I Thought Perhaps We Could Sit Down for Tea [OPEN, June 25]

[dead_black_eyes]

Characters: L Lawliet and OPEN to anyone
Location: Death By Pastry
Rating: PG
Time: June 25
Description: 104 degree heat and being blind aren't dissuading L from shaking his cabin fever and going out to do something. Without help. In public. If you recognize him under all those seasonally inappropriate layers and the bulky cyborg sunglasses, flag him down and harass him. He'll run into a lamp post before he can run very far.



It was more difficult to see the little flashing lights on the insides of his glasses
in broad daylight. Contrast between light and dark was all L could see, and the Sun interfered significantly with that meager aptitude. Not as much as it could have, due to what L could only conclude was considerable cloud coverage, but going was still slow, breathing air that was so hot and humid he might as well have been moving through bathwater.

He refused to carry a cane, which made traffic difficult, but he took the roads that weren't as busy, counting steps, pausing to listen as his cameras read text and relayed the information to him via his ear bud. Altogether, minus a few jarring bumps into bewildered strangers and city sounds that blended confusingly into one another, it was a smooth enough journey to one of L's old haunts, Death City's pastry shop.

He was almost unrecognizable, dressed inappropriately for the sweltering heat, with a winter coat piled on top of a sweater and a wide-brimmed hat that he only pushed back when he needed to "read" something. He spoke quickly and softly when he ordered his coffee with cream and eight sugars, as if concerned that someone might hear him and identify him based on the sound of his voice. When the barista handed it to him, though, trusting that he could successfully close his hand around an object that was right in front of him... well. There was only so much L could discern about the world based on a series of blinking lights.

"Damn it!" The barista hissed as the cup dropped onto the counter and they were both sprayed with flecks of hot coffee. "Man! You still have to pay for that, you know!"

L cleared his throat, taking a deep breath. When he spoke, it was in a low, measured tone.

"You're going to get me another cup of coffee and some napkins. I'm going to find a table; you can bring them to me. Take your time. You can clean this up, first."

"Huh! That's rich, you drop coffee and it spills all over the place, and now you're telling me to..."

L set his jaw. "I'm blind," he said bluntly, briefly lowering his glasses enough for the barista to see the clouded, opaque corneas.

There was an awkward silence, and then a muttered, hasty apology as the barista snatched up a rag to start mopping up the counter.

With coffee dripping from the front of his wool coat and a few people stepping helpfully aside, having heard the exchange, L pushed through the line to find an empty table.

Comments

I hear ya

[dead_black_eyes]

Even without his sight, L could feel how entranced Hamel was by his carefully generalized description of technology that doubtless seemed like magic to the residents of Death City who came from a period before such things were commonplace or understood.

"They can blink," L said, finding the subject wearisome but admittedly starved enough for human contact to indulge it for the time being. "They make different kinds. It usually says so on the package, if that's the case."

The barista finally appeared with his coffee, setting it carefully on the tabletop. "Sir, I'm sorry again, your coffee is right in front of..."

"That's fine," L said shortly. "You can go, now."

The barista looked so happy to oblige.

[the_great_hero]

Hamel was pleased as peaches. Glowsticks could blink. This kept getting better and better. But the important question hadn't been answered. "Where do I get them?" he repeated, the hope in his voice a palpable thing.

He ignored the barista completely, all his attention on L for now. Two rude people at one table. If they got another they could forma club.

[dead_black_eyes]

"You can get them at any store," he said, blowing on his tea before dropping eight sugar cubes into it, one by one. He sipped it, made a sour face, and added four more cubes.

"Dollar stores, grocery stores, toy stores... it's really not that difficult. But they're not exactly 'essentials,' so I think you'd have to pay Death Dollars for them, and your mirror wouldn't be enough."

[the_great_hero]

"Awesome." He sits back and rubs his hands together. "I've got money now. Thanks for the tip, man." He pushes the chair back and stands, considering the conversation pretty much a win all around. Regardless of L's irritation with him.

"Wait... what about a mirror?"

[dead_black_eyes]

If Hamel was thrilled with the success of the conversation, that made exactly one of them. Which, all things considered, was likely better than zero.

"You received it when you arrived...? It's what you use to communicate, here."

[the_great_hero]

Really, Hamel is all that matters to Hamel anyway so it's definitely better than zero.

"Oh! That talky thing." He nods and pats his cape where he's stashed it. "I've been getting fabric and shit too, I'm used to it now." Really this has been the only place anything's ever come free to him so it wasn't like he was expecting wonderful glowing technology to come free.

[dead_black_eyes]

L wondered if talking to someone with amnesia would be worse. So many assumptions about mundane things had to simply be thrown out the window like so much garbage.

He heard the pat but, obviously, could not see it.

"Yes... anything that's for your enjoyment isn't really essential. Some might disagree, but the logic of most worlds is as such."

[the_great_hero]

At least talking to someone with amnesia gave you a fifty fifty chance that they wouldn't be as rude as Hamel. He likes to think he brings a little awesome into everyone's day with his spontaneity.

"Yep, so I gotta pay, I'll figure it out. Seriously, man, thanks for the tip." He almost said 'see you around' but L wouldn't really see him around would he. "Catch you later." He offered instead.