Waterbenders have a pretty close tie to the moon, yeah. Their bending is strongest on full moons. Korra told me she could feel the moon. Mine is strongest during the day, when I can feel the sun.
Just about anything? Sounds exhausting. Festivals are kind of awful.
I've never actually been to the Fire Nation but it's a big festival to celebrate the solstice and the end of the Hundred-Year War. It's just weird because the Fire Nation started that war in the first place.
In the United Republic it's become just a celebration of the end of the war, and a lot less about firebenders. People aren't thrilled about firebenders. For good reason.
Well. That does actually make a lot more sense than a lot of other magic I've come across.
They really are. Corona just really, really, REALLY likes celebrating.
I guess starting a hundred-year war would put people off a nation. I hope no one treats you badly for something you weren't even around for. So you were born outside the nation your family came from? Me too. Well. My dad at least.
I think so, too, but I haven't told anyone that. At least bending is logical.
Your dad wasn't from Corona? Did he get treated badly? It's complicated with firebenders. Especially since Republic City used to be a Fire Nation colony in the Earth Kingdom from back when they were trying to take over the world.
No. He's from the Dark Kingdom. It... died. It housed a dangerous magical artefact and the King made his subjects leave to try and protect them from it. My dad was one of his knights- he was sent to Corona to deal with the magical artefact twinned with the one there. He wasn't treated badly. He's the leader of our village.
[Of course, it ended up being so much more complicated than that- and Quirin's sense of duty was what ultimately drove a large wedge between himself and his son that's only just starting to heal.]
Oh. So there's a less than pleasant history there?
The whole kingdom died? That's a powerful artefact. What was it? Was your dad able to handle it?
Yeah, there really is. The Fire Nation has a lot to answer for. They spent a long time doing really awful things, and tried to kill the Avatar. Colonized the Earth Kingdom, wiped out every single Air Nomad, almost wiped out the Southern Water Tribe.
It's bad. Being a firebender isn't exactly a good thing.
Oh, no, I mean metaphorically. The people all just...left. I don't know where to. Other kingdoms. He left the Moonstone there- the King stayed behind to guard it. There was another force called the Sundrop- equal and opposite to the Moonstone. Dad came to Corona to guard that. He uh- unfortunately the King of Corona used it when he shouldn't have. It meant one of my closest friends could be born but it also meant that these two magical forces started seeking each other out.
...It's really weird and writing it down makes it look even crazier than it already is.
That is a lot. But you're not to blame for things that happened in the past.
No, it actually makes sense. There's a pretty similar concept at home. It's the whole reason that Korra exists as the Avatar. Something has to bring balance. Or, someone, really, because our whole world is just forces working against each other. Humans and spirits. The four elements. Light and dark.
It's a lot to think about it. I didn't really think about it much until I met Korra, but it's hard not to when you end up involved in the literal fight to stop ten thousand years of darkness because your girlfriend's uncle decided to fuse with the embodiment of darkness and chaos.
Was your dad alright? That's a big duty.
Someday, things will even out again. Some other nation will do something horrible, and people will think badly of them instead.
Oh yeah, that sounds horribly familiar. One of my friends is currently fused with the dark magic and that's a whole lot of trouble lemmie tell you. We're still trying to work out how to resolve that without killing her or without her killing us.
He wasn't for a while, but that was more an accident on my part than anything else. Though the fact he kept everything from me didn't help in what happened at all. He's- he's recovering. I think he's happier now it's all out in the open.
That's a good point. People will always look for someone new to hate.
[He was Public Enemy Number One for over a year. Now he's a hero to the people and Cassandra has taken his former position. ]
I'd offer advice but I'm pretty sure Unalaq stopped existing the second Korra purified him. Would've been better if she'd managed to do that before he levelled half the city, but.
[ At this point Mako is more used to a destroyed Republic City than an intact Republic City. ]
So he's alive, at least. And getting better. That's good.
[ At least, then, he isn't like Asami: forgiving his father only to have him die weeks later. As far as he can tell Asami still hasn't dealt with the fallout of that. ]
Oh...yeesh. I want to avoid BOTH of those scenarios if at all possible.
