Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Nov 27, 2021 1:31:48 GMT -5
“Please… make it a harmless lie,” Orpheus said after a long moment, eyes wide. “I don’t think Mr. Hermes likes being lied to very much, and although he’s really really nice, I don’t think it would make a good first impression if you lie to him about something hurtful at first. Not… that I think you would immediately do that, but I just… don’t want you to get in trouble. I… I like you from what I’ve seen of you, and I wouldn’t want Mr. Hermes to disagree with me. I don’t want him to get the wrong impression just so you can see whether or not he’s psychic.” The worry in his tone was evident, though he tried to hide it. He didn’t want to sound overbearing or like he was telling L what to do, it was just… he respected Mr. Hermes’ opinion, and he really wanted Mr. Hermes to like L, too. He wasn’t sure why, when he wasn’t entirely certain that this was going to work, but he was fairly certain it was even less likely to work if Mr. Hermes didn’t like L much.
“Oh,” he replied, grateful for another topic to jump to. “Is there a room we can stay in? I don’t need much. I mean… I used to sleep in a sleeping bag on the floor sometimes, so if there’s an empty corner of a room that nobody else needs, that’s… enough for me.”
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Nov 28, 2021 2:41:45 GMT -5
L hesitated, blinking at the warning, then slightly adjusted what he was learning about Orpheus. It wasn’t that he hadn’t expected it…it was just that he didn’t have any expectations, and so everything was a surprise. He felt a little bit bitter towards Watari for not giving him more information.
He didn’t think Orpheus was trying to stop him, though. He was just pointing out something to keep in mind. Which was helpful. L considered the warning for a long moment, then gave a small nod and let it drop. If Orpheus was a bad liar, then telling him the plan was out. All Mr. Hermes would have to do was ask.
“I know where you’re supposed to sleep,” he replied, giving a quick nod. “I can show you if you want to see. I think…”
He moved forward, pushing past Orpheus to peer out at Watari and Mr. Hermes again. He couldn’t hear them, but they seemed content to keep talking to each other, and they didn’t seem to show any signs of tiring.
“We can hear them through the vent upstairs,” he finished, though it was hard to tell if that’s what he’d been planning to say.
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Nov 28, 2021 2:54:26 GMT -5
Orpheus wasn’t going to tell Mr. Hermes that L was planning anything, but he would have agreed it was a smart idea that he be kept out of the actual planning. If Mr. Hermes were to ask him anything at all about it, he would tell the truth, or he would prove his point by being a really bad liar. Mr. Hermes would catch on, and then there wouldn’t be any point in L going through with his plan. It was probably dangerous enough that Orpheus knew L had a plan to lie to Mr. Hermes. At least the two of them weren’t close enough yet that Mr. Hermes would expect that Orpheus knew anything about it. They had just met. Why would L let Orpheus in on any plots? That was at least how Orpheus hoped Mr. Hermes would see it.
“That sounds… that sounds nice,” Orpheus replied, voice squeaky as he was pulled away from his thoughts. It was probably a good thing – he probably could have sat with them for a very long time, trying to figure out how to help L lie to Mr. Hermes without him getting in trouble and without Orpheus giving it away beforehand. He had never actually tried to hide anything from Mr. Hermes. He had a feeling that he wouldn’t be very good at it.
“Do… you do a lot of listening to people around the house when you’re not in the same room?” Orpheus asked, tone genuine and untouched by judgement. He wasn’t sure what to think about it, but it was something interesting that L did, and Orpheus knew people liked to talk about their habits and the discoveries they had made. Hopefully this counted.
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Nov 30, 2021 0:31:30 GMT -5
L wasn’t too worried about Orpheus knowing what he planned to do. It would be hard for Hermes to ask the right question to make that a problem, he figured, and this was a relatively unimportant secret. He hadn’t planned it that way, but if Orpheus betrayed him now, he’d know not to trust him with anything later. If he didn’t tell Hermes, that would mean L could keep testing to see if he really was trustworthy or not. There wasn’t really a way he could see for this to backfire on him. He was bound to learn something about someone no matter what happened.
“Yes,” he replied, nodding a little at the question. “But usually it’s just Watari and his old friends. Other people don’t stay here very much, but if you know how the vents work you can use them for almost any room.”
He didn’t feel any need to hide that. He wanted to listen to them, so he found a way. It didn’t occur to him to feel guilty for it, or even to worry that Orpheus wouldn’t approve. It eas just the way things were.
