"I thought about what you said. About feeling that we treat the perpetrators better than the victims, and that you've targeted people who are threats." He pauses to let Trevor correct him if he's wrong.
"Most people. I apologized for the ones I made a mistake with, my first day."
Trevor drops down in a chair and sets the tray on the table between them, for Lark to eat if he wants to. He himself snags a bit of meat, rolling it up into a tube and biting into it with his hands.
"I have a different perspective as a warden than I did as an inmate. But I don't necessarily think the way I see things now is any more accurate than it was before." He takes a cube of dried apple.
"There need to be consequences for what people do. You are--unfairly--bearing the brunt of months of frustration. People have been clamoring for harsher punishments, but after what happened to Fitz, I just..." A sigh. "You're on the verge of being made into a scapegoat and that's not what I'm here for."
He gives a curious look, unsure if he knows Fitz or what happened there.
"What happened to Fitz?" Trevor asks, popping open the bottle and offering some to Lark first. Better this than go into a whole explanation about why he's..not all right about being the scapegoat because he hates it, but more so that he's better equipped to handle it than most.
"Two inmates ganged up on him. They're in Zero, he's recovering." He shakes his head at the offer. "I actually don't drink alcohol. But I got a small stash for Christmas from some well-meaning friends; thought I'd share the wealth with you."
"I'm not exactly the person who goes in for a measured response." He points out, but Trevor's clearly thinking on it.
"...Zero's pointless, let's just get that out of the way. Attention-seekers, sure, it might work if you keep them locked up for long enough, but if you're bored and killing, you don't want to make someone more bored."
He nods, agreeing with it all so far. "Zero is a waste of time. She and John were kept there for a few days, they're out now. So: what would you do to keep her from becoming murderously bored again?"
"Well, I'm not a judge. I'm a killer; a hunter of killers who won't stop their own killing. So most of my solutions aren't really great for this situation. I'm sort of the last line of defense."
That caveat in place, he exhales, thinking out loud;
"Why does she want to be feared? It's a fucking stupid, lonely life. She's probably afraid herself; the ones who want to be feared - not the ones who are fuck-off scary all on their own - are the ones usually the most afraid of something else."
Another nod. "She's serving a life sentence at home. She's never going to be out of prison, so becoming the most frightening person behind bars was her best shot at any peace."
He takes another bit of apple. "The trouble is she's escalating from murder to torture. Since death here isn't permanent she's trying to find other ways of standing out among vampires and demons. Standard punishments will only make her lash out harder because it will make her think she has even more to prove."
"Well, if you're asking my opinion: she's lashing out because her life's over already. She's afraid she's going to die unacknowledged and without any freedom, back home. And she's testing the boundaries here to see what she can get away with. If you can't lock her up or kill her, I'd exhaust her first; make it so she works so hard that she can't think creatively about what she's going to do. Either keep her on a round-the-clock shift somewhere - easy enough, you've got the manpower for it - or use the necromancer who's running this boat to sap her energy levels to where all she has the energy for is sleep, eat, and piss. It takes a lot of energy, killing: worse when you're torturing because you have to....anyway."
"That's what I'd do to make her less of a threat. I know that's not what most here think of as redemption, but it'd be a way to at least sit her violent ass down. I don't know how you'd go about turning her into a better person."
"That's always where people get stuck. The desire to rehabilitate people makes a lot of wardens too permissive. The desire to protect the ship makes others too firm--and those people don't last long."
But Trevor's insights are good, and it makes Lark all the more certain that Trevor is a good man, and that if he can learn new techniques he could be a real force wherever he goes.
"Personally I think you're all fucking idiots to show up here without a plan, but I'm not really one to judge." He grins, sliding some of the tray at Lark.
"Though if we were going to be creative about it, I once heard of a spell that if you tried to hurt someone, the intention would bounce back on you. Might stop the torture."
It's something he knows wardens might put on Trevor. He won't, but he's curious why Trevor would suggest it.
It makes him grateful. "I'll suggest it if they act out again. I don't know that their wardens would listen to me right now; they tend to give three strikes."
"Wardens in general." Lark tries to act on the first mistake, but his last two inmates had been well-behaved for the most part. "You've had a few chances yourself."
"Well, now that you're with me you can count on me to respond to every fight you're in." And he is sure there will be more.
"...I still agree with your motives. It's why I can't make myself angry over it like I was with Pagan." A long, exaggerated sigh. "You're a pain in the ass."
