IC Inbox III

[ukan]

This is Lark, leave a message.

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[ukan]

Okay.

[But this time he says it, he sounds relieved.]

Come by the kitchen tonight.

[anti_altruisms]

I’ll see you, then.

[ And sure enough, Archer comes by the kitchen after dinner shift is over. ]

[ukan]

[he's just finished prep work for the next night when Archer shows up, and he washes his hands to get the potato smell mostly off of them, then steps out.]

Ready?

[anti_altruisms]

“Yes.”

Archer is dressed in casual black clothes, as is his way. He’s much better than he has been, but he still seems…tired.

He assesses Lark silently, of course, and gestures towards the hall.

“I have a place in mind already.”

[ukan]

He nods, relieved. "I'd just take us to an empty field." That's how low his creativity levels are right now.

[anti_altruisms]

Archer smiles briefly at that - but it’s melancholy more than anything.

“You haven’t been well.”

It’s a statement not a question.

[ukan]

"I've been better." He's been worse, too, but it's never dragged on this long before.

"How have you been?"

[anti_altruisms]

Archer shrugs his shoulders a little.

“I’m working, and I have a schedule.”

So better than he was.

“The evenings are still hard, though.”

[ukan]

"I can come see you some nights." Alec isn't always home at night, and he'd understand regardless.

[anti_altruisms]

Archer lets out a soft hum at that.

“You are welcome any time.”

Even if Lark doesn’t come to his cabin, doing something like this, where they make plans to go to the Enclosure, would be fine.

“I am still trying to be all right, though. Even when I am alone.”

[ukan]

"You won't be alone forever. That's the point of being here, isn't it?"

[anti_altruisms]

“…it wasn’t the point, initially.”

At least, not for him. Not then.

“But I suppose…what I really mean by that is, before I leave this ship…I need to feel confident that even if relationships do fall apart, I won’t react the way I did before.”