He didn’t plan to mention the hacking yet, though. He wanted to hack Hermes first, before Orpheus had any chance of warning the other newcomer. A lie he could slip in anywhere, and he’d need to do several tests anyway to see if he could get away with it for sure, but he could be stopped from hacking, so it was more important to hide it.
“Come on, we need to go around the other way so they don’t see us. Otherwise Watari might get suspicious,” he added, and turned, moving towards the stairs that rested out of Hermes and Watari’s line of sight.
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Nov 30, 2021 3:32:28 GMT -5
“I’ve never eavesdropped on anyone before on purpose,” Orpheus admitted, cheeks reddening as he looked at L. He didn’t think it was wrong, and it wasn’t like he was going to stop L from doing it, he was just worried about doing it right himself. He didn’t want to make a fool of himself in front of the person he was going to be living with for the next… however long. The thing was, he also didn’t want to do anything that would get him in trouble with either Watari or Mr. Hermes. He had never exactly been told that eavesdropping was wrong, but if others were having a conversation that was meant to be private… he pushed the thought away. They could hear the conversation from where they were if they strained their ears just a little bit, so it wasn’t like Mr. Hermes or Watari were meaning to make their conversation a big secret. Eavesdropping now wouldn’t do any harm at all.
“Does Watari get suspicious a lot?” Orpheus asked, trying to keep his voice down as he followed L up the stairs. He didn’t really know what to do with adults that were suspicious. Maybe it was because Orpheus tried not to get into any trouble at all (and usually failed, on account of always wanting to help people), but he had never seen Mr. Hermes suspicious of him. If he did something wrong, he usually admitted to it almost right away. If he didn’t, it was like the guilt ate him up inside.
He cast a quick glance back at the adults, then followed L before he could be spotted. Even though he wasn’t sure how to feel about it, he couldn’t help the tiny spike of excitement that rose in his chest at the thought of doing something that wasn’t technically allowed.
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Nov 30, 2021 3:59:35 GMT -5
“Never?” L repeated, glancing back at Orpheus for a moment to give him an inquisitive look. He couldn’t imagine knowing there was a conversation happening without wanting to know what was being said. Even outside, he wanted to wander around the store or the mall or the playground, and figure out what all the people there were doing. It was probably a good thing he didn’t have his own phone, or he may have taken up hacking outside his room as well. At the moment, he had to do it only when he had access to a computer. At least it didn’t have to be his computer…
It didn’t occur to him to wonder whether Orpheus might be in trouble. He was careful not to get caught, and it wasn’t as though he minded being in trouble as long as he got to listen in first. Besides, though he wouldn’t have admitted it even to himself, maybe he was trying to include Orpheus the only real way he knew how. This was what he liked to do with his time…he hadn’t yet realized that other people didn’t always halve the same definition of fun that he did.
“Not all the time,” he whispered back, climbing the stairs as quickly and quietly as he could, which ended up being a sort of odd scramble, made more awkward as he tried to skip certain steps. “But he’s really good at knowing what I’m doing. And it’s hard to trick him. You can’t lie to him ever. He’ll just know if you do.”
At the top of the stairs, he straightened up, glancing back at Orpheus for a second before he took off at a soft run down the hall. “This way!”
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Nov 30, 2021 4:15:38 GMT -5
Orpheus nodded, frowning just a little bit as he raced up the stairs after L. He wanted to be part of what L enjoyed doing, and he was grateful that he was willing to include him, but he had a feeling that eavesdropping was the kind of thing that you could mess up easily. He didn’t want to get L in trouble, especially if L did it enough that he didn’t get caught. Unless he did get caught and Watari just hadn’t thought up a way to block the vent system. Orpheus decided not to bring that point up. He didn’t want L to think he was trying to find a way to stop him. And it wasn’t like he was going to make the suggestion to Watari. It was just… something he would do if he was Watari and was annoyed that L was spying on him.
“What if I do it wrong?” Orpheus hissed, eyes wide. “I don’t… I don’t even know if it’s possible to do it wrong, but what if I do and then we both get caught because of me?” It wasn’t that he didn’t want to do it, he just… wanted L to be aware just how new at this he was. Just how uncertain, because he wasn’t so much worried about getting caught as he was worried about ruining this for L. “I don’t want to make it harder for you to do it again later. Especially since I don’t think you would do it unless you liked it. It seems… like a lot of effort if you didn’t actually enjoy doing it.”
