call u up to call u out

Alex greeted her with the exact sort of reception she’d both been expecting and dreading. Lily flinched at the ‘more important’ comment, glancing away, surveying the beach and the other houses and tents.

“Yep,” was all she said, quietly. She looked back at Alex. Examined his careless slouch against the door frame, his cold expression. Nothing she didn’t deserve, but still, ouch. Lily took a breath, straightened her shoulders. “I heard—I heard you got hurt during the… the double stuff. And then with the time weirdness, I wanted to check in with you. See how you were doing, if there was anything you needed.”

After a moment, she crossed her arms, drumming her fingers against her bicep. “Libby’s back,” she offered, a little awkwardly, not sure how he’d take the news. Her mom and best friend didn’t really interact, as far as she knew; it had mostly been limited to the dinners, and those were long gone. She scratched at her cheek and offered him a smile. “Can I come in or do you want to hang outside for this?”

“Yeah I got hurt! Emre’s fake Emre beat the ever-loving crap out of me!” Alex still had marks here and there from it -- fading, healed, but still visible despite all of his sunbathing as a fire-attuned -- and he shook himself all over, irritably. “Who’d even tell you that? I didn’t think most people knew. Did EMRE tell you? You talked to Emre before you talked to me, huh?”

This was a baseless accusation and it wasn’t even as if Alex minded Lily talking to whoever she wanted to talk to, but again: going on the offensive was sometimes preferable to watching her bite back what she could have said and choose what he interpreted as polite banality instead. Alex handed her the bowl he was holding. “I don’t need anything,” he sniffed. “I’m doing just fine. Look at where I live! It’s a mansion by Meridium standards.”

Lily offered something, about her mom, and that was enough to mollify Alex to step back into the house and say, “yeah, come on in. You can help me with this shelf,” although he didn’t really need help. He liked having somebody there. It made things seem more fun plus was an instant source of admiration. 

Well, right into the hard questions. Tamyra was hoping they could maybe ignore or avoid that particular part of their interactions. Postpone talking about it maybe when both of them were drunk and it was dark and she couldn’t properly see him. Even if talking about it upfront was the right decision considering what Tamyra was suggesting. Still, she preferred to avoid hard conversations like this.

Oh well.

“Look, the whole of that– For a really long time, nobody has had any connections to me or my parents from the real world, I just watched other people have that. Wished there could be something like that for me. And then we realized and it caught me off guard. Did not expect it at all anymore, and it surprised me. The island was an asshole throwing us into all kinds of bullshit, and I didn’t react the best. To be fair, you didn’t react the best either. And then I just ignored it all. But I can promise you, I am not going to randomly snap at you about it or anything.”

! ! ! 

Unfortunately for Tam’s hopes of a lighter-spirited time, Alex had nearly no filters or sense of moderation about sensitive topics. Or at least, he didn’t on Meridium, where social media didn’t exist and there were no career-damaging repercussions. He wanted to know the skinny on how Tam felt about him, and once she’d told him, he nodded cheerfully. 

“There, isn’t that nice?” Alex declared. “Having it all out in the open like that! I can’t stand having stuff all lurky under the surface, and then having to worry about it, and then having to work around it--” he twirled his hands, sing-songing this list of situations. “Now we know. Although I don’t remember handling it badly.” Alex held up his hands. “Not doubting you! Your view of it is totes valid and all that, namaste.” 

He made a good point about Seamus but even if it wasn’t something people were necessarily upset or bothered by, it was the principle of it all. Getting rid of a big name in the fire attuned group made a statement that was hard to ignore. So Wren didn’t want to get in the way. As she got older, she mellowed out, didn’t have any interest in causing problems or waltzing into danger. Now all she wanted was to sit back, enjoy her tea, and have a nice friendly chat and keep out of the way of big decisions.

When Alex mentioned Kaz and what happened between then, her mind seemed to be getting muddled again. Her wrinkled brows furrowed as she tried to piece it together herself? What did he mean? What happened between them? She remembered their fight, it felt like decades ago but…no, it wasn’t that long ago, months at the most, and they made up from that. A soft hum left her lips as though that might remind her of the big, dramatic fallout that she had, not just with Kaz but with Emre too. “No, no, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Nothing happened, everything is fine, Kaz and I are getting along better than ever and Emre…well, there’s a lot to unpack there.” she explained these truths of the present moment, while still looking far older than her real age.

