[Raleigh Becket is one of Those Tourists and Chuck is so unsurprised he would be so rich if he'd bet on it, which in hindsight would've been a pretty smart idea because it's not cheap to do all of the touristy things on Australia that she wants to do (it's over two hundred dollars to climb the Darling Harbor bridge and Chuck's a thrill seeker too but he has lived in and around Sydney for most of his life and he hasn't felt the need to climb the bridge but it's something she Has To Do).
This is what he gets for going to America and finding a girlfriend there.
Americans also have the bloody weirdest ideas of what Australia is actually like. There are more kangaroos than people but koalas are an endangered species. He's never seen one in the wild before, so he has no idea why she seems to think she's going to see one and if she doesn't, then the entire trip would be a bust.
Nevermind that Chuck thinks it's a waste of a trip purely because it involves spending Christmas with his dad because he can't think of a way to say "my old man and I don't talk at all because I can't forgive him for killing my mum" without actually.... saying that... and he is pretty fond of Raleigh 96 percent of the time but he doesn't want to have that talk with her. He knows that her family is all gone, so it means something to her to spend the holidays with her boyfriend and his family and he doesn't need her telling him how to relate to his dad.
Herc didn't really kill Angela, not intentionally. There was a car accident and Herc chose to pull Chuck from the wreckage first, and then go back for her and by the time he got back there, Angela had already passed away and neither Hansen man took the death well. Herc was lost without his wife and Chuck was too young at the time to not realize that his father's guilt and grief wasn't regret over picking his son and even if he gets it now, he doesn't forgive his dad for basically abandoning him.
So the trip at some point involves a detour back to his dad's house but that's still a few days off and he and Raleigh are in Queensland now, wandering around some trail because Raleigh read on the internet that apparently there are tons of koalas in this area but he's pretty sure this is a total waste of time.]
Can't we just go to the bloody zoo in Sydney and see one?
[ Raleigh... doesn't intend to tell him how to relate to his father -- her track record isn't so good, herself; because look what happened, her dad split, right? If she'd been any good at relating to fathers, well.
Anyway, Chuck doesn't tell her a lot of things, but she knows that she's way out of his element when it comes to him and his old man, but Raleigh likes Herc well enough in the short time she's met him (the man swung by the US once). He's a pretty good guy, and more decent than Chuck; which is not saying a lot when a sizeable amount of the population is more decent than Chuck.
Still, she's sort of quite in love with him (she doesn't know how that happened, it just did, even if they went about the dating thing all topsy turvy because sex came first, then dinner, then the getting to know each other), and she likes Herc (sometimes she thinks she's a glutton for punishment or some shit like that) and she's heard that Australia is the place where about 90% of its inhabitants are trying to kill you and there are koalas and wombats and she's damn well going to see a few (and possibly touch them) or else the trip really would be wasted, and Chuck is a grumpy sweetheart for coming along with her anyway.
It's ridiculously warm but he's tagging along with her anyway, and she kind of really loves Australia too, from the delightful accent to the warm friendliness of the people (Chuck's surliness, it looks like, is an uncommon exception among Australians), and so she's traipsing a wildlife trail in hiking shorts and a map and a mischievous grin. ]
I want to see one in its natural habitat. Did you know that some wombats let you touch them?
[Wombats are probably more rare than koalas, Raleigh and you can still see both of them in the fucking zoo, by the way. Or he's pretty sure that you can, he hasn't been back there since before his mum died and that's been over a decade and a half since then. But so long as there's annoying tourists like Raleigh in the world, he can't imagine why that would change at all.
He loves this country, he really does. It's much better than Alaska because the temps are decent and people drive on the correct side of the road and the food is just so much better than any of the shit you find in America. But America doesn't have Herc and that's how Chuck settled there.]
You realize they're an endangered species and you shouldn't be mucking around with their home, right?
ajkhdkasjhdkjhf ONLY IF YOU LET ME LOVE YOU FIRST >C
[ America has Twinkies, too. Don't forget the Twinkies. Possibly also Snowballs -- not just the lack of Herc. Raleigh privately finds it a shame that Chuck doesn't get along with his dad; he's a pretty good guy, all in all, but she doesn't push when she doesn't know the whole picture, not yet.
Anyway, they're in Queensland and she's about to see wombats and koalas and she loves that Chuck tags along and does touristy shit with her anyway (and wasn't climbing the bridge fun?) because despite the grumpiness, he's not about to leave her alone. That's really quite nice, too.
Raleigh's about to respond, really, before she spots a few curious kangaroos not too far away, out for a good, proper look. ] I promise I won't muck about with their home. Scout's honour.
[ Then she's leading him by the hand down another path, practically bubbling with excitement, nevermind that she's got a handful of years on him and shit. ] You're not a nature boy, are you?
[Since he's Chuck Hansen, and apparently grumpy, he has to try and ruin her cheerfulness. Or something. It's tradition to be hazed by a native when you're in Australia because the rest of the world is so weird that they have nothing to do but make fun of them.]
I don't really much feel like saving your ass from a drop bear today.