He was rambling now, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself. He was worried L would get annoyed and snap at him to shut up, but so far that hadn’t happened. He wasn’t nearly as quiet climbing the stairs as L was, but he was quieter than he would have been if he weren’t making an effort to try to be quiet. It was the kind of thing that was clearly going to take some practice, but Orpheus was giving it his best shot even without.
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Dec 2, 2021 14:40:13 GMT -5
L was used to the risk of being caught. Watari had caught him listening in before, and had tried to dissuade him, but that had only made L determined to get better at it. If he avoided being caught, no one could try to stop him, and he was far too curious to give up on his own. Maybe, if he knew for sure the adults would tell him everything, he would lose interest in the game, but they were adults, and all adults had secrets. That was something every child knew deep down, he assumed.
“Shh,” he tossed over his shoulder, but there was nothing angry or forceful about it. He doubted they could be heard very easily, especially if the adults were distracted, but he wanted to get something before they were caught. “Don’t worry so much. You can’t do it wrong, you just listen, and that’s not a thing you do, it’s a thing you don’t do. Or…you do listen, but…but you can’t mess it up because it’s just something you do nothing to do. Except think. But you can’t mess up thinking unless you get distracted and forget to pay attention. But that won’t matter because I’ll be listening and I can tell you everything afterwards.”
He hesitated, something traveling swiftly through his gaze as he glanced back at Orpheus. “But don’t sneeze.”
That done, he hurried forwards again. He wasn’t too worried about being caught. It had happened plenty of times before, and it was worth the risk, especially because he couldn’t assume anything Watari knew would be kept from Mr. Hermes, and he thought he would be able to tell how well they knew each other by how they talked to each other, and maybe if they knew each other well, they would tell each other secrets, and L would hear them.
The vent wasn’t far. L slowed as he approached it, taking care to move silently, even though regular footsteps probably wouldn’t have been heard either. Better safe than sorry, and Orpheus had been loud on the stairs. He felt he should exaggerate the need for quiet so he would understand.
“You can whisper, but don’t yell,” he whispered to Orpheus, glancing back to wave him forwards as he crouched next to the vent.
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Dec 7, 2021 2:24:24 GMT -5
“Oh!” Orpheus whispered, eyes widening as he was shushed. He understood it, of course. They weren’t supposed to get caught, and if Orpheus spoke too loud, then they might get caught. Orpheus didn’t know how well sound carried here – he should probably start paying attention to that, so he could figure out when and where he would be allowed to practice music – but he trusted L’s knowledge of the place. If his voice could carry from here to where Watari and Mr. Hermes were, then he needed to be extra quiet. Maybe he would ask L where in the house sound carried the least. Where he could practice without bothering anyone. He knew that would be an issue here – if he played somewhere public, then he would be disturbing L and Watari. Mr. Hermes never minded the music, but that didn’t mean that everyone would be equally ambivalent about it. The last thing Orpheus wanted to do was to make an enemy of L and Watari just because he didn’t know where to play without being a bother. Especially given his tendency to practice after midnight when his mind wouldn’t shut off. It wasn’t like he could control when he had ideas.
“Sometimes paying attention is hard,” Orpheus replied quietly, a tiny smile touching his lips. “I mean… my mind jumps to different things and sometimes whole hours pass before I realize that what I was supposed to be paying attention to hasn’t… been paid attention to. Especially like. Schoolwork and stuff. I’m really bad at remembering to do that. But… this isn’t school, so… maybe I’ll have better luck.”
He shut his mouth then, turning his attention back towards L and approaching the vent. He was extra careful to be quiet as he approached, worried that his footsteps would be heard through the vent. Wasn’t that the issue? That the vent could bring sound in both directions? He didn’t want to ruin this, and though he was grateful that L seemed to believe that he couldn’t get it wrong…. He had a feeling he could still mess it up if he wasn’t careful. Finally, Orpheus made it over to the vent, crouching down as quietly as he possibly could. He nodded as he looked at L, almost too nervous to breathe in case the sound carried.
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Dec 26, 2021 20:40:05 GMT -5
L was pleased to discover Orpheus was willing to follow his lead. It wasn’t that he thought he was automatically better at this, exactly, but he was more practiced at it, and some people were weird about being told what to do.
