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[ukan]

This is Lark Tennant, leave a message.

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[lone_horse]

[ He'll nod, and he will take it as a compliment. But he's never much concerned himself with reputation. That hasn't always been a good thing, but that's just how it is. He at least realizes that isn't as much of an option here in such a contained space and has been working on making sure his reputation is one of trustworthiness and help. ]

Technically, I haven't properly been a member since I was 27 when I was expelled.

[ Which is something he'd known would happen when he took the wrap for murdering their patriarch, took the gun from Nishiki's shaking hands. ]

And a little more than ten years ago. When I was named fourth chairman.

[ Between the lines: my life, it has been Complicated. ]

I stepped down from the position immediately but I've been intermittently involved in the clan's concerns and power struggles for the last ten years. My position as a civilian, a former chairman, but one without an official status in an organization has made my help... particularly useful.

[ More between the lines: acting outside of authority is what I'm used to. ]

I am no longer involved with them, or anything else in my world. The incident I mentioned to you before... I'm 'dead' to everyone. Only one person I know knows I'm still alive these days. And I trust him to keep that to himself.

[ukan]

With each sentence Lark's curiosity rises. By the end he's leaning forward just the slightest bit. It's both a fascinating story and it spells a promising path forward, a deep relief to Lark.

"I take it, then, that you've had experience working with particularly wary people." Stubborn, he means, but also badly treated. "How did those interactions go?"

[lone_horse]

"No one swears up, or lives in that world, if they have other options," Kiryu says mildly, which is very much an answer. His world is one of people too stubborn to die or be forgotten, who've almost always been warped or pushed by their circumstances to become what they are. Sometimes for good, far too often not.

"And I've found that it takes patience, listening both to what someone says and what they do not say. The strength to challenge their cynicism and to weather the wounds that come from that fight. The willingness to help someone pursue their dreams over anyone else's idea of who and what they should become... including yourself."

He wants a cigarette, suddenly, intensely. But the man had said he was a wolf. He won't be rude. Instead, he sips his tea.

"It's too easy to remember the failures. But there must be some reason people kept asking me to help."

[ukan]

"it isn't hard for me to see why they did, and I barely know you." Kiryu has a magnetism that promises outcomes and safety. Another reason he's glad Pagan is drawn to him; Kiryu gets things done but clearly still manages to respect people.

"What do you suppose you might become here, without the threats of home?"

[lone_horse]

He looks over at Lark, and it's clear he's thinking about the question, the purpose behind it, whether there's a 'right' answer. And just as clearly, he has no intention of really giving such a thing. He'll give his answer, honest and earnest. And deal with the consequences.

Perhaps dealing with him is a little overly intense at times, the way he takes every question seriously. But he feels like people are too easily flippant, that it's so easy to cause hurt or pain when different things are important, sometimes deeply important, to different people. He'd rather take someone too seriously than the alternative.

"I don't know. Though, I'm sure there are threats enough here. Just different ones."

He looks over at Lark.

"What have you become here? How has this place shaped you?"