i want candy

In spite of the events of the previous evening, L slept well, and still seems to be on the mend. However, his temperature occasionally undergoes wild fluctuations, and his skin has not lost the very faint greenish tinge under its pallor.

He's resting in bed, waiting for Misa to return from the kitchen again and trying to focus on the text in Gravity's Rainbow (a book that he suspects that even he might find difficult to follow when well, let alone with a fever), when someone knocks on the door.

He sets the book down, splayed open on its pages, and calls out,

"Who's there?"

[[This thread is private to firm_detective and ibuttlesir for the time being; misamisal is welcome to "return from the kitchen" at some point. Anyone else: ping me if you want to barge in!]]

It's the morning after the visit from B, about thirty-six hours after he lost consciousness in one of the kitchens, and L is still in bed.

At the moment, he is awake, sipping a cup of tea, trying to think past his fever. A few books (Du côté de chez Swann and Gravity's Rainbow) sit neglected on the nightstand.

There is a knock at the door.

[[Private to firmdetective, lastrunnerup, and misamisal.]]

It's late at night. L unlocks the door of his room, trailed by Misa, who is wearing a long, old-fashioned nightgown.

[[Thread is private to firm_detective and misamisal; it continues from here.]]

[[This thread is private to firm_detective, commeo, and misamisal.]]

The bedroom looks mostly as it usually does, with one alteration: L is alone in it, but he is not using either of the computers. The Powerbook is closed and charging next to the desktop computer. A feminine-looking bag is on the floor next to the nightstand near the entrance, but misamisal is not around at the moment.

Instead of working at a keyboard, he's lying on his back on the sofa, with a pillow under his head; his knees are bent, and he has a book propped up on them. In fact, there is a stack of four more books on the coffee table, nearby, along with a pot of tea nestled in a towel, a full teacup, a few more clean teacups, and a small plate of cookies.

He's never had this much free time in his life; he's run out of notes to reconstruct related to the Kira case, and doesn't feel like working on any of the academic writings with which he sometimes busies himself. If he were at home, he'd be looking for new cases, but that's not possible here... so he has resorted to entertainment. On a whim, he's stopped in a library room and chosen a few things that looked like they might be interesting.

The stacked books are: The Magic Mountain (in German), Swann's Way (in French), Gravity's Rainbow, and Another Chacha. He's reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, in Japanese.

*L walks into the room, carrying a plate of sandwiches, and finds the room empty. The handcuff chain is still attached to the headboard, but emo_raito is nowhere to be seen; the bed is rumpled, and a few safety pins are scattered near the open shackle at the end of the chain. Death Cab for Cutie's "We Looked Like Giants" blares from a laptop computer that's also open on the mattress, as if it were intended as a presentation for the next person to enter the room.*

*L takes in the details -- no real signs of a struggle, the computer is fine, and it's not out of the realm of possibility that someone could pick the lock of the cuff with a few pins. His anger is beginning to grow, and he frowns to himself, and begins thinking, as he checks the bathroom and finds nobody there, and returns to the bedroom...*

All right -- Light didn't do this himself; if he'd had safety pins, and been able to pick the lock, he would have done it a long time ago. That was a strong lock -- I'm surprised it could be picked with safety pins -- but never mind, there's nothing I can do about that now....

But who else knows where this room is? I don't think it was Meile -- he wouldn't have come for polite conversation, and I don't think he would pick the lock closest to Light's wrist, if he picked any at all. It would be more convenient for him to limit Yagami's range of motion, unless -- unless he didn't want me to find him here. But there's no struggle.

Amane has never been here, so it probably wasn't her.

If there was some way for the mansion to show people to the room they're looking for, I wouldn't have wandered into that Truth Room the other night... no, I definitely wasn't looking for that. So... it has to have been someone who followed us, or possibly just me.

Have I seen safety pins since I've been here?

Wait -- Mihael.

He flashed me just after I met him, and I would swear that I saw something silver around the inner hem of his skirt, then. I thought they were just holding the hem up at the time, but of course, in his situation... they could be used for protection.

Now that I think of it... when I met the child version of Mihael in the kitchen, we had a conversation, and cake, and then... I had a strange feeling when I was returning to the room, as if I was being followed. And -- that hallway was full of things that -- an adult couldn't hide behind them, but a child could -- if he didn't want to be seen --

This music is louder than it was when I left. This music... this music....

