#because spoiler alert: we can disagree without being assholes to each other

[thatweirdtranny]

lmao that person is still talking about me

[thesaltyace]

Ooooo boy

Guess what time it is?

RANT TIME!!!!

What to expect below the cut: barely controlled RAGE at my new neighbor regarding discussion of religion (Christianity in particular). Spoiler alert: I’m not Christian and have a negative knee-jerk reaction to most interactions with people who go out of their way to make sure you know they’re a Christian and/or assume that I am, too!

This interaction has been bothering me ALL FUCKING DAY. It only “clicked” for me as I was putting away groceries just a moment ago that I’m upset because of the way this neighbor gave me only two choices in the conversation: 1) agree with him because of the assumptions he aggressively placed on me, or 2) make the difficult decision to “other” myself to a person I met literally two minutes ago.

So here’s what happened. The spouse and I needed to go run some errands today. We decided to take our large vehicle (an SUV) which was still loaded up with a few things from the move (...three weeks later.... lmao) so the spouse went outside to quickly shove it all into the garage so we’d have an empty car ready to transport groceries and possibly a table (if we found what we were looking for).

I got distracted while he was out there but didn’t try to redirect myself because I knew he’d come back inside once the car was unloaded so that we could treat our dogs and leave. But after a while it dawned on me that he’d been outside a lot longer than needed to unload just a few things into the garage. As if on cue, he comes inside and mutters, “Well, I haven’t unloaded anything yet because I met the neighbor over to the right of us.... that’s been fun....”

Apparently the neighbor is outside washing his car and sees my spouse’s Star Wars tshirt and uses that as an opportunity to start a conversation. No big deal, sure, lots of people do that. Then he immediately lets my spouse know that he did NOT like the most recent trilogy. And as spouse tells me this I outwardly cringe. Because here’s the thing..... 1) you’re going to lead with that?? and 2) never has anyone said that to us and been talking about anything reasonable. It’s always about not liking the “PC culture” and “catering” to particular audiences (read: being a sexist and racist) and never anything like “whoa they really fucked over their actors of color wtf”. So that’s red flag number one, but of course I also acknowledge that I don’t have a lot of details about this dude or his opinions yet, so I’ll just treat this as one piece of the suspected puzzle and see how it turns out. “Strike one,” I think. 

But you and I both know where this is going, because liking the last Star Wars trilogy isn’t itself political but the reasons you don’t like the final Star Wars trilogy suuuuuuuuure are telling.

Anyway, because my spouse suffers from chronic politeness, he feels awkward unloading the car while the neighbor is trying to talk to him so he just.... stands there and listens. So I join him outside and almost single-handedly unload the entire car myself while the spouse continues to awkwardly talk with the neighbor. I don’t bother to introduce myself to the neighbor and he doesn’t really acknowledge my existence either, so I’m already mentally thinking, “Strike two.”

So the dude just keeps kind of talking at my spouse as he stands there awkwardly, trying to be polite and friendly but feeling that he’s not truly part of a conversation. And he’s right! I finished unloading the car, went inside to treat and crate the dogs, and returned to the car, signaling that we needed to go. The spouse tries to disengage, but the neighbor is very intent on talking to him about his Gaelic heritage. Oof. Dude, I know we wear kilts but we literally Do Not Care. We wear them because we like them. The fact that we each have some Scottish and/or Irish heritage is just a little bit of justification we use if we aren’t comfortable telling someone that we like them because they’re both gender-neutral and gender-wtf clothing.

So anyway, the neighbor who is already on Strike Two veers deep into “If you had started with zero strikes, this topic immediately bumps you up to Strike 10″ territory. He makes some comment about being related due to Gaelic ancestry, and then uses that to segue into, “Well, I mean, we’re all cousins really when you think about it! After the flood, you know, with Noah and then those families parted ways with different languages and drifted apart.... So yeah, we’re really just cousins, you, me, and the rest of the world!” And he just grins at us with the expectation that we agree.

Y’all I have said it before and I will say it again: I may never go back to being maskless in public. And it’s specifically because no one can see my facial expressions in situations like this, when I desperately want to leave the conversation without causing a scene but also can’t hide either my horror, disgust, or anger.

So, as someone who was raised in a Southern Baptist household and is now staunchly non-religious, two things went through my head:

1) .....If you believe that all humankind descended from Adam and Eve then... the flood is kind of irrelevant for determining if we’re all related, wouldn’t you say?

