#light kills because he thinks he has to be a god who punishes criminals who don't fit his vision of an ideal world

[quietautumn]

this is literally not fucking true if you actually understand a thing about his character other than the fact that he killed people.

[bunnyinatree]

Here are my thoughts about Death Note compared to Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment...

It makes sense that people compare Light to Raskolnikov, although they strike me as very different characters. Light wants for nothing and is successful in basically everything he tries. Raskolnikov is intelligent, too, but unlike Light, he is down on his luck financially. While Raskolnikov might be just as capable of success as Light, it is denied him due to his socioeconomic standing.

In addition to his lack of resources, Raskolnikov is worse than Light at hiding his resentment and boredom with life. Especially in the manga, we see that Light has many friends, that he's popular with women, and that most everyone thinks of him as Japan's best and brightest. Conversely, Raskolnikov makes no effort to disguise his disgruntlement, and his only friend (Razumihin) is the one who carries and maintains their relationship, despite Raskolnikov's best efforts to drive him away.

The novel says that Raskolnikov "kept aloof from everyone, went to see no one, and did not welcome anyone who came to see him, and indeed everyone soon gave up" on being his friend (Part I, Chapter IV). This is a far cry from Light's outwardly social attitude, although I think that some people assume that Light is more of a lone wolf like Raskolnikov (specifically the people who wrote Light Turner in the Netflix adaptation of Death Note).

Still, I do see a kernel of similarity between Light and Raskolnikov, and that has to do with their lofty theories about society and criminal justice. Raskolnikov may not have any police chiefs in his family, but he does subscribe to a theory that resembles Kira's ideology: Those who are strong enough to seize what they want and who are charismatic enough to do so can get away with murder. The public may even regard their atrocities as progress and vital for the greater good, as is the case with Napoleon.

This reminds me of a quote from Tolstoy's War and Peace: "[W]ar began, that is, an event took place opposed to human reason and to human nature. Millions of men perpetrated against one another such innumerable crimes, frauds, treacheries, thefts, forgeries, issues of false money, burglaries, incendiarisms, and murders as in whole centuries are not recorded in the annals of all the laws courts of the world, but which those who committed them did not at the time regard as being crimes" (Book XI).

Just as Light develops a god complex and justifies his actions as Kira, Raskolnikov convinces himself that his murder was faultless and that it actually contributed to the greater good, even if it was technically illegal. There's also a shared theme about "might making right," where it's suggested that only time will tell if Kira is just or not. If he wins, then his actions are just; if he loses, then he's the worst murderer of all. Here's a quote from Crime and Punishment that expresses the same sentiment: "But those men [i.e. Napoleon] succeeded and so they were right, and I [Raskolnikov] didn't, and so I had no right to have taken that step [murder]" (Epilogue, II).

Both Light and Raskolnikov start off bored/fatigued by the world around them ("Mere existence had always been too little for him [Raskolnikov]; he had always wanted more" (Epilogue, II)), and both characters experience adverse reactions to their first kills, with manga Light cowering under his bedsheets and not eating for several days. Light, of course, continues murdering people, because he successfully convinces himself that it's the right thing to do, whereas Raskolnikov stops after his first attempt, which takes two lives. I think that if Raskolnikov had a Death Note, if he had possessed the same means as Light, then he would have pushed his theory further and murdered more people. As Porifry Petrovich says to Raskolnikov, "It's as well that you only killed the old woman. If you'd invented another theory you might perhaps have done something a thousand times more hideous" (Part VI, Chapter II).

If we were to assign the role of L to anyone in Crime and Punishment, Porfiry Petrovich is our best bet. He may not be a world-renowned detective, and he doesn't have the same autistic charisma as L (in my opinion), but he does back Raskolnikov into a corner with his disconcertingly accurate theories, and the style of these scenes reminds me of Death Note. Raskolnikov wonders why Porfiry Petrovich is being so frank with him; Porfiry Petrovich admits that he likes Raskolnikov a lot; Rasknolnikov's minute expressions are called into account as evidence that he's hiding something; Porfiry Petrovich has less physical proof against Raskolnikov than he has inner assumptions and gut feelings.

Of course, Raskolnikov stops after his first double murder, and he turns himself into the police. Unlike Death Note, where L dies halfway through, Porfiry Petrovich comes out alive and well, and the story concludes where many Death Note adaptations do, without delving into the second half of the story. For this reason, I don't think that there are any character equivalents of Near, Mikami, Mello, Takada, and the rest of the second half crew.

However, there are a few other parallels to address. Razumihin is a good stand-in for Matsuda. Both characters are chummy with the protagonist and always eager to help him out. I'm not sure that Razumihin shares Matsuda's clumsiness or perceived lack of capableness, but it is true that, like Raskolnikov, Razumihin is down on his luck and currently taking a break from his studies. Like Matsuda, Razumihin is talented and just needs the opportunity to flourish. There's also the parallel of Matsuda being attracted to Sayu (Light's sister) and Razumihin being attracted to Dounia (Raskolnikov's sister).

Honestly, I was hoping there would be a more dramatic betrayal scene when Razumihin learned about Raskolnikov's crime, but Crime and Punishment doesn't seem like that kind of story. While Light gets his just desserts and dies like all of the criminals that he's killed before, surrounded by the people he's hurt and betrayed, Raskolnikov retains his loving family, even after they know the full extent of his guilt, and the epilogue suggests that his life will go on, and he will be surrounded by people who love him—and people he's finally capable of loving back (specifically, Sonia).

Speaking of Sonia, I've heard people say that she is the Misa Amane of Crime and Punishment, but I don't think that's true. Personally, I think that Misa is a combination of Sonia and Svidrigailov. Sonia fits the bill of Misa's childish popularity, because the other characters often disapprove of her life choices but can't help feeling drawn to her. Also, she's positioned as Raskolnikov's love interest. Besides that, though, I don't think the connection is very strong. Light has no respect for Misa and sees her as a liability more than anything, whereas Raskolnikov often feels hateful toward Sonia but is frequently moved to bursts of kindness and generosity. And even though Sonia wants to save Raskolnikov and looks upon him in a religious way, Misa sees Light as a savior, while Sonia sees Raskolnikov as someone to be saved.

I think that Svidrigailov is a much better fit for Misa, because they are both brought into the story thanks to their stalkerish behavior. Misa makes a point of tracking down Light, because she is in love with him, while Svidrigailov shows up at Raskolnikov's apartment without any warning, because he is obsessed with Dounia. His love is directed towards the protagonist's sister, rather than the protagonist himself, but the way that Misa and Svidrigailov approach the objects of their affection is similar: They want to be a slave to their love; they'll do whatever their loved one says; they don't care if they're treated badly because of it.

The way that Raskolnikov treats Svidrigailov is much more similar to the way that Light treats Misa than the way that Raskolnikov treats Sonia is. Raskolnikov wishes that Svidrigailov would go away but recognizes him as a liability who learned his darkest secret without his permission, just as Misa uncovered Light's identity on her own.

Sadly, there are no Shinigami equivalents in Crime and Punishment—at least, none that I can make note of.

Lastly, we have Dounia, Raskolnikov's sister, and Pulcheria Alexandrovna, Raskolnikov's mother, who are parallels to Sayu and Sachiko respectively. There isn't much to say about Pulcheria Alexandrovna and Sachiko, because neither plays a major role in the story—although in my wildest dreams, Sachiko would also turn a blind eye to Light's murderous side and go on loving her son in spite of it. I'd like to think that Sachiko would go further than Pulcheria Alexandrovna and directly assist her son, joining Light's crusade to keep him from getting caught.

The connection between Dounia and Sayu fascinates me, because I see Dounia's storyline as everything that Sayu's could have been, had the creator of Death Note chosen to incorporate her into the main plot. Dostoyevsky makes frequent references to how similar Raskolnikov and Dounia are, in terms of appearance as well as personality. Both of them have an underlying coldness about them, a certain cunning intelligence that makes them unique and attractive to others. While Sayu is kidnapped and used as a pawn in other characters' schemes, Dounia is the final goal of Svidrigailov and gets her own scene involving helplessness and coercion—although Dounia made my day by pulling out a gun and aiming it at Svidrigailov. She did not kill him, but she did graze him with a bullet, and I love the parallel between her and her brother, the insinuation that both of them might be driven to murder under the right circumstances.

Sayu does not do any of this, of course, but I would have loved for her to play a more active role in her story. If she had been given as much intelligence and cunning as Light... If she had possessed more agency and had discovered her brother's secret on her own.... If she had pulled a gun on someone, Matsuda-style... As it stands, she and Dounia are both beloved by the main cast, but Sayu does less to differentiate herself from other little sisters. She's simply part of a generic category that people want to protect, and Dounia, in my opinion, has much more complexity and depth given to her.

Overall, I understand why I've seen more than one post comparing Death Note to Crime and Punishment. And while it's a fun topic to mull over, I don't think there's as direct of a correlation as some posts imply. Light and Raskolnikov are both young intellectuals driven to murder by lofty theories; they each have a mother who burdens them with her high expectations (Sachiko/Pulcheria Alexandrovna); they both have younger sisters with minor romantic subplots involving a friendly guy (Sayu with Matsuda/Dounia with Razumihin); there's a detective in both stories trying to catch a criminal (L/Porfiry Petrovich); and there's an unwelcome stalker with a romantic obsession there to complicate everything (Misa/Svidrigailov).

But Crime and Punishment ends much sooner than Death Note; there are only two deaths the protagonist is responsible for; and Dostoyevsky seems to have loftier themes of mercy and forgiveness to convey than Death Note. It's possible that swapping the two protagonists wouldn't alter the individuals stories much (if Raskolnikov were in Light's shoes and found a Death Note just before graduating high school, and if Light had been living in poverty, barred from higher education, and forced to deal with a disagreeable pawnbroker).

Still, Death Note strikes me as more of an engaging psychological thriller meant to entertain and satisfy with the protagonist's ultimate downfall, while Crime and Punishment feels intentionally religious and much more concerned with morals/messages. I enjoyed reading Crime and Punishment, but I've enjoyed reading/watching Death Note more (even though I appreciate what Dostoyevsky did with Dounia much more than what Ohba and Obata did with Sayu). I would recommend that fans of Death Note give Crime and Punishment a try, if nineteenth century Russian literature sounds at all appealing to you. It's fun to draw parallels between the stories as you go, and even if they're not the same (no story is), they're both entertaining and engaging in their own right.

[oloreandil]

i've been having random thoughts about death note happening in more recent years, with social media as a widespread method of communication and identification

doxxing / finding names and pictures online is so easy right now, Light getting the power of the eyes would only really hinge on finding out L's name. the few criminals whose identity can't easily be found online would matter to him even less compared to the loss of half your years

i still think Misa would take them for the convenience and romantic appeal of immediate deathly powers (by the way. taking the eyes again steals half your life AGAIN. Light pointedly would not stop her, especially since people's internet presence would have wildly changed already)

rigidly pseudonymous identities outside of your trusted circle would become the norm in my opinion, with web extensions to hide your ID in all previous posts mentioning you, and counter extensions to show them again (popularised by pro-Kira blogs who want to engage in doxxing). i can very well see discourse around "what do you need to hide :/ I'm a publicly law abiding citizen which is why I don't care that my name is out there" as it is literally a "counter argument" in the conversation around privacy laws right now

there would be lots of forum threads on finding out how Kira kills in the same way we have massive discussions around fan theories, and the sheer amount of ideas and brainpower usually leads somewhere, but it's also gonna lead to burying less popular theories regardless of how correct they could be. L and the Task force (and then, Mello and the SPK) would have to sort through thousands of reposts of the same popular arguments

callout culture would be absolutely horrible, too. people would 100% make up fake crimes so Kira would punish someone they don't like, even though i don't think Light would take the Minoru approach of asking people for information. he doesn't trust anyone else to do it properly, but can't get proper sources at first and i'm sure innocent people would get caught in his net. i wonder how that'd reflect on Kira, if people would start to question his god-like powers because of poor media literacy or if people would turn against those who tricked Kira and "tarnished god's hands" or something

those would all be fantastic tools for L, though. fake articles published by real news sources using his influence, but with various kinds of ID available on each criminal so he can pick up which are actually relevant. a variant of his "only in Tokyo" news report but on social media, to see where Kira might have an account and follow that trail. fake profiles of real people to see if Kira would kill them instead of the Lind L Tailor murder on TV. i don't think he'd show his face nearly as quick as he did in the manga, if at all, and he'd definitely never go to uni with Light in case someone gets a picture (or he'd have to do massive damage control to remove every instance of his face posted online, with added pressure after the appearance of the second Kira). i think he'd probably only show his face to the task force or Light when his suspicions are so strong he kidnaps Light and Misa

social media would be banned from the Task Force HQ but it'd be way harder to erase their social presence, especially Aizawa (his wife posts about their family life) and Matsuda (previously very active). that would be one more reason to make them resign from the NPA sooner. reposts of old articles start to appear when people notice that a large part of the Task Force has been wiped from police records - the list of police Kira investigators could have leaked, putting further pressure on them to quit as the pro-Kira crowd massively doxxes them

i'll probably add more to this at some point and i'm really curious if other people wanna share their ideas !

