━━━━━━━━━━━━𓊆✮𓊇━━━━ "𝔽𝕚𝕣𝕤𝕥 𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕖𝕤 𝕓𝕖𝕥𝕣𝕒𝕪𝕒𝕝, 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕟 𝕝𝕚𝕖𝕤." ⌖ 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙋𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙪𝙚𝙧 ⌖ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 "𝕃𝕒𝕤𝕥 𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕖𝕤 𝕘𝕦𝕟𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖." ... 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥. ━━━━𓊆❦𓊇━━━━━━━━━━━━

"𝐖𝐞 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐖𝐞𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐢. . . . 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬... 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐢ß𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐡."

Night. It's started raining. For nine-to-fivers, shifts ended long ago, and the pulse of city life has changed to something slower, darker, hedonistic. But Rathore's job is only just beginning. Speak of the devil. He looks up at the sound of a knock at the door, to see the reader coming in.

— 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐰𝐨 — 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 In which our detective arrives at Halliday's Dart; puffins are considered; a fat accordionist sings; several performances are given, none of which are satisfactory; and our detective receives his first kiss

Just a few questions, ma'am.

🎞 Pandora to some 🎞 Haviland Davis to most 🎞 Classic Cinema Owner 🎞 Vampire 🎞 #PandoraRP 🎞 #AU #MV #MSSelectively 🎞 #PennedByShenanigator

— 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐉𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐲 — A false accusation of murder sends Rathore on a baffling mission to a bygone island in the middle of nowhere and straight into the heart of an international military conspiracy. (For a detailed synopsis, see the Alt text.)

'If you believe you are a citizen of the world, then you are a citizen of nowhere. You don't understand what citizenship means.' Theresa May, October 5 2016

He assembled the aged priests and put questions to them concerning the kings who had once possessed the world. 'How did they,' he inquired, 'hold the world in the beginning, and why is it that it has been left to us in such a sorry state?

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐰 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐨𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩 PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR R. RATHORE, CO-FOUNDER, MANAGER AND NOW sole agent of the Splendor Agency, found himself awoken from troubled dreams of a life badly spent by a persistent knocking on his door.

"Fortune sides with those who dare." Astrid Romero, an original character for the fandomless verse — croupier at the blackjack table for the Gold Coin Casino, math wizard extraordinaire, and fond of cracking jokes to catch glimpse of people's smiles.

( Clearly mad. Well, it's none of his business. ) Die where and how you like, as long as I get paid.

A nice-looking dame like you? Trouble must come crawling in every other week.

No one you'd want to know. Here, take my card. If you're ever in trouble, you just call me.

( A laugh. ) What are you talking about?

You buried him?

Hmmm. Alright. Was anyone else in the room? Did you see anyone go in or out of the room in the next . . . Let's say half an out after?

I'm also damn good at my job.

This could be very important. Were you sat down or standing up when you changed?

( A small smile, lighting her cigarette. His lighter matches the case, all silver, grand, with flourishes and whirls. ) That's reassuring to hear, ma'am. Half my job's hiding in the crowd. Where did you train?

No such thing as an easy job, is there? Tell me about when you last saw the shirt.

Rathore. Consider me interested, yes. I try to keep up with the times. It's important in my line of work to know where the culture's headed. ( He takes out his cigarette case, engraved R.R., and offers her one. ) Was that your singing earlier?

( Pocketing it. ) Try under your bed. In my experience, it's almost always there.

Five *hundred*? Well why didn't you say so? Alright, but I'll need the money up front.

Possibly. It depends. What's in it for me?

Of all the cases to land on my desk...

( The kind of dame you know better to stay well away from; A bar above his paygrade; Weather so dour the windows have steamed up, so the only thing you can do is turn to others for company. A recipe for disaster. Some things never change. ) That's a Schiaparelli dress, isn't it? Expensive taste.

Night. It's started raining. For nine-to-fivers, shifts ended long ago, and the pulse of city life has changed to something slower, darker, hedonistic. But Rathore's job is only just beginning. Speak of the devil. He looks up at the sound of a knock at the door, to see the reader coming in.

𝘊𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝐅𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐒.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐑.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝐃𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐄.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝐒.𝐏.𝐋.𝐄.𝐍.𝐃.𝐎.𝐑 𝘈𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺 ---------------- 𝘗𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘐𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝐑. 𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑𝐄 ---------------- 𝐒𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝐏𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝐋𝘦𝘨𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬, 𝐄𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝐍𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝐃𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 & 𝐎𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝐑𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 ❝ 𝐒𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐎𝐑 𝘪𝘯 𝘚𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦, 𝐒𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐎𝐑 𝘪𝘯 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩 — 𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝐒𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐎𝐑 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘚𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘺 .ᐟ ❞