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That's... something only you can answer, isn't it?

[ Minato doesn't even look up from his work, after he sees Mako settle down. If Mako's truly curious, Minato doesn't mind explaining; if he doesn't care but will help anyways, that's easier for both of them. ]

( that is some philosophical nonsense, minato. mako shakes his head. )

No, I mean. Why are we building a contraption out of straws to begin with? I know why I'm helping you.

( ... mostly. )

[ Minato suspects Mako is helping him simply because he had asked for it, but perhaps he's pushing his luck in hoping it'd be done with no questions asked. ]

I promised somebody I wouldn't stay underwater for too long, unless I had a snorkel with me. So I'm making one. ...Do you want one too?

[ It's the least he can do to repay him. ]

( this is the same thing as bolin trying to train pabu to jump through a fiery hoop, isn't it. mako's hands still, and he looks down at them like the straws will somehow hold the answer to the universe. )

You... do know this won't be watertight, right?

[ ...

His eyes pan up slowly. He did not, in fact, know that, seeing how difficult it was to wedge one straw into another in the first place. ]

We can slather the joints with peanut butter.

[ Oil and water don't mix?? he's trying to recall high school science here, but it's hard. ]

( the look on his face, really, says it all. it's equal parts horrified, disgusted, resigned and maybe in some small part wondering at the likelihood of ensuring bolin and minato never, ever meet. )

I don't think that's...

( excuse him, he's currently having war flashbacks to bolin training pabu to jump through fiery hoops. )

— really a valid... scientific method. ( he's being gentle about that rebuff, at least. bolin has taught him Patience. ) Do you not know how to swim?

[ No, introduce him to Bolin, Mako, it'll be fun. Koromaru would also benefit from learning how to jump though fiery hoops? He isn't scared of fire. ]

It'll be a science experiment. [ Null hypothesis: the straw snorkel won't fall apart immediately and cause you to drown. He hopes that hypothesis will hold, because there's very few other ideas he has that'll work. ]

Swimming isn't a problem, though. It's staying down there long enough without having to resurface every few minutes.

( child. )

Why don't I introduce you to my friend Korra? She's a waterbender ( ... some... times? ) and she could take you down into the depths without needing... any of this. Why do you even want to go down there, anyway?

( okay, korra probably wouldn't be happy if he just volunteered her for a job, but the truth of the matter is — better that than minato do something ridiculous like drown. )

I'd like to meet her.

[ Even waterbending aside— and "what the hell is waterbending" on the tip of his tongue— Minato likes meeting new people, especially if that means he doesn't have to attempt breathing through 320495 straws when just a single straw is near impossible to catch his breath through without the plastic collapsing in on itself.

He honestly believes there's a good chance that water won't get into it.

But maybe air won't either. ]

I want to say hi to the mermaids. Have you been down there?

You can. She's friendly enough, you just have to walk right up and say hi.

( his expression is... faintly chagrined. sometimes he thinks keeping this child alive is going to be a full time job, or near enough. )

To Korra. Not the mermaids. They're probably a little trickier — but I've heard they'll come up out of the water for singing.

Oh-

[ He did, in fact, try to go up to the mermaids and say hi, and got a trident in his face for the trouble and had to be bailed out before he got skewered. Hence the whole trying-to-better-equip-himself thing. ]

I used to go out and sing karaoke by myself all the time.

[ By himself! So he has no idea if his singing is any good, but nobody has ever told him it wasn't, so... ]

It'd be worth a try. Do you know if they like rap?

( have the most bemused expression, minato. )

What's... 'rap'?

( like... rapping your knuckles? is it a drumbeat? )

[ oh my god

This is outrageous, he can't let this continue. Minato lets all his straws drop to the ground as he stands and unravels the wires of the headphones that are more of then than not resting over his shoulders unless he's about to throw himself into the lake. ]

Here, put these on.

( headphones are a pretty new thing, mostly used by radio operators rather than common citizens, but at least he's seen them before. he takes them gingerly, settling them over his ears.

what doth await? )

I can't hear anything. Is it working?

[ Hold onto your eardrums, Mako, because Minato is going to bless you with the last few minutes of battery life this mp3 has in it. Even if Mako immediately rips the headphones off, Minato is going to keep blasting the music, turning the volume up as high as he can; maybe this will attract the mermaids and he doesn't actually have to sing. Maybe they'll come out and drown them. ]

( too loud!! his delicate cop ears!! mako grimaces faintly and holds the headphones away from his ears. the more minato turns the volume up the further they go. the music's not half bad, all things considered, but. yikes!! )

Does it have to be so loud?

[ No it does not, but Minato nods slowly anyways; he's always worn them so people could hear the music playing from the outside, and hopefully take the hint that he isn't to be bothered. ]

It's a lot easier to sing loudly than softly. I can teach you the lyrics- it repeats, mostly.

I'm not singing anything.

