#like basically everyone from the shatterdome is here and having a good time and it's nice!!!!

[lisondraws]

Happy 10th birthday to Pacific Rim!!!!

I've been super lucky to be a part of the @edgeofhopezine to celebrate this amazing movie and its characters!!!

Preorders are open now till August 4th, so go check all their cool bundles!!!

[hermannsthumb]

So I just saw your Halloween prompts! I don't think you've done this one yet so could you do "we hate each other but we were invited to a mutual friend’s party and were warned to be civil so you complimented my costume and fuck you, i haven’t changed yet"?

from halloween prompts here

ok I thought I'd get a little funky with this one and set it within the first year of them getting shoved in the shatterdome together when they’re just total dicks to each other. for reference this is the ABSOLUTE EXACT OUTFIT NEWT IS WEARING!!!!!

----------------

Newt arrives fashionably late to the party.

Well, it’s more just like late late. His date with a hot ranger hopeful went a little over schedule, so over schedule Newt had to straight-up bail on the guy before they got the check, which he felt bad about, and then he left his phone in the bar and had to double back for it (awkwardly pretending he didn’t notice his date chatting up another guy at the counter), and then he missed his bus and had to hail the most expensive Uber ride of all time, and basically didn’t make it back to base until well after he’d promised to appear with cupcakes. Newt spent a shit-ton of time on those cupcakes and basically sold his soul to get the ingredients for them (rationing, man, it’s killing his amateur baker dreams), so he books it to the break room with the tray without even bothering to change into his costume first. These are more important.

Everything is in full swing when he gets there. The lightbulbs in the overhead lights have been swapped out for purple ones, and the music is pulsing so loud Newt feels it vibrating in his stomach; tacky Halloween garland, most of it homemade, is hung from practically everything; every available surface not cluttered with bottles of cheap booze or chip bowls is cluttered with plastic Jack-O-Lanterns and dripping black candles. In short, it looks pretty fucking fun. Newt squeezes his way through the costumed crowd, rearranges a few candles to carefully slip his cupcakes onto one of the repurposed card tables in a place of honor, and resolves to make himself a drink with the first bottle of something he finds that’s not fruit-flavored—he’s earned it after his shitty night.

There’s a tap at his shoulder before he can make good on his promise to himself of a drink. “Yeah, whatever, I know I’m late, dude,” he shouts over the music. “It’s been a night. I—” He turns. “Oh.”

It’s not Hermann like he (admittedly, foolishly) thought, but rather Tendo, who’s already flushed a bright red, undoubtedly from whatever horrific purple concoction is in his paper cup. Newt wonders if it’s what’s currently foaming in the ominous black cauldron labeled Witch’s Brew next to the cheese dip. He’ll pass, thanks. “It’s about time,” Tendo says. “Gottlieb has been on my ass all fuckin’ night long about where you are. Go find him already.”

“Hermann’s been on your ass about me?” Newt says, eyebrows jumping. Out of everyone in this entire goddamn room—including the janitorial staff, who have had a bone to pick with Newt ever since his ill-advised kaiju eyeball experiment, and resulting explosion, that left the laboratory coated in slime for a week—Hermann is perhaps the very last person he would ever expect to give a shit about his whereabouts. It’s just that Hermann prides himself on not caring about Newt’s personal life, something he takes great care to remind Newt of at every possible opportunity, and Newt would’ve thought he’d have jumped at the chance to enjoy every Newt-free second to the fullest. He should know well enough by now that Hermann manages to find something to complain about in anything. “Why?” he says, and this time, he rolls his eyes. “Did he miss having someone to bitch at? Or bitch about?”

“Easy,” Tendo says warningly. He pokes his finger at Newt’s chest. “Try to keep it civil, boys, okay? I am not having you crush our chances of Pentecost approving a New Year’s bash with a repeat of—”

“Okay, okay,” Newt sighs, waving him off. He doesn’t exactly want a reminder of his and Hermann’s, uh, behavior at the somewhat disastrous Valentine’s Day party, either, or how tense the lab was for weeks following it. Well. Tenser than usual. “I got it. No fights. Where is he?”

“Hiding in that corner,” Tendo says. He gestures with his cup, splashing purple Witch’s Brew all down the front of his dumb greaser costume, and Newt squints where he’s directed; he thinks he can make out pale, sharp cheeks and the flash of a tweed coat. Trust Hermann to wear tweed to a Halloween party. He’s so lame. “Nice pants, by the way.”

“Thanks,” Newt says, distracted, and pushes his way through the crowd.

Newt’s surprised that Hermann even bothered showing up in the first place, and he can’t imagine he’s been very exciting company to anyone all night. The guy hates parties. Sure enough, he’s staring sullenly at his shoes when Newt finally reaches him, back pressed against the wall, soda can gripped so tightly in his free hand Newt can see the aluminum starting to crinkle under his fingertips. Newt doesn’t say hi, just sidles up next to him. Hermann doesn’t seem to notice. “How’s the party?” Newt says.

Hermann’s whole body goes rigid; when he turns to Newt, his lips have curled down into an ugly grimace, like he just ate a whole lemon or maybe caught sight of his tragic hairdo in a mirror. It’s good to see you, too, Hermann, Newt thinks. “Distasteful,” Hermann says. “They haven’t a single decent thing to drink anywhere.”

“Hm,” Newt says. He shoves his hands in his pockets. “I heard you were asking about me.”

“Hardly,” Hermann says with a scoff.

“I heard Tendo didn’t get a second alone you were asking about me so much,” Newt says. “What, did you miss me? I bet you just came here tonight to hang out with me, didn’t you? I bet you were all disappointed when I wasn’t here, and…”

“Hardly,” Hermann snaps. Newt grins. “My presence at this party is in no way affected by your own. Don’t flatter yourself.”

“You were asking where I was, though,” Newt says.

Hermann’s lips contort again, this time into a thin line, and he turns a glare on Newt—though, Newt notices with a flare of glee, his cheeks have gone a bit pink. “I was aware you had…a date, tonight,” he says, slowly, “and—when you were not back by a reasonable time—well, forgive me for worrying that something may have happened to you.” His soda can begins to bend inward. “I wasn’t fancying the idea of having to tack on all of your work atop mine, is all.”

“Sure,” Newt says. He’d be touched, he thinks, if Hermann wasn’t the worst. “Anyway, look, I promise I’ll stay out of your hair—Tendo told us to behave ourselves. Just wanted to brighten your night real fast.”

Hermann snorts. “He warned me similarly. Well—in the interest of civility, I suppose I should compliment your costume.”

The grin vanishes off Newt’s face. Any feelings of good will towards Hermann—any sentimental feelings of companionability—that have been steadily building vanish with it. “Costume?” he says.

“Yes,” Hermann says. He waves his cane up and down, vaguely, over Newt. “Costume. ‘S better than mine, all I’ve got are some bloody vampire fangs in my pocket I haven’t even bothered to put on. You’re a clown, are you not?”

Briefly, Newt considers upending Hermann’s soda can over his head, or maybe indulging in a repeat of the Valentine’s Day party and using that whole fucking black cauldron. Instead, he just blushes and scowls. “Do you have to be such a jackass all the time?” he snaps. “No, I’m not dressed up like a fucking clown. These are my date clothes. A clown—that’s something coming from you, Doctor Sweatervest, you wouldn’t know fashion if it crawled out of the fucking Breach and stomped on you.”

Hermann looks mortified. Good—he should. “Newton—I didn’t—"

“Have a fun time,” Newt says, and storms off.

The thing about Hermann is that he’s a real square who knows exactly how to get under Newt’s skin, even when he doesn’t mean it; the thing about Newt is that he’s majorly cool and knows exactly how to get under Hermann’s skin, and he almost always means it. Newt thinks, if they were other people, he might consider them Frenemies, but he really can’t imagine a world in which Hermann would ever willingly be his friend, so half of that is a bust. Besides, Hermann’s not really his enemy either. He’s more of a…rival. Though it does complicate things severely when Newt takes into account how bad Hermann wants to get into his pants.

“That’s really great and all,” the guy Newt’s been chatting up by the snack table says, “but I don’t have any idea who you’re talking about.”

