[ The thing that Lark will learn if they have any further association (which is almost certain, given the library and he may even have something of a clue already) is that Jon isn't actually much of a liar.
He has relied on lies in the past, poorly, because deception is, unfortunately, necessary when one is in a perilous situation but he is also abysmal at it. He can't act worth a damn, can't really be anyone but himself and unabashedly most of the time. He can fain politeness for a while, like anyone, but even then, his limit is rather low.
Even what lies he had used were situational: 'I'm not surveilling his house, I'm doing his performance review' or 'I definitely wasn't stabbed by a monster with knives for hands, clearly it was a breadknife and I did it to myself' which, really, is such terrible lying that it's practically a kind of truth. All the subtlety of a 13 year old trying to get a later bedtime, this one.
If anything, Jon is more of a cypher: his truth is plain and loud and clear... but it may be expressed in ways that require a bit of thinking (and almost certainly patience) to puzzle out.
But he listens, silent, with the kind of rapt, quiet breathes that speak to someone who isn't just waiting for what they can say back. Manipulation is all it would be. Playing into someone else's plan.
He understands that. Intimately. Even now, what he's doing, what he's becoming... it's part of something else, someone else's desires. And even if it's giving him things he wants along with all the things he doesn't, he too regrets every bit of progress, wishes he could throttle Elias for every encouraging smile.
He listens to the rest the same way, though. There's a quick, singular hiccup of sound at 'someone he would have liked' since there's parts of the person he describes that sounds achingly close to Georgie for him. Yes, sometimes there needs to be someone to knock you back into place. He hadn't even known how much until he'd gotten her back properly.
He wonders how well he'll do without her here.
But as he ends, what Lark will hear is a kind of relief, an exhale with a bit of a raspy chuckle at the end of it and the soft liquid sound of someone taking a sip of something when the communicator is tucked up against their shoulder. Once he's swallowed-]
I shall do my best to take that as a prescription and not a compliment.
[ A deeper breath in.]
Well, I certainly don't want to take up too much of your time, Mr. Tennant- er... Mr. Tennant or Lark? Everyone seems to prefer first names around here but as you like.
[Truth be told, this is the first time anyone has asked him. Formal terms really haven't been handed out to any inmate. Hell, Arthas was probably the Prince of Darkness or some shit, and he still got mocked.
Then again, Arthas was a giant of a try-hard, so...]
How about a compromise? Mr Tennant when we're working in the library, Lark when we're not.
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He has relied on lies in the past, poorly, because deception is, unfortunately, necessary when one is in a perilous situation but he is also abysmal at it. He can't act worth a damn, can't really be anyone but himself and unabashedly most of the time. He can fain politeness for a while, like anyone, but even then, his limit is rather low.
Even what lies he had used were situational: 'I'm not surveilling his house, I'm doing his performance review' or 'I definitely wasn't stabbed by a monster with knives for hands, clearly it was a breadknife and I did it to myself' which, really, is such terrible lying that it's practically a kind of truth. All the subtlety of a 13 year old trying to get a later bedtime, this one.
If anything, Jon is more of a cypher: his truth is plain and loud and clear... but it may be expressed in ways that require a bit of thinking (and almost certainly patience) to puzzle out.
But he listens, silent, with the kind of rapt, quiet breathes that speak to someone who isn't just waiting for what they can say back. Manipulation is all it would be. Playing into someone else's plan.
He understands that. Intimately. Even now, what he's doing, what he's becoming... it's part of something else, someone else's desires. And even if it's giving him things he wants along with all the things he doesn't, he too regrets every bit of progress, wishes he could throttle Elias for every encouraging smile.
He listens to the rest the same way, though. There's a quick, singular hiccup of sound at 'someone he would have liked' since there's parts of the person he describes that sounds achingly close to Georgie for him. Yes, sometimes there needs to be someone to knock you back into place. He hadn't even known how much until he'd gotten her back properly.
He wonders how well he'll do without her here.
But as he ends, what Lark will hear is a kind of relief, an exhale with a bit of a raspy chuckle at the end of it and the soft liquid sound of someone taking a sip of something when the communicator is tucked up against their shoulder. Once he's swallowed-]
I shall do my best to take that as a prescription and not a compliment.
[ A deeper breath in.]
Well, I certainly don't want to take up too much of your time, Mr. Tennant- er... Mr. Tennant or Lark? Everyone seems to prefer first names around here but as you like.
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Then again, Arthas was a giant of a try-hard, so...]
How about a compromise? Mr Tennant when we're working in the library, Lark when we're not.
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Though with that, I believe I'll leave you to your evening.
Unless you had another question, of course.
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[ Not laughing or upset by that. Just... interesting. Hmm, as the dialogue said.
Not really what he would have expected.]
You're, er, certainly welcome. And I'll get to work on the archive space. Till then, though.
[ And that's a sign off.]