#kiranatrix

[resilicns]

Big big BIG thanks for this lovely piece I commissioned from @ponury-grajek !!!

One of my favorite scenes from Catch Perfect for @kiranatrix ! I absolutely adore how this turned out ❤️

[beyond-birthday]

Lawlight Fanfic Recs

I want to recommend some fics I really enjoyed so you can enjoy them as well!

(note: these aren't listed in any particular order)

One-Shot Fics

"all in a day's work" by @benzaaldehyde [Explicit]

Summary: "L and Light are porn stars."

While smut is the main focus, the author took great care to cover background story and make their first encounter interesting. It's a lot of fun to read!

"Casual Affair" by cantdoausername [Explicit]

This is a longer read, but it's well worth it! This one-shot focuses on Light's more "morally grey" areas (aka: him being the usual bastard he is) and delves into their complicated relationship.

Five Times Light Gasped L's Name and One Time He Whispered It by magic__mind [Explicit]

This one tugs at your heartstrings and is a quick read. It's one of those fics that makes you sit in emotional silence for a brief moment. Really recommend this!

it's only better if you give me your heart by @olympiansally [Explicit]

Summary: "Light is pining while he and L fuck, though anyone but Light can tell that L loves him too."

The smut is well written, and Light's inner monologue is consistent with his character. I adore their dynamic and thoroughly enjoyed reading this!

Multi-Chapter Fics

louder than bells by @relic--crown [Mature] [5 Chapters]

Summary: "No one has ever seen Light’s soul, but it haunts his dreams as a monster: eyes bloody as sunrise, feathers tasting of citrus and sharpie fumes, breath hot as summer and twice as brutal. At first, he thinks the notebook itself is his soulmate. Then he tells himself Misa can be enough. L ruins everything. For the first time, someone sees Light’s soul, and through his eyes Light knows it must look monstrous – why else would L be hunting him over it?"

The author's writing style is a pleasure to read, and I really enjoyed their soulmate AU concept. This fic was interesting, and I had a great time reading it!

Strange Fiction: Death Note Ficlets by @kiranatrix [Teen and Up Audiences] [41 Chapters]

As the title suggests, this is a collection of short Death Note ficlets, but there is plenty of lawlight content. If you prefer a casual read, this is the fic for you! I enjoy going back and reading through the chapters every now and then, so definitely check it out!

[secretshinigami]

All Noble Things

Author: @kiranatrix For: @resilicns Pairings/Characters: Near and Gevanni Rating/Warnings: Gen, no warnings Prompt: Near reflecting on his relationship with Wammy’s and L’s reputation Author’s notes: In How to Read, it says that Gevanni’s hobby is building ships in a bottle. So I imagined a scene where Near is observing Gevanni, now in the role of Watari, building a special ship. The time period is flexible but I imagined it after the C-Kira case and before the case with Minoru. This is a loose interpretation of your prompt but I hope you enjoy it!

—

“There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you, Gevanni.” Near didn’t look up as he carefully laid out another domino on the floor, perfectly spaced from its neighbor and approximately two centimeters from chaos. Pinched fingers pulled back carefully and twisted around a strand of white hair. “Two things, really.”

Gevanni looked up from his workbench as the long but comfortable silence between them was broken. Since Roger had died and he’d taken on the role of Watari, he was usually the question-asker. Would you like lunch now? Have you heard back about this or that piece of evidence? Did you have another nightmare last night? 

He’d gotten used to it, to Near. To being the bedrock that an island could rest upon. “Two questions?”

No, he was more of a species imported to Near’s world and being gradually altered by the isolation, evolving to fill his niche. But he had no complaints–it was a quiet, stable life and Near paid him well. He didn’t mind the solitude. “You’re exceeding your daily allotment. I’ll have to demand a raise if this keeps up.”

“I believe I gave you a raise just three months ago. If these demands keep up, I’ll have to find another Watari.” Near deadpanned it but his eyes flicked up briefly, and Rester knew he was joking. Another domino clinked against the terrazzo floors, this one with hand-carved scrimshaw detailing a breaching whale.

