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[suicidemission]

IN CHARACTER

Character Name: Charles 'Chuck' Hansen
Canon: Pacific Rim
Canon Point: The moment he detonates Striker's bomb

In-Game Tattoo Placement: forearm
Current Health/Status: dehydrated, exhausted, full of bees, PTSD, occasional panic attacks, some nerve damage and some drivesuit burns from when striker was hit with the EMP blast in Hong Kong bay

Age: 21
Species: Human

Content Warnings: character death, family death, kaiju/monsters

History: a wiki.

Setting information:

Pacific Rim is set in slightly futuristic times with much of the pacific coast a war torn battle ground. Times are tough, the economy is terrible, rationing is rampant (especially in areas where the kaiju generally hit), and life is hard and people are desperate. The movie is set roughly between late December 2024 and mid January, 2025.

KAIJU

It starts in 2013 when the kaiju Trespasser 'hits' San Francisco, California. The kaiju - a Japanese word that, according to wikipedia and the googles, literally means 'strange creature' or 'monster' (Pacific Rim refers to them as 'giant beasts') - are enormous creatures that resemble dinosaurs that have been bioengineered, unbeknownst to humans, by a breed of inter dimensional creature referred to in the novelization and wiki as the 'Precursors'. Trespasser, a 302 feet tall kaiju first showed its face on August 10, 2013 though it (and presumably most other emergences of the beasts) was prefaced with an earthquake that measure 7.1 on the Richter scale. It weighed in about 2700 tons, and very little was able to penetrate its thick hide - though once pierced, the blood resulted in a toxic waste that was dubbed kaiju blue.

Raleigh's narration states that it took six days and thirty five miles to bring it down, costing millions in resources and millions more in lives.

The Pacific Rim wiki (along with references from Newt in the movie) states that the Precursors started back in the Triassic period, and were actually the dinosaurs that inhabited the world at that period of time. The environment, for whatever reason, wasn't conducive to their need and so they waited millions of years until humans had polluted and corrupted the planet enough for them to be able to take control and colonize.

Initially, the San Francisco (along with Oakland and Sacramento) attack was originally thought to be an isolated event (everyone HOPED it was, at any rate), but unfortunately it wasn't. They continued, one hitting Manila, then Cabo, then the kaiju Scissure hit Sydney and that's when mankind realized they needed to find a way to fight back that didn't included the use of nuclear bombs. Humans needed a solution, and fast.


Tales from Year Zero | Birth of a Jaeger

It is around this time that a one Dr. Jasper Schoenfeld had an inkling that there was something we could do, that there was a way to fight back without ruining the planet in the process. He was hit with inspiration as he watched his young son play with toy robots (you know they were Transformers toys) and monsters (totally Godzilla) in his room.

What if?

What if we built giant robots? What if we created something so massive, something on their level, and brought the fight to them?

So Jasper got to work, started designing and creating and brings his ideas to a conference in Seoul, South Korea. He presents the idea for the Jaeger and is granted an audience with the UN, and he, along with former student and now colleague Caitlin Lightcap, begin working in earnest on the Jaeger program and the Pan Pacific Defense Corps is established.

Unfortunately, this is an incredibly expensive idea and funding is garbage so when Stacker Pentecost comes to check out the progress, all...they have is an arm.

That's it. An arm.

An arm that hasn't even been tested.

So, Stacker, being the innovative man that he is, volunteers and tests it out, saying that he hopes the idea will save lives, but he needs to go back to the UN with something, otherwise there will never be enough funding to complete the project.

It works (though Stacker admits it feels like his hand is in wet concrete), though there are obviously hiccups since the 'interface isn't calibrated to your neural profile' (C. Lightcap, Tales From Year Zero), but it still works.

December 1, 2014, PPDC proving grounds are established on Kodiak Island.

With funds granted, Lightcap and Jasper are able to create and build the first jaeger, Brawler Yukon, implementing her Pons concept. Adam Casey, an Air Force pilot, is the first test subject to attempt and pilot Brawler Yukon, though the attempt ends in his death as the neural load proved too much for him to handle.

They continue, though Lightcap is wary and it is with this Jaeger (and with Jasper's jealousy and impatience, but that's another story) that the two pilot system is discovered, because when the current solo pilot Sergio D'onofrio, Lightcap plugs in and assists with the mental load.