“Paying attention can be hard,” he agreed in a whisper, settling into a comfortable crouch at the vent. “But only sometimes. This usually isn’t hard. It’s just other things that can be. But it’s okay if this hard for you to pay attention too, you can get distracted and I’ll tell you later.”
He shifted, trying to get as close to the vent as he could without quite touching it, which could send noise traveling down it.
“Is Mr. Hermes friends with Watari?” He asked after a long moment, keeping his voice as soft as possible. He had tested how loud he could be, but it was still better to be safe than sorry, especially because Mr. Hermes might not have figured out the vents yet. Watari had said Mr. Hermes was a friend, but L knew friendships didn’t always go both ways, and Orpheus probably knew Mr. Hermes well enough to tell.
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Dec 27, 2021 2:33:07 GMT -5
Orpheus had difficulty paying attention when he wasn’t interested in something, but he was interested in this. The only thing he was worried about was letting L down, somehow. He had a feeling that was a very real possibility, if only because L seemed very specific about what he was doing, and Orpheus didn’t have much experience breaking rules. He had always told Mr. Hermes that if he didn’t think a rule was fair, he wouldn’t hesitate to break it, but all of Mr. Hermes’ rules had been fair to date. He didn’t seem to have the same rebellious streak that L did, and he was afraid his new housemate would think less of him for it. He didn’t want to drag L down, but he didn’t want to become the kind of person who just broke rules for the hell of it.
“Yes,” Orpheus whispered, giving a small nod. “I mean… I had only heard of him once or twice before he told me we were moving here, but that’s not very surprising. Mr. Hermes has a lot of friends because he travels so much. I don’t know most of them because he’s not allowed to take me everywhere he goes, even if he wishes he could.”
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Jan 1, 2022 0:13:06 GMT -5
L didn’t know if he was rebellious or not. He had a feeling he wasn’t, really, because rebellious people always seemed to break rules just because they wanted to prove they could.
L broke rules because he wanted to see if he could. And because he didn’t see the purpose of most of them, in the first place. And because he liked doing things he had been told not to do, though he didn’t exactly know why. He didn’t like being told not to do things, any more than he liked being told to do them.
And sometimes, he just wanted to do things, and he didn’t mind that he wasn’t supposed to.
“Legal custody,” L whispered back, nodding a little. He thought he understood what Orpheus meant. Mostly because he knew Watari had been forced to struggle to gain legal custody of him. He didn’t understand why, but he knew it made moving around difficult.
“Watari doesn’t have very many friends,” he added, narrowing his eyes at the vent and leaning a tiny bit closer to it. “He doesn’t travel very much anymore.”
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Jan 14, 2022 1:49:40 GMT -5
Orpheus had always believed that rule breakers by definition were rebellious, regardless of the motivation behind their rule breaking. He had never really broken any rules, though. Mr. Hermes had always set up fair rules, so Orpheus had followed them. He had been allowed to contest any rules he didn’t agree with, though those were few and far between. Orpheus knew that Mr. Hermes was much less strict than most parents, though he didn’t know which side of the line Watari was on.
“Oh,” Orpheus replied, frowning just a little bit. He had heard Mr. Hermes talk about legal custody before, but only in passing. “I think it was easy for Mr. Hermes to get that because my mom expressed that she wanted him in charge of me.” He gave a small shrug, trying to keep his voice quiet enough that they could both hear anything interesting Mr. Hermes or Watari said.
“Maybe they were friends from when they both travelled more, then,” Orpheus added, trying to offer an uncertain smile. He knew he was lucky he had been raised multilingual – he wouldn’t have been able to communicate with L otherwise. And they had come a pretty long way to get here.
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Jan 15, 2022 1:59:08 GMT -5
All it really took was for the rule to exist to make L to want at least figure out how he would go about breaking it, if he were going to. Barriers were typically just challenges. Besides, the more someone tried to keep something hidden, the more curious about it he ended up.
Which meant, even though Watari’s rules were probably mostly fair, L still felt the need to break most of them, or think about how he would. He thought he was pretty good at not getting caught, too, a fact he was more than a little bit proud of.
Maybe he was slightly rebellious, after all.
“She did?” He whispered, eyes wide as he glanced up. He considered that for a long moment, a slight crease touching his forehead, then nodded and looked back down the vent, straining his ears to catch the lower parts of the conversation under them. “That makes sense. My mom was murdered, so she couldn’t express that.”