*He puts it all together, and groans*

Damn it, Light.

*With an irritated gesture, he reaches over to the laptop and clicks off the music. He sits on the bed for a moment, lost in thought, with his knees drawn up to his chin.*

Should I try to hunt them down? Clearly, the relationship between them is -- what it initially seemed, not what it seemed to become. Meile probably won't do anything to Light if Mihael doesn't want him to. So -- if I chase after them, it's likely that I'll walk in on -- something. I can deal with that, but -- how much trouble can Light actually get into, here?

A lot, it would seem. *sigh* But up until this point, most of it has been fighting with me or with Mihael. He demonstrably can't fight with me if we're not together, and he's obviously not fighting with Mihael at the moment -- so it may not be as bad as it could be --

Still, I told him that part of the reason for maintaining the handcuffs while we were here was concern for his safety -- I don't want anything unpleasant to happen to an unproven suspect in my custody, not until I can prove he's Kira -- and I thought -- I thought our rapport was beginning to improve again. Apparently that's not the case, so -- what next? I could go looking, or I could wait for him here. But if I wait, he may never come back -- I'll have to look for him eventually.

*He reaches over to the miniature refrigerator that serves as his nightstand in The Mansion, puts the sandwiches into it, takes out a snack cup of strawberry pudding and a spoon, and begins to eat the pudding after closing the door.*

Ahh, that's better.
If Yagami went with Mihael, then -- where might they have gone? I need to know more about the rooms in this place -- perhaps if I went to talk to the one with pink hair -- no, he's occupied right now; it might be difficult to find him, and even so, he probably can't help. Maybe. Amane has been here a while... yes, I should talk to Misa. She may have some idea.

But -- it might be better if I gave them some time, so that they might -- make themselves known, let themselves be seen. In the meantime --

*Suddenly, his eyes widen and he grins: he has had an idea. He reaches across the bed to the laptop computer, the one clearly left as a taunt, and pulls it closer to him, into his lap, stretching his legs out in front of him and balancing the computer on his knees. He looks at it carefully, then begins typing furiously, dealing with many files in succession, and smiling to himself.*

[[ooc: links to relevant threads to be added later!]]

[[Continuation of this thread in Misa's room, then this thread on the way back to this room. See previous posts for details. This thread is limited to emo_raito & firm_detective.]] 

L storms into the room, with Light necessarily close on his heels. Neither looks too good: Light's face has been bruised for a couple of days, and seems to be sprouting new bruises hourly, but L also has a bruise on his jaw. His expression is grim and he bristles with irritation.

They stop, and without turning around, L says to Light, "This time, you can make your own ice pack. I'll be busy with mine." His tone is quiet and dead.

The room is large, and although there's a bed in it, it may not exactly be a "bedroom."

For one thing, bedrooms do not traditionally contain a bank of monitors. Most of the ones here are displaying static.

Below the monitors, there is a table, with two comfortable work chairs in front of it. There are three computers on top of the table, all late-model Macs (well, for September, 2004). Two are laptops, and a third is a desktop model with two monitors attached to it.  One of the laptops is conspicuously open, with iTunes displaying onscreen. The songs listed are mostly by artists like At the Drive-In, Belle and Sebastian, The Promise Ring, and Bright Eyes.

There is a bed in the room. It's large, more than large enough for two people. Its frame is intricate, with iron bars and swirls. There appears to be a nightstand on each side, but a close look will reveal the fact that one of these nightstands is actually a miniature refrigerator. Across the room from the foot of the bed, facing away from it, is a plush garnet velvet sofa; beyond it is a coffee table that coordinates with the bed.

An adjoining bathroom is luxurious (although not particularly distinguished), with dual sinks, a bathtub, and a shower stall. Both rooms are well-appointed with quality linens. The bed is covered in red velvet, and the sheets are black.

The bedroom floor is shiny, black-stained wood, with the occasional dark red flokati rug; the walls are dark charcoal grey. The bathroom has gold tumbled Travertine marble tiles on the floor and walls. But something is strange about this suite, aside from the many electronic screens: there are no windows.