#today，we are cancelling the apocalypse! ∶ ( v. au — pacific rim )

[straye]

“ you understand my ass! ”

𝐌𝐎 𝐃𝐀𝐎 𝐙𝐔 𝐒𝐇𝐈 𝐐𝐔𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒 — ACCEPTING!

“Then we’re getting nowhere,” Kogami argued.

Tough talk coming from the guy who’s equally as likely to conceal don’t feel and all that, though it’s clear that this time, the Neural Handshake cut Thana somewhere deep in a way he’s not sure how to address.

Trying to get into sync with each other had been nothing short of a nightmare, with Thana’s own memories nearly overtaking him and vice versa; they nearly destroyed the Shatterdome with their Jaeger’s weapons because of how deeply they’d been sucked in by the RABBIT, trying to eradicate an enemy seen only by their minds.

Today, it’s their memories. Tomorrow, it could be his.

It’s times like this where Kogami wonders what’s going through the Jaeger Program administrators’ heads when they paired these two together, knowing their luggage; Kogami can admit to his own stubbornness, so much that he simply wouldn’t admit to having any problems at all, but it’s another thing to have that stubbornness in a partner. He would never say he’d rather have another partner altogether, but he knows there are only so many people in the program that can keep up with him; that alone, he doesn’t want to lose.

“... I understand it’s hard,” Kogami begins, slowly, as if treading on thin ice, “but rejecting the notion is only going to hurt us,” he motions towards the rest of the room, “and everyone around us.”

“So, you know what? Maybe you’re right. Maybe I don’t understand. But we’re getting nowhere acting like I can’t. I have to, for us, and for everyone here. Make room for me in that Headspace of yours, Thana.”

And I’ll try to make room in mine for you.

@vtriol

[straye]

@vtriol

Not romantic not platonic but a secret third thing (drift compatible)

[straye]

"please, don’t turn me into anything." pacrim >:))))

GTA V SENTENTENCE PROMPTS (18+). — accepting!

“I meant it when I said ‘come as you are’.” Kogami smiles at Thana.

The pair are closer these days; while Kogami is big on sticking it to expectations, he’s surprised that the Jaeger admins were right about them the eventuality of their being compatible and getting along handsomely; he doesn’t feel like it’s 100% his own abilities to drift with most people, either. Thana’s warmed up, he likes to think. They don’t give him as much of a stink eye as they used to when they first met.

Drift space got easier to sit in, and they’re butting heads less on the controls. One might even say they’re becoming the model pilots that Kogami had once been part of in his own day, and while he remains humble to praise himself, he’s happy to let Thana have it, knowing how far they’ve come; how far they’ve both come.

If there’s an end to this apocalypse, he feels more optimistic in seeing the end with Thana. He might even say… “I’m glad I came out of retirement.”

He looks back at the Okami.

“I’m not trying to change you into anything you’re not, in which case. You’re just Thana. Maybe not the nicest person in the world most days, but I don’t want any more than that and a partner.”

[straye]

shoves a small box in his face. "here. open it before the next mission. or don't, i don't care." but, really, they do care and they both know it. before kogami can give a biting remark in response, thana is storming down the hallway to suit up for another trip in the jaeger. the box, mysteriously left in thana's wake, is barely smaller than kogami's hands, clearly reused from some package they got earlier. inside is newspaper to pad the small wooden figure, carved and painted. it looks like a jaeger; in fact, it's their jaeger. it's rough, amateur's work, but it clarifies why thana would sit in front of okami in the loading bay for hours, sketching out the nooks and crannies most don't see. to top off the gift, there's a messy note in messy handwriting—"found out your birthday from a drift months ago. thanks for being my part- letting me pilot your jaeger. don't bring this up to me. seriously."

KOGAMI BIRTHDAY 2022! || ACCEPTING!

Kogami thinks about being an ass about the whole thing, damning Thana’s pride, and opening it right in front of them but they already stormed off. He watches them disappear down the hall, his smiling growing wider the further they’ve distanced themself. Then, he stands alone at his room’s doorway, one arm propping him up against the frame, the other holding the box.

He looks back down at the box and hums with intrigue, deciding to still open it. He has time.

It’s always some kind of hot and cold with Thana, so he halfway expects there to be a gag joke object in there, but once he’s pried apart all the newspaper concealing the object, he gasps.

Indeed, it is not perfect, but in the grand scheme of things, it ought to be. There’s no mistaking the wolflike shape of the Jaeger’s head nor the attention to its accents and hybrid nature of geometrical and organic features.

It’s true that Kogami caught Thana at odd hours of their standby shifts, sitting some distance away on the dock, staring at the Jaeger (for reasons he presumed were admiration, since he could admit that the Okami was quite beautiful himself) but the statuette pieces it all together.

