Disclaimer: I give you this clue: I don't own it.

Author's Note: Quality Control is of the opinion that all the mental health days in the world wouldn't help me. Probably a good thing, where would I get these ideas if I was sane after all? I mean really, I was installing insulation when this one came to me, you try and find the connection.

PS Sorry for tonight's meagre offering of a mere ficlet but I was sleepy.

...

Wyatt Cain wondered how he'd managed to get talked into this. He absolutely refused to believe that it had anything to do with a pair of wide blue eyes and decided it was more the result of a slight inclination towards the comfortably familiar aspects of the game. It could have been worse, he reasoned, the princess could have the chosen the board game with all the cards and the ridiculous need to apologize all the time. Leastwise Cain had never felt the need to tell his enemies he was sorry when he took them out. What strange ideas these Othersiders had.

To add further triviality to the evening, the princesses decided to rename the game pieces to make them 'O.Z. appropriate'. Watching Princess Azkadellia move her red Reformed Sorceress about the board, the Tin Man really had to question whether words truly meant the same thing to Princess DG as they did to everyone else.

"The Headcase, in the Grand Ballroom, with the rhythm rope," the eldest princess declared, snatching up Glitch's purple playing piece and hauling it across the board. There was a brief shuffling of cards and a rapid scribbling of notes. This part of the game almost made sense and was, he told himself, the reason he'd submitted to playing.

"I think I've solved it," Princess DG announced, making a grab for Cain's yellow game piece, "The Tin Man, with the revolver, in the Royal Bedroom."

Ahamo reached forward for the case file and peeked inside. "I'm afraid you're wrong, he's not," he informed her.

"Well he should be," DG muttered, far too loudly.

Cain fumbled the dice, Ahamo dropped the cards in shock, and the room was filled with a sudden startled silence.

"Hmmm," Glitch hummed, reaching forward to retrieve the fallen clues, "The Consort, in the Great Library, with the moritanium pipe. You know, Cain, I think you'd better run."