acatalepsy_logs | need the sun to break

Entry tags:

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:

𝐏𝐑𝐄-𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒;

𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚;

( 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! )

𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐛;

( 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?

𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐗𝐓𝐀'𝐒 𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒;

( 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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( well. okay. mako makes room for him, and although he's note explicit about it, he does very slightly alter what he's doing so that minato can follow along easier. chops things slower, stirs a little less vigorously, that sort of thing. of course, the fact that he can only do it all one-handed helps, too.

it does make sense. that's what amon did. start small. a few benders here and there to incite fear. then he moved onto more and more people. then the avatar. it's a sound strategic tactic, even though he doesn't think astoria's intent is aligned with anything like that. he is wary of her — he's still upset at the loss of his firebending. he can't feel the sun in the sky any longer, except as... well, an obvious source of warmth and light. but it used to feel like something that could sink down into him, align itself with his breath and the beat of his heart. it felt like a solid, stable presence. he missed it at night when it sunk below the horizon, and was renewed with the dawn. now it's just. a sun. he almost misses that more than the bending itself.

the meddling is annoying enough. but mako doesn't trust anyone who'd take others from their home to fight some battle she hasn't even bothered to delineate yet. mako isn't a stranger to fighting for a cause. he's been alongside korra nearly every step of her journey, ready to die for what she believes in. but korra won his trust and his regard. astoria's just earned his annoyance. )

Well, she's certainly powerful. What did you think of her?

[ Seeing Mako with his arm in a sling, the polite thing to do would be to offer to help, huh. Would Mako trust Minato around knives? a stove? He doesn't offer, either way, presumably under the impression that Mako would say no, and while Minato is supposedly here to learn how to cook, he pays no attention Mako's hands; rather, it's his face- he meets his eyes but doesn't follow his gaze down to the ingredients being prepared, and instead watches Mako's expression as he cooks. Like he's looking for something, maybe, and it helps when Mako is focused on his work and isn't looking back. ]

I dunno anything about her to form an opinion. [ There's the whole... kidnapping thing... and also the stripping of powers that he noticed immediately and profoundly, along with the manifestation of a new power he isn't quite sure of. But Astoria as a person? He just doesn't know her enough to say anything. ]

I don't want to make a judgement before I get to hear things from her... If you decide to interrogate her, let me eavesdrop?

[ Instead of, you know. Participating in the conversation himself. ]

( whatever minato's looking for in his expression, he'll find it's... mostly neutral. there's a tiny bit of serenity, perhaps, because this is something he's been doing for years now, and he happens to be pretty decent at it. he does genuinely enjoy the act of cooking, because whatever the work involved in meal prep it was always preferable to going hungry. he's at ease in a kitchen space, calm and attentive, focused and intent. he has an economy of motion that can only come from a martial artist, no wasted movements or unnecessary flourishes. mako can be a flashy guy, sure. but he saves it mostly for public displays of bending.

that comment about eavesdropping makes him laugh, though. minato has some very thoughtful comments, but he's a cautious person overall. there's a sense that he doesn't want to commit to anything until he's certain of the outcome, or of his own stance on the matter. it's a pragmatic approach he's not used to seeing in teenagers. )

I doubt she'll submit to an interrogation. But sure, if I get the chance, you're welcome to tag along.

Thanks.

[ There's a slow smile growing on Minato's face as he watches Mako work- faint and showing more in his eyes than on his lips- but it lights up when Mako agrees to let him come along. ]

A conversation, then. I like listening to people talk.

[ Again, rather than participating, but it's something that he's gotten much much better at in time.

With Mako agreeing to his request, Minato sort of suspects Mako thinks better of him than he should, especially with no retaliation to the "eavesdropping" word of choice: navigating conversations just isn't a forte of his, as it would be for Mako who seems to be used to asking the right questions and understanding implications, and it'd be a waste of Astoria's time for Minato to flounder through a conversation with her, maybe getting to know more about her better, but less about the situation which would be of more use for everybody else here. ]

( he scrapes what he's chopped into a shallow pan. he definitely does try to firebend at it, but. once that results in absolutely no increase of the flames beneath the oventop, he sort of just. sighs. and stokes it manually. )

You find you learn more about people that way?

