[ Mako snorts as she rounds their little island into the kitchen proper. Some things really don't change, including Wu's absolute unwillingness to make tea or do anything in the mornings. It's kind of comforting, in a weird way, to light the stove with a flick of fingers and rummage for their strongest black tea. It's even in the same place. The mugs are organized the same way, from smallest to largest, and in the same cabinet. This is her kitchen. ]
Yeah, I know. I texted... her.
[ Is... that right? That can't be right. Mugs clink as she gets down two, including the dark-green-and-gold one they found in Willful Machine that Wu loves. ]
Um... I dunno. Probably? How do I--does she?--like it?
[ Ignoring it is the right thing to do, right? Because that's what Wu's doing. Ignoring that his hot boyfriend is now a girl. Maybe a hot girl? He doesn't know. She certainly isn't conventionally pretty, but Mako never would be, would he?
But that makes him wonder: ]
What, uh... is she like? The other me? The one you know?
Little bit of milk, no sugar, because you're—she's— [ That's hard, spirits. Mako scowls down at the cup in her hand. The water on the stove is already starting to bubble softly. ] ...a tea purist. I mean, I don't know you. I don't know how different you are. She's thrilled that she's running this place, she... has gotten a lot braver and stronger than either of us thought she could. She pulled me out of a, uh. A pretty dark place.
[ Something warm and strange bubbles in Wu's chest as he watches Mako preparing the tea. It's so familiar that it's strange. And, well-- if his Mako thinks that about him, that would mean a lot. It still means a lot, even if it isn't about him. ]
That is how I like it. I... that happened to you, too? With the, the corruption?
[ It does feel a bit cruel, to take Mako away from him right after that, while they're still fragile, while Wu is still watching for smoldering on Mako's skin. ]
[ Mako's mouth twists, unseen, at the steeper she's filling with tea. ]
...yeah. It's weird. This whole kitchen is... everything is how I remember it. It's not like that other version of me back in the dream, with a different life. This is my life. You remember the same things as me.
I think so. It seems like everything is the same, except, [ Except the obvious. Wu watches her with a little frown. ]
At least it isn't like last time! That guy was so scary. You remember the same thing? When you, he? When he got all possessive and weird and scary and wouldn't let me leave the house or talk to my friends?
[ He doesn't want to say "yes" because he doesn't want her to get angry or scared and, honestly, he doesn't know. He chews on his lip ]
You might be very real, but from a different version of Trench. Like, like how we think that there are versions of us still at home, right? Like, there's a me who's still on the throne, helping to run the Earth Kingdom. I have to believe that's true. So if there are already two of me, or us, then maybe there are more of us? Maybe there is a world where we are both girls and somehow, it all happens just about the same way. You, you and the other me, the other Wu, you're dating, right?
[ Meaning, as far as Mako can tell, yes, but she bites down on a frustrated sound in favor of pulling the kettle from the stove and putting out the flame with a wave of long fingers. Not important. Wu has a point: there may in fact still be infinite versions of them. Maybe she's a world where she was born a woman, and Wu's Mako is the other, another one of Lysithea's branching paths. ]
Yeah, we are. Have been since... January? That hotel, did you get that one? The one we couldn't leave in the dream.
[ That is different. Wu remembers having so many feelings at the hotel. He wanted Mako so badly, and felt so awful for it. He remembers being with him in the swimming pool and being so taken with him that he couldn't really think.
But they certainly didn't get together, then. ]
Ah, yes. I was there. But we didn't, that wasn't when... we, me and my Mako, got together in February, on Valentine's Day. You know, the Earth holiday about love?
[ Mako turns, reaching for the milk to splash a bit into Wu's mug, her brows rising. That pool was... maybe romantic isn't the word, but charged certainly is. They hadn't been able to stay away from each other in there, the air humid and thick with tension. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Yeah, I know. I texted... her.
[ Is... that right? That can't be right. Mugs clink as she gets down two, including the dark-green-and-gold one they found in Willful Machine that Wu loves. ]
You, uh. Like your tea the same way?
no subject
[ Ignoring it is the right thing to do, right? Because that's what Wu's doing. Ignoring that his hot boyfriend is now a girl. Maybe a hot girl? He doesn't know. She certainly isn't conventionally pretty, but Mako never would be, would he?
But that makes him wonder: ]
What, uh... is she like? The other me? The one you know?
no subject
no subject
That is how I like it. I... that happened to you, too? With the, the corruption?
[ It does feel a bit cruel, to take Mako away from him right after that, while they're still fragile, while Wu is still watching for smoldering on Mako's skin. ]
no subject
...yeah. It's weird. This whole kitchen is... everything is how I remember it. It's not like that other version of me back in the dream, with a different life. This is my life. You remember the same things as me.
no subject
At least it isn't like last time! That guy was so scary. You remember the same thing? When you, he? When he got all possessive and weird and scary and wouldn't let me leave the house or talk to my friends?
no subject
[ And she was very proud of Wu for it, too, even though she still has nightmares tinged with the smell of flowers. ]
You think this is the same thing? I'm some... fake me?
no subject
[ He doesn't want to say "yes" because he doesn't want her to get angry or scared and, honestly, he doesn't know. He chews on his lip ]
You might be very real, but from a different version of Trench. Like, like how we think that there are versions of us still at home, right? Like, there's a me who's still on the throne, helping to run the Earth Kingdom. I have to believe that's true. So if there are already two of me, or us, then maybe there are more of us? Maybe there is a world where we are both girls and somehow, it all happens just about the same way. You, you and the other me, the other Wu, you're dating, right?
no subject
Yeah, we are. Have been since... January? That hotel, did you get that one? The one we couldn't leave in the dream.
no subject
[ That is different. Wu remembers having so many feelings at the hotel. He wanted Mako so badly, and felt so awful for it. He remembers being with him in the swimming pool and being so taken with him that he couldn't really think.
But they certainly didn't get together, then. ]
Ah, yes. I was there. But we didn't, that wasn't when... we, me and my Mako, got together in February, on Valentine's Day. You know, the Earth holiday about love?
no subject
Seriously? Did you and the other me—was there a pool, for you?
no subject
Uh... yes? Yes. But I wouldn't say it was exactly, um, romantic.
no subject
[ Mako turns, reaching for the milk to splash a bit into Wu's mug, her brows rising. That pool was... maybe romantic isn't the word, but charged certainly is. They hadn't been able to stay away from each other in there, the air humid and thick with tension. ]
We, uh. That was...
Um. Here's your tea.
no subject
Yeah, it was more me wanting you, him, and him being really uncomfortable with it.
But, hey! [ Oh, he's not ready to talk about this yet ] Bolin should be here soon.