“It’s just like,” Newt says, “I know he wants me. I’ve caught him staring at my ass, like, twenty times in the lab. And when the eyeball incident happened—he was way too happy to strip me down for the emergency shower.” The event was very conflicting for Newt, too, to be quite honest, and he still looks back on it (Hermann, shouting at him and calling him an idiot, while ripping off his sizzling clothing) with a mixture of annoyance and arousal. He shrugs. “I just don’t know why he doesn’t admit it to himself. We’d all be happier. Can you believe he said I was dressed like a clown?”

“Uh-huh,” the guy says. “Look, Dr. Geiszler, I’m just trying to get some pretzels.”

“What?” Newt says. “Oh. Sorry. Here—” He uses a plastic spoon to scoop some out onto his new friend’s orange paper plate, and finds himself alone again very swiftly.

It’s not like the clown comment ruined his night or anything. It’s just that he hasn’t been able to stop thinking about it, once, or stop talking about it either, and every time he does, he feels angry and embarrassed all over again, and maybe sort of wants revenge against Hermann for it. He think he might know how to get it, too.

Hermann is lurking in the same place Newt left him, though instead of his soda can, he’s tensely nursing a paper cup. His name is Sharpied across it in his familiar scribble. Newt announces himself by wrapping his fingers around Hermann’s, raising the cup to his lips, and taking a sip. (It’s more soda.) “Hey, Hermann,” he says.

Hermann stares at him blankly; a familiar blush is making its way back to his cheeks. “Ah,” he says. “Hello.”

“What’s up?” Newt says. He scoots in next to Hermann until their shoulders touch; then, for good measure, he brushes his hand over the one Hermann has clenched firmly on his cane. He feels Hermann shiver. “You having fun?”

“Not—” Hermann clears his throat. He’s looking down at their hands. “Er. Not particularly.”

“Sorry to hear that,” Newt says, and (this time, settling his hand on top of Hermann’s) adds in a low voice, “I bet I could make it more exciting.”

The revenge plan was pretty simple. Preying upon Hermann’s obvious feelings for him, Newt would seduce him, get halfway through makeouts in some secluded hallway, and then pull away and be like just kidding! You suck!, announce he was going to find the sexy ranger he had a date with tonight who was totally into him, and go enjoy the rest of the party while Hermann—well, moped, Newt guessed. At least understood how Newt felt earlier. Except once they actually start making out, Newt realizes that’s kind of fucked up of him, and if Hermann tried the reverse (not that Newt has feelings for Hermann, obviously, but like—hypothetically), Newt would probably lock himself up in his quarters and cry for weeks. Plus, Hermann is apparently kind of awesome at making out?

“I take it your date did not go well,” Hermann breathes in his ear. “I can’t say I mind very much. Will you pull my hair again?”

Newt’s going to examine all this later. “Fuck yeah,” he says.

[mexcraziness-art]

Pacific Rim: Chris and Daisy

I wanted to re-draw some old OCs I never finished, so here you have Chris and Daisy from Pacific Rim! It's been forever damn, 2013 seems like a lifetime ago... I'm so happy that I finally get to draw my OCs actually looking like how I always wanted them to after all these years! How far we've come!

Jesus this took me forever to write, idk why but suddenly I forgot how to word, so this is pretty bad but I just had to force this out of myself so I could work on other stuff.

I also got myself emotional about Chuck which is a whole other rabbit hole.

Anyways, here you have it!

Jaegerling Project:

Jaegerlings are built and work like Jaegers, except they’re about half the size and can be piloted by 1 Pilot alone. They weren’t made for fighting the Kaiju, instead they were individually developed for cleaning up dead Kaiju, city rubble, and help with the rebuilding works. The project was short lived as the PPDC decided it was more worth it to focus their resources on building more Jaegers, so very few Jaegerlings were actually built and much less survived.

Most notable Jaegerlings:

   -          PaciFist: Built to help move Kaiju carcasses and destroyed Jaegers

   -          Criminality: Built to clean up city rubble and help with rebuilding.

Name: Christine „Chris” Smith (Kovács Krisztina) Born: 1999. May 1st (Taurus) Age: 26 (Operation Pitfall) Gender: Female Rank: -          PPDC Ranger (Formerly) -          J-Tech Officer

Jaegers: -          PaciFist (Former Pilot) -          Pacific-R.I.M. (Former Pilot) (Pacific-Robust Integrated Mechanism) -          Striker Eureka (Head Mechanic)

History:

1999. May 1st: Chris was born in Hungary. Her Mother left when she was young and she was left with her Father. She had a natural talent for machines since she was young and essentially grew up in her Father’s mechanic shop.

2013: When the Kaiju attacked her Father was always vocally thankful it’s happening as far from them as possible, and for a time she agreed. However when the attacks didn’t stop she began to feel helpless and angry that they aren’t doing a good enough job of stopping them. She had the insatible urge to DO something.

2014: When the first Jaegers were born she immeadetly knew THAT’S where she had to be. However her father was heavily against her doing anything near the Jaeger Program, specially how it was still in baby shoes. So she decided to run away to join the Jaeger Program for the greater good. She took on a whole new persona, going as far as pretending to be a boy, to avoid her Father tracking her down and to avoid him finding out if anything happened to her. She made friends with a military doctor who helped her fake her gender all the way through the Academy. She was a promising pilot but her personality didn’t match up with anyone and they failed to find her a pilot for the longest time. She was closed off and distant with nearly everyone, mainly in fear of being found out, but otherwise got along moderalty with generally everyone. Until she met Daisy at the Academy, who got under her skin right away, she had an immediate distaste towards her and they kept butting heads and getting into bigger and bigger conflicts. It also frustrated her how easily Daisy got her flustered which she didn’t dare to think too deeply about. When they were proved to be potentially drift compatible Chris was conflicted, she didn’t want to drift with Daisy of all people, but she wanted to be a pilot more than anything, in the end she decided this is the risk she has to take.

During their test drift Daisy found out Chris is actually a girl faking her identity at the Academy and in a moment of shock she accidentally outed her. Chris outraged and out for vengence did some digging around and found out Daisy’s parent’s donation to the PPDC, and as a result they’re both looking to get kicked out from the PPDC. However thanks to their potential and great scores, they both get an offer from the PPDC, they’re dismissed from the normal Jaeger Program, but they could become the first test pilots of the Jaegerling Project. Chris immeadetly volunteers, unaware Daisy will be involved as well.

2016:  After „graduating” Chris gets assigned to the Jaegerling called PaciFist and spends the following years moving Kaiju carcasses and destroyed Jaegers after the battles. She’s content with her job, not what she had in mind but she can still prove herself useful, while still studying Jaeger ont he side.

2017: Until one day there’s a Kaiju attack that couldn’t have been intercepted by a Jaeger in time. Chris was stationed in a nearby Shatterdome with her Jaegerling, while Daisy was working out in the city helping to re-build with R.I.M. and they decided to risk their lives holding back the Kaiju now called Ryujin until the Jaeger arrives. Both R.I.M. and PaciFist were very badly damaged in the battle but the Jaeger arrived in time saving Daisy and Chris’s lives as well. The Kaiju’s body was never recovered but they assumed it died. Both Daisy and Chris gets an unspecificed time recovery leave, their Jaegerlings dismantled, waiting for further orders.

2018 : They’re summoned by Marshal Stacker Pentecost. He offers them a brand new Jaeger to co-pilot, built from the remaining parts of both PaciFist and R.I.M., called Pacific-R.I.M. Chris is relucant to accept the offer, both at the fact that they nearly died last time, and the fact that she’d have to pilot with Daisy. However after some unvoncing and apologising from Daisy she accepts and decides to give their teamwork a chance. After long hard work they becom an unstoppable team, their drift compatibility one of the best. Chris’s flusteredness towards Daisy returns as the other girl begind to flirt with her as the time passes. Soon she realises she likes the other girl as well and they begin dating.

They piloted Pacific-R.I.M. together for 3 years.

2021: They did a couple of double drops with Striker Eureka, who they proved to be a good team with. Chris had a bit of a friendly rivarly going with Chuck whenever they met in person. One day while they were stationed at the same Shatterdome, Ryujin re-emerged. Pacific-R.I.M. got deployed first and almost killed the Kaiju, but the tide turned on them and Pacific-RI.M. got badly damaged. Chris got hurt badly, and her side of the Jaeger short circuited. Daisy ejected the hurt Chris out of an escape pod and stayed to hold back Ryujin herself. Striker Eureka joined the battle soon and finished off Ryujin but Pacific-R.I.M. was beyond saving this time. They recovered Daisy, barely alive and in critical condition. She lost her left leg from the knee down and her nervous system suffered heavy damage too. Chris stayed by her side for months, but the guilt was killing her and she decided she can’t watch Daisy waste away anymore, so she left.