He leaned forwards, closing his eyes and resting his ear against the vent. That was usually how he listened, but then, he didn’t usually have anyone to talk to while he was listening.
“Maybe. Watari says he has other friends, but he talks to them on the phone instead of visiting them, so maybe he talked to Mr. Hermes on the phone too.”
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Jan 21, 2022 23:33:04 GMT -5
“Oh,” Orpheus replied, eyes widening. He couldn’t imagine someone he loved being murdered. It was so much easier to fathom that the people he idealized would decide he wasn’t worth loving than it was to imagine that anyone would dislike them enough to want them dead. Calliope had been brilliant and bright, and she had decided that Orpheus wasn’t worth her time. Orpheus’ father had wasted away when she had left, because she was more important to him than Orpheus was. Orpheus breathed out, trying to push the thoughts away. He had loved both of his parents more than he had the words to express. He couldn’t even begin to imagine why anyone would want to hurt them.
“I’m… sorry to hear that,” Orpheus managed after a moment, holding eye contact with L in an effort to get the boy to realize how much he meant the words. He wasn’t just saying it because he had to say something. “I know it sounds really fake when adults say it, and it might sound fake when I say it, too, but…” he shrugged, swallowing his words as he tried to make them sound right. “I just mean… my dad died, too. He wasn’t murdered, but I watched… I watched it. And I’m sorry.”
Orpheus looked away, staring at the vent as he tried to hear what Mr. Hermes and Watari were saying. He had known that Watari wasn’t L’s father when he had arrived, but he hadn’t known L’s past. Hearing it now… he wasn’t sure he had any right to know it.
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Jan 23, 2022 4:10:30 GMT -5
L blinked, aware too late that he’d done it again. He hadn’t meant to, but Watari had explained to him once that the things he was used to thinking about weren’t always the same things other people were used to thinking about, and some of those things could be taken wrong if he brought them up.
It wasn’t as though he was alright with losing his parents. He had loved them deeply, and sometimes it was hard to think about them at all. But he hadn’t connected that to mentioning that it had happened, or that Orpheus wouldn’t be used to knowing that it had happened.
It was complicated, and he wasn’t sure he understood all the parts of it, but he hoped he hadn’t made Orpheus upset.
He didn’t look away, his wide, unblinking eyes dark where they met hazel.
An unexpected warmth began to soothe the worry moments after he’d begun to feel it.
“I’m sorry. Sometimes I say things without thinking about how it might affect other people,” he said finally, choosing the words with care. “I didn’t know about your dad. My parents were both murdered, so Watari had to try really hard to get legal custody of me. That’s what I meant.”
He missed whatever answer Hermes had made to Watari’s question, far below them. He was still looking at Orpheus.
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Jan 23, 2022 5:05:31 GMT -5
“Oh,” Orpheus replied after a moment, uncertain if he had misunderstood. He hadn’t wanted to make L feel as though he was pitying him (he knew the way he felt when adults pitied him, and he didn’t want to make anyone feel like that), but he wasn’t sure he knew how to navigate the situation at all. He had just… wanted to express that he was sorry L had lost his mom, even if that hadn’t been the point of what L had been saying.
“You don’t need to be sorry,” he added after a moment, curling his knees close to his chest as he stared at the vent in an attempt to make out what was being said. It was somewhat difficult to both listen and continue his own conversation, but he was doing his best. If he had to choose, he thought he was more interested in the conversation that he and L were having. If he was really curious about what Mr. Hermes was saying, he could just ask him. He doubted Mr. Hermes would refuse to tell him, even if he wasn’t super detailed about it. Orpheus didn’t get the feeling that Mr. Hermes lied to him often, and he tended to be transparent about what he was doing or what he was talking about.
“That makes sense,” he added, though he knew very little about the process of getting custody. He just knew that it had passed pretty easily to Mr. Hermes when his mother had left and declared that he was to be left with his next of kin in the event of something happening to his father. Mr. Hermes wasn’t technically next of kin, but he was the only one who both knew Orpheus’ mother and was willing to take him in.
“Still, I’m sorry about your parents. And I’m glad Watari got custody.”
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Jan 29, 2022 1:15:05 GMT -5
L knew he could ask Watari later, if he wanted to. He also knew that Watari would either tell him, or tell him that he couldn’t tell him. He wouldn’t lie, not intentionally.
