ukan | IC CONTACT

Kiryu does not, at this juncture, point out some of the other suits he’s worn over the years. ~~Especially not Ono Michio. Pagan must never know.~~ Instead, he shakes his head mildly at Pagan.

“I like it. I’ll wear it. But if I never hear ‘yondaime’ again, it will be too soon.”

Edited 2021-06-19 04:42 (UTC)

"That is very true," Lark nods at Pagan. It takes not only a certain coloring, but also a very particular attitude.

He glances at Kiryu, head tilted ever so slightly. "I'm afraid I don't know much Japanese- yondaime?"

Pagan's own Japanese isn't top notch, which is why he had taken Kiryu up on the chance to teach him, but even he knows this one. But he stays quiet for once, letting Kiryu explain the intricates of the Yakuza for Lark.

He’s a little more on even footing as he explains.

“Fourth chairman. Chairman is, effectively, the highest rank one can reach within a yakuza organization, the leader of a group of families. He directs the various patriarchs and sets the path for the group as a whole.”

A short beat.

“It’s a term of respect, but it usually means I’m about to be pulled into trouble. Or asked to clean it up.”

"A bit like a 'cleaner', then?" But it seems to have more authority. Kiryu seems to have more authority than Lark has seen in anyone who wasn't in a high position: named partner in a law firm, politician, gangster.

Pagan tsks at that a bit. "In a reductive sense," he mutters. "But it isn't as if you wanted all of that anyway."

Which is just something he will never understand. For Kiryu, yes. But in a general sense? No.

“A ‘cleaner’ who commands 30,000
men,” because he wonders if Lark knows the scale of these groups. He assumes Pagan will.

“Even though I only held the position for a day, I’m still considered a pillar of the clan.”

And a legend among yakuza, the man to beat, the strongest among them. It’s why Izumi went after him, after all.

Lark is quiet a moment, calculating in his mind the numbers. Alec has worried lately that Lark is growing bored with his goals in California, and he's not entirely wrong. Lark commands the city of Los Angeles, done entirely from the shadows. He has bigger goals ahead of him.

30,000 yakuza.

But he shakes himself out of his thoughts by sipping his tea. "Do you like being held in such esteem? Or would you rather be free of them?"

Pagan knows the numbers. In theory. But hearing that gives him a bit of pause.

He cuts a glance at him out of the corner of his eyes, picking at his vegetables. "Isn't it obvious?" he tells Lark softly.

Kiryu is holding off from food for the moment, because they’re talking and he eats like a starving dog.

He glances at Pagan and then at Lark and it’s nothing he’s said out loud except for once back home; it’s a fact. Understood.

“The man who stands at the top, the strongest… to anyone who would make a name or claim a seat, he’s a wall to climb. You can’t fall, or you risk crushing others. But it means men will keep coming to climb.”

Edited 2021-06-19 05:39 (UTC)

It's near identical to how packs work. On the Barge, Lark paints it in a softer light. He tells people about the positives: the unfathomable depths of emotion, the safety in the numbers, the strength all in one's own blood.

He leaves out the bloodthirst, the constant search for weaknesses to exploit. It's not relevant here where his only packmates are Warren and Iris, people he can trust.

"It must be nice to have a break from all of that here," he murmurs. It certainly has been for him. "I think I can see more of why you feel so comfortable with Pagan."

Edited 2021-06-19 05:43 (UTC)

Pagan raises his eyebrows at that, not really expecting to be pulled into this part of the conversation.

"Comfortable because of that? I nearly killed him the first time I saw him. When I knew what he was."

He picks up his tea.

"But I don't speak for him."

"You would have tried," he says mildly to Pagan, but there's no real bite or heat or even firmness. It's a tease, and a soft one at that, and his hands lightly brushing his thigh should say that he's so happy it didn't go that way. But after a moment, he turns to Lark and he nods.

"This place is a relief for many reasons. The both of you among them."

He'd solved the problem of the constant challenges by 'dying'. Now, here, he could actually try to live. Build something.

"If we were all at home, in the same world, I'd congratulate you both without any reservations." They clearly work well together, at least so far; he doesn't know when they'll have their first fight, or if they have already. It's not his business.

"But as a warden, as Pagan's warden, I need us all to be clear about what this looks like in this setting."

There it is.

Pagan instantly tenses, his fingers wrapping around his cup and his eyes narrowing. He doesn't say anything, but he knows he doesn't have to. He trusts the two men in the room know him well enough to read him by now. He doesn't have to say anything in order to radiate displeasure at that statement.

But he'll give him the benefit for the moment and not jump down his throat.

For now.

Kiryu doesn't say anything, because Lark hasn't really said anything. Instead, he spreads a hand and gestures to Lark.

Lay out your case. If they're going to be on the same page, if they're going to be clear, they have to know what Lark is thinking. What his concerns are.

