Tropical Escape? I prefer the winter wonderland. (Alternate Universe, +18)

Mako arrived late in the evening, the ship's deck was frozen over, and he thought he'd get lucky and escape without injury. But lo and behold, he slipped half-way down the ramp, and smacked his head against the metal, which rang loud, and then he slid down to the dock. "Ow." He sat up slowly, walking down the dock without further incident.

He wore a slightly thicker coat, and pants to match. His hair was as it usually was. He walked slowly, appreciating the tribe's natural beauty. He didn't really pay attention to where he was going or toward whom he may have been walking. His hands were in his pockets and he hummed lightly. The longer he walked, the more he forgot about his incident.

Mako had noticed people seemed to be drawn in the direction he was walking. He hardly thought twice about it, turning to look at someone at his side when he ran straight into someone else. He stumbled back, and immediately shot forward, offering his hand.

"I'm so sorry, I really should watch where I'm going." He finally made eye contact with you, "Oh...I'm....uh, Mako, are you alright? I didn't hurt you did I?" His other hand that was being offered to help you up hovered at his side. His face was red, whether from the embrassment, cold, or something else remained unclear. "What's your name?"

Mako smiled lightly, tensing slightly, why did he always have a bad habit of running into royalty? He sighed, well, then all that blushing must have been the cold, no way she'd be thinking like that about a newcomer. "It's a pleasure to meet you Chief Renayu.", he said, slightly nervous now. "I don't think you would have had to, I'm not really important."

"Your head. Here.", she said, then healed him. He sighed as the pain subsided, smiling.

Mako paused there for quite some time, he didn't really know how to respond. "Thanks..." He looked down, "You didn't have to do that."

Mako listened intently, doing hisbest not to let his mind wander. He smiled, "Alright, I won't call you Chief.", he said. It was all he could come up with, really, it was easy for him to lose his train of thought when he felt nervous.

"What brings me here....?", he repeated. "Well, to be quite honest, I'm a traveller, and it's been a while since I've come down here." He smiled, "I used to train with waterbenders, mastering their forms so I would have a better defense against other firebenders." He cleared his throat, "And well....it's beautiful down here.", he unintentionally added more emphasis to the word beautiful, keeping his eyes on Renayu's face.

Mako smiled, this was getting more and more odd. He didn't really know what to say or how to react. He was losing track of his mind the longer he looked at her.

"It's a shame there aren't more benders here. I'm not that great at Firebending...I have skill while other have raw power." He looked down, "Well, I guess, yeah, that sounds like fun.", he said.

Mako stared as Renayu looked at him, she seemed to be thinking, about what, he didn't know. He knew what he was thinking about, he was thinking about her eyes.

When she spoke, he nearly snapped to attention, he followed, slowly at first, catching himself checking her out from behind before moving to catch up. "Some Firebenders draw their power from their feelings, desires...anger, love, hate...but the smart one's gather their energy from the sun...like I do. And they always stay calm, and do their best to not get angry."

[Your pic looks like a darker version of Asami! XD]

Mako nodded slowly, and nudged Renayu playfully, "Well, hey, that's nothing to be ashamed of.", he said. "Earthbenders have Metalbending and Firebenders have Lightningbending. It's not like you have control over the abilities you were born with." He smiled, "Besides, I thought you Water Tribe types were into 'going with the flow'...maybe that's Airbenders..." He blushed lightly, "Sorry, nevermind...that was definately Airbenders."

[YUSH!]

Mako followed silently for a bit, he felt like hiding his face in his hands. How could this be any more embrassing? He should have known better than to try and talk about stereotypical personality types, it wasn't as if he even fit into the Firebender stereotype...well, maybe sometimes.

He sighed, "I might be right...I don't know." He turned, looking around, taking the moment to take a nice deep, lung-freezing breath, and exhaling. When he turned to face you, his face was absolutely blank, aside from the blushing that still clung to his face.

He actually took a Waterbending stance, his arms, and body flowing neatly into place. He smiled, "I'm ready whenever you are, Renayu...", he said.

Mako stepped lightly, mimicking your movements, forcing himself to think when all he really wanted to do was get lost somewhere with you. His movements were slightly more dance-like than your's, and, in a small part of his mind, that's how he saw this. He smiled lightly, watching everything you did, and, as best he could manage, he summoned a flame, moving it as you moved the water.

"It's a pretty stunning concept...I always thought Waterbenders learned their abilities naturally and that it was the moon that decided the power of their bending..." He nodded, "I understand what you're saying...um, just curious, but, are you...I don't...", he paused, and exhaled sharply, "Goingoutwithanyonerightnow?", he muttered, loud enough for you to hear, but unlikely to be understood unless you could unscramble the meaning behind it.

Mako watched Renayu move and felt a very tight ball in the pit of his stomach. She was just moving like before, then she just stopped. Stopped completely, not slow, calm stop, more like frozen solid stop, and the water hit the ground nearly instantly. He stopped too, the flames in his hands didn't vanish though, they intensified as his nerves were suddenly exposed.

He slowly adjusted his footing, closing his hands and extinguishing the flames. "Well, uh..." The way she was looking at him, on what level did he think she would ever think of him that way. He felt like she was staring through him, "Y-Yeah...I uh, was just...wondering, because....well, because...it's...you're just...so...I don't know...I mean, you're a really pretty girl...and...I was just...curious is all..." He looked away, the flames had died in his hands and been reborn in his cheeks, not to mention the heat coming off his body caused the air around him to steam ever so slightly.

Mako didn't really have time to react, all there was to do was kiss back. He didn't even realized she'd been moving closer to him until she was literally right in front of him. He felt the nervousness subside somewhat, and he slowly wrapped his arms around your waist. His mind was racing, did she just kiss me to shut me up...or...is this something else?

Mako felt her hands holding his head, eventually resting on his shoulders before she pulled back. She was smiling, and he couldn't really help but smile back. He opened his mouth to say something, but the words weren't there, so he closed his mouth, and looked back into her eyes.

"Uh...did I do something to deserve that?", he asked. He felt like it was a stupid question, and berated himself for it. But, the longer he thought about it, the more it made sense, it wasn't as if he knew what made her want to do that.

Mako watched her, she seemed to be thinking the same as he was. Only she also seemed to be struggling with something else.

"Shouldn't be alone..." He smiled again, "You...you don't look like you should be alone either..." And? He closed his eyes for a few moments, "This is going to seem really weird, but...I felt something, the first time I saw you...and...I...felt like...I had met you before...like I knew you from a long time ago...I don't really know how to describe it...it's never happened to me before..."