She went back home to her Father, who welcomed her with open arms. It turned out even if at first he was panicked and outraged she left, in the present he’s proud of her, how far she has come and how much she has done. This gave her enough will to get her fighting spirit back again. She knew she could never pilot another Jaeger again, not without Daisy, so she threw herself into J-Tech and became a mechanic. At the least she could help by fixing and upgrading the Jaegers between battles.

2023: She became the head of Striker Eureka’s mechanic team, where she met Chuck and Herc again. A few years ago she would have given anything to get to work on Striker but now she would give anything to get „a few years ago” back. Chuck became an annoying brat since last time she saw him and she was more than ready to deck him. Which she did sometimes when they decided to take out their problems in sparring sessions. They butted hands on working Striker as well since Chuck preffered to work on her as well while Chris believed it was a job for the mechanics only. Through all this they grew really close and started to help eachother out with their problems. It wasn’t a good solution to either of their issues but it was something. In the end they became basically „more than best friends with benefits”, neither of them ever admitted they „dated” but Chris loved him regardless. They drifted eactly once in a simulator and they were so in sync it was considered pairing them up for a Jaeger which Chris refused in Daisy’s memory.

2025: She got re-located to the Hong Kong Shatterdome along with Striker’s whole crew. There she was re-united with Daisy, which she didn’t take well. All the guilt that’s been the back of her mind all this time came crashing back as the old wounds re-opened. Chuck convinced to go talk with Daisy, meanwhile she convinced Chuck to talk with Raleigh. She apologised and confessed all her guilt to Daisy, who after a small fight forgave her, because she wasn’t sure what she would have done in her place either. After Chuck died she was heartbroken, they stayed with Daisy and they helped eachother heal. Soon it turned out she got accidentally pregnant, Daisy stayed by her side the whole time and after she gave birth they officially got back together.

Personality: Chris had been an emotional person all her life, she thinks with her heart first and foremost. However because of this she has a tendency to have emotional outbursts if she’s put under lots of stress as the logical side of her brain struggles against her emotions. Because of this she developed a level of anger issues she tries to get better from. She usually tries to hold back all her emotions and put up a cold and distant front. Because of this she became a grumpy and cynical person for a long time. However under all this, she craves emotional intimacy and familiarity. She’s also a rather serious person, who tries to follow the rules the best she can. As long as she agrees with them. As soon as she runs into a rule that requires her to go against her own morals she yeets out the rulebook the window.

Name: Daisy Grande Born: 1997. August 20th (Leo) Age: 28 (Operation Pitfall) Gender: Female Rank: -          PPDC Ranger (Formerly) -          K-Science Officer

Jaegers: -          Criminality (Former Pilot) -          Pacific-Rim (Former Pilot) -          K-Science (Biology Research)

History:

1997. August 20th: Daisy was born into a very rich family, in France. Her parents were big investors in science development. She had a strong natural charisma ever since she was little, popular, confident, always the center of the attention, a natural leader. Like her parents she always wanted to make a difference in the world growning up and she developed a knack for biology along the way.

2013 : When the Kaiju attacked and the PPDC was founded she immediately wanted to join the Jaeger Academy, and her parents figured where else would she be the safest in the world than with the PPDC? So they quietly donated a huge amount of money to the PPDC to accept her to the Academy BUT keep her out of any actually dangerous service.

2014: She joined the Academy amongst the first people. Like anywhere else she was popular at the Academy amongst the other cadets and with her officers, however when she met Chris, who really didn’t like her, she was amused by him, so she kept teasing him and trying to get a rise out of him whenever she could. Their constant conflicts revealed them to be promisingly drift compatible, which Daisy found even more amusing. During their test drift she found out Chris is actually a girl faking her identity at the Academy and in a moment of shock she accidentally outs her. What she didn’t expect was that in revenge Chris did some digging around and found out her parent’s donation to the PPDC, and as a result they’re both looking to get kicked out from the PPDC. Daisy was outraged by her parents going behind her back, everything she thought she achieved by herself for once had been a lie. Almost everything. They both get an offer from the PPDC, they’re dismissed from the normal Jaeger Program, but they could become the first test pilots of the Jaegerling Project. Daisy accepts the offer, more than eager to prove herself. Little does she know Chris also joined the Project until they’re forced to work side by side.

2016:  After „graduating” Daisy gets assigned to the Jaegerling Criminality. For the following year she cleans up and helps rebuild destroyed cities.

2017: Until one day there’s a Kaiju attack that couldn’t have been intercepted by a Jaeger in time. Chris was stationed in a nearby Shatterdome with her Jaegerling, while Daisy was working out in the city helping to re-build with Criminality and they decided to risk their lives holding back the Kaiju now called Ryujin until the Jaeger arrives. Both Criminality and PaciFist were very badly damaged in the battle but the Jaeger arrived in time saving Daisy and Chris’s lives as well. The Kaiju’s body was never recovered but they assumed it died. Both Daisy and Chris gets an unspecificed time recovery leave, their Jaegerlings dismantled, waiting for further orders.

2018 : They’re summoned by Marshal Stacker Pentecost. He offers them a brand new Jaeger to co-pilot, built from the remaining parts of both PaciFist and Criminality, called Pacific-R.I.M. Daisy, excatic at the chance to become official PPDC Rangers accepts, and convinces Chris to accept too. After long hard work they becom an unstoppable team, their drift compatibility one of the best. As they grew closer Daisy started to develop feelings for Chris. At first she was in mild gay panic but she quickly came around to embrace her feelings and started to playfully flirt with the other girl. Soon they began dating.

They piloted Pacific-R.I.M. together for 3 years.

2021: They did a couple of double drops with Striker Eureka, who they proved to be a good team with. One day while they were stationed at the same Shatterdome, Ryujin re-emerged. Pacific-R.I.M. got deployed first and almost killed the Kaiju, but the tide turned on them and Pacific-RI.M. got badly damaged. Daisy ejected the hurt Chris out of an escape pod and stayed to hold back Ryujin herself. Striker Eureka joined the battle soon and finished off Ryujin but Pacific-R.I.M. was beyond saving this time. They recovered Daisy, barely alive and in critical condition. She lost her left leg from the knee down and her nervous system suffered heavy damage too. She was in coma for 2 years.

2023: She woke u pin to find Chris had left the PPDC, and her, and she was told she could probably never drive a car again, let alone pilot a Jaeger. Her nervous system damage requires constant medication. She felt beyond despaired and betrayed and refused to leave her bed her weeks. Her parents visited her a couple of times but their pity „I told you so” attitude only made her angry. Her old fire of proving them wrong came back and decided to prove them wrong once again. She threw herself into K-Science, mostly to find a way to fix her nervous system, but also to understand Kaijus better. Soon enough she was trading messeges with Newton Geiszler and occasionally working together with him.

2025: She moved to the Hong Kong shatterdome with the other scientists where she was re-united with Chris. She was still bitter Chris just left her like that, but she understood, and deep down still held her old love for her. However seeing her with Chuck Hansen (she found the fact that she was dating Chuck of all people super amusing) now she decided to just stay friendly, there was no need making things more miserable before the end of the world. Chris did apologise to her and they had a long talk about their old and current relationship. After Chuck sacrificed himself in Operation Pitfall, she stayed by Chris’s side, supporting eachother as they grew close again. After Chris gave birth they got back together and raised the kid together.

Personality: Daisy has a strong reasonable and charismatic personality and a logical mind. She easily gets along with nearly everyone and understands others’ motives even if she doesn’t like them or agrees with them. She’s stubborn and tougher than most people would give her credit for. Because her parents always gave her everything she ever needed she has a strong urge to prove herself, to prove she really does worth as much as she thinks she does. She also has a sassy and kinda charming humor, that tends to annoy more serious minded people. Because despite her reasonable leader-like personality she is actually an easy going almost trouble making person. Actually she is a trouble maker. Rules were never her forte as she never really had to hear „no” in her life that often, this is both her greatest weakness and greatest advantage. She always keeps pushing on if she’s told no. This could either lead to a scientific discovery, or a harsh dressing down by her superiors. But most of all, behind all this, she’s a really kind and forgiving person, but she doesn’t give her care just to anyone.

