Yagami Light (夜神月) (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
worldcleansing) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
aefenglom2021-04-04 11:32 pm
worldcleansing) wrote in aefenglom2021-04-04 11:32 pm
Entry tags:
video; u/n l.yagami
Do you have more questions than answers? In this world, we all do, but we can help. Linden and I wanted to let everyone know that we've recently created Tailor and Yagami Investigations so that we can lend a hand in solving some of your everyday questions.
[The video feed flickers on to show two men standing side by side. Both men are smartly dressed, but it's Light who makes the opening speech. Behind them, in the background, stand two desks, two shelves of books, and a black marble scrying basin with silver veins.
The second man looks better-kept than those who know him may be accustomed to seeing him, though nowhere near as polished as the first. His mop of dark hair is combed and smoothed neatly back, his suit is pressed and all of the buttons are aligned and in their proper holes. Though he has an overall wan and listless bearing, there's an intense focus to his eyes that's a little bit uncomfortable, even only on camera.]
Our rates are competitive, and so is our attitude. If something precious goes missing, we can guarantee that we didn't put it in the backroom of the Particularly Good Finders' storefront prior to its reported absence.
[Implying that their competition cannot say the same.]
If you're interested, you can find us at 74 Neblen Way, Suite 4 or contact either of us directly.
(ooc |If you have a preference for Light or L, let us know. Otherwise, either or both may reply. The link for the business can be found here)
[The video feed flickers on to show two men standing side by side. Both men are smartly dressed, but it's Light who makes the opening speech. Behind them, in the background, stand two desks, two shelves of books, and a black marble scrying basin with silver veins.
The second man looks better-kept than those who know him may be accustomed to seeing him, though nowhere near as polished as the first. His mop of dark hair is combed and smoothed neatly back, his suit is pressed and all of the buttons are aligned and in their proper holes. Though he has an overall wan and listless bearing, there's an intense focus to his eyes that's a little bit uncomfortable, even only on camera.]
Our rates are competitive, and so is our attitude. If something precious goes missing, we can guarantee that we didn't put it in the backroom of the Particularly Good Finders' storefront prior to its reported absence.
[Implying that their competition cannot say the same.]
If you're interested, you can find us at 74 Neblen Way, Suite 4 or contact either of us directly.
(ooc |If you have a preference for Light or L, let us know. Otherwise, either or both may reply. The link for the business can be found here)
no subject
[ L's right; the enforces are right. They do what they can, but their abilities are limited. It's no different than the cops back in Japan, before Kira came onto the scene. Light really does respect his father and his colleagues, but the current system was so very limited, and it's no different here. No, in many ways, it's worse.
But, that isn't the real topic here. The real topic here is the fact that the well-known secret can't be classified as a secret in any way, not anymore. ]
Hating something isn't a sign of immaturity. Like you said, it's a form of passion, and we don't lose our passion just because we get older.
[ But again, this isn't the root of what's happened tonight. ]
Either way, the system here isn't set up to punish anything that might've been a crime at home. The Death Note didn't follow me; you'd know if it had.
[ Light wishes it had. ]
But I don't think it matters, not to you. Punishment isn't as important as the puzzle itself, is it? Or, are you hoping for revenge for what's happened before?
no subject
[L's eyes settle on the knot in Light's tie, as if thinking about tightening it around his throat. Gradually, his gaze scans back up to the man's face. It's wonderful to look at; though it hasn't changed in any material way, it's as though a mask has been removed.
He might be asked not to call Light Yagami Kira, but they both know that it's his name. It's a trophy L will wear in the corner of his mouth, a smirk always tugging to be seen before he bites it back to spare Light's pride.]
If you consider being here, Bonded to me and solving smaller puzzles, a punishment, then yes... it's the sentence. It's the revenge I consider appropriate, and proportionate. If you don't think that's so bad, well... it would make two of us.
no subject
Admittedly, Light always expected L to know for sure, and only beyond any real kind of doubt, as he won. This is... not a victory, not for Light. ]
I don't plan on keeping it small.
[ It's not a warning. Even in this, Light's unable to not speak to L as some kind of equal, even while being entirely certain it's he who is in the right. ]
I plan on solving the bigger mystery.
