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!))

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[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.

[orchid_below]

She groped for it for a moment, unwilling to take her eyes off the sky, but eventually her arm found her way into his and she took an unsteady step forward. The stairs required a bit more attention than she would have liked, but once they'd been navigated, her gaze returned to the moon, searching the scudding clouds around it for a trace of starlight.

"Does the sun rise here as well?" she asked quietly, her tone cautiously hopeful. It seemed a bit much to ask for, but surely if there was a moon then a sun must follow...

[delicious_friend]

"Dawn is a most pleasant occurrence," Shinichi agreed promptly. "One worth waiting up for -- although I find that as the sun approaches the higher zeniths, it is as well to retreat indoors. The -- uh -- brightness of it is rather hard for one accustomed to 'neath light."

He hesitated, then added with a diffidence the partner of his first night in the mansion would not have credited for a moment, "It is decided then -- that the dawn is to be our entertainment tonight?"

[orchid_below]

Diffidence or not, the promise of a true dawn would have Ran agreeing to nearly anything. He received a gentle squeeze on his arm in answer.

"That sounds like a lovely plan," she said rather happily, and finally tore her attention from the sky to smile at him. "Though 'entertainment' doesn't seem to do it justice."

[delicious_friend]

"Well, I thought 'proceedings' far too formal, and 'diversions' too trivial, 'plan' too flat -- though the important matter here is not what we call it, but where we can find a good spot to watch it from."

[orchid_below]

Her smile widened. "I'm assuming you have one in mind?"

[delicious_friend]

"Actually -- I must admit that I had left that part of the night's adventures to chance."

[orchid_below]

"Not even an idea?" Ran pursed her lips thoughtfully, glancing around at the Mansion's grounds. Dim as the moonlight was, she may as well have been wearing a pair of Neathglass goggles with how brightly it seemed to outline the world for her. "It's a shame the rooftop is inaccessible."

Not that she was going to protest the feeling of fresh, damp grass — grass! — beneath her feet.

[delicious_friend]

"Exploring is half the fun, so they say," Shinichi countered, likewise enjoying himself. He'd almost forgotten what it was like to breathe without the musty smell of old, soiled bandages. "Who knows what we might find?"

[orchid_below]

"Then I suppose we should explore," she agreed, tugging on his arm to steer them further out onto the grounds. "Perhaps we can find a hill... How far does it go for?"

[delicious_friend]

"I have to confess that I am as nearly in the dark as you are, although I've heard that eventually all paths lead back to the Mansion. It is possible that it is under the same -- ah -- well. The same as the stairs."

[orchid_below]

"The stairs?"

[delicious_friend]

"You've never tried climbing them?"

[orchid_below]

"Of course I have, but I never regarded anything out of the ordinary," Ran frowned. Then again, she'd never found the need to go very far...

[delicious_friend]

"But you spoke of the roof as if you'd tried to gain access to it?"

[orchid_below]

"I simply didn't see any way up there," she said, still frowning, and glanced back at the large, looming building. "I suppose it is rather strange that there were so few floors for so large a building..."