sixth. video (i fought the war but the war won).

[torrefied]

[It's a video post from Mello, and that's a thing that just does not happen. The camera is propped up to face him, lying on his back with his eyes closed, drinking in the artificial sunlight on a patch of grass somewhere in the park.]

Don't you all just get tired of fighting all the time?

[A peculiar lilt colors his words, a slight discordance to his typical tone and a languidness that should be noticeable to anyone who has ever heard him speak. He opens his eyes and glances to the camera.]

I mean, I know you are - I can smell it on you. You all want, so much - you want to go home, you want to return to your normal, ordinary lives. You want an end to the struggles you face here in order to simply survive.

[He shifts onto his side, propping his head up in his hand to face the camera directly. This is something else Mello would never do - openly show his face. And anyone who has seen his face before, even just partially, will notice a key difference here - his scar is gone. He smiles deviously at the camera.]

Don't fight us. Join us. Let us help you. Let me help you. I can give you what you want. All you have to do is ask, and let us in.

[He gives the camera audience a one-shouldered shrug and smiles again, something that looks entirely wrong and out of place on Mello's face.]

Despite what you may have heard, we're not all bad.

(ooc note: demon-possessed mello can also be encountered in person pretty much anywhere in the city for the next few days!)

Comments

[torrefied]

[Once again, the demon moves quickly - too fast for a human - and ends up in front of L, one hand raised in a gesture of stop, a cruel smirk stamped across his features.]

Don't you think this is all on the boy's terms? Or perhaps you don't know him as well as you think you do.

[hearthebell]

[It's unacceptable in every way, wrong on a primal level. L is in charge, and even if all of his successors don't love or revere him, they were brought up to see him as someone to respect, someone with some command over their lives and their directions. Maybe it was a mistake to reclaim that distance, a sign of weakness or retreat that the demon is taking advantage of now.]

No. I think he was bested, as he's been before. But his allies won't let that stand.

[torrefied]

His allies?

[The demon laughs again, wicked, vicious.]

You're speaking of yourself, I take it? Maybe that scrawny mage back at the house?

[Something in his smile turns a shade darker.]

I doubt he can stand, much less do anything about letting something else stand. You humans are awfully breakable.

[hearthebell]

[L is steadfast, even though the laughter is chilling, manages to cut into even his careful, practiced stoicism.]

In spite of that, we have more that we value and care about. That has a tendency to draw strength out of unexpected places.

[He doesn't come right out and say it, but Near, for instance, is not possessed or dead. That means something about his ability to stand, even if it's only metaphorical, and (ironically) reliant on what remains of Mello's restraint.]

[torrefied]

Mm, I don't think your little successor has any hidden wells of strength - or at least he didn't.

[Now the smile the demon's wearing turns downright cruel.]

Like I said - you humans are so breakable.

[hearthebell]

[If L hadn't already dealt with Near, using every ounce of theoretical medicine and intuition he possessed to reset a dislocated shoulder, those words would probably incite dread. Instead, he just looks dully disappointed.]

You're wrong. On both counts, actually. And that's why you'll lose.