Endgame Part 1 of the very long fic with a very long name has finally been published, and I can't tell you how happy I am to get that off my working google docs folder after 7 years of it hanging around like a dark cloud. Just the 2nd part left and then the main plot of Those is effectively done! It's 18+, mostly for violence and language reasons. Tread carefully.
Also, actually managing to post it to ao3 from my phone was some kind of torture. Since I post so sporadically (like twice a year maybe?), 30k seems fair in a novella sort of way, but apologies anyway. 😆 It's mad. It'll make sense by the end, I promise.
AO3 linky dink
FFN is very grumpy at the moment, but I'll update it when possible.
Spotify playlist is especially good if you support the Chicago Bulls, probably.
Thanks to everyone who reads it, but especially Jess for being the bestest beta and friend. Any typos or silliness will be my fault through either missing a comment or formatting issues.
Disclaimer and blah under the cut. Spoilers and whatnot.
Laura moans about formatting and the trials of life.
As said, I've been writing this damn endgame thing for about 6 or 7 years on various phones, tablets, and computers, and using different fonts and keyboards, so some of the quotation marks are the wrong type. The straight ones. They should all be curly and whimsy. Does anyone care? No. It's just an annoying formatting issue and formatting isn't a strength of mine. Neither is punctuation, but I've embraced that through basically making up my own way of dealing with long monologues and dialogue generally. My beta, Jess, helped A LOT with everything! ♥️ There are horizontal breaks regularly, which in my mind are 'tea break time and live life opportunities' for any poor soul reading it. Please take every opportunity or you may well go a bit nutty.
Any translations are hopefully correct, but since I'm essentially a monolingual "Where is the bathroom, please?" sort of useful touristy stuff + random insults and slang person, I'd appreciate any corrections. Many thanks to Bleu for the Japanese and French check.
Now, The Temple of Lies is a real place (!) and that's what it really is known as now. It was also called 'Bra Temple' but not so much now. Urban explorers might be aware of it, but there was a big fraud scandal and the site was abandoned in the early 2000s. I changed the location to Gunma Prefecture because they're very cagey about the actual location, since they don't want arseholes visiting it and settling fire to it and just being weird leaving bras and dolls everywhere. So, I initially had trouble finding the location, and by the time I did, I'd already plopped it in Gunma because I have no patience.
One of the main buildings where Light hears noises and sees the figure is sadly no more now due to arson since I wrote this. The insane steps, red lanterns, barbie dolls, and bras are also a feature of this place, and there are videos of it by urban explorers on YouTube, if you're interested in it. It's pretty cool. You can't imagine how excited I was to read about it, because I needed a setting, preferably a real one. Yes, I am that nerdy.
In a way, I'd like to preserve it, because that particular shrine building probably won't be around much longer, it's so delapidated now.
Anyway, disclaimer, Gunma is apparently beautiful (it looks beautiful), and a lot of people visit it. Ignore Light.
I have a lot of photos of the actual site, and as I find them I'll post them here. The building the main action happens in is a lot bigger than it is in real life. Artistic licence all over it, dude, but you can see the basics and get the idea.
Translations, etc.
1st Song: Yo soy aquel - Raphael (should have won Eurovision way back when imo).
Yo soy aquél que cada noche te persigue
Yo soy aquél que, por quererte, ya no vive
(Translation:
I am the one who follows you every night/I am the one who, because he loves you, no longer lives.)
Yo estoy aquí, aquí para decirte
Que, como yo, nadie te amó
(Translation:
I am here, here just to say to you/That no one has ever loved you the way I have.)
2nd Song- Happy Heart - (preferably) Andy Williams (it's so damn happy it's frightening. Also thanks to the Shallow Grave film because using this song it messed me up for life and this is the resulting tribute?)
3rd Song - Les feuilles mortes - Yves Montand
Toi tu m'aimais, et je t'aimais, nous vivions tous les deux ensemble.
(Translation: You loved me/and I loved you/we lived together/just the two of us.)
"Quiero un jamón ibérico de bellota entero con un jamonero para llevar."
(Translation: 'I want a whole acorn-fed Iberian ham with a ham holder to take away.')
"Je suis immunisé contre tes petites magouilles de narcissique, pauvre connard pathétique."
(Translation: "I'm immune to your petty, narcissistic schemes, you pathetic bastard."
Note: "a thrush in a bush is worth two in a paddock" is a nonsense proverb I made up and it's a family favourite.
“L’avenir appartient à ceux qui se lèvent tôt."
(Translation - "The future belongs to those who get up early.")
Traditional French Proverb.
"Tu es tellement beau à mes yeux je vais devoir te tuer."
(Translation - "You are so beautiful in my eyes, I’m going to have to kill you.")
Gaijin hunter/gaijin hantā/外人ハンター
a Japanese person who targets foreigners for whatever reason.
Gaikokujin aite no danshō / 外国人相手の男娼
Lit. Male prostitute who services foreigners
‘La plus belle des ruses du diable est de vous persuader qu'il n'existe pas.’
(Translation: 'The devil's greatest trick is convincing you he doesn't exist.')
"Juste ferme ta putain de gueule."
(Translation: "Just shut your fucking mouth.")
Notes
Light vaguely references the Jonestown massacre, and not for the first time.
Ok, so the thing with Those!B is that he's a truthteller but also mad. That's good to keep in mind
The “concrete block” monologue is a critique of British tabloid fear-mongering and true-crime mythologising, with a vague reference to the murder of Lucie Blackman and an extremely abstract reference to serial killer Dennis Nielsen. Of course the media exploited both cases massively, and the monologue is deliberately inaccurate, exaggerated, and rooted in how crime narratives become distorted, so the victims become lost in sensationalism. The result of the media effectively 'choosing' stories to cover is influenced by systemic bias, societal prejudices, and the devaluation of certain lives. B takes it up to 11.
