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[ukan]

Leave a message, knock on his door, etc.

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Re: voice;

[bleak_midwinter]

Of course it is.

[And he's there five minutes later, looking positively exasperated.]

[ukan]

Lark greets him with a smug smile. "You're looking cheerful."

[bleak_midwinter]

He rolls his eyes and flicks the stub of his cigarette at him before shouldering his way inside.

"Don't start, Tennant, if you want me to actually stay."

[ukan]

"I have to start. You came here for more conversation." About Rey.

But he grins a little and he sets the tea kettle on, and pours Tommy a little whiskey.

[bleak_midwinter]

He knocks it back immediately and relaxes just a little, leaning back in his chair and crossing his legs at the knee.

"It isn't- you know what happened." With Grace. "You know it isn't easy."

[ukan]

"I know." All joking is dropped, just like that. "It's not easy for me, with Lisbeth and...Alec." It's like taking a giant step out into dark air, saying that. "So I do know. But I also know that you seem happier, more at ease."

[bleak_midwinter]

"Nina told me that, too." Not that he's told her anything like this, not even close. "Do I really?"

[ukan]

Lark can't help the smile, and he kicks his toes against Tommy's shoe. "Yeah. When she's around, it's obvious. And when she's not, you look almost as if you're not expecting the ship to slam down on you. I know--again, I really do--that nothing about Grace, or what it was like, is easy. But is it really difficult being around Rey?"

[bleak_midwinter]

This is why he came to Lark: because he knows the man can be a romantic, and more importantly has experienced the destruction of love firsthand.

And somehow, Lark also found something new. So would it really be so awful, he wonders, to let someone else in, however tentatively?

He shakes his head, lets out a soft sigh. "No. It's easy. She understands me, and I understand her. When something happens, we keep-- accidentally doing the right things."

[ukan]

Lark chuckles; that's the trick of it. Granted, he and Alec have a rocky relationship and have from day one, but most of the time they somehow, miraculously, manage to do the right things.

"Like what? What have you done right by accident?"

[bleak_midwinter]

"During the flood," he starts, thinking back. "She wasn't affected, but I was. And it kicked in right-- we were locked in the Enclosure. We were right in there, and we had a black-out and I--"

He stops, and tries to think of the right way to say this. But Lark has seen his nightmares, has seen the very, very worst parts of him. "It was like being in a nightmare, for a few minutes. And she did just the right things, and I could feel what that did to her because of the flood."

The story isn't done yet, but he'll pause to see if Lark understands.

[ukan]

His first thought is: thank God she wasn't affected. Lark had sat with Tommy and has heard enough that even he, with all his innate savagery, gets chills sometimes if he thinks too much about what Tommy went through.

But secondly, he smiles, a little sad (because what an awful way to bond with someone, what a horrible thing it is to let someone see you vulnerable without you planning it). But also pleased for him.

"Tell me what it was like?"

[bleak_midwinter]

"I think she was surprised, mostly," he says, considering. "That she helped the way she did. That she could do that."

[ukan]

He pauses because his immediate question is about Rey, her history, and he can't imagine those are things Tommy would share easily. Lark wouldn't, if the situation was reversed and they were talking about a certain someone else.

"When I was with you, you were detoxing. And waking out of that is, I imagine, very different from coming out of a flashback. Did you recognize her right away when it stopped?"

[bleak_midwinter]

"Hmm. She was telling me who she was, where we were, who I was..."

He hides his expression behind his glass, because this is complicated, this is the beginnings of something deep as well as the complete fear of war.

[ukan]

"The right things to do," Lark guesses softly. "I've never had anything like that. Not with anyone but Tati and that was...detox."

Which was a vulnerable of its own kind. It was not what Tommy is describing--or rather, what he's reluctant to describe too much. Which Lark understands, even if it's not for identical reasons.

He has more he wants to know, but Lark almost always prefers to let the conversation flow where it may. In this case: wherever it goes will be due to whatever Tommy can share.

[bleak_midwinter]

He nods in understanding, puts his glass back down and rakes a hand through his hair- a little nervous gesture.

"In any case- she didn't know I'd felt those things. I didn't know about the flood until we got out, so I thought she had a right to know."

[ukan]

"Did she understand, though?" He has no idea how much Tommy told her. But it must have been enough, for Tommy to feel like he can trust her.

[bleak_midwinter]

"Did she understand why I--?" He frowns a little, then nods in answer.

"I don't think she knows from experience, but she understood. She didn't make me feel like I..."

Like he was weak for it.

[ukan]

"Good." Lark smiles, relieved despite not being surprised. "If she had, you and I would be having a very different conversation now. Tell me about her?"

[bleak_midwinter]

He raises an eyebrow, sips his whiskey again. "What do you want to know?"

[ukan]

"What else do you like about her? Things she does, skills, interests?" Which is really just a way to get Tommy talking, and to let the rest come as it may.

[bleak_midwinter]

A smile pulls at the corner of his mouth, but he has a question before he answers that: "Why are you so interested in this, Lark?"

[ukan]

He starts to answer, because he has an easy reply. And it's true, too. It's just not the main reason he's feeling invested.

After a pause he shrugs helplessly and shakes his head. "I guess I just want to know we're not crazy for being able to be happy, Tommy."

[bleak_midwinter]

That-- makes the smile turn into an incredulous laugh, but it isn't disbelieving. "Bloody hell, Lark. You just say it like that, it makes me sound crazy. When the fuck were you last happy?"