Side ask/RP account for Mello from Death Note, will follow as @gameswillbeplayed. General posts will be post!Kira case, however I'm happy to do any timeline and/or AU.
big fan of when characters don’t really believe in an afterlife (or seem like the type not to) while also having an unshakable certainty that they specifically are going to hell
Journal Death Note AU: In which Near is the one who kicks the bucket (for reasons) and Mello and Matt are the one's to live. Mello gets L's title and Near's unexpected Will to go along with it; In the form of many notes, varying from Open cases that Near cracked open but not all the way, to an arrangement of thoughts spanning the duration of the Kira case. It starts well enough. That is to say, Mello ignores the entire thing until the monotony of being L gets the best of him, and ends up finding a whole other side of Near he never thought he'd be able to see. Realizations are made, but its far too late for anything that could have been done.
I sacrificed myself to save you. I didn't plan to survive. I burnt all the bridges. I intended to break your heart with my death, but that would be all right, because I wouldn't be around to see you. I pretended that you'll mourn me for a while and move on. I convinced myself I was going down in the blaze of glory. That my deed was appreciated. That everything was going to be all right afterwards, and I didn't need to be there to see it.
But I survived. And now I have to look you in the eye. I have to pick up the pieces of the life I shattered and figure out how to put it back together. If it can be done at all.
WAIT WAIT WAIT, I just need to point something out that I noticed while doing visual research for drawing Mello with his gun.
Buckle in, this was supposed to be a short thought about the narrative use of trigger discipline but now there is extensive image research.
If you don't know about the concept of trigger discipline, it basically means that when holding a gun your finger should be resting outside of the trigger guard and should only be on the trigger of a gun if you actually intend on shooting what it's pointed at, at that moment.
While I was looking for ref of Mello holding his gun the first thing I noticed was that he has HORRENDOUS trigger discipline, I mean look at this.
Pretty much every instance, even in promotional art when his gun is at his side, he has his finger on the trigger. I thought it must just be a character choice with the amount of guns that are drawn in this series. Even when Halle is in the shower (bottom right image) he keeps his finger on the trigger. I also use the top right example with Halle, as this is the second she walks in the door. BUT THEN I saw this post and noticed...
is his finger in the trigger guard???
Proportionally it is quite ambiguous in this shot. However even if his finger is inside the guard what strikes me is also how the other instances we see Mello with his gun he is choked up on the trigger. Though when pointed at Near, his grip is quite loose. Let's start from the beginning of the sequence.
We first see Mello on page 126, if you are unfamiliar with the manga, at this point Mello and Halle have been in contact for a week. They are tenuous allies. When Mello moves his gun away he keeps his finger on the trigger, this will be an important point for later.
Next page, Halle has entered the shower. Mello continues to keep his finger on the trigger of his gun, even though he knows Halle is unarmed.
2 pages later, Mello still has his finger firmly on the trigger. This is one of the best shots of his gun that we get in the manga and is quite indicative of how we see him handling his gun throughout the story. Also we can see the safety, the small switch above his thumb, is set to off.
I'm going to skip ahead but note that between Pg. 129 and Pg. 135 we see Mello enter the SPK headquarters with his gun on Halle. He has his finger on the trigger the whole time.
After Near asks Geovanni and Rester to lower their guns, Mello does as well. But for the first time we also see him place his finger outside the guard.
Now the moment when he turns his gun to Near. While his finger is in the guard, ready to pull the trigger when he points his gun at Near, something that struck me was how differently his hand is drawn in these few panels. As you saw previously, Mello normally has his finger curled tightly around the trigger of this gun, even when at his side. However in the first panel of Pg. 137, I wasn't even sure if he had his finger in the trigger guard with how it is drawn. It isn't until the final 2 panels that we see him tighten his grip. I find this to be a very interesting departure from the rest of the times we see Mello using his gun.
Finally, after Halle breaks them apart and Mello lowers his gun we see him actually use trigger discipline!!! For the rest of the scene!!! Regardless of your shipping preferences, I find this to be an incredible detail in how Mello behavior shifts around Near. While Near seems to make him fly off the handle emotionally, he also shows an increase in care with his weapon when around him. Another fun little drawing detail to notice (and another reason I find these choices to be intentional) you can see in the final panel of the last example that the safety of the gun is now engaged, while in all the other panels it was not. For reference, Mello uses a Beretta 92FS Sword Cutlass pistol, though stylistically it seems to be based off of Benvolio's Taurus PT99 AFS from Romeo + Juliet, right down to the cross hanging from the handle! This shows an incredible level of detail when it comes to the handling of guns in the manga.
Listen I know I've got yaoi brain worms, so if anyone has any other examples of Mello using trigger discipline I would love to see them!
i don't "date" and i don't "chill" and i don't "hang out." i make pacts. i swear oaths. i forge unbreakable bonds. this makes me a cool breezy person to take on road trips et cetera
So most stories take place when Events are Happening, and this means that no matter what kind of job the characters have, they’re probably not too focused on them. Fanfics, on the other hand, often show the down time. Which means that the writer has to figure out what the hell these characters do in their jobs. Unless the characters have a job the author understands or knows well, the author is often at a loss for what to have the character doing.
So they sit them at a desk and give them paperwork. What is the paperwork for? Rarely specified. It is Paper Work for the characters Important Adult Job they have and they need to read or sign it or something. And there’s always a line about how Character Hates Paperwork. Doesn’t matter if Character is a Mafia Boss or a General or a Diplomat, here they are in an office trying to get out of Doing Paperwork.
There’s also a sense of, like, humor and mundanity that comes with it. Like the examples above, it always particularly stands out to me when a dangerous individual is griping about some paper they need to sign or something. The less you can picture Character doing paperwork, all the better to force it upon them. If Character is saddled with Paperwork, they’re usually now concerned about the physical damages their motley crew causes, because damage = More Paperwork.
Anyway I just think it’s fun or funny, Sephiroth doing paper work and Sawada Tsunayoshi doing paper work and this just in, Tony Stark is doing paperwork. Sorry, Phoenix Wright can’t play right now. Yeah, it’s paperwork.
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