Well that turned out to be long...

Art by @mexcraziness

Chris and Daisy belong to @mexcraziness

Pacific Rim belongs to  Guillermo del Toro

[equallyreal]

Unsolicited Opinion: The Characters of Pacific Rim (Part V)

Quick sidebar before we start the main essay, but who else is ready to fight Burn Gorman over his cryptic comments about how Newt and Hermann’s relationship has changed in Pacific Rim: Uprising? Burn, buddy, I love you, but you can’t tease me with these details when I have to wait another month. I can’t do it, man.

Anyways, on to the actual essay.

A common complaint about the film Pacific Rim is that the characters are kind of archetypal and flat and therefore boring. This is an assessment I soundly disagree with, for two reasons. One, being derived from archetype isn’t a bad thing as long as you do it well. Two, the characters of Pacific Rim, in my opinion, subvert or play with the archetype they’re derived from in interesting ways. This essay series will cover the ways the narrative achieves this. As a quick housekeeping note, I will only be using the film to make my points. At most, I may talk about a deleted scene, but the paracanon (novels, art of book, comics, etc.) will not be included in the discussion.

Today will be part two of the German Scientist duo in an essay I like to call, Dr. Hermann Gottlieb is Your Asshole Cat. As with my Newt essay, I’ll be keeping discussion of the two of them as a unit to a minimum, though there will be more talk of it here because a lot of Hermann’s plot and characterization hinges on how he relates to Newt.

To re-state a few points made in my Newt essay, the archetype that is shared between these two characters are the Scientist/Nerd. The general traits of this archetype are that they a) provide a lot of exposition, b) are generally ignored at least once by the main characters (and sometimes without any repercussions at all), c) have wildly eccentric personalities that lend themselves to comic relief, and d) don’t really do much beyond the abovementioned traits. Again, while the last archetype doesn’t always apply, it does usually apply to side characters like Hermann. Hermann, again, does provide a lot of exposition, and he does have an eccentric personality. His personality leads him to fall into two different subtypes of Scientist/Nerds. He also happens to be a subversion of both in ways that are fascinatingly interconnected.

Before we get to that, though, let’s cover the fact that Hermann, like Newt, actually is respected in his field and actually does get things done. Hermann has less action than Newt, to be sure, but his predictive model is used and respected by Stacker during the mission. It ends up being instrumental to the plot, and moreover they never would’ve figured out that the Breach reads genetic material without Hermann’s help. He’s not just sitting behind a desk wringing his hands—he’s actually doing things, and pretty dangerous things, too. Not as dangerous as being nearly eaten by two (2) different Kaiju in the space of a few hours, sure, but drifting with an alien hivemind and a dude whom you might not actually be Drift Compatible with is nothing to sneeze at.

Now, on to the subtypes of Nerd that are Hermann Gottlieb. The first of the subtypes is The Professor. You see these from time to time—usually British, usually wear a bow tie, very proper, probably don’t have any friends outside of their department. They’re stuffy, they’re out of touch, they probably don’t know what a cell phone is, or if they have one it’s a flip phone. Hermann does have a lot of these traits—sort of British (the character is German according to paracanon details, but seeing how they kept Burn Gorman’s accent and he says “by Jove” we’ll put him down as Basically British). He wears a blazer and a button-up. He walks with a cane (quick side note: while Hermann being visibly disabled isn’t a defiance of any archetype, it is nice to see a visibly disabled important character in a science fiction work, so jot that down). He’s stuffy about his rank, and definitely set up to be a deliberate visual and personality contrast to Newt. Newt is a punk rocker with no respect for authority. Hermann salutes military officers when he doesn’t have to and dresses like he’s been teaching math at Oxford for fifty years.

There’s one big thing that defies the archetype, though. If you didn’t catch it in the title, that trait is that Hermann Gottlieb is a catty bitch.

This is not a bad thing. In fact, I love every second of it. But before we talk about what the fact that Hermann is awful, let’s talk about the ways in which he’s less awful, but still different than what you’d expect from his character type. I’ve established in this series that most Pacific Rim characters have a line that really underlines their character. This is Hermann’s:

“Numbers do not lie. Politics and poetry, promises, these are lies. Numbers are as close as we get to the handwriting of God.”

There’s a lot to pick apart here about what this line says about Hermann’s worldview and such. The important detail we’ll be focusing on, however, is that Hermann says poetry is a lie…while being as dramatic and poetic as possible. Hermann is not a stiff-upper-lip type professor. He gestures, he prepares little holographic power points, he uses the phrase handwriting of God even as he tries to distance himself from that exact kind of language. Not only that, but he’s visibly emotional at several points in the film, showing concern, fear, and joy in a way that says he either doesn’t care who notices, or he’s completely incapable of controlling his face (either option is good). Characters of his subtype tend to be either robotic and very “emotions are dumb”, or very flowery and enthusiastic. Finding a character who tries to be one while actually being the other is interesting, gives Hermann a chance to work outside the usual boundaries of his character, and is kind of adorable to boot. Seriously, I won’t lie: I love this line to death.

And now, let’s return to the subject of how Hermann is terrible.

Keep in mind that his treatment of Newt is 100% warranted. Newt is terrible to Hermann for most of the run time. That kind of peer-bullying isn’t an uncommon dynamic, but Hermann isn’t purely Newt’s victim. He dishes it out just as much as he takes it. Even when he’s being nice, he’s mean. For instance, him saying, “Please excuse him, he’s a Kaiju grrroupie, he loves them” after Newt shoves his foot in his mouth is definitely a way of defusing a potentially volatile situation. But it also involves insulting Newt to his face, taking away any potential malice by saying, “No, he’s not being cruel, he’s just an idiot.” Really, Hermann will take any excuse he can get to insult Newt, including interrupting Newt’s exposition to call his plan crazy, in front of the two highest ranking people in the Shatterdome, no less. He barely waits until Stacker and Herc are out of the room before he starts gloating that Stacker liked his plan better. Again, Newt is awful to him, and I definitely understand why Hermann responds the way he does. I don’t point this out to say that Hermann is a bad person or anything. Newt deserves being told not to embarrass himself. It’s just not something you usually see in stuffy British professor sorts. That level of vitriol is unusual, and hysterical. I’d consider it a selling point for Hermann’s character.

It also slots him neatly into a character subtype that’s fairly easy to recognize, because it’s gained a lot of traction in recent years. I’m going to call this subtype the Asshole Academic. If you want an example, just turn on CBS and wait for a rerun of Big Bang Theory to come on. Sheldon Cooper is pretty much the Trope Codifier for this subtype. In the video “The Adorkable Misogyny of the Big Bang Theory”, Pop Culture Detective refers to this behavior as being “too smart to understand or care to understand what’s socially acceptable and what’s not”, and what that basically translates to is being an asshole to everyone. Hermann has shades of this in his treatment of Newt. It’s especially interesting to note in his dismissive attitude towards Newt’s branch of science and trains of thought. Newt exhibits the same line of thinking with regards to Hermann’s science, sure, but Newt never demands respect for his scientific accomplishments. Hermann does. He wants to be called Doctor, he refers to his “ten years of decorated experience in the field.” But Newt doesn’t get the same respect that Hermann wants, because in his mind Newt is a Kaiju-smelling idiot who by all rights probably should’ve died from his antics years ago.

(He never says this directly, but let’s be real, you can read it in between the lines.)

There are two things that jar him from this archetype, however. First of all, Newt is the only person he treats like this. Granted, this is hard to gauge when Hermann talks to a total of three characters, but he’s hyper-respectful to Stacker every time they’re onscreen, and cordial to Herc even when Herc snaps at him for griping about Newt in the middle of a briefing. Hermann seems to be the kind of guy who’s respectful by default, until you’re an asshole to him. As we’ve established, Newt is terrible to Hermann. They’re mutually terrible to each other—except for when they’re not.

