Chapter Text
This is sort of an appendix to the story Turn of the 8th Day – primarily a collection of supplementary information relating to this fic, plus some epilogue-esque details for some of the characters and a final author's note, including a completely self-indulgent conversation between myself and L. Afterthoughts, I suppose, and ruminations on things to come.
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Some details it may interest you to know, but which I did not include in the story itself (because while they add to characterization, they're not strictly necessary to the story):
Tubbins is a student at To-Oh of European descent who grew up in Japan – he has curly brown hair, blue eyes, and glasses, and he began referring to himself as Tubbins as a pre-emptive self-deprecating move to head off derision from schoolmates about his weight (thicker than average, but not rotund). He's funny and charismatic, but also kind of a dick. The notoriety he's gotten from his blog, To-Oh Xposed, has started to go to his head.
Daisuke Sakamoto totally has a crush on Haruna Mori, but he thinks she doesn't know. Mori does know, but doesn't want to acknowledge it because she likes him only as a friend. Akuma Iwai knows none of this, but if he did, he wouldn't care.
I guess I could have named the blonde nurse at St. Luke's "Terri MacGuffin" (or Terri Red-Herring, depending on your perspective) rather than Terri Collins, considering her role. (Though perhaps a Ms. MacGuffin may be better off hooking up with Basil Exposition in someone's Austin Powers fanfic.)
Soichiro has a younger brother – Sachiko and Sayu go to stay with him after Soichiro dies – but Sachiko is an only child.
The Trial, by Franz Kafka, which Sachiko is reading, is about a man who is accused of and put on trial for a crime but is never told what the crime is. It's a dry read, and fairly depressing, but I read somewhere that Kafka used to read his work, including excerpts from The Trial, to his friends at parties where he and they would laugh about them – which puts an interesting, and possibly darker, spin on it. I kept that in mind while writing Sachiko, imagining her as being savvy and twisted enough inside to laugh at a man who comes to believe he is guilty of a crime even though he never finds out what it was.
Though I do not make this clear within the narrative, and it's fine if readers want to visualize things a different way, in the relationship between Namikawa and Mido, Namikawa is what is termed a "bossy bottom."
The contents of the package Roger received from L will enable him to retrieve L's remote computer and (with help from the Wammy boys) access the backed-up information from the Kira case. Roger also received a second package containing the report from the prison and the original Death Note page on which the prisoner wrote, with advice on who should be allowed to touch it and instructions for its destruction.
Soichiro had decided to face life, despite his anguish, and though I left it implied, Ryuk was like "Meh, fuck that" and made him commit suicide. At least Ryuk put more thought into it than what he did to Misa. Ryuk got cheated out of Light's lifespan, and out of more "entertainment," so I figured he'd be bitter. As it is, I reigned him in because I didn't want to lose everyone. I'll miss writing Soichiro – his struggle had an uncomfortable poignancy.
Wedy does regain consciousness and is able to leave with Aiber after a few days, but neither of them knows what happened to Watari and L. (When I do the sequel, odds are I'll touch on this more.)
Now that shinigami L's name is Llyw-eilun ("loo-ELL-un"), odds are B will call him 'Lu-Lu' to annoy him. Also, just in case it wasn't clear, Llyw-eilun's appearance is meant to be an anthropomorphic amalgam of lion and snowy owl, though corpse-like to befit a shinigami, with his coloring being primarily black and white with hints of blue and silver. And regarding B's (aka Daarop's) resemblance to a centipede: I'm referring to House Centipedes, not the kind you'd find in a rain forest. Image-Google them if you're curious, but they are kinda creepy.
As you may have gathered from the Outro, Near is none too pleased at being dubbed an assistant by L, so you can imagine how Mello might feel. This was as L intended. ^_^ I'll stop with the potential sequel teasers now before I paint myself into a corner.
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Wedy's Rules (some of them):
Rule #1 – Safety first; money second.
Rule #2 – Always have two exit strategies ready before entering.
Rule #3 – Leave no evidence behind.
Rule #4 – Take only what you came for.
Rule #5 – When in doubt, get the fuck out.
Rule #9 – Don't break into the same place more than twice.
Rule #13 – Never depend on "luck"
Rule #19 – Don't harm anyone who has neither threatened nor harmed you.
Rule #22 – Work alone whenever possible.
Rule #26 – Always have a credible backstory, and at least one back-up backstory.