2) ...you REALLY just did the thing. The thing that until today I’ve not been able to adequately describe. The thing where you make the pompous assumption that of COURSE these perfect strangers I’m talking to are CHRISTIAN! Of COURSE they are! So I’m gonna talk to them as though I KNOW they are and as thought to be otherwise would be ABSURD!

So my spouse and I are both standing next to our car, staring at this man who’s wearing a smug asshole grin on his face, really proud of how “friendly” and “loving” he’s being, I’m sure. And spouse glances at me, probably hoping that I don’t tear this man’s face off and therefore break the peace. I glance back at him, trying to figure out if I do want to rip this man’s face off or if I’d rather go shopping for a table. 

And I decide that I’d rather shop for a table and not immediately torpedo the chance of hopefully peacefully avoiding this neighbor forever more without introducing animosity. So we laughed uneasily and I said, “We’ve really got to go if we want to get everything done before things close today,” then hoisted myself into my seat and shut the door. Spouse hopped in and the second his door shut we both shrieked a quiet shriek of “OMG WTF” and drove away.

But I’ve been chewing on this interaction ALL DAY and I’m like.... why am I so goddamn mad about this??? And I finally figured it out. It’s because this man left no room for me or my spouse to be anyone other than who he assumed we are. 

He assumed that we were 1) Christian and 2) agreed with him. 

I won’t speak for my spouse, as his relationship with religion is more complicated than my own, but I 1) am not and 2) do not.

He crowded out who we actually are to make room for who he thinks we should be, and that will NEVER be okay with me. I’ve fought against being who others want or tell me to be my entire goddamn life, and that is why this is so upsetting to me.

We could either agree with him (or decline to disagree - same effect on the neighbor’s end) and keep the peace.

Or we could “other” ourselves and make it known that we aren’t the “good” people he assumes we are.

Because here’s the thing - never have I met someone who assumes I’m Christian and is 100% okay and nonproblematic when they find out (or I tell them) that I’m not. There’s always disappointment or confusion or outright hostility. 

And that means that othering ourselves to this complete stranger who lives next door to us isn’t safe and puts us at risk of making our existence here a living hell. Because we don’t know what kind of person he is, but based on our very brief interactions thus far I can probably guess. 

I am still so goddamn mad about this. And it’s interactions like these that make it so incredibly difficult for me to try to remain neutral or unbothered in situations where I must interact with overt Christianity bullshit. The people who are the most loud and pushy about it, the people who are the most insistent that of COURSE anyone worth interacting with is Christian, are exactly the types of Christians that make me want to run screaming from the room.

[dearericbittle]

Sterek masterpost

So, now that I’ve written 30 (!) Sterek fics, I figured it was about time that I made a masterpost of my stories. You can find the full list on my Tumblr as well!

Been here before and it just feels right (strangers tonight) - (T, 3.4k) Summary: Derek Hale was an awkward teenager, but he grew into himself. He grew out of that pulling pigtails phase. Shame that being reunited with his old crush brings it all back. Even worse: Stiles doesn’t even seem to recognize him. Or does he?

Better that I break the window (than miss what I should see) - (M, 9k) Summary: Someone opened Stiles’ window. But he’s all the way on the 7th floor - how the fuck did that happen? Spoiler alert: werewolves are real. And really hot.

Bring on the monsters (bring on the real world) - (E, 11.1k) Summary: He was supposed to be making an impression on Lydia, but instead he’s making fun of a terrible werewolf costume. To be fair, those mutton chops remind him of Michael J. Fox in the worst way, and the guy didn’t appear to be too offended. He was too busy smelling Stiles for some reason. He really shouldn’t have forgotten cologne.

but that’s just a first impression (I could be totally wrong) - (T, 2.9k) Summary: Derek is on a really awful blind date (Laura will pay for this). But the waiter is really cute.

The coolest wolf in the whole wide world - (T, 8.3k) Summary: Stiles is surprisingly good at being a wolf. Like, super good at control, loves the drama of making weird entrances, and determined to try all the things. Because he has to find out what’s different about being a wolf. And Derek is going to be his Yoda, whether he wants to or not. Only Stiles is pretty sure Yoda never smelled this good.

Detective Stiles Stilinski and the Case of Derek Hale’s Mysterious Mate - (T, 5.6k) Summary: Mates are a thing. A werewolf thing. Which is fine and shit, but finding out that Derek fucking Hale has a mate? That gets to him. And seeing as Derek won’t tell him who it is, well… Guess that means this is a job for Detective Stiles Stilinski - if he’s not too distracted by his traditional banter with Derek.

