I am not an old man. I just have better things to do with my time - even my unconscious time - than to be subjected to something as frivolous as a shopping spree.
[He hangs up, pulls on his jacket and sunglasses, and makes his way toward the bar. He's there in less than fifteen minutes, leaning against the wall around the corner from the entrance, gloved fingers drumming along the surface of the wall, scanning the area from underneath the hood of his jacket for her arrival.]
[ Just for that she has half a mind to keep him waiting anyway. She doesn't do what he wants just because he wants het too. One would think he'd have learned as much by now.
When she leaves she takes her time getting there. Ai still makes the fifteen minute time limit he gave her, but there was definitely at least a handful of minutes between his arrival and hers. Her arms crossing automatically as she approaches. ]
[He pushes himself off the wall and stalks forward to meet her, tense, his voice low with irritation.]
Do not ever mention what you saw on the network again. Don't mention it in person, either - in fact, you would do well to forget about it entirely. Am I making myself clear?
[Mello advances another step closer, pulling the sunglasses off his face so she can see just how serious he is by the expression on his face.]
This isn't a game.
[There's anger, of course, boiling hot, evident in the scowl of his mouth, the tautness of his jaw, the narrowing of his eyes. He's angry that she knows, and he's angry that he's here instead of finishing out his final gambit like he planned, and he's angry that the gods here hold enough power over him to have caused this situation in the first place, and he's angry (as always) that he wasn't good enough to be chosen as L, that he's forever found lacking, always one step behind Near. There's anger, but there's something else, too, if she looks closely - fear. A shadow of how he'd looked at her in the dream itself, resigned to his fate but nowhere near ready to die.
Mello considers his options quickly, twirling the sunglasses in his hand back and forth by the earpiece held between his fingers. Killing someone isn't typically his first response, but this is too important to leave to chance. Unfortunately, death isn't permanent here, so it's not really an option; if anything, it would most likely only serve as a catalyst for retaliation on her part, which would no doubt take the form of talking about what she'd seen in the dream - the exact opposite of what he's attempting to accomplish. Extortion is usually a more productive method of applying pressure to produce a desired outcome, but she was right earlier in saying he had gained nothing on her. Cross that option off the list as well, then.
So what he's left with is reasoning with her. It's risky, because there's no guarantee it will work; he could give an explanation and she'd end up with more ammunition to use against him. But after this analysis, it is his best available option. She already knows enough to be a hazard. All he can do now is try to mitigate the damage. Mello stills the twirling of his glasses and glances around to see who else might be around. They're alone. He glances back to her, gaze steady, and his expression isn't soft, but it's less severe than it was a moment before, though still stone-cold sober.]
You don't have Kira where you're from. Either it hasn't happened yet, or it won't happen at all, or it happened so far in the past you don't remember.
[The first two, he thinks, are much more likely than the third; she seems from her manner of dress to be from a time roughly concurrent with his own, and she easily gave him her name when they first met.]
So I don't know if you can truly comprehend what I'm going to tell you, but I want you to pay attention and try to understand all the same. All right?
[He doesn't really wait for a response, continuing on ahead with his thoughts after a quiet breath in and out.]
Kira is quite possibly the worst tyrant the world has ever seen - a murderer with delusions of godhood on a worldwide scale. He is responsible for countless thousands of deaths, people for whom he has acted as judge, jury, and executioner. Criminals, mostly, but some are simply those who have committed the crime of daring to stand up and oppose him. His method of execution is a shinigami's notebook, and the owner of that notebook can kill anyone by writing down that person's name while picturing their face.
[Here he pauses, studying her closely, waiting to see if she's following along or will dismiss his story immediately.]
[ She tilts her head lips pressed into a thin line. Really? She never would have guessed this wasn't a game, she's that vapid and moronic. She gets it okay, you're mad that she knows and annoyed she said anything at all. But he can't just command her to forget and think she's going to roll over and do it. Has he learned nothing at all about her in their short (barely) acquaintanceship?
The line of her mouth curving downward after a moment. Honestly, could he be anymore of a pompous ass? But all this talk of serial murders wanting to be god. Her eyes don't glaze over so much as she looks concerned. The person is actually getting away with it. They actually let this Kira do as they want instead of trying to find a way to stop him or her? Is his world broken?
But really just how far in the past does he think she is? It's 2012 for her and there isn't anyone like he described anywhere in the world at large presently. There's no reason for her to accept it but he's just a little too invested in this story he's telling her. Like he believes it so completely that there's a mystical notebook out there that can assist a person in murdering at a distance without a problem. So she settles on the simple part of it all first. Because clearly she has no concept of this story, no recognition at the name Kira, no fear or furtive glances.
For Ai it was merely a story. ]
Sounds like a bunch on nonsense. People don't die from having their names written in some mystical notebook.