He sees the note a moment later and pulls out to read.

He laughs.

Just as they know his birthday, he knows theirs; it’s all in the Drift Space. This message is sweet for them.

He will honor their request of not bringing it up (too much), but he can’t leave this thanks unspoken. He sends them an email.

> Hey; it’s perfect. :)

@vtriol for our pacific rim verse … COME BACK!!

[straye]

INSOMNIA :  for one muse to find the other still awake at 3am.

a comprehensive list of scenarios — accepting !

INSOMNIA :  for one muse to find the other still awake at 3am. // @vtriol + pacific rim au because I’m unstoppable and I might continue using it unless specified otherwise mwah

The Tokyo Shatterdome had a strict no smoking on the premises policy, so to Kogami’s chagrin, he needed to get sneaky for his nicotine fix. Thankfully, from his previous employment, he knew just where to do it. Sure there were cameras around to catch him in the act, but at 3 AM, there weren’t many people out to try chastising him about his vice; the most anyone might complain about was the smell, but they’d live.

Washed in moonlight, he hunched over a balcony rail with a single cigarette lit between his fingers. He took long drags as he overlooked the city in the distance. In the silence of the night, he let himself think and ruminate over his issues for the first time that week; he simply didn’t have the time to with the constant training and motion he kept himself at with this new partner of his. Half of him thought it was a mistake, another part of him wanted to think that maybe he should give himself and them a little bit more patience since there was no unpacking the luggage they shared overnight.

When he heard the door behind him open, he turned his head to see who came up to the rooftop like this at this hour, but on seeing the familiar white hair (that seemed to glow with the moonlight) of his copilot, he turned back to the city view. He took his last drag before he crushed his cigarette in his fist.

“Can’t sleep?” He asked.

When they made an affirmative sound and rested against the rail beside him, Kogami hummed, as if in understanding.

“… me neither. But don’t go telling anyone about this spot; my old partner found it, and it’s the only place I won��t get bitched at for smoking.”

[straye]

— ALTERNATE UNIVERSE, PACIFIC RIM.

A Japanese Jaeger pilot born in 1984, he was recruited based on his outstanding performance as an officer in the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department to the Tokyo Shatterdome with the Jaeger program, founded in 2014. He was drift compatible with most of his former coworkers, and had a sparkling record of Jaeger takedowns with the Okami, though tragedy befell him when he lost one of his best partners, Mitsuru Sasayama, during a fight in which the Kaiju tore the Jaeger clean in half, eating Sasayama alive. Since then, Kogami abandoned his career as a pilot, though with the resurgence of Kaiju attacks and repair of the Okami, he has returned to the frontlines, as if honoring Sasayama’s memory.

DRIFT SPACE:

Ruling Planet: Jupiter

Positives: Strong, resilient, disciplined, determined, brave, loyal, kind

Negatives: Stubborn, impulsive, dogmatic, hermetic, lonely

Secret Dreams: Fighting for those that cannot fight for themselves.

Most Happy If: Reading, Training, Hiking.

Heroes: None, at the moment.

Present Love Interest: … um. Hehe

[straye]

“ don’t be like this. it’s my fault, alright? ” *swings bat*

𝐌𝐎 𝐃𝐀𝐎 𝐙𝐔 𝐒𝐇𝐈 𝐐𝐔𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒 — ACCEPTING!

“I’m not sure if you’re trying to make me feel guilty or if you feel guilty yourself; but, out of the kindness of my heart, I’m going to tell you to knock it off.”

Normally, Kogami has a bit more patience and tact about him to include more kindness in his words with regards to a downtrodden ally, but when they keep crashing into this hurdle of opening up and allowing each other the intimacy of connecting, the charm of patience has worn off, though he would never be so forthright with his frustrations and blame Thana themself.

“It’s both of our faults,” he declares, removing his helmet. “It takes two to pilot a Jaeger, and if one of us isn’t into it, then neither of us are. I want to work with you on this, not against you.” He holds his helm to his chest and sighs; the awkward silence that follows is oppressive; the Jaeger operatives in the command room are shutting down the station.

“... let’s get food or something. And water. I feel a nosebleed coming on, and I think that tells me that now’s a good time as any to stop,” he says, now with a reassuring smile (or, as much as he could anyway, with the nosebleed.).

“I’m not giving up if you’re not.”

@vtriol — MORE PAC RIM!!! MORE PAC RIM!!!

[straye]

❝  are you hungry? i’m hungry— i’ll order us something.  ❞

EMOTIONAL INTIMACY & PILLOW TALK. — ACCEPTING!

Kogami’s first thought is, Well isn’t someone generous?

Though, of course, he omits that and leaves it at, “Starving. I’ll pay you back my portion. Get me what you’re getting, please?”

