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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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"They made you talk to shrinks?"

Naturally classy as always, Luke fails to hide his surprise.

"You told them?" That comes out of as incredulous as well. He has to admit, it doesn't sound good. Not that he doesn't believe that Guy of all people could overcome his fear if he wanted to. But he knew not everyone would see that, and he didn't have to shoot himself in the foot by telling them about it. He could've just proved it to them when he found a drift partner.

"Not about the jaegers," Guy sighs, rubbing the back of his neck. His mentality there was exactly the same as Luke was thinking: he could figure that out when he got to it. If anything, if what they seemed to think he was capable of regarding his other fear actually happened, he'd be able to apply it across the board.

"But it would be a little hard to hide that I can't go near women when they assign me one as a sparring partner, wouldn't it."

"Oh... yeah... Man, it's been so long, I almost forgot."

Luke hadn't gone out with friends since the attack on Telluride, so it had been at least that long since he's been in a room with Guy having to avoid a girl's proximity in any kind of obvious way. Some of their friends used to like to tease him about it.

He felt a strange sad pang for those, even knowing now that it was undeserved. He turned his focus back to the matter at hand.

"This is going to be a lot for you, huh?"

Typical of Luke to forget about a problem that isn't his own, Guy automatically thinks -- then dismisses. Luke didn't mean it like that. And it had been a long time since they'd stopped going out.

Besides, he was asking about Guy's feelings just now, and Guy had invited it.

"Yeah." He pauses, turning his eyes to the side. "Apparently, if I'm deemed drift compatible, they'll assign me some doctors." He does not sound thrilled. He turns back to Luke, at least.

"But hey. I think as long as I can see you doing your best, the least I can do is give my best, too."

The inspiration he'd said earlier, the genuine effort on display. Not being alone, which sucked the motivation from him. And less charitable reasons, too - if someone like Luke could change so much to manage it, then really, how could he stand to be outdone?

Edited 2014-02-03 08:35 (UTC)

There's that blush again. Are all conversations with Guy going to get to him this way now? He's still not sure what to make of it, really. But he wasn't going to argue. He knew better than that, even if he found the idea of him inspiring Guy ridiculous at its core.

Didn't give him much of an idea on what to say after something like that, though.

"Okay... Lets both become Jaeger pilots then." His smile comes more easily, if still shyly this time. "Between the two of us, no one will believe it."

Edited 2014-02-03 14:44 (UTC)

Guy is used to Luke being easy to fluster - it's one of the things about Luke he'd always known, really. Luke may have grown up a brat, but he was never able to handle praise or compliments - an awkward sign of the lack at home, which was all too clear to anyone who witnessed his relationship with his father. That - and a few other things about him that had always been kind, despite himself - is all part of why Luke effects Guy so much in the first place.

"That's more like it," he says, and it's genuine.

The crowd is mostly quiet or in small groups like the two of them, murmuring to each other and eyeing one another like the first day of school, and it's getting bigger as the majority finishes up. Guy had heard the PPDC had an almost immediate pass or fail result, once they saw or didn't see what they were looking for... whatever intangible "what" it was.

Would they hear their verdict soon?

Guy doesn't feel like his words have been wasted, and he's far calmer now than before, but it's hard for him feel if there was significant relief between the two of them. He'd been so analytic the last few years, maintaining distance, failing to maintain distance, being temperamentally judgmental... and it wasn't like Luke wasn't an easy read before. But Guy was at the end of his emotional rope right along with Luke now, trying to get a better grip. Everything had gotten complicated, and his relationship and conversations with Luke were frustratingly unpredictable to Guy because of it. He didn't like admitting it, but he knew a lot of that was his own damn fault, not just Luke's - and he never understood that fast enough. It was always when the heat of the moment was long past.

"And hey, even if we can't directly help, we can still be there. You're all I've got left after all... Well, almost."

You're all I have left. He could have said that better, he inwardly winces - he'd said that before, right before he made things really complicated, and without the little "almost" afterward.

"So, whatever happens, let's stick together."

Predictably, Luke turns bright red at mention of being all Guy has left. Well, almost. He was glad that was almost. It had been... honestly kind of alarming to hear in the first place, especially with how close Luke had been not long ago to taking his own life. He hadn't really thought Guy would care all that much if he disappeared. But he'd never tried to... quantify the important people in Guy's life before. He just assumed they had to be out there. Guy was the one who always had something to do, after all. Always somewhere to be and someone to help. Surely he'd made better friends than Luke by now.

He also didn't know what he felt about the sex that followed, or how he was supposed to take it. And honestly he had been avoiding thinking about it, assuming he wouldn't see Guy for months at best.

He reaches up to tug at the hair of the back of his neck absently, looking to the side and wishing for the blush to die down. At least the fact that he blushed easily -- a lifelong struggle -- meant maybe no one was getting any ideas. The important part was that regardless of everything else, at least this time he knew what Guy was saying.

"Yeah, let's not split up again."

That's really all Guy wants to hear. Now he feels relief between them, if only in the "tension" meaning of the word. There's a brief moment where the corner of Guy's mouth twitches up at Luke's response - does he like getting a reaction out of Luke? Is it fond or is it a little mean, or both?

As if he didn't realize what memory that must have brought up, and couldn't see Luke's blushing intensify - not really wanting or willing to deal with that at all - Guy stuffs his hands in his pockets and casually leans back against the wall, looking out at the crowd.

