[ Mako's not going to leave him to his own devices. She recognises the look, knows that he's calculating their odds, and is more aware than anyone else that it isn't good.
She eyes the formation on the maps, and with the odds stacked against them, they need to use the one thing the kaiju are only just beginning to develop: strategy. The numbers might not be in their favour, but they hardly need to do that when, right now, they have the advantage of higher ground, and slopes.
She studies the terrain for a long moment -- the important thing would be to hold their position, and the men had only just finished hammering long, sharp stakes facing outwards, so that any enemy blindly charging would find themselves impaled on the spikes. It's a half-measure, but still. ]
We can still hold this fort. There is still a measure of gunpowder left to make mines underneath the sand.
[The kaiju have been getting smarter for years-- something that's kept him up more than just one night thinking about. About how they're learning, adapting, they're not just the same mindless monsters that crawled out of the sea when he was younger. These are creatures that can think and are learning how to fight the weapons that worked for years against them.
When Mako doesn't take his leave to go rest, Raleigh is more than a little grateful. He's come to rely on her for so much, to have her as his right hand that he thinks he'd even be a little lost if she went to take a short nap, even though he gave her permission to. He wants her to rest but he's selfish and he wants her at his side too.]
Some of the men are already on it. I wish I had a hundred of you to station out there, we wouldn't have any problem at all.
[ Raleigh's most trusted general is out there with her men, too -- the esteemed Lady Danger is not to be trifled with. Her duties were not with laying the mines, but fortifying what they had set up. She is a fierce, unrelenting warrior who had hundreds of kills under her belt, but still. ]
A hundred of me, and a hundred of the Lady.
[ Mako cracks a smile, squeezing his hand briefly before she's looking over their laid-out strategies. If the kaiju are evolving, so must they. ] What are you thinking about?
[Yes, if he had a hundred of Mako and a hundred of the Lady Danger-- there wouldn't even be a war raging right now. But they're rare, precious and such things are not very numerous.]
I'm wondering how many more men are going to die tonight.
[ That's a sobering thought, isn't it? Mako thinks about the waves and waves of kaiju just beyond their defences, the strength and cunning of these monsters; they've outwitted them just far, but would they be lucky again tonight?
Mako isn't sure. ]
They will not die in vain. [ She pauses at the strategic arrangements, before she looks back at him steadily. ] Your men need your courage, my Lord. You are the one who is going to lead them to victory; and we will exact our vengeance for all the men who've given their lives up for this kingdom.
[She always knows just the right thing to say. He nods after a moment. She's right. He needs to hold himself together, a fixed point as her father used to tell him, because that's all the men need. They don't need him to be a friend or a savior, they need him to be a fixed point to rally around.]
You're right. I just wish there was a way where it could just be me. Dying to save them.
[ Mako scowls - that's the problem that he has; the fact that he would die for his people, literally. It's an inspiration to the men, no doubt, but still. With him dead, they would be lost. ]
[ Mako is quiet for a moment, letting the words sink in, the thoughts swirl around them -- it's normal to have these thoughts; it's perfectly normal to feel this way, but now, Raleigh is the fixed, the man whose colours they would all rally around.
She steps closer, before she puts her hand on his shoulder, warm and comforting. ] This is our home -- if nothing else, we are going to fight to the last man to defend it; that's all there is.
[ Mako obeys, and misses the warmth of him when he lets go of her. Now is not the time for tenderness, she reminds herself -- they're in the middle of a war, and the primary objective is to keep the king alive, and win it.
[He shakes his head a little because he has no idea what he'd say to them right now, if he were called to make a speech. Raleigh's not a king of speeches anyway, he's a man who lets his presence and his talent speak for him these days.]
You father told me once that sometimes it's more powerful to just let the men see you. To make them see who they're fighting for.
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She eyes the formation on the maps, and with the odds stacked against them, they need to use the one thing the kaiju are only just beginning to develop: strategy. The numbers might not be in their favour, but they hardly need to do that when, right now, they have the advantage of higher ground, and slopes.
She studies the terrain for a long moment -- the important thing would be to hold their position, and the men had only just finished hammering long, sharp stakes facing outwards, so that any enemy blindly charging would find themselves impaled on the spikes. It's a half-measure, but still. ]
We can still hold this fort. There is still a measure of gunpowder left to make mines underneath the sand.
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When Mako doesn't take his leave to go rest, Raleigh is more than a little grateful. He's come to rely on her for so much, to have her as his right hand that he thinks he'd even be a little lost if she went to take a short nap, even though he gave her permission to. He wants her to rest but he's selfish and he wants her at his side too.]
Some of the men are already on it. I wish I had a hundred of you to station out there, we wouldn't have any problem at all.
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A hundred of me, and a hundred of the Lady.
[ Mako cracks a smile, squeezing his hand briefly before she's looking over their laid-out strategies. If the kaiju are evolving, so must they. ] What are you thinking about?
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I'm wondering how many more men are going to die tonight.
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Mako isn't sure. ]
They will not die in vain. [ She pauses at the strategic arrangements, before she looks back at him steadily. ] Your men need your courage, my Lord. You are the one who is going to lead them to victory; and we will exact our vengeance for all the men who've given their lives up for this kingdom.
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You're right. I just wish there was a way where it could just be me. Dying to save them.
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What exactly are you thinking about?
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[He's thinking about her father, his brother, the literally thousands of men who have died during this campaign.]
Or it seems like a waste. When we're getting nowhere against them.
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She steps closer, before she puts her hand on his shoulder, warm and comforting. ] This is our home -- if nothing else, we are going to fight to the last man to defend it; that's all there is.
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I hope it doesn't come to that. [Another squeeze to her fingers and then he lets go.]
Walk with me among the men for a while.
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She nods, and follows after him. ]
Do you intend to say anything to them?
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You father told me once that sometimes it's more powerful to just let the men see you. To make them see who they're fighting for.