Everything mixed up (and baked in a beautiful pie) - (T, 6/6, 42k) Summary: Stiles’ friends are more of a pain in the ass than usual around the holiday season. Just because he spends all of his time at his bakery, doesn’t mean he’s unhappy. So hiring a fake boyfriend seems like the perfect, simple solution. Instead Stiles stumbles onto a stupid quest to make Derek Hale happy. But surely that will all work out in time.

Fit hot guys have problems too (don’t objectify us with your male and female gaze) - (T, 1.7k) Summary: To Cora, 1:24 AM: im tired of guys just wanting to hook up with me. im like, guys, i know im pretty and i have a slammin bod and i love making out, but cant someone treat me with respect?? Derek is tired of being objectified. Enter Stiles Stilinski, hot mess who has an opinion about everything. Derek is surprisingly intrigued.

Gymnophoria - (T, 0.9k) Summary: Stiles is paranoid - he keeps feeling someone’s eyes on him. Surprisingly, no nefarious plans happen.

He got lost in my DMs (wanna be way more than friends) - (T, 2.8k) Summary: Derek is somewhat of an online hero, providing candid pictures of himself to anyone who wants persistent suitors to just go away already. Stiles… is suddenly surrounded by assholes who apparently really want to hear about how great his fake boyfriend is. Part 1 of Slide into those DMs

Heard you were tough (but you don’t look it) - (T, 3.6k) Summary: Derek is a protective Alpha, and whenever he sees a human in danger, he has to step in. Usually people are grateful. This guy? Not so much. 3 times Derek saves that ungrateful magic user’s life, and 3 times the ungrateful asshole saved his in return

Here we are two strangers (with nothing but this little spark) - (T, 6k) Summary: Stiles is only at this masquerade party for revenge. Theo Raeken has taken everything from him, and this is the only way he can get close enough to ruin his fucking life. He gets sidetracked by a mysterious stranger who’s looking for revenge of his own. Maybe they can help each other…

I might never be (your knight in shining armor) - (T, 2.9k) Summary: So, in Stiles’ defence, he didn’t actually know that the woman harassing the dude-sel in distress was an actual witch. Or that the dude in question was an Alpha werewolf who claimed to be able to handle himself. Stiles agrees to disagree on that one.

I take this magnetic force of a man (to be my lover) - (T, 6k) Summary: Derek is pretty happy with the mate he’s somehow chosen, even though Stiles has no idea - and no interest in Derek. But that’s fine. Except Peter just has to open his big mouth, because he clearly wants to ruin Derek’s life. Part 2 of Laura Hale is the best Alpha

I’d be a fearless leader (I’d be an Alpha type) - (T, 7.8k) Summary: Most teenagers would run off if they found a bleeding half-wolf, half-lady with red eyes snarling at them. But Stiles’ fight or flight response has always been a little fucked, and Laura Hale looks like she could use a break. Part 1 of Laura Hale is the best Alpha

I’m gonna light a spark (gonna hold my breath until the morning) - (T, 2.5k) Summary: Derek hates the bus, hates how people use it as an excuse to sit close to him and bat their eyelashes at him. And then this stranger who smells like home just falls asleep on his lap.

Lie under different stars (I’ve not seen you in the flesh for so long) - (T, 3,4k) Summary: In which Laura Hale is a queen of holding on to childhood mementos and seeing things her brother won’t, and Derek Hale rediscovers his love of Mischief.

The man who’s gonna marry you (make you feel alive) - (T, 4.2k) Summary: Only Finstock could marry the wrong people. Only Greenberg could fill out the papers wrong, but Finstock didn’t even check. It was like he wanted Stiles to be married to Derek Hale. And no one would want that, except maybe… Stiles.

No more dark sad lonely (k)nights - (T, 2k) Summary: Derek is an Alpha without an emissary, so his nosy betas made sure he attended the convention. Stiles is clearly in the wrong convention hall, because his Batman cosplay does not appear to be going over well.

Old you in the garbage (new you in display case) - (T, 13.4k) Summary: Stiles is lonely and desperate and suffering from a crush on the grumpiest librarian. So what’s a boy to do but cook up a ridiculous plan to get himself dated and/or finally get laid before the holidays? He just wants his She’s All That moment, okay? He never expected that the plan would actually help him get the guy.

Real life isn’t a movie (life doesn’t make narrative sense) - (M, 11.6k) Summary: Somehow accidentally insulting a hot guy in a coffee shop leads to pretending to be his boyfriend in front of a house full of werewolves. Stiles Stilinski is living his best life and making the most of his Hallmark movie moment.

