"The jealous are troublesome to others, but a torment to themselves."
~William Penn, Some Fruits of Solitude, 1693
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"Hold It!" Matt cried into the DS he was holding, making Tripp cringe as she jerked the screwdriver into her hand for the millionth time in the past five hours. Taking a deep breath, she began working again only for another cry to speed through the room three minutes later.
"Objection!" Cussing under her breath as the screwdriver caught her hand again, Tripp glared at the back of Matt's head.
"There's a little thing called you "inner voice" Matt. You should try it sometime!" she shouted as Matt just increased the volume of the DS, ignoring her completely. Tripp cussed again, her fingers twitching to wrap round his scrawny little neck and stop his breathing in its tracks. Mello chuckled from the side lines, watching Tripp's annoyance grow with satisfaction. Now she couldn't moan at him for moaning at Matt for moaning at the game, which was a common cause of arguments amongst the three. Not that Matt paid any attention to anything they said to him.
The three orphans sat in the Game Room, Matt playing his DS, Mello lounging around trying to perfect his 'badass' look and Tripp sitting at the table, trying to concentrate on her project assigned by Watari. 'Trying' being the main word in that sentence.
Clenching her teeth, eyes closed, she turned away from the noise, trying to drown it out and failing miserably.
This had become the norm in the past month Tripp had been living in Wammy House. She began working on inventions more closely now, not just designing random ideas but making them too if they where possible. Mello and Matt didn't really care when she told them about Watari's offer. The only part they cared about was the fact she got to go on 'work experience' -as they called it- and they didn't. Though they did understand. Watari's job required a bit more hands on experience that L's.
Compared with the two boys, she hadn't seen Near around much. Matt explained most of Mello's hatred towards Near- the fact that Near was number one, Mello wasn't which created a giant inferiority complex and was the cause of the arguments Mello started- and Tripp decided to avoid Near when Mello was around and Mello when Near was around so neither of them got hurt in the process of hurting each other. Mello, his ego and Near, somewhere on his body. The main reason Mello was feared so much.
Mello was surprisingly moody for a sober guy.
Though, some could say that he was drunk on chocolate.
"What are you working on anyway?" Tripp jumped up in fright and a small sound came from her lips before she covered them with both hands. Discovery #36: Tripp was easy to startle.
Mello chuckled from behind Tripp, where he had been watching her building something that looked suspiciously like a microchip.
Her hands palm up as if surrendering, Tripp sighed, trying to calm herself down.
"It's a camera Watari wanted me to make." she stated, a pair of magnifying goggles over her eyes to help her focus in on the small parts. They may look ridiculous but they helped.
"But it's tiny." Mello took a bite out of a chocolate bar as he said this, looking sceptic. Tripp laughed.
"That's so," Tripp picked up a silver lighter that sat beside her, further away so it didn't get lost in the parts surrounding her. "-It fits in...this." Grinning, Tripp clicked the small 'camera' into the lighter before closing it up. "Smile!" Tripp exclaimed as she clicked a picture of a frowning Mello.
"You've got one strange idea of a smile." Tripp stated as she turned back to the work table, only for another "Objection" to come from Matt. "I have a new found respect for you Mello, having to deal with loud and obnoxious on a daily bases!" Tripp yelled closer to the end, throwing a green grape at Matt, hitting him on the back of the head. Not that he noticed.
Mello laughed out loud.
"Now you can't moan at me without being a hypocrite." Tripp glared at him, the goggles now on her head. They were very heavy and where giving her a headache but until she got this done she couldn't take them off. She just had to check if the picture was actually taken and if it would connect to the laptop.
"You say that as if I care about being a hypocrite." Going back to the laptop, Tripp opened up the 'lighter' revealing a small SD card that she plugged into the computer. The computer quickly found the device but not the picture itself. "Damn." Taking out the camera and slipping the goggles back over her face, she examined it and found the problem. It was a simple mistake and simple to fix.
"I have a question." Tripp started, looking for what the part that was missing. Mello looked away from the space he was staring mindlessly at to the back of Tripp's head. "Why are we the only people ever in this room?" Mello shrugged.
"Wammy House doesn't have very many pupils. The most it's ever had was like, 70 pupils and that was a couple of years ago. Now there are only about 50 pupils in the school and that not taking into consideration the older kids leaving this year putting it down to about 43 students. Most of them pick a room that they like the best and they stay there with their friends. Matt and I have the game room, of no choice of mine. Linda, has the art room."