PONS/THE DRIFT

Honestly, Raleigh's narration says it the best when it comes to describing the Drift/Pons system.

"The Drift. Jaeger tech. Based on DARPA jet-fighter neural systems. Two pilots, mind-melding through memories with the body of a giant machine. The deeper the bond, the better you fight."

It's literally a mind meld technology that is coupled with circuitry suits and relay gel (distributed through said suits) worn by Jaeger pilots so that they can not only move the jaeger, but also feel what the jaeger does.

RABITs

Random Access Brain Impulse Triggers. These are instances where a pilot will latch on to a memory and become trapped, and usually drag the other pilot along for the ride regardless of who the memory belongs to. Focusing on a single memory is discouraged because it is distracting and the emotions will translate into actions (as evidenced by Mako nearly blowing a hole in the Shatterdome).

It's easy to say 'don't chase the rabbit', but according to Raleigh, first Drifts are hard, and most things are generally 'easier said than done'.

COMPATIBILITY

Compatibility is judged both on personality as well as their ability to work with one another in the kwoon combat rooms. The objective isn't to have one pilot superior to the other, but to have two balanced individuals that are capable of piloting a jaeger together and engaging in direct combat with kaiju. According to the wiki, "Drift compatibility is potential that exists between two people, however, it is not predetermined by the relationship (or lack thereof) of the compatible persons".

When you Drift with someone, it’s opening up your mind to them on the most intimate level – they know your thoughts, secrets, anything that comes to mind in that instance is theirs to share and peruse as they will. There’s a certain rawness to the Drift that you can’t find anywhere else outside of it – it opens you up, makes you vulnerable, rips you apart so that all of your most private thoughts and feelings are laid bare, right there on the table for your partner to see. Sex, love, your tragic past - it's all out there and on the table for your co-pilot to pick through.

You can only Drift with someone that you trust implicitly.

On Ghost Drifting, per Beacham

A rare, unanticipated consequence of the neural handshake is that a crew will sometimes find that their link remains somewhat active (though muted) even after they’ve disconnected from the hardware. This will invariably manifest as shared dreaming. The condition has known to the pilots as ghost drifting. It is not common, but the first reported case came reliably from Doctor Caitlin Lightcap herself, the inventor of the Pons system. Even so, Doctor Lightcap and the PPDC’s other experts remain at a loss to explain the mechanisms behind this phenomenon.


JAEGERS
Since I already went into the development of the Jaegers and the actual program above, I won't do that again. Instead, I will simply state what Jaegers are in relation to Pacific Rim and it's continuity.

Big, badass robots.

No, seriously.

Big, badass robots that are piloted by two pilots while engaged in a freaky Vulcan style mind meld dubbed a neural handshake.

The name, according to the movie, translates into Hunter, and they are the weapon of choice (up until the anti-kaiju wall) and are primarily used to fight kaiju and defend humanity.

There are different levels of Jaeger; Mark I up to Mark V, all having weapons tailored to the jaeger in question.

The Jaeger program is shut down and Shatterdomes decommissioned in favor of the Wall of Life program, as the price of humanity's saviors does not come without cost. For example, Sydney's Striker Eureka clocked in at over a hundred billion dollars, an amount unfathomable to most humans.

WALL OF LIFE/ANTI-KAIJU WALL/COASTAL WALL/'THE WALL'
A really, really bad idea.

Basically, it's a large wall purported to keep the kaiju out.

Long story short - it doesn't work. Mutavore busts through the wall to get into Sydney in less than an hour, and despite the UN insisting otherwise, it isn't effective. It's a cheaper alternative, sure, because you can pay the workers in ration cards and little more while jaegers are incomprehensibly expensive.

PILOTS/RANGERS
Jaeger pilots are, at their height, literally rock stars. They are household names, action figures, poster boys and girls. They're idols and people to hero worship. They are, for lack of a better word, superheroes.

Jaegers are only as good as their pilots, and when jaegers started winning, pilots grew to rock star status literally overnight. Danger morphs into propaganda, deadly kaiju into little plastic toys for kids to play with. They appear on talk shows, radio shows, cooking shows, news shows, gossip mags, Vogue, GQ, Time, all of the above. They are the movie stars, the singers, the people to watch and lust after and follow and get autographs from.