Shoot your shot when you see em (he’s already in my DMs) - (T, 3.9k) Summary: Derek may or may not be falling in love with one of Laura’s employees, and he’s only ever spoken to him on the phone. Stiles doesn’t even know his name! But apparently, he does know how to slide into his DMs. Part 2 of Slide into those DMs

Some Cupid kills with arrows (some with mistletoe) - (T, 9.5k) Summary: It’s the same thing every time. Derek Hale comes home, the town is in a snit, and Stiles Stilinski polishes his metaphorical armor and gets ready for a battle of wits. Not that he considers Derek’s comments particularly witty. Their friends are just tired of the sexual tension and the rampant egos, and they’re ready to do something about it.

Such great heights (corresponding shapes like puzzle pieces) - (T, 3.3k) Summary: In which everyone in the pack is together and alive, because fuck canon. In which Stiles is surprised that Derek’s super hearing fails him. He just wants to know how tall Derek is, why is that such a big deal?

Teach me how to thrive (i was a loser just like you) - (T, 4.9k) Summary: Scott was cool now - the Squip had made sure of that. Stiles? Not so cool. All he has left are his cryptic conversations with perpetually wasted Derek Hale as he desperately tries to get an evil computer chip from taking over Beacon Hills.

We were young once (innocent and fun once) - (T, 5,3k) Summary: So maybe making Lydia jealous is just an excuse for him to finally talk to Derek Hale - it’s been ten years and clearly that high school crush is not over. There’s just a lot more to Derek than he was expecting.

We’ll put on a show (Scotty has to know) - (T, 7.7k) Summary: Stiles is a stubborn asshole, determined to have fun in Europe even though Scott stays behind in Belgium because of a girl. So asking a stranger to make out with him for the ‘Gram? Totally the best decision he’s ever made, and not just because that’ll totally show Jackson (and Scott!). Shame he won’t see the guy again, though.

What it looks like to forget (it’s easier that way) - (T, 4.9k) Summary: He has no idea who he is, but the stranger with the whiskey eyes is calling him Derek. And the guy has been sitting at his bedside for three days, so he’s got some credit. Especially because the guy smells like he should be his - though that is a supremely weird thought that he probably needs to figure out first.

You want forgiveness (I’ll give that to you) - (T, 2.8k) Summary: Derek is running from the Alpha, suffering from wolfsbane poisoning and he’s clearly losing it. Why else would he be seeing his mother - and everyone else he might as well have killed himself. But Stiles can’t just let him get what he deserves. Stiles never leaves him behind, even when he should.

You’re moving me around you (I said darling hold me) - (T, 14,5k) Summary: Derek is the only beta in a pack of two, blaming himself for the loss of their entire family. When his sister pays someone to get him used to human contact again, Derek preps himself for a couple unwilling handshakes before he kicks the stranger out of his den. Stiles is… not what Derek expected.

[thefangirlreviewblog-blog]

13 Reasons Why

So I just finished 13 reasons why and well, if you don’t know about it just go check it out seriously. I have so many emotions towards this tv series, it really made me see the world in a different way.

SPOILER ALERT!

So Hannah Baker... I am not really fond of her actually and as for what I’ve read this is a general opinion. Sure she is dramatic but I can’t really judge her on this matter because every person has a way of dealing with things and I get that. What bothers me is that she just wants people to find out how she’s feeling without even talking to anyone. I know she has tried when she wrote that letter to Zach but that’s all. And why Zach? Why did she tell Zach? She didn’t even know him. And what bothered me the most was how needy she was when it came to boys. First Justin, then Marcus and Zach. I don’t get it. She just needed to grow.

Clay Jensen, I enjoyed him. Not my favorite but cute. He was so sweet and was always there to help his friends. He was so good to Hannah. Everyone needs a Clay Jensen as a friend. What I didn’t like so much about him was how insecure he was. About Hannah specially. I hated to see him hurt so much and he sure didn’t need to blame himself for Hannah’s death. He was just doing what she asked. It wasn’t his fault but still he cared so much about her that it drove him crazy. I loved how he was trying to get justice for Hannah. (I know in the book Hannah actually mentions that Clay was on the tapes because she wanted him to know why she killed herself.)

Favorite character: Alex Standall 

I do love Alex. He knew what he did was wrong and accept that. He always stood up for the truth and himself even if that meant getting a black eye. Yes, he was a jerk when he made that list but he couldn’t know the consequences would be that bad, for him was just a stupid list. He just gets that what he did was wrong and he is truly sorry. He was always the one that stated that what Hannah said on the tapes was true and that they need to deal with it. He knew what was right and wasn’t afraid to paid for his mistakes. I do hope that he is okay and gets through to the next season because he doesn’t deserve to die. 

