Welcome to the Festival of Fireflies

[lazyjustice]

Who: You! Anyone and everyone is welcome to come!
What: A Festival of Fireflies with games, food, rides and more!
Where: Genessia
When: August 15th-20th. Starting at 7pm
Warnings: Be sure to warn in your threads appropriately.


[The gates are open and the air is filled with the sound of music. Whether you're a reveler, a vendor or anything in between-- come and enjoy the festival!

The Firefly Masquerade post is here]

Comments

Re: OTA - All Days

[youfool]

Speaking of terrible experiences...

Ted took a peek at the festival and, seeing the present debauchery, thought better of it. Of course, any wayward children would have to be rescued too. He saw one such bundle of pure, unblemished innocence now, in a costume that was...well, some things should be left unsaid.

"Conan! Thank goodness I found you. I think I've got a case for you, in fact."

Re: OTA - All Days

[spoilsfun]

Pure unblemished innocence was not quite the right phrase to use to describe Conan at the moment. He scowls suspiciously at Ted.

"What kind of case?"

Re: OTA - All Days

[youfool]

He approached, getting too close for comfort, putting on a clandestine air, as is suitable for a masquerade ball.

"A sensitive matter; the kind not suitable to share where there are ears everywhere. Come along with me to the crime scene proper, and you will know all."

[spoilsfun]

That was a very suspicious way to put it. It was probably some kind of trap.

But Conan was very bored at the moment, and Ted had gotten him curious. It wouldn't be the first time Conan's curiosity had driven him to make poor decisions.

"Okay! Where is the crime scene? How many people are involved?"

[youfool]

Bored in a carnival? What a jerk! Ted's glad he somehow piqued his interest anyway, else he would've had to apply the compulsive-piggyback maneuver, or even the sleeping powder-and-sack kidnapping technique.

But nothing so complicated. All he had to do was talk his way into it. Fullproof.

"First, you'll need to blend in." He dug out a beak-mask and a black cloak that ought to cover all of Conan without scuffing the floor. He gestured out of wherever Conan was and towards the Ball, filling him in with nonsense as they went.

"It's a very curious case; perhaps too difficult for you, but you're the only detective on the premises, and time is of the essence. The victim seems to have been assailed by multiple people. It may be not finding one guilty among the innocent, but the other way around. Yes; you may have to find the one pure soul amidst all the criminals."

[spoilsfun]

"Hold on a moment." Conan stops as he thinks over this information. "This is at the masquerade? Why aren't there any detectives there? And why are you getting me? Shouldn't you have gotten the guardians and the local police force first?"

[youfool]

"If there are any detectives, they haven't made any headway. As for law enforcement, well, you know what bunglers they can be." Hopefully he could play on a Sherlock-ian pride and mild contempt for the obvious, blundering boys in blue.

"Anyway, they'd have no subtlety. There are ways for cases to resolve that are sometimes most elegantly completed without bringing the heavy hand of law into it. Come along, there's really no time."

[spoilsfun]

"Not all of them." Conan was mildly offended on the behalf of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. Sure, he'd met bunglers before. But he'd grown to have a lot of respect for some of the police officers he knew.

"And regardless, they should have been called first to take charge of the scene. Cases solved without police involvement may not be admissible in court."

[youfool]

Option one was to return to the forcible piggyback. Option two was a switcheroo. They do say force is a last resort, so option 2 it is.

"Forgive me, I thought by bringing the future to the present I might stoke some urgency in you. All right, here's the truth of it. The truth is that the crime has not yet happened. But according to my sources, it most certainly will if the suspect is not sussed out by midnight. But the law will not respond to such hunches as I have, and I should rather preempt the deed before the law becomes necessary. That is why I need your expertise, not theirs."

[spoilsfun]

"Then why didn't you say that to begin with?"

This is getting more and more suspicious, Ted.

[youfool]

"So that you would ask that question." Little brat. "Who knows? Mental haze born of panic? Forgetfulness? A spur? What's important is that you lay eyes on the one that must be stopped before a criminal is born and an innocent is wronged. Please, Conan. The minutes are moving."

[spoilsfun]

Conan was still suspicious. Why had Ted come to him for this? Conan knew his own skill, but he knew very well that he hadn't really proved it in Genessia yet.

There had to be more to this.

But he couldn't take the risk that there was no truth in it. Someone's life might rest on it.

"Okay! But as we move, why don't you tell me a little more about these suspicions?"

[youfool]

"Thank you." He started to pick up the pace. He should feel bad for taking advantage of a detective's nobler feelings, but on the other hand, it was kind of gratifying to not be figured out himself.

"I'm afraid the details I know are sparse. From the grapevine, I've gleaned that there are two people there who don't belong. One did not go there of their own free will, and the other brought the first expressly for that purpose. Somehow, the second means to dispose of them at the Ball using the festivity, and the disguise it encourages, as cover.

In other words, with whatever subtlety you can muster, you must try and pick out who is there that shouldn't be; who never meant to be but for insidious purpose. Find the disparate element, then keep them from the other, and by Ball's end, the impulse and the means of the crime should expire, hopefully putting the event to bed before it's ever born. Of course, I'll be undertaking the same work, but my eyes are not so keen."

[spoilsfun]

"How did you hear all of this? The grapevine isn't usually reliable."

Conan eyes him suspiciously. That much flattery was a little out of character, from what he knew of Ted.

[youfool]

If he knew Ted much at all, he'd know he did not flatter, but complimented profusely. That or he's just making a crack at his glasses, one of the two. "That's the hope; that it is all vapor and gaseous rumor. I get the feeling it may be real, and for that...well, here we are." They'd arrived blessedly in time to cut off any further questioning, or so Ted hoped. Now was the time for action.

"Remember, investigate these masqueraders, see who's meant to be here, and who's the intruder. Then, when you find them, keep watch that their other does not get too close. I'll do likewise. May grace watch over us all."