#rage enough to drown out fray. rage enough to hopefully drown out the ghost of their daughter

[impossible-rat-babies]

I just. love the funny intersection eyrie has between DRK and WAR it just tickles my fancy

[avi17]

MK X Pacific Rim AU Concept

You ever get an AU idea in your head and go absolutely feral for a bit putting it all on paper?  Me neither, until now!  This isn’t so much a fic as just a detailed wiki-style outline, but hopefully it will still be fun to read!  I had a ton of fun figuring out how to translate all these concepts and backstories into the PR world. If anyone feels like doing anything with these ideas they’re absolutely welcome, just please credit me and link back to this post if you do!  I don’t think I’ll ever be able to write this into some massive longfic, but I definitely hope to do some shorts in this ‘verse. I brainstormed this with a bunch of people, and got some fun ideas from @sxvethelastdance​, @bastardsunlight​, and @fallen-angel-lucifer- thank you guys so much for humoring all this!​

Pan Pacific Defense Corps Marshal Raiden was a legendary Mark 1 pilot dating back to when the program was first launched.  Based out of the Shatterdome in Tokyo, he and his brother Fujin, in their Jaeger Thunderbolt Gale, were the first line of defense from Kaiju attacks headed westward from the breach for five grueling years. However, they met their match in Motaro, the first Category 3 Kaiju to make landfall on Hokkaido, and when Fujin was torn from their Jaeger and killed, Raiden was forced to take down the creature solo- a feat replicated only twice since. The physical and emotional toll of that day led to his retirement from active combat, but he remained in the PPDC as a commander, as well as a mentor of other pilots.  When the Jaeger program was decommissioned, he was the last one to retain his faith in it, and took up leadership over the few remaining Jaegers at the Shatterdome in Hong Kong for one final stand against the Kaiju. Current Pilots:

Liu Kang and Kung Lao Jaeger: White Lotus Original base: Hong Kong

The home base heroes of the Hong Kong Shatterdome, pilots Liu Kang and Kung Lao are the top graduates and darlings of the Wu Shi Jaeger Academy.  Raised together in a martial arts sect before the first breach and drift compatible since their ranger training began, they are nearly inseparable- though Kung Lao has never quite forgotten how Liu Kang's scores just barely edged out his own in their individual skill assessments, and he strives constantly to prove himself his partner's equal (despite Liu Kang's insistence that such competition is unnecessary). Their Jaeger, White Lotus, is a well-rounded, powerful machine, featuring high-powered flamethrowers, as well as a system of fuel vents that allow it to set its fists alight and heat them to brutal temperatures in close-quarters battle. For ranged combat, it utilizes a circular blade mounted to its head, which can be thrown like a boomerang with enough force to slice through buildings. 

Kitana and Jade Jaeger: Edenia Glory Original Base: Lima

Interplanetary refugees, Kitana and Jade escaped to Earth after their homeworld was attacked and overrun by Kaiju invaders.  Their spacecraft crashed in the middle of the Amazon rainforest, and though they immediately searched for civilization in order to warn Earth’s people of what was to come, the first wave of attacks had already begun.  After making their way to Lima, they volunteered to put their combat skills and close bond to use as rangers in the South American Jaeger program. Together they have defended the coasts of Chile and Peru since the Mark-2 days, though between battles, they spend their time in communication with the PPDC and the U.N., sharing what information they can about the Kaiju and other alien life previously unknown on Earth. Their Jaeger, Edenia Glory incorporates technological elements from their original planet not used in any other Jaeger, and is lithe, fast, and deadly, with a style focused primarily on precision bladework rather than hand to hand brawling.  Its name is a tribute to their lost homeworld, and they use it to great effect to prevent Earth from suffering the same fate.

Sonya Blade and Jackson "Jax" Briggs (later Johnny Cage) Jaeger: Flawless Victory Original Base: Los Angeles

