[ Love. He's heard a lot about it in the last eleven years, but it's never been a need. Never been something he could understand, though he's faked it plenty. His attention for Pai is much larger than it seems on the surface, opening into whole new vistas every time he thinks he's grasped the extent of it. The bottomlessness of it is frightening, but it isn't what normal people would classify as 'love.' It is too steely at its center. The only person he's felt any type of softness for is Yin, but he doubts it could be called love. Amber understood Hei, understood his drive and his need to be unbeatable, but not completely. He'd desired her, but he hadn't trusted her. Still, without her machinations, he would be dead, and for that he respects her. Do understanding and respect equate as love? No. From Pai, he's learnt logic, perseverance, resolution. From Yin, loyalty. From Korra, fragments of kindness. From Amber, mindgames, sex, skullduggery, how to spot liars, how to seduce, to hide in plain sight, to kill, but never to love. ]
[ That word, to him, is just a synonym for helplessness. (That is, perhaps, where he and Carla differ. Her life revolves around emptiness avoidance. For Hei, emptiness is seductive, easy. He runs to it with open arms, and often nothing can pull him from its grip.) ]
It's a vital quality to have around here.
[ Also: Juice! He settles on lychee and slings it into the cart. ]
no subject
[ That word, to him, is just a synonym for helplessness. (That is, perhaps, where he and Carla differ. Her life revolves around emptiness avoidance. For Hei, emptiness is seductive, easy. He runs to it with open arms, and often nothing can pull him from its grip.) ]
It's a vital quality to have around here.
[ Also: Juice! He settles on lychee and slings it into the cart. ]