[Chuck thought, once, that he and Mako would end up in the same Jaeger. Because they were pretty much the same age, and both perfectionists and both of their fathers were Mark I pilots and it just-- made sense. It should have been exactly like that except that it wasn't and Chuck's never asked for the full story. Only knows that it didn't work out according to plan and whatever. He doesn't need her when his dad's just as good of a replacement and his uncle's out of the piloting picture now and so the Hansens went into Striker and Mako went into... retrofitting old Jaegers.
A bloody waste of time if you ask him but he really doesn't spend that much time thinking about it because what Mako does with an old wrecked Jaeger is completely not relevant to what him being a pilot.
Until it is. The Marshal heads to Alaska to try and hunt down Raleigh Becket, the washed up has been who's only legacy is to have survived crashing a Jaeger when his brother didn't and that's just wrong on so many levels. Mako stays behind in Hong Kong and Chuck arrives with his dad and Striker right after Pentecost leaves. Bringing Gipsy Danger back to the scene is still a waste of time, if you ask him, but so long as Becket stays out of his way, he thinks he doesn't care.
(He does but no one has to know that)
Chuck ends up in the dinner line next to Mako, honestly he didn't plan it but since he's here, he does have a question for her.]
So how's it feel to know all your hard work might be for nothing?
[There is a short time during their Academy years when Mako thinks Chuck might just be her best friend, if not the only friend she's got. As with most relations in her life, this one too proves to be a disappointing bitter pill to swallow, when Chuck is recruited to pilot Striker and Mako is refused her application time and again by the Marshal.
There is a long period of time when she doesn't care what Chuck does, doesn't follow news of the Hansens regularly, doesn't study their Jaeger to see if it needs improvements, doesn't think of him everytime there's news of an attack, does not sometimes pause in her own work in Gipsy Danger and thinks this isn't how she wanted to be in a Jaeger, and the company is all wrong too. She doesn't do all that, because it doesn't influence the outcome of this world, it only interferes. Orders are orders, and she does respect the Marshal's orders enough to obey them, albeit continuously submitting her application as the future co-pilot.
Then, Chuck and Herc are brought into the Shatterdome, and Mako really doesn't care. He's a big shot now, looks at her like she's a pencil pusher or the person in charge of changing oil, and she doesn't want to see that. Doesn't want to see his face, if that's all there is now, if this is all there will ever be of any human contact she ever gets.
Hearing Pentecost's refusal for the nth time has really set her on the edge now, moreso when she knows that he's on his way to get the surviving Becket. She has many doubts about him, but more than just that she has more doubts about herself. Will she get the guts to finally demand to be given a chance with spoken words, rather than on paper? She know Gipsy Danger better than anyone ever would, and 51 out of 51 kills is a fucking record, virtual simulations or not.
Needless to say, when Chuck catches her in the dinner line, her mood is not the most diplomatic.]
[Like that's going to stop him. If anything, it eggs him on and makes him want to be even more of an asshole because he knows that he's bothering her and bothering people is just the same thing as attention to him. So he just keeps on talking, like she didn't say anything at all.]
I mean, I wouldn't stand for letting some has been washed up pilot coming back and taking my place in the Jaeger I just spent the last five years working on.
[It's not the best kind of attention that he's getting, no. It's spite, and carefully controlled irritation at seeing his face again after five years, and more importantly, hearing this bullshit coming from his mouth.]
No. [She stops the line and turns to pin him down with a narrowed look.] You wouldn't stand for it, you'd leave and jump on the first Jaeger offered. [So she's not bitter about that, not at all. Doesn't think that her shot at ever piloting a Jaeger left with Chuck, doesn't think he's selfish because that'd be stupid and childish of her. So it's not that at all.
[Why don't you say what you really feel there, Mako. What does she want from him, an apology? Well tough shit. He's not going to apologize for getting into a Jaeger instead of letting her hold him back. She's got some shit going on with the Marshal, that much is obvious because someone with her scores doesn't get the chance to step into a Jaeger unless the Marshal says no.
Chuck thought they were friends once. But then he realized that friends don't matter if it means that he can't be a Ranger. The only thing that matters is being a Ranger, fuck everything and everyone else. He doesn't need them.
Chuck follows her, not quite letting this go and he can't say why except that he isn't.]
Sorry, did I hear wrong? You're going to test to be Becket's co-pilot?
[He knows she's not one of the candidates. She should be, but she's not and why is that Mako? Did sensei say it wasn't a good idea?]
[Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries. He's lucky they're in general public and the Hansens do a great service to manking, because she swears...someone should just do mankind a favour and punch Chuck in the jaw one day. Preferably one day soon.
She tries to think that news about her starting a fight in line for dinner wouldn't go well towards guarranteeing her a chance at co-piloting ever. She knows that her personal agenda when it comes to kaiju is why the Marshal keeps saying no, but if she can just demonstrate that she's in control and command of her emotions.
Thanks, Chuck, for volunteering.]
What happened to make you so chatty, Chuck? Jetlag?
[Say whatever you want about his dad but talk shit about his mum and he'll punch you and he doesn't care if you're a woman or the Marhsal's daughter or what.]
I'm just catching up with an old friend. See if she's doing anything useful with her life besides tinkering with old, shitty rust buckets.
[Try and tell him that Gipsy Danger measures up to Striker Eureka, he dares you.]
