danger_prone | for gipsy

It wasn't the quiet of the last time he'd managed to visit her. Instead of the slow lull of a midnight crew on standby it was the full fledged action of jaeger crews in full prep. Instead of being in his own loose casual clothes Raleigh was in full drive suit. And this time he wasn't going to hear Gipsy Danger's soft beeps and whirs. This time he was going to hear her voice.

He pulled in a deep breath as they plugged him in and shut his eyes. It had been along time. Five years. He found he was a strange mixture of eager and nervous. An exhale through his teeth and he nodded. No more running away. It was time.

Mako was due to join them in their link this time. Trail run, a prep for her, first time. He remembered the nerves and the excitement and gave her an encouraging smile, last minute words of advice. He was going in first though. These weren't three linked consciouses familiar with the feel of each other. It was two. He and Gipsy. First their link - and then they'd guide Mako in once they were stable. He was glad for it. There were things he wanted to share with just Gipsy right now. Mako could have those parts of him later as well but first - first he wanted Gispy all to himself. He wanted time for just them. Mako would join them soon enough.

So he shut his eyes again and his chin dipped just the smallest bit, the habitual way it always did just before he took the Drift. The countdown was a steady reassuring sound in his ear and he has the insanest urge to smooth down the hair inside his helmet, like a boy coming home after he'd ignored his mother's calls or a nervous guy on his first date. The crooked smile, quick, touched his lips just as the familiar hole in the center of his forehead seemed to open and he found himself sucked in and pulled under.

Welcome to the Drift.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

He lets out a little grunt that's both his laughter and his acknowledgement. If anyone has, Gipsy's certainly earned the right to smugness after all her time dealing with the Becket brothers and now stuck with him alone next to Mako's much politer ways. He feels the apprehension though and know there's really no way around it. At some point everyone has to say goodbye even if it's only temporary. He'll be back, she knows that now but...

I need all my limbs to pilot. The Marshall would probably just hurt me in unimaginable ways that wouldn't cripple me

His hand hasn't left her console and his fingers moves across it now.

wish I could sleep in here. Wonder what dreams would be like in the Drift

Gipsy does her best to dial back her frustration. He doesn't need a frustrated jaeger adding to his problems.

That is entirely likely. It would not be pleasant.

Strange as it may be, his touch is certainly something that she can feel. She is hyper-aware of her pilots at all times, though when they are connected, when they are in the Drift -- she is even more so.

I wish you could, too. I imagine they would be rather surreal. Or, he would end up with Gipsy's dreams - her own creations, the things that she comes up with to give her something to do, in her spare time. Landscapes pieced together from the memories of Yancy, Raleigh and now Mako -- and things that she has come up with, herself.

I can show you, if you like.

The surprise flickers through him, not because he doubts Gipsy can dream but - he'd never even thought along those lines. The reaction is a great deal like a little boy's and the grin he gives in response it not too far from that either.

They're just wasting time now but - since no one else can see into the Drift, it's not like anyone can tell them to wrap it up.

The pleased anticipation is there clear to read from Raleigh.

That would be awesome

They are - or at least, Gipsy is - simply wasting time now, but Gipsy is of the mind that Raleigh is not able to do this nearly enough and he has been gone for far too long and they have some much needed catching up to do.

I will show you what it is like when Jaegers have too much idle time.

Instead of the interior of the conn-pod being in front of him now, there's a flash of white and now he's standing by a lake with water that shimmers with rainbow perfection and a sky so blue that it hurts to look at. The sun is high above and it shines down and sends playful, glittering patterns dancing across the top of the water.

Large rocks - perfect for sitting, really - occasionally dot the surrounding areas of the lake and in front of one stands a raven haired avatar who is skipping rocks across the water.

We take images from countless memories and recreate what we think of as perfection, she says, though some of us take less creative license than others. I would not ask to see Cherno paradise, for example.

It's mostly snow and bright blue kaiju blood. Cherno Alpha is hard as nails in different ways than Gipsy herself.

Not all of us choose to create avatars, but some do. Do you remember Romeo Blue? He had one.

do robots dream of electric sheep?

Age old question and Raleigh can't help the smile as it's answered. Not that he doubted. The smile grows as he looks at what she's created around him and there's no small bit of awe in it either. This... this is his Gipsy's paradise. He turns his head, trying to take it all in, soak it into his soul too and only after that does he focus on the woman skipping stones, smile going a bit crooked. It's exactly the first thing he would have done with a lake like that -

He did? and then ...that's you?

Gipsy laughs around him, because yes -- she's aware of that that references.

In a way.

She urges him forward, presses unseen hands against his back to nudge him towards the woman.

She's part of me, part of you. Part of Yancy, and Mako as well. Pieces and glimpses of faces I have seen in your memories, merged together in something not...tangible, but representable. You, my pilots, make up what I think you would call a soul.

Or at least...some form of conscious being. Without you, I am only a machine.

He moves as she directs him, more than happy to explore what his Gipsy calls her heaven, curious about her avatar as he approaches, mulling over her words in his head.

You have a soul, Gipsy. One that's all your own. If I helped you find it - I'm honored. The word comes out deep and heart deep. She humbles him sometimes with all that she thinks he is, and all she knows he isn't and loves anyway.

Even without me, you're never just a machine. Love you, Gipsy.

You did.

She looks at him like he's hung the moon -- her wayward pilot, her prodigal son. He'll have to leave her soon, something she truly regrets, but in the meantime, she wants to show him everything that she has to offer.

The avatar keeps skipping rocks, tosses them in one after another, though as he draws close, she'll pause and turn. She is familiar yet entirely foreign at the same time and a smile pulls at her lips -- she knows him, better than anyone.

for gipsy_danger

so envious. I know it's about panel and actors etc but I always go for the costumes. you cosplay?

i do too XD and yep! i did merida, katniss, rose tyler, and luna lovegood this year

awesome choices. In some perfect land somewhere we'd have to cosplay and con together :)

i would be down with this no lie 8}

if you ever hit up a Florida con, just say the word XD

I'm actually in Florida so that's pretty likely |D

that's awesome! if you run with the Tampa or Orlando crowd we might have already met!

it is entirely possible, though I'm in Jax |D also sorry for my slow wow