Rule #31 – Seek the unexpected target.
Rule #37 – Never fuck a partner, literally or figuratively.
Rule #42 – Don't read too much meaning into the meanings of things.
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Character theme songs as I heard them:
Canon Characters:
L – "Jigsaw Falling into Place" (Radiohead), "Riddle" (Lake Trout)
Ryuk – "Haunted Heaven" (Giraffes), "Sleep Is Wrong" (Sleepytime Gorilla Museum)
Light – "Vicarious" (Tool), "Heads Will Roll" (Yeah Yeah Yeahs)
Rem – "Your Protector" (Fleet Foxes)
Misa – "The Devil" (PJ Harvey)
Soichiro – "Time" (Pink Floyd)
Sachiko – "Never Fall in Love Again" (Dionne Warwick)
Matsuda – "On the Bright Side" (Never Shout Never)
Mogi – "Gravity" (Perfect Circle)
Aizawa – "City of Motors" (Soul Coughing)
Ide – "Goldstar" (Starlight Mints)
Watari – "Take 5" (Dave Brubeck Quartet)
Wedy – "Standing in the Way of Control" (Gossip)
Aiber – "I'm Designer" (Queens of the Stone Age)
Namikawa/Mido – "The Royal We" (Silversun Pickups)
Ooi – "The Infernal Dance of King Kashchei" from "The Firebird" (Igor Stravinsky)
Takahashi – "I Never Knew You" (Cage)
Shimura – "Going Nowhere" (Elliott Smith)
Rester – "The Soundwaves Reversing" (Man or Astro-Man)
Kyoko – "Satellite Mind" (Metric)
Roger – "Going Back Home" (Son Seals)
Mello – "Shut Me Up" (Mindless Self Indulgence)
Matt – "The System Is Down" (Strong Bad and The Cheat)
Near – "Audience No. 2" (Autolux)
Original Characters:
Mrs. Shibuimaru – "Reckoner" (Radiohead)
Terri Collins – "Crying Lightning" (Arctic Monkeys)
John and Tetsuo – "Sabotage" (Beastie Boys)
Akuma Iwai – "Sparks It Will Rain" (Poison the Well)
Haruna Mori – "Treat Me Like Your Mother" (Dead Weather)
Daisuke Sakamoto – "A Thing for Me" (Metronomy)
Dr. Ishikawa – "Shield for Your Eyes, a Beast in the Well on Your Hand" (Melt-Banana)
Mr. & Mrs. Misora – "Prelude Canope" (Claude Debussy)
Tubbins – "99 Problems" (Jay-Z)
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References and quotations:
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these works and they are represented here for reference only.
In titles and elsewhere, I had a few references – just little bits from T.S. Eliot, Emily Dickinson, David Bowie, William Carlos Williams, Virginia Woolf, Elliott Smith, and Shakespeare, among others. Heck, one section title was a straight-up title for a Radiohead song (listed above as the theme for Mrs. Shibuimaru). Also, "Ne Cadant in Obscurum" was taken from the Offertory of the Roman Rite liturgy (Catholic; last rites) in Latin and translates to "do not let them fall into darkness." Here are some excerpts to show where the bits (in bold) I took came from:
From "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," by T.S. Eliot (excerpt)
And I have known the eyes already, known them all—
The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase,
And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin,
When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall,
Then how should I begin
To spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways?
And how should I presume?
From "Ashes to Ashes," by David Bowie
Strung out in heaven's high,
Hitting an all-time low.
From "Time and Eternity, Part Four," by Emily Dickinson
No rack can torture me,
My soul's at liberty.
Behind this mortal bone
There knits a bolder one.
From "Asphodel, That Greeny Flower," by William Carlos Williams
What do I remember
that was shaped
as this thing is shaped?
while our eyes fill
with tears.
Of love, abiding love
it will be telling
though too weak a wash of crimson
colors it
to make it wholly credible.
There is something
something urgent
I have to say to you
and you alone
but it must wait
while I drink in
the joy of your approach,
perhaps for the last time.
From An Unwritten Novel, by Virginia Woolf
"All she did was to take her glove and rub hard at a spot on the window-pane. She rubbed as if she would rub something out for ever—some stain, some indelible contamination. Indeed, the spot remained for all her rubbing, and back she sank with the shudder and the clutch of the arm I had come to expect."
