[ For as far back as Naomi Sokolov can remember, the Beckets have lived across from the street from her house. They're an odd bunch, by small town standards, because for the most part, they keep to themselves. It's a product of the fact that their parents have kept them homeschooled, that the house has sat there empty for years at a time when Mr. Becket's job takes them overseas ( and then they get shunted into International Schools ), and that they're just naturally insular given the cards dealt them. Their youngest child -- Jazmine -- is her age, and their eldest, the charming Yancy, is a year older than her own sister, Kara. But it's Raleigh that Naomi becomes fast friends with, who she wheedles into picking up a Tumblr account because it's what the hip kids do, who puts a smile on her face the day he adds her back on Facebook when her Dad finally caves and lets her sister help her set up an account.
Raleigh Becket is the closest thing Naomi's ever had to a childhood best friend, even if he's been to places she can only dream of visiting, even if they barely see each other outside of AIM chat. Her sister laughs at her when she and Raleigh trade post cards and letters because pen pals is an ancient art that people have forgotten since e-mail is so much quicker and easier. But there's joy in the stamps she receives, in the photos he sends ( he tells her later on that photography is Yancy's hobby, his brother just has an eye for things. )
They build a bond through the distance, and it's always a great thing to see him when they come home.
But then Mrs. Becket gets sick. Naomi is the first to know outside of family because there is sadly no one else to tell and Raleigh's a misfit in how he's actually such an introvert, which is a surprising contrast to his sunny and bouncy labrador-ish disposition. She's in her computer class sneaking in time on her dashboard when he drops a message in her Ask box ( Mimi, are you there? Can you Skype? I really need to talk to someone right now but Yancy's gone to bed and Jazmine's up but we fight like cats and dogs. )
She replies with a yes, excuses herself from study period begging off that's a family emergency. She shoots Kara a text, pleads for her big sister to back her up and because this is such a break in character for her, she gets the cover she needs.
When she hides out in the far end of the library, her earbuds plugged in her ears, she cries in tandem to the boy so many miles away.
Cancer, he tells her. My Mom has cancer how is this shitty situation fair. When he rattles off in French because he sounds so utterly stressed, she doesn't remind him that she has no idea what he's telling her. She just listens. Because that's what best friends do.
They come home a few months later and Christmas is an agonizing exercise in faking cheer. She lets her parents in on the news after gaining Raleigh's permission to do so and it's a strange sort of blessing to realize that her parents pull out all the stops: her mother makes an effort to find something in common with Dominique, her Dad and Richard discuss world news and politics and Kara and Yancy hit it off because they're both such fans of hockey.
When things start to go downhill, Raleigh's parents' marriage crashing so suddenly ( not really, her Mom had glimpsed the cracks on the walls ) the Sokolovs surprise their daughter by not wavering an inch, because the Beckets ( not Richard, the lame ass sorry loser, her mother's words, while her Dad spoke to friends who would later discreetly offer Yancy a summer job, because that boy is proud and stubborn and that's something Jonathan sokolov can relate to ) are friends, and Dominique can hardly be left to fight off cancer and raise three kids.
Financially, they're cushioned all the way until all three kids graduate high school -- but only if they enroll in public school, which turns out to be the single most trying period for everyone involved. Jazmine craves acceptance and molds herself accordingly to fit in, a difficult thing to do since she and her brothers are third culture kids. Yancy takes to senior year like a fish to water, but it's because he's got the looks, the easy charm, and a maturity that wins him friends from various circles which he navigates with an ease only someone adept in social situations knows. Raleigh is the outlier -- quick to defend misfits like himself, almost final in judgements that he doesn't have the finesse to articulate and brash as hell when the impulse strikes. He gets himself into scrapes and people give him enough room to maneuver because his brother will no doubt crash down on all the bullies' heads, but Naomi counts down the days to when she can set foot in high school, so that their schedules almost align and they can go back into their bubble.
But then Trespasser rises off the coast of San Francisco. The rest of how that story goes, you more or less know.
---
He's graduating soon. Or he should, if he can focus on passing his calculus class. ]
You know, Yancy's never going to let you join the ranger academy if you don't bring home your diploma first.
[ She'll never get over how quiet the Becket household is now. Dominique Becket passed about three months before, and the pall from the funeral hasn't quite let any of them go.
Yancy works full-time now at the family restaurant in town, and their Uncle Charles has been in touch because Social Services has been after getting the final word on Jazmine, who will need a guardian for at least another year before she turns eighteen.
They're in Raleigh's room, their textbooks scattered around, but someone is distracted and looking up articles on the Gage Twins online.
