004: Bargaining
"How's your neck?"
"Stiff as hell."
"How'd you sleep?"
"Like a rock."
"You wanna talk about it?"
Yancy sleeps like the dead. There's really no waking him once his head hit's the pillow for the night - or even the day. To wake him up before he's had time to recuperate is to hang in the presence of a decidedly less enthusiastic version of an otherwise outgoing man. Straight-backed, with his head fixed solidly on the pillow, Yancy's form is as attentive in sleep as its wide awake in the presence of Marshall Pentecost.
"No point. We talk about it all the time."
The latter, of course, is because he doesn't sleep well. Despite the utter oblivion he appears to experience once he closes his eyes, his mind is always racing with questions.
There are times Raleigh swears he can pick on his distress outside the Drift, but he's been told that's impossible.
The advantage of living in someone's head for the last four years was knowing how they processed their waking life. The Drift revealed often the frazzled and fractured thought process of his brother when he chose to micro analyze their situation in the long run, either through the actions of battle or the way he slouched in the haze of blue memories and bubbles.
"I mean like a real conversation, Yance."
They talk to each other all the time in the Drift, jokes, strategy and Kaiju stats. It's no different outside the connection, but the willingness to speak on what's bothering him is less forward. So he sleeps, fixating on his programs under the covers with a frown, trying to work them out with his subconscious. Sometimes he works them out; other times, he just makes them worse.
"Drifting isn't a real conversation?"
If he's not sleep problem solving, he takes his frustrations out on the Kaiju; Raleigh shares in his emotions on a completely different level. Where his brother is becoming uncertain of the long run results, worn thin by his internalism, Raleigh is even more determined to prove his fears wrong.
No matter how valid they might be.
"You know what I meant."
Long term thinking could wear a man thin and instill doubt. It was Marshall Pentecost's belief that long term meant nothing if you couldn't perform in the present. And they were performing; hell, they were out performing expectation. The Kaiju were on the run, Gipsy Danger was the star of the Jaeger Program; they were even invited to talk about their experiences as Rangers on a local radio program. It didn't get any more present than their situation. But, in true Yancy fashion, Yancy worried as much as he celebrated.
"I'll tell you what, kiddo; when I feel like taking outside the Drift- about this anyway- you'll be the first to know."
Sparks fall from the looming mech in the distance; the chaos of the Shatterdome, hard at work keeping Gipsy Danger up to specs, filled up the world around them. His brothers eyes were fixed on the heart of the Jaeger; tired and a little forlorn. He gripped the railing and leaned to the left, bumping his shoulder. "You shouldn't worry so much, you're gonna give yourself wrinkles, old man," The two rocked back and forth, balancing each others weight.
"Well, someone has to worry," Yancy argued. "We stop worrying, what's that say about us?"
"That we got it in the bag?" It was a joke, honestly. And given Yancy's expression; exasperated, but amused, it would be easy to assume the matter was concluded. But as soon as he stopped smiling, his eyes are back on Gipsy. Raleigh knew he'd have to wait until his brother was ready to talk.