They're humanity's saviors.


CRAU History and Impact: N/A


Personality:

--a bit of a man alone. He has never had any distractions in his life, no girlfriends. He doesn’t tolerate failure. He’s a perfectionist; he’s an artist at what he does.”

-Rob Kazinsky

Chuuuuck Hansen. Where do we even begin? The kid has multiple issues that range from low self-esteem to daddy issues out the wazoo. When Chuck was just a kid (ten, he was ten) his dad had to make a hell of a choice: in late 2014, the day the Kaiju Scissure attacked he had to choose whether to save his wife, or save his son. He chose to save his son and Chuck, being a kid, blamed his dad for his mother’s death and has resented him for the choice (no matter how irrational or illogical this resentment might be) ever since. He was a child, and children do not always make rational decisions. It would have been up to the parent to help, to try to coax, to seek therapy. That did not happen.

The relationship between father and son has not been a good one, and it’s questionable if it was all that great even before his mother’s death. Herc was a military man (a career soldier, according to Herc’s actor) before he joined up with the PPDC and that means deployment and leaving Angela to raise Chuck on her own a lot of the time. Chuck kind of resented his dad from the get go because who just ups and leaves their family like that? To a kid, it doesn’t make sense and can be perceived as abandonment and that’s something that sticks with a person throughout their entire life.

After the death of Chuck’s mother, Chuck mentally and emotionally withdrew even more from his father, hardening himself to familial relationships that would have and could have been a firm support system. Instead of leaning on his father, Chuck pushes him away and chooses to move forward alone, distancing himself from everyone that would have been able to help him cope.

Chuck and his dad don’t speak outside of the Drift. Their relationship can be (and is) described as ‘nonexistent’ when they aren’t piloting Striker, and in general, Chuck has very little to say to Herc.

He’s raised in a cockpit and really only knows the principles of the PPDC. It shapes who he is, how he functions, and how he views the others around him. For Chuck, there is only piloting, there are only jaegers and kaiju and numbers hastily stamped onto his armor and the back of his jacket. Piloting defines him; it shapes his entire existence and becomes the very core of his moral code.

If you cannot deal, you don’t belong in the program.

It’s pretty simple to Chuck, honestly. He’s a perfectionist in what he does and doesn’t accept anything or anyone less and he does not tolerate failure – even in himself. If he has to save your ass or if he thinks you aren’t up to standards, you’re immediately dismissed as being worthless and not an asset to the cause and you don’t belong in a goddamn jaeger. He strives to beat out everyone that he can to prove himself, and he views his father as his biggest rival, as the ultimate person to beat.

Chuck is the youngest person to enlist in the jaeger program and his headstrong nature and his determination to beat out his father allowed him to move through the ranks and trials, pushing him to the top of his class and excelling in all areas of the Academy. He’s fifteen/sixteen when he starts to pilot Jaegers and in 2019, at sixteen, he is found to be Drift compatible with his father, and they begin to pilot Striker Eureka, a Mark V, the fastest and most advanced jaeger to date.

This causes Chuck’s arrogance to just blow up; he’s instantly famous as a pilot, a rockstar, co-piloting alongside the famed Hercules Hansen, his father. His face is plastered all over the news, the papers, and the internet. Everyone knows who he is and what he does and he’s famous, and while this would probably go to a normal persons head, to Chuck, it just verifies what he already knows – he’s the best. He’s more interested in talking about his world record amount of kaiju kills and the intricate workings of Striker Eureka than he is abusing his fame, and for this the world is profoundly grateful.

Still, Chuck can’t resist bragging sometimes and to be honest? He deserves it. He’s amazing at what he does and there’s a reason he’s piloting the most advanced jaeger in the world with the top pilot in the world – because he really is that damn good. Chuck has fought tooth and nail for his bragging rights and he has no problem telling you about yourself, especially if he thinks you’re dead weight or if you’re going to hold him back in any way.