[ Raleigh spends a good portion of his childhood overseas with his family in countries like France and South Korea and Malaysia, chasing projects for Raleigh’s dad to make a comfortable living, so his concept of home is a little unconventional, in a way. Still, there’s no denying the tiny flood of warmth in Raleigh’s stomach and chest that comes with returning to the little town, settling back into the house across the street from Naomi’s, his best friend for always – constants that stay the same, never changing.
They write regularly while he’s away, because they’re at a time and age where receiving letters is still the most exciting thing – like having an invisible best friend – about the long distances they keep. Raleigh’s mother helps sometimes, when Raleigh struggles with the logistics of postage, sneaking Naomi little souvenirs of whatever new country the Beckets’ve made a home out of from time to time and only after Raleigh’s approved her choices. At five, eight, eleven, and fourteen, they move on from crayon art and dried flowers to photographs and articles; there’s a month where they write in nothing but the complicated symbol-alphabet they’d coded after Jaz found the shoebox Raleigh kept all of Naomi’s letters in and bugged him – K-I-S-S-I-N-G – for agonizing days without end, but they’d given a rest after Raleigh admitted that he lost the list of coding, and Naomi had replied, good, because my hand was cramping.
So he spends portions of his days sorting through Yancy’s photographs, writing letters, and sending Naomi funny newspaper articles while he’s gone. When he’s home, Naomi and Raleigh go out for long walks together, talking about school and music and books and anything else they can think of; the summers overlap into fall in washes of gradient reds and yellows, and they walk with linked hands to keep the chill of autumn from biting at their fingers.
They fit into each other’s lives as seamlessly as only best friends can, and Raleigh is grateful.
Especially so when his mother gets cancer. The town is small enough that news of her illness makes waves in the gossip pool, but the families that sympathize step up to the occasion when they come back around Christmas; Raleigh’s mother gains a few more friends, and Richard has new people down at the bar he can talk to. The children of those families are young enough that Mrs. Becket’s illness doesn’t seem to touch them in the way that it affects the adults, so in contrast, Jazmine, Raleigh, and Yancy are more or less given a wide berth.
It suits Raleigh fine – he’s got Naomi, after all, and the Sokolovs are as kind as the Beckets can ask for – until the cracks in the foundation of the Becket family begin to show. The generosity of the Sokolovs while Raleigh’s parents’ marriage begun crashing in slow-motion became necessities – most of all Naomi’s, who is endlessly patient and empathetic, holding him through it all and inviting Raleigh over to sleep over when the fights get rough and Yancy’s not around.
( The summer before Richard would leave for good, Naomi had dragged Raleigh out of his own bed at one in the morning for a sleepover, the day after a particularly bad fight between his parents. By the time they were too tired to talk anymore, the sky had been a deep purple, turning pink at the corners, and they’d sort of just -- flopped back on the bed, settling in to sleep for the few hours they had left. Raleigh had liked the way the oranges and reds bled into the sky, liked even better the way Naomi’s arm looped through his, warming him up from the inside through the material of their clothing.
Remember this, okay? Naomi had said, vowels soft with exhaustion. When the going gets tough, keep this one close.
Yeah, I will, Raleigh had promised, and rolled over to kiss her on the temple, the sort of kiss you gave to a friend you cherished enough to consider her ingrained in you.
He would remember that moment, just flashes of it at Dominique’s bedside in the hospital again after Raleigh had read Le Petit Prince out loud to his mother until his voice – a handsome voice, mon petit prince – went hoarse, and his mother’s hand had gone still and cold in his. He and Yancy and Jazmine would stay when their dad couldn’t; Raleigh had Naomi, and that’d somehow gave him strength to push through. )
- - -
Out of all his children, Richard Becket left Raleigh a letter under his pillow that told him, I’m sorry. Richard left him a letter that told him, It’s for– (I loved you) –the best.
Raleigh wouldn’t write any more letters after that. They left so much unsaid.
- - -
High school is difficult, if only because Raleigh thrums like a live wire in all his classes, angry, pent-up energy shaking off him in violent waves. He’s always been a spectator of cultures he’s never grown up in or been an integrated component of, but the nuanced society of the adolescent-and-teen masses is something he isn’t practiced in navigating around and, unlike the locals of the countries he’s lived in, everyone takes an interest in Raleigh. Not least of all his problems at home. He counts by the number of scrapes his knuckles bear the fights he’s gotten into since he’s entered high school, but they fade after awhile as he adjusts – as does Raleigh’s trigger-happy temper.
Raleigh’s anger always did make his mother unhappy.
- - -
He doesn’t want to focus on math and numbers when there’s so much on Jaegers and pilots to read about. The blog he follows has updated again, this time with a video clip on the Gage Twins’ talk show interview, and he lies flat on his stomach, chin tucked in his arms, engrossed.