Least favorite character: Courtney Crimsen

She is so annoying. Throughout the whole series she keeps saying that what Hannah says on the tapes is not true when she clearly knows it is true. She is ready to lie to the police because she’s afraid that people find out she is a lesbian. She prefers that people not know the truth about her than that justice is made to Jessica and Hannah about Bryce. She’s just messed up and a selfish bitch who doesn’t care about anything but herself. I’m not saying that coming out is not hard but that are worst things than that like death, for example.

Favorite ship: Justin and Jessica

You thought I would say Clay and Hannah, well no. Don’t get me wrong, I love Clay and Hannah’s romance but not as much or as deep as Justin and Jessica’s. Justin and Jessica? They’re not the perfect couple, they’re not even close to being one but there’s something about them. Justin’s life is so messed up with everything with his mom and her crazy boyfriends, always having to run away from home. Tragic. I feel sorry for him. His character has a deeper meaning, you know. He hides his problems through his personality and how he acts. He’s a jerk, yes. But there’s a reason for that and we need to understand that. He acts tough and all but in the inside he’s broken and is crying for help. And there was Jessica, caring for him, loving him. Something his mom could never give him. So he started to care for her and it grew into something more, actual love. He knows he messed up real big and he regrets it like crazy but there’s really nothing he can do. And I get Jessica, he let her be raped. What an asshole. But she loves him and she knows he loves her. Either way, there’s no way you can recover from that so she has to move on. And that’s what makes them so real. Their last scene he’s desperate but he knows he’s not getting her back. I love their relationship because it shows that love is not all. Sometimes love is not enough. They loved each other so much but it was not enough. 

Other characters:

Zach: What he did was bad. Really bad. He knew what was going on with Hannah and he didn’t help. But he’s a good person. When he showed Clay the letter Hannah wrote to him, I can see he was sorry. He felt guilty for not helping her and now was to late. He liked Hannah and he just wanted to be her friend and get close to her. I believe that just because he hang out with Bryce and Justin, Hannah kind of put him in the same place as them. But he wasn’t like Justin and Bryce, he truly cared. I feel like he wanted to help but didn’t know how. And know was to late and he did blame himself. Zach is a kind person.

Marcus: He’s such a jerk. He pretends to be the perfect student but it’s all just a facade. He’s a coward. What he did to Hannah, why? Why couldn’t he understand she didn’t what to do that? No means no.  

Skye: I really liked her character. Skye was struggling but that didn’t stop her from being friendly. She was really an outsider but she obviously cared for Clay. She knew who to trust and who don’t. She was a good friend. 

Bryce and Tyler: These two disgust me, specially Bryce obviously. I really hope they get caught next season and get what they deserve. Stalking someone? Raping someone? These are serious stuff. They need to pay for what they did. 

Jeff: He didn’t deserve to die. Clay and Jeff’s friendship was the best. I cried a lot when I found out that he had died because from the previous episodes that didn’t show so I never thought he could be dead. Jeff was encouraging and supportive and didn’t deserve his fate. I loved him. 

Tony: He was such a good friend. To Hannah, to Clay. He is such an amazing character. He does everything to help Clay while he’s listening to the tapes, to make him understand. And he just wants to honor Hannah and do what she has asked. He has a lot of love in his heart and just wanted to do what’s best.

Sheri: She didn’t deserve to be on the tapes. She made a mistake, huge mistake but she was hurting and was really sorry about it. She did everything she could and couldn’t to make it up for it and had a really huge heart. 

Mr. Porter: This is real. This is serious. This is what happens at a lot of schools. Incompetent professionals. They never take things serious, it’s just a phase till it’s not. And then the damage it’s done. This is not a joke. When students go to counselors it’s because they need help. It’s their job to take things serious. It’s their job to help. Not to minimize everyone teens say and believe it’s just them overreacting. To them it’s not, it’s real, it’s in their heads. And they need someone competent to help them. If they come to you, it’s because every other option has vanished. Be aware, believe. Depression is real, suicide is real and it has becoming more and more common among teenagers. Mr. Porter is needed and it’s important. 

ps: this is in a random order.

About the story:

This really made me think about my actions. Am I doing things right? I’m cautious now. About how I act, what I say. You never know when you’re going to say the wrong thing. You think it’s okay but it may not be. Even the small things can mean something big. You don’t what people are going through. Hannah’s story creates awareness. It makes you think. Suicide is not a joke. Sometimes I think society sees suicide as an act of cowardliness but I couldn’t disagree more. If someone takes or is thinking of taking their own life that means the world failed them. Not them that failed the world. People easily put the fault in somebody else but never accept it as their own. Maybe that’s what we should do. Deal with the consequences of our acts. Every word, every gesture means something, use it wisely.

