[There's something careful and measured about the way L continues to regard Mello, as though trying to gauge the threat level with his considerably slowed reactions. The verdict he reaches is that the threat is at least not imminent, and it doesn't come with a change in posture, a slackening, the release of held breath.
It's just a quiet answer, one word, something anyone not close enough could mistake for him clearing his throat.]
Gin.
[No tonic, no soda or juice. Clear as it is, it still looks thicker and heavier than water in the leaded glass on the bar. L stopped trying to enjoy alcohol a long time ago, preferring to treat it as a masochistic purifying ritual rather than a hedonistic or relaxing indulgence. L has indulgent rituals, certainly, but they tend to pull him back in time, gorging on cookies or curling up around a mug of hot cocoa and marshmallows, prodding with his tongue at a sore and ominous dark spot on a back tooth and summarily ignoring it.
The vices of adulthood, contrarily, conversely, disgust him. When he partakes, it necessarily means paying some kind of personal penance. Cheap and burning liquor, sex partners who will bring more trouble than pleasure, a job that's as dangerous as it is exciting.]
no subject
It's just a quiet answer, one word, something anyone not close enough could mistake for him clearing his throat.]
Gin.
[No tonic, no soda or juice. Clear as it is, it still looks thicker and heavier than water in the leaded glass on the bar. L stopped trying to enjoy alcohol a long time ago, preferring to treat it as a masochistic purifying ritual rather than a hedonistic or relaxing indulgence. L has indulgent rituals, certainly, but they tend to pull him back in time, gorging on cookies or curling up around a mug of hot cocoa and marshmallows, prodding with his tongue at a sore and ominous dark spot on a back tooth and summarily ignoring it.
The vices of adulthood, contrarily, conversely, disgust him. When he partakes, it necessarily means paying some kind of personal penance. Cheap and burning liquor, sex partners who will bring more trouble than pleasure, a job that's as dangerous as it is exciting.]