October 2021 Event Overflow

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OCTOBER 2021 EVENT OVERFLOW

OVERFLOW POST for the OCTOBER 2021 EVENT

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[entreats]

[ There's a lot she could say to protest here. Like the fact that it's not like she's dying or anything over here. That she can handle a little loss of blood, especially since this magic thankfully didn't require a lot of it.

.. that she just wanted to make him happy for a moment. Because Mako understands her so well, and that makes him feel like an important friend to her.

The moment Ange thinks all of that though, she realises just how pathetic it makes her sound. Her cheeks colour a little, and after an awkward moment of silence, she nods. ]

Yeah. .. Okay.

[ So smooth. Totally not awkward.

(She is being very awkward right now.) ]

At least.. take a last look at it? Then I'll make the magic vanish right after.

[arclightning]

[ Mako's worried anger softens at the quiet words. If Ange is getting awkward, it has to mean she's getting in her head about something because they may as well be related for all that they have the exact same way of operating in the world.

Without a word, he nods, and turns to do exactly that as best he can, because he doesn't want this to go to waste and there is a selfish part of him he has to make himself ignore that wants to stay here forever, in this facsimile of his home.

Even the streets are different. Of course they are: everything is, because this is a different world. The stones are wide and flat and pale, making plenty of space for Satomobiles even in this crowded district. Mako traces the lines of the streets up to the shapes of the shops, watching people chatter together and shout at each other in familiar voices. Language he understands, and smells he knows, and animals that aren't strange. Shapes and colors, basic geometric forms, the way things button—

They're all so different, and Mako's never going to see it again, so he really does have to memorize the way people's cuffs fall and the smell of garlic and chili and cooked-down earthy-sweet ash banana, a fruit which doesn't even exist in Trench.

Mako doesn't cry. He hasn't in years, not since he was a child, but his throat is tight as he drags in another breath, and his eyes are red when he turns back to Ange. He clears his throat, feeling raw and exposed and awkward, and watches a kid dart across the street, tailed by a smaller girl, just behind Ange. ]

Okay. I— okay.

[ It's all he can manage around the swell of emotion, an odd bittersweet mix of longing and happiness that he even got to see this. ]

[entreats]

[ At first Ange still feels like she's drowning in her own awkward feelings. In her own thoughts, that are racing through her mind way too quickly, each one followed up by three different ones.

But all that noise inside of her head quiets down when she looks over at Mako. It's a moment before he speaks up, but even then the emotion is already so visible in the other's eyes. His tone only adds to it, making it all even more obvious.

Something about him seems on the verge of crying, even though he doesn't cry. And Ange gets it, recognizes it - that feeling that digs so deeply into you, but that you still can't allow yourself to cry over, especially when someone else is present.

Ange sucks in a breath.

Something about it is kind of terrifying, because it's something she's never done around Mako before. And he's someone who seems to understand her so well that she doesn't just want to break something between them by doing something stupid. But at the same time - if it were her standing there, in Mako's shoes, Ange knows there's one thing she would have wanted, even though she never would have admitted to it. Even though she never would ask for it - even though she perhaps wouldn't have realised it herself in that exact moment.

Ange turns, and then wraps her arms around the guy. It's not a tight hold, nothing too energetic like the many extroverts in their lives, but the embrace still definitely can be felt - though it might be a tad awkward with their height difference. Ange's a short Japanese girl, after all. ]

I'm sorry. [ She says softly, almost more a whisper. And it's hard to say what the 'sorry' applies to here, but maybe it just encompasses all of it in its simplicity. Sorry that this can't last, that Mako even has to feel this way.

Sorry that some things are just so difficult without ever having a good solution.

The illusion fades away around them as Ange still hugs Mako. It grows hazy, and then breaks up into tons of Ange's magical butterflies, which themselves then vanish into the air, leaving them standing right back in that same corner of the festival they were standing at before. ]

[arclightning]

[ Mako doesn't get hugged very often by people who aren't his family, as a rule. Bolin's touchy, loves to sling his arm around Mako's shoulders, and Wu practically hangs off him these days. He's gotten used to that, likes the easy closeness of it.

But he doesn't get hugged like this, slow and careful and full of feeling.

It's... it's really nice.

For a bare moment, while the city is still bright around them, Mako goes a little stiff at the unexpected touch, forgets how to use his arms and where his hands should go while his head goes what, what's happening, what is she—

And then she speaks, and he softens all at once, gratitude washing over him in a warm wave even as the city begins to fade. Mako lifts his arms, dropping them quietly over Ange's shoulders, pulling her into a proper hug while her magic flutters up around them like a hundred tiny spirits. They're surrounded by people again, by music that doesn't sound like home and smells that don't smell like it, and Mako should probably let go but no one has ever done anything like that for him and he can't forget that, so he hugs Ange a little tighter and murmurs a quiet thank you into the chilly air. ]

[entreats]

[ There's a brief moment where Ange is terrified that she did the wrong thing. That she crossed some sort of line that she shouldn't have crossed, in her misguided attempt at comforting the other. She's never been good at this sort of thing, after all. Never as much of a natural as the people around her in this place who do it so easily.

But when Mako embraces her as well. Ange can even feel the hold tightening a little, and relief washes over her when she realises she did make the right choice. Even if she was unsure of it.

And the hug itself.. it is kind of nice.

Even though Ange would claim to not be a very touchy person come hell or high water, it's not like she doesn't actually enjoy this sort of thing with the people she cares for. It's the proximity of hearts and feelings that makes the proximity during physical contact better. More meaningful.

It's why she lingers in the hug for a few more moments, not caring whoever can see them in the crowd of people passing them by, before she slowly releases her hold, stepping back to look up at him. ]

.. Do you think you're going to be okay now?

[ Maybe not entirely okay. Bad feelings don't fade so easily.

But perhaps - just a tad better. That much would already make all of this absolutely worth it. ]

[arclightning]

[ A loaded question. Mako lets her retreat, stays a little closer than he normally would, awash with the warm glow of gratitude and... actual, real friendship, the kind that used to be so hard to find. Ange is something else, though, and... ]

...yeah. I do.

[ Soft words, full of feeling, echoed by the quiet smile on Mako's face. He lets them linger in the not-quite silence, then looks up at the shout of some vendor across the street and reaches out, casually touching Ange's shoulder. ]

C'mon. I'll get you a cider.

[ Thank you, he doesn't say again, but it's in every word all the same. ]