interview_3aC
I got into piloting during the Third Generation. For the historically illiterate, that’s before the breakpoint, not after. Summer Offensive, Chelsk Offensive, ‘81, ‘82… All that shit.
When you say pilot now, people get a certain mental image. It wasn’t like that, back then; end of the day, a G3 frame is basically just another kind of tank. Hot like hell inside and full analogue control. You had to think five, six, seven seconds ahead sometimes, because that’s how long it’d take you to string together the inputs for what you were doing next.
I was good. I mean, I’m good at my job now, sure, but… you should’ve fuckin’ seen me then.
... Anyway. Long and short of it is, I got unlucky. Everyone does, sooner or later. Coterie railcannon caved in part of my cockpit, crushed my leg to dogmeat, and that was that. A few years later, they’d have amputated, plugged in a spare, and sent me back in, but this was ‘83, the tech wasn’t there yet. We were hearing about it, you know, shit on the grapevine about the brain-machine barrier, weird tests underground out in Lysk, but I don’t think any of us really believed in it.
I wanna say I knew what was coming, but I didn’t. Nobody did.
So. Cockpit breach. Fucked leg. They did a lot of work, got it to where I could walk on a good day, but it was obvious I wasn’t gonna cut it any more. Took my pension, checked out, spent eight years in the worst dyke bars I could find. Don’t really wanna talk about that part. That’s not what you’re here for, anyway.
So I’m a few years down the line, losing my mind somewhere in Sengrade, and I get a call. It’s this guy I used to know, I never really nailed down what he did, Information maybe, and he’s telling me about this program they’re spinning up over in Lysk, and sure that rings some alarm bells but what am I gonna do, say no? I don’t even need to hear the specifics, he’s trying to tell me it’s the next big jump in frame tech, it’s gonna win us the war, whatever, I’m already halfway onto a train.
The job turned out to be the Fifth Generation. Not only was the brain-machine barrier real, but they’d smashed clean through it. I said a G3 is basically a tank, right? So I was expecting an iteration on the form. Sharper, sleeker sure, but at the end of the day just a prettier-looking tank.
Well, I was dead fuckin’ wrong. Seeing something that size move that way, it’s… I don’t think I can put it into words. Go find a poet or something. Ask them what they think about Gen 5.
… Didn’t come for free, of course. The neural throughput on a machine that size will cook an unprepared brain like a fuckin’ egg. You need to be dosed to the gills on a whole cocktail of ten-syllable shit to take it for more than a few minutes, and the drugs make you weird. Horny, mostly - I’m sure you’ve heard about that - but you’re also looking at impaired impulse control, difficulty with long-term thinking, emotional disregulation, mania… Plus, there’s something in the cocktail or the link or both that is bastard habit-forming. You see them counting the hours between sorties. They adjust to the hyperstimulation, get calibrated to it, and then everything else is just too god-damn quiet.
Think maybe it’s carcinogenic, actually, but you didn’t hear that from me.
So, yeah. Weird. Command doesn’t want weird operating superweaponry. Weird doesn’t make sound tactical decisions. Which means all the shit that makes somebody a functioning soldier - the long-term decision making, the impulse control, the ability to give a fuck about the rules of engagement - it had to be outsourced.
The term they used at first was “special consultant”. Then “special consulting officer”, once we hit field testing. It wasn’t “handler” until later.
The first crop of us - I’m just gonna say handlers, I know how you’re gonna wanna spin this, I get it - were all ex-pilots. G3, mostly; Gen 4 didn’t leave a lot of material to work with. I guess the idea was we were the closest you could get to a G5 candidate’s frame of reference, but it was pretty clear within the first few months that that was bullshit. Some of us took to it, some of us washed out. A lot couldn’t take the wetwork, which I guess I can sympathise with.
Me, I handled it fine. Better than I should’ve, maybe. Being a tanker didn’t do shit for me, but my dad, he was a dog trainer, and… Yeah, well, you get the idea.
… No, no. The other kind of wetwork. You know what I mean.
