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[ukan]

This is Lark Tennant, leave a message.

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[ukan]

"Tell me about the vampires you know at home? The ones you know by name." Not the ones she's had to execute, but he'll ask about them later, when she doesn't look so worn down. Right now he just wants to understand better.

[the_executioner]

Anita goes still, her face closing down as she forces it neutral. Blank face is something she learned in years working with the police. She's gotten pretty good at it.

She doesn't want to talk about this.

"What do you want to know?"

[ukan]

"That," he says softly. "I want to know what you were just thinking." A blank face doesn't hide heartbeat, doesn't hide the subtlest chemical traces of stress or fear or anger or sorrow. "But I don't want to know it if you can't talk about it."

[the_executioner]

"Just because you want to know something, doesn't mean you get to know it."

It hadn't been fear. Not exactly. Panic, yeah, the creeping prick of grief, under that. Which she's shot down hard, and anger comes in it's place. Anger is fine. Anger is better than every other emotion. Anger is her best friend.

[ukan]

For a moment he doesn't answer, just watches. He knows. And he isn't prying, just waiting to see if she pushes him further away.

"You're right. And I'm sorry if I've made you feel cornered. I don't want anything you don't want me to know, Anita."

But he is beginning to understand anyway.

[the_executioner]

They end up waiting each other out. It's good that Lark says something first, because she'd have sat there, until she'd worked herself into a good, cold rage.

But he backs off. Apologizes. And that cools her off enough.

"I don't need fixing, Lark." She says it carefully.

[ukan]

A soft sound, almost a chuckle. "If I've given you the impression that I think you need fixing, I'm doing something very wrong. I consider you a friend, not a project."

[the_executioner]

"Good. Just so we don't have any misunderstanding."

And that's the second person who's said they consider her a friend. It's a lot, and it feels too fast.

"I don't make friends this quickly. It's hard to trust it. Especially given everything. Just... give me time."

She says it, because she does like Lark. He's been the most honest person here, and he's trying to shoot straight with her. That at least deserves a little leeway.

[ukan]

"I understand." He really, really does. "I wasn't a different person when I got here. But I didn't have friends. I didn't make them; I made allies. I made pawns. Like an asshole." A small smirk. "Over time I learned to trust my gut a little more. I still suspect most people are opportunists, but around here- it's different. At home, people instinctively fear me or hate me. Or both. So here, it's easier for me to give people the benefit of the doubt."

A pause, a frown. "Which doesn't mean my experience is universal. And I don't expect it to be."