On reserving at cityofariel. . .

[in_my_mind_palace]

[C'mon Sherlock this is your opportunity to properly live off the grid. What with that nasty fall. . .

YLOUTTOHMNTXUAUMLOWVCYEXIEHLPOLSFLEX

-Mommy]

Don't be ridiculous, Mundane. [He absolutely refuses to refer to her as Mommy. That's entirely distasteful and she hardly displays the characteristics of any sane mother, for that matter.]

This can hardly be considered a place of relaxation. I won't tolerate your abhorrent draw to expose me to the 'finer things in live', as you put it.

[Don't be unpleasant, Mr. Holmes. Take this as an opportunity to broaden your horizons. You can finally rid yourself of that cute little nickname Moriarty gave you. What was it again? Ah, yes. The Virgin.]

Are we finished?



[Answer for the cipher: noʎ ןןıʍ ǝʌɐɥ os ɥɔnɯ unɟ ʎɯ ǝןʇʇıן ʇǝd xoxox]

Comments

[miniholmes]

That's mean. Don't put the answer at the bottom of the page, that's cheating.

[in_my_mind_palace]

I wholeheartedly agree. Why expect them to try when she provides an answer for them?

[miniholmes]

There's no point in even trying if she just shoves the answer in my face.

[ Sherlock Holmes? Meet Seven year old detective brat, Shinichi Kudou. ]

I want another one.

[in_my_mind_palace]

[A curious little brat, too. Sherlock can handle that. In fact, it might amuse him some.]

Then I'll leave it you to figure out what Anonymous has sent to my website:

[A Roman Emperor will help you work out what this means.

DSPCWZNV T LX HLENSTYR JZF

xx']

Enjoy.

[miniholmes]

Much better.

[ Pulling out a notebook and writing those letters down. ]

[in_my_mind_palace]

Just remember; I don't give hints. You're on your own, though it doesn't take much prowess to figure out the message. [But, this is Sherlock Holmes you're talking to. Of course it took him less than a few minutes. He's versed in these sort of games.]

[miniholmes]

Good. I don't want hints.

[ He's only seven so it might take him a bit longer than a few minutes but he's far too stubborn to just give up. ]

[in_my_mind_palace]

Good. Then tell me what you've got so far.

[Mundane feels this kid's pain. It took her three hours to figure out.]

[miniholmes]

Just that the 'xx' is probably separate from the cipher since they're the only two letters left lowercase. [ And yet he has no idea what those x's mean, just that he sees them quite frequently on mail his mom sends out. ]

And the first Roman emperor to come to mind, would of course, be Julius Caesar.

[in_my_mind_palace]

Clever boy. This is entirely correct so far. As for the X's, they are my Anonymous sender's way of signing his emails. There's nothing particularly significant to that.

[Especially because those emails only provide momentary entertainment for the consulting detective, though he does post them to challenge his blog viewers.]

Now, what about Julius Caesar would solve a puzzle?

[miniholmes]

[ If those x's aren't important he isn't going to waste time wondering about them and dives right into trying to figure out how Caesar can help him with a cipher. ]

I'm not sure. Give me a minute.

[in_my_mind_palace]

[The funny part is he already has the answer. It's just a matter of putting two and two together.]

Don't think too hard. It's quite simple.

[miniholmes]

Hey! You said you wouldn't give me any hints. That's a hint.

[ Grr. ]

[ Anyways, back to puzzling over Julius Caesar and ciphers. He's pretty sure there was something in his Dad's library about a Caesar Cipher.... ]

[in_my_mind_palace]

[Sherlock's chuckling a bit to himself.]

Hardly.

[miniholmes]

[ He could call and ask his dad but he really doesn't want to have to deal with him right now-besides, he's probably left on vacation again any way. Asking for confirmation isn't really a hint is it? ]

...Is there a such thing as a Caesar cipher?

[in_my_mind_palace]

Doesn't that count as a hint?

[He's teasing, he's teasing.]

Yes there is. The Caesar shift cipher.

[miniholmes]

Asking for confirmation isn't a hint. [ Is it? ]

A shift cipher... [ Why would they name it after Julius Caesar? He'd read a book on shift ciphers before so it's likely that's where he'd read about a Caesar Cipher... but what had it said? ]

[ ...Would looking it up on a phone be cheating? ]

[in_my_mind_palace]

[No, using a phone wouldn't be cheating. Sherlock does it frequently. Accessing a database full of information is usually referred to as being resourceful though;]

Now you've got the name so what does it suggest? [Also, this isn't a hint either. He's simply. . .aiding the thought process a bit.]

