Open ♫ if you sneeze, a butterfly in a forest somewhere will dance

[fairysong]

Who: Sheryl Nome and anyone else! Including you. Especially you.
Where: All through the temple.
When: Arrival / sickness event
Rating PG13+, warning for mild nudity
What: Sheryl ain't down with the sickness.

[Week One:]

[It's silly to be worried about this. Sheryl knows that. She knows that her V-Type Infection had progressed to a stage where the symptoms were completely different from this; even if Ranka hadn't cured her, a resurgence would feel completely differently. And everyone else is sick, too. This can't be the disease that nearly killed her.

A part of her brain is completely ignoring all that logic and reason, though. These symptoms are like what she'd first felt, after all. And there's that tiny nagging voice that she can't banish, constantly asking her: What if? What if Ranka had just delayed her death? What if everyone else has one thing, but she has another?

It's a stupid, irrational thought, and she can't banish it. So Sheryl deals with the deep-seated panic the best way she knows how: She throws herself into her music.

The only trouble is that this lingering headache and stuffiness makes it so very hard to write lyrics. So you'll find a young woman sitting at a table in the kitchen with a pencil and a torn sheet of paper that's full of scribbled out words. Most of them are crossed out. Sheryl is looking very frustrated-- and then she turns, pointing the end of the pencil at you.] You!

...what rhymes with "forest"?

[Week Two:]

[It got worse. It got much worse.

The good news is that Sheryl is now fairly certain that this isn't her V-Type Infection coming back; the symptoms have progressed in a completely different way.

That's the only good news. Sheryl feels like shit. She hasn't experienced the hallucinations that she's heard other people dealing with, which she's thankful for, but a violent fever and everything else that comes with it isn't much better.

The worst is that she constantly feels like she's just burning up, across her entire body, and since the bathing area is communal here, she hasn't figured out how to take a cold shower or bath to try and counteract it. Still, she's a resourceful young woman.

In the hallways just outside of the bathing area, you'll come across Sheryl with a rolled-up wet towel draped around her neck and over her shoulders. Though the towel hangs down in front of her chest, it is very clear that she is not wearing a shirt. Still, any potential sexiness is blunted by the fact that Sheryl looks rough and completely exhausted.

She's just too drained to give a shit about this right now. She does glance in your direction, though, and speaks in a slow voice that sounds impossibly tired.]

Can't a girl get some privacy around here...?

[Week Three:]

[Again, there's good news and there's bad news. The good news is that she feels much, much better than before. No fever, no chills, no cold sweats, no trembling.

The bad news is that she can't see.

In a place where she still doesn't know anybody that well, she's reluctant to ask someone for help like she might someone she trusts, like Alto or Ranka. Which means Sheryl is moving slowly around the temple, one hand on the walls at all time, dark glasses on even in the middle of the night.

At some point leaving the kitchen area, you might hear a girl's voice yelp in pain. If you investigate, you'll find Sheryl doubled over, rubbing at one of her shins and hissing obscenities through her teeth.

When she hears footsteps, she straightens up abruptly.] Ah... someone must've moved that chair, I don't think it was there before!

[It's an odd excuse, mainly because she'd just run into a bench, and you're pretty sure the bench has always been there that whole time. Also, she's not looking directly at you, but also a little off to the side.

A little suspicious.]

Comments

[fairysong]

Oh, I've tried, I'm just not very good at it. [She holds up her hand, inspecting her fingers.] I used to have some knife scars from mishaps chopping vegetables, but they've healed. Best to leave it to people who know what they're doing, right?

Besides, we've all got our strengths. You can cook and do-- that little thing you just did. I can do other things.

[resistivity]

( it sounds more like learned helplessness to him. he refuses to believe there are people who can't learn the fundamental basics of it — it's just survival. it's not about being good at it, it's about not starving to death.

he gives her a sidelong glance. )

Like that trick with the music?

[fairysong]

[She just scrounged, really. And then she had people to do it for her.] Like that trick with the music.

Which I couldn't do back home. I did it the old-fashioned way, though.

[resistivity]

So... singer/songwriter, then? You perform?

( the food is more-or-less done, so mako takes two earthenware bowls that seem just a little too rough to have been mass-produced (spoilers: he made them himself) and fills both up. one gets deposited in front of her, the other is put down across the table from her, where he shortly sits. )

[fairysong]

Mm-hmm. A pretty good one, too, if I do say so-- [She trails off when the bowl is set in front of her.

For all her loitering around here, she hadn't actually expected this, and it shows in the expression on her face.]

Oh, you--

You didn't have to do that. I was just making small talk and enjoying how it smelled.

[resistivity]

( he shrugs, a little uncomfortably. )

It's no big deal. I made extra anyway.

( it's not like he can be out hitting the streets solving crime and catching bad guys. this is as close as he can get right now, especially with his arm still badly injured, to anything like helping. even if it's just making a difference for one person, he's going to try.

he's a lot less... self-centered than he used to be. when the only people he really had to worry about or concern himself with were those immediately around him. he's expanded his way of thinking, thrown wide the net of his protection and care. weirdly, in a lot of ways, wu made him a better person that way. having to look after him and babysit him and keep him out of trouble made him realize that as much as he complains... he genuinely does enjoy looking out for others. he'd always thought that was just a side effect of growing up the way he did, having bolin to worry about, but. now he's thinking it might just be... who he is. )

[fairysong]

[On the one hand, she doesn't like being pitied. At all.

On the other, she really is very hungry. And this doesn't seem like pity, right? He's just being... nice.

