Week 4.

[trustharder]

WEEK 4 And as the third week in the Vault comes to a close and the fourth week begins, the Survivors are once again down by two. Mion Sonozaki died on her own terms, and Yato died fulfilling his duty as God of Fortune in the best way that he knew how; the shrine built in the game room on Saturday stands in their memory. Saturday is given to regrouping and sleep; there aren't any bodies to be found on Sunday morning. But that doesn't mean the night was uneventful - it seems something else may have brought you some newfound clarity. Or perhaps not... Once again, that spiral staircase leads farther than you remember, clear up to a previously inaccessible fourth floor. Go ahead and explore as much as you like; even if the Kingmaker sounded a bit unhappy with you last weekend, the fact remains that you're still doing what you seem to have been brought here to do. SURVIVORS REMAINING: 21 SURVIVORS REMAINING: 20

SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY
[OOC: Welcome to week two of Trustfell! Save your threads for coins and the coming week's activity check; don't forget to check in to this week's activity check and submit your memory regains!

The text and calling posts are still active, for the sake of contacting the jerk who's keeping you here, to be used at your leisure!]

Comments

[cherryblooded]

So that was what was in your envelope, hm.

It's difficult. People will lie to you, friends will turn out to be false. But you deal with whatever loose ends you have to and move on, because that's all that you can do. There's no turning a lie into the truth, even if you want to.

[sleepingkogoro]

The problem is that the person who did this to me...I can't even begin to guess why he would do it! Did he want to screw with me? I know it happened since the very beginning, but I have no idea why he would do something like lying to so many people and using me to get away with it!

[That is how it all seems to him, either way. It isn't like the envelope contained all the details.

Mouri takes the letter out but hesitates, he isn't really sure if he could share that with Cherryblod. A part of him wants to, mainly because of who Conan is and Cherryblod is the go-to person when kids are involved, but giving the envelope would mean sacrificing everything Mouri was supposed to be known for.

It's ugly to face reality]

[cherryblooded]

You don't have any context for what happened. And the Kingmaker is going to phrase things in the worst possible way, to make you the most desperate to keep your secret under wraps.

It's possible that it is as bad as you're imagining, or that they had good intentions, but there's no way for you to tell from just that piece of paper.

[sleepingkogoro]

...

[It may not be like he imagined it was.

It takes a moment to realize Cherryblod is right about that. It takes Mouri even less to realize he had, once again, jumped to conclusions without having all the facts. What kind of detective does that, he can see it now. No wonder what the letter said was true.

But now there's a slight hope this may not be the end of his personal world as he knows it. Still...

Mouri slides the letter to Cherryblod]

You are right.

I don't see this ending well, either way. Someday he'll be gone, and then Sleeping Kogoro will slowly lose all his fame until I'm back to where I was before. Two years ago I didn't...have the best reputation.

[The letter says:

'Kogoro Mouri's famous detective persona, Sleeping Kogoro, is a sham.

His fame, his sharp detective skills, 95% of the successful solved cases in the last two years, it's all an elaborate facade created by Conan Edogawa'

[cherryblooded]

[Cherryblod reads the letter over carefully. When he's done, his expression is a sympathetic one.]

Children lack adults' maturity by definition, detective, and they don't know the nuances between what is good and what is bad. I'm not saying that this is what happened, because I don't know, but before you drink yourself into an angry stupor over things you aren't sure of either, consider:

You've always seemed proud of your fame and skills. If you were lacking that before you became a famous detective, what if your charge saw that and wanted to help? Fame and success make a person happy, or at least that's how it seems to a child.

So he 'helped'. You solved a case. You were pleased. He helped again, your fame grew, you were more pleased. And there would be no reason for him to stop.

To a child's eyes, nothing of that would be bad or selfish. It takes an adult to teach him that that's wrong.

...Please don't assume the worst of a child before you know what really happened.

[sleepingkogoro]

[Mouri finishes his drink and laughs. He is drunk but at least lucid enough to let the message reach him. Good thing he hadn't gone overboard into a stupor before Cherryblod came along]

Alright, I won't. I'll stop thinking the worst about him, I suppose.

That brat...now I get it. Why he spent so long around the crime scenes, why in almost all the cases I don't remember the details that led to the culprit getting caught. It was all him.

I was so angry yesterday, I wanted nothing more than break these walls and go confront him. Then this morning I don't know what got into me, all I wanted to do was come here and have some beer.

Maybe I believed this lie too. I never wondered what was going on because everything was going fine so what does it matter.

...I don't trust myself to be able to keep up with the expectations he has made everyone have, though.

