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[ he is never going to get his regular sleep cycle back. yancy's pretty resigned to this revelation. so he wanders down to the classroom because if he can't sleep, he might as well be useful.
what he doesn't expect, is... well, this. ] I don't even want to know.
what he doesn't expect, is... well, this. ] I don't even want to know.
we keep doing things like this, there won't be a second date.
just telling you now, hansen.
just telling you now, hansen.
[ chuck's head is in the oven.
a more accurate assessment would clarify that it is his head, right arm, and a significant amount of his torso. there are grease stains on his elbows and knees, but very few signs of electrical shock besides. the kitchen itself is in a worse state. the scorchmark runs down the side of the wall and chases towards chuck and the oven like an arrow. ]
Pass me the pliers.
a more accurate assessment would clarify that it is his head, right arm, and a significant amount of his torso. there are grease stains on his elbows and knees, but very few signs of electrical shock besides. the kitchen itself is in a worse state. the scorchmark runs down the side of the wall and chases towards chuck and the oven like an arrow. ]
Pass me the pliers.
[ what the actual fuck is happening with this conversation ]
right. find mako if you need me.
[ he's officially out of patience for the day. ]
right. find mako if you need me.
[ he's officially out of patience for the day. ]
Edited 2013-11-14 16:28 (UTC)
we talked it out, he'll call if something comes up.
later, hansen.
later, hansen.
[ there's a brief moment of hesitation before Yancy looks for the nearby toolbox to fish out a pair of pliers.
the state of the kitchen is not lost on him, but he says nothing, and instead just walks over and taps the handle of the pliers lightly on chuck's arm. ]
Looks like something blew up in here.
[ okay, so maybe he had to comment at least once. ]
the state of the kitchen is not lost on him, but he says nothing, and instead just walks over and taps the handle of the pliers lightly on chuck's arm. ]
Looks like something blew up in here.
[ okay, so maybe he had to comment at least once. ]
[ chuck doesn't really move- which is to say that one of his arms snakes out to retrieve the pliers, but there's little other movement to be had. it's the kind of gesture that implies chuck is used to this. Or at the very least, that this isn't the strangest position he's ever been in.
it isn't. ]
Caught fire.
No explosion.
it isn't. ]
Caught fire.
No explosion.
[ They glare at one another for a moment, their behavior teetering between angry children and a couple of brawlers about to break out into a fistfight. Chuck has always had that effect on Mako, even when they were still young. Over the years she'd learned how to curb the impulse, how to take that frustration and turn it into focus for other things, but the previous week still lingers, running her ragged and making her tired. ]
You'll get over it, [ she says and then moves past to reach for a large bit of debris just beyond him. ]
You'll get over it, [ she says and then moves past to reach for a large bit of debris just beyond him. ]
What did you do? [ no hiding the hint of horror in that.
yancy looks around, attempting to get some idea of what exactly might've happened. because fire is marginally better than explosion. mildly. ]
yancy looks around, attempting to get some idea of what exactly might've happened. because fire is marginally better than explosion. mildly. ]
It's an oven Becket, what the hell d'you think I did.
[ it sounds exasperated even from inside the door. it's a tone that speaks to some dwindled modicum of patience that has always been in short supply. when he finally pokes his head back out, there's a line of grease that runs from his temple to his cheekbone, and pulls part of one eyebrow in the wrong direction. ]
You gonna gimmie a proper hand or just stand there supervisin'.
[ it sounds exasperated even from inside the door. it's a tone that speaks to some dwindled modicum of patience that has always been in short supply. when he finally pokes his head back out, there's a line of grease that runs from his temple to his cheekbone, and pulls part of one eyebrow in the wrong direction. ]
You gonna gimmie a proper hand or just stand there supervisin'.
[ chuck sets himself to the first available task- one that will expend enough energy that it'll feel like hitting something, one that puts him out of arm's reach, and one that keeps him in earshot. it isn't really a wall that stares back at him so much as the remains of one. weathered by the elements as much as by age. chuck smashes it's fractured surface on a handful of times with the blunt end of his hammer, and starts pulling it down by hand. whatever it might mean that he and mori spend their spare time comfortable in a city of rubble (in the ruins of what was) chuck resolutely declines to ask. ]
Why aren't you avoiding me.
Why aren't you avoiding me.
[ She'd assumed that conversation was over already and that the first swing of Chuck's hammer would welcome a period of drowned-out silence between the both of them. Which was fine with Mako — she wasn't expecting any more from him — so that he says something at all once a plume of plaster dust settles takes her by surprise enough to stare at him for a long moment.
She could not answer, could let her gaze do the talking. Mako wonders if being together makes Chuck that uncomfortable, that it would wring something out of him when he might otherwise have remained stubbornly silent. ]
Because we're not going to talk about it. [ That's how things were between them, weren't they? Mako straightens, tosses a half-rotted beam into the junk pile and places her hands on her hips. ] Unless we are.
[ It doesn't sound like an offer, but it is one (even if Mako isn't sure we wants to talk about it either). ]
She could not answer, could let her gaze do the talking. Mako wonders if being together makes Chuck that uncomfortable, that it would wring something out of him when he might otherwise have remained stubbornly silent. ]
Because we're not going to talk about it. [ That's how things were between them, weren't they? Mako straightens, tosses a half-rotted beam into the junk pile and places her hands on her hips. ] Unless we are.