[liquidpaperfoundation]

5 & 24 for the ask game?

5. It's exactly what a know-it-all kid would come up with to justify the two murders he committed.

Kira's ideology has many obvious problems. for example, he may have decreased the crime rate but at the cost of becoming a tyrant that causes the world to live in fear of his wrath; he doesn't give a shit about due process and kills a lot of people who were arrested or charged but never convicted, meaning he has probably killed thousands of innocents who were merely accused of crimes at some point; and Light's response to Mikami killing "lazy" people was not a hard no but a mere "not yet".

I get the appeal of Kira's ideology, since it offers quick and brutal vengeance, but it is quite clear that he is wrong.

You could say I'm not a fan.

24. My headcanon about anime!Light is that he was always a bit antisocial/narcissistic (not armchair diagnosing or anything, but i think he always had trouble with empathy and placed himself above others because he spent all his childhood being constantly told how great he was and being valued only for his accomplishments and never treated as a human being), but he was very much not evil. He had a moral compass and people he loved and he could have been a good person, but getting the death note is what encouraged his worst instincts.

I think Light's "kill everyone I don't like and become god" ideology only really solidified as a result of the first two murders and meeting Ryuk. Light's entire self-image is based on the idea that he is perfect and great and the specialest little guy. But he killed two people just to see if the death note works?

So he rationalizes that those people deserved to die, and he was in fact doing good by killing them. He can't accept the idea that he is anything less than perfect, so he tells himself that not only did his first two victims deserve to die, but he would be even perfecter if he killed more people. Before he meets Ryuk, Light believes he will be divinely punished for his actions, so he's just trying to do as much good as he can before he gets smited.

But then Ryuk shows up. And Ryuk has no interest in divine justice. He's not here to take Light's soul or anything. And there is no heaven or hell. This breaks Light a little bit. What is Light to do with the rest of his life now that he knows he isn't going to be immediately obliterated? How does he live with the fact that he ended hundreds of lives and the universe doesn't even care? And that is when Light decides he is going to get rid of not just the worst criminals, but every criminal on the planet. If there I'd no divine justice, Light will become divine justice.

I hc that some very deep down repressed part of Light knows that all of this is wrong, but he refuses to listen to it. After all, if he morally objects to killing Naomi, then killing the FBI agents was also wrong, as was killing Lind L. Tailor just to prove a point. If he acknowledges the immorality of any of his actions, then that makes him not a perfect god, but a vicious murderer. So light turns his conscience against itself and makes up a big lie about being a perfect god and that anyone who goes against him must be evil, because he would completely break if he let himself introspect for even a moment.

This is also why I don't believe that L would become "God of the New World" if he had the death note from the start. Because L knows he's done questionable things. L is comfortable in his identity as an evil bastard, and ironically that would save him from some of the depths Light sinks to.

[jackoftradesmakescontent]

Skyrim Dragonborn: Militant religious fanatic believes she is a psychopomp for immortal souls. Unfortunately, she is right and starts killing gods about it.

Modded Skyrim Completionist Run: Cat Grandma, who just retired from being Cat God-Emperor's Personal Bodyguard, steals every item of even slight importance and puts them in a museum. Sometimes she has to punch a god to death to get her prize, but that's just her normal Tuesday.

Oblivion Hero of Kvatch: Criminal charlatan merchant is offered amnesty in exchange for ensuring the Emperor's bloodline continues. Accidentally amasses so much political power by scheming his way to supplanting every faction's leader, taking over the criminal underworld, and becoming the champion of the entire pantheon, that he gets elected Emperor instead. He hates it. He wants to go home.

Fallout 4 Sole Survivor: Modern Oracle of Delphi helps stop the Great War with his visions then gets clean off drugs to get married. Apocalypse happens anyway. Slowly goes back to being Addictions Georg every time something bad happens because he thinks his visions will help.

Fallout New Vegas Courier 6: Retired Badass Returns For One Last Job After Her Last One Went So Wrong. Two bullets to the brainpan just makes her angrier and more unstoppable. When she sees that nobody is making anything better all the time, decides "Fine. I'll Do It Myself." Unfortunate taste in men.

Fallout 3 Lone Wanderer: Local Claustrophobe Forced Into Cramped Space For The 7th Time Today Finally Snaps.

Final Fantasy 14 Warrior of Light: Healer whose powers don't follow normal rules finally learns where his powers come from, immediately becomes The Punisher. Has a sense of justice so massive it takes a helmet as tall as he is to contain it.

Final Fantasy 14 Story Alt: Local Bard discovers that in the grand play of scheming gods and shattered reincarnations, he is actually some random nobody who has no place here with his dinky small, weak soul. Immediately goes around getting possessed and collecting soul passengers until his soul looks like Zim from that one episode where he steals peoples' intestines. Dresses in an over the top parody of the main antagonists' uniform to mock them.

Pokemon Trainer: Local man wants to settle down, but enjoys large, inhospitable pokemon. Cultivates a wandering garden instead.

Starfinder: A bunch of space nazi zombies kill Oogie Boogie Nightmarebeforechristmas's family and kidnap his dad, so he joins the space anti-space-nazi-zombies force and starts eating people about it.

Pathfinder: Time traveler sends simulacrum copies of themselves back in time to help resolve conflict points.

DnD: Robot is actually a hivemind swarm of magical bugs piloting his body like a mech, on the search for new and exciting other bugs to assimilate.

Also DnD: Local bird can only speak in Youtube Poop, studies ancient ruins to collect new curses to cast on enemies.

DnD But Became Default Character On Anything: Local Orc Too Stupid To Die. Curbstomps the god of destruction so hard he becomes a multiversal constant.

EVERYONE QUICK describe your oc story in the worst way possible

[heavenly-kazee]

Man- I'm this close 👌🏻 leaving yuumori fandom whenever I see Eurus being mentioned 😭

(TW: Sherlock BBC spoilers, RKDD spoilers, supervillain acting the most pitiable sympathetic character and mental health disorders mentioned)

Sherlock BBC didn't healed me, it traumatized me. Yup— I better be sticking around in RKDD fandom because at least the mangaka is more respected with the actual ACD version (maybe Ron is still similar like Benedict Cumberbatch but in a positive light)

I know there are Eurus fans out there but I am not sorry about this post. All I wanted is someone to save me from this horrible nightmare fuel of Sherlock BBC hysteria, not even God can take me away from this hell of redeeming the most psychopathic creature that has nothing to do in ACD book-

I'm not even surprised she's the youngest, I do not wanted to be associated as her. I prefer to be associated as Mycroft, a autistic government who has not stepped outside of his office room (Unfortunately, that is who I am throughout my childhood years)

In conclusion, (points at Eurus) she is Mary Sue. Such mary sue coded because she's too overly intelligent and easily overpower Sherlock and Mycroft. My main concern is Mycroft. He got berated, criticized from his parents and thinking why their son put their daughter in private prison- Ffs Mycroft never once get comforted by them at all, I could already tell who's the golden child here in the family-

How come Jim Moriarty, Charles Augustus Milverton and that quaky cereal villain got punished and died early on? That doesn't make any sense why Eurus got away from killing staff members and causing chaos everywhere. Oh, that's right, she's Eurus Holmes, their youngest third sister and a redeemable antagonist supervillain. A psychopath at a young age who killed Sherlock's best friend. Firstly, she killed someone, Mycroft found out she's dangerous and decided to send her off to the Sherrinfold private prison institution out of fear letting her hurt Sherlock. Secondly, her intelligence and abilities grew outsmarting anyone in the room and third, Mycroft gives up in the end and gives her "reasonable" motive presents.

I never once like season 4 or The Final Problem episode, everything feels out of place and it doesn't feel like Sherlock and Moriarty's death battle anymore.

Tragically wasted potential. RKDD done it way better than that. Instead of Eurus Holmes being in the manga series, that personality of hers was imported to Alice Moriarty as a character. Humming as she sings, Mylo almost kill Alice at their young age but she survived in the end. Alice treated Mylo the same treatment as Mylo did in the past. At first I didn't think too much about it until I finished watching Sherlock BBC, the pattern was too hard to ignore the more I investigate where Alice's personality came from.

Last but not least, Eurus Holmes is a character only for BBC, nothing more. She has no interesting quirks, only mind games like an unredeemable villain. If I was her little sister, I would be disappointed, angry and have many mixed emotions all at once for having a sibling who lost her morality as an human being. "But, Mycroft and Sherlock accepted her!" No, that's lazy writing. A realistic siblings wouldn't accept it as it is. They will think you're crazy, a criminal, disappointment in the family and probably be the first people to kick you out of the house for breaking family code rules. And as for them, they might as well tell the parents about their youngest daughter had killed thousands of people compared to Moriarty, Charles Augustus and quacky cereal killer.

That's all for my Ted talk. If you want to voice your opinions, that's fine as well but I won't tolerate any comments about defending Eurus as a character, she's already a vile mess, what do you want to argue more about 😭

[thedemoninme141]

Ghosts- Chapter 3: Revenge

"That's a lot of hardware Ghost, What'd you plan on doing?" Nikolai asked "What they taught me to do. Kill'em all" Ghost said.

.

April is so happy. On the occasion of their first anniversary, her boyfriend Ron gave her this lovely apartment. They intend to start a family here. She has that boy's undying love, for sure. Maybe she should do something for him too, April puts on her hottest dress. Just let him come home; boy, what a night this is going to be. She hears a noise in her kitchen, which must be Zoey, her cat. The light is off as she enters the kitchen and asks, "Zoey baby, what are you doing?" She illuminates the room to see what is in front of her. She freezes in fright as she stares at the horrifying figure in front of her. It rushes toward her. Everything turns pitch black .

April feels lightheaded. What happened, why is she immobile, and where is she?

A candle is on the table in front of her, she notices.

As she tries to get up, she notices a person seated in the chair across from her. RON is here! He is restrained to the chair. She tries to approach him but is unable to do so.

"Ron! Oh my god, what happened to you?"

" WAKE UP RON, I WANT YOU TO SEE THIS."

April can hear a woman's voice, it's terrifyingly cold.

She can make out the person standing behind Ron. Her face is obscured to her.

It's far too dim.

"Tell me, Ron, when was the last time you lost someone you loved?"

It looks at April

When April sees Ron's hands, she is overcome with fear.

Both of his hands have been nailed to the table.

April can almost make out the bones in his fingers. She will pass out from all the blood.

"I don't think I have to keep my end of the bargain since you won't tell me where your friends have vanished to,"

"No, no, no, please don't kill me!" Ron yells.

"Oh don't worry, I am not gonna kill you"

It looks at April,

"Just her"

It comes behind April, who is trembling in fear.

