IC INBOX • EACHDRAIDH

[bolincredible]

[ BOLIN CAN'T ANSWER HIS... LOCKET... RIGHT NOW, I GUESS. Or he doesn't have anything to answer yet. Who knows. Who ever even knows. ]

Comments

12/15.

[bolincredible]

[ super innocent. so innocent that bolin is totally not at all mildly worried or suspicious. so after a brief pause: ]

why

[ is it a trick question are you going to yell at me ]

12/15.

[jaywalks]

just curious

12/15.

[jaywalks]

you're not in trouble

12/15.

[jaywalks]

probably

12/15.

[bolincredible]

okay see you throw in the probably and i feel a lot less comforted. you need to start interrogating people again its sloppy.

12/15.

[bolincredible]

lets see

i guess a squirrel bit my shin the other day? just a squirrel not a ratsquirrel. which makes a huge difference in how clean it is it turns out

12/15.

[jaywalks]

bo if i were interrogating you, you should be a hell of a lot less comfortable.

but that's good enough. where are you?

12/15.

[bolincredible]

EXACTLY.

im in the stables. why? did you need me to bring you a horse or a sandwich or something? because im not okay with feeding rizhao a horse.

12/15.

[jaywalks]

probably also handcuffed to the table and with chief looming over you.

no you're fine. just come back to the room when you're done — you can see my new boon.

12/15.

[bolincredible]

ill pass. beifong not looming over me is great. i think we have a great distance understanding right now.

got it. if its something super cool and showoffy make sure its twice as showoffy when i get there

[ now he's excited. even though that was the weirdest conversation opener since the time he was sick and mako asked him about the last time he peed or something equally dumb like that that i can't think of. ]

12/15.

[jaywalks]

[ and when the fearless wonder shows up, mako's there, like usual. with rizhao sprawled over him, like usual. and a book, like usual. it's a new book, though. which isn't actually all that weird because he does manage to go through books quickly, all things considered. ]

12/15.

[bolincredible]

[ Well isn't this a usual sight when Bolin comes jogging in. Mako reading, Rizhao being a blanket. Nothing destroyed or on fire.

Man, what a disappointment. ]

Hey! Okay so you mentioned getting to see your new boon. And it seemed like that was something to get pretty excited about? [ Because he knows you. You don't just ever so casually start up a suspicious conversation that segues into seeing a new boon.

Mako must be excited about it. Deep down. The spark of life in his eyes. ]

12/15.

[jaywalks]

[ he puts the book aside and lifts rizhao and deposits her on the bed to cuddle up with the cats and the dogs. ]

It's pretty neat, yeah. You know how I've been learning stuff from the healers at the infirmary? [ you know, what plants will knock people out if they ingest them, what the best mild hallucinogenics are, stuff like that and useful things like how to stitch up injuries or set broken bones. ]

12/15.

[bolincredible]

[ This is promising enough that he perks right the heck up in interest. ]

Yeah, sure! Learn something good? Did you get apprenticed to some legendary healer we've never heard of who lives across the world? [ You crazy kid. ]

12/15.

[jaywalks]

Nah, nothing that crazy. Just show me your near fatal squirrel bite, bro.

12/15.

[bolincredible]

Bro, if anything a squirrel ever does to me is actually near fatal... [ Actually, thinking about that. The one that bit him was kind of a mean one. Maybe it's not as impossible as it seems. ]

Well, mostly just consider me really impressed. I won't hold it against him.

[ Join us next month when he's nearly gored by one of those Monty Python rabbits. In the meantime, he'll roll his sock down or his pant leg up or whatever, my cold meds don't allow me to think about the intricacies of these boys and their clothes in the drabwurld. ]

[jaywalks]

... If you die from a squirrel bite I am going to be so pissed with you. Anyway...

[ mako pauses for a moment and takes a deep breath, like he's about to firebend — and exhales a bloom of pale blue fire into his hand. a breath of life gone azula, only, instead of the cold blue light of a hot flame, this seems... warm. faintly iridescent instead of bright, and with a substance that regular fire doesn't hold. ]

[bolincredible]

Yeah, but I kind of run that risk no matter what I'm doing. [ He doesn't pursue pissing Mako off, but one has to learn to live with it being a possibility.

And it's been a long time since Mako had something new to show him with his firebending, but for all that time, it's about exactly as cool as Bolin remembers it being. Mako, please. Contain your coolness factor. ]

Wait, since when did you go blue? [ and what does it have to do with healing, he guesses, but most importantly, since when did you go blue. IF HE COULD SHOVE MAKO OUT OF THE WAY OF HIS OWN FIREBENDING TO GET A CLOSER LOOK AT THE FIREBENDING, MAN. ]

[jaywalks]

Since this morning — and it's not just "going blue", bro, it's completely different, look:

[ AND WITHOUT ANOTHER WORD HE PUTS THAT HANDFUL OF BLUE FIRE ON BOLIN'S LEG.

mako the abusive brother, has finally snapped. under all the severe mental strain of dealing with the fact that he has the weapon that orphaned them under his own skin, he wants to share that pain.

just kidding!

it actually feels really nice — not hot, just warm, and maybe a little ticklish as mako's chi interacts with bo's encouraging the skin to knit itself back together, without even a sign of the fact that bolin almost got killed by a rodent earlier. ]

[bolincredible]

[ Stands there, probably thinking of the weather or some dumb shit while his brother is busy applying fire to his leg.

The "afraid of Mako burning him" train never even made a stop at this station, sir, we can't refund your ticket fee without external influences like smiledogs, magic, or disorienting injuries. He'll also let the completely different comment slide right on by, because tbh between the two of them, Mako's kinda the fire expert. A blue flame is a blue flame as far as he can figure, up until the point where it doesn't orphan him of his leg skin or whatever.

But damn, consider his interested piqued. ]

Whoa, check you out! [ WOW HE CAN TAKE HIS LEG BACK AND PUT THAT HORRIBLE SQUIRREL-RELATED TRAUMA BEHIND HIM NOW...... another distant terror to awaken in the night about. ] Mister "fire is life" over here, huh? Yeah, you know, that makes a lot of things about asking me to come up here make a lot more sense looking back.

[jaywalks]

[ fire is life is right, bo! mako grins, bolin's enthusiasm being contagious as it is and lifts his hand as the blue fire dies, leaving unscarred but nasty hairy teenage boy legs behind. no more squirrel rabies risks or whatever!!! he burned out any infection too. ]

Just don't think it's an excuse to get bit more, Bo — I can't do much with it yet.

[bolincredible]

Ohh, no, no, trust me, the last thing I'm looking to do is get a squirrel mad again. [ Like, the whole approach a few days back was to accomplish the opposite of that. For all that it worked out. But hey, thanks for the leg, he's taking it back now. Hair and all. ]

That's still some seriously cool stuff, though! Don't mind Mako, everyone, he can just patch people up with magical blue fire. [ Prooood. ] You're totally excited, aren't you?

[jaywalks]

I'd be more excited if I could cure annoying with it....

[ shoves his hand in ur face ]

[bolincredible]

That really stings, Mako. Right in the heart. [ gently pats him on the face-smushing hand. ] I mean, it isn't even how you pronounce charm, but I don't know why you'd wanna cure it so much anyway.