But he might leave out details. Or forget parts. He might even give L something they’d actually said, to distract him from something else they’d said that he didn’t want L to know about.
He preferred hearing it for himself, when he could. There were less opportunities to miss things, intentionally or not. Plus, he liked eavesdropping, and a part of him wanted to impress Orpheus with how good he was at it, at least a little bit.
Their conversation was also interesting, though. He watched Orpheus for a long moment, trying to decide whether or not he’d been upset. So far…he didn’t seem like he was.
“Me too,” he replied seriously, relaxing a little as Orpheus continued. “He’s really good at getting what he wants. But he’s not mean about it when he doesn’t, either, he just says that sometimes things don’t go well…”
Watari, in his mind, didn’t get upset. He wondered whether Hermes did. He knew some adults could be scary when they weren’t happy.
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Jan 29, 2022 17:04:54 GMT -5
Orpheus didn’t think the same way L thought. He was beginning to catch on to that fact – where L saw things as a challenge, where he didn’t trust that other people would be able to give an accurate description, Orpheus was willing to trust. He was willing to let others decide what information was important to pass on. He had never thought to eavesdrop, in truth. He had never really need to. It was interesting to think that L had spent his life trying to be privy to every conversation that occurred beneath his roof. Orpheus had been kept out of plenty of meetings between Hermes and other important people, but he had never really cared.
“Oh,” Orpheus replied, tilting his head a little bit. “I think Mr. Hermes is good at getting what he wants, too. I mean… you can’t tell anyone else, but sometimes he bends the rules a little to get what he wants, but… still. He doesn’t hurt anyone to do it. Well… he doesn’t hurt anyone who deserves it. He used to tell me the story of Robin Hood all the time, and he’s a little bit like Robin Hood.” Orpheus grinned, then focused his attention on the vent again.
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Feb 3, 2022 17:28:03 GMT -5
L couldn’t quite imagine being fine with knowing something was happening and not knowing what it was. It wasn’t exactly that he didn’t trust Watari - he wasn’t sure if he would have said he did or not - but he hated being kept out of things. If he and Orpheus had grown up switched with each other…what would Hermes have done?
He wasn’t interested in that thought enough to follow it any more than that, though, so he let it go and listened to the conversation below for a long moment instead.
“He steals from people?” He said finally, his eyes curious and edged with something like excitement as he glanced up again. “Is that why he moves around a lot? Is he a fugitive? I know how to make new identities, I could help, but he shouldn’t tell Watari about it.”
The idea that Hermes was a fugitive hiding out in their house, maybe in need of someone who knew their way around a computer, was far too appealing to dismiss right away. Maybe Hermes was a hacker, too. Maybe he’d teach L how to break into the right things and how to know how not to be tracked.
Or better, maybe he wouldn’t know how, and L would teach him instead.
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Feb 4, 2022 5:30:23 GMT -5
“What?” Orpheus squeaked, almost giving their position away. He slammed his hands over his mouth just moments later, hoping they hadn’t been heard. “I mean… uh… Mr. Hermes isn’t a fugitive. He’s just… he’s just a really good, really nice person who steals… sometimes… when he has to to help people. But he has plenty of other ways of helping people, which I think is how he met Mr… uh… sorry, just Watari.” Orpheus blushed, hating that he had made the mistake in Watari’s name again. It was hard to shake the compulsion to add in that extra layer of respect. He was just a child, and adults needed to be shown respect, because… he swallowed, pushing away the thought. His father had taught him that before he’d died. His father had a lot of very strong ideas about respect, and though Orpheus had unlearned most of them, he couldn’t shake the habit of adding in an extra honorific.
“I think he only needs the identity he has,” Orpheus added, shifting a little bit uncomfortably. “I mean… he has a lot of friends, and as far as I know he’s never been in legal trouble. I think he really only steals from people who got their money not legally or by really hurting people, so he doesn’t need to hide out. But… but you can’t tell him I told you, because… because it’s his business.
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Feb 9, 2022 4:08:03 GMT -5
L jumped, startled by the single word, which was louder than the other things they’d both said.
He blinked at Orpheus. Had he said something wrong? He’d just been following his own thoughts, and that was where they’d taken him. But Orpheus seemed…flustered?