Though that old age was slowly reverting it seemed. Wren was starting to feel less weary, her hair less stringy. She was trying to focus on the words out of Alex’s mouth but all she could focus on was Alex himself. She had never actually spoken to him before,. But here they were, chatting, having their tea as if they had always done this. Yet somehow he knew that something happened between her and Emre, did word spread already of their argument at the Heart Tree? Or could his older self see a future that was bound to happen? A horrible falling out. Maybe this fight they just had was the one Alex was referring to.

“Wait…what just happened?” She asked, her voice no longer rough but starting to sound normal again. “What are we even talking about? All of that…none of that was real right? There’s no way any of that is real.”

! ! ! 

“No,” Alex said slowly as they started to come back to themselves. “No. None of it was real at all.”

The images and feelings were still swimming around his head, though; Wren, older than she was now and closer to him than she was now, the two of them hobbling around together companionably. Their involvement in each other’s lives. The sectioning off of each elemental group from the others. “Fire nation represent, though,” Alex said cautiously, easing to his feet. Just to let Wren know that when and if it came down to that, he’d still come find her so they could be allies for each other.

[ @alexlwoo ]

“This is an opportunity, you gotta see it too,” Tamyra said standing on the stage of the amphitheatre, sprinning slowly around to take everything around them in before she turned back to Alex. “Just think about the opportunities - for both of us, yes, but for the rest of the island, too. We could have proper culture and entertainment back in our lives. We could have fun on a regular basis.”

Everyone found their own versions of fun, sure, but this was different. The different kinds of videos and phones were a huge step in all the right directions, but something the two of them could do together could be better. And selfishly, Tamyra wanted a regular chance to just create and put herself out there. “You must be itching to just do things just by being here, right? You can’t tell me you aren’t.”

@tamyrawilliams

“The rest of the island?” Alex walked in a slow circle around Tam as she spun, in the opposite direction, thinking about what it would look like from an aerial shot (like a Busby Berkeley number! they just needed some dance steps!) “Who cares about the rest of the island? They’re only here to be our audience!” He laughed, turning backwards to continue his circle and skipping, which was very good exercise and kept his calves trim. “I guess maybe crew. That would make sense. We’re the talent, after all, we can’t be doing all the behind-the-scenes stuff too.”

location: casa linalex @alexlwoo

Okay. Okay. It had only been, what, three or four months? 

Yeah. He was absolutely going to hold that over her head, and her only defense was you could’ve reached out, too. It was going to go great. Her stomach was certainly not twisted in knots over it.

Alex didn’t have as much of a regimented schedule as she did, but Casa Linalex wasn’t exactly hidden in the backwoods. She had made enough friendly acquaintances that when someone told her they’d seen Alex alone inside, she mustered her courage as much as she could and went over. Because it had been long enough, even if she didn’t know what she would say.

Sorry for saying no one has ever loved you, Alex! And I’m sure you’re sorry for saying I’m clueless about human interaction! Can we go back to being best friends? Do you miss me?

Please. Like Alex was going to apologize for anything. He was too wrapped up in his own head to ever spend any time in any sort of self-reflection—

Lily stopped, rubbing at her eyes, exhaling through her teeth.

Then she shook her head and walked the rest of the way to the house, knocking on the door like he used to knock at the High House, on the rare instances he didn’t just let himself in. Then she stepped back to wait, half-smiling; he wouldn’t believe a grin.

@starlit-lilies​

Things were shaping up in the house! Alex and Lina had, through a savvy combination of quick greed, bubbly charm, and plain old wheedling, managed to amass a bunch of furniture and features and all sorts of other stuff for their house. Which, considering the weirdnessess that the island had been beset with lately, was a pretty impressive feat, if Alex said so himself.

