savetheearth | Entry #A-15: "Accomplishments" [Video]

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Entry #A-15: "Accomplishments" [Video]

[Lazarus' number is written on a blackboard with a piece of chalk, opening a connection to the network. Dim light streams in through the high, dusty windows, falling on broken-down desks in a decrepit, once-grand lecture hall. A broom leans in the corner, along with several trash bags; Lazarus himself is wearing crummy clothes and more than a little breathless and sweaty. You would be too, if you'd been working on solo renovations for hours.]

If any of you are familiar with the building that was formerly the Willow Ridge Boarding Academy in Locke City... like back in the 1970's... it's ours now. It was briefly a linen processing facility but it wound up being foreclosed on when the company went bankrupt, so I went ahead and bought it from the bank. Under a different name, of course.

[He takes a second to shrug out of his sweater, draping it across one of the desks.]

The building's big, with a spacious basement. I want to move Project Jump as soon as possible to this new location, since both I and Espresso Yourself are too well-known at this point and I don't think it's safe for it to remain. I can rent a truck but the more discreet the move is, the better. It has to happen very soon. In the meantime... I'm going to continue to work on renovations. Security. Furnishing accommodations... on that note, if anyone has any computer monitors, servers or any other equipment they're willing to sell or donate, I'm more than interested.

[He returns to what he was doing before he opened the connection, which is, apparently, using an axe to break apart unsalvageable desks and bagging up the resulting debris to clear some space.]

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I think I'd better, before this conversation gets any more Freudian.

My finger slipped once. If you don't come soon I'll probably be too tired to finish, so it would be for the best.

I would hate to keep you waiting like that.

Do you need me to tell you where to go? Or do you think you can handle finding it on your own?

It's been a while, some direction couldn't hurt.

[No possible way this can be taken out of context.]

Assuming you're at home, you want to head south. There's a trail that makes for a decent shortcut, and when you see a pretty imposing but neglected structure, you've definitely arrived.

I'll keep that in mind.

And how about some directions to the building you're in?

I wasn't clear enough?

Never mind. I'm sure I can find it.
See you soon.

[Stupid, stupid, stupid. L's reread the conversation a few times and something about the way it progressed puts him severely off-kilter. He's anxious and feels too warm, despite already being down to his undershirt; admittedly, his body is cold and only his cheeks really feel like they're burning up. Maybe he has a fever. He could be dehydrated... he should have asked Richard to bring him something to drink. He could wrap his mouth around something refreshing right about now.

He shakes his head in an attempt to clear it, continuing to hammer up drywall against the crumbling plaster of a classroom after tearing down some climbing ivy that's poked its way indoors. The sound of L's concentrated effort is doubtless plenty to betray his location.]

Edited 2014-11-09 01:07 (UTC)

[Richard had, of course, been doing that entirely on purpose.

It doesn't take him long to get there and if L isn't in a position to hear the car pulling up and the door being closed when he gets out, he doesn't make much of an attempt to disguise his entrance into the building either.

He does hear the noise, making his way towards it but calling out ahead. If L has taped a circular saw to himself again, Richard doesn't want to be in a position to startle him.]

L?! 'S just me!

[Even though he was expecting such an announcement and is, by this point, extremely familiar with the sound of Richard's voice, he's still startled, likely as a result of the ball of nerves sitting tightly in his stomach. The hammer slips just enough to catch him at the tip of his thumb, and while nothing's broken, it hurts. He curses under his breath and his thumb instinctively goes to his mouth.]

Here!

[He tries to keep the residual pain out of his voice as he answers Richard, tossing aside the hammer with distaste... glad for one that he's not dealing with a circular saw today. To his credit, he's kept his promise to Richard not to use one alone again.]

[It doesn't take him long to find L, one eyebrow lifting up when he finds him nursing his thumb. He hadn't heard him drop anything and nor had he heard any exclamation of pain, so he doesn't worry too much, but there's still a smile that's half amusement and half concern.]

Didn't startle ya, did I?

It's not that. I'm just incredibly clumsy.

[Kind of a lame excuse, and while it's technically always been true, L is a cautious person, and anyone who knows him is aware he's not exactly a walking slapstick routine.]

I've been at this for awhile and even with two workings hands, I'm bound to lack coordination sporadically.

If you say so.

[A shrug, the throwaway statement making it clear enough that he knows it's not entirely true, but he's not going to start an argument about it.]

Where do you want me?

[He kneels to retrieve the hammer. He's so exhausted that it's only when he bends at the knee that he realizes it'll be kind of difficult to rise again. The temptation is strong to sink lower, to let his stomach and chest and cheek rest on the dusty floor for just a few minutes.

