ain't gonna go up in flames

You see a hurricane coming, you have to get out of the way. But when you're in a Jaeger. suddenly, you can fight the hurricane. You can w i n. > why would you want to be driven by fate? [ indie semi-selective rp blog for raleigh becket of pacific rim. crossovers/au friendly. tracking the tag #rxsilient. ]

[hybrid-biologist]

Newt had seen things no one could ever imagine. To sum it up, it was like in Contact when Ellie went through that portal (whatever it was) to who knows where. Newt couldn’t explain some of it, and only him and Hermann would ever know the vastness of their Drift. Those things from the Drift haunted him in the form of nightmares and now he was a living nightmare.

But now Raleigh shows up here in the lab and is showing him such kindness. It was far from expected, mostly because pilots didn’t normally come down here. He thought that the pilot would be off doing better things that came along with the fame of saving the world, not here talking to the hybrid. However, it was quite a fine surprise for Newt, because he rather enjoyed having another person around to talk to.

All Newt does is nod his head in response.

"Of… Of course. I know you mean that. I know what I did helped a lot. I knew I was right. It was a totally rockin’ idea. But you know, Hermann help a lot too. Probably would’ve died if it wasn’t for him. Though it’s nice to finally get some recognition for once."

Yup, it really was, but he could go around touring the world like those pilots could. ‘Side effects’ had set in and had virtually leashed him to this place. People would forget eventually…

"I would of loved to speak at a few universities, to be honest, but then I… got sick and… well, I think you can imagine what happened. I can’t go anywhere now- tch, and I was thinking about going back to MIT too."

Though what he said next might not be best to ask a pilot, but he just blurted it out anyway. “Do you think I might be able to turn back?”

[rxsilient-blog]

      Raleigh understood; going out in public to give some nice speeches would be difficult when you were half-human, half-Kaiju — especially just after the catastrophic war. He takes a moment to mull over on what to say, scratching the back of his head — he wasn't very good at the 'cheering others up' thing. He was very glad, though, that his compliments got some soft smiles from Newt's face, however brief it might've been.

      "Not underestimating you, but if anyone comes up and fronts you, or somethin' like that, I'll take care of it; y'hear? I promise." It was the least that he could do. No-one else in the Hong Kong Shatterdome probably would've drifted with a Kaiju brain and risked their balls off to get some sort of information. Raleigh wasn't so sure if he would've had the guts to do something like that. He had once been a risk-taker by nature, but he wasn't anymore ( well, for the most part, anyway ).

      At the question, Raleigh meets eyes with Newt; he doesn't know if it's a rhetorical question, or if Newt really wants him to answer that. To be quite frank, he had absolutely no idea. He wasn't a scientist; he never was, and he would never be. All the mechanics and chemistry would drive him insane. Raleigh was really the wrong person to ask such a complicated question, because he wouldn't know the answer to it.

      "Listen, 'm sure something'll come up," he says, giving a soft smile, "——you're not alone. You've got Hermann too, right? 'sides, I'm sure that the whole K-Science Lab team'll be on their asses, trying'ta fix you. Don't worry 'bout it."

[daddyissuesandadog--archive]

    { Chuck fights like he always has: brutal, messy, inelegant. Like his father taught him. He’s just that kind of person, he guesses. Blessed with both the personality of what amounts to a bag of broken glass and the subtlety of a bull in a china shop, what more could someone ask from him? }

              “Do not call me ‘Chucky’, ‘Chuckie’ or ‘Chuckles’. I’m not above cold-clocking you while you’re not looking.”

    { He’s not. And, truth be told, something about the bastardization of a name he already had to take from one he hated— because who the hell is Charles? Definitely not him— made him want to crawl around in his skin.        ——Until he realizes Raleigh is just giving him back what he already gave.

    Sneaky Alaskan fuck. }

[rxsilient-blog]

"Oh, okay. I guess that if you don't want me'ta call you by anything else, then I can call you Charles. Or, if you really want, koala. But I don't think you'd like that."

