Iris was grateful for Jack's hug and when he let go, she nearly went to hug him again. Instead she sighed and removed her ponytail, letting her hair fall past her shoulders.
He wanted to know the real her, but she didnt really know what to tell him. She sat on her bed by her pillows and gestured for him to sit at the end of it.
"The real Iris, huh?" she thought about who she was. Crazy, a little bitter, a bitch, a tomboy...she thought of all the things she'd been called before, but didnt really know which ones defined her.
She started with what she knew for sure. "I'm a fighter. I like to have things my way, i like to have what i want, when i want it and i'll fight to get it. Before i was a Jaeger pilot I wanted to be a dancer and thats all i would do. From the time school ended to the time i passed out in my backyard i worked hard to be the best dancer i could be. After my parents died, i came here and worked on being the best Ranger i could be."
She hugged her knees. "I thought all i needed was myself and my will to fight. I didnt realize that when your in a drift with someone, they become part of you. .... Friend or lover or enemy, its all the same. When he died i cried not only for his life...but for the part of me that was ripped away."
Iris rubbed her eyes, feeling the psin under her eyelids, and that odd feeling in her left arm. It was like how it got if she slept on it, tingly like it wasent really there.