…
The leg? Ha. Yeah, they offered me a prosthetic. ‘Course they did. But, call me a hypocrite, whatever you want - by that point I was six months in and I knew with total fuckin’ certainty I didn’t want the link. I spend enough of my time helping the military put their shit into peoples’ bodies, you know? I don’t want it walking home with me.
… No, I don’t understand why they keep signing up. Early days, sure, nobody knew what it did to you back then, but there’s been leaks, people’ve talked - hell, I’m talking right now. You can find our burnouts in any dive in the country, or what's fuckin' left of them. The candidates now, they know what we do to people here, and they just keep coming, and coming…
Though, you know… I think sometimes about the first time I saw a Gen 5 machine take off, that first day on the program. The way it moved against the blue-black of the sky, like it weighed nothing at all. And I almost get it.
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Japanese QL Corner
One show ends, another continues to be a banger, and we have some exciting new stuff heading our way. These shows are on Gaga unless otherwise marked.
Living With Him
Welllllllllllll. Okay, listen. I have been going easy on this show because it's such a nice unassuming little guy, but this finale, after the last few weeks of wheel spinning, was not it. This should have been a simple and cute if not groundbreaking show, but they tried to stretch out the story in some truly lazy ways and turned it into a bloated mess that ultimately didn’t keep the emotional through lines in place. Some of the scenes in this episode worked fine in isolation, or would have been great if they'd happened, say, two episodes ago, but as a follow up to the content that came before them and an ending to this story? Not so much. On the bright side, the epilogue material was adorable and the cast in this was fantastic all around. I really hope we get to see them in other shows.
At 25:00 in Akasaka
Another great episode, and we learned so much about Hayama. I love it when a flashback episode actually tells us new information that recontextualizes things we've already seen while also making perfect sense. Hayama having a narcissistic and emotional fragile mother? Of course. Being drawn to Shirasaki out of genuine respect for his character and acting skills? Yes. Admiring him from a distance and never saying a damn word about it all through college? Checks out. The way he describes being near Shirasaki? "I feel like my shell is being peeled off." MY GOD, what an evocative line.
Having seen this, I now totally understand why Shirasaki would truly have no clue that he is the person Hayama has always liked. Hayama is so contained, so concealed, so affectless with others that he gave no outward signs of his interest to anyone who doesn't already know him very well. And now the two of them are stuck in awkward hell and they have to film a love scene. Bring the pain, show, I am feasting.
Bonus: Ossan no pantsu ga nandatte ii janai ka
In case you haven't seen yet, @isaksbestpillow has begun subbing this Japanese drama about a middle aged man who becomes friends with a gay student and broadens his horizons. As Sirii notes, it is not ql, but it's a drama featuring queer characters and I'm so excited to get a chance to watch it. Check out her post for more info.
Tagging @bengiyo to add a manga update.
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EDDIE DIAZ IS A GOOD FATHER AND ANYONE WHO SAYS DIFFERENTLY CAN FIGHT ME HIM LETTING CHRIS GO BC IT'S WHAT CHRIS WANTS/NEEDS RN AND JUST REMINDING HIM HOW MUCH HE LOVES HIM AND WILL ALWAYS LOVE HIM I AM DEVASTATED 😭😭😭😭😭😭
I WILL SERIOUSLY FIGHT WHOEVER WANTS TO TELL ME EDDIE IS NOT A GREAT FATHER AND THIS EPISODE JUST PROVED IT FOR THE THOUSAND TIME.
like what he did in tonight's episode is the hardest thing a parent ever has to do: letting go of their child when all they want to do is hold them tight forever. but he did that because he does not love chris as just his son or an extension of himself. he loves chris as a person, and he respects him and his needs and his emotions. he put all of his instincts and desires and needs aside (AGAIN!) for christopher. he's made many mistakes but my god he loves his son and my god he tries so hard to give christopher everything he wants and needs so he can know his father is full of flaws but also full of love.
i just hope the natural conclusion to this storyline is s8 having eddie work on himself and realizing that he's always been thinking of things as "if i want to be a good father for chris it has to be all about him and never about me" when in reality he should be thinking as "the more i am myself the better a father for christopher i can be because what we want and need is not so different after all."
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