"Remember her?" April doesn't know what she pulled.

"Wha.. no.. no. it can't be we saw her dead she's dead"

"YOU DIDN'T SEE HER DEAD, YOU KILLED HER"

"No, we didn't kill her, she was already dead! Please believe me!" Ron pleaded

"LIES!" IT YELLED.

"Please! April has nothing to do with it, let her go, Pls don't do this, Punish me, not her!"

"I AM ABOUT TO PUNISH YOU"

April feels something sharp on her neck. She screams.

''Ron! RON! PLEASE RON!" April screams.

"Alright alright, I am telling you, everything you need, just don't hurt her!"

"GOOD," April heard as she felt her head being hit with something hard. She felt dizzy again, and everything turned black again.

The next thing she knows is waking up in the hospital, and being informed that her boyfriend is dead, his body found hanging on the apartment's balcony he got for their anniversary.

"Her description matches Ghost's sir," Gary informed David

"When exactly did this Ghost guy begin to terrorize and murder defenceless individuals? " David questioned.

"However, the victim claimed that it was a woman. The victim of the previous incident confirmed that it was a male." Gary threw in.

"Several of them, huh? "

"Because the victim stated that it desired something he knew, we can infer that it is connected to Ron. I'll look up Ron's contacts, places he has been and criminal history." "

.

.

"When did it dawn on you that you liked me?" Jade inquired while stroking her girlfriend's hand. "Umm, I always knew you were the prettiest girl I ever knew. And scariest too." Tori replied as Jade smiled. "I was drawn to you because of something about your smile, your eyes, and the way you were — you know, your self-assurance and bravery. You and Beck were already dating when I finally realized what was going on, so I refrained from approaching you." She added. "You should've at least told me you were into girls. All this time I bullied you thinking you were high over heels for Beck" "I was also worried that if you found out I am gay, you might leave me or freak out." "Huh? Then what made you finally woman up then?" "Woman up? Really? Well, Jade, the answer to your question is you, Jade. You made me realize that life is about making decisions and living with the outcome. You act without hesitation and that motivated me, Jade" "I never felt bad whenever you insulted me, 'cause every time you insulted me there was a little praise in it too. You called me pretty sometimes while insulting me." "What! Never once would I belittle Sweet Sally Peaches "Jade spoke in her Tori voice. "Ugh, I don't talk like that! Anyway, I just felt like I was getting your attention which I desired whenever you talked to me. And I wanted more, so I finally decided to tell you." "I am happy you told me your feelings Tori, otherwise I wouldn't have found my soulmate... Your father David, he is such a hot guy" "Eww Jade, you are such a mood ruiner" Tori slaps Jade's arm. Jade smiles "But I am your mood ruiner," she says as she leans in for a kiss on Tori. Tori was surprised because she hadn't anticipated being able to kiss Jade on her first date. She wants it to be perfect and in that same instant, she experienced both anxiety and joy. She accepts the kiss that electrified her entire body. Jade's lips felt so soft. After a brief period of kissing, Jade slowly pulled away. Tori was worried that Jade didn't enjoy the kiss. Jade smiles wider. "So Vega, where to now?"

[sirthisisa-wendys]

The Emperor: Toji Fushiguro x Fem!Reader

synopsis: Being a servant of the Emperor is a unique position that requires multiple positions.

wc: 1.7k

tw: NSFW

masterlist

As you stare at the pink moon hanging low in the sky, you try to remember every single moment that brought you here to the Imperial Palace.

Studious.

You had been a girl who sought to put her head in books instead of learning how to be a wife. There had been five of you in your little group of young girls who sought to improve their minds instead of improving their station by marriage.

And the girls who sought to marry well were not wrong for doing so. Neither were you wrong for wanting to improve your mind with the other men, with who you would never be caught dead socializing. As far as everyone knew, you would not subject yourself to the torture of being affiliated with dalliances. No, you didn't have time for that.

But...

Then you had been snatched from the halls of the library and drug back to your home, the hands of the Imperial soldiers carrying you past your mother and father, who chased after you - horrified and tearful.

At first, you thought you had committed some unfathomable crime and would be punished by the Emperor himself. All signs pointed to you being a criminal due to how the soldiers threw you into a dingy and cramped carriage, one that was not fit for even a lowly citizen to ride in. But when you arrived at the Palace less than an hour later, you stepped into an uncertain future.

With tall walls covered in flowers you didn't know the names of - yet - and fountains in a courtyard made of azure tile, you were sure that you had been deposited in a place too grand for a criminal. There was no way the men who dropped you from the carriage and into the garden were going to kill you. And after a man with long, blonde hair and a bored look approached your stunned figure in the midst of all of the beauty, he held out a hand, called you by your name, and told you he would be your attendant.

But despite the fantastic set of arrangements, the reason why you were now in the palace of Emperor Fushiguro set in before anyone told you.

"Concubine." The word floated around your town when the Emperor's wife died several years ago, but to your knowledge, there had been many women picked for His Holiness's pleasure after that. You'd be the first in over six years, as far as anyone was aware.

And you were.

You are.

You're reminded of this when there's a knock on your door, startling you out of your reverie and bringing you back to the present.

"You may enter," you whisper, pulling the pins out of your hair. Emperor Fushiguro likes your hair down. The large man enters the shadowy room silently, his robes swishing about as he approaches. You stand from your bed and exhale softly, eyeing the green-eyed royal as his feet step to your own.

"How have you been since I last saw you?" he wonders, tilting your chin up with his index finger. "Are you sleeping well?"

"I'm fine, your Holiness," you reply, touching his hand tenderly. "I am well. How are you feeling?" Toji looks at the moon outside, the scar on his lips twitching up slightly.

"I am exhausted," he admits, shoulders slumping.

"Tell me about your day," you encourage him, motioning to the bed. "I am here to listen." And Toji begins regaling his day to you as you rake your fingers through his hair and hum at the appropriate times, letting him be heard in the dim light of your bedroom. When he finishes (usually him just trailing off and staring at the ceiling), you press a kiss to his forehead.

"I will go to the temple in the morning and pray for a resolution to your issues, your Holiness." Toji reaches a hand up to caress your bottom lip, looking into your eyes.

"You are the only concubine who has extended such kindness to me," he breathes. You know this is not true and that's he's just buttering you up for what comes next. Though, you're not sure why.

Because every time you lay underneath him, beside him, on top of him, however he desires to have you that night... you enjoy it. You genuinely enjoy it.

And as Toji disrobes you carefully, fingers raking across your skin like the breath of the wind, you tangle yourself around him, holding his face in your hands, holding him close, holding him for as long as you can, which he adores.

Tonight, you hold him against you as he kisses your lips, your fingers tugging his short black hair as your body squirms underneath his massive frame.

"Eager," he hums against your skin, and you moan as two fingers dip into your core, playing with your slick while the other grabs your breast. Whether it's his practice with the other concubines or his deceased wife, you don't know. But it seems that Toji can play you to his liking, drawing sounds out of you like a skilled harpist. And every night he'd come to visit you, it would be the same way - he'd make a small symphony, then leave when the sun came up to return to running the country.

Toji reminds you of his skill as he rubs your clit repeatedly, lips latching onto your nipple and toying with it before moving to the other.

"Your Holiness," you exhale, but the Emperor whispers,

"Please. Call me Toji while I am with you, y/n." You nod as he kisses down your stomach and lifts your legs over his broad shoulders, hands roaming over your thighs as he spreads them apart. When his cool tongue sinks into your cunt, you stiffen, grasping one of his hands for leverage.

"Toji..." you moan, but he doesn't answer you as his tongue flicks back and forth, preparing you and tasting you at the same time. His eyes flick up to watch your face, which makes your toes curl. Just like he knew they would.

As he toys with you, you can hear his soft grunts of pleasure, feel the kisses, touch his soft hair as his head moves around, and watch him devour you earnestly. All of your senses light up at once, bringing you to a climax you didn't expect when his hands tug your nipples until you're overstimulated and shaking underneath his mouth.

"Oh, gods," you cry out, and Toji hums, speeding up his movements. "I'm going to cum," you pant in response, but he doesn't let up, tipping you over the edge with his ministrations and making your body quiver violently.

You only stop shaking when you feel his cockhead at your entrance, and you wonder how long you'd been trembling as he shirked off his clothes.

"Oh!"

Toji slides into you easily, his girth the only one you'd ever felt in your entire life. When he bottoms out inside of you, he moans, then leans down to capture your lips in his.

"Slow, slow..." you whisper, pressing your hands against his shoulders.

"I know... Shh, shh, shh..." he replies, kissing down your neck and removing your hands tenderly. "I know you like my own mind, my little nightingale." You exhale slowly, legs still shaking as he pumps into you carefully. "You're the only one that sings for me like you do." Another kiss is pressed to your lips. "The only one that attends to me like you do." And another. "The only one I can trust."

His words sink to the pit of your stomach, and you feel some sort of emotion welling up inside of you. But it's quickly pushed down when Toji's teeth sink into the fleshy part of your ear. You jerk a little, clenching around him, and he hisses before chuckling. "Works every time."

And you love it, every single moment of this. Toji speeds up his strokes, making you moan and pant in time with him.

"You're the only one that really enjoys this," he breathes, sweat dripping down from his forehead. You look into his eyes and nod, biting your bottom lip. "I even took your maidenhood and you never resented me for it."

"Never," you agree, nodding again before shuddering. "Toji, just like that! Please..." Toji obeys, silencing himself as he pumps into you even faster, almost reaching his climax with you, hips stuttering and jerking as your walls clench around him rhythmically. Toji groans loudly, his body heaving as he comes down from the short high and then rolls onto his back after pulling out of you.

"Come," he whispers hoarsely, tugging you close to his side and drawing the sheets around your bodies. He nestles his face into your hair and murmurs, "You are the only concubine I feel close to. Only because you love and cherish Princess Tsumiki, and you tend to my needs when you see me."

"It is my duty, is it not?"

"You could be resentful like the others."

"And they let you touch them?" Toji grunts once.

"I touch them, then I leave. It is unbearable at times, but... it's my duty to produce a male heir at some point." You look over your shoulder at him and smile.

"And you will have it."

"I'm hoping I will have it by you so that I can get rid of these other women." The implications of his words are so startling that you flinch in shock. "No?" Toji wonders, frowning as he touches your cheek.

"N-not no, but... Me? From concubine to consort? No other concubine will give you a son?"

"No other concubine can give me a son. That was why I picked them in the first place," he sighs, pulling you even closer. "But now... I am ready for another child. A son to take on the Imperial reign. Through you." He splays a hand across your belly, rubbing it tenderly before yawning loudly.

"Sleep well, your Ho- I mean, Toji." But he's already asleep, nose tucked into the crook of your neck and arms around your frame. Just like you like it.

Concubine to consort? You think to yourself in the moonlight. With an Imperial son?

A smile creeps its way across your face at the thought of being pregnant with Toji's child. Toji's son. To be the vessel of such a treasure... it would make your worth in his eyes that much more.

You fall asleep with that thought, and add "pray for a son" to your list of petitions to the gods.

_____________________________________________________________

TAGGING: @missbonekitty @wack0-genius @thankuary @r-i-m-f-009 @leanne-tamashi @rein-icu @brownskinnedgirll @savantsoulfinder @chilledlucifer @kontentious @flare-on @meena-in-a-nutshell @falling-through-pages @naoyasdarling @vabybizzle @fiona782 @debevv @suguruswaifu

[skaruresonic]

but what I mean is, painting every single villain as not-so-bad or just slightly grey is not a very helpful perspective. It's better to acknowledge that people with criminal activity on their hands come in all shapes and sizes, including motive: for every example who has a tragic past, there's another example who did it for the thrill.

You can have both traumatized villains and villains who do bad things Just Because. Sometimes those categories are intertwined.

