Peaches and Orange Blossom Tea

Peaches and Orange Blossom Tea
23 February 2017
Anchorage, United States
Practicing in Gipsy Danger is the best part of Raleigh's week, aside from having dinner with Hermann and discussing nerd shows. He shakes out his hand from gripping Gipsy's analog as he walks to the mess hall.
------Rals, you okay? [new paragraph]
The Ghost Drift link lets them communicate wordlessly from a quite a distance. Yancy's range is longer than Raleigh's and Raleigh'll readily admit that his brother's the more natural pilot because of his accepting personality. Raleigh’s the one that causes the twitches along Gipsy's analog as they go through routine simulations in their Jaeger to make sure everything works properly.
------M'fine. Just sore from the controls, he sends back with a wave of affection. [He] looks up in time to see Stacker escorting a pretty girl (in a green dress) with an origami flower and an incredible spray of vibrant copper feathers in her hair. They exchange a simple nod as he taps out the rhythm for “Pretty Woman” against the pipes with his fingertips. He stops after a moment, realizing that it's Yancy's habit and not his. ------We're Ghosting again, bro. You carve anything lately?
Yancy's embarrassed silence tells him everything he needs to know. ------It felt relaxing, is all. The tone is defensive and as 
Raleigh laughs mentally. ------{Hey.} Just sayin' since I did your thing when you see a pretty girl against the pipes, he soothes as he weaves around the dinner crowd to take two trays. Raleigh knows Hermann doesn't tend to leave the lab most days due to his age and intelligence. ------Think we might have to tell Medical if it keeps up.
------It happens with pilots that happen to have high sync rates, Rals, Yancy snorts as he pulls away.
------Oh c'mon! 
The silence doesn't last long as Yancy's emotions flicker back through the link at the range they do when he's flirting. 
Raleigh ignores them as he kicks the doorway with his boot to knock since his hands are full.
"Ah. Dinner is a welcome change. I've been trying to write this letter to Dr. Geiszler for an hour now and none of my words are ... accurate." Hermann's stomach actually growls at the smell of the broccoli and cheese soup.
"Sounds like you need food more than a finished letter," [says Raleigh. He steals a tech's chair to straddle backwards and balances the tray. "Eat."
"I see what your brother means by mother-henning," Hermann replies dryly. ]
Raleigh looks at the empty lab on the other side of the {mathematician's} office and decides [to risk a first name basis]. "Hermann, you're barely getting a fraction of my mother-henning. Poor Yancy can't leave the dorm without eating, me fussing over whether or not he's warm enough, and even when we Drift he gets it. Tendo's got a nice warm carafe of coffee and Yan's got a full thermos of tea. If you really want, I could probably even go and make you one." [Raleigh shrugs, finishes his soup and toast.
Hermann stares at the bowl in front of him with a tiny spot of color high on his cheeks--crumbs litter the empty bowl, indicating he'd probably inhaled his food.]
"Or we could have some tea." [Raleigh waggles] the special packets [Jazmine'd sent as a belated birthday gift.] "It's peaches and orange blossom; Jazzy had it shipped from halfway across the country." He tucks them safely away into a pocket.]
"Where on earth do you get these {from}? Tea and coffee are [such rare commodities these days."] 
"We've got contacts in places that are useful since they're good friends or friends of Mom's. Yan, Jaz and I keep a vast network of international friends from our trips. It's kinda why I don't really need a contact list because it's up here." Raleigh taps his head, grinning at the mathematician as he steals a fold-up chair to kick his feet up. He pulls out the diamond willow block and his knife to shave off a sliver as he waits for Hermann's answer. "It helps to be a third-culture kid in this day an' age."
Hermann frowns at the dual-colored rectangular block. "What are you putting on my clean floor?" [new paragraph]
Raleigh shaves off thin strips to round it out. {new paragraph} "Wood shavings. I'm thinking maybe a figurine of Gipsy Danger or Coyote Tango," he says absently. "Waitin' for you to say 'yes' or 'no' to the tea."
