drear | god, he called for rain

[She had dressed in lighter clothing because any place compared to Vladivostok would be warmer, but she hadn't taken into consideration humidity. It felt like her clothing was all stifling and uncomfortable, though just out of sheer stubbornness she keep her scarf wound tightly around her neck. It had been a going away present, and it seemed rude to pack it away just because of some unreasonable weather and because the gift giver was miles away.

Her steps slowed as she spotted one of the shatterdome's pilots lounging around. From what she had gleaned from his files, he was one of the most battle hardened veterans here, and he had started at a young age. Naoto stopped a few feet in front of him, a duffel bag slung over one shoulder, her free arm loose and relaxed near her side. She inclined her head respectfully, since it seemed he would be the welcoming party.]

Naoto Fuyumine, reporting in.

Fuyumine. [ he gives her a once-over, only commenting, ] It's too hot here for that.

[ but he moves on just as quickly, waving for her to follow him. ]

Heine Rammsteiner. I'll be showing you around for now. You can put your bag in your room when we pass it.

[The only answer she has to that is a small downward twist of her lips, but she made no move to take it off. Instead she followed him inside, looking around the dome curiously, nodding as he introduced himself.]

I read your file.

[Which might be an odd thing to admit, but it wasn't unheard of. She had tried to review most of the personnel here, if only to get a better sense of who she was working with.]

I'm surprised one of the best would be doing this.

[She had been transferred here because this shatterdome saw a lot more kaiju activity. Perhaps the reports had been mistaken or exaggerated?]

[ heine doesn't react until she says 'one of the best'. at that he snorts dismissively, not turning around as he keeps walking into the shatterdome. ]

Everyone else is busy.

[ it's not like he has much to do outside of keeping up with training and getting in his jaeger when there are kaiju attacks.

he comes to a stop inside the first part of the hangar. busy is an understatement. there are multiple jaegers, some under maintenance, some surrounded by their crew and their pilots. heine points them out in turn. ]

Silver Helios, piloted by Mihaeroff. Blue Thunder—you probably know them. The rest of your crew will be here within the week.

[Naoto makes note of Heine's reaction to such an observation, mostly because it's somewhat surprising to her. Most jaeger pilots she's been exposed to enjoy praise, enjoy the fame that comes with being a jaeger pilot, and most suffer from ego problems. She wonders briefly if Heine's dismissal is commonplace here or unique.

She nodded as pointed out the jaegers and their pilots, adjusting the strap of her bag restlessly. She's not very good at socializing anything farther than being polite.]

I look forward to meeting the others.

[It's one thing to read someone's files, but it's another to actually meet them. And some rather talented pilots resided here.

Still, at the thought of another week rolling by without her crew to support her...]

So I'll be grounded until then.

They'll be around.

[ heine's tone is dismissive, but if he's being honest, he really does respect the other pilots at the base. he just has a hard time with... a lot of things, honestly, but expressing himself is especially up there. ]

There's stuff you can do while you're grounded. Like paperwork.

[ he could be joking, but it's hard to tell. ]

The living quarters are down this way, but the canteen's to the left.

Edited (bonus things) 2014-07-04 02:54 (UTC)

[The mention of paperwork is enough to make Naoto's face wrinkle up in distaste. She would take fighting kaiju, training new recruits, and eating the mystery meals in the canteen over paperwork. She had become a pilot because she had a taste for action, not for pencil pushing.

Wait. He was probably joking, or at least she hoped.]

I'd rather clean bathrooms for a week.

[It's said dryly, but she means it.

She started down towards the living quarters, trying not to feel like a very small fish swimming upstream. This place is a lot nosier and far more crowded than what she's used to, and she's eager to catch her breath in her room.]

Which one is mine?

[All the doors look identical.]

You could do that, too.

[ now he really is joking. heine moves around a pair of engineers talking in the hallway, stopping to the side of the corridor, which is lined with doors that do, essentially, look identical.

heine checks his comm device to see what number room she's in first before replying. ]

402. It's further down here.

[ he pauses for a moment. ]

You can put something on the door. A lot of people do.

You're that short staffed?

[It's a tentative joke, considering she's still not sure what her duties her would extend to besides piloting. She's also aware that some pilots, most of whom who have nothing better to do, take to hazing new arrivals. Rammsteiner doesn't seem the type, but it's still too early to tell.

