#we could do the thing in death note where light and L are in those long handcuffs but for us it's a good thing

[sirpeppersto]

being in love is so awesome. every moment in my life is so much better because some guy i met off an app exists

[vamphorica]

i saw your wonderful post about the parallels between Mello & Light, in which you mentioned that there are parallels between light & near as well (wich I agree w/ 1000%). Could you by any chance expand on that more bc I love near and lights dynamic. Thank u!!

oh, i absolutely can.

When talking to people about Death Note outside of fandom spaces, I am almost always met with the confession that after L's death, these casual readers and watchers tend to lose interest. This is frustrating on several levels (even though I admit the Second Arc has plenty of flaws), but one reason in particular is that Near and Light's dynamic is so complex that it feels like such a shame to not give it a chance.

Think about it this way. If L and Light mirrored each other in a standard manner of speaking, Near and Light mirror each other like some distorted fairground mirrors, fun but slightly horrifying.

As I said in my Mello and Light Parallel analysis, Near falls into the same category as a gifted child dealt with immense pressure from an early age nonetheless (although he is not prone to violence as the other two are) . Like Light, Near is a high achiever whose intelligence appears to come naturally, and there may even be room to speculate whether he felt a degree of boredom himself in much the same way Light did at the start of the series. We can't really know this for certain, the only indication we have is that Near was content playing on his own. Without Mello's drive, and indeed the isolation from others at the House, it is not far-fetched to suggest Near was not exactly feeling stimulated by his current environment. Light was given an opportunity to alleviate his boredom, whereas for Near, it was an obligation. Both characters are given their break from unfulfilled monotony because of the Death Note.

Another thing I think is interesting is their emotional reactions to both success and failures. This is more apparent in the manga, where Near is shown to express himself more through visual cues, but neither hold back in claiming victory, or disdain in the case of their losses. Arguably, Light is more conscious of how his manner of expression can be interpreted by others, but that doesn't negate the fact that he has very strong reactions to progressions within the case. I also do think Light isn't quite as adept at concealing these emotive responses as many often suggest – personally, I believe there is a good degree of willful ignorance by those he surrounds himself with that allows for his more questionable behaviours to go unchallenged. Especially by the time he and Near 'meet' (or, at least, are in communication with one another), Near immediately calls bullshit on Light, which is particularly funny given that L had been doing the exact same thing, but it is only with Near that the Task Force begin to grow suspicious of Light.

Obligatory tangent - the expressions used for Near in the Shōnen Jump version of this scene far better support my point, and God do I wish they hadn't been discarded, they're so fun!

They took away my boy's whimsy, and for what reason?

Anyway.

Near is less concerned about expressing himself because he has no reason to manipulate those around him, and as such, the best part of the series to talk about the dynamic between these two is of course the final scene at the Yellow Box Warehouse. Although for a first time reader, the conclusion of the series might not be reaching a point of clarity, it is apparent that Near has had the upper hand, with Light having little more on Near than an outdated sketch and an awareness of his relationship to L. Meanwhile, through his own impressive efforts, Near has restructured the care around Light and has far more understanding of the man he is dealing with. Therefore, when they finally do meet, Near is already in the dominant position.

The comparisons between the two is extremely explicit. Unlike with L and Light, which played out like an alternate cat-and-mouse game until L's death, Near and Light arrive at the Warehouse under the impression they will both walk out alive. The reasons for this are clarified once Near's victory is ultimately achieved, but after Near takes off his L mask, both he and Light so evidently confident in their positions that it makes for an incredibly tense moment. Again, it also speaks to their shared reactions.

Light is shown to both claim victory and contend with defeat within a matter of pages, to revel in his success before pathetically scrambling as he attempts to rectify the circumstances in his favour. His monologue, now infamous, is mirrored by Near's closing statement, which is equally provocative. It is easy to interpret his words as nothing more than stating the facts, explaining exactly how he caught Light towards the end and that he despises the man behind the dominion of Kira's reign. Yet his invocation of Mello and L, I think, speaks to his own sense of strong feelings pertaining to the confrontation. When Light disavows Mikami, realises Misa is not present alongside him, there is a reality both he and Near have come to realise – Light is completely isolated, while Near has not just the SPK and the Task Force only his side, but two lives sacrificed to pursue Light to the end.

thank you for sending this ask! ♡

[aerixfixoff]

Einen verloren I

Chapter 1: Bound by Obsession

Pairing: Mafia Boss!Mingi x Fem!Reader

Genre: Angst, Yandere, Horror, Slight Humor, Smut, Fluff

Warnings: Cursing, stalking, obsessive behavior, yandere themes, implied violence, kidnapping, and controlling behavior.

Word Count: 1,407

Author’s Note: Hope you enjoy this fanfic! Honestly, by the time you’re reading this, it’s probably end of feb, not gonna lie. Sorry it took so long, y’all. And lowkey, I had no idea what to put for the genre and warnings, so… hah. 😅 & also English isn’t my first language so please enjoy

Mingi’s childhood was marked by darkness and violence. His father, a notorious mafia leader, ruled their household with an iron fist, and his mother—a stay-at-home mom—was a shell of the woman she once was. She had been forced into a life of fear, where her only defense was silence and avoidance. The house was never a place of love or comfort. It was a battleground. His parents fought constantly, their screams echoing through the halls at all hours of the day and night. Illicit deals, unknown strangers, and fleeting distractions were frequent visitors. In that environment, Mingi learned quickly that emotions were a liability. Love was a weakness, and vulnerability was a death sentence.

At just 17 years old, Mingi’s life was thrown into complete chaos when his father was killed in a brutal gang fight. His death sent shockwaves through the underworld. Everyone expected the empire to crumble. But Mingi, despite his youth, stepped into the role of boss with terrifying ease. Overnight, he became a man hardened by loss and trauma. His reputation grew quickly—cold, calculating, and merciless. Begging for mercy meant nothing to him. Those who crossed him disappeared without a trace. Whispers followed him everywhere he went, his name spoken with a mixture of fear and reverence. They called him “Einen Verloren,” the lost one. A man with no heart, no soul, and no light. But even the darkest souls have their secrets.

Mingi had known light—and that light was you.

Your father, a former associate of Mingi’s father, had spoken of you often. Despite the chaos of his life, your father had been fiercely protective of you, determined to keep you away from the criminal world. He told Mingi stories of your stubbornness, your strength, and your ability to find beauty in even the darkest moments. To Mingi, you became more than a distant figure. You became his obsession.

Years passed, and Mingi’s obsession only grew stronger. He watched from the shadows, learning every detail about you. He knew the way your eyes lit up when you read, the way your laugh sounded, and the scent of your favorite lotion. He memorized the little things—the way you tapped your fingers on the table when you were nervous, the way you twirled your hair when deep in thought. You were everything he wanted but could never have.

When you moved away from the city, severing all ties with your family, Mingi’s world shattered. The distance between you was unbearable. He became consumed with finding you, using every resource at his disposal. His search was relentless, driven by a need he couldn’t explain. When his henchmen finally located you in a small, quiet town, it was as if a part of him came back to life. You were his flower in a field of darkness. And now, nothing would stop him from making you his.

The night Mingi confronted your father was inevitable. “Boss,” one of his henchmen said, dragging the man into the dimly lit room.

“Ah, another one has joined us,” Mingi said coldly, his gaze fixed on a glass of whiskey in his hand. He didn’t even spare a glance at the man kneeling on the floor.

“Do you know why you’re here?”

“No,” your father replied bluntly. The audacity made Mingi chuckle darkly.

“Mr. L/N, you have failed to understand our deal. Perhaps I should remind you.” Mingi pulled out a worn photograph of you, his fingers trembling slightly. He handed it to your father. “Now, if you do not provide what we need, you will never see your daughter again.” He lifted his gaze slowly, his dark eyes locking onto the photo of your smiling face. It felt as if you were mocking your father’s helplessness.

Your father’s face paled. “Please, do not bring harm to her,” he begged, his voice breaking.

“Oh, L/N,” Mingi said, gripping the man’s chin with painful force. “You do not tell me what to do. Perhaps I’ve been too kind with you.”

Mingi signaled for the henchman to hand him a gun. He pointed it at your father’s sweaty temple.

“Greet your wife for me, m’kay?”

BANG. The gunshot echoed through the room. Your father’s lifeless body hit the floor with a heavy thud. Mingi didn’t flinch. “Clean this up. Find the girl and bring her to me. She will pay for his debt,” he commanded, a menacing grin playing on his lips.

That night, you received an unexpected call from your best friend, Karina. She had been your lifeline ever since you moved to the small town.

“N/N!” Karina’s frantic voice came through the phone.

“Karina, what could you possibly need in the middle of the night?” you groaned, pulling the blanket over your head.

“Can you PLEASE come over? I’m scared—I heard noises, and I don’t want to get up. Please, Y/N.”

“Fine,” you sighed, getting out of bed and throwing on a jacket over your pajamas.

“I LOVE YOU SO MUCH, Y/N! YOU’RE GONNA HAVE MY KI—” before she could finish, you ended the call. You sighed again, slipping on your black Air Forces and heading out into the cool night air.

The streets were eerily quiet. At the 5-minute mark, you heard a faint noise behind you. Shrugging it off, you checked your phone for notifications from Karina. It was 4:35 AM. You sighed again, chalking it up to your imagination. But then the footsteps grew louder. You turned quickly, but there was no one there.

Before you could take another step, someone’s strong hands grabbed the back of your neck and clamped a cloth over your face.

“Shhh,” a deep voice cooed.

When you lost consciousness, the world dissolved into darkness—soft and endless. The scent of cologne and roses lingered faintly in your mind, mixing with distorted memories of footsteps, the cold air, and a voice that made your blood run cold.

Mingi carried you through the sprawling halls of his mansion with care, holding you as though you were a delicate porcelain doll. His heart, cold and hollow for years, now pulsed with an intensity he had never known. You were finally his—no more distance, no more waiting.

He reached his bedroom, where everything had already been prepared. The satin pajamas he had ordered for you were laid neatly on the bed a black camisole and matching shorts with delicate white trim and a small bow. The lace underwear, chosen for its elegance, sat beside the outfit. Every detail had been meticulously planned for this moment.

Gently, Mingi laid you down on the bed. His gaze lingered on your sleeping form, tracing every curve, every strand of hair. You were beautiful, just as he had imagined every night over the years. He reached out, running a hand down your arm before pausing, his breath hitching. His fingers trembled as they hovered over your face.

“Even more perfect than I dreamed,” he whispered.

Yet, despite the overwhelming need within him, Mingi held himself back. He moved with surprising tenderness as he undressed you from your old clothes and carefully dressed you in the satin pajamas he had chosen. His hands brushed against your skin, but he resisted the dark temptation that whispered in the back of his mind.

Once you were dressed, he pulled the covers over you and slid into bed beside you. He wrapped his arms around you, holding you tightly as if afraid you would vanish. Nuzzling his nose into the crook of your neck, he inhaled deeply. The scent of you—the scent he had missed for so long—overwhelmed him. For the first time in years, he felt peace. His eyes drifted shut, and sleep claimed him, but his grip on you never loosened.

Hours passed in silence. The early morning sun peeked through the curtains, casting a soft glow across the room. The world outside remained oblivious to the darkness within.

Suddenly, your eyelids fluttered. The drugs were beginning to wear off. Your fingers twitched slightly, and a soft breath escaped your lips. But you didn’t wake—not yet.

Mingi’s eyes snapped open the moment he felt you stir. His gaze, sharp and calculating, locked onto you.

“You’re almost awake,” he whispered to himself, his lips curving into a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “And when you are… I’ll make sure you never leave again.”

His grip on you tightened possessively.

“Because you belong to me now.”

( opening tag list soon! ) pre tag @nkryuki

Chapter 2 >

[corviiids]

ok here is a playlist about light yagami

| light | no surprises - radiohead // | the death note | uprising - muse // boulevard of broken dreams - green day // | misa amane | starlight - muse // | ryuga hideki | do you want me (dead?) - all time low // | memory | i love you - woodkid // | the death note ii | NOSE BLEED - stand atlantic, sueco // you're gonna go far, kid - the offspring // when your heart stops beating - +44 // dead! - my chemical romance // wake me up when september ends - green day // | yagami | mama - my chemical romance // disarm - the smashing pumpkins // father and son - yusuf / cat stevens

also on youtube

(thoughts and context under the cut)

no surprises - light's nihilism and disillusionment pre-kira - without the death note i think light would have gone down this line faster.

A heart that's full up like a landfill A job that slowly kills you Bruises that won't heal You look so tired, unhappy Bring down the government

uprising; boulevard of broken dreams - self-explanatory i feel

Rise up and take the power back It's time the fat cats had a heart attack You know that their time's coming to an end

My shadow's the only one that walks beside me My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me 'Til then I walk alone

starlight - misa towards light

Far away from the memories Of the people who care if I live or die ... My life You electrify my life Let's conspire to ignite All the souls that would die just to feel alive

do you want me (dead?) - light and L's early rivalry and interactions in college are largely exploratory, simultaneously more and less openly hostile, still cautious and uncertain where they stand with each other.

