Group Log : Q&A Session 001

[inurhead]

Characters: Any/all
Location: The Meeting Hall
Date/Time: Sunday afternoon
Summary: Q&A with a Ranger. All Rangers and staff welcome to answer Q&A. All cadets are invited to the session, but attendance is not mandatory.
Additional Notes: Start your own threads, jack some of mine, go nuts. This is just another mingle post but it's also meant to be informative ICly. Other staff and Rangers showing up for interactions with the cadets is wholeheartedly encouraged.


The meeting hall, like every other area of the Shatterdome, has the feel of an industrial environment. The walls are lined with bleachers on three sides, while the forth side has a platform and podium. In the middle are rows of chairs, desks, and tables. It's clear that a large audience can be accommodated by the room when there's need, though the group that gathers there today isn't nearly enough to fill it.

Cadets will be directed to sit at some of the tables closer to the podium when they arrive, and given scratch paper to take notes on. Staff will be directed to the large table on the podium, which has a row of conference microphones, lamps, and water pitchers already set up. Everything is neat, cool, and professional. The fluorescent lighting and stern expressions of the support staff encourage a sombre attitude, but if anyone is looking up toward the podium they might catch at least one of the Rangers smiling as he peeks out from behind the curtains during the initial set up. He's wearing something like a wetsuit at the moment, though it won't be fully visible until he emerges for the demonstration.

Sharpen your pencils and have a seat, guys. You might even learn something.

Comments

[reengineered]

Squaring her shoulders, she makes a gesture that almost looks comical, hands near her head waving them a bit. Then she write "kaiju" on the notepad and shows her. Now she's learned a word. And a second, then, as she writes "Jaeger", and makes a rather grandiose sign thereafter.

First two things I learned.

[secondtry]

"Nice to meet you," he said as he picked up the carrot and popped it directly into his mouth. Carrots. Fresh vegetables. Yeah, this wouldn't happen often. All the more reason to take advantage of it while it was there. "Heard good things about you all the way inland."

[observationalhazard]

Hanji's smile comes back, as broad as ever, "Well, there's a lot more where that came from! I'm glad you're enjoying yourself so far."

She stretches her memory for a moment, trying to remember where Lucy was actually from. Oh, well.

"Anything you want to know, while you hav me?"

Just don't ask about kaiju.

[observationalhazard]

"Oh, absolutely! If we just throw up our hands and act like we can't understand them, then what's the point? We might as well just give up!" Hanji's getting into the discussion, gesturing to try and emphasize her points.

"I mean, we know some things about them, but there's so much that we simply don't because of their massive size and the way they tend to decompose. We know they're silicon-based, that their bodily fluids are toxic, but we have virtually no idea about their brain structure or how such a gigantic creature came about. We don't even know if they're sentient or not, because we can't communicate with them! Yet."

[karearea]

"I wish," Ngaio offered around a mouthful of pastry. "This is the best we've had since I got in."

She paused, distracted by his bagels.

"What is in those?" she asked, fascinated. She'd filled her plate with pastries and fruit before even reaching the bagels, and as far as she's concerned, bagels only come in one flavor if at all.

[karearea]

Ngaio heard him, noticed the check, and was trying not to laugh, which translated into grinning at her plate of pastries. It'd be hypocritical; she'd had basically the same thought.

"Makes me miss the chef's", she replied, her smile turning nostalgic. "My parents own a motel - back in the day, summer breakfast could look like this."

[reengineered]

...Yeah, she'll save the kaiju questions for class.

But she smiles a bit and shakes her head, signing thank you, which might be more easily recognized than the others. More utility for now. She already knew a little about the facility itself, the accommodations and those around her.

But that sparks a little something, and she grabs the notepad again, jotting down hastily: When do we start?

[observationalhazard]

"As soon as possible," Hanji responds, once she's read Lucy's reply. It's a bit strange talking to someone who doesn't actually talk, but Hanji's a bit strange herself, so she doesn't judge.

"We've got three months to see what you're made of, after all."

[suicidemission]

"Yeah?"

Chuck sort of watches, then reaches out and snags a few carrots once the hand is out of the way.

"Like what kinda things?"

Please, inflate his ego. He needs it.

[expect]

Interesting certainly seems like the right word. Don't get him wrong; Rory applied for a job here because he thought it seemed like the best way to help; he's had enough of helping people after the damage has already been done. If the Jaeger program really can stop the kaiju in their tracks, he wants a part of it. But he still finds it hard to work up as much cheer about it as Hanji obviously has. "Rory Williams. I'm — medical." School nurse, medical officer; they both still sound weird to his ears. He hasn't had to introduce himself much yet.

[expect]

He's busily spreading some cream cheese on a bagel, and doesn't notice he's been spotted — or, for that matter, quite realise he's the one being called, his name not actually being 'Cory' and all that, and then there's a hand on his shoulder and Rory turns around to see… well, the face of someone he'd never, ever expected to see again. It's almost a physical shock, immediately bringing back memories — sitting in an dim cafe, a ceiling fan struggling against the afternoon heat, words of advice he'd needed but not asked for — and he gapes at the man, his bagel entirely forgotten. It's a clashing of two worlds, two universes, and for several long seconds, Rory has no idea how to react.

