mako. (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
resistivity) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
acatalepsy_logs2018-09-09 10:53 am
resistivity) wrote in acatalepsy_logs2018-09-09 10:53 am
need the sun to break
Who: mako, ota otherwise! please bring me your babies c:
Where: various places
When: throughout the sickness event, the last prompt can cover any time period in it as mako won't progress past the first stage.
Rating pg for now! will update if it changes. some mention of a lightning-based injury tho!
What: settling in and maybe trying to mother-hen other sick people who need it. please toss me a pm or hmu on discord (violynnist#8733!) if you would like something custom for you, or to try another situation/scenario also! This was my intro post on the CR meme as well if that's easier to poke at c:
๐๐๐-๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐;
๐ฌ๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐;
( he's no stranger to the fey and fantastic. being friends with the avatar has meant years of encountering things that might have otherwise been beyond belief. he has a healthy threshold of tolerance for the scope and scale of strange than most people would probably expect of a no-nonsense cop.
his first thought is spirit wilds. even astoria herself sort of seems like one, though she looks human (he's heard stories of koh) and the misty phantasms that roam the temple grounds certainly don't disabuse that notion. mako is. quiet. taking it all in, listening, learning. he jots down notes, which is difficult to do when one arm is an out-of-commission ruin, strapped into a sling that pinions it to his body. he sort of rests the notepad in the hollow of his wrist, over the fabric of the sling and scribbles everything in police short-hand.
thrown into a new situation? doesn't know anyone or anything beyond astoria's welcoming spiel? time to wander the grounds of the temple. when he runs into other people, he'll approach them politely and introduce himself, )
I know it probably doesn't matter here, but I'm a Detective with the Republic City Police back home. My name's Mako. I'd like to ask you a few questions, if that's all right?
( he gestures with his notepad, obviously intending on writing things down. feel free to talk with him, refuse a statement, agree but only off the record, etc. he's a mostly-amicable (if. sometimes humorless) guy! )
๐ฌ๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐;
( he can't feel the sun. it's there, visible, a low-hanging presence on the cusp of dawn. it's a slightly different color than the one he's used to, and he can feel its rays on his skin, but there's. nothing. no energy, no... deep, abiding warmth that sinks down into the bones and drags the life and breath of fire to life through the conduit of his physical body.
it lends further credence to the thought he must be in the spirit world, or something very like it. he finds his way to the fighting ring and, still with his left arm in its sling, he tries a few right-handed jabs at one of the training dummies. nothing. nothing. he's stayed calm through everything else, being recruited — kidnapped, essentially — to someone else's fight, the whole thing. but this? it reminds him too much of amon.
out of frustration, he kicks at the air, the sort of slicing motion that would have swept fire away from him in an arc. and.
to his complete and utter surprise, a column of rock juts up out of the earth and launches the dummy several yards away. mako, instinctively, turns to look for bolin or korra or even beifong, the earthbenders whose company he spends the most time in, but. he's alone.
except, perhaps, for your character. mako looks a little sheepish at having been caught unawares — he's usually a little harder to sneak up on, so he's rubbing the back of his neck as he asks, )
Did you do that?
๐๐๐๐๐๐๐'๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐;
( he hates getting sick. firebenders are pretty hardy, all things considered. they tend to run hot. mako isn't used to feeling ill, it's only happened a couple times in memory, and. his default state is ignore all physical discomfort. he doesn't seem to be badly off, either, given what everyone else is going through.
so. a case of the sniffles. he sucks it up. pitches in around the kitchens, makes himself available to anyone who seems to be suffering. he even tries to go out into the forest of the fey to see if there is anything out there, some plant or herb that can be used as a remedy.
if your character needs some looking after during the event, mako's your guy. he will dutifully help total strangers, tuck people in, carry them off to a bed and help them through the loss of their senses should it come to that! let him big-brother you. it's the squishiest you'll ever see him. )
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Just like old times! Team Avatar, back together again, ready to take on any challenges that come our way!
... Well, most of us, anyway. [ Asami. They don't want you kidnapped also but they will miss you dearly. ]
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the rest, though. almost exactly what he said to korra, word-for-word. it must be a brother thing, and it makes mako smile gently, shaking his head. bolin is always amazing him. )
I'm not sure I'd wish this place on Asami. It's a little... low-tech.
