June Catchall (L Lawliet + Old and New CR)

[hearthebell]

Character Name: L Lawliet (Lazarus Sauveterre)
Who: Open to CR old and new
What: Catchall for the month of June (memshare, event, detective work, slice of life). Prompts in comments.
When: Throughout the month of June
Where: Throughout Trench

Content Warnings: Included at the beginning of the prompts that warrant them.

Comments

[hearthebell]

There's been no reneging. Some would have taken for granted that taking nothing else from this business included what you would have stolen tonight. I'm not one such person; I like terms to be outlined and ironclad. Clearly, losing more inventory on the night I promised to put a stop to the burglaries would shake my clients' confidence in me, and then no part of this agreement actually benefits me at all.

By the door is fine; on the steps is just as well, if that's your preference and you're certain that my omen is just outside.

[burnitblack]

Then what benefits am I gettin outta this?

[dabi pushes himself up from the steps, cloak falling around him once again as he tugs the hood further over his head via gloved hands. still swallowed in shadows to prevent any recognition other than voice, kind of hunched at the head and shoulders to disguise his usual height.]

Can't gripe about gettin no benefits yourself, then turn around to strip me of all mine.

[hearthebell]

Not being hunted and gutted?

[He says so like a child telling a joke, lighthearted and fey. He seems to have every confidence that this is within his ability and his willingness to achieve.]

I just want everything to be even in the world. My benefits; yours. Things could be so much worse, after all.

[burnitblack]

Been there; dealt with that.

[As much as he's making a prickish point about this, he's more or less ready to accept the offer if only because this has become irritating. Plus to have this guy in a "favor" position for him is beneficial...

Until he says that.]

Even? Ya can't be that fucking stupid.

[hearthebell]

I hate that word; "stupid". I also hate the word "smart". Together, and apart, they're too reductive for the game I like to play, where I want things that can certainly never happen, but might have a satisfactory compromise if one is pragmatic and realistic enough.

This is the compromise, I'm afraid. For both of us.

[burnitblack]

Don't care bout whatcha hate; don't even care bout what games ya like to play. But if ya naive enough to think any world's ever gonna be "even", then you're lookin at a life of disappointment over and over.

[he starts up the steps again, heading back into the store proper. once there, he simply upends the small carry sack onto the counter, dumping out the contents he'd collected. fairly small compared to other times he's stolen.]

It might be more entertainin to kill ya.

[hearthebell]

[He shrugs mildly, accepting that the nuance between "wanting" and "having" and pragmatism bridging the two might be lost on this roughened outlaw. The profile he's forming fairly blares, in red, that "fair" and "even" might as well be fantasy creatures to this man.

He stands at the foot of the stairs, the clatter of the items on the counter sounding the compromise's success. It's tinged a bit darker by the notion that killing him might be "more entertainin."]

You might try. You might even succeed, but it's a virtual certainty that I'd return as a squid, with a grudge I didn't have before.

[They don't need to part as friends, L thinks, but with the understanding that a business arrangement is in place with nothing personal between them. L cares about theft up to the point where his clients need him to; murder, conversely, makes it absolutely personal.]

[burnitblack]

[oh there's nothing lost on him about wanting and having; he's more than aware of how those two words work on shaping the world and establishing the social constructs and moral outlooks that end up slotting people into one area or another based on someone else's criteria. fair and even are only things that people with power and security claim exist already, whereas those who have neither would be hard pressed to say either exist at all.

dabi tucks the bag back into a pocket (it's his, thanks) and opts not to bother setting up the stuff he's just dumped all over the wooden surface. they can handle it. the over-the-shoulder shot about killing the detective is made for a few reasons. being an ass is only one of them.]

Fried calamari ain't bad. [dabi turns his head to look down at the man as he walks past the stairway, for a moment a pair of striking turquoise eyes peering out of the dark shadows of his hood over the mostly-masked surface of his face.] Ya owe me one, cop.

[just to needle him from earlier. before heading for the door and opening it to let himself out into the night.]

[hearthebell]

I'll remember it.

[And to his credit, L sounds wholly earnest when he speaks. His respect for criminals might exceed his respect for cops, which is why he keeps coming back in spite of all he might pay lip service to good and evil.

He doesn't thank Dabi as he departs. That much is implied, he's sure, as Lycka returns to his side.

He hasn't seen the last of this one, he's sure. He's not entirely perturbed.]