(no subject)

[just-add-aptx.livejournal.com]

[There's a Conan standing in an infirmary, staring up in annoyance at a glass-fronted cabinet full of gauze strips, and too short to reach them.

His left hand is pressed carefully against his right arm near the shoulder, blood leaking through his fingers, and his breathing is strained and shallow.

He might need some help.]

[[ooc: after this]]

Comments

[deaduction.livejournal.com]

[Here, Conan, have a faint pressure on your shoulder -- Shinichi's way of saying he approves.]

[karates_doors]

Do you want me to carry you?

[She thinks she can manage it without aggravating his ribs, and it would save him some trouble]

[just-add-aptx.livejournal.com]

[Oh, he's not going to push his luck that far. Maybe.

But the pain and the after-affects of the sleeping gas are gradually encroaching more and more on his mind as the adrenalin rush wears off. He isn't sure if he can walk all the way back to his room.

So he nods.]

[deaduction.livejournal.com]

[ sorry guys! Ghost's gone incommunicado in this thread again -- think he'll be staying put in the hallway here. Please go on without him! ]

[karates_doors]

Let me know if it hurts, okay?

[She makes sure to scoop him up rather than pick him up, supporting him underneath his legs and keeping him carefully cradled to her chest as she stands]

What room are you in?

[just-add-aptx.livejournal.com]

327.

[It does hurt, and a slight pained noise escapes before he manages to catch it.]

I'm okay. I think it's just gonna hurt.

[He shifts position slightly, the pain more distracting than anything else about the situation.]

[karates_doors]

[She waits for him to shift and get as comfortable as he can before cautiously starting to walk, doing her best not to jar him in any way. Her jaw is clenched tight despite her carefully blank expression, and the look in her eyes says that if she ever finds who did this, they're going to have a very angry karateka to deal with]

[just-add-aptx.livejournal.com]

[>He would normally try to do something about the anger he can sense from her, would try to calm her down, or maybe set her after 1412. But right now he's just focused on staying awake.

Maybe if she was talking and he had something to focus on.]

Ran-neechan? What's your world like?

[karates_doors]

[Recognizes the distraction for what it is and willingly goes along with it for his sake]

Ah, I'm in my last year of high school right now. You've been staying with me and otou-san for almost two years. [small, sad smile] Shinichi's been missing that long, too. And then there's the community...

[just-add-aptx.livejournal.com]

Community?

[He isn't going to think about the two years, don't think about the way she's still waiting, has been waiting. He wouldn't be able to keep the smirk off of his face if he thought about it for too long.]

[karates_doors]

Yeah. It's really strange! It's on the internet, but it connects a whole bunch of different worlds together so you can talk to people from them. My Conan-kun found it before I did.

[just-add-aptx.livejournal.com]

Kind of like this place? But a website?

[karates_doors]

Sort of. But I haven't seen any alternates of anyone. And it does really weird things to the members a lot.

[just-add-aptx.livejournal.com]

Weird things? Like what?

[Would it be so bad for him to just sleep? There wasn't any danger right now...

No. Not going to pass out.]

[karates_doors]

Ah, they're called viruses. There was one that turned a bunch of us into children, and one that changed everyone's gender, and another that made you fall in love with your worst enemy.

[Her voice hardens again as she adds]

There's a lot of bad people there who try to take advantage of them.

[just-add-aptx.livejournal.com]

[Taking advantage of a situation like that wasn't wrong... he would do that... he... ...

There had to be something in what she just said that he could focus on.]

You... were a... guy?

[1412 must have used too much sleeping gas, or it was a lot different than KIDs.]

[karates_doors]

No, I was only turned into a seven year old. Kuroba-kun told me about the others.

[Glances at him, concerned at the lag in his sentences]

If you're tired, you should rest, Conan-kun.

[just-add-aptx.livejournal.com]

Seven?

[Why seven? That was the same age he and Haibara looked...

He shakes his head, still coherent enough to fake the childishness in his expression.]

'm not tired.

[karates_doors]

Un. It happened to a lot of us. [sheepish smile] It was what made me realize that I should probably get more stools for you around the house.

[just-add-aptx.livejournal.com]

Good.

Ran-neechan back home hasn't... [He blacks out completely for a moment, then struggles back awake.]

Stools are nice.

...it ate my tag.

[karates_doors]

Conan-kun?

[Luckily they're at the third floor now, and Ran works to remember his room number while keeping a worried eye on him]

We're almost there. Then you can rest, okay?

what a horrid thing to do

[just-add-aptx.livejournal.com]

[He fists a hand in her shirt, clinging, playing up the small-child-in-pain aspect.]

Ran-neeechan isn't going to leave, right?

[karates_doors]

Of course not! [firmly] I'm not going anywhere.

[No way is she leaving him alone after what happened to him]

[just-add-aptx.livejournal.com]

[A pause, gathering thoughts, shaping a plan.]

I'm sorry.

I didn't think he would hurt me.

[karates_doors]

It's all right, Conan-kun. I promise, I won't let him hurt you again.

["Didn't think he would hurt me"... was it someone he knew? That was stupid, of course it probably was -- almost everyone here was someone they knew, if not directly.

She finally finds his door and pauses a moment, trying to figure out how to open it without shifting Conan too much. Eventually she settles for crouching slightly, so that she can reach the knob with one of her hands without having to move him at all. It's awkward, but the door clicks open, and she bumps it open the rest of the way with her hip]