He was arranging a series of polished, painted calabash bowls on one of their new shelves (thank you, Big Willie!!) when he heard a rap at the door. But not just a knock, was it? The one he usually used when he’d visited Lily at her parents’ house. Alex turned from the shelf, looking towards the door. Some people on the island left their doors wide (the High House door was usually stood open); he and Lina didn’t like that, agreeing it was weird, but right now Alex sort of wished it was. This felt awkward.

↤ ☾🔥☽ ↦

Ah, the reminder of the farm burning down was a grim one. Looking around it almost looked like things were back to normal in some ways but it felt like the place would be as stable as it used to be. “Of course! You know Mik would have lost more than just his foot if the chickens didn’t get him to safety. Such strong creatures.” she praised with a nod of her head. Certainly only chickens hatched and raised on Meridium would be able save someone from such a deadly circumstance.

Alex mentioned the Fire only get together and she didn’t have much of a reaction until he brought up how weird and uncomfortable it made him. Wren’s old and wrinkled face scrunched up, her mind trying to give her a hint as to why this was the case. Why did they only get together as fire attuned while the others were left out? Well, it wasn’t like it was her decision was it? It was brought on by others and this was just their reality now. “You know they don’t want us all coming together…being friendly. The water attuned always thinking they’re better than everyone else. They basically wiped out all the earth attuned, and then what they did to Seamus…” Wren sighed, shutting her eyes, not wanting to think about this separation. It seemed like it just had to be done.

“It might not sit right but it’s for the best to mind our own business.” She told him, patting his arm as she continued to walk in more of a shuffle over to a seat by the fire pit. Maybe they could have invited the air attuned to join them but that might not look so good. But the thought of it did make her miss her friends. She wasn’t close with many other fire attuned until now, but surely this was a good thing for them to grow and hone their abilities together as a group. It must have helped all the newbies they had.

Her hands were shaky as she did her best to get a pot set up for tea and after a moment she sighed, giving up. “Here, help me with this tea, will ya? No more fretting about the other Nations.”

“Well,” Alex said, letting his voice get weighty with unspoken connotations, “Seamus. Not like everyone was unanimously torn up about that.” He sure hadn’t been. But the repercussions had rocked the entire island and everyone living on it. Still, that was in the past, and when Wren said that they should mind their own business, Alex couldn’t help but agree. He’d always preferred to slip under the radar when it came to Important Business on Meridium, anything that required taking sides, and Wren was much of the same mind so they usually didn’t find themselves either pariahs or heroes. And that suited Alex fine. 

He took over in setting up the teapot, and when they were waiting for the water to get hot -- it took a little longer now that they were in their old age, not like being young and full of endless attunement energy -- Alex ventured some more questions. “So what ever happened between you and Kaz, anyway? He was never my favourite person but it’s not like I wished him actual harm and since you were for real fond of him, it must’ve been something big. Dramatic. Like with Emre.”

@alexlwoo

Mik ran along the beach, as fast and as he could, arms flailing at his sides as he enjoyed the pure joy of pushing his body. Seeing how fast he could go. He loved looking out the window of a bus and imagining a cheetah running alongside. He looked to his side now, and he was running as fast as a cheetah, he was so fast!

He couldn’t remember how he ended up on an island, but that didn’t worry him too much. Mum had talked of going on a vacation to the Philipines so much that the blanks filled themselves in neatly. Island paradise, golden sand and salty spray. And the water! He was going to swim in it this afternoon, maybe he could find a surfboard? He’d always wanted to try surfing.

Mik’s sprinting petered out, he slowed down to a jog and gulped in air, his limbs shivering with excitement after that little exertion of energy. He hoped the resort had a buffet, he wanted chicken inasal for dinner, oh and maybe the buffet had an endless soft serve machine! “Hey!” he called out as he ran up to someone, bored of running by himself. “My name’s Mik and I was wondering if you would want to race me running down the beach?”  

@stranded-mik​

Alex had been busy spinning. That was something he liked to do, when he had some spare moments to himself and was alone. It was better to do it on a swing because then nobody really asked you what you were doing if you sat down and turned yourself in circles because obviously! It was so you could un-spin at the end and it was like a little ride that you made for yourself and people thought you were clever and funny for it! 