From "A Passing Feeling," by Elliott Smith
Still I send all the time
My request for relief
Down the dead power line,
Though I'm beyond belief
In the help I require
Just to exist at all;
Took a long time to stand,
Took an hour to fall.
From A Midsummer-Night's Dream, Puck's final words, by William Shakespeare
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber'd here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend;
If you pardon, we will mend.
And, if I'm an honest Puck,
If we have unearned luck,
Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,
We will make amends ere long;
Else the Puck a liar call:
So, goodnight unto you all
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.
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Many, many thanks to everyone who read this, even a part of it, whether they reviewed or not – thanks for spending some time with me. I really appreciated the feedback I got. It helped me stay on track and want to keep posting. It had been awhile since I'd written anything in prose, so I wasn't even sure I could pull it off.
FYI to anyone interested: Shella did a great pencil sketch of Llyw-eilun! You can view it at her deviantART gallery page. I will now attempt to include the u r l by including spaces in it that you will have to remove to access it, so here goes – http:// shella. deviantart. com/ art/ Llyw-eilun- 143977586. (I hope that worked!) I am honored and grateful, so thank you very much, Shella!
Considering the ways in which my fic turned out to be potential fangirl kryptonite (few pairings and none between main characters, a running poop gag, more drama than romance or comedy, certain character deaths), I have been quite pleasantly surprised by the positive responses to it. Thank you all again.
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Had I had an actual conversation with L about the path he wanted to take, it might have gone like this:
"The scenario has changed. What's going to happen . . . isn't what I thought would happen."
"Mm. I could say that about my entire experience on this case, actually."
"Well OK, that's a fair point, but . . . I have to make a choice now."
"Then choose."
"I want you to choose."
"Really. Are you hoping to escape responsibility by having me make the decision for you? Choosing to let me choose is still a choice – and you are the author, after all."
"Writer. Authors are published. And no, it's completely my responsibility. I just want to make sure that I'm doing the right thing for you. I want you to participate in your own destiny."
"You mean you want me to participate in my own demise?"
"No! Geez – glass half-empty, huh? I need to know what you want."
"You already know that. You are seeking reassurance."
"I . . . I guess I am. And let's be honest – you've been 'participating in your own demise' since you first exposed yourself to Light."
". . ."
". . . That came out wrong."
"Indeed."
"You know, you could just kill Light. You already know he's Kira, and the proof will be forthcoming in just under two weeks."
"Does that sound like something I would actually do?"
"Well, no . . ."
"Then why suggest it?"
"Because I want you to live and I want you to win!"
"I expect that this story would have to be altered considerably for that to be a likely scenario."
"So you want me to change –"
"No. You asked for my input, so please hear me out. I have been knowingly risking my life to solve this case for quite some time, as you so . . . indelicately pointed out. I understand the stakes, and I understand the debt I have to those who have fallen in service to my goals and those who might fall if I do not act. Even if my death were a certainty, I would still pursue this. Kira must be stopped – not merely killed. Solving the case is of paramount importance, I cannot say that enough. To prove that Light is Kira will show the others what he has become, and therefore what any of us could become after making so many terrible choices. Our choices shape us. Even if 'the others' includes only a handful of people rather than the entire world, their knowledge, their perspective, will cause them to act in such a way as to prevent a recurrence. There cannot be another Kira. The power Kira wields would spread like a cancer throughout the populace – has already begun to do so, in fact. Cutting out the tumor is insufficient. More expansive treatment is necessary. As much influence as I might have, it isn't enough on its own."
"You want to rely on the Task Force for this?"
"They are a part of it, as are my other colleagues and those at Wammy House. They will, in turn, influence others. No one lives forever, but Kira's pernicious influence could extend beyond Light's death, and it must be wiped out if those who remain are to thrive."
"I know that, but –"
"Let me finish. You asked me to make a choice. My point is that there is no choice. I must solve this case, and I must stop Kira. That doesn't make my death certain, but it does make it likely, considering what has transpired. As much as I would prefer to live, my survival is secondary. You know this – you've known this from the start. To ask me to 'choose' is to mock me and everything that is of value to me. I cannot speak for the motivations of others, but I know my own. Do not take that from me. Let me finish this – you owe me the right to solve this and reach my own conclusion."
"I know. I'm sorry. I just hate to lose you."
"You're the writer. You'll find some way of handling that." L smiles. "And we'll always have flashbacks."
Dammit, L.
Flashbacks there may be, and alternate ideas as well. Soon.