I'm sure some people will probably be inclined to uwu-ify Creoda even though the thematic gist behind his character is that the divine right of kings drives people to do senseless things under the guise of "God told me to." His piety to a vengeful moon god renders him Lawful Evil at best. The story makes no compunctions that what he does is cruel, no matter how justified he may believe it is.

His abusive brother Cynric, on the other hand, is just a dick because it hasn't occurred to him not to be. When he realizes he can cash in on Creoda's ability to die and return to life without a scratch, he does so gleefully - and Creoda goes along with it because, likewise, it hasn't occurred to him not to.

Even then, I'm hard-pressed to call Creoda flat-out evil due to the fact that the dehumanization he suffers at the hands of his family informs his character too thoroughly to discount it all as a cheap Freudian excuse.

Yes, I do acknowledge his misdeeds still fall under the "cool motive, still murder" umbrella. Yet I feel it'd be equally dismissive of the audience not to acknowledge how this trauma impacts his character because it shapes his entire worldview.

In fact, when Cynric abuses his resurrection powers for personal gain, killing him in front of client kings as part of a shock tactic to wreak havoc and raid the kings' halls, Creoda's response is, consistently, to shrug. He consented to being killed, ergo there's nothing to punish. What's the problem?

Cerdic: "Dim your heart and think on his deeds. He listened to every word you offered on his sorry behalf, only to repay you with petty kin-slaughter. Do you wit what grave insult he's flung at you? Have you nothing to say?" Creoda: "There is nothing to say." ---

Morgan: "Your kinsman bathes in your blood for fun and sport! And don't even think about vouching for that madman---he was laughing when you slumped to the ground!" Creoda: "I let him. Is permission not reason enough?" Morgan: "He called killing you a game." Creoda: "Our game." Morgan: "How many more times will you do this?" Creoda: "I don't keep count."

And yet, the cognitive dissonance between Cynric's douchebaggery and having to acknowledge that Cynric, too, is capable of love causes Creoda to go too far. He later attempts to drown Cynric's infant son in the same weir in which he was drowned. The baby's existence contradicts his beliefs, and therefore must be eliminated; Creoda just puts a vaguely religious gloss on his justifications, comparing the infant to the doomed god Baldr:

"Do not cry, little lord of light." "There was once another shining one like you, beloved by all the gods but one." "He died by his brother's trickery, and the world will one day end for his doom." "Men will seek to destroy you for the joy you bring, for kings scorn peace and detest happiness." "Spare them your hate. It is in their nature to chase strife." "There can be no life without death." "No meaning without pain."

However, he outlines his real reasons as

"[The baby] had no right to be so beautiful." "To tell it true, I could not bear to look upon him long." "One glance at the edling smoldered an ugly black smoke inside me."

and

"You'll use him, as you used me." "Twist him into a mockery of a man." "I can think of no worse cruelty."

He needs the idea that Cynric ruins everything he touches to be true, or else his pain will have meant nothing.

And it's not that the narrative lets Creoda off the hook Because Trauma - (tbh pretty much everyone's gone through 'nam in this story because Dark Ages) - but rather, everyone's caught up in this web of awful.

Cynric hurts Creoda first by drowning him, inadvertently causing him to get hit with the moon god's resurrection curse, then abusing his resurrection schtick for personal gain. Creoda later tries to drown his brother's infant son in the same weir under the guise of it being a "mercy" to the child, when really it's a combination of spite, resentment, and trauma. (worth noting as well that Creoda is infertile as part of the price of resurrection) Cynric strikes Morgan, his girlfriend, despite Morgan literally saving his kid, because that's the only thing he thinks will hurt Creoda. The teeter-totter Morgan has been balancing on between hate and love for Creoda swings more towards hate after this, driving her to want to kill him permanently.

Creoda captures Arthur and attempts to enlist him against Cynric. Morgan tries to convince Arthur to kill Creoda. Arthur can choose to side with one or neither of them, but all of these options will come at the cost of his soul being enslaved in some kind of thralldom.

The Ouroboros continues to consume its own tail.

Hot take: humanizing a villain =/= giving him sympathetic traits. One of my favorite ways the games have humanized Eggman is by giving him a love for amusement parks. We can headcanon all the reasons why he enjoys them so much (and I like that one page in IDW where he says "If I want my enemies' last moments to be carousel music and the smell of petroleum-based cotton candy, that's what I'll make happen", that's a nice explanation), but at the end of the day, it's just a silly cute trait that tells us Eggman is a joyous manchild who is having a blast in his quest for world domination. Doesn't erase his various war crimes :P but he feels more rounded (hehe) as a character.

Strongly agree | Agree | Neutral | Disagree | Strongly disagree

Said it time and time again: some of the most widely beloved villains throughout all forms of fiction - video games, movies, comics, anime, you name it - have little-to-no sympathetic qualities or moral standards, and a big reason for why they become favourites anyway (aside from how enjoyable they are in their blatant villainy) is because they manage to be fascinating or nuanced in other ways. You can have a villain who is openly evil, proud of being openly evil, and kicks dogs every minute for the lulz, but what's stopping you from giving them a history? What's stopping you from going full character study and delving into how they work their evil magic, and in what specific ways they affect other characters? Sorry to bring up the Paper Mario fic again, but part of the fun I've been having with crafting it is the specific layers of just how Eggman decides to make things needlessly personal with the heroes.

The persistent schoolboy error that writers and fans frequently commit - especially in Eggman's case, much to my eternal grief - is the assumption and YouTube essays claiming that making a villain overtly tragic, or giving them some moral line that they won't cross, is the only possible way you can flesh them out. As you pointed out with your example, villains who are loud and proud about their evil ways can still have other sides of them explored, even if none of it actually softens or redeems them per say. You can give a villain admirable qualities that have nothing to do with their (lack of) morals, such as making them a good planner. Indeed, Eggman already has that and a bunch of other "good" qualities, such as being creative, showing fearlessness, and never giving up, among others. None of it detracts from his certified dipshit and furry executioner status.

And not to be one of those "does fiction affect reality???" goobers, but let's face it: putting the fantastical elements aside, people who don't need a reason to do bad shit do exist in real life. I'm not saying that as a nihilistic doomposter (on the contrary, I hate that shit), but what I mean is, painting every single villain as not-so-bad or just slightly grey is not a very helpful perspective. It's better to acknowledge that people with criminal activity on their hands come in all shapes and sizes, including motive: for every example who has a tragic past, there's another example who did it for the thrill.

[idealisticrealism]

2x02 and the symbolism of the final scene

Ask and ye shall receive lol (albeit belatedly, because I was at a family reunion all weekend haha)

Analysis under the cut because it is so goddamn long. Sigh.

Alright, let's talk symbolism, because oh man this scene is full of it.

Firstly, I gotta say that I love that it's Fi's mother who recites the prayer. Maybe that's a typical traditional thing, I don't know; but I do know that in a show that is all about incredible mothers and the lengths they will go to for their children, it feels so appropriate that it is the matriarch of the family that leads this service rather than Marco's father, who at all other times has acted like he believes he is the head of the family (regardless of whether the other family members agree with that or not).

And so as Alma starts to speak the prayer, the camera first focuses on Fi and Chris, who are looking at each other (and her with her hand rubbing his back) as the voiceover says the words "We entrust our son to your mercy. Please forgive his sins, especially those that are unconfessed." To me, these words are absolutely intended to relate to Chris and Fi and the unconfessed sin/secret of his killing Marco, and Fi's desperate hope that Chris will be granted mercy/not be punished for it. And then as the camera shot moves to include Marco's dad as well (when the voiceover is still saying "those that are unconfessed",) you could also take that as Jacinto not knowing the extent of Marco's sins, because of course in Catholicism, confessions are made to the Father (aka, priest, as in "Forgive me Father for I have sinned"), and so unconfessed in this context could equate to a father who doesn't know the truth about his son's sins, as we have already seen by the way he talks about Marco like he was a golden child. The camera then skips Alma and moves on to Thony (with Jazz in the shot too, but out of focus and in the background; narratively, she's practically not even present)-- showing Thony staring at the photo with a gaze that looks distant and unfocused as the voiceover says "May your perpetual light shine upon him". And I honestly don't doubt at all that she is thinking of Marco in this moment; a moment of apology, of forgiveness, and of wishing him peace in the perpetual light of his god.

(Brief sidenote: I find it interesting that the writers chose to have Thony be a Buddhist despite her husband and his parents being Catholic; maybe it was simply due to their origins, ie Cambodia vs the Philippines, or maybe it was a deliberate choice to further demonstrate that she and Marco were at odds in many ways, including their value systems? And the very astute @enigmaticfox also pointed out that during the funeral, the rest of the family is dressed in cream/white accented with a small amount of black, contrasting with Thony in her solid black outfit. Given that she wore that outfit while meeting with a criminal to protect Arman, maybe in a way it represents her ties to that more 'shadowy' world, and how she walks the line between her family's world and Arman's world. Or maybe it actually means nothing, and putting the widow in all black just seemed fitting! Equally possible lol)

But anyhow. Back to Thony, who as the camera focuses on her, is silently saying a final, permanent goodbye to her husband, wishing him the peace of that perpetual light. And then what immediately follows that? Her voice taking up the prayer, but not over a shot of Marco's altar, or of Luca, or even the family as a whole. To them, of course, Alma is still the one speaking aloud; it is only us and Thony who hear the words that are spoken in her head (or maybe, in her heart; ok now I'm showing my sappy side here lol)-- and thanks to the choice the showrunners made with this scene, we see exactly where her attention goes when those words are spoken. Because naturally, along with thoughts of Marco-- the man she once loved, who represents her past-- come thoughts of Arman, the man she is falling in love with, and who represents her future. The wording of the prayer itself is incredible (and as far as I can determine, was written specifically for the show, which means every word was chosen deliberately to contribute to this scene in some way) and while certainly I don't pretend to be a literary scholar or a theologist, I am very familiar with this show lol, so here's some of the imagery/thoughts that this wording evokes for me:

~ Now he is freed (from prison, from Hayak, the role he was forced into) Through your blood on the cross (he has paid in his own blood and the blood of others; he is the 'son' placed on the cross by the father) Through the blows to your face (the beating he took; the times he has had to 'turn the other cheek' and obey Hayak) And through the crown of your thorns that pierce your head (the burden he bore of being the right hand man; a prince with a shiny crown, but one that also came with a painful price) Deliver him from all evil (from the danger in prison; from the evil in his criminal world) From the rigour of injustice (Garrett putting him in jail/breaking their deal, the betrayal of his little prison crew) From the torment of conscience (allowing him to make peace with the bad things he has done; maybe even specifically conscience relating to Hayak's death) And from all darkness (letting him escape the dark/criminal life) Welcome him into paradise (being in love, finally having the freedom to make his own choices) Where there will be no more sorrow (because he will finally be truly happy, something he never quite reached in the life he was living before Thony) No more weeping or pain (free of the pain Hayak caused, and the pain he himself inflicted under Hayak's orders) Give him the blessings of the life to come (the joy and love of a life with Thony) As he enters into the kingdom of peace and light (his journey to becoming a good man who is at peace with himself) ~ Is all of the above actually the intended meaning, or just me making shit up? Who the hell knows! But the writers really did seem to be saying something with their choice of words and camera shots, and this is what I got and I'm rolling with it lol

Also just to be clear: when I say Arman's going to leave the criminal life and become a good man, I definitely don't mean immediately. It's going to be a gradual journey, and Thony will be the main one who helps him on it. (I expect the connections he forms with Thony's family will also play a role, as will Nadia, both directly and indirectly).

