roguepythia:

verysharpteeth:

ladysaviours:

enalgunlugar:

Becket, this is Mako Mori.

#I AM GONNA FUCKING DIE #THEIR FIRST MEETING MADE INTO THIS SWEEPING ENCOMPASSING THING IN THEIR SHARED MEMORIES #drifting in2 each other’s hearts

But look how they perceived each other too. This memory isn’t an exact one (memories rarely are). Raleigh’s perception of Mako was very close up and she’s this stunning, slightly sad, closed off thing framed by her umbrella like a halo. She looks exquisite and unapproachable in a way. Mako’s perception of Raleigh has him looking far more serious and sad than he actually looked when they met. The camera angle zooms in like she was suddenly really taking in who this guy was and he looks forbidding and far more warrior like than he ever does in real life. If you notice, that one frame makes him look more like Stacker than any other moment in that movie. If that was her perception, something about Raleigh ALREADY reminded her of the level of command her father had and not only is she the only one in the movie who sees that, but we realize it’s an internal thing on Raleigh’s part because he doesn’t ACT like Stacker, but he sure has the same grit.

I so love when people see things I miss! When I saw these gifs together, my jaw dropped. They actually took the time to refilm their first meeting. Blows my mind how much thought they put into the drift sequences. I wish we could get a point by point explanation of each drift cause there is a lot in there we don’t understand.

Ok but random thought I had while writing the Kidnapping AU – but what if one of the reasons Hermann doesn’t figure out that something is wrong with Newt sooner is because he can’t let himself connect the dots?

Hermann is a theoretical mathematician of sorts, right? Someone in academia can probably give me a more nuanced title. I’m not as familiar with the subcategories of that field, I do know some cryptographers personally, and at the highest levels of math things get a little bit insane and the risk of seeing connections where there aren’t any like Nash in “A Beautiful Mind” is a legit real thing that happens. Worse, Hermann’s focus was on making predictions, connecting disparate data points. 

Hermann could very well have sensed something was wrong. He’s planning for Jaeger deployment, but to what end? Clearly he’s planning for a return of the Precursors and the Kaiju, maybe because he can sense something is out there. Except it’s a threat he can’t see. But what if his biggest fear as a mathematician is beginning to see patterns where there are none?

And the thing is, the truth is legitimately batshit insane. The Precursors took over Newt and made him take private sector, military industrial job to he can sabotage the next generation of Jaegers and use them to destroy the world? Hermann already can’t tell anyone else that he still has nightmares from Drifting with the Kaiju brain, for some reason he felt he needed to tell this in confidence to Newt because it wasn’t safe. That means the guy probably isn’t getting help after the war, at least help he can be completely honest with. He could very well fear for his own equilibrium, and fear getting committed if he tells the truth. 

What theory could he possibly put together that would be close to the truth that doesn’t sound insane? What if he could see the data points cropping up that pointed to a return of the Precursors, to them using Newt as their vessel, to the possibility his nightmares might not be PTSD but actually real? How could he have not feared that it was just his very advanced, theoretical, prediction-making intellect putting together patterns where there were none? Maybe he even began to creep onto the realization sooner but had to suppress it because the closer he got to the truth the more insane his answer became. He probably couldn’t even bring that up for fear of being laughed out of a room as a has-been who misses the glory days and wants to believe the Kaiju are coming back and it’s somehow tied up in Newt. 

I’m just saying in addition to him not putting it together until the threat becomes very real and present, with rogue Jaegers and Kaiju brains right before his eyes and Newt literally telling him he’s destroying the world, Hermann might not have been able to honestly put it together before then because he didn’t have enough proof to trust his own instincts, and if he was wrong with those instincts it could be a very real indication to himself and others that he was losing his mind. 

Maybe he literally couldn’t contemplate what would later turn out to be the truth, and maybe that’s why he spins off these less accurate but very plausible theories of Shao being the real mastermind and the threat being an entirely Earth-based power grab instead of anything to do with the creatures he still has nightmares of to this day, and the man who abandoned him.

FYI, Kidnapping AU is at about 15,000 words now of scattered scenes. No idea yet how long it’ll be. Shorter than TOWOID definitely, just because there’s less content to cover (two guys locked in a room instead of 9 Circles of Hell) but I know any promise I make will just make me look like a fool later so… mmyeah…

linddzz:

I lost the ask but someone requested Hermann and Newt having an argument over the benefits of planned vs unplanned sex.

“Dude, I’m just saying okay?” Newt shakes a chunk of blue muscle for emphasis, sending neon splatters over his protective apron. The one he was forced to wear by the recipient of his emphatic gesturing. “I’m just saying, surprise is the spice of life.”

“I am quite sure that phrase is about variety.” Hermann grumbles from his ladder, refusing to look away from his equations. It’s not that he’s actually putting much effort into the work, but if he does not look towards Newton’s side of the lab, then he isn’t fully engaging in the nonsense. It’s a matter of principal.

