[Letter to Sheldon, written as of just after the Battle for the Manor]
[The letter's handwritten, on pages torn out of one of his journals - the envelope's sealed, and completely unlabeled.]
Some of this is new information and a normal report. Some of this has another motive. I know you know I've been sitting on some information. The only real "secret" I have that is dangerous to me is that I know of Gin's organization's existence; my other secrets aren't mine. Given the potential for trouble, it's not exactly fair for me to leave you completely in the dark, and there's a few parties from my world that're involved that I've left out completely in the past. Still, while I trust you, but there are limits to how well I know you and how far that goes. I cannot say everything, but I will tell you what I can, along with what I've learned in the last week.
I do have to add that I had a humility lesson. I will be trying to work as a diplomat in this - although events of the battle have hampered that; I'll deal with that in some sense of order.
I have been very clearly reminded that as clever as I can be, and as much as I've done, I am a seventeen year old boy.
I'm still inexperienced in a lot of things, and I am not a mastermind - I'm better suited to playing the grey areas and being a piece on the board if it comes to it. I'll do what I can, but feel free to find some way to communicate if it looks like I'm about to do something stupid, or pass orders on to me, and I won't take offense if your directions don't come with explanations. Anyone can be trusted within a very specific framework of what they want, need, and are willing to do to get it; I can't afford to not trust someone here, and you're the one that has the fewest reasons I can find to use me in a way that'd hurt myself or others. If you need a pawn, I'll be one.
Just be careful what avenues you use to contact me - my roommate is curious, intelligent, and a pain in the ass sometimes.
As far as people here, I've gotten to meet John Dillinger, and saw what kinds of notes he makes when he's planning. He's very good at outward calm, although he will occasionally betray his mood if he's agitated; he has self-control in most circumstances, but he has a temper that can flare quite dangerous if he feels that he has a reason to be angry. He's very straightforward out loud, but judging by the charts he was making against Fish, he's very methodical, and isn't treating any situation as linear - there was a sprawl of different ways things could go in that. He has limits and rules, and takes a vehement dislike to individuals like Fish, the “Rabid animals”. He's suspicious, but not unapproachable.
I'm sure he's keeping track of the situation here, making observations and calculating odds. He's also a very dominant personality - give him a reason to take charge, and while he'll listen to suggestions, he will be in charge, particularly if he has reasons to be confident; he doesn't take chances until he can be reasonably sure of the outcome. He does not brook challenges to his authority from most parties; about all that I've seen that can get away with it, is that Shiki can get away with holding him back and telling him to calm down.
In any negotiations, he's going to be there on equal footing or not at all, and I don't doubt he wouldn't make a threat or challenge unless he's confident he can back up, if he says it out loud.
I suspect that he'd hold to his word as long as the other party is holding to theirs, and I wouldn't want to be someone he caught attempting a double-cross or trying to use that against him. Tactically, he is invested in keeping “his people” intact as much as possible, whatever that list might be in the situation at hand; I've gotten to see that first-hand during the battle, with his initial reaction to my plan and how he carried out his end of it, or tried to.
If we've got a mastermind, I'd say he's a prime suspect.
I also suspect that as things go on, if he does respect negotiations, and if he is our mastermind, he might be able to keep a lid on some of his more volatile allies - but keeping his respect in the negotations will require both sides keeping to their word as stated, and the other side treating him with respect. If he loses respect for the negotiations or stops feeling like it's an adequate way of dealing with what he sees as a problem, he'll likely be plotting. Hell, he's probably plotting now.
Unfortunately my ability to serve as a diplomat with him directly is hampered. The plan to use bait to lure Fish out was my idea, and I was the one who suggested the individual bait; I couldn't think of many other people here that would be able to pass off as potential innocent prey who'd be capable of getting out of it and used to that kind of stunt. Sadly my bait decided to be stubborn and impulsive, ditched Dillinger during the battle, and managed to get himself mildly injured and his “shadow” who had the task of getting him out of the way was seriously injured; Dillinger has said that he knows it wasn't my fault that they didnt' stick to the plan, but that they'd made a liar out of me for putting my trust in them. I may be on civil terms with him by myself as an individual, but it will take a small miracle to get him to trust my judgment on others and ability to get them to listen; a major setback, since before this, he had agreed to the idea of using me as a go-between.
He was more than a little angry - some of his temper and reactions would chalk up to what would be expected in the kinds of circles he moved in to keep respect, but he honestly lost his temper for part of what I saw of the aftermath, and Shiki was the one who stepped in to hold him back; hit the right buttons, and he can lose control explosively.
Shiki has a few further complications; I really could write a small thesis on him. He's the only survivor of a thirty-man squad that he'd led - it still bothers him; not only does he not trust other people to have better natures or act intelligently without them proving they can earn respect, he doesn't trust himself with anything beyond his own life and necessities.
On the upside, as mentioned, he's closely associated with Dillinger, and trusted enough to act as a check on Dillinger's temper. If I'm going to have any ability to do anything that direction without some way to regain Dillinger's trust, it'll be through Shiki.
