[ He doesn't press the issue further. It's excusable that Hei doesn't find this as tragic as it is, or extraordinary, because you don't grow up the way he has and not start to take for granted that such trauma is real, and the unspeakable is commonplace. But he also knows that it can be overcome. Even if there are no limits to the extent of what you've suffered, or just how wrecked you are afterward. Scarred, battered -- you can still keep swinging. ]
[ Even when you wish you could sink down and expire. ]
[ He won't tell Korra that. Safecracking is easier for him than reassurance. She's not yet ready to hear it, anyway. But he's a expert at (almost) everything else in his life; failure in this arena is not an option. Carefully, he crouches beside her. His right hand -- cool-warm, weathered -- takes her palm in his, squeezing lightly. Not entirely to comfort, but to see whether he is still to have this intimacy, to touch her anywhere. If she pulls away, he'll accept it for what it probably is, unconsciously. ]
[ A rejection of him, and of everything he represents. ]
⊕ march 15th, late evening
[ He doesn't press the issue further. It's excusable that Hei doesn't find this as tragic as it is, or extraordinary, because you don't grow up the way he has and not start to take for granted that such trauma is real, and the unspeakable is commonplace. But he also knows that it can be overcome. Even if there are no limits to the extent of what you've suffered, or just how wrecked you are afterward. Scarred, battered -- you can still keep swinging. ]
[ Even when you wish you could sink down and expire. ]
[ He won't tell Korra that. Safecracking is easier for him than reassurance. She's not yet ready to hear it, anyway. But he's a expert at (almost) everything else in his life; failure in this arena is not an option. Carefully, he crouches beside her. His right hand -- cool-warm, weathered -- takes her palm in his, squeezing lightly. Not entirely to comfort, but to see whether he is still to have this intimacy, to touch her anywhere. If she pulls away, he'll accept it for what it probably is, unconsciously. ]
[ A rejection of him, and of everything he represents. ]