There's no such thing as a perfect crime Don't play that You've said it enough Cause you want me Or you want me dead

i love you - self-indulgent haha i couldn't resist. takes place in a similar continuity to my fic where light and L start a fake relationship for the investigation but when light briefly thinks it's real after he loses his memories. i think canonically light is too irritated with L's poor moral compass to develop true feelings for him even during this arc, but i do think it's reasonable to think light might develop a bit of a puppy crush and a desire for L's attention lol. simultaneously it's kinda a bit of L at kira.

Is there anything I could do Just to get some attention from you? In the waves I've lost every trace of you Where are you?

NOSE BLEED - i think this is the most lawlight song ever. (this also made me think of a couple of my fics.) after light gets his memories back i think his attachment to L transforms into a bit of disgust directed both at himself and L

I'd rather be lonely and hate myself Than someone you think about ... So this is what you get For messin' with my head Don't wanna end up dead (Dead) Six feet in the ground

you're gonna go far, kid - nobody wants to hear that this song is about light yagami but it is. lowkey this is L to light while those bells are ringing

There's something in your way And now someone is gonna pay And if you can't get what you want Well it's all because of me Now dance, fucker, dance Man, I never had a chance And no one even knew It was really only you

when your heart stops beating; dead! - self-explanatory and victorious in a hysterical about to start crying way

I'll be there when your heart stops beating I'll be there when your last breath's taken away In the dark when there's no one listening In the times when we both get carried away

Have you heard the news that you're dead? No one ever had much nice to say I think they never liked you anyway Oh, take me from the hospital bed Wouldn't it be grand? It ain't exactly what you planned

wake me up when september ends - listen i concede this one doesn't make a ton of sense but i've included it because the vibes work for me. something something a melancholy coming back to the self, a rude and painful awakening after a loss of innocence you cant run from. look over there, a distraction

The innocent can never last ... Here comes the rain again Falling from the stars Drenched in my pain again Becoming who we are

mama; disarm - light to his family, to the world, a manic little soliloquy

Stop asking me questions, I'd hate to see you cry Mama, we're all gonna die And when we go, don't blame us, yeah We'll let the fires just bathe us, yeah You made us oh, so famous ... You should've raised a baby girl, I should've been a better son

I used to be a little boy So old in my shoes And what I choose is my choice What's a boy supposed to do? The killer in me is the killer in you

father and son - are you ever just so god damn sad about the yagamis.

FATHER I was once like you are now, and I know that it's not easy To be calm when you've found something going on ... SON Keeping all the things I knew inside It's hard But it's harder to ignore it

[applestorms]

@jessaerys ok shit this took a while but WHATEVER. wammy's lore collection here we go :3c less analysis this time, this is mostly just to archive the main known details we have in canon about the house, and also the people from there more generally. however much you wanna accept all this/take it at face value is up to You, Dear Reader (and tbh y'all should just read all these if ur curious since they're all pretty short + have Interesting narrators. i'll include links to free versions). do whatever you want forever etc. etc. also, SPOILERS. obviously.

LABB: (listen here)

no this book isn't written by ohba. yes i'm including it. shush. anyways, most of the lore in this comes from mello's vague comments about beyond's backstory, but there's a Lot of interesting things established in this, so. here's a bunch of notable quotes. if you're not already familiar, please keep in mind that the narrator of this novel is mello, writing at some point shortly before his death.

"L. The century's greatest detective. In light of his staggering mental abilities, L died an unjust and untimely death. In the public record alone he solved over 3,500 difficult crimes, and sent three times that number of degenerates to prison. He wielded incredible power, was able to mobilize every investigative bureau in the entire world, and was applauded generously for his efforts. And during it all, he never showed his face." (pg. 10)

"So, what you're reading now are my notes about L. It's a dying message, not from me, and not directed at the world. The person who will most likely read this first will probably be that big-headed twit Near. But if that's the case, I will not tell him to shred or burn these pages. If it causes him pain to discover that I knew things about L that he did not, then that's fine." (pg. 10-11)

"I am one of the few people who ever met L as L. When and how I met him...this is the single most valuable memory I have, and I will not write it here, but on that occasion L related to me three stories of his exploits, and the episode involving Beyond Birthday was one of these." (pg. 11)

"Obviously, it never came to light that L--and more importantly, Wammy's House, which raised me until I was fifteen--was deeply connected to the matter, but in fact, they were. L, on principle, never got involved in a case unless there were more than ten victims or a million dollars at stake, and this is the real reason why he belatedly, but aggressively, involved himself in this little case, which only ever had three or four victims. I will explain further in the pages that follow, but for this reason, the case of the Los Angeles BB murders is a watershed event for L, for me, and even for Kira. It was a monumental event for all of us. Why? Because this is the case where L first introduced himself as Ryuzaki." (pg. 11)

"For any one else but those two [Near and Kira], my identity may be of no interest, but I am the old world's runner-up, the best dresser that died like a dog, Mihael Keehl. I once called myself Mello and was addressed by that name, but that was a long time ago. Good memories and nightmares." (pg. 12)

"She [Naomi Misora] briefly considered the idea that Raye Penber, or someone else, was playing a practical joke on her, but she found it hard to believe that anyone would be so bold to sign their name as such. L never revealed himself in public or in private, but Misora had heard several horror stories about what happened to detectives who tried passing themselves off as L. It was safe to say that no one would dare use his name, even in jest." (pg. 18)

"This was L, so he was undoubtedly solving several other difficult cases all at once. Cases all over the world. For him, this case was just one of many parallel investigations. How else could he maintain his reputation as the world's greatest detective? The century's greatest detective, L. The detective with no clients." (pg. 35)

"L had earned a certain degree of hostility from other detectives, and the jealous ones called him a hermit detective, or a computer detective, but neither of these is a particularly accurate representation of the truth. Naomi Misora had also tended to think of L as an armchair detective, but in fact, L was quite the opposite, a very active, aggressive individual. [swoon.] While he had absolutely no interest in social connections, he was certainly not the kind of detective to shut himself up in a dark room with the shades drawn and refuse to come out. It is now common knowledge that the three great post war detectives, L, Eraldo Coil and Danuve were all actually the same person. Certainly, anyone reading these notes is almost certain to know...though they may not know that L engaged in a war with the real Eraldo Coil, and the real Danuve, and emerged victorious, claiming their detective codes. The details of this detective war I will save for another occasion, but in addition to those three names, L possessed many other detective codes. I have no idea how many, but there were at least three digits' worth. And quite a number of those were fairly public detectives--just like, as anyone reading these notes must know, he appeared before Kira, calling himself Ryuzaki or Ryuga Hideki. Of course, Naomi Misora had no way of knowing this, but in my opinion, the name L was, for him, just one of many. He never had any direct connection to that identity, he never thought of himself as L--it was just the most famous and most powerful of the many detective codes he used during his life. The name had its uses, but lacked obscurity. L had a real name that nobody knew, and nobody will ever know, but a name which only he knew never defined him. I sometimes wonder if L himself ever knew exactly which name was written in the Death Note, which name it was that killed him. I wonder." (pg. 43-44)

"If we must discuss why L so adamantly refused to reveal himself, we can explain it very simply: doing so was dangerous. Very dangerous. While the world leaders should make efforts to ensure the safety of all the finest minds, not only for detectives, the fact is that the current societal systems do not allow for this, and L believed he had no choice but to protect his mind under his own power. By simple arithmetic, L's ability in 2002 was the equivalent of five ordinary investigative bureaus, and seven intelligence agencies (and by the time he faced off against Kira, those numbers had leapt upward several more notches). This is easy to think of as a reason to respect and admire someone, but let me say this as clearly as possible: that much ability in one human is extremely dangerous. Modern danger management techniques rely heavily on defusing risk, but his very existence was the exact opposite. In other words, if someone was planning to commit a crime, they would greatly increase their chances of getting away with it by simply killing L before they began. That was why L hid his identity. Not because he was shy, or because he never left the house. To ensure his own safety. For a detective of L's ability, self-preservation and the preservation of world peace were one and the same, and it would not be correct to describe his actions as cowardly or self-centered." (pg. 69 nice)

"So whenever L was working, he would usually have someone else as his public face--and in this particular case, the FBI agent Naomi Misora was filling that role." (pg. 70)

"Beyond Birthday had the eyes of a shinigami congenitally. It was not particularly difficult for him to track down people with the initials B.B. or find people who were fated to die on a certain day at a certain time." (pg. 94)

"Normally contact with a shinigami was a prerequisite for acquisition, but Beyond Birthday had traded nothing--he had seen through those eyes since before he could remember. He knew your name before you said it. He knew the time of death of every person he met." (pg. 94)

"You might think [the eyes] would hardly be useful without a Death Note, but that is simply not the case. The ability to see someone's remaining life is the ability to see death. Death, death, death. Beyond Birthday lived his life unceasingly reminded that all humans would eventually die. From the time he was born he knew the day his father would be attacked by a thug and die, knew the day his mother would die in a train crash. He had these eyes before he was born, which is why he called himself Beyond Birthday. Which is why a child as strange as he was taken in by our home, sweet home--Wammy's House. He was B. The second child in Wammy's House." (pg. 94-95)

"The competition between L and B. L and B's puzzle. 'If L's a genius, then B's an extreme genius. If L's a freak, then B's an extreme freak. Now it's time to get ready. There are things I must do before B can surpass L. Henh henh henh henh.' This thought was the only thing that made him laugh without needing to think about it. And those that know will recognize the laugh of the shinigami. Still grinning to himself, he faced the mirror, brushed his hair, and began applying his makeup. The reflection of himself in the mirror. Himself. As always, he could not see his own time of death. No more than he could see the death of the world." (pg. 96)

"We were raised at Wammy's House in England, in Winchester, as L's successors, as L's alternatives, but that does not mean we knew anything more about L than anyone else. Including myself, only a few of us ever met L as L, and even I knew nothing about L before he met Watari--Quillish Wammy, the genius inventor who founded Wammy's House. Nobody knows what's going on in L's head. But even so, I know how Watari felt. Looking at L's incredible talents from the perspective of an inventor--of course he wanted to make a copy, of course he wanted to create a backup. Anyone would feel the same. As I have already explained, L never appeared in public. L knew that his own death would increase the crime rate all over the world by a few dozen percentage points. But what if they could copy him? What if they could make a backup? That was us. L's children, gathered from all corners of the world.

"But even for a genius like Watari, creating a fake L was easier said than done. Even for Near and I, who were said to be the closest to L...the more we tried to be like him, the closer we got, the father away he was, like chasing a mirage. So I hardly need to tell you what it was like when Wammy's House was first founded, when he was still experimenting. The first child, A, was unable to handle the pressure of living up to L and took his own life, and the second child, Beyond Birthday, was brilliant and deviant. B stood for Backup.

