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

open

[expect]

Really, there's no need at all for Rory to have come to this. He's not a cadet, and he's also not part of staff — well, not the relevant part of staff, in this case; Rory is a medical officer. Which, privately, he thinks is a sort of fancy word for 'school nurse.' (Not that he minds. It definitely has a nicer ring to it.)

In any case, provided no one had fallen off the stage during the demonstration, there hadn't been much of an obvious reason for Rory's presence at the lecture, but there he'd been anyway, sitting quietly in a corner. He is interested, don't get him wrong on that count — but to say he has an ulterior motive is, well, pretty obvious once the dismissal comes. Yes, he did only come for the food.

/sidles up

[righthemisphere]

Can't blame him, really. Raleigh is only here for the food, too.

Well, that and it's an excuse to wiggle out of his daily duties. So taking it easy and as many bacon sandwiches as he wants in return for parading around in his circuitry suit and signing some autographs? Done. Deal.

The attention on him seems to have eased for the moment, though, and that's when he takes the opportunity to retreat a little, steal another sandwich, and sidle up to Rory with a nod before claiming a chair not too close by and looking out over the hoard of new cadets still playing school with his brother.

"I swear the recruits get younger every year." Almost makes him feel like an old man at the ripe old age of twenty-two.

[expect]

Raleigh isn't wrong. Part of him wants to protest somewhere, make it a rule that if you can't drive a car you shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a gigantic robot training program; the rest of him feels old just feeling that in the first place. He starts to smile wryly in response, his face a look of amused commiseration, you're telling me into the lip of his cup — and then he glances aside and sees who is complaining, and his eyebrows slowly rise up to his hairline. "No," he says firmly. "You're about twenty, you're not allowed to complain about kids these days."

[righthemisphere]

Raleigh looks over with a smile before pulling it into something closer to a pout.

"Twenty two."

But...clearly still young enough where that matters. Pretty freshly twenty-two as well. But the minimum age is, what, 14? That can't be right. Not even old enough to drive.

"Raleigh Becket." He states, extending his closest hand.

[expect]

"Rory Williams," he replies, offering his left. He has to reach awkwardly across himself to do so, but his right hand is currently occupied with a paper cup of tea. "I saw you at the thing," he adds, nodding over towards the stage.

[righthemisphere]

"A pleasure to meet you, Rory." And he quirks a brow.

"Oh yeah?" He glances back over to the demo area and the group of girls that have cornered his brother before coming back to his own goodies and nibbling on a piece of bacon from his sandwich.

"Is that an English accent? Are you with K-Sci?" He asks, grasping at straws but knowing that the main K-Science hub is in the UK, all the major facilities, anyway. And he figures Rory looks like he could be a scientist.

[expect]

"Sorry, no," Rory says, wondering if he looks like a scientist. Well, he did get really good marks on his A-level… "I mean, no, sorry, I'm not a scientist. I'm a nurse. Uh- medical staff, here. Also English." It's one of those sentences where even as he says it, he realises how terribly put together it is. He slowly winces and tries to look like he's not wincing.

[righthemisphere]

He has to think about all that for a moment before it makes sense. Oh, right. Medical. Okay, he can see that.

"So if I get my ass kicked it's you I come looking for, huh. Good to know."

And really, between actual fights and occasionally...maybe doing something stupid it is actually good to know who to come slinking to when he needs it.

"How are you liking Chile? I don't know about you but this heat is killing me."

Says the man in the leather jacket..

[expect]

He nods at Raleigh's first statement; that is why he's here; and then shrugs and eyes his jacket in a totally subtle and non judgemental way. Because that's what Rory does. "I've been mostly in the Philippines the last few years," he sighs, because complaining about the weather is a British National Pastime, "so I'm a bit used to it. I never thought I'd miss rain and not being quite sure if the sun was an actual thing or not."

[righthemisphere]

"Ah" Raleigh answers with a nod, looking over his jacket with a light frown -- shut up Rory -- before giving a light shrug.

"Well, you'll get plenty of it now. We were in London for a few days last year on press tour. I think I remember there being sun..but it might have just been a big cut out." You can never be too sure.

coordinated Becket attack

[inurhead]

Yancy's there for the food too, and sure, alright, because some part of him loves to see the spark in the Cadets eyes when they really get on board with the cause. Or one of the other causes, sure, but he's fond of one in particular.

This staff member is unfamiliar, but hey, a lot of them still are. Yancy glances down for a name tag, but doesn't see one. Maybe the dude is dressed down. It's free time, technically. They're all volunteers and Cadets here.

"You gonna eat that, or...?"

The last of the lemon cremes being 'that.' He's usually not big on sweets, but those ones...they taste like childhood, ya know? So if Rory isn't going to call dibs, Yancy sure is.

[expect]

"Help yourself," Rory says, glancing from the lemon creme to Yancy to the sweet again. He's loaded up his own plate with plenty of other foods, enough that the bagel he's now adding balances a little precariously. He recognises Yancy from the demonstration… and, well, from television before that, so it feels a little weird talking to him. Not due to some sort of 'celebrity' feeling exactly, just… well, it's real now, isn't it? Not just television? He's only been here for a few months. Some things take getting used to. He realises he's kind of side-eying him a little and looks back to the table, carefully selecting a danish and hoping his staring wasn't noticed. Just in case it was: "I'm Rory. Hello." Wow, he's an idiot.

[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.

Re: open

[observationalhazard]

"Exciting, isn't it?" Hanji opens her conversation with Rory rather brightly and without much fanfare. She simply bellies up to the buffet next to him, eying a particular fruit platter. They're both staff, so perhaps she doesn't feel the need to be formal. Then again, that seems to be her attitude with most of the people she talks to.

"A brand new academy, new cadets - it's going to be an interesting three months."

She shoots Rory a grin and then juggles her plate and mug until she can offer a hand, "Hanji Zoe, K-Science."

[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.

[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?"

Re: open

[overeducated]

Despite being completely relevant for the panel, the speed at which he appeared near the food table should've been frightening.

Moreover, his absolute light-up upon spotting the other man should've been frightening. Probably was frightening. Would've been frightening if it came with a quick approach, half-hop and half-trot, except oh, wait, it did. Beaming, smile stretched high, a sprinkling of amazement and---

"Cory!"

-- There you had it. If the man didn't move quick enough, he'd be getting a clap on the shoulder, other hand stuck out for a shake, "Oh, hullo, Cory! It's been ages, hasn't it? How've you been? What brings you here?" Positively delighted.

[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?"