( he loves her, but. even though she rarely complains about any of it, she is very obviously not a roughing it kind of gal. )
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[ Also, now that they've talked about Bolin's Airbending? He has to ask: ] What about you, Mako? Are you rocking some new kind of bending too?
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he probably should have known that question was coming, and he just sort of hesitates. looks down at his right hand, the palm of it where fire used to sit. he's got dirt smudged across it now. he didn't want to tell bo about the earthbending because he thought he'd be upset. but. maybe he should. he'd be worse-off if mako lied, and. they're older, now. he doesn't have to protect bo from his own feelings so much. he can handle it.
mako takes a deep breath. then, )
Uh. Yeah. I'm... kinda an earthbender now.
( he still says it a bit guiltily, head ducked down. )
1/2
Mostly, he starts thinking about how he would feel if Mako were to start becoming better than him at his own element; which he knows will happen, because he has a lifetime of evidence backing up the fact that Mako is just better than him at everything. ]
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Do you ... think you want a teacher? [ The question's kind of tentative, mostly because it would be such a change from their status quo that it feels downright alien. ]
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mako just pulls him in close, arm looped around his shoulders and ruffles up his hair. )
From the best earthbender I know? Are you kidding? Of course I do.
( he knows earthbending forms, but once bo got good enough to practice them on his own mako slacked off on learning the more advanced stuff. he knows he'll be quick to master the basics, but anything beyond that? it'll... well, it'll take an earthbending master. )
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Then we'll get started as soon as possible! You probably already know all the basic forms, so we should skip all of that and really get a taste of the earth!
[ His propensity for flashy speeches aside, Bolin hones in on that one thing that Mako says.] I'm really the best earthbender you know?
[ He's not sure he completely believes that, because Korra, Lin, Suyin and even Kuvira exist, but any kind of praise is praise he'll graciously accept. He definitely wants to milk this a little too. ]
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( he doesn't feel so hot himself, (ha, ha, #formerfirebenderpun) but he's so used to muscling through any ill feelings that it barely even registers. his brother is sick!! he should be resting in bed. in fact, that's where mako starts to gently usher him off to. he's claimed one of the rooms in a stone house already, so he'll just... tuck bolin into his bed and have done with the whole thing. maybe make him some tea. )
And... yeah. I mean, of course I do.
( all bias aside. objectively speaking, he does think bo's the best. he doesn't necessarily think he'd win in a real knock-down drag-out fight against a beifong, but that's less skill and more experience. lin has a killer instinct that bolin lacks. that mako's glad he lacks. it means he did his job as a big brother, trying to keep him safe for all those years. )
You've never let me down. Not once. There's no one I'd rather have at my back in a fight.
( korra's a force of nature, but his synergy with bolin is born from almost fifteen years of them only having each other for survival. that's hard to beat. )
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[ He loves praise. Praise might even be better than food, though only by a margin. All the nice feelings have Bolin in such a good mood, he doesn't even mind the sickness that much. He also doesn't mind being nudged in the direction of wherever Mako is staying like a sick kid caught playing in the playground. ]
Have you found a room yet, Mako? [ They have no money, so he's assuming they'll be squatting. Truly, this is just like old times. ]
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I think I'll pass. Wouldn't want your ego to get out of hand again. You were kind of insufferable after the whole Nuktuk thing.
( the soft moment is over. now they're just normal brothers who give each other shit again. all is well in the universe. that hair ruffling turns into a sort-of-noogie, albeit not a hard one. )
Yeah. Korra and I are rooming together.
( erp. the contortions his expression goes through are legendary. quickly, )
Not like that. We're just friends now. No funny business.
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The expression on Bolin's face also goes through a much smaller series of contortions at the prospect of Makorra becoming a thing again, but Mako's quick to clarify that at least. ]
That -- I have to say, is a relief, because it's going to be kiiind of awkward for me to live in the same room with you guys when you guys are -- well, you know.
[ Being inappropriate for nickelodeon. And also making things weirder for their now mostly stable Team Avatar dynamic. ]
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No. It's not going to be like that, honest. I've sworn off girls for the foreseeable future.
