You came on your own, that's how you'll leave

[firm_detective]

An L stands in the hallway, absorbed in what he sees on the screen of the small silver digital camera he's holding. His expression is difficult to read.

After a moment, he looks up, cautious, and sees that his surroundings have changed; his look shifts to one of subtle surprise and disbelief as he recognizes them. He thinks, Am I really -- ?

[L

Comments

[curtainwizard]

[Light turns the corner, lost in his own thoughts, bogged down in the implications of the card which is still in his pocket. You won't get out of here alive. He can't believe something just because a room presented him with it, though: he'd go insane. Self-assessment, after all, is not one of Light's strengths.

So when he turns the corner, and sees you, he feels sick and weary more than anything else - and looks it: pallor, and dark circles, and the traces of strain he can't manage away. It's as if a mill is grinding something in his stomach. An internal flip, and there's wary surprise on his face. The two of you aren't friends, after all. But seeing the shadow of astonishment on your face, he can't help but wonder how long you think you've been gone.]

Ryuuzaki, is that you?

[firm_detective]

*He notices that Light looks unusually bad, and it's obvious which one this is, but L doesn't react with as much wariness as he might: something has changed since he's been gone.*

Ryuuzaki? Yes.

*It's been a few months since he's used that name.*

[ooc -- haha no "hi there" icon for stalky.]

[curtainwizard]

[A couple of quiet steps forward, and a detached voice.]

Misa's been looking for you, you know.

[[OOC: well, at least he didn't get "die in a fire". xD]]

[firm_detective]

*His level of blandness is spectacular; while he isn't sure whether to be angry or suspicious, he shows nothing. However, his thumb strays to his mouth, and he nips at the tip before he speaks to Light.*

So I've heard -- should I be surprised?

More to the point, Light: why would you care?

[curtainwizard]

[One finger taps on the sketchbook: rat, tat. The corner of his mouth quirks in a nonplussed way.]

I see your time away hasn't improved your personality. Is there some reason I shouldn't care?

[firm_detective]

The appropriate question is whether there is some reason you should.

*A sigh, and he becomes more absorbed in biting his thumb, until he comments around it,*

It is unreasonable to have expected a five-day absence to change my personality.

[curtainwizard]

Ah, so you have been back.

[Another quirk, this time with some teeth showing. The question is bait, that you'd love to tell him about anything you changed.]

I suppose those five days were productive, at least.

[firm_detective]

*His eyes remain wide, yet there's something shuttered about his expression: closed, guarded, you cannot have this.*

Yes. You may remember -- if he was the way you say he was -- that I strive to be productive.

*Over the last few months, it's been more and more cases, less selective than usual, something with which he tries and fails to give his mind complete occupation. He hasn't wanted time to think about anything else; hasn't enjoyed feeling like a haunted man.*

How is she?

[curtainwizard]

When I spoke to her? She was - preoccupied. The second-floor kitchen is cleaner than I've ever seen it. I'm sure you know the sort of thing.

[He's quite sure you've been gone longer than five days. That's not the sort of question you'd ever ask him. As for the casual mention that he's spoken with Misa, Light knows well enough that you don't want him anywhere near her.]

[firm_detective]

Yes. I know the sort of thing.

*A moment of coolness while he fights a losing battle with his internal aggravation, then,*

Were you able to resist planting the seeds of upset, or did you behave yourself? You don't look well, Light, even for a living dead man.

[curtainwizard]

[He knows he looks off-colour, sick, stressed: worn down as if by sandpaper. Trapped where he can't move forward, things are piling up around him, faster than he can manage them: spilling over onto his face, scalding trails across it: another thing he can't trust.]

Really, Ryuuzaki, I'm not so bored that I need to upset Misa. Not that I expect to convince you of that.

And - you don't look too well yourself. It must have been a hard five days?

[Blithely innocent, and almost airy: it's a difficult attitude to maintain.]

[firm_detective]

There is a difference between want and need, of course -- and a difference between occupation and pleasure, yes? Doing something out of boredom is different from doing something because you enjoy it.

What do you enjoy these days, Light?

*It's the innocence of his tone that makes it sound malicious. He bites at his thumb again.*

Hard -- no, not hard, just busy.

[curtainwizard]

[Light's innocence closes back on itself, becomes a smile.]

Are we going to do this again? Already? I'd have thought you had better things to do.

[firm_detective]

You are right, for once.

*Moving to continue down the hall, he adds,*

I'm sure we will see each other another time.

*His coolness indicates that he doesn't care whether or not they do, that he might even prefer not to.*