[Video]

[failsavior]

[The screen flicks on and Yuuri’s face appears on the screen. As per usual, his expression is optimistic, and his smile is undoubtedly excited while he peers at his Demise.]Namatame and I have spoken with Germany about making a more specific area of training available for those who are looking for partners. He’s been kind enough to let us use some

Comments

[Video]

[ih8spiders]

If we had something like this months before...

[Video]

[alphaspider]

We'd still be partners.

[Video]

[ih8spiders]

[... He should have locked this thread.]

You don't have to sound so confident about it.

[Video]

[alphaspider]

If I wasn't confident about it, I might not have convinced you. [Then again, that was more impeccable logic and a lot of hard work, trying to behave.]

Do you regret it?

[Video]

[ih8spiders]

[It's not a question he can answer easily. On one hand he often gets the urge to wonder what it would be like if things had gone otherwise. On the other hand, he has to try really hard never to seem like he's going back on his word. It does funny things to a person's way of thinking, that kind of resolve.]

... I'm--not.

I was just wondering.

[Video]

[alphaspider]

Good. [smile]

But you should try other meisters, too. In case I somehow die here.

[Video]

[ih8spiders]

[Telling him that, months after he'd virtually locked himself to the single partnership...]

... I might get tempted.

[Video]

[alphaspider]

Wouldn't want you to be left alone if I do. That would be a waste. [shrugs a shoulder] We'd still be partners, anyway.

[Video, Locked]

[ih8spiders]

[Belated locking of the thread because he only just remembered that he doesn't want people like Hisoka seeing this.]

... Why are you talking like that?

[Video] Locked

[alphaspider]

Because I take care of my own.

[Video] Locked

[ih8spiders]

That's not--[something he wants to hear. He doesn't belong to anyone, least of all Kuroro, he wants to say, but when he would have reacted violently months ago, this time Kuroro's statement feels different.]

[Video] Locked

[alphaspider]

Possible? Or do you protest the idea of being identified as an intimate acquaintance by someone you wanted to kill just months ago?

[Video] Locked

[ih8spiders]

[There's a brief silence as he wonders if he can lay down the line here. But when he finally answers, his voice is without heat, quietly controlled, as if he's worried that giving voice to his complaint will reveal something different.]

... I'm not one of your Ryodan. Don't talk of me like I belong to you.

[(Different, terrifying--like maybe he doesn't actually mind the feeling of belonging somewhere again.)]

[Video] Locked

[alphaspider]

I meant-- [Yes, he did mean like the Ryodan, but it wasn't because Kurapika is a Ryodan, not yet. But he's just gotten to that level through another means.]

As a partner.

[Video] Locked

[ih8spiders]

[He doesn't agree with the statement. But neither does he say anything to disagree, and at this point his silence is as good as an acknowledgment that he might actually be comfortable with their partnership now, when he would be voicing his violent objection a couple of months ago.]

You're not expecting this to carry all the way to when we go back, are you? [Kuroro should know what "this" means.]

[Video] Locked

[alphaspider]

No. [Not yet.] That would be asking for too much, and I'm not that unreasonable. [But wait for a few years. You never know what the future will bring. Kuroro knows that they've progressed a lot since they partnered, though. That much improvement means there's a chance.]