That moment of when they’re not is what fully jars Hermann out of this subtype. There is a definitive moment when Hermann stops being terrible to Newt, and that’s when Newt almost dies. Hermann might be perpetually frustrated with Newt, and he might question Newt’s information one last time before being told to shut up, but he also gets Newt a glass of water and immediately gets him help. We never hear him say I told you this would kill you or hold it over Newt’s head that he almost died. While there is apparently some deleted footage of the two of them post him finding Newt, what is said between them is lost to time (also, Dark Del Toro release the forbidden Pacific Rim footage), and thus we can only assume that his response to finding Newt half-dead on the floor was to help him up, then go get Stacker without being a dick about it. That’s huge coming from the guy who could barely pass up an opportunity to indirectly call Newt a troglodyte. There’s also subtle glimpses of the dynamic shift during their conversation pre-Kaiju Drift, when Hermann is perplexed as to why there’s only two Kaiju and not three like he predicted. Newt is lowkey kind of an asshole about the whole thing, but Hermann isn’t really an asshole back. He says “I’m not wrong”, but never “No, you’re wrong, I’m right.” He says, “There’s something we don’t understand”, a comment that puts some of the blame for the situation on his own shoulders—Newt doesn’t have all the answers, but neither does Hermann, and he’s going to admit it. It’s a small detail, but a definite shift from his earlier “I’m definitely right and you’re definitely wrong” mentality.

Then there’s the Kaiju Drift. Everyone who knows about this film and loves this character has talked about this scene to death, so you’ve definitely read analysis of it if you’re a fan. One detail I want to focus on is the fact that it’s Hermann who holds out his hand to Newt, offering help. Again, coming from a guy who’s been predominantly harsh and dismissive, it’s a big deal. Sure, Hermann tries to mask it by pointing out that the alternative is the world ending, but he’s way too enthusiastic about the whole thing for it to be just duty. There’s no resignation, no hesitation about the fact that a guy he’s had multiple screaming matches with is about to poke around in his brain, no superiority. He’s nervous, absolutely, but he also attempts a fist bump/handshake, smiles, and says “own this thing” like a total nerd. Not to mention, there’s the fact that he also soft-initiates the bro hug they share in their final screen, shooting closer with a smile on his face that’s far removed from the grumpy scowl we saw him wearing a few hours earlier. Hermann might be an asshole to Newt, but he ultimately cares, and is more than willing to put aside his vitriol when Newt—and the world—needs it. That’s a hugely magnanimous gesture that you don’t usually see from the Asshole Academic.

In conclusion, Hermann, like Newt, is a bundle of contradictions—a very ordinary man who is both terrible and great, an asshole and a good friend, a man of logic and numbers who does the most illogical thing possible in the name of saving the planet. He moves beyond his archetype through his strong emotions and strong heart. Here’s hoping the sequel film is kind to him; I have high hopes that they’ll at least get his character right, but I wouldn’t say no to a character arc that’s a bit more standalone than the one in this film. Also, seriously, Burn, what do you mean Newt and Hermann’s relationship is more emotional? What does that mean, Burn Gorman?!

That’s all for this essay. Tune in next time for an essay I’m actually surprised I’m writing, in which we take a look at Chuck Hansen, the fakest Aussie in the world. If you like what you read and want to help me write more four-page single-spaced essays about the characters of Pacific Rim (not quite four full pages, but I was close!), consider leaving a donation on ko-fi or becoming a patron (links in the blog bio). Also, you should consider checking out my original fiction while you’re at it. I’m currently posting a fantasy story where half the party has anxiety and there are dragons (also linked in the blog bio). And thanks for reading!

[dailyironfamily]

day 22 - pacific rim au

Day twenty-two of the November Fic Challenge is a Pacific Rim AU! My one hundred percent self indulgent prompt for the list, I love PacRim AUs. Established Pepper/Tony with future Pepper/Tony/Rhodey, featuring the boys as Jaeger pilots and Pepper as a Shatterdome tech.

Tony and Rhodey share everything. They have no secrets, haven’t since they became best friends in the Jaeger Academy, and that’s even before they started drifting together. Tony trusts Rhodey with his life, and he knows Rhodey feels the same about him. So why the hell is Rhodey being so shifty lately?

“This is the third time you’ve pushed back testing our Conn-Pod upgrades this week,” Tony says, frowning even though Rhodey can’t see him over the phone. “What gives?”

“Sorry, Tony. I’ve just been real busy,” Rhodey replies, apologetic, and normally Tony would believe him, but Rhodey hasn’t said what he’s been busy with at all. “Next week we’ll get it done, I swear.”

“What if a kaiju attacks in the meantime?”

“Then we’ll test the upgrades on the fly. Stop worrying so much, Tones. Take Pepper out for dinner tonight or something. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Rhodey―” Tony scowls at his phone as the bastard actually hangs up on him. Fine then, if Rhodey wants to be secretive, Tony’ll just have to figure it out himself.

Pepper meets him in the mess hall for dinner, which is hardly a date, but she’s been working late this week too. Tony snags an extra brownie from the food line and slides it across the table at her as he asks,

“Has Rhodey been acting weird around you?”

“Define weird,” Pepper answers, taking the brownie anyway.

“He keeps putting off this testing. We’ve drifted a million times before, and you know he trusts your work implicitly. So what’s he worried about?”

“Maybe he really is just busy,” she suggests. She eats her dessert first, which is one of the many reasons Tony loves her. “Did you ask him?”

“Yeah, he says he’s busy too. It seems fishy, though.”

“Have you considered that whatever it is, maybe it’s none of your business?”

Tony snorts. Loudly. “Good joke, Pepper.”

“I wasn’t joking.” She licks the last remnants of brownie from the paper, then scrunches it up and drops it on her tray. “Just because you’re basically the same person doesn’t mean you have to actually share everything. He can have secrets.”

“Well I don’t like it,” Tony says, pouting. “How am I supposed to fix it if I don’t know what’s wrong?”

Pepper reaches across the table and takes his hand in hers. “Not everything has to be fixed, Tony.”

“Have you met me? Engineer, remember?”

“I know, darling.” She gives his hand a squeeze, then draws back and starts on the rest of her meal. “Whatever it is, I’m sure Rhodey will tell you eventually. If it’s important.”

Tony sighs, but he can’t help being worried. If it’s bad enough that Rhodey doesn’t want to drift with him right now, it’s got to be pretty damn bad. He just hopes it’s not friendship-ruining bad.

Sparring has never been Tony’s favorite. Rhodey was a Jumphawk pilot before they got tapped for the Jaeger program, and he’s always been in much better shape than Tony. Rhodey says sparring practice isn’t about winning and losing, it’s about being in sync with your partner, but of course Rhodey would say that, he always wins.

Today, however, his focus is off. Tony gets in a few good hits with his bo staff before backing off, looking at Rhodey with a frown.

“Seriously? Whatever this is, it’s throwing off your fighting game too?”

Rhodey huffs and picks himself up off the mat, resetting his stance. “Whatever what is?”

“Whatever’s got you so jumpy around me!”

Rhodey sighs, lowering his staff. “Nothing’s throwing off my game, okay? You just got lucky. Now come on and let’s get back to it so I can kick your ass.”

Tony just drops his staff, not wanting to fight if Rhodey is going to keep avoiding the problem. “Rhodey, I’m serious.”

“I’m serious too! Why don’t you believe me?”

“Because you’re not acting like yourself!” They’re getting louder now, and a few people look over at them, but Tony ignores them all. “Don’t you trust me?”

“Of course I do,” Rhodey says, taking a step closer. “Which is why I’m telling you there’s nothing wrong.”

“So stop canceling our Conn-Pod test.”

“I’m not canceling them for fun, Tony,” Rhodey snaps, a little annoyed now.

Tony knows he should probably back off, but he’s already in too deep. “Then why are you running around like some guy sneaking off behind his girlfriend’s back?”

“What, you think I’ve got some secret other drift partner? We’re not dating, Tony.”

“Yeah, well, good!” Tony grabs his staff from the floor, scowling as he pushes past Rhodey out of the ring. “I wouldn’t want to date you anyway! Maybe I don’t even want to be your drift partner, if you’re gonna lie to me all the time.”

Rhodey doesn’t say anything or try to stop him, so Tony just keeps going, dropping his staff with the rest of the equipment and walking right out the door.

Tony really messed up this time. Pepper keeps pressing him about the Conn-Pod testing, but Rhodey’s spent the last two days off base and it’s probably all Tony’s fault. Definitely all Tony’s fault. He needs to apologize, but he can’t if Rhodey keeps avoiding him.

“Can you like, pull rank and get him to come back for testing?” Tony asks Pepper that second evening.

“You really want to drift with him like this?” she points out, eyebrow raised. “The neural connection will be all over the place.”