( he is Adamant about this. the only thing he's ever bothered singing in his life is quiet lullabies to bolin when they were younger, and that stopped as soon as bo could fall asleep on his own. )

But, uh, maybe the mermaids would like it? Does it run on electricity?

[ :(

If Minato were a pouter, he'd be pouting. But unfortunately, he respects Mako's decision and turns the speakers towards the lake, cupping his hands around them so they might amplify a little without him having to walk that much further. Do the mermaids like it? The lake seems as still and innocent as ever. ]

Yeah, it's battery powered, so it's going to die soon. [ thank god? ] When that happens... I kind of hope the next place we go to is a city, so that doesn't happen.

( hmm. mako gestures for the (walkman, discman, ipod, whatever it is?) to inspect it. )

Batteries, huh? You know, I can probably recharge them for you while I have my firebending.

( the trick is just not to overload them. His control is pretty fine, and he's powered other things before with lightning, but. it'd be tricky with something this small. he's still confident he could do it, it'd just take him some time figuring out the right approach. )

[ Uh. Minato turns the mp3 player off and holds it to his chest. ]

You can recharge it using firebending?

[ Excuse Minato for being slightly alarmed, but this isn't a coal stove, Mako, you can't just light it on fire and power it that way. On the other hand, it's going to be dead in the near future anyways whether he just lets it sit or burn, so if there's a way to recharge it...

He unplugs the mp3 player from the headphones, keeping the latter and handing the former over to Mako, lanyard and all. ]

Take care of it. It's the only thing I have left from my parents.

( oh. well. that makes the situation all the more dire, doesn't it. mako's too stoic by far to react to that beyond a slight furrow to his brows, but there's care in the way he handles it as minato hands it over. )

One of the subsets of firebending is lightning generation.

( he holds up his free hand. a spiderweb of power crackles between his fingertips, blue light arcing and jumping like it has a life of its own. )

It's just rare, and for most firebenders it's really difficult to control. I've had more practice than most. I used to work in a power plant, where we converted lightning to electricity for household use. Here, sit back down. Does this come apart?

[ Firebending is sounding more multipurpose by the second, and while he doesn't really understand the nature of how it works, he'll trust Mako enough that it does work, especially after seeing the little demonstration. His mp3 player's going to get fried, huh... it was nice knowing it. ]

Yeah, it comes apart. You just need a screwdriver- [ ...which he does not have an wouldn't know where to find one ]

Or just throw it on the ground really hard. [ At which it'll come apart, but it probably wouldn't be put back together again. ]

( excuse you, you're talking to copguyver over here. mako gives him a flat look, and then fishes a knife out of his pocket. he turns the blade sideways and uses the blunt edge as a screwdriver to fish the screws out of their sockets. as he sits, he scuffs the ground in front of him with his foot until it's smooth and flat enough, and as he takes the screws out and sets them down in the same pattern they were in entombed in the plastic. the battery, when he finds it (how do weird mp3 players work we just don't know) he pops out and holds in his hand.

he's never done this without a conduit before, but he is still aware that he can. it'll just take an immense amount of concentration. he holds up a hand, a tacit request for minato to be silent, and then he just focuses on the battery. lets himself react into the current. he needs to generate just enough that he won't overload it or himself, which makes him realize he can probably use his own body to direct some of the energy, but he'll have to bleed it off when he's done. hope astoria doesn't mind lightning strikes up into the sky!!

for now, though, it's just a delicate trickle of power fed into the battery's terminal. just a few seconds that seem stretched out to eternity, and then he holds it out for minato to take. it'll probably shock him like static when he does, albeit mildly. )

Okay, hold on, I have to get rid of the rest. Stay there.

( he stands up, takes a few careful and practiced steps back and then directs his left hand towards the sky where it's going to do the least amount of harm. the lightning surges up and outwards with a crack, but it arcs away and dissipates and mako dusts his palms together. )

There. Let's put it back together and see.

[ Oh. Using a knife as a screwdriver is smart, or maybe Minato's just dumb and had expected Mako to the music player. He watches as Mako focuses on the battery, staring hard at it too as if it's a magic trick he can figure out just by watching closely. The hair at the back of his neck feels like its standing up on end, like it does when he calls forth a Persona to strike something down with its own electricity, but he doesn't have anything near as much control as Mako does; Minato's electricity is meant to destroy, not revive, so it's way overpowered for him to think about trying something delicate like this by himself. ]

Holy crap... [ He mumbles up into the air as he watches the bolt of lightning shoot up and explodes. If there's anybody out there in the rest of the world, there's no way they would miss that. ]

Alright. I got it. [ He places the battery back in the case, and crouches to find the batteries again to screw them back in, plugging his headphones in before switching on the power.

"-—it's always gonna come back
So living by the gun's gonna get the gun clap
I ain't giving in,
Hell no, fuck that—"

Ah, yes, his favorite song is back. ]

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resistivity - 2018-10-28 20:05 (UTC) - Expand

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p_mortem - 2018-10-28 21:42 (UTC) - Expand