( it's sort of an idle question. minato strikes him as a deeply introspective person, so... it's not surprising that he'd prefer to just. sit and watch other people going on about their lives. )

Mm. Yeah.

[ Actually, he finds he learns more about people on the merit that if they talk to him, he struggles with continuing a conversation sometimes if the other person expects him to carry the same weight in talking, but if they're caught in a conversation with somebody else, he can just sit back and figure out how they think, what they believe in, what they're like, without the distraction of having to be engaged in the conversation himself. ]

...You do things differently as a cop, right? Since criminals and stuff wouldn't want to talk to you... you've got to be more convincing to make them talk. Sounds hard.

( he shrugs. there are a million reasons he's good at talking to criminals, but he doesn't exactly want to up and share any of them offhand. he was a criminal first, before he was anything else. he learned to bend lightning from the boss of the triple threats. mako always knew how to navigate that world. translating that to working against it has been easy. he has plenty of contacts, and he knows how to motivate them. some need bribes, some need fear. some need promises of protection. he's thrown himself into bettering republic city. sometimes he feels like he makes a real difference. others, he feels like it's an absolutely unending slog. )

It's just conversation. Once you know how to talk to someone, they'll tell you anything.

( mako's not really good at light and casual conversation the way bolin is. he can hold one, but it's mostly about finding shared interests and common ground. being a detective removes that personal edge. it gives him a script to follow — even if it's a vague one. it's easier that way. )

[ "Once you know how to talk to someone" is that mountain that always feels so daunting for Minato, especially when he first meets somebody. And that first impression is often crucial, something he'd best not mess up on, as it's rare that he comes across somebody like Mako who he slices his hand in front of and is now watching him cook. Bizarre, but not unwelcome. ]

I see... I think. Your method's sort of like mine- become friends with someone, and they like sharing things about themselves with you. It just takes a long time.

[ But it's the natural progression of friendship. ]

( he sort of rubs his cheek down against his shoulder to stave off an itch. )

Ah... I think it's a little different when it's someone you're friends with.

( then again, korra's really... the only friend he's ever had. he cares deeply for asami, but. when korra was off at the south, it wasn't like they really sought out each other's company all that much. and mako doesn't blame her. he hurt her far more deeply than he feels he can ever come back from, and everything between them just... feels like a broken bone that healed wrong.

it was different with korra. both the dating and the breaking up. but outside of her, mako doesn't really do friendship. he's always been too closed off for that. )

With criminals specifically, it's easier if you sort of speak their language.

[ Is it that much different speaking to your friends than your enemies...? He'd never made much of an effort trying to understand his enemies, but they were the sort who contented themselves in giving melodramatic monologues while expecting him to stand there and take it quietly- which he did, but that's besides the point. ]

Pretending like that sounds hard... I wouldn't be able to do it.

It's not for everyone.

( being a cop isn't easy. everyone pretty much hates or fears you, even when you're there to help them. and you have to deal with endless potshots at your job, your worth, your integrity. it's all worth it at the end, though, if he can help even just one person. that's enough for him.

mako gestures for minato to sit at the table. nothing left to be done in the kitchen for the time being except let the pot simmer, and that doesn't need them. )

I think it's worth it, though, if it stops a crime.

[ It definitely isn't. The job of a policeman is tough, something Minato recognizes very well— even if in his experience, there are some things way over their heads that only super powerful magical high school kids can take care of. If the police do their job well, they're unappreciated; if they don't, they're looked down on. There's no winning, sometimes.

Silently, he walks over to the table, sliding the chair out and sits at the very edge of it so that he can stretch his legs out before him. He isn't really sure what to say to that... "Thank you"? "Good job"?

... ]

Do you like your job?

( is liking your job the same as not being able to imagine yourself doing anything else? mako is silent as he takes a seat opposite minato. normally, he'd fold his arms in thought, but. the sling sort of dissuades him from the motion, which leaves him with his right hand curled into a relaxed fist on the table. )

Yeah. I do.

