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[atowncalledtreffy]

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[atowncalledtreffy]

He leans over on his knees, brow quirking.

"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."

[ukan]

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."

[atowncalledtreffy]

Shit.

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."

[ukan]

"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.

[atowncalledtreffy]

"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."

[ukan]

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."

[atowncalledtreffy]

As if any warden is prepared for Trevor to just eat the pain and carry on with his job.

"They specifically, or wardens in general?"

[ukan]

"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."

[atowncalledtreffy]

Trevor snorts a little at that, leaning forward on his knees.

"If that's the case, you need to be more consistent. Or at least let a guy know."

[ukan]

"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."

[atowncalledtreffy]

He grins, not exactly reveling in it but nor embarrassed. Like most him, Trevor's smile is tired.

"I know."

[ukan]

Well, enough of that. Can't show too much fondness.

"Tell me how you pass your downtime."

[atowncalledtreffy]

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."

[ukan]

He nods. He'll come up with something better for him to do; it just has to have a purpose. He isn't interested in wasting Trevor's time.

"Well, throw in something fun to read, would you?"

[atowncalledtreffy]

"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."

God, what else...

"Jon in the library wants me for your old job."

[ukan]

"I think you should take it. A surprising number of fights break out in the library. And even when it's quiet there's plenty to read."

[atowncalledtreffy]

"You know, amazingly, reading's more of a chore for me than most others." This is why Sypha and Adrian were the better readers. Trevor preferred weapons training.

"And the last fight that I got into in the library ended poorly. Anyway, I told him I wasn't going to curl up in the dog bed under his desk and I think he got offended about it."

He glances back up at Lark.

"Look, is there a point to this? I don't really plan out my days. I just drift from one meal to the next. This ship's so small anyway, all our little 'jobs' are just made up. Most don't do anything to help anyone, or could get done faster. I'm shocked you don't have more people fighting out of sheer boredom and space issues."

[ukan]

"I don't want you bored. I don't want you to stagnate." And it's not just because he wants to keep Trevor from getting into fights. "You're protecting people, I want you to get to know them. I want you to help them out in ways that don't involve your fists."

Lark doesn't explain himself to people. He dodges, he redirects, he relies on their assumptions to lead them off target. But with Trevor the answers come easily and honestly. He's not sure how he feels about it.

[atowncalledtreffy]

"If you want to introduce me around the ship, I think you're a few months too late. I've met nearly everyone here." He points out.

"And I know them plenty. Most of them. Even helped a few of them out."

He stares at Lark, up and down, steady.

"The fuck do you worry about me getting bored for?"

[ukan]

"Boredom leads to skills becoming dull. I'm not going to be the man who causes Trevor Belmont's reflexes to atrophy." He shrugs.

[atowncalledtreffy]

A snort. "You're going to give me my whip back, then? I haven't been so long without one since I first started practicing with it."

[ukan]

"For use in the Enclosure, exclusively, yes." He might get burned at the stake for this, but he meant what he said.

[atowncalledtreffy]

"Oh. Well, never mind, then." He uses the Enclosure because Adrian uses it, but the whole experience of being in a place covered in illusion magic makes him shudder.

[ukan]

A chuckle. "I know. I don't like the Enclosure either. All right; you say you practice with Adrian?"

[atowncalledtreffy]

"What's not to love about a place brimming with illusion magic?" He shrugs, flippant.

"Yeah. He started to keep his sword skills up and I joined in later."