With the information in hand, she starts down the hallway, a bit eager to drop her bag and to get out of all the hustle and bustle. The door gives way easily, and she takes a moment to soak it all in. She drops her bag neatly onto the bed, Rammsteiner's small throwaway comment making her a bit homesick.

It surprises her, because she hadn't felt too tearful when leaving, but thinking about all the stupid things people had stuck on her door and having to start over...

She shakes the feeling off, turning back to Rammsteiner with a small nod.]

Is the training hall and medical bay close?

[She has some priorities after all.]

No, but the janitors would probably appreciate the help.

[ heine follows her down the hallway to fuyumine's assigned room. it's stripped down to the essentials, no personal effects from the previous resident to be seen anywhere. ]

Both are on the upper floor. I'll take you there when you're done here.

[ so far, she seems... okay. more sensible than a lot of pilots he's met and worked with and outlived. heine isn't the type to warm up to new acquaintances that quickly, though. ]

[The general public tends to forget that pilots are only able to function due to the support of many, and honestly some pilots forget that too. Naoto hasn't, perhaps because she's still new, so she takes the thought of helping clean seriously. She's used to picking up after herself, and she doesn't think she'll ever get used to people going out of their way to help her.

For a moment, she debates on unpacking, but there's not much to do. She's not an overly sentimental person, and she doesn't want to put away her clothes in front of Rammsteiner. It would be embarrassing and hard to explain the frilly dresses and skirts, and it probably wouldn't be convincing to say that they had been forced upon her.

So instead she nodded her head towards the door, shutting it behind them.]

Let's go. I can unpack later.

[And then, glancing at him thoughtfully:]

Should I know where your room is?

[She won't make him tell her, but if he's been assigned as her tour guide, he's probably also the person she's supposed to go to if she has questions.]

[ he waits for her reply, hands shoved into his pockets. it's not like he has much to do today. he's already gone over the diagnostics and statistics for the day, done most of his training routine, and there's no reason why he won't have time to finish it after this tour. ]

I don't know. Why would you want to know?

[ heine holds up his comm device—something like a highly advanced cellphone—vaguely in her direction. ]

You can ask if you really need to find me.

[It was probably a weird question, now that Naoto stopped to think about it. She hadn't been issued a comm device yet, but perhaps it would be soon enough that it wasn't necessary.]

I was curious about your door.

[Maybe that would sound less awkward and strange, but she was a bit curious. Was he the type to decorate it himself, and if so, what was on it?

She turned back to him, tilting her head to the side.]

How would I get to the upper floor?

[From the sound of it, that's where she'd be spending most of her time.]

[ there's a long pause before he says anything in response to that, and he doesn't even answer that question first. ]

You can take the lift. Just down the other end of the main hall.

[ spending a lot of time training, he can respect. hopefully she won't be stuck in the medical ward too often, though. heine looks down the corridor, watching another pair of engineers bicker on their way back to work, as he answers as vaguely as possible. ]

There's nothing on my door.

[ though, as said on his file, he's lived here for the past seven years. ]

[The silence doesn't bother her, because if anything she prefers it. Her last shatterdome hadn't been half as noisy as this place, and there were also multiple places to stow away if one wanted complete quiet. It'll take her some time to find the same places here, and that at least will be a question she won't bother Rammsteiner about. Everyone needs their own personal refuge.

She nodded at the instruction, making a mental note when Rammsteiner mentioned his door. Her eyes widened slightly as she looked at him, a bit surprised. If she remembered his file correctly he had been here for quite some time, and yet...]

I see.

[She didn't know him well enough to ask why not, and sometimes it was better not knowing. She smoothed out her expression, heading back towards the canteen.]

Are you hungry? I wanted to ask about what sort of rules and regulations I should follow here.

[ he registers the surprise on her face, but doesn't respond to it, only raising his eyebrows very slightly. heine doesn't care much for making a place homey, or for making friends.

he does follow her when she starts walking, though. ]

You could read the contract.

[ despite that, he doesn't move in another direction. ]

I don't mean the rules that are written there.

[She turns back to glance at him, adding to clarify:]

Who's the best pilot here?

[A good portion of why she had volunteered to transfer here was because it was a fresh start. She could claw her way out of her family's shadow and be judged on her own merits. As her sister had said to her once, there was no need for a less talented spare.]

