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[ Chuck nods at the gloves and Mako holds them out into the space between the both of them. Anyone else and they would be a peace offering, a kind of token, some sort of acknowledgment of the past week and what has happened between them. But for Chuck and Mako — people who have long since stopped extending those sorts of gestures to one another and to the world as a whole — it's simply this: a passing between hands. An object belonging to one becoming an object belonging to another. No further meaning beyond simple practicality.
(Chuck needs gloves. Mako has them. Deal done.)
Her gaze lingers on Chuck's face for a moment longer, eyes skirting the shape of his mouth and the hood of his brow. There would be meaning in that look too if she just allowed it, but she doesn't, just accounts for what is there and what isn't like marking off boxes on a laundry list. ]
How long has it been? [ Since he last slept; since he last ate; since he last spoke to his father or to Raleigh. ]
(Chuck needs gloves. Mako has them. Deal done.)
Her gaze lingers on Chuck's face for a moment longer, eyes skirting the shape of his mouth and the hood of his brow. There would be meaning in that look too if she just allowed it, but she doesn't, just accounts for what is there and what isn't like marking off boxes on a laundry list. ]
How long has it been? [ Since he last slept; since he last ate; since he last spoke to his father or to Raleigh. ]
Long enough. [ it's as much an answer as it isn't an answer at all. it gets the point across all the same. if mori's going to try to come in close, chuck's giving her a warning shot. as far as he can wager, she's sidestepping just as much and just as wide as he is, and chuck has no intention of dragging his boots in until he's good and ready. (that much, on the other hand, has always been a matter of speculation. chuck sulks too long and nurses his pride because he has nothing else to nurse and enough rope to hang himself. he comes charging back in when he's called or not at all- he just kicks the door off it's hinges on the way as if it'll make the choice more his own.)
chuck pushes off the wall, pushes into motion, so they can distance themselves from the entire conversation, the facsimile of exchanges they'd had as children. (there are some things you can't go back to) his gait, however purposeful, is a half beat slower all the same. a wordless accommodation for mori's injury. ]
Should find you a wheelbarrow.
chuck pushes off the wall, pushes into motion, so they can distance themselves from the entire conversation, the facsimile of exchanges they'd had as children. (there are some things you can't go back to) his gait, however purposeful, is a half beat slower all the same. a wordless accommodation for mori's injury. ]
Should find you a wheelbarrow.
[ For his part, there's some noise of activity going on in the background. He'd managed to hook up with some of the others from his residence floor, and the beeps and pneumatic clicks of the hologram voice-overs bounce around behind him.
The easy part is done. Now they have to clear out a chamber full of ugly assholes that Raleigh doesn't have the patience for. ]
You're alive. [ Raleigh answers with audible relief, though that amounts to only the smallest uptick in enthusiasm far as a guy like Raleigh would sound like to anyone else. Not for the first time, Raleigh wonders if they've all been brought back together, as a crew, just so they could get ripped apart piece by piece all over again. This whole space adventure certainly felt like the start of it, with hope motivating the downward spin into red-edged fear and paranoia. ] I got worried.
The easy part is done. Now they have to clear out a chamber full of ugly assholes that Raleigh doesn't have the patience for. ]
You're alive. [ Raleigh answers with audible relief, though that amounts to only the smallest uptick in enthusiasm far as a guy like Raleigh would sound like to anyone else. Not for the first time, Raleigh wonders if they've all been brought back together, as a crew, just so they could get ripped apart piece by piece all over again. This whole space adventure certainly felt like the start of it, with hope motivating the downward spin into red-edged fear and paranoia. ] I got worried.
Edited 2013-10-22 19:22 (UTC)
Don't sound so surprised.
[ there's too much to chuck's response that's wry. if asked, the answer would be as blunt as it would be quick- if he'd outlived the breach, if he's here after delivering an ocean-clearing payload in the bottom of the pacific, he sure as hell isn't going out because of a few goddamn reanimated corpses.
something in his head has made the leap, turned the necromorphs into other because chuck can't look at them and know they were once people. because he's spent days taking them apart limb by limb. because he'd listened to alayne whisper into her communicator like she was as good as damned found already. because his old man and mori and becket are still out there somewhere when they should be together, a unit. ]
Mori's all green last check.