This doesn’t do a lot for relationships outside of the Drift and because of Chuck’s focus, drive, arrogance and determination, he has no real friends. No girlfriends. With no one other than the jaegers he pilots and his father, Chuck’s social life outside of the conn-pod is practically nonexistent. He tolerates other pilots because he has to and he listens to Stacker because he’s the one giving orders, and because there’s earned respect, but beyond that Chuck doesn’t see a reason to socialize with anyone beyond the hulking figure of Striker Eureka and that’s fine with him, because Striker doesn’t talk back.

There is a lot of potential for Chuck to really, really become a complete shithead – like...a serious piece of shit asshole instead of just an egotistical jerk. While Chuck is a shithead, deep down, he’s not that horrible of a person. We have glimpses of him being a human being instead of a soldier that's dedicated to killing kaiju. He's given reason after reason to be an asshole – Raleigh and Mako were a consistent problem and reason for him to be upset. Raleigh got his brother killed and the mission Chuck's been preparing for forever was jeopardized by a rookie and a sad sack of shit that shouldn't be there. These two people were supposed to run defense on his bomb run and keep him and Herc alive, and after ONE test run in Gipsy, they fucked it up.

His dad asks him in the book why he isn’t a better person but honestly when you look at it, Chuck’s not a bad guy. He just doesn’t have patience for foelishnes and he’s simply more vocal about it than anyone else. He might do what he wants and talk to people how he wants but he isn’t a womanizer, he doesn’t smoke, and he respects the hell out of Stacker Pentecost and those that he deems deserve it (even if he’s shit at showing it). He’s right about nearly everything that he says, even if he puts it in the worst way possible. People tend to forget that Chuck, while an elite pilot, is still just a twenty-one year old kid with an ego problem and a whole slew of daddy issues. We know Chuck is deeply unhappy – even if he tries to show otherwise. He never got to live the life he wanted as a kid (he barely remembers that little boy playing with his science kits and kaiju toys), and he's deeply embittered by it.

He’s also got a lot of anger management issues and tends to swing first, and ask questions later. He doesn’t mind provoking people (Raleigh) to hit first either, because then he feels justified in swinging back and jumping right into the fray. He’s angry at literally everyone (in his world, anyway) and it has hardened him over the years and contributes to his lack of people skills.. He views Raleigh Becket as a washout that couldn’t cope with losing his co-pilot, and sincerely believed Becket personally contributed to the downfall of the jaeger program, as well as the pilots before him. Raleigh is someone who needs protecting, a coward that ran, someone who is unpredictable and sacrificed his brother in battle. To Chuck, Raleigh is a complete failure and is a weakness to the final mission (and as a whole) – a weakness that is going to get whoever his co-pilot is killed, along with the pilots of Striker Eureka.

He’s a little harder on Raleigh than he is a lot of other people, because Chuck took Raleigh’s failure personally. Five years ago, Raleigh was at the top of his game, piloting Gipsy Danger with his brother Yancy and they were the pilots to look up to, to admire, to idolize.

Chuck idolized Raleigh, and when Raleigh just upped and left, fleeing like a dog Chuck was devastated, disappointed, and angry. Here was this fantastic pilot, a man on the rise, and he just gave up.

It didn’t sit well with Chuck and he never forgave Raleigh - not until he proved his worth.

They only come to an understanding later on, after Raleigh does indeed proves himself – that he can handle himself in the conn-pod, that he can maneuver Gipsy with the same unpredictable finesse that he once did – and even then, it’s grudging acceptance though Chuck was grateful.

Chuck really only comes to some conclusions and resolutions at the end of the film, when it becomes evident that he’s going to die. Chuck is very well aware that he is not going to come back from the mission, and expresses a semblance of forgiveness in the short talk he has with his father.

He never imagined a life for himself after the war, not in any great detail. That was too far ahead, an impossibility he barely entertained. A world that existed without kaiju and with Chuck Hansen was as unlikely as pigs sprouting wings. He'd given it brief thought, on occasion. He’s twenty-one and twenty-one year old men often think they’re unkillable. So yes, he’d given it some thought. What he might do. Where he'd go. But whenever he started to dream about those possibilities, what that life would look like, klaxons would scream and drag him into real life, away from thoughts and hopes for the future.