And speaking of Nadia, I honestly love the way she stares at him when he walks out of the prison-- like she is seeing him for the first time, or at the very least, like she can see that there has been a huge change in him even if she doesn't know what it is. (I honestly don't think it's his bruises that she's staring at; she likely got to see him in the infirmary, and even if she didn't, her expression here is closer to wonder than the horror and dismay that you'd expect from someone seeing their loved one injured-- aka Thony's reaction when she saw them). And so when Nadia takes his sunglasses off, I feel like it's her trying to see what it is that's different, to understand who this new Arman is; and in doing so, she takes that first step for him in removing the 'mask' that he's wearing and revealing just a small glimpse of his new, changed self. The self that is free from Hayak, and who walks away with the power that comes from having Hayak's money under his control-- (at least as far as I can tell, since he should have access to those accounts that Hayak gave him the pin to, right?)-- and who finally gets to decide exactly what kind of man he will be, what kind of life he will lead, and who he will share that life with. I strongly suspect that he will face a fairly large setback in that regard very soon due to Robert forcibly inserting himself into the business/their lives, and forcing him to direct his focus elsewhere yet again; which will likely mean that a lot of this season will be about Arman fighting to get back to that beautiful freedom and future that he has only just barely had a chance to taste as he walks out of the prison gates.

I also feel like that's why we didn't see Arman and Nadia kiss in this scene-- even though it undoubtedly followed moments later, the writers chose not to show it, and in doing so maybe they are telling us that the romantic aspect of Arman and Nadia's relationship is secondary to the other role that their relationship will fulfil this season, which is to be each other's mirror, showing the other how much they are changing and how their individual wants and priorities are starting to move away from one another's. Because lbr here, they have known each other better than anyone else for years at this point, and so Nadia's insights and responses to his future actions/choices are going to be a huge part of his character growth this season. As will his connection with Thony, of course, but in a different way; Nadia shows him who he was, while Thony shows him who he could be, and between the two of them, he will learn how to become the man he wants to be.

And honestly, even though the role Nadia has to play in Arman's arc will likely come with some intense angst (both Arman-specific and also Armony-related) that will be hard to watch, I am going to love every minute of that journey.

And I hope you guys do too.

[urlocalterrorist]

Why aren't you scared of me?

I decided, i will start a series! But not just a normal one... >:)

Assassin(yandere?)! Reader x Tanjiro

Reader's pronounce: female reader

(Y/n) is part of team that calls themselves the "light foxes". They promised to the people of their country that they will punish every criminal on earth, for the name for their God. But all they do is condemns and suspects kids, man and women, for crimes they never did. After that they kill them. In front of the sun. (Y/n) had enough. She can't see the inosent peoples dying faces anymore. So she turn against her own kind. She is no longer a light fox. No, no, she is the shadow, that drowns the light, the wolf that kills the foxes. It's been exactly 3 years she killed everyone of them. And now she wonders the land of Japan. Hunting down demons fun. She is almost at the point to became a hashira herself. But would she be able to keep herself under control?

Warning!

This series will contain: Violence, Gore, Dark themes, Reader has blood lust, Reader has no control over herself, Psycho/Yandere like behavior, Stalking.

If you are uncomfortable or sensitive any of them above, please search for a nother blog, or read this series with your own risk. you've been warned.

Editing T-cat is here

Oh look what i have found in my Drafts? Oh yes. Anyway i hope everyone has a good night/day/evening/afternoon! Here, have some of your favorite drink ^^🍵

Editing T-cat is out

Chapter 1

Drip

Drip

Drip

That's all you could hear.

Drip

Drip

You just watched how your ex-bosses blood dripping down from her neck, listen to the blood dripping down from your wolf mask, and your blood stained hands. It was a great idea to bring the 2 pack of wolfes here, otherwise you would already end up dead.

Oh how you loved to listen to the cries of your ex-co workers, how they begged for your mercy. Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. The way your ex-boss tried to convince you that she made a mistake or that she is just sick and you should gave her mercy.

Now look at her and everyone around you. Their white clothes are all colored with crimson red. But you can't have this quite place to long, the civilians who believed these people are trying to brake in to the Head Quarters.

You can't stay here for to long.

.

..

...

Another boring day eh?

You thought to yourself as you get up from your comfortable bed to go out and train with your- oh wait. You almost forgot. You killed your master by accident. You were practice to shot 3 arrows with you bow, and he walked in the shooting zone. One arrow was shot directly at his head and... Yeah. You still couldn't find the old man's head.

From now own you were creating your own breathing style. It's like mist breathing but with shadows of course. Shadow breathing has 12 froms: 5 for your kattana, 2 for your karambits, 3 for your bow, and the other 2 is for stealth basically.

You were walking to the Final Selection. As one of the most dangerous Assassin in the world, you had good hearing, sight, and good senses. If something stepped into your aurora, you could feel it. You were also faster than the fastest hasira. Yes you were. And how do you know? Let's say once you saw him slaying a demon as you learned form all of the hashiras movements. He was slower than you.

As you arrive where The Final Selection took place in, you saw around 20 demonslayers. You imadietly took a notice on a redheaded, and a blonde boy, all you could think of is how these two would be suspected of a crime and would be killed by those who you trus-

Don't go there (y/n). Those times are over. You put an end to those times.

Your thoughts has been interrupted by two little kids voices that are around the age of 8. Their voices, spoke at the same time, it sounded to much like those twins that used to say those names who was about to be killed because of their 'sins'.

"shadow breathing: 1st form, Shadow steps" you said softly, almost wispering as you disappeared in front of the 4 demons who now looked confused. They can't locate you. Mere seconds later none of the 4 demons had their head's attached to their neck's as you appeared again and ran to the next location. You didn't cared for those 7 days, you could do that in hours, heck in seconds. You only wanted to kill the demons, and you can do that in one day or less.

As you ran through the woods you can sense a strong demon to your left, perfect. That's the strongest demon you could found here. As you made it to the demon, you could see the redhead on the ground, unconscious. Week. Just like that one kid you were almost able to safe from the future he was about to have. But got shot by an arrow, while he was running for dear life. He head the same hair like that boy on the ground.

You shot your right leg behind the left as you lifted your kattana infornt of your wolf mask, before you said these words almost in a wispering manner. "Shadow breathing: 3rd form, drowning light" and with in the blink of an eye the demons head were slowly fell to the ground as you were on the on the other side of the demon.

As the demon turned to ashes, you on the other hand taked a very last look on the unconscious boy you just safed. He layed there peacefully as you turned your back towards the boy and slay every demom that gets in your way, before memories could mist your mind.

I'm bored.

That's what you were thought as you slayed the last demon around you. I guess you have only have to go back, right? So you did. You choose your ore, got your crow, and you headed back to your now dead masters house. The Final Selection was pretty much boring to you.

There you are getting your color changing blade, karambits, bow and arrows. You even got a little upgrade for your bow, you have blades on each ends of it. So you could cut down a demons head with your bow.

In fascinating.

You think before your crow spoke up from nowhere "Northeast, Northeast! In a village 3 little kids went missing last night. Notheast Northeast!"

Little.... Kids?

That's it who ever is killing those kids, you ganna kill them the most painful way possible. Before your sword smith could even react you picked up your weapons, dressed up in your uniform and stormed out, running to the village with pure rage.

2 Hours later you arrived at the village, and looked for a hotel you could get a rest from all those running around. After that you need to ask questions about the missing kids.

In the late afternoon, you knocked on the door, waiting for any response. You wanted to knock again before a women in a beautiful kimono stepped out. "yes?" she said calmly.

"Good afternoon, miss..."

"miss Mura

"Miss Mura. I... Heard about the 3 missing kids from last night. Are you the mother of the kids?" you asked politely. Before she spoke she swallowed her spit, as you could feel the pain, and grief coming from her aurora.

"yes, i am"

you nodded as you softly spoke "i'm, sorry for your lost" you lowered your head in a respectful meaner before you continue "if it's alright, i would like to ask a few questions about the kids, and about last night."

She hesitantly nodded as she let you in her house. She closed the door behind the two of you, as you walked in and greeted the father of the missing kids, you take a notice of a child in the man's hand, she is around the age of 5. You and the family sit down around the table, as you introduce yourself, and you begin with your questions.

"What happened last night?"

"I was cooking in the kitchen as when the kids go outside and play. The sun was not down yet." The mother said as the father continued "when the sun was down the kids were already gone. They didn't answer to any calls so we begin to search, but the kids were nowhere to be found."

You only nod as you continued "how does the kids looked like?" the 5 year old happily answer "Michio and Michi has blue eyes like father's with white hair like mother's, they are twins and Michio is the older one, Usagi has black hair like father's and yellow eyes, like mother's!" she said "Miss are my siblings ganna be otay? Will they come home and play with me?"

Your heart shacked. Lie. You have to lie, you have to. You don't wanna break a innocent heart. You can't. You can't tell her the truth. "Yes they will."

You cursed in your mind multiple times while saying that, but it worthed everything to see the child face lit up with stars as she rushed to you and pulled you in her embrace. You hesitantly placed one hand on the kids head and the other on her back, as you pulled the kid close to your chest. You closed your eyes for a few seconds as you see the faith of a simular child like the one you holding.

you hold that child the same way hold this one.

"than you for you honesty mister and missis Mura." you said as you blow down as the couple then answered "you don't have to blow down, we only ask you for one thing, please, found our kids alive!"

You stayed silent for a few seconds before your soft voice was the only thing the couple could hear

"i will bring them home..."

Liar. Those kids are probably dead by now.

"i promise."

[superhero--imagines]

Part 1 Here! / Part 2 Here! / Part 3 Here! / Part 4 Here! / Part 5 Here! / Part 6 Here! / Part 7 Here! / Part 8 Here! / Part 9 Here! / Part 10 Here!

A/N: I apologize for all the profanity in this part ahead of time. I think I’m going to do M/W/Sat updates, as long as my writing permits, and then maybe Wed/Sat updates. I got the day off because it snowed so I thought I would post this since it’s ready haha

* Well you’re royally f*cked

* There’s a big stupid smile curled on your face, and every time you try to hide it, it just comes back wider

* You really shouldn’t be happy right now

* “What has you in such a good mood?” Edward’s got a matching smile of his own.

* Oh shit. It’s fine, you’ll just play dumb.

* “How do you know I’m happy?” How about the dumb grin you’ve got on your face you stupid b*tch.

* You would have smacked your own forehead if you weren’t aware Edward was watching your every move

* You’re lucky Edward’s nice and he doesn’t call you out on it

* “Whenever you’re happy it kind of radiates off of you,” his voice lowers “you know because of your powers”

* Ah, you didn’t know you did that

* “So what do you think about the new girl?” You blurt it out like it’s an intrusive thought

* F*ck. Just-okay just play it cool. Play it cool.

* F********ckkkkk what’s wrong with you.

* Is being happy making you act like a moron?

* He shrugs

* “Just another human, I kind of wish everyone would shut up about it though. Having to hear people talk about her and think about her is getting annoying. It’s like being in a tunnel with one too many echoes.”

* Ah, so he hasn’t noticed yet.

* “I wonder what she’s thinking about.”

* Edward just shrugs again.

* What the f*ck Edward take a hint!

* “Edward?”

* “Yes dear?” He has the nerve to grin after using that pet name. The criminal is teasing you. Some best friend.

* And still it makes you outrageously happy

* You have to force your smile into a straight line

* “What’s the new girl thinking?”

* He looks over to her, Tyler and Mike are fighting for her attention, both of them a moment away from tugging on each arm and shouting “mine!”

* You see him search, you’ve heard enough about his powers to know right now it’s like mall food court level of chatter for him, but in a few seconds he’ll focus on her and realize he can’t hear her thoughts.

* Knowing how prideful he is though, he’ll probably deny it.

* “I don’t know I can’t read her mind” he says bluntly. “Do you think the school music teacher would teach me how to play violin if I asked?”

* “What?!?”

* “I know it’s kind of inconsiderate to ask but-“ you click your tongue

* “No not that!” You gesture towards Bella “you can’t read her mind?!? Isn’t that kind of a big deal?”

* His eyebrows thread together

* “I can’t read your mind either”

* Yes but you’re from a completely different world, in a body that radiates despair (and apparently joy now). You’re basically like some type of eldritch being from another dimension. 

