[GAME] Pacific Rim: Angel Brigade

[Kain]

He wasn't even trying to conceal his thoughts, it was practically a reflex, he blocked out outside influences just from instinct. Almost made him feel bad that Perla hid nothing while he showed nothing. He tried concentrating on letting his guard down, at least trying to let something out so this could work.

The sight of a Jaeger striking a descisive finishing blow against Kaiju

Determination to pilot

Bravado, declaring that he would surpass the others.

Failure

Humiliation

Determination

Focus

Silence

Dedication

Success at a cost

Disastrous simulations

Return to failure

Second chance

Awkward conversation, not so good with words

Trying to not be like the other guy

The sensations, the thoughts and the memories, still lacking the typical vividness but they were there. Forced out rather than freely flowing forth like hers. Far from an ideal drift connection but he was at least trying.

 

[Arieoelle]

Despite her thoughts being open for Riona to see, Amber could not "see" Riona's mind, however. Her thoughts began to dominate the drift, practically drowning out Riona's thoughts and preventing her from seeing them.

Riona opened her mind to amber pushing her way into the merge, she saw what Amber was showing her and instinctually thought of soothing things this slowly changed into her own memories of K-day and Amber could swear she heard the tune of 'twinkle twinkle little star' with the following words to the barrage of memories


When the blazing sun is gone
When he nothing shines upon
Then you show your little light
Twinkle, twinkle all the night

A little girl recovering from some ailment but unable to sleep due to a restless feeling and dreams of monsters.

A mother in a nurses uniform singing a lullaby, but getting called away by her job.

Riona's sister, Pica, taking Riona out to a hammock in the woods thinking they could watch for their mothers return and the fresh air might help.

Then the traveler in the dark
Thanks you for your tiny spark
He could not see which way to go
If you did not twinkle so.

The Tresspaser crashing into this peaceful home, destroying all the buildings because they were there.

The sisters clinging to each other as they cried and mourned other siblings.

Waiting for parents who never came home.
In the dark blue sky you keep
And often through my curtains peep
For you never shut your eye,
‘til the sun is in the sky.

The girls going from place to place, job to job, both looking for their parents and trying to survive.

A happy montage of Pica and Riona spending time together and eventually settling in the Alaska shatterdome.

Riona getting accepted at the academy.

As your bright and tiny spark
Lights the traveler in the dark
Though I know not what you are,
Twinkle, twinkle, little star.

Riona working hard doing well if not ever exceptionally so and graduating to pilot.

Going home to visit Pica and decking her sister's Fiancé for being an ass, causing a rift between the sisters

all this finally culminating in revealing a strong desire to protect people and stopping the same hurt to happen to anyone else and also and accepting sense of concern for Amber, they may have only just met but already Riona wanted to make sure she was alright.

 

[Scotty Rave]

Eddie felt it. That hint of Rachael. Enough to tell him that she was a very unhappy person on the inside. He could appreciate the hesitance of some pilots to let themselves become open to their partner. After all, nothing was more intimate than truly knowing the mind of another person. A vault, a labyrinth safe from the outer world, was suddenly being unlocked. He had learned not to feel shame or question any of his own actions or the things he said, because these memories of his were the facts of his past and his personality. Notions of security had to be done away with if the goal – to bring life to the Jaeger – could be accomplished. He spoke quietly to her, his voice carried through the Relay Gel directly to her ears, but his thoughts were also there in the Drift, as he tried to synchronise himself, body and mind, to her.

“Miss Mars…pardon me, Rachael, I’m sure I have no idea what it is you’ve been through, but you need to let me in if we’re to get what we both want. I promise that whatever you show me will remain just between us.”

He flashed her a grin behind his helmet’s visor.

“On my honour as an Englishman and a gent, don’tcha know?”

 

[Denjin_Zaboga23]

He wasn't even trying to conceal his thoughts, it was practically a reflex, he blocked out outside influences just from instinct. Almost made him feel bad that Perla hid nothing while he showed nothing. He tried concentrating on letting his guard down, at least trying to let something out so this could work.

The sight of a Jaeger striking a descisive finishing blow against Kaiju

Determination to pilot

Bravado, declaring that he would surpass the others.

Failure

Humiliation

Determination

Focus

Silence

Dedication

Success at a cost

Disastrous simulations

Return to failure

Second chance

Awkward conversation, not so good with words

Trying to not be like the other guy

The sensations, the thoughts and the memories, still lacking the typical vividness but they were there. Forced out rather than freely flowing forth like hers. Far from an ideal drift connection but he was at least trying.

Although this was more like it, Perla wouldn't exactly say this is how she wanted to receive this information. She would have liked it if it was more easily flowing, but this was still better than before, so Perla took to giving a compliment to Marcus.

