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

"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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