“I know what I said.” Newt chucks the flesh to the ground, away from the nerve strand he’s carefully dissecting out. Sure, he has a bin right by the dissection table for waste, but he wants to be sure that Hermann hears the wet slap of kaiju bits hitting the floor next to the bin. “Honestly, you need all the spice you can get, varietal and otherwise. I wouldn’t be surprised if you could subsist on a diet of plain oatmeal and graham crackers if left entirely to your own devices.”

“I do not need spice Newton. And I would appreciate if you did not throw around biohazardous materials in a space I have to share with you.” Though it is admitting a small defeat, Hermann twists his shoulders to glare at Newton from the top of his ladder. “And I will not hear any word about my dietary habits from a man who I have witnessed crushing a bag of doritos chips into instant noodles and calling it basically mac and cheese!”

“Hey!” Newt shouts, pointing up at Hermann and sending more droplets of blue flying with the movement. “Fuck you okay! That’s called culinary creativity with rations and me being a goddamn genius!”

To prove that he is still very much above this ridiculous conversation, Hermann turns his attention back to his boards, the tap-scrape of chalk serving to further show  just how detached he is. “I am amazed you were able to eat it without gagging.”

“Jokes on you,!” Newt crows,“I killed my gag reflex years ago!”

“Oh yes, I am aware.”

“Yeah?! Well I hope you got those sweet memories stored away to be cherished because I’m not doing this!!” Newts shout hits a dangerous octave and, unfortunately, stays there. He snatches up a paper sitting by his table, forever turning it into a blue-smeared toxic hazard. “This!? This is a goddamn spreadsheet! You made a fucking spreadsheet schedule for us banging?!”

Hermann whips back around, clinging to the ladder to prevent falling. “We are both busy and spare time is difficult these days! That is the most efficient-“

“I’m not having scheduled sex Hermann! This ass don’t run on a time clock! How is someone so good in bed also so good at ruining sex?!”

There are a few moments of silence while Hermann processes this combination of insult and compliment, a couple high points of pink blooming on his cheeks in the interim. He decides the current argument is the more productive course to stay on.

“No part of you runs on time clocks in my experience!” Hermann snaps. “Having a set plan means no longer trying to find a few spare moments together Newton, this makes the most sense!”

“It’s a goddamn spreadsheet! You may have more boning time laid out here but you did it in the most guaranteed way to kill my boner!”

“It isn’t-”

“You know what this means?!” Newt shrieks, brandishing the spreadsheet. “This means you can wave good-fuckin-bye to my surprise blowjobs!”

The threat fills the now silent lab, the only sound is Hermann’s chalk tapping nervously on the board.

“I’m sure that isn’t-”

“No!” Newt’s on a roll now, and he wildly waves the blue smeared paper. “It isn’t on the damn schedule, I dont do it! That means no more surprise blowjobs, no more of me treating every morning like I’m trying out for the Houston rodeo! Does this count makeouts!? I feel like this should count makeouts. No makeouts unless strictly scheduled. Maybe we should time out how long foreplay takes while we’re at it! What if we spent all the alloted time on foreplay and had to stop mid-dicking because we ran out of time huh?!”

“You are being petty.” Hermann says stiffly, attention fully back on Newt.

“I’m just following your schedule babe! No more surprises! Everything is completely efficient!”

There is another silence as Hermann’s pride battles his…appreciation for Newtons skills.

“Perhaps…” he says slowly, “we can reach a compromise later this evening.”

“Nothing on the schedule for this evening.” Newt points out, but the enraged shrieking is gone and he sets the damn schedule down.

“Yes. We will have to review that of course.” Hermann sniffs, going back to the equation that hasnt had anything done to it for fifteen minutes now.

Turning away means he does not have to look at Newtons wild, triumphant grin.

“Sounds like a plan sugar!”

Petition to just fanon Uprising as taking place 5 years after Pacific Rim 1 instead of 10

The “ten years” line in Pacific Rim: Uprising just makes no fucking sense to me, it’s so unnecessary, because it should just be five years for a variety of reasons. Now, I tend to just watch certain *cough* newt related *cough* parts of PR:U when I rewatch it so my understanding of the timeline of the other parts might be fuzzy, but here’s my best understanding of what’s going on in Uprising and why it makes no friggin’ sense that it takes place ten years later:

– Pacific Rim 1 was really specific with its dates, including having the first Kaiju show up in 2013, the year the movie was released. I know it’s often hard to know when exactly a film will be released, but just saying Uprising takes place 5 years after PR1 makes sense because the film comes out 5 years later, and so all the actor ages match up too.

– How old exactly is Amara Namani, 16? She’s clearly older than 6 years old in the flashback to the attack on LA but the last attack on LA by a Kaiju wasn’t necessarily in 2025. Also there’s no visible Wall of Life, which canonically would make it at least 5 years before that, frankly she shouldn’t even be born yet during the time she supposedly lost her parents. If it’s 2030 though instead of 2035, it makes much more sense. 