[Hermann folds with a sigh. "Could we take it in your rooms?"]
"Yeah. Not happy with Romeo Blue on that particular comment or the intern. What an asshole. He transferred out of Anchorage after Tendo got a hold of him." Raleigh chuckles at the way Tendo likes to 'help' his friends.
"Why do pilots refer to each other by their Jaegers?" Hermann asks as he grabs a beautiful parka that Raleigh hasn't seen before.
"There's always pilot hopefuls and then there's the actual pilots for the Jaegers. We use it to differentiate." Raleigh shrugs as he uses Hermann's broom to sweep up his wood shavings and dump them in the trash. "Where'd you get that? It's amazing."
The thin lips of the slimmer man all but disappear as he presses them tight. "From some ... close friends."
"Where'd they get assigned?" That's always the case for Shatterdomes and Raleigh's made some good friends only to find they're shipping out in a month or less to the 'Domes as they're completed.
"Vladivostok." Hermann's a bit subdued after the mention so Raleigh pulls out a bag of candies he found while exploring Anchorage on his time off.
"Hey."
[Hermann] looks up as Raleigh offers the hard candy.
"You like lemon right? I found these at a novelty store in a corner of Anchorage." He pops one in his mouth as he waits patiently for the man to decide.
Hermann takes the candy and lets it rest in one cheek as they shield themselves from the elements. "Of course."
They stride along the hallways, absently weaving around the after-dinner crowd that likes to take up space in the Rec Room. Raleigh drops off the trays at the kitchens with a sweet smile and it scores him some brownies from the kitchen staff.
"What all do you have in your pockets?"
"They're magical. I have my willow block, my knife's on my belt, the candy, the tea, some origami paper squares and at
least three separate flavors of gum. I need to keep myself busy or I get info overload. Sometimes I can't sleep when I have too much going on," Raleigh rattles off. "The gum's so I don't get bored of the texture and taste ‘cause each one's different."
"They're coping methods." The realization is fairly easy to make if the person happened to be a genius like Hermann.
"When I'm not with familiar people, yeah. My brain quiets down when I see someone I know pretty well." he admits as they sit down in the Jaeger pilot rooms. They're a bit bigger than the cadet dorms but not by much (about a foot or two is Raleigh's guess). "I'm not sure if it's just me thinking it's okay or it really does slow down. Man, the analog is killing my hand. I don't know how Yan does that all the time without so much as a twitch but my analog gets tighter every time I put it on." He flexes it again and pulls off his gloves, blinking at the pattern against his skin. That's definitely new and not the usual at all.
"I am inclined to think that one of the Jaeger technicians thinks they are being amusing," Hermann sneers as he takes Raleigh's hand and massages the soreness out of it. "I would confront them in front of the entire crew."
"See, that's why I like you. You don't take anyone's shit," Raleigh hums as he does everything with one hand as Hermann makes sure his hand is ache-free. Out of the corner of his eye, he watches in confusion as Hermann touches his chest reflexively after Raleigh's comment. "You okay?"
"Yes." The answer's too quick for Hermann's natural reclusiveness but Raleigh lets it go for now. "I'm fine."
"If you're sure," he murmurs as he takes back his hand from Hermann's magical fingers to find it feels much better. "You are awesome; now I can feel my hand again. Brownie?" Hermann shakes his head so Raleigh pulls down his wafer stash that Yancy still doesn't know about. "It's like ... ah. Are you still following my conversation? I don't, um, transition well."
"You were talking about the way you think," Hermann encourages as he accepts the vanilla wafers Raleigh hands him, "and the fact that a Jaeger technician is deliberately sabotaging your work in Gipsy Danger."
"Oh. Yeah. I don't do so well with emotions and especially ones that don't belong to someone I like. Maybe I insulted them or one of their friends. I've been known to do that." He pops another hard candy into his mouth as he brews the tea.
