Makin' It Gay

I mean I never actually left I've just been doing other stuff and haven't kept up with DCMK for years. I keep meaning to catch up, but haven't gotten to it yet. I can't deny that the upcoming film threatening the fandom like this compels me, though

Okay, a dig through my own blog says that the last chapter I read was 1021... and that was like four years ago :v Where are the good scanlations at these days?

I am basically never on tumblr now, and I’m sorry about that, but I do want you all to know that I’m fixing up, reposting and actually FINISHING the Spirit Detective AU on AO3! Happy Halloween!

ranichi17 replied to your post “Where are you moving after the purge?”

Don’t worry, it’s all safe in a doc where I’m trying to clean up and expand and maybe hopefully at some point finish it, I never post ANYTHING exclusively to one website because I’ve seen past purges wipe people’s entire body of work and I trust no bitch

Desperation. Or maybe it had been frustration. Shinichi couldn’t remember, now what it was that he’d felt at that moment in the murdered diplomat’s mansion that had pushed him back into the physical realm, however briefly. He couldn’t say what he’d been feeling then that he hadn’t felt at other times. 

Whatever it was, he hoped Akemi kept feeling it long enough to hold herself up, braced in the crumbling chimney by the blades of her shoulders and shoes, Conan clutched to her stomach with his hands clasped over his mouth to stifle any frightened noise before Gin or Vodka could hear it.

“Gin and Vodka are coming now!” Shinichi shouted urgently, heading back into the wine cellar as fast as he could. Thankfully, Conan was conscious, though kneeling on the floor with his arms wrapped around himself and Akemi crouched over him. She looked up with a startled expression. “Akemi-san, did you find a way out? We have to go now! I think they’re tracking Pisco’s phone!”

“I... no, we haven’t found a way out yet,” Akemi said, shaking her head as if disoriented. “We... never mind. Later. This isn’t a true wine cellar, it’s not fully sealed, but the air vents are too small, even for Conan-kun. The door’s too strong to break down, not with a child’s strength.”

“There’s the chimney,” Conan said, scrambling to his feet and peering up the empty fireplace.

“That’s way too wide for you to climb,” Shinichi said, going up and down the height of the chimney, “but it’s clear. If there was a way to...”

“It’s kinda crumbly, so maybe...” Conan mumbled, feeling at the brickwork with his fingers until he found something he could grip onto, then kicking his toes into the crumbling mortar as high as he could reach with his toes to create toeholds.

“Conan, be careful, Shinichi hissed, his heart in his throat as he watched the kid slowly start scaling the chimney. “Just get up out of sight, you don’t have to go any higher...”

“Gin killed both of you,” Conan grunted. “I wanna get far away from him and outta this hotel...” 

“Which is fair, but--Conan!” Shinich cried as one of the boy’s feet slipped, though he managed to recover. “You are gonna kill me again with this stunt...”

“I hate this,” Akemi muttered, hovering close to Conan with her hands out, clearly aching to be able to physically support him. “I hate every single thing about this. I hate this so much...”

If only I could remember how the hell I managed to go physical before...” Shinichi thought frantically, flying back out into the hall to check and then heading back into the chimney with blood trickling down his face. “They’re here! They’re in the hallway! Conan, please just hang on where you are, they won’t be able to see you--”

There was a crash from inside of the room, and with a gasp, Conan slipped. 

“NO!” Akemi yelled, reaching out and--

Grabbing him. Her back slammed against the wall, the sharp edges of her heels dragging against the opposite side until they caught.

Just inches above the mantle, out of sight, Miyano Akemi held herself in place, trembling in shock, Conan clutched tight in her arms as Gin and Vodka walked through the door they’d shot open.

Following Pisco was easy, as painful as it was to not be able to stop him as he slipped out of the escaping crowd and down into a roped-off, disused wing of the hotel. He moved far swifter than anybody who’d talked to him in the dinner hall would probably expect, his back suddenly straighter, his eyes suddenly sharper. He was able to hold up Conan just fine with one arm while digging in his pocket for the keys to the old wine cellar where he dropped Conan roughly on the floor. 

“Conan!” Akemi called, crouching down next to the boy. “There’s no need to throw him around like that!”

Pisco slapped a hand to his pocket as his phone buzzed. Shinichi leaned close in to the old man’s shoulder to see the screen as he unlocked it and checked his messages. 

One of the detectives found a loose purple handkerchief. With a burn mark on it. Ditch anything incriminating before they contact you.

~Vermouth

“Vermouth... there’s another one here called Vermouth,” Shinichi said.

Akemi looked up sharply. “Vermouth?” she said. “I’ve heard of them. Never met them... I think. I don’t even know for sure if they’re a man or a woman, but they’re supposed to be the greatest spy in the Organization... and the deadliest. Even more than Gin.”

Shinichi watched as Pisco laid his phone down on the table, checking a second phone in his pocket briefly, then set down a pair of gloves next to it.

“I don’t see what he could have used to drop the chandelier, but he could’ve already handed that off to Vermouth,” Akemi said, watching Pisco leave, locking the door with a click behind himself. “Follow him, Kudo-kun. I’ll keep trying to wake Conan-kun and find a way out of here.”

“I’ll let you know if I spot Vermouth,” Shinichi said, “or Gin and Vodka.”

Pisco was halfway down the hall when he was called on his other phone. “Hello?” he answered, his voice wavery in a way that didn’t remotely match the expression on his face. “Ahhh, officer... may I ask why? ...Well, if you insist, officer, of course I’m happy to assist in any way that I can. As it happens, I’m still in the hotel... oh, just the restroom, officer, a common problem at my age, you know... of course. I’ll be right there.” He hung up the phone, his back starting to hunch a little and his stride slowing as he made his way back into the lobby to meet the police officer waiting for him there. 

All the way along, Shinichi had been musing on the burned purple handkerchief. What would burn it? A cigarette lighter, maybe, or a cigarette... that could work, to create a fuse for a trap that would drop the chandelier at a specified time... but they didn’t find anything unusual in the wreckage. What did he have gloves for? And what about them would be suspicious enough to ditch them?

The police had commandeered a conference room on the fourth floor, with several of the party attendees waiting outside. Shinichi recognized a mystery novelist, an actress, a music producer, and several other notable faces. Aren’t they all too high-profile to be in the Organization? Then again, if they know something about disguise...

Pisco nodded to the group waiting outside of the conference room as he approached. Chris Vineyard smoothed her skirt as she stood up. “Here you are, sir,” she said in English, gesturing to her seat to indicating that she was offering it to the elderly man.

“Hmmm, and here I always thought Americans had no manners... thank you, miss,” he said, nodding to her as he sat down. She leaned back against the window next to it, folding her arms as the polite smile faded back into a bored expression, staring at the dark street outside.

Shinichi glanced out for a second, then almost immediately did a double-take. 

There was a car out there.

There was a black porsche out there.

Gin and Vodka were standing outside of it, visible from all the way up on the fourth floor.

And Chris Vineyard was looking directly at them, her eyes not vague but focused, narrowing almost imperceptibly as the two crows outside started walking around the Haido City Hotel.