raisetheearth | Entry #A-1: "A" [Video/Action] [Shepherd's Haven]

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Entry #A-1: "A" [Video/Action] [Shepherd's Haven]

[Lazarus checks in looking thoroughly displeased. He's standing in the largest building in Shepherd's Haven, most commonly used for forums and meetings. Today, he's surrounded by fabulous, artistic and delectable patries and sweets. Some are on the tables, set out as if for a banquet, but others are on the floor or in odd, unexected places, like on chairs and sticking to the walls.]

It's the one-year anniversary of our move to Shepherd's Haven. I was going to tell you that in spite of the slime, you're all still welcome to come celebrate and eat some of the food prepared for the occasion in the town hall. You know, in a valiant effort to maintain some semblance of community and normalcy, and to reject sensationalist panic and obsession.

[A green blob drops onto his shoulder. He brushes it off with clear distaste, but from the time he touches it to the time it lands on the floor, it transforms into a platter of cream puffs that land with a resounding clatter.]

...disregard that. If you do decide to come, don't eat anything until you confirm with me that it isn't slime. Right now, that's everything over here.

[He turns the feed over so it's in view of a far less enticing display of healthier and plainer options. Much of it was probably canned or frozen previously.]

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Sorry, but I think I'm going to have to pass. I appreciate it, but I've had an inordinately long day.

You could have asked me to make something, you know. For today, of all days. [She's not outstanding, but Winter could easily have prepared small things for this. It's important, after all.]

The, ah. The slime is kind of weird with this, though. That seems dangerous. [Stepping daintily around fallen pseudo-snacks, she works her way closer to Lazarus, smiling faintly.] Everything all right? No terrible surprises?

Edited (more words) 2015-07-27 14:19 (UTC)

[Barely off-camera, Nathan just blinks down at the slime-turned-creampuffs.]

This slime is rather concerning.

It wouldn't be an invitation if it was mandatory to attend. I'm sorry your day's been long and for what it's worth, I hope it gets better.

[Lazarus ceases fuming long enough to turn toward Winter. It seems obvious in hindsight, but sometimes when it comes to matters of domesticity, Lazarus is not particularly realistic or clear-minded about his talents or lack thereof. This is especially true regarding cooking; despite messing up even the simplest dishes repeatedly, he seems to feel that every time will be different and better.]

No terrible surprises, not by our standards. Just the annoyance of getting shown up by slime. These look more appetizing than anything I've seen in my life and for all intents and purposes, they're not even edible. I guess my biggest priority now needs to be disposing of them before someone mistakenly takes a bite.

[He kneels to pick up the cream puffs, ignoring another glob that's fallen from the ceiling and landed beside him.]

This is happening all over the world, is it?

[Lazarus is frustrated enough that if it was anyone else, he probably wouldn't be able to refrain from snapping something about stating the obvious and how it is supremely unhelpful. But it's Nathan, and he recognizes this as the young man's genuine attempt to relate and convey empathy.]

...yes, it is that. You aren't wrong.

[A deep breath, and he's already calmer. Several more and he can even offer a tense smile.]

Happy one-year. If you don't mind helping, maybe you wouldn't mind assisting me in getting rid of some of this. That's how it started, you know... I was trying to clean up the slime, but every bit of it I touch turns into some kind of fancy pastry.

[He stared at the blob, gagging a little.]

Ugh, c'mon. How am I supposed to look at food, looking at those things?

It's not like I made the slime.

[Just... You know, turned it into pastries his Other probably had around constantly in huge amounts.]

Blame the giant balls of goo.

I hope the celebration goes alright, though. Good luck.

[Rakka was already more then a little nervous around the gelatinous blobs, considering her first encounter with them. What were they? She had no idea.

Off to the side, she speaks up just as L finishes speaking to his video post.]

It's so... weird, seeing all of this slime around. [She brushes a little blob off the top of her shoe.] What if having all of this food out right now is dangerous?

[Lazarus is frustrated and avoiding touching any more green blobs, since by this point he thinks he has a pretty good idea of what kind of outcome that'll have.]

You're right. I guess we should throw it away before someone mistakenly eats any.

[Which will be hard, considering it looks delicious.]

Thank you for your kind wishes.

You aren't injured, are you?

[... Did he say something wrong? Perhaps he did. He'll allow Lazarus the moment to compose himself, won't ask if he'd somehow done something wrong. Nobody needs to deal with what is surely a ridiculous insecurity of his.]

I'll do what I can. I have . . . ventured to touch a few myself. [Sometime after Tony had done the same and proven the blobs are not going to attack them or whatever else.] Perhaps unsurprisingly, they have turned into toys.

