[ And there it is: Dimitri's capacity for mental gymnastics in order to find the bleakest interpretation, there on full display. Yuri smothers a chuckle behind his fist. He should have known better than to think he could Dimitriproof his words without saying more. Without specifying more.

Goddess knows that his little wife was equally skilled in self-deprecating interpretation. ]

Have you ever known me to suffer in silence? Me? Come now.

[ He doesn't know what he may be like in some other timeline. Some of what he'd said seemed to set that other Dimitri on his heels with the boldness of it, so perhaps they aren't entirely the same. With that thought in mind, he supposes he'd best make as fine a point as he can of it. ]

It's no hardship to be around you. It never was, and that's not going to change.