acatalepsy_logs | done with having dreams

[ well isn't this a mood killer. lance kind of makes a face. ]

That's....kind of depressing, actually.

[ yikes. ]

I've never seen a dragon before. [ trying to change the subject??? lance tilts his head a bit to the side as they keep walking. ] I've seen planet sized creatures and like- this weird space whale thing, but not like a dragon dragon.

( it's the sort of cultural shame that never really goes away. mako just shrugs his shoulders. it doesn't bother him to talk about — acknowledging atrocity is sort of the first step one needs to take not to repeat it, but he can tell it makes lance uncomfortable, so. subject change it is.

they're outside the temple now, out in the clean open air. the sun is a soft mantle across his skin, settling in with the heat of firebending at its beck. )

How can a creature be the size of a planet?

[ lance can't help but grin a little at the question, looking quite pleased with himself as he shrugs. ]

I told you we paladins are space defenders, right? Our lions can travel through space, and in some universes there are big ole creatures that look a little like whales? But are so big that they're basically planets. Like. Actually planets.

[ he's still walking with mako, so if the other decides to turn or go to anywhere specific, lance will follow, though he does continue talking as he walks. ]

It's kind of confusing too? Because some are just straight up planets, but are alive, and does that make it a creature or a living planet? Are living planets creatures? [ s h r u g ]

( he's very obviously going to the training arena, lance. keep up!!

everything lance tells him sounds like a story. something faraway, untouchable. a tale told to children at their bedsides. it's a lot to ask of his suspension of disbelief — even if his is pretty hardy to start. there's a part of him that wants to go to these places, see these things, inhabit the world that lance has laid out for him. mako isn't exactly an explorer, he's never really had the urge to go off to the far-flung corners of the world because he knows what he'll find there. but the entire universe? that's different somehow.

he tucks his hands into his pockets. )

I guess it really depends on your definition of 'living'. There's a moon spirit, where I'm from. I don't see why there can't be... planet spirits too.

[ right yeah he's definitely.....thinking that far ahead. totally.

and it's not lost on him - how crazy it all sounds. lance has made it a habit to take things as they come, because honestly - it's the only way he's able to keep his feet under him. giant monsters the size of planets? sure. princesses who are asleep for tens of thousands of years? why not. a big ole evil empire trying to take over literally every universe possible? sounds like a monday.

because honestly if he thinks too much about it, he's not sure he'll be able to keep going. and that's all that matters at this point. he has to keep going. ]

Okay but is your moon spirit a person or an alien? Or....both? Maybe a creature? [ this is a dangerous rabbit hole. ]

Oh, uh. It's hard to explain.

( it's not, really, but mako sucks at storytelling. which. makes it hard by default. he rubs at the back of his neck. )

About a hundred years ago there was a princess born to one of the Water Tribes. She was sick at birth, so her parents prayed to the moon spirit to save her. Spirit-spirit, not... alien or creature. Something that came from the spirit world but now lived in ours. And the spirit did save her, but when she was about sixteen a firebender named Zhao killed the its physical form, and the princess sacrificed her life to... I guess, become the spirit herself? So that our world could keep the moon.

( look it doesn't make a lot of sense to him either. master katara, he knows, was there for the whole thing, but it's not like he knows her well enough to ask after the story. all he has to go on are nebulous tales heard from adults or gleaned in historical footnotes. yue, the moon. )

The Spirit World. Right.

[ pairing not-a-great-storyteller with someone who isn't necessarily a great listener when it comes to details and connections and bigger pictures is.....not a great combo. but lance will try anyway. even if that. story makes no sense.

lance will look at mako with that thought written pretty plainly across his face before he just takes a breath and shakes his head, apparently coming to a decision. ]

That's got to be a 'different worlds, different universes' kind of things. Because we might have planets that are big old hunks or rocks and planets that are creatures but also rocks, I don't think we have. Actual spirits. But also- how can spirits die? Aren't they, you know...already dead?

They aren't spirits in the sense they're dead, that's more like ghosts. What I mean is more... embodiment. Energy from a certain thing given form. So... they're the embodiment of the sky, or the sea, or a forest or lake or mountain. They have their own world that kind of exists... next to ours, I guess. It's been that way for ten thousand years, but my friend Korra recently kind of merged the two together.

( he's more frustrated at his own inability to tell it properly than anything. he stops them both, reaching out to tug on lance's arm. )

Here, give me your hand.