[Cassandra probably could level Corona with her now power over the rocks. But equally, he doesn't want her to stop existing, either. He knows she's still in there... somewhere. It's just a case of reaching past all the anger and hate to find her again. ]
Things are looking a lot better. I'm hoping they stay that way. With the upward trend.
[He's sure things between him and Quirin are going to get better. Almost losing one another can do that. And oh, it had been so close for him having lost his father forever. He doesn't know if he could have properly recovered from losing him at all. ]
I hope it's possible. Unalaq wasn't worth saving. He started an entire civil war just so he could go through with this crazy plan of his.
And—good. I hope they do, too. One of my best friends started making amends with her dad after he did some pretty messed-up stuff, and he died just after she finally forgave him. Really messed her up. It's worth it, I think. To make sure that things do get better. Even if that's hard.
[ Mako really means that, though—he'd give anything to have his dad back and around and here for them. ]
Cass is worth saving. She's one of the best people I know. She's just being hurt by outside forces and it's made her think she has nowhere else to turn.
[He knows exactly how that feels.]
Yeah. I don't know where I'd be right now if my dad died.
[Or stayed trapped in the amber forever. That too.]
But I think it will get better. Hard as it is. I'm lucky to still have him.
Yeah, desperation is a pretty powerful force by itself. I hope you can figure it out.
[ Mako, too, knows what it's like to have few options, feels for this person he's never met.
But he also knows what it's like to lose your parents, to have nobody left to be there for you but yourself. He wouldn't wish it on Varian for anything. ]
Yeah, you are. You really are. It's good that you know that, at least.
[ Mako takes a bit to respond to that, because old familiar bitterness rises like bile in his throat and he has to swallow around it. He wishes, so much, that he'd been able to tell his parents how much it meant to have them around. Losing them, though, was unthinkable: Mako wasn't exactly prepared for them to suddenly be gone.
He got to tell them, or some version of them, back in September when their pale forms hovered on his porch. ]
Hopefully he feels the same way.
You were talking to her when she was already
[ What is the word for this? One Mako learned recently, maybe: ]
[He's very aware of how lucky he is, at least. It's nothing short of a miracle that his father survived the amber. By all logical reason it should have killed him.]
Yes. I don't think possessed is the right word. I mean- I don't think so anyway. But she was already convinced we were against her at that point.
What do you think is the right word? Possession isn't really something that happens back in our world but it's been brought up a few times here. I'm trying to work out the mechanics of it. What it means.
I don't really know what the right word is. I only know very vaguely what's going on with her at the moment- half of it is guesswork. All I know is that a demon is involved and is pushing her down a dangerous road.
I don't think she's as far gone as to call it possessed yet. Or... at least I hope not.
Demons do seem to be involved, but at least one person here has been possessed by a demon and seems to have fixed it, so it's definitely possible. Even if she is possessed.
That's good at least. Hopeful. I don't want to give up on her if I can help it.
Here's hoping! I can't do anything about it until I go home again, anyway- whenever that would be. Unless she shows up here, I guess. That's always possible.
I don't. I have people here I need to find a better answer for than going home. Some people don't have a home to go to. Or they go home to die. I want to give them another option.
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Just about anything? Sounds exhausting. Festivals are kind of awful.
I've never actually been to the Fire Nation but it's a big festival to celebrate the solstice and the end of the Hundred-Year War. It's just weird because the Fire Nation started that war in the first place.
In the United Republic it's become just a celebration of the end of the war, and a lot less about firebenders. People aren't thrilled about firebenders. For good reason.
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They really are. Corona just really, really, REALLY likes celebrating.
I guess starting a hundred-year war would put people off a nation. I hope no one treats you badly for something you weren't even around for. So you were born outside the nation your family came from? Me too. Well. My dad at least.
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Your dad wasn't from Corona? Did he get treated badly? It's complicated with firebenders. Especially since Republic City used to be a Fire Nation colony in the Earth Kingdom from back when they were trying to take over the world.
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No. He's from the Dark Kingdom. It... died. It housed a dangerous magical artefact and the King made his subjects leave to try and protect them from it. My dad was one of his knights- he was sent to Corona to deal with the magical artefact twinned with the one there. He wasn't treated badly. He's the leader of our village.
