[They go to Japan first, mostly because it's closer to Hong Kong. Raleigh and Mako start in Tokyo, find that exact same alleyway from her memories (now his memories, it feels just as real to him as it does to her) and just stand there, holding hands for the longest time before they leave. Go visit her childhood village, a place she hasn't been since the day of Onibaba and that feels like goodbye too.
Then it's Alaska and his home. The Beckets lived all over the world growing up, thanks to Dad's job, spent a few months in Europe, in Central America, in Japan too actually but that wasn't an important enough blip to ever go back there. But Alaska is always going to be home for him. It's where the Beckets had their permanent home, and where they stayed after Dad left and Mom got sick. It's where he fought with Yancy in Gipsy Danger. Mako's been before but she's been to Kodiak and not the Alaska that he knows. And he takes her to local places, like this burger place that he and Yancy loved and the best place to see the aurora, to the high school he barely got his diploma from. Takes her to visit his mom and Yancy too (which really means their graves but the idea is there and she treats as solemnly as if she were meeting them for the first time in person and not just in his memories). Would introduce her to Jazmine except that he hasn't talked to his sister in like ten years, kinda burned that bridge to the ground when he avoided her after Yancy died and he might have just saved the world but he's honestly a little afraid of her. Afraid of the anger she might have for him, that he deserves, afraid that she still won't want anything to do with him, afraid she'll punch him and she's got one hell of a right hook but of course she does because Yancy taught her how to throw one.
So they skip that part of the home tour and start on seeing the world together. Raleigh's been to a lot of places in the States, and likes showing her the things he remembers. Likes going to the beach with her and watching the sunset. Likes climbing a fourteener in the Rocky Mountains. Likes taking her to the Hollywood sign. Likes taking her to a baseball game because she's never been and he's not the biggest baseball fan, prefers hockey but it's still fun to be there. Turns kind of awkward when they're recognized (and it wasn't a question of if, it was when) and put on the big screen and yeah, here they are. Mako Mori and Raleigh Becket go to baseball games like everyone else.
Raleigh wants to ask what that means but he's pretty sure he won't like the answer.
The baseball game's just the beginning though, like doing something that simple has put people on Becket and Mori watch and suddenly, even going to the grocery store is headline worthy. It's not, Raleigh's fucking starving and he just wants a protein bar and a pre made sandwich, gets one of each for Mako too and grabs a bottle of tea for them both and people take pictures of him with their phones, he doesn't get it. It feels like playing where's Waldo? but with the entire world and sometimes it can be fun, to trick the people that think they know them so well, but mostly it's not.
Mostly it eventually boils up and over the point where Raleigh loses his cool. They're in Europe now, Italy specifically but there's a leaning tower he's always wanted to see and never got the chance, even when his family lived in Budapest. And there's this reporter, following them around all day with a camera and a recorder, asking questions in English and Italian and Raleigh doesn't even speak Italian so what the fuck. He finally has to stop and starts telling the guy off and that doesn't work, the guy just keeps pushing, asks him if he's fucking Mako (exact quote there) and Raleigh doesn't make the conscious decision to punch him but he does. And of course the reporter has friends who jump in and then Mako jumps in and here they are, in a holding cell in Italy, arrested for disturbing the peace.]
never stop, also writes you a mini fic i guess idek
Then it's Alaska and his home. The Beckets lived all over the world growing up, thanks to Dad's job, spent a few months in Europe, in Central America, in Japan too actually but that wasn't an important enough blip to ever go back there. But Alaska is always going to be home for him. It's where the Beckets had their permanent home, and where they stayed after Dad left and Mom got sick. It's where he fought with Yancy in Gipsy Danger. Mako's been before but she's been to Kodiak and not the Alaska that he knows. And he takes her to local places, like this burger place that he and Yancy loved and the best place to see the aurora, to the high school he barely got his diploma from. Takes her to visit his mom and Yancy too (which really means their graves but the idea is there and she treats as solemnly as if she were meeting them for the first time in person and not just in his memories). Would introduce her to Jazmine except that he hasn't talked to his sister in like ten years, kinda burned that bridge to the ground when he avoided her after Yancy died and he might have just saved the world but he's honestly a little afraid of her. Afraid of the anger she might have for him, that he deserves, afraid that she still won't want anything to do with him, afraid she'll punch him and she's got one hell of a right hook but of course she does because Yancy taught her how to throw one.
So they skip that part of the home tour and start on seeing the world together. Raleigh's been to a lot of places in the States, and likes showing her the things he remembers. Likes going to the beach with her and watching the sunset. Likes climbing a fourteener in the Rocky Mountains. Likes taking her to the Hollywood sign. Likes taking her to a baseball game because she's never been and he's not the biggest baseball fan, prefers hockey but it's still fun to be there. Turns kind of awkward when they're recognized (and it wasn't a question of if, it was when) and put on the big screen and yeah, here they are. Mako Mori and Raleigh Becket go to baseball games like everyone else.
Raleigh wants to ask what that means but he's pretty sure he won't like the answer.
The baseball game's just the beginning though, like doing something that simple has put people on Becket and Mori watch and suddenly, even going to the grocery store is headline worthy. It's not, Raleigh's fucking starving and he just wants a protein bar and a pre made sandwich, gets one of each for Mako too and grabs a bottle of tea for them both and people take pictures of him with their phones, he doesn't get it. It feels like playing where's Waldo? but with the entire world and sometimes it can be fun, to trick the people that think they know them so well, but mostly it's not.
Mostly it eventually boils up and over the point where Raleigh loses his cool. They're in Europe now, Italy specifically but there's a leaning tower he's always wanted to see and never got the chance, even when his family lived in Budapest. And there's this reporter, following them around all day with a camera and a recorder, asking questions in English and Italian and Raleigh doesn't even speak Italian so what the fuck. He finally has to stop and starts telling the guy off and that doesn't work, the guy just keeps pushing, asks him if he's fucking Mako (exact quote there) and Raleigh doesn't make the conscious decision to punch him but he does. And of course the reporter has friends who jump in and then Mako jumps in and here they are, in a holding cell in Italy, arrested for disturbing the peace.]