“I didn’t mean that he wasn’t a good person,” he offered, eyes wide. “I want to be a criminal when I grow up, but I’ll try to be a good person still.”
Hacker, technically. But hackers broke the law, so that would still make him a criminal, wouldn’t it? He wasn’t very interested in stealing anything, except maybe information. The idea of stealing money had never really occurred to him.
He eyed Orpheus. “I won’t tell. I think that sounds…nice of him. He must be pretty smart if he’s never gotten caught at all.”
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Feb 9, 2022 4:16:47 GMT -5
“Oh,” Orpheus replied, brow furrowing a little at that. He didn’t know it was possible for someone to actually want to be a criminal. There were lots of different kinds of criminals, as far as he was aware, and he knew that not all of them did bad things, but…
“If… if we become friends,” Orpheus managed, searching L’s expression, “then you have to promise that you’ll only commit victimless crimes. Like… like tax fraud. Or movie piracy. Or other things that only hurt people who really won’t notice or mind the hurt. Mr. Hermes says there are lots of people who have billions and billions of dollars and if someone stole two million of it from them to help people who don’t have much money at all, they wouldn’t even notice.” He tried to smile, hoping L wouldn’t be too offended by the condition.
“I don’t think you can be a good person while you’re hurting people,” he added. “I mean… you can be a good person after you hurt people, if you do your best to make up for what you did, but… you can’t be a good person while you hurt people.”
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Feb 9, 2022 4:45:53 GMT -5
“Oh,” L blinked, searching Orpheus’ expression. He hadn’t expected that condition, but still…it made sense. If Orpheus didn’t like it when people were hurt, he wouldn’t want to be friends with someone who hurt people. Especially if that was their career.
He nodded slowly. “I’m a hacker, so it’s not the bad kind of crime. There aren’t any victims, I promise.”
He had to consider the next words for a long moment before he could answer.
“What if you have to hurt them?” He suggested, eyes wide. “Or what if you’re confused and you think they’re the bad guys? Watari hurt people before, but he won’t ever talk about it, so I don’t know why. But he’s a good person. Unless maybe he made up for it afterwards.”
He only knew what he’d manage to figure out for himself, which wasn’t much. Watari may not have gotten angry, but when he was serious about something, there was no moving him on it. And he was serious about that.
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Feb 9, 2022 4:53:08 GMT -5
“That’s… hard,” Orpheus admitted, not sure how to handle such a moral conundrum. He didn’t think people should be hurt under any circumstances, but he knew that sometimes to stop someone from hurting someone else, you had to hurt them first.
“I think… I think there are ways to stop people from doing bad things without hurting them. But they have to be good people at heart for that to work. And sometimes they’re so bad that they don’t want to make it work, so then… I guess you can hurt them. As long as you don’t hurt them any more than you need to so that other people are safe.” He hesitated, then gave L a small smile. He was more relieved than he expected that L hadn’t outright rejected his proposal. It meant he thought there was a small chance they could be friends.
“I don’t know if Watari is a good person or not,” Orpheus admitted after a moment. “But I think, even if he doesn’t talk about it, that he’s probably a good person if he made you so nice.” He squeezed his knees to his chest, then nodded.
“Hacking. I don’t… I don’t know what that is,” he admitted, cheeks coloring. “Sorry.”
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Feb 24, 2022 3:17:08 GMT -5
L wasn’t sure what he thought of it, either, but it was the sort of thing he’d heard Watari discussing sometimes, and there were books on it. It seemed to be a popular subject among adults. He probably seemed mature for wondering about it.
He forgot to reply to it a moment later, though, as something else caught his attention.
“I’m nice?” He asked, looking up and pushing a few strands of loose hair out of his face so he could see Orpheus better. He had never thought of himself as nice. He hadn’t exactly thought of himself as mean either, but…it wasn’t as though anyone had ever described him as nice before. He was usually described as bright or curious when they knew he was listening, and odd or in his own little world when they didn’t.
“Oh!” He added, abruptly focusing all of his attention on Orpheus. “You can hack with computers or phones or anything like that. It’s like breaking into a place but the place is online instead of physical, so I’m not actually there in person. But there’s security too, and the better the security is, the harder it is to break in. You can get caught really easily if you do something wrong, and you have to work fast, but if you’re good at it you can get in anywhere you want and no one can stop you.”
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Feb 25, 2022 22:57:55 GMT -5
Orpheus gave an eager nod as he looked at the other boy. It was hard to imagine that L could think of himself as not nice.