[Of course, it ended up being so much more complicated than that- and Quirin's sense of duty was what ultimately drove a large wedge between himself and his son that's only just starting to heal.]
Oh. So there's a less than pleasant history there?
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Yeah, there really is. The Fire Nation has a lot to answer for. They spent a long time doing really awful things, and tried to kill the Avatar. Colonized the Earth Kingdom, wiped out every single Air Nomad, almost wiped out the Southern Water Tribe.
It's bad. Being a firebender isn't exactly a good thing.
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...It's really weird and writing it down makes it look even crazier than it already is.
That is a lot. But you're not to blame for things that happened in the past.
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It's a lot to think about it. I didn't really think about it much until I met Korra, but it's hard not to when you end up involved in the literal fight to stop ten thousand years of darkness because your girlfriend's uncle decided to fuse with the embodiment of darkness and chaos.
Was your dad alright? That's a big duty.
Someday, things will even out again. Some other nation will do something horrible, and people will think badly of them instead.
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He wasn't for a while, but that was more an accident on my part than anything else. Though the fact he kept everything from me didn't help in what happened at all. He's- he's recovering. I think he's happier now it's all out in the open.
That's a good point. People will always look for someone new to hate.
[He was Public Enemy Number One for over a year. Now he's a hero to the people and Cassandra has taken his former position. ]
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[ At this point Mako is more used to a destroyed Republic City than an intact Republic City. ]
So he's alive, at least. And getting better. That's good.
[ At least, then, he isn't like Asami: forgiving his father only to have him die weeks later. As far as he can tell Asami still hasn't dealt with the fallout of that. ]
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[Cassandra probably could level Corona with her now power over the rocks. But equally, he doesn't want her to stop existing, either. He knows she's still in there... somewhere. It's just a case of reaching past all the anger and hate to find her again. ]
Things are looking a lot better. I'm hoping they stay that way. With the upward trend.
[He's sure things between him and Quirin are going to get better. Almost losing one another can do that. And oh, it had been so close for him having lost his father forever. He doesn't know if he could have properly recovered from losing him at all. ]
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And—good. I hope they do, too. One of my best friends started making amends with her dad after he did some pretty messed-up stuff, and he died just after she finally forgave him. Really messed her up. It's worth it, I think. To make sure that things do get better. Even if that's hard.
[ Mako really means that, though—he'd give anything to have his dad back and around and here for them. ]
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[He knows exactly how that feels.]
Yeah. I don't know where I'd be right now if my dad died.
[Or stayed trapped in the amber forever. That too.]
But I think it will get better. Hard as it is. I'm lucky to still have him.
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[ Mako, too, knows what it's like to have few options, feels for this person he's never met.
But he also knows what it's like to lose your parents, to have nobody left to be there for you but yourself. He wouldn't wish it on Varian for anything. ]
Yeah, you are. You really are. It's good that you know that, at least.
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[It definitely didn't work, but he saw enough glimmers or the old Cass in there to be certain she's not beyond help yet.]
I do. I never plan to take him for granted ever again.
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He got to tell them, or some version of them, back in September when their pale forms hovered on his porch. ]
Hopefully he feels the same way.
You were talking to her when she was already
[ What is the word for this? One Mako learned recently, maybe: ]
possessed?
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[He's very aware of how lucky he is, at least. It's nothing short of a miracle that his father survived the amber. By all logical reason it should have killed him.]
Yes. I don't think possessed is the right word. I mean- I don't think so anyway. But she was already convinced we were against her at that point.
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I don't think she's as far gone as to call it possessed yet. Or... at least I hope not.
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You'll figure it out.
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Here's hoping! I can't do anything about it until I go home again, anyway- whenever that would be. Unless she shows up here, I guess. That's always possible.
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You don't want to go home until you've finished figuring this place out, right?
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I don't. I have people here I need to find a better answer for than going home. Some people don't have a home to go to. Or they go home to die. I want to give them another option.
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[He is not going to allow Fern to go home to die. Not for anything. ]
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