[ His pulse rises to a hopeful waver, though his expression remains guarded. Her response isn't a definitive Yes, but there's a promise in the way she demands that he get boxes, mentions Mai's toys as if intimating that she'll be spending more than a single hour here. His heart races at the idea -- slow steady tread, up, down -- and he thinks of the little girl superimposed in the brightly-lit blue room, her soft paddling footsteps, the way she giggles out in high clear joy as she dandles her toys or smears paint across paper with her tiny fingers. Impossible for his mind to maintain its usual cold pitch of sobriety, with memories of his daughter. Happiness always nibbles at the edges of his aloofness, infecting him with warm thoughts. ]
[ From the corner of his eye, he notices Korra's hand flutter toward his -- before hastily withdrawing. Blinking slowly, feeling torn between wishfulness and cynicism, he says, ]
You can ... make a list. If you want. Tell me all the things Mai would need.
[ Her preferred brand of diapers. Powdered milk. Cereal. Her favorite toys. ]
no subject
[ His pulse rises to a hopeful waver, though his expression remains guarded. Her response isn't a definitive Yes, but there's a promise in the way she demands that he get boxes, mentions Mai's toys as if intimating that she'll be spending more than a single hour here. His heart races at the idea -- slow steady tread, up, down -- and he thinks of the little girl superimposed in the brightly-lit blue room, her soft paddling footsteps, the way she giggles out in high clear joy as she dandles her toys or smears paint across paper with her tiny fingers. Impossible for his mind to maintain its usual cold pitch of sobriety, with memories of his daughter. Happiness always nibbles at the edges of his aloofness, infecting him with warm thoughts. ]
[ From the corner of his eye, he notices Korra's hand flutter toward his -- before hastily withdrawing. Blinking slowly, feeling torn between wishfulness and cynicism, he says, ]
You can ... make a list. If you want. Tell me all the things Mai would need.
[ Her preferred brand of diapers. Powdered milk. Cereal. Her favorite toys. ]