[Watch more movies, soldier boy. (Look who's talking.) She feels like he's just here to bait her, but she doesn't understand what exactly she's done to him to make him this bitter and angry at her. She has more rights for that, doesn't she?]
Where's this old friend? Shouldn't you go find them?
No, it's more your style, isn't it? [She's not the one who barged into Pentecost's office to beg him not to put her in a Jaeger. She's not the one who begged to be put on engineering supervision instead, to prepare the Jaeger for someone else, someone who wrecked her in the first place.
They would've been terrible co-pilots, her and Chuck. Whatever sign of compatibility might've existed years ago is gone now, and he rubs all his bad habits on her. Already, she feels that bitter taste that comes from resenting the Marshal's decisions, regardless of how she may love him as her father.]
I'll leave you to do it with someone more likely to appreciate the effort. Bye.
[They couldn't be much worse than him and his dad. Chuck would never admit it outside of the Drift, what it means to him to have some of communication with his dad, even if outside a Jaeger they're still broken and he's still angry.
But no, she's right. Herc gives Chuck the lenience he needs to feel like he's still in control and Mako would never, ever do that.]
Catch ya around, Mako. I know just where not to find you.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
and not angst???
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A bloody waste of time if you ask him but he really doesn't spend that much time thinking about it because what Mako does with an old wrecked Jaeger is completely not relevant to what him being a pilot.
Until it is. The Marshal heads to Alaska to try and hunt down Raleigh Becket, the washed up has been who's only legacy is to have survived crashing a Jaeger when his brother didn't and that's just wrong on so many levels. Mako stays behind in Hong Kong and Chuck arrives with his dad and Striker right after Pentecost leaves. Bringing Gipsy Danger back to the scene is still a waste of time, if you ask him, but so long as Becket stays out of his way, he thinks he doesn't care.
(He does but no one has to know that)
Chuck ends up in the dinner line next to Mako, honestly he didn't plan it but since he's here, he does have a question for her.]
So how's it feel to know all your hard work might be for nothing?
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There is a long period of time when she doesn't care what Chuck does, doesn't follow news of the Hansens regularly, doesn't study their Jaeger to see if it needs improvements, doesn't think of him everytime there's news of an attack, does not sometimes pause in her own work in Gipsy Danger and thinks this isn't how she wanted to be in a Jaeger, and the company is all wrong too. She doesn't do all that, because it doesn't influence the outcome of this world, it only interferes. Orders are orders, and she does respect the Marshal's orders enough to obey them, albeit continuously submitting her application as the future co-pilot.
Then, Chuck and Herc are brought into the Shatterdome, and Mako really doesn't care. He's a big shot now, looks at her like she's a pencil pusher or the person in charge of changing oil, and she doesn't want to see that. Doesn't want to see his face, if that's all there is now, if this is all there will ever be of any human contact she ever gets.
Hearing Pentecost's refusal for the nth time has really set her on the edge now, moreso when she knows that he's on his way to get the surviving Becket. She has many doubts about him, but more than just that she has more doubts about herself. Will she get the guts to finally demand to be given a chance with spoken words, rather than on paper? She know Gipsy Danger better than anyone ever would, and 51 out of 51 kills is a fucking record, virtual simulations or not.
Needless to say, when Chuck catches her in the dinner line, her mood is not the most diplomatic.]
If you have nothing good to say, don't talk.
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I mean, I wouldn't stand for letting some has been washed up pilot coming back and taking my place in the Jaeger I just spent the last five years working on.
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No. [She stops the line and turns to pin him down with a narrowed look.] You wouldn't stand for it, you'd leave and jump on the first Jaeger offered. [So she's not bitter about that, not at all. Doesn't think that her shot at ever piloting a Jaeger left with Chuck, doesn't think he's selfish because that'd be stupid and childish of her. So it's not that at all.
He just needs to be put in his place.
She grabs her tray and moves along the line.]
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Chuck thought they were friends once. But then he realized that friends don't matter if it means that he can't be a Ranger. The only thing that matters is being a Ranger, fuck everything and everyone else. He doesn't need them.
Chuck follows her, not quite letting this go and he can't say why except that he isn't.]
Sorry, did I hear wrong? You're going to test to be Becket's co-pilot?
[He knows she's not one of the candidates. She should be, but she's not and why is that Mako? Did sensei say it wasn't a good idea?]
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She tries to think that news about her starting a fight in line for dinner wouldn't go well towards guarranteeing her a chance at co-piloting ever. She knows that her personal agenda when it comes to kaiju is why the Marshal keeps saying no, but if she can just demonstrate that she's in control and command of her emotions.
Thanks, Chuck, for volunteering.]
What happened to make you so chatty, Chuck? Jetlag?
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I'm just catching up with an old friend. See if she's doing anything useful with her life besides tinkering with old, shitty rust buckets.
[Try and tell him that Gipsy Danger measures up to Striker Eureka, he dares you.]
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Where's this old friend? Shouldn't you go find them?
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Don't be rude, Mako, it doesn't suit you.
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They would've been terrible co-pilots, her and Chuck. Whatever sign of compatibility might've existed years ago is gone now, and he rubs all his bad habits on her. Already, she feels that bitter taste that comes from resenting the Marshal's decisions, regardless of how she may love him as her father.]
I'll leave you to do it with someone more likely to appreciate the effort. Bye.
no subject
But no, she's right. Herc gives Chuck the lenience he needs to feel like he's still in control and Mako would never, ever do that.]
Catch ya around, Mako. I know just where not to find you.