( bolin scoots closer, mako makes space for him, lifting an arm to wrap around him. they're both too old now to really... find comfort in cuddling together, but when the situation warrants, well... mako doesn't mind throwing convention out on its ear. )
There's heat, Bolin, it's just electric. The storm kicked it out.
( whenever they are inside, their time is spent in older places with coal braziers. republic city is a young place in the grand scheme of things, but the industrial revolution happened fast, and whoever couldn't keep up was left behind. mako's been working on his firebending, trying for those little sparks of lightning, because if he can master that then maybe he can find a job at a power plant, and all this will be a thing of the past. it's hard to get people to bring him on because he's so young, which is why most of their jobs are odd ones. the triads were really the only ones who'd bother, and he knows full well why — the younger you indoctrinate someone into crime, the easier they are to control. it's why he's been so, so careful in how close he lets bolin get to them. running numbers isn't big time stuff. it's not a hundred percent above board — he can play innocent all he likes, he knows he's helping out with tax evasion — but it's not so deeply entrenched in their world that they'll be trapped.
he doesn't answer the latter question verbally, just pulls an envelope of dumplings out of the makeshift knapsack resting against his knee and holds it out. )
no subject
There's heat, Bolin, it's just electric. The storm kicked it out.
( whenever they are inside, their time is spent in older places with coal braziers. republic city is a young place in the grand scheme of things, but the industrial revolution happened fast, and whoever couldn't keep up was left behind. mako's been working on his firebending, trying for those little sparks of lightning, because if he can master that then maybe he can find a job at a power plant, and all this will be a thing of the past. it's hard to get people to bring him on because he's so young, which is why most of their jobs are odd ones. the triads were really the only ones who'd bother, and he knows full well why — the younger you indoctrinate someone into crime, the easier they are to control. it's why he's been so, so careful in how close he lets bolin get to them. running numbers isn't big time stuff. it's not a hundred percent above board — he can play innocent all he likes, he knows he's helping out with tax evasion — but it's not so deeply entrenched in their world that they'll be trapped.
he doesn't answer the latter question verbally, just pulls an envelope of dumplings out of the makeshift knapsack resting against his knee and holds it out. )
Go on.