I’m going to be in a Pacific Rim zine so it’s time to practice the boys
(obviously had to redraw those two hug scenes -eye emoji-)
Man I see fics where Newt can’t drink again after being an alcoholic under the Precursors (which I find DEEPLY, DEVASTATINGLY tragic as an idea because it means those BASTARDS got to change him permanently) but EVEN IF we accept that Newt is grossed out by alcohol after his possession
where
Oh where
Are my “Newt smokes a TON of pot after his possession as a giant FUCK YOU to the Precursors and the corporate douchebag they forced him to be” fics???
the mood is newt coming out of a twenty minute sustained seizure and, despite barely being able to string words together or hold a cup without shaking, somehow scraping together the energy to argue at the top of his lungs because hermann said he was wrong
Hermann should have spent less time reminding Newt he was a good man in Uprising and more critiquing the stupidity of his plan.
I endlessly admire fic authors who have betas and write chapters and chapters ahead of what they post because you best believe my needy ass is slapping just-finished, mildly edited and typo-laden fics onto AO3 the moment they’re done so I can get that sweet sweet validation
“I’d like to come back,” Newt said. “God knows, you guys drove me crazy sometimes. There was never any money, never any time, we couldn’t even afford proper lab equipment. Remember that, Herms? Running every diagnostic by hand, doing the work of ten people, at all hours of the night? Christ, those were some of the happiest days of my life.”
“Mine as well,” Hermann murmured. “Hindsight wipes away all memory of the daily grind of fear and discomfort, until all that remains is glittering nostalgia. The privilege of age, hmm?“
Absolutely. I’m sure there were pauses between Kaiju attacks, where things slowed down and the Shatterdome had down time and opportunities for camaraderie. I’m sure they had opportunity for poking fun at one another and for daily routine.
I’m 100% sure that in retrospect, those were the best years of their life. But that’s because it’s hard to appreciate having a sense of purpose and people surrounding you all caring about one another and focused on the same goal when you’re literally certain you’re going to die by the end of the year. Having that fear go away makes those memories far more enjoyable than those moments were at the time.
Saving the world was probably the high point of their careers, and it’s hard to imagine a circumstance that would bring them to similar heights. Even if there’s a second war (as Uprising hints) they wouldn’t approach it with the same innocence and unfettered drive as the first one. While I think at the time, if you’d asked Newt and Hermann about the lab, they would have said it was the most miserable point in either of their careers, but in retrospect they’d trade anything to go back to those days.
Avelera 