"But B tried to surpass L, not become him...no, that might not be right. I have no way of knowing the inner workings of his mind. He...their generation was not like the fourth generation, with Near and I, all the children bound only to the code with the serial L. They were prototypes, never even given the L code, expected to fail. I prefer to refrain from idle speculation based on my own experiences, but, well, Beyond Birthday may have thought something like this: As long as there was L, B would never be L. As long as the original existed, the copy was always a copy." (pg. 104-105)

"The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases. L.A.B.B.--L is After Beyond Birthday. This reading is why I think this name is so much closer to the killer's intentions than the Wara Ningyo Murders, or the Los Angeles Serial Locked Room Killings. I wasn't talking about the names on a purely stylistic basis. Whether Beyond Birthday had put that much thought into it I have no idea, but if he had a specific reason for choosing to commit his murders in L.A., then that is probably why. I am sure he had a much more personal obsession with L as an individual than Near or I ever did. I can understand why someone would become a criminal in order to fight against a detective, which is why I can write something like this, but even so. What did he hope to accomplish by killing unrelated people? Or perhaps B simply wanted to meet L. Then he could use the eyes of the shinigami he'd been born with and see L's real name, see when L would die. He would be able to figure out who L was. Beyond Birthday had never told anyone that he had the eyes of a shinigami, and it would not surprise me at all if he believed himself to be some kind of shinigami." (pg. 105-106)

"Beyond Birthday challenged L. And L accepted the challenge. To put it bluntly, the Los Angeles BB Murder Cases were nothing but an internal struggle, a civil war within our home, sweet home-- Wammy's House. Unfortunate for the victims that got mixed up in it, but even if Beyond Birthday had not killed them, all those victims were fated to die that day, at that time, for some other reason, so logically and morally, their deaths were unavoidable. So in the strictest sense of the word, the only one who really got mixed up in their war was Naomi Misora." (pg. 106)

"L was said to never move on a case unless there were more than ten victims or a million dollars at stake. The only exceptions to this were cases at difficulty level L (extremely fitting), or when L had personal reasons compelling him to get involved. The Los Angeles BB Murders were both of these. I hardly need to point out the difficulty by this stage of the story, and L was essentially fighting his own dead copy. [harsh, dude.] The current head of Wammy's House had told Quillish Wammy/Watari, who had told L about B's disappearance in May, and ever since L had been looking for him even as he solved other cases. Wammy's House only knew him as B--they did not know his real name, Beyond Birthday, so this search was near impossible, but L knew who the killer was. He had not been looking for a killer so much as he was looking for a case. L had been waiting, expecting Beyond Birthday to do something to challenge him. L could move any policeman in the world, but in this case, he could not ask anyone for help except Naomi Misora...more than likely, for this reason. I don't think L really put that much stock in honor, but everyone is embarrassed by their own sins, and nobody wants those missteps to become public knowledge. L was the goal of everyone in Wammy's House. Every one of us wanted to surpass him. To step over him. To step on him. M did, N did, and B did. M as a challenger, N as a successor. B as a criminal." (pg. 116-117)

"No matter what she did, she had no way of knowing. That this killer, Beyond Birthday, could tell someone's name and time of death just by looking at their face, that he had been born with the eyes of a shinigami--she had no way of knowing that fake names were useless with him, completely and utterly pointless. How could she have known? Even Beyond Birthday himself could not explain how he had been born with the eyes of the shinigami, how he could use them with no payment, with no arrangement. Neither Misora nor L knew why, and, obviously, neither do I. The closest thing to an explanation I can offer is that there are shinigami stupid enough to drop their notebooks in our world, so there might well be shinigami stupid enough to drop their eyes." (pg. 193-140)

"'So, Naomi Misora...' said L, wrapping up. But Misora hastily stammered, 'Um, er, L...' but then she hesitated, not sure if she should ask this or not. 'You...know the killer, right?' 'Yes, as I said. He is B.' 'I don't mean like that...I mean, he's someone you know personally?' On the 16th, L had said that he had known the killer was B, and she had sort of known ever since, but two days before, L had said something that changed her guess to conviction. Whatever you do, please catch the killer. The century's greatest detective, L, would never say that about some ordinary indiscriminate serial killer. And the way his letter was just one letter long... 'Yes,' the synthetic voice agreed." (pg. 144-145)

"'I have nothing to do with him,' L said. 'To be completely accurate, I do not even know B. He is simply someone I am aware of. But none of this affects my judgement. Certainly, I was interested in this case, and began to investigate it because I knew who the killer was. But that did not alter the way I investigated it, or the manner in which my investigation proceeded. Naomi Misora, I cannot overlook evil. I cannot forgive it. It does not matter if I know the person who commits evil or not. I am only interested in justice.'" (pg. 145)

"My great and respected predecessor, the man whose actions were a strong influence on me personally, B, B.B., Beyond Birthday--obviously, I need hardly explain again that the murders themselves were not his purpose. So what was he doing? Again, I hardly need to explain--he was challenging the man he copied, the century's greatest detective L. A matter of winning or losing. A contest." (pg. 159)

"Since L could solve every case no matter how challenging, if he created a case so difficult that L as unable to solve it, B would have defeated L." (pg. 159)

"He knew that the moment he took action Wammy's House and Watari would alert L, so he did not even bother trying to stop them. He could only guess at which stage of his plan L would start to come after him, so he prepared things carefully, ready for L's entrance at any point." (pg. 159)

"B approached Naomi Misora, calling himself Rue Ryuzaki. Rue Ryuzaki--L.L. For anyone from Wammy's House, there could be no higher goal than identifying yourself with that letter--and Beyond Birthday seized this case as his chance. even Naomi Misora knew what had happened to detectives falsely identifying themselves as L, and B was from Wammy's House, so he knew this better than anyone--so this choice suggests the strength of his decision. He never once intended to survive--had had made up his mind. He was ready." (pg. 160) [trans. note: the name "Rue" in Japanese, ルエ (ru-e), is an anagram of エル (e-ru), which is how L is pronounced.]

"Naturally, his face and fingerprints would burn as well--he had always disguised himself with heavy makeup while he was with Misora, and he never left a picture behind, so even if someone directly affiliated with Wammy's House inspected the body, they would have no idea that Rue Ryuzaki/Beyond Birthday was B from Wammy's House. He had left nothing to connect Beyond Birthday to B." (pg. 162)

"B was presenting the Los Angeles BB Murder Cases to L as a case that could never be solved. That L could never solve. In other words, he had never prepared any clear solution to it--since the killer had committed suicide, disguised as the fourth victim, there was no longer a killer to catch, and no clues left to catch him with." (pg. 163)

"My poor, poor predecessor. Not only was he utterly and completely defeated, but he survived, driving home his embarrassment...he must have longed for death. Accept my condolences, B." (pg. 169-170)

"If I had space left over I had intended to carry right on into the other two stories I heard from L: the story of the detective war between the three greatest detectives, all solving that infamous bio-terror case, with guest appearances by the last of the alphabet, the first X to the first Z from Wammy's House; and the story of how the world's greatest inventor, Quillish Wammy, aka Watari, had first met L, then about eight year's old--the case that gave birth to the century's greatest detective, the Winchester Mad Bombings that occurred just after the third World War. But however objectively I look at things, I do not have the space or the time. Oh well." (pg. 170)

"She had spoken to L only once after the killer was arrested. He thanked her for helping to solve the case, and told her just a little about the background of the case. That B had been a candidate to succeed L, and that the pressure of that had driven him off track." (pg. 171)

"And a few years after his arrest, on January 21st, 2004, serving a life sentence in a California prison, Beyond Birthday died of a mysterious heart attack." (pg. 173)

C-KIRA: (read here)

near grief :pensive: pretty sure this was animated in the anime movie thing?? tbh i still need to watch that. Very interesting as some of the most recent post-main story lore we get about wammy's imo. less quotes now + more summarizing since these are just comics

near has apparently only "talked" to L once (in quotes since he didn't actually say anything, just sat in the back of the room doing a puzzle the entire time. real asf girl)

during this "conversation," roger or one of the orphanage heads set up the usual L screen + a camera/mic so that L could see all the kids and answer their questions.

notably, mello & near didn't ask any questions, just lurked in the back watching L with a "nasty look in [their] eyes," which near assumes is what made him pick them to be his top successors, considering the fact that he didn't actually look at any of their data. (somewhat seems to imply that L didn't actually give a shit about grades or anything like that when picking his main successors?)

while answering questions, near is caught off guard by one of L's answers. to transcribe it all directly here--

NEAR (NARRATING): At the time, I didn't think L would put it so bluntly. L: It's not a sense of justice. L: Figuring out difficult cases is my hobby. If you measured good and evil deeds by current laws, I would be responsible for many crimes. L: The same way you all like to solve mysteries and riddles, or clear video games more quickly... For me too, its simply prolonging something I enjoy doing. L: That's why I only take on cases that pique my interest. It's not justice at all. And if it means being able to clear a case, I don't play fair, I'm a dishonest, cheating human being, who hates losing...

not quite the monster speech, but fascinating all the same. near seems to imply that this answer sent some kids into a despair spiral, but it actually caused him to like L more and more, feeling that he was, "exactly the kind of person who wanted to achieve his own goals." kinda goes against the HTR13 ohba comment? shrug

The Wammy's House/L's One Day: (read here)

honestly i interpret these comics as like. canon crack fic. but anyways, here's the established L lore included in these two.

L was taken into wammy's as a nameless orphan at an unknown but likely quite young age

very soon after arriving he beats up all the other kids he meets--

he is "utterly incompatible," with all the other kids and monopolizes all the things he likes simply cause he's stronger than them and presumably could fight them for it-- naturally, he ends up usually just playing by himself

notably, this all establishes that L isn't the first kid at wammy's, that there was already at least one generation of older kids living there before he got there (and could eventually turn it into an L successor creating machine)

once watari realizes that L has some outstanding mental abilities, he gives him his own private room and a computer. afterwards, L spends most of his time sitting in front of the puter by himself

L requests that watari buy 1 million pounds with Japanese yen and tells him which stocks to buy, causing his assets to reach "almost 20,000 times the original amount," in two years. visually this is depicted as happening when L is still quite young

several years later, L stumbles across a serial murder case in the news, which is the first he solves, starting his new career path

-

L can stay awake for 100+ hours and then gets over it by sleeping for like 17 hours. pictures also may imply that he doesn't actually sleep in a bed, but just lies down sideways in his chair. RIP yotsuba light's perfectly designed sleep schedule

L also shits/pisses in the same position he usually sits in (frog-pose), facing the tank south park style

he is a big fan of cleanliness!! human washing machine etc. etc. honestly i think this is just another way for him to hold that same crouched position

text says he always has, "ten or so identical sets of clothes prepared for him," since he's picky about it, but the art itself shows way more than ten. also rare shirtless L moment?? (watari helps)

L does in fact go outside!! he likes roller coasters/theme parks, swinging, art galleries, live music, etc. though most of the time he just sits in his room thinking thru shit n solving cases.

[earthdance]

method acting - fox mulder

mulder is back after you've come to terms with his death.

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ

note: i'm not new to fanfic but i am new to x-files fanfic! i hope this isn't too terrible! this is inspired by the first two episodes of s3 because how could scully just accept that he was back that quickly. like he just showed up and she was like "ok" like WHAAAAT. anyways i just kind of reimagined that plotline because it seemed so insane to me.

content tags: SPOILERS for epsisodes 3x1 "the blessing way" and 3x2 "paperclip" , canon compliant but also canon divergent, reader insert, use of y/n and y/l/n (i think it's only y/l/n actually), angst, fluff, mentions of death and mourning, reader and mulder have shared dreams, reader is sad, mulder is sad, everyone is sad but it's okay cause there's a happy ending, this wasn't proofread.

word count: 1,394

cross-posted on ao3 if you prefer to read there!

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ

i put the knife in slowly

through the ribcage to your heart

i don't know how we got here

but it's tearing me apart

you don't seem too surprised

i guess that it's become a chore

every tuesday on the hour

you don't feel it anymore

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ

you couldn’t handle it. so much was going on and you couldn’t handle any of it. 

you try desperately to recall your lessons at the academy, about compartmentalizing and shoving unwanted thoughts or feelings into the darkest filing cabinets of your mind. 

but right now, all of those neatly closed and sealed drawers were flying open at breakneck speed, undoing years of hard work and meditation to keep yourself stable and able to do your job. 

he was here, in front of you. looking at you with his leafy green eyes with a crazed look as if he had just come back from mars. standing in the archway where the threshold meets the living room of his apartment, soft lamp light beaming off of his face. you’re in your pajamas, work clothes strewn over his floor, throw blanket and a pillow from his bed crumpled on the couch.. you had come here to sleep, as you’ve been doing since he’d been gone. 

it had been 2 months. you had weeped, screamed, sat in sad silence, broken things around your apartment, all to try to close the gaping wound his absence had torn in you. 

it had gotten somewhat easier. you were just on the precipice of acceptance. just on the precipice of finding some sort of strange peace in the storm that you were caught in. your body was tired, and it was begging you to let go of the pain. and you were about to.

but he was here.

“mulder?”

your voice was hollow like a bone. at this quiet utterance at his name, he steps forward, as if approaching a frail deer on the side of the road. prepared for it to dart at any second. he reaches a hand out, too fast.

you flinch hard. he jerks his hand back to his side.

“wh-” you start, willing yourself to make sense of the apparition in front of you.

you were hallucinating. you had to be. fox mulder was dead. you saw the smoke. the remnants. you saw evidence. 

“who are you? what kind of sick joke is this?” you ask, gasping for breath. 

“y/l/n…” he says. sad, regretful.

at his voice, something inside you crumbles, and you crash.

“don’t! what the hell is going on? what is this? why- why is this happening? why now?”

“ i couldn’t risk contacting you. not until they were sure i was dead. not until they had absolutely no doubts.”

“i- i don’t-”

“i want so badly to explain it all to you. what happened to me. but i want to give you time to process-.”

“process!?” you shriek, “i’ve already processed! i processed for 2 months! and now you want me to process more? to believe you’re alive? how do i even know it’s you, mulder? we’ve encountered people that can change shape, that mimic. they’ve fooled me before, i won’t let it happen again-” you’re hand twitches subtly toward your gun, lying on the coffee table. 

he straightens at this. “y/l/n! y/l/n…”

you freeze, ready to grab the pistol if he makes any sudden movements.

“just.. just listen. ask me something, i’ll prove that it’s me. ask me something only i would know.”

your eyes narrow at him. trying to search for any sign that he’s going to switch up on you. 

you try to calm your mind, to think of a sacred situation that you and mulder shared. something embedded deep in you. that you never told anyone about. 