( he always wanted to do something his parents could be proud of. serving republic city... there's no higher calling than that, except maybe helping the avatar to save the world. he's balanced both. )

What about you? Still in school, right?

( that is a thing that... normal... children do...? )

[ As long as he likes it, then good on him. It's hard, sometimes, finding that balance between something you like, something that's useful, and something that's good for you too- Minato hasn't quite found that balance, but he's gotten close enough. ]

Mm... yeah. But I'm pretty much done with it.

[ He's got a year left, considering he's only in his second year of high school, but he's pretty much done. You know. With life. ]

School was a pain, but I didn't hate it. Was it like that for you?

( he misses that reference and the connotations thereof, simply assuming minato is talking about graduation.

mako sort of glances awkwardly towards the simmering pot on the stove, because. he had a year or two of formal schooling, but once his parents died and he and bo were out on teh streets it wasn't exactly a priority to him. he would go to the library with bolin sometimes, to sit in a corner and read and warm up, especially in the bitter winters of republic city, but that was as close as he got to education. he just doesn't want to say that to a teenager. as a detective, it's ... sort of his responsibility to tell kids to be good, stay in school, and all the rest. )

I never had a problem with it. It's a good way to learn.

I guess so...

[ It's not something he can really dispute, it being a good way to learn, but maybe he won't tell Mako that he spends more than half his class periods with his head on his desk, fast asleep without so much as a propped up textbook to hide the fact. ]

There's learning by doing, too, though. And things you can only learn by doing. Maybe I'll take this break from school to learn to cook.

( he believes much more in practical skills than he ever has school or books, so that gets an approving nod. )

It's pretty easy once you get down to it. Mostly, you have to know how heat affects different ingredients, and what flavors go together. That sort of thing. I don't mind showing you how, though most of what I make is... uh. A little on the hot side. So if you can't handle spice, speak up now.

( his brother likes to accuse him of trying to melt steel, whoops. )

Is what you just cooked going to move me to tears because it's delicious, or because it's too spicy...

[ maybe he should have paid attention to what Mako was making, instead of watching the side of his head.

He shakes his head, though. ] I think I should be fine. If it gets rid of this stuffy nose, I'll be glad for it.

[ Even if his mouth is burning in the meantime, it's fine, it's fine. He'll pick up on that tip too, using spice to help cover up the fact that he has no idea what flavors go together, and sometimes things get charred if he turns on the stove and walks away. ]

No, this is pretty mild.

( by... his standards... which are still, unarguably, extremely hot. it just shouldn't melt anyone's face off. korra and bolin complain entirely too much when he makes things that suit his preferences. )

You should rest, though. If you're sick.

[ He only has Mako's word on that, so okay... But maybe if they have cooking lessons, Minato will ask for instruction to make salads and baked goods and smoothies and things that are difficult to turn into fire. ]

I'll rest at night. I get sick often enough to know I'll get better within three or four days anyways. I always do. I'm pretty healthy in that regard.

[ Not. in the getting sick a lot part, but the fact that sickness never has a hold on him for very long, not usually. ]

( that's not terribly reassuring, but then. mako's idea of healthy is sort of... skewed. he never got sick growing up, a side effect of being a firebender, and he and bolin rolled around in so much dirt and filth that his brother didn't really get many colds or flu either.

but minato's probably the best judge of what seems to ail him, so mako just... leaves it be. )

Well, eat to keep your strength up, then, and rest when you can.

[ That's not fair?? Minato goes to pray at the shrine and catches a cold.

Maybe he should pray to something more reliable like actual, real people who make him food, a mumble of itadakimasu under his breath as he looks to the stove, is it done yet...

They can have a nice meal and Minato can keep well hydrated by downing three cups of water to soothe his burning tongue and we can wrap up this thread ]

( on cue (on cue!!) he gets up to check. looks plenty done to him, and this is definitely the story of how he spooned them both a full bowl, set minato's down in front of him and let the meal carry on in a quaint, companionable silence.

broken by the occasional frantic gulps of water. whoops! sorry, minato... )

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need the sun to break

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i keep wanting to make a joke about establishing social links

just give in and let it out

honestly i'm just going to say mako's the emperor and have done with it all tbh

he does fit emperor very well

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