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I Heard the Snake was Baffled By His Sin

Who: L and Light
What: Light loses someone without letting him go.
When: Early November, 2004
Where: An extremely convenient bunker in Aokigahara
Warnings: All the bad stuff! Don't read this! Turn back, life is a precious gift!

( He shed his scales to find the snake within. )

Wake Up And Smell The Coffee, Is Your Glass Half Full Or Empty?

Who: L and Light
What: Obligatory reconciliation log
When: Some time after the Sunday L visited
Where: Purgatory, various locations starting at the coffee shop at the end of The Worker's shift
Warnings: TBD

( When we talk you say it softly, but I love it when you're awfully quiet )

Oh Lazarus, How Did Your Debts Get Paid?

Who: L and Mello
What: Another world, another life, where everyone works, and sleeps, and eats. It's all just a little bit worse.
When: An indeterminate point after both their deaths
Where: Purgatory
Warnings: TBD

( I've got blood on my name )

Justice Does Not Descend From Its Own Pinnacle

Who: L and Light
What: Another world, another life, where everyone works, and sleeps, and eats. It's all just a little bit worse.
When: An indeterminate point after both their deaths
Where: Purgatory
Warnings: TBD

The dark-haired worker behind the counter is difficult to place, in age or nationality. A steel milk pitcher is grasped loosely in one of the young man's thin hands, and the fingers of the other fidget and drum against the carapace of the cash register.

He wears a name tag, slightly askew on his black and white striped apron that is reminiscent of a prison uniform. It got wet at some point, and the ink has smudged through the laminate, leaving a blotchy and utterly illegible Rorschach test pinned over his heart.

An older, shorter, balding man with glasses barks out his name, and the milk pitcher clatters to the floor as the worker's hands clamp over his ears with a pained wince. It never sounds like a name when his boss addresses him, but like a hammer shattering a glass Coke bottle, or a klaxon alarm, or an abattoir of tortured rabbits. At this particular moment, it sounds like excruciating audio feedback.

He blinks overlarge, dark grey eyes, dazed, and when he's recovered he asks what the man called him.

"The name you filled out on your application, dumbass. I'm sick of this fragile affected space cadet act you pull every time you don't want to actually do your job. Which you're lucky to have, by the way. Don't know who you think you are."

At a nearby table, a disinterested mother is playing a phone game while her restless young child belts out the beginning of the alphabet, always stopping at G, then starting over in a constant, grating loop.

"It's H," the worker says, raising his voice to be heard over the coffee grinder, which usually seems timed to go off just when he's started speaking. "H comes next."

The mother rolls her eyes at him, her streak broken in the colorful stacking game she's playing. "Yeah," she drones. "I know. I went to college and got an education. Can you bring me more coffee or something?"

He stares at the recently-filled assortment of roasts she's sitting mere feet away from. "Better go help the lady," his boss mutters. "Closest thing a bum like you will get to a date this year."

"A-B-C-D-E-F-G! A-B-C-D-E-F-G!" The child is pounding his fists on the table, now, which seems to intensify his mother's resolve to ignore him.

The worker pours a fresh cup, numbly going through motions that feel wrong the same way it feels wrong to be treated like this, or for there to be a void behind his eyes where a name and identity should sit with secure surety. He carries the cup over to the table, offering it towards the mother, who takes a sip and grimaces.

"This is the house roast. I wanted the dark roast."

"But you never specified..."

"A-B-C-D-E-F-G! A-B-C-D-E-F-G!"

She peels away the plastic lid, splashing the hot coffee over the front of the worker's apron. His name tag, already blotched beyond recognition, distorts further, and it resembles an expression now, stormy and furious, though his own face remains blank and placid.

"Try again, genius. I'm sure you'll get it right eventually."

The worker pulls her phone from her hands, turning his back on her shrill protests. He moves briskly back toward the prep station with a sudden burst of zealous energy, and a sharpie is in his hands. The colorful blocks are marred and interrupted with the compulsive vandalism that actually begins to feel right through the mired fog of existing this way in scrawling, thick black letters that blot out the backlit screen.

H

H H H

HHHHHHHHHHH

His boss bellows his name, the sound of a dog snarling reverberating through his skull. The phone and pen slip from his hands, dropping to the floor where the screen shatters as his hands go over his ears, and the floor seems to tilt, the world melting and fading sickeningly as both his boss and the woman tear into him with their words while the child bawls in the background.

They're gone. Perhaps they've left, and he has no memory of it. He's on the floor, with a bucket of soapy water between his knees and a sponge in his hands. Directly in his line of sight is a simple sign.

DAYS SINCE: 0

Everyday My Fingers Are a Gun

Who: L and Light
What: Another supernatural entity has joined forces with Light, and a 5-year sentence looms to add insult to the injury of L's defeat.
When: After Watari's death and L's "death"
Where: Japan
Warnings: If you're here you don't care.

( But I'm never taking any action, not unless my baby says so )

The Stars, The Moon, They Have All Been Blown Out

Who: L and Light
What: The tables have turned and some difficult choices are on the horizon.
When: The days after Higuchi's arrest and death
Where: Japan
Warnings: If you're here you don't care.

( You've left me in the dark )

Sink Your Teeth, You're in Love for One Night

Who: L and Light
What: A mysterious, isolated village in the heart of Eastern Europe calls a detective to investigate a rash of unexplained murders
When: Today
Where: The heart of Eastern Europe
Warnings: If you're here you don't care.

( When you sleep in the day you are mine )

I'll Follow You Into the Dark [Afterlife Alternate Continuity PSL]

Who: L and Light
What: Light and L are equal in most things. This includes what gets them into heaven or hell... or keeps them out.
When: Eternity
Where: Everywhere and nowhere
Warnings: If you're here you don't care.