He clenches his teeth, plants his heel firmly against the substrate, and ensures that he is able to stand again. For at least a little while longer, he'll be productive... but he hasn't really thought of a specific task to assign Richard. He's one half-mad genius with an old school and an ambitious plan, not an experienced foreman.]

...I'll think of a position that works. I confess I'm not really prepared, so...

[He turns the hammer over in his hand, offering it to Richard handle-first.]

We'll be nailing drywall up against the plaster. It's been a little rough and uneven so far, but don't be afraid to use a firm touch. Like... bang hard to make sure it goes in all the way.

[He'd have to be blind not to see that exhaustion, but he decides against pointing it out. If this is something that L has to do, who is he to speak against it unless it seems he's actually hurting himself?

Richard takes the hammer, idly tapping the head against his palm while he listens and wonders if L is doing this on purpose or not.]

Can't say I'm too experienced with drywall. [He chooses 'not'.] But I'll follow your lead.

[When L has to do something, he tends to work like a man possessed. It's best not to disturb him unless his life depends on it... which, to be fair, is a total possibility given his track record for taking decent care of himself.

As for whether or not it's on purpose, that's anyone's guess... Though in all fairness, L looks like his mind is very far from intimacy at the moment, wholly focused on the monstrous project he has saddled himself with.]

I wasn't, either, but it's fairly self-explanatory. The plaster's deteriorating in some of the classrooms, so it's really better to target those.

[He heads off in that direction, calling over his shoulder.]

I started reading your book. But I don't know, yet, what kind of school you went to. I didn't get that far.

You did?

[People have, and do, and it is occasionally that he comes across people who recognise him. For something like that to come from someone who already knows him is different. A little strange.]

My school wasn't anythin' special, but they weren't very well equipped to deal with a willful teenage boy who really didn't want to be there.

[He glances around, then follows after L.]

They ended up kickin' me out.

[L and Richard know each other, and there is mutual respect there... but kind of respect that honors boundaries, rather than calling bullshit and kicking them over for the greater good. L knows that he can rely on Richard to leave him alone when he asks, that he can in fact rely on Richard to do or bring anything he asks for. The problem is that L doesn't like to ask for things, and his moments of greatest need tend to also be his most silent. Richard helps him, and Richard is his friend, but those boundaries remain in a lot of ways. Reading Richard's book is a way to get to know the Richard the public is familiar with, a good starting point to understanding where those boundaries could someday begin and end. So far, he's still very uncertain.

His pace is brisk as he heads into a classroom, which is one of the worst ones. It smells like mold and bleach, the latter scent largely overwhelming the first. It's easy to see why this kind of work would appeal to the cleanliness-obsessed detective; he is literally healing the rot and decay that horrifies and disgusts him with abrasive chemicals that are harsh, and therefore effective.]

This has dried out well. I think the drywall can definitely go up today.

[He stifles a cough into his sleeve; unsurprisingly, he's given little thought to toxic mold, bleach inhalation, or proper ventilation. There isn't a filter mask in sight.]

...so, then you went to a different school? No school at all?

[He starts lining up the panels; he's interested, but single-minded. This project has become his work, religion and lover all in one.]

Don't know if they coulda found a school to take me.

[He says it as a matter of fact. It was something that L would find out when he read further, anyway, and his having asked that gives Richard a good gauge of exactly how far he's got.]

Parents kicked me out when I was sixteen, anyways.

[That, too, is a simple fact. It hardly bothers him anymore. Looking back on it, he knows why they did it, even if he could never really agree with the route they took.

They'd never expected him to run off to Texas.]

After that, it was just me.

There's always a school to take troubled kids. That's the plan for this one, you know... when we don't need it anymore, I want it to be a real school again, the kind that would enroll the kids who everyone else has given up on.

[He leans a cheek against the drywall, as if listening for a pulse, before turning and positioning a nail against the smooth white surface.]

Texas is an interesting choice. Probably not the first one I'd make if I was leaving, especially if I knew I'd be alone.

Seemed like a good place t' get lost in. I wasn't really plannin' on ever coming back.

[He watches L a few moments longer before he steps forwards to join him, picking up a piece of the drywall.]

I was stupid. 'S mostly all there is to it.

Just being stupid doesn't make for a very interesting story, and if you wrote about it in a book, there has to be more to it.

[He moves aside, making room for Richard.]

Careful. There's a lot of dust that gets stirred up when we do this, but I don't have any masks.

Maybe I prefer to downplay it so I don't gotta talk about it too much.

[It's not too difficult to nail up piece of drywall, but he nods to the very valid warning.]

Gotcha. I'll try not to breathe in.

Entry #A-15: "Accomplishments" [Video]

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