[kira-sucks-lawlipops]

My pitch for an American Death Note movie

And now I would like to take a break from angry posting about how shitty the upcoming noteflix movie is going to be to pitch my own, not perfect but less shitty, version.

WARNING: This is REALLY long. I was only gonna fix White Yagami and make up a few sentences of plot but then I got really into it. (Also I was just making it up as I went so if it’s good maybe Netflix should hire me.)

First up, I’m not trying to retell the story of the manga/anime, because there are already movies that do that. I’m pitching a story for an American audience, with some big changes. My intent is that this would work either as a standalone film (for an audience that is unfamiliar with the series) or it could exist in the same universe (for the existing fans/the new fans who go back to the source material because the movie is good.) More on this later.

Okay, so there is no White Yagami. In fact, there is no Light at all because I firmly believe that his character/story makes no sense if you take away his Japanese upbringing. And if I’m going to change Light, then I may as well change all of the characters/world around him. I have put like zero thought into naming or creating new characters tho, so for now I am just going to call our protagonist Proxy!Light. (Bear with me guys, there’s a lot of this.)

Act 1: The Fall

Proxy!Light is an African American student in his late teens living somewhere in the USA where there is a high crime rate, racial tension, religion and a corrupt police force. (I’m Australian so I don’t know the exact location. Maybe somewhere in the Bible Belt?) He is more likely to make an emotional decision than a rational one, he comes from a happy nuclear family and he is not an apathic genius. He is optimistic, caring, a bit naive but overall a genuinely good guy who wants to make the world a better place. He is in his senior year of high school and is trying to get his grades as high as possible to land a scholarship, because he has no chance of attending university without one. He wants to be a lawyer, but failing this will probably try for the police force. No matter what, he wants to be in the justice system, protecting and serving his community.

He finds the death note, and Ryuk or a Proxy!Shinigami (again, more on this later) explains what it is. He refuses to use it, because killing people is wrong, but keeps it so it won’t fall into the wrong hands.

This would be a good place to throw in some religious imagery: Proxy!Light attending church with his family, Ryuk and the power he offers are presented as being an evil, corrupting force, etc. But Proxy!Light hasn’t fallen yet.

One day, Proxy!Light’s father is murdered by the police. It’s the same story we’ve seen before: he was doing nothing wrong, but was racially profiled and the police used lethal force. Proxy!Light’s world is shattered. His father, a good man, is demonised by the media while the police force, which he has always seen as a protective presence, fabricates a case to make the innocent man they killed seem guilty in the eyes of the world. Proxy!Sayu places herself in the front lines of a social movement which demands justice for her father and is labelled as a criminal who incites riots. Proxy!Sachiko tries to go the official route and hold the officers who killed her husband accountable, but the case never even makes it to court. Eventually she is forced to drop it when she starts receiving threats against her children.

Proxy!Light is unable to cope with what happened. His grades drop and he loses any chance of a scholarship. Law school is out of the question now and he has been thoroughly disillusioned on the police force. Everything he believed in has been turned on its head and he knows that there is no way that it can be made right again. He decides to take justice into his own hands and uses the death note to kill all of the police officers involved in the death of his father.

And now we enter Act 2: the arrival of Proxy!L and Proxy!Misa.

We open in church again. The preacher (priest? minister? wizard? idk) is praying for the officers that died, and encouraging people to remain calm and sensitive in this difficult time. Someone asks if the heart attacks that killed all those officers was an act of god. The preacher says no, because god is a loving force, not destructive (or something to that effect.) Most people seem to approve of this message, including Proxy!Sachiko, but there are some in the crowd who disagree. They argue that the officers were murderers, and if god did kill them it would be good old-testament justice. Proxy!Light likes the sound of this.

Proxy!Sayu gets up and addresses the crowd. She does not care about the religious implications of the police officers dying of heart attacks, she cares about the facts that their deaths did nothing to solve the problems embedded in their community’s broken justice system. She will be continuing to organise peaceful protests until their concerns are heard, and she encourages everyone to stand with her.

Throw in some more religious imagery here. Proxy!Light has now fallen. The support of the crowd fuels his belief that he is doing the right thing, but when he sees that his remaining family are opposed to him he begins isolating himself from them.

And now the real fun begins.

