deatthchat | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Doctor,

I've had a possible insight on the matter I had you look into last week. The undertaker can get you access on my word, but I need you to bring her to handle toxicology. There may still be traces, but I don't trust anyone else to know what to look for.

S. will bring the car round within the hour. As always, you understand that this requires the utmost discretion.

Regards,
🐾

[ A message that was, quite obviously, intended for a different recipient. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Interesting indeed. ]

I suppose it is.

Is it a stamp?

[ Give me your secrets. ]

More or less.

[ Explaining emoji seems like a less than worthwhile endeavor. ]

It's a symbol by which certain associates of mine recognize my position. I'm in a line of work that necessitates a degree of anonymity.

That seems awfully simple to duplicate. How do you prevent that?

Obviously. It's not the only factor. Anyone who dared try to impersonate me that way wouldn't be able to hold up to further scrutiny.

And I can guarantee they would regret their decision to try it.

[ He’s decided he kind of tolerates this one. ]

I see. Does that happen often?

People trying to impersonate me? Not particularly. I like to think the few who have have served as a cautionary tale.

I see. And what title are you hiding behind?

One I suspect you'd recognize, Earl Phantomhive. Some things haven't changed in the century between us.

You draw a direct line between us, then.

[ He can't yet tell if that's a threat or a mere cryptic reveal. ]

[ Another thing that makes this app almost worthwhile, just for how fascinating it is to speak to a man she’s only ever seen in the oldest of her family’s photographs. Or a boy, rather—in 1887 he’d be thirteen at the oldest. ]

Several generations removed, of course.

State our relation.

Earl Ciel Phantomhive was my third great grandfather.

Impossible. State our relation.

[ WHAT. ]

puellaregem has uploaded wedding_1897.png
puellaregem has uploaded portrait_1899.png

[ The first picture is well preserved considering its age, showing a slight, somber young man with dark hair, fine features and an eyepatch dressed in a dark suit, standing next to a taller young woman with fair curls in a wedding dress, clearly restraining a smile.

The second shows the same woman in full mourning garb, sitting with an infant about a year old on her lap. ]

You're mistaken. Your photos cannot be of me.

[ ...he knows that that's clearly him, and the woman is unmistakably an older Elizabeth. ]

[ He's struggling to concentrate on the images, and is just kind of completely zoned out. Please hold, Ciel Phantomhive will be disassociating for the next twenty minutes. ]

puellaregem has uploaded campania_1888.png

[ This photograph, rather than a formal portrait, seems to be a remarkably candid shot of the couple from the prior photos as young teenagers, alongside a dark-haired man—whom Shiori had recognized the instant she'd laid eyes on the picture—all three looking waterlogged and worse for wear. And, remarkably, all three of them are smiling. ]

This is the oldest photograph I have.

[ Ciel doesn't understand. The reasoning he'd used to dismiss the older photos was useless when this one is at what appears to be his current age. ]

I have no memory of anything regarding 'Campania' or of this photo.

[ 1888, it says. ]

We must be from entirely separate timelines. I will not be passing on a lineage.

[ ...but then why is Sebastian there? ]

That’s possible. I can only speak for what’s true in my timeline.

[ Anything seems to be possible with this app. ]

We could compare notes on events up until your point in time.

I suppose you may provide your ‘notes’ for my review.

[ Is this a trick to gather information from him? ]

Very well. What month is it?

[ Sebastian should be willing to provide details if she asks. ]

December 28, 1887.

After celebrating your thirteenth birthday following the end of your investigation into Jack the Ripper, your company very recently defeated Harold West for a Royal Warrant in a curry competition at the Crystal Palace.

[ ...And Sebastian claimed to have invented curry bread after going on an unexpectedly flattering tangent about the Indian prince’s butler he was competing against. ]

Is that correct?

This is all true but public information.

You’ve just been informed of a series of kidnappings linked to the route of a travelling circus that will be performing in London in the coming February, and on your birthday, you lost a hunting competition to Countess Midford after she broke a tie by killing a bear.

[ “So he thinks,” according to Sebastian. ]