Log; Maddy and L.
Who: Madeline and L
What: She is lonely and wants to know why no one likes the dragons
When: A few days after the dragon invasion began
Where: The mental hospital where Maddy lives.
Ratings: None.
The last few days had been absolutely exhausting. Dragons were terrifying, and although L had spent his life facing many monsters, they had all been of the human persuasion. Never before had he dealt with anything so physically massive with such incredible strength and destructive power. The village was in ruins. Most of the houses were destroyed, and although a few of the dragons had been slain, there were several still roaming the village at large. They seemed to retreat to the woods at night, but when the next morning came, they were back at it again. Such an endless cycle of fear and destruction and fighting would have worn anyone down. With sore muscles and an aching head, L uncurled himself from where he had been sleeping and stood up, brushing off his clothing. His eyes adjusted to the light slowly, but it seemed so very bright. He knew that he had found a vacant house with a basement and curled up there, and although it had been dark when he arrived, the room that he occupied now seemed completely different from the one he had fallen asleep in.
"Hello." He soft, tiny little voice said. The detective nearly jumped out of his skin. He whipped around and saw her, a child of only five or six, sitting on a bed and staring at him. No, this certainly wasn't Old Runewick. Everything was so modern, there wasn't a bit of rusticity to be found. His heart was beating wildly, but he forced himself to appear calm. "Hello, miss. Excuse me, but where are we?" She giggled slightly and replied, "We are in the hospital. For our own good. We will be happier here, yes. We will make friends." A hospital? What could this possibly mean? Had he made up Old Runewick? Or perhaps this was the afterlife, and as such it turned out to be a series of strange and intricate dreams. "Sit, L." She said softly. She knew his name, apparently. It was a fact that all at once scared and comforted him. But he sat down on the bed, arranging himself on the opposite end from her. "How do you know my name?" He replied earnestly.
She giggled again, a laugh full of childishness, full of secrets and full of impish delight. "We are friends." She replied simply, as if that were to explain everything. The detective was quite sure that he had never met her before, and yet, here she was, claiming to be his friend, giggling and carrying on as if she was aware of something that he wasn't. He furrowed his eyebrows and said, "How so?" She laughed again and then got up, prancing about the room. "I made you! And I made a world for you and all of my other friends! I gave your Christmas presents and snows and ponies and kitties!!" She twirled around in circles until she fell over, quickly righted herself and stumbled over to the bed. "But nobody liked that stuff, so I decided to give them dragons. Now everyone is sad again. I don't know what to do, Mr. L-man, and you are real smart, so I wanted to talk to you."
She was looking at him so expectantly, but his mind was spinning uncontrollably. So that was it, he thought to himself. That explains everything. The reason why the world is so small, the reason why things are so different, everything is in her head, of her design. He shook his head slowly. "What...what is your name?" He said, his voice almost a whisper. "Madeline." was her reply. He felt so dizzy, so disoriented. She got up again, and danced about the room singing, "Mad, mad Madeline, poor mum must've had too much wine, poor dad shoulda seen the signs, now there's just mad Maddy Madeline!" She giggled and smiled at L, who was still reeling from the revelation. Realizing that he wasn't really responding, she crawled up next to him and imitated his odd sitting style and terrible posture. When he still just sat there like a boring old man, she pulled on his hair and yelled in his ear, "LAWLIET-SENSEI!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Which made him jump horribly and nearly gave him a heart attack all at once.
"My goodness. Yes? What's wrong?" He replied, trying to regain his wits. "WHY!!!! I want to know why everyone hates everything that I do when all that I want to do is to help them! They are my friends! I want to make them happy!!" L looked down at the little girl next to him, his mind racing with his own questions as he tried to answer hers. "Well, Madeline, I think that...some of your friends appreciated the ponies and presents, but some of them don't like those things....but I don't really think that anyone likes the dragons...they are just very...destructive. And difficult to eradicate. And they have been hurting a lot of people." He looked at her and shrugged. "I think that everyone preferred the non-deadly additions to the town." The little girl wrinkled her nose at him. "Not the dolly. The dolly didn't like the presents and she burned them!" L nodded slowly. "Yes, she did. But the rest of us really preferred the calm." The little girl nodded slowly before smiling almost wickedly. "Fine, I wont send more dragons, but you have to kill the ones who are there. That will teach them!" She crossed her arms huffily and sighed. L still found himself reeling from the new information. How could this even be possible?
Logically, if he could accept dragons and elves and horses of Technicolor, surely he could accept that it was all the product of a child's imagination, that in this world, he too was a product of her imagination, and that she could and would change anything and everything at will. But there was absolutely nothing logical about this situation at all anymore, and the detective didn't know how to make sense of this in his mind. And there was the child, tugging at his sleeve again. "Mr. L-mannnn...." she said in a sing-song voice, "You gotta go. The doctor guy will be here soon, and he wont let me have any visitors." She made a stuffy, arrogant face and said, "There's no one here, Madeline, it's all in your head..." And then she winked at him. L nodded, and stammered out a polite farewell and then looked around. "How do I go back?" He asked her. She giggled and said, "Think about your house."
And there he was. So fast that it might have been a dream, but he knew that it was not, for in his hand he was holding a small paper flower, a gift that Madeline had pressed into his palm before he was entirely gone. He sat down on his bed, curled his limbs up into his default position, and sighed.
