( it sparks a moment's anger in him, the softly lit candle of gentle feelings and warm regard gutters and goes out. mako bats his hand away, rearing back. his expression has gone hard, jaw set. )
If you know a lot about me like you said, then you should know that just being here is a compromise.
( he hadn't meant for it to sound hurt, but it does. he hasn't bothered discussing his feelings with. anyone, for a while. not since korra left for the spirit world, where he told her he would follow her into any war across any world, any lifetime. since then he's just been. a cop. a brother, sometimes. but mostly a cop, with no personal attachments, no personal time and certainly nothing resembling romance. he wasn't articulate to begin with, but now he's so rusty he may as well be learning from the ground up. cool under fire, and yet — )
Everything I am is telling me to arrest you. I'm not. That's my compromise. I'm not even telling you you can't keep doing what you're doing, I just want you to do it by the books. You told me that's what you like about me; that I'm not crooked. You don't think you're a criminal, but according to the laws I swore to uphold? Yeah, you are. What you're asking me to do is accept a bribe. I don't care if it's not money, it's still. Something. And then I, what, look the other way? Don't put that on me. You're asking more of me than you can imagine.
no subject
If you know a lot about me like you said, then you should know that just being here is a compromise.
( he hadn't meant for it to sound hurt, but it does. he hasn't bothered discussing his feelings with. anyone, for a while. not since korra left for the spirit world, where he told her he would follow her into any war across any world, any lifetime. since then he's just been. a cop. a brother, sometimes. but mostly a cop, with no personal attachments, no personal time and certainly nothing resembling romance. he wasn't articulate to begin with, but now he's so rusty he may as well be learning from the ground up. cool under fire, and yet — )
Everything I am is telling me to arrest you. I'm not. That's my compromise. I'm not even telling you you can't keep doing what you're doing, I just want you to do it by the books. You told me that's what you like about me; that I'm not crooked. You don't think you're a criminal, but according to the laws I swore to uphold? Yeah, you are. What you're asking me to do is accept a bribe. I don't care if it's not money, it's still. Something. And then I, what, look the other way? Don't put that on me. You're asking more of me than you can imagine.