Naomi filters through one ear and passes out through the next, and it’s only when she kicks him in the shin does he startle out of his thinking.
Raleigh turns his head to look over his shoulder at Naomi, eyes wide and hero-worshipping and a little bit contemplative. ] D’you think you could, like, do what they do?
[ He gestures back to the screen, where the Gage twins are still speaking at a low volume. ] The drift thing, I mean. Two minds melding into one n’ all that.
Edited (UGH SORRY THE TYPOS WERE BOTHERING ME) 2013-11-08 06:24 (UTC)
[ The question catches her off-guard. She's looked up the pilots, checked sources far more reliable than Wiki for information on the Jaeger Program. There's surprisingly little, even the FBI has a better set-up online in comparison to the PPDC, but it sort of makes sense -- they're new. The program only really kicked in recently and the pilots are only now turning into the celebrities that they are.
Naomi sets her textbook aside, joins Raleigh on the floor, half-lying on her side, phone in hand.
She was due for a break anyway. ] I dunno.
[ She flicks her gaze to the screen, is quiet for a moment before she presses on. ] You and Yancy are planning to try though, right?
[ She'd heard about the dare. Wasn't entirely sure who issued it, just that Yancy had apparently agreed -- and while it wasn't really a total break in character, ( because Yancy Becket never backed down from dare ) Yancy had been different since the Beckets' Dad had left. ]
[ If there's limited information available to the public on the Jaeger Program, there's even less on the logistics of the Pons system. The framework of Raleigh's understanding is shaky at best, taken from Wikis and talk show interviews like the one on Raleigh's screen -- and even then, the pilots themselves aren't eager to jump on the topic.
Raleigh supposes that makes sense. If it were his brother in his head, feeling what he felt, thinking like he did, he wouldn't want to share that kind of connection with anyone else, much less the world.
Raleigh shifts over to make room for Naomi, idly scrolling down the page to skim the rest of the article. It isn't that interesting -- just tidbits on the PPDC people are already familiar with -- so he turns on his side, propping himself up on one elbow. ] We’re pretty sure.
[ Raleigh'd proposed his plan after school, in between Yancy's shifts at the restaurant. Yancy had protested, sort of -- just focus on getting high school out of the way, dork -- but with a little more needling, Yancy'd grinned, warm across the booth, and promised they would try.
Easy, but Raleigh'd anticipated that. ] We'll try out for the Academy, and if we wash out, Yancy and I start up for college. Jaz has to finish senior year before we go, though.
[ He looks over her face, quiet, playing with his eraser. After a pause, Raleigh flicks it at her. It bounces off her shoulder. ] You ever thought about trying too?
[ She makes a face at Raleigh before she sets her phone down, one hand scooping up the eraser before she falls flat on her back, eyes fixed on the ceiling. ]
I dunno. [ Naomi shuts her eyes, well-aware that she sounds like a broken record when the words leave her. When she laughs, it's a soft sound, more like a sigh than anything else.
She rolls her head to the side and looks at him. ] I don't think I'd be cut out for it.
[ The confession is frank; honest. But the truth? The kaiju terrify her. Sure, she harbors a morbid sort of curiosity when she goes through the news -- she likes keeping on top of things. Trying to imagine stepping into a jaeger though, that's a completely different thing, and she's heard enough kids talking about so-and-so trying out and dropping out. Whether the stories are true, she never really makes an effort to press, but it makes sense. There are only a handful of jaeger pilots in the world, so there must be some kind of cut, right? ]
Let's be real. I'm not exactly built for fighting. [ Oh, she's capable enough in gym. But it's not her favorite class for a reason. ]
[ She’s talked about college once or twice before, but Raleigh’s pretty sure that Naomi’s not certain what she wants to do, where she wants to go.
It makes sense. Nobody’s one hundred percent certain about what they’re looking for in a future, nowadays.
Raleigh tucks his arm under himself and rolls to the side, facing Naomi. ] How come?
[ The idea’s building in increments, because – how cool would it be if they could go together? Him and Yancy are a pretty set team, but Naomi – the last couple of years have been the longest stretch of unbroken time they’ve spent together since the beginning of their friendship, and it’s harder and harder to remember what life had been like without Naomi with him, a steady presence by his side. Raleigh wonders, just for a second, if they could be drift-compatible. ]
Hey, I’m no star athlete myself. [ Neither is Yancy, no matter what he'll tell you. Raleigh grins a little, but bites it back. ] And you learn that stuff along the way, you know?
