deernet | video; un:mako

Uh, hey. Mako here.

[ Nailing it so far, right? Mako's standing in front of a half-blue, half-green wall, dotted with small lunar sconces. Everything looks kind of dusty and half-finished, and the watery afternoon light illuminates yet more dust drifting around him.

Notably, a small dragon, red-scaled and content, is draped over his shoulders like a scarf, watching the Omni with bright eyes.

Mako glances momentarily off the screen, mouths something, and then looks back, clearing his throat. ]

It's come to my attention that a lot of you have been setting things on fire left and right since we washed up here. Obviously, this is dangerous to you and the people around you. If that's you, you need to make an effort to control it immediately before something worse than singeing your clothes happens.

For those of you who just washed up, I'm a firebender. That means I can do—

[ He holds up his left hand (scarred with strange marks) in front of himself and splays his fingers, making a small puff of fire appear and hold over his palm. It flickers there like a candle flame, dancing between Mako's fingers, before he drags it in a small arc and lets it go out. ]

—that, and—

[ Another flick of his fingers, this time producing little purple-bright sparks that zap between the tips and then dissipate. ]

—that. And a lot more.

So. If you need help learning to control your powers, and you do, come to the Raccoon Room in Cellar Door on Wednesdays. You'll see the sign. I've been doing this since I was a kid. Anyone else who wants to help, feel free to drop by too.

[ Finally, he looks up, his serious expression dropping just slightly. ]

Trust me. If a bunch of snotty six-year-olds back home can learn how to do it, you can.

[ The little dragon huffs in agreement, fire puffing out of its nose, and Mako reaches forward to cut the feed. ]

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That's what I keep saying—and it has to be just a fraction, right? The people responding to this are the ones who want to do something about it. There have to be more who either think they have a handle on it or actually do. It's the ones who think they have a handle but don't we really need to worry about.

[ Wow, talking about things he's worried about really opened up the conversation—it's largely because worries and stress have been pretty top-of-mind so far this month. Mako has a list of things he's worried about and he can't even cover half of it here. It's extensive.

But that is not the point here: the point here is to refocus and remember what Wu told him about being nicer leading to better teaching.

The point is also that just hearing that makes him proud, because it was pretty clear how tough this was for Varian to swallow.

Mako sits up a little straighter, smiling. ]

Hey, that's progress. That's real progress. You're tackling the most... I don't know, the part of all of this that's hardest to explain. The part you didn't have before. Told you you could do it.

Right, of course. There's a lot of us- especially if you factor in the fact we have completely new Sleepers who arrived with those of us from the dream. Our population has be pretty sizeable, and it makes sense there's got to be a fair percentage of us who are...coldbloods, right? [He's still getting used to the terminology. ] And yeah- there's probably people like you who have a better handle on it- but the ones stubbornly refusing to get help are the people who might...uh...set fire to someone's face.

[Varian would stand by that Mako is a brilliant teacher. He'd trust very few people with this, and Mako's been nothing but supportive. Anyone who says otherwise will have to fight him.

And, oh, that validation is very nice. He likes to think he's a little less desperate for it these days, but it's still so very nice to hear. ]

Yeah! It's definitely very alien to me. Not something I ever thought I'd have to figure out how to deal with. I couldn't have figured it out without you. You're a really good teacher.

[He's just gonna reverse uno your validation, Mako, take that!!!]

Forgot about them. That's weird, right? If this was supposed to be whatever was underneath Deerington this whole time—I mean, it's definitely not the town we recognize, but there are parts...

I don't know. Need to think about it more, try to figure out where all the new people came from. Guess new people showed up in Deerington all the time and this might not be any different.

[ Mako's actually kind of thrilled to hear that second part, blinks a few times and then smiles, small and true. ]

Yeah? You think?

Yeah, it's like...shadows, I guess? Like they're little imprints left behind by the dream.

[However safe those imprints are is anyone's guess. Deerington was pretty awful a lot of the time. ]

Maybe not. Maybe we opened a whole different set of metaphorical doors, who knows?

Absolutely! You're literally teaching me something that's basically magic. I-I mean if anyone from home were here they'd say that's about as likely as pigs flying. But you're doing it, and it makes sense. I think that marks you as a pretty great teacher.

I think it all must've been connected to Deerington in some way, or we wouldn't have been able to get through them.

[ But this kind of metaphorical, theoretical stuff is a little above Mako's paygrade, generally speaking. He's getting better at it. Kind of. ]

As long as it makes sense. I don't know, Varian. It might be working for you but it looks like it's showing up in a bunch of different ways, and some of them have nothing to do with bending. This is going to be tougher than I planned.

I imagine there's got to be something left over. Not a lot- this place feels very different, but it was connected to the dream for a long time, right? It's like...what was underneath it all.

[It's okay, Mako, Varian's working on it. Best he can.]

Well...sure, it probably is gonna be tougher. People come from different worlds and have different experiences- heck, different physiologies altogether. It's not gonna be easy, but I've got faith you can do it. You're pretty stubborn, you'll get there.

[ Mako actually snorts, ducking his head slightly to hide the expression. Varian hit on maybe the one thing that Mako actually agrees with. ]

Yeah, that's true. It's a personal challenge now. I'm not gonna give up or I lose.

[ There is a reason he was an excellent pro-bender: Mako has a competitive streak a mile wide and twice as deep. ]

Wonder if that connection to Deerington might actually help my case. If this all came from there, and it's because of blood, there must be some... I don't know. Power baseline. Something everyone has in common in the way their powers work.

[He'll take that head duck as a personal victory, thank you very much.]

Good, glad to hear it. I think we're all gonna need that conviction in the months to come.

[Sometimes you just have to tap into the part of a person which makes them do a thing because they refuse to back down otherwise. ]

Maybe? It would make sense that it would, right? We'd have to ask Eddie, I know he's been studying the blood- been taking samples. There's got to be common links between each type. Something to build up off of.

I'll reach out to him, see what he thinks. I need some kind of consensus or it's just going to be trial-and-error with every person I talk to, and that... is going to take way too long. Good idea.

Not a problem. I think out of everyone here, he's probably got the better shot of working out what's going on. It's...definitely more his area than mine.

[Blood is not Varian's favourite thing in the world, thanks. ]

Definitely better than trying to work out with all the chaos going on now with everyone trying to figure out what the heck is happening to them.

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