"I take it that it has something to do with your, in your own words, problem?" Hermann asks as Raleigh fiddles with his knife again.
"Right on the dot, Doc. I'm real picky about who I like so if I like you, you may end up getting the short stick because I'll monologue you by accident. I'll start going into a completely different topic with no transition. Yancy's gotten really good at following them and steering the conversation. Tendo's okay with it but sometimes I overwhelm him too. That's when I go for you or the ledge. It's a tic but it looks normal to everybody else." Raleigh sighs as he stirs his tea with his spoon. "I'll shift all my weight to my left or right leg and it's natural and smooth but I know it's not quite right. That's the problem with AS. We blend in a bit easier but we stick out emotionally or socially instead of physically. Mom got me to stop tripping over my own feet because I'd walk and look at everything. Mine's a bit of all of it, which is why I told you when we met that if I was annoying to tell me to shut up. Yan tells me that some of the things I say aren't ... right or nice to people. I can't help it though. I don't care what they think or why it's hurtful unless they're close to me." Hermann's brows furrow the longer Raleigh talks and he drinks his tea to give
the genius some time to sort everything out.
"What you are trying to say is that you may or may not have insulted this technician." The speed Hermann reaches the conclusion is surprising considering the amount of information Raleigh had just dumped on him.
"Yeah," he says in a small voice. "I don't keep track of people if I don’t talk with them all the time."
"Then they should perhaps revisit their standards for insults," the mathematician murmurs.
"Probably not. I say things that other people don't notice; like Sherlock but I don't have a filter. I once outed a person to the entire high school because they tried to blackmail Jazzy into going out with them." Raleigh cringes at the memory because it stands out so starkly in his mind.
"I still think that deliberately causing you harm is not the answer. It is completely unprofessional," Hermann remarks sourly.
Raleigh bites his lip and absently rubs his wrists. He isn't ready to tell Hermann or Tendo that particular tidbit just yet. "It's fine. Maybe I pointed out something I shouldn't have." He waves away the mathematician's worry. "Don't tell Yan. He'll confront them in public."
"If it happens again, Raleigh, I may end up doing it myself," the man warns with a flash of anger in his eyes.
They drink the tea and eat the wafers in companionable silence as they have before. Raleigh hums faint snatches of song and Hermann doesn't seem to mind.
The dexterity tests are easily handled and then it comes time for the analog to come on. The tech slides on the gauntlet and Raleigh's hand spasms sharply. Unlike the other times where his hand is just sore afterwards, this one hurts. He pulls away from the tech and straight into Yancy's personal bubble as he needs familiarity.
"Rals, it's just--What is up with your hand?" his brother's voice makes him relax a bit.
"I don't know, Yan, an' it hurts." he curls it in against his armor-plated chest as a reflex when his tech reaches for it. "Not you."
"I just need to check--"
"If Raleigh says no, he means it. Back off. Clarice, I need you to take a look at my brother's analog." Yancy snaps at Raleigh's technician while waving over his own. "Rals, she'll be real quick about it, okay?"
Okay. he sends it through the Drift-link and closes his eyes. He extends his arm and hisses when the cool air of the Drivesuit Room hits his aching forearm and throbbing hand. It's off, right?
Yeah. You can open your eyes now. Yancy soothes through their link. Raleigh opens his eyes to see Clarice glaring at the technician and gripping his arm to keep him from running.
"I already called the Marshal." she says to them before pinning Raleigh's technician up against the wall with one arm. "You should get him looked at. I've got it from here."
"Like this?" Yancy asks as Raleigh cradles his arm back against his chest to cool it off. The Drivesuits aren't that great outside of the Jaeger.
"We'll get you out properly when he's dealt with." Clarice sighs as she shoos them towards the medical facility. They practically march but not quickly enough past the [KSci] labs. Hermann chooses the absolute worst moment to look up when Raleigh's pain is at its highest.