[ She gives him a flat look. ]
I'm so glad I let you drag me out here to screw with me. I'm going home now.
[He mostly expected this kind of reaction. It was probably too much to hope that she would believe him outright - Kira, shinigami, and the killer notebook all would sound like nonsense to anyone who doesn't have the frame of reference Mello does. This is confirmation enough for him that her world doesn't have Kira, hasn't experienced long years under his reign of terror.]
I only half believed the notebook was real, until I got my hands on one and saw my men test it out. I wouldn't have believed shinigami were real, either, unless I'd seen one for myself. But look around at where you are. We've been taken captive by gods, in an underground city that shouldn't be possible; these gods are powerful enough to put us inside each other's dreams and even bring us back to life if we're killed. Is it really so hard for you to imagine something like a shinigami's notebook might exist someplace else?
[Mello folds his arms over his chest, still holding his sunglasses in one hand. He's frankly a little disappointed that he has to work this hard to convince her that what he's saying is true.]
I have no reason to make up such an outlandish story. Lying about something like this doesn't benefit me at all. Everyone knows that the best lies are ones that seem most believable.
[Near hadn't even been this hard to convince.]
I need you to understand the context here, because I need you to understand why it's so important that you keep your mouth shut about what you saw.
[Mello's jaw tightens; his gaze drops to the ground.]
What I said in that dream about it being a plan was true. It hasn't happened yet, but it will. Kira is going to write my name in the notebook. [And he's going to die. That part doesn't need to be said.] That's how he's going to be defeated, in the end, but it has to be a complete surprise. He can't know I'm coming.
[Mello presses his mouth into a thin line, then he echoes what he'd thought and said in the dream:]
[ Yeah it was kind of a lot for him to just expect her to take that at face value. And that was with knowing what she did about Yu's after school activities. Granted she believed him more than Mello because there was a well defined foundation of trust between them. But he's right Kira isn't a figure in her world. ]
Kind of hard to forget where we are. [ For all the reasons he's already explained. And she isn't being difficult on believing him just for the hell of it. And her ability to reason works just fine so she's able to realize that his story is just a little too elaborate to be a lie. The details too complicated for him to reliably recall without being a practiced liar or the truth.
And she has a difficult time convincing herself that it's all lies with what bits and pieces she's already seen and the explanations she's gotten him to share in that cab. ]
You really think Kira is here? Watching and listening to everything you do here?
[ She sighs heavily and shakes her head. She voiced every opinion she has on his plan already. There's only so many times she can repeat herself before even her ability to chatter endlessly falters. Not that it stops her from leveling another judging stare in his direction. She might not be saying it, but she definitely thinks he's an idiot.]
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voice
permavoice for this loser
Permavoice for both really
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[His words are sharp, tense, ending in sarcasm.]
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[ Don't get snappy. It's like the only decent thing to happen since they got there. ]
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Shut up.
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Let's boil it down shall we you're mad that you didn't get anything out visiting my dream whereas I did get something out of visiting yours.
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voice ~> action.
[He hangs up, pulls on his jacket and sunglasses, and makes his way toward the bar. He's there in less than fifteen minutes, leaning against the wall around the corner from the entrance, gloved fingers drumming along the surface of the wall, scanning the area from underneath the hood of his jacket for her arrival.]
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When she leaves she takes her time getting there. Ai still makes the fifteen minute time limit he gave her, but there was definitely at least a handful of minutes between his arrival and hers. Her arms crossing automatically as she approaches. ]
You demanded my presence?
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Do not ever mention what you saw on the network again. Don't mention it in person, either - in fact, you would do well to forget about it entirely. Am I making myself clear?
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[ He's crazy if he thinks she was forgetting anytime soon. ]
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This isn't a game.
[There's anger, of course, boiling hot, evident in the scowl of his mouth, the tautness of his jaw, the narrowing of his eyes. He's angry that she knows, and he's angry that he's here instead of finishing out his final gambit like he planned, and he's angry that the gods here hold enough power over him to have caused this situation in the first place, and he's angry (as always) that he wasn't good enough to be chosen as L, that he's forever found lacking, always one step behind Near. There's anger, but there's something else, too, if she looks closely - fear. A shadow of how he'd looked at her in the dream itself, resigned to his fate but nowhere near ready to die.
Mello considers his options quickly, twirling the sunglasses in his hand back and forth by the earpiece held between his fingers. Killing someone isn't typically his first response, but this is too important to leave to chance. Unfortunately, death isn't permanent here, so it's not really an option; if anything, it would most likely only serve as a catalyst for retaliation on her part, which would no doubt take the form of talking about what she'd seen in the dream - the exact opposite of what he's attempting to accomplish. Extortion is usually a more productive method of applying pressure to produce a desired outcome, but she was right earlier in saying he had gained nothing on her. Cross that option off the list as well, then.
