A/N: Hey everybody, how's it going? Well, it looks like I am stuck on writing Bleach: Bad Company right now, and I wanted to write a few other things that I haven't announced officially, so I wrote this in my spare time after reading a little story called "Driving" by foscari. You can search it up on this site, and I was inspired by the story that leads to me creating this.
Title: The Personal Log of a Driving Instructor in ORB
Summary: Several known characters of the series apply for driver's licenses and go through the driving test session conducted by the department responsible. There, their experiences are told through a personal log entry of an "original character" of sorts—the driving instructor who assesses and evaluates their abilities. Hilarity ensues.
Disclaimer: Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny, and its characters and places are copyrighted by Sunrise and Sotsu Agency.
Personal Log Entry #094
Name: Hal Schreyer
Date: November 12th, C.E. 74
Subject: The Hectic Week That Was
Oh boy, how a week it was behind the passenger's seats of the people whom I'm evaluating while trying hard not to lose my mind! In my thirteen years of teaching new and renewed drivers and evaluating their abilities, never have I once seen such horrendous driving from several people that I have met in my whole life as a driving instructor. The worst part of that, is that most of the people whom I met and assessed their commuting skills were even pilots of those mobile suit machines I've heard of! Or, so at least, that's what I heard….Anyway, here's how the week went off starting on the Monday, where the first person I had met in the driving test session was a young man whose hair was perfectly brown, staring at me confidently with violet eyes. His name was Kira.
Now, I can understand that Kira is highly capable of piloting such huge machinery in the past two wars, and is efficient in his knowledge of such; yet I was surprised to see that he isn't really capable of piloting a four-wheeled piece of machinery simply-known to mankind. When I was in the passenger's seat with him, I noticed that he was going below 25 for almost all the time…and heck, the needle would be ON the 25 for almost the other times. In fact, I personally think that he drives like an old man, you know, like somebody who is physically disabled or has a serious condition of sorts. But he doesn't have anything like that, that's the thing! He even drives THAT SLOW on freeways and highways, and oh for crying out loud—let me tell you something, Mr. Yamato, if there's a truck right behind you (on your freaking rear-view mirror) and the driver of that truck is cursing loudly at you from the window down, honking at you to move out of the way, and he's tailgating you, JUST PUNCH ON THE GAS PEDAL FOR GOD'S SAKES. Despite the fact that he was driving merrily at the slowest pace possible, and creating an extenuatingly long traffic jam, I had still given him a pass with some reluctance. Although that's because, he happened to be a sibling of the Chief Representative of the nation, that's what it was.
…This brings me over to the blonde woman who I had assessed and evaluated the day after that. Cagalli was her name, and even her driving was as atrocious as her brother was, despite how she happens to be the leader of the nation. However, in stark contrast to Kira's driving, Cagalli was definitely a speed demon of sorts. And I mean it. Being behind the passenger's seat again, she tore off the pavement going in at 70 and over—even on city streets and freeways! I could only try to calm myself down and not panic, as the car she was in had tailgated another car in front, and I swear, had bumped into the back of that car. Later, when we were on one of the main highways, whenever somebody had tried to enter her lane (and that's when they were signalling), she shouted out at them with very colourful language that I would never expect to hear from a "Princess"…and flipped the bird at them. My observations during the whole testing session were that: a) whenever the cars in front notice her barrelling through, they usually get out of the way fast, and b) they're the ones that get barrelled into by her later on. Yet, like Kira, I hesitantly gave her a pass and she was just as happy as she could ever be, being the Chief Representative of ORB and all.
On Wednesday, I had met a gentle and handsome young man whose hair was royal blue, and had gazing green eyes with a warm, welcoming smile. I believe his name was Athrun, and I also noticed that the way he was driving was a huge departure from what I had experienced with the other two for the past couple of days. He always had his seatbelt on, and actually does take notice to all of the rules and traffic regulations at all times. Heck, he even follows the speed limits on all streets and highways/freeways given to him, always the model driver I ever had. Come to think of it, I heard that he is related to Cagalli in some romantic way—just through rumors—and I'd like to think that he would be the best to control the Chief Representative's style of driving…I'd just like it that much.