“i- um…” you run a hand over your face, still breathing shakily. 

“what did i confess to you at the hotel in montana?”

his eyes glaze over in sadness. prepared to recite the story you told him. 

“you joined me on the x-files because when you were 13, you saw an apparition of your grandfather three days after he died. he told you someone was waiting for you. and you told me even though you thought it was just a dream, you’re still searching. searching for whoever’s waiting for you. wherever they are.”

you exhale for the first time in what feels like hours. tears prick at your waterline as you struggle to breathe. 

he’s there, then. arms encircling you, hand on the back of your head to pull you into his chest. and you wonder, how you ever could’ve doubted that it was him. he has never been more him than in this moment. his smell, his touch, his voice as he whispers in your hair. 

it’s okay, i’m here now. i’m not leaving again.

still embraced, he leads you to his couch. sits down gently so you can lean into him more. 

he rubs your back, sweeping those beautiful hands up and down your spine. in spite of yourself, you shudder at the feeling. 

“mulder i don’t-”

“i know-”

“no, you don’t.” 

he lifts your head from his chest and holds your face in his hands, wiping free falling tears away.

“you really don’t know.”

he bites his lip, searching for something to say, but you don’t want to hear anything from him right now. you need him to know. to understand. 

“fox,” 

he sucks in a breath at the use of his name.

“i have gone through countless deaths in my life. friends, family, pets. death follows me everywhere i go. i know the routine. i know how to grieve and come out the other side. i know how to be unfazed by it.”

you stop, to make sure he’s still following. he nods. strokes your hair.

“i-” you stop again, to try and gather yourself the best you can with his thumbs on your cheeks.

you look in his eyes now. you need him to know

“i’ve never felt so much pain. your absence… it was- it was so suffocating. so dark. no one could tell me anything. i didn’t have any closure. it was like i was walking in a tunnel, and i kept expecting to see the light. the end of it. but it never came. until last week. i was- i was getting better, mulder. i was starting to feel okay. i was starting to accept, however painful it still was. i- and then you're here?  you're just here all of a sudden? and now you being here, is almost even more painful then before because it doesn’t feel real. my brain can’t make sense of it. deep down i know it’s you. but it still feels fake. i’ve spent two months coming to terms with your death. it’s like a dream.”

you drop your head into his chest once more. he drags a shaking hand down to your arm and pinches you softly for good measure. a very mulder thing to do. 

you breathe a laugh out of your nose.

“see? not a dream” he says gently, lifting your face back up to meet his eyes once more. 

you give him a sad smile to show him you’re trying to be present with him. 

his fingers tuck your hair behind your ears. he takes a deep breath.

“i’m not going to try and pretend that i know what you went through. thank you for telling me.”

he bites his lip and contemplates his next sentence.

“i went somewhere. i didn’t necessarily die but i was close”

his hand holds your wrist, soothes your pulse.

“in the place i went, i saw people. people i knew that had died. but the last person… the last person was you. i wasn’t worried because i could tell you weren’t like the others. you weren't planted in this afterlife, you weren’t dead. you were just there to tell me something.”

you breathe shallowly.

“what did i tell you?”

“that you were waiting for me.”

you purse your lips and close your eyes, overwhelmed. 

“i know”

mulder looks at you, puzzled.

“you know?”

you nod, and open your eyes.

“i had a dream. my grandpa was there. he told me that i had already found the person that was waiting for me. and then i saw you. and i told you what you just said. i didn’t think it was real. i thought it was just another dream. i- i didn’t know it was your dream too.”

he smiles and presses his forehead to yours.

“were we both waiting on each other?”

a kiss is your answer.

[lowtaperfeyd]

HEAR ME OUT angst lady jessica x reader w this prompt

"I don't want to love her. I don't like what that means for me."

"What do you think it means?"

"It means I have something to lose again."

Dimming Stars

Lady Jessica x Soldier!Reader

author's note: I HEAR YOU ANON, LOUD AND CLEAR, also "hey... how y'all doing?"

warnings: mentions of blood, death, dark dune stuff

wc: 1174

There was a difference between Geidi Prime and Caladan. The former was a place where the smartest survived, not the largest. You had to always be on your toes in the safest places, be wary of anyone who holds a weapon, because you'll never know whether or not they will turn on you. Never trust a man when he says he can help you, or do you a favor. Because all of those things will lead to you being caught. And by the end, your skin feels like it's been rubbed through with sand to toughen it and your mind is guarded by rows and rows of soldiers, to the point where you become one. 

Tension was in the air ever since the herald of change was on Caladan to ‘give’ Arrakis to the Atreides. No one could pinpoint what was going on. But, the ticking in (Y/N)’s ears came back. A tick that said, “leave, it is not safe here.” The ticking was a remnant of years of loss and uncertainty, it never left and only sometimes flattered. And it only grew stronger on Arrakis. 

(Y/N) sat facing Duncan Idaho as he was polishing a blade. The practice gym they were in was a beige color, that was only dulled by the lack of sunlight streaming through the nonexistent windows. 

“Do you think I could take down a part of that wall?” (Y/N) asked, “Add a window perhaps?”

Duncan let out a noise that could be best described as a scoff, 

“Why? So we can all boil alive?” He retorted. 

“Just to add more light. It would make the place look better, feel safer.” 

Duncan looked over to them,

“It reminds me of that too.” There was no reason to say the name of that dreadful place. Because they both knew what that meant. 

“But I don't see why not,” He added, “We could approach the Duke or Lady Jessica about it.” 

Her name, Jessica, made butterflies strikethrough (Y/N)’s stomach. She was a presence that lingered in their mind. Her auburn hair and green eyes penetrated deep into (Y/N)’s mind. She was the woman who brought life and future to their mind. She was the one thing on their mind during the day. And she rested in their dreams and arms at night. She was the only person that (Y/N) couldn't think about losing. 

No, they thought, it would be too much to bare.

“That’s an idea.” (Y/N), with a twitch of their lip going up, replied to him. “I’ll ask Her Grace later.” 

Duncan smirked at their words. It was a secret not kept well about Lady Jessica and (Y/N). Everyone knew that there was something, but no one knew the details. 

“Do you think something is going to happen here on Arrakis?” (Y/N) questioned as their smile fell. 

“Your guess is as good as mine. Certainly feels that way.”

“I’m worried what will happen to the Arrakeen, the Duke, Paul,” their lip quivered just a little bit, “her.”

“If you're worried you can’t protect that, then you should really reconsider that.” He said trying to comfort them, “and besides love can make you stronger than you already are.”

“I don’t want to love her.” (Y/N) responded firmly, “I don’t like what it means for me.”

“What do you think it means?” he asked

“It means I have something to lose again.”

There was a shared silence and understanding between the two of them. Their friendship based on mutual loss of friends and loved ones. It was an indescribable feeling that you could only learn by that loss.

“Well,” he cut the silence as he began to stand up, “I have to go and find Paul before anything happens.” 

“Good luck with the window!” Duncan said as he left that room. Leaving (Y/N) to stew in the dull and dark room with Jessica on their mind. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Later, in the evening, Lady Jessica and (Y/N) were laying in bed, under the warm light of the glow globe. Their arms were tangled like a pit of snakes with (Y/N)’s hand pinned between Jessica’s face and the soft pillow it was resting on. 

The golden hues added shape and dimension to Lady Jessica’s face. It blessed it with shadows that contoured her nose and cheekbones and with radiance that highlighted her eyes. It was a sight that seemed like no one was worthy enough to see, not even a god. 

“You’re wonderful,” (Y/N) started as their thumb stroked the soft skin beneath Jessica’s eye, “and as mysterious as a sky full of stars.” 

“You’ve always had a way with words.” Jessica whispered to them. 

“Because you give me the ability to find them freely. You are the catalyst of my poetry as well as the bane of my ability to focus.” 

They were both shrouded in sleep that they didn’t notice the bloodshed that was set upon the city. The fire that rained from the heavens couldn’t make them move. It wasn’t until the soldiers were brought inside that (Y/N) took notice and the ticking was even faster.

They shot up from bed, chest heaving, heart pounding, and grabbed the knives that was concealed in one of the bedside drawers. They rushed to the otherside of the bed to wake Jessica up. 

“Jessica,” they hissed, “Jessica, wake up!” 

Jessica’s eyes opened hazily, “what's going on?”

“I don’t know how but the Arrakeen has been invaded. We have to leave.”

(Y/N) grabbed her hand and helped her up from bed. Both of them barefoot and dressed in improper clothes for a time like this. They left the bedroom and began to silently go down the hall with one blade in each of (Y/N)’s hands. They could both hear the sound of gunfire, slashing, and the sounds of final breaths that echoed through the halls. They reached a hall that diverged into two paths. (Y/N) knew that they needed to begin fighting, they knew what choice had to be made. 

“My lady,” (Y/N) started.

“No, please…” Jessica whimpered as she grabbed their hand.

“It is here that we must part.” they said as tears began to well in their eyes. 

“You can’t go out there!” Jessica wailed, “I can’t lose you…”

(Y/N) unlaced their hands and opened Jessica’s hand before placing a blad either and folding her fingers over it. 

“If your safety is promised by my sacrifice, no matter how small, I will lay my knife down and take whatever comes over me.” They whispered before placing a chaste kiss on her forehead. 

“Go down that hall and find a way out, find Paul, find safety, don’t worry about me.” They said as they began to move down the hall to fight the enemy so that Jessica could have more time. 

They parted ways not knowing whether or not they'd see each other again, under the burning palm trees and dimming stars. 

[avelera]

Gif courtesy of @apaethy

I just finished re-watching the first season of Interview with the Vampire because in light of what's going on as of 2.6 of S2, I felt I needed to, because this moment above is driving me crazy.

Why is Armand staring straight at Daniel during Louis' declaration? And why is it that, to me, he almost seems to plead with his eyes for Daniel to get him away from Louis?

My thoughts on the matter:

Doylist reasons (aka, out of universe, production, practical reasons): this is a big reveal that "Rashid" is actually Armand. It makes sense, from that angle, as an acting choice that Armand-no-longer-Rashid would look straight at the camera so we could get a good look at him.

Thing is, it's certainly a choice.

Because I would argue the more logical choice when having one character declare the other is the love of their life is for those characters to look at each other. Even a passing glance, a faint smile, a little bit of heart eyes.

Louis just gave a pretty romantic declaration. Actually, even more haunting as of 2.6, Louis just said out loud that he loves Armand in this straightforward, unambiguous, but frighteningly passive way that he refused to do back in Paris, what Madeleine had to cajole him into saying. Now Louis drops the L word all casual, almost as a challenge, right in Daniel's face??

Daniel Molloy voice: Nuh uh, I don't buy it, not for a second.

Ok, let's get into a meta reason this is a really freakin' weird moment and scene that they chose to use as the final note of Season 1, and therefore I think it's meant to be important and, as of Season 2, I think we're seeing the crux of why it's the end of one season and the set up of the next.

Metatextual reason: Armand is not the fucking love of Louis's life in the books. He's barely a footnote, unless that footnote is labeled, "THE VAMPIRE WHO KILLED CLAUDIA". Louis and Armand's relationship, such as it was, soured immediately after her death. They didn't stick together for decades, from the text they barely stuck together a few years after that. Armand wasn't at the Interview with Daniel (but he did pick up Daniel later, when kidnapping him when Daniel went to investigate Lestat's house and look for evidence to corroborate Louis' story).

So as a book fan, I sat up in my chair and audibly shouted, "What the fuck?" at that line. Because as I'm sure anyone who has read this far knows by now, in the books Louis is not the love of Armand's life.

Daniel is the love of Armand's life.

Daniel is Armand's only fledgling, ever.

So not only is there a weird declarative quality to the almost nonsensical (to book readers) statement that Armand is the love of Louis's life-- I don't know how else to explain it except it's like having a revival of Romeo and Juliet where they didn't die and Romeo's early girlfriend Rosaline show up to say that Romeo is the love of her life in Juliet's face. Do you see what I mean? Daniel/Armand is Romeo and Juliet, Louis the temporary fling. Having Rosaline tell Juliet that Romeo is her love would give a similar level of dissonance as I got hearing Louis/Armand was a thing over and above Daniel/Armand.

So to go back to Armand's creepy eye contact here (as if he has any other kind).

Watsonian Reason (aka, in-universe, what the story is going for): We are setting up the plot that becomes much more apparent in S2: Daniel was invited to Dubai to be the wrecking ball in Louis/Armand's relationship.

Which means the big canon divergence moments from the book are:

1. Louis and Armand didn't break up right after Paris, but stayed a couple for several decades longer.

2. Regardless of whether or not the Devil's Minion happened already (or if it's going to happen later in this story), Armand didn't turn Daniel into a vampire soon after meeting him a few years post-Interview with the Vampire. That event got pushed back.

