Open RP: Great Hall: It's Alive!

[ijk-mno.livejournal.com]

The circles under his eyes are more pronounced than usual today. L slips into the Great Hall, to get himself a pot of tea. Once it arrives, he sits and pauses, to wait for it to steep. It needs to be stronger than this.

He's been pushing himself on a case the past few days. It's resolved now, but it was the first real challenge he's had since moving here, so he may have dropped off the face of the earth a little. Time to emerge and make sure everyone is still alive and well.

As soon as the tea is finished steeping, that is.

Comments

[ijk-mno.livejournal.com]

"Crime rates are affected by a variety of factors. As a specific deterrent, I'm effective, I catch large numbers of criminals. As a general deterrent, I'm more effective; the knowledge that L exists keeps at least a certain portion of the population honest. Furthermore, in order to work with me, I require governments keep a certain standard of honesty. I can bargain my services for compliance to UN statutes that might be ignored otherwise."

[noseymaddie.livejournal.com]

"L? I've never heard of L." She would have. It's the world she travels in, more or less. "I'm an investigative reporter. I would have heard of someone named L, or something so ridiculous." She does have connections, ones that would have at least whispered of L, if there is, was, whatever tense, one.

[ijk-mno.livejournal.com]

"No more than I had heard of Hogwarts. Given the existence of alternate realities, it seems sensible to assume we're not from the same one."

He shrugs.

[noseymaddie.livejournal.com]

Maddie is only partially mollified. Physics beyond Newton was beyond her, really, but she's willing to concede that their realties may not coincide.

"So, in your world, you're important. In my world, you either aren't, or don't exist, or go by a different name." She sighs. Just improbable, after all.

"And, here, you know several people." By her count, three others, so far. "Must be a rather strong connection to your world. Or is the school in your world?"

[ijk-mno.livejournal.com]

"The school is not from my world, despite the prevalence of people from it. I don't have an explanation for that."

[noseymaddie.livejournal.com]

Maddie frowns, drumming her fingers on the table. She is tempted to take out a notebook to write down what she knows, to try and sort her thoughts, but she just doesn't have enough to start with.

So, she returns to the beginning. "There's more to this B person that is within your realm of knowledge that you're warning me against." She's not dumb, just slow at times.

[ijk-mno.livejournal.com]

"He's also one who was being trained to replace me."

L shrugs.

[noseymaddie.livejournal.com]

Maddie raises an eyebrow. "And, do you want Novocaine with your extraction?" she mutters under her breath.

"That still fails to explain why you're so insistent on warning me about him and about bringing him up with A," she points out.

[ijk-mno.livejournal.com]

"Does it? I thought it was obvious. If you give him half the chance, he'll torture you. The sight of blood arouses him, too. You'll be in for a slow, and greusome death. I don't know you, but I wouldn't wish that on anyone."

He shrugs again.

"As for bringing him up with A, he's been exposed to B before. For extended periods of time. If you know him, then you've seen some of the results. I don't know what conspiracy you think you're seeing here."

[noseymaddie.livejournal.com]

Were it not for the word 'arouses,' she could let her mind just think he was trying to rile her up. And, her mind is altogether too quick to reach the obvious conclusion. "My god," she says weakly. Any color from the ire she'd been building up has left her face.

[ijk-mno.livejournal.com]

"Precisely. Of course I'm warning you."

[noseymaddie.livejournal.com]

More pieces fall into place. "They...the ones who 'trained' him," the word becomes a foul curse, "they knew, didn't they. Didn't do anything about it, did they?" Anger, burning hot, begins to fill her eyes, restoring the color to her face that had been lost.

[ijk-mno.livejournal.com]

"I would imagine so. I wasn't there."

A slow nod.

[noseymaddie.livejournal.com]

Maddie snarled. "There are levels of hell reserved for such bastards." Exactly which bastards she's referring to is unclear, but she does mean both sets, those who would allow a boy to be so mishandled and those who would mishandle him. The so-called trainers may possibly fall under both, she's not quite sure of that. "How...you who say you enforce UN sanctions by withholding your services, how could you let that happen?" Ah, a target. Much better.

[ijk-mno.livejournal.com]

"I didn't know the abuse was occuring."

Mild, not too defensive. She needs someone to yell at, he doesn't care what she thinks of him.

[noseymaddie.livejournal.com]

Astonishment contorts her features even more. "How could you not? They were supposed to be like you?" She splutters. "A detective, world class you say, and you couldn't even bother to detect that..." exact words fail her, but the intent is clear. He should have known about the training, known what was going on it it. Therefore, the abuse is his fault.

"Men. Arrogant, self-serving, useless creatures. If it's not in their face, they don't care." Yes, when a scalpel can't be held, go for a shot gun.

[ijk-mno.livejournal.com]

"I'm only twenty now, and look at their age. They're from only a few years in my future."

Clearing his throat.

"But you're right. If I could do what I did at that age, I should have suspected they'd attempt something like this. Preteen or not, it's a responsability I only avoided through ignorance and blind trust. I didn't think my guardian would do such a thing, which was hopelessly naive, in retrospect."

[noseymaddie.livejournal.com]

Oh? Maddie hadn't been told about the time strangeness, either. To her, it's still 1999. Time to party.

"Only twenty? Future? What? That boy, A, looked at least fourteen. And the other, he looked closer to twenty, himself."

But, Maddie is a bright girl, given a little time to work things out. "Preteen? So, a case of exploited genius with you, as well. I can't say I think very highly of your guardian."

[ijk-mno.livejournal.com]

"I know B dies... probably before I turn twenty three. So subtract his age from twenty three, add four years since that's typically when students enter the program... and I was likely between the age of seven and nine when they began grooming A and B."

He's really musing to himself.

"Which makes sense, that's around when I became L. I wouldn't say they exploited me; though no one exploited ever would, would they? I had a happy childhood, you needn't concern yourself with me. Stop prying."

[noseymaddie.livejournal.com]

Prying? Maddie? Never. No, never.

She smiles sweetly, a saccharine sweet, the kind of sweet of fresh lemons. "Right then." She bundles up her stuff, her purse, oh, don't see the tape recorder with it's little red light, not that it would really work here, but she had to try, and stands. "Perhaps we'll meet again." She will get to the bottom of this, she's sure. She'll go ask the boy who else he knows. That'll give her a lead.

[ijk-mno.livejournal.com]

"I didn't get your name."

[noseymaddie.livejournal.com]

"Maddie Magellan," she replies. Never bothered with aliases. Too much work to remember them and remember to answer to them.

[ijk-mno.livejournal.com]

"Ryuuzaki. Please keep in mind who your questions will hurt, Miss Magellan. I'd rather you came to me with them than other individuals."

[noseymaddie.livejournal.com]

"Not L?" she asks sweetly. "And, you told me not to ask you anymore. Or does 'stop prying' mean something else to a genius?" She bloody knows well enough not to kick a wounded puppy.

[ijk-mno.livejournal.com]

"Ryuuzaki."

Firmly.

"Case histories? Yes. Our childhoods? A different matter."