Perhaps writing it down will put things in proportion.

[orchid_below]

It's a dark night in the Mansion this evening.

To be fair, it's dark every night, as the area is significantly lacking in any buildings or bright lights other than those that shine from the Mansion itself. But tonight the stars and the sky are obscured by low-scudding clouds pushed by a slow, damp breeze, and the moon is only visible as a hazy, sticky nimbus of white behind them.

The interior of the Mansion feels muffled as well. The lamps are turned low, their glow barely reaching farther than a handful of feet, and in many hallways there's hardly any light at all. The only illumination comes from the occasional occupied room, or a window open to the fitful light of the moon.

Of course, it's well past the twelfth hour, so this is hardly an inconvenience for most of the Mansion's guests. But deep in its darkened recesses a spill of light cuts across an empty hallway, green and flickering. The door it shines from is open a crack, revealing just a glimpse of a small, shadowed room: neat and plain, but crammed to the brim with strange and occasionally menacing knickknacks and minutiae. A faint scratching sound floats out on the light, overlaying the soft glow with an urgent, almost manic intent.

It originates from one Miss Ran Mouri, clad in a red, Victorian dress and sat at an equally Victorian desk, bent low over the pages of a journal. Her work is lit by a single foxfire candle; two greenish wax stubs already sit burnt and depleted before her on the desk. She writes frantically, without pause, filling page after page with tirades delineated in a black, scrawling hand barely recognizable as her own. Her face is drawn, her skin pale against the dark tresses of her hair, but her blue eyes are wild and feverish as they race ahead of her pen.

She does not seem inclined to stop any time soon.



((Feel free to use as a mingle, and to respond with prose or action, whichever you prefer!))

Comments

[delicious_friend]

"The former." Shinichi tucked his handkerchief back in his pocket before bowing with a slight flourish. "Shinichi Kudo, at your service."

It's still an odd feeling to give his name, and there's still something strange about it -- ought it to have been the other way around, the way the Orientals did it? There was something there --

But that could wait until another time.

[orchid_below]

"Shinichi," Ran repeats, letting the name roll off her tongue with perfect diction. She'd heard the correct pronunciation when she'd first learned it from their counterparts, but somehow it feels even more natural than that, as familiar to say as her own name. It makes her smile. "Congratulations."

[delicious_friend]

And now he is thankful that the lighting is so dim as to (hopefully) conceal his pleased blush at hearing his name from her lips. True, she'd said it before in reference to one of his many mansion doubles, but the name had not had the resonance it now did -- it belonged to him.

"I see that you have been busy in my absence," he observed, hastily changing the subject. "Though I fear that your discoveries have not been so welcome."

[orchid_below]

"Ah—" She turns and looks at the open journal, lips thinning, and after a pause she reaches out to slam it closed. The book lets out a faint hiss, stirring the terrible secrets still sitting in the back of her mind, but Ran resolutely ignores them. She's carried them this long; they can wait a little longer to be purged.

"They're... manageable," she says, standing and latching the book closed before placing it on a shelf with a number of similar volumes. It's difficult to work up another smile, but she does it; she's nothing if not practiced. "I've brought them upon myself, after all."

[delicious_friend]

Shinichi watches her, a strange uncomfortable feeling -- regret? -- surfacing. If he were Kaito, he might be able to tease her out of this distance, then steal the secret in an guarded moment. Aoko would offer steady, uncomplicated friendship and perhaps some tea. Shinichi wasn't even there and while he has guesses, the facts elude him for the moment.

It is always hard to withdraw back to being merely an acquaintance -- and for once Shinichi is in no mood to do what delicacy demands.

"Ran." He joins her at the bookcase, before she can turn away. They are closer than propriety would allow though he doesn't look at her but the row of notebooks, not touching them but letting his gaze speak for him. "Tell me?"

[orchid_below]

His use of her name causes her to turn and Ran starts at how close Shinichi is, less than a breath away from touching her. She sees his eyes looking past her, at the books, but that doesn't stop her heart from beating strangely loud in her chest. She covers it with both hands, hoping it will quiet before he hears it.

"They aren't for telling," she finally manages, her tone quiet. She still remembers the inhuman shriek that arose from last night's writings, rising in such a way that she couldn't tell if the sound were coming from the book or her own throat. There are few people she would wish these sorts of secrets upon. Shinichi is not one of them.

[delicious_friend]

"Not them. You." Shinichi turns his gaze to Ran, taking in her gesture with an odd pang. He can apologize for startling her later. "You can tell me what's got you into this state without betraying any confidences, surely."

[orchid_below]

"My confidences are more complicated than one might think." Ran's insistence is weak, distracted now that all of Shinichi's attention is trained on her. Something about the look in his eyes pins her in place, and she's disconcerted at how she has to fight to keep her cheeks from warming like a schoolgirl's. She should be in better control of a situation like this.

But this close, she can smell the dry, musty scent of the Tom Colonies clinging to his clothes, and the thinness of Shinichi's face is much more noticeable. Ran tightens her grip over her breast, resisting the sudden impulse to reach out and trace the hollows of his cheeks, to see if they really run as deep as they look.

[delicious_friend]

It's probably lucky that despite Shinichi's high Watchful, he has not a clue what line Ran's thoughts are travelling. In her increased colour he sees a rallying of spirit and acts swiftly.

"Brass Embassy business is always complicated and confidential -- but no harm, surely, in unburdening yourself to an old friend -- particularly one who is many weeks of travel and research distant. I could not act on anything I learned -- even if I would remember it once we leave this place."

Enough, surely -- and yet Shinichi couldn't help himself, adding in an entirely different tone:

"Besides it -- would give me much pleasure to assist you."

