[open] Wuko Wedding

[arclightning]

Who: Mako, Wu, and you!
What: GETTING MARRIED
When: February 20th
Where: The beach, through the city, at the Raccoon Room in Cellar Door.

Content Warnings: An inordinate amount of fluff, potentially event happenings.

The Wedding

It's not a normal wedding. There's no officiant, they're not standing up in front of a bunch of people to declare their love: this is a Trench wedding, based on Mako and Wu's shared traditions, inventing some new ones.

The ceremony itself is a procession, from the beach to the Raccoon Room. It starts with just the two of them, at a flower arch on the beach, their hands clasped together, each in a gold suit with red and green accents on the collar and as piping down the front. They walk together along a flower strewn path, talking quietly with one another, sharing small, nervous smiles.

If you are close to the couple, you recieved a red envelope, delivered either by raccoon or small dragon, a few days before the wedding, inviting you to the ceremony. The small crowd gathers outside the Raccoon Room, where the threshold is decked out in red roses. The couple stands in the doorway, saying their vows, and pressing a blood-and-ash covered hand to the other's cheek.

While the ceremony is private, the reception isn't. Invites have gone out to basically the entire city, via Wu's post, so it's a pretty public event. Maybe you're coming because you saw that post. Maybe you're coming because you're involved somehow, maybe you just see a flower-and-light-filled party and decide to drop in. Everyone is welcome. After all, this is Trench, and everyone could be dead tomorrow, so why not celebrate something good while you have the chance? Come in, dance to music from different worlds, eat cake and noodles and dumplings, celebrate a little moment of happiness while you can. The party's going all night, and the couple making their solemn, slightly-bloody vows to each other are only the excuse for it.

The Party

Naturally, since this is Mako and Wu's wedding, it's at the Raccoon Room, decked out even more grandly than it was for its opening. Roses adorn every surface and drop from the ceiling in strings, perfuming the air. Scattered between them are red-and-gold lanterns, casting a dim, inviting light onto velvet hangings. Lining the walls are tables full of food and drinks. Everyone can't fit into this little venue, so Wu has also set up a draping tent outside, full of burning braziers of coal to keep the chill away. The doors are wide open to let the music from inside out: it's just the party, continued! Renfri can be found behind the bar, dishing up custom drinks.

The Music

Chicken Choice Judy, or Ryan Akagi and Min-Gi Park, make their Trench debut on the stage of the Raccoon Room, playing an eclectic mix of original music, 80s hits, current pop, and classical piano music. They begin with a slowed-down version of Lil Nas X's Montero, ease into an upbeat version of That's What I Want, and things take off from there. Maybe give them requests? They might play some of your favorite dance songs! This is a party for everyone, after all. A big space in front of the stage has been cleared for dancing, and the music will be going all night.

The Couple

After the more private ceremony (with only close friends and loved ones, for Mako's peace of mind) Mako and Wu are as available as any couple at their wedding, which is to say, not terribly. With new dark handprints from the ceremony on their faces—really, more on their necks, because Wu wouldn't stand for a giant handprint ruining his look—they can be found chatting with friends, huddled together whispering, or dancing together. They'll try to mingle as much as they can, but they're in pretty high demand tonight!

((ooc: Make top-levels to your hearts' content, mingle, have a good time! This is a Trench party and it's open to everyone! Wuko image credit)) © tessisamess

Comments

[royalfling]

Wu takes her hand without hesitation. He toned down any traditional aspects of a wedding that they would have been subjected to back home, for a multitude of reasons: they could never really have this kind of wedding back home, one just for the two of them, full of joy and people who love them. One that isn't about legacy, but that's about their future together. One that's just for them, honoring that Mako didn't want a lot of people there when they said their vows, just the people closest to them, the ones who they want to take this next step with, people from home and people they met here. The kind of people who changed their lives.

He bounces on his toes, glancing up at Mako before he returns all his attention to Korra. "Korra, that's such a wonderful idea. Thank you."

[arclightning]

A blessing, huh.

Mako curls his fingers into hers, and it's—it's nice. She's not his ex. She's his best friend, just Korra, solid and steady and always ready to find the good somewhere. Why does he keep doing this thing where he acts like it will be weird? Why does his brain keep telling him you can't do this, it'll be strange, they won't like it—

Wu can hear all of this, now, and Mako lets out a quiet puff of breath, something like laughter.

"I think you're the one indulging us," he adds after a moment, squeezing Korra's steady familiar fingers in his. "I'm really glad you're here, even if you weren't doing this."

[avatar_state]

She just watches them for a moment, smiling gently, before continuing.

"There is a story, about Avatar Kyoshi. Perhaps the greatest proponent of love of her era, and renowned for her own openness in terms of seeking it, for herself and others - she was asked by a couple to officiate at their wedding."

