[ At her words, a cold tremor runs through Hei like electricity. It doesn't show. He takes another sip of his water, the glass clinking against the table. His expression remains unchanged. ]
It's a living.
[ And a means to an end. He isn't blind to the nature of the menace he works for. The Kafkaesque, totalitarian machinations of faceless, nameless men -- this is the enemy he's engaged -- as real and deserving of his hatred as Amber. Yet, daily irony, he functions as a cog in that machine. He too works in the castle, answering to the very higher-ups whose agendas he undermines, whose actions he opposes. ]
[ For a second, Hei feels a wave of tiredness wash over him that brings with it a brief but nearly overwhelming sense of pointlessness. It isn't pointless, of course, this road he'd set himself on to find Pai. Frightening, infuriating, distressing, humiliating. But not pointless. Because if it had been, he would have given it up, and he can't give it up. This is the mast to which he's bound the shell of life. And even when he feels in danger of crumbling inside, he isn't going to yield. ]
[ Stubborn, Pai used to call him. ]
[ At least we have that in common. ]
[ To Korra, flatly, ]
I understand your reasons for defecting better than you know. [ You aren't the first. ] But I also understand you're wasting your time. Amber will tell you how much her organization needs you. How necessary you are. But she only 'needs' whatever helps accomplish her own ends. She will not hesitate to cut ties once she's gotten there. Is that how you plan to die?
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Date: 2015-04-23 04:18 am (UTC)It's a living.
[ And a means to an end. He isn't blind to the nature of the menace he works for. The Kafkaesque, totalitarian machinations of faceless, nameless men -- this is the enemy he's engaged -- as real and deserving of his hatred as Amber. Yet, daily irony, he functions as a cog in that machine. He too works in the castle, answering to the very higher-ups whose agendas he undermines, whose actions he opposes. ]
[ For a second, Hei feels a wave of tiredness wash over him that brings with it a brief but nearly overwhelming sense of pointlessness. It isn't pointless, of course, this road he'd set himself on to find Pai. Frightening, infuriating, distressing, humiliating. But not pointless. Because if it had been, he would have given it up, and he can't give it up. This is the mast to which he's bound the shell of life. And even when he feels in danger of crumbling inside, he isn't going to yield. ]
[ Stubborn, Pai used to call him. ]
[ At least we have that in common. ]
[ To Korra, flatly, ]
I understand your reasons for defecting better than you know. [ You aren't the first. ] But I also understand you're wasting your time. Amber will tell you how much her organization needs you. How necessary you are. But she only 'needs' whatever helps accomplish her own ends. She will not hesitate to cut ties once she's gotten there. Is that how you plan to die?