( hey you, it's me again-- ) letters, texts & video
SENT: 2:42PM i think yancy's staying home to look after mom jaz wants to go. if u go i guess i'll go with you guys
SENT: 2:48PM it kinda does, doesn't it? godzilla's crazy uncle wouldn't be america if they didn't have a ton of fighter jets to back their guys up
[ Raleigh's bumping shoulders with Yancy, who glances at the phone in his hands, glances up at Raleigh, and turns back to the television without commenting, which is strange, for him. Raleigh's mom is bustling around in the kitchen, making - something. Grilled cheese, probably. Jazmine's freaking out pretty loudly in the kitchen with her. ]
SENT: 2:49PM u wanna come over later? mom's making grilled cheese to calm jaz down
SENT: 2:52PM i could come by in a bit mom and dad are heading out and kara's on the phone with one of her friends she sounds freaked
[ naomi knows why. kara's secret girlfriend is in san diego. they're not exactly official to her parents but they've been together all of five months even with the distance and naomi likes cate. she's hoping they're alright. ]
SENT: 2:55PM we'd be crazy if we could sit through something like this and not be freaked, but we'll be ok. tell me when you're comin over?
[ He's putting up a good effort at being reassuring, but inside, thrown in with the incredulity and the awe and the surprise, there's a little bit of fear, too. Growing up on monster movies and video games is one thing -- watching actual fighter jets batter ineffectively at the creature's thick armor as it works its way to the coastline is another.
At the rate it's going, the monster'll hit the bay in no time. Raleigh doesn't know how well the Bridge'll hold up against a thing of its size.
Like he can sense Raleigh's anxiety, Yancy hooks an arm around Raleigh's shoulders, tugging him in close. ]
SENT: 3:01PM will do they plan to leave around 5 she just asked if your mom would be okay to have me and kara over for dinner?
[ Her father's risen from his place on the couch and he and her mother are right outside the den, talking in hushed tones. Her dad doesn't have contacts in California, but the monster is big enough that Washington State is just a hop and a skip if it decides to change it's course upward instead of inland. Her mother has friends there. Her dad has extended family.
On screen, the correspondent announces that they've just gotten word that the United Kingdom has mobilized their Air Force in an effort to help. There are clip shots from what appears to be a helicopter that show people running through the streets.
It's too unreal. Behind her, Kara comes out to slump wordlessly into one of the dining room chairs and even without saying a thing, Naomi knows that it's either very good news or very bad news that has her sister in shock.
Naomi stands at that point, lamely gestures to the general direction of the Becket household to her mom and walks out towards the street where the line of houses that she's grown up knowing are quiet.
It makes sense. California is miles and miles away. But she wonders all the same if any of this is real because outside of her own family and Raleigh, no one else seems to be reacting. ]
[ In the ten minutes it takes for Naomi to come over, Raleigh gets up from the floor once, and only to exchange a few words with his mother. Yancy's arm around his shoulder is an enormous comfort, grounding him in reality and reassuring him that this isn't a dream, and there isn't a current incentive big enough for Raleigh to want to wriggle away from his brother like he would under normal circumstances.
The monster hits the Bridge, finally, and that's around the time Naomi rings the doorbell.
Raleigh ducks out from under Yancy's arm in a hurry, scrambling away from the television.
Naomi, when Raleigh opens the door for her, doesn't look too bad. He can tell she hasn't been crying like Jazmine has, so that comes as a minor relief. Raleigh nods at her, moving out of the way to let her inside. ] Hey, Meems. Mom said you and Kara can stay over tonight, if your folks need some time.
[ She's sitting out by the Proving Grounds well past curfew. There's no need for her to adhere to the rules anymore, to fall in line because she didn't make the second cut. The girl she'd partnered up with is in the med-bay and Dr. Lightcap had taken Naomi aside earlier to explain that it happens sometimes, with pairs flung together by sheer circumstance.
( Will she be okay? is the first thing out her mouth and she should be surprised at that, even if she's not. Because shouldn't she be upset that she's not moving forward as planned? That she's not on the same level as the Becket boys who were the stars for Batch 2016, who were deployed last July along with the beautiful Gipsy Danger? No. No, she's not and she's not quite worked out why that realization hurts, because a part of her is weirdly relieved at the fact that she's known for a good long while that she's not built for this. She's not built to be a Ranger.
She'll be fine. Sometimes enthusiasm just isn't enough. Becca will be under observation for the rest of the week, but you can go visit her if you like, Naomi.
Thank you, Dr. Lightcap.
When the tall, willowy woman with gossamer hair stands to leave, she calls out: ( the Mother of the Drift is nothing at all like Naomi expected, and maybe that's because scientist and first ranger pair bring up such intimidating images -- what can you do? The Gage Twins are USAF. The Hansen brothers are really scary ( okay, formidable ) men even if Herc practically radiates military and Scott is just a sleaze. ) It wasn't her fault. She wanted this more than me.