* Edward doesn’t see it that though

* “Honestly it’s a relief, one less mind I have to tune out.” He walks ahead of you as you stay motionless in the middle of the hallway

* What the f*ck is happening?

* “Are you coming? We’re going to be late for Biology if you keep lagging behind like that.”

* How could you forget? The whole story starts because Edward is super into Bella’s blood! He fantasizes killing her for like- the entire class period.

* You were worried for nothing, just because they didn’t have the cafeteria moment isn’t that big of a deal

* The thought makes you both relieved and a little sad

* Still it’s for the best, this is the way things are supposed to be

* And who knows, if you have to leave maybe you can poach Rosalie and Emmett to leave with you

* And maybe Jasper, he won’t like having a human around the house all the time

* “Mr. Cullen, Ms. Eleazar” Mr. Banner hands you each a worksheet.

* Oh right the onion cell worksheet. Ah right the mitosis crap. Well hopefully Mike remembers enough that you both can hobble through

* “New year means new seating arrangement!” He tells you both excitedly. The seating arrangements on the projector.

* “Why am I next to Edward isn’t the seating arrangement supposed to be alphabetical?”

* “I decided to go by grade this time, you should be happy! Aren’t you two...friends?” You can tell your teacher is confused by the nature of your relationship, almost as much as you are. 

* “Super happy Teach.” You mumble taking your seat next to Edward who’s grinning like an idiot

* “You can’t say he’s picking favorites when it’s merit based.” He grins and you roll your eyes

* Angela’s sitting next to Ben Cheney, they seem to be discussing the trigonometry homework, and how it’s basically impossible

* Oh right, he’s supposed to be her boyfriend this year. 

* Personally you think Angela could do way better. But love is blind, you’ll ship it if you have to. 

* And right on cue Mike walks in, Bella following close behind. He takes his seat on the table behind you while Bella talks to Mr. Barnes

* “Why didn’t you guys sit with us at lunch today?” Mike is practically leaned over the entire width of the table.

* Before you can say anything Edward snorts

* “Because (Y/N) was getting lectured for staying out all night again”

* Mike looks like his eyes might pop out of his head

* “W-what? Out all night?! Without inviting me!” You roll your eyes.

* “He’s making it more dramatic, I went out for a run early in the morning because I couldn’t sleep and everyone was freaking out because they thought I got kidnapped.”

* Like any vampire or human stood a chance against you and your violent mood swings

* Mike’s so caught up in lecturing you about how you need to be more careful

* “There’s a lot of weirdos out there!” Yeah you live with them

* That he doesn’t even notice Bella’s taken a seat next to him

* Now that you get a better look at her, she is kinda pretty. She’s the kind of person who probably always looks good in photographs, no matter what the angle. Nice cheekbones and big brown eyes. Modest on boobs and butt, but she’s skinny so it works for her.

* “Hey, you’re Bella right?” You give her your friendliest smile, and you don’t miss the light blush that blooms on her face.

* You’re not sure whether it’s from your beauty or because she’s just not used to so much attention. She just nods.

* “Have you already seen the three whole things there are to do in Town on a Friday night?”

* Bella actually laughs at that. She’s got dimples, and little wrinkles that show up at the corner of her eyes. It’s cute.

* “One of those things is going to the library, so really it’s only two things.”

* She giggles again.

* “Is the other one going over to your house to play monopoly?” Mike asks, a grin arching onto his face

* “No my house is out of town, the other thing is to go to the school football game”

* “I’m not really a big fan of football” Bella hesitantly says, and Mike and Edward laugh

* “Yeah no one here does, everyone goes for the half time show, or just to hang out.” 

* You’re pretty sure your entire friend group only goes to the games to see your cheer routine, especially this year since you’re captain now. The first junior captain in a long time apparently. The news actually made the local newspaper.

* Everything is going good, and you’re starting to think maybe you and Bella might be friends.

* “Why don’t we have a board game night at our house again? Last time was-“

* You stop sentence, you were having so much fun you almost forgot why Edward was so obsessed with Bella.

* The slight breeze from the air conditioning brings her scent to you.

* You cover your mouth and nose with your hand

* Her scent is REVOLTING

* “(Y/N), are you okay?” Mike asks

* You vaguely feel Edward’s hand on your shoulder, has he not caught her scent yet?

* It’s pretty hard to miss

* Like gym socks, with a overly sweet base, it’s like-

* Your head snaps up, and your hand clamps over your mouth and nose even harder, but not because the scent is revolting

* She smells like cheese, perfectly aged Gorgonzola cheese, or maybe Brie?

* You smell the sweeter undercurrent stronger now, it’s like warm juicy peaches

* Roasted peach salad tossed with Gorgonzola and olive oil

* How many times have you dreamed about eating that while basking in the warm sunlight

* “I knew you shouldn’t have eaten those leftovers at lunch,” Edward says, but you know it’s performative, thank god he’s still got some sense after smelling her.

* “Mr.Banner, I think (Y/N) ate something bad, is it alright if I help them to the nurses office?”

* “Yes and hurry!” He’s practically shooing you out as Edward pulls you by the arm

* Nooooo, you wanna smell her moreeee

* You have the sense to not wine and keep your mouth covered.

* Edward doesn’t take you to the nurse, you both don’t stop walking until you’re at the parking lot

* “What the hell was that?” He asks, it’s the first time he’s seemed even remotely angry with you

* He seems more confused then angry though, you’re so shocked you actually sit down on the curb.

* And after a moment of hesitance Edward sits beside you, placing his hand over your own

* “She smells good Edward, like really good.”

* Edward laughs

* “Yeah I gathered that” he shakes his head. “I thought you were supposed to be a picky eater”

* “I aaaaamm” you moan, your head is cradled in your left hand. “She’s like one in a million”

* “You’re one in a million” you lift your head to see Edward looking at you with that stupid sh*t eating grin.

* “Really Edward my life is falling apart because I want to eat someone, and you think the appropriate response is to flirt?”

* To be fair, he’s always flirting, it’s basically apart of his personality at this point

* “You’re being melodramatic.” He chuckles and throws an arm over your shoulder. “Worst case scenario you kill her, Carlisle doles out his funeral punishment-don’t ask, and then we have to start over as freshman again somewhere else.”

* You groan, you finally worked your way up to a junior, you were just starting to get used to this crappy town, you don’t wanna start all over again in a new one

* “What’s the best case scenario?”

* Edward thinks hard for a minute.

* “Best case scenario...the music teacher agrees to teach me how to play the violin and I impress you with my magnificent playing.” You smack him on the arm.

* “Not the best case scenario for you!” You know he’s doing it on purpose. He just wants to make you laugh

* It works, you do laugh. How much more absurd could this situation get?

* “Everything’s going to be fine, if Jasper can handle having to smell 300 students he thinks smell good, you can handle 1.” 

* He’s got a point

* “Wait-didn’t she smell good to you?” Wasn’t that like, the whole d*mn point?

* His eyebrows thread together and he shrugs

* “Um, she smelled alright, no better or worse than the others. I’m not sure what you smelled-“

* What you smelled? The rich but refreshing flavor profile is sublime

* The f*cking heathen doesn’t even know what he’s missing

* “But to me she smelled like peaches”

* Well he kinda knows what he’s missing

* “She’s definitely anemic though, there’s a sever lack of iron in her scent” ah that must be that cheesy smell you’re getting

* Well ain’t this ironic. The girl who’s going to steal your best friend is only getting noticed because of you.

* “I don’t know, personally I prefer Henrietta the 3rds blood, but that’s just me” he’s lying, your blood is good and all, but it’s definitely still not on par with a humans blood

* He’s just trying to make you feel better.

* He rubs your shoulder, before patting it and moving to stand up.

* “Now come on, we have to make you eat some human food so you can throw up in front of the nurse and she lets us leave school early”

* You roll your eyes, anything to leave school early huh?

* “Yeah all right, lead the way Mr. Tall-Dark-and-Brooding”

* “Why do you always say that? I don’t brood that much anymore!”

* “You know how some people have resting b*tch face? You have resting brood face.”

* “Says the person who literally radiates despair” you shove him as you both walk towards the vending machine

* You take a deep breath as you watch Edward fumble with the vending machine

* The dork literally sticks a credit card up to the glass and demands the machine give him chips. 

* (Y/N/N) why isn’t this working? Am I supposed to insert my card through this slot?” 

* You laugh. You’re pretty sure he’s not doing this on purpose.

* “You’re supposed to use cash Edward.”

* You watch as he fumbles with his wallet muttering:

* “Do you think it’ll take a twenty dollar bill?”

* You watch in amusement as Edward tries - and fails- to use a twenty dollar bill, and then proceed to use obscure profanities to curse “this vile wretch of human technological advancement” 

* You feel a sigh of relief escape you.

* Yeah, everything is going to be fine. 

Tags:  @moonlights27 @thebluetint @the100thtwilight @awesomebooklover17 @oneofthepotterheads @smileygirl08 @imdoingathingmom @iconicgguk @yrawn @alyciaswhore @little-horror-show @wicked-watering-can @lazydreamers @xxxmuxxx @puritanicalhypocrite

[palant1r]

THATS MORE THAN ONE LIKE IM ELABORATING

So. Soichiro operates off a "means justify the ends" mentality. "But Andy," you might say, "Soichiro does some WILD shit that's justified by ends! Like driving the bus into the TV station or putting cameras in his family's house!" Yes, well, here's the thing. "Means justify the ends" doesn't actually tell you anything about what "means" someone finds moral. And what you have to remember is that Soichiro is a cop. To him, a justifiable "means" is one that falls within his authority as police chief or is ordered by a higher authority, like L. This dude's gonna follow The Law. This is why he's perfectly happy to chain his son up for 50 days because L's cool with it but won't even touch a gun when he's not technically allowed to. The one exception to this is killing: that is a means that Soichiro will not utilize even when it falls within his authority as police chief or is ordered to do so.

Then there's Light as Kira, the most ends-justify-means motherfucker of all time. (This is of course not absolute — the idea of some people "deserving" to die is very deontological) He'll do literally anything to achieve his perfect world, and won't even see it as a necessary evil, but as an action made retroactively morally neutral by the end it's in service of. While Soichiro won't kill even in extreme circumstances, Light sees killing as the ultimate good because it's the only way he can achieve his desirable end. So it looks like he has opposite ideals from his father. But he has the same moral lodestone: The Law. We clown a lot on tumblr dot com about how Light should have just killed billionaires, but there's a fundamental reason he didn't. Light defines "good" or "bad" people by the standards of The Law. That's why he targets criminals: because, while he believes that The Law is being inadequately enforced, he believes that it is stigmatizing and rewarding the right things.

Soichiro's view of law and morality is that only established legal authority can dictate what actions are right and wrong to take, and those who have that authority have more ethical discretion than those who don't. Kira's view of law and morality is that the most desirable end is one that would be achieved by an absolutist application of the aims of those with established legal authority. While their methods are different, the two ultimately worship the same god, so to speak. And that puts them completely out of touch with any actually coherent moral ideology.

...For the most part.

See, Soichiro's exception is his rule against killing. It doesn't fit into his overall Cop Personality, but it's a conviction he won't compromise for anything. And, in the end, it's this conviction that takes Kira down — by leaving Mello alive, he ensures Light's defeat.

And Light's exception comes up when he loses his memories. Like his father, he refuses to hold a gun because it's illegal, but his means-justify-ends mindset goes far beyond Soichiro's. He refuses to manipulate Misa even when it would serve the investigation and even when L directly orders him to. He won't commit an action he views as morally questionable even for the most useful and moral of ends, even if that action is just like. Dating a woman. Contrast that with Soichiro, who was willing to make his own son think he was about to be killed by his father.

It's kinda sad when you think about it. Without the Death Note, Light clearly absorbed his father's moral code, but is even more principled and thoughtful about it. And then he gets the power to kill and his whole moral compass is turned on its head, only supporting Soichiro's argument that the power to kill is what's truly evil.

