ukan | IC CONTACT

It's strange how modern clothes both look so unusual on Trevor, and seem to suit him. That gentry thing, he reasons, gives Trevor an air of nobility that lines up nicely with tailored clothing.

"We can clean your clothes in a minute." He goes to the small kitchen and puts on some coffee. "First I need you to tell me what happened from the beginning."

Trevor follows, still getting used to walking around without armor or weapons. He left the cape and the rest of his clothing hung up to dry in the tub with the drain in it. No real point in that.

"Why?" He's genuinely curious. "Got to figure out a proper punishment or something?"

"You don't seem the type to respond to punishment, and I'm not the type to try to beat you into submission." He shrugs. "You're the only person who's ever hurt Sephiroth here, as far as I know. So it's part curiosity and partly my job to put the scene together. The more I know, the more likely it is I can keep him from escalating."

Fat chance, he knows. Sephiroth is as resistant to punishment and deterrent as he's sure Trevor is.

It's going to be a long year if these two keep going at it.

"Shit. Really?" That takes Trevor aback, and if he's honest, he feels a tiny bit of pride swell in his chest. Even with a broken arm and without any proper weapons, he can manage to surprise.

He still lost, but now he doesn't feel like such shit about it.

"Uh. Yeah. I mean. There was a cabin in flames. And he was there in the middle of it, gloating. Calling it beautiful. Had these eyes like a cat's, all slitted pupils: some vampires get them too, you learn to see it in old killers and predators, where they think the whole world's their snack to devour. So I did what I've always done: I challenged him, we fought. You found me in a well."

That's the whole of it.

Well that makes a lot of sense. Not that it will soothe Sephiroth any. As a defense, though, it's solid. Even better that Trevor isn't playing it up; he's a vampire slayer. He was doing what he'd been trained probably since toddlerhood to do.

"Did you know the Enclosure wasn't real? It's just a memory of his. The cabin was empty, no one on board was in the flames."

He shakes his head, once.

"Not until we were halfway through the fight and he told me. I knew the cabin didn't have anyone inside, the smell was..You don't forget the smell. But I didn't know the flames wouldn't carry outside. Sometimes with magic, you just don't know which way it's going to go."

He sniffs the air. Smells the unfamiliar scent of coffee. And looks questioningly at Lark.

"What are you making?"

"Coffee." He almost tells him that it's Guatemalan and then sees his expression. "To warm you up. It's bitter--I can sweeten it if you want, but give it a try."

He pours a mug and offers it, then pours one for himself.

Trevor thought he was protecting the ship. He thought Sephiroth was either a vampire or a demon. Even if Lark thought out and out punishment worked (and he knows it doesn't), Trevor was trying to do the right thing. Which means Lark is probably going to have to defend him from other wardens.

Troublemaker, Lark thinks at Trevor, grousing but hiding a smile behind his mug.

Oblivious as to the goings-on behind Lark's mug, Trevor nods and takes the cup, bringing it up to his face to sniff it. Smells oddly Turkish, in a way. Maybe one of the relatives came back with things from the Ottoman Empire to make him think that, suddenly.

"Thanks." He exhales, and takes a sip.

And immediately burns his tongue.

"Mmph!"

Oh. Right. People who haven't gone through law school probably haven't deadened the nerves in their tongue with years of scalding hot coffee.

"Here," getting him a glass of water. He'd normally offer cream to cool it down, but the last of the cream ran out three weeks ago. "Sorry. Let it cool."

"Christ almighty." He wheezes. "You weren't joking." That sure did warm Trevor up in a hurry. He takes the water, exhaling when he's able to cool his tongue.

Once Trevor clears that up, he returns his gaze back to Lark, a little flushed.

"So. You were saying something about that killer's response?"

He leans against the counter, mug between both hands. "You hurt him. And his ego. I can guess you aren't worried about him coming after you, and if this wasn't the Barge I'd buy tickets to that show. But it's a small ship and people will get hurt, and that worries me."

He nods, expression turning serious as he contemplates what Lark's telling him.

"Not if I do my job right. Keep his anger centered on me instead of anyone else. Would help if I could get a few more weapons."

"You don't understand how he fights. Or maybe you do," thinking of Dracula. "You saw what he did to that town. You might be the focus of his anger, but the ship isn't big enough for everyone else to avoid him."

Trevor nods, exhaling.

"Shit." He already caught him in a memory lighting innocent people on fire. The ship's probably next. Collateral damage indeed.

"So. What's the solution, appease his swollen ego? Ask him nicely not to burn everyone to the ground?"

Not likely to happen and not something Trevor would ever be okay with doing, but it's worth checking if Lark has a solution in mind.

"No. Appeasing a monster doesn't make it more gentle." And Sephiroth, whatever he is, is happy to do monstrous things. "I don't know what the solution is yet, Trevor. I'm trying to figure it out but in the very short-term I'm just trying to prevent tragedy. How do you protect people without escalating?"

He nods in agreement. Monsters don't get preferential treatment like that.

"You're asking me? Because normally we just kill them. And we protect people by showing them how to defend themselves."

Edited 2021-11-26 01:41 (UTC)

"Ah, well that's something you'd think everyone here would already know. We have people here who have spent most of their lives fighting." Like Trevor. "I'm here to teach new ways of defending themselves. Sometimes it doesn't even involve blood."

"Well, that would be nice. Takes some work off my back."

Which only leaves one big, one-wing-shaped problem in front of him. Them?

"My plan was mostly just 'kill him as many times as possible until he pisses off'. Yours?"

"He can't go anywhere. He would love to leave, but he can't. Pissing him off means he takes it out on everyone else." Don't. Do it.

"But if he attacks you, you're free to fight back. And if he doesn't, I'd say work with Zack. He's the only one who knows anything about Sephiroth besides 'he kills people'. He might have better insights."

"At this point I think my heavy breathing around him would piss him off." Trevor points out, exasperated. He needs a new plan. One where he could incapacitate Sephiroth and stop him from hurting anyone else around them.

"Which one is Zack?"

Edited (language adjustment) 2021-11-26 14:53 (UTC)

Lark pulls up his device to show him a picture of Zack. "They're from the same place. But Zack is more like you; he's in the business of stopping people like Sephiroth."

He squints at the device; notes Zack's features, nods once.

"He's like you? A warden?"

"Yeah. He's a good man." As aggravating as Lark has found him in the past, he's never doubted Zack does his best to do whatever he thinks is right in the moment. And it is aggravating as often as it is admirable. "Sephiroth is with him right now, but..."

He fires off a quick text. "He should be able to meet with you one on one."

Good to know: wardens are probably honor-bound by some no-killing code so Trevor has his doubts about how useful Zack could be, apart from maybe knowledge into Sephiroth's mind and how best to stop him.

He exhales sharply when Lark says he's with him now.

"Seriously?" He barks a laugh. "Doing what? Braiding his hair and telling him it's okay, the big bad hunter's gone now?"

He raises an eyebrow. "Are you denying you're a big, bad hunter?" Joking aside: "He's keeping Sephiroth contained. If Sephiroth tries anything stupid, he can put him in a cell under the Barge."

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