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[Normally he’d take a mild offense to the notion of being a “reckless child”, but there’s no point in letting that get in the way of what’s transpiring. The name, spoken again, causes the same to happen — that bright pain behind his eyes, every inch of his body decrying its existence. A grimace and a glance away.]

Right.

[He anticipates the meaning behind Natori’s motion, almost meets him halfway before he can finish his statement by reaching out to take the logbook. (Something wet just at his ears.) No doubt he wants him to try it, too, for the sake of consistency, and Light is more than stubborn enough to do it. (Something warm, he thinks.)

But he blinks, alarmed when Natori pulls it back— and vaguely distracted by the sensation at his ears, a hand reaches up to wipe the flat of his palm against them in vague annoyance.]

I’m—

[Fine, he wants to say, except when he pulls his hand back he sees a bright stroke of red, as though someone has swiped paint across his palm. Except it’s blood, bright and fresh. Brow furrowed, frowning deeply, his other hand goes to his other ear, and the result is much the same.]

What is this? [The pain is dull and throbbing, undoubtedly a consequence of the name being recited more than once. Light feels that tinge of frustration again, intermingling with his mind kicking into gear, assessing risk once more.] Injury from a name? How can a book do something like that? This is-

[Agitating.]

I suppose we shouldn't keep trying with that one, specifically.

Edited 2020-11-01 04:35 (UTC)

['So it's something that hurts them whether they're reading it or hearing it,' he'd thought the first time; watching Light go to his ears makes it clear just how accurate an assessment that was. Once it's clear that Light isn't going to insist on forcing the issue again, he relaxes his death grip on the book (he knows some really reckless children) and takes his glasses off to swipe at his eyes with the back of his palm.]

If the name itself was cursed, maybe, but given how the rest of the names in the book act I don't think it's that simple. [The concept of a cursed name is easier for him to accept than the rest of it; he knows Light's struggling with a more generalized realization about how different the rules are from what he's used to, but that's not going to stop him from interpreting it based on his own research.] If I mark the place where this name starts appearing, you're not going to try to come back to it later, are you?

[Light seems like the type, but then again there's little Natori can do to stop him from simply flipping through the pages if he wants to find it again. Bookmarking it would at least give them a warning point to stop at. He holds out one hand towards the closest stray piece of paper on the ground and makes a somewhat impatient gesture; the sheet dutifully flips up into his waiting hand. He tucks it into the pages before the offending entry without looking, his eyes skittering away every time they hit the top edge of the paper in his peripheral vision.]

I don't mind continuing, but... [Can they be sure they won't encounter the name again? After a second of consideration, Natori eyes the glasses in his hands. Leaving them off won't make his eyesight any worse, but he's still worn them enough to know what a pain it is to try to see through cloudy lenses. He rubs the flat of his palm against the glass and puts them on again to assess his work.] ...Mm, it's not perfect, but if I unfocus my eyes I think I can skim the pages for any shapes that stand out from the rest. But if I start seizing, take the book away from me, okay?

[He says it cheerfully, but not as though it's an impossibility.]

[Light is absolutely the type; stubborn and unwilling to give up very easily. However, he also possesses a reasonable, rational mind, something which has gotten him far in various endeavors in his relatively short lifetime, avoiding reckless action when unnecessary.

And so, rubbing his palms together to more quickly dry out the blood caked there—]

No, I won’t. Not without a means to read and remember the name.

[Injury notwithstanding. At this point, Light won’t even question the manner of which a paper easily takes role of placeholder.]

And don’t worry. Now that we know the physical effects are more prevalent than expected, I’ll keep an eye out.

[Cheerfully or not, he knows that’s an actual request and not just an airy joke.]

[Natori can't help but notice that Light's caveats don't include "not without a means to prevent my eyes from bleeding," but it's not like there's much he can do about it anyway. He nods, briefly squeezes his own shoulder to prepare himself, and looks down at the book again.

