It's all FUBAR from Here...

"No," he said. He sat down beside the kid, sprawling his legs in front of him, and set his hands behind him to support himself. "I don’t have anywhere to be. I am just…here."

He sat a while in silence, then turned to Kazuki.

The Cossack also seemed to have an understanding of the war inside Kazuki's mind right now.   To feel grief, or to feel rage.. that was the question of the Jaeger pilots.

Again, he worked to bury the negative feelings.  He was not ready to surrender to dark impulses... even though there was a voice in the back of his mind that excused the behavior. 

He took a peek at the dent in the wall and a loose grin threatened to conquer his blank expression.

Shaking his head, he typed, "I no have much to tell.  But I move now.  The hole in the wall is big.   I do not want to get in trouble on my first week here."

Now he grinned, almost impulsively, at the idea what kind of reputation that would create for him.   His hand sure did sting, though. 

"Heh," he said. He looked at the bottle. "Yeah, it is. Ukrainian vodka. Good stuff."

He stared at the bottle for a bit longer, as though suddenly and randomly fascinated by the proof, and then set it on the ground. He sighed.

It didn't sound like a fair fight.

He also needed to be strong.  Tears and resentment weren't going to win over the people in this complex.

He had to set a good example.

But how?

Not begging for pity... was a start.

With stiff fingers, Kazuki wrote, "No.  Takahashi I am not surprise he die.  But so soon I was not prepared."

Damn, writing in English when his mind was reduced to jam was proving to be rather difficult.  That, and, that vodka sure wasn't helping any.

"If you have place to be, I be fine.  Thank you for seeing if I okay.  And for vodka."

Thwack!

Sergei started and whirled around, utterly confused, like some dog who had had his tail pulled. When he saw the party responsible, he stared.

Tryn winked at him, then gave a few pelvic thrusts in his general direction.

That must have been his partner in that Jaeger, his old partner. He tried to think of what would happen if he watched his partner die, Kateryna, paired with some other pilot and running another machine. The thought made him shudder.

Letting the liquid blister down his throat, Kazuki forced his shoulders to relax in an attempt to subdue his pacing mind.   It functioned like a caged animal, rattling the bars and hissing out choice tidbits in response to the unwanted stimulus.

He would have liked to have said Takahashi deserved his demise, but a stronger sense of judgement quashed the idea.   Years of dabbling in the drift allowed him to read his co-pilot like a book.

Prone to pride and jealousy, Takahashi was the second son of a wealthy business owner and pined to take over the family business.    However, even after his older brother brought shame to the family name, the father trusted the company over to his little sister.

His father thought Takahashi wasn't serious enough nor strong enough to swallow the harsh constitution of business life.

That reprehensible decision brought him shame.

So he turned to the glory of the Jaeger forces - hoping to smear his face around the televisions within Japan to show his father... something.  Anything.  He wanted to be the good son... and quickly lost himself in the lustful grasp of fame and fortune.

Kazuki understood him, and why he was quick to blame every mishap on someone else.   He still wasn't over losing the reigns to his father's business.

... And that made Kazuki feel justified in watching over him, especially when the bloodlust of endless kaiju battles made his mind rattle from rage.

But he didn't die because he had no one to look after him now.  His immaturity cost him his life, Kazuki was just lucky to not have been there to witness it first hand.   So, there was no excuse to be surprised.

Yet, here he was, allowing the bitter vodka to drill holes in his esphacus. 

Quietly palming his Speak3asy, he wrote, "Shit.  It strong." 

"Kazuki?" he asked, chancing a glimpse back at the screen where the kaiju was tearing through the outer steel armour of the Jaeger like tin foil. "Are you…good?"

He looked down at the vodka, then offered the bottle to him.

Sergei wanted to know if he was.... good.  The motion made nausea bubble throughout his innards.

He had just watched his partner die on screen.  Years of chasing rabbits and tendrils of memories through countless neural handshakes now left an odd, yet gaping, hole in his conscious. 

And somehow he was meant to be positive about it?

A faint buzz of finality rustled alongside the new knowledge that the man who one filled his head with such incongruous and arrogant thoughts was now dead.

His hand unclenched and fell, defeated, to his side.  Fingers brushing gently against the fabric of his jeans, he pressed his forehead against the wall and clenched his jaw in preparation for the second wave of emotions to hit.

