[ raleigh gives her hand a small squeeze. ] Always, babe. [ he thinks he sees dr. lightcap smile at that. but then the countdown is finished and he's pulled down into headspace.
the drift is rough, both because first drifts are always rough and because there's a lot of awful stuff in their heads. it takes a concentrated effort not to flinch away ( or towards ) the memories of her time with the cult. they make raleigh's stomach clench and his anger spike. it's kind of cool and also really fucking weird to have the memory of girl yancy's birth. he really, really didn't need to know what it felt like to not only have a vagina but push something out of it.
the memories of his brother carry a heavy melancholy tone to them, even the happy ones. and raleigh can't help the amusement that rushes through him when he feels naomi's embarrassment over that memory of his brother coming up. he doesn't know if they're deep enough in headspace yet for her to hear it, but he still sends the thought of it's okay, i've already seen it, babe her way. it's still kind of horrifying to see a memory of his brother having sex, but he was bracing for it. was kind of expecting it, really, since the yancys are what initially connected him with naomi after that first meeting.
the last memory is of water and drowning, that awful dream from the beach. but raleigh's got enough experience not to chase that rabbit, to let them align correctly and settle into headspace. it's different for every pair of co-pilots, and the headspace he shares with naomi is different than the ones he's shared with yancy and mako. yancy was like whitewater rapids. mako was calm serenity hiding sharp steel. rarely did they have a seemingly physical representation of themselves in the drift. it's not like that with naomi.
raleigh offers a mental hand to her ( and isn't that weird ) and smiles. let's start off simple, okay? work our way up to things.
he closes his eyes ( are they really his eyes if this is all in his head? ) and thinks. the space around them blurs until they're caught in one of his memories. him and yancy sitting on the catwalks above gipsy's dock. they're drinking and laughing about something that happened the night before. yancy grabs him in a headlock and noogies the shit out of him until raleigh cries uncle. it's a good memory.
your turn. just think of a memory and we'll follow it down into your head, okay? ]
eeee!!! also let me know if this doesn't work
the drift is rough, both because first drifts are always rough and because there's a lot of awful stuff in their heads. it takes a concentrated effort not to flinch away ( or towards ) the memories of her time with the cult. they make raleigh's stomach clench and his anger spike. it's kind of cool and also really fucking weird to have the memory of girl yancy's birth. he really, really didn't need to know what it felt like to not only have a vagina but push something out of it.
the memories of his brother carry a heavy melancholy tone to them, even the happy ones. and raleigh can't help the amusement that rushes through him when he feels naomi's embarrassment over that memory of his brother coming up. he doesn't know if they're deep enough in headspace yet for her to hear it, but he still sends the thought of it's okay, i've already seen it, babe her way. it's still kind of horrifying to see a memory of his brother having sex, but he was bracing for it. was kind of expecting it, really, since the yancys are what initially connected him with naomi after that first meeting.
the last memory is of water and drowning, that awful dream from the beach. but raleigh's got enough experience not to chase that rabbit, to let them align correctly and settle into headspace. it's different for every pair of co-pilots, and the headspace he shares with naomi is different than the ones he's shared with yancy and mako. yancy was like whitewater rapids. mako was calm serenity hiding sharp steel. rarely did they have a seemingly physical representation of themselves in the drift. it's not like that with naomi.
raleigh offers a mental hand to her ( and isn't that weird ) and smiles. let's start off simple, okay? work our way up to things.
he closes his eyes ( are they really his eyes if this is all in his head? ) and thinks. the space around them blurs until they're caught in one of his memories. him and yancy sitting on the catwalks above gipsy's dock. they're drinking and laughing about something that happened the night before. yancy grabs him in a headlock and noogies the shit out of him until raleigh cries uncle. it's a good memory.
your turn. just think of a memory and we'll follow it down into your head, okay? ]