Chuck is portrayed as an asshole, but he's more than that. He's fiercely loyal to the cause – and to his father, even if he doesn't show it outwardly. They have a connection others don't understand. They communicate in the drift, and through their dog, Max. Max is the only way the two men really show any open affection – other than that, they don't really speak very much at all. Don't mistake that for hatred. While Chuck views his father as a rival and someone to outdo, if you fuck with one Hansen, you fuck with both. He will defend his drift partner to the death.

The moment Stacker walks out in that drive suit at the end of the movie, Chuck knows that this is it, that he’s not coming back, and it’s with red-rimmed eyes that he addresses his father and requests that he look after Max for him. It's very much a 'come to Jesus' moment. Chuck knows he's going down to die, and it really...puts a lot of things into perspective for him. Shifts his focus. Truly makes him wonder who and what he could have been or done. Imminent death is like that.

Stacker Pentecost and Chuck Hansen willingly and knowingly detonate the payload that Striker Eureka is carrying as a way to give Gipsy Danger reprieve from the kaiju and time to get to the breach. Chuck dies, as is fitting, he thinks, in his jaeger.

Abilities/Powers/Weaknesses & Warping: Chuck is one of the best Jaeger pilots there is around. He’s good in a fight and he’s wild and almost as unpredictable as Raleigh Becket. As a team, Chuck and his father are described as the ‘greatest the Jaeger program has ever seen’ (art book p32). Chuck lives to be a Jaeger pilot and he’s a cocky ‘Top Gun’, with good reason.

He’s also skilled in Martial arts; Stacker Pentecost’s trials demanded knowledge and extensive training in the arts and Chuck is exceptionally skilled. He also boasts more than adequate competence in Jaeger mechanics, and tends to retreat to Striker’s tech bay to work on the Jaeger when he’s pissed off or frustrated about something.

Other than that, he's just a human in a big ol robot suit.


Inventory:
* Several sets of clothing: ie. basic grey shirts/jeans/boots, bomber jacket w/wallet
* His drivesuit
* toolbox: power tools, wrenches, etc, batteries, flashlight, first aid kit, several bottles of metharocin, rations he's taken from the kitchens over time, like dehydrated soup, cereal, water, etc. Also a few jars of vegemite and several packets of tim-tams.
* His Jaeger memorabilia collection - signed posters of Gipsy Danger, Gipsy trading cards, collectible jaeger toys, an oversized toy model of Striker, Time magazine featuring Raleigh and Yancy Becket, propaganda, etc
* gibson sg guitar and amp, guitar case/strings, picks, etc
* one military colored atv, because aussie's love that shit.



Writing Samples:

TDM w/Raleigh
TDM top level

Prose:

Chuck drifts with the Marshal and it's like stepping into a cold, barren wasteland. There's glimpses when the Drift is initialized - pieces and specks of Stacker's life that whizz by too quickly for Chuck to grab hold of. The man was a pro - he had to give him that.

Chuck, though -- he was raw. He was an open wound, gushing blood and pus and bile. The Drift picks Chuck apart, flays him open and bare; memories and thoughts and fears set out neatly upon a buffet table, lined up for Stacker Pentecost to casually move through and pick out what he liked.

The memory that slams predominately into both of them from Chuck's head is staggering and for an agonizing, terrifying second Chuck's afraid he's gonna start chasing the RABIT.

There's people screaming, children screaming; the school is burning, where's his mum? He could hear it, the kaiju was close, roaring and clawing and spilling blood -- so much red, laying waste and toxic kaiju blue splashing the buildings and corrupting and destroying the pristine waters of the bay --

Helicopters, he's in a helicopter and he can see Sydney burning, specifically the side of town Mum's on, go back, go back, you can't leave her like that, she's gonna die, she's gonna die--

They tell him she's dead like they're sorry, medical personnel checking him over while shaking their heads and offering a consoling pat to the shoulder (dad couldn't even tell me, couldn't bring himself to do it, saw too much Angela in Chuck to face him right off) - it was the kaiju, they say, like that fucking helps, not the bomb, of course it wasn't the bomb that's silly--

"If we go down, we'll go together," Herc tells him one night after too many beers, "well go together, yeah? One day, when it all boils down to it, we'll go for the kingpin and go out like a goddamn supernova. You'n me, kid." Chuck drinks his beer like it's water, slams the glass down so hard it cracks and he laughs, fucking laughs because it's only after this much shitty piss warm beer that he and Herc can even have a civil fucking conversation and Chuck nods, slapping his knee and dragging the back of his hand over his mouth.