      [ He hadn't known it before, but it was actually pretty easy to mess around with the younger Hansen. Once, Raleigh had been a confrontational man. Before the fight with Knifehead and the fall of Gipsy, he'd tried to fight out anyone and everyone who'd fronted both him and Yancy. Now, that sort of fight had left him. All he was doing — riling Chuck up — was all good-natured. ]

      [ He'd had a field day, though, right after he'd found out that Chuck's name was Charles. He'd actually sneaked a short look at confidential files that a worker had been handling when he'd almost bowled him over; initially, he'd been amused when he'd seen Chuck's photo, but when he'd seen the name —

      "————hell, Chuckles is an awesome name. Who even thought of it?"

[marverickmarvel-blog]

         “I know.”                             ”—- I’m sorry.” 

There are plenty of ‘should have’s’ tucked away in her collection of decisions she’s made. For what it was worth, she was intent on trying to make up for what she could — and apologise for what she couldn’t. 

The sudden twist sideways catches her off guard enough for a gasp, but then he’s swinging her around just like he used to, twirling and twirling back through the years and into their teens. Jaz’s laugh is girlish and high-pitched as she lifts up her legs to aid the rotation, arms squeezing tight. 

When the toes of her shoes touch the floor, there’s a fluttering lightness in her chest she hasn’t felt in a long time. Arms loosen their grip around his sides a fraction for comfort’s sake, but she doesn’t move away. 

"I was in France," Jaz supplies quietly, forehead resting on the sweater over his collarbone. "Spent the last two years playing translator for a UN-funded aid organisation." That hadn’t been the plan, initially. She’d gone to France to see where their mother had grown up, to see if she could find a piece of her there. "And then I went home for a bit." All part of a concerted effort on her part to stop running from all the things she can say she’s lost.

'Home' doesn't sit right on her tongue; the weight and shape of it doesn't quite match the image of the house they'd grown up in. She cherishes parts of her life there, but would easily forget others if she could. Home is a difficult word to assign these days. Their mother rests in Anchorage, though, and her stone had weathered under wind and snow in the years she'd been away. There was a satisfaction in getting herself there, in the nostalgia, even amongst the unsettling memories.

[rxsilient-blog]

      Raleigh doesn't want to waste precious time and go on with unspoken, yet late apologies; it's alright, it really is, because she's here and safe ( and that's what he'd been praying for all these years ). Even in construction, working his way up the beams and screwing in the screws to make a foundation for the so-called Anti-Kaiju wall, he'd been hoping that he could be reunited with Jazmine. All those memories — of him and Yancy playing in the backyard with their younger sister — only had strengthened his resolve.

      It couldn't have been helped, he supposed; he had no time to get himself together before the Kaiju operation brought itself into question. He'd been thrown into a mess, trying to get his co-pilot into check so that he could commence a neural drift. And when he'd picked his candidate, Operation Pitfall had started just days after.

      But now, Raleigh had time. And he thinks that now, he finally has it.

      Stroking her back, Raleigh begins to slowly walk towards the direction of his sleeping quarters, deciding that it'd be the best of places ( with privacy ) that could allow them both the gift of catching up with each other.

      "Real proud of you," he says, giving her a soft smile — of course, leave it up to the most intelligent of the three siblings to get such a sought-out job; he was glad, also, that she'd had something to do for the last few years. The Kaiju attacks had seriously put a damper on jobs all around the world.

      "———c'mon. Let's go somewhere where you can sit down. Reminisce. D'you know that I have a wall of pictures?"

[global-heating]

[global-heating]

[rxsilient-blog]

Raleigh?

      Raleigh twirls the bō stick around and behind his back, falling into a relaxed position as he glances towards his co-pilot———

      ”—hey, Mako,” he says, a smile lifting the corners of his lips, “what’s up?”

[girlintheshatterdome-deactivate]

She smirks “You have one too” “You’re cute, what makes you think you can beat my best moves?” 

Mako moves again taking two steps foreword. It was a good parry, she would admit that, but she felt she could do better. She moved to strike his leg, but at the last second and shifted the hand bō to strike his waist again.

[rxsilient-blog]

      "I'm ferocious, Mako, and definitely not cute. Didn't we have this conversation before?"