[cherryblooded]

It's easy to believe in lies when they're convenient for you. But eventually the truth comes out.

[He'd figured that out for himself, this past week.]

Don't think it'll be as bad as you're fearing. Maybe you won't be able to be a famous detective, but you're not a bad one.

[sleepingkogoro]

[Well that got Mouri's attention. Maybe he's just hungry for some ego stroking, because damn right he knows he needs some of that]

You think that? You think I'm not a bad detective?

[cherryblooded]

I didn't even notice what Yato said about the pen. If it hadn't been for that, he might not have come under suspicion. And then we wouldn't have found the key.

[sleepingkogoro]

Oh. That.

[Shrug]

To be honest I wouldn't have noticed it either if you hadn't started to grill Yato-san about he being a god of fortune. It was a lucky moment, that is all.

[cherryblooded]

I couldn't get him to admit to anything. All I did was make myself angry.

Better to be lucky and average in skill than skilled and unlucky.

[sleepingkogoro]

...when you put it like that I can't disagree.

[Lucky moment or not it still happened and kind of led to Yato being caught. Even if Mouri doesn't feel he did much there, there was still a good ending.

May as well be grateful for his own luck]

I have also been thinking of what other things I could do if I don't do more detective work back at home. To be honest the list is...very short. I don't have many skills I could use, even if this Vault is a good place to experiment.

Overall I think I'm kind of a loss of what I can do if everything goes wrong. It'd be good to have a plan B, I think.

[cherryblooded]

Did you always want to be a detective, when you were younger? Most people have more than one dream in their lives.

[He should know.]

If not, you could always take classes as a way of getting more skills.

[sleepingkogoro]

I know I did always want to have a job in the police department. I used to be assigned to a couple departments, working together with other inspectors...

[Simpler times overall]

Most of what I'm good at came from the training I received. Other than that I have some artistic skills, but nobody survives as an artist.

[Mouri does have artistic sense - for example he managed to make a pile of can of beers that, when shone upon with a light, would show his wife's silhouette in the shadow - but he is no artist. No way he could do anything with that]

[cherryblooded]

[He can't really picture Kogoro as a starving artist.]

Then I recommend going back to school. It's never too late to learn something new, and you might discover an interest in a field you hadn't previously considered.

[sleepingkogoro]

That will be the best plan, I suppose. Better be ready and have something else to do.

...

[Another drink]

Eide-san is teaching me to play the flute.

[He comments that as if it were something unbelievable]

[cherryblooded]

[It's pretty surprising, more that he agreed than that she was willing and able to teach.]

How's that going?

[sleepingkogoro]

...surprisingly well. I had my doubts at the beginning - the flute, really? - but somehow I'm doing well with that.

[He even has it with him right now. Mouri makes a melodramatic gesture with the gracefulness of a drunk. Yeah, all that alcohol is starting to take its toll]

But never ask Eide-san to sing you a story. It won't be pretty at aaaall.

[cherryblooded]

It was about her gruesomely slaughtering some trolls, wasn't it?

[What else would Sigrun sing about, really.]

[sleepingkogoro]

You bet it was.

[Mouri takes out the flute and blows on it. Fweeee]

In the heat of the summer some troll ran around
something something something rhyme
Sigrun the Brave and her merry band
swooped in and kicked his ass
They clanged until it died
something something I think there was blood

[Not even close, god damn it. Yeah, he doesn't remember it. He was too in shock and he is too drunk to recall it well enough]

It also included like eleven lines praising herself.

[cherryblooded]

[Cherryblod chuckles and claps as if that had been an actually good song and not half-remembered.]

I'm sure it'll top the charts once you learn how to play it.

[sleepingkogoro]

[Now you did get Mouri to laugh. It is a bit too loud but it is sincere.

After he calms down he puts the flute away and stands up.]

...Cherryblod-san, thank you for coming here. I don't feel anymore like there's nothing to be done about anything. I really needed to talk with someone.

[cherryblooded]

Any time. Can't do much besides supporting everyone else, but I'd like to think I'm good at that.

[He's not the best at investigations, or in piecing together evidence in the trials. But he can keep everyone from going off the deep end.]

[sleepingkogoro]

That is something very important to do. Weeeeell done.

[Mouri staggers to the entrance of the bar]

I know my limits and I'm going to faint until tomorrow in like ten minutes so I better get going. Byeee≃

[And there he goes, to his bedroom. It's a good thing he's a very experienced drinker, one can trust him not to lie in a corner of the Music Room and sleep there. See you tomorrow, shrimpy. Hopefully you're not the victim!]