"Near has the play room." Matt called from his spot on the floor, knowing Mello wouldn't mention him.
"Kyle has the Common Room, Leif had the garden etcetera. It's just something that ended up happening, and as it avoids arguments Roger doesn't really care." Mello shrugged, biting into the chocolate bar he had been eating for a while now and almost finished.
"You know, eating too much chocolate could kill you." Tripp stated when heard the familiar click of chocolate being broken.
"Yeah, 'cause drinking ten gallons of diet coke on a daily bases won't affect you at all." Mello said sarcastically, grinning, causing Tripp to mumble nonsense. She didn't drink that much, maybe about six cans a day...
Smiling in satisfaction as the picture Tripp had taken of Mello had now showed up on the Laptop, Tripp sighed and took the heavy goggles off her head, beginning to pack up.
"Leaving?" Mello asked, now playing Mario Kart: Double Dash on the GameCube with Matt, both of them pushing each other, attempting to make the other fall over.
"Yep, I've been sitting here for five hours working on this thing from scratch. And thanks to Matt I now have a killer Migraine." Tripp moaned as she clicked the suitcase shut. Matt gave Tripp thumbs up, not looking away from the TV screen.
"My evil deed for the day complete." Matt cackled, literally, before Mello succeeded in making him fall, losing his first place spot. Tripp chuckled.
"And you are Third in line to be L? I fear for people, I truly do. Mello, try not to die anytime soon. I don't think having Evil Mastermind over there as the world's greatest Detective would help the world that much." Tripp grinned sarcastically, dragging the suitcase off the table and making her way out the games room into the hall. Although, it wasn't before hearing Mello curse as he fell to the floor as Matt tripped him up.
The air was much cooler in the hall than it was in Game Room. In fact, they shouldn't have even been in the Games room at all seeing as the air-conditioning that kept all the consoles cool and free from overheating had broken. Not that it stopped Matt or Mello, Matt being the main culprit.
Rubbing her eyes with a thumb and finger Tripp continued down the hall, planning to drop the suitcase off at her room then sleep, something she'd been doing a lot of recently. Maybe it was to do with the painkillers she had been taking for her back or the fact her brain was still trying to figure out what the hell was going on, she wasn't sure. But whatever it was she wished it would hurry up and give in already. She felt useless needing to nap like a pre-schooler.
The year 2005 went by without much of a hassle [1]. L - or Ryuzaki as he preferred to be called – left a week after New Years. His first New Year's at Wammy House and with his successors. Watari still kept in contact with Tripp through emails, asking her to build something or look for something he didn't have the time to do or felt she should know. Being L's handler was busy work.
So far he'd gotten her to make a whole array of things, from trackers in shoes to cameras in lighters, many of them useful for surveillance or recording conversations secretly. The only difference between the shop bought ones and hers, where that the ones she made couldn't be traced.
In her time at Wammy House, she'd gotten used to the odd things that made Wammy House children unique. Each pupil – it seemed – has some sort of odd facial habit that showed their emotions more than what they said or admitted. Mello would stare you right in the eyes when angry, though that emotion tended to be easy to identify with his swearing. Near would fiddle with a strand of hair when thinking, nervous or angry. Kyle for example would suck on his finger while playing with the fabric tag from one of his shirts when he was thinking hard. Linda had a tendency to carry a small doll like key ring in her hand and play with it when nervous. Even Mello noticed that Tripp would play with the hem of her shirt of tunic when embarrassed and touch her neck when nervous. Of course these habits where over shadowed by other habits, like Near playing with his toys and Mello's addiction to chocolate.
Though, she had to admit, the only reason she noticed any of this was because Watari asked her to look for them. As Watari said "To be 'Watari' you have to know if people are trust worthy, and to do that you have to know what their habits are. If you know this then you can get reliable information from them without having to say a lot to them."
Sighing and yawning at the same time, she continued her way to her room in the east wing of the Orphanage.
Collapsing down onto the bed, staring mindlessly at the ceiling, Tripp closed her eyes. She didn't dream much, and if she ever did she never remembered them. She wished she would. She wished she could remember something, just one thing. Opening her eyes she stared at the computer. She'd tried looking up something. Missing persons' reports turned out nothing at all, looked like either she was already an orphan or her parents didn't give a shit.
