[ Chuck's voice feels real enough in her ear but Mako finds herself checking her earpiece twice before responding back. I don't know isn't something she can allow herself to admit. Mako would make herself know. ]
[ Mako dances around possible answers. I saw something or I saw you you or I'm afraid I've been compromised. There is a feeling she can't shake, one that refuses to stay down no matter how hard she wrangles it and how stubbornly she pushes back. It's irrational and making her question herself and Mako can manage to shut it down ]
There are reports that have begun to filter in through the group. Eye witness accounts of things that shouldn't be possible. They've been designated as causes of fatigue and mental exhaustion, or the belated on-set of shock.
[ the words make sense to him, in the back of his mind. somewhere that he can take it apart and tell himself yes, yes there's an explanation, and no there isn't anything wrong with him, because he could swear he heard- ]
[ Her response cuts in with an uncertain inhale, Mako's wavering breath the only sound on the line for a long moment. They've known one another long enough for Chuck to recognize the sound. When she was younger she'd breathe much the same way into her hands in an attempt to wrangle herself under control. ]
[ yeah, he knows that sound. it's like a warning bell. mako has always been as fixed a point as pentecost. when they were children, when she would slide, that designation had fallen to chuck. it should mean something to him- that he's able to find his way back to this place without so much as an upwards glance. ]
[ You know that. Mako cuts her teeth on the thought, tries to chew it but when she goes to swallow it comes right back up again, unwilling to stay down. As a child some of the doctors who she was sent to speak to would teach her how to breathe in through her nose and out through her mouth and Mako tries that now, some of that panic receding while other parts of it kick up again.
Get it together, she tells herself. When she speaks again, it's through partially gritted teeth. ]
There's something affecting the people here. [ I know something is wrong with me. ]
[ it's admission as much as acknowledgement. understanding. i hear you chuck tells her, between the silences (the way he's always spoken to her, the way he's always spoken to everyone) and it still ends the same way. but we don't have time to stop now. they're compromised, and if that's really the case- the who knows how much worse it'll get. if it'll affect the others. what this means for any of them.
and all they can do is pick up and keep goddamn going. ]
[ I know, Chuck says it's all Mako needs. (It grounds her, pushing away the image of Chuck dissolving into the darkness, blood still wet on the pauldrons of his drivesuit, his mouth an angry red line accusing her: he isn't here.) So she doesn't comment, just exhales once over the line, her breath not uneven but a definite sound. He hears her, he understands, and he's still pushing forward. (Doubt, uncharacteristic, attempts to niggle at her, like a stranger's voice whispering at the edges of conversation, the very best soldiers always die.)
When she speaks again, her voice has just refound its register. It's harder now, almost stubborn. ] Any other reports among your team?
No. [ there's a burn to the syllables- one like the rock that hit his stomach the first time he'd had a full mouth of whiskey. like a night spent coughing when the worst flu the shatterdome had ever seen swept through the ranks in a matter of days, and chuck had landed himself with walking pneumonia.
mori holds on hard to whatever new-found resolve has solidified between them, and chuck knows neither one of them has the luxury of self-doubt. ]
Your boy's all green, last check in. [ because his old man isn't going to tell him a damn thing. an extension of every habit that's defined their relationship. ]
[ His old man isn't going to tell Chuck a damn thing but one of the things that Mako has always had going for her is the fact that she isn't Hercules Hansen's daughter — a fact which affords her a kind of frankness that Chuck, being his son, has never truly been afforded. ]
The team in Hydroponics has met resistance so the initiative has been forced to divide its efforts. [ That's the official way of saying it (she'd never say your father's all right). But there's a beat and then Mako elaborates ] The marshal's at the forefront. [ Where all rangers should be. ] He's had his injuries addressed by a member of his team. According to his reports, he's fighting fit again.
[ in the smattering of life lessons and social graces chuck had neither the opportunity or interest to learn- expressions of gratitude are likely somewhere to the forefront. between following orders and doing the job, your co-pilot is the be all end all of whoever you are beyond your tags, beyond being a ranger.
and the hansens haven't been civvies for too many years to count.
mori gives him coveted information- the kinds of details chuck knows he would never receive on his own, and instead of the thank you that could be offered, or some granule of mutual acknowledgement, chuck only lapses into a brief (but no less complete) silence.
when he speaks at last, there's a sense that's he's nodded his head, but not much else. fighting fit huh? ]
[ He doesn't thank her nor should he because Mako doesn't give the information just because it's coveted. The fact that Herc is Chuck's father might play a part in the background, but at the very forefront of everything is the fact that the Hansens are copilots. If circumstances were reversed and information on Raleigh was limited, she would expect Chuck to do the same thing on her behalf. (Again, not because of sentiment, but because rangers are rangers.)
