Ramblings of Cassius

"Connected: Criminals 46 - Recognised On first-name terms with cut-purses, house-breakers, counterfeiters and what, in other cities, would probably be called the underworld."



[I've been playing a great deal of "Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective" currently. I bought it to play to relieve nerves before surgery, but I ended-up finishing it in 5-ish days D: While playing I kept thinking of my own little red-haired detective. That would be set on vengeance/answers, but would still not be disinclined to helping little girls & Top Pomeranians. Relatedly; for awhile I mused Lorel as a Geist character, with The Lonely Knight. But more related to this post; there are a lot of detectives in Ghost Trick, and a lot of them give "advice" or "tips" about detectives, including one about clues & mysteries are like minerals & vitamins to detectives.]

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[I've also been playing the original "Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego?" with an actual "The World Almanac and Book of Facts". This one is where I utterly fail to get the crown jewels back for London D: (even before Lorel Cassius I used 'Cassius' for the names of characters in games, especially Cassius Cassius-father of Maria Cassius-in "Princess Maker 2")]

[I found this awhile ago in my GMail Drafts, and have been debating posting it. I have fears with posting things here now, so this is taking a lot of courage! I did dig-up the screenshots from when I first got An Annoyance to Jack-of-Smiles at 10. Yes, 10. It took a lot of grinding to build-up that Rare result. And as of March it isn't capped either as I managed to get another few ChangePoints in it. So, yeah, Lorrie has done the Jack business a lot! I've not been happy with my writing for ages, especially the "sentence. sentence. sentence." thing I fall into. I even tried writing-up some of Lorel & Alfred, but I've lost my nerve on more of that for right now. I've also temporarily disabled Comments here due to crushing anxiety. I want to have the capacity to enable them again, but right now I'm sorry. Those that still Follow may also have noticed Tumblring to Twitter too. Anyway, here is a drabble of Cassius fighting a Jack. The date for the first part I sent had "3 April 2013 00:49" for a date/time, and this was typed using my Nintendo 3DS.]



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( The cobbles clicking under her Savage Hob-nailed Boots, sparks dancing off as she leads the fight down the street. )

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Oh! What are uncapped ways to raise Melancholy? I lost a few ChangePoints with the Urchins, and would like to gain it back to make Lorel's 20 more stable in it.

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Made robin_cassius before the LiveJournal change.

Lydia:
*emerges from Thyrsus Wines shop in Veilgarden, this time a bulky case of four Absinthe bottles clinks from under her arm as she walks*

Cassius:
*May just be in Veilgarden, finally having started talking to clients and working again.*

Lydia:
*comes round a street corner and nearly runs directly into them head first. The bottles rattle violently as she halts* Oh!

( *the sound of glass hitting against glass* )

 Dear Louis Plumb,

I am writing to you today from my very own study. Well it was my partner's and mine, and because of my partner is why I have something to write to you.

Robin and me I have located your mother in Belfast. She is still working for the Copernics, and Mr. Copernic is still a watchmaker. But his business has grown considerably and he now has a proper shop and several workers at it. I must thank-you again for providing so much information in order to make this task much easier! Your mother is doing well as far as we were able to find out. Robin and me I spent a whole night trying to think and suggest contacts of ours for who to deliver your letter to her. All during it, all I could think of is how my partner would handle it. And it is because of the obvious answer to that, I am going to deliver your letter in person.

Commission: Immortalise Jack-of-Smiles in another penny dreadful!

Jack-of-Smiles is a possessing spirit who from time to time occupies some poor idiot's corpse and slinks round the streets cutting up people he takes a dislike to. Eventually some public-spirited citizen always catches him and puts him down.

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In early October Cassius was approached to write about their experiences on the 'Jack Case'.

For most of September they had dealt with him every night. Fighting in the streets. Parrying his knife on rooftops. Ambushing Jack-of-Smiles at every chance. Sometimes even while he was still claiming a victim. And sometimes waiting at a street lamp for him to attack. They had been hired by the Constabulary to try to dissipate one of his killing-sprees, this time on Watchmaker's Hill. The pay was ridiculously high-albeit not many on the case lived to receive payment-and it offered a grand chance to increase their reputation. Or reputations as the case often is, although taking such a case could also damage it. Not many people want to hire someone so foolhardy, but after a week of having worked the crime scenes for the then latest victims of Jack, Cassius accepted.

Never once did Jack get the best of them, but he always managed to come back. It was a stalemate, but one that could not continue with Cassius' lack of sleep and increasing exhaustion.

Finally it seemed that Jack realised that if he just left the area, then Cassius would collect their payment and be done with it. Or perhaps after 62 deaths he had developed a semi-respect for the red-haired detective. In any case on September 27th there were no Smiles' attacks on the Hill. And again on the 28th. There was a few cases in other parts of London, but there was not a one on Watchmaker's Hill. In the small hours of the morning on October 1st, the CLP offered payment and a relief of duty. The amount of Rostygold and Diamonds was enough to make Cassius gasp. (and it wasn't strictly not under the table.)

But still they would jump at street corners, warily watching for any movements in the shadows. So when they were approached to write on their experience, they took the opportunity to try to relieve some anxiety and to offer hopefully an aid to others that would take on the Case. It did not take long to actually write, but to make sure the facts were straight Cassius revisited crime scenes, read back-issues of newspapers, visited surviving victims, and drew various diagrams. Growing again without sleep, and spending rather too much time at the Parlour of Virtue. What came about was not fictionalised, and was in fact so gruesome with its details that it quickly became blacklisted by the Ministry for Public Decency. Still it sold enough copies before for 3 'official' printings, and is actually a relatively easy book to buy from out-of-the-open sellers. Cassius even occasionally lectures on it's contents, although rather grimly and only for quite a bit of payment. And yet not many of their associates or friends know that they have authored such an account.

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They asked for it. They want blood? Give them blood!

Turn in a piece so savage, so terrifying, so gruesome and detailed that it may be banned before it ever gets off the presses.

'ah, Si-, er, Mad-, er, yes!, this is quite an achievement. You'll excuse me if I don't shake your hand.'

You are escorted from the publisher's office and questioned by constables. Your work gives nine hundred readers nightmares and closes four schools. Women scream and faint as you pass in the street. Sales are excellent. You receive an unexpected bonus: late one night, a stranger delivers a package of bottled souls to your door. You don't see his face, but a note with the package reads: 'Best wishes - Jack'