( Mika bristles slightly, because Leo's read him right: light shone on him, he's more like a wounded animal baring its teeth in some attempt to protect itself than someone speaking out of malice.
He would rather assume the worst and be right (and be proven right again, and again, and again) than think better of humans and find his trust once more betrayed. Mika can take the injury, he can limp along, but what if his naïveté harms someone he cares for again?
That's the true face of his fear. )
I don't need your pity. ( Spoken like someone who hasn't been faced with kindness in a long time, and struggles to recognize it. ) My human mistakes are what made me a vampire and ruined so many things for so many people— and other human's mistakes are why so many people have had to suffer. I know what I've seen.
( But he also knows he's not going to convince Leo. Leo is... not as absent-minded as he figured he'd be - he has a better sense of articulation and complex thought than certain idiots he's known. If anything, Mika at least wants to establish his perspective as legitimate. )
If you want to tell yourself you can live and learn, then fine. If humans are actually capable of good, I'll believe it when I see it.
( At least Leo's not stupid enough to go overboard for love. Allegedly. )
But you only get the chance to really screw up once. If you die, that's it. I don't count as "alive" any more than a corpse in a grave counts as alive. The only thing I can do is look back at the people who are still living— all of you, and your "mistakes" you speak so highly of.
no subject
He would rather assume the worst and be right (and be proven right again, and again, and again) than think better of humans and find his trust once more betrayed. Mika can take the injury, he can limp along, but what if his naïveté harms someone he cares for again?
That's the true face of his fear. )
I don't need your pity. ( Spoken like someone who hasn't been faced with kindness in a long time, and struggles to recognize it. ) My human mistakes are what made me a vampire and ruined so many things for so many people— and other human's mistakes are why so many people have had to suffer. I know what I've seen.
( But he also knows he's not going to convince Leo. Leo is... not as absent-minded as he figured he'd be - he has a better sense of articulation and complex thought than certain idiots he's known. If anything, Mika at least wants to establish his perspective as legitimate. )
If you want to tell yourself you can live and learn, then fine. If humans are actually capable of good, I'll believe it when I see it.
( At least Leo's not stupid enough to go overboard for love. Allegedly. )
But you only get the chance to really screw up once. If you die, that's it. I don't count as "alive" any more than a corpse in a grave counts as alive. The only thing I can do is look back at the people who are still living— all of you, and your "mistakes" you speak so highly of.