that's not what we usually mean by 'dance with death'

[cherryblooded]

[That certainly did happen. Cherryblod's not the type of person who will judge one person's value as being more than another's, so he can't say whether it was better or worse than the first week. It came as less of a shock, maybe, but even so...

It's not the kind of thing people usually want to go through alone.

So, after he spends some time in the kitchen preparing (with assistance from Bruce), he'll slip some personalized notes under everyone's doors.]

[Name],
If you'd prefer to spend this time alone, that's fine.
If you'd prefer not to, I've made some food and set it out in the dining hall.
Even if you're just hungry and would rather not talk, feel free to come take some.
But if you'd like the company, we're here for you.
-Cherryblod

[Those arriving in the dining hall will find an assortment of food - a fair number of sandwiches and other, actual meal-like options since most people missed a meal or two, but also a goodly number of desserts. There's tea, as well as coffee for those who favor it.]

Comments

[captainobnoxious]

Guess he's not as all knowing as he'd like to be.

[prismbloom]

Mouri... if you don't mind my asking, even after being a detective for so long, has it gotten at all easier?

[prismbloom]

I wonder if it's frustrating for him.

[captainobnoxious]

... It'd be pretty fun to feed him false info and see how crazy we could get them to think we were.

[prismbloom]

[ you have a weird sense of fun ]

I'm not even sure where I'd begin with that.

[captainobnoxious]

[her sense of fun includes bloodletting, let's not forget how that will have saved us twice now]

By lying, probably. Can you lie?

[sleepingkogoro]

[Mouri grimances. He definitely expected a question like that come at some point of the stay in the Vault]

In a way, yes, but that is because almost all cases have no personal relation to me.

Those that feature people I know haven't gotten easier in any way, especially if they end being...guilty.

[bloodisthicker]

...I wonder if that's the sort of thing we should expect if we... erm... fell asleep outside of our rooms? Because that's something we can get punished for, apparently, so I guess we can look forward to that if anyone happens to be really tired someday.

[goodforsomething]

Okay, I ain't the only one who thinks that's discriminatory, right? I'm old! I fall asleep everywhere!

[goodforsomething]

Yeah, she is. Hopefully we'll get outta here soon and you can swing by.

[goodforsomething]

I guess? No way the tentacle's natural.

No problem!! Forgive mine!!

[happysweets]

Jackson, huh? Well, there's nothing wrong with being stubborn at a young age! People still think Misa-Misa gets in over her head, too! Not that I can blame them...

Nppp

[uro_cyon]

It'll be worse when he's a teenager I'm sure. Long as he doesn't get into the kind of stuff I was into at his age, it'll be fine. [But he'll make sure that doesn't happen.]

You get into a lot of trouble even with your modeling restrictions?

[happysweets]

What can I say? Misa-Misa sometimes likes to live dangerously.

[uro_cyon]

[He almost laughs.]

You and me both.

[prismbloom]

[ She nods. Aqua supposes it's easier to distance yourself, when you have no relationship with a victim or killer. Still... it obviously weighs on Mouri.

She won't ask in how many cases he knew those involved. ]

It's admirable, what you do. I have my own responsibilities, but they aren't anything like yours.

[prismbloom]

I can do my best.

[ read: someone's not good at lying ]

[bloodisthicker]

Oh, I see. That would make a lot of sense, since... witches and sorcerers are basically powerful magic users, aren't they?

[...they've been mentioned a few times in books he's paged through with a little context, so....]

So it's only natural they'd use their abilities to provide a few perks with the job.

[cherryblooded]

Basically. It's a mutually beneficial arrangement for both parties.

[amygdalae]

I think at this point, that's the best all of us can hope for.

[cherryblooded]

...Thank you, really.

[amygdalae]

We've all done whatever we can [lies; clearly he isn't doing enough if this is happening again] so just... don't dwell on it. As much as we'd all like to, we have to keep moving on.

[bloodisthicker]

It's entirely possible that one of us might recognize what it is and therefore know its weakness? It's a shot in the dark, I know, but it's better than anything else I can think of.

[notjustawriter]

I'm sure the Kingmaker will want to prevent that as much as possible... but, y'know, there's a weakness to everything.

There's no such thing as indestructible material.

[bloodisthicker]

So we're probably going to have to get lucky at some point, which hahahahahahahahhah yeah like that's going to happen.