deercountry | it's the solstice

Entry tags:

it's the solstice

Who: Mako, Wu, & close CR
What: They might be in a different world, but the solstice is the solstice, and that means it's time to feed everyone you care about, if you're Mako
When: Night of December 21st
Where: Mako and Wu's loft above the Raccoon Room

Content warnings: Sadness from potential memory-share stuff, homesickness, mentions of Mako and Bo's dead parents

© TESSISAMESS

If you have close CR with Mako or Wu, in the days leading up to the Winter Solstice—December 21st—you may have gotten a small text invite in your inbox. A few simple lines inviting you to the Raccoon Room on the night of the 21st for dinner "because it's the solstice." Normally the Raccoon Room is closed early in the week, but on the 21st they've opened it up.

They're actually having people over in the loft above the Raccoon Room, and their living space is decked out in lanterns and candles to keep out the long darkness. Snow falls quietly outside, but in here it's warm and it smells like ginger and pepper. Wu's put on a few scratchy records in the background. Here and there, Winter Mournings are hung, not quite out of reach. It's very easy to accidentally or purposefully touch one.

If anyone comes in early enough, Mako is still at the counter with his sleeves rolled up, rolling dumplings, covered in rice flour. Maybe help him cook? He's looking better than he was early in the month: his skin is the correct pallor without that odd gray cast, and there's no smoke rolling off his body, so that... has to be good!

For the later arrivals, Mako's made dinner, which means hot tangyuan in gingery broth, an entire bowl of mushroom noodles for sharing, and a simmering pot of broth for people to cook things in, as well as a lot of a tangy sauce that Mako gets kind of cagey about when people try. Sit down, enjoy some hot pot! It's a time to be together, after all.

[ ooc: tag around, top-level, have a good time! ]

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"He's all," he waves again, glancing over at Mako. "Burny. Corrupt. He'll be fine." Maybe. He honestly has no idea.

Instead, he grabs a bun and pushes it into Manabu's hands. "Try one of these."

"What-?!"

Accepting the bun is automatic and mostly ignored considering what Wu's going on about. Manabu frowns deeply.

"Wait, you mean--like the stuff we got all those mushrooms for? You do have those mushrooms, right?" It's almost unfathomable that he wouldn't - the damn things were growing everywhere.

...Okay, not all of them are the good kind of mushroom, but still!

"Yes, I've made him eat the mushrooms, but there are only so many mushrooms he'll let me force feed him!" Wu throws his arms in the air before huffing and crossing them again. "Ugh, I don't want to talk about him. Happy Solstice, Manabu. Eat your bun."

"Uh--mm, ye, yeah...happy...happy solstice..."

Yeesh. Wu's got the same kind of energy Louis radiates when training sessions cut into her soap operas. Manabu knew then and knows now to just do as he's told to avoid stoking any further ire unintentionally, so he pops the bun into his mouth - all of it, all at once, which is a mistake that he's resigning himself to by laboriously chewing with chipmunk cheeks while his hand searches around for the drink he knows he's going to need here when he gets to trying to choke this thing down.

"Happy Solstice," Wu mutters again, a hand on his hip, irritation rolling off of him. But it isn't directed at Manabu, at least. It's all directed at Mako.

After a moment, he realizes what Manabu is going for, and pours them each a glass of sake. He knocks most of his back in one drink. "It's not like he's even in danger! He's just stubborn. Have you ever had a boyfriend, Manabu? Or a girlfriend?"

He said he didn't want to talk about it, but clearly he does.

Manabu's managed to choke down chewed-up bun, is in the midst of throwing back sake to force it all the way down, and that's when Wu's question his his ears and he nearly spittakes. Cheeks go chipmunk-large again, face red with the effort it takes to gulp everything en masse down his throat.

Ow.

"Ghhahhh...hhh..." The aftertaste of alcohol makes his eyes sting a little, and he needs a minute to swallow again and feel safe even breathing.

After a little hiccup: "Wha, what-? No, I...I got no plans to be...married yet, so...why would I?"

"Married? Why would you need to get married?" Wu waves the hand with his glass it in. "You don't have to have plans to marry someone to date them! I don't know if Mako and I will get married-- at home, we couldn't, and here," his eyes flick back to Mako again, lips staying parted for a moment. Honestly, he hadn't thought about it. He hadn't thought about marrying Mako until this very moment and, well.

It's a nice thought.

"Here, he's burning into nothing! So, no plans for marriage. Just dating. Being boyfriends. Do you want that with someone?"

