savetheearth | Backdated to Tuesday

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Backdated to Tuesday

Who: Bakura, Belle and L.
When: After school Tuesday (1/21)
Where: Belle's office
What: Bakura begrudgingly goes to his rescheduled therapy appointment after ditching Monday, only to have that guy he nearly punched out show up and send things into a tailspin.

Bakura did not want to be in that office. He was in a bad mood to start with, something that was only being amplified by his utter disdain for the therapy he always was forced into.

Arms crossed, he sulked into the chair, not looking at anything but glaring all the same.

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Bakura was not, by far, the only one who didn't feel like being in Belle's office today. That morning had been spent going around in circles with her insurance company about her stolen car and how much, if anything, she might be entitled to if it was not recovered and returned.

An overly-long bus ride to work had found her in perfectly dour spirits when she'd arrived, but she was, nonetheless, offering Bakura her usual patience.

"I appreciate your coming in today. I know there's likely an endless list of places you'd rather be."

L was not supposed to be there, and he knew it. Belle was no longer even supposed to be seeing him as a patient, but following the events of the last 48 hours, running off in the middle of the night to play detective (even when he was anything but playing, and actually somewhat successful) warranted, perhaps, a bit more than a simple apology. Belle had lost her cell phone and her car, and L's situation, despite the success of his mission, felt more precarious than ever.

He slipped easily past the reception desk, a small, broken-off piece of cheese in his palm. The hour was almost up, and a grand gesture was in order when the final hour of Belle's day was up. Opening the door of the hall's janitor closet, he took in the heavy scent of cleaning supplies to take his mind of the non-kosher morsel he was holding, waiting for Belle to leave her office. Since she hadn't had a scheduled appointment when he'd last poked at her patient ledger, it would likely (and ideally) be alone.

Except, unfortunately, she HAD scheduled an appointment. And said appointment was being the same as he'd been in his previous session as he stonewalled every attempt she made to be civil.

Ordinarily, it wouldn't faze her. Today, it, coupled with everything else she was still processing in the last span of hours, was bringing on a headache that grew in it's intensity until it drove her from her seat. "I apologize, Bakura, I'll be just a minute..."

With those parting words, she slipped into the hallway to rub at her temples as she hurriedly walked in the direction of Dr. Briar's office. It was teasingly referred to by the others as The Honeypot, as it was home to a continually-stocked bowl of candy and a large jar of aspirin that were freely offered to everyone in the mental health wing of the plaza. It was the latter of these she intended to borrow from...

Edited 2014-01-23 04:11 (UTC)

When she emerged and started walking, the irrationality of L's plan started to surface in his mind. It had seemed like a good idea, to show up and demonstrate progress she'd been working for, but before she knew what he was on about, if she was still angry, she could call security.

A relatively simple solution presented itself, and he opened the door, wrapping an arm around her narrow shoulders and pulling her into the closet with him.

"There's something I need to show you," he professed earnestly, staring at her under the closet's buzzing, dim fluorescent light.

Belle made a strange noise as she was hooked into the closet and found herself, very suddenly, in cramped quarters with her tenant-in-passing. Immediately, she moved to reclaim personal space as she flattened herself against the wall, a hand reaching for the doorknob.

"Lazarus," she said sternly. L breaching boundaries was not a problem that they ran into much, as he was very protective of his own privacy and did not want others getting too close. But there were those times he was clearly out of line...and in those events, she forcibly reverted him back to his birthname name to establish no question of her dislike. "we've discussed your coming here."

He bristled at the use of his birth name, moving to block the door with his wiry frame. L was only here in the first place because he was determined, and folding under the first round of scolding was not part of the plan.

"I know, I know, but yesterday went badly. I wasn't wrong, I solved the case, but you were still put-out and you lost your car, and I thought of a way to make it up to you. You have to see, I know you have time. I saw your ledger? No one's even here with you. So you have to see."

He held out the bit of cheese meaningfully, then deliberately put it in his mouth.

He'd read her ledger...? So much for two adults minding their own business under the same roof.

"Unfortunately, it wasn't entirely accurate." she told him, making an effort of keeping her voice level. "And I am with a patient at the moment, so I'll need--"

She was given pause as she watched the cheese disappear into his mouth, finding that her curiosity had won out over the need to explain as she watched him, awaiting the results.

It wasn't so bad at first. The cheese was heavy on his tongue, the memory of the label so far outside of his comfort zone standing out vividly in his mind. His breathing stopped, and he positioned it between two back molars.

They pressed together slowly, dividing the buttery morsel into two melting pieces, the slight sourness of fermentation triggering L's gag reflex.

He couldn't do it.