"So the story goes, when she arrived in the village she found that the couple in question were outcasts - under house arrest by the local governor. They had defied his edict against their marriage, and he was seeking to bring them to trial. The governor, a man of the past, refused to allow two women to marry, you see. Now, Kyoshi was having none of this."

She smiled much more at this. It was her favourite part, and one of the memories she'd seen, before her own connection to her previous selves had been severed, that had been kept with her. One of the precious handful, really, from ten thousand years of Avatars.

"And so she took each woman in hand, and marched to the centre of the town, all the village following. And she said to the cowering governor these words: 'Love is higher than the law. Purer, greater, and lasts longer. All the force of the world, turned upon it, can merely delay it - in this world or the next. Look upon the love of these two, who stand together against all that would oppose them. Whose bond will transcend the mundane; a seed planted in eternity, which grows the heart and spirit. I speak this blessing to the happy couple - may you go forth in happiness, two spirits entwined. May you have all happiness in this life and the next. May your love add to the beauty of the universe, now and always. Bring your light, like a lantern, to dark places. And above all, give it to each other, every day, and be wonderful together.'"

She stepped back from them, placing their hands together as she did so.

"Needless to say," she said, "the governor gave in. But let's see if I can remember the other part of Kyoshi's blessing..."

She looked upwards, a leg sliding back, hands beginning to move in an intricate pattern, weaving around each other in circular movements. She closed her eyes, letting her chi flow through her, reaching out her own energy into the air around them - a sort of spark into the ether. She pulled her hands back and finally raised them both over her head, concentrating deeply.

And above their heads, for just a bit under a minute, an aurora borealis danced across the sky, a symphony in reds, greens, and blues.

"There we go," she said, quietly, blinking a few times and breathing out. A tiny bit dizzy and more than a little happy she managed it.

[royalfling]

Wu glances at Mako, wondering at how often those thoughts still track through his mind. He wants to talk with him about it, later, but for now... for now he just thinks to Mako that he loves him, that they can all be here together, right now.

And the story Korra tells, it brings tears to his ears. Happy tears that he barely notices prick at his eyes. He sniffs loudly, smiling too hard. He doesn't know this story, has never heard it, but he believes without a doubt that it's true. If he could go home, he would try and dig up the records, would make sure that it was known throughout the Earth Kingdom, throughout the world.

But he can't even dwell on those thoughts, because the air around them starts to glow and shine and he gasps, completely enamored with the lights, the colors. It's beautiful, it's beautiful and it's for them, and Korra, the Avatar (that never really gets old, does it? Being friends with the Avatar), did this for them. He squeezes Mako's hand, shifting closer to him, feelings of love and admiration and awe palpable in the air around them, even for those not in his head.

"This is, this is wonderful, Korra," he breathes, unable to tear his eyes away from the lights. "This is... thank you."

[arclightning]

Of course Korra—thoughtful, steady Korra—would be able to pull something like this.

Mako can't even pinpoint the element. Maybe it isn't one: maybe it's pulled right from the spirit world, or whatever echoes of it Korra can find even here, far from everything that they knew. Maybe it's a combination of all four, something only she could do.

It's for them, though.

For them in a way Mako didn't know it could be. He remembers his fear about telling Korra in the first place. It had been wrapped up in his fear about what she would think about Wu but more than that, what she would think about him. Pointless, obviously. Korra and Asami are made for each other, and Korra has too much heart to judge over things like that. Korra judges on actions, not on who someone loves or how or why, and Mako knows that but there was still that fear, back then, beaten into him over years and years, that something about him was wrong, that he needed to swallow it down and hide it like always. That the way he was, the soft edges and his quiet, steady center, were somehow wrong, were going to get him and his brother killed. Easier to just be what people wanted and needed him to be, easier to sand those edges into something sharp and use them against other people before they could be turned on him.

Korra and Asami and Bolin and Wu have done amazing work on him, then. He stands here under the aurora in front of his best friend, wrapped around his husband who he bonded himself to in front of so many other people, and with those words ringing in his ears nothing about it feels wrong. It's just the three of them, it's the thing Kyoshi was fighting for. It's a chance at a new life, and maybe, this once, Mako can let himself have it.

He waits until the lights have faded, and doesn't let go of Wu at all, before stepping forward to yank Korra into a tight hug.

[avatar_state]

And in the moment, she just hugs them both tight, her own eyes moist.

"Congratulations, you two," she said. "It couldn't happen to better people."

In that moment, it's all that really needs said.

[royalfling]

Wu finds himself squished into his hug, and he doesn't mind one bit. He doesn't mind, and he holds onto them both, happy to be wrapped up in this moment with these two wonderful, amazing people. He sinks into it, his own paleblood powers sinking into both of them, offering calm and warmth (that's new), and love to both of them.