Takashi was stupid enough to get himself killed the moment Kazuki wasn't there to watch over him.

And, God, whoever that may be, did he blame himself.

I had such a great turnout of potential voice actors, I am aiming to have a different voice actor on every new Radio Cabel Newscast!   The script for this week’s episode is complete and just needs a voice to bring this particular story to life! Here’s the line:

“I SPECIALIZE IN “LOW FORCE” CHIROPRACTIC TECHNIQUES THAT CORRECT POSTURE, MAINTAIN JOINT HEALTH, AND HEAL SPINAL-RELATED INJURIES.  I USE AN ACTIVATOR METHODS ADJUSTING TOOL, I JUST CALL IT PONGO.  IT’S JUST A HANDHELD SPRING LOADED TOOL THAT DELIVERS A LOW-FORCE, BUT HIGH SPEED THRUST.  SINCE IT’S QUICKER THAN THE HUMAN HAND, THE BODY DOESN’T HAVE TIME TO RESIST, MAKING THE ADJUSTMENT EFFECTIVE AND COMFORTABLE.”

You are welcome to modify the line to make it easier for you to read it - just sound natural! (Chiropractor is pronounced: KAI-ROW-PRAK-TER)

Please send your voice (in MP3 or WAV, or other mac-friendly format) to [email protected] no later than 3PM EST this THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17th. 

As always, the person selected to bring this character to life will win a free sketch of him or her getting interviewed by Dana.  So be sure to link not only your Tumblr, but a picture so I can reference your beautiful face.

Here’s some  examples on what it will look like.

Thank you and looking forward to hearing you all again! 

Sergei paused.

…until he heard the television and his head snapped up. 

His hearing clogged after that as he quickly bobbled his head in apology before pointing to the TV.

It wasn’t the soccer match that caused the crowd to swell in excitement.

The Ikatteiru Shin, Kazuki’s old Jaeger and co-pilot, was fighting a category 3 Kaiju.

Sergei barely even noticed the shift in tone of the crowd until he found Kazuki wasn’t listening to him anymore, and his diatribe about Catherine “the so-called Great” slowed to a stop. He looked over at the TV. He paused.

There was a fight going on. Kaiju, big, category 3 probably, and a Japanese Jaeger. Sergei recognised it as one he had seen on television before: Ikatteiru Shin. It took him another moment to remember the pilots’ names.

Finally, he shouldered past, just as the Ikatteiru Shin suffered a nasty bite to the arm.  Kazuki couldn't help but place his palm against his mouth, his eyes wild with the memories of piloting that same arm.

Memories seeped his vision, every gut wrenching moment bringing him back to the time he and Takahashi called each other friend.  Partner.

Dread poured into his stomach as the Ikatteiru Shin's arm ripped free, exposing the vulnerable pilots. 

He could taste their pain as the excited journalist continued to narrate the horrifying events.

Someone was speaking to him.

His ears numbed against the world.  He could only hear his heartbeat... and the faint memories of Takahashi gasping the first time they fought a Kaiju.

He gulped despite the desert within his mouth.  He knew Takahashi.

He understood how unraveled the pilot would be.

How arrogant he was.

To have lost a Jaeger's arm.

And his poor co-pilot.  Takahashi would focus the blame upon him and --

Kazuki ducked his head as the Kaiju closed in, tearing its teeth into the cockpit.

His ears refused to drink in the noises of the room.  His mind was already afire with raw emotion.

Time seemed to slow down for a moment. Sergei took a breath. He put a hand on Kazuki’s shoulder.

"I am Ukrainian," he said, putting his other hand over his heart, which was currently overflowing with national pride and the spirit of the free steppe. "A Cossack. My people, the Russians have made us to their slaves. For hundreds of years, since Peter the First, he is taking us from our homes and bringing us to where ever he wishes us to fight, when only we wished to be free men and hold our own council and do things as we wished. The Russians, they only wish to take Ukraine, to take away our land from us and to say we are Russians! They come into our country to fight us! They try to intimidate us with their president, their laws! Try to tell us what we can and can’t do! They wish it was the Soviet times again, when they could do what they want in our country!"

...until he heard the television and his head snapped up. 

His hearing clogged after that as he quickly bobbled his head in apology before pointing to the TV.

It wasn't the soccer match that caused the crowd to swell in excitement.