      Before he can realize that he's basically talked his way into a trap, Mako's bō hits him at his stomach, making him give a sharp exhale of air. He shakes his head, trying to snap himself back into it; he really had to learn how she did her double hits — it'd come in handy.

      "One-zero already?" Get yourself going, Raleigh Becket.

[marverickmarvel-blog]

Movement is expected. Tired hesitation is not, no matter how brief. 

The dark craters under his eyes are proof that he’s still not sleeping. She can blame it on that — prefers to blame it on that, instead of indulging the sudden panic-stricken thought that hisses the idea he might not be pleased to see her this time around. But it’s Raleigh, the only one left, and Jaz’ll depend on him to be her rock regardless of what faults her insecurities try to convince her of. She needs him more than perhaps she’s shown.

Chastisement over his bleariness is tucked away at the shuffling of feet and the warm body rushing to press against hers; a breathless laugh that sounds like relief escapes her lips.

He’s been taller since her since his growth spurt at sixteen; overtook Yancy by seventeen, leaving her definitively the baby of the family not just in age, but in stature too. There are certainly marked advantages to that, Jaz is reminded, as she tucks herself under his chin and clutches at the bunched sweater at his waist. 

The boys always made her feel safe. 

Face pressed against his shoulder, her voice is muffled, but Jaz is unwilling to pull away just yet.

          “It’s only been a few years, Rals,” she whispers back, as if there wasn’t once a time   in their childhood she’d cry if he was gone for more than ten minutes. Belatedly: “— God I’ve missed you.”

[rxsilient-blog]

      "Yeah, just a few years," Raleigh echoes, arms still tightly wound around his sister, who he'd thought was gone, "—a few years too long, Jaz."

      When she tells him that she'd missed him, Raleigh wants to say the same. And, immaturely, add that he'd missed her more than she'd ever missed him. But his voice refuses to work; piled-up sentimentality aches in the form of a hard lump in his throat, and Raleigh soon gives — he'd always been the one who showed actions, not spoke words. His feelings and emotions of Jaz coming back; safe and sound, in his arms — those feelings could be transferred via his unrelenting embrace.

      Suddenly, sharply, Raleigh goes to twirl her in his arms, like he used to do when they were little. He remembers picking Jaz up and twirling her around, even when they were just kids. Of course, he almost always tumbled on the ground, not capable of withstanding such great feats; but when he had his growth spurt, getting a bit more height than both Yancy and Jazmine, he'd been able to twirl Jaz in the air when it counted.

      And noogie Yance.

[daddyissuesandadog--archive]

    { Honestly— he shouldn’t be surprised. Max has this awful habit of liking people Chuck just.. doesn’t. Then again, maybe it has something to do with the fact that the dog is friend to everyone, and his owner is— Well. Decidedly not. }

       “One: do not ever call me ‘Chuckie’ if you want to live.               Two: don’t feel special, that dog would make friends with a kaiju if it made him half as fat as you did.                      Three: if anything happens to him on your watch, I’m going to lay you out flat. And not in the fun, sorta kinky way.”

[rxsilient-blog]

      [ More empty threats. To be honest, Raleigh had no idea if Chuck would pull the same dick move he had and try to insult him again; maybe this time around, he would've learned from his past mistakes and not throw punches only lined with brute strength. Chuck wasn't a bad fighter — he just didn't pay attention to anything else than strength. Agility, evasiveness, and speed also mattered; something that he'd learned ( the hard way ) from Mako. ]

      "———cute. What, you don't like the '-ie' pronunciation I added at the end? You want the 'y'? It's shorter. Cleaner. Is that what you wanted, Chucky?"

      [ If Chuck thought that he could mispronounce Raleigh and get away with it, he was wrong. Way wrong. If the Aussie was going to butcher his name's precious pronunciation, then he was going to do the same to Chuck's, too. ]

      "Naughty, naughty. Never thought you'd be the one'ta ask something like that. Is this rival-like attitude of yours just a facade?"

      [ Kinky way. Huh. Sounded like a promise. ]

[weaslae-blog]

     The grins on the two faces were borderline reflective. It was nice to see an old friend, especially one who’d gone through what Raleigh had. The twins were well aware, but they hadn’t a chance to speak to their friend before his run in with the Kaiju Knifehead had split his life in two. It was almost like a secondhand experience of loss and grief. It brought reality smashing down upon their heads, the horrible truth that anyone could be separated by death. Even them.