What was he to do now?
What: She is lonely and wants to know why no one likes the dragons
When: A few days after the dragon invasion began
Where: The mental hospital where Maddy lives.
Ratings: None.
The last few days had been absolutely exhausting. Dragons were terrifying, and although L had spent his life facing many monsters, they had all been of the human persuasion. Never before had he dealt with anything so physically massive with such incredible strength and destructive power. The village was in ruins. Most of the houses were destroyed, and although a few of the dragons had been slain, there were several still roaming the village at large. They seemed to retreat to the woods at night, but when the next morning came, they were back at it again. Such an endless cycle of fear and destruction and fighting would have worn anyone down. With sore muscles and an aching head, L uncurled himself from where he had been sleeping and stood up, brushing off his clothing. His eyes adjusted to the light slowly, but it seemed so very bright. He knew that he had found a vacant house with a basement and curled up there, and although it had been dark when he arrived, the room that he occupied now seemed completely different from the one he had fallen asleep in.
"Hello." He soft, tiny little voice said. The detective nearly jumped out of his skin. He whipped around and saw her, a child of only five or six, sitting on a bed and staring at him. No, this certainly wasn't Old Runewick. Everything was so modern, there wasn't a bit of rusticity to be found. His heart was beating wildly, but he forced himself to appear calm. "Hello, miss. Excuse me, but where are we?" She giggled slightly and replied, "We are in the hospital. For our own good. We will be happier here, yes. We will make friends." A hospital? What could this possibly mean? Had he made up Old Runewick? Or perhaps this was the afterlife, and as such it turned out to be a series of strange and intricate dreams. "Sit, L." She said softly. She knew his name, apparently. It was a fact that all at once scared and comforted him. But he sat down on the bed, arranging himself on the opposite end from her. "How do you know my name?" He replied earnestly.
She giggled again, a laugh full of childishness, full of secrets and full of impish delight. "We are friends." She replied simply, as if that were to explain everything. The detective was quite sure that he had never met her before, and yet, here she was, claiming to be his friend, giggling and carrying on as if she was aware of something that he wasn't. He furrowed his eyebrows and said, "How so?" She laughed again and then got up, prancing about the room. "I made you! And I made a world for you and all of my other friends! I gave your Christmas presents and snows and ponies and kitties!!" She twirled around in circles until she fell over, quickly righted herself and stumbled over to the bed. "But nobody liked that stuff, so I decided to give them dragons. Now everyone is sad again. I don't know what to do, Mr. L-man, and you are real smart, so I wanted to talk to you."
She was looking at him so expectantly, but his mind was spinning uncontrollably. So that was it, he thought to himself. That explains everything. The reason why the world is so small, the reason why things are so different, everything is in her head, of her design. He shook his head slowly. "What...what is your name?" He said, his voice almost a whisper. "Madeline." was her reply. He felt so dizzy, so disoriented. She got up again, and danced about the room singing, "Mad, mad Madeline, poor mum must've had too much wine, poor dad shoulda seen the signs, now there's just mad Maddy Madeline!" She giggled and smiled at L, who was still reeling from the revelation. Realizing that he wasn't really responding, she crawled up next to him and imitated his odd sitting style and terrible posture. When he still just sat there like a boring old man, she pulled on his hair and yelled in his ear, "LAWLIET-SENSEI!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Which made him jump horribly and nearly gave him a heart attack all at once.
"My goodness. Yes? What's wrong?" He replied, trying to regain his wits. "WHY!!!! I want to know why everyone hates everything that I do when all that I want to do is to help them! They are my friends! I want to make them happy!!" L looked down at the little girl next to him, his mind racing with his own questions as he tried to answer hers. "Well, Madeline, I think that...some of your friends appreciated the ponies and presents, but some of them don't like those things....but I don't really think that anyone likes the dragons...they are just very...destructive. And difficult to eradicate. And they have been hurting a lot of people." He looked at her and shrugged. "I think that everyone preferred the non-deadly additions to the town." The little girl wrinkled her nose at him. "Not the dolly. The dolly didn't like the presents and she burned them!" L nodded slowly. "Yes, she did. But the rest of us really preferred the calm." The little girl nodded slowly before smiling almost wickedly. "Fine, I wont send more dragons, but you have to kill the ones who are there. That will teach them!" She crossed her arms huffily and sighed. L still found himself reeling from the new information. How could this even be possible?
Logically, if he could accept dragons and elves and horses of Technicolor, surely he could accept that it was all the product of a child's imagination, that in this world, he too was a product of her imagination, and that she could and would change anything and everything at will. But there was absolutely nothing logical about this situation at all anymore, and the detective didn't know how to make sense of this in his mind. And there was the child, tugging at his sleeve again. "Mr. L-mannnn...." she said in a sing-song voice, "You gotta go. The doctor guy will be here soon, and he wont let me have any visitors." She made a stuffy, arrogant face and said, "There's no one here, Madeline, it's all in your head..." And then she winked at him. L nodded, and stammered out a polite farewell and then looked around. "How do I go back?" He asked her. She giggled and said, "Think about your house."
And there he was. So fast that it might have been a dream, but he knew that it was not, for in his hand he was holding a small paper flower, a gift that Madeline had pressed into his palm before he was entirely gone. He sat down on his bed, curled his limbs up into his default position, and sighed.
What was he to do now?