Ginger Tea

Date/Timing: 9 January 2025
Setting: Raleigh's & Mako's rooms, Hong Kong Shatterdome; Hong Kong, China
.
Raleigh scrubs at his eyes as he shuffles around Mako's quarters, his sweater covering the gauze-wrapped circuitry burns without putting much pressure on them. "Mmm, Maks?"
「Yes.」
"Where's your tea?"
«Right side of the cabinet,» she yawns. ‒You're lucky you're cute.‒ 
"Hilarious, Yan," he absently replies as he pulls down thick ceramic mugs. 
「What?」
The swat to his uninjured side has him yelping and blinking down at her in surprise.
Arms crossed and brow furrowed, Mako asks, "Why did you call me 'Yancy'?"
Raleigh looks away, carefully places the mugs on the counter.
Mako tucks a strand of blue hair behind her ear.
Raleigh rubs the back of his neck. "Umm ...."
"Raleigh," she chides.
"We /might have a mental connection?" He hides his face behind his hands.
"Explain it to me." Mako gently pulls his hands away and cups his chin.
"'s just a guess, but in really compatible pairs, the tech gives you this—" Gestures near his head. "—mental link. Can happen with only two Drifts and we had three." 
Mako guides him to her bed.
He sits down with a heavy thump.
She squeezes his better shoulder as she crosses the small room to start the kettle.
Raleigh sighs. "Mine an' Yan's was /really strong. We Ghost Drifted pretty much all the time, even when we were miles apart and hadn't Drifted in days." 
"You caught something from me in a Ghost Drift, then, and thought it was your brother?"
"Yeah. It was an accident." Smiles ruefully. "We did that—Yancy and I—a lot in the beginning an' what you thought was somethin' Yan said a lot when we were kids."
Mako hums as she sits on the bed next to him with the giant box she's pulled from a shelf.
"You've got a lot of tea," he blurts.
"The Shatterbucks staff know that sometimes I'm too busy to come down for tea or coffee. This was last year's birthday gift from them."
A memory of music and ribbons and the smell of strong tea flickers and Raleigh lets himself sink into it.
""Raleigh?""
He shakes his head clear. "'s the connection. Sorry."
Satisfaction trickles along the link and into Mako's voice. "This explains the blank faces of the pilots with high sync scores."
Raleigh presses back encouragement and joy, careful to keep it low-key.
She rubs her temple, blinking rapidly.
"Blank faces, huh?"
"Mhmm. As if they were daydreaming."
"Never knew what it looked like on the outside." 
Cold, harsh memories well up; Raleigh pushes them—Mako soothes /home-safe-understand—they fade, popping like bubbles blown out of car windows on the drive between Èze and Antibes. 
"I tried ...." Clears his throat. "I tried a lot af-after—all I got was bloody noses and massive headaches."
She cradles Raleigh against her shoulder, smooths his hair.
"I miss him so much. It's been so long and I still think that if I turn around ... that he'll be there to laugh with me. I shouldn't—" 
She strokes his cheek gently, turning—
He resists her pull on his chin for a breath, relents, keeping his eyes down.
"You lost part of your soul, Raleigh." Mako touches her forehead to his. "You were two parts of a whole; to lose part of yourself ...." She swallows. "There is no shame in admitting pain." 
"But I should've—" Raleigh's voice breaks and he buries his face in her neck. 
Mako holds him close. 
He snuffles into her shoulder as her tears soak into the back of his t-shirt. 
.
The kettle's whistle barely pierces the raw emotions ricocheting between them as they share pillows and gentle contact.
Mako drags herself away—
Raleigh whines.
—pours water over loose leaves. She shuffles back, places the cups on the bedside table.
Curls of steam flicker over the cup rims.
Raleigh watches, his patchwork mind a soothing blank.
A knock on the door jolts them both to full awareness and a golden retriever-like anticipation flashes across Mako's mind while reserve flares across Raleigh's, calm and collected. 
"Come on in," he calls.
Tendo slinks into the room, haggard and pale.
Raleigh /apology-care-safes Mako as he climbs out to push Tendo into his place. He pulls off Tendo's shoes, bow tie, and suspenders, stuffs him into the warm cocoon of blankets. 
Mako shuffles over to make room.
Raleigh collects another cup of tea, passes it to Tendo, digs himself back under the covers.