     Five years since they last saw him was five years too long. He was one of the more tolerable ones out of the academy lineup who’d managed to make it past the first cut. And that tolerance blossomed into friendship along the road to graduation and elistment. Albeit one in which you had to endure the occasional prank and innocent taunts, but a friendship none the less.

     “Come on,” started George, grinning cunningly at the other as the twins slung their arms around the man in reciprocation. “‘s like you don’t know us at all. You didn’t hit your head while you were away, did you?”      “Think of it as … a re-initiation. A welcoming home package of sorts,” pitched Fred.

     Both of the red headed men grinned. Being friends with the twins meant tolerating their shenanigans, and Raleigh should know that by now. They were a package deal, and their mischievous behavior came along with it.

     “Ah, see, tha’s just the secret to our ‘eternal youth’,” said George, leaning in as though he were about to divulge a secret.      “Fun,” said Fred, mimicking his brother’s advancement and lowered tone briefly before they both returned to their normal stature, devious yet wholehearted smiles on their lips.      “’S good for the soul. Wish we could say the same for you, though,” quipped George, looking the shorter, yet more structurally built man over. “What ve you been doing all these years? I reckon a bit of fun is exactly what you need right about now.” He would get what’s been long overdue in terms of his fair share of pranks in due time. But right now was the occasion for catching up. Reminiscing in the past and appreciating their reunion in the now. The twins considered Raleigh a friend. A good friend.

     “O’course we’re still ridin’ ol’ marauder. She’s our one and only —”      “A real firecracker, that one, we’ve made some adjustments,” George looked, once again, remarkably cunning in his statement, “And now she’s better than ever.” His face was swarming with the pride they held for their Jaeger. She was a one of a kind the moment the Weasley twins stepped into her.

     They never really stopped upgrading. Even requested to have cupholders installed for training exercises. “’S always important t’stay hydrated,” and “How re we supposed to pretend to fight Kaiju if we can’t give orders due to a horrible case of preventative drymouth?” were some of their argumentative remarks towards those in charge of maintenance, repair, and upkeep on the Jaegers. Needless to say, with their obvious radiant confidence and knack for persuasion, they got what they wanted.

     Fred and George smiled contently now, their arms resting on Raleigh’s shoulders in return.       “‘S good to see you too, mate,” said George with sincerity in his tone.       “Nice t’finally have you back,” finished Fred in a similar manner as the twins both looked to their old friend. “This place’s been in a right state since you left.”

[rxsilient-blog]

      Raleigh was glad that both Fred and George were alright; although the stress of the situation probably had taken a toll on them like everybody else, they still looked spry as ever. He feels a pang of longing, however, when he remembers that he used to be so tight-knit with a brother of his, too. Not twins, not really, but they'd been close as peanut butter and jelly. He missed Yancy.

      When they'd been in the Jaeger academy, Raleigh and Yancy had become known as the brother-pilots, their neural drift strong as ever because of their family-bond. They'd been pretty psyched to hear that another Jaeger, the Marauder Mischief, was going to be piloted by another pair of brothers — the Weasleys. Raleigh had always seen them as friends and good-natured rivals; with so much similarities between them, their kinship was obvious.

      He snaps out of his reverie, and instead gives a short bark of laughter. "Yeah, 'fun' sounds like a pretty good thing to be havin'; heaven knows I've missed out on it a lot. You fellas hear of the Anti-Kaiju wall? 's not pretty. Useless, too — but when you're out there, it doesn't hurt to hope." Raleigh shakes his head; it only seemed like yesterday when he'd been in his beloved Gipsy Danger with his brother, destroying Kaiju ass. Now, though, those days were over.

      "L'see, you want'ta know what I've been up'ta? It's nothing fun, sorry to disappoint."

      Raleigh had been flabbergasted when he'd returned to the busy hustle; the Hong Kong Shatterdome was a huge change in scenery from the grey-white, steel-laden wall of the construction site. He'd just stood there, in awe of everything, and had almost been run over by an exasperated driver of a vehicle that almost resembled a golf cart ( who definitely didn't approve of his scatterbrained behavior ).