"Yeah, mate -- we'll fuckin' go down together. 'S just you 'n me now, and that's fuckin' sayin' something."

It's a quiet ride during the transport, until Stacker finally speaks, Raleigh's voice echoing his words.

"The ports are sealed. Ready to submerge."

Stacker fucking Pentecost. Chuck can't believe he's in Striker Eureka with the goddamn Marshal and really, he should be honored. He should feel privileged that he gets to drift with the great Pentecost but all Chuck can feel seeping through his blood and into his bones is dread.

It earns him a look from Stacker, a sharp brow raise and a single word in his head--

Focus.

Chuck focuses. He watches the scene play out in front of him mechanically, like he's going hrough his daily regimen and nothing more. Stacker and Herc keep the talk over the LOCCENT connection to a minimum and Chuck barely hears it, barely registers his fathers voice.

He should be down here. Not Stacker. Chuck should die with his co-pilot, not with Stacker Pentecost. He can't stop the resentment, anger and fear that settles in the back of his brain, but it's far enough out of reach that Stacker either doesn't notice it, or doesn't react.

Good. Least one things going fuckin' right. He can still shield, though he's positive if Stacker prodded, he'd be able to tear through any mental shields Chuck was able to pull up around him.

We'll go together.

The flashback is prominent, making Chuck shudder but he doesn't chase it, just focuses on Stacker, the mission, and he shoves everything down and swallows it back.

"Half a mile?" He snarls, reaching up, flicking sensors and scowling at the lack of a visual. "I can't even see a damn inch ahead. HOW are we supposed to deliver the bomb?"


* * *

He’s spitting blood and bile on the floor, glaring over at Stacker as if this is somehow his fault, even though he knows it’s not. It’s short lived, because they’ve got a job to do and Stacker’s calm demeanor in his mind reminds him that there’s one last thing they can do, there’s a way to help, a way to stop it—

"The release is jammed--! We can't deliver the payload, Sir! We're still online, but the hull is compromised, half our systems are offline, Sir--" Chuck's shouting over the alarms, heart slamming in his chest.

"We need to override the--"

It all happens in a blur, honestly -- they can't see shit, can't fight back like they could if they weren't miles under the Pacific and even if they could it's a category five. Striker can't move as fast as he usually does, it takes more effort, more strength, and Chuck's fucking exhausted. He doesn't stop, doesn't quit -- can't quit, too much at stake - but he knows, like the Marshal, that this is fucking it.

The kaiju jams their weapons systems, and -- well. There's nothing they can do.

Fear seizes him, it’s choking and desperate and Chuck doesn’t want to die, please don’t let me die, I’m not ready—

"You can always find me in the Drift."

Stacker rips off his helmet and Chuck follows suit, looking at him, just -- fucking looking at him because he knows, he just fucking knows what's coming, what Stacker's gonna say.

He asks anyway.

"What can we do, Sir?"

“We can clear a path,” Stacker’s saying, “For the lady.”

Chuck’s nodding mutely, lips twisting up into a half smirk because he knows this is the end now, it’s over, it’s been over for him since he was nine, since his mother died, since everything went to shit forever.

“Well, my dad always said,” Chuck says proudly, arrogantly, and in this moment he loves his father, he’s proud of his father, he misses his father, “he said, if you have the shot, you take it. So let's do this.” He pauses, smiling crookedly, it's in his voice, "It was a pleasure, Sir."

They stare at one another, Chuck’s eyes red-rimmed, Stacker’s cold and Chuck hears something in Japanese right as Marshal and Ranger hit the trigger switch together and fuck it hurts it hurts fuck dad make it stop dad dad mum DADDY—

OUT OF CHARACTER

Player Name: Cat
Player Age: 30+
Player Contact: pincurls @ plurk, discord: gipsydanger#5340

Other Characters In Game: N/A
In-Game Tag If Accepted: Chuck Hansen: Cat
Permissions for Character: permissions
Are you comfortable with prominent elements of fourth-walling?: Yes
What themes of horror/psychological thrillers do you enjoy the most?: all of it B)
Is there anything in particular you absolutely need specific content warnings for?: No
Additional Information: N/A