[ It doesn't sound like an offer, but it is one (even if Mako isn't sure we wants to talk about it either). ]
[ the sound that pulls through his teeth isn't a true laugh, but it's more than the rush of breath that usually leaves his mouth. it's sharp, but not biting. mean, but not cruel. chuck has never had the foresight, the intention to leave lasting damage because he exists only in the moment- for everyone except his father.
his head shakes, and a piece of plaster comes down- casting a rush of dust over his hair. in the fragmented light, it's a mockery of a halo. ] I'm the lesser 'a two evils then.
'At's new.
his head shakes, and a piece of plaster comes down- casting a rush of dust over his hair. in the fragmented light, it's a mockery of a halo. ] I'm the lesser 'a two evils then.
'At's new.
[ Something stirs uncomfortably inside Mako, a feeling that is as familiar as it is unwelcome. Ever since they were young Chuck has had this effect on her — ruffling feathers that she's gone to great lengths to smooth, finding a way in through the seams of her self-control only to make her skin itch underneath her best defenses. Ever since Onibaba Mako Mori has spent every moment of her life trying to contain the fear and the anger unleashed in that single moment; contain it and change it, make it fuel for a more important fire, but whenever she's around Chuck all she wants to do is burn.
She blinks at him once. Of course the one time he wants to talk is the one conversation she doesn't want to have.
If he was more self-aware Mako would think he was doing it on purpose, but she knows Chuck. Why take potshots at unblemished skin when you can swipe at a bruise. ]
Just swing your hammer, Chuck.
She blinks at him once. Of course the one time he wants to talk is the one conversation she doesn't want to have.
If he was more self-aware Mako would think he was doing it on purpose, but she knows Chuck. Why take potshots at unblemished skin when you can swipe at a bruise. ]
Just swing your hammer, Chuck.
I dunno, man. But whatever it was, maybe we need a fire extinguisher in here if those actually exist in Zelien.
[ And because Chuck's grumpy state doesn't faze him one bit, Yancy crouches down to get a better look at the interior of the oven. ]
Tell me what you need and I'll help.
By the way, [ he gestures to his own cheek, the mirror of where the grease is on the other man. ] You got a little something there.
[ And because Chuck's grumpy state doesn't faze him one bit, Yancy crouches down to get a better look at the interior of the oven. ]
Tell me what you need and I'll help.
By the way, [ he gestures to his own cheek, the mirror of where the grease is on the other man. ] You got a little something there.
'At's what I told your brother.
[ it's that junction where the shift occurs. yancy doesn't rise to the bait, but he doesn't make a spectacle out of his non-participation either. maybe that means something, but chuck has never been one for introspection when even the barest sense of self-awareness is beyond him.
one hand lifts to the follow the gesture, and chuck's knuckles come away as smeared as his forehead. the flicker at the corner of his mouth is the only indication of how little invested he is in his appearance, but he climbs out of the oven all the same. rummaging around at the place where the oven has been pulled away from the wall, he tosses a jumble of cords- largely frayed, tangled, and melted to a piece of plaster in becket's general direction. ]
Make those look right.
[ it's that junction where the shift occurs. yancy doesn't rise to the bait, but he doesn't make a spectacle out of his non-participation either. maybe that means something, but chuck has never been one for introspection when even the barest sense of self-awareness is beyond him.
one hand lifts to the follow the gesture, and chuck's knuckles come away as smeared as his forehead. the flicker at the corner of his mouth is the only indication of how little invested he is in his appearance, but he climbs out of the oven all the same. rummaging around at the place where the oven has been pulled away from the wall, he tosses a jumble of cords- largely frayed, tangled, and melted to a piece of plaster in becket's general direction. ]
Make those look right.
[ Yancy catches the cords easy, frowns when he looks at the state of them -- knots, worn in places that electrical things shouldn't be if they were in tip-top form, and runs his fingers absently over the spot where the melted parts have fused onto something else.
He's never voiced how he feels like an outsider to the cohesive unit that the rest of the jaeger pilots have made themselves to be; the one player come to the game late when everyone else is already on the field or the ice, or whatever surface they're playing on.
Five years gone is five years gone and for how long he can make his time in Zelien matter, he'll take it. ]
On it. [ He hunkers down, crosses his legs and sits like a kid might on the floor and traces his fingers along the path of the cords to see where they go so he can figure out the process of taking them apart and making them look more like they should.
When he hits a spot where he needs to cut, he makes the faintest of face and speaks up: ] Might need to cut some of these. [ He knows the basics of getting electrical back together, things that he'd picked up while getting to know the crew that had once looked after Gipsy. ] You got a wire cutter there?
He's never voiced how he feels like an outsider to the cohesive unit that the rest of the jaeger pilots have made themselves to be; the one player come to the game late when everyone else is already on the field or the ice, or whatever surface they're playing on.
Five years gone is five years gone and for how long he can make his time in Zelien matter, he'll take it. ]
On it. [ He hunkers down, crosses his legs and sits like a kid might on the floor and traces his fingers along the path of the cords to see where they go so he can figure out the process of taking them apart and making them look more like they should.
When he hits a spot where he needs to cut, he makes the faintest of face and speaks up: ] Might need to cut some of these. [ He knows the basics of getting electrical back together, things that he'd picked up while getting to know the crew that had once looked after Gipsy. ] You got a wire cutter there?
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