1/2 s-so sorry about how long this ended up orz

[miniholmes]

[ Obviously it would suggest that you have to shift the letters backwards or forwards. The idea to look it up on the phone only gets stronger as how is he to have any idea how many times each letter is to be shifted? But at the same time he wants to prove he's smart enough to solve this without having to look it up. ]

[ He chews lazily on the end of his pen as he stares at the letters he's written down. The 'T' must be a single letter word, and since it's the English alphabet it's probably an English word. So it can only be either 'A' or 'I' The word immediately next to it is a two letter word- He's pretty sure that when A stands by itself like that, a two letter word can't follow it. So it must an I? ]

[ He quickly writes the english alphabet down across the page and, starting from the letter 'T', counts upwards and stops at the letter 'I' before writing the number 15 over it. No the two letter word-how many of those in the English dictionary could follow 'I'? ]

[ I is, I it, I to, I am-! ]

[ He shifts up 15 times again and coincidentally gets the letters A, M. Starting at the beginning of the cipher he repeats the process and get an 'R', the second letter of the cipher gets him a 'Q' which brings him to a slight flaw in his deciphering. The letter 'U' always follows the letter 'Q' but there's no way shifting up fifteen times will land him on the needed letter. ]

[ ...So then, if it's not up, it has to be down. Starting from the letter 'T' he goes down the line of letters and stops at 'I' this time the number he stops at is Eleven. He repeats the process with 'AM' and returns to the beginning of the cipher. 'R' and 'Q' are replaced by 'S' and 'H' ]

[ He moves to the third letter in the cipher and shifting down eleven letters from 'P' gives him an 'E'. Once again he freezes, looking over the Cipher suspiciously before continuing on- the 'C' becomes an 'R' and he knows exactly what the first word is- S H E R L O C K. ]

[miniholmes]

[ Slowly, he looks up at the man as if seeing him in a whole new light. ]

Y-you... you're Sherlock Holmes?

You're fine, sweetie

[in_my_mind_palace]

[There we are; the cogs are starting to move. Sherlock is watching with a practiced eye, somewhat amused by how well this little kid is doing. He's got to give it to him; even if the detective did help him along there's absolutely nothing he said that brought about the conclusion to shift the letters up or down.

On the other hands, this is one of the most popular cipher used in cryptography. He isn't entirely impressed but he has a lot more faith in this kid than he has in anyone else he's come across as of late. That mind is much better off than many others.

Sherlock offers up somewhat of a smile.]

It would seem my reputation precedes me. [In the flesh.~] You should sharpen the skills you've already got. No sense in putting another decent mind to waste. [Shinichi should feel special. On a normal day Sherlock is pretty sure that everyone within a mile radius is an idiot.]

[miniholmes]

[ For a horrifying moment Shinichi all but forgets how to form a coherent thought and wonders if this must be what being star stuck feels like. So many thoughts rush through his head and he can't decide on which to settle on as Sherlock Holmes isn't anyone he would have ever expected to have the pleasure to meet. ]

O-of course not!-I mean- [ He pauses, trying to stop himself from getting all flustered before he opens his mouth again. ] I'm going to be a detective too.

[ That said he returns his attention to the cipher, filling in the letters he's already worked out before starting on the 'H' and using the same steps as he'd been using to get the letter 'W' ]

[in_my_mind_palace]

Good. [He pauses. A detective, hm? That's interesting. Sherlock is starting to wonder where the inspiration came from.] Indulge me; why? [Possibly this kid has the same motivations as he did; possibly not. Don't mind Sherlock. He's convinced Shinichi can keep working while holding a conversation.]

[miniholmes]

[ He keeps his attention focused on the cipher for a moment, now that he knws what to do it isn't taking him any time at all to put the rest together. ]

W-well, my dad's mystery novelist but I don't want to write about mysteries-that's boring. Instead I want to solve them.

[ He fills in the last letter and looks down at the words 'SHERLOCK I AM WATCHING YOU' frowning at them as it seems... rather ominous to him. ]

[nooniensingh]

...I would like to apologize, but my mun says that she couldn't resist a "hello."

[in_my_mind_palace]

[KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN! Couldn't resist.~]

I trust yours is much more pleasant than my own.

[nooniensingh]

[Nobody can resist that ever, it's a rule.]

Hardly. Although at least mine isn't actively plotting horribleness toward me at that moment. But that's because I'm still relatively new. Give her time.

Where on earth is yours sending you?

[in_my_mind_palace]

Odious behavior on my Mundane's part is the least of my worries.

[Yes, Sherlock please tell him! Muhahahahahh]

The City of Ariel. The main focus of the community is. . .[He grimaces] sexual relations with others to progress as a citizen. The more women or men one courts, the better off they are.

It's truly wasteful. Sex is boring. The result is always the same.

[nooniensingh]

[Eyebrows up! In astonishment!]

Well. Yes, that is indeed fairly odious. My condolences. I find sex to be an amusing distraction, but it's not the be-all-end-all like some muns seem to think.

[in_my_mind_palace]

[While he cannot agree on whether or not sex could be an entertaining distraction, he can contend to that last part.]

Precisely. I get on fine without it. There are far more interesting occurrences that are much more worth my time and effort.

[And this is exactly why he's going. Look at how uptight he is.]