It seems strange that one doesn't just lead to the other - things like that are extremely simplistic and linear to Manabu. Ignorance is bliss, after all.

Manabu wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, a frown appearing as he finishes that.

"I...I-I don't know," he utters. "I don't really--know anything about that. That kind of stuff. You know? Since...I was--I...I had a job and..."

And what? What job? The Roost is a job now, but...it's not his life's calling anymore. Isn't he supposed to find that first? Everything's supposed to fall immediately into place after that.

That's what he thought, anyway.

"So? I have a job," he waves a hand vaguely, since they are technically in the Raccoon Room, just above the venue. "You can do both, if you want to. But that's the question, isn't it? Do you want to?"

It's so much easier to focus on something like this, to not think about Mako burning away and so reluctantly accepting his help.

Manabu swallows again, grimacing against the lingering aftertaste of booze and bun and how poorly it mingles with the topic at-hand.

Okay, sure - plenty of people have the job and companion-thing at the same time, even here! Not that...Manabu looks around to notice it so much beyond Wu and Mako, but...surely...

A partner...more than a work-partner?

"I...I, uh. I don't know...how that'd work out."

"That's half the point, isn't it? To see if it does work out," Wu watches Manabu, nursing his drink casually in one hand. Even if he wants to be with Mako forever, he honestly has no idea how Mako feels about it. They've never once had that conversation, and it scares him just thinking about it. "You've never dated anyone at all? Well, I guess I can't talk. I didn't either, before Mako. But I have an excuse! I was a refugee!"

Sort of. A very rich and well treated refugee, taking shelter in the Presidential suite of the swankiest hotel in the city.

The weight of Wu's gaze on him is a bit too much to meet head-on, so Manabu frowns down at the empty glass he'd just chugged.

"I mean...I kind of figured...you'd already have an idea of that," he admits feebly. "Like--like you already know it'll work out, or...is worth working at. Like right out the gate." He chances a quick, wincing glance. "Right?"

Isn't...that how it works? Rushing into the dark...that's for more harrowing circumstances. Like a gunfight.

"It's worth working on, yeah, but-- honestly, I didn't even know if Mako liked me," instead, Wu just kissed him in a moment of desperation and feeling, and was left in the dark for a week. It was a very bad week, a painful week, but it had turned out well. "But it was a risk. It was terrifying. Sometimes, it still is."

He's still watching Manabu, his mind turning over what Manabu must be afraid of. "You don't really seem like the kind of guy who's afraid of risks. At least, not all the time."

Manabu's head tilts at the little revelation about a time before Wu and Mako were...Wu and Mako. The idea that they didn't even like each other seems weird from where he's standing, given the only time he's known them is them together, fussy or otherwise. He'd ask about it, but--

"I mean-!" His eyes wince. "It's a little much to compare that to armed combat, right? That's life or death stuff...!"

"Is it? It's still a risk! An emotional risk. Maybe you won't die, but shouldn't that make it easier, Manabu? If you can take life or death risks, can't you take a risk with your feelings?" Because, honestly, Manabu could use that. He could use someone who he's more comfortable being vulnerable around, even if it is scary.

"I-I mean..."

Manabu swallows, gaze retreating back downward. Man, this is really not his type of conversation! And it's not like Wu is actively teasing him, so he can't just huff and bug off...

"It's just not...not something I really think about doing. I guess? I don't know--" His shoulders shrug up to his earlobes. "I don't know anything about it yet! And--and besides, I should be...doing more important things, right? There's still a ton of work fixing things up, making sure people are safe..."

"I think relationships are really important. But, well, people want different things," he waves vaguely. "But, like, here! Relationships are so important! With that awful loneliness, you know? I mean, you do know," oops, maybe shouldn't have brought that up. "What I mean is, relationships are important, even if they're not, you know, romantic. Like friends, they're important here! I know I would have died way more times without my friends, and without Mako. I probably would have fallen completely into it, if I hadn't been talked out of it by people who care about me. And you have people who care about you, Manabu! And it's important because we do, care about you, and we're not going anywhere, buddy!"

He nudges Manabu in the ribs before wrapping an arm around him in a half-hug. "We can fix things up and stuff, but we also can hang out and get to know each other better! Supporting each other is important, and that's what we're doing right now."

He's determined with that, because if this party doesn't help some people out of their corruption, so help him.

