[ Everything's unusual when you have to keep peeling away the layers of politeness and hours of kitchen steam and books and dirty clothes, the things that make him Li -- a good-natured stranger living humbly on the island because Avatar Korra vouched for him -- rather than BK201, notorious assassin and provocateur. It's disorienting to shed somebody else's skin at the blink of an eye, to transition from Cover to Self -- whoever that self is. But it's also reflex by now, especially when your whole life feels like a long-immersion mission. ]
[ Grinning, Korra slips in. And it's automatic, the way Hei steps toward the window. Glances out, a sharp, steady sweep -- checking if there's anyone hidden in the spiderweb of shadows thrown by the willow trees -- before he shuts the window. Hazy moonlight, cool as the air, streams in through the slats, competing with the golden glow from the lamp. His and Korra's faces are broken into shadowed lines and pale squares from the shoji screen. In the gloom, Korra reminds him of a pretty little candle. Burning all the time. (Oh, how she burns.) The air between them seems to vibrate; her presence is like a shock to Hei's entire system; so familiar that it scrapes close to the bone, though when her habits had become his habit to watch he can't actually say. ]
[ It's a moment before he says, restrained instead of calm, ]
If Tenzin catches us again, he's going to throw me out.
[ It's a warning, as if he's trying to dissuade her from staying here. It would be more effective if he weren't also sidling closer. ]
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<333
Date: 2014-03-19 12:18 am (UTC)[ Grinning, Korra slips in. And it's automatic, the way Hei steps toward the window. Glances out, a sharp, steady sweep -- checking if there's anyone hidden in the spiderweb of shadows thrown by the willow trees -- before he shuts the window. Hazy moonlight, cool as the air, streams in through the slats, competing with the golden glow from the lamp. His and Korra's faces are broken into shadowed lines and pale squares from the shoji screen. In the gloom, Korra reminds him of a pretty little candle. Burning all the time. (Oh, how she burns.) The air between them seems to vibrate; her presence is like a shock to Hei's entire system; so familiar that it scrapes close to the bone, though when her habits had become his habit to watch he can't actually say. ]
[ It's a moment before he says, restrained instead of calm, ]
If Tenzin catches us again, he's going to throw me out.
[ It's a warning, as if he's trying to dissuade her from staying here. It would be more effective if he weren't also sidling closer. ]