And it's also revealing how Kira defines a "good world" by the absence of evil, not the presence of good. He uses "good people" as a rhetorical device and goal, but promoting goodness never really factors into his decisions. The only way he can see to encourage virtue is to punish vice. It's quite fitting that a world ruled by Cop Shit is a world where punishment is the only way that's even entertained to improve things.

This, incidentally, is why Matsuda was never going to side with Light in the end. When he opens up about being able to understand Kira, he specifically says "to the weak and earnest, the world is definitely becoming a better place to live" and "I can also understand the feeling of those people who look upon Kira as being their savior." Light, I think, thought that this meant Matsuda was ideologically aligned with him, because Light fooled himself into thinking he was doing all the Kira shit for the sake of "good" people. But he wasn't. He betrayed the good people that were closest to him for the sake of his ends, and that is why Matsuda shot him instead of the others.

dont mind me just thinking about how soichiro and light have the same moral code but flipped on its head. thinking about how, without his memories, light seems to have the same fundamental ideals as his father but is actually way more principled than soichiro is. thinking about how theyre both so, so unbearably Cop about it

[blueink2k]

Propaganda in Death Note and How It Played Into Light’s God Complex

[This is based on information from the anime, as I have yet to read the manga for myself. Caps from or references to the manga may be included to emphasize points or provide visuals, but the version of the plot I'm referring to is taken from the anime.]

Light Yagami does not pick up the Death Note knowing he’s going to use it to commit mass murder and become the God of his New World.

Actually, he does the opposite. He kills someone to test it as he’s under the impression it isn’t real, convinces himself it was a freak coincidence, and decides to try it out in a way that will provide a more concrete conclusion. When it does end up working he’s stunned, to say the least.

“I killed them both...I killed two men. Those were human lives. I-It won’t be overlooked. Besides, who am I to pass judgment on others?”

Light Yagami, the perfect, straight-A, model student, has just confirmed he killed two people using some strange supernatural notebook that just happened to fall into his hands. He’s always believed strongly in his morals. He’s been on course his whole life to join the police force like his father an deliver justice, and here he is, an indirect murderer. 

So what does he do about it?

...He comes up with a reason to justify himself. 

The people he killed were criminals. Mere scum who do nothing but rot and infect the world. Wouldn’t everyone be better off without them? It isn’t that he’s never considered this before, he has, albeit not to the same degree as taking their deaths into his own hands. But now that he has the power to do so, why shouldn’t he? He’s smart, he’s determined. He’s capable of it.

In fact, in his mind, he’s the only one who is.

He’s kind of right. He’s the top of his class, he comes out on top in national tests, he barely even has to try. Plus, he’s the only one that has a Death Note, and therefore the power to do this. 

At this point in time, he doesn’t consider himself a god. He doesn’t want to rule the world, he just wants to change it. Something else important to note is that he doesn’t refer to himself as Kira or anything other than Light. 

...That is, until...

Websites start popping up all over claiming that whoever this mass murderer is is named “Kira”, a god among men risen to punish criminals and save the world.

Two things to note here;

Apparently, “Kira” is returning, meaning there must have been some kind of previous belief in an entity that either did something similar to Light or had the same beliefs. There isn’t any other canon mention of a previous Kira, and this in and of itself is pretty vague, but given that there’s tons of religions in real life that have never had a big breakthrough, it’s reasonable to believe this could be something similar. That, or a creepypasta. Or a cult.

Light created this understanding that he had to be the one to change the world to cope with his murders. Actually - that might be the worst way to put it, since we know how strongly he feels about justice and being given an outlet to carry out this wish of world peace just enhanced this, but nonetheless... It’s impossible to assume he’s doing all of this without even a speck of guilt. Therefore, this is the first hint of appreciation or even just acknowledgement that what he’s doing is right. 

Disregarding the first point (as interesting as I find it), this is really the first time Light is ever told what he’s doing is good. His own father - who he idolizes -considers Kira evil. His sister flat out says she hates him. Of course, this is all after Kira actually does become popular, but still, all he receives from that point on is disapproval from the people he cares the most about. The online love for Kira is all he has.

So, yeah, he probably internalizes it.

He thinks he’s doing the right thing. He thinks he’s giving others justice. He thinks he’s the only one who can do this. Others agreeing is only enhancing this. They’re the ones who call him God.

As the story progresses, Kira’s power and popularity grows. He gains direct news coverage, people begin sending him names of people to kill, his following grows. So much so, that when someone gets a Death Note and figures out that must be what he’s using, their immediate response is to find a way to contact him.

Cue Misa Amane and Sakura TV.

Sakura TV is a news program known for its unreliability. Demegawa, the director, even says he’s willing to make things up for publicity. And that’s when the Second Kira tapes arrive. 

This, however, is only the first encounter with Sakura TV.

After this, the only direct involvement the police has with it is in the Yotsuba arc, when it’s used to lure out Higuchi. Otherwise the program promotes Kira all on its own, even going so far as to create Kira’s Kingdom - half a scam for viewers’ money, half a way to get more people to see Kira as God. And it works. He gains a following of people who believe he will create a new, better world, and will even give themselves up to help him. 

An example of this following is when a mob of followers attacks the SPK under Kira’s orders. They’re so quick to join in, and are even willing to put their names and faces on TV in trust that Kira will not kill them.

All of this publicity sparks fear in the general public. People begin fearing that if they do something wrong Kira will kill them, causing crime rates to drop nearly 70% over Kira’s 6 year reign, as well as completely stopping wars.

Demegawa is eventually killed. Other news programs begin scrambling to claim the voice of Kira, topped by NHN, where we are reintroduced to Kiyomi Takada as Kira’s spokeswoman as well as one of his greatest supporters.

Light, as much as he hates Sakura TV and NHN’s depictions of Kira, uses them to his advantage as much as he can.

But really, imagine what this is all doing to him.

At the beginning, he struggled with grasping what he was doing as right. His sense of justice, righteousness, and perfectness shattered by a single notebook. But this is perfect, he figures that if he really wants to fix the world, this is one surefire way to do it. And yeah, his family hates Kira, but online he’s worshiped as God. We already know he has a pretty decent ego, and all of this is doing nothing but fueling it.

To top it all off, as he continues with his killings, his following grows. More and more people begin to support him, every single day there’s news stations upon news stations covering his story, some negative, some positive. People from all over express admiration towards him, even the President of the United States sides with him. He is literally worshiped as Kira, as God.

This all makes it sounds like his god complex starts later in the series, so to clarify; no, he does not pick up the book with plans to become God, but the second people start fueling his ego, the more twisted his ideals and motivations become. He’s the only one who can fix this rotten world. He holds the power of a god in his hands, he does what only a god can do, and everyone treats him accordingly. He is Kira, he is God.

Between websites, news programs, and his cult-like following, Light had enough attention to feed into his ego for a lifetime. He was perfect pre-Death Note. Smart, charming, set for success. There never was a time where he was particularly not narcissistic, it was just that he only felt this way inside of himself. The way he presented to others? A perfect, cool guy persona with an - in all honesty - annoying prickly jerk hiding inside. But no one ever knew this, he never let them know, and because he was always naturally successful it was more of an expectation he just met rather than surpassed, so he wasn’t consistently praised and this incredible self-esteem wasn’t propped up by anyone but himself.

To cycle back to the title of this rant-essay-analysis-whatever you’d like to call it, I want to share some examples about exactly why I even classify this news coverage and whatnot of Kira as propaganda.

Kira’s supporters cause a riot at SPK HQ under Kira’s orders and Demegawa’s direction.

Mikami providing his insight as to why he supports Kira on television, openly promoting Kira and encouraging others to join him.

Takada announces her new role as Kira’s spokesperson on NHN.

Mikami uses his power as Kira to kill members of Kira’s Kingdom, supposed followers of Kira who have been using his publicity to gain money and attention.

Most of this doesn’t exactly look like your standard propaganda posters or news story, but it does fit the overall criteria;

Information from a biased viewpoint used to promote/publicize a certain view (accepting Kira as God)

Shows exclusively positive views on Kira

Assigns Kira positive adjectives and makes him appear as good (God, savior, messenger from Hell), never considering or showing the bad

Presenting only positive statistics (Light does this in his monologue where he brings up the 70% crime rate drop, and given there’s no way he could have calculated this on his own he likely got it from one of these media sources. Not that it’s incorrect, per se, but he does fail to mention how many innocent people he’s killed in order to do this.)

Appeals to regular, everyday people by talking about how he’s doing this for the betterment of the whole world. People who are directly affected by crime are also likely positively impacted by this.

Initiates and spreads fear by explaining how Kira only attacks those who do wrong.

In the end, Light’s personal descent into his god complex, as well as his effects on the world can be attributed to many things, but it would be a crime to ignore just how big of a role news and other types of media played in this without his direct input. To think, if Light had won and overtaken the police like he was going to, he’d have absolutely no problem stepping into his shoes as God. Everyone else already set the stage, he just had to get there first.

-

This is my first Death Note analysis, so please excuse any errors, I just watched the anime for the first time and am doing my best to piece together all of the plot and especially Light’s deep characterization the best I can. If I ever read the manga or find something new, chances are this will be updated. But as for now, it’s finally finished after a week or so of procrastinating. Thank you for reading if you got this far! <3

[waragainstyourfaith]

Thank you to @broughtmeyourlove for listening to the beginnings of this (aka when I first got my thoughts down) and thank you to me for saying all this in the shower but most importantly thank you @hannibalhadalittlelamb whose art got me to finally think deeper about the nature of Hannibal’s trial. Let’s begin.

Hannibal’s trial isn’t something I usually see discussed within the fandom space. And why would it be? We know the final verdict and we know that besides that everything works out in the end anyway. It’s an afterthought. So who would care? That’s like reading the first few chapters of a book to skip to the final one. Characters change and so does the story as a whole.

On @/hannibalhadalittlelamb’s post (here), their tags read that their depiction of Hannibal is leaning into OOC (out of character) territory. I disagree.

During Hannibal’s trial, we have to think about how it would have gone down. Actually. There was no possible way for Will to miss or be exempt from this trial. His coworkers and boss knew his strong relation to Hannibal and how their professional relationship had definitely, at some point or another, turned personal. The mutual attempts of murder had not been lost on anyone, but, of course, that made Will all the more personal a witness.

However, Will wants nothing to do with Hannibal.

I understand there is a popular theory going around that Will and Hannibal were in a sort of understanding during the trial, but, honestly? We see Will desperately wanting to remain kept away from Hannibal, to live a normal life with a wife and son. Hannibal throws a wrench into this whole ordeal and this trial, after what conspired between them overseas, leaves Will in the headspace and with the opportunity to quite literally never see Hannibal again in his life.

And after everything and with what Will thinks he wants, how could he deny that? Helping Hannibal rule into the insanity plea was not an act of mercy but an act of protection. Will more than anyone knows Hannibal should be kept under 24/7 surveillance and away from every person he could ever harm. Being ruled out of given the death penalty was the underlying bonus his conscience wouldn’t let him think too deeply about.

In court, you are sworn in on the bible, on God, to tell “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth [...] So help you God.”. Both Will and Hannibal were undoubtedly sworn in, but considering the argument Hannibal’s legal team was using, would you trust a man under the insanity plea or his victim who is an FBI agent more? Right.

So, Will is given free rein in this courtroom to spin the story of him and Hannibal whichever way he pleases. Seeing what I mentioned before, Will is going to remove himself as far away from Hannibal as he can while still being able to confidentially and securely reveal everything without getting his hands dirty nor embarrassing himself. Hannibal does not get this luxury.

Hannibal is a man of his privacy. As many analyses have written and as many real psychologists have said while dissecting the headspace of Hannibal, his need to eat people is his need to control. The trauma Hannibal went through with Mischa, whether you know the depth of it or just the surface, is enough context to explain what happens next. Hannibal eats them. Attitude is Hannibal’s one basis of morals and consensus. “One should always eat the rude”.