"Raleigh?!" Hermann's tone borderlines on worry and he's surprised it's for him.
"You were right, Doc. Tech did have something against me." he says with a wan smile before he slumps in his brother's hold, content that he's safe.
Raleigh wakes up in a lot more comfort than he expected, Hermann's voice nearly a hiss as he speaks on the other side of the infirmary curtain, "What precisely did you think you were doing?"
"He's a freak. He doesn't deserve to pilot a Jaeger; neither of the Beckets do!" the instantaneous answer has Raleigh sinking into the covers as the man continues, "He doesn't feel emotions the way we do; he can't even talk properly without going on a stupid monologue about some random fuckin' topic that has nothing to do with what anyone was talking about and he's obviously touched in the head."
"Then I will have to inform you that what you did is unethical and will not be tolerated in the Pan Pacific Defense Corps. Rangers like Becket are important to the battle against the Kaiju. You will be stripped of all titles, your credentials revoked and blacklisted. There is a zero-tolerance policy for any form of harassment. We do not have time for your prejudices nor have any need of them. You are hereby dismissed from the Jaeger program and all it's affiliates. You have less than twenty-four hours to collect your things and leave before you are escorted from the Shatterdome's property."
"Who died and made you boss?!"
"I thought it would be better coming from a leader who wasn't me." Stacker's voice is harsh, unyielding as Raleigh's ever heard it. "I will make an example of you if I have to, Mr. Green."
"Seriously? You're gonna take his word over mine?" Green barks as Raleigh stares at his bandaged hand mutely from behind the curtain. "I could pilot better than that pair of freaks any day!"
"Your dismissal from the Cadet pool was due to your poor test results. The reason you were even in the PPDC was your inclination for mechanics, Mr. Green, and you were barred from attending the Academy. Do not make me call security." Stacker's voice is quiet but full of an authority that everyone listened to regardless of position because it was compelling.
"You're gonna regret keeping that cheater!" Green snarled as he was obviously dragged from the med bay. "Him and his stuffy, uptight brother!" Raleigh's good hand clenched in the sheets as the parting shot struck more or less what it was supposed to hit. They'd worked hard to get to this point and now there would be an investigation into their Academy time. Cheating was a serious offense in the PPDC.
"Ranger Becket?" the curtain was drawn back and Raleigh let the nurse on duty poke at his injured arm and hand. "Are you feeling better?"
"I'm alright." he answers with a small smile at the sweet woman.
"Huh. You don't look very happy to me. Don't tell me you heard that idiot." [new paragraph] 
Raleigh bit his lower lip and looked down at his good hand. [new paragraph]
"Oh, hun."
"He's awake?" Yancy was the first through the curtain, hugging Raleigh and touching their foreheads together. "Don't do that, bro. You tell me when somebody's hurting you."
"Thought it would go away on [its] own." he muttered as he hugged Yancy back. "People usually leave me alone if I don't respond."
"C'mon Rals. You know that only happens in movies." his brother snorted wryly as Stacker and Hermann stood respectfully to the side of the curtain.
"Ranger Becket, how long was this going on?" Raleigh buries his face in Yancy's shoulder, not wanting to talk to the Marshal at the moment. "Ranger--"
"You'll have to excuse us a sec, Marshal. He's a bit tired right now." Yancy smoothed things over as usual even as he presses against their link. ------Rals, when'd it start?
------Right after we started piloting Gips. It wasn't all that noticeable at first but then it kept getting tighter and messing with my motor abilities in the Conn-Pod. I took it for as long as I could, y'know? I didn't want any trouble. Raleigh admits and Yancy's hold tightened a little.
------Jesus, Rals, that's nearly three months. Why didn't you want any trouble?
------I thought that Gips might get taken away. I thought... I thought it was just me, that I was imagining things. You seemed fine so I just kept quiet. {Raleigh pointed out and} 
[Yancy gets it. 
