for striker_eureka

[gipsy_danger]

((starting here))

True to her word, Gipsy waits.

Of course, she can't do much other than that -- she's fairly constrained by previous injuries, and though her arm has been reattached and repaired she still can't quite walk on her own. This, Gipsy makes abundantly clear in beeps and grumbles, but it's mostly ignored because there's nothing they can do about it quite yet. Progress is being made, but it's not nearly fast enough for her satisfaction.

It's why she's grumpy as hell when he comes the next day; beeps decidedly irritated and far too loud for someone that had been drifting solo with a jaeger the previous day.

(( other conclusions Here. ))

Comments

[gipsy_danger]

Gipsy is losing more and more pieces in the task, and she seems pleased that she's losing.

Are you truly going to argue with a jaeger?

[striker_eureka]

I argue with everyone. It's the only way I've gotten this far in life.

He can sense her pleasure, and it makes him feel pretty incredulous, but whatever. If that's what she wants...

[gipsy_danger]

I suppose I should thank you for being equal opportunity.

She considers the board.

I do not have any moves, Hercules. I believe you have checkmate.

[striker_eureka]

I'm not going to go easy on you just 'cause you're a pretty girl, love.

He stares at the board suspiciously for a moment before visibly brightening.

Well, would you look at that. Checkmate.

[gipsy_danger]

She laughs again.

Congratulations. You have just beat a jaeger in a game of chess. Are you proud of yourself?

[striker_eureka]

I'm right tickled, as a matter of fact.

He grins at her, or the vague idea of her that is hovering around the edge of his consciousness.

[gipsy_danger]

She floods him with her pride, enveloping him in it.

Good. Now, you should go. Rest, and come back in two days. I will have a surprise for you, Hercules Hansen.

[striker_eureka]

Two days? He huffs, playing up his distress at being banished even though it feels surprisingly good to have a robot be proud of him.

Gipsy, darling, you're breaking my heart.

[gipsy_danger]

Two days will be torture, but-- it'll be worth it, she thinks.

I know, Sweetheart. You'll survive. I promise.

[striker_eureka]

You know, it's very cruel to send me away and then tell me you have a surprise for me. I'm not very good with surprises.

He's trying not to laugh, though. Apparently his bad habit of slipping into flirting with women is rubbing off on this Jaeger. By the time Raleigh comes back, she'll be incorrigible.

[gipsy_danger]

I have no doubt that you will be able to handle it.

Raleigh is going to either be pleased or very confused.

Go on then.

[striker_eureka]

This time he lets himself laugh.

Alright, fine. I can see you want time away from this old man.

Being Drifted means he doesn't stand up or pack away the chessboard, it just disappears.

I'll see you later then, Gipsy. And, because he knows when to follow orders, he starts the disconnect sequence.

[gipsy_danger]

Instead of getting indignant, Gipsy just laughs.

Two days, Hercules. Goodbye.

[striker_eureka]

Herc clambers out of Gipsy's cockpit with a smile on his face, one that lingers all the way until he reaches the control room.

Looking more than a little incredulous, Tendo asks him what's put him in such a good mood, and all Herc can do is shrug and spread his hands a little.

"Chess," he says, his smirk widening at the confused look this elicits.

Whatever, he's got things to do that don't involve discussing what he and a 25-story monster-fighting robot get into in their downtime.

[gipsy_danger]

Unfortunately, their 'date night' is going to get ruined by a goddamn kaiju the size of freakin' Everest. Gipsy is sent two pilots - not rookies by any means, but ones that have never drifted with her before and are unfamiliar with how she functions. She doesn't fight the drift or the pilots -- not in a time of need, never - and the team downs the kaiju well enough (with some assistance), but the fight is fierce and it leaves Gipsy nearly incapacitated, and benched for the near future.

Raleigh is nowhere in sight yet, and Gipsy is offline until 'date night' arrives. Tendo tells Herc that she's lucky to be powering up at all, and to make it damn quick so she can 'rest' while repairs are done.

[striker_eureka]

Herc would have wanted to pilot Gipsy, but he's still technically assigned to Striker Eureka, no matter how much time he spends with another robot, which is why she goes out with two rookie pilots and he goes out with Chuck.

It's only one Kaiju, but it's a category four, so he's glad there are two Jaegers out there to fight. Unfortunately, the bigger they are, the smarter they seem to get, because this Kaiju focuses all its strength on poor Gipsy, nearly ripping her apart before Striker can slice it to ribbons.