So what he's left with is reasoning with her. It's risky, because there's no guarantee it will work; he could give an explanation and she'd end up with more ammunition to use against him. But after this analysis, it is his best available option. She already knows enough to be a hazard. All he can do now is try to mitigate the damage. Mello stills the twirling of his glasses and glances around to see who else might be around. They're alone. He glances back to her, gaze steady, and his expression isn't soft, but it's less severe than it was a moment before, though still stone-cold sober.]
You don't have Kira where you're from. Either it hasn't happened yet, or it won't happen at all, or it happened so far in the past you don't remember.
[The first two, he thinks, are much more likely than the third; she seems from her manner of dress to be from a time roughly concurrent with his own, and she easily gave him her name when they first met.]
So I don't know if you can truly comprehend what I'm going to tell you, but I want you to pay attention and try to understand all the same. All right?
[He doesn't really wait for a response, continuing on ahead with his thoughts after a quiet breath in and out.]
Kira is quite possibly the worst tyrant the world has ever seen - a murderer with delusions of godhood on a worldwide scale. He is responsible for countless thousands of deaths, people for whom he has acted as judge, jury, and executioner. Criminals, mostly, but some are simply those who have committed the crime of daring to stand up and oppose him. His method of execution is a shinigami's notebook, and the owner of that notebook can kill anyone by writing down that person's name while picturing their face.
[Here he pauses, studying her closely, waiting to see if she's following along or will dismiss his story immediately.]
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The line of her mouth curving downward after a moment. Honestly, could he be anymore of a pompous ass? But all this talk of serial murders wanting to be god. Her eyes don't glaze over so much as she looks concerned. The person is actually getting away with it. They actually let this Kira do as they want instead of trying to find a way to stop him or her? Is his world broken?
But really just how far in the past does he think she is? It's 2012 for her and there isn't anyone like he described anywhere in the world at large presently. There's no reason for her to accept it but he's just a little too invested in this story he's telling her. Like he believes it so completely that there's a mystical notebook out there that can assist a person in murdering at a distance without a problem. So she settles on the simple part of it all first. Because clearly she has no concept of this story, no recognition at the name Kira, no fear or furtive glances.
For Ai it was merely a story. ]
Sounds like a bunch on nonsense. People don't die from having their names written in some mystical notebook.
[ She gives him a flat look. ]
I'm so glad I let you drag me out here to screw with me. I'm going home now.
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[He mostly expected this kind of reaction. It was probably too much to hope that she would believe him outright - Kira, shinigami, and the killer notebook all would sound like nonsense to anyone who doesn't have the frame of reference Mello does. This is confirmation enough for him that her world doesn't have Kira, hasn't experienced long years under his reign of terror.]
I only half believed the notebook was real, until I got my hands on one and saw my men test it out. I wouldn't have believed shinigami were real, either, unless I'd seen one for myself. But look around at where you are. We've been taken captive by gods, in an underground city that shouldn't be possible; these gods are powerful enough to put us inside each other's dreams and even bring us back to life if we're killed. Is it really so hard for you to imagine something like a shinigami's notebook might exist someplace else?
[Mello folds his arms over his chest, still holding his sunglasses in one hand. He's frankly a little disappointed that he has to work this hard to convince her that what he's saying is true.]
I have no reason to make up such an outlandish story. Lying about something like this doesn't benefit me at all. Everyone knows that the best lies are ones that seem most believable.
[Near hadn't even been this hard to convince.]
I need you to understand the context here, because I need you to understand why it's so important that you keep your mouth shut about what you saw.
[Mello's jaw tightens; his gaze drops to the ground.]
What I said in that dream about it being a plan was true. It hasn't happened yet, but it will. Kira is going to write my name in the notebook. [And he's going to die. That part doesn't need to be said.] That's how he's going to be defeated, in the end, but it has to be a complete surprise. He can't know I'm coming.
[Mello presses his mouth into a thin line, then he echoes what he'd thought and said in the dream:]
It has to be me. It's the only way.
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Kind of hard to forget where we are. [ For all the reasons he's already explained. And she isn't being difficult on believing him just for the hell of it. And her ability to reason works just fine so she's able to realize that his story is just a little too elaborate to be a lie. The details too complicated for him to reliably recall without being a practiced liar or the truth.
And she has a difficult time convincing herself that it's all lies with what bits and pieces she's already seen and the explanations she's gotten him to share in that cab. ]
You really think Kira is here? Watching and listening to everything you do here?
[ She sighs heavily and shakes her head. She voiced every opinion she has on his plan already. There's only so many times she can repeat herself before even her ability to chatter endlessly falters. Not that it stops her from leveling another judging stare in his direction. She might not be saying it, but she definitely thinks he's an idiot.]
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