“That’s the perfect opportunity to fix the bridge, right? At least he’ll know I’m sincere when I apologize.”

Pepper sighs but says, “I’ll tell him we need to check the upgrades before the end of the week.”

For a while Tony thinks even that won’t be enough, but Rhodey shows up two days later, apologizing to Pepper and the rest of their J-Tech team. He and Tony finally suit up, and Tony keeps throwing nervous glances at him.

“Rhodey...” he starts, when they’ve got everything but their helmets on, but Rhodey interrupts before he can say anything else.

“Save it, Tony,” Rhodey replies, but he doesn’t sound mad, just...resigned. “See if you still want to apologize after this.”

Tony frowns, puzzled by the odd comment, but they’re putting on their helmets and hooking into the Conn-Pod and he can’t ask anything else about it now without their conversation being broadcast to the rest of the team.

“Whiskey Tango,” Pepper’s voice comes over the P.A. system. “Ready to initiate?”

“Ready,” Tony and Rhodey say at the same time.

“Pilots are a go. Initializing neural handshake.”

Tony closes his eyes, lets his mind empty. Pepper’s still speaking over the P.A., running through the steps of the test, but until he has to do something himself, he lets himself float. Drifting is almost like being underwater, but with someone holding your hand the entire time. It’s not a physical presence so much as knowing that if you close your hand, your partner’s hand will be there, always.

When he closes his hand this time, Rhodey isn’t there.

The flood of memories takes him by surprise. Him and Pepper, laughing in the lab with Bruce and Jane. Pepper in Mission Control with Marshal Fury. Tony working on schematics for a new pulse weapon for Whiskey Tango. The two of them stealing kisses in a corridor after a mission briefing, the first time he ever went out for a real kaiju fight. They’re memories of him but they’re not his memories―it’s like looking at a recording.

“Ranger Rhodes,” he hears from very far away, “do not chase the rabbit, I repeat, do not chase the rabbit or we will have to abort the test.”

He ignores it, the words insignificant when what he needs is to find Rhodey. These are Rhodey’s memories, and these feelings that are engulfing him, that threaten to pull him down into the abyss, they’re all Rhodey’s.

He tears himself away from the swirling memories, looking for Rhodey in the here and now. There’s a bloom of anger, of fear, dark and murky in the ocean of the drift, and Tony runs for it, reaches out. When he closes his hand again, this time he’s got him, Rhodey’s hand clasped tightly in his, anchoring him.

“Cut off the handshake!” he shouts out loud, hoping the techs in Mission Control heard him.

Seconds later the neural connection snaps, and Tony’s left feeling cold and alone, his hand empty. He rips his helmet off and gasps for real air, pulling himself out of the harness without waiting for anyone to come help. He runs to Rhodey’s side, helping him down, even though he feels like strangling him himself.

“You idiot,” he hisses, steadying Rhodey as he steps off the platform, but Rhodey’s not listening to him, apologizing on repeat.

“I’m so sorry, I tried to clear my head, I swear, that’s what I’ve been doing these past several days,” he babbles, grasping for Tony’s hand. “You were never supposed to find out―”

“How could I miss something like that!” Tony may be oblivious to certain things, but Rhodey’s feelings in the drift had never been clearer. “You love me.”

“Don’t,” Rhodey whispers, looking frightened.

“You love me and my girlfriend.” Tony’s not sure which is more impossible, that Rhodey cares for him like that, or that two people do.

“I’m sorry,” Rhodey says again, trying to pull away, but Tony doesn’t let go.

“Stop apologizing! It’s okay.”

“What do you mean, it’s okay? You can tell me I’m being a creep, tell me to leave you alone, whatever you need.”

Tony has no idea why Rhodey thinks he’d say something like that. “What are you talking about? You’re not a creep.”

“Last week you said you didn’t even want to be my drift partner anymore!”

In the silence that follows that statement, the door to the Conn-Pod is thrown open, Jaeger techs and emergency personnel pouring in. He hears the tell-tale click of Pepper’s high heels on the steel floor and says,

“We’re fine! Everybody out except Pepper!”

There’s some grumbling, but his expression must be serious enough that everyone leaves. Pepper hurries over to them, giving Tony a worried look.

“Is everything all right?” She looks down at Rhodey, who’s leaning against the wall. “Jim, you were barely two minutes into the test before you went chasing the rabbit awful hard. What happened?”

“I found out why he’s been avoiding the test,” Tony says, but he doesn’t say any more than that. This is Rhodey’s secret to tell, if he’s going to tell it.

Slowly, Rhodey slides down the wall until he’s sitting on the floor. Pepper frowns and goes to kneel beside him, taking his gloved hand in her own.

“I’ve been…struggling with some feelings,” Rhodey admits, glancing up at Tony. “Last week I figured out what they were and I didn’t want Tony to know. I didn’t know what to do because I was sure if we drifted, Tony’d find out right away.”

“What feelings?” Pepper asks, confused. Tony sits down on the floor next to them, putting a comforting hand on Rhodey’s leg.

“I really like you, Pepper. And Tony.” Rhodey glances between them, then sighs. “It’s more than just ‘like.’ So I panicked. And I’m still panicking now, because Tony is being really weird about this.”

Pepper looks at him, and he holds his hands up. “He means I’m not mad at him and he doesn’t understand it.”

“Why would we be mad?” Pepper asks, turning her attention back to Rhodey, confused again.

“Because it’s weird?” Rhodey says. “Every time I drift with Tony I...see things. I know all about you two. It’s inappropriate, especially knowing that I...”

“Love us?” Pepper says, quiet.

Rhodey just nods. “So I understand if you want to find a new partner, Tony, seriously.”

“Are you kidding me?” Tony says, incredulous. “Do you know we have the highest compatibility of anyone in the Shatterdome? It’d be idiotic to break up.”

“But―”

“Besides,” Tony keeps going, not letting Rhodey protest, “it’d be weird to break up as partners and then ask you if you wanted to go on a date with us.”

Rhodey just stares at him. After a long moment of silence, he says, “What?”

“This Friday, maybe? Dinner somewhere that’s not the Mess Hall.”

“You didn’t even ask Pepper―”

“You’re not the only one who can read Tony’s mind,” Pepper says with a slight smile, glancing over at him. “I know he’s had a crush on you since the Academy. We’ve talked about it.”

“And you?”

Pepper shrugs. “I think you’re a good man, James. I wouldn’t have anyone else protecting Tony out there.”

Rhodey falls silent again, looking at the two of them. “You two are absolutely ridiculous.”

“And you love us for it,” Tony reminds him. He stands, then holds out a hand to help Rhodey up. “No secrets in the drift.”

Rhodey stares at his hand, then takes it and stands up as well. “Yeah. I guess I do.”

Pepper leans in and gives him a kiss on the cheek. “See you for dinner Friday? Tony’s paying.”

Tony just grins and says, “So how often have you seen Pepper naked in my head?” just to see Rhodey squirm.

“It’s much better in person,” Pepper assures Rhodey as he sputters. “Now get out of here so the docs can do a psych eval, okay?”

“This is going to be one hell of a report,” Rhodey mutters, shaking his head. Tony slaps him on the back as he passes by him to the door and says,

“I’m sure Fury’s read worse.”

[lentils-writes]

Day 5: Pacific Rim AU

(well, this isn’t short at ALL, I’m sorry)

The LA Shatterdome is pretty new - it’s only been there for about a year, but so far it has two Jaegers (Sigma Hyperion and Corsair Atlas) and there’s talk of adding a third soon. It’s not Kara’s first choice of assignment, but apparently they need a physical trainer with Marines-level experience to work with the Rangers. So she takes the job and shows up at the Shatterdome on her first day, ready to go.

One of the LOCCENT controllers, Bobbi Morse, greets her. “Sergeant Palamas, good to see you,” she says, offering her hand. “I hope the trip here was satisfactory.”

“Fine,” says Kara. “Where to first?”

“This way. We’ll take you through the Shatterdome proper and show you the training room.” Morse leads her through the giant warehouse-style part of the building that houses the enormous Jaegers. They’re so big that Kara has to crane her neck and she still can’t see their heads. “That’s Sigma,” says Morse, pointing at a matte black Jaeger with a sleek design and an eagle-shaped decal on it, “and that’s Corsair.” Corsair is a deep shade of purple and looks like a linebacker.

Kara blinks up at them. “They’re...impressive,” she says. It’s an understatement, but anything would be.