Thursday came, and I was assigned to assess and evaluate those who were applying for a motorcycle-specific driver's license rather than the usual with the cars. At first, I thought that evaluating motorcycle drivers was not that worse than having to evaluate drivers in cars. Boy was I wrong from the beginning. I encountered a young man with dark hair and crimson-red eyes; whose name I knew was Shinn. When I asked if he preferred driving a car everywhere, he scoffed at me, saying that he just prefers to ride his motorcycle everywhere. That being said, I had my motorcycle helmet on, courtesy of the Automotive Department of ORB. I was scared stiff by him, as he weaved in and out of lanes and going around cars and other vehicles carelessly, not caring if he was going to cause such a huge (and potentially fatal) pile-up. Even cars in front of him had to move out of the way, as he barrelled down the road with the bike tuned-up so much that it had spouted more smoke and loud revving noises, possibly affecting the environment with both types of pollution (he said that the louder the motorcycle was, the better). I would think that if he ever got into an accident with the way he was driving, I would think that the innocent drivers should be watching for him and not the other way around. Much like what I did for Cagalli, I just simply gave him a pass but I also had warned him not to keep driving much like the same way he had during the testing. He wouldn't care anyway, by no means.
After the incident with the motorcycle testing, I feared for the worst as I was assigned back to evaluating those who applied for a driver's license on cars. This time, on the Friday, I had met a young woman whose hair was magenta and eyes as violet as that of the brown-haired man I met and tested on Monday. I raised an eyebrow looking at my clipboard; her name was Lunamaria, as it was printed on the paper. She said she loved to drive when I was in the passenger's seat next to her, and I do understand that, being a good thing. The bad thing about it, is that she…well…isn't the safest driver around. I noticed that when she was driving at 65 down a street, she was using her lipstick while not paying attention to the road. Also, I noticed that she forgets to use the turn signals whenever she turned to switch lanes or turning to another road, something that I was irritated at when it comes to being a driving instructor. Furthermore, whenever the traffic light is about to turn red, she guns it instead of taking caution when proceeding a yellow light! The other day, I heard from my fellow colleague, that she once put some guy in the hospital for a week…the "Hawk of Endymion" I heard. Well, he sure made the impossible being possible by her. Despite how she was driving, I just simply could not care less, and gave her a pass just like all the others.
Having to work a short shift on Saturday, I met another woman who was fairly red-headed, and whose name was Meyrin. I kind of suspected that she may be related to Lunamaria, as sisters I believe. Being in the passenger's seat, I pretty much noticed that she was practically afraid of driving. She just drives timidly, afraid to switch lanes when she needed to, scared of exiting intersections even when the approaching car is just several metres away, and is just scared enough to drive during the night-time or in the rain. Basically, she's just scared of having to drive around, which makes me wonder why she would even apply for a driver's license in the first place. Given from the past experiences leading up to the day, 'though, I didn't want to upset her so easily. So, I had to give her a pass despite my personal objections to it.
Finally, I wanted to relax over the weekend from all of the crazy testing sessions I endured having to evaluate, but NO…I had to be called up one more time on the Sunday. Who's the person I had to assess and evaluate the driving skills of? Why, it's none other than "the pink songstress" herself, Lacus Clyne. I was surprised to see her at the testing center, since the last time I heard, she's the head of that organization involved in the past two wars. Like those who had met her before, she was a sweet, kind, and gentle woman that everyone sees in her, and even I had already known that from the past. Only one must know why she would be here to get her driver's license on this island. However, I was starting to find out through the hard way ever experienced in my life. I was slightly annoyed (and probably irritated) when she had insisted that she drives with her Haros seated in a row at the backseat, all of them belted in like little children, and to have her precious (note the sarcasm) pink-coloured Haro up at the front. I was even more embarrassed when she was driving around with all the colourful figures in the backseat; with her singing her own favourite songs loudly out from the car, top-down. The people around had been raising their eyebrows at us, and I could not even take the feeling of mortification even longer. I just had to give her a pass, just so I could rid myself of those unwanted feelings of embarrassment. Boy howdy…
So, there's the hectic week that I had as a driving instructor in the Union of ORB. Good grief! I had to endure a brunette man who can't drive 55 (let alone 30), a blonde princess who is so un-princess-like, a black-haired fellow who can't drive a motorbike properly, a magenta-haired woman who can't pay attention to the road easily, a red-haired female who's just too chicken to drive, and of course, the pink songstress who cannot bear driving without having her little, bouncing machines in the back of the car and belting out her songs out the window. I never thought I would have to put up a lot of things like that at once. It almost gave me a headache and whatnot, that's how much I had to put up with. At least, I had that blue-haired guy that would redeem my week, so it seems. But you know what? I just don't care anymore; everything's been settled, and I don't have to face any of the people that I've met the past week again…but will I?
Harold "Hal" Schreyer, Driving Instructor from the Automotive Department Testing Facility in metropolitan Onogoro Island.
Well, looks like Hal will be resting peacefully tonight after all of that! I wanted to write an extra scene after the entry, but I don't know if I should. But if I should, I would have to have it included as part of an update to the current story. Anyway, what do you all think? Leave a review, favourite it if you like it, I'll be writing more stuff within the next little while. Voltage Axe here, signing off!