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From:

Lark takes a breath, lets it out, nods. As much as Tommy needs control of some part of this, Lark is going to have to work to give up the stranglehold he has on himself.

"Did you have any questions, or should I just...?"

From:

bleak_midwinter

"Why do you think you're here?" The question is abrupt, almost interrupting Lark as he trails off. He's pegged the man for someone who knows himself well enough to guess.

From:

ukan

That should be an easy card to give up, except Lark has been playing the 'I don't know' bit with other inmates in order to tease their crimes out of them.

"I've killed a lot of people," he admits slowly, but that's only part of it. A small part. "I think the Admiral brought me here because I have my sights on LA County."

He looks at Tommy, who runs a 'business', who understands expansion. "It's complicated. But the Admiral seems to like human beings, so I can see why he'd want to bring me here and try to change my mind."

From:

bleak_midwinter

"What does that mean, for you? To have sights on something."

It goes without saying that he won't tell any of the other inmates- or wardens. Not when this is about the balance between their secrets.

From:

ukan

If there was any doubt that this is difficult for Lark, it should be clear now, in the fleeting, pleading, worried look he throws at Tommy. Just as quickly his expression is smoothed and practiced.

"It means I plan to take it over."

From:

bleak_midwinter

"All of it? Or just the- lycanthropes there?"

He clenches his jaw when Lark looks at him like that- he needs resolution, here, or he's not going to come out of this with his dignity intact.

From:

ukan

"I had planned to run the other packs out." A pause. "But now I'm going to kill them all."

After the debacle with Baron and Sasha, there's no way Lark is going to risk some other pack coming in and fucking things up any worse than they are.

He thinks of Tommy going through withdrawals, of the clawing aching sobbing madness that goes with that even when you're done detoxing. He closes his eyes, breathes, looks at Tommy and adds the part that he's sure the Admiral wants to stop:

"I'm going to take over the human side, too."

From:

bleak_midwinter

"But you can't kill all of them."

Things are slowly starting to fall into place, and Tommy finds that he's serene in the knowledge instead of cautious, or angry, or scared. Besides, Tommy does understand expansion, and the dangers that come with it. It's one of the reasons he's here.

From:

ukan

"I could."

And he's so blase about it, like it's something he's seriously thought about. (He has.)

"But it's better not to. There's a faster, cleaner way. Besides, people aren't so bad, if they're not in large numbers."

From:

bleak_midwinter

He represses a shudder- ruthless, he gets, but the thought of that many people being killed is quite a different thing. His fingernail scratch against the wood of the table, his rings tap it once.

"Why do you want to?"

From:

ukan

"My kind have been hunted almost to extinction. More than once. After a while you get tired of thinking about your pack always hiding in the shadows, dodging government experiments..." But that's only 90% of the reason. "Why do you do what you do? I think our reasons are probably the same."

From:

bleak_midwinter

He breathes, slowly, and then inclines his head a little. "I do it because I want my family to do better than they have done." And something else-- a drive within him for more, better, bigger. But he can't let that part of himself take over, not here.

He understands it, why Lark does it, even if he knows it shouldn't happen.

From:

ukan

It takes so much of the fear out of this, to see how Tommy is taking it.

"That's why I'm here. I could dress it up as the Admiral disagreeing with all my noble reasons...some of them, like your drive to help your family, are noble. But now you know the whole thing."

From:

bleak_midwinter

He nods, then seems to recall something. "And your revenge?" The person who'd killed his family. He wonders how much of that story was true.

From:

ukan

His expression goes very dark. The 'family' part was a euphemism for pack, but the rest had been true.

"His name is Baron. He defected to another pack to be with their girl; my girl was...she didn't want anyone touching her. Baron killed all of us except for me, her, and two others I'd sent somewhere else for a while. So the first thing I want to do when I get home is kill him."

From:

bleak_midwinter

"Do you think the Admiral will want to keep you from doing that?"

It's not sure, from the tone of his voice, whether Tommy would try and keep him. But he knows there are better ways to take revenge than death. Better ways to deal with a betrayal like that, in the long run.

From:

ukan

"I don't know. He's inconsistent; nearly every warden has had revenge and some of them have had it for the same reasons I'm after it. If that's something he plans on me changing, I'll never get off the boat."

Lark will never let Baron walk away after what he did. However, when he talks about it, it's without the rage and passion of a man who is determined to have death to set it right. He's open to other ideas, so long as it gets him justice--and so long as he can get it himself.

From:

bleak_midwinter

"Then I doubt that's what he's after." Because if Tommy wants to do his job right, then he'll have to believe that the inmates here are redeemable.

From:

ukan

"I think you would know better than I would." Lark says, which is a sort of 'thank you'.

He clears his throat. "So now you know why I'm here." Is it enough, or does Tommy need more?

From:

bleak_midwinter

"I..."

He takes a deep breath, and for once looks right at Lark. He's nervous, suddenly, and a little scared. But he knows he needs to say this now, or it'll be worse for him later.

"When it's happening, I'll- I think I'll ask for someone."

From:

ukan

Lark nods in understanding. He remembers calling for the friend he'd lost, over and over, while Tati sat nearby. But he doesn't say anything out loud, doesn't want to risk fracturing the moment before Tommy can say what he needs to say.

From:

bleak_midwinter

"Her name is Grace," he says in a rush, like if he doesn't say it now he won't say it at all. There's a deep, undeniable pain in his voice when he says her name.

"Don't give me any hope about her."

From:

ukan

He studies Tommy, nods. This isn't something that will ever leave the room, isn't something he'd allow visitors to hear, either, then.

"What do I need to know about her?"

From:

bleak_midwinter

Now, he needs time to answer. He hasn't told anyone but Furiosa- doesn't intend to tell Lark his deal, but no one else knows about Grace. He knows he needs to say it, but all his instincts scream at him to shut up, keep it close.

He knows those instincts will be buried in feverish imaginations in a few days. And he needs control, more than anything.

"That we love each other, and that she betrayed me in spite of that."

From:

ukan

"I'm sorry."

And he truly is. If Lisbeth had ever betrayed him--and she might have, given time--he already knows it would have crippled that last part of himself that can still put a loved one above himself.

"I won't give you hope about her, if that's really what you think is best."

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