My money is on Armand and Daniel had their fling but Armand refused to turn him. It's a fairly logical canon divergence beat because Armand didn't want to turn Daniel in the books either so in this universe, he just actually followed through and did the responsible thing.

But, I think Armand pined. And pined. And pined.

Whether or not Armand is Alice turning down Daniel's proposal (I at this point disagree with the theory) or if he was just stalking Daniel closely enough to read Alice's thoughts in that moment, he clearly has been keeping tabs on Daniel.

In my opinion, Armand is finally done with the relationship with Louis.

The interview is meant to passively accomplish these things:

Remind Louis how much he loves Lestat.

Remind Louis how much he loves Claudia and by extension if/when it "slips out" just how culpable Armand actually was (as the mastermind, not a bystander) for her death, it will give Louis the impetus to finally leave.

Bring Daniel back into their life. Because whether or not he'll admit it to himself, Armand has been pining for him over Louis for a while now.

I've kind of already explored this in another post but the more I watch of S2 and re-watch of S1, the more certain I am that this is Armand's actual goal. The pining looks he keeps shooting Daniel's way, the way Daniel seems to lose his train of thought whenever he looks at Armand, the palpable tension between them...

Basically, Romeo and Juliet are getting back together soon. We just need to get Rosaline out of the picture first, and that's why Romeo is having an interview that digs up what a shitty boyfriend he was to Rosaline so that Rosaline will break up with him first so he can get back with Juliet.

[totheidiot]

For the 'send me a character' ask game:

Is asking about Mikami too obvious? Haha

@catboymettaton asked the same thing,,, you guys know me so well. glad to know that mikami is the first character that pops into the minds of you all when i am concerned

favorite thing about them

God. can i say everything. love love love everything about him: his genuine obsession with justice, something that he has that light doesn't !!!; how from a very young age, he has had this frigid mindset of good and evil like imagine being eight years old and thinking that; the fact that he's just a very huge fan of winston churchill. i love how pedantic and routinely he is, that is one of the main reasons why light failed in the end. he is so predictable that it's a fault, that he clings to his routine so much. he is NOT neurotypical, i love him so much. also love how his priority is his own ideals which he is sooooo fixed on, i'll talk about it a little later in the post.

ALSO i remembered this as i was writing this post but i really like the fact that he kind of absentmindedly thinks that he's the reason for all of this. very very very unexplored aspect of his character.

least favorite thing about them

the fact that he's a very huge fan of winston churchill :((( i am bengali and he is literally the reason why the bengal famine got so bad. shit person in general, hate that guy so much. the whole "kill all lazy people" isn't a good look for mikami either.

favorite line

the obligatory "YOU"RE NOT GOD, YOU'RE TRASH" but in like the opposite note, i really like the line "there is no reason for me to question. God is absolute. my job is to do as God wishes". one thing i find so unfortunate about death note is that none of the lines in animanga aren't very cool. like it's not deep and poetic :( closest thing to a deep line is probably just the "i wish we could have met some other way // this is the only way we could have met" exchange in jdrama.

brOTP

takada and mikami,,, my most beloved. they can conquer the world, i know this. they are best friends to me. mikami seriously respects her a lot and praises her. i just like to imagine them chatting together before they started working with light. just sitting together, talking over politics, current events, kira, their opinions. they both really really need it. on the other hand, put mikami and misa is a room together PLEASE. can't believe they have never had a canon interaction, this NEEDS to happen. one of these days,,, i will write a misa&mikami fic,,, it would be my best project yet i think considering they are the two dn characters i think i understand the most.

OTP

MIKALAWLIGHT 🗣🗣🗣 OTP OF ALL TIME 🗣🗣🗣think about those three every single day,,, my favorite death note ship,,, well technically it's an OT3 i believe but still. i have two modes of mikalawlight i constantly think about, one is in my special little 1stkira!mikami au where L's primary theory is that light is kira and mikami is his accomplice when it's actually the other way around, misa is still the 2nd kira and it's mikamisa in the same way death note is yagamane except mikami doesn't try to manipulate misa like light does. my second mode of mikalawlight is jdrama mikalawlight because it's the only version of death note where mikami actually co-exists with L (i think it's the only version ? don't know about live action movie or german audio drama). there's of course, alternate no death note universe mikalawlight that i think about. ALSO. everyone go read this fic, most perfect mikalawlight ever even though it's tragically unfinished.

nOTP

actually,,, don't think i have a notp for mikami,,, i just really like it when he is there. mikalawlight, mikalight, lawmika, mikamisa, kiyokami, mikavanni, mikamatsu, mikanear, all very very good to me. just have him there and i am the happiest man alive.

random headcanon

while i really don't like christian mikami and how prevalent it is all the time in dn fandom, i do think he believes in something divine, a kind of higher power. it's not a christian god, it's something very specific to him. micah has a fic where they talk a little about him believing in a higher power like that and. nailed it, it's absolutely my thoughts on mikami. a vaguely muslim mikami is something i find really really really funny and something i think about all the time, because his take on the whole killing people thing really reminds me of the islamic concept of jihad. but i don't take that seriously because i am worried that it would be blasphemous. siller mikami headcanons, he can play the piano and violin. he is bisexual with a lean towards men and it's just something he's fine with it, doesn't think much of it. he cuts his own hair.

unpopular opinion

i will be super honest with you,,, back in like 2009-2016ish time frame, i sincerely believe that teru mikami was one of the, if not most, mischaracterized character in death note. it's fine now, there isn't anything outrageous about mikami that's going around now, but have you seen lawlight fics from that specific time. shudders. so unpopular opinion, i have got a lot of. hmph, but i think one of my favorite opinions that i have is that mikami is definitely not the picture of "blind devotion" like he is often made out to be. mikami is actually very independent and correct me if i am wrong, one of the first actions that he does as x-kira is literally oppose light, when he kills demegawa even though light didn't tell him to. i think HE thinks that he is really good at following orders and will do everything that kami tells him to and i also think that light thinks in the same way, that mikami is #1 perfect servant, but mikami's priority first and foremost is his own ideals, as i alluded to before. it's a part of his facade i think, all of his life

that's why he denounced light so easily in the warehouse scene.

so what this all boils down to is that mikami is NOT obsequious and a sycophant. if i did assign the concept of "blind devotion" to a character, it would probably be misa.

song i associate with them

i need to make a playlist about him, i swear to God. funnily enough, i'll put where is the justice from the death note musical in there because that's more of a mikami song than a light song. but aside from that, exit music (for a film) and not really a song, but fitter happier, which are both by radiohead. one of these days, i need to make a post connecting every lyric of exit music to mikami, it's such a him song.

favorite picture of them

can't pick one favorite tragically,,, there is a LOT. here's a mini collection.

^ gymbro mikami will forever be famous to me

^ one of the photos of him that i carry around in my phone case (if anyone wants to see the rest, let me knowww)

[greenbunny7]

Murder Mystery at Mcgucket Mansion (or MMMM for short)

It was that time of year again, and Mcgucket was throwing the biggest, baddest, most out of this world party ever!

Somehow, Ford was put in charge of the entertainment. Ford came up with a super elaborate murder Mystery/escape room

So after all the guests arrived, and the party started, all the lights went out, and when they came back on, Ford was dead, or rather, covered in jam and pretending to be dead

Dipper and Mabel were on the case. Nothing could stop the mystery twins!Something immediately stopped the mystery twins

[Dipper] Hay Grunkle Stan do you want to help solve great Uncle Ford's murder?

[Stan] Oh, I couldn't possibly. I'm just too distraught at Ford's death

[Ford] Take all the fun out of it, way don't you

[Stan] Hay, aren't you supposed to be dead

[Ford] Fine, fine *Ford goes back to pretending to be dead*

[Stan] I'll be over by the refreshments drawing my sorrows in snacks if you need me

ALIBI TIME!

Windy and her friends were vandalizing some old northwest stuff

Manly Dan was arm wrestling Jimmy snakes (who Stan was avoiding). Tyler Cutebiker was cheering them on

Pacifica was helping lazy Susan unpack raspberry pies from the greasy's diner truck for dessert

Mcgucket was... missing, although some party goers had seen him near the light switch earlier

Shandra Jimenez was reporting on Gideon's cute little suit that he was wearing to the party

Pizza Guy was running late, and by the time he got there, all the pizza was gone

Grenda and Marius were by the chocolate fountain talking about Iguanas

After a few red herrings and at least one scooby-doo-esk chase scene through all the doors and hallways of Mcgucket Mansion, there was also a pie fight at some point

Mabel comes up with an idea and headed back to the crime scene

[Mabel] Hay Grunkle Ford, who murdered you?

[Ford] *Wakeing up from a nap* Wha-oh Mabel, I can't tell you, I'm supposed to be dead

[Mabel] I already thought of that! *Mabel holds up an ouija board and a white sheet*

[Ford] Claver Girl

*Mabel put the sheet over Ford and then asked her question again, then Ford, using the ouija board, spelled out*

I d o n t k n o w

[Mabel] What do you mean you don't know?

T h e l i g h t s w e r e o u t

[Ford] Besides, I randomized it, even out of character, I don't know

[Mabel] Randomized it?

[Ford] Yes, when everyone came in, they got a ticket on one of those tickets, there was instructions on where I hid the jam

[Mabel] Wait, so you're saying if we find the ticket, we find the murderer?

[Ford] I heiley doubt the murderer still has the ticket

[Mabel] *Sigh* Another dead end... no offense

N o n e t a k e n

[Ford] Oh, I can tell you one thing that might help, the jam I prepared was strawberry, and this jam is clearly raspberry

[Mabel] Hmmm, raspberry instead of strawberry? I'll have to make a note of this

Leave who you think the murderer is and why in the comments or reblogs

thanks for reading and goodbye

[ghostofthemost141]

Pretty Pt.3 (Finale)

Pt.1 Pt.2. Pt.3

Pairing: Ghost x F!Reader, First POV, No use of (Y/N)

Word Count: 2,263

Themes: Light Fluff, Light Angst

About: It is now all or nothing. You and Task Force 141 try the antidote that Alejandro and his refugee have made.

Notes: Thank you all for the love of this little series! Dolly is your name but Alejandro calls you estrella which means star in Spanish. Once again I am open to requests if you want something in particular! Enjoy!

Taglist: @autumnleaves1991-blog @httpjiikook @20rianwe

“Alejandro.” I called him, jumping out of the vehicle to approach him, “if I would’ve known this was you bringing us here, giving him a chance.” 

“Of course, estrella. We are all family, especially in these hard times.” Alejandro told me, calling me by my chosen nickname by him. 

I immediately jumped into his arms, hugging him tightly. I am not usually the one to do that but I couldn’t help it. Alejandro chuckled and hugged me back, amused by my action. 

“I’m sorry..I’m just..” 

“No, you’re fine. Trust me I understand.” He reassured me as I pulled back from the hug. 

“Rrrrrrrr…..Dolllyyyyy.” Simon growled from the back of the truck. 

His hand was pressed up against the glass and his voice was drowned out as he stared at both Alejandro and I. 

“He..recognizes you?” Alejandro asks. 

“Yeah, and Johnny too. I am not sure if it’s his consciousness coming through his zombie state or what but I would consider it a good thing right?” I say. 

“Yes, it is a very good thing. What are we waiting for then?” Alejandro announced, basically giving us the go ahead to get Simon to the right place. 

“Where do you want us to head to?” Price asks. 

“Follow me through the refugee. That’s where our sanctuary warehouse is where we managed to figure out the possible cure.” Alejandro told us. 

I nodded as I jumped back into the back of the truck and Alejandro did the same. After some motion from Alejandro, Price put the vehicle out of park and started inching forward. 

“Rrr..” Simon softly growled, his cloudy eyes looking up at me. 

“We are almost there, Simon.” I pressed my hand up against the glass and he did the same as well. 

God I hope this works. 

~

I had to refrain from screaming as I realized that Simon’s shoulder bore a zombie bite. You can’t come back from those bites. You just can’t. At least when you get a bite in the hand you can cut the hand off to keep the bite from infecting you, but with a shoulder bite, it’s a death sentence. 

“What is it, love?” Simon asked me, noticing my stares. 

“Your..your shoulder.” I croaked out, feeling some tears fall down my face. 

Simon eyed his shoulder, his eyes and his skin being drained of color. 

“No..” Simon coldly said. 

“Lieutenant..” Johnny called Simon, but he didn’t say anything back. 

“I-AHH-AHHHHH!!” 

Price nearly crashed as Simon started wailing and screaming out in pain. Shit!! Was he turning that quick?! No, no, no!

“Si, please listen to me!” I begged, trying to reach him, but he shoved me away. 

I harshly landed on my back as the boys tried to surround him as I could hear Simon crying out in pain. It’s my fault, it’s my fault, it’s my fault, it’s my fault, it’s my fault, it’s my fault, it’s my fault, it’s my fault, it’s my fault, it’s my fault, it’s my fault, it’s my fault, it’s my fault, it’s my fault, it’s my fault, it’s my fault, it’s my fault, it’s my fault, it’s my fault-

“Simon!! STOP!!” 