She jumped up in fright as panicked banging on her door woke her from sleep. It also caused her to fall onto the floor. So much for her prima ballerina idea.
"Come in" she mumbled into the carpet before standing. Quickly she brushed herself off before looking at her watch. 4pm.
She'd been asleep for two hours. Meh, she'd done better. Looking up she saw Mello standing there, handing in his pockets.
"Oh, hey Mello, where's Matt." She asked, looking behind him. Mello scowled.
"Not here. I need to talk to you." He replied sitting down on her bed. Tripp watched with wide eyes when she saw that he had no chocolate bar in his hands.
"Oh. My. God you have no chocolate bar it must be serious. You two having marital troubles again? 'Cause I'm not really much of a marital counsellor- Ow!" she exclaimed as a pillow hit her head. "That hurt!"she shouted, rubbing her forehead. Tripp was over acting she knew but she was still in the 'just awake' stage. And what she'd realised was that after waking up her actions consisted of her getting very hyper about things. She was convinced Matt was the main influence with this. He did the same thing when woken up or pissed off.
"It better hurt." Mello growled, stepping further into the room "Now stop changing the subject." He collapsed down on Tripp bed, leaning back on his hands. "Its Matt's birthday today and-" he started before being interrupted.
"It's Matt's birthday today! Why didn't he tell me?" Tripp exclaimed throwing her hands into the air. Stupid gamer. If she'd known it was his birthday she could have gotten him something. Now it was kinda useless. Mello's glare caused Tripp to purse her lips, make a zipping motion and through away the key. She may be in her odd mode but she wasn't completely stupid.
"Good. Now as I was saying. It's Matt's Birthday today. He didn't tell you because he doesn't bloody well remember himself. There's a small party set up for him in the dining room but I need you to go and round people up." He said, crossing his arms. Tripp grimaced.
"Why me?" she asked, backing up and crossing her arms to mimicking Mello.
"'Cause people like you more than they like me. You'll get more people to come." He said as if it was obvious.
"What did you usually do?" she asked.
"Ask Linda. But I can't find her so I'm asking you." Tripp glared at him deeply but this being Mello it didn't even faze him. Note to self, she thought. Work on evil glare.
"You truly do have a way with words Mello. Glad to know I was Plan B." She said, rolling her eyes, not truly hurt but trying to push Mello's buttons. It was surprisingly fun when you got used to his Rampages.
"Now you know how I feel." He mumbled through not low enough for Tripp not to hear it.
"Aw! Chin up Mells." Tripp said, sitting down beside him, copying Matt's nickname for him. One Mello hated with a deep burning passion. Almost as much as Willy Wonka, through not as much as he hated Mello Yellow. I guess being third in line leaves you with very little to do.
"To me and Matt you'll always number one. The Number one Bestest Friend Ever!" she exclaimed cheesily, like something out of Barney the Dinosaur before throwing her arms around him. Mello sighed, exasperated, just dealing with the hug. Also ignoring the fact that it kinda felt nice.
"You've been hanging around with Matt for way too long." He mumbled making Tripp laugh.
"Yeah, well that's more you're problem than mine. And anyway," she said standing up and heading to the door. "I better go on my great mission to find the lost party guests. When does the party start?" she asked, turning on her hips.
"Try and get people there by 5:50. I'll get Matt there at about 6." Mello stated, still sitting on the bed. Tripp gave him a thumbs up and left to find people, leaving Mello shaking his head.
He really had to keep Tripp away from Matt. For his own mental health more than anything.
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Small giggles followed by people whispering "shh" to each other was all that could be heard inside the dark room. The odd Streamers and balloons were scattered around the floor and table along with a giant cake and other snacks.
"This had better be important Mello." Matt's voice audible from behind the door. "I was trying to defeat a prissy asshole from America at Halo and then you went and got me killed by barging in saying that Roger wanted me causing me to get shot in the head. It's not funny Mello, and this isn't even the way to Roger's office!" Matt exclaimed, probably flapping his arms about. He got like that when pissed off.
More giggling came from some girls in the corner but they quickly shut up when the door began opening, light seeping in from the hall.