Tendo drinks a little and his shoulders relax. "Thanks, brother." 
"Hey, anything for an old friend," replies Raleigh as he watches Tendo's color improve. "How'd the vid-con with Alison go?" 
"Great. Felix is getting so big." Rests a hand against his neck. "I haven't seen him in person in four months." Sighs. "I'm ... tired, y'know? The war's over and I'm ... exhausted." Peers into his cup. "Everyone is. Hansen's on his last leg even though Xiong and her people are back. I tried to convince Derek to put a sedative in his tea, but."
"Derek?" 
"Squire; Equerry now, I guess." 
"Oh. Right." Cringes, still says, "How's Kili?"
"Good. She's been working on Resistance PR for a while." 
Mako pillows her cheek on Tendo's shoulder and Raleigh mirrors her.
Tendo rolls his eyes. 
"That's probably easier than having to corral me an' Yan," Raleigh huffs with a wry grin. "She deserves a break. Besides, if those're her posters plastered along the Wall, I'd say she did a damn good job." 
"Yup, those are her work alright. She designed 'em and ... the Marshal approved and hired people to give 'em out and put 'em up." 
Raleigh laces his fingers with Mako's on Tendo's stomach.
Tendo raises an eyebrow. "I'm probably invading your Ghost Drift time." 
"Nah. 's gonna be happening for a while an' you look like /you need some sleep."
"Not so much sleep as a place to rest a bit." Tendo finishes his tea, yawns. "We'll hash out what we're doing later, I think, when we're not so dead on our feet."
Raleigh gathers the three empty cups and sets them on the nightstand, happy with his armful of Tendo and Mako. 
.
Raleigh yawns his way across Mako's room, rests his chin on her shoulder, arms draped loosely around her neck. 「Whatcha doin'?」
「Attempting to build a Jaeger from scrap and museum pieces,」 she huffs.
「So ... what you've been doing for the last few years.」
「You're lucky you're cute.」
Raleigh laughs into her hair. 「Yup.」
Mako sighs, frustrated. 「We /may be able to assemble something within six months. It would be inelegant, but it /should work.」
「That bad?」
「We have one uncompromised chassis—/Shaolin Rogue—which is missing most of its armor and many of its electronics and would require a completely new Pons system, a handful of mismatched pieces in storage, and whatever can be scavenged from /Echo Saber, /Vulcan Specter, and—」 Takes a deep breath. 「—/Crimson Typhoon.」
The name hangs in the air, like it's writ red across their vision. 
「Pilots?」 asks Raleigh quietly.
Mako tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. 「A handful of veterans and Spares could pass the qualifying tests still and a half-dozen cadets are suitable.」
Raleigh's heart sinks. 「Hopefully we got the job done and we won't need them.」
Mako hums an agreement, reaches up and squeezes Raleigh's forearm.
He nuzzles her temple.
「I have a meeting with Marshal Xiong and representatives from Shinohara to discuss the situation.」
「Which's why you're dressed and sparkling and I'm still in my PJs.」 Raleigh's suddenly eight types of glad. 「I only know /one Shinohara rep and she's more than I want to deal with.」 
She twists around, smiling. 「Leave her to me. I will join you for lunch.」
「Perfect.」 Raleigh straightens, steps back to give Mako space.
She glides to her feet and from the room.
Raleigh sighs, rubs the back of his neck, and bustles to the kitchenette to start some tea.
.
He's drinking orange pekoe and eating cereal on autopilot when Tendo calls, ""Knock knock!"", from the doorway.
Raleigh immediately brightens. "Morning! Thought for sure you'd be at that meeting with Mako."
Tendo saunters over to the sofa, shrugs. "I'm trying to get out of the Jaeger game."
Raleigh raises an eyebrow.
"Aaaaaand maybe I get flustered sitting across a table from this particular Shinohara rep." Tendo flops down.
Raleigh dumps his empty bowl and cup in the sink, joins Tendo on the couch. "If it's who I think it is, she's scary on a /good day." 
"I haven't seen anyone not named Xiong or Pentecost she /can't rattle."
Raleigh chuckles, rests his arm across Tendo's shoulders. "What's today's news?"
"Oo! Alison sent new pictures of Felix!" Digs a phone from a pants pocket. "Here, look at the little charmer."
Raleigh flicks through a few photos, grins. "He looks like you."