What? Why was Price yelling at Simon to stop? I turned to find Simon shoving Gaz off of him. 

“Si.” I approached him but Simon immediately shuffled away from me. 

“Stay away from me, Dolly.” 

“I am not afraid of you, Simon.” 

“You will be, when I turn.” Simon coldly told me. 

“Simon, please!” I exclaimed, holding his face close to mine. 

I could hear the effects of him changing already. His blue eyes were already changing color and his breathing was becoming ragged. In one swift movement, I grabbed the ends of his balaclava mask and pulled it off of his face. For once in my life, I was witnessing an emotion I have never seen the Simon ‘Ghost’ Riley display. 

Fear. 

He was scared, scared of what was going to happen next. 

“I..I was trying to break my jaw. So I couldn’t bite you.” Simon croaked out. 

I don’t think I have ever seen Simon so vulnerable before or this defeated before. 

“They are close to a cure, Si. There are a lot of refugees, especially one up North that is close to finding a cure. We will bring you up there the second we get word of it.” I promised Simon. 

Simon held both of my hands as his once pure azure eyes were fading to a cloudy misty color. Out of nowhere, Simon leaned down and retched onto the ground, black substance drooling out of his mouth. 

“Si-” 

“I love you, *urk* Dolly.” Simon told me. 

“I love you too, Simon.” I said back. 

“Grab me, please.” Simon told Gaz, Price, and Johnny. 

I wanted to hold him and tell him that everything would be okay, but I knew that would be a bad idea. The guys grabbed Simon and tied him up tightly. Simon grumbled incoherently in pain until he eventually passed out. I hope to God he doesn’t wake up. 

…

…

…

…

..”Simon?” 

~

“Please be gentle with him.” I say as the guys, with the right protective gear on, carefully helped Simon out of the incubator and out of the truck. 

They had his arms and hands gently but tightly chained together, behind his back so he couldn’t scratch anyone and we kept his balaclava mask on so it wouldn’t be so easy to bite someone. 

“Si, I’m right here.” I called him. 

His cloudy eyes immediately looked my way and he tried to sprint towards me but both Alejandro and Price stopped him. 

“Whoa, not so fast there big guy.” Alejandro jokes, getting a chuckle out of me, “you’ll get to your amar soon enough.” 

“Rrrrrr…” Simon growled angrily. 

I can tell he wasn’t happy about being held back but it is for my own safety. Even though Simon is still in there, there’s no chance he could control his actions. 

“Simon, it’s okay. They are just trying to help.” I try to reassure him. 

“You got the stuff, Rodolfo?” Alejandro called to him as he and Price held onto Simon as hard as they could, considering the height and muscle has over them. 

“Got it.” Rodolfo announced as he approached Simon with a huge needle, absolutely filled to the brim with a clear white liquid. 

As soon as Simon saw Rodolfo approach him, he immediately tried to sprint towards him, but was pulled back immediately due to Alejandro and Price. 

“Hey, hey relax big guy.” Price sternly commanded Simon, which was not helping at all. 

“Rrrrrr….no hurt Dolllyyy.” 

Oh..Oh. He thinks Rodolfo is going to hurt me. Despite all of that, despite being sick, despite being infected, the thing he wants to do the most, he is still capable of doing it. 

“Si, love.” I call him, reaching towards him. 

“Back off from him, Dolly.” Johnny warned me. 

I know he is doing it to protect me, like Simon wants him to do, but I know Simon. He is just scared. 

“Johnny, please.” I sternly but calmly said to him. 

I know he was mentally protesting with what I was doing, but he was allowing me to do it, but stayed close nearby. I walked step by step to Simon as he was intimidating growling at Rodolfo who, understandably, was backed far away from him. 

“Simon.” 

“Arrrrrr..” 

“Si.” 

“Rarrrrrrrr…” 

“My amar.” 

“Rah! Rah!!” 

“Simon Riley!” 

…

Dead silence was not what I was expecting next. The previous second, Simon was growling at Rodolfo, ready to eat his face off, and now Simon was silent, staring dead at me. His scratchy groans and breaths fill the room. 

“Si, Si, Si.” I cooed to him as I pressed my hands against his cheeks, making sure my thumbs were touching his soft skin. 

“Rrr…” Simon softly purred into my touch. 

“You’re okay, Simon. You’re going to be okay.” I softly spoke to him, seeing Rodolfo slowly tip toe towards Simon. 

Simon was absolutely smitten with me though and paying attention to only me. 

“Dollllyyyyyy…..prettttyyyyy.” 

“You think I’m pretty?” I ask, solely to keep him distracted. 

“Yessssss…” 

He’s closer now. 

“You’re so handsome, Si.” 

So close. 

“You’re my everything.” I said. 

Any word that came out of my mouth, Simon just simply purred in response to it. 

“I just want to kiss you so badly.” I say. 

Do it, Rodolfo, do it. 

“Pretttyyyyy Dolllyyyyy..”  Simon leaned in real close to me. 

I eyed Rodolfo as he started hesitating. Do it, you son of a bitch, do it. Rodolfo took one giant step forward and-

“I’m sorry, Si.” 

As soon as those words left my mouth, Rodolfo managed to stick the needle inside Simon’s neck, Simon immediately feeling the prick. Alejandro, Gaz, and Price held him down on the ground as Simon thrashed and screeched, as Rodolfo slowly emptied the serum into him. I felt a pair of arms wrap around me and pull me away from the scene. 

“It’s okay, Dolly, it’s ‘lright.” Johnny’s voice came through. 

“I know, I know.” I mumble, holding him back as a way to relieve the tension and guilt I was feeling. Simon was acting like an animal being put down. Just the noises and thrashing movements he was making was sickening to watch. I hated watching it. Just please work, please fucking work. I want my Simon Riley back. Eventually, Simon passed out and the boys were able to set him down gently. 

“We are keeping him tied up. Just in case.” Gaz announced. 

I nodded even though I was just praying it works. Alejandro mentioned it worked once for another person, but that doesn't mean it will work for Simon. It could’ve just been luck. 

“In a minute, he should wake up as his normal self.” Rodolfo announces as we all surround him. 

I wanted to bend down so he could wake up to my face, but Johnny held me back. 

“Wait, Dolly.” 

“Damn it.” I croaked, the tension killing me. 

I saw his fingers twitch. It’s now or never. He is either going to come back as human or still a zombie. Fate is not on our side right now, just luck at this point. 

“Rrr..” 

A soft low growl came from Simon’s mouth, but it sounded clearer. I’m not getting my hopes up but by God I wanted him back so badly. 

“Simon?” 

“Rrrrr…” 

Oh no. No, no, no, please, please, please, please, please God no, please, please, please-

“Rrr…Sh-shit.” 

I have never thought I would be so happy to hear Simon curse. 

“Simon?” I call him. 

“W-What?” Simon grunted as he tried to regain his composure but quickly realized he was tied up. 

He frantically started thrashing around, trying to get out of the chains. 

“Whoa, whoa there Ghost!” Price yelled at him to stop. 

Simon locked eyes with Price, immediately recognizing him. 

“Captain?” 

“Yeah it’s me you bloody bastard.” Price confirmed as he started removing the chains from Simon’s arms and hands. 

Once removed, Simon clutched his wrists, probably sore from the previous resenting and thrashing around. I wanted to just run up to him and jump into his arms but I wanted to give him his space. 

“I..I..” Simon tried to speak, but he couldn’t muster the words to say. 

“Just chill, Ghost. Relax, my friend.” Johnny told him. 

“Erk..Johnny?” Simon turned his head towards Johnny. 

“Who else could it be, eh?” Johnny smirked, being his typical smuggy self. 

I laughed and rolled my eyes at him. 

“Dolly?” 

Simon’s voice called to me. I turned and locked eye contact with him. His once blue azure eyes, now back to normal, now full of life again. 

“Yes?” 

“You’re alive.” 

I’m not offended that he said that, because he knows that I am basically lost without him. 

“Indeed I am.” I said, not being able to contain myself anymore. 

I ran up to Simon, jumping into his arms, nearly dogpiling him. Simon immediately held me tightly, so tightly, that his muscles could suffocate me. I didn’t care though. He was back. My Simon was back. His normal husky, accented voice, his woodsy natural body smell, his blue galaxy filled eyes. It’s all back. He is back. I didn’t even realize I was crying at first until his shirt was soaked up with it. 

“Oh bloody hell, love, you are snotting all over my shirt.” Simon commented. 

I laughed in response as he rose up, making us sit upright. I held him tightly, afraid he would disappear if I let go. Simon pulled my head out of his shoulder, holding my face with his big but soft hands. He pulled his mask up just enough for me to see his beautiful face. Despite being kept in an incubator for months, he looked as if he never changed. Except for one slight difference. 

“You got some facial hair there.” I brushed my fingers on his chin, feeling the slight, blonde facial hair. 

Simon flinched, knowing damn well that he is ticklish secretly. 

“You’re embarrassing me, Dolly.” Simon joked, making everyone laugh. 

“It’s good to have you back, hermano.” Alejandro announced, with everyone agreeing. 

Simon then placed his soft lips onto mine. Despite being locked up for months, his lips were still as soft as ever and not chapped at all. I kissed back, feeling love wash all over my body. Simon pulled away, my fingers running through his blonde hair and our foreheads touching. Nothing could separate us now. 

“I love you, Mr. Riley.” 

“I love you too, Mrs. Riley.” 

END

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

its been itching my brain for a while so if you could please give me something to chew on—do you have any headcanon's for A, like what he (she?) might've behaved like or looked like? I'm really just asking for a nice sandwich and I love the ones you've made (Alphard) and would appreciate another

That time @therealvinelle and I made a character out of fucking nothing.

I assume you mean A from the Death Note universe? Sorry, I've got nothing for you.

The thing about what @therealvinelle and I did with Alphard, and why it worked, was the single solitary detail we did get, along with a few others, paints an incredibly detailed picture to work with.

I only have about five things on hand, but good god, do I get to see that man's entire fucking life.

We just don't have the same for A.

What We Know About A

A is introduced in Death Note: LABB, for those super Death Note nerds who read the novel like I did. There's no mention of either A or B in the manga or in the anime.

A and B were the first gen successors to L, before Mello and Near, and the premise of the novel is that "wow, that successor program was a really shitty idea even before it was a shitty idea!" in that of the two a) A couldn't handle the pressure and killed themselves b) B couldn't handle the pressure and turned himself into a physical clone of L, then sought to make a case so complicated L couldn't solve it, culminating with lighting himself on fire. The great irony being L had so little interest in dealing with it himself, he makes Naomi Misora do all the work/all the talking to 'Ryuzaki' without supplying any pertinent information or saying anything more than "uh huh, wow, such detective, such good, Misora" and only at the end admitting, "yeah, that wasn't me, that was my rampaging successor, but good job catching him."

A is years dead before the novel begins, and gets a one-off mention by our totally unbiased narrator Mello, totally, as being B's rival for the position of successor who at some point before it could be decided killed himself.

But let's try to bullet point it.

A Was Chosen: Nationality

First, we know A is at Wammy's.

We don't know exactly how Watari/Roger recruits for Wammy's, how you are selected to enter the 'successor' program, or even the scope of just where they draw successors from.

(I don't have vol 13 on hand at the moment, but I believe it only went into the ethnicity breakdown for L, not even nationality, and it's...

When asked about L's ethnicity, creator of the series Tsugumi Ohba responded, "I think of him as a quarter Japanese, a quarter English, a quarter Russian, a quarter French or Italian, like that." Ohba said that L is the most intelligent character in the entire Death Note series because "the plot requires it." He added that he personally views L as "slightly evil." - from the wiki

Rock on Ohba, rock on with your.... "quarter Russian, Japanese, French/Italian, English".

I also love "slightly evil" from a man who has multiple "torture X character" arcs.)

Given we only see four characters who went through some variation of this program in the manga/anime (L, Near, Mello, and if we even count him Matt), it's really hard to judge. We know Beyond Birthday, by the time he meets Naomi, looks similar enough to L that the entire premise of the book is "oh wow, that's totally L and Naomi doesn't know, oh wow he's doing all the things you--TOTAL SHOCK IT WASN'T L AT ALL"

But if we have to choose, and we have to do this in a way that fucking makes sense given how borders work and that "no, Roger, you can't just take random orphans from any country you like and stick them in your Batman orphanage" then A is either from Britain, maybe Ireland, or if we're really stretching things maybe Western Europe.

Other places are possible, and they could bullshit their way in getting A to England, but there's also the fact that A is chosen for this program. It's unclear just how much searching Wammy's does for talented orphans who will fit the role of L (having the level of intelligence Watari and co. are looking for, the drive and desire, and being the world's most super genius to recreate the success of L).