This is granting that there's some, ah, further complications. The good news: I'd say I've definitely managed to win a decent amount of respect and have his attention. I've also realized that he honestly didn't catch some rather manipulative things I've said and done around him as such at all.
Unfortunately I have his attention. In a very awkward sense that my train wreck of a personal life did not need.
I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself, but may be slightly careful where and how I end up meeting him.
My humility lesson was at the hands of one Chris Vineyard. The Author apparently finds our world entertaining ; I knew her by reputation. She's a very well known actress, and studied under one of the best magicians of recent time as well. I never had a reason to cross paths with her back home.
She's also a member of the same organization as Gin, under the code name Vermouth, and is also Sharon Vineyard, her own mother by official records. That detail with disturbing and confusing implications - that organization is after immortality, and she apparently has a head start. She doesn't know that I know about them, yet, that I know of; it helped that I didn't know she was one when I met her. She knows who Kaitou Kid is, and how to find Shinichi Kudo, but hasn't used this information, or shared it with Gin - in fact, some of her past actions have been playing both sides to an unknown end.
I have no clue what her motives might be, or what her agenda is, if she has one here.
I am going to admit - I'm reading all of this from a conversation where she spent half of it playing innocent and pushing buttons on me;. Im rather thankful I got the education in my own weak points and what someone truly manipulative is like on a very silly subject, as I'd rather have my dignity used as a cat-toy than end up suckered into something that would put someone at risk.
She's a good actress, with everything that goes with being a smart one - she's very aware of body language and picking out personalities, and can shift her behavior to play to that. She's calm and controlled. From what I've heard she's capable of, I'd say she's jaded, doesn't fear much, dangerous, and wouldn't show it if she were rattled. She also has a barbed sense of humor, although it's quiet - her toying with me wasn't openly hostile or condescending. From what I know of her recent mentor, assume she's highly skilled at disguise, enough to potentially pose as anyone.
From what Kudo has said about her, she's likely not delivered him to her comrades because she seems to be using him as a cat's paw for the parts of her agenda that include playing against her own “associates”. Given that it's a situation that cannot resolve here, this may work in our favor; so long as she still plans on using him, she may put leverage against Gin to back off.
On the other hand, she might decide it's more entertaining to watch them play cat and mouse since he can't actually die here. I wouldn't put either option past her.
New note on Gin - there's one traitor who escaped and is in hiding, a scientist of theirs. She's not here, but back home, Kudo is helping her hide. He's obsessive about finding her, recognize strands of hair obsessive; that's probably personal. I don't know exactly how, my odds are on either a past relationship, or a one- sided attempt at such, from what Kudo said. Not sure if it'll be useful information from just that, but it's a puzzle piece. If you hear of a “Haibara” arriving in the Manor, it's her; he doesn't know that name for her, however.
Of the two new arrivals of the week:
One of them I'm still unsure what to make of, but he bothers me. His name is Light Yagami; from his accent, dress, and some of the conventions he used speaking to me, he's from something similar to Tokyo I'd find familiar, yet he's addressed many of the people he's talked to short of Shiki and Aoko very imperiously, lapsing in between demands and questions that were treated as things to be answered as a matter of course, condescension, and very false-ringing pleasantries. He accepted the explanation of the Manor and monsters, but seemed utterly unconcerned by it; that combined with his arrogance seems highly suspicious to me. Between the shifts in his outward mood and how easily I managed to ruffle his feathers and get him talking down to me openly, I'd call him likely unstable; not only that, but he's liable to land himself in a shitload of trouble if he stays that condescending towards those around him before he's had anything to give him a clue what he's dealing with.
I don't think he's pulling the ego out of nowhere entirely; he's too quick to jump to conclusions to do anything but set himself up for a fall, but he seems to believe quite firmly that he can back up his attitude on anyone, and I think finding out why might be important, in case he has some way to do serious damage. The last thing we need is an egotistical loose canon with power.
I see him going one of two ways very soon - either he'll continue on the arrogant route, likely end up tipping his hand just what his trick is, and get himself ripped apart or ignored with very few allies; or he'll realize he's trapped, wise up, start controlling his outwardly visible mood swings more, and go quiet.
Honestly, speaking personally? I think I'd prefer the set-up-for-a-fall loss of control route; I'm not sure what he's hiding, but something feels wrong about the way he's been acting so far. I chalk it up half to instinct and half to his behavioral discrepencies.
The other is Apollo Justice.
He's a defense attorney who's apparently mostly worked murders - a rookie, but after how he handled himself when I was testing and fishing at him, he's going to be a very good one once he adjusts, and an honest one at that. He's very bad at hiding things, and has no poker face, but is someone worth working on that with; he'll need to learn it anyway. He's generally fairly approachable, and seems to spend a decent amount of time “coasting” - staying in a mode where he at least seems to not be paying attention, and if anything, reads like someone who'd make a fabulous cat-toy for someone predatory.
Then something catches his attention.
He pays more attention to detail than he lets on. He is uncertain until he gets clues past a certain point, but he picks up very quickly on body language, wording, and reading between the lines. He also has a bracelet with some kind of preternatural ability to warn him when someone is hiding something from him; I doubt that he needs it on most people, from some of his comments on wording and behavior, but it's an extra edge. As long as he has it, he may occasionally catch lies and secrets from people who don't give him anything to tip him off by normal means.