      Meeting these two again was almost like being reunited with family.

      At the mention of the war against Kaijus going amok ever since his disappearance, Raleigh dips his head in both shame and saddened remembrance.

It was bad enough when he'd felt his brother's death over the drift; horrible enough when he'd solo-piloted the mangled Jaeger that he called his Gipsy. When he'd beached Gipsy on the cold shores, he hadn't thought about anything else but the fact that he was alone. And that had been enough for him to run away and to never look back.

      "Bet you've, uh, missed the 'greater Becket'," he says, voice tinged with a melancholy that almost sounds as if he's choked up, "—but, uh, Yance didn't ... make it."

      They probably were already aware. News of a Jaeger's fall — any Jaeger — would spread around like wildfire. And it had, after all, been a long while.

[weaslae-blog]

     “There he is,” came a voice, familiar perhaps as the source strode up alongside the man in question. With him, another body of similar features sandwiched the group together.       “If it isn’t Mr. Solo Combat himself. All right, Raleigh?” asked George cordially, a pleasant grin on his face as he walked alongside the other. “So I reckon the rumours are true, then. Welcome back, mate.”      “Long time no tease. Been keepin’ busy, I trust?” Fred inquired from the opposite side, keeping the reuniting conversation flowing.

[rxsilient-blog]

      Fate did some pretty amazing things.

      Raleigh whips his head to the side so quickly that he almost fears a whiplash; the voices, accented and bright, filled his head with memories. His jaw threatens to fall right open as he glances at the mirror-images that sandwich him altogether, and his shell-shocked expression changes to that of a pleased surprise. He gives a slight wince when he hears the nickname, but he'd come to terms with suppressing his history. Instead, he puts on a pretty wide grin, throwing both of his arms around the redheads.

      First Tendo, now these two. He'd missed the familiar camaderie.

      "I'm really hopin' you're not going'ta punk me somehow anytime soon," he says, eyes amicable as he gives both of their shoulders a squeeze, surprised and pleased and slightly hysterical at the same time, "—look'it you both. Still lookin' like it's 2016 — didn't age one bit!"

      He'd had no idea that they were still in active service; from what Raleigh'd heard from Pentecost, Jaegers and their pilots were in some serious lackage. That's why the marshal had come to pick Raleigh up from the absolutely useless Anti-Kaiju wall. He was glad, though, because he'd missed them. He hadn't missed their tricks and their pranks, of course, but he'd missed their friendly, genial behavior. They were good guys.

      "Still pilotin' Marauder?" He hoped so. The Jaeger was one-of-a-kind, and definitely fantastic. He remembered being impressed by its special 'serving' strategy and its powerful Mark-4 stature.

      "Christ. Nice'ta see you both."

[daddyissuesandadog--archive]

    “I don’t think you’re in any position to——”

              “You what now?”

[rxsilient-blog]

      [ Yeah, that's right, Hansen. He'd totally dognapped your dog, and he definitely wasn't regretting anything. Besides, Max liked him. Maybe it was all those secretive slipping morsels down the table at times or allowing Max to chew on his sweaters, but Raleigh was pretty sure that he was becoming a favorite. ]

      "That's right. Dognapped."

      "———gotta say, Chuckie, I'm beginning'ta like seeing you so confused. It's a new look."

[marverickmarvel-blog]

Her chest rises with a sharp breath in as his shoulder starts to turn, anticipating his first reaction to her rocking up out of the blue. She exhales as if it’s been pulled out of her when twists far enough to get a look at her and meets her eyes. The small smile all her lips is entirely unconscious — god, she’s missed him, no matter the circumstances. 

"Hey Rals," she replies quietly, almost contrite; already expecting a wave of guilt at having let it be too long. Jaz always feels guilty she’s not around, truth be told. The part of her that feels like her place is with what’s left of her family never leaves her. It’s a push and pull, really - the dependance she has on her brother to be around when she needs him, and the desire to do her own thing that stems, deep down, from a sense of resentment directed at any number of things she doesn’t care to examine.

