Mako (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
arclightning) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
deernet2021-09-06 08:14 pm
arclightning) wrote in deernet2021-09-06 08:14 pm
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. ]
[ 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. ]
no subject
My dorm room is here.
[...]
In the middle of Gaze. And in exactly the same state we saw it last.
[Mako would know, given that he was the only one there at the moment she had been devoured and the dorm had succumbed to its crumbling fate.]
I do not appreciate the Pthumerians' sense of humor. Though I suppose that means I technically own property in this city, if they think it belongs to me.
no subject
That feels kind of like a personal attack on Lysithea, given that Mako's pretty sure the exact state it was in last (something he can't think about without the accompanying twinge of guilt) was "not."
His brows drift very slowly up. ]
You were gone this whole time, right? Didn't accidentally piss one of them off?
no subject
[Lysithea's expression does not change.]
...I actually wouldn't have recognized it except that I found some of my old belongings strewn about. Perhaps they just thought there was enough to scavenge that I could reasonably want to pick through it.
It's just sort of a lot of rubbish sitting behind one of those fake brick walls in Gaze. It's sheer luck I wandered there in the first place.
no subject
[ That's what Mako would do, anyway: he's been faced with the rubble of enough homes to know it's not worth it.
Also, he's not a huge fan of letting cosmic entities decide where he should live, and Lysithea certainly doesn't deserve that. ]
The only thing they left us is the sauna from the safehouse. Otherwise, nothing. But, you know.
This is your fresh start, right? Seems right to actually start over without the literal wreckage of the past.
no subject
[Perhaps it was supposed to be a helpful reminder.]
I'm still searching for somewhere I can live reasonably. I'll probably stay in Gaze. It seems... appropriate.
no subject
[ Dark humor helps with the lingering sense of guilt, right? ]
Just. Let me know if you need help house-hunting. I want to know how long you think it's been since you were in Deerington. And what happened while you were gone. You seem different.
In a good way.
Not that it was a bad way, before, just. Uh. You know.
no subject
[Lysithea gives a faint smile.]
For all that I say I'm tired of magic, I can't let myself become complacent, either. I'll take that as the lesson here. And besides... there were good memories associated with that room, too.
[like the time she set it on fire... the time the ice zombies crawled in through the windows... the time the werewolf chased her up the stairs...]
...One or two good memories.
We should have tea. But if you want the quick answer, it is the year 1184, and I am supposed to turn 20 in a few weeks. Fodlan has been embroiled in a continental war since I returned and finally fought in the Battle of Garreg Mach.
no subject
[ Got, in the past tense, like it isn't very clearly going to be just as bad here. Mako can tell somewhere in his bones that it is. It's maybe the anxiety speaking, but it's also maybe past experience. ]
...four years of war, huh? That whole time?
no subject
Fortunately, many of the battles so far have been between the Kingdom and the Empire. Both armies occasionally try their luck in our territory, but I think they're hoping to mop up the pieces once they've dealt with what they perceive as the main threat.
We're not even united enough to have a force of our own.
...But perhaps we'll leave that discussion for another time. You'll have students battering down your door soon enough, I'm sure.
no subject
[ And that's not intimidating at all. He is totally a hundred percent fine with this and definitely has it covered, it's totally okay. ]
Hey. Your teacher, the really important one. What made lessons stick with you?
no subject
[Her tone is one of great surprise - but there is a ring of some deeper emotion there, too. A guarded expression comes into her eyes.]
I...
I'm not sure. There was... a sort of calmness about him. Confidence. It felt as if he were always speaking specifically to you and your situation - and he somehow understood instinctively what it was you needed.
I suppose it was a bit of hero-worship, in hindsight.
He had a knack for... letting you sort of talk your way into the solution you already knew to be true.
no subject
I could use that.
[ One of Mako's strengths—especially compared to his chatty friends—is being quiet, and letting Bolin talk himself through problems while Mako listens is one of the more effective ways to get him to problem-solve. Maybe that'll work with everyone's bending...? ]
The confidence, for sure. Nobody's going to trust me if I act like I'm out of my depth.
[ Mako pauses, contemplating that for a long moment before looking back up at the Omni, and Lysithea. ]
He's pretty important to you even without the hero-worship, huh? Did you get to see him again, back home?
no subject
You don't need to pretend, Mako. You are a master of fire magic.
[At his next question, the haunted look returns.]
...He's dead, Mako.
He died in the first battle. The night I returned home. At least... there were too many bodies to sort through, and we had to flee the battleground. No one has seen hide nor hair of him since.
I guess the Empire might be keeping him captive, but I believe they would have announced it, if so.
He was... important to all of us.
no subject
It's such a final thing when they aren't here. Mako's expression shutters, understanding warring with something like anger on Lysithea's behalf. ]
That's rough.
[ And still, despite the shadows of his own loss pressing on him, Mako never knows what to say to things like that. I'm sorry? He is sorry, but that doesn't change anything. It was too soon? It will always be, and platitudes have never helped with the yawning cave of grief left behind, the stumbling-through and pressing-on that the living have to do in the spaces the dead once occupied.
Mako looks at her, and sighs quietly, shaking his head. ]
I want to hear more about him when you get time, alright? Over tea or something.
you forgot the 'buddy'
Secretly... she has kept track of the time, still. It is almost at the five year mark. Garreg Mach lay abandoned now, she knew, but... if she had lasted in Fodlan for the full five years, she thinks she would have made the journey.
Perhaps some of her other classmates would have, too.]
Of course.
You don't need to hear this right now. I'll catch up with you again soon, Mako. It's -- good to see you again.
lmaoo
I'm glad you made it, Lysithea. Let me know if you need any help setting up a house, alright? I helped with one wall, I can help with more.
no subject
It's my great hope that there will be no 'setting up' needed this time around. If that's not the case, then I'm just very bad at picking places to live.
I'll talk to you soon.