When he decides he wants to know what you're hiding, he is capable of latching onto it with fangs and claws and not letting go until he gets some kind of an answer. He does, at least, understand discretion if given a good enough reason to stop asking. From what I found out of his past work, he's also had to exercise discretion in when to start asking, as well.
He is actually committed to treating people with respect and fairness, and finding the truth without bias - I admit, I abused catching him half-awake and incoherent for some of my fishing to see what I could get out of him, and he understands professionalism and objectivity, and respects it.
He doesn't have a lot of experience and it shows. He knows I'm working on diplomatics, and has apparently allowed himself to be used as a willing pawn before, for the purpose of something worth it. He's agreed to let me feed him information and give him directions without questioning anything further that I might choose to hide from him.
He's inexperienced and seems to not be entirely confident in his skills - that, his occasional flail, and being a lousy liar are going to be his worst pitfalls. On the upside, while he does react to a point when someone tries to be intimidating, it doesn't always occur. He recovers quickly and stops reacting fairly quickly when he realizes someone is toying with him; he does seem to understand when reacting would be a weakness, although his control is uneven.
I'm planning on introducing him to the Courts as someone they could use - it might take him time to get established and earn respect, but he should be able to balance out their approach, maybe even give them some pointers on law and what to do with it after you catch the suspect. I've given him advice to find them himself if I don't beat him to that.
I may also have to give him some information to go on - enough to keep him from walking into something dangerous unawares.
As for the others around me:
As a first note? Speaking realistically and honestly, with regards to problems back home that might affect here, we're all in too deep to back out, and we're all holding the aces and eights. There's too much in the air to say that we can't find a way to at least wound them and get away intact, but I strongly suspect we're not going to come out without casualties.
In our respective situations back home, I'm the one that's the most visible and has the fewest escape routes.
I also know you're likely to guess at least one thing I can't say - I won't lie if confronted on it.
Kudo's afraid of Gin - he doesn't want to admit it, but he is. I'd trust him to be objective and level on a lot of things, but I'd hedge bets with this until he learns to get it under control. Gin's the first person to beat him, has driven him into hiding, and has him more terrified than he'll admit to himself, and he'd never suffered a real defeat or been honestly in fear for his life before that. This is a bad thing - it's bad enough that he's made stupid mistakes, snapped at allies, and started making assumptions, even if he did recover after some time to cool down and prodding. Under different circumstances, or with a little worse luck …
He calms down, but he won't admit how bad it can be. If Gin gets involved in current politics, Kudo needs to get over it - I'm trying to work on him, but he's stubborn and has pride to get over; even if his fears aren't unfounded, he doesn't hide them. Gin's a predator, and smart enough to use that and encourage him to panic more.
He's also stubborn, and admitted that he can be reckless to a fault when there's a situation where he feels that lives are at stake; as mentioned, Gin was his first solid defeat, and he hasn't learned the reflex yet to assume that he's on the target list himself in a case with anyone but Gin's organization.
Gin - … well, I'm sure you already guessed that the “anonymous” post fishing for information about Kudo was him. The habit of his that's been implied from a few things I got explained to me that worries me, is that he understands how to use refuge in audacity in normal society - taking swift and decisive advantage of the avenues that cannot feasibly be guarded against to pull something that would normally be considered ridiculous, and pulling back before it can be caught. A good example has to do with why Conan is an occasional target of opportunity.
I strongly suspect Gin has been involved in organized crime as long as I've been involved in law enforcement, from what information I've gotten on him since - I'm also not sure he actually has a concept how to interact with normal society.
Kudo's cousin, Conan, is involved and aware. The kid's smart, precocious, mature for his age, and knows to use the way people never expect much from kids to his advantage. In some ways he's playing Wiggins to Shinichi. He's also as bad as I was at his age - those that know he's aware let him stay involved because he'd try to help anyway. He can be very useful, and it's safer for him if people know to watch out for him and are actively warning him. He's observant - and it can be assumed that whatever he knows, Kudo knows. He's had enough of a brush with Gin for the assassin to recognize him, although Gin doesn't seem to realize that he's connected. When he shot Conan, the kid ran and went up a fire escape to hide in a building; I followed the blood trail to him - if I found him, Gin could've, he just didn't care enough.
I've never worked with or directly met Kudo before here, but I have worked with Conan twice before, both of which were outside of any easy communication range for some of his stunts to be chalked up to coaching from outside. I wouldn't leave him dealing with anything completely alone, but he can keep up for the most part.
Honestly, the fact that he seems to have the same kind of broken survival instinct I had at that age, is all the more reason it's a good thing my roommate and a few others have decided to watch out for him. Even after brushes with it, it's hard to process your own mortality very well that young.
As for myself: I'm not going to try and psychoanalyze myself, and it seems that objective background will probably tell you anything you'd need to know.