Proxy!L is not the World’s Greatest Detective, and he is in no way similar to the Ryuzaki persona we all know and love and/or hate. He is an FBI agent and a complete fucking asshole. Maybe he’s a genius, maybe he’s just really good at his job, but he definitely arrogant as all fuck and a nightmare to work with. I am picturing him as older and surly. Like, he thinks he should have been promoted above field work a long time ago but it’s never happened because no one can stand him. But if you want to cash in on that sweet lawlight fangirl goldmine (yes pls) then he could be a young, attractive prodigy. Either way, he shows up to this terrified and racially divided town and takes over the investiagtion into the sudden and unexplainable deaths of several police officers.

Proxy!L is accompanied by his partner Proxy!Naomi. She is basically exactly the same and is definitely still Japanese or Japanese-American, because that will be important later. She is the only one who can stand Proxy!L because she takes none of his shit. These two care deeply for each other and are an unstoppable team, but things are tense between them right now because Proxy!Naomi just got married, and after this case is wrapped up she will be leaving the FBI.

The partners show up in the wake of some violent backlash from the police. The surviving officers are angry over their friend’s deaths and believe that Proxy!Sayu and the other protesters are responsible, so they declare the protest to be a riot and shut it down, placing Proxy!Sayu and as many other prominent protesters as they can grab under arrest.

Proxy!L and Proxy!Naomi arrive at the tail end of this mess. They berate the officers for their hysteria and over the top violent reponse, and immediately take over. All of the low-level protesters are let go, but the FBI agents want to interrogate any of the organisers that they have in custody.

This is where we are formally introduced to Proxy!Misa. She is one of Proxy!Sayu’s friends who has been organising protests with her. We have seen her participating in collective action with Proxy!Sayu a few times before but this is the first time we have spoken to her. The girls have not been treated well in the arrest and are already hostile. Their interrogations are cut together, and now it’s exposition time!

We see Proxy!L and Proxy!Naomi working together, using different strategies with each girl and we start to get a feel for their dynamic and the fact that they are a great team. They tell both girls that there have been more deaths than anyone realises. All over the country, police officers and other people in the justice system have been mysteriously dying of heart attacks. Everyone who has died has been accused of corruption and/or the unlawful deaths of POC. No one in the public has connected the dots yet, but it’s only a matter of time, and then there will be nation-wide hysteria and violent crackdowns on POC communities like the one we just witnessed at the protest. No one wants that, which is why these two are here where it all started trying to hunt the killer down. Proxy!Sayu reacts with anger and disgust. She knows that things are bad and wants to create change, but doesn’t believe it can be accomplished with violence and death. Proxy!Misa’s feelings are more complicated. She take the position that the deaths are the result of divine retribution, and while she doesn’t openly endorse the killing, she thinks that people who do bad things should be held accountable no matter what. During the interrogation she reveals her backstory; she survived a home invasion as a child. A criminal killed her parents and took her hostage, but the police managed to subdue him non-lethally because he was white. The fact the the man who terrorised her and destroyed her family is alive and in jail while POC are being killed by police for no reason is what drove her to join Proxy!Sayu’s movement.

Meanwhile, Proxy!Sachiko has learned from one of the protesters that were released that her underage daughter has been placed under arrest and she is furious and frightened. She and Proxy!Light head to the police station and demand that they be able to see Proxy!Sayu. The police are dismissive at first but when pushed become openly hostile. Proxy!Sachiko is torn between the need to protect her daughter and not wanting to escalate the situation and endanger her son. Proxy!Light doesn’t give a shit. From the way he starts spitting his new anti-cop rhetoric in this place full of armed cops you might think that he has a death wish (spoiler alert- he kinda does.) Luckily, Proxy!Naomi and Proxy!L arrive just as things are about to turn ugly. Proxy!Naomi smooths things over while Proxy!L just stares at his shiny new N#1 suspect. The girls are free to go, and on the way out of the building Proxy!Misa introduces herself to Proxy!Light and asks him to walk her home. When he agrees, there is a split second where her eyes flash red.

Proxy!L and Proxy!Naomi discuss the case. He wants to focus on Proxy!Light but she thinks their best suspect at this point is Proxy!Misa. This is where we can introduce some of the tension between them over the fact that Proxy!Naomi will quit and leave him soon. They come to agreement over how to proceed with the investigation. They are both encouraged by the fact that they seem to have zeroed in on the killer so quickly, but are frustrated because they have no ideas about how the heart attacks are being caused. Neither of them seriously consider the supernatural angle.

