For the moment, Victor ignores Yakov, studying the boy in front of him. Yuri Plisetsky is intense and highly competitive, but even last year, his eyes had been set not on what he was doing, but what he wanted to be doing. Where he thought he should be. Frustrating for Yakov, familiar to Victor. "Better than everyone else is a pretty low bar."
He'll have to skate impressively to win without quads, even as a junior, but Victor has seen him: it's more than possible, it's the only probable outcome, unless there's some other brand-new prodigy with a feisty disposition making their way up the ranks.
Not for everyone, but for Yuri, imported from ... where was it, Moscow? –– simply being better was never going to be enough motivation. "Be better than yourself, and people will really pay attention."
"Or they'll ignore their coaches." What humanity had found its way into Yakov's face has slipped back under the brim of that hat, and the lines around his mouth only look deeper and more forbidding as he frowns. "Perhaps you both need a dip at Laskovy to clear out your ears so you can listen better."
no subject
He'll have to skate impressively to win without quads, even as a junior, but Victor has seen him: it's more than possible, it's the only probable outcome, unless there's some other brand-new prodigy with a feisty disposition making their way up the ranks.
Not for everyone, but for Yuri, imported from ... where was it, Moscow? –– simply being better was never going to be enough motivation. "Be better than yourself, and people will really pay attention."
"Or they'll ignore their coaches." What humanity had found its way into Yakov's face has slipped back under the brim of that hat, and the lines around his mouth only look deeper and more forbidding as he frowns. "Perhaps you both need a dip at Laskovy to clear out your ears so you can listen better."