For briefest of moments, his eyes turned fond. Guard was lowered for but a few seconds, allowing for Yori to examine the situation far more closely.
Willingly, he exposed a side of vulnerability towards the investigator. It was a common tactic Yori used (and, so, he wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if arima had called him on it.) when regarding others, and he never ever did say whether it was genuine or not. For the current moment, however…? Yes, it may have been leaning more towards the sincere side of things than it would have on any other days.
However, he was swift in returning back to his distant yet always perpetually inspired persona in a matter of seconds.
“That makes sense,” he stated in plain tone of voice, shifting only slightly to move closer once hand had been raised. It could have been a trap, but also– it could have been a simple gesture.
And, oh, there was only one way to find out!
How fun this scene was turning out to be!
“–O~ooh?”
The snap, with intentions as clear and concise as Yori’s truth (it’s a trick question yet not at the same time!), grabbed his attention in no time. Were he anyone else, he could see such a gesture inciting a spook. Thankfully, all he had given was a purposefully sharp jerk of the head. All eyes were on Arima now, and the actor himself would never dare to be so rude to take his eyes off of him now that such an effort was given.
“I cannot offer things to someone that I know very little about,” he admitted seconds later, preferring to lean back into his chair and raise an eyebrow. “I do believe that they could and would be seen as empty promises, and I do not wish to have that as a lasting impression, you understand. It’s not a textbook definition of “allegiance” that my lovely superiors are after, that much I’m sure you’ve gathered from your time, thus far, being spent with me.”
(how does one entice one with nothing?)
“As such… I, personally, am unable to offer things of much use to you. You seem like you have everything under control, and it’d be greatly insulting on my end to offer forth anything materialistic or the like!” There he moves to adjust his cravat, giving it a well-needed fluff. “Alas, I am afraid to say too much lest it leads the two of us in a never-ending circle! I do not want that, and I do not think it’d be appropriate of me to even begin into it in the form of a joke.”
(simple. use your words. offer the hidden. offer the unspeakable.)
But what would be a good start, he wondered…
(a truce, perhaps? that is the crucial part of this equation, is it not?)
Ah, yes. That seems like it’d be a good place to start.
“We can offer forth peace.”
A lie hidden within a truth. Yori knew of the Clowns’ purpose and knew very well that it would be difficult to believe. That was the point, though. He smiled with his head canting to the side, directing a casually polite gaze towards the other man (the man that could snap his neck without breaking a sweat. yori’s morbidly curious how it feels.) with mild implications of knowing hidden within.
“We do not interfere with your plans, and you do not interfere with ours.”
He expected questions. He was ready to tackle them.
“That is, until one of our own ruins it– taints it! From thereon, it’s back to the drawing board… swept under the rug like nothing happened! No loose ends to tie. No bridges to burn. It’s just– poof! Gone!”
(and, rest assured, that one will not be me.)
A lie would it be to assume he would miss those small signals being displayed in front of him. Be they truthful or not? - it mattered little if anything at all. Expectation would have it that he might call him out for these sort of 'tricks' that might not even be some, but - frankly enough - the Reaper was not entertained at all. Whatever it meant, it either would come to find itself useful later on, or be discarded until whatever next meeting they might 'indulge' in [ if there would even be one at all ].
Vulnerability was only an accumulation of the possible - if oneself was not found as 'vulnerable' who would be able to exploit it? [ And might not be many still ---? ]. Brushed aside the same second snap of his fingers had rung around the room. Tearing out of thoughts and back to attention when asked questions tumble back and forth inside his interlocutor's mind.
He supposes there was a possibility to humour it even more. And anybody who had known the Special Class for a moment longer would realise that this occasion here had dragged on for far more heartbeats than he was able and willing to spill.
Why not see where it would lead?
Knows well enough what they both would need to give in order to not find own sanity at the edge of breaking.
"You speak about insulting my abilities and control, and yet offer forth 'peace' I am very well aware of that is not one to begin with." For what was peace in their eyes? The collection of an acceptance to stay in own path and never step out of self-imposed boundaries, lest they desire and accept it all to break and a war to flood the land and those unsuspecting souls outside of their own realm of existence. "Let us reevaluate it." What was peace in their minds? Remaining in their own active reach of powers without mingling in another party's very own, decidedly fiddling with only their individual means of survival and growing greedy, greedy - so surely ravenous. "I am knowledgeable of your dear superiors and their destructive tendencies, so---" What was peace in their hands?
"---If I admit and suspect myself to the acceptance of something quite as fickle as your word brought forth from those that control you - how am I to know that they would control themselves?" For what is 'peace' - if not a precious little word?
But a reaction for an action, is it not? Mimicked comfort of leaning back in his chair, crossed legs to uncross, to change, to swiftly offer a new display of 'ease', head to be set to an angle as if only being quite so attentive with mocking humour laced in whatever word he had proclaimed only seconds prior. These thoughts about something that so many thousands, hundred thousand, million, uncountable, would truly and utterly want? And the investigator's own knowledge about the topic was that his 'associates' would rather turn this earth to dust than try and salvage what shall remain in tainted innocence.
No, frankly and in truth. He only partially thought like this. Else protecting what was so sure dear to him would not find itself his daily means of acting.
Ah, he wanted something else, but what it was? That would remain to be seen. "Alas, I think it might be just like my own partners for you. How am I to tell you and make you believe that my comrades would not destroy and burn those bridges we work so hard to raise?" Easy, there was no way. But there were a hundred different ones to ensure it. "It's a bitter back and forth, don't you think, Mister Yori?"