On the way to her home (I’m imagining that it’s night now, and the two have wandered into some visually interesting/appropriate location) Proxy!Misa tells Proxy!Light that she knows he killed the police officers who killed his father. He tries to lie his way out of it but he is a bad liar. She reveals that she has her own death note and was able to identify him by using the shinigami eyes (which she also explains.) Finally, she tells him that she has followed his example and started killing people all over the country. At first, Proxy!Light is opposed to this. It was personal for him, and he claims that justice has been done and she has screwed things up by attracting the attention of the FBI on to them. But he very quickly comes around to Proxy!Misa’s way of thinking. The two of them have been given a great gift, and they should use it to bring justice to everyone in the world who has been denied it up until now. He even pushes the rhetoic one step further. If they are re-making the justice system, then it will be their job to take over as judge, jury and executioner until things have re-stablised. They should start killing crininals too, and gradually remove all bad people until they have created a new world full of only good people.

It is clear that Proxy!Light has been building toward this for a while, and was just waiting for an excuse to go full-Kira. Having a willing partner is the catalyst which gives him the confidence to push on. I am trying to downplay the obsessive and stalkerish nature of Proxy!Misa, so let’s assume she is willing to throw herself into this cause like she threw herself into the protests. The two teens feed off each other’s bloodlust and we become aware that we are witnessing the creation of something terrible. More religious imagery, as we cut into a montage of several days worth of the two planning and creating their world together, scribbling in notebooks while the death toll climbs into the hundreds and dramatic orchestral music plays.

And from here I don’t have a detailed plan on how the rest of the story would play out. I know that I want to have Proxy!Light and Proxy!L interact directly and have a bit of chemistry (probably Proxy!L fixates on him as wants to get close to figure out how the heart attacks work.) How their dynamic plays out will depend on the age gap between them and some other factors which I haven’t put a lot of thought into. I have downplayed the genius aspect but I want there to be at least one big dramatic mindgame showdown between the two of them, as a shout out to what we all loved from the original story. Proxy!L wins the battle of wits, but Proxy!Light plays a trump card in the form of his supernatural advantage, allowing Proxy!Misa to kill Proxy!L at the end of act 2.

Act 3: Everything goes to hell

Proxy!Naomi is reeling from the loss of her partner. She has now been forced to accept that the supernatural exists and she needs to take down two meglomaniac teenagers who literally weild the power of death itself.

Proxy!Light and Proxy!Misa continue to go mad with power and try to reshape the world with death.

I want some more social/religious commentary around wether what is happening is right or wrong and some hints of a cult of followers building and meeting violent opposition from people who condemn the killings. This is going on in the background while most of the third act is focused on Proxy!Naomi and Proxy!Light trying to kill each other.

The twist is that Proxy!Light can’t kill Proxy!Naomi with the death note because, while she goes by her married name, the name that he needs to kill her is her maiden name. Proxy!Misa can’t read it with her eyes because it’s written in kanji characters (which is why it’s important that she’s Japanese!) I don’t know exactly how it plays out but the film ends with Proxy!Naomi killing Proxy!Light. Roll credits.

Okay, now remember how I said there would be more stuff about how this could possibly fit into the canon? That’s because I have two main ideas about how you could do this. 1. This movie is set post-canon. I definitely think this could work, with only a few tweaks. Proxy!Light and Proxy!Misa would be inspired by the original Kira, the police force would know that someone had a death note and was coming for them, etc. This would probably make the movie more rewarding for the fans of the original story, because we would see how things are in the post-Kira world and you could have cool stuff like the shinigami who drops the notebook being a reincarnation of Light Yagami. The disadvantage to this is that it’s more alienating to audiences who aren’t familiar with the original story. 2. The story is set pre-canon, probably 90s or earlier. I think this is the better way to do it, because we know from Ryuk that death notes have ended up in the human world before. In this case you would take away Proxy!Misa’s notebook, and bend the rules a little. She is just a supporter who makes an eye trade using Proxy!Light’s notebook. You would also have to dial back the scale of death, make it that all the murders happen in one place instead of nation-wide so it coukd feasibly be hushed up later (which is why it’s not mentioned in canon.)

OKAY WOW. This was a much longer ride than I meant it to be. I’ve really tried to tell an American-ised version of the Death Note story which is interesting and rewarding for fans and new audiences alike. (If we have to have one, at keast make it good, right?) I hope I’ve stuck to some of the core themes of the story while also making the adaption original and not compete garbage. I would love to hear other people’s ideas!!! Either for more changes/ideas for things we could do with this pitch or a pitch of your own! I’m going to track the tags:

#saynotonoteflix #saynotowhiteyagami