"It won't be so bad. From the looks of things, you got where you wanted...no need to shut yourself off to me, all right?" She said, trying to reassure him that she wouldn't bite his head off or anything, which was a bit funny, considering how Perla was violent against those that she either didn't like or pissed her off.

 

[Tigerhawk21]

“On my honour as an Englishman and a gent, don’tcha know?”

Before Rachael even realized... it happened. She snapped. There wasn't any screaming, no demands to stop the drift, no... anything. Edward would most likely be confused as the drift went completely dead on the left.

Then a roaring wave of rage and sorrow would drown the Iron Hound in a crimson bath... and images would flood into Edward's psyche whether he wanted them or not.

A picture. A stern father and a playful brother. Loving mother, devoted daughter.

Happiness.

Service. Pride. Both father and son standing together. Defenders.

K-Day.

Hell. Blue Hell.

Mother's agony. Broken heart. Girl too young to understand.

Funeral. Alone. Crying.

A spotty picture.

Family? A promise. Honor. Love.

Time passing. Honor... fading. Love... lust.

Him.

Night. Terror. Pain.

Him.

Touched below. Pulling away. Fresh pain.

Night. New terror. More pain. New Hell...

Weak. Alone. Forced silence. Hate. Boiling rage.

A party. A knowing smile. Drunken man. Another touch.

Fuzzy memories. Suddenly morning. Raw and broken. Dried blood.

Fresh Rage. Hating Weakness. Hating...

Emotional toll. Too much. Rage. Hate. Swirling.

Fuzzy memories. Him. Dead? Luck? No... couldn't. Weak... Weak... Weak...

Talking. White noise. Talking. Questions. Darkness.

Strings pulled. Shatterdome. Jaeger. Kaiju. Blue Hell.

Pilot? Rage... Hate... Swirling. Now focused. Not Weak.

Kaiju... extinction...

Skewed Happiness...

Raining Hell.

 

[Scotty Rave]

Eddie jolted as the once calming blue luminescence became furious scarlet, and he was bombarded with images from Rachael’s own past. The experience lasted less than a second, but it felt so much longer. She seemed fixated on a single person whose face had been blurred out, like a chalk drawing smudged by the rain. Whoever it was, they had hurt her. His mind flashed back to the moment he had touched her. It had only been meant playfully, with no malign intent involved, but something told him it had set off a trigger inside of Rachael. He did not feel sorry for what he had done, and she could tell that, but he understood her a little more. The images he had seen were, in a way, intriguing, but he quickly implemented the psychological defences he had been trained to use to prevent himself from, “chasing the rabbit.†The memories of one’s partner were just as liable to cause such an effect as one’s own, an unfortunate and inoperable effect of essentially melding two separate individuals into one whole. He took a deep breath, drawing in the oxygen from his suit’s supply, and the heat in his head cooled a little.

“Well, now,†he said, still smiling at her, “that wasn’t so hard. Was it,love?â€

 

[Milky Rose]

Riona opened her mind to amber pushing her way into the merge, she saw what Amber was showing her and instinctually thought of soothing things this slowly changed into her own memories of K-day and Amber could swear she heard the tune of 'twinkle twinkle little star' with the following words to the barrage of memories


When the blazing sun is gone
When he nothing shines upon
Then you show your little light
Twinkle, twinkle all the night

A little girl recovering from some ailment but unable to sleep due to a restless feeling and dreams of monsters.

A mother in a nurses uniform singing a lullaby, but getting called away by her job.

Riona's sister, Pica, taking Riona out to a hammock in the woods thinking they could watch for their mothers return and the fresh air might help.

Then the traveler in the dark
Thanks you for your tiny spark
He could not see which way to go
If you did not twinkle so.

The Tresspaser crashing into this peaceful home, destroying all the buildings because they were there.

The sisters clinging to each other as they cried and mourned other siblings.

Waiting for parents who never came home.
In the dark blue sky you keep
And often through my curtains peep
For you never shut your eye,
‘til the sun is in the sky.

The girls going from place to place, job to job, both looking for their parents and trying to survive.

A happy montage of Pica and Riona spending time together and eventually settling in the Alaska shatterdome.

Riona getting accepted at the academy.

As your bright and tiny spark
Lights the traveler in the dark
Though I know not what you are,
Twinkle, twinkle, little star.

Riona working hard doing well if not ever exceptionally so and graduating to pilot.

Going home to visit Pica and decking her sister's Fiancé for being an ass, causing a rift between the sisters

all this finally culminating in revealing a strong desire to protect people and stopping the same hurt to happen to anyone else and also and accepting sense of concern for Amber, they may have only just met but already Riona wanted to make sure she was alright.