Gevanni snorted and turned back to the ship in a bottle he was working on. “Good luck finding someone else to source those pajamas with the specific blend of Pima cotton you prefer. I’ve kept that a secret. Iron-clad job security.” He grinned as he carefully reached a long wire into the bottle to pat down blue and white putty mimicking ocean waves. “So, what’s question number one?”

“Can you tie back my hair? It keeps getting in the way.” Near flicked a long strand over his shoulder but it fell again, dangling dangerously close to his creation. “Mind the–”

“Dominos? Yeah, I’m practically a ninja at this point.” Gevanni pushed his loupe glasses to the top of his head before carefully making his way over spiraling lines of set-up dominos to Near at the center. He knelt and pulled a hair-tie from his pocket, holding it between his teeth as he gathered up all the silvery strands. “Holf spill,” he murmured around the band. Near was stone-still as he made a quick and slightly messy ponytail, leaving some loose hair around the face for twirling. “Better?”

“Much. Thank you.” Near very briefly made eye contact as Gevanni went back to his workbench before looking back to his pile of dominos. He sorted through them for another scrimshaw piece. Gevanni had made a special set for him on his last birthday but he always saved them for the end. 

“Mmhm.” Gevanni slid back into his chair and picked up the little ship, a model of a 19th-century whaler. “So what was the second question?” 

“I was curious what you were working on.” Near let a domino tumble across his knuckles, back and forth, back and forth. “You’ve never spent that much time on just one ship before.” He caught the domino with his thumb and placed it next in line. 

“Oh, so you noticed?” Gevanni held up the little whaler on his palm, clearly proud of the highly detailed craftsmanship. All the masts were down and tied with an array of strings that could be pulled up once it was in the bottle to raise them. “I guess this one’s special since it doesn’t really exist. Thought I’d challenge myself. It’s…well, it’s how I imagine the Pequod to look, the whaling ship in–“

“Moby Dick?” Near stared at the miniature vessel, head slightly cocked as he smoothed a loose strand of hair. “The ship Captain Ahab used to chase his white whale.”

Gevanni smiled. “That’s right. It’s one of my favorite books. Have you read it?” 

“Years ago. I remember not liking it very much. The whale killed him in the end.” Near placed the last couple of dominos and let out a long sigh. The moments before flicking the first piece were the ones he both cherished and dreaded. The satisfaction of creation could be drawn out like a  monotone note, but when it was finished, the spectacular destruction was often over too soon. So, he hesitated and stood up instead, padding to Gevanni’s workbench to watch more creation. 

“I bet you’d like the book more these days. Single-minded obsession to defeat a power past human control? Throwing all caution and sense of self-preservation to the wind? The thrill of the chase?” Gevanni arched a brow. “Can’t tell me that doesn’t sound familiar.”

Near frowned slightly and hunched in on himself. “I suppose you mean L. Or do you characterize me as so foolish?”

“You’re L now.” Gevanni disliked that he had to remind Near of that even now, years after the first L had died. “But yes, it reminds me of what Matsuda told us about your predecessor’s obsession with Kira. I never met the first L, but maybe I can understand him, in a way.” He quoted Melville, "All my means are sane, my motive and my object mad.’ You’re L but you’re not him, and I’m glad for it.”

Near wasn’t sure if he was glad for it or not. So many times over the years he’d compared himself to that avatar and wondered if he could measure up. Drily, “I guess that makes me Ishmael." 

"You survived, didn’t you? Lived to tell the tale and learn what he couldn’t." 

Gevanni turned back to the little ship, carefully threading another string through the rear-most mast. He worked quietly for a while, cognizant of Near’s focused attention and feeling sorry for bringing up the Kira case. It wasn’t often that Near took such an interest in his own projects, or perhaps the man was merely thinking about what he’d said. “Sit down, if you want to. I’m about to get to the exciting part.”

Near pulled a chair closer and slinked into it, one leg pulled tight to his chest and the other dangling off the end. “Which is the exciting part? Stuffing it into the bottle?”