Both Lt. Sonya Blade and Maj. Jax Briggs had successful careers in the U.S military behind them when the first Kaiju came ashore and attacked San Francisco.  Though at the time, Sonya was in the field pursuing the criminal Kano, she returned to the states when her friend and superior officer, Jax, suggested that they might be good candidates for the newly-formed ranger program.  He proved to be right, and the two did time at the Shatterdomes in both Los Angeles and Anchorage, fighting off Kaiju from Canada to Mexico, and became well-admired figures within the military for their ascent.  Though far from unscathed, the ostentatiously-named Flawless Victory is the last American Jaeger left standing by the time the program is decommissioned and is a tank of a machine, sacrificing some speed for the greatest physical strength of any Jaeger still on the field. Like the other American Jaegers, for long range combat it favors plasma cannons and explosives- particularly a ring-shaped plasma blast with wider coverage than the usual single beam- but it is at its most effective when delivering a crushing beatdown up close and personal. Johnny Cage is the star of a popular series of action films dramatizing the battles of the Jaegers and Kaiju, and to many civilians at home, is as much the face of the Jaeger program as its real members.  He has a secret ambition to become an actual pilot and has an impressive record in simulations, but because of his celebrity status (and his personality), Marshal Raiden and the other Jaeger teams refuse to consider him as a true contender.  However, when a vicious fight with two Kaiju at once leaves both of Jax's arms shattered, taking him out of commission as a pilot for the foreseeable future, Sonya is forced to accept Johnny as her new co-pilot in order to keep Flawless Victory in the fray where it is needed. Despite her irritation with him, they turn out to be drift compatible, and become a formidable duo in their own right.

Hanzo Hasashi and Kuai Liang Jaeger: Phantom Vengeance Original Base: Nagasaki

From the Nagasaki Shatterdome, the bright yellow Mark-3 Jaeger Shirai Ryu defended the coast of the Yellow Sea across three countries.  Its building was overseen by its husband and wife pilots, Hanzo and Harumi Hasashi, and it was named for the legendary warrior clan from which Hanzo claimed descent.  It was in service for four years, though Hanzo and Harumi always spent as much time as possible between missions with their young son Satoshi, who lived with them in their quarters at the base so that his parents could still have a part in raising him in a world that would not guarantee a reunion for families who choose to separate. Across the sea based in Shanghai was an organization known as the Lin Kuei, a private military contractor funded by shadowy, unknown sources.  Though its bread and butter was anti-Kaiju weaponry, it also began to develop its own Jaegers- the only ones outside the PPDC, created from illicitly obtained blueprints, and hireable for the right price.  Its crown jewel was a small, stealthy machine called simply Sub-Zero, unique for its proficiency underwater and tendency to use coolant as a weapon rather than fire or explosives, and piloted by two brothers- Bi-Han and Kuai Liang. When the massive Kaiju Kintaro directly attacked the Nagasaki Shatterdome, Shirai Ryu was the only Jaeger left to defend it. Desperate, the Hasashis attempted to contact the Lin Kuei, as they were closer than the nearest other Shatterdome in Tokyo.  They received no response and were forced into battle alone, and though they prevailed, the price was too high- not only Harumi’s life when part of their cockpit was crushed, but Satoshi’s as well, buried in the wreckage of the base.  In his grief, Hanzo blamed the Lin Kuei- particularly Bi-Han, with whom he had never gotten along- for what he perceived as a failure to act due to greed and amorality. What Hanzo did not know that day was that they were experiencing the first double event in history, and Sub-Zero and the Lin Kuei were under attack by the Kaiju Sheeva at the same time.  The Kaiju hivemind had figured out Sub-Zero’s usual strategy of attacking from the water, and were ready with an acidic bite that tore a hole in the cockpit, which rapidly flooded.  After a similar failure to make contact with Shirai Ryu, Bi-Han was swept out into the sea and presumably drowned (though his body was never recovered), but Kuai Liang, despite a bleeding face and water up to his neck, managed to kill the Kaiju mere moments before Sub-Zero ceased to function. After his release from medical, a furious Kuai Liang set off immediately for the remains of the Nagasaki Shatterdome to confront Hanzo for his failure to respond to the attack, since Shanghai was within Nagasaki's area of coverage. Both blinded by rage, they nearly got into a fistfight in the middle of the base, but once they realized what had truly happened, their anger cooled.  They bonded over their grief, and the unfathomable experience of having to pilot a Jaeger alone after such loss- and in the process, discovered they were drift compatible, and that they both wished to continue the fight in retaliation for what the Kaiju had done to their families. Their new Jaeger, Phantom Vengeance, is a strange sight- constructed from salvaged pieces of both Sub-Zero and Shirai Ryu (along with some newer tech to fill the gaps), it looks as much like a walking ghost as its pilots. However, it should not be underestimated based on its appearance. Quick and light (for a Jaeger), it features a retractable grappling hook to drag Kaiju into the range of its blasts of powerful coolant, and a devastating grip to snap them like twigs once frozen. 