Spinning while you were just standing there, though -- people didn’t think that was a neat trick. They would ask you what you were doing or say you were blocking the sidewalk. But he was on a beach, and there was tons of room around him, so Alex stuck out his arms a little from his sides and looked down at his toes and spun. 

↤ ☾🔥☽ ↦

Ah, the reminder of the farm burning down was a grim one. Looking around it almost looked like things were back to normal in some ways but it felt like the place would be as stable as it used to be. “Of course! You know Mik would have lost more than just his foot if the chickens didn’t get him to safety. Such strong creatures.” she praised with a nod of her head. Certainly only chickens hatched and raised on Meridium would be able save someone from such a deadly circumstance.

Alex mentioned the Fire only get together and she didn’t have much of a reaction until he brought up how weird and uncomfortable it made him. Wren’s old and wrinkled face scrunched up, her mind trying to give her a hint as to why this was the case. Why did they only get together as fire attuned while the others were left out? Well, it wasn’t like it was her decision was it? It was brought on by others and this was just their reality now. “You know they don’t want us all coming together…being friendly. The water attuned always thinking they’re better than everyone else. They basically wiped out all the earth attuned, and then what they did to Seamus…” Wren sighed, shutting her eyes, not wanting to think about this separation. It seemed like it just had to be done.

“It might not sit right but it’s for the best to mind our own business.” She told him, patting his arm as she continued to walk in more of a shuffle over to a seat by the fire pit. Maybe they could have invited the air attuned to join them but that might not look so good. But the thought of it did make her miss her friends. She wasn’t close with many other fire attuned until now, but surely this was a good thing for them to grow and hone their abilities together as a group. It must have helped all the newbies they had.

Her hands were shaky as she did her best to get a pot set up for tea and after a moment she sighed, giving up. “Here, help me with this tea, will ya? No more fretting about the other Nations.”

“Oh, yeah, Mik was so lucky! Although I guess he might have thought differently when he realized that bunch of hens adopted him.” Alex laughed, then schooled his expression into something more serious. “Real shame about how they pecked off his first three prosthetic feet. But really the docs should’ve made them out of something less edible than coconut fronds and rice paste. It was asking for trouble.”

He sighed, blinking hard a few times to get his eyes to clear the fogginess and refocus. Having big big eyes that he didn’t blink much turned out to be a detriment in the long run, particularly for a fire-attuned who soaked up way too much sun without even realizing it. “The water attuned ruined it for everyone,” Alex sighed. “They were basically a bunch of jerks anyhow...” He trailed off, since Emre was one of those water attuned and, well. There was the situation between him and Wren, and Alex -- unusually -- tried to be diplomatic about it. “Maybe not jerks,” he tried to amend. “But they’re all full of themselves, right? It went to their heads, right? After the amphitheatre.”

Wren was right, though, which was always annoying but Alex did his best to brush it off, coughing some more. “Danged early morning air,” he muttered, despite not being quite sure what time of day it actually was. He nodded at her advice to stop dwelling on the separation between the Nations, crouching down by the fire pit so he could help Wren with putting the kettle up over the low but steady flames. It was their pit so the fire never really went out, and Alex was grateful for the warmth. 

“I hear Tam and Aurelie had a falling out,” he said, since gossip was one of the things that always remained constant no matter who was where. “Nick said he thinks they’re having an affair but I don’t think so. I think Tam’s only into performing now. Ever since she figured out how to make those water-costumes for herself so she can do stunts and project her voice and all that stuff, she doesn’t have time for anything or anybody--”

↤ ☾🔥☽ ↦

The day started off with a strange feeling, like her skin was tingling. The arm that she sprained by falling from the Heart Tree was no longer in pain but the rest of her body was. Everything felt sore and rather than having any desire to run around the island, explore like she used to (why did it feel so long ago?) all she wanted to do was sit down and tend to the animals on the farm. Those sweet goats who seemed to have much more energy than she currently had.

But it wasn’t the goats she ended up visiting, but the chicken coop instead. Such a large, tall standing building now, and there was flashes in her mind reminding her of when this was built (did she really remember this happening though?) and feel relief to see it still standing. Wren had practically hobbled over to the older gentleman who stood by the coop watching the birds strutting around.