Now, the manga/anime implies that they had very high standards. L is the greatest detective in the world, Near as his number one successor to is eventually able to defeat Light and is an extreme deductive genius.

If you want to play that game, you can't just use the orphans that happened to be in your orphanage to start with. You have to look for them and either a) wander around orphanages/newly orphaned children and test them for their suitability b) pick up orphans that they've heard of who have nationally/internationally been so impressive they meet the criteria.

Now the thing about b is that doesn't happen often (and probably not at the impressionable ages that Wammy's needs to both a) give the orphan the training b) convince a near adult "YOU SHOULD TOTALLY BECOME BATMAN WOULDN'T THAT BE SUPER COOL?!")

...

To sum this up, A is probably from Britain, maybe Ireland.

A Was Chosen: Age

Alright, A was selected, as gone in above from what we see of Mello, Near, and Matt, they got roped into this when they were very young. They're very young appearing AFTER the six-year time skip when they've been doing this long enough that a) this is their major goal in life and the only thing they can think of b) they have an intense and bitter rivalry c) Matt has already been weeded out. L, too, we have a brief image of him as a six-year-old or so (possibly metaphorical), implying he and Watari have been doing this for... a while, and that L was set on this path very early in life.

Both A and B were very likely young children when they started this program in earnest. Personally, if I had to write a fic... I'd say ten at most.

Now, this doesn't tell us much about when A dies, but we know that B is an adult man by LABB, Naomi never remarks upon him looking like a teenager. We also know he's able to impersonate L, and more (and this is important), the L we see in canon.

The entire L gimmick of the book is that we, the readers, are given the impression this is L (except for the weird eyes, that's weird). It's important that this isn't necessarily L at the time, but what we the readers would recognize him as years later during the Kira case. We, in canon, see L in his mid 20's. This means that B in the novel was at least passing as in his mid 20's. Could be he's younger, could be he's older, but what it does mean that A, if at a similar age only either reached a) very young adulthood b) teens.

Personally, given the pressure, the suicide, and the fact that the rivalry had been bitterly ongoing at that point, I'd say A was likely a mid/late teenager when they killed themselves.

A Was Chosen: Intelligence

A must have been good enough at whatever tests Wammy's did to gauge whether they had an initial aptitude for becoming an L candidate.

Now, we've seen the types of things Near is good at and that are heavily implied put him above Mello. Near is very good at intelligence tests, puzzles, and so on.

It's not unlikely that A was tested with very similar things and that A must have reached some threshold to be considered a promising candidate in the first place.

A Was Chosen: AMAB

Now, this one's more headcanon, but I go into this here. I think, either through overt or unintended bias, Watari/Roger would gravitate towards selecting AMAB individuals as opposed to AFAB.

I don't think A would be an exception.

Also, Viz translated the gender into English as "he", so take that as you will.

The Eternal Prince/Eternal Rivalry

Now, the trouble with A and B, being so early in, is that L was a very young man at the time and either not much older than they were or even younger.

L had already by this point reached international acclaim as the detective L, continued to gather for himself detective personas surrendered by rivals, and was showing no signs of stopping or slowing down.

So, how exactly are A and B supposed to become L? Either they somehow prove they're better than him, when he has the benefit of a) experience in the field b) connections with law enforcement and a working relationship with Watari c) all the resources in the world or L miraculously dies.

Not to mention we know, canonically, that L is vicious and would tolerate no competition for his title.

Mello notes this himself (though is a... biased... narrator) that the first gen were throwaways, they were the trial training run for the REAL successors, Mello and Near.

Regardless of what Mello thinks, the fact remains that A and B were both aware that to be L themselves, L had to go, which showed no signs of happening.

Not to mention they're still infighting with each other, quite viciously, so that they can at least be next in line.

Not only is this a tremendous amount of pressure, but it's utterly pointless pressure.

B was the type of person to react to this with a "FUCK YOU DAD", in that he tried to make a case L couldn't solve to finally prove he was superior to all of them.

A, for this or perhaps other reasons, killed themselves. We don't know if this was the sole reason, but it would certainly be a large factor.

TL;DR

A was likely born or at least orphaned in Britain, A was young when chosen and young when they died, A was likely good at logic puzzles/intelligence exams at a young age, A was highly likely to be AMAB, and was in a doomed competition where their entire self-worth/point of their existence hinged on a pointless struggle that neither they nor B could ever conceivably live.

But considering, that's really not much/what you were asking for.

[dicenote]

touta matsuda

discuss

omg YES ty! This is gonna be a long, disorganized ramble, so bear with me!

Touta Matsuda. My blorbo, skrunky scrimblo, love of my life, etc.

There are so many things about Matsuda's character that I could talk about. His impulsivity, his loyalty, his uncertainty... All of it makes a very real and very interesting character. And I think that a lot of his traits shine in one of the most horrifying scenes from his perspective: the Yellow Box Warehouse.

Like, let's take a step back and look at the numbers here. On one side of the warehouse, we've got a guy claiming to be L, and the three members of the old Kira Task Force that he brought with him. On the other side, we've got a different guy claiming to be L and three members of the SPK that he brought with him (oh. and the guy from the Task Force that got kidnapped in the mix). Outside, Kira's accomplice is lying in wait. So we've got ten people in all who are ready for the final showdown. The reveal. The evidence that will finally end this years-long nightmare and point to the true identity of Kira.

And of those 10 people, only one of them doesn't have a clue who Kira really is.

Light is Kira. Mikami is X-Kira and finds out who Kira is as soon as he looks in the room. Near and the SPK are all on the same page. Mogi and Aizawa know. Ide's a bit more on the fence but he wasn't completely in the dark. So Matsuda is the only one who goes in totally blind.

If anyone were to re-write Death Note purely from Matsuda's perspective, the Warehouse scene would go from tense to horrifying. To (nearly) everyone else there, this confrontation isn’t meant to reveal an unexpected truth, it’s to confirm something that they already know. But for Matsuda? Near's request to meet at the warehouse is, at worst, a tactic to once again frame Light. Because Light obviously can't be Kira, right? Light will show Near that he's wrong, and the investigation will continue as normal until the real Kira is caught.

But then Near presents that irrefutable evidence, and everything that Matsuda knew for over five years comes crumbling down. Light starts monologuing about how the world had to be fixed and how no one could ever make it as far as he did. Kira and Light are one and the same. Matsuda always thought that Kira was a well-intentioned person who was helping change the world. Ide and Aizawa and Mogi believed that Kira was evil, they were much stronger in their resolve than Matsuda ever could be. But Light had confessed to him once that he too questioned if what they were doing was right. If Kira was doing right.

Light has always been Kira.

And then comes the absolutely tasty part where Matsuda shoots Light. I love how chapter 106 is called "Intent to Kill", because it reminds me of how Matsuda and Light are foils to each other. Better yet, they can be compared against a man they both held such deep respect for, Soichiro Yagami.

See, Soichiro threatens to kill people a good couple times, and even holds a gun to his son's face, but he never has any intent to kill. In fact, he's never killed anyone, as (I think) Mello points out. It's almost kind of silly. Like, Soichiro draws the line at firing bullets or writing full names in the Death Note, and that's it? Everything else is fair game? Weird line to draw, but go off I guess.

Light, meanwhile, justifies killing thousands. But only with the Death Note. With the Death Note, his intent to kill becomes a righteous one, another step on the path to becoming God of a New World. The criminals deserved to die. Those who get in Kira's way deserve to die. Because Light isn't a serial killer. He's doing the right thing! Crime is going down, war has stopped, and Light is the only one who could have possibly gone this far and done this much good.

And then we're back to Matsuda. I believe the mafia raid is the first time we see Matsuda using a gun, and we see that he's damn good at it. So good, in fact, that he's able to fire only non-lethal shots to get the Death Note back. (Also, fun tidbit: I'm pretty sure he's the only one who doesn't go into the raid with a rifle, he's just got like, a standard-issue cop pistol with a light on it.) The same thing happens in the warehouse, at least initially. He fires at Light's hand to get him to stop writing. Then he and Light yell at each other for a little bit about (who else?) Soichiro. Light demands that Matsuda shoot the others, because he's the only one who understands Kira. When Matsuda hesitates, Light resumes writing Near's name. Then Matsuda fires again and again and again. Anything to make Light stop. Anything to make it all stop. But it becomes obvious that he's not just shooting Light as a deterrent. What does Matsuda say as he's doing it?

"He needs to die!"

The others literally have to drag Matsuda away before he can execute Light on the spot.

Matsuda is a character full of contradictions. He dedicates over half a decade to fighting Kira, but he doubts the whole time. He tries to follow in Soichiro's footsteps but in the end makes the same justification that Light did when he first started writing in the Death Note. This man is a criminal. He deserves to die. The Yellow Box Warehouse not only exposed Light's true colors, but Matsuda's as well.

[manytoonepoet]

Blue Bouquet — A Bittersweet Love.

A little something that I've come to notice while rewatching the two mvs we have for Blue Bouquet is the theme they surround themselves in and how it correlates with what their continent is supposed to represent; the continent of love.

Collab with: @Insight.

You see, from Aozora no Memory to Key My Notes, the themes, the lyrics, they have been about change, sacrifice, hope, time, strength, and courage. All qualities that comes when loving someone or something, especially when you aim for a better future for them. In both mvs, Cielomort is reaching for a brighter future for his people and ultimately the entirety the world of Fragaria, while Kurode is reaching for a better version of himself that could contribute in bringing a brighter future.

"It is natural to want to protect what is important to you. I'm happy to have more friends. I'll show you the blue sky." — Cielomort.

Cielomort has quite the reputation. The young prodigy he is, with his skills and popularity he managed to build the largest kingdom in the span of three years, all for the betterment of the future of Cinnamoroll's kingdom. That, and as the leader of Blue Bouquet, many major responsibilities have fallen into the palm of his hands.

Responsibilities, as well as what may be considered as the greatest sacrifice within Fragaria.

If you take a look in the mv, you'd see a few things that stands out: Books, balloons, the sky, clocks (I hate clocks) and doves.

Now, books, represent knowledge and wisdom, escape and exploration, desire to learn, truth and judgement, communication and expression. And are probably a tie to Willmesh, especially with the new mv coming out later this evening.

Balloons are a symbol of happiness and lightness of sorrow –> which is what Ciel want to do; make everyone happy.

The sky symbolizes infinity, immortality, and transcendence, or an existence or experience beyond the normal or physical level. While clocks represent almost the exact opposite, it represents time, mortality, the passage of life, and sometimes death.

And dove represents peace, love, and purity. While spiritually, it represents peace, renewal, transformation, and love.

But what do all of this mean? Well, basically, the said sacrifice consists of Cielomort wanting to happiness and lightness of sorrows that were brought by the SEEDS and show the people of Cinnamoroll's kingdom and the entirety of Fragaria the blue sky where they are free of worry.

""Both beautiful and the imaginary, different emotions are swirling around." = Change.

Ciel's sacrifice was not easy, some people look at him in honor, some people look at him in sorrow. His sacrifice is free for interpretation, hence the difference emotions swirling around. Now in relation to sacrifice, the line goes:

"Look for you. I'll become the blue sky."

The reason why I said that his sacrifice is free for interpretation is that sky, according to you can mean infinity. There are an infinite amount of possibilities. So when he becomes "the blue sky" he does not only transcend (descend six feet underground) but he also provides a choice. A choice on how his sacrifice can be seen. And that interpretation is ultimately what impacts change." – @c h a m a l a m.

"I wish to share it all with you, it would be nice if I could be within that "everything". But it's alright if your sky continues to remain blue."

Basically, to everyone around him, his promise and sacrifice was basically "everything". Happiness, peace, "everything". And as much as he'd like to be able to share it with them, he can't, and these lines showed us why:

"The rippling bitterness, just drink it all up quietly."

"Even though things may change during these dizzying days... Leave only your smiles, for I will tuck away your loneliness into those clouds."

"Cut out the cotton clouds and blue sky... for they are the footprints of this waving memory, this memory of the blue sky."

"Even if those clouds that rode on the blowing wind will never return... we'll continue to believe that the future will allow us to meet you again."

It's a journey that he would have to venture through alone. I believe, if the lyrics would serve me right, those clouds are the memories of the first timeline, to cut out the cotton clouds and blue sky, to tuck away your loneliness into those clouds, it meant to shut those bad memories and emotions away to make room for better ones, even if it meant not having to remember those again, to not remember who you are or what had happened back then. Here, this is to preserve purity, to provide contentment, joy, and optimism in defense of the SEEDS' effects. But if you were following my theories, you know that this isn't what's "right" in the long run, how this is them falling victim into the illusion the SEEDS made. Because those memories, they are the truth, they are an integral part of who you are as a person.

That's why in both songs they sang "I can't reach it even if I stretch my hand out." "I'm reaching far, far away... until my hope dies."