"Ambushed by a cake" is slightly tweaked but based on something said during the Partygate scandal in the UK in January 2022. It was leaked that there was a party in Downing Street in June 2020 during the height of Covid and its strict restrictions, which were enforced by arrests and fines on everyone apart from politicians and other so-called 'elites', apparently. People were very annoyed about it, understandably. An MP defended Boris Johnson (Prime Minister of the UK at the time), saying that Johnson had been “ambushed with a cake” for his birthday, implying that people simply surprised him with a cake and he just happened to be there, it wasn't his fault that they were breaking the rules, etc., blah, blah, political twaddle.
The "Oh, hi Mark" is hopefully recognisable dialogue from Tommy Wiseau's masterpiece which is The Room.
Lots of call backs in this one because the plot demands it and I'm a sucker for a circle back. There's the alleyway scene in Chapter 8 and the signing of Light's candidacy papers for PM scene. Quite a lot of call-backs to chapter 10 and the first arc in particular, but a bit of everything. I'll try to catch them all like Pokémon but sometimes I can't remember which chapter they're from exactly.
Harold Holt was indeed an Australian PM in the late 60s (I'm think 1969 but please don't quote me, and I'm too lazy to check) who disappeared while swimming, assumed drowned, never found his body. My Aussie friends here will know all about it, for sure. 😄
I think that's it? I'll add more if I missed anything. Thank you to anyone who actually read this. It's more a disclaimer-ish sort of thing so I cover references like a thesis. 😭
Hi Laura! I see there are some references to the beatles across your works, curious about your thoughts about the band, if you have any preferences or opinions? I adore the Beatles and also love the McLennon lore so it is always so fun to see it especially in reference to the hinterland doctrine!
Ooh great question yay!
Well, I happen to be have been born and raised in the Liverpool area (across the water plazzy scouser), so I was basically born wearing a Beatles t-shirt and 90% of who I am is my Dad's record collection. Totally brainwashed. It's a joy to me that there's been a fandom renaissance. No one cared about obscure Beatles trivia about the origin story of Bungalow Bill or She Said She Said. Who was the girl in Norwegian Wood? Was And Your Bird Can Sing really about Frank Sinatra's penis? These are the questions that kept me up at night. They were sad, dark times, but now everyone can geek out about them together!
Here's a nice photo I found recently which Imma blab about at the end of the post because it's been a hot topic in my circle.
Everyone should love The Beatles but as a concession to those who don't, here's a cut, because geekout!!!!
They're in Those a bit because I purposefully didn't want to know who L was when I started writing Those so he could build himself. I just thought it would work better for a 1st person narrative. A completely blank slate is difficult though, so one of the few things I gave him (apart from him being British, because I guess that's canon-ish? and a few other things) was The Beatles so I had something to connect to. Those!Light hates music, obviously, so Those!L had to be the opposite, otherwise it would be completely unbearable for me as a music nerd. Ergo, Those!L loves The Beatles, his favourite song is Julia, and that's how I could crowbar a lot of mentions and songs onto the playlists. He's particularly fond of The White Album. I'm more of an Abbey Road girl, myself. B just likes This Boy on repeat. Go figure. Light doesn't like anything, but I put a mashup of Run For Your Life on a playlist for him. 🤣
Yes, talk to me about The Beatles! Who's your favourite Beatle? What's your favourite album or song? Please choose the equivalent to a favourite child!
I wish I could get on the McLennon train, but I haven't really looked into it and always saw them as (sadly) just bezzie mates with amazing chemistry, and I listen to absolutely nothing that Yoko says. There's a handler if ever there was one. Did you hear about what May Pang said about Yoko pestering John to see her hypnotherapist so he could quit smoking, and when he came back he was all dozy saying "I have to go back to Yoko"? Wild.
I'm not anti-McLennon by any means though. I can see the appeal. Lennon and Stuart Sutcliffe, or Lennon and Brian Epstein are ships I could get on board with. I just personally find it a bit uncomfortable to ship real-life people, but that's my loss. I'd love to write a oneshot or something, but I'd feel like I was putting words into their mouths, even though I could write the best Scouse dialogue that'd make them proud. 🤣
Anyway, let's look at the nice photo which I'm actually kind of sure was taken in my old haunting ground of New Brighton, because I recognise the railings. I myself have unwisely sat on those very railings on both sides of the Mersey! My best friend who's still up there thinks it was taken in Liverpool though, because the view is a bit rubbish. She's probably right. It's just nice seeing photos of The Beatles on The Wirral, so it's probably wishful thinking on my part. Look at their amazing shoes! Isn't Paul tiny smol?
A series of Death Note characters dressed up I’m Sanrio themed pyjamas.
On my insta I decided to run a 1v1 vote to pick the best out of the 7 character designs. I plan to make a fully illustration (or maybe a card or sticker) with whichever character wins.
Rigging that vote if encouraged, if you’re interested I have the same username on that.
I’d do the vote on here as well, but I’m not sure how so I apologise
I’m not very knowledgeable about Sanrio characters, I just made this to he silly, constructive criticism is always appropriated!
thinking about how post-memory loss light would definitely be heavily masking to cope with the stress of the situation + how L would clock that shit IMMEDIATELY
honestly death note is pretty funny if you change some stuff around, because you then get a 'friendgroup' of three barely adults with 2 overthinking weirdos who keep taking looooooong pauses after each reply and 1 normal person trying (and failing) to date her own boyfriend, and this is all happening while they are trying to solve a conspiracy theory-level absurd mass murder case. they also all hate each other in different ways.
this is like Scooby Doo but Gone Wrong. Scooby Doo if Scooby was a death god, and instead of Scooby Snacks he liked apples.
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