Think of all the luck you got.

[not_lost]

There were a lot of really weird and screwed-up scenarios that Fiona Gallagher could imagine herself in. Her involvement in these scenarios was usually begrudging and her father usually the cause, but picturing herself caught up in something beyond most people's limit of belief had officially became much easier after this past summer. (Finding yourself crouching in a hole in your backyard, covered in sweat and dirt, and ecstatic over having unearthed a dead relative's remains could do that to a girl.)

Despite that, she had to admit that the Nexus was pretty fucking crazy, even by Gallagher standards.

It had been just at a week hotel time since she'd opened the downstairs bathroom door and found the Nexus beyond, but having a magical luxury hotel where her toilet should be freaked her out a lot less than the fact that the place was essentially free. In Fiona's experience, if something sounded too good to be true, it always was, and she probably should've gone home, chalked the whole experience up to some bad seafood and never thought about it again.

She probably would have, too, if the people at the desk hadn't told her the bit about time differences and job openings.

Christmas was right around the corner, and she'd spent almost everything Jimmy had left her on that damned deal for work. (Not that she was complaining; the money had come at the perfect time, and now they'd have enough plastic cups in the house that they probably wouldn't need to wash a single glass for half a year.) Back home, it would cost her 150 bucks to get herself licensed to sell alcohol, and she'd have no guarantee of being hired anywhere. Here, they apparently only cared that you could mix a drink, and a lifetime with Frank had more than prepared her for that. The great hourly wage and tips she was earning meant she could actually afford to get everything out of lay-away this year and maybe even buy some extra stocking stuffers for the kids. The circumstances may have been weird, but for Fiona taking the position was a no-brainer.

Today was her third day behind the bar at the Smoking Room. She'd allowed herself to come through early enough to get a solid nap before her shift and was now practically chipper, turning a wide smile to the guests waiting for a drink.

"What can I get you?"

For the first time in a long time, she actually felt good about the future.

Comments

[not_lost]

"Wait, you're actually in the giant robot?" For some reason, Fiona had imagined a remote-control situation, almost like a video game.

"Seems pretty dangerous," she continued, and then added with a smirk, "but I'm guessing you like that."

[rangerbecket]

"Live for it," Raleigh says, smirking right back. "I'm not happy unless I'm about to get killed. It...lends itself to some not so good situations but I guess that's just the price you pay."

He doesn't want to explain that this is the only time he feels close to his brother anymore because that's just...too much for a first meeting.

[not_lost]

"I should probably be scolding you for putting yourself in danger, but I get it," Fiona admitted. It wasn't often that she could afford to be risky in her own life, but she still remembered all too clearly how potent the rush of adrenaline had been when Jimmy had taken her out in one of his boosted cars and they'd almost been caught. That shit was better than drugs.

"Still, seems to me like you oughta be looking for something else that makes you happy. That's a hell of a way to get your kicks."

[rangerbecket]

"At least I'm in the army now and not just picking fights for fun," Raleigh points out.

"So it could always be worse."

[not_lost]

"Might as well channel it into something useful," Fiona agreed, her thoughts naturally drifting to the differences between Lip and Ian. There was no way Lip could stand to be so restricted by something like the Army, but she also couldn't deny that Ian's shit was always more together than his brother's.

"So, are you winning?" she asked, too curious to worry whether it was an appropriate question to ask.

[rangerbecket]

"Not...exactly. More like holding off the inevitable and hoping for a Hail Mary pass," Raleigh says, sighing a little.

He doesn't want to think they'll fail but he knows that's more likely than not. "We've been at war for a long time. Lots of casualties."

[not_lost]

"Shit," Fiona murmured, and pursed her lips in concern. "Real life is never like the movies," she added, sounding more resigned than bitter. Nobody was going to ride in on a white horse to save her, and the monsters Raleigh had to fight didn't always lose in the grand finale.

"You must be pretty good at it, though," she prompted.

[rangerbecket]

"One of the best," Raleigh says, giving her a shadow of the cocksure grin he almost always had back in the day with Yancy. Jaeger pilots were practically gods then, especially when they were winning, and before he lost his brother, Raleigh had been a hell of a lot more confident.

"One of the only to manage to pilot one of the things solo, even if it was just temporary. Most people, it just overloads them."

[not_lost]

"Overloads?" Fiona asked, thinking that she once again must have had the completely wrong idea, her mind now veering off to the various movies and shows she'd seen with fighter pilots struggling against negative g-force.

"I think I'm just doomed to imagine these robots wrong," she added with a faint laugh.

[rangerbecket]

"Nah, it's kind of a difficult concept. I'm a roughneck, so I probably don't have the best explanation but the way you control it, the way you make it move? Is with your mind. It's too much for one brain to handle, for the most part, so you're partnered up with someone, someone you're compatible with in the Drift. You have to share thoughts and memories...sync up perfectly. I drift with a woman named Mako Mori," Raleigh explains.

"But...before Mako, I had another partner and he died. I had to fight alone to save my ass until I could get to shore."

[not_lost]

Mouth open to excitedly ask for more details on the robots, Fiona faltered, her expression visibly shifting into something more sympathetic and somber.

"Jesus," she murmured instead, and after a tick of hesitation, poured a shot and pushed it Raleigh's way.

"On the house," she explained, thinking it was the least she could do, and probably more useful than any words she could come up with.

[rangerbecket]

Raleigh downs it quick, trying to push the painful memories of Yancy away and just focus on the here and now. The thing about losing Yancy is that it never really goes away. There's always flashes of him on the perimeter and if he lets his guard down, all those thoughts and memories flood him again.

"It's fine," he says, even though that's not true. Raleigh just needs it to be fine.