Sometimes, though, she just needs her brother, plain and simple without all the rest of it. 

The right strap of the duffle on her back slips down her arm, and she shrugs it back over her shoulder, pulling her attention away for long enough to to get rid of the lump forming in her throat. Her voice is lighter, then, when she can focus on his presence.

          “Miss me?”

[rxsilient-blog]

      All Raleigh wants to do is to walk on over with full-length strides and get Jazmine in his arms as quick as possible, but his feet are rooted to the ground. His eyes can't believe what he's seeing; maybe this was just a cruel trick of his mind, or something. Heaven knew how much he was suffering from insomnia, especially during these days. He'd stayed away from caffeine and the like, trying to regain some precious sleep, but to no avail.

      He rubs his eyes and counts to ten, giving a slight squint when he reopens them. She was still there.

      Raleigh had so many questions. A myriad of them, in fact. They'd stretch from 'how are you?' and 'are you okay?' to 'why did you leave?' and 'where were you all this time?'. He gives a dry swallow and takes a couple of steps forward, still in disbelief. He wouldn't trust his eyes until she spoke.

      Then she does, and Raleigh's beating all sorts of track records as he rushes towards her, calloused fingers already outstretched as he goes to pull her forward in a tight, warm hug; and when he feels her warmth and the solidity of her body, he's relieved ( because this meant that he wasn't being a total psycho in the middle of the PPDC hallway.

      "———Jesus Christ, Jazmine," he whispers, sentimentality bright in his eyes, "—where the hell have you been?"

[daddyissuesandadog--archive]

"You have five seconds.        ——I’m very busy and important.”

[rxsilient-blog]

      "Yeah? Make it ten.

      ———I kidnapped your dog."

[marverickmarvel-blog]

rxsilient

[marverickmarvel-blog]

She sees him from across the loading bay, sure as anything. Even with his back turned and years between them she knows the line of his shoulders and the set of his posture like it was yesterday. She wonders if he looks as old as he did at the Wall, when hard labour and grief had sapped him dry of the lighter parts of him she desperately needed to see. Jazmine both longs for and repels the nostalgia he represents. 

Once upon a time she would have approached him with feet thundering against the pavement and launched herself at his back with the element of surprise on her side. Now her feet are quiet, and she stops just behind him, waiting for him to finish the conversation he’s having with what looks to be a technician.

[rxsilient-blog]

      ”Everything in the formation seems’ta be in working order. Just make sure that you secure the valve here—” he points to the blueprint, eyes squinting, “—and here. Don’t let any of the air leak, alright? That’s what can save the pilots in the end.”

      Raleigh’d been coaching a couple J-Tech members on dealing with a out-of-commission Jaeger; it was just something that he’d been doing during his spare time. Oblivion Bay was secretive and definitely closed to the public, but Raleigh’d sought it out. He’d almost cried, really, at all of the broken, torn Jaegers that looked just about they were going to collapse from all the rust on them. Their glory days were over, and Raleigh knew it: but he just couldn’t deal with it.

      So he’d ended up on teaching some of the new technicians a couple of things he’d learned at the academy when he was still a fledgling rookie, and he was glad to see them improve.

      ”Nice work,” he says, clapping a hand on the tech’s shoulder with ease.

      Raleigh turns around.

      ”————Jaz?”

[rxsilient-blog]

Raleigh?

      Raleigh twirls the bō stick around and behind his back, falling into a relaxed position as he glances towards his co-pilot———

      ”—hey, Mako,” he says, a smile lifting the corners of his lips, “what’s up?”

[girlintheshatterdome-deactivate]

Mako laughs, she was enjoying this, she wishes they would joke like this more often. “You on the ground means I won, how can I not enjoy that?” She takes a couple steps to get into position, laughing a little at his pose.

She moves to make her strike, swinging the hand bō down at his waist. 

[rxsilient-blog]

      "You and your competitive streak," Raleigh chastises, clucking his tongue; but in all honesty, he has the same competitive drive, too. "—I think I'm going'ta be able'ta best you in some of your best moves," he says, because it might be true. He'd been trying to pick up on Mako's moves.