[ He would have left it at only that, but it's not like the potion disappears so quickly. ]
But I find what we have here better than my life was before Kira. I hate boredom, too.
no subject
A chapter may have closed, but it was a cliffhanger ending, and the next chapter is only a page away. A kind of eager anticipation is alive in L; how much of it is because the memory of bruising pressure between their mouths is so clear and fresh?]
Your confidence has always been remarkable. Admirable, even.
[You think you'll be the one to crack the code? Not like you're the first one to try.]
I understand that you have a life back home that you want to return to... and a killing spree...
[In just a few short years, you'll be as dead as I am. Would you believe me if I told you, I wonder?]
...but in the meantime, you can accept this alternative to boredom, can't you?
[As if you have a choice; I won't be helping you get back to that notebook, Kira Yagami.]
no subject
I have a world to save.
[ Killing is the method, not the intention. If he could simply erase even intent from the world, that would be his first choice, but Light chooses to work with the tools he was given. So far, while there have been hiccups, it's been working the way he wants.
Would L have bothered to even try and stop him if it wasn't such a unique mystery? The very thing that makes it so effective also drew his greatest obstacle. ]
It depends on what you mean by 'accept', and what you plan to do now.
[ While it will feel odd with the secret out in the open, Light doesn't dislike the freedom. He can speak openly, freely, honestly. For most of his life, he hadn't cared. In his game with L, he hadn't cared. With L, here, there's something else, something more equal and almost as stimulating, it's felt a bit like a wall. ]
If you can keep this between us, and only us, I don't plan to move out or switch jobs. You've always known. You offered to let me move in with you knowing. But it's something only the two of us can know.
no subject
[Said wryly, not quite with bald sarcasm. They're the words of a man who knows how the story ends, at the very least Light's part in it. Light won't save the world any more than L will survive his brush with the Shinigami Rem; even if his method was the correct one, he will meet his end at the hands of one who is, hilariously, Bonded to both of them.
It's probably no coincidence that Light feels as though there's a wall. In truth, there are many, unyielding, maintained with great care by both L and Near to preserve the delicate status quo. This was a bombshell; it is not necessarily the end of things in Aefenglom, as they know it, but it will require coordination and commitment behind the scenes to keep it intact.]
I've told you what I want, already. Spreading around news of your deeds actively works against that... if you were punished or imprisoned, I could lose access to you. Even if there were no consequences of that nature, there would be social and professional ones. You're a criminal and a murderer, obviously... and the extent of my association with you suggests that I'm quite mad.
[Not spoken like hyperbole or a joke. L himself has not ruled out the possibility, though he is already thinking of ways he can perhaps keep Myr from reaching that conclusion any more than he may have, already. It would be best if Near and Mello didn't, as well, but L suspects that ship may have sailed. In any case, mad or not, they haven't interfered yet, at least not in a compromising way.]
Fortunately, I'm also selfish. As long as I want to live and work with you more than I want to destroy your reputation... all will be well for both of us, I suppose.
[Light's comfortable existence here, in other words, is reliant on how successful he is at being L's live-in entertainment. Unspoken before, that's out in the open now, too.]
no subject
[ There's no attempt to twist the words or make them seem like anything less than they are. It isn't blackmailing to the exact extent so much as a warning, nearly a threat. L's silence isn't a given but something bought, thankfully only through Light being himself. He doesn't foresee any decline in his intelligence or his abilities so while it isn't something he worries about, the implication in addition to the loss he suffered by his own potion hardly has him in the best of moods. ]
We both know I wouldn't just go down that easily.
[ Another comment he likely wouldn't have offered if not for the medicine because while the statement might worry someone else, L would find the challenge fun. While he's established something here, Light acknowledges that the things L holds most dear wouldn't be something easily broken by words or plans and in spite of being called a murderer, Light isn't prone to killing people outside of self-defense or for his bigger, better plan for justice.
He considers himself better than that, even if L may not. ]
Why are you so sure you'd be able to prove it? You couldn't in a world where there was actual evidence.
[ Pride isn't always a logical thing. Don't try hold this over my head. What we have is working. ]
no subject
Not enough, perhaps, for someone like Myr. Plenty, perhaps, for someone like Light, who comes at the world with many of L's terrifying advantages and limitations.
There's an odd gleam in his eyes, and his slight smile is tight and twisted. The battle between euphoria and fury is an ongoing one, suppressed, expressed with fey cheer.
