This gallery contains 1 photo.
This gallery contains 1 photo.
Oh, how he would love to chatter on and on about his favorite story of the series but something was nagging in the back of his mind. It still slightly unnerved him that Hakuba knew so much about him and that made him all the more suspicious about forgetting something that he talked about a lot in interviews.
Reporters were always asking things like that. What’s your favorite color? Do you like cats or dogs better? What’s your favorite book? If they asked that last question, eventually they would get bored and try to end the talk as quickly as possible and he supposed that was about half the reason he loved that question.
“Ah, that would be the story of Mr. John Douglas of Sussex. The one where Holmes and Watson receive a coded message from one of Moriarty’s droogs and discover that he’s to be killed. But when they talk to Scotland Yard they find out that the deed has already been done and then they go to investigate and find that Mr. Douglas actually hasn’t been killed at all.
"It’s The Valley of Fear, of course,” he explained, watching him closely out of the corner of his eye. He already knew that Hakuba was a Holmes fan himself from their previous encounters but he wondered if he would realize the lie. Since he had done so much research and all.
Hakuba might have choked had he not had the presence of mind to delay his reactions to allow for thinking time. But he did swallow – hard – and felt a twitching compulsion that screamed ‘IT’S A TRAP!’ Because, effectually, that’s what it was.
Really, he should have known that Kudou-san would pull something like this. After all, his senpai was brilliant, wasn’t he? While Hakuba had been trying to break the ice and get a conversation going, the other detective had seen an opportunity to test him. This put Hakuba in a very awkward position because, quite handily, he’d been caught in a lie with another. There was no way that Kudou would not have been aware of this.
It was an agonizing decision, that. Either continue to feign ignorance and look like an idiot who clearly didn’t know anything about Kudou-senpai… or call Kudou-senpai out on the false information and admit that he had been trying to be coy and clever to get him to talk. Both options were rife with embarrassment. He should have known.
“Ah, yes… I’m know that story…” Hakuba finally said, voice quiet as he considered his words carefully.
Internally, this might have looked much like a task master cracking the whip at thousands of hamsters running uselessly in spinning wheels. A fretter by nature to begin with, Hakuba was doing some serious mental overtime.
“…Ah, I… remember now, though… Wasn’t it The Sign of Four? Unless you’ve changed your favorite, of course… Ah, I’m quite partial to The Boscombe Valley Mystery story from the original Adventures Of book myself…”
Even admitting that much had been painful. Particularly as he was suddenly confronted with the fact that his favorite Sherlock story was one of the short stories contained in a collection from the original case files, and not one of the ‘proper’ novels… What did that mean? Was that going to be a problem?
God what was he doing talking to Kudou in the first place? They’d both been spoken of in the newspapers as the Sherlock Holmes of the new century, which made them at odds to begin with. Colleagues, perhaps, but… clearly Kudou was, well, Hakuba’s senpai. How embarrassing. Perhaps it would have been better to avoid ever meeting him and instead continue the long trail of letter after ignored letter.
DATE-O START! || akaikujixyaku
Honestly, it put the young journalist on cloud nine to see the little ploy he’d come up with, and he’d even chosen a clear, efficient model. (Hers wasn’t much different in all actuality, she’d just bought extra lenses and a slight upgrade). The manner in which he’d leapt almost jauntily to chauffeur her in to the car only expanded her beaming smile, and earned another spring of light, bell-like laughter.
“And they say that chivalry is dead— thank you, Hakuba-sama. You look rather dashing yourself, to nobody’s genuine surprise." Sure it was easier for someone to have the attention on her, but she was hardly the kind of girl who’d been doted over in the past, so no matter how comfortably she settled into the conversation, it seemed the colour in her cheeks wouldn’t die off easily.
"I’ll not keep it waiting any longer, good sir." She returned in a half-lofty, half-laughing tone, moving past him with a mock curtsy, before nestling securely into her seat. And a real swell chariot it is, yowzah. She thought admiringly while she awaited his return to the driver’s seat, before turning her smile back his way, "Is destination one to be a surprise, or am I allowed a courtesy hint to puzzle over on the way”
(Unlike most occasions, she hadn’t any discomfort or want to complain about being in a car. Go figure.)
Once her door was closed, quiet and firm, Hakuba moved back to the other side of the car, reaching in to pick up his camera, first.
“Hmm… Well, if we’re playing role-reversal here, you ought to be the detective, I think.” He took another photo, then lowered the camera to show a broad-grinned lip bite. “Of course, I’ll give you some clues, first."
He let himself into the car, buckled his seat belt, and put the lens cap back on the camera, safely stowing it in a compartment just under the gear shifts. "The clues I’ll give you are as follows: bones, but not grave; flora, but not floral; plane, but not airport, and… ancient, but not outdated."
Hakuba started the car, which revved with a delicious purr, and pulled away from the curb, en route to their first stop.
For the Love of a Painting || kaitouxjeanne
The game was on. Or rather, games. The sandy-haired detective seemed to be interested in another sort of playing, if that smug look was a signal, if not sounding alarm of the intention. Decidedly smooth, the amusement seen in his butterscotch eyes along with his well-bred air completed the effect. The dear detective wanted to challenge her.
The outreached hand seemed to be reaching towards the thief’s competitive side, if not just for her hand. It couldn’t be seen in her eyes, but the fire inside her flared spiritedly.