"I wonder how much longer it'll take anyway," he says, airily.

Luke relaxes a bit at that, already finding this easier as long as he doesn't have to look Guy in the eyes. And it didn't hurt that maybe they'd... made up...? He wasn't sure what counted for made up anymore, and he knew Guy would be mad at him again, probably fore long. But... he guesses it's fine as long as they know they'll be okay in the long run.

He also leans back against the wall.

"Who knows...? There's a lot of people. It could be a while."

"Could be," Guy says agreeably while scanning everyone, eyes settling here and there on people he'd talked to, seeing if they were alone or chatting with anybody - or seeing if they were missing, still talking to people.

"I heard they're pretty quick once everyone decides they're done, though. How do you think you did? Have any interesting conversations besides the angry ones?"

Edited 2014-02-04 01:52 (UTC)

Luke reaches up and pulls absently on his ear, thinking back to the conversations he'd had. "Well, two of the three people I talked with recognized me. I guess those actually went about as good as it could've... but I don't really know why they'd let in someone who so many people hate on sight."

He sighs.

"Uh... the other one was Andrea Martin. She was actually really nice? Really... normal. If normal people weren't all mad at me."

This observation doesn't come out sulky, just conversational. Actually he wasn't really bothered by how the interviews went, especially not after talking to Guy. But... well, there wasn't much getting around the facts.

Guy lets that one slide. Fair enough, really. Though he had to wonder why they selected mostly Americans who would be sure to recognize Luke... but with Andrea Martin in the mix, maybe they were testing the rough waters with a failsafe judge as backup.

"They're probably figuring out if it's really going to be a liability," he offers. "If you're Drift Compatible, and you find someone, all it takes is one saved city and one blush on camera, maybe some stammering about how you don't deserve the praise and you're just doing your best to make a difference. Even if some people will always be stubborn, public opinion can change in the blink of an eye these days, Luke... even yours."

Luke can feel his face going red again, just at the idea of being caught on camera again... it takes a second before he realizes Guy seems to think this is showing him in a positive light. "I-I don't think it's going to be all that easy."

It was true, though. He really hadn't thought about what life would be like if he did become a pilot. He never wanted to be on camera again. The idea was almost enough to make him want to look into some other options.

Guy can't help but smile at the cosmic irony of it all. Luke had to be the only person in this building, and every single building like it across the world, who hadn't thought through all the fame, glory and attention that came with this particular career path.

"Probably not. You could always change your hair, get an iris dye," he gestures vaguely, habitual little handwaves. "Go by a new name. They'll dig it up, but it'll throw them off a little."

Unless we get accepted and they catch us on our way, he doesn't say, which will probably happen. He'd already thought of potential headlines for his own situation anyway - Luke would certainly be the prodigal son. The papers would eat him up no matter what he did, but everyone loved someone trying not to take credit.

"Pull a you, you mean?"

Luke is fully aware that Guy was joking.... but he can't help but find himself taken with the idea. What if he could just disappear and never be Luke fon Fabre again? That felt like not a bad solution to a lot of his problems.

"What name would I even use?" He paused, absently chewing his lip. "What hair color? I wonder how I'd look with something more... normal." The red hair and green eyes had been kind of A Thing in his family, he'd always gotten a lot of comments on it. The idea of something a little less eye-catching sure sounded appealing at this point, though.

Guy could see the pique of interest on Luke's face. Luke hadn't exactly been proud of his colors, not when they were tied to his family name, but he was always wearing flashy clothes, and he'd let his bright hair grow long and wild. It was hard to imagine him looking like anything else.

"You could always get a projection preview," he shrugged, "but just doing it is a little fun too." Guy had just cut and dyed his in a fit in the bathroom, the old fashioned way. Eventually he got tired of re-dying it and had a permanent treatment done.

"As for a name... what was that nickname the girls used to call you? Fire-something... Torch! The mysterious Torch," Guy announces, waving his hand in the air like a news marquee. "Maybe a little high profile..."

"High profile is the last thing I want." Luke responds with a half-joking huff, but also finds himself self consciously tugging on the ends of his hair. His mom would completely lose it. She hadn't been that thrilled when he cut it.

"Anyway, if I did something like that, if I ever got found out, they'd just talk about it being a publicity stunt. Maybe I should just go all out and get plastic surgery."

He delivers this in enough of a flat monotone that it's obvious he's just joking at this point.

"You'll give your mother a heart attack," Guy seems to land around the same train of thought, shaking his head with a smile. Like running away to be a cadet wouldn't.

"Anyway, Don't change so much I lose you in a crowd," Guy reaches over and messes up his hair again. He's joking too - now that they finally seem to be clearing some old trails, he's happy to follow them. His voice is over-impressed. "You could riff off it! Like a phoenix. Go short and black and be Ash, and be reborn."

Luke groans, making it very clear what he thinks of that idea before he says anything. "I'm never hiring you for PR. If you want a ridiculous story like that, make it your own."

Edited 2014-02-04 07:15 (UTC)

"That's harsh. Where's your sense of turning over a new leaf," Guy sighs, as if deeply disappointed. As much as he didn't feel like he had a sense of humor lately, it was easy to spout absurdities when it suited how absurd the situation was.

"I think I'll go for the cool, unexplained angle," Guy waves off. "All I have to do is not be too specific. If I totally lie it'll just be a pain later."

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