[Log] Will You Lend a Caring Hand? (Kurenai and L)

[crimsonkure]

What: Helping someone in need
Who: Kurenai, L
When:Late Thursday/Early Friday
Where: Corner of North St, Kurenai's house
Rating: PG-13 (?)
Open/Closed To: L

Comments

[luke7lawliet]

L knew that walking outside without shoes was dangerous and an invitation for tetanus. However... with Watari gone, his entire ritual was thrown off, and L had to count lamp posts on the way to the corner of North just to stay relatively calm. As he neared the street corner he'd agreed to meet that woman on, he counted the last lamp post, and felt a deep sense of irrational disappointment when the number came to 26. Not a prime number... people didn't seem to favor prime numbers, when building architecture. There was something safe and human about evenness and divisibility... not that L cared for either. He only even considered himself human on the most basic terms.

Trying to forget the lamp posts, he ran through his conversation with the criminal profiler he'd spoken with. She did seem like she wanted to help, and cookies where horribly tempting; they would be the only things that had gone normally, these past few days. L had eaten minimally and hardly slept, which was normal for him, but without Watari's help, he'd had nothing to

[crimsonkure]

Kurenai had been waiting for a few minutes, watching the people who walked by sporadically. Appa was alert but calm, standing still and watching as Kurenai did her best to appear both non-threatening but self-sufficient enough to not attract negative attention. She was keeping an eye out for someone who exhibited the signs of being functional but eccentric, thinking that would be the best way to characterize the young man she had spoken with earlier. She noticed someone walking up, first very obviously checking her over, and assumed that this would be the man of the hour

[luke7lawliet]

Fleetingly, L made eye contact with Kurenai before dropping his gaze to her extended hand and staring at it. Did she want something, or was she trying to get him to hold her hand...? Oh! Right, right, of course... hesitantly, he reached for her hand, grasping it with an affected firmness and shaking it twice, even though he shuddered noticeably at the physical contact. He didn't mean to, but L had a tendency to come across as rude and antisocial.

He was glad that the dog was not barking, and that Kurenai's voice was easily as soft and pleasant as a computer's. He liked the idea of there being three different kinds, a prime number, instead of one or four. The candy also caught his attention; she'd really thought this through, with a surprising amount of detail for a stranger. "No preferences," he said quietly, in his typical, even monotone. "Thank you very much." He carefully accepted the offerings, grasping the tupperware container between his thumb and forefingers and balancing the assortment of candy on top of the lid. "I go by

[crimsonkure]

Noticing the way L kept his eye contact minimal and openly shuddered at the hand shaking Kurenai was careful to keep her expression open and pleasant, albeit somewhat concerned. When he took a cookies and candy she quickly rooted through her small pocketbook and pulled out a little bottle of hand sanitizer, offering it to him after using a bit herself. She wanted to help him feel more comfortable with her presence, aware that he was probably far more nervous than he was letting on.

After the initial sniffing Appa appeared to accept and lose interest in the newcomer, instead paying attention to the people walking by. After glancing at his feet again Kurenai's smiled widened as she nodded, absorbing the information he provided. "You're quite welcome." She was incredibly detail-oriented, which made her job easier. You could tell a lot about a person by their posture and mannerisms. "It's a pleasure to meet you Ryuzaki, and please call me Kurenai." Again, an odd reaction, but not unexpected. "Certainly, I've been eating them all

OOC: Starting a new thread so it's not squished... ^^

[luke7lawliet]

It truly wasn't easy for L, this situation, these circumstances, his new surroundings. The only things that had made switching hotels so often in his work as a detective bearable was Watari's constant, dependable presence. The old man had seemed to know him as well or better than he knew himself, making pre-arrangements at hotels for things like mirrors. Their relationship was beautifully mutually symbiotic, also; Watari did whatever was necessary to keep L awake when he needed to solve a case quickly, even if he had to resort to something unscrupulous like mixing cocaine with L's pudding. Watari kept things clean, and he kept things stable, and he closed the doors of the world when it got to be too much for the hyper-sensitive senses of his ward. In return, L tirelessly crunched numbers, finding details and loopholes and human mistakes flawlessly. He was one of the world's best-kept, and most fragile, secrets. And Kurenai was doing an admirable job of protecting him, for the present

[crimsonkure]

Knowing how difficult it could be for someone in L's situation Kurenai was doing everything she could to help him adapt. She was even debating not telling anyone that he was living with her unless she got his express permission. Havoc would be told, because she was honest to a fault with him but as Havoc was a police officer she had a feeling L wouldn't object. Considering that she had no idea of Watari's methods Kurenai wasn't aware that keeping L awake for this type of situation, nor was she truly aware of the scope of his fragility's. All she was truly aware of was that he was someone in need and she could help him and would do so to the best of her ability. She would work her ass off to make sure he felt safe and secure, and had accepted that in the event they could not find Watari she'd do that full time

[luke7lawliet]

"Of course I can," L said briskly, beginning to type rapidly. "It's just a simple matter of hacking... cross-referencing.." he trailed off, intent on his work. Glancing over the pages of information that popped up, he quickly memorized the telephone numbers. "Perfect. I can call him on his cell phone, now," L said, looking like a child who had scored a point in a game. "And, thank you again, for taking care of the mirrors... I know that it doesn't make a lot of sense, to anyone else, but it is nice of you to try to understand from my point of view. And... I really will try not to wake you up until morning." Clearly having no intention of going to bed, L continued to type and find information about the clinics in the area, scanning all the John Does and narrowing the list down to nine candidates. Two were "deceased." That did not bode well. Nervously, L reached for nonexistent sugar cubes and cried out slightly when his hand closed on thin air. Taking a deep breath, he elected to chew his fingertip instead

[crimsonkure]

Watching him, unsure of how to respond, Kurenai paused in the doorway and listened as L listed off his accomplishments. She was somewhat amazed at his skill and how quickly he could work, noticing the little ticks as he reached for something that wasn't there. Her eyebrows raising slightly Kurenai moved back towards him carefully so as not to startle him. "Do you need anything else before I go to bed? Coffee, water, soda, a snack, a blanket?" She was starting to think she shouldn't go to bed just in case he actually did need her even though he said he would try not to wake her until morning. She didn't want him to end up driving himself over the edge waiting for her to awaken, nor did she want him to accidentally startle Aang.

"There are no other animals in the room, and I can't think of any other mirrors although you should know some of the windows are semi-reflective." She glanced down at her nails, picking at them nervously as she waited on his answer.