Lost and Found

[ijk_mno]

*Obviously, when you're four years old and can't find the person you're looking for, and can't quite remember why you're looking for the person you're looking for to begin with but don't have anything better to do, the way to proceed is to run at breakneck speed through the hallways in circles, up and down stairs and around kitchens. You're bound

Comments

[curtainwizard]

[Light is heading for the top floor library, checking over doors - looking out for new signs, markings, and seeing what's shifted since he was last out here. He's quiet, and so when he hears the tumble of small feet from around one of the corridor's corners, he knows whoever it is hasn't heard him.

He steps to one side, so as not to be careened into.]

[ijk_mno]

*L passes Light, then skids to a halt and looks back over his shoulder at him, obviously curious.*

[curtainwizard]

[Light has turned to watch you run past, one eyebrow quirked in semi...amusement? Perhaps. A small L: no parents, no keeper at all - apparently. And not the one he's seen around from time to time who goes by Lawli: this one's younger... Then Misa's voice chimes in the back of his head: L is missing.

He drops into a crouch, slow, unthreatening.]

Hello. Are you lost?

[ijk_mno]

*L shakes his head no, and considers Light for a moment longer. He mumbles, Light won't be surprised to find, as monotonous as he is when he's an adult.*

No. Are you?

[curtainwizard]

[He shakes his own head: no. He sounds entirely normal and nice - if a little too reserved for friendliness.]

I could be. But not today.

Where is it you're going in such a hurry?

[ijk_mno]

Find Matt.

*Pulling his hand out of his mouth completely, since he feels like he should be Behaving.*

Who are you hiding from?

[curtainwizard]

[Quick considerations - Light can only think of one L who associates with a Matt, so that means he can make a guess at the one you are - and that you're a reduced adult, not an everyday child. This one's more than he appears: that background - not quite anger, not quite embarrassment - discomfort, perhaps. That when he'd been a child, he'd forgotten what he'd been so completely, given nothing but the whim of a room.

All that makes him less surprised by your question than he could be. He returns a question of his own - but not as if he's evading anything, more as if he doesn't want to crush a child's questioning nature. Because it could be a completely innocent preschooler's question - or it could be something more.]

What makes you think I'm hiding?

[ijk_mno]

Your mannerisms are very indicative.

*He spoils the gravity by starting to suck on the side of his thumb.*

[curtainwizard]

[It's something Light remembers clearly, the tumble of words, one over the next. People had been impressed with his vocabulary, and if some had occasionally said he used too many long words for such a small boy, well, that was just too bad. He'd smiled, and tried not to scowl at how blindingly stupid other people were. When he was four, it had still been hard.

So he doesn't think you're more likely to be conscious of who you are - if that's who you are - just because you're severe and wordy. He does think you know too much about him, though.]

Indeed? Which ones? And which Matt are you looking for? Perhaps I know him?

[ijk_mno]

It's not important. Finding Matt is.

*Glowering, at Light's short sightedness.*

He's the good one.

[curtainwizard]

[He does remember - vaguely: he wasn't quite himself at the time - an L passing out in one of the rooms at Hallowe'en, and helping a Matt carry him out of there. The one that trod on his hand, not long ago - and that's still painful if he flexes his fingers the right way. It is A Grudge, definitely.]

There are bad Matts? Honestly? They don't seem so dissimilar to me.

Or - [a very, very faint vulpine edge to the smile] - did you mean something else?

[ijk_mno]

This one is good even in comparison to the relative homogeneity of Mattness.

*The last few words garble a little, but he does his best.*

[curtainwizard]

Yes, that's a good one. Matts are homogeneous. Like milk. Or people.

[He sounds thoughtful, and distracted, and not at all as if he's wondering how much he can get away with asking you.]

What name do you go by?

[ijk_mno]

My name's Lucien, what's yours?

*Fingers back in his mouth.*

[curtainwizard]

Light.

[He toys with the idea of saying "Kira" for a moment, just to see if you respond at all.]

Do you need help finding your Matt?

[ijk_mno]

Oh, yes please, Light. Mister Light.

I can't find the kitchen. *Playing up the childishness.*