Writing Meme! 

slacktension requested this bit, from chapter 2 of dream of the lotus in bloom; Korra has just captured Mako after he interrupted the rally

“Ts’ terrible,” he says suddenly, in a compressed rasp, and she opens her grip just a fraction; “like carrying death around… not supposed to be that way.”

He cuts off. Korra stops hating him, almost; her ferocity is cut out from under her. She studies him, tracing the lines of his face, and he closes his eyes helplessly on her touch, a light tremor running through him. There is a sort of misshapen understanding written there, like all his tension, all the fear, the anger in his expression is spelled wrong, but it’s there… maybe he wonders the same things she does. Can fire kill a man without burning him? How can fire leave a man so cold?

OH MAN THIS PART WAS SO DIFFICULT TO WRITE, I KID YOU NOT. So Korra has just asked Mako what’s it like to be a firebender like him, because she has been told all her life that bending is BAD and firebenders are the worst of the lot! A firebender killed Mom! and she has tons of misplaced anger, and wants desperately to believe that if it weren’t for that firebender, Dad (amon) wouldn’t be such a difficult, terrible person, consumed with revenge and anger. 

and so she’s feeling this rush of adrenaline because she caught the guy who interrupted the rally and decides to taunt him before she takes his bending, and then BOOM he floors her with this answer. firebending is like death. what the heck is she supposed to do with that answer? does he want her to take his bending? her leverage over him is gone because she starts thinking that maybe he doesn’t like firebending either, he feels bad too - like HER. she has no idea that a firebender killed his parents, she has no idea that he is grappling with his own issues re: firebending (which will come up later in the plot, SPOILER) but suddenly she feels some sympathy for him, this person she’s supposed to hate and want to hurt. this is the beginning of korra thinking that maybe, MAYBE, bending is not black and white, that benders are hurt just as much by bending as nonbenders are. 

and the part about can fire kill a man without burning him = oh man i had so many issues with that bit. korra, of course, is thinking that the Firebender Who Killed Mom long ago killed something in her dad, and does mako feel the same way? she doesn’t know. 

everything is written wrong to highlight the dissonance between what she thinks firebenders are like and what he just did to that perception.

thanks 4 watching, stay tuned for next scene