“That’s part of it. The thrilling part for me is raising the masts and sails inside the bottle.” Gevanni pointed to the flat masts and the multiple lines of string leading from them. “If anything goes wrong or a string gets tangled…or some bit of glue doesn’t hold, well–”

“You’re screwed.” Near smiled faintly and rested his chin on his knee. “Hours of planning for one moment of glory. Or disaster.” It also sounded familiar, so familiar.

“Exactly.” Gevanni chuckled and looked over at Near, pleased to see that small, rare smile. That in itself was the product of so much patience, of hours spent in understanding and the slow building of confidence and trust. “Once I get the ship in, would you like to raise the sails?”

Near’s eyes widened and he rocked slightly in the chair. That was Gevanni’s moment of glory and he deserved it after so much time and hard work. The inlaid wood, the meticulous paint, the delicately carved and articulated ship’s wheel capped in brass. The hand-sewn sails and gold script that read Pequod on the ship’s side. Each detail was evidence that someone else had built this and he would only be stealing the best part, swooping in for the end of the trick.

“You built it so you should do it.” It didn’t help that he was worried about making a mistake and ruining it at the last moment. How would it even fit? Despite the masts lying flat, it seemed impossible that the ship would make it inside the bottle. “I don’t know how.”

Gevanni sensed Near’s hesitation and uncertainty, recognizing the subtle tics of anxiety. “I can show you. You’re great at stuff like this.” He motioned to the vast lines and towers of dominos filling the room. “Plus, I trust you.” 

When Near didn’t answer, he turned back to the ship, placing a small line of glue at the bottom and oh-so-carefully maneuvering it into the narrow mouth of the glass bottle and onto the ‘waves’ of translucent blue putty. It was a very tight fit and when it stuck down in the right position, he let out a sigh of relief.

“Not bad, huh?” The strings dangled from the bottle’s mouth as he held it up to show Near. “Offer still stands.”

Near wanted to do it, to try. Honestly, he wanted to ask Gevanni to show him how to build one of his own, how to trump the rigid enclosure and build something impossible inside. To raise it up not by magic but by human ingenuity and patience. A creation not to destroy but to keep.

“Alright.” His fingers moved from his hair to tentatively touch the white strings hanging from the bottle’s mouth. “All of them?”

“Just these.” Gevanni pointed out several lines connected to the three masts. “Don’t yank, just pull slowly until you feel resistance and I’ll tape them up.”

“If it works.”

Gevanni laughed quietly. “It’ll work. Stop stalling.”

Near mumbled, “I’m not stalling,” but stalled a moment more before gently tugging the strings. He made a soft noise in the back of his throat when all three masts raised in unison, perfectly aligned and straight. He smiled as Gevanni secured the strings, then slid off the chair to gaze at the bottle from the side. This floating world, this impossible thing that’s bottled the sea. “I can see why you like these so much.” 

“It passes the time.” Gevanni felt warm inside since it was rare that they connected like this, despite all the time spent in each other’s company. He glued the strings to the ship with a long wire and then cut them, leaving no trace of how it had really been made. Setting it on the bench to dry, he said, “Would you like to have it? I have about a dozen. I mean, if you want it.”

“As a warning against white whales?” Near smirked and climbed back into the chair. He fingered the hem of his specially-ordered Pima cotton pajamas, the exact blend he preferred. “Or for the memory of Ahab?”

“Neither? Or…maybe both.” Gevanni knew that so much had changed for Near when Kira died. Monster or not, that moment of destruction had ultimately felt unsatisfying. He knew Near struggled with assuming the name and reputation of L, a legacy that had become so confused in the mind of a world that would never know two L’s had died and a third now had to make peace with that. It was easier to bottle ships than emotions.

Mildly, “Or maybe just because it’s something we built together.” It was odd, but somehow it would mean a lot to him for Near to have it. “How about it?” 

Near found a loose string at the hem of his pants and yanked it, snapping the thread. He got up and crouched beside the winding, spiraling rows of dominos and pressed a slender finger against the first one. That catalyst set off the reaction, the staccato clack clack clack! that echoed in the high-ceilinged room. It was over in seconds and silence crept in again. 

“I’d like that.”

-End-

[The title comes from a quote in Moby Dick: "A noble craft, but somehow a most melancholy. All noble things are touched with that.” It reminded me of  Gevanni’s rather solitary hobby as well as the occupation of solving cases as L.]