Morse grins at her. “Would you believe me if I said you get used to it? Or at least, I do. We’ve only had a few missions so far, but it’s way better watching them in action. ‘Course, you’ll be working more closely with their pilots.” She gestures for Kara to follow her into the hallway at the other end of the room.

The training room is nice, with plenty of space for a couple dozen people to train comfortably. Kara glances around and nods approvingly. “What style are they used to?”

“I know Ranger May and Ranger Hartley were in the program together, they’re well-versed in kempo. Ranger Coulson I’m not sure of, he might have a mix of styles, and Hunter…” Morse pauses and shakes her head. “Full disclosure, Sergeant, Ranger Hunter is brilliant in a Jaeger, but he’s also lazy as hell.”

Kara snorts. “Sounds like the two of you have a history.”

“Ex-husband,” clarifies Morse, rolling her eyes. “If you hear him mentioning a demon or a she-beast, he probably means me. I’m perfectly capable of professional cordiality, but he on the other hand…”

“Noted,” says Kara, grinning. “I’ll push him. Anything else I should know about any of them?”

“May does yoga every morning at some ridiculous hour, so she’ll take pretty much anything you throw at her. They might have you work with the Strike Troopers too, they handle a lot of the on-the-ground stuff when Kaijus show up. Triplett and Johnson are the squad leaders, and they’ll have the best intel on what works for their squads.”

Kara nods. “Alright.”

She doesn’t actually meet the Rangers until lunchtime, when Morse herds her toward a table where four people are chatting amongst themselves. “Hey,” says Morse, “this is your new trainer, Sergeant Kara Palamas. Be nice.” Then she turns to go.

Kara glances after her, then sits down and gives the group a shaky smile. “Hi.”

“Hi,” says the white middle-aged balding man who offers a hand. “I’m Phil Coulson. Nice to meet you, Sergeant. Mel and I pilot Sigma Hyperion.”

One of the women, white with a bob cut, nods at her. “Isabelle Hartley.”

The other man, slightly younger than Coulson and with a neatly trimmed goatee, smirks. “Lance Hunter, at your service.”

The last woman, Asian with long dark hair, rolls her eyes at Hunter and then says “Melinda May.”

Kara nods, taking note of all the names. “So,” she says, feeling a little awkward. “Morse said we would probably be starting your training regiment tomorrow morning. You should know a little about me in the meantime. I grew up in the Chicago area, four point oh, all that jazz. I’ve been in the Marines for three years, stationed at Quantico before I was transferred here. I’ve trained in mixed martial arts and a variety of self-defense styles. Any questions?”

“Yeah, just one. Are you seeing anyone?” Hunter asks.

Isabelle elbows him roughly enough that he drops his forkful of potatoes. “Do you think you could keep your stupid questions to yourself for five minutes?”

Hunter pouts, but Kara just snorts and rolls her eyes. “I’m not, but you’re not my type.”

“You sure?”

“Presuming you’re a guy, yes,” replies Kara, enjoying the look of shock that flashes across his face. “I guarantee you are not the magical dude that will turn my lesbian self straight.”

She takes a sip of her water. The smirk on Melinda’s face is somehow the most satisfying part of the moment.

---

Kara gets used to her new routine. Every morning she’s up with just enough time to grab a bagel or some toast on the way out the door, arriving at the Shatterdome in time for an eight AM training session with the Rangers. Then she has another, less intensive training session in the afternoon with the Strike Troopers. May, Hartley, and Coulson work hard every morning, and Hunter...well, Kara nudges him and he eventually cooperates. He’s physically adept, but seems to prefer not doing work when possible. Kara’s working on it.

May’s great to spar with, though. She’s a little older than Kara and was in the Navy for a decade before starting the Jaeger program in its earliest years. This is her second Jaeger, after her first partner was killed during a mission in Hong Kong. Kara pieces these bits of information together through idle things that Melinda says, and then through some casual questions she asks Hartley.

“Her husband Andrew was her first partner,” Hartley tells Kara in the locker room one day after training. “She took it pretty hard. But she and Phil are incredible together. Hunter and I are pretty good, but they’re like next level.”

Kara wrinkles her nose. “So...are they…?” She can’t quite bring herself to finish the sentence.

Hartley laughs. “Fucking? No. I think sometimes Phil would like that, but I haven’t seen Mel date anyone since we all got here. She is into girls though, if you’re interested.” Hartley winks. “I am too, but I think my wife would have something to say about it if I said any more.”

Kara colors slightly. “I wasn’t- I-” She coughs. “I have to go report to Morse, excuse me.” Hartley’s laugh follows her out of the room.

Melinda doesn’t talk often, but she seems not to mind Kara’s company. Sometimes she’ll even opt to sit next to Kara in the mess hall. Kara doesn’t want to push anything, but she smiles at Melinda when she gets the chance. Once she gets daring and swipes an extra beer for Melinda, who smiles and says “Thanks.”

(As they’re all leaving the mess hall afterwards, Isabelle nudges Kara. “Nice one,” she mutters into her ear, grinning. “You’re really on her good side now.)

Kara almost forgets why they’re all there. Kaiju don’t seem like such a big concern when Melinda has such a nice smile.

Which means it’s all the more jarring when she’s awoken by a kaiju alert on her phone at four AM.

The alert directs all civilians to the nearest shelters, and all PPDC affiliates to the Shatterdome immediately. Kara throws on clothes in a heartbeat and, luckily, manages to snag a taxi and arrive within half an hour.

The Shatterdome is chaos. People are running everywhere and the alarm is going off nonstop. Kara’s unsure what to do, but then Morse dashes by her and says “C’mon, into the control room with me, you’ll be out of the way” and Kara follows.

Morse takes her place and immediately goes into work mode, ignoring Kara. That’s fine, Kara expected that. She just watches and listens - the Kaiju is a Category III and, since it looks vaguely serpentine, Morse christens it Hydra. Both Sigma and Corsair are being sent out to deal with it. The Strike Troopers have already been deployed, and the Jumphawk pilots are getting ready to take off with the two Jaegers. Kara scarcely knows where to look. She focuses on breathing.

She can barely see the four Rangers entering the Jaegers, tiny shiny figures in their drivesuits. Her heart’s beating fast enough that she can hear it - maybe everyone else in the room can too. She got four hours of sleep, but she’s so wired she feels like she might never sleep again.

Sigma and Corsair get dropped in the middle of the Pacific, a mile or so from Hydra. It feels like the entire room holds its breath as the Jaegers walk toward the kaiju. This is their third outing together, and by this point the teams work almost seamlessly together. Corsair, as the bulkier Jaeger, goes first to basically act as the battering ram. Sigma is smaller, lighter, and a little faster, so she hangs back to act as reserves.

Isabelle was right. Phil and Melinda’s Jaeger moves effortlessly, despite the waves pushing back against it and the inherent clunkiness of a giant metal mecha. Kara’s seen tapes of other Jaegers, of course (who hasn’t) but she’s captivated.

Then they reach the monster.

Its long neck strikes out, aiming for Corsair’s head, but the Jaeger intercepts it with an enormous fist that sends the kaiju reeling. Enraged, it opens its mouth to roar and lunges - which is when Sigma comes in from the side. The kaiju has the advantage of limberness, but the Jaegers outnumber it. Sigma’s palm, equipped with gamma blasts, fires at Hydra, mostly missing it but leaving parts of its skin scorched.

For awhile it seems like the Jaegers have it under control. Then, suddenly, Hydra whips its head around and smacks directly into Corsair, which slowly, horribly tips backwards into the ocean.

“Fuck!” hisses Morse. “Rescue boats, get out there! Get them out! Now!”

She keeps shouting orders to Sigma, since Hydra is still fighting, but Kara barely hears her over the roaring in her ears. She’s terrified equally for Melinda and Phil and Isabelle and Hunter. But Melinda...oh god, Melinda…

She could turn and walk out of the control room, hide somewhere until all this was over, but she forces herself to stay and watch. Hydra is trying to get behind Sigma and knock it over the way it knocked over Corsair, and none of the screens show what’s happening with the rescue teams. Morse calls, “Chain! Use the chain!”

Kara has no idea what she’s talking about, but then a giant chain slips from somewhere under the mecha’s exoskeleton and Sigma’s using it to wrap around Hydra’s throat and choke it out. Then it’s all over.