He knows, were this any other time, Chuck would be mocking him for how guilty he feels over this other robot's near destruction, but even his son is rattled by how bad she look and how shaken her pilots are. Thankfully, he remains silent, and even his thoughts are respectful. Herc's glad; the last thing he wants is to have to chew out his son right now.

He waves aside Tendo's nagging as he climbs into Gipsy's cockpit, and clips himself in for the neural handshake.

[gipsy_danger]

It's a pretty feeble link, but it's there. Gipsy has a lot of restraint right now, because a lot of her hurts. Everything aches and flares of pain shoot through her body whenever the engineers hit a sensitive place. They've been working on her day and night since the attack, trying to get her functionality back up to par. It's a slow process, and very painful.

Hello, Hercules.

It's the best she can manage -- pleasant enough, but there is obvious strain in her voice.

[striker_eureka]

She can probably feel the guilt curling around every nook and cranny of his mind; Hercules blames himself for not getting Striker to her position fast enough. If he had just been quicker, she might not have been damaged so badly.

Hello, love.

Despite the fact he wants to stay here as long as possible to make sure she's okay — and he won't go in to how much more concerned he is about Gipsy than about any of the other Jaegers, that's too much to think about for him right now — he forces himself to continue.

I'm going to make this quick so you can go back to sleep, but I wanted to check in with you and see if you were okay.

[gipsy_danger]

She can feel the guilt and she pushes back against it, a firm 'shake' of her nebulous head.

Don't do that. You know it isn't your fault.

It's not anyone's fault but the Kaiju -- Gipsy is well enough aware of that. She knows that Hercules would not leave her to flounder if he could help it.

[striker_eureka]

I'm so sorry.

There, he said it. Now he can try to relax a little. It's going to be hard, because despite her protestations he's still going to blame himself, but he'll try.

But really, how are you doing?

[gipsy_danger]

Gipsy just 'sighs', because Honestly. What more could he have done? But she accepts it, because it seems to placate him and make him feel a bit better.

I am mostly functional, and can remain online. That is a plus. She pauses for a moment and then beeps quietly, wondering at the wisdom in her next decision. It will cause strain, but the most it will do is exhaust her and put her back to 'sleep'.

I have your surprise. Are you ready?

[striker_eureka]

He rolls his eyes at her in fond irritation. Let me feel bad about your injuries.

But he lets it go because apparently she's willing to too, which means he's left standing around in the blankess that is the Drift, waiting for her to continue.

Gipsy, we can wait until you're feeling better...

[gipsy_danger]

No. I want to show you.

Because it's been hard work, building something from nothing. She has very little frame of reference to go on save what she has pieced together from his memories, Yancy's, Raleigh's and now the two rookie pilots.

There is a stretch of silence while Gipsy strains to call forth her creation, and within a few moments there is a woman standing there in front of Hercules, arms folded, looking uncertain.

A creation of her very own, Gipsy has made adjustments here and there, making sure to never focus on one feature too exclusively from the 'models' she's pieced this creation together from. She's merged her from remnants of memories from everyone, fragments of memories from every pilot that has ever set foot inside of her, yet the result is entirely individual and very much 'Gipsy Danger' in her essence. Dark hair and blue eyes and clad in a suit similar to his own she looks at him uncertainly, wondering what he thinks of her.

She turns, a little pirouette, then lifts her eyes to look at him.

What do you think?

[striker_eureka]

Hercules clearly isn't sure if he should be allowing this tomfoolery, but he's not going to police everything she does. If she wants to do this, then okay. Whatever it is, he'll stand by and let her.

One moment, he's aware of her consciousness sort of nebulously around him, and the next, there's a beautiful woman standing in front of him, a short black bob drifting around her face, her arms crossed protectively across her chest.

He can tell he's staring, but he can't help himself.

Holy crap, Gipsy Danger is really hot.

Well, fuck me sideways. Gipsy, is this you? You look incredible!

[gipsy_danger]

In a way, yes. Also -- that was quite crass.

She keeps her arms folded over her chest because she isn't sure what else to do with them, but she does move closer, tipping her head a little.

This is a manifestation of my AI. I have pieced it together with scraplets from multiple memories. She looks nervous suddenly, and fidgets. I wanted you to have a frame of reference, someone to 'see' while in the drift. Talking to air seems...disconcerting.

Is this alright...?

The image flickers, and Gipsy looks even more unsure. She doesn't know where his mind is going with being 'hot', to her, the internal temperature is just fine, despite having pieces of her missing.