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[flaredo]

"Heeey, you've reached Yang! Well, actually, you didn't reach far enough, 'cause I'm not here right now! But don't yang up! Just leave a message on this baby, and I'll get back to you soon enough, okay?"

[ Please specify VOICEMAIL, TEXT or CALL. ]

Comments

[flaredo]

I can't say for sure, but I doubt it. [ Yang also pauses before she moves a hand to rest it on his head, keeping the other arm around him. ] Maybe it's like how we don't remember anything about our worlds apparently being destroyed. Like you're asleep.

[dielectrics]

That'd be— good.

[ He doesn't relax, not exactly, but he doesn't make any move to shove off her hand, either.

It's better to think that Gon doesn't know what's happened to him. That he's not drifting somewhere in a stream of data, alone and helpless and conscious of it all. ]

Has anyone found something we can do to get them back?

[flaredo]

If they did, trust me, I'd be all over it.

... But I'll see if I can find out anything about your friend. [ might as well start investigating more thoroughly. ]

[dielectrics]

I don't need you to go do all the work for me.

[ There's not nearly as much heat in his voice as there usually would be, but still, the tsun is strong with this one. He can't help but bristle a little. ]

[flaredo]

Then help me. I was going to check into it, anyway.

[dielectrics]

Fine, I guess. I was gonna do it on my own even without your help.

[ Because clearly she's helping him, not the other way around. ]

CERES is the obvious place to start. It shouldn't be too hard to sneak in.

[flaredo]

How are you with computers? With all the glitch and code talk, that's probably where most of the information is.

[dielectrics]

I can use them, but I'm not nearly as good as my brother. Or as gross, though.

[ There's a beat. Then, he asks, probably in vain again. ]

Seriously, though, will you let me go now?

[ He's tolerated the hugging for like five whole minutes, isn't that enough?? ]

[flaredo]

[ "Gross"... huh. Yang allows a dubious noise to escape, but then she shakes her head. ]

In a minute. I'll be here for awhile, anyway.

[dielectrics]

[ Yang is fortunate; she hasn't seen Milluki's collection of moe moe waifu figures. Killua had to live knowing those things were in the same house with him every day. ]

You can stay, just quit it already. I'm not gonna fall apart if you let go. I feel stupid talking about this stuff while we're standing like this.

[flaredo]

That's because you're too easily embarrassed.

[ but she does release him, with one last defiant hair ruffle. ]

[dielectrics]

[ FREEDOM. He immediately retreats to one of the beds and takes a seat on it, putting distance between them. ]

It is not, it's because you're doing stupid things. Anyway, we could definitely use someone who's good with computers. What about someone who's already working for CERES?

[flaredo]

We're going to have to ask around-- I can't think of anyone off the top of my head. [ but she slides to the floor properly, resting her arms on her knees. ] But that'd be a lot easier than hauling a computer genius with us.

[dielectrics]

They'd have better access, too.

[ He's quiet for a moment, then glances down at her, expression unreadable. ]

Hey, Yang. Did someone you know disappear?

[flaredo]

Not people I knew very well, and the one I did came back. [ and she makes a mental note to speak to Edgeworth about it. ]

... But I know what it's like to have someone disappear without ever knowing why or how, and not even having a clue of where they are, how they're doing, that sort of thing.

[dielectrics]

[ His eyes narrow a little. That reeks of experience, not just from here, but something deeper, more personal than people she didn't know very well. ]

Who was it?

[flaredo]

[ In response, Yang tilts her head back a bit, smile flickering, but still faintly there. She'd had her phase of rashness and idiocy over it already. ]

My mother.

[dielectrics]

[ Oh, right. Other people actually care about their family members... He probably shouldn't say something like "you're lucky."

But he's sure thinking it. ]

What'd you do when it happened?

[flaredo]

Honestly? I didn't know for the longest time. She left right after I was born, and I didn't find out until the actual woman who raised me went on a mission and didn't come back.

[ she snorts, a tad derisively at herself. ]

After that, well... I was desperate to find out anything. I wouldn't stop searching for her. I wanted to know more about her, why she'd left me, and because of it, I overdid it. I took my little sister out in a wagon when I thought I had a lead, and I almost got the both of us killed.

Throwing myself into something like an idiot... nothing's worth almost losing the family you do have and care about.

[dielectrics]

You're right, you were an idiot.

[ He says it bluntly, matter of fact, but there's still a lack of any further judgment in his tone. She did something stupid; even now, after everything that's happened since he met Gon, he still has a hard time going into anything completely unprepared and without a plan. But he likes people who don't do what he does. What his family does.

There's just the barest hint of a smile curving his lips. ]

Well, whatever. We'll be a lot smarter about looking into things.

[flaredo]

Never let something control you to the point that you forget what else is important. [ and she'll hold up a finger, before her usual bright smile reappears. ]

But you're right. We're going to get to the bottom of this, no matter what, but we'll do it mostly like non-idiots.

[dielectrics]

Mostly?!

[ Ugh, why does he always end up falling in with the hotheaded think before you act types? ]

If you get in trouble, I'm not gonna go bail you out!

[ This is straight up 100% Killua lying through his teeth. ]

[flaredo]

[ Aww, Killua, it's like you care. ]

If I get the chance to punch certain people in the face, I'm taking it. That's all I'm saying.

[ Some people just deserve it. ]

[dielectrics]

[ Well, he doesn't exactly disapprove of this plan, but... ]

Which people?

[ He asks with a narrow eyed stare. ]

[flaredo]

The boss. I can't stand people who don't take responsibility for their own mistakes.