The look that the good doctor sends her way is sympathetic though not in the least patronizing. Dr. Caitlin Lightcap, Naomi has realized, will look at all the younger cadets as her kids. But she won't coddle. She'll treat you like the adult she, Ranger D'Onofrio and Tamsin Sevier expect you to be.
Darling, Pons Training is hard. Not everyone makes the cut. It's not your fault any more than it is Becca's. )
She hears Raleigh come up. She knows it's him because he moves a certain way and when you grow up together you just know and he and Yancy have been hanging around Kodiak ever since they got back from Los Angeles a few weeks before ( It's made the trying process of Pons Training a little bit more bearable, knowing that two familiar faces are nearby. )
She hangs her head and she starts to cry in silence, her face an absolute mess. ] I don't know how I'm supposed to face Dad after this.
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loccent2013-11-07 02:02 am
( let's start at the very beginning / a very good place to start )
[ For as far back as Naomi Sokolov can remember, the Beckets have lived across from the street from her house. They're an odd bunch, by small town standards, because for the most part, they keep to themselves. It's a product of the fact that their parents have kept them homeschooled, that the house has sat there empty for years at a time when Mr. Becket's job takes them overseas ( and then they get shunted into International Schools ), and that they're just naturally insular given the cards dealt them. Their youngest child -- Jazmine -- is her age, and their eldest, the charming Yancy, is a year older than her own sister, Kara. But it's Raleigh that Naomi becomes fast friends with, who she wheedles into picking up a Tumblr account because it's what the hip kids do, who puts a smile on her face the day he adds her back on Facebook when her Dad finally caves and lets her sister help her set up an account.
Raleigh Becket is the closest thing Naomi's ever had to a childhood best friend, even if he's been to places she can only dream of visiting, even if they barely see each other outside of AIM chat. Her sister laughs at her when she and Raleigh trade post cards and letters because pen pals is an ancient art that people have forgotten since e-mail is so much quicker and easier. But there's joy in the stamps she receives, in the photos he sends ( he tells her later on that photography is Yancy's hobby, his brother just has an eye for things. )
They build a bond through the distance, and it's always a great thing to see him when they come home.
But then Mrs. Becket gets sick. Naomi is the first to know outside of family because there is sadly no one else to tell and Raleigh's a misfit in how he's actually such an introvert, which is a surprising contrast to his sunny and bouncy labrador-ish disposition. She's in her computer class sneaking in time on her dashboard when he drops a message in her Ask box ( Mimi, are you there? Can you Skype? I really need to talk to someone right now but Yancy's gone to bed and Jazmine's up but we fight like cats and dogs. )
She replies with a yes, excuses herself from study period begging off that's a family emergency. She shoots Kara a text, pleads for her big sister to back her up and because this is such a break in character for her, she gets the cover she needs.
When she hides out in the far end of the library, her earbuds plugged in her ears, she cries in tandem to the boy so many miles away.
Cancer, he tells her. My Mom has cancer how is this shitty situation fair. When he rattles off in French because he sounds so utterly stressed, she doesn't remind him that she has no idea what he's telling her. She just listens. Because that's what best friends do.
They come home a few months later and Christmas is an agonizing exercise in faking cheer. She lets her parents in on the news after gaining Raleigh's permission to do so and it's a strange sort of blessing to realize that her parents pull out all the stops: her mother makes an effort to find something in common with Dominique, her Dad and Richard discuss world news and politics and Kara and Yancy hit it off because they're both such fans of hockey.
When things start to go downhill, Raleigh's parents' marriage crashing so suddenly ( not really, her Mom had glimpsed the cracks on the walls ) the Sokolovs surprise their daughter by not wavering an inch, because the Beckets ( not Richard, the lame ass sorry loser, her mother's words, while her Dad spoke to friends who would later discreetly offer Yancy a summer job, because that boy is proud and stubborn and that's something Jonathan sokolov can relate to ) are friends, and Dominique can hardly be left to fight off cancer and raise three kids.
Financially, they're cushioned all the way until all three kids graduate high school -- but only if they enroll in public school, which turns out to be the single most trying period for everyone involved. Jazmine craves acceptance and molds herself accordingly to fit in, a difficult thing to do since she and her brothers are third culture kids. Yancy takes to senior year like a fish to water, but it's because he's got the looks, the easy charm, and a maturity that wins him friends from various circles which he navigates with an ease only someone adept in social situations knows. Raleigh is the outlier -- quick to defend misfits like himself, almost final in judgements that he doesn't have the finesse to articulate and brash as hell when the impulse strikes. He gets himself into scrapes and people give him enough room to maneuver because his brother will no doubt crash down on all the bullies' heads, but Naomi counts down the days to when she can set foot in high school, so that their schedules almost align and they can go back into their bubble.
