Hit it, Rockapella!

[mithrigil]

.

Title: Urban Legend
Fandoms: Death Note / Tokyo Babylon / X. CLAMP Campus Detectives, cameo.
Words: 4300
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Implicit for the end of X; through chapter 47 / episode 20 of Death Note.
Setting: During Light and L's time in handcuffs. September/October 2004.

Premise: This is a prequel to 6 November. In his efforts to apprehend

Comments

[damalur]

This is wonderful. I loved "6 November," too, so I was excited to see a prequel. The details you put in - the period movie, Subaru's too-large sunglasses, the descriptions of the city - are just lovely. <3

[mithrigil]

Thanks so much!

It was really fun to think about the popular culture's view on something like CLAMP in general, since pop culture factors so much into DN. So the movie thread? An absolute pleasure.

[tenshi_kain]

Hehe, put simply, those handcuffs might be my new favorite motif/device of yours. A lot of what you write is careful to enforce the importance of what's left unsaid (there's something that feels odd about just calling it "subtext" to me) and the cuffs put a twist on that by actually being audible and...writhing, I guess, which is a weird word to use for a chain but still. At times they're described like an almost independent entity and at others like a blood-tie, always something that needs to be considered but which doesn't slow down the plot by asking for too much attention. Just flowing with it. Really, they play a surprising amount of roles for a fic of this length, yet they're not an overcooked motif. It's just fun to map out their trajectory in my head, from start to finish.

Anyway, as a prequel to 6 November? I give aishuu such thanks for this idea and you for writing it (more on that at the end). L's presence hangs over so much of the plot in 6N and he's done the same thing here with the added benefit of, y'know...being L.

[mithrigil]

The handcuffs are as fun a device toplay with as ever I have, I think. I'm glad they functioned~

I'm glad L was so effective, and more so that it makes 6N more effective by being so, here. The idea of a cene over Light's body, to L, though, means something slightly different here in terms of overall plot structure, and I'm hoping that came across as well.

Yeah, Light's loss of clarity is intentional. It's also a metaphor for, well, this is a Light who doesn't know he's KIRA. So his vison is lierally obscured.

[tenshi_kain]

Re: scenes over Light's body - any worries of clonescenes would be misplaced, haha. I unfortunately can't speak for all of L's motives concerning Light (believe me, I tried researching him last night, Wikipedia led me to some...odd movie where he's saving the world from a virus?), but the fact that he's given that POV while Ryuk is not...well, it makes me wonder about something in 6 November.

In fact, I'll just say it here, that third narrator in 6 November? I'm just going to conclude it's L. It'd make the opening a different kind of cogent (and kinda funny) but just going off the way his segment is written and his behavior all through this, I have conviction in that theory.

Also, another thing that waylaid me late last night--

6N: The blood is loud, dribbling into the gaps in the tree’s roots.
UL: The chain coils in on itself, dribbling off Light’s shoulder.

x________^

[mithrigil]

--okay that last? Was an accident. Hehe.

But the correlation between intelligence and the supernatural being L? That does make sense. Hm...

[zombie_fetus]

The beginning reminded me a little of the first volume of Tokyo Babylon (strange parallels maybe?). Also-

“Do you like Tokyo?” Subaru asks.

Sexy. Very satisfying.

[mithrigil]

The strange parallels are the point of the fic, so entirely. Watching the handcuffed three being nearly-but-not like the twins and Sei...is utter fun. Misa, for all her spunk and joie, is not Hokuto, and that's awesome to play with; Light, as we all well know, is not Subaru despite their similar backgrounds; L...yeah. Hehehe. The whole thing kind of plays out like a volume of Tokyo Babylon in the Death Note world, or at least that's what I tried to do. Everything from the introduction/denouement parallels to Light(Subaru) being unconscious while L(Sei) takes care of business.

[aishuu]

Such love, such love. It's a perfect link to the earlier fic - it's bringing Light to Subaru's attention... since I assume Subaru is likely a very apathetic Sakurazukamori.

I really like the way Light and L had to hunt the Sumeragi, and the Nokuro guest appearance was perfectly timed. The fic is very, very creepy in exactly the right way.

[mithrigil]

Thank you so much for prompting this~!

The whole hunt was just a breath of fresh air to construct. Death Note does TB, hehe.

[swish_swish]

Oh! 6 November's prequel? How you spoil us.

It was very nice. I like the part where it seems that everything just stops at L, Light and Subaru's meeting before time flows again, like nothing happened.

[mithrigil]

Ohohoho, precisely~

Thank you so much!