All of this, he reasons, is OK. All of this is fine, so long as he owns some part of Light. The significant part, the best part.]
Deductive reasoning is my strong suit... as it's yours. The challenge was working backwards from a conclusion that seemed nonsensical to all who knew you, but... I wasn't wrong.
[You made me look crazy. You let me spin, and waste, and cycle, and if I didn't know that he got you, in the end, I'd probably have my hands around your throat.
He laughs, suddenly, lightly, lips parting to flash his teeth.]
It was only a matter of time. Criminals with your confidence...arrogance... they always screw up. They always overlook something, and it was down to the wire the day we came here, wasn't it?
[Until L died, and it wasn't, for years... but Light doesn't need to know that.]
no subject
If it was anything less, you wouldn't have been interested in the case and would have gotten bored. It mattered to you because I didn't make it easy.
[ You loved the chase. And should L have won, should he win in the future, it's Light who dies. It isn't death either seek for the sake of death. They both want to be right, and they both want to win, and the cost of winning is seeing the other lose their life. L will die of a heart attack, Light is more likely to be killed before making it to execution. After all, he's now killed both cop and criminal alike. For all those who see Kira as a savior, there are plenty who would be happy to do L's job of ending Kira's reign. The violent way. ]
Where is the arrogance? It took something like this world and this potion to get a confession. Don't be so sure that when it gets down to the wire, you'll be the one winning.
[ It's confidence, in Light's mind. It's also a very thin, blurry line. ]
Your ego, it's no different than mine. You're going against a God of death and don't hesitate. If you didn't think you could beat it, you wouldn't have bothered trying.
no subject
[Light's knowledge of his opponent is usually reliable.]
The challenge is what kept me engaged. The challenge is what made me respect you.
[It's what makes him want to bury himself in another kiss and take it to the floor. They're speaking as though that first fierce foray hadn't happened; are they chalking it up to a fluke with the Bond, an emotional surge they want to simply move past without acknowledging? L is distinctly averse to the idea.]
The arrogance is apparent in everything you say, and do. When you say a "god of death," doesn't a part of you mean Kira, and not the shinigami?
[He leans forward, again. Close enough to feel the heat between them, a moth just skirting the edges of a tantalizing flame.]
I judged from the start that Kira's personality was childish... grandiose... a self-styled god. Am I really wrong?
no subject
Or the wrong part of their bodies.
While Light tells himself he doesn't move away because he isn't going to back down a challenge, that isn't entirely true; at least, that isn't the only reason. Instead, he moves forward himself, close enough that their breaths are palpable on one another's face. ]
You're wrong. There's nothing childish in what I chose to do.
[ It isn't a lie in his mind. Light really does believe his goal to be grand and sacrificial. After all, his life seemed almost perfect before. Now, he's constantly a wrong move away from being dead. ]
But it is grand. It has to be. Pawns don't win chess games, L. Even the King is just something to protect. Your real pieces are the ones willing to do anywhere on the board. If I wasn't really to take big moves, I couldn't find real justice.
[ His eyes move slowly down L's face until they land on his lips. It's intentional. All of it intentional and there's something both angry and heated behind the gesture. ]
I was going to do it the same as you. I was going to join the force and make the biggest difference I can make, but we both know the system is so flawed that for every criminal we catch, 10 more get away. They're Kira's true enemy. I knew law enforcement would have to be involved, but that's never who I wanted to target.
no subject
L's eyes go to Light's, which are, conspicuously, on his lips.]
No path you could have taken would have been the same as mine. I wasn't a police officer.
[It was like calling a general a soldier, really.]
I wasn't an optimist, either. My job existed at all because it's like you said. Human beings are always going to look for ways to get ahead, and be unscrupulous, and take advantage of a situation where they stand to gain. Kira... your true enemy is that flawed race you think you're saving. You can't change human nature.
no subject
[ Admittedly, L picked and chose cases, whereas Light would have been a bit different. Still, it would have been much more similar than the roles played by L and Kira. ]
Before, I would have agreed with you. How could you change something that big? The most we could do is slow it down a little until we were dead, and then it'd go back to normal. The power of the Death Note gave me the power to do more than that. I couldn't have predicted it, but it would take an idiot to pass up the chance. I was making a difference. I'll keep making a difference. The world will be safer when I'm finished.
no subject
All for appearances, though. All for pretense.]