But then Trespasser rises off the coast of San Francisco. The rest of how that story goes, you more or less know.
---
He's graduating soon. Or he should, if he can focus on passing his calculus class. ]
You know, Yancy's never going to let you join the ranger academy if you don't bring home your diploma first.
[ She'll never get over how quiet the Becket household is now. Dominique Becket passed about three months before, and the pall from the funeral hasn't quite let any of them go.
Yancy works full-time now at the family restaurant in town, and their Uncle Charles has been in touch because Social Services has been after getting the final word on Jazmine, who will need a guardian for at least another year before she turns eighteen.
They're in Raleigh's room, their textbooks scattered around, but someone is distracted and looking up articles on the Gage Twins online.
Naomi sighs and kicks at his calf. ] Rals.
no subject
They write regularly while he’s away, because they’re at a time and age where receiving letters is still the most exciting thing – like having an invisible best friend – about the long distances they keep. Raleigh’s mother helps sometimes, when Raleigh struggles with the logistics of postage, sneaking Naomi little souvenirs of whatever new country the Beckets’ve made a home out of from time to time and only after Raleigh’s approved her choices. At five, eight, eleven, and fourteen, they move on from crayon art and dried flowers to photographs and articles; there’s a month where they write in nothing but the complicated symbol-alphabet they’d coded after Jaz found the shoebox Raleigh kept all of Naomi’s letters in and bugged him – K-I-S-S-I-N-G – for agonizing days without end, but they’d given a rest after Raleigh admitted that he lost the list of coding, and Naomi had replied, good, because my hand was cramping.
So he spends portions of his days sorting through Yancy’s photographs, writing letters, and sending Naomi funny newspaper articles while he’s gone. When he’s home, Naomi and Raleigh go out for long walks together, talking about school and music and books and anything else they can think of; the summers overlap into fall in washes of gradient reds and yellows, and they walk with linked hands to keep the chill of autumn from biting at their fingers.
They fit into each other’s lives as seamlessly as only best friends can, and Raleigh is grateful.
Especially so when his mother gets cancer. The town is small enough that news of her illness makes waves in the gossip pool, but the families that sympathize step up to the occasion when they come back around Christmas; Raleigh’s mother gains a few more friends, and Richard has new people down at the bar he can talk to. The children of those families are young enough that Mrs. Becket’s illness doesn’t seem to touch them in the way that it affects the adults, so in contrast, Jazmine, Raleigh, and Yancy are more or less given a wide berth.
It suits Raleigh fine – he’s got Naomi, after all, and the Sokolovs are as kind as the Beckets can ask for – until the cracks in the foundation of the Becket family begin to show. The generosity of the Sokolovs while Raleigh’s parents’ marriage begun crashing in slow-motion became necessities – most of all Naomi’s, who is endlessly patient and empathetic, holding him through it all and inviting Raleigh over to sleep over when the fights get rough and Yancy’s not around.
( The summer before Richard would leave for good, Naomi had dragged Raleigh out of his own bed at one in the morning for a sleepover, the day after a particularly bad fight between his parents. By the time they were too tired to talk anymore, the sky had been a deep purple, turning pink at the corners, and they’d sort of just -- flopped back on the bed, settling in to sleep for the few hours they had left. Raleigh had liked the way the oranges and reds bled into the sky, liked even better the way Naomi’s arm looped through his, warming him up from the inside through the material of their clothing.
Remember this, okay? Naomi had said, vowels soft with exhaustion. When the going gets tough, keep this one close.
Yeah, I will, Raleigh had promised, and rolled over to kiss her on the temple, the sort of kiss you gave to a friend you cherished enough to consider her ingrained in you.
He would remember that moment, just flashes of it at Dominique’s bedside in the hospital again after Raleigh had read Le Petit Prince out loud to his mother until his voice – a handsome voice, mon petit prince – went hoarse, and his mother’s hand had gone still and cold in his. He and Yancy and Jazmine would stay when their dad couldn’t; Raleigh had Naomi, and that’d somehow gave him strength to push through. )
- - -
Out of all his children, Richard Becket left Raleigh a letter under his pillow that told him, I’m sorry. Richard left him a letter that told him, It’s for– (I loved you) –the best.
Raleigh wouldn’t write any more letters after that. They left so much unsaid.