"Don't say that in front of Alison's mom."
"Noted."  Raleigh presses his cheek—
"Hey! Not the hair!"
—laughs his way into a sigh. "I really missed you, y'know. When I was on the Wall."
"I missed you, too, Rals. A /lot of people missed you." Tendo tangles his fingers in Raleigh's hair, carefully massaging his scalp. "Some days, I half-expected you to come around a corner with tea or a blanket or food."
Raleigh leans into his touch, purring.
"Alison totally got it—was part of how I knew she was The One. She understood I lost two friends that night, not just one." He swallows. "Rals, promise me that if you go anywhere—" 
"I'll keep in contact. Promise." Sighs. "I've got an inbox full of notifications t'deal with. Jazzy's known pretty much where I've been the whole time and Charlie ... understands I'm a little busy."
Tendo snorts. "Too busy for a movie?"
"/Never."
"AGNIS?"
""Here, Mr Choi."" A sigh from the speakers. ""As always.""
"Start a classic film for us?"
""Of course. Loading.""
"Thanks, AGNIS."
The main view screen flickers with the opening of /Frozen.
"This's a 'classic'?"
"It's, like, ten—"
""Eleven,"" corrects AGNIS.
"—eleven years old."
Raleigh gives a low whistle. "Time sure flies."
"That it does, brother. That it does."
.
The movie's winding up when Mako returns, raises an eyebrow, and laughs, «/Frozen?»
«We're catching up on old times. Wanna join—» Raleigh rattles off in French before—
"English for the non-polyglot, please?" asks Tendo, poking 'pause' on the remote he'd managed to find about halfway through.
"Mako's gonna join us."
"Awesome." He squishes closer to the couch arm on his side.
Raleigh scoots over to make room.
Mako oozes in next to him.
"Everybody comfy?"
Mako and Raleigh hum and Tendo sets the movie back to rolling.
‒Raleigh?‒
Raleigh /acknowledges.
‒This connection, is it permanent?‒
‒I think so. Sergio and Cait have one just like this and I /think Momoko and Keiko have one, too. And— ‒
Gipsy breaks in, reminds, ‒We promised not to— ‒
‒And?‒ prompts Mako.
Raleigh takes a deep breath. ‒And even ... even after /he died, the link was still there—is still there. It's jagged and messy and my head is really messed up from it and you've got a front-row seat to it for the rest of your life.‒
Mako /acknowledges.
‒There's one other thing ....‒
Mako nudges his shoulder as he hesitates.
‒Hello~!‒ sings Gipsy.
‒Raleigh?‒
‒Nope.‒
‒I'm Gipsy Danger and I'm part of your Bond, too.‒ She sparkles /greeting-love. ‒It's great to properly meet my new pilot.‒
Mako inhales sharply and looks to Raleigh. 
"Everything okay?" asks Tendo.
"Just fine," Mako assures.
Raleigh smiles with a soft glow of /agreement-happy-adoration. 
"Ohhhh ...," says Tendo, glancing from one to the other. "You're doing your Ghost Drift thing. Gotcha." He goes back to watching the movie.
‒I am honored to meet you,‒ says Mako, mentally bowing.
Gipsy threads herself in and among them, warm and anchoring. ‒You knew about us already, huh?‒
‒Really?‒
Mako giggles quietly. ‒Coyote Tango is my /otouto-kun.‒
Raleigh laughs. ‒Go figure.‒
Category:Ficlet
Category:Hong Kong Shatterdome
Category:Tea Lovers Association storyline
Category:Raleigh
Category:Raleigh's POV
Category:Raleigh (ficlet)
Category:Mako
Category:Mako (ficlet)
Category:Yancy (mention)
Category:Tendo
Category:Tendo (ficlet)
Category:Alison (mention)
Category:Felix (mention)
Category:Herc (mention)
Category:Xiong (mention)
Category:Derek (mention)
Category:Kilian (mention)
Category:Stacker (mention)
Category:Nate (mention)
Category:Jazmine (mention)
Category:Charlie (mention)
Category:AGNIS
Category:AGNIS (ficlet)
Category:Sergio (mention)
Category:Caitlin (mention)
Category:Momoko (mention)
Category:Keiko (mention)
Category:Lady Danger
Category:Lady Danger (ficlet)
Category:Coyote Tango (mention)
Category:Ficlets with images