My father's the Tokyo Chief of police. My mother is a specialized consultant and investigator; she does work for Interpol, Scotland Yard, and a few other police organizations around the world. Her main speciality is behavioral study and abnormal psychology. I was born in Tokyo, but sent with my mother to England and Europe when I was eight, after a bad run-in with a crooked cop; I was held as leverage against my father, and it was deemed that I was too easily identifiable in Japan to be safe here. Most of my childhood was spent around police stations, and like Conan, I had a tendency to end up helping on investigations - a couple of the Yard decided I was useful for picking out details others missed.
My first official case was when I was thirteen - it was a missing persons investigation that had been sent to my mother that she didn't have time for, since it didn't look like it was anything major.
It turned out to be a serial killer - I was met with disbelief and told there'd have to be some kind of solid proof to treat it as such. I went through most of the investigation by myself, and ended up in over my head. I was caught, barely escaped, and managed to draw attention to his hiding place in barely enough time to get help.
After that I ended up taking on some of the caseload that would've gone to my mother; it's mostly been unusual cases - most of the “Normal” murders, robberies, and the like I've been involved in were things where I happened to be hanging around the police station when it came up and was allowed in to help. With the shuffling from city to city, I've usually had to work half by myself, without any guarantee of backup that would arrive in any reasonable amount of time.
I transferred back to Tokyo last year for the Kid case - it was my first time back in Japan. I have never said it in a report or out loud, but the reason I took the case on was picking out the pattern where Kid was reacting to some other force, and what I could glean of what sort of organization it was. None of the others from my world were aware that I knew about them until Gin arrived here, and I went to warn them.
I'm going to be taking advantage of the lab in the basement to make more of something I'd worked out for the Kid case, for use here - I have two of the knockout gas grenades on me now, and will be making more. They have a two to three second release time, and cover about a two and a half meter diameter area. The main effect lasts about a half-hour to forty-five minutes - enough time to either get away or arrange restraints - and the aftereffects are about equivalent to a very obnoxious hangover.
I have the basic design and formula, and am considering sharing it with a few others, in the name of avoiding bloodshed and overt threats.
My roommate and classmate is involved - Kaito Kuroba. His late father was a stage magician, and he's an amateur at it; he doesn't have the background we do, but …
Well, magician logic is a very special and strange thing, and he's not stupid. Magician logic is manipulation of people's expectations and perceptions - it's something he's been using since being drug into the insanity.
You probably won't see him actively involved in politics or any of the conflicts; most of his role here is being a stand-in for the people who'd normally keep an eye on Conan.
He's outgoing, but it's in a stage-persona way. He doesn't actually seek people out, or associate closely with many people. He's very high energy, and can be quite moody, although he generally covers it. He's also a prankster - thanks to some incidents when I arrived at the school, we actually fought like cats and dogs before we came here, and I've had my hair dyed strange colors among other things more than once.
Kuroba and Nakamori are two weak points of mine. Kuroba I worry about less - he's demonstrated that he's cautious, wary, and capable of dodging and avoiding things and people, and he's better at paying attention to people to pick up when someone is a threat.
I am human, for all of my experience in the field I am a seventeen year old boy, and he's one of the first two friends I've had at my age. If he's in danger, I'll be working to get him out of it, and while I'll do everything in my power to not damage what we're working on here, I may get myself hurt if circumstances are such that I do not have time to think before I act.
I do understand that death isn't permanent here and anything that would seriously damage the balance of power or piss off the wrong people would render anything I do to help him moot and valueless, as open shooting would just mean things getting worse - I will not risk that.
But I will worry about him.
Aoko is the other one from my world who...
Is a large grievous mistake on all of our parts.
Her father is the inspector in charge of 2nd Division, Grand Theft, who also heads the special Task Force for catching Kid. He's one of the ones where I have an unspoken understanding that there's more going on than just one silly thief, and he's aware that I have a highly illegal firearm when I'm in the field. He's not home very often, and I often see more of him than she does. Between that, and having Kaito around her entire life to distract her, she's been fairly well insulated from dealing with the insanity that goes with police work. She is innocent, has a temper that passes fairly quickly, has faith in human better nature, and the habit of caring about everyone. She's proven she could keep up with us, but she has no faith in herself; she cuts herself off before she tries most of the time.
We've wanted to protect her, and have been doing so as much as we can.
This is our mistake, and the networks show how that almost bit us in the ass. It's all the greater a mistake on my part since I've known since I came to that school that she wanted to become a cop.
Under normal circumstances, she'll end up a target sooner or later - she's too closely connected to more than one person involved in this. None of us have really wanted to face that before, but it's become clear that we need to.
I'm sure it's not hard for anyone with an agenda to guess that she's a large glaringly visible weak point for both myself and Kuroba. Her friendly nature does mean she has several others outside of our circle that would be willing to protect her, but until she can protect herself, that's a craps shoot of who might be available if something goes wrong.
I probably will be outfitting her with the smoke grenades - I'd prefer that she be able to do something case there isn't someone to help.
Ironically, I suspect that the best chance all of us have with the problems we brought from home is likely the diplomatic work - I don't expect to have real immunity for a long time, but the less inclined people are to react violently or be looking for places to strike, the harder it'll be for Gin or Vermouth to get lost in the shuffle, and the less worth their while it will be.
