arclightning | deerlybeloved

I looked at yours and

It could be a lot worse. I mean. It's not that bad. Bold. Or something like that.

Bold in ways that I am definitely not. I have friends who would laugh themselves silly over that.

So at least yours is tame.

Personally I find it weird that this town is so into our love lives that it has to write something like that.

And. That a town can write something about us in the first place, but that's... becoming more normal. Great.

What are the X-Men?

Between Pokémon, people from home, the hell life is right now, and everything else? This place owes us some laughs, if nothing else.

And they say mischief keeps you young at heart. Which is a good thing to be. Right up there with the ability to look good in a crevat.

Wow you really did look at mine. Oh geez. Uh, that’s a long and complicated question to answer. There are a few of them here in town but mostly they are adults from my world who have abilities from the same source as I do who fight for equality and freedom from racial oppression. Who are also idiots that are prone to jumping into bed together in ways that made me want to roll my eyes and also never need a sex ed class.

I appreciate that. Back home King Wu—I guarded him for a few years—used to tell me it wasn't "my look." Still not sure what he meant.

I SAID I did; did you think I was lying? When you put it that way, it actually sounds a lot like my world. Even the... bed. Part. Of it.

I think it's the hair. Yours looks better wild and free, looking like it's inviting fingers in it.

No, I didn't think you were lying, I was just... hoping you didn't see the train wreck. It makes me sound so damn thirsty, and I'm really more controlled than that.

Part of the issue with being psychomimetric back home is that it's constant, and I don't control it. So I'm, well... a lot more experienced in theory than in practice.

[ Don't mind Mako, he just has to do two things:

1. Deal with the fact that David is telling him his hair would look good with fingers?? In it?? Is that flirting? Does he think Mako's hair looks bad? He'd stopped gelling it back again once he rejoined the force, and Wu seemed to like it better that way too, but—

2. Once he's finished mildly worrying about that and going to look in the mirror to mess with his hair (Mako is way more vain than he'll ever really let on), he has to go look up this meaning of the word thirsty in the helpful internet slang dictionary Chloe gave him.

What he sees makes him snort aloud. ]

So you're... NOT running around throwing winking faces at people, huh? Could've fooled me.

That sounds exhausting. Anytime you touch someone, it happens? And there's nothing you can do? How do you deal with that?

[Listen, he can totally throw the guy a bone here and admit to something.]

It's not like I chose what the flirting button looks like on DB.

It's not ANYtime I touch someone here. I have to want it, have to push for it. Back home it's just always there. It's a telepathic class gift, which means my mind just inherently reaches out and touches other minds that aren't protected. Always. It's definitely hard to live with, always has been for me. Like, people don't know what sort of things their brains store in the category of knowledge and skills. But from my understanding, my brain chemistry and structure is very different from that of a normal, baseline human. So I can process large quanta of data rapidly, and synthesize solutions from blending of skills.

Helps that I was a bit of a genius even without this. But it has meant there are things in my life I had to give up, because being good at them wasn't necessarily something I could be sure of anymore. Like figure skating. Was it me that pulled off an impressive jump, or just my powers grabbing all the best skills around me and putting them together?

[ Mako hates the idea of everything about this, and feels pretty bad for David. His mind constantly touching other people's minds is kind of his idea of a personal hell. Comes with the repression territory, probably. And if Mako couldn't be sure of his own abilities, of everything that he fought so hard for, he doesn't know what else he would have. ]

So your head is prepared for just constantly getting knowledge all the time. Do you even know how much you know?

Wait. In your figure skating example. Even if your powers grabbed all the best skills and put them together, isn't there a part of that relying on your body, too? Do the skills automatically translate into your muscles being able to do them? Because if you still had to work on that part, then it's still your skill, it's just made better by your circumstances, and something like... I don't know. Money, or something. Also does that. If that makes any sense.

I don't even know how to quantify the idea of knowing how much I now. It's just that difficult. But hey, at least here I'm only borrowing stuff.

[Oh dear, Mako... How sweet, to think something so kind and pure and like people wouldn't care about it.]

Yep, muscle-memory comes with it. I do have to keep my body fit enough to do it, but the muscle memory is there. And my world is not exactly fond of people like me doing anything competitively. If we win, they say we cheated.

Sounds like the anti-benders back home. They almost took over Republic City. They thought they were being tormented by benders, like having bending makes you better somehow.

They weren't completely wrong. But their leader was a power-hungry liar who wanted to take everybody's bending away.

Did you stop figure skating because of that? For good?

I had stopped a touch before because, well, I'd had a growth spurt. And for a guy that can throw off your jumps and spins. So while I was trying to train back up I had my powers awaken, and when I realized...

Yeah, I haven't gone to do more than just casual laps since then. But I've promised to go try it this winter if there's somewhere to do it. Might even give lessons.

Don't suppose I can sign you up for some one on one instruction?

Yeah, I put on those rolling skate things to try and keep Korra from dying and I turned into some kind of pale, pointy-toothed monster. I'm good. I will watch you ice skate, though.

It'd actually be you, if your powers are different.

Pale, pointy-toothed? Vampire. That might suit you, but that’s a personal opinion. And I’ll be happy for an audience.

I’m not sure I’m quite certain what you mean?

If you get good at it again, then it'll be under your own skill, here.

Vampire. That was the word. I don't want to turn into a vampire again.

[ Here's the thing: Korra will 100% bully him into actually going skating with David. Trust. This will be a thing whether Mako wants it to be or not. ]

It will be, which I don’t mind at all. In the mean time, well, I suppose I just have to get through.

Wait, can you be near ice that long as a fire bender?

[He’s long since lost his knowledge of it.]

[ David can't hear it but Mako actually laughs aloud, grinning down at his Fluid. ]

I can be near ice. If I'm too cold for too long my bending gets weaker, but I don't run hot enough to melt the rink out from under you or anything. Don't worry.

[This is where someone could make a comment about Mako being MORE than hot enough to melt ice. But... Well, that’s definitely too forward.]

Well then, winter wont’ suck for you.

[ Mako doesn't even know what he could have been dealing with and is still grateful for it. That would send him into a bit of a spiral trying to figure things out. ]

No, it won't. I learned a long time ago how to keep warm through the winter. It was my brother I had to worry about. It gets cold in Republic City.

[ And they were on the streets, and they could barely afford food, much less warm winter clothing. There was one winter Mako had to stuff newspaper into both of their boots to keep their toes from freezing off. He'd spent terrible sleepless nights curled up together with Bolin, pushing heat over and over again into his shivering limbs. He has nightmares sometimes that he didn't succeed, that he fell asleep and only he woke up.

Winter will never be Mako's favorite season. ]

Maybe the pond will freeze over and you can skate on that.

I imagine fire bending is good for keeping warm.

If you get too cold on the pond I can just heat up the air around you. Firebending's dangerous but it's also pretty useful.

[ Mako guesses this is... going to be a thing, at some point. He almost says something stupid like it's a date but that—feels like too much. It's not a date, it's just going to the pond, maybe, to watch David ice skate. Maybe. ]

If you’re really offering to keep me warm, I’m not going to say no.

Guess I need to survive through October and November in hopes we get the chance.

I am. If you need anything, by the way, let me know. Korra and I have a lot stocked up—water, food, and that incense stuff.

I’ve got all of that too, so I’m fine. But thank you for the concern.

If I wasn't concerned this month something would be wrong with me. Stay safe.

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