"And why the hell is it so dark in here." Matt asked walking in, as Mello went to turn on the lights. "What the hell did you do Mello?" Matt accused, turning to face Mello as the light switched on.
"Surprise!" Everyone screamed jumping up from behind tables, chair and whatever else they could find. "Happy Birthday Matt!" everyone cheered as Matt jumped up and took a very unhelpful fighting stance before calming down a bit as he saw there was no danger. His mouth moved, silently wording "Holy Shit" at all the people in the room and at the fact that it was his birthday. Had a year gone by that fast?
"Happy Birthday Goggles!" Tripp exclaimed, giving him a hug before high-fiving Mello. Matt pointed a finger at them both, glaring accusingly.
"You were both in on this?" he accused. Both nodded unashamed and grinning like mad people.
"Yep. Mello did most of the work though, I just got the people here. Kids are surprisingly fickle when you say cake will be there."Tripp shrugged. "By the way you have reached a new level of Hippie gamer. You forgot your own birthday!" Tripp exclaimed flapping her arms about.
"You forgot yours!" Matt replied, poking her.
"Yeah! But I have also forgotten everything before the past three months!"She said making Matt glare in defeat.
"Touché." He mumbled, taking out his DS and starting it up. Mello hit him over the head.
"Aren't you even going to pretend people actually came?" he asked, starting a stupid argument between the two that would consist of them calling each other stupid names before realising that it really didn't matter at all or before they forgot about it completely.
Everyone else stood in their own groups talking and eating cake after Matt blew out the candles. It was a huge cake- chocolate of course- and there was still some left over after it had been cut and shared out. Which was why Tripp sat eating her second slice of cake as other students went up to Matt giving him their present.
She'd asked pretty much everyone to come, at least everyone she could find in the time she was given. Though she had trouble finding Near, Leif and Linda. Still couldn't find them by the time the party had started. Luckily, Leif's friends has found her and got her to come and Linda's friends said that she was working on an Art project that was due in two days and couldn't leave. Near however was still M.I.A. Sighing, Tripp stood, taking two more bits of cake, wrapping them in napkins. Putting them in a small party bag – why Mello had bothered with them, Tripp wasn't sure- Tripp snuck out of the party.
Running down the hall Tripp made her way to the Art room first, then planning to go to the Play room to find Near. Just because they weren't there didn't mean that they couldn't have cake.
"Linda!" Tripp called into the Art room, peeking into the room before walking in. The faint sound of rustling was all she heard before a paint brush was dropped into water.
The art room walls were painted white and mint green, ivy and other climbing plants had wrapped themselves around the columns. Several easels where scattered around the room, along with the main desks. Sinks where up against the windows and the teacher's desk at the other side.
"Linda!" Tripp called again walking further in. Finally she found Linda behind an easel, working on her project. "Wow." Tripp said, staring at the painting in amazement. She'd heard Linda was a good artist, but she'd never guessed she was this good. A large Venetian clown took up one side of the portrait painting, wearing a red and white costume [2]. Piano keys were wrapped underneath its large frilled costume and a full moon on the other side. She wasn't sure what was in the bottom corner as it hadn't been finished yet but so far it was beautiful.
"You're really good." Tripp said as Linda turned, noticing her presence. Linda flushed lightly as she saw Tripp standing behind her and looked down, pushing a strand of hair behind her head. She hadn't heard her come in.
"Thanks." She mumbled, going back to the painting, Tripp's glaze unnerving her.
"Oh, I brought something for you." Tripp said, taking the cake out of the bag. "Here. If you don't get it now then it'll be gone by the time you get there. I'm going to give some to Near in a minute too." She stated. Linda took the cake and smiled.
"Thanks. Before you go can you take this to Near." Standing Linda went over to what I guessed was her desk and took out a Rubik's cube. "He dropped it yesterday and I tried to find him earlier but couldn't. Seeing as you're going to see him you should take it. I'll probably be in here for a while yet." Tripp nodded, taking the Rubik's cube that had either been solved or was unused.
"Sure. Bye Linda." Tripp waved, backing up as she left to the Playroom.
Looking down at her watch as she ran down the halls she saw that it was now 7pm. She'd been gone for about fifteen minutes now. Well, that art room was rather far away from the dining room.
Skidding to a stop at the Playroom door she straightened her tunic before going in.
