Third Deduction [Video; Alternate Discedo]

[modernholmes]

[Conan is seated at a table in a dimly lit location, with a pile of thick books by his side. Every one of them is heavy enough for the boy to need two hands to carry them. He shoves the last book back onto the table and speaks into the communicator in a whisper.]

Ne, has anyone noticed? There's something strange about the books in-

[He freezes as an adult's shadow falls over him.]

Boy? What are you doing? Don't you think those books are a little advanced?

[A hand can be seen reaching down and gathering up the books on the table as Conan pastes an innocent smile on his face.]

I'm playing! Don't high school students do homework just like this?

And where are your parents?

Comments

[fierybluebird]

What about them?

[modernholmes.livejournal.com]

[How to say this as a kid?]

Maybe its just because I started reading ahead in class. I noticed all of the textbooks were saying the same thing. That everyone who isn't in Discedo is bad. But I just looked in the library, and these books say the same thing. Even if it isn't as simple. And some of the other kids noticed that everyone in Discedo looks similar.

[fierybluebird]

[Sorry Conan, Marco's from a world where that isn't even remotely unusual. Well except for hair colors and skintones, that's all over the place.]

What's strange about that?

[modernholmes.livejournal.com]

[Conan is faced with the problem of trying to communicate something that no normal child would have noticed. Most kids didn't understand that books could lie until they were much older, after all.]

Its strange because of what it could mean.

[fierybluebird]

That humans are almost universally xenophobic? That's not news.

[And this is why Marco isn't allowed to babysit.]

[modernholmes.livejournal.com]

But the fact that they're trying to hide it in the books they give kids?

[fierybluebird]

[A small pause. Indoctrinating kids young is a bit suspicious.]

All right, good point. Didn't one of the other cities try to destroy Discedo once though?

[modernholmes.livejournal.com]

The books at school say that it always happens that way. And that there have been a lot of wars that Discedo won.

[fierybluebird]

Hm. So maybe the old Discedo didn't win the wars?

[modernholmes.livejournal.com]

I don't know anything about the history of the other Discedo.

[fierybluebird]

Not many do.

All I know is it got invaded and the people drawn there had to defend it. From the sounds of it, all of Fortuna tends to try to kill each other. Seifer was talking about another expedition to check out one of the other cities before. He might know more than he lets on if you can get a hold of him.