IC CONTACT

[ukan]

This is Lark Tennant, leave a message.

[Or a note, or a drop-by]

Comments

[ukan]

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."

[atowncalledtreffy]

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."

[ukan]

"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."

[atowncalledtreffy]

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.

[ukan]

"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?"

[atowncalledtreffy]

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."

[ukan]

"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."

[atowncalledtreffy]

"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?"

[ukan]

"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."

[atowncalledtreffy]

"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?"

[ukan]

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."

[atowncalledtreffy]

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

"He's like you? A warden?"

[ukan]

"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."

[atowncalledtreffy]

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?"

[ukan]

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."

[atowncalledtreffy]

All joking aside on Trevor's end as well;

"He burned a village down. He was imagining it all over again and he was smiling. And you're telling me he's going to do it again, here, because I hurt his feelings. Why the fuck isn't he there now?"

[ukan]

This is the part that is always hardest to explain. "Because Zack can redirect him. All Zero does is give him time to sit and plan--and we can't keep him there longer than a week. The cells open by themselves. At best, it's like a corner where you send a child, and it's about as effective."

This is one example of what he's meant by having to learn new ways of dealing with old problems.

[atowncalledtreffy]

He stares back, hollow and with a sinking feeling in his chest. He's on a ship with a mass-murdering monster - more than one, if he dares to think about it - without his proper weapons and people who think it's all right to talk about it and redirect that aggression elsewhere. Like someone else like Trevor's not just going to show up and piss on their dinners again and start the whole cycle over.

"So you don't have a way to contain him. Death won't stop him. And he's going to kill again because I gave him a scratch."

[ukan]

There it is. Lark reached that conclusion much later, on account of being one of those murderous monsters, but he remembers the moment the reality of the Barge's cycles fell on him.

"Yes." He won't try to dumb it down, won't try to make the truth sweeter than it is. "Which is where ingenuity comes in. I do have some ideas...I just don't know if the Admiral will allow them since I'm not his primary warden."

[atowncalledtreffy]

Trevor settles his arm on his knee to think. This is more his area of expertise, really; finding killers and ways to stop them are what Belmonts do best. Even Dracula seemed an impossible foe up until he wasn't.

....On second thought, knowing he's here, best not to think about him.

"We'd need a magician." He says, after a beat. "One who knows binding spells. And there's the library here. I recognized some of the books there, I could find some that could teach anyone with innate magic abilities. It's good that he's susceptible to mortal attacks, but we've got a few priests here if it turns out he's affected more by holy damage."

And then;

"What's your idea?"

[ukan]

This is already more creativity than Lark is used to hearing; he's nodding slightly in encouragement.

"I'm going to petition the Admiral to make it so that his powers only work when he is genuinely trying to defend another person in need." It needs fine tuning but that's the gist. "The problem is that I don't know if the Admiral will grant it, and I don't want to play my hand and lose an advantage if the request is turned down. So magic might be a good move, if we can keep him from knowing who has cast the spell."

[atowncalledtreffy]

Trevor stares down at his hands, nodding.

"Someone who brings a guy like Sephiroth in here and lets him fantasize about murder isn't someone I'm confident in trusting. Maybe you're right, and this Admiral is somehow able to grant things. In my experience, it's better to find solutions yourself first and use him for a last resort."

Think, Trevor.

Something in his mind triggers and he looks up.

"We could do a morphing spell instead of a binding one. It's - all right, look, when I was a kid, I had some siblings, and one of them threatened to use a binding spell to turn me into a frog if I didn't take a bath by a certain time. It was bullshit but it scared me enough to listen. If we could get - I don't know - the Collins kid, or that little inmate witch to throw enough bullshit Sephiroth's way, we could get together a spell that could turn him into something stupid and harmless if he tries killing someone."

[ukan]

The fact that after so many people have flailed and argued and complained he now has someone interested in finding new ways of handling things is just a bit like stumbling into an oasis when he'd been sure it was just another mirage.

"Yes. That could work," trying not to be too excited, too ready to try it. Before he risks others' lives in this he wants to know the parameters. "Let me talk to Zack first--more information is better than less."

[atowncalledtreffy]

He nods a little, now working out the logistics in his head. Magic, he knows thanks to both Sypha and Alucard, is more about intent and force of will than anything. Sephiroth, he gathered, is old and powerful despite most of his abilities locked away. So it might take a handful of magic users to successfully place a morphing spell on him.

Which is also why, in retrospect, the Belmonts couldn't do the same for Dracula. His will was terrifying; he wondered if there were enough magic-users on earth who could stand his might and weren't already bound to his service.

But here on the Barge there are more options. Trevor's run into more magic in his first weeks than he has most of his life. Even if he can't do it, he knows enough about what's possible to direct others.

Trevor looks up at Lark and nods, serious and oddly calmer now. He's a man in his element.

[ukan]

Trevor Belmont calm and focused is probably a terrifying thing once he has a target, Lark thinks. But this is what he wanted: for Trevor to not feel helpless, for Trevor to not fall into the trap so many others have lately. The most galling thing for Lark about the Barge is when it cripples people's creativity; without it no one grows beyond their old habits.

This will get Trevor seeking other people out, and the more perspectives he hears and shares, the better off everyone is.

"I'll check in with you later. I'm going to go talk with Zack."