His words brought on another memory of sorts, and she let out a hoarse but dreamy sort of sigh. She hadn’t seen or heard of the amphitheater yet but…she had, hadn’t she? Years and years ago, surely. “I’ll tell you, those chickens were lifesavers. I don’t know what we would have done without them.” Before she could reminisce some more, the coughing and announcement of being cold became more important. “You want some tea? Oh, come, come, let’s go make some. It’ll be nice and quick.” She took his arm to lead him to a fire pit that they could set up for tea, feeling the body heat she was familiar with. “You’re fire attuned too? Then this will be even easier, the tea will be piping hot. Fix you right up.”

“Chickens aren’t Lifesavers,” Alex scoffed, until he belatedly realized that Wren wouldn’t know what he was talking about since she’d never been off the island! She’d never had Lifesavers! The thought made him incredibly sad for a moment. She would’ve loved the pineapple ones. And the lime ones. Since Alex didn’t like those and would’ve given them to Wren and she wouldn’t know any better. 

He revised his statement, saying, “--I mean, yeah! They were. Especially considering how everything on the farm had got burned down or fallen into the underground salt-magma caves.” Alex shook his head. The disaster had been years ago and they were still trying to recover from it, but Wren had stepped up and taken over as much as she could. “Speaking of which. We’re gonna have a barbecue, just us in the Fire Nation.” Alex shifted uncomfortably, but went along with Wren as she started to take him to the fire pit. 

“It doesn’t sit well with me,” he confessed, favouring his left ankle -- the other one had healed, but it got achy in ... well, any kind of weather. “Having these Nation-only get-togethers and all that. Can’t we bring other-Nation guests? I mean I’m good, Mik and Jovi are already gonna be allowed, but maybe they might want to bring a plus-one! What would it hurt to have Nick there?”

It was just a chicken coop at some point, but now the structure had gotten much bigger and more complex. As far as Alex could tell, it wasn’t like one of those horrible industrial chicken farms you’d see on the news from animal activists, the chickens could go in and out freely, but it was way more than the handmade wooden one he remembered. 

He didn’t try to go inside, terrified that it would transform the minute he set foot inside and he’d be crushed by whatever it turned into next. Instead, he stood outside the wire fence (also much fancier than it had been) and watched the panoply of weird wild and wonderful chickens parade around.

Friendliness usually usurps social cues, at least when it comes to Jovi, so he’s quick to fill most of the space between him and Alex though the other man doesn’t rise to his feet. “That’s good, that’s good,” he says sincerely; he won’t begrudge others their freedom from the trees. “Your place looks great, man! You’re living with Lina, right?” He says that loudly enough that, if she’s here, she’ll overhear him. If he’s learned one thing from Jupiter lately (and he’s learned plenty), it’s that Lina shouldn’t be trusted with information.

“The after’s… alright. No, not quite,” he laughs at Alex’s suggestion for the supplies… “Though actually…” A considering head tilt. “I guess we could – nah, that wasn’t the plan.” Before he can get too derailed, Jovi shakes his head and gets back on schedule. “How would you say you are with your attunement?” Normally he’d dish here about his recent struggles – he’s just got to make sure that Alex’s roommate doesn’t appear in the doorway first. “I’m working on a sort of… project.”

! ! ! 

“Yeah! Lina has a full schedule lining up potential baby daddies, though, so we don’t always see each other much. Just for the occasional exchange of gossip over a morning acai bowl. It’s just like living in LA.” Alex snickers at his own delightful sense of humour. It’s not that he and Lina don’t like each other; they do, and they see eye-to-eye on a lot of things, but they also have a healthy sense of the possible eventuality of throwing each other under the bus if necessary. It keeps the relationship fresh.

Alex puts on a sympathetic look as Jovi skirts around what the aftermath of the trees is like. He is genuinely sympathetic, but only up to a point. It won’t do to give over entirely and then be caught short when the treebies inevitably turn bad again. Jovi heads off the path, then comes back to it, and Alex waits for him. It’s interesting how easily Jovi can be distracted -- by himself, if nobody else does it for him first. 

who you would be in a fantasy society  ||  the himbo prince