And then his brain catches up. "Cory?"

[secondtry]

"Youngest, breaking all kinds of records, you and your father," Mike said, picking up a blueberry and strawberry to round things off. That'd do. If he didn't watch it, he'd overeat and hate himself later in way too many ways. He was already mentally calculating how much exercise it'd take to work this off and if the usual morning workouts would do it. "Seems like there's no such thing as a news program without your face on it."

[observationalhazard]

"Well, we'll probably ned you, before this is all over. They'll probably beat each other up a little, if nothing else," Hanji laughs. It's a bit of a joke, but she's right. The candidates are going to be having at each other. Injuries are expected.

"But hopefully, we won't have too many broken bones, right?"

[boomerangarrow]

"Snacks like this, or actual meals?" She can't help it, she's curious. Who are the people she's training with here anyway? Might as well try to get to know more of them.

[inurhead]

"It's always worth turning up for volunteer projects." He agrees, taking another bite of the sandwich while he mulls over what else they can discuss with her hands full like that.

"Did I see you in the audience during the demonstration?"

[inurhead]

That's a first. Yancy grins around the pasty he's biting into. His own plate is still empty, since he's been simply picking up what looks good and eating it where he stands so far. It's not the way a buffet generally works, but he keeps getting caught up in conversations. It's distracting, but he doesn't mind this type of distraction.

He's not exactly sure what to do with a first name, but hey. He can roll with that. "Ranger Becket, Yancy." He returns cheerfully. Officer Rory can relax, he's found one of the few people in the building that have no obligation to stand on ceremony with basically anyone besides the Marshall. And the Marshall isn't in town.

[inurhead]

Yancy was already over it, on the other hand. He had younger siblings growing up -including one he still shared a suite with actually- so he took it in stride that buffet lines were a dangerous place. At your own risk. Anyway, a little cream cheese never hurt anybody. Really, if it had been anywhere without a room of young cadets watching he would've licked it off instead.

Things as they were, he just tossed a reassuring grin at the kid and reached for another strawberry. Damn, those were good. "I'll make sure the apology goes in the official report," he teased. This kid looked around Raleigh's age, maybe a little younger. Hopefully old enough to get that it was a joke.

[suicidemission]

"That's me," he purrs, straightening up a little. "All true."

Chuck sets records only to break them himself.

"Youngest to enter the Academy, youngest to step in a jaeger, on schedule to pilot the only Mark V in existence..."

Yes, Chuck's track record is shaping up nicely.

[suicidemission]

See, and Chuck is actually paying attention to this - sure he's been through drills and heard the same shit over and over and over again and heard it from pilots and ex-pilots, but this is coming from Raleigh and Yancy and he tends to place their opinions and experiences over a lot of other people.

Idols, and all that. Gotta love hero worship.

Regardless he's quiet and listening, not adding anything for the moment but just...absorbing.

[secondtry]

He popped one of the blueberries into his mouth. "Well, sounds like you're in a career that you love."

It was a turn of phrase that he was careful with, much like 'bless his heart' for little old Southern ladies. Between posture, tone of voice, and the list of accomplishments, Mike could see Chuck's ego, and it was just as big as the jaeger he piloted. He'd have to be careful navigating this particular conversation to keep from saying exactly the wrong thing and getting his ass kicked out of the program.

[suicidemission]

Chuck sort of squints suspiciously at him, like he's trying to figure out what, exactly, he meant by that.

"What'd you say your name was, mate?"

[secondtry]

"Don't think I did," Mike answered, but he dutifully stuck out his hand for a handshake. "Mike Traceur. Doing the cadet thing a second time. Might actually find someone I'm compatible with this go-round."

[suicidemission]

"Suppose so."

Yeah, everyone likes attention, he guessed. Positive, negative - some people didn't really care. Chuck's kind of one of those people, he doesn't really give a flying fuck what most people think of him because it doesn't matter. Chuck is who he is, and he works hard and doesn't fuck around. He gets the job done, fights for what he's got and fights to keep it.

He picks at his strawberry, and glances over at Raleigh, a little unsure because this feels like...fuck, he doesn't even know. Like a heart to heart or something, and that's something Chuck doesn't know how to handle, how to deal with. He's never been good with conversation on a base level, mainly because no one bothered to teach him how to do it.

"I don't think I've ever read it," he confessed, scratching awkwardly at the back of his head.

[suicidemission]

"Chuck Hansen."

Chuck has to shift his plate around, but he does take the offered hand and give it a firm shake. He introduces himself anyway because it's polite, even though it's obvious he's pretty well known already.

"Seems like a lotta cadets wanderin' around." Mike's got a good shot at finding someone, he thinks.

[secondtry]

"Yeah. Most of them... No offense to you, sir," because Chuck did have rank on him, technically, "but I feel like a lot of them are too young. Just because you can do it doesn't mean all of them can."

And that, at least, was the truth. Part of him felt sure that Chuck was one of the rare ones. The rest of him was taking bets against the other part.