Some of this is new information and a normal report. Some of this has another motive. I know you know I've been sitting on some information. The only real "secret" I have that is dangerous to me is that I know of Gin's organization's existence; my other secrets aren't mine. Given the potential for trouble, it's not exactly fair for me to leave you completely in the dark, and there's a few parties from my world that're involved that I've left out completely in the past. Still, while I trust you, but there are limits to how well I know you and how far that goes. I cannot say everything, but I will tell you what I can, along with what I've learned in the last week.
I do have to add that I had a humility lesson. I will be trying to work as a diplomat in this - although events of the battle have hampered that; I'll deal with that in some sense of order.
I have been very clearly reminded that as clever as I can be, and as much as I've done, I am a seventeen year old boy.
I'm still inexperienced in a lot of things, and I am not a mastermind - I'm better suited to playing the grey areas and being a piece on the board if it comes to it. I'll do what I can, but feel free to find some way to communicate if it looks like I'm about to do something stupid, or pass orders on to me, and I won't take offense if your directions don't come with explanations. Anyone can be trusted within a very specific framework of what they want, need, and are willing to do to get it; I can't afford to not trust someone here, and you're the one that has the fewest reasons I can find to use me in a way that'd hurt myself or others. If you need a pawn, I'll be one.
Just be careful what avenues you use to contact me - my roommate is curious, intelligent, and a pain in the ass sometimes.
As far as people here, I've gotten to meet John Dillinger, and saw what kinds of notes he makes when he's planning. He's very good at outward calm, although he will occasionally betray his mood if he's agitated; he has self-control in most circumstances, but he has a temper that can flare quite dangerous if he feels that he has a reason to be angry. He's very straightforward out loud, but judging by the charts he was making against Fish, he's very methodical, and isn't treating any situation as linear - there was a sprawl of different ways things could go in that. He has limits and rules, and takes a vehement dislike to individuals like Fish, the “Rabid animals”. He's suspicious, but not unapproachable.
I'm sure he's keeping track of the situation here, making observations and calculating odds. He's also a very dominant personality - give him a reason to take charge, and while he'll listen to suggestions, he will be in charge, particularly if he has reasons to be confident; he doesn't take chances until he can be reasonably sure of the outcome. He does not brook challenges to his authority from most parties; about all that I've seen that can get away with it, is that Shiki can get away with holding him back and telling him to calm down.
In any negotiations, he's going to be there on equal footing or not at all, and I don't doubt he wouldn't make a threat or challenge unless he's confident he can back up, if he says it out loud.
I suspect that he'd hold to his word as long as the other party is holding to theirs, and I wouldn't want to be someone he caught attempting a double-cross or trying to use that against him. Tactically, he is invested in keeping “his people” intact as much as possible, whatever that list might be in the situation at hand; I've gotten to see that first-hand during the battle, with his initial reaction to my plan and how he carried out his end of it, or tried to.
If we've got a mastermind, I'd say he's a prime suspect.
I also suspect that as things go on, if he does respect negotiations, and if he is our mastermind, he might be able to keep a lid on some of his more volatile allies - but keeping his respect in the negotations will require both sides keeping to their word as stated, and the other side treating him with respect. If he loses respect for the negotiations or stops feeling like it's an adequate way of dealing with what he sees as a problem, he'll likely be plotting. Hell, he's probably plotting now.
Unfortunately my ability to serve as a diplomat with him directly is hampered. The plan to use bait to lure Fish out was my idea, and I was the one who suggested the individual bait; I couldn't think of many other people here that would be able to pass off as potential innocent prey who'd be capable of getting out of it and used to that kind of stunt. Sadly my bait decided to be stubborn and impulsive, ditched Dillinger during the battle, and managed to get himself mildly injured and his “shadow” who had the task of getting him out of the way was seriously injured; Dillinger has said that he knows it wasn't my fault that they didnt' stick to the plan, but that they'd made a liar out of me for putting my trust in them. I may be on civil terms with him by myself as an individual, but it will take a small miracle to get him to trust my judgment on others and ability to get them to listen; a major setback, since before this, he had agreed to the idea of using me as a go-between.
He was more than a little angry - some of his temper and reactions would chalk up to what would be expected in the kinds of circles he moved in to keep respect, but he honestly lost his temper for part of what I saw of the aftermath, and Shiki was the one who stepped in to hold him back; hit the right buttons, and he can lose control explosively.
Shiki has a few further complications; I really could write a small thesis on him. He's the only survivor of a thirty-man squad that he'd led - it still bothers him; not only does he not trust other people to have better natures or act intelligently without them proving they can earn respect, he doesn't trust himself with anything beyond his own life and necessities.
On the upside, as mentioned, he's closely associated with Dillinger, and trusted enough to act as a check on Dillinger's temper. If I'm going to have any ability to do anything that direction without some way to regain Dillinger's trust, it'll be through Shiki.
This is granting that there's some, ah, further complications. The good news: I'd say I've definitely managed to win a decent amount of respect and have his attention. I've also realized that he honestly didn't catch some rather manipulative things I've said and done around him as such at all.