If there's a sense of Chuck having nodded his head, there's a sense that Mako has shaken hers in response. ]
It still puts him well ahead of the curve. [ They all were, given their training. Even some of the soldiers Mako has crossed paths with had little experience fighting otherworldly hostiles. ]
[ which is the only thing he can default to, is a lie and they're both well aware of it. hansen's don't retire and they sure as hell never climbed into a jaeger with the intention of settling down with a pension and a few medals. chuck knows his old man like an extension of himself- a collection that stitches them into one another. half steel and half thread.
ahead of the curve stands for very little when they don't know what's around the bend. when you can't line up with your copilot, can't even find them. but it's all they've got, and he'll take it. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
( v : d 3 )
I need you to validate your location.
( v : d 3 | audio )
[ mori's been pushing at him since they got here, and it's one thing for chuck to follow someone's lead, but he's never been the type to go ignored. ]
( v : d 3 )
There are reports that have begun to filter in through the group.
Eye witness accounts of things that shouldn't be possible.
They've been designated as causes of fatigue and mental exhaustion, or the belated on-set of shock.
( v : d 3 | audio )
S'just like the RABIT, Mori. Don't chase it.
( v : d 3 | audio )
It was you.
( v : d 3 | audio )
[ yeah, he knows that sound. it's like a warning bell. mako has always been as fixed a point as pentecost. when they were children, when she would slide, that designation had fallen to chuck. it should mean something to him- that he's able to find his way back to this place without so much as an upwards glance. ]
I haven't left medical. [ you know that ]
( v : d 3 | audio )
Get it together, she tells herself. When she speaks again, it's through partially gritted teeth. ]
There's something affecting the people here. [ I know something is wrong with me. ]
( v : d 3 | audio )
[ it's admission as much as acknowledgement. understanding. i hear you chuck tells her, between the silences (the way he's always spoken to her, the way he's always spoken to everyone) and it still ends the same way. but we don't have time to stop now. they're compromised, and if that's really the case- the who knows how much worse it'll get. if it'll affect the others. what this means for any of them.
and all they can do is pick up and keep goddamn going. ]
( v : d 3 | audio )
When she speaks again, her voice has just refound its register. It's harder now, almost stubborn. ] Any other reports among your team?
[ Is it just you? Is it just us? ]
( v : d 3 | audio )
mori holds on hard to whatever new-found resolve has solidified between them, and chuck knows neither one of them has the luxury of self-doubt. ]
Your boy's all green, last check in. [ because his old man isn't going to tell him a damn thing. an extension of every habit that's defined their relationship. ]
( v : d 3 | audio )
The team in Hydroponics has met resistance so the initiative has been forced to divide its efforts. [ That's the official way of saying it (she'd never say your father's all right). But there's a beat and then Mako elaborates ] The marshal's at the forefront. [ Where all rangers should be. ] He's had his injuries addressed by a member of his team. According to his reports, he's fighting fit again.
( v : d 3 | audio )
and the hansens haven't been civvies for too many years to count.
mori gives him coveted information- the kinds of details chuck knows he would never receive on his own, and instead of the thank you that could be offered, or some granule of mutual acknowledgement, chuck only lapses into a brief (but no less complete) silence.
when he speaks at last, there's a sense that's he's nodded his head, but not much else. fighting fit huh? ]
'Nough to fight a kraken at any rate.
( v : d 3 | audio )
If there's a sense of Chuck having nodded his head, there's a sense that Mako has shaken hers in response. ]
It still puts him well ahead of the curve. [ They all were, given their training. Even some of the soldiers Mako has crossed paths with had little experience fighting otherworldly hostiles. ]
( v : d 3 | audio )
[ which is the only thing he can default to, is a lie and they're both well aware of it. hansen's don't retire and they sure as hell never climbed into a jaeger with the intention of settling down with a pension and a few medals. chuck knows his old man like an extension of himself- a collection that stitches them into one another. half steel and half thread.
ahead of the curve stands for very little when they don't know what's around the bend. when you can't line up with your copilot, can't even find them. but it's all they've got, and he'll take it. ]