- - -
High school is difficult, if only because Raleigh thrums like a live wire in all his classes, angry, pent-up energy shaking off him in violent waves. He’s always been a spectator of cultures he’s never grown up in or been an integrated component of, but the nuanced society of the adolescent-and-teen masses is something he isn’t practiced in navigating around and, unlike the locals of the countries he’s lived in, everyone takes an interest in Raleigh. Not least of all his problems at home. He counts by the number of scrapes his knuckles bear the fights he’s gotten into since he’s entered high school, but they fade after awhile as he adjusts – as does Raleigh’s trigger-happy temper.
Raleigh’s anger always did make his mother unhappy.
- - -
He doesn’t want to focus on math and numbers when there’s so much on Jaegers and pilots to read about. The blog he follows has updated again, this time with a video clip on the Gage Twins’ talk show interview, and he lies flat on his stomach, chin tucked in his arms, engrossed.
Naomi filters through one ear and passes out through the next, and it’s only when she kicks him in the shin does he startle out of his thinking.
Raleigh turns his head to look over his shoulder at Naomi, eyes wide and hero-worshipping and a little bit contemplative. ] D’you think you could, like, do what they do?
[ He gestures back to the screen, where the Gage twins are still speaking at a low volume. ] The drift thing, I mean. Two minds melding into one n’ all that.
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Naomi sets her textbook aside, joins Raleigh on the floor, half-lying on her side, phone in hand.
She was due for a break anyway. ] I dunno.
[ She flicks her gaze to the screen, is quiet for a moment before she presses on. ] You and Yancy are planning to try though, right?
[ She'd heard about the dare. Wasn't entirely sure who issued it, just that Yancy had apparently agreed -- and while it wasn't really a total break in character, ( because Yancy Becket never backed down from dare ) Yancy had been different since the Beckets' Dad had left. ]
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Raleigh supposes that makes sense. If it were his brother in his head, feeling what he felt, thinking like he did, he wouldn't want to share that kind of connection with anyone else, much less the world.
Raleigh shifts over to make room for Naomi, idly scrolling down the page to skim the rest of the article. It isn't that interesting -- just tidbits on the PPDC people are already familiar with -- so he turns on his side, propping himself up on one elbow. ] We’re pretty sure.
[ Raleigh'd proposed his plan after school, in between Yancy's shifts at the restaurant. Yancy had protested, sort of -- just focus on getting high school out of the way, dork -- but with a little more needling, Yancy'd grinned, warm across the booth, and promised they would try.
Easy, but Raleigh'd anticipated that. ] We'll try out for the Academy, and if we wash out, Yancy and I start up for college. Jaz has to finish senior year before we go, though.
[ He looks over her face, quiet, playing with his eraser. After a pause, Raleigh flicks it at her. It bounces off her shoulder. ] You ever thought about trying too?
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I dunno. [ Naomi shuts her eyes, well-aware that she sounds like a broken record when the words leave her. When she laughs, it's a soft sound, more like a sigh than anything else.
She rolls her head to the side and looks at him. ] I don't think I'd be cut out for it.
[ The confession is frank; honest. But the truth? The kaiju terrify her. Sure, she harbors a morbid sort of curiosity when she goes through the news -- she likes keeping on top of things. Trying to imagine stepping into a jaeger though, that's a completely different thing, and she's heard enough kids talking about so-and-so trying out and dropping out. Whether the stories are true, she never really makes an effort to press, but it makes sense. There are only a handful of jaeger pilots in the world, so there must be some kind of cut, right? ]
Let's be real. I'm not exactly built for fighting. [ Oh, she's capable enough in gym. But it's not her favorite class for a reason. ]
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It makes sense. Nobody’s one hundred percent certain about what they’re looking for in a future, nowadays.
Raleigh tucks his arm under himself and rolls to the side, facing Naomi. ] How come?
[ The idea’s building in increments, because – how cool would it be if they could go together? Him and Yancy are a pretty set team, but Naomi – the last couple of years have been the longest stretch of unbroken time they’ve spent together since the beginning of their friendship, and it’s harder and harder to remember what life had been like without Naomi with him, a steady presence by his side. Raleigh wonders, just for a second, if they could be drift-compatible. ]
Hey, I’m no star athlete myself. [ Neither is Yancy, no matter what he'll tell you. Raleigh grins a little, but bites it back. ] And you learn that stuff along the way, you know?
( hey you, it's me again-- ) letters, texts & video
( k-day. )
CONTACT: MEEMS
MESSAGE: rals did u see the
news??? r u coming to school?