There’s a cheer in the control room, but it’s subdued. Morse gets on the radio to contact the rescue boats. They managed to retrieve both Hunter and Hartley, who are still alive, but Hartley’s arm was crushed and Hunter’s barely breathing. Meanwhile, Phil and Melinda check in, exhausted but okay. Morse deploys another Jumphawk team to retrieve them.

Technically, everyone can leave once the kaiju threat’s been dealt with, but no one wants to until they hear for sure about Hartley and Hunter. It’s a tense couple of hours until they know anything, during which Phil and Melinda return to the Shatterdome and are greeted with half-hearted high fives rather than the typical jubilation. They don’t seem to mind, though - they both look haunted.

Kara pushes through the crowd to get to them (just to check in physically, she tells herself). She’s prepared to say something professional - “good work,” maybe, or “are either of you hurt?” Instead, she starts to say something, chokes, and sort of falls against Melinda in the world’s most unplanned embrace.

After half a second to absorb how nice Melinda feels against her, she freezes. “Shit,” she mutters, quickly letting go. “I’m, I’m so sorry, May, I-”

She’s unprepared for the feeling of Melinda throwing her arms around her. “Don’t apologize,” murmurs Melinda. “Don’t you dare apologize, Kara.”

Kara swallows what’s suddenly a huge lump in her throat and clings just as tightly to Melinda as Melinda’s clinging to her.

---

The doctors have to amputate Hartley’s arm, which she’s remarkably relaxed about. Kara and the others are able to see her relatively soon after her surgery, once she’s conscious. “At least it was the left one,” Hartley says with a lopsided shrug. “I need the other one for...important things.” She smirks at her wife, Victoria, who rushed over as soon as the shelters were opened.

“You’ll be too busy resting to do any of those things,” scolds Victoria. “I’m not letting you out of bed for weeks.”

“Ooh, sounds hot,” teases Hartley.

Melinda rolls her eyes. “Well, I see you didn’t lose your sense of innuendo.”

“Oh, you like it when she does it,” grunts Hunter. He’s still laid up too, since quite a bit of water got into his lungs and they want to be sure his breathing stays consistent.

Melinda ignores him. “You both scared us.”

“Yeah, we had no idea you went down at first,” Phil says. “We just focused on beating the bastard as quickly as we could.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Hunter says, but he’s smiling. “Taking all the credit when we’re the true heroes here. Izzy left a piece of herself in the ocean, for Christ’s sake!”

“How about all of you are heroes,” Kara says with a snort.

“Agreed,” says Melinda, giving her a smile, which makes Kara’s chest do something funny.

“Anyway,” Phil says, “we should probably let the two of you rest, huh?”

“I’m fine,” Isabelle says, but her eyelids are drooping.

“Go on,” says Victoria, resting her hand on Isabelle’s shoulder. “I’ll keep an eye on them. You three have been here since the attack, you should go eat.”

Suddenly, Kara’s stomach reminds her that she hasn’t eaten in hours. “Oh,” she says, almost absently. “We should eat, yeah.”

“C’mon,” says Phil. “I hear they’re keeping the mess hall open longer to celebrate. I mean, it’ll be the same slop it always is, but maybe they’ll give us an extra helping.”

He walks ahead of them, and once he’s not looking, Melinda brushes her hand gently against Kara’s before grabbing it. Kara feels her face get hot, which is ridiculous - what is she, a teenager? But she turns to smile at Melinda all the same, and Melinda smiles back.

[xyliane]

Jaeger : Hunter

it’s time for some PACIFIC RIM AU THOUGHTS because jaeger means hunter so there is totally a crossover here (I 1000% blame @wuzzyletoastermac for letting me bounce things off and enabling and also @decembercamiecherries YOU NEED TO WATCH THIS MOVIE)

um. so. this got long. and rambly. it’s mostly disorganized rambling. and there’s kind of a minific at the end. so have a cut.

it’s absolutely no surprise that gon and killua are drift compatible. from the moment gon arrives with kurapika and leorio, and when killua meanders onto the base, no one really sure just where he came from but the name zoldyck carrying the weight of affluence and fortune. they click, in ways that even the most experienced of pilots never do, whether it’s on the fighting mats or in the jaeger cockpit. that they’re probably much younger than their obviously forged paperwork says (they can’t be more than sixteen their first battle) doesn’t stop them from being sent to the front lines.

bisky is incredibly impressed with them when they’re not being idiots all the time. since netero is off being Wacky and Old somewhere and cheadle’s a much better organizer than she is a combatant, bisky’s left to be their trainer. she’s a former pilot in charge of training these two 

their jaeger’s a mark-4 or mark-5, top of the line, built for superfast alien punching with electric flails as a long-range attack. gon has controlled both the left and right sides, and somehow has managed to lose an arm multiple times.

her name is either Brawler Flash or Lightning Fist. opinions on this matter would be greatly appreciated because jaegers are surprisingly hard to name.

gon wants to be a pilot because ging was a mark 1 pilot, made some of the biggest kills of any kaiju, and then vanished (because he got bored. and is an asshole. mito honestly thinks he’s dead until kite shows up, because that’s usually what happens to disappeared jaeger pilots). and besides, the kaiju are attacking his friends. that’s not right. killua wants to be a pilot initially because he thought it would be a way to stay away from his family and because it’d be fun (and it is when he’s around gon), but he eventually starts to care for the people he’s helping to protect. he blames being in gon’s head too much on the change.

kite used to be ging’s copilot. (ging went through them like napkins, and kite was his last.) now he’s head engineer. he does good work, especially with his team in there. spinner and stick spend a lot of time wrangling gon and killua, who have a habit of climbing all over their jaeger because she’s theirs and she’s fascinating. also she’s a giant robot. who wouldn’t be fascinated?

while leorio and kurapika initially sign up wanting to be pilots (because who doesn’t want to be a jaeger pilot?) leorio pretty much immediately after basic or w/e goes into medical and admin, working closely with cheadle. he tries to sit in on every mission gon and killua run, to the point where killua once tries to mock him by calling him “dad”

(it weirds both of them out more than they intend, probably because it hits way too close to home, and neither of them mention it ever again. gon finds it adorable.)

kurapika actually qualifies as a pilot, and syncs really well with melody, but has a habit of chasing his own RABIT far too long and the jaeger kind of hulks out in the middle of base the first time they test it. he tries to skip going to medical but between melody being the Best and leorio being stubborn, he goes. kurapika doesn’t step into a jaeger for a while after that, focusing mostly on getting what the base needs (and not always through the most legal or upstanding of methods). 

in the drift, gon and killua couldn’t be more different. gon’s nearly silent, letting everything wash over and through him, doesn’t ever focus too much (although it’s a stark difference when something’s bothering him, because he fixates on that and that can all but destroy a drift). killua is constant noise, which is itself an easy way to block out any distractions because there’s nothing to focus on (he’s much better at keeping his focus when something’s bothering him, and also better at not letting it cloud their drift). they are both capable of drifting with other people, but what’s the point? they have each other.

it’s a few years of fighting, not regularly but often enough that they know their miracle mile almost better than they know their city. sometimes (if they can convince kite, or more typically, knov and morel) they’ll take their jaeger out there, ten miles past the bay and into open waters, and just watch the night. not even hooked up to the neural interface and the whole unit shut down if they can get away with it. they just sit and watch the stars, clearer out at sea than they are in the shatterdome. 

I might be in your head all the time, but even I can’t tell what you’re thinking, killua says. 

gon smiles and stretches as much as the drivesuit will let him, tucking his hands behind his hands. it’s hard to see much of anything out here, except for the stars. just thinking about how happy I am, he says. 

we almost died two days ago, killua says. you still haven’t done our math homework. and there’s an alien invasion trying to kill everyone.

yeah but. gon rolls over, all big brown eyes and bright toothy grins. we’re fighting them in giant robots! it’s super cool.

killua laughs. that’s true. we have action figures! and chocorobos for our jaeger! he raps her on the head, the metal echoing across open water.

and besides. it wouldn’t be any fun at all without you. I’m happy with you, killua.

killua flushes, but laces his fingers with gon’s. he can’t feel warm skin through the armored gloves, but the way gon tightens the grip instinctively is almost as good. yeah. me too.

(and then bisky finds out where they are and commandeers a copter to murder them, ground their giant robot, and make them train for twelve hours straight. in that order. it’s still worth it.)