To determine their fate and to consume them is him “playing God”, but at its core, it is Hannibal needing to be in control. We see the severity of his true, underlying, desperation come to light at a first glimpse with the gruesome death of Beverly Katz. Undoubtedly, this is one of his most haunting scenes and we see the insides(dissection) of Beverly as she had attempted to find in Hannibal by going through his home. By sneaking a glance under the person suit. His inner monster comes out in a rage during this murder. He is private and anything that anyone knows about Hannibal is what he has allowed them to live to be able to say so. Look at Will’s position once more.

What no one seems to realize is that, during this trial, Hannibal is not in control. Will is the spinster of their life, a life Hannibal used his truest of colors to paint, and ultimately watched it becomes torn to shreds in front of him. Remember, Will is sworn in during this trial. This does not necessarily mean he is telling the truth, but it means everyone thinks he is. It’s a play of tragedy and Hannibal and Will are the two lead star-crossed lovers.

The entirely of Hannibal and the world he has handed to Will on a sparkling platter is being dissected and shown to everyone. The story of the Chesapeake Ripper was undoubtedly massive. A criminal having not been caught for years that everyone seemed to know nothing about revealed to be one of the closest, inside links with the FBI themselves? Tale of the decade.

The spotlight is on Hannibal, but he is being puppeteered by Will without a say in it for himself.

Hannibal cracks as he’s poked and prodded and bare for the media to do as they like and Will sits by and says what he likes. Here is where we would see a sliver of what lays beneath their person suits. Hannibal’s impulsivity and monstrousness under his charming exterior and Will’s manipulative, isolatedness under his empathetic cloak.

We look at Hannibal. He would be torn to shreds from this. The porcelain pot that contains his beast has broken and shattered by the swatting hand of Will, someone he trusted and loved. The intruding eyes of the jury stay on him as he is diagnosed as insane while he considers himself to be in the best possible headspace he ever could be. Everything he told Will and what he considered truth from Will’s mouth was dismissed and disputed under oath.

Hannibal is embarrassed. People call him insane and lock him away at dig through his mind and his things without his permission with protruding needles and telescopes. Hannibal has to play nice to simply be allowed a working toilet and the books that he has collected himself. Anything and everything he writes and draws that he wants to send out is dissected and analyzed. He has no privacy. He is not allowed a toe out of line.

Looking back at Hannibal from season one, episode seven is a good one to compare from, and when we see him first after year years in isolation, we see plain as day these are not the same men. In season one, Hannibal is handsome and cunning enough so that he wiggles his way into the deepest, most protected parts of the FBI as one of the highest-ranked killers on their watch list. He is polite enough to even invite them to dinner and feed them the organs of his victims.

He’s slick and intelligent and Hannibal is the idea of a lifetime.

And then we come to the second half of season three.

Hannibal, at this point, has been isolated for three years and has been under painful scrutiny even longer. During this time, he’s had all the space he could get to rebuild the person suit, but the pieces won’t fit. It’s jaggedly put together and no matter how long he spends trying to perfect its construction to what it used to be, it isn’t what it used to be. Will had done that to him. Will had effectively broken Hannibal.

I see often the running gag that season three is immensely funnier and leaning much more into the comedy aspect of Hannibal during his interactions with Will and Alana and even jack to an extent. But this is not him being funny; this is Hannibal pushing limits.

Looking back to paragraph eleven [“To determine their fate and consume them…”] we come back to Hannibal’s need to control. Remember, in this space, Hannibal is shoved into line. He’s snappy and cynical here. This is Hannibal exercising his limits and testing patience. His acting out and making snide comments is nothing he can be punished for, but it clearly agitates them. Hannibal teeters just enough on the edge of annoyance so that his jabs still hit, but his privileges still remain.

This is his monster leaking through the cracks. Hannibal is desperate. He is grasping for a hold over these people he had looked down upon from his throne in the sky as God for so long. He is rude. This is both his shield and deception. It leaves Hannibal with the idea that he is effectively feeding them out of his hand, that he has them right where he wants them. When Hannibal does this, it is his last line of defense to keep himself from blowing up. Ruining it all.

Season three is not season one. He is gasping and hurt and that is what makes the Dolarhyde kill all the more powerful. The whiplash and bounce back with his and Will’s relationship is powerful and dangerous.

Will watching Hannibal with his dead stare, person suit thrown off the moment he decided to go with Hannibal into that car, as he is shot is groundbreaking. Hannibal can see Will. they have effectively switched positions. As though he were God, Will looks down on Hannibal’s suffering. When Will decides to fight Dolarhyde in retaliation,  this is the point it all cuts lose.

At that moment, Will has freed the beast. Hannibal has finally someone to take the reins of his monster whom he trusts. Because Hannibal never blamed Will, even during that time in his isolation, he was waiting. Waiting for Will because despite the betrayal and despite the hurt he loved him. All that time he loved him.

The Dolarhyde kill is the messiest one of the show, which makes it all the more powerful. Hannibal has--I don’t want to say ���lost composure”--but he definitely has dropped the act of his togetherness. In this, Hannibal is free. So long he has spent trying to hold himself together, to fool those around him and take care of everyone and himself. 

It’s a common misconception that a person in a position of power, such as a CEO, would want to be in this position all of the time. In fact, it’s been shown that the human mind needs a healthy balance. A person who is pushed around on a day-to-day basis and has no control over their life would most likely enjoy having control over a person and vice versa.

God must be tired. Hannibal was. Wearing his person suit for years and years, with only a dangerous outlet to relieve the built-up tension of his monster. To place the control into Will’s hands is inevitable and the best relief for both of them. Hannibal in killing and Will in power.

In that final scene, Hannibal has surrendered control to Will while barring the entirety of what lay within and Will has a high enough apathy for this to no longer have any hold over him. They have switched their roles. Now, Will is the one pulling the strings and Hannibal is the one letting himself be maneuvered.

This trial was the turn of the tables. It was the biggest part of their character and the biggest foreshadowing for the finale.

In Florence, Hannibal has the hold over Will. In season two, Will has the hold over Hannibal. In season one, Hannibal has the hold over Will. This trial that has been left out was the missing piece to even their stance and to level their playing field, making it easiest for the two to blur.

The trial is effectively and consequently one of if not the most important scene that was missing from the show.

[theepitomeofamess]

hey y'all, i'm working on this project i'm really excited about and i wanted to share some of it.

it's basically just a retelling of Ares mythology (i know that this probably sounds a lot like knock off madeline miller, but just hear me out) focusing on the parts that don't paint him like an angry meathead -- the version of his myth where he's raised by Priapus and taught to dance long before fighting, how he is one of the few male gods to care for his children and respect women, the story of his daughter Alcippe (which, if you don't know it, trigger warning for sexual assault and murder if you look it up), and the idea that his anger stems from depression caused by being hated by his supposed father and ostracized by any god who wanted to stay on Zeus' good side (hello projecting :^D).

Anyway, i wanna share some ideas i have about Ares as a character (in no way trying to be disrespectful to the deity, my apologies if it comes off that way). I've got a long list of ideas under the cut, I'd love to get some feedback (@witch19, you know I'd love your opinion on all this)

so a big concept i want to work with is tattoos. from what i understand, tattoos were a sign of punishment in ancient greece, used to mark slaves and criminals so they could be identified or continually punished. there's a story (link here) of athenians tattooing athena's owl on ancient samians after a defeat, ares decided to take on the same punishment as the men he had helped in the battle. as he grows into himself and his confidence, the tattoo grows with him from athena's pygmy owl to an eagle owl, which became one of his sacred animals in some versions of his mythology. he started getting even more as he started viewing them as a sign of strength rather than punishment, and especially when he learned of emperors tattooing gladiators, who he often helped and identified with

the owl is his first tattoo, but his favorite is a honeycomb over his heart. there are a lot of bees on the comb, with aphrodite being the queen directly over his heart. there's a bee for each of his children, and a drone with a broken wing for Hephaestus (Aphrodite actually gets a matching queen bee on the back of her hand so when she puts her hand over his heart, the bee is still there)

maybe another tattoo is a peacock feather for his mother? maybe it's covering a Lichtenberg figure he got from one of zeus' fits of rage?? maybe idk???

speaking of scars, he gains a scar for every one that's gained by a soldier. it doesn't matter what side the soldier is on, it doesn't matter how minor the wound is, he bleeds with every soldier in every fight he's involved in, feels their pain. armor does nothing to stop it -- it never even gets scuffed.

because it never gets hit and therefore looks brand new, ares doesn't actually like wearing his armor. it gives the impression that he's never been in a fight. he'd rather just wear his tunic.

he's actually much more of a romantic person than a sexual one. he's not asexual (bisexual, actually), he's just a big softy and craves a softer, more genuine connection. that's why he doesn't take as many lovers, why he doesn't have casual sex, and why he takes his time romancing aphrodite. he really enjoys the soft, quiet intimacy.

the first time he met aphrodite, he asked her to dance. no one was dancing except servant girls/nymphs, and they were not on the same page at first. aphrodite thought "dancing" was an innuendo (like what zeus and poseidon have done before), and ares wasn't catching on to the fact that she thought he meant sex. poor boy just wanted to dance, and it took some talking in circles, but he did get his dance. aphrodite loved how fun and innocent it was.

dancing is an outlet for him. he loves it. he spent his whole childhood with priapus dancing, and still enjoys it to no end. this influences his build (where a lot of the gods -- zeus, poseidon, etc. -- are more bulky and lumbering, ares is very lean, limber, and light on his feet)

he keeps a garden. it was part of being raised by priapus in the mortal world -- they grew their own food, and it's a hobby that followed ares into adulthood. besides, growing his own food means that, while he doesn't get as many offerings, he still gets the good stuff. the garden has a beehive that aphrodite loves helping with. all of his children are spoiled with mortal food before they are ever old enough or well known enough to get an offering from the mortal world

he refuses the idea that zeus is his father. he believes the version of the story that he was conceived by hera alone through pure spite and rage -- this is the version that athena tells him, and he tends to believe athena before anyone else.

speaking of, he actually gets along with a lot of the gods. he and athena, though constantly pitted against each other, have a pretty good relationship and she is often a comfort for him. they will often sit together in no man's land after a battle, and she will often comfort him if it was a particularly bloody one. at the end of the day, in her mind, she's his big sister. she actually used to (against zeus' wishes) go visit ares at priapus' home and read him stories.

apollo actually really enjoys hanging out with him -- ares dances to apollo's music and apollo is the one that gives ares his tattoos, a form of art that apollo doesn't get to practice otherwise.

he sees hades a lot more than a lot of people, as he often helps thanatos in escorting killed battalions to the underworld, spending the entire time ensuring them that even if they did not achieve victory, they brought honor to their homes and families. hades doesn't have favorite nephews/neices, but given how ares has been ostracized in a way that hades can find familiar, he empathizes with him quite a bit.

he and hephaestus actually would have been very close if they were allowed to have a childhood together and didn't have mutual jealousy, and actually have some really sweet moments. ares trusts hephaestus wholly with the wellbeing of aphrodite and his children, knowing that he will take care of them in his stead if he needs to.

still working out the kinks on this idea, but the dryad Harmonia is born from the tree that grows from ares' tears for Alcippe. she offers to help him create an entire society of daughters for him, ones that live away from the threat of men. daughters that know well how to protect themselves from those who threaten and attack them. (like i said, i'm still working on this idea, i'm not even sure if the amazons will be included, but i like thinking about the different ways that this could be interpreted/used)

maybe in that same vein of harmonia and the tree, ares crafts eros' bow himself (maybe with some help from hephaestus and his experienced craftsmanship?) from a branch of harmonia's tree? maybe he strings it with his own heartstring, left dangling loose, irreparable after the heartbreak of Alcippe?

okay so clearly i have a lot of ideas regarding this project. any and all writers, mythology lovers, narrative flippers, please let me know of any further interest or ideas about this!