[ there's too much to chuck's response that's wry. if asked, the answer would be as blunt as it would be quick- if he'd outlived the breach, if he's here after delivering an ocean-clearing payload in the bottom of the pacific, he sure as hell isn't going out because of a few goddamn reanimated corpses.
something in his head has made the leap, turned the necromorphs into other because chuck can't look at them and know they were once people. because he's spent days taking them apart limb by limb. because he'd listened to alayne whisper into her communicator like she was as good as damned found already. because his old man and mori and becket are still out there somewhere when they should be together, a unit. ]
Mori's all green last check.
[ Chuck doesn't make a big deal about Mako's injury, simply adjusts accordingly as if equilibrium was something they were capable of, even though it isn't. He doesn't draw attention to it, doesn't mention or ask or even give her side a lingering glance. (And that's because, between the both of them they could teach a master class on self-denial as self-realization but Chuck, at the end of the day, has always been better than Mako at compartmentalizing based on the broadest of strokes.)
Even though he slows his gait to match hers, she immediately tries to pick up the pace of her own. Not enough to manage a normal stride but enough for the effort to be seen for what it is: a compromise and an unwillingness to hinder the other members of the team with her own failings.
There's a spare pair of gloves tucked in the back of Mako's slacks, she pulls them free and holds then in her own hands, the other pair having been given to Chuck in the moment before. She glances sideways at him. ]
We'd be better of building a wheelbarrow.
Even though he slows his gait to match hers, she immediately tries to pick up the pace of her own. Not enough to manage a normal stride but enough for the effort to be seen for what it is: a compromise and an unwillingness to hinder the other members of the team with her own failings.
There's a spare pair of gloves tucked in the back of Mako's slacks, she pulls them free and holds then in her own hands, the other pair having been given to Chuck in the moment before. She glances sideways at him. ]
We'd be better of building a wheelbarrow.
[ a thin thread of radio contact doesn't even come close to being a small comfort. when you drift with someone, something ties you together, makes you hyperaware of their presence. it isn't always something that happens after one, or even two, neural handshakes. but years?
the last time Herc had conversed with his boy over an intercom, he'd heard him die. Mori needs t'be priority he says, because they're a team and they focus on the job. it's how their relationship has been strung along since scissure ripped their world apart. Herc won't ask if he's alright, just like Chuck won't admit to being compromised. ]
Injuries?
the last time Herc had conversed with his boy over an intercom, he'd heard him die. Mori needs t'be priority he says, because they're a team and they focus on the job. it's how their relationship has been strung along since scissure ripped their world apart. Herc won't ask if he's alright, just like Chuck won't admit to being compromised. ]
Injuries?
[ it isn't ratting her out, because it's only a matter of time. because they're in the same boat and there's no base to send her back to if it gets out of control. they're in this, come hell or high water. ]
Compromised. [ chuck says instead- which says explains as much as it doesn't. ]
Compromised. [ chuck says instead- which says explains as much as it doesn't. ]
She's not the only one.
[ he frowns, takes a wheezing breath as he straightens up from the wall. ]
Think it might be somethin' in the air. It's effectin' people all across the board.
[ he frowns, takes a wheezing breath as he straightens up from the wall. ]
Think it might be somethin' in the air. It's effectin' people all across the board.
[ you can't tell? isn't something he asks, because their ghost drift is tenuous, a thin thread that while existent had been severed when his boy died, reestablished when they arrived. ]
Would be lying if I said I wasn't hearing things I have no business hearing. I've heard the same from others around here.
Would be lying if I said I wasn't hearing things I have no business hearing. I've heard the same from others around here.
Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan-117. Ranger Mako Mori referred me to you.
[ chuck feels it there even when he doesn't want to- but the drift, that echo isn't something he can latch on to. not here and not now because he knows where it'll go and pentecost is already watching him, from the opposite end of the hall.
it's too hard to tell the difference between what's real and what's not.
all he can smell is blood. ]
She's seein' me.
it's too hard to tell the difference between what's real and what's not.
all he can smell is blood. ]
She's seein' me.
I'm sure they covered that in basic.
Rinse, lather, rinse. In case you forgot.
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