“If you weren’t nice, you wouldn’t have brought me up here,” he whispered, still trying to keep quiet so that they wouldn’t be heard through the vents. Especially if Watari knew that L came up here sometimes. If he was listening for some sort of change here, then it was even more imperative for them to stay quiet. He was grateful that L hadn’t shushed him – it would have been understandable if he had. “I just mean… I’m in your space, and you don’t want me here. You could be really mean to me to make me leave, but you’re not doing that. You’re willing to… to try to adapt to it. Like I am. So we can choose together if we want me to leave. And you don’t have to do that, you don’t have to be nice, but you are… and not enough people are.”
He took a moment of silence, a smile crossing his features as he listened to L talk about hacking. It wasn’t something he was familiar with, nor was it something he would ever have interest in. But it made L excited, and anything that made Orpheus’ potential new friend excited was worth listening to.
“Isn’t that… dangerous?” Orpheus asked after a moment, tilting his head. “I mean… I bet if you’re good at it, it’s probably not… but… how did you get good at it? Did you teach yourself?” Orpheus’ eyes grew wide – as though he needed another reason to be in awe of his new housemate.
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Feb 26, 2022 5:02:58 GMT -5
“I don’t think being mean to you would make you leave,” L whispered back, frowning a little as he thought about it. “If Mr. Hermes is the one who wanted you to come here, then I’d have to be mean to him. But he’s an adult, so that wouldn’t work, either.”
He shook his head a little. Watari had made it clear that being mean on purpose wouldn’t make them leave, and even though a part of him had wanted to try it anyway…he wasn’t sure how he would have gone about being mean to Orpheus. He guessed he could have insulted him somehow, but it didn’t seem likely to do anything other than upset him.
He would rather think about hacking, anyway.
“I taught myself!” He confirmed brightly, forgetting to keep his voice down and giving Orpheus a quick grin. “I’m really good at it now, too, I can hack anywhere and not get caught. Well, except some of the bigger government stuff, but I’m still practicing, and someday I will. It’s really hard, but I found books about it when I was starting out, and a lot of it is about learning how to code, which I wanted to do anyway…that took a long time, but it was easier once I knew a couple programming languages.”
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Feb 26, 2022 18:09:22 GMT -5
“I mean… I know that’s logical, but if you were mean enough then Mr. Hermes would notice and then he might leave to protect me. And at the very least, being mean to me might be enough to make me avoid you, so you would have to deal with me living here, but not existing in the same space as you at the same time. So… there are still a lot of reasons you could have for being mean, but you just… aren’t mean. I think that says a lot about you, and I’m grateful that you’re nice.” Orpheus offered a small smile, his cheeks reddening just a little bit as he realized how much he was rambling.
“I think that’s really impressive,” he added, eyes wide as he looked at L. He didn’t really understand what L was talking about, but the fact that he was passionate about it made Orpheus happy. He wanted to understand it, if only so he could share in L’s passion and excitement about it.
“I didn’t know there were different programming languages,” Orpheus admitted, scratching at the back of his neck. “I mean… I know if computers had a language it would be binary, but that’s about it. I’m not very good with technology.” He searched L’s expression, not even bothering to question whether or not he was worried about the sudden increase in volume.
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Apr 1, 2022 23:35:10 GMT -5
L fell silent, pushing a few strands of hair out of his eyes as he considered that.
Orpheus had a point. Being mean might have gotten rid of him, at least temporarily. It might have at least made him think twice about trying to be L’s friend.
The thing was, L wasn’t positive he wanted that. Not yet, anyway. It felt safer to keep it as a backup option than to forget about it completely.
“Oh, it’s not binary!” He replied, eyes widening a little bit in wonder. Not because Orpheus didn’t already know this…well, maybe because Orpheus didn’t already know this. He forgot, sometimes, that not everyone had the same patches of in-depth knowledge he did. He figured they probably had other patches of in-depth knowledge to make up for it.
He wondered briefly what Orpheus’ were.
“Well, it is binary,” he amended a moment later. “But that’s not a programming language, that’s just…a computer language. A programming language would be the way you can communicate with a computer and tell it what you want it to do, so it can understand you, because it can’t understand words like we can. And it’s better than other languages because it makes sense all the time and if it doesn’t work it’s just because you got something wrong and you can fix it.”
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