Well. At these close quarters, Ran would not be able to mistake his earnestness, or his blush.

[orchid_below]

"The Brass— But— how did you know—" Ran's verbal flailing is cut short by that final admission, and she finds herself surprisingly pleased by his blush, though her own is a fair match for it by now. "It's not so much confidentiality..."

After all, if the devils were so concerned about the information on their contracts, she doubts they would have let her take her pay in secrets.

[delicious_friend]

"If not the confidentiality--" Shinichi paused, a rather mortified suspicion occurring to him. Surely she did not hesitate out of concern for his delicate sensibilities?

"I assure you that I am not to readily recoil at unplesantness," he said. "And I can point you towards several of my publications on the subject of the correspondence if you would like proof of my experience with the discomforting."

[orchid_below]

"Forgive me if I believe that isn't quite on par with several weeks' worth of studying infernal contracts," Ran retorted, unimpressed. "And even if it were, I have no desire to add to yours— ah..."

Well, that was one cat inadvertently let out of the box.

[delicious_friend]

"Nightmares," Shincihi said with conviction that only slightly assuaged his injured pride. Infernal contracts compared to the Correspondence? Surely Ran knew about the Correspondence ... If Ran knew what he'd seen -- well, perhaps it was better she didn't.

"Lucky for you, I happen to have a solution to them."

If the room at the mansion was anything like Ran's own, then her coat should be -- ah ha! Shincihi took it up from its peg on the door and threw it lightly to her. "Wrap up warmly. I'll be back to collect you in a bit."

[orchid_below]

"Eh?" Ran caught the coat reflexively, blinking at him in confusion from over the fabric. "What are you—"

[delicious_friend]

Sorry, Ran. Your turn for a hint of mystery as a smirk and a chiding head-shake is Shinichi's reply.

"A rug or a blanket might be a thought if you have one," he said. "Nothing too fancy. Well, I shan't dally."

And with another bow he was off down the corridor. First to his own room to retrieve more suitable attire and get rid of the bandages entirely, next to the dining room to obtain refreshments suitable for an impromptu midnight ramble. The carpet bag makes an improbable picnic basket, and Shinichi's regretting not buying a more dapper greatcoat, but he knocks at Ran's door with a confidence greatly in excess of its actual existence.

[orchid_below]

It opened to reveal Ran still looking bemused but dressed in her societal best, bonnet tied snugly over her hair and wearing one of her warmer red gowns beneath her coat. She'd managed to turn up a spare blanket as well, and by this point she would have been amiss in her watchfulness if she hadn't gained an inkling of what was going on.

"A night stroll, is it?" she questioned, though she did look askance at the carpet bag.

[delicious_friend]

Shinichi did not flinch at the gaze (neither did the bag). "I've noticed that time spent pleasantly in the parks of the 'Neath does go a long way to lightening a heavy mind. Just think what a garden with real weather will do! Granted the night is somewhat sombre -- but I think that we shall manage to enjoy ourselves regardless."

[orchid_below]

Ran's expression brightened instantly. The gardens of the Mansion seemed to be eluding her on her previous visits, and she had yet to really explore them. But even so, she hesitated.

"It won't do much to improve your complexion," she scolded lightly. "We should at least pause to take a meal first."

[delicious_friend]

In reply, Shinichi raised the carpet bag. "I come prepared," he informed his companion, extending a gentlemanly arm.

"Now, shall we be off before we waste another moment of this night?"

[orchid_below]

"Oh!" Ran blinked at the bag, then ventured a smile, tucking her arm in his. "We shall."

[delicious_friend]

Finding their way to the main doorway was no hard task for either of the Neath pair, even in the near-complete-darkness. Shinichi found his thoughts turning back to the first time he'd walked that hall -- in the company of a very different Ran Mouri.

How the situation had devloped since then! His ambitions had taken him to corners of the 'Neath he'd not even heard of at that far off juncture, and he'd blushed to escort Ran alone. Now he was happily proposing a midnight ramble to a Ran he knew made even the hardest patrons of the Medusa's Head think twice about proposing a round of arm wrestling ...

Even with Ran's nightmares as the reason behind their excursion, Shinichi could not supress a slightly giddy feeling as they walked down the hall companionably. "I have to confess -- I don't think I've passed so pleasant an evening in some time," he said as they reached the lobby. "And we've yet to get outside."

[orchid_below]

Unlike her counterpart, Ran had no nervousness at all in crossing the dark lobby to the large front doors. Her steps quickened, but only from an eagerness to see the outdoors, and her voice was warm with amusement — and perhaps something else — when she answered him.

"You sound like you're getting rather ahead of yourself..." There was a brief pause as she hesitated over the informal use of his first name, but then she continued. "...Shinichi."

[delicious_friend]

"On the contrary," Shinichi said, relinquishing Ran's arm momentarily so that he could bow her out the front door with a flourish. "It would be remiss of me not to enjoy the company of so bright a young lady."

[orchid_below]

"Flattery only works on those who don't use it very often," Ran warned, but seemed pleased nonetheless as she stepped out into the night air — and paused on the stone of the front steps, staring up at the cloudy sky.

True clouds, not mist, and in a real sky... with a real moon, no less. Things that until now she'd only seen and remembered in dreams.

Ran drew in a deep, shuddering breath, her gaze fixed on the half-hidden moon despite the way the light made her eyes smart with tears. "It's... beautiful."

[delicious_friend]

"Are you sure that's an admission you want to be making? I think I recall a compliment or two from you--"

Shinichi caught sight of Ran's expression and found himself falling silent. The night should be allowed to speak for itself. He silently extended his arm once more, falling back into step beside his companion.