Jockeying] was what they were good at; if Gipsy Danger got taken away, that was it for them.
------Raleigh, you're smart but so dumb sometimes. You shoulda said something the second it started hurting you. The analog's not supposed to hurt at all. Yancy chides but Raleigh lets it slide in favor of the affection his brother's pouring down the link. ------Rals?
------Some good pain meds they're giving me. Think the tech fractured some of my bones. [He] hums through the link as he uses [Yancy] like a pillow.
Yancy [cuddles back] as he explains to the Marshal seriously, "Raleigh said it happened over a period of time, almost three months. He thought it was just him imagining things and that he didn't want to kick up a fuss if it was that. That tech tightened it slowly and it started messing with Raleigh's motor control. He thought we were gonna lose Gipsy Danger if he couldn't keep up."
"[You mean to say] your brother took three months of pain because he didn't want to bother anyone?" Stacker's voice is strained, like he wants to say more but he won't while Raleigh's aware. "Controlling a Jaeger is difficult enough, what with compatibility and neural handshake but to have to fight for regular movements is just wrong."
"Rals has always been the stronger, sir, at least when it comes to endurance." Yancy says fondly as he cards his fingers through Raleigh's messed up fluff.
"It's nothing short of incredible." Stacker admits with some pride. "You take care of him; I can authorize some leave time. I'll deal with Mr. Green."
.
The news spread like wildfire, especially seeing as the techs gossiped amongst themselves more frequently than every other profession in the 'domes. Raleigh got good at evasive maneuvers, side-stepping anyone who wasn't his friends and who wanted to 'talk' with him. He snuck in the side-door of Hermann's office, knocking because he knows that the man did not appreciate quiet entrances.
"Hiding again?" Hermann snorted as Raleigh slid down the wall to sprawl on the floor.
"It's died down since your pals in Cherno Alpha got married and something's up with the Hansen bros. I'm just here to chill and sort." he counters lazily, pulling out his old-school MP3 player and headphones from his pockets. "You mind?"
"I am busy but I do not mind your company." [Hermann] sighs as he taps the blackboard with his chalk end. [new paragraph]
Raleigh drums out the songs quietly on the floor with his fingertips as he analyzes the memories of the past week.
[Tendo knocks. 
It seems everyone knows about Hermann's particular habit of throwing chalk with pinpoint accuracy [when people] sneak up on him.
"You seen Raleigh?"
"Any reason in particular?" asks Hermann. 
Tendo grimaces. "Reporters."
"I'm afraid I haven't, Mr. Choi." A hint of laughter, there. 
Raleigh grins from his spot on the floor but doesn't make a peep.
"Darn. Guess I have to tell 'em Raleigh's not in the 'Dome." Tendo shrugs, leaning against the doorway. "I already checked his usual places." 
"I count as a place?" Hermann sounds both dismayed and pleased at the same time.
"Brother, Raleigh's a person of habit and if he's not anywhere I know then he's usually with you." Grins. "He likes you." 
"As in...?"
"Nah. He's just a touchy person. He likes hugging and pretty much the range you see with Yancy is what you get." Tendo remarks, taking in the never-ending strings of numbers.]
"He does not invade my personal space."
"Raleigh's the sensitive sort. He picks up on discomfort like a cat or something. It could be his thing or just how he is naturally." A pause. "By the way, what's up with you, Raleigh and the tea thing?"
"He feels comfortable enough to reveal it, I suspect. His brother appears to predict Raleigh before he completes his actions." the admission is frank and concise, just like Hermann. "I would assume that he requires a certain amount of time to himself for quiet reflection."
Raleigh buries his face in his scarf to hide the smile tugging at his lips. Hermann's incredibly sweet and defensive but that's what Raleigh likes about the prickly man. Sometimes he wishes other people could see it just as clearly as he does on days when the mathematician looks lonely. He'll do his best to make sure Hermann's not alone from now on.
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