Sheryl reaches out to take the bowl with both hands, picking it up. It smells incredible.] If you're hoping to get backstage tickets to my next show, I think you'll be waiting a while.

What's your name?

[resistivity]

( he laughs a little. )

I'd pass anyway. I'm not much for public venues. Cop thing.

( he's always thinking about how things can go wrong in a crowd. )

And, ah. I'm Mako.

[fairysong]

That's a shame. After a Sheryl Nome concert, it's all anyone can talk about for at least a week. [She says with a smile and a little shrug.]

Being a cop means you're not allowed to relax, now?

[resistivity]

Miss Nome.

( he is very polite and proper, she gets a nod across the table. )

And, uh. Well — no, ( unless your name is lin beifong, and he's kind of the closest thing she has these days to a second in command so... maybe? ) but I'm pretty sure there are other things that need doing here.

[fairysong]

[A little wave of her hand.] "Sheryl" is fine. Handing me a bowl of food and calling me "Miss Nome" makes it feel like I have a butler.

I'm sure there's lots of crime to fight in our bustling community of... what, 50 people? 60?

[resistivity]

( why are women like this. why are they. mako sort of... grimaces inwardly, but he does make a mental note. it's nothing she's done specifically — it's just. the insistence on familiarity when he's so recently sworn off any and all dealings with beautiful women presses on a bit of a sore spot in his psyche. )

I'd be a pretty terrible butler.

( he's hilarious. hush. )

And I'd say we're closer to a hundred, but no. There hasn't been a lot of crime that I've noticed.

[fairysong]

I'll talk to my people about hiring you as a chef, though! [She says, her tone a cheerful breeze.]

So what do you do here all day without any crimes to solve, mister top cop? Other than cooking for hungry girls.

[resistivity]

( sheryl, please... stop that... there's a beautiful cadence to her voice that mako is pretty sure he could listen to forever. like, she could read a phonebook and it would still be melodious and beautiful.

spirits, he has got to get his head in the game. )

I, uh. Well. Mostly so far I'm just... practicing bending.

( that sounds terrible. mako, pls. be more interesting. )

[fairysong]

[He's not wrong.

She does lift an eyebrow in a quizzical look.] Aww, no hobbies?

[Well, it's not like they have much here, in all fairness. Maybe they just don't have what he likes to do. He could be an enthusiast... skydiver?] There's a saying about what all work and no play does to a boy, you know.

[resistivity]

( he doesn't... actually have any hobbies. when he was younger they included such hits as 'staying alive' and 'going to bed hungry and filthy' but. you know. now that he's an adult he just. works. and works, and works, and then sleeps under his desk and eats stale food and shitty coffee in the cantina at the republic city police department, and then works more. he probably pulls a hundred hours a week, and that's practically a vacation.

at least he has the presence of mind to understand it's sort of... excessive, so he's not going to just. say that outloud. when your mentor is lin beifong, you learn to eschew the personal gratification. )

I guess it just makes them... incredibly boring?

( ha, ha, he's funny, see. )

[fairysong]

...close enough. [Man, this is really odd. How do you make small talk with someone like this? Sheryl thinks for a moment.]

So, what do you call this? [Referring to the bowl of food she's holding.]

[resistivity]

( 'cooking' is probably not the answer she's looking for, but mako sort of lifts his good shoulder in a shrug. )

I wouldn't call it a 'hobby', it's just something I picked up when I was young.

( regardless of his personal feelings towards it, it was that or starve sometimes. he tried to give bolin the closest thing to normal that he could manage. )

[fairysong]

[Sheryl can't help but laugh at his answer. It's a melodic, good-natured laugh, clearly mirthful.] That's not what I meant.

What do you call this? The dish, I mean. Does it have a name?

[resistivity]

( well he feels like an idiot. he doesn't quite. blush. but he does sort of... curl inward like a slug that's been doused in salt. only barely. )

Uh. It's curry. Just... curry.

[fairysong]

Oh, curry! [She says, looking at the bowl with her head tilted to the side.] That's interesting... my friend's restaurant served curry, too, but it was different than this.

I wonder why it's so different.

[resistivity]

Different worlds, I guess.

( sure, it's. weird that it would be different. then again, everyone looks at naga like she's a freak of nature, as if they've never seen a polar-bear dog before... so it wouldn't surprise him if there were other discrepancies, too. )

I mean, tea seems to be a pretty commonly accepted thing. Everybody knows what it is. But I haven't met anyone who isn't from my world who knows what sea-prune stew is.

[fairysong]

Hmmm... but doesn't that kinda disprove your point? If what you call tea is what I'd call tea, but what you call curry is different... [She trails off, and then shrugs.] It's not really important, I guess.

And I don't know what sea-prune stew is, but it sounds disgusting.

[resistivity]

No, I mean.

( sheryl you have him flustered, let the poor boy explain himself!! )

Some things appear to be the same across worlds. Like... everyone I've spoken to so far knows what a human is, even if what the humans can do seems to vary by world. I've got my bending, some people use alchemy, et cetera. Tea is a constant. But other things aren't.

( and oh, it is absolutely disgusting. but he feels like korra would appear just to slap him upside the head if he voiced that thought, so. )

It's a Water Tribe dish. It's, uh, certainly not for me.

[fairysong]

[That's actually an interesting point. Sheryl chews her lip for a moment, listening to what he said and thinking about it.] That's a good point. I wonder why tea's the only same point between universes?

Say, if I said the word "Zentradi," does that mean anything to you?

[She doesn't know what the Water Tribe is. Sounds wet.]