So they're....embodiments of energy. Called spirits. Even though I'm pretty sure spirits and ghosts are the same thing. [ he's not so sure about that mako, but he'll shrug anyway. ] But hey, if I was a disembodied collection of energy that could also die and be killed, I'd also want a different world.

[ a beat, then. ]

I'm sorry- did you say Korra merged them?

[ because hold up, that seems really? sort of? important? lance will blink at mako, then at his 'request', before his brow arches teasingly, coming to a stop with Mako. ] So forward..... [ which is said with a little bit of a smile, before he holds out his hand for him. ]

Why do you need my hand, again?

( he's going to give you a visual demonstration, lance. because he's better about that sort of thing okay. )

Doesn't any culture on your world have guardian spirits? Of anything?

( what kind of heathenous, lawless land do you even come from, lance??? all right, enough of that. mako ignores that quip and takes his hand, clasping them together, curling his fingers in the negative spaces between lance's. this is definitely holding hands, even if he's not going to think of it in that context. the one he uses is his right. the top of lance's hand gets a gesture with his scarred-up left. )

So this is my world. Where I live, and everyone else that's human. And this — ( he points to his own, which makes up the 'bottom' of the combination. ) is where the spirits live. People can go there in the afterlife, but spirits are creatures too. They can age, but they don't die unless something or someone kills them. Maybe you might call them... I don't know, gods maybe? Only there's a lot of them, and most aren't very powerful. Some of them, like the ocean and moon spirit, are older than time. But here...

( he flexes his fingers against the back of lance's hand. he's definitely not thinking about how intimate this is, because he's a cop with a job!! to do!! look at him and his job. )

This is where the worlds intersect. Bleed into each other. Humans can accidentally stumble into the spirit world and get lost there. And spirits can come to ours, though it's rare and very hard for them. It usually only happens if they're very strong, or very angry. When Korra opened up the pathways between worlds, she made it possible for any spirit could enter ours, and for any human could enter theirs.

I mean my mom used to talk about Guardian Angels and Patron Saints but I'm pretty sure that's not the same thing?

[ don't get lance started on his family's weird headcanoned relationship with catholicism, mako. that's not what you're looking for here. but then mako is turning his hand, and quickly clasps them together, slotting his fingers between lance's and oh, oh, well. lance definitely has a ping of something in his chest - he'd assumed this was? a joke? but mako is definitely now holding his hand and lance is just going to. ignore the way his face definitely pinks just a bit. ]

Uh, Mako... [ but no, mako just soldiers on, and lance is left trying to listen but also looking down at his hand. this is intimate, isn't it? he can feel mako's pulse, almost, the warmth of his hand. but okay, c'mon lance, don't get distracted. he's talking about alternate worlds and where they exist and apparently it's a place you go where you die, but spirits aren't necessarily dead, and okay. he might....he kind of understands. and actually feels himself nod along. ]

Okay yeah- that's kind of like old school mythology? Sure. [ nevermind the fact mako is talking like this is actually real and the mythology lance is thinking about is absolutely not, but he's also been to an alternate reality where shiro had a swedish accent, so he can't really talk about things being weird.

then mako's fingers flex, and that ping of what-have-you shoots through him again. did it just get warmer out here? maybe? sure. he'll go with that. ]

That...actually does make a little bit of sense. Did Korra do that on purpose, or was it an accident? Because this- [ he uses his free hand to point to their fingers, their hands, where they're holding each other. just. ignoring how he kind of squeezes mako's hand in the motion of it. ] Seems like it could probably be dangerous. If the worlds were supposed to be separated, I mean.

( he is Oblivious, lance. sorry. that's just how he is, mako genuinely needs to have someone jump at him and kiss him senseless to cotton onto any sort of feeling beyond the pale. )

Huh? Oh. She did it on purpose. The worlds... someone separated them a long time ago, but they used to be together originally. It was just that there was an awful war between humans and spirits, so the only solution they had at the time was... to split them apart. But now... well, both species' have done some growing up, so... she thought it was time. And I trust her judgement. It's been a good thing so far.

( oh he is. still holding lance's hand, isn't he. even though the demonstration is definitely over. well, okay then. he disentangles himself gently, and then claps lance on the shoulder. )

Anyway. Come on, we better hurry up before my firebending cuts out again.

done with having dreams

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