I just seem to be spewing these chapters out... Anyways, thanks for the reviews :) they're keeping me working. Helps that I don't sleep much I suppose...
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L gazes at the sunset as we stroll aft, past people lounging on deck chairs in the slanting late-afternoon light.
L sighs and looks at me with those charcoal eyes.
"You know, my dream has always been to just chuck it all and become an artist… living in a garret, poor but free!" he says animatedly, eyes glowing.
"You wouldn't last two days." I say honestly, "there's no hot water, and hardly any caviar."
He's angry in a flash, glaring and hateful.
"Listen, you… I hate caviar! And I'm so tired of people dismissing my dreams with a chuckle and a pat on the head."
"I'm sorry." I say, receiving a withering glare, "Really… I am."
"Alright…"he smiles again, sighing. "There's something in me, Light. I feel it. I don't know what it is, whether I should be an artist, or a dancer… like Isadora Duncan! A wild pagan spirit…"
I smile, enjoying his excitement, observing his face painted with the orange sunset. We lean on the A-deck rail, shoulder to shoulder.
It is a magical moment… perfect.
"So after Paris, then what?" he asks.
"Well, I went back home and got a job at a logging company, and when logging got to be too much like work I moved down to the pier in Santa Monica. That's a swell place, they even have a rollercoaster. I sketched portraits there for ten cents a piece." I tell him, noticing how he's hanging on my every word.
"A whole ten cents?" he laughs.
"Yeah; it was great money… I could make a dollar a day, sometimes. But only in summer. When it got cold, I decided to go to England to see what some real artists were doing."
He looks at the dusk sky, sighing, "Why can't I be like you, Light? Just head out for the horizon whenever I feel like it…" He turns to me, almost gazing into my eyes, "Say we'll go, sometime… to that pier, even if we only ever talk about it."
"No, we'll do it." I say, "We'll drink cheap beer, ride the rollercoaster till we puke, and we'll ride horses on the beach… right in the surf." He smiles brightly, "But you have to ride like a real cowboy. None of that side-saddle stuff." I admonish.
"You mean… one leg on each side?" he looks scandalized, and I nod. "Can you teach me?" he asks, embarrassed.
"Sure. If you like."
"Teach me to ride like a man." He says in an American accent.
"And shoot tobacco like a man." I say, doing my best southerner voice.
"And… spit like a man!" he laughs.
"You mean they didn't teach you that in finishing school?" I joke.
"No…"
"Well, come on. I'll show you." I lead him up, pulling him gently by the hand, ignoring his protests of "No, Light! I couldn't possibly…"
We reach a good deserted place, and I release his hand.
"Here, it's easy." I spit and he watches, disgusted, as it arcs out over the water.
"Ugh… that's gross."
I laugh at the look on his face, placing my hand at the small of his back to push him forward. "Your turn." I tell him, chuckling as he looks around to see if there's any witnesses before screwing up his mouth and spitting, a pathetic little bit of foamy spittle which mostly runs down his chin before falling off into the water.
"That was pitiful… Here, like this… you hock it up…" I do so as I explain, "… then, roll it on your tongue, up to the front, like thith, then a big breath, and- You see the range on that thing?"
He nods, face as serious as if he were studying maths. He goes through the steps, with me coaching him along, and finally he spits.
"Much better. You'll get it."
He turns to me, his face alight for a moment before he blanches. I see his expression and turn to see an older woman that looked almost exactly like L followed by a few more women. L instantly changes, back to the composed, blank façade I'd broken.
"Mother, may I introduce Light Yagami." he says in a careful monotone.
"Charmed, I'm sure." the woman says, looking me up and down, judging me.
"Well, Light, it sounds like you're a good man to have around in a sticky situation." Mrs. Amane says after L tells them I pulled him back.
We all jump suddenly as a bugler sounds the meal call right behind us.
"Why must they always insist on announcing dinner like a damn cavalry charge?" Mrs. Amane exasperates, and L laughs, looking at his mother with a fake smile.
"Shall we go dress mother?" he asks, and as they walk away, he turns to give me a small smile, "See you at dinner, Light."
"Liam, look at you… out in the sun with no hat. Honestly!" I hear his mother scold him as they continue towards their rooms.
"Hon, do you have the slightest comprehension of what you're doing?" Mrs. Amane asks me.
"No, not really." I say honestly, smiling."
"Well you're about to go into the snake pit. Tell me, what are planning to wear?"
I look down at my clothes and back up to her. I hadn't thought about that.
"I figured." she smiles, "Come on."
…
I got a panda tobogan for christmas :)