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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[suicidemission]

[ Chuck’s seventeen and he’s piloting the fastest Jaeger in the world, Striker Eureka, with his old man, Herc Hansen. Striker’s a Mark V with gorgeous, sleek lines – fastest (and most expensive) Jaeger to date.

Striker’s kind of the love of Chuck’s life.

He’s the youngest to ever enter the Academy, youngest to ever set foot in a Jaeger. He’s creating records only to shatter them himself, and really? Chuck’s on top of the fucking world.

He’s a hotshot young man, a damn good Ranger and part of the problem? He knows it. He knows how good he is, knows that he’s been training for this half his life, knows that this is what he was meant for, what he was made for. Chuck’s been working towards this goal since Sydney, since Herc pulled him outta that school and Chuck watched the city burn, his mother with it.

He arrives in Valparaíso with his dad and they part ways, because – well, lets be honest, here. Outside the Drift, their relationship is nonexistent and Chuck doesn’t really have anything to say to his father in regards to anything other than their job.

Chuck’s kind of excited though – yeah, he’s annoyed to be leaving Sydney but there’s a brand new fucking Shatterdome to play at and he’s stationed with Gipsy Danger and the Becket brothers, the Marshal’s star team that had everyone and their mother drooling over Jaegers and their pilots.

Chuck had posters of Gipsy in his room, collected magazine spreads and articles about the brothers. They’re an inspiration to him, and now?

He finally gets to meet them himself because there they are, smiling and shaking hands.

Chuck’s still in his drivesuit when he approaches, cheeks still flushed from the Drift and from adrenaline. ]

So you’re the famous Raleigh Becket. [ His voice is a drawl, and he keeps his giddy, childish admiration out of his voice and instead puts a still gloved hand out. ]

Chuck Hansen, Striker Eurka.

[righthemisphere]

[Raleigh hear the reaction to Chuck approaching before he sees him. Students stop and gasp as he passes. A real Ranger in a real drivesuit. His identification is impossible to miss, he's one of the newest and most successful Rangers to ever leave the academy. And he's still just a kid. Younger than Raleigh when he'd entered the program by an entire year.

Raleigh looks up and can't help but smiling. He's never met the pilot coming towards him but he sure knows who he is. Chuck offers his hand and he takes it immediately and with a smile.]

Guilty as charged. A pleasure to meet you, Chuck, we've heard great things.

[A firm handshake and he breaks for Yancy to do the same who smiles and nods echoing his brother with a pleased to meet you.

It'd be a flat out lie to say they weren't excited about being stationed with Striker. They have an incredible admiration for Herc after their ride in Manila and although it's a shame his co pilot didn't work out it seems to be for the best now. Chuck is proving himself left, right, and center. And if The Beckets are his inspiration, Herc is definitely one of theirs. Raleigh's in any case. So being reassigned together is basically perfect.]

How was the ride in? [Because he would ask if Chuck is just suited up for fun but he knows the look in the kid's eye. He's just come out of the Drift.]

[suicidemission]

[ Chuck won't even pretend that he doesn't enjoy it, because he does. He relishes in the attention he gets because he knows it's deserved, knows that it's something he fucking worked for and earned and he keeps his chin up, jutting into the air as he shakes their hands, other arm curled protectively around his helmet.

(It's not really a shame, Ray, Scott was a douchecanoe and Chuck's a far better choice.) ]

Course ya have, mate. [ His voice is thick with that Australian drawl, filled to the brim with cocky assuredness. ]

Was fine, yeah? Easy goin', no problems.

[righthemisphere]

[(That's probably true but Striker Eureka's change of pilot is personal and comes from a rift between brothers and that's always sad. A shame when things go south, but if Raleigh were in Chuck's shoes? He'd have forced his dad to let him in the moment he was strong enough to operate the motion controls - decent existing drift partner or not.

But it's none of his business and so he's not going to ask. Even if he and Yancy had spent a fair amount of time gossiping about it when the switch was announced.)]

Good, good. Did you come straight in from Sydney?

[He was kinda of expecting them last night if not earlier. He and Yancy had been in for a week or so. Had a chance to examine the facility a little, escape into the outside world and explore the closest town.]

[suicidemission]

[ What, being sixteen and being the youngest to step in a conn-pod ain't good enough for you, Becket? Fuck you. ]

Yeah, y'know -- had some last minute shit we had to tie together, make sure that the place is still protected while we're gone. Can't leave a hole, 'n all that.

[righthemisphere]

[Uuuh no? It's actually pretty cool if you ask him. Got him beat by two years. You gonna go around stealing all his thunder, Hansen?]

Right, yeah of course. We have the same thing on our end.

[He pauses and smiles, like he's been trying really hard to be cool about this but he's just too excited. Raleigh lightly crosses his arms over his chest.]

I'm so glad we were stationed together. I've been dyin' to meet you and workin' with your dad was such an honor.

[suicidemission]

[ Maybe. If he can. Raleigh's his idol, but he's also someone to beat.

Though -- wait, what? Really? ]

Manila, yeah? [ Lucky Seven. Would've been with Scott, then. ]

[righthemisphere]

[Uh, yeah really. Chuck is kicking ass and Striker's fights are always astounding. Their Jaeger is a badass no doubt, but a Jaeger is only as good as it's pilots.]

Yeah. [He nods.] From the way he talked about you I'm not surprised you took over Left side. Must be amazing in there.

[suicidemission]

[ That's better. If Chuck were privy to this strange internal-but-not monologue, his hackles would be lowering.

Raleigh's right. There's a reason Striker has as many kills as he does and there's a reason that Chuck's in the connpod instead of anyone else. Herc's a Mark I pilot - the best of the best. Chuck wasn't the only 'applicant', but he was the one that made it. ]

Y'damn right it is. Striker's a beaut, make no mistake.

[ Course, Gipsy's fucking gorgeous, and every so often, Chuck's eyes stray in that direction. ]

How long y'been here, mate?

[righthemisphere]

[Damn right she is.]

Six days. We thought we'd get here and settled in before admission opened. Get the lay of the land.

[Try to learn their way around to avoid getting lost and looking like idiots. Doesn't mean it doesn't happen.]

Some pretty great stuff to do in town.

[Yancy snorts. Raleigh shrugs. There is considerably less to do around here than Sydney but Anchorage isn't that big of a place. Finding things to do that don't include the PPDC these days is a challenge and this is a whole new culture to absorb. People and language and custom he doesn't know. It's exciting.]

We should check it out once you're settled.

[suicidemission]

[ sdkflj what Raleigh Becket is inviting him to do things? Fucking dreams do come true, or something. He feels jittery, like he's met a rockstar - and he kind of has. ]

Yeah, yeah. Could show me around, gimme the lay of the land? [ They've been here a few days already, they know their way around. Hopefully. ]

[righthemisphere]

[They're both rockstars, it's important to stick together. chuck must know more than they do how hard it is to make friends when you're on a giant pedestal all the time. It's hard to genuinely connect without fear that the person is just playing nice because you're famous.

It makes you doubt your friendships. An ugly truth. And here, surrounded by cadets and hopefuls? It's kind of almost worse. But shit, they're young, and Chuck is young and they already have more in common than anyone else here.

Kind of destined to be rockstar friends if you ask him.

Everyone says Chuck Hansen has an attitude but if he does, Raleigh hasn't seen it. The guy seems fine to him.]

Sure, man. Of course. I don't know if you've ever been to the Icebox but Ranger Quarters are so much better here. I think they want us to meet and greet for a while and there's a General Assembly in like half an hour, but after that I'm all yours.

[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.