How do you intend to keep making a difference... finish your work? I'm still around, after all... and I won't stop, either.
[There are ways to shut him up; they're not limited to silencing his lips with death. Is this what passes for flirting between them?]
no subject
If you're asking if I plan on being Kira here, as much as you'd like that, I'm not going to use my magic to give criminals heart attack.
[ With a sigh, finally finding his peace, something shifts. He won't be afraid by L's responses. ]
But you miss it. As much as you wanted to win, you also enjoy the chase. Do you wish I would? Or is this better? I could hardly murder people and then sneak back into the cabin at night while you pretend to chase someone else.
no subject
"As much as I'd like that?"
[He asks like one disbelieving, even amused.]
I wonder how much you actually know, about what I'd like. The chase is good fun... but it's an impulse. A flash of motion, and a response... it doesn't nourish the intellect. Nor does pretending... and I wouldn't insult either of us, by pretending.
no subject
[ It's a direct and obvious steer away from Kira. Light's obviously not trying to avoid the topic considering his demands to focus on the confession, but it's also a direct line between L's statement and what happened to them moments before.
It's also an exercise in honesty. Light never imagined L would be a sexual being, never imagined he'd be teaching orphans or finding soft spots for certain people. Admittedly, back at home, it was such a limited, constrained experience. A person standing above the world would live differently than one who had to walk among it instead.
The kiss... Light isn't sure he can call it a surprise. Sometimes, hadn't it felt like it was something there? Something on the verge, as if they stood on opposite sides of a window with only the thinnest sheets of glass, close enough that the air they breathed nearly fogged the pane? Neither acted on it, for whatever reason, but they both seemed to agree on that reason. Now, it's in the open, done, and neither pulled away quickly enough to claim it as an accident. ]
no subject
[He will always relish more ways, another angle to examine, another plan toward a clean and devastating shot. The shot itself, though... that represents an end. That represents something that hurts him, too.
Even without the handcuffs or the Bond, so much is mutual between them, and L continues to wonder just how much. With the channel opened by the flawed potion, he's emboldened, almost eager, to slide that glass pane aside.]
You want intellectual nourishment too, don't you? The truth does that... and acknowledging that something is real, that others can perceive as well, is how humans come to trust one another.
[Pretty words. L's impressed with them, in spite of his rather liberal definition of trust. It would have to be, to apply to the man who just confessed to killing so many, who would kill him very shortly, in in their world.
Then again, L's taken liberties already today, and he's not exactly done.]
I like perceiving the same reality you do. It's exciting... it gets my blood going.
[Yours, too?]
no subject
But what can L do? It's arrogance, which has always been his biggest flaw. At the very least, if this is a mistake, he'll blame pride, but there's a deeper truth, a current that runs strong but normally hidden. Light stays because he's curious. Sincerely, genuinely curious as to what would happen if this thing with L is fostered instead of muffled. ]
I want intelligence.
[ A confirmation that L hardly needs. Without his memories, it was painfully obvious how little interest he held in Misa. In spite of her beauty and natural charisma, Light didn't care. Even then, it would have been a waste of time. That Light knew he'd marry and one day have children, would join the police force and play the kind of role a husband and father should because family men were respected. By extension, that woman would have to be respected as well. Misa was wanted and loved by many, but she was just as often dismissed. Takada better fit the role, but he loved her no more than he loved Misa.
So, he'd never wanted. Light never knew want for another person. So few people managed to engage him and if he wasn't engaged, how could he feel attraction? It was in the battle with L that life stopped being so easy and required him to be fully present and always at his best. Maybe it's fitting that it's now with L that he feels something else, something he hasn't fully examined. The lack of examination is what gives him pause now. The emotion isn't new, but it suddenly has focus. ]
I've always known what I want. Now, right now, I don't.
[ I want to kiss you.
I want distance.
I want something more to come from the confession so I'm not waiting for it to come later.
I want to kiss you. ]
No, I do. But I don't know which thing I want more.
no subject
His curiosity, like Light's, remains the loudest and most insistent voice in the chorus. Wide, dark eyes watch Light's face as the younger man grapples with his indecisiveness, surely what is best for Kira, and what is best for Light, and how L can be repurposed as a tool to advance either goal because he's been made to believe it's his, also.