Unfortunately I have his attention. In a very awkward sense that my train wreck of a personal life did not need.
I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself, but may be slightly careful where and how I end up meeting him.
My humility lesson was at the hands of one Chris Vineyard. The Author apparently finds our world entertaining ; I knew her by reputation. She's a very well known actress, and studied under one of the best magicians of recent time as well. I never had a reason to cross paths with her back home.
She's also a member of the same organization as Gin, under the code name Vermouth, and is also Sharon Vineyard, her own mother by official records. That detail with disturbing and confusing implications - that organization is after immortality, and she apparently has a head start. She doesn't know that I know about them, yet, that I know of; it helped that I didn't know she was one when I met her. She knows who Kaitou Kid is, and how to find Shinichi Kudo, but hasn't used this information, or shared it with Gin - in fact, some of her past actions have been playing both sides to an unknown end.
I have no clue what her motives might be, or what her agenda is, if she has one here.
I am going to admit - I'm reading all of this from a conversation where she spent half of it playing innocent and pushing buttons on me;. Im rather thankful I got the education in my own weak points and what someone truly manipulative is like on a very silly subject, as I'd rather have my dignity used as a cat-toy than end up suckered into something that would put someone at risk.
She's a good actress, with everything that goes with being a smart one - she's very aware of body language and picking out personalities, and can shift her behavior to play to that. She's calm and controlled. From what I've heard she's capable of, I'd say she's jaded, doesn't fear much, dangerous, and wouldn't show it if she were rattled. She also has a barbed sense of humor, although it's quiet - her toying with me wasn't openly hostile or condescending. From what I know of her recent mentor, assume she's highly skilled at disguise, enough to potentially pose as anyone.
From what Kudo has said about her, she's likely not delivered him to her comrades because she seems to be using him as a cat's paw for the parts of her agenda that include playing against her own “associates”. Given that it's a situation that cannot resolve here, this may work in our favor; so long as she still plans on using him, she may put leverage against Gin to back off.
On the other hand, she might decide it's more entertaining to watch them play cat and mouse since he can't actually die here. I wouldn't put either option past her.
New note on Gin - there's one traitor who escaped and is in hiding, a scientist of theirs. She's not here, but back home, Kudo is helping her hide. He's obsessive about finding her, recognize strands of hair obsessive; that's probably personal. I don't know exactly how, my odds are on either a past relationship, or a one- sided attempt at such, from what Kudo said. Not sure if it'll be useful information from just that, but it's a puzzle piece. If you hear of a “Haibara” arriving in the Manor, it's her; he doesn't know that name for her, however.
Of the two new arrivals of the week:
One of them I'm still unsure what to make of, but he bothers me. His name is Light Yagami; from his accent, dress, and some of the conventions he used speaking to me, he's from something similar to Tokyo I'd find familiar, yet he's addressed many of the people he's talked to short of Shiki and Aoko very imperiously, lapsing in between demands and questions that were treated as things to be answered as a matter of course, condescension, and very false-ringing pleasantries. He accepted the explanation of the Manor and monsters, but seemed utterly unconcerned by it; that combined with his arrogance seems highly suspicious to me. Between the shifts in his outward mood and how easily I managed to ruffle his feathers and get him talking down to me openly, I'd call him likely unstable; not only that, but he's liable to land himself in a shitload of trouble if he stays that condescending towards those around him before he's had anything to give him a clue what he's dealing with.
I don't think he's pulling the ego out of nowhere entirely; he's too quick to jump to conclusions to do anything but set himself up for a fall, but he seems to believe quite firmly that he can back up his attitude on anyone, and I think finding out why might be important, in case he has some way to do serious damage. The last thing we need is an egotistical loose canon with power.
I see him going one of two ways very soon - either he'll continue on the arrogant route, likely end up tipping his hand just what his trick is, and get himself ripped apart or ignored with very few allies; or he'll realize he's trapped, wise up, start controlling his outwardly visible mood swings more, and go quiet.
Honestly, speaking personally? I think I'd prefer the set-up-for-a-fall loss of control route; I'm not sure what he's hiding, but something feels wrong about the way he's been acting so far. I chalk it up half to instinct and half to his behavioral discrepencies.
The other is Apollo Justice.
He's a defense attorney who's apparently mostly worked murders - a rookie, but after how he handled himself when I was testing and fishing at him, he's going to be a very good one once he adjusts, and an honest one at that. He's very bad at hiding things, and has no poker face, but is someone worth working on that with; he'll need to learn it anyway. He's generally fairly approachable, and seems to spend a decent amount of time “coasting” - staying in a mode where he at least seems to not be paying attention, and if anything, reads like someone who'd make a fabulous cat-toy for someone predatory.
Then something catches his attention.
He pays more attention to detail than he lets on. He is uncertain until he gets clues past a certain point, but he picks up very quickly on body language, wording, and reading between the lines. He also has a bracelet with some kind of preternatural ability to warn him when someone is hiding something from him; I doubt that he needs it on most people, from some of his comments on wording and behavior, but it's an extra edge. As long as he has it, he may occasionally catch lies and secrets from people who don't give him anything to tip him off by normal means.