His instinct is to try to strain his eyes to see past the smudges on his glasses, but he fights to do the opposite; instead he focuses on the palm print instead of lingering long enough to take in more than the general shape of the name on the page. It's slower going than he'd like, and he's being overly cautious, so when he does see a change he scans the page several times to confirm before sliding his glasses down to give it a try.

Another piece of paper slips off the floor into his hand so he can box the name in, covering up the top part of the page with the sheet and the rows under the name with his hand. He reads it in his head first to make sure-- Doll, no headache, idly noting the handwriting before it hits him that he's retained that much information.]

Doll. [He looks up at Light, his glasses perched low on his nose, and repeats it as much to prove to himself that he can still remember as anything else.] Doll. And look, the handwriting is-- it's like a child wrote it. The same one that works for the Admin?

[Doll.

Now they’re getting somewhere, though this opens up an array of questions rather than answering them.]

It must be. I don’t know of any others. Why their name is there, though, and why we can recall it when we can’t with the rest...

[Light closes his eyes for a moment, brow gone taut and thinking. This doesn’t reveal much, only that Doll has been a presence in this place for a number of years, which then can be inferred that the Admin might be, too.

Of course, that alone is contingent upon it being the same Doll, which isn’t something they can verify.

Secondly, what was the importance behind their name being visible at all? Were there more? If there’s no point of comparison, then it’s impossible to know. But if there are—]

That’s still the section of the names dated from the 90’s, isn’t it?

[Light opens his eyes again, a look of consternation etched on his features.]

Are there more that we could recognize?

[What was it Abel had said about Doll? That there had been some sort of confrontation in the past, with an earlier batch of residents. That Abel said they'd met before, even if he couldn't remember it. For a second, Natori's hand tightens briefly on the book-- was that why? Was Abel right, and they can remember Doll's name because they've met Doll before, and they don't remember?

...No, that was a leap. It could be something as simple as the fact that 'doll' is a word of its own. There's no need to go down a rabbit hole when they don't even know if this is the only name. He knocks his glasses back up with the back of his hand.]

That's right. Let's see-- even to see if it appears again, instead of just being a one-off. [And he continues scanning across the pages, slower now that they have another name to contend with instead of just the one that causes them pain. Doll's handwriting is inconsistent, and he finds himself reading it often; it looks just different enough each time he comes across it that he has to check if it's a new one. But with each of the new... names? New entries, at least-- each time he comes across a new one, he reads it first to himself several times, both to confirm that he's retained it and to protect at least one of them from any more damage than they've already come across.]

Doll's in here multiple times. So are "Sasha," "Clover Zotla," and what looks like just the letter "Z." [He looks up again when he says them, looking for a sign from Light to see if he's able to process them as well.] They're mixed in with what looks like the problem name from earlier, so be careful, but I'm curious if you can see the same thing. [He's got one stretch of them pinned down under his finger for easy identification; this time when he shifts the book towards Light there's no dramatic need to pull it back.] This is the first time I've heard of any of them.

[Light’s frown deepens as more names are spoken aloud by Natori, ones that actually stick in his memory and cause no pain whatsoever. He’s already committing them to said memory long before the other shows him the book — not that it’s difficult, given there aren’t many to begin with — since they might as well bolster and cling to what evidence they do have.]

Yes. I can see them.

[A beat. He doesn’t recognize any of them, but—]

They sound like aliases, don’t they? Not real names. It fits the mould with “Doll”, at least, so it might not be wrong to assume that they all come from the same “group”.

[Mind still churning—]

It might be worth going to the Admin about this, but that in itself is a risk, too.

But why bother using aliases in a book that's meant for internal recordkeeping? [It's not dismissive of Light's suggestion; Natori can think of a few reasons. If the group is keeping their names secret from each other. If they're trying to avoid the very real consequences of leaving a powerful name behind on a piece of paper (he can't help but remember Natsume saying the book of friends, and even a world away the thought is enough to send a shiver of repulsion down his spine). If the log is something that, one way or another, they were meant to find.]

