( he wasn't expecting korra here, but once she's at his side it's the most natural thing in the world. more than their friendship, more than their pro-bending days, more than just being an attache to the avatar, he moves to make space for her on an instinct that's ages old. as if he's always been at her side in some way or form, for a thousand years.
maybe he has.
but now he's just. staring at that rock. )
But I'm not an earthbender.
( it's a faint, feeble protest. because now that he's thinking about it, he can feel it. where the sun used to reach warm, spindly fingers into the meat of him, now he can hear the earth sing beneath his feet. muffled by the soles of his shoes, but it's. there. all around him. it's a deep, thrumming thing, like the roots of the world cast all in earth and stone and sand. he's never wanted to jump out of his skin quite so badly.
it's not that it feels wrong. just tremendously different in a way that's almost. suffocating. fire is as much freedom as air, licking up towards the open sky, but earth. it sinks down.
he twists his heel on the ground. little pebbles rise and tremble in the air, and when he relaxes his stance they drop back. he knows earthbending forms, of course. he picked them up them when bolin did, because they had no one else to practice with but each other, and mako was a quicker study when they were stealing scrolls from the library just to learn. it was easier for him to decipher the form on the page and then teach it to bo himself. )
no subject
maybe he has.
but now he's just. staring at that rock. )
But I'm not an earthbender.
( it's a faint, feeble protest. because now that he's thinking about it, he can feel it. where the sun used to reach warm, spindly fingers into the meat of him, now he can hear the earth sing beneath his feet. muffled by the soles of his shoes, but it's. there. all around him. it's a deep, thrumming thing, like the roots of the world cast all in earth and stone and sand. he's never wanted to jump out of his skin quite so badly.
it's not that it feels wrong. just tremendously different in a way that's almost. suffocating. fire is as much freedom as air, licking up towards the open sky, but earth. it sinks down.
he twists his heel on the ground. little pebbles rise and tremble in the air, and when he relaxes his stance they drop back. he knows earthbending forms, of course. he picked them up them when bolin did, because they had no one else to practice with but each other, and mako was a quicker study when they were stealing scrolls from the library just to learn. it was easier for him to decipher the form on the page and then teach it to bo himself. )