Maybe sore and waterlogged, but no, not injured. You know how hard it is to hurt me.

[Lazarus doesn't mind dealing with Nathan's insecurities. It's not like he hasn't allowed Nathan to see him in some dark, terrifying and illogical mindsets by now and he owes him that much for taking such good care of his responsibilities when he was falling to pieces.]

Sweets for L, toys for Near. I wonder if Mello had something that correlated to him that way... if all of them that came from that school did, for that matter.

[He kneels to start scooping up whipped cream and fruit toppings; clearly there's a part of him that regrets wasting all this just because it's made of mystery goo.]

Sore I understand, but why waterlogged?

[Nathan sees his own as so minor compared to what Lazarus goes through that it hardly seems worth it to trouble anyone with them. He's fine, relatively. It's no one else's problem.]

With only the two of us, it isn't quite enough for a pattern . . . though I do not think it would surprise me.

[Nathan has wondered off and on, when his mind has had time to drift, if they will ever meet a reincarnation of Mello. His feelings on that are rather conflicted, given what he knows of the relationship between Mello and Near. It hadn't been good then, and while that does not mean it couldn't be different now . . .

[He kneels down to scoop up some of it himself. Even he, who has eaten many questionable things just to survive, is leery of consuming anything that used to be slime.] As it is, I am somewhat hesitant to keep them, knowing what they've come from.

[It would be less risky than eating what had once been slime, surely. Still. Too much of an unknown for him to trust.]

[Nathan also needs to work on downplaying certain things that are, while complicated and highly uncomfortable, well worth understanding and examining.]

A whole school filled with people trying to be like L while knowing little about him... it could go a lot of ways, but it's my expectation that they'd zero in on fixations, or else... if selected because they already shared a similar foundation, perhaps it's a matter of correlation rather than causation. It's something I would like to know more about.

[If only to commend such a strange and immoral practice.]

I want some analysis to happen in a lab. I could contact Cesar, but...

[His voice falters. They haven't been in contact lately. Things would probably be awkward.]

It's true we don't yet understand much of what the selection process entailed besides the children being orphans. Presumably ones of high intellect, all things considered. I suppose only time will tell if we come to know more for certain.

[It's a bit of an uncomfortable thing. One of his first Echoes had been about how he'd been valued there. But had he only been valued because of how well he'd performed in the training?

[His hand stops short of one of the fallen pastries, just for a few seconds, when Cesar's name is mentioned. It's for multiple reasons, of course. There is the whole issue of how things had gone between him and Lazarus, but some little part of Nathan still inwardly recoils because of what the man's doppelganger had done to him. Unfair of him. He knows that, but the instinct is still there.]

We should certainly do something to learn more about it . . . [He has absolutely no idea what to say on the whole Cesar matter, so his own voice trails off awkwardly after his agreement that the slime should be tested.]

I suppose.

[He sounds uncertain and perhaps more than a little bit reluctant to consider the implications too much. Evidence points toward his Other being a pretty bad person; he knows as much based on the volley of echoes he got back from Misa. But despite that, he did help the children under his care and tutelage, didn't he? Couldn't that be objectively considered a good thing?

He notes the awkwardness that Cesar's name has instilled, going beyond his own personal involvement with the man, and he immediately regrets bringing it up at all.]

I can contact scientists. They needn't be him. And you and I can apply research techniques in such a setting, right? We might need to travel for proper facilities, but it could happen.

[The fact is, they still know too little about Wammy's House, how the children were treated and trained. Knowing that their Others were not good people makes speculation worrisome. Nathan doesn't like thinking too hard about it, either. He wants the memory of that place to be a happier one.

[He doesn't mean to let the whole mess with Cesar bother him, but what he'd endured does not just go away.] It could, yes.

Just, y'know... label those or something. You don't want 'em getting mixed with your other stock, right?

I imagine you were good in science even before we started getting echoes.

[So many wounds. Some of them are visible, some microscopic, but they're all felt when they come in contact with a wash of lemon juice.]

Sorry. It was highly inconsiderate of me to bring that up.

[Just because he's ready to talk doesn't mean that Nathan is ready to listen.]

[A heavy, petulant sigh and an eyeroll are the immediate answer before Lazarus pieces together a more mature response.]

I'm not taking any chances. It's all getting tossed... it seems a lot safer that way. It feels like a waste, even if I'm well aware of where they came from.

[Arthur couldn't possibly complete with someone who wasn't blisteringly stupid.]

I mean... what do they smell like?

[Nail in the coffin.]

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Entry #A-1: "A" [Video/Action] [Shepherd's Haven]

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