I'll leave that to you to decide-- I'm not the one who'd have to explain how I came across the book. [lightly teasing; he meant it when he said he wasn't going to scold Light for breaking and entering, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea to make that clear to the powers that be. If they don't already know.] But if you do learn anything useful... Humor me for a second: I want to give you something.

[He passes the book back to Light to fish a simple paper doll out from his bag; he holds it from the bottom, but the doll stands up in his fingers against gravity.]

This will come find me wherever I am on the island. [He lets go to demonstrate; the doll stays where it is, floating in midair in front of him.] Without spiritual abilities of your own, it will only be able to come back to me, but it can lead me back to where it came from. You can write notes on it, too. [And thus avoid the network; Natori doesn't have to be tech savvy on his own to get a sense of why that might be a good idea.]

[No, it isn’t a dismissal, and Light knows it. Penning aliases in a book meant for public record-keeping meant that there was a reason to avoid the use of real names even that many years ago. It lends credence to the fact that Admin and co. seem to be working as an organization rather than slipshod individuals flung together to achieve some nebulous goal — but that in itself is a whole bevy of questions on its own.]

Mm. If they’re not already aware.

[Voicing one of Natori’s thoughts; once again, none of this may be a secret from the powers that be. He'll have to crunch risk assessment in his head again later.

But he sets that aside for now, given the paper doll seemingly come to life in the other man’s hands. Light blinks at it, then holds his own hand out as though to see if it’ll come to him.]

Natori-san… that would be useful in any number of situations. Thank you. Is, ah, using it as simple as deploying it with the intent to find you?

[Talk about snail mail... but fancy.]

That's right. [The doll does fly over to land in Light's hands, though it's at a mental nudge from Natori and not anything Light does.] Hold it in your hand with the intention of sending it back to me and it will take off. It's still a piece of paper, so don't let it get too wet, but otherwise the spell isn't going to wear off any time soon.

[Like a showoff, he holds his hand out flat in front of him as a landing site. In a flurry like a flock of birds taking off, another group of dolls fly out of the bag and settle neatly onto his palm.] They can locate people for me if I know their face, [and so he can send more back to Light if need be] but that's a little too complex for anyone else to do without training.

[What a showoff, indeed. The flurry of paper dolls settling into Natori's palm is quite a sight, and Light wishes that they were all in possession of some such useful talent.

Lightly, he pinches his paper doll between forefinger and thumb. Can he fold this up? Surely he can; no need to anthropomorphize it.]

All right. Hopefully, there's no need to act so clandestinely any time soon, but just in case... I'll keep it close.

[And the logbook, too.]

I'll keep you up to date with any new developments. I'd request that you do the same with me if you don't mind.

Of course. On my end, that includes any signs that-- [he makes a gesture towards the book, and though he knows Light can't see it the traces of fog that still linger near him as well.] --that's breaking out or getting stronger. I'll give the others with similar powers to mine a heads up of what to look out for, but it's like I mentioned the last time: bad dreams, undefined weakness, things like that.

And don't hesitate to use the doll; I can always send you another one.

[He nods. He'll take note of the state of his dreams, and whether or not they abate going forward.]

I will. Don't worry.

...And thank you again for all of your help. It really has been invaluable. [High praise from one Light Yagami.] I won't keep you any longer, but you're always welcome to stay or drop by if you need anything.

Edited 2020-11-08 17:05 (UTC)

It's no trouble. I'd offer you the same, but the cottage where I'm staying is significantly less suited for hosting guests. [He takes one last sardonic look around this living room that is much nicer than the couch he's been crashing on, before he remembers the state of it that he left behind.] ...Oh. I guess I should help clean up.

[As much of a showoff as he may be, gathering up the stray pages from the seal would use a little too much energy that he doesn't want to spare right now if he did it in any way but by hand, so: after a second, he bends down to start collecting leftover pieces of paper.]

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good lordt

protip don't let mods catch you plurking about your character's stupid actions

god i'm so sorry, i don't know why dw won't send notifs for this thread in particular...cursed

dw wtf, why is my inbox cursed now too

fate is against us

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