When he decides he wants to know what you're hiding, he is capable of latching onto it with fangs and claws and not letting go until he gets some kind of an answer. He does, at least, understand discretion if given a good enough reason to stop asking. From what I found out of his past work, he's also had to exercise discretion in when to start asking, as well.
He is actually committed to treating people with respect and fairness, and finding the truth without bias - I admit, I abused catching him half-awake and incoherent for some of my fishing to see what I could get out of him, and he understands professionalism and objectivity, and respects it.
He doesn't have a lot of experience and it shows. He knows I'm working on diplomatics, and has apparently allowed himself to be used as a willing pawn before, for the purpose of something worth it. He's agreed to let me feed him information and give him directions without questioning anything further that I might choose to hide from him.
He's inexperienced and seems to not be entirely confident in his skills - that, his occasional flail, and being a lousy liar are going to be his worst pitfalls. On the upside, while he does react to a point when someone tries to be intimidating, it doesn't always occur. He recovers quickly and stops reacting fairly quickly when he realizes someone is toying with him; he does seem to understand when reacting would be a weakness, although his control is uneven.
I'm planning on introducing him to the Courts as someone they could use - it might take him time to get established and earn respect, but he should be able to balance out their approach, maybe even give them some pointers on law and what to do with it after you catch the suspect. I've given him advice to find them himself if I don't beat him to that.
I may also have to give him some information to go on - enough to keep him from walking into something dangerous unawares.
As for the others around me:
As a first note? Speaking realistically and honestly, with regards to problems back home that might affect here, we're all in too deep to back out, and we're all holding the aces and eights. There's too much in the air to say that we can't find a way to at least wound them and get away intact, but I strongly suspect we're not going to come out without casualties.
In our respective situations back home, I'm the one that's the most visible and has the fewest escape routes.
I also know you're likely to guess at least one thing I can't say - I won't lie if confronted on it.
Kudo's afraid of Gin - he doesn't want to admit it, but he is. I'd trust him to be objective and level on a lot of things, but I'd hedge bets with this until he learns to get it under control. Gin's the first person to beat him, has driven him into hiding, and has him more terrified than he'll admit to himself, and he'd never suffered a real defeat or been honestly in fear for his life before that. This is a bad thing - it's bad enough that he's made stupid mistakes, snapped at allies, and started making assumptions, even if he did recover after some time to cool down and prodding. Under different circumstances, or with a little worse luck …
He calms down, but he won't admit how bad it can be. If Gin gets involved in current politics, Kudo needs to get over it - I'm trying to work on him, but he's stubborn and has pride to get over; even if his fears aren't unfounded, he doesn't hide them. Gin's a predator, and smart enough to use that and encourage him to panic more.
He's also stubborn, and admitted that he can be reckless to a fault when there's a situation where he feels that lives are at stake; as mentioned, Gin was his first solid defeat, and he hasn't learned the reflex yet to assume that he's on the target list himself in a case with anyone but Gin's organization.
Gin - … well, I'm sure you already guessed that the “anonymous” post fishing for information about Kudo was him. The habit of his that's been implied from a few things I got explained to me that worries me, is that he understands how to use refuge in audacity in normal society - taking swift and decisive advantage of the avenues that cannot feasibly be guarded against to pull something that would normally be considered ridiculous, and pulling back before it can be caught. A good example has to do with why Conan is an occasional target of opportunity.
I strongly suspect Gin has been involved in organized crime as long as I've been involved in law enforcement, from what information I've gotten on him since - I'm also not sure he actually has a concept how to interact with normal society.
Kudo's cousin, Conan, is involved and aware. The kid's smart, precocious, mature for his age, and knows to use the way people never expect much from kids to his advantage. In some ways he's playing Wiggins to Shinichi. He's also as bad as I was at his age - those that know he's aware let him stay involved because he'd try to help anyway. He can be very useful, and it's safer for him if people know to watch out for him and are actively warning him. He's observant - and it can be assumed that whatever he knows, Kudo knows. He's had enough of a brush with Gin for the assassin to recognize him, although Gin doesn't seem to realize that he's connected. When he shot Conan, the kid ran and went up a fire escape to hide in a building; I followed the blood trail to him - if I found him, Gin could've, he just didn't care enough.
I've never worked with or directly met Kudo before here, but I have worked with Conan twice before, both of which were outside of any easy communication range for some of his stunts to be chalked up to coaching from outside. I wouldn't leave him dealing with anything completely alone, but he can keep up for the most part.
Honestly, the fact that he seems to have the same kind of broken survival instinct I had at that age, is all the more reason it's a good thing my roommate and a few others have decided to watch out for him. Even after brushes with it, it's hard to process your own mortality very well that young.
As for myself: I'm not going to try and psychoanalyze myself, and it seems that objective background will probably tell you anything you'd need to know.
