[September 5] [Pacific Rim] Bare Bones
Title: Bare Bones
Day/Theme: Skeletons
Series:Pacific Rim
Character/Pairing: Hermann/Newt
So much was gone, and ruined, and horrible. Whole cities, whole populations, miles upon square miles of ocean, all destroyed. The victory was real enough. The relief has hard won. The Breach was destroyed, hopefully for good. Maybe just for now. The kaiju left on this side of it were dead. They were in as many pieces as the places they had rampaged, which was probably some kind of justice.
But, God, the cost was dear. They had won. They were safe for the moment, and it was too early to expect anyone to stop celebrating. All too soon, they would realize who wasn’t there to celebrate with them and the tears of joy would just be tears. Eventually, they would have to go home and there might not be a home to go to. There was as little left of major cities as there was of the dead monsters. Most people knew that, just didn’t want to think about it.
Hermann did think of it though. It was tempting to call him a wet blanket and despair of him ever having a moment’s joy that wasn’t related to a math problem, but Newt knew better. That didn’t mean he wasn’t still going to buy Hermann a t-shirt that said “I HAD A GOOD TIME ONCE. I HATED IT.” for his next birthday, but he wasn’t going to bring it up now. Hermann always thought anywhere from three to eight steps ahead. It’s why his predicted models were as accurate as they were and why he hadn’t been beaten at chess since he was a child. If he was looking slightly more dour than usual, he probably had a good reason, and Newt was willing to bet it was the same reason that was sitting in the back of his own head.
This wasn’t over. It hadn’t even begun to be over. Not just the kaiju, not even processing what was left of their remains, or rebuilding enough of a ‘Dome in case they ever came back. The damage to the infrastructure, the economy, the entire human psychology would take generations and untold billions to repair.
Hermann had probably already started calculating all of that. How much to repair all the cities? How many jaegers could be repaired and kept on active duty, just in worst case scenario, with the available budget? Everyone on the planet probably now had some level of post traumatic stress. What would the suicide rates be now that the immediate problems were solved but life was still a long way from getting any better? All those numbers and probably some Newt hadn’t even imagined were all clicking away behind those damp eyes, calculating and recalculating for each possibility.
Would there be enough food in the years to come with the ocean ruined and great swathes of land destroyed? How long until everywhere had power and heat and clean water again? How many would die waiting on it? The numbers began to stack up and they weren’t adding up to anything positive if the bleakness in Hermann’s face meant anything.
Newt waded through the party to get to him, partly to get him to snap out of it for long enough to have some of the bootlegged champagne, and mostly to let him know that he got it. Newt understood. Even if he didn’t have all the ratios and percentages running through his head like a ticker tape, he could see how it was all fitting together in Hermann’s head.
“Bones,” he said, when Newt was close enough to hear him. “That’s all that’s left. Bare bones.” There was some despair there, but it was a general grief for all that had been lost, not personal. They had both been unfairly lucky not to lose each other in all of this. Newt hugged him, cane and all.
“You can trust a biologist,” he said into Hermann’s ear. “Bones are what we build on. If there’s nothing left but skeletons? That only means there’s nothing left but foundations.”
Day/Theme: Skeletons
Series:Pacific Rim
Character/Pairing: Hermann/Newt
So much was gone, and ruined, and horrible. Whole cities, whole populations, miles upon square miles of ocean, all destroyed. The victory was real enough. The relief has hard won. The Breach was destroyed, hopefully for good. Maybe just for now. The kaiju left on this side of it were dead. They were in as many pieces as the places they had rampaged, which was probably some kind of justice.
But, God, the cost was dear. They had won. They were safe for the moment, and it was too early to expect anyone to stop celebrating. All too soon, they would realize who wasn’t there to celebrate with them and the tears of joy would just be tears. Eventually, they would have to go home and there might not be a home to go to. There was as little left of major cities as there was of the dead monsters. Most people knew that, just didn’t want to think about it.
Hermann did think of it though. It was tempting to call him a wet blanket and despair of him ever having a moment’s joy that wasn’t related to a math problem, but Newt knew better. That didn’t mean he wasn’t still going to buy Hermann a t-shirt that said “I HAD A GOOD TIME ONCE. I HATED IT.” for his next birthday, but he wasn’t going to bring it up now. Hermann always thought anywhere from three to eight steps ahead. It’s why his predicted models were as accurate as they were and why he hadn’t been beaten at chess since he was a child. If he was looking slightly more dour than usual, he probably had a good reason, and Newt was willing to bet it was the same reason that was sitting in the back of his own head.
This wasn’t over. It hadn’t even begun to be over. Not just the kaiju, not even processing what was left of their remains, or rebuilding enough of a ‘Dome in case they ever came back. The damage to the infrastructure, the economy, the entire human psychology would take generations and untold billions to repair.
Hermann had probably already started calculating all of that. How much to repair all the cities? How many jaegers could be repaired and kept on active duty, just in worst case scenario, with the available budget? Everyone on the planet probably now had some level of post traumatic stress. What would the suicide rates be now that the immediate problems were solved but life was still a long way from getting any better? All those numbers and probably some Newt hadn’t even imagined were all clicking away behind those damp eyes, calculating and recalculating for each possibility.
Would there be enough food in the years to come with the ocean ruined and great swathes of land destroyed? How long until everywhere had power and heat and clean water again? How many would die waiting on it? The numbers began to stack up and they weren’t adding up to anything positive if the bleakness in Hermann’s face meant anything.
Newt waded through the party to get to him, partly to get him to snap out of it for long enough to have some of the bootlegged champagne, and mostly to let him know that he got it. Newt understood. Even if he didn’t have all the ratios and percentages running through his head like a ticker tape, he could see how it was all fitting together in Hermann’s head.
“Bones,” he said, when Newt was close enough to hear him. “That’s all that’s left. Bare bones.” There was some despair there, but it was a general grief for all that had been lost, not personal. They had both been unfairly lucky not to lose each other in all of this. Newt hugged him, cane and all.
“You can trust a biologist,” he said into Hermann’s ear. “Bones are what we build on. If there’s nothing left but skeletons? That only means there’s nothing left but foundations.”