– How old is Jake Pentecost exactly? Ten years since PR1 but we’re still talking about Stacker Pentecost as if he didn’t die a decade ago, and Jake was supposedly thrown out of the PPDC before that. He would have to be around 30 in that case, older than Boyega, since back then the PPDC didn’t use child soldiers he’d have to have been in the Academy at age 18 and been there long enough to have a record before he could get in trouble. It would also mean he hasn’t piloted a Jaeger in a really long time, probably too long to not need refresher training, we’re talking like Mark 6′s (at least) now and he would have been trained on a Mark 3 at latest.

– The way Newt and Hermann interact makes much more sense if it’s been a 5 year gap. Ten years is a really long time to still act like such a goddamn puppy Hermann you adorable man so casually with one another, Hermann legitimately behaves as if very little time has passed at all. Five years as an adult (sorry to burst your bubble, kids, but you’re gonna find that it’s increasingly true) is really not that long of a time though. I’ve got friends I haven’t seen in five years but it still feels like yesterday. Ten years? Not so much. Five years is enough time that Hermann can treat Newt as he does: as if they both got caught up in silly side projects and lost track of time, but they’re happy to finally reunite. It’s also long enough for Newt to be a veteran of Shao but not be fired yet dear lord Liwen would toss a man that annoying like last week’s garbage if she could, not hold onto him for ten years. And for that matter, if it’s ten years how old was Liwen when the Breach closed and she supposedly hired Newt? 15? 20? If it’s ten years she’s known the man almost half her life and she still hates him! And again: simple actor ages, Newt and Hermann look five years older, not ten. Everything about their relationship in the film makes more sense with a five year gap.

– Finally, technology. PR1 takes place in 2025 but the technology is not that advanced compared to today except in places where it’s clear a lot of money and energy was spent like Jaegers, Drift technology, and holo-projectors. In my view, you’ve only got about 5 years of advancement visible in PRU: Jaegers are a bit more streamlined and Drift compatibility doesn’t have to be as deep in order to pilot a Jaeger (which, fandom complaints aside makes total sense as the aspect of the Drift you’d want to improve upon so you can recruit more pilots outside the super specialized compatibility ones that are hard to replace!). Even Hermann’s Kaiju blood rocket fuel makes less sense for 10 years later because samples would probably have dried up by then with no new Kaiju, but five years it’s totally reasonable that there’s enough lying around for him to get his hands on it, that the cleanup efforts from the attacks aren’t further along, and that there’s still a lot of chaos and vagrancy. All the Jaeger pilots were wiped out in 2025 so having a small batch like Nate and the others as adults but needing to turn to younger recruits to fill out the ranks also makes sense as an act of desperation out of fear the Kaiju might come back any minute now, rather than a morally questionable ongoing institution ten years out.

It also just makes everything in general a lot less sad if we don’t assume things are still this bad after ten years and Newt and Hermann have been apart a full decade anyway thanks for coming to my TED talk Uprising taking place 10 years later instead of 5 is stupid, thank you and goodnight.

Can you imagine the absolute hurricane of fury and pent-up rage that would be Newton Geizler if he ever saw someone take Hermann’s cane?

Oh damn, Anon, you’re right. I mean I don’t think I’m alone in headcanoning that Hermann and Newt’s fights might get vicious with one another, up to and including (canonically) calling into question the worth of everything they’ve studied in their life. Questioning their intellect, their passions, and the worth of their ambitions and theories. 

But I think there’s also an element of dignity to it. Like, personal dignity or things they have no control over is a line that Is Not Crossed. And I could totally see someone outside K-Sci not understanding the nuance between the types of mockery and fighting that are ok and the kind that are Not. And taking Hermann’s cane or in any way attempting to use his disability as something to attack or shame brings out the most incandescent fury from one Newt Geiszler.

I’m certain there’s aspects of Newt in return that would engender a similar response from Hermann, perhaps along similar lines of attacking Newt as a person (attacking his sexuality, his mental health, or appearance as not related to clothes or tattoos). I imagine many of their fights too are along the lines of “I’m allowed to call him that, because I know him and I know where the line is and because he’s mine. You’re not allowed to call him that.”

I think no matter how vicious their fights might get, there is an aspect of care shown even in their existence. It means someone cares. It means someone thinks their theory, no matter how stupid, is worth engaging (a replacement perhaps for every other kind of academic debate or peer review that they no longer have the funding, respect, or luxury to receive?) and probably shouting at one another is a major distraction from their full and unholy knowledge of just how fucked the world is. They’re on the bleeding edge of awareness, probably much of the world or even their Shatterdome isn’t as aware as they are. I imagine a lot of the K-Sci info in particular is classified. 

I know this became a rant on the nature of Newt and Hermann’s fight but one last thing: the reason the viciousness of the fighting is never an issue is because viciousness is not how they’d really insult each other or hurt each other. That would be apathy. If the other just stopped caring and stopped engaging, that would be the ultimate attack. That’s why Newt seems particularly hurt by Hermann’s dismissal of the brain drift (before and after): you can call it stupid but don’t ignore it. 

And that’s what the Precursors did when they really wanted to twist the knife in Hermann: they showed him the face of Newt’s apathy.