My father's the Tokyo Chief of police. My mother is a specialized consultant and investigator; she does work for Interpol, Scotland Yard, and a few other police organizations around the world. Her main speciality is behavioral study and abnormal psychology. I was born in Tokyo, but sent with my mother to England and Europe when I was eight, after a bad run-in with a crooked cop; I was held as leverage against my father, and it was deemed that I was too easily identifiable in Japan to be safe here. Most of my childhood was spent around police stations, and like Conan, I had a tendency to end up helping on investigations - a couple of the Yard decided I was useful for picking out details others missed.
My first official case was when I was thirteen - it was a missing persons investigation that had been sent to my mother that she didn't have time for, since it didn't look like it was anything major.
It turned out to be a serial killer - I was met with disbelief and told there'd have to be some kind of solid proof to treat it as such. I went through most of the investigation by myself, and ended up in over my head. I was caught, barely escaped, and managed to draw attention to his hiding place in barely enough time to get help.
After that I ended up taking on some of the caseload that would've gone to my mother; it's mostly been unusual cases - most of the “Normal” murders, robberies, and the like I've been involved in were things where I happened to be hanging around the police station when it came up and was allowed in to help. With the shuffling from city to city, I've usually had to work half by myself, without any guarantee of backup that would arrive in any reasonable amount of time.
I transferred back to Tokyo last year for the Kid case - it was my first time back in Japan. I have never said it in a report or out loud, but the reason I took the case on was picking out the pattern where Kid was reacting to some other force, and what I could glean of what sort of organization it was. None of the others from my world were aware that I knew about them until Gin arrived here, and I went to warn them.
I'm going to be taking advantage of the lab in the basement to make more of something I'd worked out for the Kid case, for use here - I have two of the knockout gas grenades on me now, and will be making more. They have a two to three second release time, and cover about a two and a half meter diameter area. The main effect lasts about a half-hour to forty-five minutes - enough time to either get away or arrange restraints - and the aftereffects are about equivalent to a very obnoxious hangover.
I have the basic design and formula, and am considering sharing it with a few others, in the name of avoiding bloodshed and overt threats.
My roommate and classmate is involved - Kaito Kuroba. His late father was a stage magician, and he's an amateur at it; he doesn't have the background we do, but …
Well, magician logic is a very special and strange thing, and he's not stupid. Magician logic is manipulation of people's expectations and perceptions - it's something he's been using since being drug into the insanity.
You probably won't see him actively involved in politics or any of the conflicts; most of his role here is being a stand-in for the people who'd normally keep an eye on Conan.
He's outgoing, but it's in a stage-persona way. He doesn't actually seek people out, or associate closely with many people. He's very high energy, and can be quite moody, although he generally covers it. He's also a prankster - thanks to some incidents when I arrived at the school, we actually fought like cats and dogs before we came here, and I've had my hair dyed strange colors among other things more than once.
Kuroba and Nakamori are two weak points of mine. Kuroba I worry about less - he's demonstrated that he's cautious, wary, and capable of dodging and avoiding things and people, and he's better at paying attention to people to pick up when someone is a threat.
I am human, for all of my experience in the field I am a seventeen year old boy, and he's one of the first two friends I've had at my age. If he's in danger, I'll be working to get him out of it, and while I'll do everything in my power to not damage what we're working on here, I may get myself hurt if circumstances are such that I do not have time to think before I act.
I do understand that death isn't permanent here and anything that would seriously damage the balance of power or piss off the wrong people would render anything I do to help him moot and valueless, as open shooting would just mean things getting worse - I will not risk that.
But I will worry about him.
Aoko is the other one from my world who...
Is a large grievous mistake on all of our parts.
Her father is the inspector in charge of 2nd Division, Grand Theft, who also heads the special Task Force for catching Kid. He's one of the ones where I have an unspoken understanding that there's more going on than just one silly thief, and he's aware that I have a highly illegal firearm when I'm in the field. He's not home very often, and I often see more of him than she does. Between that, and having Kaito around her entire life to distract her, she's been fairly well insulated from dealing with the insanity that goes with police work. She is innocent, has a temper that passes fairly quickly, has faith in human better nature, and the habit of caring about everyone. She's proven she could keep up with us, but she has no faith in herself; she cuts herself off before she tries most of the time.
We've wanted to protect her, and have been doing so as much as we can.
This is our mistake, and the networks show how that almost bit us in the ass. It's all the greater a mistake on my part since I've known since I came to that school that she wanted to become a cop.
Under normal circumstances, she'll end up a target sooner or later - she's too closely connected to more than one person involved in this. None of us have really wanted to face that before, but it's become clear that we need to.
I'm sure it's not hard for anyone with an agenda to guess that she's a large glaringly visible weak point for both myself and Kuroba. Her friendly nature does mean she has several others outside of our circle that would be willing to protect her, but until she can protect herself, that's a craps shoot of who might be available if something goes wrong.
I probably will be outfitting her with the smoke grenades - I'd prefer that she be able to do something case there isn't someone to help.
Ironically, I suspect that the best chance all of us have with the problems we brought from home is likely the diplomatic work - I don't expect to have real immunity for a long time, but the less inclined people are to react violently or be looking for places to strike, the harder it'll be for Gin or Vermouth to get lost in the shuffle, and the less worth their while it will be.