[featheredadora]

If you ever drew Light with a Death Note and a birb I would lose it XD I love that idea!!! (as a DN fan and birb owner) Plus I just imagine his birb tearing up the notebook to pieces or pooping on it haha, ty for the great mental image

Thank you so much for this ask! I would totally love to draw this properly one day! For now here’s some doodles of things not going according to keikaku™:

[my-one-true-l]

Hi Rae! Another wacky ask as you know I’m wont to do: How would Mello, L, and Beyond react if they saw some people at another restaurant table being extremely rude to a waiter, and they’d already had a terrible day themselves? Bad behavior encouraged XD

Hi ZJ!

Beyond talks (loudly) about the grossest things he can possibly think of, everything from the time he found a severed toe in his hamburger (he’s lying) to the condition of a gas station bathroom at 3am. The dirtier the looks from that table, the worse his stories get.  

When the waiter comes to their table, Mello asks him if they want that table “taken care of”. The waiter laughs it off and declines, but sees B and Mello whispering & hears B say “that’s what waiting in the parking lot is for.”

Beyond and Mello throw fries at the rude table. B dips a few in ketchup before flinging them. When they turn to give them dirty looks or say something, Mello flips them off and B points to L.

L overhears the biggest jerk at the table say they absolutely hate onion rings, so he has 20 baskets sent to them, compliments of their table.

When the jerks turn to give them crap for doing this, they are met with L’s deadpan stare, B’s grin as he licks a butter knife, and Mello once again flipping them off. They decide it isn’t worth it to confront them.

L leaves a $1000 tip and pays for every person’s meal at the restaurant except for the people sitting at that table. (A passive-aggressive F you to the rude table & an apology to the waiter for the rude table, their own table’s behavior, & humanity at large.)

[mikami]

Hi there! I was just rereading the meta about Near writing Mikami’s name and I wondered if you thought Near was ‘cursed’ by the notebook too. Ryuk mentions that humans who use it have misfortune (although not clear if he means literally or just because of what the DN is), and that seems to be the case for everyone but Near. Or is his curse outliving everyone else while unable to live up to the legacy of L? Think he maybe got Gevanni to write Mikami’s name and that’s why we don’t see him in the new one-shot?

Admittedly, I don’t believe in the reading of the curse as a literal curse, so I’ve never put any thought into Near being cursed or not.

To me, what makes Death Note interesting is specifically the fact that the notebook is nothing but a tool - it does not alter your mind, it does not change your fate, it does absolutely nothing but enable you to achieve murder in a way that would normally be impossible. 

Ohba said that if he wants to convey any message at all with Death Note, it’s “one day we will all die and never return, so we should give our best while we are still alive”. While I don’t consider Ohba’s word the be-all-end-all of interpreting the text itself, that is pretty spot-on for my own reading.

Death Note is fundamentally a story about people who ruin their own lives. In my opinion it cheapens the character journey to add horror tropes like curses or personality alteration into the mix. There is nothing in the series that is not explainable simply with the psychology and choices of the characters, so I don’t like any reading that strips them of the agency to ruin themselves.

Users of the notebook may end up unhappy, but that is not because of the notebook itself - it’s because most often killing people takes a harsh toll.

That’s just a rule of thumb though - something passed down anecdotally in the shinigami world. When it comes to Near, I don’t feel his unhappiness actually relates to the act of killing. Whether or not he would have killed Mikami, any Near who survives the events of Death Note would always have to grapple with the fact that he alone was not enough to bring the case to a close and he’ll forever be left trying to catch up to someone else. The foundation for that was laid before he even had the chance to use the notebook.

[baranedizille]

Would love to see Light in #2 for the ask meme 💕

We decided that it’s 1b soo

He’s surrounded with (my) love

[captainhysunstuff]

What if....L got tied up in the chain with Light in the bed 👀

Wellllll... Short answer: Just wait~. 😏

Am I that obvious? XD I’m still solidifying how it happens, but that won’t be the only thing that happens~. It’ll get goofy again, because solutions can bring new problems. So yeah, just wait~. ^__^