He dropped to his knees, grasping for a bucket, all his rational resolutions suddenly meaningless as utter disgust wholly overwhelmed him.

....well. That really WAS impressive. Entirely not in the way he'd meant it to be, certainly, but all the same...

Belle steeled herself, looking away as she attempted to ignore the sights and sounds of L retching into the mop bucket so that she wouldn't follow suit in becoming sick.

Goddamn psycho.

His heart pounded in his ears, but it didn't drown out the sneering, taunting, sinking sound of failure.

Spitting weakly, he shoved the bucket aside, reaching blithely for the nearest bottle of cleaning fluid to fill his mouth with.

She looked back just in time to see him, seemingly, about to gargle with Virex. He couldn't possibly be serious... ....except clearly he was. She immediately moved to intervene.

"There's a water fountain down the hall.." she assured him.

He clung to the Virex bottle, only letting it go extremely reluctantly, hands starting to tremble as soon as they were empty.

Nodding, he pulled himself to his feet, pushing open the door.

"Damned right there are. Only here because Grandma insisted," Bakura returned sourly. "Fucking waste of time..."

Just a minute, huh? Normally, Bakura wouldn't care. Whatever, he could just dick around on his phone, but with his mood as bad as it was, this just seemed insult to injury. The hell was taking so long?! Maybe he should send Diabound to-- no. He wasn't going to call Diabound out for something as stupid as this. This, he could handle.

Muttering darkly under his breath in Egyptian, he pulled open the door, only to spot a familiar figure shuffling down the hall.

That little bastard....

Rationally and logically, Bakura knew that getting into a fight in a therapist's office was a bad idea. But rationality and logic had no place at that moment. L had won the last round. If that little asshole thought he was going to win another...

"I spoke with her a bit while rescheduling you. She seems like a nice person." If a little strange, Belle thought. She had not directly said anything off, but she had emphasized several times that Bakura was very special. To the point it became a bit uncomfortable.

"Of course she's nice," Bakura returned with a glare. "She's my grandmother."

There was a very strong tone to the word that was almost a warning. Over protective of his family? Especially with his Grandmother all but sparkling over everything with the numbers club now that she knew?

His eyes narrowed slightly. If Newbie had put two and two together....

Though L found the boy amusing and had written about him extensively in his own meticulous personal notes, Bakura was, at present, far from his thoughts. He had just suffered a pretty devastating blow to his ego, after all, approaching his therapist in a forbidden place to prove that his therapy was working and having it backfire horribly. He might have acted as a great detective the day before, but he was still Lazarus Lawliet, and the considerable problems plaguing him still existed.

A flash of white out of the corner of his eye caught his attention, and he glanced over at the displeased young man. "Oh, it's you," he said flatly, pressing his foot against the watering fountain's pedal and watching the stream run. His mouth tasted rancid, but he still refused to put his lips anywhere near a public fountain until it had run for at least a minute. "Did you have a good session?"

Edited 2014-01-23 20:06 (UTC)

Fortunately, Belle had explored so little of the network, and what earmarked someone to likely have access to it, that she had not yet reached the point of speculating who might or might not be on it with her.

Even if she HAD known, it was not her place to come out and ask during a session.

"Not all of them are. You're very fortunate to have someone who cares for you so much."

"Look, I'll save you the trouble. My grandparents are the world to me, I don't need you telling me to appreciate them," Bakura pointed out, tone sharp.

"That much was clear without you needing to tell me." she replied. "I'd only meant that it's a nice thing to see." The fact he had healthy family ties was encouraging, really...it meant it was less likely that his behavior at school was due to abuse or neglect from home.

"Wouldn't know, it's not over yet," was the cold reply. "The hell are you doing here?"

Bakura shifted in his chair, shifting his crossed arms to sulk a bit deeper into his cranky slouch. "Then why the fuck did you bring it up? Small talk?"

"She didn't seem to have anyone scheduled. I came to show her I could eat cheese," L said, completely free of irony. "Why are you here? Her ledger said you were supposed to see her yesterday. Broken appointment emergency, or...?"

His thumb drummed against the water fountain, counting the seconds.

There was almost a visual twitch. "Her ledger, huh? The hell were you doing with that? Let me guess, that's how you figured out who she was? Saw my name and went along with playing like you were guessing?" The teen's tone grew harsher as he continued, fists clenching at his sides as his eyes narrowed. "What other papers do you have your fucked up fingers in?!"

"Is there something you'd prefer to talk about instead?" she asked, inviting him to change the subject if this one wasn't to his liking.

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Backdated to Tuesday

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After the Appointment

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[Action] Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

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You tagging into the other thread?

Not until L and Bakura get into it with each other.

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