Other Players:

After the destruction of Sub-Zero and the defection of Kuai Liang, the Lin Kuei concluded that the problem with the Jaeger program was the human element of drift compatibility, which limited the number of possible pilots and held them back due to concern for their partners in battle.  Therefore, in secret, they began a series of horrific experiments, fusing subjects with their Jaegers to operate more like batteries than true pilots, and erasing their memories through drugging and electric shock in order to create blank minds that could operate together without the complications of emotion.  Assassins Cyrax and Sektor, along with Kuai Liang’s close friend Tomas Vrbada, were among the subjects of this initiative, forced to operate a three-armed machine called Triborg.

Shang Tsung is a scientist, shunned from the academic community and at times running afoul of the law for his unethical- if not outright twisted- biological experiments. He and Marshal Raiden have crossed paths in the past, and though no one knows the details, their enmity towards each other is clear. However, in his desperation after the decommissioning of the Jaeger program, Raiden had Shang Tsung brought from prison to the Hong Kong Shatterdome, and gave him access to whatever parts he needed to find a way to destroy the Kaiju- by any means necessary. Shang Tsung agreed partly because of the money offered, but mostly because the world's destruction would throw quite the wrench into his own personal goals. (And maybe because it was deeply satisfying- and perhaps useful- to have the Marshal in his debt.) Where his allegiance will lie at the end of the day, however, is anyone's guess. 

For such experiments, one needs a steady supply of Kaiju parts, and for contraband like that, Raiden had to look even lower- to the crime syndicate the Black Dragon, led by Kano and including his associates, Kabal and Erron Black.  Though once mercenaries dealing in everything from illicit arms trading to assassination, the Black Dragon followed the money and and put all their resources into the trafficking of Kaiju parts.  With demand so high, they have become immensely powerful, but their involvement with the PPDC in the name of greater profits ends up bringing Kano face to face with his old nemesis, Sonya Blade- with predictably violent results.

Nightwolf was the historian of the Matoka tribe, which had long ago predicted a great cataclysm that would bring about the end of life on earth.  Though he had been skeptical that such legends were real, when that cataclysm came to pass in the form of the Kaiju invasion, Nightwolf was not content to merely await a prophesied destruction.  He left home and applied for the ranger program, but although he trained toward being a pilot and had the necessary combat skills, he never found a partner with whom he was drift compatible.  Rather than dwell on this with resentment, he pivoted his focus into other ways he could help, and found his place as a technician and LOCCENT officer.  Transferred to Hong Kong after the decommissioning of the Jaeger program, he was the rangers’ primary point of communication with the base while in battle.

Though most of the world fears the Kaiju, there are also those who worship them, and such admiration has evolved over the years into a full-blown religion.  The shadowy high priest of this cult is Quan Chi, who claims that the Kaiju have been sent by the God of Death himself- to end the days of humans on Earth as we so richly deserve.  Recently, a strange, hollow-eyed man calling himself Noob Saibot has appeared like a shadow at Quan Chi’s side, serving as his personal bodyguard against all threats and a fellow ardent believer in the inevitability of humanity’s destruction. Mileena is a grotesque fusion of Kaiju DNA with that of Kitana, which was stolen against her will when she was injured and bled during the invasion of Edenia. She enters Earth as a general of the Kaiju, connected to their hivemind, along with the first Category 5 to ever come through the breach, Goro.  Together, they intend to ensure the will of their creator and the ruler of the Anteverse- Shao Kahn- is carried out.

[old-long-john]

WIP meme

Do This: List all the things you’re currently working on in as much or as little detail as you’d like, then tag some friends to see what they’re working on. This can be writing, art, vids, giftsets, whatever.

I got tagged to do this quite a while ago by @jmeelee and @vowel-in-thug (I think) and I’ve been meaning to do it but kept forgetting. Yet again I’m wondering whether talking about wips will actually push me to start writing again or not, but it’s worth a go.

I’ll tag @jadedbirch @nettlekettle @reluming and @lurkerdelima if any of you feel like it.

I really only have one thing that’s half written that I think of as a wip that I definitely intend to finish at some point, and it’s the post-series/post-TI silverflint thing. I can’t remember if I’ve posted any bits of it before, but I’m just gonna post a chunk of the beginning for (hopefully) tantalising funsies. It needs reworking in light of the actual series ending, but still.

