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[abrightboy]

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[abrightboy]

"But people still like you," Malcolm points out.

[ukan]

A faint chuckle. "Opinions on me are mixed at best, Malcolm. A lot of people here hate me."

[abrightboy]

“What? Who?” Neal, probably, but Malcolm doesn’t know that. He hasn’t heard a word against Lark save for a couple friends concerned about him.

[ukan]

"Zack, Jedao, Eiffel, Neal, Iris sometimes. Sweeney." To name but a few.

[abrightboy]

“…How can Iris and Sweeney not like you? They’re in the pack,” Malcolm asks.

[ukan]

"Sweeney's not," he shakes his head slightly. "He's just an ally. And Iris doesn't like how I do things sometimes. Like the fact I have rules."

[abrightboy]

“I guess… since she said Sweeney is in the pack. Plus he came to the turnings. They were, like, big party do’s,” Malcolm muses.

[ukan]

Something dark crosses his expression. "Really." A faint twitch of his lip. "Then you're the only one who had the real ritual. It's a private matter."

[abrightboy]

“I preferred it with just me and Will. I don’t really like getting undressed in front of everyone. Or eating red meat,” Malcolm says making a bit of a face.

He’d gone along with it, though. He really wants to feel like Pack.

[ukan]

"I normally wouldn't have even allowed Will to be there, but I knew he'd want to take the change, too." You adapt or you die. That's the way of things. "Iris didn't know better. I didn't turn her the way I turned you, it was an experiment with her, test tubes.... But no, Sweeney isn't Pack, and I wouldn't have let him be there. It would have been a smaller affair."

[abrightboy]

“I think he enjoyed the… spectacle of it, though. Iris has a really cool hat that she saves for it,” Malcolm tells him.

[ukan]

Does he like hearing about his culture being made into an entertaining spectacle?

No. Not even a little.

But it's done.

"Good for him," Lark drawls. "I'm sure he'd love if we all gathered to gawk at his rituals, too."

[abrightboy]

Malcolm’s face falls. He said what he was saying wrong again.

“No,” he says, though there’s uncertainty in the way he fidgets again. He clears his throat. “No. I didn’t mean Sweeney. I was just trying to say that I don’t think Will feels cheated by getting Iris’ made up version of the ritual. Which was. Very ritual-y.” He shifts his weight uncomfortably.

[ukan]

"It's hard for me to see the pack change," Lark admits softly. "To have what I have at home and then see it here where it's...so different."

Adapt or die.

"Will's happy? Really happy?"

[abrightboy]

“Yeah. He loves being a wolf. He’s better at it than I am. But he’s always spent a lot of time with dogs.” He pauses. “If Iris is supposed to be in charge when you’re gone, why didn’t you train her?” It’s curious, not accusatory.

[ukan]

"Is Will thinking about life after the Barge yet?" Lark asks, and might have left the question unanswered. In Los Angeles he would have. He ignores the questions he doesn't feel like answering there. He does that on the Barge sometimes, too.

But Malcolm's pack, his last chosen pup, so he deserves an answer. "I don't always know what traditions she'll respect. They don't mean as much to her--she's very nontraditional. I don't want to pass along something that matters to me to someone who can't appreciate it."

[abrightboy]

“Will and I talk about our future a lot,” Malcolm admits, but he doesn’t elaborate.

[ukan]

He eyes him curiously. "And you still see yourself solving murders?"

[abrightboy]

“We want to do a lot of different things,” Malcolm tells him.

[ukan]

He hums. "Give me some examples?"

[abrightboy]

“Travel. Stop killers. Visit friends,” Malcolm lists.

[ukan]

"No home base?" Some people don't have one. Iris doesn't, and neither will B and Steve as far as Lark knows.

[abrightboy]

“I kind of thought our base would be the pack in LA. Because you invited us,” Malcolm says.

[ukan]

Lark grins. "Yeah. I'd like that. There are different homes you can choose from."

[abrightboy]

That piques his interest.

“What are they like?”