed kind of slow.

He didn't mind talking about, it just always seemed kind of useless. The Drift was experienced differently for different people, and there wasn't really a vocabulary for the feeling of it. He'd heard people say it was like trying to describe sex to a virgin and Yuri didn't think it was such a bad comparison. Just like sex, it was shrouded in a lot of romanticized nonsense. You could try to convince someone of what it was really like, but they'd always fantasize.]

*((I COULD BE WRONG ABOUT THIS... just go with it.))

[Yuri seems to be catching on quick with Luke. He doesn't catch The hint, instead brightening nearly bridled curiousity. ]

What's it like?

[It figures. He should have bet himself more than three dollars.

He cocked his head, by all appearances putting some serious thought into it. What he was actually doing was sussing Luke out for a little harmless fun. He was definitely young, unquestionably naive, clumsy with people... It was just a guess, but Yuri was pretty certain he was a virgin. He chose his explanation deliberately.]

Sex.

[If Yuri was looking for a blush, he gets it. Swift and red, pooling across his cheeks. ]

Oh.

[It also shuts him up. Whether or not that's because he doesn't know anything about sex is hard to say, but he doesn't seem to have further questions. ]

[And that was time up. Yuri pushed himself up to stand, a tension he didn't realize he was carrying already dropping from his shoulders. He grabbed his interview clipboard and glancing at it briefly, double checking for any fill-in-the-blanks he may have missed. ]

Hey, look at that. We even managed to get to one of the questions. [He raised an eyebrow imperiously, tone mocking sternness as he looked back at Luke.] We'll make a pilot out of you yet, son.

[And then he turned with a brief, backwards wave] If your family's money doesn't get you there first.

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test drive meme

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