(BGM: "Dakishimetai" by Jungle Smile)

Though Amber's memories continued to dominate, with the scene of Amber finding her dead parents being the most prominent one, Amber slowly began to hear a rather soothing song, sounding muffled at first. Anger turned to confusion as the muffled singing voice became ever so clearer, the tune of the song set to "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." As the words of the song began to force its way through the bitter memories that continued to dominate the drift, Amber slowly but surely began to see the trickling of Riona's own memories.

From anger to confusion, from confusion to shock. Amber saw that, in a way, Riona had a similar experience, a similar loss. She also saw through the trickle of Riona's memories, which somehow forced their way through her own, Riona's sister -- a girl named Pica. As the song continued to play, Amber witnessed a bond between sisters broken. Even though the memories weren't hers, Amber felt a sting that brought a stronger pain than from her own memories. This prompted her to look over to Riona with a shocked expression, tears starting to trickle from her eyes.

 

[Arieoelle]

Riona looked back, her own expression slightly pained, and Amber could of course feel the sorrow, an echo of what the girls had both experienced, and also a deep emotion that felt a bit like anger. That anger was directed toward the Kaiju. Life was tough enough without giant monsters wrecking everything! They shouldn't have had to lose everything. That same feeling also seemed to partly guilt, that she couldn't have done anything sooner.

"But that's all right," Riona murmured, both out loud and inside her own head "if we can keep one more person from having to go through the seeing or unknowing... then everything is all right."

A peace bubbled through the link like water from a spring, cold and sharp but soothing as it washed away the edges of the memories for Riona. She kept the link open, trusting Amber to take her lead and make this work.

"Whatever happens... let's do our best... together."

 

[Kain]

Although this was more like it, Perla wouldn't exactly say this is how she wanted to receive this information. She would have liked it if it was more easily flowing, but this was still better than before, so Perla took to giving a compliment to Marcus.

"It won't be so bad. From the looks of things, you got where you wanted...no need to shut yourself off to me, all right?" She said, trying to reassure him that she wouldn't bite his head off or anything, which was a bit funny, considering how Perla was violent against those that she either didn't like or pissed her off.

"Easier said than done, old habits die hard and stuff....but I'll work on it." he told her with a not. Even if it didn't go too smoothly and still wasn't an ideal drift, it was the closest he had got to one, and that was something to be happy about at least. "Besides, don't think I want to piss you off, you've got a hell of a punch." he said with a slight chuckle.

Relief

Back in LOCCENT control Marshall Stern and the J-Techs had been monitoring the three Jaegers, keeping a close eye on each drift test, ready to pull the plug at a second's notice should things get bad something very likely with such a potentially volatile group.

"Naoko, how are our pilots doing?" he asked, looking at the head J-Tech.

"There was a sudden spike coming from Iron Hound's left pilot for a moment, looked like the other was in danger of being overwhelmed...turned out to be more resilient than expected. There was a similar situation in Ronin Hazard, but it looks like the pilot managed to calm one another down. Howler Magnum's situation was different, the drift was one sided until the other pilot forced himself to start letting it happen. Overall the result were better than we initially expected though they still have a ways to go before I would say they are were they need to be sync wise."

He nodded, well at least there as some semblance of teamwork between the pilots, though he wasn't sure he could consider them combat ready just yet, they were still largely strangers thrown into the situation. Oftentimes drift partners were ideally family, or people that were at least friends so overall the situation was a little different than normal. "Patch me through to them." he told the nearest tech who nodded and did as instructed. "This is Marshall Stern, so far you've done better than expected, don't let that go to your heads though. That Kaiju clock isn't going to stop ticking, and we need you to all be perfectly drift compatible. You need to know how the other acts and thinks almost by instinct, almost need to be in each other's heads when outside the drift. To help speed your toward that goal I have new orders for you. For the next few weeks outside of sleeping and visits to a restroom you are to stay in one another's presence, you will stick to each other like glue, you're goal will be to know them as well as you know yourself, is that clear?"

 

[Scotty Rave]

Eddie looked up instinctively as he heard the voice of Marshall Stern over the Jaeger’s interior tannoy. He allowed the announcement to sink in, and his first consideration was to complain, only Eddie Hood did not complain. Instead, he began to chuckle. It was low at first, but then he burst out into a big belly-laugh. Rachael must have thought him insane, if she did not feel the same way as him, and then she got a direct and clear view of exactly what was going through his head. The two of them. Eating, drinking, teeth-brushing, dressing, training, marching, dancing, talking, and all other kinds of things at the exact same time in the exact same way. His imagination seemed to put it to animation, complete with garish music in the background. “C-c-clear as c-c-crystal, sir!” he managed to say after forcing himself to straighten up, but he soon devolved into barely contained sniggering again.