[ Under Hei's palm, her belly ripples -- mysterious little jolts. No rhythm that he can ascertain. But there is something inside her. Something alive. It sinks into him, as if for the first time: he feels a species of fear enter his heart that he hasn't felt since Heaven's War. Although he'd been scared most of his time there, it had at least been a coherent fear: fear that a bomb might come whistling out of the chalky dawn sky and through the canvas roof of his tent, or fear that some human grenade might dash inside their perimeter and pull the pin on himself. ]
[ But the fear he feels now is childlike, dreamy. There is no reference point to it. ]
[ Then he realizes it's not fear at all. It's awe. ]
[ Then Korra's hand covers his -- and he jerks himself to his senses. Strange, to realize that even as someone who has existed in the dark, he is so limited by the spectrum of what is visible. How many things are burgeoning and brewing unnoticed? Secretly blossoming into life, just out of sight? ]
[ He doesn't smile. His expression is quietly shocked, torn. But after a moment, he lets his hand twine with hers, fingers a curl of dry, hot kindling. A reassurance, but also a necessary anchor. His emotions are pinwheeling too quickly between overspillage and absence. He doesn't know what to settle on. ]
[ Finally, wrenching his focus on the practicalities, ]
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Date: 2015-03-08 02:56 am (UTC)[ But the fear he feels now is childlike, dreamy. There is no reference point to it. ]
[ Then he realizes it's not fear at all. It's awe. ]
[ Then Korra's hand covers his -- and he jerks himself to his senses. Strange, to realize that even as someone who has existed in the dark, he is so limited by the spectrum of what is visible. How many things are burgeoning and brewing unnoticed? Secretly blossoming into life, just out of sight? ]
[ He doesn't smile. His expression is quietly shocked, torn. But after a moment, he lets his hand twine with hers, fingers a curl of dry, hot kindling. A reassurance, but also a necessary anchor. His emotions are pinwheeling too quickly between overspillage and absence. He doesn't know what to settle on. ]
[ Finally, wrenching his focus on the practicalities, ]
Does it hurt?