gipsy_danger | for striker

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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?

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...

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?

Edited 2013-07-18 02:05 (UTC)

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!

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.

He shrugs. Nothing he can do about his bad mouth now.

He can't help examining her, trying to see which parts of herself she plucked from his memories, either of his wife or his sister or the girls he dated while in college. Perhaps thankfully, he can't tell which parts she mined from him and which she mined from the others.

Gipsy, you look wonderful. He spreads his hands a little, silently prompting her to do the same. Come here, love, let me see you properly.

Tsk. Boys will be boys.

She's relieved about that -- she'd tried her best to make sure that the form resembled no one person too closely. Her hands drop and she mimics his movements, allowing him a better view of that avatar that she's created for herself.

Coming closer, Gipsy can't help but give him the tiniest of smiles, because he seems genuinely pleased with the effort that was put into this form.

Hercules takes one of her hands in his and gently spins her under his arm, ostensibly so he can take a proper look at what she's created for him to talk to, but also because she's smiling and that makes him happy. He does shit like this when he's happy.

This is an incredible rendering. Well done, darling.

She really does look incredibly beautiful. And also so young too; she looks to be no older than Mako. He feels a little bad for finding her so attractive, because she's clearly far too young for him.

Also, she's a robot. But that's not the point.

That he's happy brings Gipsy great joy. That was part of why she had extended such effort for him, as well as why she is doing it now while she is hurt and barely functioning. Seeing him pleased has become a high priority for her.

Thank you. I am glad that it is acceptable. She could make changes if she wanted, but Gipsy herself is very pleased with the outcome of her labors.

You look beautiful.

She completes her turn and he pulls her in for a hug, kissing her forehead because he's a dad and that's a habit he's picked up.

I'm glad you're okay, Gipsy. He pulls back a little and ducks his head so he can look at her. But hey, if this is too tiring for you, you can let it go. I don't want you to drain your systems because I like talking to you.

The open display of affection startles her, but floods her with appreciation and affection for him all the same, as does the compliment. She carefully returns the embrace, interested in the experience.

I am afraid that I am going to have to shut down entirely for a time. She sounds truly regretful, but she's draining her 'batteries' quite a bit by doing this. Would you like to see this again? The avatar gestures to itself and peers up at him, smiles resting on her lips.

Take as long as you need, love.

He's still half-holding her in a hug, which is why he skims his hands up and down her upper arms. Whether or not he's aware of what he's doing is up for debate. You've had a very bad day. I think you deserve a little rest.

Reaching in, he tucks a loose strand of her hair behind her ear so it's not dangling in front of her eyes. I'll be here whenever you decide you want to try this again. Because yes, I'd quite like to see you again.

'You,' not 'this.' Whatever she feels comfortable doing.

Gipsy is not entirely sure what she should be doing with her hands right now. She settles for letting them rest at his hips (that's...good, right? She doesn't know -- he's touching her, so it must be fine to return the gesture), and nods up at him.

Thank you for coming to check on me. I had hoped we would have more time, but I am very tired.

The image flickers, but she keeps it solid in his mind for now, at least until he disconnects. He really is a remarkable man, and Gipsy finds that he's worth the effort to continue the avatar for him. He appears to appreciate it quite a bit and that he so easily refers to it as 'you' and 'beautiful' floods her with more happiness than she knows how to deal with.

You rest, too. It has been a long day for both of us.

Oh, I plan to. I feel like I could sleep for a year.

Her happiness is as plain as day to him and it makes him feel good too, that he can cheer her up so much when she was feeling so despondent earlier. He strokes his hand over his arm again, squeezing her a little, feeling very comfortable with this embrace thing they've got going on.

(Hercules is a tactile man. Always has been. It's mostly the military training that's knocked it out of him, but even with that, he's still likely to bump shoulders with you or clap you on the arm or something. This is just an extension of that.)

Goodnight, Gipsy. I'll come see you when you're feeling better.

Gipsy smiles, then reaches to cup his face and pull him down so that she can drop a kiss on his forehead, like he had done for her. It's a repeat of the gesture -- if it means anything, she doesn't realize it.

She knows she likes it, though.

Goodnight, Hercules.

The image will fade from within his arms as Gipsy powers down, gently booting him from the Drift.

He's a little surprised that she mimicked his gesture like that, but also rather touched. It's sweet. And maybe part of Gipsy's affection for him is sort of Stockholm Syndrome, but it seems pretty clear to him that she doesn't have any 'friends' as such. He's glad he can provide that kind of structure for her.

He likes it too, really, if the smile on his face is any indication.

He can feel her booting him out of the Drift and doesn't fight it, just lets himself surface. He wasn't lying when he said he wanted to take a nap; he really needs one after tonight.

...you would think that, Herc.

Gipsy 'sleeps' for some time. Hours and hours, while the repairs are done. The crew works long into the night and the next day, frantically trying to get the Jaeger battle ready once more. With Gipsy out of commission and her normal pilot nowhere to be seen, they are a little more vulnerable than they'd like. Having her at least functional and able to be piloted is a plus -- four jaegers is not enough and when one is out of commission, knocking it to three...

Not good.

She's back up and running by the following night though, and thankfully the war clock still runs from the last attack. Nothing on the radar yet so for now, Gipsy is content to sit through repairs and diagnostic testing as she waits for someone to come inside.

Preferably Hercules.

Likewise, Hercules spends far longer sleeping than he normally does, trying to let his body repair his aches and pains as best as it can while he loses himself in dreaming of pleasanter times. Or in completely fabricated pleasant times, which have less to do with painful memories and more to do with infuriating chess matches and short black hair. Gipsy has clearly made an impression on him with her little rendering, there.

Eventually he crawls out from his bunk and rejoins the land of the living and functional, which is when he gets briefed on the status of all the Jaegers, Gipsy included.

He's relived that she's salvageable, but he wishes it would be a little less slap-dash. He understands why they're rushing, though. The frequency of Kaiju attacks is increasing, and that's more than enough to make anyone nervous about being short a powerhouse like Gipsy Danger.

The next day, Tendo casually mentions that they've got her back online, which of course, means that Herc is climbing up her support frame to go visit.

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