[ Raleigh cringes, because why do all the animals in your country want to kill people, Chuck? She glances up at the trees suspiciously, as if expecting one (or ten) to do that at any moment. ]
[Because Australia comes naturally equipped to kill off all the stupid people. It's why it's the best place in the world. If you're dumb, you get what's coming to you.]
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normal au fight me
This is what he gets for going to America and finding a girlfriend there.
Americans also have the bloody weirdest ideas of what Australia is actually like. There are more kangaroos than people but koalas are an endangered species. He's never seen one in the wild before, so he has no idea why she seems to think she's going to see one and if she doesn't, then the entire trip would be a bust.
Nevermind that Chuck thinks it's a waste of a trip purely because it involves spending Christmas with his dad because he can't think of a way to say "my old man and I don't talk at all because I can't forgive him for killing my mum" without actually.... saying that... and he is pretty fond of Raleigh 96 percent of the time but he doesn't want to have that talk with her. He knows that her family is all gone, so it means something to her to spend the holidays with her boyfriend and his family and he doesn't need her telling him how to relate to his dad.
Herc didn't really kill Angela, not intentionally. There was a car accident and Herc chose to pull Chuck from the wreckage first, and then go back for her and by the time he got back there, Angela had already passed away and neither Hansen man took the death well. Herc was lost without his wife and Chuck was too young at the time to not realize that his father's guilt and grief wasn't regret over picking his son and even if he gets it now, he doesn't forgive his dad for basically abandoning him.
So the trip at some point involves a detour back to his dad's house but that's still a few days off and he and Raleigh are in Queensland now, wandering around some trail because Raleigh read on the internet that apparently there are tons of koalas in this area but he's pretty sure this is a total waste of time.]
Can't we just go to the bloody zoo in Sydney and see one?
no let me love you
Anyway, Chuck doesn't tell her a lot of things, but she knows that she's way out of his element when it comes to him and his old man, but Raleigh likes Herc well enough in the short time she's met him (the man swung by the US once). He's a pretty good guy, and more decent than Chuck; which is not saying a lot when a sizeable amount of the population is more decent than Chuck.
Still, she's sort of quite in love with him (she doesn't know how that happened, it just did, even if they went about the dating thing all topsy turvy because sex came first, then dinner, then the getting to know each other), and she likes Herc (sometimes she thinks she's a glutton for punishment or some shit like that) and she's heard that Australia is the place where about 90% of its inhabitants are trying to kill you and there are koalas and wombats and she's damn well going to see a few (and possibly touch them) or else the trip really would be wasted, and Chuck is a grumpy sweetheart for coming along with her anyway.
It's ridiculously warm but he's tagging along with her anyway, and she kind of really loves Australia too, from the delightful accent to the warm friendliness of the people (Chuck's surliness, it looks like, is an uncommon exception among Australians), and so she's traipsing a wildlife trail in hiking shorts and a map and a mischievous grin. ]
I want to see one in its natural habitat. Did you know that some wombats let you touch them?
you let me love you :E
He loves this country, he really does. It's much better than Alaska because the temps are decent and people drive on the correct side of the road and the food is just so much better than any of the shit you find in America. But America doesn't have Herc and that's how Chuck settled there.]
You realize they're an endangered species and you shouldn't be mucking around with their home, right?
ajkhdkasjhdkjhf ONLY IF YOU LET ME LOVE YOU FIRST >C
Anyway, they're in Queensland and she's about to see wombats and koalas and she loves that Chuck tags along and does touristy shit with her anyway (and wasn't climbing the bridge fun?) because despite the grumpiness, he's not about to leave her alone. That's really quite nice, too.
Raleigh's about to respond, really, before she spots a few curious kangaroos not too far away, out for a good, proper look. ] I promise I won't muck about with their home. Scout's honour.
[ Then she's leading him by the hand down another path, practically bubbling with excitement, nevermind that she's got a handful of years on him and shit. ] You're not a nature boy, are you?
I GUESS IF I MUST >|
I don't really much feel like saving your ass from a drop bear today.
ACCEPT MY LOVING >O
What?
I DO BUT ACCEPT MINE FIRST
[He should probably feel bad about being able to lie to her with a straight face. But he definitely does not.]
Nasty fuckers. They drop right out of the trees and claw your throat out if you're not paying attention.
asdkjhsakdjhf NO YOU ACCEPT MINE FIRST
...I've never heard of those before.
NO YOU
Really? They kill like ten people every month.
NO YOU >C YOU HIDEOUSLY WONDERFUL PERSON
Ten people every month? [ what the fuck is happening here why is she here ] And you can say that like it's nothing?
NO YOU YOU MORE WONDERFUL GIRL
There's worse things in Australia. More than ten people gt hit by cars every day.
KJAHSDKJAHSDKJHF BUT I LOVE YOU MOSTESTESTEST
Raleigh looks up at the trees, suitably suspicious. And possibly a little unnerved because what the hell, drop bears. ]
I'm not sure if that's just really shitty driving. You people drive on the wrong side of the road. ...What do the drop bears look like?
NO I LOVE YOU THE MOST TIMES INFINITY