If you're not a cocky asshole and you get your work done, you'll be fine.

[ it takes him a moment to come up with an answer to her other question, though. ]

Depends on what you're judging on. Mihaeroff's the oldest, but he's not the most efficient.

[ that title goes to another pilot. heine, on the other hand, has the longest kill streak, but a record of rather more collateral damage. ]

[She raised an eyebrow at that statement, as if to question whether she looked like she would resemble that statement in the least, before her attention turned back to the noise that was the canteen.

For a few moments she stood stunned at the noise and bustle, before squaring her shoulders and making her way to what looked like the end of the food line.

Naoto nodded at Heine's assessment, not surprised. Mihaeroff Mihai was a well known name, and his survival record was amazing.]

Usually in these places there's a consensus as to who the best all around pilot is. The one there is to beat.

[She turned back to Rammsteiner, the full weight of her cool gaze on his.]

If not, I'm aiming to be that pilot.

[It might be laughable, considering her rather short and unimpressive record, but she was determined.]

You can ask around.

[ heine wouldn't name himself as the best pilot, because he isn't that kind of person, and also because he personally doesn't think it's true. if naoto does ask around, however, she'll find that most people have a great opinion of heine's piloting abilities and a somewhat lower one of his actual personality.

speaking of which, his only response to naoto's declaration of her goal is: ] Join the club. You're not the first one who's wanted to stand above the rest.

[Naoto nods at the suggestion, moving along with the line. She had already planned on it, and it was one of the reasons she was eager to meet the other pilots.

And while she won't say, she's a bit grateful that Rammsteiner has nothing negative to say about such a goal. While it's obvious he's unimpressed, at least there doesn't seem to be any mockery in his retort.]

Has anyone who said that managed?

[It's a somewhat idle question, and she won't be too put out if it's not answered.]

Don't know. Those are the usually the pilots that die.

[ having passed on that cheerful message, heine reaches the trays and picks one up. he's not hungry, but walking along without picking out something to eat would make it seem too much like he was just there for fuyumine, which would be... awkward. ]

You're less annoying than most of them so far, though.

[ that might be a compliment? ]

[It's an unfortunate reality in their line of work. For all the fame and star treatment, they are soldiers who risk their lives every time they step into that machine. Her sister would say they were human sacrifices given metal spears to give them a fighting chance, and in some cases she wasn't wrong.

She picked up a tray as well, trying hard not to wrinkle her nose at some of the stranger looking food, sticking to what she knew.

The second statement made her glance over at the other pilot, not sure how to take that.]

You're not what I expected, either.

[Their personality sections were usually just lists of mental disorders, and Rammsteiner's had stood out even amongst those. But being at this for so long, and since such a young age, Naoto supposed it was to be expected.]

I was warned you might bite.

[It's said dryly, like a joke.]

[ everything heine picks are largely chosen at random. he isn't planning on eating much of it anyway. the shatterdome tries to cater to all tastes, and usually ends up only half-succeeding.

he raises his eyebrows slightly. he's read his own psych eval and profile, and he finds them mildly insulting, but he also knows how fucked up he is anyway. ]

Only when provoked.

[ he might snap his teeth, but he's a little more well-behaved than that. ]

[Once she's picked out a few things that don't look too revolting, Naoto looked around for a place to sit. It didn't seem like Rammsteiner had a particular table since he didn't head out right away, and most of them seemed to be full of small clusters of pilots, engineers, science, and tech.

It might be a bit rude, but Naoto typically steered clear of science, lest she get caught up in an hour long enthusiastic lecture about the genetic make up of kaiju, so she headed over to the quietest and most open table available.

Setting her tray down gently, she sat down almost demurely, poking at the food.]

What counts as provocation?

[The question is wary, a bit wry. So far Rammsteiner had not seemed like a bad person, as far as pilots went.]

Are there others here I should be on guard with?

[There were always a few bad apples after all, and Naoto didn't want to start off here badly. Especially not if it risked grounding her.]

god, he called for rain

thanks for setting this all up. /o/

np!! o/

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WELP missing an entire word in that last tag, sorry

no worries. o/ i've probably had a lot of typos too D:

TYPO PARTY

the best kind of parties to be honest

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