Oh, he wants to play. Let’s not disappoint, shall we?
Thank goodness she decided to forgo the gloves for tonight’s outfit. Not that she was planning this.. Ahem.
Slipping her left, or wrong hand into his, Jeanne stepped close to him before he could make a move. The other hand, she let hold the right side of his face in a gentle caress. Tiptoeing slightly despite her heels, she kissed the knuckles of her own hand that held his face.
But she wasn’t done yet. Not even close.
Moving slightly further towards him, she spoke in his ear softly.
“A little different, but this is a bit more interesting than the usual knuckle-kissing, no?”
Moving back so her face was almost close enough to his to kiss but not quite, the wickedly playful look in her eyes could be clearly seen. Violet eyes seeming to tease him as they peered unabashed in his. And yet her smile remained as gracious as if she was receiving him for tea.
“And interesting is the least I could do for my dear detective.”
If there was to be a loser in this risky game, it would not be her.
Uhm.
For a brief moment, the surprise was evident on Hakuba’s face. He didn’t move, not wishing to pull himself away, not daring to steal a kiss. He knew that he was likely to be denied and made a fool with either move, so he stayed where he was, staring right back at her as he regained his composure. Quickly, yes, but with someone that sharp, it was sure to be noticed.
“Interesting yes, I wholeheartedly agree. Thank you for that.”
Indeed, the detective was grateful. That display of wicked confidence not only made her the most desirable woman in the room, but also put her at the very top of his suspect list. No one out for a night of mock romance was that intense. No, no; someone of that sharp intelligence was manipulative and calculating… was figuring out how to use him instead of the other way around.
His free hand moved to cradle the small of her back, but did nothing more than rest ever so gently. Barely there at all. It was a risky and dangerous game, yes, but Hakuba wanted to play. He very badly wanted to play and to win. At least, in a manner of speaking.
“Are you here with someone tonight, mon ange?”
-dyes Hakuba’s hair pink-
“B-BAAYAAA! I NEED YOU! HELP!”
“Young Master, what in – WHAT IN THE BLOODY BLUE BLAZES DID YOU DO?!”
“I didn’t do ANYTHING.”
“…you look a bit like one of those… Japanese anime characters now.”
“Baaya. Please. You are not helping and I specifically requested help.”
“Yes, yes, of course… We definitely don’t want your father to see.”
So much shuddering.
ANGST WEEK
What is it: an entire week of nothing but angst. Tear-jerking, heart-wrenching, maybe rage-inducing angst.
Why is this happening: because crack happens in an almost random fashion (as it should be) but angst is also good, but sometimes a bit of incentive is needed. So here I am, I shall give you the incentive to get to those angst threads that you’ve always wanted to do, but cannot do because you’ve been doing too much crack as of late. I SHALL BE YOUR REASON.
Where is this happening: here on Tumblr, on your RP blog. Unless you want it to happen in your ass. You need to talk with your RP partner about that though.
Who will be involved: me as the so-called ‘moderator’, or as the person you want to come to when you have questions. You, as the participant. Your RP partner, as the second participant. Also your readers, because everybody isn’t safe from the angst.
What is going to happen:
- We are going to go about this in two ways. We can give you a theme, in which then you can discuss it with your partner. Or you can just come up with one yourself. Now remember, as angst does deal with a lot of background and feelings and the important nitty gritty that makes up the entire RP-ing experience, do talk about it thoroughly with your partner. DO NOT MAKE YOUR PARTNER UNCOMFORTABLE.
- In general purpose, for a week, you have the chance to start an angst thread with your RP partner. It doesn’t have to be finished in a week, no. That’s crazy talk. You have one week to start a thread. To finish a thread, it’s up to you since we all know how unforgiving real life is. Just remember that the theme is angst and nothing but pure angst.
When will this happen: currently looking into some time in September where there aren’t any big events happening, like NaNoWriMo in November. Can’t do November, nope.
How will it happen:
- You will talk with your RP partner about this. Or you can just show them this post, either one works.
- Once you have decided what will happen in your angst thread, you may start creating a starter.
- Prepare for the tears and sobs and crying. Get tissues and chocolate, plenty of it.
- When the ANGST WEEK rolls in, post your starter and get started with your RP-ing with your RP partner.
- DROWN IN THE FEELS AND SORROWS AND TEARS.
Rules and guidelines:
- Anybody is allowed to enter, do whatever you want.
- You can have multiple threads with multiple partners, it doesn’t matter. Just be creative that you don’t use the same plot everywhere. If you want to stick to a broad theme, such as having your character dying, do be creative and come up with a different way of how your character is going to die in each thread. Having your character die due to a car crash every single time isn’t going to really make it fun.
- You can go on AU if you want, it’s fully up to you. Run two threads with the same person if you want to, one for a Modern!AU and another for the normal verse, do whatever you want.
- If you have someone you want to do this with, but have not really built up the relationship needed to cause tears and heartbreak and sorrow (platonic, romantic, any kind of relationships), you can talk to them and build up the relationship until it gets to that point of where everything can get extremely messy. You have until the start of the ANGST WEEK to build up that relationship. Or, as mentioned above, you can just go with the AU option.
I think that’s it. Do tell me if I missed out on anything. Will add in more if I have anything.
Reblog if you like the idea, message me what you think, etc etc.
Enjoy 8D
Three unmarked slips of black paper would be waiting in your mailbox next time you checked.
“…this is alarming.”