( mako that does not sound even a little bit better. luckily he doesn't even seem to realize the connotations of what he just said, he's just. adamant. no more teammates, no more girls, he's realized he's got a lot of growing up to do and... sorting himself out and all that, and until he does that, he's not really fit company for anything more than friendship. he's made his peace with it.
he walks a few steps in silence, a million different thoughts rattling around in his head. then, )
You ever wonder how mom and dad did it?
( he doesn't. remember much about his parent or his life before their death anymore. sometimes he gets flashes. little things. bolin crying as a baby, so mako had picked him up out of the crib and tried to rock him like he'd seen his mother do (he was only about three, this did not work as planned). his mom's smile, dad's laugh. a lot of scents, like things their dad used to cook from the earth nation, the laundry soap their mom used. he remembers perching on an empty box at their grocery stand, calling out the day's wares, being amazed at the rumble of satomobiles as they passed. everything was so bright and new, mako was excited about firebending and school and friends.
and then they died and it was like the world went black. he has a very clear memory, months after they died, of realizing that dad's scarf that had used to smell like his cologne just... smelled like him, unwashed and kind of grimy and dirty with that smoke-and-fire bending scent clinging to it everywhere. it was the first time since everything happened that mako had broken down and cried, it felt so much like losing them all over again. it was so stupid. over a scarf.
he's never stopped missing them. but at least he has a few memories — bolin has even less than that. two years makes a world of difference at that age, and mako worries sometimes he's done a pretty horrific job of keeping them alive for him, all because he's too wrapped up in guilt and grief and loss to prise open that box and dump its contents out between them.
but they were happy. weren't they? they loved each other. they made it work even when they didn't have much to go on but love. and mako honestly has no idea how they did it, just that they did. )
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Anyway, that introspection is so beautiful and i hate that Bolin is going to ruin it by reading Mako's question completely wrong. He was implying before that Mako and Korra were probably going to be ... inappropriate for nickelodeon if they were to get back together again, and naturally, with the topic now shifted to that of their parents, he's going to assume they're talking about the same thing. ]
Mako ... [ His face scrunches up, and he looks very off put by what he's thinking. ] I don't really want to think about my Mom and Dad in this context.
[ Keep this thread rated PG!! ]
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( JUST. WHY WOULD YOU. WHY. )
I meant being in love, you idiot!
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Still, being the kind of guy who heavily idealizes romance and family, he has thought about this in the past, made up some stories about the wonderful love their parents had to have had. ]
I think they must've just been made for each other. That's why it worked. I'll admit that I don't remember much about them, but I feel like they were always smiling ...
[ Or maybe he made this up too. He likes to think it's the truth, at least. ]
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made for each other. mako's not romantic in that way, he's too practical by far to come at love and affection from anything approaching idealism, but. they're dead. they can't exactly contradict whatever they decide. and if they want to think of their parents as being soulmates, what does it hurt?
soft, )
They were. And they doted on you. Dad was always happiest when he was holding you. He used to... when he cooked, he had you on his hip a lot. And you used to play with mom's hair, she'd put it in a braid before bed.
( her hair was so long, although mako's not sure if that's just his childish perception or the actual reality of it all. but he definitely remembers bolin giggling to himself while grabbing fistfuls of it, and his mother... she never got mad at it, even when it must've hurt, she'd just coo at him playfully and tickle him until he let go. )
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... You never told me any of this, Mako.
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I know. I'm sorry.
( he looks down at his left arm tucked into the sling, wrapped up in bandages. bolin doesn't know what happened, so... different timeline, he guesses. he's from earlier. mako's talked to enough people that he knows it's possible now. but he's dressed in the uniform from kuvira's army, so they can't be that far apart, just. far enough. still, as much as he's trying to be open and honest, he can't bring himself to say, i almost died.
and he's realizing that if he had... if bolin hadn't dragged him out of the mech before it exploded, that bolin would be all alone in the world. and he wouldn't have anyone left who could tell him these things. mako's had plenty of near-death experiences, so much so it's normalized. but this is the first time he's taken serious injury that can't just be healed away. he's probably going to have to wake up every morning for the rest of his life in pain. that brings it home in a way he's never had to worry about before. makes it real.
bolin could have been left alone.
and he'd. be all right. of course he would. not like if mako lost him, he'd absolutely lose it and never recover, but. bo's hardier than he is in that way, he'd survive. but the little things that mako could have told him and never did, those would be gone forever. )
I guess it just... it's still hard to talk about them sometimes. But you still deserve to know.