[ Here's the thing about Korra: She isn't a failure. She's just mired in screw-ups. ]
[ Hei isn't one to pull punches. He doesn't make a show of hiding his impatience, because why should he? He never brings it up, that If you're measured against someone who stopped a fucking war, you're always second-best. Even if you aren't, but he thinks it almost everytime he sees her. Korra's made screw ups of the grandest proportions, but she's also a survivor. And Hei respects that enough to curb his sharpness -- because he's been there. Self-hatred is its own trap; a driving-force, but also an excuse to lacerate yourself with your own mistakes, to magnify them in your memory, which is a failure in its own right. Granted, it's a strong motivator. Hei knows enough people who've been driven to the top by self-hatred. He was one of them. But a fuel that volatile is also tied to self-destruction. It impels you to take stupid risks, to make bad choices. It leaves you a miserable wreck because you're always running from yourself. And no matter where you go, there you are. ]
[ Screwing up is different. It means you made a mess, but you're fixing it. It's not what defines you. Your choices do. ]
[ He doesn't say that. Korra's face is obscured, but the air around her is thick with dammed-up tears. He doesn't move, but after a couple of beats, he says quietly, ]
I'll leave you alone.
[ The sentence is weighted in expectation of the But I'd rather be kissing you, which never comes, though he takes the breath before it. The absence of the remark leaves his words sounding unfinished; his feet feel planted to the ground. ]
no subject
[ Hei isn't one to pull punches. He doesn't make a show of hiding his impatience, because why should he? He never brings it up, that If you're measured against someone who stopped a fucking war, you're always second-best. Even if you aren't, but he thinks it almost everytime he sees her. Korra's made screw ups of the grandest proportions, but she's also a survivor. And Hei respects that enough to curb his sharpness -- because he's been there. Self-hatred is its own trap; a driving-force, but also an excuse to lacerate yourself with your own mistakes, to magnify them in your memory, which is a failure in its own right. Granted, it's a strong motivator. Hei knows enough people who've been driven to the top by self-hatred. He was one of them. But a fuel that volatile is also tied to self-destruction. It impels you to take stupid risks, to make bad choices. It leaves you a miserable wreck because you're always running from yourself. And no matter where you go, there you are. ]
[ Screwing up is different. It means you made a mess, but you're fixing it. It's not what defines you. Your choices do. ]
[ He doesn't say that. Korra's face is obscured, but the air around her is thick with dammed-up tears. He doesn't move, but after a couple of beats, he says quietly, ]
I'll leave you alone.
[ The sentence is weighted in expectation of the But I'd rather be kissing you, which never comes, though he takes the breath before it. The absence of the remark leaves his words sounding unfinished; his feet feel planted to the ground. ]