( You and me, we've seen everything to see )

Sweet, Bitter Words Unlike Nothing I have Heard

Who: L and Light
What: Vampire changes are torture... and they can only go on so long before the temptation to bite back grows unbearable.
When: Today, evening
Where: Light's apartment
Warnings: Self-indulgent poppycock

( Sing along, mockingbird, you don't affect me )

(no subject)

Who: L and Light
What: Light's transforming, and it's not going well.
When: Today, early morning
Where: Bavan
Warnings: None

It seems that I managed to get the wings after all, Ryuk.

That had been his thought that morning as he'd looked into the mirror. The night before had been a terror, and his body still ached from pain that had engulfed him. Despite the dry thought, he wasn't at all humored at the sight that had been before him. Long, black antennas sprouted from his head, smaller, feather-like strands of black sprouting out in a plumose pattern. On his back, a set of wings had also sprouted, forcing themselves through the skin. The black pattern with the tamper off white-orange at the bottom likely belonged to a certain species. He didn't know yet; his knowledge tended toward the more useful rather than facts about insects. But he would find out. The libraries may not have anything useful about the monsters, but they did have books of that nature.

The transformation wasn't unexpected. The first thing Light had done upon getting released from the hospital was gather information. A plan that was conceived blind wasn't a good plan at all, but he couldn't sit by idle. So, he had worked to educate himself. The first time he had seen a monster had been jarring, but he'd hid it well after the initial shock. While the others of the two seemed a bit weary of both him and the monster, none of them were acting as if it were their first. Soon enough, he'd seen many others, and he was learning enough, but he didn't like what he had learned. He too would turn, it seemed, if the trend held true. Into what? No one could say. It was different, even within the categories he was able to create.

That made accumulation and his next steps difficult. He had to get off the peninsula and back home, but he couldn't do it as a monster. His time had been spent researching the history, but no information relating to the transformations or a way to escape had come up. As more time passed, he began to make preparations; he wasn't giving up, but he had to survive long enough to find his answer.

Bavan was more tolerant, he was told, so that had been his destination. There, he had managed to take a few odd jobs to earn money, though he did plan on finding something more sustaining after the inevitable happened.

Then it had. He'd thought he had been ready for it, but he wasn't. Monster tolerance was higher in Bavan, but there were a lot of repercussions that came with how he looked. A role in the police force would be hard to get, though he supposed he could do something privately and earn a reputation that made him worth hiring. He could do that easily enough considering his skill. Even still, people would be frightened when they saw him, which was a large handicap. A large part of succeeding in a society was public image, and his current image would come with preconceived notions. Light didn't doubt his ability to overcome those, but it was an extra hurdle he'd never had to cross before.

He hated it.

That morning, he had spent more time than usual in the bathroom. He knew he couldn't leave it while so angry with his appearance, so he'd waited, he'd made plans on how to deal with it. First, he would need to find someone of a similar species, and learn from their experiences. Books had proven useless in this area, other than identifying what parts made up his new look. He also had skills to test. What could his body do now? It wouldn't be worth the payoff, not when taking away something he'd found so useful, but that didn't mean he wouldn't utilize them.

It'd been a new feeling, the shame he had felt when he walked from the house. His appearance had always inspired pride, and a very different kind of attention. But he wasn't going to show it, the lack of usual confidence in that area. His posture was straight, confident, as if he wasn't aware he looked like a butterfly with pointed ears and claws.

Could he eat? How much could he pass as human? Obviously not physically right then, but certain clothing might help. For now, there was food. That would be his first test. Rather than buying a lot of food, it made the most sense to find a restaurant, and try the food there. He'd been paying attention to what shops seemed most tolerant of monsters, preparing for when this day came.

Even with his preparation, he wasn't prepared.

You Can Bring the Fire, I Can Bring the Bones

Who: L and Light
What: L's tireless coin-hoarding has paid off. He's opened a bakery in Bavan.
When: Today, early morning
Where: The Sweet Tooth
Warnings: Ridiculousness.

( Put away your traditions )

He will tell you how the day after a triumph is as hollow as the day after a tragedy

Who: L and Light
What: Light's arrival is fresh; he's still human and still alive. The same cannot be said for L.
When: Today
Where: The streets of Bavan
Warnings: Volatile mad child-gods and child-monsters basically just doing this bullshit.

If L had ever seriously entertained the notion of becoming a monster, he would have found it darkly amusing foremost. Knowing himself well, the man was always fairly aware of a short-circuit somewhere in the part of him that was supposed to care about other humans. He had learned how to imitate the phenomenon, of course; the truth was that once people knew they were dealing with monsters, they shut down and withheld trust, so while simulating the bare minimum was exhausting, it was a necessity. As much as he would prefer self-sufficient isolation, not even L could be an island; the best he could ever manage was a rickety structure of impressive height requiring constant maintenance and care to remain standing.

He's lasted longer in Ryslig than anyone might have initially guessed, given his long history of privileged, parasitic living. Though he lacks his support network, he is much as he ever was even after going through a fair number of changes: a monster, through and through, who happens to appear as a shabby, harmless human until much more intimate inspection. Then he's paler, thinner, and more still, and goes even longer without blinking; even then, he is less changed than an exaggeration of the traits that always made him unnerving. This evening, he is sucking gently at a bright red popsicle, loitering around a cafe and watching people leave. It's beyond idle interest; like someone engrossed in a television screen or slot machine, searching and waiting for some specific and desired result.

The focus comes at the expense of his usual all-encompassing observational skills. He's unusually easy to approach without his immediately noticing tonight.