      When the stick comes down at his waist, he does a little side-swipe; it's not enough to block the hit completely, but it's good enough ( because his hipbones aren't protesting a bruise just yet ). He parries momentarily with his own bō, a grin on his face.

[xerebrum-archive-deactivated201]

     ”Yeah, I guess I wouldn’t be rushing back if there wasn’t much to go back to.” Newt knew that feeling all too well. While he did have a family, he wasn’t particular close to anyone other than his Uncle, who tended to be busy with his own work as well. “You two could always just take a vacation. I mean, after all the craziness, you both earned it.”

     Newt let out a heavy sigh at Raleigh’s words, placing the cup of coffee on the nearest table. Even though it’s been a while, it was hard to believe that it was all over. Years of research and work paid off finally and they saved the world. He should be happy, right? Newt was definitely proud of what they accomplished but he can’t help but feel a bit…empty.

     No more kaiju,…no more work. Eventually the Shatterdome would have to shut down…then what would they do?

     ”Yeah man…crazy right?” Newt responded, perhaps a little too sadly.

[rxsilient-blog]

      A vacation sounded pretty nice. A change of scenery, if anything, might do them good; besides, Raleigh wanted to visit a beach sometime. He was still pretty iffy in fully immersing himself in the salty water ( he always had to remind himself that he was not in the same situation in Gipsy, battling Knifehead ), but he wanted to see the ocean when it was calm, peaceful, and devoid of Kaiju blue.

      Although subtle, Raleigh could pick out the sadness in Newt's tone. He understood; their stories were very different. Raleigh'd returned from his hiatus to fight the remaining Kaijus because he'd rather die in a Jaeger than in construction; if anything, he returned because he knew that he was good at piloting. He had the skills. He had the experience. And if he went down fighting what took out his whole family, then he would ( and hope to kick some major ass in the process ).

      But Newt had probably gotten into this job because he was head-over-heels ( head-over-tentacles? ) with the Kaiju. Everything that he did, every day, revolved around them. He was in this because that was what he wanted to do, not because he felt as if he had a specific obligation to do it.

      "Hey, don't be so down; I'm sure the Shatterdome won't close completely," and he's trying to be supportive ( but he was never so great with that ). "—and you'll have your lab. If they ever try'ta send you off without all your specimen, or somethin', I'll personally step in."

[ensignnavigator]

'Christ,' Raleigh says, extending a gentle, steadying hand as his brows knit together in worry, '---don't move, you'll faint!'

{In truth, Raleigh was probably right, and as much as he wanted to let the hand steady him, Pavel resisted. With a shake of his head, he looked at the ground.}

    “Do not vorry about me, meester Becket.”

[ensignnavigator]

{The ensign only became aware of his own movements once they were pointed out to him. Internally he scolded himself. A simple shot of analgesics could have avoided all of this. With a sigh, he finds himself tilting towards the other man, trying his hardest to resist putting a hand out for help.}

    “I–”

{About to protest, Pavel was silent for a moment, deciding that perhaps Raleigh was right. He nodded, not realising until after that that was a bad idea. The world spun around him and this time he couldn’t stop a cold hand from flying out to wrap a white-knuckled grasp around the taller man’s arm.}

    “Да.” He said quietly. “I–I s’pose I do not haff a choice, zen.”

[rxsilient-blog]

      "Easy, now," Raleigh says, slightly confused by why the ensign wasn't just flat-out leaning on him by now. If it would've been Newt in this situation, he probably would've fallen on top of Raleigh and refused to budge until he got his ass to medbay. Raleigh finds that he'd been so accustomed to Newt and his fainting spells, and that's a little worrying ( because that's definitely not normal ).

      His hands hover around the other just in case he'd topple over; when Pavel's cold fingers close in on his arm, he's ready to pull him back to his feet. "A pretty bad idea'ta move really quickly — I'm no doctor, but trust me, it's going'ta get you dizzy."

      With small, paced steps, he begins to walk on forward to the direction of the medbay, allowing Pavel to use his broad shoulders as a crutch-like contraption.

      "Almost there. Try not'ta pass out on me, alright?" It's a try for a joke, but he's not so sure if it's funny enough to be considered as one. Instead, he asks: "—what happened?"