"My role here is to be Pagan's advocate. I'm here to help him graduate." He looks from one to the other, calm, not reacting to Pagan's obvious tension. Yet.

"Being an inmate puts him at a permanent disadvantage. Until he graduates, you will always have a station above him, Kiryu. The power imbalance has always concerned me." A pause. "But Alec graduated before me. I started dating him when we were inmates, yes; but when he graduated I saw the way things are subtly imbalanced. Part of what he and I want to do here is to make it more level...instead of viewing it as a prisoner and a warden, we both want the ship to begin to see people as equals who are simply at different points in a progression."

He watches them for a beat. "But that's an uphill battle. And with things as they are, I don't want you two to have to juggle wondering if Kiryu is filling in the role of warden. I think it's in everyone's best interest if it's clear that your relationship is solely romantic, and the wardening aspects are left entirely to my relationship with Pagan. Thoughts?"

Pagan just sets his cup down. Slowly. With precision. The anger isn't gone yet, but he's still just below the boiling point.

"I suppose that depends on what you mean by 'wardening' aspects, Lark. If I feel like murdering someone, I should come to you, and if I want a fun night, I'll go to Kazuma? Is that what you're saying?" he presses. "I suppose-" he gives him a fake laugh, gesturing slightly, "-and you'll have to forgive me because I just don't understand- my confusion stems from what the fuck you think has been happening for the past month."

Kiryu is quiet for a moment, and his quiet is both to let him process what both of them have said, but also to add a different kind of tension to the room and drain the one currently making the air nearly vibrate, at least a little. It's something he's learned over the years, a way to draw the attention to him, to focus the room; nothing he would know how to describe or teach, just something he learned.

"What is it about what you've seen makes this a concern to you?"

Quiet, plainspoken, and calm. Willing to listen and intent to hear.

Edited 2021-06-19 06:50 (UTC)

"I've seen wardens get away with a lot. I don't think you, especially, are a risk in the way other wardens are. This isn't a 'come to Jesus' moment," he says this especially to Pagan. "Because what I think you've been doing the past few weeks is enjoying a healthy, positive relationship."

To both of them: "But because of the unique circumstances on the Barge, I have a role with Pagan I wouldn't have if we could just be friends, like we would be off the ship. What I want isn't to point out flaws. I want to make sure I know what boundaries you two have in regards to me being Pagan's warden. When people find out about you two, they're going to intrude, they're going to push back on me 'allowing' Pagan to do something when I don't make your choices for you, nor would I even if I could."

He rubs a hand over his face. "I'm not here to tell you what to do, Pagan. Either of you. My job is to help you."

Edited 2021-06-19 07:02 (UTC)

It's a mixture of Kiryu's calmness and Lark's rational explanation and their combined unwillingness to engage with Pagan's mood that breaks his cycle of anger. He huffs once, but the bite has left him.

It's always been that simple.

"We are delaying that as long as possible," Pagan points out, finally able to talk without grinding his teeth. "People finding out, that is. There are only a few who know. Iris and Yulan, mostly. But if there's pushback, I'll ensure that they know you have no part in it. I'm quite grown up now. I make my own fucking choices."

There is one question he has and he picks up his cup again before asking. "What boundaries are you talking about? What are you asking, Lark?"

Kiryu feels the mood shift in Pagan, and he's very glad to feel it. He lets Pagan speak, because he isn't saying anything that they don't both agree with or know. And he also would like to know the answer to the last.

But he'll dip his head to Lark, his eyes staying focused on him as he does.

"What about a 'healthy, positive relationship' gives you concerns?"

He rests his elbows on the table, his chin on steepled fingers. "Let me ask you something, both of you: when you think of a warden, and specifically me as a warden, what specific things to you picture me doing?"

Pagan glances once to Kiryu but doesn't mind saying this bit out loud. He's already told Kiryu most of it.

"After Alec got here and you came to my cabin to talk me out of my fucking madness. Or when you pushed back on me about Norton. Convincing me to get rid of that damn necklace. Or when you wouldn't leave me the fuck alone after I stabbed Yunlan and I couldn't tell you why." He lists off those instances fondly, overly so.

"I don't know what other wardens do and I don't know what he does," he says, indicating Kiryu. "But that's what you do. And that hasn't changed. So, hence my confusion on the matter."

Again, he gives Pagan's words time to breathe and waits before he looks over to Lark.

"The truth?" And he'll sit back a little, keeps himself from crossing his arms even though he'd like to. For most people, it's a sign of defensiveness, and he knows that. For him, it's something to do with his arms and hands to keep them from clenching .

"I don't think of it at all. It's not my place. Anymore than it would be my place to suggest or consider treatment options if you were a doctor and Pagan was your patient. My responsibility as his partner only goes as far as ensuring he isn't being abused by his caregiver."

He raises a hand to ensure-

"A concern I don't have."

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