Trevor has no issue with answering Lark's questions. He's gotten a little used to this weird curiosity in him, figuring it's what other people mean when they say Lark's a lawyer-dog who loves to dig. Truth be told, it reminds him a little of Sypha with her eagerness to learn everything about every-fucking-body, that it doesn't even really occur to him to tell Lark to shove off.
"I guess the same as anyone else trapped on this boat. I wake up, I eat, I read, I eat, I fall asleep."
"I've been working with Ye Zun. Patching up some of the old family books." Not that Trevor thinks it has a point, here. He just didn't want them to go to waste.
"And you know I give you a hand in the kitchen. And I go to bother Adrian in the Enclosure so we can fight like how we used to. Check up on people here. See if there are any newcomers; this ship's small enough that you can memorize the doors pretty quick. Drink. Yell at Laszlo to let me in the bar so I can drink."
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Trevor drops down in a chair and sets the tray on the table between them, for Lark to eat if he wants to. He himself snags a bit of meat, rolling it up into a tube and biting into it with his hands.
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"There need to be consequences for what people do. You are--unfairly--bearing the brunt of months of frustration. People have been clamoring for harsher punishments, but after what happened to Fitz, I just..." A sigh. "You're on the verge of being made into a scapegoat and that's not what I'm here for."
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"What happened to Fitz?" Trevor asks, popping open the bottle and offering some to Lark first. Better this than go into a whole explanation about why he's..not all right about being the scapegoat because he hates it, but more so that he's better equipped to handle it than most.
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He blinks, giving Lark an odd sort of look. Even children drink watered down wine where he comes from; the water's not all that safe.
"Sure. Thanks."
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But that brings him back to why he's here. "If you were her warden, how would you have handled that?"
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"I'm not exactly the person who goes in for a measured response." He points out, but Trevor's clearly thinking on it.
"...Zero's pointless, let's just get that out of the way. Attention-seekers, sure, it might work if you keep them locked up for long enough, but if you're bored and killing, you don't want to make someone more bored."
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"Well, I'm not a judge. I'm a killer; a hunter of killers who won't stop their own killing. So most of my solutions aren't really great for this situation. I'm sort of the last line of defense."
That caveat in place, he exhales, thinking out loud;
"Why does she want to be feared? It's a fucking stupid, lonely life. She's probably afraid herself; the ones who want to be feared - not the ones who are fuck-off scary all on their own - are the ones usually the most afraid of something else."
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He takes another bit of apple. "The trouble is she's escalating from murder to torture. Since death here isn't permanent she's trying to find other ways of standing out among vampires and demons. Standard punishments will only make her lash out harder because it will make her think she has even more to prove."
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He nods, eyes dimming a little.
"Well, if you're asking my opinion: she's lashing out because her life's over already. She's afraid she's going to die unacknowledged and without any freedom, back home. And she's testing the boundaries here to see what she can get away with. If you can't lock her up or kill her, I'd exhaust her first; make it so she works so hard that she can't think creatively about what she's going to do. Either keep her on a round-the-clock shift somewhere - easy enough, you've got the manpower for it - or use the necromancer who's running this boat to sap her energy levels to where all she has the energy for is sleep, eat, and piss. It takes a lot of energy, killing: worse when you're torturing because you have to....anyway."
"That's what I'd do to make her less of a threat. I know that's not what most here think of as redemption, but it'd be a way to at least sit her violent ass down. I don't know how you'd go about turning her into a better person."
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But Trevor's insights are good, and it makes Lark all the more certain that Trevor is a good man, and that if he can learn new techniques he could be a real force wherever he goes.
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"Though if we were going to be creative about it, I once heard of a spell that if you tried to hurt someone, the intention would bounce back on you. Might stop the torture."
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It makes him grateful. "I'll suggest it if they act out again. I don't know that their wardens would listen to me right now; they tend to give three strikes."
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"They specifically, or wardens in general?"
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"If that's the case, you need to be more consistent. Or at least let a guy know."
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"...I still agree with your motives. It's why I can't make myself angry over it like I was with Pagan." A long, exaggerated sigh. "You're a pain in the ass."
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"I know."
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"Tell me how you pass your downtime."
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"I guess the same as anyone else trapped on this boat. I wake up, I eat, I read, I eat, I fall asleep."
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"Well, throw in something fun to read, would you?"
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"And you know I give you a hand in the kitchen. And I go to bother Adrian in the Enclosure so we can fight like how we used to. Check up on people here. See if there are any newcomers; this ship's small enough that you can memorize the doors pretty quick. Drink. Yell at Laszlo to let me in the bar so I can drink."
God, what else...
"Jon in the library wants me for your old job."
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