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[ukan]

This is Lark Tennant, leave a message.

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[ukan]

"We aren't here to shield them from pain, Kiryu," he says quietly. "We're here to teach them how to cope with it. We're here to learn the same thing. We're here to be a support, yes- and to apologize when the hurt is caused. But not to avoid it ever happening. Maybe that's the wolf in me."

[lone_horse]

His expression tightens for a moment before he breathes in deep and closes his eyes. He doesn’t reach for the tea, instead resting his hands on his thighs. He dips his head towards Lark before speaking. There is a lot of things he wants to say, but all those words won’t get to the heart of what he’s trying to say.

“Before you came here, had you never felt pain?”

[ukan]

He knows Kiryu is getting at something, and that they're on slightly different pages. So he quiets his own mind and listens closer, answering without trying to fill in spaces. "Nothing here has hurt as much as what I felt at home."

[lone_horse]

“And did you die immediately after feeling that pain?”

[ukan]

"Never. Even if I thought I might."

[lone_horse]

He opens his eyes then.

“Then before you ever came here, you knew how to cope with pain. And I’m sure most would say similar.” A simple enough statement, but he’s getting to his point. He makes sure he has Lark’s eyes.

“What is different between the pain they’ve lived with and the pain you’d apologize for?”

[ukan]

"If I caused it by mistake." He won't pretend he isn't ruthless. He's a pack leader; a bite here or there to get them away from danger is instinct, and not something he even knows how to dampen. He isn't sure how to communicate that so he chews on the idea a moment.

"But I wouldn't say I knew how to deal with pain before I came here, Kiryu. I could survive it. I did not know how to use it to better myself."

[lone_horse]

Kiryu didn’t get those giant arm muscles from offering free hugs to the street hoodlums of Kamurocho. He understands the value of physical reinforcement. The kind of pain he’s talking about isn’t about a snap here or there or a harsh word. It’s the deeper kind. The kind that shapes who and what you are afterwards.

He almost points out something about ‘mistakes’ but Lark’s given him what he needs in the last statement. There it is. There’s his point.

“But did you think you did?”

‘How the world works’ and ‘how to survive’ and ‘how life goes’ and ‘what everyone does’. He’s heard it enough times, here and back at home.

More quietly.

“You can hand them a dozen mirrors, Lark-san. If you don’t teach them how to look first, they’ll only see what they expect to see, what their fear shows them.”

[ukan]

"I know they do," Lark nods slightly. "But it's where we reach a clear view of those fears. People almost never articulate those fears, Kiryu. But when we see what we're afraid of, when an outside view recognizes it, that is where they can be taught."

He looks away, out the window, and back. "I know this method very well. I can promise that it does work even if it seems callous at times. But that doesn't mean I don't want to learn others. Yours, for instance."

[lone_horse]

It’s not his way. It’s a way he’s familiar with, but he has problems with it, both because of his beliefs and because of the places that he’s seen it fail or cause collateral damage in his own world.

He considers arguing, but chooses instead to take another route.

“You want to know how I would approach it?”

[ukan]

"Yes. Or approach something in the future." Because what's done is done, and he's not inclined to revisit it. There will always be things to manage in the future, though. "So I can try it."

[lone_horse]

“May I use this problem for my example: murder aboard the ship?”

[ukan]

"You can," Lark agrees, and wonders if he should warn Kiryu that just because he wants to learn other methods doesn't mean he'll regret using the one he knows. He might be stubborn, but he can make himself be adaptable, though; he nods for Kiryu to continue and commits to listening.

[lone_horse]

One of Kiryu's best friends has been a yakuza patriarch pretty much since they met one another and Majima Goro most certainly doesn't do things the way that Kiryu would. He wouldn't be able to function if he couldn't live and let live, but he'll argue his points when they're raised for discussion.

But the question demands an answer; Kiryu's a firm believer that you can't dismiss a solution if you don't have one yourself. He'd been thinking on it since Lark had explained himself in the first place.

"My first step would be to speak to my inmate. Specifically, I would ask them if they would be willing to participate in the change I was trying to accomplish. Lead from the front."

[ukan]

Lark can agree easily to that much. "I've done the same, with a few inmates," he admits.

They need to be involved. They need to head it, wherever they can; this is about empowering them. Not protecting them, at least not from harsh lessons. Not guiding them like children.

[lone_horse]

"Once I knew how my inmate felt, I would seek out other inmate and warden pairings privately. I would see if any permanent pairing would allow me to present my ideas to them both and ask for their participation, if they're willing to go along with it."

He looks to the tea and, after a moment, pours himself a small cup and takes a sip.

"I would prioritize cooperative pairings over uncooperative, but I wouldn't disqualify any pairing willing to listen. If a pairing refused, either before or after, I would leave them alone after that point."