If it weren't for that botched potion complicating matters, Light would probably already have an answer, positive, polished, and primed to manipulate L. L would probably see through it, even if it amused him, and need to act opposite to it out of a childish, contrarian desire to win, just enough to humiliate his opponent without shattering the foundation of their Bond. But there's no production without scenery and set pieces; the two of them have no reason to perform on a bare stage, sans costumes and masks.
Without pretense, what Light wants could well be what L wants.]
You do know, though.
[He reaches to grasp the place where Light's shirt comes together, smoothing the material between two buttons with his thumb and forefinger.]
You might be surprised to learn out how much you can ask for... but maybe not. You're such a fast learner, after all.
no subject
It should feel like nothing. There's nothing special about a hand; it's a limb, nothing less and nothing more. There are many more intimate parts of the body, including the lips which had been connecting on minutes before. Only in romantic shows and books did such a touch send sparks shooting through the body, but there's a door that's been opened. The other side is dark and requires more examination, but danger might be waiting.
Light won't lose himself. Of course he won't. It's a ridiculous worry. He'll have control, he'll be in control, there's nothing to worry about. He doesn't want to lose, so he won't. There's nothing stopping him from having both worlds.
Pride often comes before the fall. Perhaps Light's fall is a long time coming.
A step forward, a hand wrapped around L's body to pull him close still, another hand touching the pale face; his movements come in quick succession. ]
It might just be a kiss. We shouldn't make decisions on anything else until we've had time to cool off.
no subject
Who said anything about decisions?
[Who said you have a choice in the matter?]
It is what it is, right?
[The hand at Light's buttons presses briefly against his chest, dipping toward his ribs at a slow slide.]
To be clear... I have no desire to humiliate or hurt you, in spite of what you might think. I feel I've always rewarded honesty, however compelled it might be.
[He drags his lips along Light's cheek, stopping short of his mouth, pulling abruptly away and hopping from the counter to walk past him, beginning the process of putting the tea kettle on.]
If it does feel too much like a risk, though... definitely think on it. I won't be offended.
[In fact, L's obviously high spirits say pretty clearly that he's having a grand time. Whether or not his casual ease with physicality is a bluff remains to be seen.]
no subject
So, they've kiss and a part of him is unnerved at how much he enjoyed it. Light's hardly a child entering puberty. Even if he finds himself capable of that kind of attraction after all, that doesn't mean he'll lose all control. There's a very large difference between having certain wants and becoming a slave to them.
Haaa... As L seems to embrace the blooming physicality, only to pull away, it doesn't take a genius to realize this too is becoming a game, but there's also an unspoken fact: it can only be a game because the possibility is now in the open. This isn't a ploy that either could play before. Yesterday, this would have been out of place. Now, the two are dancing around a real and almost physically present possibility because there's a very real opportunity for either to reach out to take it.
L knows Light well enough to know that if the game is fun enough, he'll want to play it. Even flustered, a rare emotion on one Light Yagami, he's still capable of adaption. If not for the twist, he'd have grabbed L's wrist as he went by and continued what they started, but the tone shifts to one he doesn't hate either. Instead, as the tea begins to brew, he walks up behind L. Their bodies aren't touching; with the position, that'd be too suggestive. Nonetheless, Light is close enough that his breathing can possibly be felt against L's face. It's calm and even, a shift from the angry and shocked yells from minutes before. With the lack of space between them, it would be harder to read as someonething natural and platonic, walking the line between suggestion and doubt.
There shouldn't be doubt. Now, it's almost a matter of 'when' instead of 'if'. ]
Hn. It's something we should think about, but I'm not against revisiting the topic in the future.
no subject
Don't think you have to botch another potion to bring it up.
[Darkly playful. Should feel like no big deal, considering what you told me just a little while ago.]
Don't think you need to use words to communicate it, either.
[The terms of the new game might well have just been laid out. One of us will be the first to initiate this "revisiting." I wonder who it will be?]
no subject
But today won't see the resolution. Today, they've set the board and began to define the terms. In a small allowance, Light even admits to assuming he'll be here for a little while longer, long enough to see this to the end, however that may be. It isn't a promise to stop searching for a way out, but they both know that isn't going to be an easy find. ]
I'll try to think of creative ways to speak, then.
[ With a grin of his own, he finally steps back. Maybe this isn't such a bad thing after all. ]
I'll leave you to the tea.
[ That said, it really is dangerous to stay for too long under these circumstances. ]