Even if they don't actively know, even if they aren't actively aware of these memories, there are fragments of them that lingers within their person, making them remember what had actually happen.

""Inside this heart, a memory that's sincere and eternal."

Everyone has a feeling of those memories being there, despite not being fully aware of it. It doesn't matter which song or which character, the message is clear and reiterated over and over: they have memories. They can feel that they do. But the don't necessarily know about it.New insight: The reason why despite everything the seeds and timelines have done they still recall their memories, is because those memories are true. The truth will speak for itself and does not need to be proven. No matter what happens, it will find it's way to override reality for a sense of balance. After all, they do say that there's no secret that time won't tell.

My new insight (specifically the part: it will find it's way to override reality) relates with the line:

"It may be full of absurdity and even riddled with bugs however I still love this world so much."

Because no matter how flawed and fractured the current world of Fragaria may be, those memories are true, they want to get those memories back. So they have to work with what they have. Let's say fest friend J baked a cake but you don't like cake at all. But it's best friend J's thought to bake you a cake that counts. Because you love best friend J, you still accept it as is." – @c h a m a l a m.

"Before long, that imagination will soon overtake us." –> Imagination = Memories.

"Continue on drawing until you can take grasp of it."

"I'll leave everything up to these intense emotions."

You see, everything up to this point has been centered around emotions, even the SEEDS feed on negative emotions, it's their emotions what brought all of this upon them but it is also their emotions what will get them out of this predicament.

"If only we can be imperfect and not full of deceit."

"Sometimes we can let go of that hand due to weakness."

The knights have been to busy thinking of the "perfect" way to go against the SEEDS that they forgot how to feel to the point where feelings began to turn against them. Look at Hallritt and Merold, because of Merold's "lie", Hallritt became tense, distant, and almost hostile towards Merold, quite similar to how Kurode became towards Merold as well.

Merold and Cielomort are no villains, both of them are merely victims of the SEEDS' illusions for the sake of saving their respective kingdom and lords.

But all in all, I'd say to fix this, they just need to let go and feel even a little bit. Relax and reflect and reach out to one another. Because that's what it means to love, isn't it?

"Let me protect everyone from here..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"The knights ask nothing in return for their love."

[eternalera]

im bored so im ranking L, near, mello, light, misa, and naomi from who i think is the least smart to smartest (just for funsies lol)

first off we got misa as our base line dumbass </3

i dont really think that ive gotta explain this one, she's never really given anything to show that she's intelligent. the only trait she really shows is being obsessed with light which yknow... yeah its whatever ig. honestly comparing her to an average person in terms of iq i think she would be slightly lower but i also think that she's not that dumb, she's just more obsessive and tends to let that get in the way of rational thinking

next would be naomi.

shes definitely smarter than the average person. but i dont think shes as smart as people are making her out to be. she still told light her name even when things were kinda pointing towards that she shouldnt be giving him it. so... yeah, but she did figure out that kira could kill people in ways other than heart attacks (kinda, she didnt know for sure)

then we got mello

honestly i think he's pretty intelligent, it's canon that he's not as smart as near but he was one of L's successors and i srsly doubt that L would chose someone who he didn't think was close to him in terms of intelligence. its just the fact that the people around him are insanely smart that he doesnt get enough credit. he's definitely smarter than naomi though i would say.

then there's near, honestly i dont think he's as smart as L or light. he even says himself that only if him and mello worked together could they achieve L's height in intelligence. THAT BEING SAID THOUGH, i do think he is a lot closer to L's intelligence than mello. i also think that he had a lot more help in actually gaining evidence that light was kira because like L he suspected him from pretty much the start (if not the start) but he didn't have any real evidence against him (like L did) until he found the notebook and was able to get a shinigami who would answer his questions about it (rem wasnt gonna say SHITTTT). however i do think that as he grows up he would be smarter than L, but at the place he's currently at in the anime/manga he's not

then there's L and light...

honestly this one i had the most trouble deciding because light had all of the advantages but he ended up challenging L and putting himself in a place where he could be caught willingly. now did he expect to get caught? no. also light had a TON of advantages as the way he killed people literally left no trace whatsoever but the way he used the death note and it's abilities along with being able to play with the shinigami's feelings and desires...

i would say that light comes next. i dont think hes smarter than L. HOWEVER i would say he's a better manipulator than L which are two VERY DIFFERENT THINGS. with all of the advantages that light had over him L should not have gotten as close as he did to finding out what he found out. that's just a fact. if light was truly smarter than L he never wouldve gotten close to L catching him but he did. MULTIPLE TIMES. the thing that he does have over L is his ability to manipulate people and those around him and that was his ace in the whole. the main reason that he was able to not be captured as long as he was.

L i think is the smartest. sure he has an advantage money wise but money doesnt do the thinking for you. just makes things a little easier and even then the only 'show of money' that he did was build the new place (which they very easily couldve rented a warehouse instead) and possibly move around the hotel and stuff like that at the start of the series. L also knew that light was kira from very very VERY early on. sure he said things like 3% or 5% but im pretty sure its canon that he suspected light WAY MORE than just that and it was closer to 90% or 98%. honestly i think the 3% stuff was just the percentage of how likely light would be convicted of kira if they put him in court. either that or he was saying random numbers.

once again though i do think that L would be surpassed by near in the near (hah get it?) future. but i still think that he's the smartest person in death note. sure he lost but once again, light's a master manipulator and while his intelligence helps with it i would say his manipulation stats are WAY higher than his intelligence.

[coddda]

What would happen if Mikami would've found the death note instead??? And how would that affect L and light I NEED YOUR OPINIONS ON THISS😭

(tl;dr: "It's hard to say", but if you really want my absolute word vomit of a thought dump here you go:)

Ohhhh man those are Really hard questions to answer honestly, hmmm.

Death Note on its own has a Lot of constantly moving pieces, and trying to change up the scenarios demands a lot more than meets the eye. Like, A Lot.

For example with Mikami: While he is very similar to Light he also operates distinctly differently from him. Would he have made the Shinigami Eye Deal? The fact that he does in canon makes me believe it's pretty likely. Okay then how would that affect the story? How would that affect L's methods of investigation, since he would then likely figure out that Kira only needed a face to kill a person? How does this affect the plot when Misa comes into play? What are the consequences of him not having access to the information that Light had from his father's computer? How would he handle the FBI agents? Would he have encountered Naomi Misora??? Actually would the thing with the FBI agents even happen if Mikami doesn't have access to police information in the first place since L doesn't need to investigate the police????

And this is just the tip of the iceberg. While determining Mikami's movements throughout the first third-ish of the series would be difficult enough, it becomes nearly impossible by the time we get to where the Yotsuba Arc would be. I don't think Mikami would pull the same strings Light did to have the Death Note land in Yotsuba's hands, since it would be far too against his stricter code of judgement, and I don't know who he would give the Death Note to if he gave up his memories, assuming he'd be willing to, etc, so overall everything becomes. Kind of hard to determine!

Like. THERE'S A LOT TO COVER and honestly I'm not that good at answering for Mikami specifically because a) We only see Mikami for the last half of the series b) My knowledge on the manga is a bit rusty and I know that would be better for characterizing him than the anime. Also c) I'm. Really bad at making assumptions about characters LOL

I do think that the beginning of the Kira case would pan out roughly the same at the very least. Mikami picks up the Death Note and learns he can judge the people that he deems "evil" and begins killing people under his judgement code (which includes past criminals who no longer commit crimes, depending more on the idea of 'retribution' than deterring crime itself, basically it's different than Light's ideals but it's similar enough for the beginning events to occur) and he would likely still kill Lind L Tailor. I think he would make the Shinigami Eyes Trade, though when exactly I'm not sure, since it kind of depends on whenever Ryuk actually decides to tell him about it lol. Going forwards from there, though, like with the FBI agents? I'm not completely sure, and any one change to the main plot could end up changing Way more down the line.

As for how this change would affect Light and L, hmmm. I think, perhaps, Light would still hack into his father's computer, but this time with the intent to actually help in solving the case (especially since he helped solve a case in the past) while L would obviously still try to catch Kira as per usual.

Now I already know one of the big questions people are gonna ask is: Would Light and L still work together in person? Now that gets super complicated. Would L apply to Light's university to get closer to and keep an eye on him? No, he has a Kira to catch. Would L invite Light to taskforce headquarters after, say, he proves his ability by helping with the investigation? That's really hard to say as well. L allows Light to join the taskforce because a) He believes Light is Kira, and wants to keep a close eye on him, and b) If Light isn't Kira, then his abilities would be valuable to the investigation. This begs the question of if he would still invite Light without the former condition, which is arguably the more pressing reason for why he would invite him.

Yes they worked together during the Yostuba Arc to catch a different Kira than Light, but it was still under the very pressing assumption that Light was Kira, could be Kira again, and, if he was Kira, has a strong connection to the second Kira. The urgency of the case paired with Light Being Kira pushes them together, because Light Needs to find out more about L for his own survival and to kill him just as much as L needs to find out more about Light for his own survival and to catch him. Taking that factor away takes away the direct reasoning for them to make contact (since having Light as support for the case would be pretty secondary to him possibly being the Literal Culprit), and weakens the need for them to meet. Also L is very protective of his identity and only revealed it to the taskforce because they would not trust or follow him otherwise because the police did Not enjoy working with an unknown character whose methods they've deemed untrustworthy (using Lind L Tailor as basically a sacrifice, slipping up and getting twelve FBI agents killed) and support from the police, a pretty big and valuable asset to L, especially considering that he is not From Japan, was rapidly dwindling.

I just realized that the question also now stands about how Light would think of L as a person. Would he deeply disapprove of him for using Lind L Tailor like Soichiro does (*cough* You don't kill someone as a substitute *cough*)? I also mentioned earlier that Mikami might have likely made the eye trade, which would probably make L far more cautious about ever showing his face, which is another point deducted off of reasons to meet Light in person. I didn't even touch on the fact that L's need to assemble a small taskforce from the police was all part of Light's plan in the first place. Would Mikami have made this same plan and achieved it? It all gets very iffy and shaky when you not only remove their one, very important and very urgent motive for meeting one another, but introduce entirely new factors into the equation.

At the very least it's not like L Doesn't have Any reason to get closer to Light. Their reasoning and thought processes are very similar, and Light's deductions during the case would probably be valuable, but L also has various reasons Not to get closer (he doesn't need to keep an eye on him, he doesn't need him to draw in the Second Kira because he Isn't Kira, and then there's all the millions of new possibilities that come with Mikami being Kira, like the potential extra threat of the Shinigami Eyes earlier on) on top of his usual cautionary measures.

So. There are a lot of assumptions and "what if's" and "if x what about y's" and "well then if y what about z's" going on. It gets crazy. If I tried to go in-depth about what Mikami alone would do I'd be here for hours and even then my answer would boil down largely to "I'm not sure." (Also I don't trust my knowledge on him enough to make a definitive answer because, again, rusty knowledge)

As for how that would affect Light and L, with the assumption that things play out Mostly the same to canon (which is a very bold assumption already)? L pursues Mikami Teru, and also probably later on Misa Amane. Light pursues the Kira case as well with the information he can gain from his father's computer, and likely makes some breakthroughs similar to or exactly like L's. Perhaps he would tell Soichiro that he wants to help with the case, but Soichiro probably doesn't want to put Light's life in danger (remember, Soichiro wanted Light to stay focused in school so he could become a police officer, but Light being a prime suspect kind of got in the way of that). Also potentially because of Mikami, L has determined that Kira can kill with just a face. If he comes to this conclusion, then Light most likely will have also. Because of this he may be more understanding of the urgent need for privacy around his identity. Light may also be more trusting of L than the police, because he and L think the same way/have very similar reasoning, but may also disapprove of L himself for his less moral methods like his father. Likewise, L has no reason to spontaneously reveal himself to Light, because that would be completely unnecessary and dangerous. L and Light could collaborate with the case, but it would be at a distance I think. It could end up being like Naomi, where they work together but then separate after that. Overall, the drive for them to actually meet is massively weakened by Light not being Kira, but I still can't say anything definitively because there's just so much to take into consideration. Overall, them working together is certainly not impossible, but it wouldn't be to the same degree as it would be during, say, the Yostuba Arc.

Sorry this was basically a ramble of me going in circles when I basically could've just said "Uhh, yeah I don't know. It depends. Lol" and my attempts at explanation probably weren't very helpful but. Yeah those are my thoughts at least. It's so complicated, not only because of all the new factors you'd have to keep track of, but it also depends a lot on making assumptions about and filling in the gaps in characters (which is certainly not my strong suit LOL). I feel like it ends up coming down to an individual's read on the characters as well, and there are certainly bigger experts on these characters than me, but I hope my answer was able to give some kind of insight at least? If you think about it too hard the rabbit hole of possibilities gets Deep. Thank you for the ask anon, this was certainly very interesting to think about :)