Fucking small towns. Fucking inclement weather. Fucking craven captains afraid of a little wind and rain, bolting for safe harbour at the drop of a hat. It was a fucking divine conspiracy to trap him in this place that stank of fish and horse shit and seaweed, and where the most scintillating conversation available was about the fucking harvest - bountiful crop of turnips this year, apparently, though the cabbages had struggled - and where every fucking person felt the need to openly fucking ogle his missing fucking leg. Not that Silver was becoming bitchy or irritable in his old age, but Jesus, what he wouldn’t give for a brief snatch of intelligent conversation. Two days he’d been confined to this inn, since the storm had driven the ship he had been passenger aboard into the harbour. The worst of the weather had passed, but the streets were still inches deep in a thick slurry of mud and shit, and he didn’t much fancy his chances of remaining upright if he tried to navigate his way through them for a turn about the town. He had tried asking the innkeeper if he had any books he might borrow, but the man had looked at him as though he might be a dangerous lunatic. He supposed, on reflection, his unkempt appearance didn’t exactly lend itself to the image of a literate man who would want to read books, rather than simply tear the pages out of them to line his sodden shoe. And so he remained distractionless in his confinement.   

He was sat at the bar nursing a pint of ale after his lunch, an uninspiring stew that was best not too closely examined, letting the noise of the other patrons’ conversations wash over him. He had colonised this particular stool soon after arrival at the inn and made it his own, tucked against the wall so that his crutch sat hidden in shadows and his loose trouser leg was out of sight. He had long ago perfected the art of pretending not to notice when people’s gazes inevitably wandered down to the space where his left foot ought to be, but the more tired or riled or bored he was the more difficult it became to ignore, and fucking hell was he bored right now. He felt that itching buzz beneath his skin that begged him to get up, to move, to do anything, but getting into an altercation with the next bumpkin to make the mistake of glancing down was a pisspoor solution to his frustration. He’d feel better for it, certainly, younger and stronger and as though he had some kind of power over his own damn life, but it wasn’t worth being run out of town for that. And so he buried his face in his mug of too-weak ale, continued to work a groove into the bartop with his thumbnail, and eavesdropped on the table of men behind him.

“Well you know why that is don’t you, Ted? That Captain Barlow’s been telling the kids stories again. Had my Daisy petrified of the storm the other night he did, convinced that some sea monster was going snatch her from her bed.”

“What’s he been saying now?”

“Just the usual tall tales. Supposedly, years ago Davy Jones himself drove him into a living tempest that almost swallowed him whole. Said that the sea reached out with waves a hundred foot high that thrashed his ship and ate half his crew alive, and when the storm spat him out the other side he spent months adrift, becalmed and starving, cursed by the Devil. He’s promised to tell them next time how he caught sharks bigger than oxen to feed his famished crew, armed only with his bare hands, a dull blade, and the will to live. Absolute rubbish, but the kids believe every word out of his mouth.”

There was a strange buzzing in Silver’s ears and his mouth felt suddenly very dry. Frozen in place, mug raised to his lips, he swallowed against the bile rising in the back of his throat. It had been a very long time since he had heard that name or those stories. A lifetime, it felt like. When it had all finally gone to shit, when he had seen that there was no future ahead of them that carried with it anything resembling victory or life, he had been the one to cut the cord and run. As fast as his leg would carry him. Drowning men weren’t rational; given half a chance they would drag you under with them, without even realising they were doing it, and so after he had wept and raged and wept some more, he had made the decision for both of them. After everything he had lost, and everything he had almost lost, he just couldn’t stand to give any more to that fucking island or the ravenous cause. They had taken enough from him. He only wished there was a way to stop it from taking him too, but he knew in his gut that Flint had been consumed by that place long before he had ever met him. He was already a ghost. And yet-

“Perhaps you should go and talk to the Captain then. Tell him to lay off.”

“Ha! Not likely. He might just be some old sea dog but he gives me the creeps. There’s something about his eyes. It’s sinister, you know? He’s good to the kids, but I don’t like dealing with him myself.”

“Must be embarrassing to be more lily-livered than your own nine year old daughter, Frank.”

“Excuse me, friends,” Silver said, finally turning on his stool to face the table behind him where two of the men were laughing while one spluttered with indignation. “Pardon my intrusion, but I couldn’t help overhearing. You mentioned a Captain Barlow? He sounds rather like someone I used to know. You wouldn’t happen to know where I might find him?”

The man called Frank looked him up and down, disdain clear in his gaze, eyes settling too long on the frayed seam of his left trouser leg, and Silver had to quash the bristle of truculence that passed through him. He forced the bland and inoffensive smile to remain fixed on his face while he waited for a reply, listening intently over the thrumming pulse of his blood behind his eardrums. Finally, the man spoke.

“I don’t rightly know where he lives, but a few days a week you’ll find him selling his catch by the harbour,” he said. “Might be there today. He’s a prickly old fellow though. Doesn’t take kindly to questions, I’ll warn you.”

Silver smiled again, though he made no effort to extend the warmth to his eyes. “Many thanks,” he said, and he downed the rest of his ale in one long gulp, picked up his crutch, and left the bar for his room.