ukan | IC CONTACT

[it's not too unusual, but enough that he's curious.]

I'll be right over.

[A mere five minutes later he is, although his hair is still a bit damp from the shower he's just climbed out of when Pagan called.]

[He is such a dedicated warden. Pagan opens the door to let him inside. He seems his normal chipper self, stepping back to let him in with a flourish, silver shirt and black trousers.]

You didn't even dry your hair?

"When Alec came on board I told you I'd drop whatever I was doing when you called," he smirks. "Just because you don't take me up on that anymore doesn't mean I wasn't serious."

"Well, at least I know you bathe." Pagan just sighs, walking more into the room, towards his vanity. There's a bit of pink there, in a drawer, and he shoves it closed after a panicked moment.

He picks up a deck of cards. "So, what's your game?" he asks.

"You mean, at least I don't treat you like Scott. I used to turn into a wolf, follow him around, make him brush me." He glances at the vanity and catches the hint of something small and soft and- "Is that a stuffy?"

He can't help it. He is right there at the vanity now.

Whoops. He instantly drops the cards and tries to elbow him out of the way. "No, no. Down boy."

"What is it?" No, no, he needs to see it, Pagan. You might as well be pushing him away from a roast chicken: it won't work. "I smell polyester and it isn't you."

Now this is a shoving match. He knows he won't win, but he's going to try. He puts his whole hip into Lark, grinning the entire time.

"It's nothing! It's - you're imagining things!"

"Does it squeak? Where did you even get it?" He needs that drawer open now.

Pagan groans and finally gives up, letting him open the drawer if he wants. He'll find the little pink stuffy inside.

"Kazuma gave it to me," he eventually concedes. "I have been trying to keep it from your stupid nose for some time."

Lark has deliberately not told anyone exactly how strong his senses are. He picks up the little bird, grinning. No, he won't chew on it as a wolf. He will not.

"I am and am not surprised that you love it."

He reaches over to try and take it from him. "Keep your dirty paws off of it. It's not a chew toy. I don't love it. But can you imagine the stupid look I'll get if he finds out something happened to it?"

"Is that the story we're going with?" Lark hands it over only after he squeezes it to see if it makes a fun noise.

It does not make a fun noise, fortunately for them both.

Once back in his hands, he sets it back in its rightful place beside his mirror. Sitting upright.

He might even adjust it a little.

"He won it in a crane game while he was off on his adventure with Iris. Apparently, it is sentimental and romantic." He waves a hand at him.

"I've heard that." Lark is smiling rather than smirking, but once Pagan looks at him his expression will settle back to its usual relaxed interest. "It's popular at amusement parks to get your lover something from a game, too."

"Oh do continue to speak to me like I don't know what amusement parks are," he tells him, picking the cards up again. He doesn't notice the change in expression. "I am well aware of it. It isn't as if he isn't plain with his feelings."

"It doesn't sound like Kiryat is full of them, and I would have thought you'd be a target," Lark retorts, though he's not entirely serious. Pagan seems like exactly the sort of person who would go to one.

Lark, on the other hand? "I went to them, but I never played the games."

"Hm. They were fortunate if they had traveling shows," he mutters.

He takes the cards to the table and sits down, starting to shuffle them. "What did you do?"

He shrugs. "I just rode the rides with friends, bought every fried food they had. I never really dated seriously enough to want to spend my time winning trinkets. What did you do at them?"

"There was a place at home called Ocean Park," he tells him. "My friends and I would play hooky and ride the rides. See the animals."

He shrugs. "I didn't date, either. Who the fuck was going to date Gang Min's son?"

He isn't sure he wants to ask about Pagan's first love, he has a good idea who it was and she's a sore subject. So instead, "Make him take you to Disney World when you graduate."

"God, no. I told you that he doesn't even know what Disney is. If I take him to Disney World, he would be insufferable."

He grins, keeping the topic light. "He's not like us, you know. He's so fucking genuine."

"He is. I never quite know what to do with it." Lark sounds terribly fond as he says it. "I'm able to be honest with him more easily than I am most people. Actually, it scares me sometimes how honest I am here."

He does not, will not, lie to Pagan. He obviously never lies to Alec either, and furthermore does his best to keep his poor husband informed of the twisting ideas in his head, and when he fails he's quick to apologize and explain. He tells Tiffany things he's uncertain about, he can tell B anything but appreciates that it's not expected of him.

"I can't even be honest with most people back home about what cereal I like."

He hums at that. "Then it's a good thing no one gives a shit about what your favorite cereal is."

He folds his arms across his chest as he leans back against the couch. "What price does honesty have here over the gains you get from lying? Lies don't last here, Lark. I've only been here a year and I know that."

He scoffs. "Liar. If I had a favorite and I had a box of it you'd be the first one eating the marshmallows out of it."

The question is unexpected. People don't tend to ask him anything in depth; he's always doing the asking. It's by design. But, unfortunately for him now, he can't slide out of it because it's Pagan asking.

"Lies can last if you can control what people believe about you," he says carefully. And that is absolutely something he does. With one exception, he's nudged people's views of him in one way or another. "So honesty can cost you the ears of people who could genuinely help you get where you need to go. But I'll admit most of what I do is deeply ingrained habit from how I have to be in order to survive at home. It's dangerous for me to change that here when it will get me killed when I leave."

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