Near sat in the Playroom now, starting on a card building. She never got how people did that. When she tried the cards just slipped down.
"Hello Tripp." Near called from his place in the room as Tripp walked in, looking around as she always did when she entered a room she wasn't used to.
"Hey Near. Where were you earlier? I came to tell you about Matt's Birthday party but you weren't here." Tripp said, sitting down a little bit away from him so she wouldn't knock the cards over. Near sat for a moment as he placed two cards on the tower before continuing.
"I went looking for my Rubik cube but I couldn't find it. I did hear about the party though, I didn't want to go. Too many people." He said, twirling a hand through his hair. Looking up as she remembered, Tripp took the Rubik's cube out of the small bag along with the piece of cake.
"Here. Linda found it and told me to give it to you. And there also chocolate cake there if you want it." She told him standing and handing them both to him over the cards. Luckily, not knocking it over.
"Thank you." He said. He'd gotten friendlier with Tripp since she began going to see him every so often. Becoming another friend like Linda and Matt and acting like an older sister, keeping him involved with what was going on. Matt sometimes came to but that was only when Mello was gone somewhere or absorbed with some school project.
"Did you know it was Matt's Birthday?" Tripp asked. Near nodded.
"I heard Mello setting it up with Roger a couple of weeks ago." He stated, making Tripp mumble cuss words under her breath.
"Ass. He only told me about it today." Tripp mumbled, Near grinned slightly.
"He probably thought you would try to get involved with the planning. He doesn't like people interfering with his plans." Near stated making Tripp nod before shrugging.
"Good point." She said, standing and brushing herself off. "Before I go, I want to ask you something. Do you hate Mello?" Tripp asked. It had been bugging her for a while now. When she talked to Mello about Near he would go on an angry rant. But when she talked to Near about Mello, he was perfectly calm and positive about him. Near continued building when he answered.
"He's smart and has earned my respect. I don't see any reason to hate him." He said, twirling his hair. Tripp nodded, smiling lightly. At least it wasn't totally impossible that they could be friends. Through it was highly improbable.
Turning as the Playroom door opened Tripp saw Mello standing there, arms crossed looking seriously pissed off. Quietly he turned and walked away causing Tripp to glare at the empty door way. Stupid, stuck up, chocolate loving blonde.
"You better go." Near said, not looking up. Tripp nodded slowly before waving bye to Near. Running out the room he went down the hall to try and find Mello, where ever he had gone to. Finally she found him in the North wing.
"What's shakin' blondie?" Tripp asked, throwing an arm round Mello's neck when she found him. Growling he pushed her off and walked ahead. Groaning in annoyance, tempted to stamp her feet Tripp ran after him, this time taking a more direct approach.
"What the hell Tripp!" he exclaimed as she tackled him to the ground. Smiling in success Tripp stood.
"You were ignoring me. I was trying to get your attention." She shrugged as if it was obvious. Mello glared at her, before standing up and looking away.
"What do you want Tripp?" he asked. Tripp glared back.
"For you to stop PMSing and whining over the fact I was talking to Near. It's not illegal y'know!" she stated. Mello continued glaring at her.
"Come on Mello. Talking to Near isn't going to kill me and I'm still your friend too. Why did you come looking for me in the first place?" she asked. Letting out a breath, Mello looked to the side.
"Matt wondered where you'd run off to. He was worried that Kyle might find you." He stated. That was only partly true, it was more like Mello put the idea into Matt's head when he discovered Tripp was gone. He got worried.
Not that he'd ever admit it, even to himself. To be perfectly honest, Kyle had stopped bugging Tripp now. She was no longer interesting enough to annoy.
Chuckling Tripp walked up to Mello and put a hand on his shoulders.
"Well then. We better get back before Matt starts filling for your divorce." She grinned, laughter following as she ran like hell, Mello running after her.
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A/N: Sorry about the time it took to get this one out. I got Repetitive Strain Injury recently and was banned from typing and the computer.
Notes:
[1] – Because I used games and consoles in previous chapters that weren't released at the time of the Manga, I'm going to use the Anime timeline. I'll stick with the Manga story but with the anime timeline as I'm about to keep the games and consoles I mentioned.
[2] - This clown was taken from Victoria Frances' "Favole 2: Set Me Free." I couldn't find a picture unfortunately but I do recommended to get the book anyway as the pictures are amazing.