(1/2)
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[ sent too early. almost immediately after: ]
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[ she's curling up at her dad's feet. her hands are trembling a little. it looks too surreal to be legit. ]
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[ Raleigh's bumping shoulders with Yancy, who glances at the phone in his hands, glances up at Raleigh, and turns back to the television without commenting, which is strange, for him. Raleigh's mom is bustling around in the kitchen, making - something. Grilled cheese, probably. Jazmine's freaking out pretty loudly in the kitchen with her. ]
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[ naomi knows why. kara's secret girlfriend is in san diego. they're not exactly official to her parents but they've been together all of five months even with the distance and naomi likes cate. she's hoping they're alright. ]
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[ He's putting up a good effort at being reassuring, but inside, thrown in with the incredulity and the awe and the surprise, there's a little bit of fear, too. Growing up on monster movies and video games is one thing -- watching actual fighter jets batter ineffectively at the creature's thick armor as it works its way to the coastline is another.
At the rate it's going, the monster'll hit the bay in no time. Raleigh doesn't know how well the Bridge'll hold up against a thing of its size.
Like he can sense Raleigh's anxiety, Yancy hooks an arm around Raleigh's shoulders, tugging him in close. ]
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[ Her father's risen from his place on the couch and he and her mother are right outside the den, talking in hushed tones. Her dad doesn't have contacts in California, but the monster is big enough that Washington State is just a hop and a skip if it decides to change it's course upward instead of inland. Her mother has friends there. Her dad has extended family.
On screen, the correspondent announces that they've just gotten word that the United Kingdom has mobilized their Air Force in an effort to help. There are clip shots from what appears to be a helicopter that show people running through the streets.
It's too unreal. Behind her, Kara comes out to slump wordlessly into one of the dining room chairs and even without saying a thing, Naomi knows that it's either very good news or very bad news that has her sister in shock.
Naomi stands at that point, lamely gestures to the general direction of the Becket household to her mom and walks out towards the street where the line of houses that she's grown up knowing are quiet.
It makes sense. California is miles and miles away. But she wonders all the same if any of this is real because outside of her own family and Raleigh, no one else seems to be reacting. ]
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The monster hits the Bridge, finally, and that's around the time Naomi rings the doorbell.
Raleigh ducks out from under Yancy's arm in a hurry, scrambling away from the television.
Naomi, when Raleigh opens the door for her, doesn't look too bad. He can tell she hasn't been crying like Jazmine has, so that comes as a minor relief. Raleigh nods at her, moving out of the way to let her inside. ] Hey, Meems. Mom said you and Kara can stay over tonight, if your folks need some time.
( i didn't make the cut. )
[ She's sitting out by the Proving Grounds well past curfew. There's no need for her to adhere to the rules anymore, to fall in line because she didn't make the second cut. The girl she'd partnered up with is in the med-bay and Dr. Lightcap had taken Naomi aside earlier to explain that it happens sometimes, with pairs flung together by sheer circumstance.
( Will she be okay? is the first thing out her mouth and she should be surprised at that, even if she's not. Because shouldn't she be upset that she's not moving forward as planned? That she's not on the same level as the Becket boys who were the stars for Batch 2016, who were deployed last July along with the beautiful Gipsy Danger? No. No, she's not and she's not quite worked out why that realization hurts, because a part of her is weirdly relieved at the fact that she's known for a good long while that she's not built for this. She's not built to be a Ranger.
She'll be fine. Sometimes enthusiasm just isn't enough. Becca will be under observation for the rest of the week, but you can go visit her if you like, Naomi.
Thank you, Dr. Lightcap.
When the tall, willowy woman with gossamer hair stands to leave, she calls out: ( the Mother of the Drift is nothing at all like Naomi expected, and maybe that's because scientist and first ranger pair bring up such intimidating images -- what can you do? The Gage Twins are USAF. The Hansen brothers are really scary ( okay, formidable ) men even if Herc practically radiates military and Scott is just a sleaze. ) It wasn't her fault. She wanted this more than me.
The look that the good doctor sends her way is sympathetic though not in the least patronizing. Dr. Caitlin Lightcap, Naomi has realized, will look at all the younger cadets as her kids. But she won't coddle. She'll treat you like the adult she, Ranger D'Onofrio and Tamsin Sevier expect you to be.
Darling, Pons Training is hard. Not everyone makes the cut. It's not your fault any more than it is Becca's. )
She hears Raleigh come up. She knows it's him because he moves a certain way and when you grow up together you just know and he and Yancy have been hanging around Kodiak ever since they got back from Los Angeles a few weeks before ( It's made the trying process of Pons Training a little bit more bearable, knowing that two familiar faces are nearby. )
She hangs her head and she starts to cry in silence, her face an absolute mess. ] I don't know how I'm supposed to face Dad after this.