As always, Manabu writhes and shrinks into all the jabbing and grabbing - he's been getting more used to that from Wu, at least. It's easier to get a hold of him when his head is getting bombarded with this heavy stuff while alcohol is trying to buzz in, too.

"Ye-yeah, we are," he utters, a little perplexed. What did that have to do with having to date anybody?

...Because it isn't enough, he realizes, frowning as he re-hears Wu bringing up volumes of dying and awful loneliness.

"It's not like I can really do much else that way, though...I-I'm the only one from my universe here." Wu and Mako are from the same place - they get where each other are coming from! Is that why? Is that what it takes, then? Mildly buzzed Manabu brain assumes so right now.

"I know! I know. That makes it harder, because the rest of us? We're only going to kind of get it, your past. You have no idea how often Mako gets annoyed about people thinking animals from our world are weird. It's, like, weekly," He squeezes Manabu tighter for a moment. "But that doesn't mean we can't be friends, that we can't create new relationships, right? Like, I only met Mako four years ago. Bolin, Korra, and Asami? I only knew then for a few months before I came to Deerington! Sure, we share the same world and know about how it works and its history, but we don't have that much history, together. You and me? We have a good half year of the stuff!"

Which also might not be the best thing to bring up, but Wu remembers meeting Manabu, at that grocery store, all those months ago. Close to a year even.

"What I'm saying is, you can totally have friends and girlfriends or boyfriends here who are important to you who aren't from your world. And having those relationships? Are important! You can't just go through your life by yourself, buddy. Where's the fun in that?" Which, again, might negate his point with Manabu, who doesn't seem to value "fun" very highly like Wu does.

It's probably going to be more embarrassing in hindsight - this focus on origins. After all, nobody here even has the same blood they were born with anymore! They're all...more related to each other now than they ever were before. And, admittedly, hearing Wu's logic and insistence does make Manabu feel embarrassed for even feeling the way he feels about his separations in the degrees he feels them. It's very enticing to want to push away from that negativity and hold onto what Wu's saying, despite there being some dogged, determined facet of himself that refuses to let go, clinging with something of a skeletal grip perhaps.

Maybe he's not so wrong about that fear he has of being chased by ghosts? They were literal more than once, after all, so perhaps they haven't gone away so much as...moved to a different spot, now camping out in the back of his head, informing these hesitations and utterances. It'd have to be that way, otherwise he'd just punch whatever problem was plaguing him outright (or get punched by it in turn)!

All the better Wu's still around to insist, to emphasize, and to, of course, hug, because while Manabu can't reach those specters as they are now, this kind of thing does.

"I-I'm not trying to," he insists, still red-faced. "I mean, I'm...I'm right here, aren't I? That's gotta count!"

"You are," Wu softens a little, smiling at him. "You really are! And you've been opening up, too. Hey, I'm sorry if I'm pushing you. I just, I like to see my friends happy! And I want you to be happy, no matter how you get there."

Whether it's through friendship, romantic relationships, or work. As long as he's happier at the end of this, that's what matters.

"And you need another drink!" Sometimes, he's great at listening to what his friends need. And other times? He refills Manabu's glass before he has a chance to answer.

Manabu utters a faint, acknowledging sound, somewhat cowed by Wu's assurances and insistences. He watches the glass fill up again, blinking at the distorted reflections of bits of himself, realizing some of the way he's feeling right now...that might be because of the drink, right?

This doesn't taste good at all, he thinks unhappily while taking a more sensible sip of it and grimacing. But then...that's not why people drink it, I guess...

Jeez...how did Bruce and David throw this stuff back so easily?

"Okay...but...you haven't sounded very happy this whole time," he dares to point out, peering over at Wu.

"Well... no I suppose not. But I'm happier here than I was at home, as strange as that is to say. At least here, I have friends. I have a boyfriend. I have a job that I like and want to do! I have Fritter, I have a home of my own. It's all pretty much an upgrade if you ignore the constant threat of existential horror," all said with a hand to emphasize it, smiling at Manabu drinks. Good! He likes it!

"But my overall happiness? Definitely better than it was at home."

"So the...the being annoyed right now thing isn't...much compared to the overall," he maths out, brow furrowing as it comes to pass that doing math while drinking isn't something he excels at. "Overall...happiness thing, I mean."

"Exactly! And I'm not annoyed, I'm just, just," he waves a hand vaguely. He's impatient, he's not taking as much shit as usual, he's, "getting to the heart of things, buddy. I'm not annoyed at you! I just want you to have a good time."

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