Maybe the Jaeger program saw that their shared strength and boundless stamina made them perfect for each other; physically, at least, though by disposition, Kogami wants to think that they’re coming around to each other (the little calendar in his head that marks X days since their last conflict hasn’t gone back to 0 for some time, so that could be a testament to the administrators’ judgment despite his initial protests about it). At the end of the day, they’re both only human and there was no mistaking their mutual stomach growling once it hit the late afternoon; they began their rigorous sparring late in the morning, so some time since breakfast passed.

Kogami sat, center of the mat with both arms behind him to keep himself propped up. The cool air conditioned breeze hit him like a dream, and he closed his eyes as he listened to what was certainly Thana putting in their order (some burger joint. Double sweet of them, since that was his favorite food.) Sweat drenched right through his tank top, and he, without thinking, grabbed it by the hem and pulled it off, using it then to wipe the sweat from his brow.

They’re alone anyway, so what would be the big deal?

“Sprite for me,” he called from across the room to Thana when they’re getting their drink orders.

@vtriol // more pacific rim AU? MORE PACIFIC RIM AU.

[straye]

[ SHARE ] for our muses to share a dessert

NON-SEXUAL FORMS OF INTIMACY! — ACCEPTING!

[ SHARE ] for our muses to share a dessert

It’s a hot summer day in the Tokyo Shatterdome; one might assume that the proximity to the coast will fix some of that, but all the metal made things ten times worse. Kogami woke up sweaty and groaning, and considered sending off a complaint about the barracks air conditioning (knowing his luck though, it’d just go ignored).

Kogami is off duty and doesn’t much feel like taking a day trip towards the city to fix this problem (thank his paranoia for not letting him have any peace), so he lingers within the Shatterdome on a ‘just in case’ basis. He’s disconcerted when he’s still, so he starts his day off with breakfast and kickboxing with some of the other pilots that stayed behind as well. By noon, when he’s worked on more sweat on top of the thin layer he had from that morning, he gravitates towards the cafeteria where he’s relieved to see that they have something for his troubles.

He thinks he deserves ice cream. As a treat.

Kogami sits alone at one of the cafeteria tables with a neapolitan ice cream tub and metal spoon in tow. He pops it open and idly chews on big spoonfuls of ice cream as he looks over his phone, checking emails and answering some. News, upcoming training events, progress on Jaeger production. His folks asking him how work was. Nothing terribly exciting—

— Until his spoon clinks, and he lowers his phone abruptly to meet Thana’s gaze.

“Oi, oi.” He says, exasperated, with a hint of annoyance in the manner of a weak warning. Kogami looks at the ice cream, then back at Thana. “Don’t you have your own credits to spend?”

Thana rolled their eyes in that infuriating, indignant way. Kogami narrowed his.

He couldn’t say he hated them; but as most people might be, he doesn’t feel too keen on sharing. He considers telling them off some more. Telling them to get their own. Thinking over nice ways to tell them that they may be drift compatible, but they’re not this close.

They stare each other down for a few more moments, just enough for the ice cream to soften a little more under their spoons. Then, he thinks that it’s not really worth the trouble. How many days can they go with being nice to each other? Kogami sighs, waving his phone holding hand dismissively. “— Whatever.”

There’s enough for both of them. “You owe me, partner.”

@vtriol

[straye]

“i don’t wanna get my hair wet.”

summer/vacation starters ! — ACCEPTING!

“You should’ve thought about something like that before taking up a job that has you standing in the middle of an ocean like this,” Kogami remarks, though he must admit himself that the humidity’s starting to get oppressive, and in the position they’re in, they’re sitting ducks and sooner to get out of the Okami by means of swimming than retrieval team; in the ferocity of their battle, they’d worn the old girl out, and she’s due for maintenance upon their return.

Today marks their first successful operation together, and the Kaiju is comparatively smaller than anyone of the ones he slew in his career before he partnered with Thana; it was perfect for them, though, since this one was considered ‘easy’, and he doesn’t know what he’d do on the event of another drift gone wrong on the field with something trying to gnaw them right out of their Jaeger.

Kogami sighs, staring lamely at the Kaiju body floating in what seems like mere feet away (though it might have been thousands of those feet from here). “Good job, by the way,” he says as he tunes into the distant helicopters closing in on their position. Through his commlink, he overheard the team praising he and Thana for their efforts today, though his words were for them alone. “Here’s to many more successful operations. Sweets are on me when we get back.”

He looks further out into the Pacific Ocean; relieved, perhaps, that they’d gotten through the fight, but on guard in case another one were to break out. You’re never too safe out here.

@vtriol — FINALLY … SUCCESS?

[straye]

au tag drop. (?/?)