[It matters all the more, this far in. Mello's going to be on the floor when this amount of liquor inevitably snowballs in his system.
L's not sure what's appropriate to interject, here, if anything at all. A reassurance? That he is that person, perhaps, though he's not? Should he take it as a threat, that someone who has spent his life clawing smooth marble to ascend has realized that he can just topple the statue? Is an apology in order, for that perception, for everything...?]
Children's minds are powerful.
[He corrects Mello quietly.]
They're adaptive, flexible, and passionate. They are piercingly insightful and feel emotions in their rawest forms. Only their motivations are actually simple, because a child's only real job is to grow up.
[Always. Except for L, whose motivation remains simple in even the most complex games. Win. If that was all Mello wanted, too, it could spare him so much pain. But with L as the hazily-defined conquest, what does winning even mean?]
You made it, didn't you? You chose a path and found your own way. After you forfeited the title to Near, you shouldn't have thought about it, or me, ever again.
no subject
L's not sure what's appropriate to interject, here, if anything at all. A reassurance? That he is that person, perhaps, though he's not? Should he take it as a threat, that someone who has spent his life clawing smooth marble to ascend has realized that he can just topple the statue? Is an apology in order, for that perception, for everything...?]
Children's minds are powerful.
[He corrects Mello quietly.]
They're adaptive, flexible, and passionate. They are piercingly insightful and feel emotions in their rawest forms. Only their motivations are actually simple, because a child's only real job is to grow up.
[Always. Except for L, whose motivation remains simple in even the most complex games. Win. If that was all Mello wanted, too, it could spare him so much pain. But with L as the hazily-defined conquest, what does winning even mean?]
You made it, didn't you? You chose a path and found your own way. After you forfeited the title to Near, you shouldn't have thought about it, or me, ever again.