[ukan]

"So far I agree completely. I've been doing very much that," he murmurs, though of course he's referring to one angle out of many. He has so many goals in mind, it takes a delicate touch here and an irreverent shove there.

[lone_horse]

He nods, though he does find it curious that Lark hadn’t mentioned anything like that to him as he’d thought they were in line. He was a paired warden, after all. And Lark didn’t know (wouldn’t know) that he had no intention of wardening Rags other than acting as his protector and helping him as a friend and someone who loves him. Rags has no intention or desire to graduate and Kiryu’s intent is to help him be here for as long as he possibly can because that is what Rags wants.

Of course, what’s actually happening is something else but such is life.

“Then discussion with the unpaired. More awkward to work with, but they are a sizable part of the population here.”

“At that point, I would enact my plans... but only for and with those who agreed to the plan and explain this accordingly publically. The purpose to this is threefold: it shows respect for those who refused, as people are loathe to agree with and work with those whom they believe hold them in contempt. It provides an active contrast between what was and what could be that shows the advantages of my ideas to those who have agreed as well as those who were skeptical.” He glances up. “I believe, in this case, it would cause discomfort and friction which would be helpful as well. Plant seeds of doubt and disagreement.” He’s not opposed to discomfort, but he feels that a chosen discomfort is more useful than one forced on someone. “And last, it enacts the changes you believe in as a group, multiple people, which muddies the water when it comes to concerns around motivations and intent, and unites a part of the community towards a purpose.”

[ukan]

Lark prefers not to work publicly. It puts so many things at risk, not the least of which is the vulnerability of the unpaired. But he pushes down the way the idea chafes and listens.

He smiles in very quiet appreciation, though, at Kiryu's acknowledgment of the usefulness of friction. "I like this. All of this. I think there are obvious points where our methods are at odds, but I don't believe one is better than the other. And I think there are ways they can work in harmony, even if it's not obvious to me right now. By and large, our ideas are the same, with the same result. I shouldn't be surprised that yours is a softer approach, or that I hadn't thought of it."

[lone_horse]

“In truth,” he admits with a dip of his head, “this is not unlike the plan enacted by my surrogate son, Daigo.” A distant look; there’s a lot of feelings around Daigo he’s still working through, even after his letter. “He is a better diplomat than I could ever be and an excellent leader, despite his age. He used this method to unite a large number of the families across Japan to work towards common concerns. Seeing each pairing as a small ‘family’, different groupings as clans and alliances that need to be approached and worked with diplomatically is a framework that helps me conceptualize this place.”

He glances to Lark.

“I don’t think it’s entirely incorrect either. Strength, cunning, and personal allegiances have a lot to do with how effective one can be in this place, just as they are there.”

Now they just need some sort of social contract, or general code of ethics. Whether it’s followed or not, and Kiryu’s more realistic about that than most people think, it still exists among the yakuza. And the rules exist for the harmony and benefit of all. Isn’t that what they’re doing here?

[ukan]

Lark is relaxed now, tea cup in both hands, warming them. His smile is like it has been in the past: pleased, a little admiring. Companionable.

"What do you think the next step is? The one we do in the next month."

[lone_horse]

“Work out the logistics required to ensure the safety of those most vulnerable in this process,” he says plainly, “and establish, with the group, the level of dedication expected. And the willingness to tolerate failure.”

He’s an idealist at heart, but he’s had enough mistakes, failures, and difficulties to know that expectations need to be understood. And managed.

“Taking care of, and providing benefit to, those who’ve sworn to your cause is the most important part of maintaining an alliance like this. And, I should think, the ultimate purpose of this, yes?”

[ukan]

"It is. But we should also anticipate that anyone who doesn't want to join us will attempt to sabotage it." People who come to the Barge are not known for sitting idly by. "What would you do with them?"

[lone_horse]

“As I said: protect the most vulnerable.” But to be more specific. “Coordinate with your strongest members and utilize what skills are at your disposal to keep an ear to the ground. Provide tailored incentives to neutral parties and offer conditional benefits for their assistance to endear them to your side.” Conditional because full benefits should only be for those willing to stand beside them. And to coax them towards joining. “Take a defensive stance and make any attempts at sabotage common knowledge; standing strong through an onslaught and keeping to the high road will only make it more clear to those opposed that their options are to accept this or to join it. It will also prove that your methods are not weak, nor are those who choose to employ them. But most importantly, it will show that what you have built will stand.”

He dips his head towards Lark as he finishes the tea in his cup.

“You don’t have to remove opposition. You only need make their point of view irrelevant.”

[ukan]

All of this has been at turns very much like what Lark is doing, and at others intriguing for the new angles.

But that last comment, Kiryu. That last comment is what brings a certain amber glint to Lark's eyes, what makes his teeth seem just a little bit sharper than they should be.

"Oh, you have me now," he promises smoothly. With a statement like that, make their point of view irrelevant, one that speaks to every preferred tactic Lark has, how could he not?